What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
"Who is the real McLean?

Since her parents' bitter divorce, McLean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother's new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out."- summary from Amazon

Dessen is such a wonderful writer and this new novel is just so good. I absolutely loved it and found it hard to put down, much like her other books. McLean is a fantastic main character and I thought it was really interesting how she reinvented herself in the other towns. We only get to hear about them though rather than see them- all the action occurs in Lakeview where she begins to become just herself again rather than some character.

Dave is a really fun love interest, though I don't know if he'll be as memorable as some of Dessen's other love interests. I loved reading the scenes between him and McLean- they were funny, insightful, and real.

The backdrop of the restaurant was interesting too, as well as McLean's dad's consulting job. All of that was cool to read about, and Dessen got some great characters out of the restaurant workers too. We also got a small trip back to Colby, where Along for the Ride took place, and there's an appearance by a character from that book, which was fun to see.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I know Dessen fans will as well. Her books just flow so well and I liken them to Meg Cabot's books- when you read them, you fall into this really cool familiarity and it's just a fun time. I can't wait for her next book.

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Blog Tour- Interview with Holly Schindler

1) Art is such a huge component in A BLUE SO DARK. How did that come about? Are you into art, either practicing it or studying it?

Youbetcha. I took a ton of art courses in high school. I also worked some of the all-school art exhibits. I just loved being around it…Once I got into college, I was less into art and more into my lit courses—and music. I played in a few garage bands, and spent a lot of time hauling my guitar across campus, along with my books.

I’ve always been really interested in creativity—where does it come from? What’s the source? That curiosity was what led me to write about creativity—and its possible link to mental illness—in A BLUE SO DARK.


2) Your bio talks about giving guitar and piano lessons to help pay the bills. How did you get involved with these instruments, and did you enjoy being a teacher to your students? Do you have any particular anecdote that sticks out in your mind from those teaching days as memorable or humorous?

I took piano lessons as a little girl, and guitar lessons as a high schooler. My teachers were complete polar opposites: my piano instructor was the wife of a minister who had played the organ in her church, and my guitar teacher was a rock guitarist who often played with the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

My students were as different as my teachers—I had kids who got dragged to lessons by their mothers; shy kids; kids who liked to talk, jabbering on about their days instead of playing their lesson…

I was drafting only adult work when I first started seeking a publishing deal. Interacting with my teen and tween-aged students inspired me to try my hand at YA!


3) What was The Call / The Email like? Where were you when it happened? Did you go out and celebrate? Tell us all about it!

I sold A BLUE SO DARK myself, to Flux, in January of ’09. In all honesty, it didn’t happen at once, in a “Congratulations!” type of call. I got a call from the acquisitions editor around Thanksgiving of ’08…After we spoke, I knew the book was going to an acquisitions meeting…After the meeting, my editor had to get numbers from the sales department so he’d know what he could offer me…but that got delayed by the holidays…Basically, over the Christmas holiday, I knew an offer was supposed to be coming…But I’d had so many deals fall through, instead of being excited, I was really terrified.

The email offer did come from Flux in January, just days before my birthday—so it was a fantastic present! When I celebrated my birthday, I also celebrated the deal…


4) Now that A BLUE SO DARK has been out for a while and PLAYING HURT has been released, how does it feel to have two books out on the market for people to read? Has the feedback from both novels surprised you in any way?

First of all, it feels INCREDIBLE to have two books out on bookstore shelves!

One thing that’s been really interesting about blog reviews, though, is how all over the place they are…You know, when I was seeking publication, the response from editors or agents would vary slightly, but would point in the same general direction. After I’d received a few rejections, I knew what I needed to do to revise.

Blog reviews, though? There’s no consensus. Period. None. What one person likes and connects with, another person doesn’t get at all. But the cool thing about it is that there’s a yin to every yang. You really get a chance to see how different we all are, when you read a few reviews of your book.


