SEIZE TODAY blurb
Seventeen-year-old Olivia Dresden is a precognitive. Since different versions of people’s futures flicker before her eyes, she doesn’t have to believe in human decency. She can see the way for everyone to be their best self-if only they would make the right decisions. No one is more conflicted than her mother, and Olivia can only watch as Chairwoman Dresden chooses the dark, destructive course every time. Yet Olivia remains fiercely loyal to the woman her mother could be.
But when the chairwoman captures Ryder Russell, the striking and strong-willed boy from the rebel Underground, Olivia sees a vision of her own imminent death…at Ryder’s hand. Despite her bleak fate, she rescues Ryder and flees with him, drawing her mother’s fury and sparking a romance as doomed as Olivia herself. As the full extent of Chairwoman Dresden’s gruesome plan is revealed, Olivia must find the courage to live in the present-and stop her mother before she destroys the world.
Note: Check out the excerpt below!
INTERVIEW
SP: Hi Pintip! Congrats on Seize Today coming out into the world! First, for some of our readers who have not met you, can you tell us a bit of your writing journey?
Sure! My road toward publication was long and windy. I started writing my first novel after college, and it would take me fifteen years and 150 rejections before I got published. I signed with my literary agent, Beth Miller, on the third novel I queried, and even then, it took three books on submission and nearly three years before we received our first offer. At that point, however, I sold seven books in approximately seven months, so it pays to move on to that next project, when your first one doesn’t initially sell!
SP: As mentioned, Seize Today is the last book in the Forget Tomorrow Series. How does it feel to wrap up and say goodbye to all these amazing characters in this final book?
Bittersweet! These characters have been with me for so long — six years — that it feels strange to me that I will be saying goodbye to them, and they will continue living the rest of their lives without me!
At the same time, however, I feel incredibly happy. I really think that writing this series is the biggest accomplishment of my life, so far. I am so proud of this body of work. I really am. That’s not something we’re allowed to say very often, but when I look at these characters and this world and these intertwining stories I’ve created, that’s how I feel: proud.
SP: Can you tell us how writing Seize Today was different than the others? What’s unique about Seize Today?
Seize Today was the most difficult book I’ve ever written. Not only did I have to tie up all the loose ends of the series, but my heroine, Olivia, is a precognitive who sees everything! It was quite a challenge to keep the twists and turns surprising to Olivia, from whose POV the story is told, when she should’ve foreseen it!
Another challenge was the number of characters who had to have a strong presence. Book 1 features Callie and Logan, while Book 2 stars Jessa and Tanner. Seize Today focuses on Olivia and Ryder. Even though each book has a new couple, I knew that my readers would be looking for the previous characters they got to know in earlier books. Thus, each book got progressively more difficult. While Book 2 had to include enough mention of Logan and Callie to satisfy my readers, Book 3 had to give page time to Callie, Logan, Jessa, and Tanner, in addition to the main characters of Olivia and Ryder! That’s a whole lot of characters to squeeze into a huge plot with limited pages.
SP: Which character in the series got under your skin the most?
Oh no! This question! It’s the hardest is because it’s like asking a parent who her favorite child is. And as I always tell me kids, they’re all my favorite!
But…if I have to be completely honest, I would say that Olivia is the heroine who got under my skin the most. She carries the burden of everyone’s futures, and she still manages to emerge from her circumstances strong and courageous. Plus, she’s so lonely, so isolated, so uncertain if she is worthy of love. I really enjoyed giving her that family and sense of belonging she wanted more than anything.
As for the hero who got under my skin the most… I would have to say Tanner. Oh gosh, now I feel super guilty saying that, because I love Logan and Ryder, as well…but it’s Tanner! Brilliant, arrogant, and swoony, but with such an awful, broken past. I love his relationship with Jessa, and I love how far he is willing to go to redeem his mistakes. (Now, that statement makes me think about how far Callie would go to save her sister, and that makes me wonder if perhaps she gets under my skin the most! See?! It’s an impossible question!)
SP: Family. Love. Risk. Destiny. These are all themes in your books. Is there one “take away” you wish young readers could identify with throughout this series and run with in their own lives? If so, what is it?
