Owl Always Be Reading: Interview + Giveaway: Adi Alsaid author of Never Always Sometimes

Today we have a special surprise for you all! We have Adi Alsaid on the Blog today! Yay!!!!! *throws confetti*

Daisel and I got the chance to meet Adi last year when we went to the Harlequin BEA breakfast! He was so sweet and funny! We each got copy of Lets Get Lost and it was go GOOD! So when we found out that Adi was releasing a new book this year, NEVER ALWAYS SOMETIMES, we knew we had to get our hands on it. Check out Daisel's review HERE.

Now, on to the good stuff! Make sure you leave us a comment to be entered to win a copy of Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid!

Adi Alsaid was born and raised in Mexico City, then studied at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. While in class, he mostly read fiction and continuously failed to fill out crossword puzzles, so it's no surprise that after graduating, he did not go into business world but rather packed up his apartment into his car and escaped to the California coastline to become a writer. He's now back in his hometown, where he writes, coaches high school and elementary basketball, and has perfected the art of making every dish he eats or cooks as spicy as possible. In addition to Mexico, he's lived in Tel Aviv, Las Vegas, and Monterey, California. A tingly feeling in his feet tells him more places will eventually be added to the list. Let's Get Lost is his YA debut.

Hi Adi, thank you so much for taking time to answer some of our questions! Congratulations on releasing your second book, Never Always Sometimes! Ana and I were able to meet you last year at the BEA Harlequin Teen breakfast and you were the sweetest! Totally fangirlling right now! LOL

Hehe, thanks! I’m glad I can be on your blog, so thanks for having me.

Q1. What are 5 random facts about yourself?

1) I once tossed a Gatorade at Lebron James. Not like at his head or something, he caught it and thanked me. I was a ball boy at an NBA All-Star game.

2) When I was five, I was bugging my older cousin to the point that he pretended to chase after me. I ran, looking over my shoulder to make sure I was safe, and went straight through a sliding glass door.

3) I speak three languages, mostly in reverse order of how I learned them. I learned Hebrew first, but speak it the least, followed by Spanish. English was technically my last language, but it’s the one I think in 99% of the time.

4) I was once on a flight with Ryan Gosling. I played it cool, but he was definitely checking me out while pretending to read the whole flight. Or something like that.

5) I’ve been to 37 out of 50 U.S states, but only 10 out of 31 Mexican states. (Not including DC or Mexico City, respectively).

Q3. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

For a significant chunk of childhood, a basketball player. Although I did once find a kindergarten drawing where we were asked to answer that very question, and I drew a firefighter and an astronaut. I had no idea I was such a cliché.

Q2. I know you recently went on a trip to Asia and I absolutely loved looking at all your pictures you posted on your social media. It looked like you had a blast! Can you tell us what was your most memorable moment there?

As I write this, I’m actually in Hong Kong, on my very last night of the trip. I’m glad people have been enjoying the posts, and not hating me for how my bursts of pictures whenever I find wifi. It’s been an awesome journey, with a ton of incredible moments. Biking around Westlake in Hanoi, the sunrise on the overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, snorkeling on Koh Rong Island. It’s been such a great trip, and it’s hard to pick just one memory that stands out. Oh man, looking up on a Cambodian beach at the Milky Way while phosphorescent plankton shined on our feet.

Q4. What was the most recent book you read that you absolutely loved?

Maybe Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba. It’s a graphic novel that tells one man’s story through 10 different potential last days of his life. A quick, intense read with beautiful artwork that you just want to stare at for days.

Q5. What can you tell us about your new book, Never Always Sometimes and what do you hope readers take from it?

I set out to write a funny book, so I hope that above all, readers laugh. There’s of course more to the story, which is about two best friends, Dave and Julia, who at the end of their senior year put themselves in a position to reconsider all they thought they knew about high school. When they re-discover The Nevers, a list of cliches they promised themselves never to do, they decide to undertake a mission to do every single one for the fun of it. Except Dave’s already broken one of the Nevers by being quietly in love with his best friend for all of high school.