All
the Stars in Heaven
By Michele Paige Holmes
Ever
since the woman he once adored told Jay
Kendrich he was a chivalrous hero, he has
tried to live up to the praise. But when
things don't work out with Jane, moving on and
dating other girls proves to be a chore. That
is until he meets fellow Harvard student Sarah
Morgan. Although Sarah is a freshman studying
music and Jay is in his third year of law
school, he discovers they have much in common.
He also discovers that getting to know the shy
pianist is painful. The last thing Jay
expected from his friendly advances was to be
assaulted by a brawny stranger. It is
abundantly clear that someone wants him to
stay away from Sarah. If only he could.
As long as she can remember, Sarah has lived
under a watchful eye. While her father insists
it's for her own protection, Sarah feels
imprisoned. As she begins to believe that
those she has trusted most don't have her best
interest at heart, she is driven further from
her respected father and closer to Jay. But
their love will come at a high price as the
pair edges closer toward to a truth that is
darker than either of them could have
imagined.
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Getting
to Know Michele Paige Holmes
1.
What caused you to begin writing this book?
When I originally plotted Counting Stars,
the character Jay Kendrich had a much larger
role. As often happens during the writing
process, I had a change of heart, and Jay
ended up being the guy who didn't get the girl
after all. But he was a great character, and I
wanted to see his happily-ever-after too. I
also thought it would be interesting to see
his side of what had happened between him and
Jane. I started thinking about what kind of
girl would accept and love Jay in spite of his
past mistakes. The not-so-logical answer
. . . a young woman who, along with her police
chief father, works to get drugs-such as the
cocaine Jay was previously addicted to-off the
street.
2. Briefly describe your usual writing
process.
It is a rare occasion when I get a long block
of time to sit down at the computer to write.
Instead, I'll often steal 15 minutes to half
an hour here and there throughout my week. It
would be very difficult to accomplish
much-especially writing a 100,000 word
novel-this way if I didn't know exactly what I
was going to work on during those short times.
Fortunately, by the time I do get to put
fingertips to the keyboard, I've already
thought a scene through several times in my
head, and it is literally just waiting to be
put on paper. I come up with those scenes
while doing the everyday things all moms
do-driving children to and from school and
lessons, washing dishes, folding laundry, etc.
Just before going to sleep at night is an
excellent time to focus on the story I'm
trying to write. If I'm stuck at night, often
by morning I know where the plot is going.
Once a scene is written, I take it to my
critique group. They provide valuable feedback
on everything from grammar to character
development, dialogue, and plot lines. When a
manuscript has made it past the sharp eyes of
my critique group (a several-month process), I
have both writer and reader friends read it.
After getting their feedback and addressing
any concerns they have, I submit the
manuscript. And then the real editing begins!
3. What do you enjoy most about being
an author?
The best thing about being an author is
hearing from readers who enjoyed my book.
Writing is often hard work, but when someone
takes the time to send an e-mail or stop me in
the hall and tell me they enjoyed a story I
wrote, it makes every difficult moment worth
it. I so appreciate the readers who went to
the effort to contact me after they'd read Counting
Stars.
4. What do you hope people come away
with after reading your book?
I hope readers feel good when they finish
reading any of my books. I hope that through
reading the romance they remember that
wonderful, heady feeling of falling in love. I
hope they see that though life can be
difficult (really difficult at times for the
main characters in All the Stars in Heaven),
love is a powerful force and can help us
overcome a lot of trials.
5. What kind of research did you do
for this book, and how long did it take?
I am one who actually enjoys doing research
for a story, and I tend to obsess about it and
try very hard to make sure every little detail
is accurate. For example, when plotting the
suspense elements of All the Stars in
Heaven, I went through months and months
of the Harvard crime beat. Nearly every event
in the story-from the fire to the stolen
needles and the hit-and-run incident-is pulled
from actual crimes on campus during 2005. The
triple overtime game against Yale? It really
happened and that was the score. Mount
Trashmore? Yep, they build it on campus every
year. Trish's ballet recital really did get a
bad review in the school paper and, had Jay
not gotten a black eye, he might very well
have attended Homecoming in the Yard. The
locations and events I describe on and around
campus are written as close to the truth as
possible.
Research for All the Stars in Heaven proved
especially difficult as I've never been to
either Boston or Harvard. I read numerous
books, studied maps, and searched the
Internet. None of those is quite the same as
being in those locations, so I was fortunate
to get in touch with the Harvard historian.
She kindly answered my questions about campus
and provided the details I needed.
6. What is the next project you are
working on?
Right now I'm drafting Tara's (Jane's slightly
crazy friend in Counting Stars)
story. A few years have passed since we last
saw her, and she's moved to LA and is a big
time realtor with a hugely empty life. En
route to a Colorado spa for the holidays, her
plane is rerouted to Salt Lake City when the
Denver airport closes (really happened a
couple of years ago-see my obsession for the
realistic). A series of misfortunes follow,
and Tara is stranded with the only offer of
help coming from a pig farmer named Benji. It
is definitely not love at first sight, but
before long sparks are flying in this romantic
comedy.
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TRIVIA
QUESTIONS:
1.
What undergraduate degree does Jay have?
2. Sarah tells Jay she never needed to copy
CDs because she had all the music she wanted
to listen to. What comprised her music
collection?
3. What do Kirk and Christa dress up as for
Halloween?
4. What was the score of the triple-overtime
Harvard-Yale game?
5. From what early scientist does Sarah find
courage to follow her convictions?
Trivia Answers
1. Bachelor of science in history
2. The London Philharmonic collection
3. A "beached" boy and "The
Little Old Lady from Pasadena."
4. 30-24
5. Galileo
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Forward
to a friend!