5) What are you working on now? Can you tell us anything about it?

I’m now drafting an adult novel…but have a middle grade novel in development at Dial. The MG—my first!—doesn’t yet have an official title or artwork. But this WILL be the first book I’ll ever write that will feature original artwork. I can’t WAIT to see it.

6) What’s your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor (or flavors, if you’re so inclined)?

I really like red hot candies…(Especially like the apples Mom cooks in the fall with red hots)…I do like the Jelly Belly that tastes a bit like red hots…I think it’s the cinnamon jelly bean?

(My all-time favorite writing snack, though? Donuts. Huge donut fan…)


Holly can be found at her website, blog, and twitter and she's also part of two group blogs- YA Outside the Lines and Smack Dab in the Middle. Be sure to check out Playing Hurt, which is out in stores now! Read about it here:

Star basketball player Chelsea “Nitro” Keyes had the promise of a full ride to college—and everyone’s admiration in her hometown. But everything changed senior year, when she took a horrible fall during a game. Now a metal plate holds her together and she feels like a stranger in her own family.

As a graduation present, Chelsea’s dad springs for a three-week summer “boot camp” program at a northern Minnesota lake resort. There, she’s immediately drawn to her trainer, Clint, a nineteen-year-old ex-hockey player who’s haunted by his own traumatic past. As they grow close, Chelsea is torn between her feelings for Clint and her loyalty to her devoted boyfriend back home. Will an unexpected romance just end up causing Chelsea and Clint more pain—or finally heal their heartbreak?

My BEA Plans

So I am going to BEA next week and am so excited, especially because I will be sharing a house for the week with all these lovely people!

Susan: http://www.wastepaperprose.com/
Stacey & Amber/Pixie: http://www.pageturnersblog.com/
Cindy & Kendra: http://www.bookscompleteme.com
Tirzah: http://www.thecompulsivereader.com/
Yara: http://www.onceuponatwilight.com/
Katie B: www.katiesbookblog.com
Nancy: www.lushbudgetproduction.com
Linda: www.passive-agressiva.blogspot.com
Lynsey: www.narrativelyspeaking.com
Megan: http://amethystdaydreams.blogspot.com/
Christin: http://betweenthecoversblog.net
Andye & Amy: http://readingteen.net/
Emily: http://www.emilysreadingroom.com
Katie D: http://www.sophistikatied.com
Gabrielle: http://themodpodgebookshelf.blogspot.com
Heather: http://fireandicephoto.blogspot.com/


Because there's just so many of us and since we're all bloggers, we've created a Twitter account where you can check in on all the fun things we're doing. I also think we may be doing a live vlog event but I'm not sure if that's still happening. I do believe we will be doing vlogs every day talking about our experiences at BEA and in NYC- no idea where these will be posted but as soon as I know, I'll let you all know!

I also have some fun events planned during the week:

Tuesday- Blogger House BBQ
Thursday- This is Teen event featuring Meg Cabot, Maggie Stiefvater and Libba Bray at The Scholastic Store
Friday- Lady Gaga concert on Good Morning America (only a possibility right now)
Saturday- Books of Wonder event from 12-2 featuring Gail Carson Levine, Sarah Rees Brennan, Daniel Kirk, Bianca Turetsky, and Maurissa Guibord.

and then of course the three days at the actual BEA conference where I hope to meet tons of authors, bloggers, and publicists as well as grab some wonderful ARCs. I'm so excited for it.

Also, did you know Jane Lynch is going to be at BEA? I LOVE HER. She'll be there on Thursday doing a little talk and QnA then signing something. I'm not sure what she's signing because while she has a memoir coming out in September, there usually aren't ARCs of those. It'd be fun if they did a sampler though. I've got some friends joining me at that event so hopefully we can take action shots of us with Jane Lynch while she's signing.