From the first book to the last, this series is about fighting for your future. I hope that my readers take away the idea that no one can tell you who you’re going to be and what you’re capable of — not even your future. I hope they will feel inspired to reach for their potential — and be the strongest, bravest, and most capable version of themselves.
SP: You write adrenaline, heroic, risk-taking plots with intriguing premises. So I must ask, who do you imagine yourself to be when you’re day dreaming? Any superhero you wish you could have lunch with?
Well, the truth is, I don’t actually imagine myself to be anybody (other than me!) when I’m daydreaming. What’s the point of having all those wonderful fantasies happening to someone else?!!
But to answer the spirit of your question, I’ve been a little obsessed with Wonder Woman ever since the movie came out, so can I be her? I’m not nearly as kick ass as her, but this is a daydream, right? As for lunch, can I go to their island and take a tour of their facilities and meet all those amazing women?
SP: Now a bit of personal–favorite movie of all time? Favorite book of all time?
Favorite movie of all time is Life is Beautiful. My husband would dispute this answer because he says I never re-watch it — which I don’t because it makes me sad. But a movie can be your favorite even if you don’t like to rewatch it, right?!!
Oh gosh, my favorite book, my ONE favorite book? That’s really hard to answer. I’m going with Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. The first time I read this book, I didn’t like it. The second time I read it, I thought it was enjoyable. By the third time I read this story, I was madly in love. I’ve reread this book at least a dozen times, and it gets better upon each read!
SP: We wish you all the best with Seize the Day! Readers– Check out her other books below!!! There is also a blurb if you scroll down! Enjoy picking up this series!!!
Thank you so much! It is truly appreciated!
EXCERPT FROM SEIZE TODAY
Eleven years earlier…
I pull the lever of the cage, switching the tunnel onto a different track, trying to confuse the mice.
I know exactly how the future will play out, of course. I know which mice will fall down the trap and which ones will smack into the see-through glass wall. I know which mice will get hopelessly lost. I even know which ones will run the maze correctly on the very first try.
I like watching them anyway. They wriggle over one another like worms, and their whiskers twitch when they’re at a corner between two paths. But what I like most is how they come to me when I call.
Picking up a mouse, I run my fingers over its soft fur and warm body. It looks at me with unblinking pink eyes, and I think it could be my friend.
Of course, I can see which mice will come, so I know which ones to call. Rodents are predictable like that. Humans, not so much. They have too many wants, too many feelings. I don’t see any one future for people. Rather, I see them all—every single pathway their futures might take, flickering before my eyes.
So I have to guess which of my human classmates will want to play with me. Most of the time, I guess wrong.
“Are you bothering my mice again?” a little boy’s voice says. “Fates, Livvy. How many times do I have to tell you? Leave them alone!”
Startled, I let go of the mouse and look up at Tanner Callahan, the other six-year-old who hangs around the scientists’ labs. I’m here because my mom’s the head of the Future Memory Agency, or FuMA, and he’s here…I guess ’cause he has nowhere else to be.
He’s got black hair that pokes up in the back, and his skin sticks too closely to his bones. I thought this meant he wasn’t eating enough, but MK, our child-minder, said that grief over his parents’ deaths had burrowed holes through his resources.
This makes me think of the mice digging through the straw, and my chest aches. I flash forward to his futures. He still has hundreds of branches remaining, but in most of them, one thing is the same: he will be sad and lonely until he kisses our classmate Jessa ten years in the future.
I don’t know why kissing should change anything. But I do know how it feels to be lonely and sad.
We don’t have to be like this. I could be his friend. I just have to figure out the right thing to say.
“Jessa and I are going to rule the world one day.” It can’t hurt to bring up the girl he smushes lips with. Maybe if he thinks she and I are friends, he’ll like me, too. “You know Jessa, right? The girl with the teardrop eyes? She’s my best friend.” Not true. I think Jessa only talks to me because she’s nice. But he doesn’t have to know that.
“Oh yeah? Well someday, I’m going to be the inventor of future memory,” he shoots back. “And then we’ll see who’s more important.”
I bite my lip. That wasn’t what I meant. I wasn’t trying to brag or compare or compete. The futures containing our friendship begin to fall away, one by one. I guessed wrong once again.
END
Nova signing off!
The Spinning Pen 