Sing To Me, Carrie Underwood

This week, to celebrate the Oscar awards, the Debs are writing about our celebrity dream readers. 

This is a fun topic. Many authors have their dreamcast of who’d read for their audiobook or who’d play their characters in a film/TV show. I’m no exception. When BECOMING BONNIE was optioned for TV (ah!), I immediately began thinking…. who’d make a good Bonnie Parker?

Naturally, there’s so many amazing options, but my dream short-list includes Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect), Aubrey Peeples (Nashville), and Darcy Rose Byrnes (Sofia the First, Y&R). Can you see it? I can. Beauty, brains, and a killer voice.

Another person who comes to mind is Carrie Underwood, another gal with that amazing trifecta. While she’s done film (hellooo Soul Surfer), she’s more well known for her vocals, and when it comes to film, the soundtracks she’s done for ’em. I kinda love her. And, since BECOMING BONNIE includes actual lyrics, it’d be pretty sick to hear my story come to life through Carrie’s voice. While writing the novel, I often had the thought that I want readers to feel like they’ve stepped into a sweetly scandalous Carrie Underwood song. That’s the mood I hope to achieve: sexy, somber yet uplifting, heartfelt, and raw. Can you see it? I sure hope you can 🙂

I very recently learned that BECOMING BONNIE will indeed have an audiobook version (ah!) and the reader is pretty phenomenal. I’m so happy to have Susan Bennett — the voice of Apple’s Siri — slipping into the role of Bonnie Parker. She’s read for some amazing authors, such as Charlaine Harris, Karen White, and Diane Chamberlain, and I can’t wait to see what she does with Bonn!

 

Author: Jenni L. Walsh

Jenni L. Walsh spent her early years ​chasing around cats, dogs, and chickens in Philadelphia's countryside, before dividing time between a soccer field and a classroom at Villanova University. She put her marketing degree to good use as an advertising copywriter, zip-code hopping with her husband to DC, NYC, NJ, and not surprisingly, back to Philly. There, Jenni's passion for words continued, adding author to her resume. She now balances her laptop with a kid on each hip, and a four-legged child at her feet. BECOMING BONNIE (Tor Forge/Macmillan, 5/9/2017) is her debut novel that tells the untold story of how church-going Bonnelyn Parker becomes half of the infamous Bonnie and Clyde duo during the 1920s. SIDE BY SIDE, telling Bonnie and Clyde's crime spree story, will be released in the summer of 2018. Please learn more about Jenni's books at jennilwalsh.com.