Giveaway & Interview: On Little Wings by Regina Sirois

Welcome to Author Regina Sirois

Regina Sirois is 90% reader and 10% writer, and as such, her loyalty lies with readers. She believes a book should do more than mildly entertain- it should change us. She graduated summa cum laude from Missouri State's Department of History and English and settled in the golden wheat fields of Kansas with her High School love. She is currently doing laundry (probably) and raising her two daughters. She fell in love the day she learned to read and cried the first time she did a word problem in math ("But it's not a problem..." sob, sob. "It's a story!"). In her debut novel, "On Little Wings," Regina Sirois holds nothing back as she dares to make us believe.

LINKS:
Website: http://www.reginasirois.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Regina-Sirois/322778647752811
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/reginasirois

INTERVIEW:
If you could travel in a Time Machine would you go back to the past or into the future? 
Would I have to get out of the time machine? Because my degree is in history and I have a passion for the past, but talk about dangerous! When you really study history, you get over the nostalgia and sentimental ideals really fast. I’m so grateful I live now in the age of medicine, democracy, sanitation. I would want very much to go back and thank the people who got us here- hold their hands and kiss their cheeks. But when they brought out the gallows or fiery stakes- see ya!

Night owl, or early bird? 
I am an early bird. I start drooping around 9 at night. If you get an email from me at 3 in the morning, I got up that early, I didin’t stay up that late. In case you were wondering.

Please tell us in one sentence only, why we should read your book. 
My book sticks to your ribs, tunnels into your thoughts, gets under your skin, and doesn’t let you forget it.

What inspired you to want to become a writer? 
I didn’t want to be a writer. People told me that some day I would be a writer when I was just a little girl and I resented it. I fought it. I wanted to be the president (that was before I knew the down and dirty of politics). I wanted to be a photographer for National Geographic (before I found out they sat in a bush for three months waiting for a lemur to come along). I wanted to work for NASA (before it nearly went out of business) or dig in the Atacama Desert looking for ruins of lost civilizations. I didn’t value writing. I didn’t think it was special because everybody writes. But then I realized that writing isn't to make me special. It's there to help me interpret the world. And I decided it was only fair. I’ve been reading every word I could find since kindergarten. What if those thousands of people never wrote their books? I felt like I owed it as a thank you to those who gave so much to me- a little gift on the alter, albeit a humble one.

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published. 
Seeing my book on the front page of Amazon kindle! But even more than that, reading reviews from strangers who said it was their new favorite. I just stood in my kitchen and cried. Thank you, stangers who reviewed my book. I love you!

Can you see yourself in any of your characters? 
I see myself in every character. To make them real I find a piece of me- crazy, shy, insecure, overbearing, jealous, tender- and I stretch it out, knead it like dough, adding new ingredients until I’ve cooked up a brand new person. Each and every character does or says things that I would say or do- if I let that part of myself have free reign.

What movie and/or book are you looking forward to this year? 
Need you ask? I have a countdown timer until the Hunger Games movie. It looks incredible.

If you could have a signed copy of any novel what would it be and why? 
It’s not a novel, but I would want a signed poem by Emily Dickinson. She taught me that words can be trained to do your will, if you take the time to master them.

Which authors have influence you most how? 
Dodie Smith, Jerry Spinelli and James Herriot.

Who or what inspired you to become an author? 
I looked at my daughter and I wanted to give her something. I can’t sew. I don’t knit or quilt or paint. I didn’t want to just buy her something someone else made. This book is a gift to her- the best of me given to the best thing that ever happened to me.

What TV show/movie/book do you watch/read that you'd be embarrassed to admit? 
I feel no shame about it, but I am a big time Trekkie. Next Generation hands down! Who doesn’t love Captain Picard? No really- who?

Favorite smell? 
My grandmother’s linen closet. It smelled like heaven lent her some angel dryer sheets. I’ve tried to recreate it. Now I know it was just her, beautiful her.

Write a Haiku about your book. 
 Ooh, ooh. Can I do a limerick instead?
There once was a girl with a book
But no one would give it a look
she thought it was bad
and that made her sad
But now they request it on Nook.

Now you can see my real talent, right?

Print or Ebook?
I have a Kindle. I use it often. I am slowly converting. But really- really- my kindle doesn’t show me the spot where I cried when Jane almost died on the heath or where I laughed so hard I drooled red popsicle. These things mean something. I like evidence that I’ve been there before.

City or Country? 
Suburbs

Harry Potter or Twilight? 
Harry Potter all the way. I mean- they have wands.

Beach or Pool? 
Beach- who asked that one?

Shoes or Sandals? 
Barefoot!

Text or Talk? 
Talk. I am a lover of words. Not a lvr o wrds. Let’s just be grown ups and talk to eachother. And here’s a cool idea- let’s use sentences. With periods. I think it’s gonna catch on.

What is something people would be surprised to know about you? 
I am quiet so people assume I am shy. They should know that every other thing I say is a joke and I don’t have a shy bone in my body. I hate singing in front of people- but that isn’t being shy, that’s just being merciful.

On Little Wings

This is a story of the countless ways we get love wrong. And why, despite every disappointment, we keep fighting to get it right.

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.

Giveaway Details
1 paperbook copy open to US only
3 ebooks open Internationally
Ends 2/19/12


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