Brina Starler
Author Interview - Brina Starler
Author of Anne of Manhattan
“A modern reinvention of Anne of Green Gables set at the graduate program at Redmond College in NYC, Anne Shirley finds love with her long-time rival Gilbert Blythe, in romantic comedy about friendship, self-acceptance, and loving others not despite their flaws and quirks, but because of them.”
Author Interview - Brina Starler
Author I draw inspiration from: Sherry Thomas, Alexis Hall, Rosie Danan, Sarah Maclean, Alyssa Cole, Brianna Shrum, so many others, and of course, L.M. Montgomery!
Author Interview - Brina Starler
Favorite place to read a book: Even though I have a chair in a my office I ordered especially for reading (it's pale pink velvet and I love it so much, nine times out of ten I wind up either on the living room couch or in bed instead.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Lack of Self-Preservation Answer: Eric Carter from Stephen Blackmoore's Dead Things series, although he's a necromancer and always getting shot at and dodging people who want to kill him. But hey, tattoos. (Yes, I'm just that shallow, thank you. I'm a sucker for a damaged and lonely hero. For this reason, I'll add Kaz Brekker to the short list.) Because She Seems She'd Be Fun Answer: Daisy Bowman from Lisa Kleypas's Scandal in Spring. We'd definitely get up to ALL kinds of trouble!
Author Interview - Brina Starler
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: I know this one, exactly. I'd just finished reading Sarah MacLean's Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, and had all these alternate plots swirling in my head. That wasn't really anything new, but for whatever reason, I was inspired to actually start writing one down. And then I didn't stop for another eighty thousand words, and boom, I had a book! I really surprised myself with that one. That was what I considered my starter book (and it will NEVER see the light of day, haha), and I've now been writing for over a decade.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: I'm mostly a paperback kinda girl. I don't mind of it's trader or mass market, either size is fine by me. Hardcovers can be out of my price range a lot, plus, dust covers are the bane of my existence. How do people read with them on?? I read a TON on my phone, but weirdly it's nearly all fanfic, not published e-books. And I just don't have the attention span for an audiobook.
The last book I read: I just finished both Tweet Cute by Emma Lord and The Roommate by Rosie Danan, and am starting Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron.
Author Interview - Brina Starler
Pen & paper or computer: Definitely computer. My handwriting is so bad, even I can't read it later on, haha.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: This isn't self-promo, I swear, but Anne Shirley. I related SO MUCH to her, and always have. Both only children with vivid and wild imaginations who spent a lot of time wrapped up in our own imaginary worlds, I identified with Anne since opening that first book at age twelve.
Author Interview - Brina Starler
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: Probably a chef or caterer, since that's what I actually went to school for! I'm a classically trained chef, with a culinary degree in international cuisine. It's a fancy degree that I now use to make my kids homemade macaroni and cheese, basically.
Favorite decade in fashion history: The 40s and 50s, for sure. I love women in swing dresses and pencil skirts and cropped jackets and pantyhose with a line up the back, and men in suspenders and leather shoes shined to gleam and flat caps and suits with vests and crisp shirts.
Place I’d most like to travel: This list is so long, and always influenced by my kids (Greece, Paris, Japan), but for myself? I'd love to spend a month somewhere like the coast of Ireland or in a small town in Provence, France. Ideally, alone with my laptop!
My signature drink: I've absolutely fallen in love with Lavender Earl Grey lattes. They sound kind of sketchy, but they're delicious.
Favorite artist: Monet, if we're talking painters. But Marguerite Sauvage is my favorite comic book artist, her work is gorgeous and distictive. I can always tell it's hers by the way the character's hair is drawn!
Number one on my bucket list: Traveling outside of the United States. I've been to Canada and the Caribbean, but that's it. I'd really like to visit Poland and Romania, where my family comes from, and Greece, France, and Iceland too, at some point.
Anything else you'd like to add: While I hope everyone reads, and loves, Anne of Manhattan, I really encourage you all to pick up the original Anne of Green Gables series if you haven't already. The books are dreamy and romantic, but I really don't think people realize how FUNNY they are as well. Anne herself makes me laugh out loud every time I reread the series.
Find more from the author:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brinastarler/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrinaStarler
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrinaStarler
Website: http://www.brinastarler.com/
Author Bio: Brina Starler writes, and reads, romance novels and romantic fiction— anything with kissing will do. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, pair of dogs, and a turtle, and has finally resigned herself to a future of asking tall people to get stuff off the top shelf.
