Interview with Joëlle Anthony

Joëlle Anthony has been a storyteller her whole life, which transformed into her writing career. She has had a few small roles in movie, but decided to change to writing. Restoring Harmony is her first book.
What was the hardest and easiest part of writing Restoring Harmony?
The hardest part was Chapter One. Before I ever even queried agents, I cut 60 pages from the front end. Then my agent made me cut more. Then my editor made me cut even more! I found it extremely hard to give the book a running start and create the world Molly lives in at the same time.
The easiest part was the last chapter. I wrote it in about an hour and it never even needed much editing. By the time I got to it, I knew the characters so well, and I knew exactly what I wanted to happen, so it just flowed right out and was done in no time. Now if I could just write first chapters that easily, I’d be set.
2. Restoring Harmony takes place in the future, but if given a choice of time traveling to any point in time, where and when would you choose?
I’ve been asked this a couple of times and I always answer the same, so I should probably try to come up with something different, but honestly, there is only one answer. I really would love to go back to live in the early 1900s in a small town in Minnesota (brrr!) next door to Betsy Ray from the Betsy-Tacy books. The books could be renamed Betsy-Tacy-Joëlle. They had the best times!
3. Music is very important to Molly in Restoring Harmony, what are some of your favorite songs?
As a child of the eighties, I’m not allowed to answer this because it would be so embarrassing. Just kidding. Sort of.
Actually, I married the man who wrote my favourite songs, Victor Mecyssne (he took my last name when we got married so now he’s Victor Anthony. How cool is he?). Seriously, I was a big fan of his work and through a series of lucky events and a mutual friend, we met even though we lived 2000 miles apart. You can hear his work through his site (http://www.victoranthony.ca). It’s a romance story that would be unbelievable in a book.
Some of my favourite songs he didn’t write are Whiter Shade of Pale performed by Annie Lennox, I Wish I Was in New Orleans by Tom Waits, and all the songs by our pal, Tom Mitchell.
4. What are some of your favorite young adult novels?
The Betsy-Tacy high school books by Maud Hart Lovelace
Tribes by Arthur Slade
The Year My Sister Got Lucky by Aimee Friedman
The Timekeeper’s Moon by Joni Sensel
Six Rules of Maybe by Deb Caletti
Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdoch
Rose Sees Red by Cecil Castellucci
5. Is there anything that you would like to add?
Thanks for having me. And thanks for blogging about books. Writers are really lucky to have so many great people blogging about authors, books, and writing.

Restoring Harmony by Joëlle Anthony

Rating:
Characters: 16/20
Plot: 17/20
Originality: 17/20
Writing: 17/20
Recommendation: 17/20
Overall: 84/100 or B
Source: Publisher
The year is 2041, and sixteen-year-old Molly McClure has lived a relatively quiet life on an isolated farming island in Canada, but when her family fears the worst may have happened to her grandparents in the US, Molly must brave the dangerous, chaotic world left after global economic collapse—one of massive oil shortages, rampant crime, and abandoned cities.
Molly is relieved to find her grandparents alive in their Portland suburb, but they’re financially ruined and practically starving. What should’ve been a quick trip turns into a full-fledged rescue mission. And when Molly witnesses something the local crime bosses wishes she hadn’t, Molly’s only way home may be to beat them at their own game. Luckily, there’s a handsome stranger who’s willing to help.
Restoring Harmony is a riveting, fast-paced dystopian tale complete with adventure and romance that readers will devour.
Molly tried to please everyone and was strangely happy in a dystopian world. I found that rather annoying. I don't feel that Molly would have acted that way with her upbringing, in some of the situations. Spill was awesome, I really liked his resourcefulness and how sweet he was. Her grandparent were lovely. This plot could have been so amazing. Parts were really exciting and interesting, but much of that wasn't explored more. I found the post-collapse world to be intriguing and did like what I learned about. I also enjoy organized crime and found the way that Anthony portrayed it to be stereotypical, but with a little twist. Anthony's writing was beautiful and I really enjoyed this debut. I think that you would enjoy this book, if you can't quite handle the sadness of most dystopian books, I would suggest this book.