Author interview with Alyssa Roat and Hope Bolinger

Have you ever read a sweet contemporary romance and walked away with your head in the clouds? That’s happened to me several times after reading a book by Alyssa Roat and Hope Bolinger! So I am honored to have them on my blog today for an author interview + giveaway for their new book Picture Imperfect!

So without further ado…

An Author Interview with two lovely authors Alyssa Roat and Hope Bolinger

What is your favorite book that you have written (Published or Unpublished), and why?

We can both tell you that we can’t pick a favorite, as it would be like choosing a favorite child. However, I (Hope) feel that all the books I’ve authored with Alyssa have been the most fun. It’s just really wonderful to have someone by your side, discovering a story together.

How do you pick your character’s personalities, or looks?

We often think, “Who is the least suited person for this task?” Then we throw that person into the main conflict. That’s how you get character growth. We also want to make sure the characters are likeable. Flawed, but likeable. Our biggest gripe with some books is that some have very unlikeable characters and some have characters who are way too perfect. It’s important to have people who are somewhere in between.

Once an idea takes root, how long does it take you to write it down?

We will both tell you that it depends. Sometimes it takes years with one idea. Sometimes we start with that idea the very same week we had the inspiration. There’s no perfect gestational period for a book. When it’s ready to come out, it’ll come out.

What are your hobbies other than writing?

It differs between the two of us. Alyssa often likes to do game nights with friends and loves to hang out in Indianapolis, doing various activities. Hope enjoys modeling, theater, and hiking.

Do you have a genre that you would never write? (In the Christian genre sphere i.e. speculative, historical, contemporary, etc.)

Since erotica is obviously not a Christian genre (and safe to say that neither of us would write that), I don’t know if there’s anything that’s off the table. Between the two of us, we’ve pretty much covered every single genre. We have more than thirty books collectively published, and dozens of short stories in other genres published too. We embrace God’s calling with open hands and are always game to try new things.

About the Book

Book: Picture Imperfect

Authors: Alyssa Roat and Hope Bolinger

Genre: Christian Sweet Contemporary Romance

Release Date: November 5, 2021

Can a struggling career woman and a procrastinating artist save a beloved nonprofit?

Aspiring novelist Caroline Penn expected a promotion, not a picture book assignment. But when her employer, the non-profit Helping Hope, runs into financial trouble, this book might be the solution. With the company struggling to stay afloat, she and the illustrator will need to collaborate on a strict deadline—no problem for a workaholic like Caroline, right?

Andy Jackson, a “starving” artist, pays the bills by taking on graphic design gigs, but his perfectionism gets in the way. If only he could focus on a project for once, perhaps he could achieve his dream to make art for children for a living.

When the two are thrust together to create a book, Caroline can’t seem to write for children, and Andy can’t meet a deadline to save his life. As time ticks down to release day, the two must face their pasts and insecurities. If they can avoid strangling one another for long enough, they may just bring to the table what the other is missing.

If not, the fate of their careers—and a beloved nonprofit—hangs in the balance.

About the Authors

Hope Bolinger is the managing and acquisitions editor at End Game Press and the author of 25+ books. When she isn’t accidentally writing a book in seven days, she likes to model, do theater, and hike around northeast Ohio. Find out more about her at Hopebolinger.com

Alyssa Roat is a multi-published author and has worked in a wide variety of roles within the publishing industry as an agent, editor, writer, and publicist. When not reading and writing, she likes to swordfight, rock climb, throw axes, and generally engage in tomfoolery with her silly cats. Her name is a pun, so you can find more about her at alyssawrote.com.

More from the Authors

Alyssa and I never thought we’d write a sweet romance book together. Sure, we’d done a superhero romance during the summer of 2018, but we didn’t think we had the prowess or mastery of description to make a jump into the genre.

Long story short, we were perfectionists. We wanted everything to be just right. We knew that our publisher was in need of filling a hole that some romance authors had left behind.

So we tried.

We really struggled with the first draft of Picture Imperfect. We felt shaky about it at first.

But then we learned along with our characters. That there is beauty in imperfection. That there is hope for all of us.

We decided to let go and embrace the book for what it was. Messy, but still beautiful in its own way.

Looking back, as the final book for the series releases this week, I am so happy that we jumped into the world of Picture Imperfect. We learned a great deal from these characters, and it’s bittersweet to say goodbye to the world of Roseville.

If you’re looking to see a story of redemption, hope, and embracing life’s hiccups, I hope you absolutely fall in love with Picture Imperfect.

It was funny because we both took on characters that we felt reflected our coauthor. When I (Hope) wrote Andy, I saw many aspects of Alyssa in him. And when she penned Caroline, we saw many glimpses of “Hope” as well.

There was something so beautiful and emphatic about jumping into the shoes of characters who felt different from us. We could understand other creative processes and embrace people for all their intricacies.

Thank you for joining us on this journey, and hope that you love Andy and Caroline as much as we did when we first wrote them.

Sincerely,

Hope and Alyssa <3