As you may well know, Colleen Hoover is one of my favourite authors. And I am super excited about her upcoming novel Maybe Someday!

Maybe Someday is an exciting collaboration between Colleen Hoover, and musician Griffin Peterson. The combination of storytelling through words and lyrics. A novel and a soundtrack! The combination of Colleen’s words and Griffin’s music will surely make a unique and wonderful reading experience!

Synopsis: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a passionate tale of friendship, betrayal, and romance—and the enchanting music that inspires one young woman to put her life back together.

At twenty-two years old, aspiring musician Sydney Blake has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her good friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter cheating on her with Tori—and she is left trying to decide what to do next.

Sydney becomes captivated by her mysterious neighbor, Ridge Lawson. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to the daily guitar playing he does out on his balcony. She can feel the harmony and vibrations in his music. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either: He seems to have finally found his muse. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one…

Recently, I was fortune enough to be able to interview Colleen Hoover and Griffin Peterson and ask them some questions about Maybe Someday.

Interview with Colleen Hoover:

Maybe Someday is a unique concept in today’s market - how did you come up with the idea of incorporating music into a novel?
The response to me including lyrics from the Avett Brothers in Slammed was overwhelmingly positive, so I thought about doing the same thing but having it be original lyrics written by the characters. Then I thought, why not actually make the music?

Was it easier or harder than you originally thought to incorporate music and lyrics into a novel?
It had it’s challenging moments, but Griffin’s work ethic definitely made it easier.

Griffin obviously helped with the lyrical storyline of Maybe Someday, but did he assist you (directly or indirectly) in the development of the storyline or the characters?
Griffin wrote all of the music and lyrics after Maybe Someday was mostly complete. He would read scenes from the book first, getting a feel for what the characters were going through, then he would put the music together.

Holder and Will are definitely swoonworthy - how does Ridge compare to these much loved male characters?
Well, all of my characters are like my babies. I absolutely adore Ridge. I hope you all feel the same.

Your books are classified as New Adult, but NA seems to be a generally broad term. The Slammed series is loved and appropriate for by both NA and YA readers, whereas Hopeless does have some more mature themes. Where does Maybe Someday fall in to the New Adult category?
I guess it probably falls in between Slammed and Hopeless. The characters are in their 20’s, and yes, they do adult things. However, the content is not as emotionally sensitive as at that in Hopeless. It’s difficult for me to say whether or not a teenager should be able to read it. If it were my teenager, I would probably let them, but all parents are different. If a parent isn’t sure, they should just read the book first and then decide :)

You have written a variety of personality types, are there any characters, or character traits, that you relate to?
Not really. My books would be boring if my characters were like me. Haha, but really, I think I pull from other people I know more than I pull from myself.

Is there anything you like, dislike, admire or envy about any of the characters personalities?
Definitely! I can’t say much because I don’t want to give any of the story away, but I really like Ridge and Sydney. I think we’d be friends.

What was your favourite part about writing Maybe Someday?
I had a little bit of difficulty writing Maybe Someday. I felt a lot of pressure for the book to be good, so I kept re-writing the ending, thinking it wasn’t good enough. I think my favorite part was probably collaborating with Griffin. It was new and exciting for me.

If you could describe Maybe Someday in 3 words, what would they be?
Heart-wrenching, lyrical, and unexpected.

If we could look, what books would we find on Sydney’s and Ridge’s bookshelf?
Ridge: Titles by Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Dave Barry, and David Sedaris.
Sydney: Nothing, because her books were all left at Tori’s apartment.

 

Interview with Griffin Peterson:

As a music artist, what appealed to you about working with Colleen on Maybe Someday?
I thought the concept was incredibly unique and I definitely didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to be involved!

What was your favourite part about working on Maybe Someday?
I think it was figuring out how the music was going to fit with the book, and seeing how the lyrics really captured the emotions of Sydney and Ridge. There are circumstances that prevent them from being able to express their emotions to each other, and the songs are a way for them to get through to each other.

Where there any character traits or situations that you could relate to in the characters in Maybe Someday? Did that make it easier or harder to write lyrics for them?
Definitely. I think anyone can relate to being in a position where they have feelings they don’t know how to express. It made it a lot easier to write the lyrics for them, because I already use music to express how I’m feeling. I think all musicians do.

Musically, did you find this project a rewarding experience?
Absolutely! Anything that involves making music is a rewarding experience for me.

If we could look at their personal music collections, what would we find on Sydney’s and Ridge’s iPod?
Erick Baker, Damien Rice, Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Matt Corby, Griffin Peterson, Dave Barnes, and her guilty pleasure: One Direction. Oh, and Sounds of Cedar, of course :)

 

More about Maybe Someday, Colleen Hoover and Griffin Peterson:

The novel and full soundtrack are available on March 18, 2014!

The Maybe Someday soundtrack is available now through iTunes!!!

Visit the Maybe Someday website! Here you will find more information about Colleen and Griffin, and you will also be able to see bonus features and purchase or pre-order the music from this amazing soundtrack.

Watch the below clip to see Colleen and Griffin talk about Maybe Someday:

 

Don’t forget that our International March Giveaway includes Maybe Someday, so be sure to enter for your chance to win! Also, thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia, we will also be running an Australian only giveaway for Maybe Someday soon - so keep your eyes open for that amazing giveaway!

 

A huge thank you to both Colleen and Griffin for taking time out of their busy schedule to talk with us!