Blog Tour: Kiera by Kate Willis

by Kellyn Roth |

June 18, 2018

Hello ladies and gents!

My friend Kate Willis is publishing a book! It’s called “Kiera,” and it’s a futuristic Christian fiction story with a sweet romance thrown in.

To celebrate this release, I get to interview one of the characters from Kiera; the title character’s best friend, Destiny.

Destiny is one of the best characters in the book! She doesn’t outshine the protagonist – she’s a good best friend, after all! – but she’s also just way too much fun. She actually reminds me a lot of my own best friends – which was definitely a plus. 😉

But before we get to that, let me tell you a little bit about the author.

Kate Willis has been homeschooled her whole life in a loving family that values the Gospel of Jesus Christ, creativity, and thoughtful conversations. She is inspired by red shoes, a good story, little children, and chai tea. It is her desire to serve God in the home having a family of her own in the future. She is the author of The Treasure Hunt, The Twin Arrows, Kiera, and two short stories Enjoy the Poodle Skirt and Red Boots.

Kate is such a darling! She blogs at Once Upon an Ordinary (where you can follow along with the blog tour!).

A little bit about Kiera (the book, not the character) …

Kiera is looking forward to her eighteenth birthday. The official end of school, a party with her best friend, and chocolate cake. A sudden military draft, no possible exemptions, had never crossed her mind.

Kiera is terrified! Getting drafted would mean leaving her family, her little friend Jade—life as she knows it.
A surprising offer from Brennan Stewart just might be the answer to her prayers, but an even worse trial leaves her with one question…

If God truly loves her, why did this tragedy happen?

Kiera features several important themes. My personal favorite was the true definition of love, as laid out by C.S. Lewis.

And now, without further, ado, the interview!

(Me: bold, italics. Destiny: plain text.)

Hi Destiny! So good to have you here today. Could you introduce yourself?

Heyo, Kell! Thanks for having me. I’m off the walls happy to be here today. 😀

Hi, everyone!!! I’m Destiny Moore. I’m nineteen years old, best friends with Kiera (just had to get that in here somewhere), and a Heartie. (Yeah, I know that show is really old, and the last season was a bummer. But, oh my stars!!! Jack is darling. <3 I will watch the same episode over and over and over. My brothers–I probably should have mentioned them, huh?–don’t really understand, but I’m civilizing them by bringing good media to their lives. Ha, ha! Aric just yelled to me that every episode is the same. What does he know? XD) Was there anything else I was supposed to add… or was that good?

I love When Calls the Heart. Haven’t quite gotten to the most recent season, but I know it’s gonna be a bit sad, sooo … we’ll see!

How did you and Kiera meet? And what was your first impression of her, if you remember?

Errrmm… *chews on lip thoughtfully* *leans on pitchfork* I think we met at church back in the dark ages when we both wore oversized T-shirts, and if we didn’t have braces we probably needed them. Cringe-picture era. You get the idea. 😛

She was eating a sandwich at a picnic table, and she was eating it the “right way”—you know, where you open it up and lick all the jelly out? #notproudofmypast My first impression immediately was, “This girl will be my friend.” I sat down next to her and told her all about my new ruffly skirt the dog mudded and my favorite cow. By the time I finally asked her name, we were friends. 😉

Hey, I get eating a sandwich the “right way.”

What’s one thing you absolutely adore about Kiera?

Kiera is soooo solid. Like not boring solid–she’ll still do crazy things with me–but she’s such an encouragement to me to always follow God even when things are hard. My bestie has seriously been through the wringer lately, but she’s always turned to God with everything.

(If you ask her, she’ll be honest and say she whined and complained some, but whatever. You’re talking to me, so this is the story you get. 😉 😛 )

The other thing I adore about Kiera is that she lets me play with her little friend Jade. Jade is a world class cutie with a small vocabulary and big hair. I’ve also heard somewhere that I “forced a kitten on them” for Jade to keep. Bwahahaha! Brennan, if you’re reading this, I have more kittens you can accidentally take home. *evil laughter*

Awwww, that’s so sweet! Also, if you have extra kittens, I will take one!

What is it like being the best friend of the main character of a novel?

*shrugs* Brilliant? Amazing? Supercalifragilistic-something-rhymes-with-Moses? Kiera is so cool, and her story deserves to be told.

Do you ever wish for your own story? 😉

I would TOTALLY be down for that!!! I’d give everyone lessons in how to be a farmgirl princess, share random Heartie trivia, and maybe get a happily ever after. Seriously, that would be too awesome. The evil tease of an author who wrote Kiera’s story mentioned somewhere that she would name my book “A Poof of Hair and Sparkles”. If she writes it someday, I just might give her a free kitten.

And last but not least … what’s your favorite kind of sprinkles?

Oh, dear. The hardest question is always saved for last, isn’t it? Well, Kellyn dear, fortunately sprinkles are almost always mixed together in a container, so the question of favorites is invalid. The answer is ALL OF THEM. Littles rays of sunshine, little packages of happy… *begins singing a song I honestly just made up*

Ooookay, wow! Aric informs me (yes, he has been snooping this convo) that we have a cow who decided to randomly give birth. My farmgirl princess midwifery skills are needed.

Goodbye! Fist bumps and firecrackers!

Wasn’t that fun? I love Destiny!

Now, I’d highly recommend picking up a copy of this fun novel! You can find it on Goodreads here. Be sure to mark it as to-read!