Birthday Bash - Interview with Mandy Hubbard

BIRTHDAY BASH - COUNTDOWN: 1 DAY!

Today's BB post is an interview with young adult author Mandy Hubbard! Mandy has written the debut novel "Prada and Prejudice", and has two other books in the making.


Can you tell us about your own Sweet 16 party (if you had one) OR If you didn't have a Sweet 16 party, how would you have imagined it to be?

I didn’t have one. I was never one of those girls with a giant group of friends, but rather a handful of close ones. So I probably went out to eat with my family and a friend or two and kept it low key. J

What was the best thing about being 16?

The freedom of driving for the first time! I remember how amazing it was to cruise around with my friends… of course now they’ve changed the laws in my state and you have to drive solo for 6 months before you can have teenage passengers. But the day I got my license, I loaded up four people in my tiny Toyota Tercel and we cruised around. SO fun!

The worst thing?

You’re old enough for your first real job. Blech. I worked a day a week at a Chinese restaurant before this, but once I was sixteen I became a Subway slave. Yes, I became a ‘sandwich artist.’

What are some of your favorite memories of being a teenager?

That same summer that I worked at Subway was the summer I spent every spare moment at the river. I SO wish I could do that again—head down to the state park every afternoon and just lounge around or swim. Makes me nostalgic just thinking of it!

What was your first car like?

Oh, it was terrible. I bought it for $10 on a car lot. See, they were doing this special sale, where you had to choose the car you wanted and sit in it, and then at 10AM, they walked around and knocked all the prices down, and if you were the one sitting in the car, you got first stab at buying it. ONE car would be marked to $10. I arrived at 6Am with a sleeping bag, a book, and a couple donuts, and picked out the obvious $10 car—a 12 year old Toyota in a sea of shiny late model cars. It was fun and we got the car, and I drove it for about a year. It was red, two door, and had a leaky sunroof.

Remember your first high school crush or boyfriend? Care to go into details...? ;]

My first real boyfriend was the boy next door. It took him a month to kiss me and he did it by walking up to me while I was riding my horse and saying, “come here.” I leaned down and he kissed me and then said he had to go home, and I whirled my horse around and galloped off, a huge grin on my face. We broke up a few weeks later, but the memory lives on. Also, I am still friends with him!

Explain your version of the most perfect girls' night out?

Dinner and a movie! I am a total foodie. I loooove good food and think about what I’ll have for lunch while eating breakfast. It’s terrible. But it makes nights out all the more fun. If I have my 2 year old daughter with me (she IS a girl, after all) we’d probably skip the movie and go hang out at home. Otherwise I’m a sucker for romantic comedies, so I’d go see whatever the latest Rom-Com is!

Thanks so much for the interview Mandy! Readers - go check out Mandy's website or read her debut novel "Prada and Prejudice."