Review of ON LITTLE WINGS and Author Interview of Regina Sirois

Me: Hi Regina, 

Welcome to my blog. Have a seat there on my most comfy rocker—oh, wait, let me move that pile of clothes. I’ll fold them later. I’m sure that our readers would love to get to know you better. I’ll skip the boring stuff…like how long have you been writing and who’s your favorite author….blah…blah…blah…

Let’s get down to some juicy tidbits, shall we?  

Regina: Ooh, this sounds interesting. We shall!

Me: I love inspirational stories. What’s the most inspirational thing that’s ever happened to you?

Regina: I think my husband is the most inspirational thing that ever happened to me. We didn’t know each other at all and one day in the middle of our Senior year of High School he walked up to me while I was talking to four or five girlfriends. He broke right through our huddle and asked me out. With an audience. Not with bravado. Not like a cocky jerk. Just quietly, like a shy guy who thought, “Why the heck not?”  And for that moment of courage, I will thank him forever! When I think I can’t do something I think of where my life would be if he made excuses and copped out.

Me: What’s the juiciest conversation you’ve ever overheard? Did you put it in your writing anywhere?

Regina: I really want to answer this. I want to tell you something that would make you salivate. But nothing juicy ever happens to me. Ever! I kill gossip. People look like they are engrossed in a great story and when I get too close they stop and turn the conversation to weather and politics and knitting baby blankets. I don’t know why I have that effect! If I joined the FBI the entire agency would suddenly be very concerned with the Farmer’s Almanac and the country would go under. So out of my sense of patriotism, I will not pursue my secret spy career.

Me: I'm sure the FBI thanks you. *wink

Privately you told me you have a favorite bug. Would you believe me if I told you mine is actually a praying mantis or a tarantula? So what’s yours and why is it your fav?

Regina:  I’d say we would get along smashingly because I think a bright green mantis is breathtaking. I saw a three inch specimen one day and stared it for longer than I am willing to admit.  I’m always a sucker for a butterfly, but I get giddy with excitement when I see a walking stick. They are so hard to spot and so darn fascinating!

Me: Me, too!

Are you a morning writer or a night writer? And why is that your favorite time of day?

Regina: I am an afternoon writer. I can’t concentrate in the morning. My brain is saying, you need to do the laundry and call that person and cancel that appointment and I just can’t give my story my attention. I gather my thoughts throughout the day and when I crash in the afternoon and don’t have the energy to fold, clean, call or cancel, I just click and tap on my keyboard.

Me: Great planning strategy! 

If you could meet one character from a book, who would it be? What would be the first words out of your mouth? 

Regina: I’d like to meet Cassandra Mortmain from I Capture the Castle and I’d say, “Will you please show me around your house?” I mean, she lived in a dilapidated castle, for goodness sake.

Me: Dilapidated? Is that another way of saying drafty? I'll let you keep the castle. 

What project do you have in mind next? More amazing young adult cadences?  

Regina: I am working on a YA story with a very different feel. The narrator is a boy so the voice is more compact and fast, but I think he is lyrical in a different way. It is a more staccato and fast-paced song then Jennifer sings in On Little Wings.

Me: I love lyrical writing! 

I found your book through someone touting how wonderfully you write, and the beauty of your words. With kudos like that I had to download the book. I dragged my Kindle with me everywhere so I could keep reading. I did not want to put the book down. I know when I hear someone say great things about my writing, I want to say “Pishaw!” But secretly I hope they’ll keep saying nice things. How do you feel when someone says such wonderful things about your work?

Regina: I try to take a breath and take it in and accept the kindness. I try to say thank you without arguing. But in the back of my mind my insecurities are heckling me, trying to shout the praise down. But thank you. So much. I think it takes a good ten to twenty words of encouragement to cushion the blow of one person who hates your book. And there are people who hate my book, or any book for that matter!

Me: I know what you mean. You can't please everyone so you just brush the "haters" aside and focus on the positive.

By the way, I absolutely love the way you paint pictures with your words—it reads like poetry—perfect word choices, using all the senses. I was so caught up in your story not just because of the tale itself, but because of the way you wrote it. They say that to some poetry comes easy, and to others not so much (I’m in the latter category). How have you developed such a wonderful writing style?

Regina: I started writing poetry (really, really bad poetry) when I was in second grade. I’ve tried to move up from there. (Up is the only direction I could go, to be honest).  I think cadence and rhythm comes naturally to me, but that can be a weakness, too. I am painfully aware that I overdo it sometimes. I’m working on balance and restraint and hope my next book is better.

Me: I wish I had your lyrical sense of writing. I'm working on it. Someday, whe I "grow up" maybe I'll write as beautifully as you. 

So, in the book your character “do lines” in the evenings. Is this based on something you actually do, or wished you could do?

Regina: I’ve never done this, but I am fascinated by the idea. When I cannot find the right words I just want to borrow the words of people more talented and wise than I. I understand my characters yearnings to express themselves through the literature they discover.

Me: I love great literature, too. Is there anything else you’d like to say to our audience, maybe something you’ve been dying to tell the world about you or about your book?

Regina: I’d like to say that I will try to improve with each story I write. I’d like to say that the prospect of publishing, book signing, interviews, or money are nothing compared to the kindness of people who are glad I wrote the book. It is the most incredible feeling to know that I am connecting with people I cannot even see. I would trade everything else to be able to thank them individually. Money is not the best way to support a writer you like. Telling them that you are glad they persevered to the story’s end is invaluable!

Me: Amen, there! Authors find the greatest reward in knowing that others are reading their words. Regina, thanks so much for sharing a little of yourself with us. Congratulations on your book selling so well, and for landing an agent (hard to do in this business).

And now my review:

Sirois "dares to make us believe" her characters are real. Her delightful tale of a young woman's discovery of the family Jessica never knew takes us into the heart of her characters. Each of them have their own distinct personalities, ways of speaking, and clearly defined attitudes. Even her support characters were well rounded. I could tell Sirois spent a great deal of time getting to know her characters before she even began to draft the story. 

Because of her incredible command of poetic elements her words are a delight to read. I found myself engrossed as much in the actual writing style as I did in the story. I couldn't put the book down-or in my case, my Kindle. Well, done Regina. 

Synopsis from Amazon:

Jennifer must do the impossible – bring her mother home. When a family is torn apart by death, two sisters take violently divergent paths and the story of their family appears to end terribly and abruptly. Two decades later Jennifer never dreams that the photo she finds stuck between the pages of a neglected book will tear open a gaping wound to her mother’s secret past. Abandoning her comfortable life with her parents and best friend in the wheat fields of Nebraska, Jennifer’s quest for a hidden aunt leads her to the untamed coast of Maine where she struggles to understand why her mother lied to her for sixteen years.

Across the grey, rocky cove she meets Nathan Moore, the young, reluctant genius surrounded by women who need him to be brother, father, friend, provider, protector and now, first love. The stories, varied, hilarious, and heartbreaking, unfold to paint a striking mural of the shattered past. As Jennifer seeks to piece together her mother’s story, she inadvertently writes one for herself.

You can purchase a copy of On Little Wings here.