Here are my top 5 authors and books to see and get:

Authors- Wendy Mass, Lisa Desrochers, Wendy Delsol, Maureen Johnson, and Micol Ostow
Books- Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America by Leslie Knope, Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey, and Between the Sea and the Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore

Do you guys wanna know anything else about my BEA trip? Leave a comment and I'll answer it either there or update this post.

Blog Tour- Tempest Rising by Tracey Deebs Review + Interview

Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs
"Tempest Maguire wants nothing more than to surf the killer waves near her California home; continue her steady relationship with her boyfriend, Mark; and take care of her brothers and surfer dad. But Tempest is half mermaid, and as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she will have to decide whether to remain on land or give herself to the ocean like her mother. The pull of the water becomes as insistent as her attraction to Kai, a gorgeous surfer whose uncanny abilities hint at an otherworldly identity as well. And when Tempest does finally give in to the water's temptation and enters a fantastical underwater world, she finds that a larger destiny awaits her-and that the entire ocean's future hangs in the balance."- summary from Amazon

I really enjoy reading about mermaids, so it's always nice to find a novel that uses them. This was such a compelling read and I loved how Deebs put together the mythology of it all as well as mixing it in with realistic emotions and situations. Tempest is a wonderful main character and her story was fun but also heart-wrenching to read at times. Her emotions regarding her mother's absence, becoming a mermaid, and so much more just made sense and Deebs did a great job with her voice.

The romance was very steamy but also handled realistically since Tempest already has a boyfriend. Kai was so great and I loved reading their scenes together. I also liked how Deebs brought in another mythological creature too. The world building was done very well.

Overall, this is just a wonderful book and a refreshing break from the abundance of other paranormal creatures. I also would like to use a lame pun now- it's fin-tastic! :D


1) How did you get the idea for Tempest Rising?

I love mermaids. Love, love, love mermaids. When I was very young (about three or so) my father brought home a VHS tape of Hans Christian Andersen’s version of The Little Mermaid (long before Disney made a version). Though it was really dark and ended with the little mermaid becoming sea foam instead of living HEA with her prince, I fell in love with the story the first time I saw it. From then on, I was all about mermaids. I watched the movie every day (and I mean every day) for three years. My mom swears to this day that she can recite the dialogue word for word. While I eventually outgrew my obsession with mermaids, when I sat down to write my first YA and was still undecided about what paranormal creature I wanted to tackle, my agent asked, “How do you feel about mermaids?” Instantly, I was right back where I started all those years ago and knew I wasn’t going to be happy writing about anything else.


2) Tell us about The Call/The Email for publication! Where were you when you got it? Did you do anything to celebrate?

I had actually missed my agent’s call earlier in the day and hadn’t called her back because it was late when I got home and I didn’t realize what it was she was calling about. She called back around nine-thirty (I love my agent) to tell me the good news and I was so excited that I spun in circles around my living room. Seriously. As for celebrating, my husband took me out for dinner and dancing. It was a blast. :)


3) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor (or flavors, if you're so inclined)?

Cinnamon and Green Apple. Yum!


4) What book(s) are you reading now, or are about to start?

I just finished Divergent (so, so good) and am about to start Bite Club (I love Rachel Caine!).


FTC: Received ARC from publisher for blog tour. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Author Interview- Lauren Myracle

1) How did you get the idea for Shine?

Shine starts off with an act of hate and violence: a seventeen-year-old boy is found beaten and left for dead, tied to the gas pump of an isolated gas station, with the gasoline nozzle jammed into his mouth and duct-taped into place. This specific image has lived in my mind for a long time, because when my dad was young, a cousin of his died from swallowing gas and inhaling the fumes. This little boy was playing with older cousins, as I recall, and they told him to pretend to be a car and they would fill him with fuel. Awful, isn't it? And powerful, powerful enough to stick with me for all of these years. Somehow in that mysterious way of brains, the memory of my dad's cousin merged with an idea I'd been playing around involving a hate crime and its aftermath...and that's how Shine was born.


