Blog Tour: Zyla & Kai by Kristina Forest (Interview!)

Happy Friday and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ZYLA & KAI! I’m so excited because today I have an interview with Kristina Forest to share with you! This book is truly amazing and I’m so excited to for you to find out more about it!

Zyla & Kai by Kristina Forest
Published on June 7, 2022 by Kokila
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, YA
Pages: 480
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Author Links: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram

While on a school trip to the Poconos Mountains (in the middle of a storm) high school seniors, Zyla Matthews and Kai Johnson, run away together leaving their friends and family confused. As far as everyone knows, Zyla and Kai have been broken up for months. And honestly? Their break up hadn’t surprised anyone. Zyla and Kai met while working together at an amusement park the previous summer, and they couldn’t have been more different.
Zyla was a cynic about love. She’d witnessed the dissolution of her parents’ marriage early in life, and it left an indelible impression. Her only aim was graduating and going to fashion school abroad. Until she met Kai.
Kai was a serial monogamist and a hopeless romantic. He’d put a temporary pause on his dating life before senior year to focus on school and getting into his dream HBCU. Until he met Zyla.
Alternating between the past and present, we see the love story unfold from Zyla and Kai’s perspectives: how they first became the unlikeliest of friends over the summer, how they fell in love during the school year, and why they ultimately broke up… Or did they?

What would you do if you spent the day with Zyla and Kai? Where would you go to eat, hang out, relax, etc.?

I would want to hang out with Zyla and Kai at Sailor Joe’s, the amusement park where they work. We’d eat funnel cake and go on rides and then go to the water park. At the end of the night, we’d all watch the fireworks together. 

If Zyla and Kai were to hang out with other fictional characters, who would they be and why?

I think they’d both really like to hang out with Chloe, Eli, Evie and Milo, who are the main characters from my previous novels, I Wanna Be Where You Are and Now That I’ve Found You. I think that they’d all get along really well and have a good time. 

If there was one fictional place you could travel to for a day, where would it be and why?

I’d love to travel to Castell Cottage from Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert. It seems like such a nice, cozy place where I could get some good writing done. 

If you buried a time capsule with three items inside, what three items would you choose and why?

A picture of me and my childhood/lifelong best friends for memories, a copy of my debut novel because it was my biggest goal that I accomplished, and a note to my future self for nostalgia. 

What was your favorite bit of research you ended up not using?

Nothing. I hate doing research lol, so I try to avoid it if I can. I looked up how art students put together portfolios for college applications because Zyla wants to be a fashion major, but otherwise I didn’t do much research for this book. 

What is your favorite quote, scene, or moment from Zyla & Kai?

My favorite scene in Zyla & Kai is a spoiler! But my second favorite scene is when Zyla and Kai attend Kai’s homecoming dance. Kai is voted homecoming king and because Zyla doesn’t go to his school, she can’t be voted homecoming queen alongside him. Despite this, Kai finds Zyla in the crowd and asks her to dance with him anyway. I think this scene is really sweet and I enjoyed writing it very much. 

What do you think about Zyla & Kai? Have you added it to your tbr yet? Let me know in the comments and have a splendiferous day!