Perfect by Cecelia Ahern has arrived! ???? To celebrate the release of the sequel to Flawed, Team Fierce Reads asked Cecelia a few questions about the series and life as an author.

Team Fierce Reads: What makes Celestine Fierce?
Cecelia Ahern: When we meet first Celestine she is a popular girl with a large group of friends, very intelligent, a mathematical whizz kid, grade A student. She is happy and content with her life, she believes the word of the Guild, and supports the Flawed rules.

Suddenly she’s forced to question everything she believes in when one of her neighbors is accused of being Flawed and that is when she evolves. She starts questioning society, she starts to listen to her own doubts and question her own beliefs, instead of always following the crowd. Finding her voice, questioning society, telling people that they are wrong to think she is anything less than them is what makes her fierce. Standing up for herself, bringing compassion and logic to a society that has lost its humanity is what makes her fierce. Embracing her flaws and realizing that to be human is to be flawed is what makes her fierce. Reminding others that she is there and that she counts as much as they do is what makes her fierce.

TFR: If you could give Celestine one piece of advice, what would it be?
CA: I feel that through writing these novels I did give Celestine advice. I told her to stop listening to others and start listening to herself. She goes from being a girl who is very logical, who thinks in black and white, to being somebody who suddenly has to learn how to follow her heart and her instincts. She realizes that society isn’t always right, that people have agendas. I told her to question the norms and find her own voice.

TFR: What’s the strangest thing you learned while researching Flawed and Perfect?
CA: I wrote one of the most graphic, disturbing and violent scenes of my entire career when writing Flawed. It was the ‘Branding Chamber’ scene where people who are accused of being Flawed must go to receive a branding to their skin to identify them to the public as imperfect people who are damaging to society. I thought I might be arrested while googling skin searing, flesh burning and what happens to tongues and taste buds when they’re burned. It was a very unusual type of research for me, and it made me uncomfortable but the scenes had to feel real, I wanted to be able to explain the sounds, the smells, the tastes to convey the terror and unfairness of the situation. But in introducing the loss of Celestine’s taste buds in Flawed, it also led to one of the most romantic scenes in Perfect. So I had to balance out the darkness with light.

TFR: If you’d met Celestine when you were a teen, would you have been friends?
CA: I wouldn’t necessarily have been friends with the Celestine at the beginning of Flawed. I probably was more like her sister Juniper, who was quieter, had a smaller group of friends and kept to herself, though who was more cynical and questioning of society. The Celestine that she becomes throughout her testing journey is a person that I would certainly have looked up to and followed. She becomes a leader with quiet confidence, which is the most attractive quality a leader can have, in my opinion. 

TFR: What’s one fun fact most people don’t know about you?
CA: I used to be a singer and dancer. I had a record deal, performed in a pop group, and recorded backing vocals for a U2 charity song that I’ve never ever heard played anywhere!! Probably because I was terrible!