2) Shine is very different in tone from your previous books- how did you get into that mindset and was it difficult for you?

No, not difficult, exactly. I mean, it was difficult to write about the ugliness in the book--and there is a lot of ugliness. But I've always had a dark side and a light side. Most readers are simply more familiar with my lighter side.


3) You seem to be very tight-lipped about your upcoming projects because it seems like I never hear about your books until they arrive in stores. So I'd like to know what book(s) are you working on now? Can you tell us anything about them? *please let there be a sequel to Bliss coming up*

You make me laugh. I'm not tight-lipped--I'm just constantly overwhelmed, meaning I never have time to do all the Good Author things I should be doing, like blogging about upcoming projects! Right now I'm working on Oopsy-Daisy, the third of a series called The Flower Power Books. It's about fifth graders. There are no hate crimes in it. As for a sequel to Bliss? I'm already taking notes and writing it in my mind! Will I ever actually write it? I sure hope so. I sure WANT to. But first my editor has to ask me to! :)


4) You grew up in the South and it was quite a different world for gay people back in the 70s and 80s. Did you ever witness or hear about hate crimes against gay people? Were you ever taught anything regarding homosexuality, or was it swept under the rug (much like a lot of bad things in the town portrayed in Shine)?

I love the South. It is and always will be my "spiritual" home, although I live in Colorado now. But yes, the South has its challenges, and I most definitely was taught by some people in my life not to "talk ugly." That included not talking about things that made people uncomfortable. Homosexuality made a lot of people uncomfortable back then--and let's be honest, it makes certain people uncomfortable still--so it pretty much...never came up. But people grow, cultures grow, and life changes. I'm happy to report that my current Southern circle of friends and family are completely open and affirming when it comes to people of all races, social and economic statuses, and sexual/gender identification. (Well...for the most part...) :)


5) Your books are constantly challenged and banned, and I'm sure Shine is going to be no different (Editor's Note: The librarian who introduced Lauren at the event said the exact same thing, lol). How do you deal with the censorship? Has Shine received any flack yet?

Gee, thanks, Book Chic! Teasing. Who knows if it'll be challenged/banned? I'm hopeful that it won't be, because I see it simply as a book that deals honestly--and not in any sort of sensational way--with tough issues. As far as early responses to Shine go, readers have been pretty frickin' supportive. Almost all bloggers/reviewers have felt compelled to "warn" readers about its pulls-no-punches content, but that's cool. The only early review that really pissed me off was one in which a reader completely trashed the entire novel because, in her opinion, there is NO WAY a grown-up in this day and age would see a child in pain and do nothing about it. Um...denial much, lady friend? The incident she was talking about was a molestation scene, and I've actually had early readers email me to say, "Omigosh, this happened to me, and no one did ANYTHING." And that is heartbreaking, and needs to be cast out into the light, I think.


6) Since I've already asked you what your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor is (a resounding "pina colada!!!!!"), what's your favorite thing to snack on while writing, or as a reward for doing writing?

Oh, BC, I bet you know: Dr. Pepper, of course! And for a REALLY guilty pleasure? Oh gosh. I'm embarrassed to say. But, a microwaved Jimmy Dean sausage-and-biscuit.


7) What kind of research did you do to capture the atmosphere of a small, backwoods Southern town that's rife with poverty, drug use, and intolerance?

Oh, ya know, the usual. I grew up there, basically. :) My parents got divorced when I was four, so I split my childhood between life in Atlanta with my mom and life in a small mountain town with my dad. The drug use aspect of the novel I did NOT learn about through personal experience, however. For that, I talked to anyone and everyone I could who'd had experience with addiction, especially with meth. And what I learned is that meth is the devil...truly.


8) What book(s) are you reading now, or are about to start?

An ARC of Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma and edited by the magnificent Julie Strauss-Gabel. So far I'm loving it. It's creepy in a psychological way--just my cup of arsenic-laced-tea!