Guest Post - Liza O'Connor - Author of Saving Casey

Today I am joined by Liza O'Connor, author of Saving Casey, who is here to share with us a fun character interview and a bit more information about her latest release. Over to Liza....

Debut author, Liza O’Connor, has sent her characters, Cass and Troy, from Saving Casey for me to interview today.

Nicki: Here they are now. Come in you two, have a seat.

Troy: enters, opens the closet door, looks inside, checks the adjoining room, then waves in Cass. Once she sits, he moves to the door, and stands, ready for action.
Cass: *sits in the chair and looks around* Thanks for inviting me. Nice place you have.
Nicki: Thank you, I gather you’re Cass.
Cass: *rolls eyes* What gave it away? This hideous ghoul face?

Nicki: Ah, having second thoughts about your facial tattoos, are you?
Cass: Second thoughts? I screamed the moment I looked into the mirror and saw my face. How am I expected to turn this life around when I look like one of the walking dead?
Nicki: I’ll grant you, the tats do make a strong first impression.
Cass: A strong negative impression. People assume I’m trouble because I look like trouble. No one believes a word I say, people accuse me of shoplifting even when I show them my receipt, and I get blamed all the time for stuff I didn’t do.
Nicki: Then why did you get the tats to begin with?
Cass: *sighs and glances at Troy* Can you give us a minute?
Troy: Hold on. *He speaks softly into his mic.* Did Nicki Markus’ deep background check come back clean? No ties to any names on my list? Good.
*Troy focuses on Cass.* I’ll be right outside.  *He leaves the room*
Nicki: Well, that’s a first. He had me checked out? By whom?
Cass: Don’t worry, he’s very discrete. He’s just trying to keep me alive. I seem to have a great deal of enemies who would prefer me otherwise.
Nicki: Wow! What’d you do?
Cass: *throws up hands* I don’t know. I’ve tried to figure it out, but Old Casey didn’t leave me many clues. If it wasn’t for the internet, I wouldn’t have a single clue.
Nicki: Hold on. Why are talking about yourself in 3rd person?
Cass: *covers her face with the palms of her hands and groans, then faces Nicki.*
This has to stay between you, me, and your readers, okay?
Nicki: *nods*
Cass: A month ago I was an 80-year-old woman with cancer. I didn’t want to die in pain, so I took the quick way out. Next thing I know, I wake up in a hospital in this body. The previous owner, named Casey, had committed suicide, but only I know that. Everyone else thinks I’m Casey Davidson. But I have no memories of this girl. All I can remember is my 80 years as Cass Goldman.
Nicki: Double Wow.
Cass: Right. If I had tried to explain that to my new parents and my doctor, I’d be spending my new life in a mental institution. So I claimed to have partial amnesia. I can remember how to do things, but I don’t remember anything about my life before waking up in the hospital.
Nicki: And they bought it?
Cass: Not everyone. The principal thinks I just want to get out of taking my tests. And even the people who do believe me keep expecting me to regain my memory.
Nicki: Which probably explains why someone still wants to kill you.
Cass: *nods* Honestly, when I first say this face and heard of all the crap Casey had done, I wanted to ring her neck, as well. But the more I’ve discovered, the more I realize she wasn’t a bad kid, she just had no one on her side. I at least have Troy.
Nicki: Exactly what is your relationship with Troy.
Cass: Not you too. I just told you I’m really an 80-year-old woman. Why should you care if I fall for a 30-year-old hunk?
Nicki: Because you are now in a seventeen-year-old body. Which makes you—
Cass: Jailbait in Connecticut. I know. Well, have no fear. Troy’s sense of honor is far more stringent than the jailbait laws. He insists I will always be too young for him.
Nicki: So maybe you should find a young man your age.
Cass: That’s what he says. And while in many ways, I do feel like a teen again.
Nicki: How so?
Cass: Like having everyone assume the worst of me, getting scolding for my attitude and comments when I’m just trying to be funny, expecting me not to complain when I’m being treated unfairly. And raging hormones that cause me to overreact to all my ill treatments. You know, normal teen stuff. However, where my heart is concerned, I’m grown up, and I will never be interested in boys ‘my own age’.
Nicki: Sounds kind of hopeless.
Cass: I can’t accept that. I went through eighty years without finding a true love, and in the first month as Casey, I find a guy who resonates with me perfectly. He gets my humor, which appears to be a rarity. He’s intelligent, resourceful, confident, honorable, trustworthy…I could go on. Without question, he’s the finest man I’ve ever met, prior life included. I cannot accept that I have to let him go. I may have to wait until I’m not jailbait, but there has to be a way for us to eventually be together. There has to be.
Nicki: I wish you good luck with that.
Troy: *enters* Sorry to interrupt. But I need to get Cass back to safety.
Nicki: Is she really in serious danger?
Troy: *stares at Nicki with intensity* She is. But I assure you, they will not succeed.
Nicki: Do you know who is after her?
Troy: *sighs heavily* I have some suspects, but I have yet to identify the head of this snake.
Nicki: Well, good luck. *shakes hands with Troy and then Cass*  Thanks so much for visiting us today. I can see why Liza wanted me to meet you. I’ll be rooting for you both *She winks at Cass* …to succeed in all matters.

Having been diagnosed with cancer, Cass Goldman decides to opt out of any futile medical care and end her life. While she has some thoughts on afterlife, she never expects to reincarnate into the body of a seventeen-year-old girl named Casey Davidson.

When she awakens in a hospital, Cass discovers two disturbing facts: One, she is now inside the body of a troubled teenager, and two, the former owner of this body committed suicide, but only Cass knows that. Everyone else believes Casey has survived, but suffered a complete memory loss. Cass has two choices: to take on Casey’s life and turn it around, or to confess the truth about her reincarnation and end up in a mental asylum. Given this second chance to life, Cass decides to take on the future life of Casey—the frightening ghoul-faced teen with short, black, spiky hair.

Every person around Cass has an ulterior motive and discovering the truth of Old Casey’s life is more complicated than the “new math” she is forced to learn in school. In addition, Cass has to contend with raging teenage hormones and the prior crimes of Old Casey, which she might not remember, but everyone else certainly does. However, her biggest frustration concerns her feelings for her father’s rugged security specialist who sees her only as a teenager and doesn’t want to explore the mutual attraction between them.

As determined as Cass is to turn this life around, Old Casey’s enemies are just as determined to end her life. She has no idea whom she can trust, but she knows she’ll never survive going it alone.

Author Bio 
Liza lives in Denville, NJ with her dog, Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels. She loves to create interesting characters, set them loose, and scribe what happens.

Saving Casey Book Trailer Link: http://youtu.be/WxcaMP0Dgzc

SAVING CASEY BY LIZA O'CONNOR IS AVAILABLE AT THESE SITES AND MORE:

Bono Books ~  Amazon ~ Barnes&Noble

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT LIZA O'CONNOR & SAVING CASEY:

Liza's Blog and Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter