Title: The Last Best KissAuthor: Claire LaZebnik
Published: 2014
Source: Local Library
Summary: Try as she might, Anna's never been able to forget dorky, sweet Finn, her freshman-year boyfriend that she drove away by not admitting they were dating. Their senior year, he comes back to town, no longer dorky, and no longer at all interested in her.
First Impressions: Awwww. I loved this. Quick read with strong emotional core. And of course it's an Austen retelling so you know I'm all over that.
Title: Catching JordanAuthor: Miranda Kenneally
Published: 2011
Source: Local Library
Summary: As the only girl and the quarterback, Jordan Woods is in a unique position on her football team. She wants to focus on getting an amazing college scholarship, not on romance - but romance seems determined to find her.
First Impressions: Did not entirely love this one. Not sure why. Maybe it's because neither romance seemed especially fleshed out? The dismissive and scornful way she treated other girls got under my skin, even though it was addressed.
Title: Six of CrowsAuthor: Leigh Bardugo
Published: 2015
Source: Local Library
Summary: A gang of con men and criminals get the biggest job of their career, but will their pasts, both with each other and with the people they're scamming, scotch the whole deal?
First Impressions: This was very unevenly paced, although I enjoyed the characters. But it seemed like we would have action and then this long flashback about each character. I didn't really get into it until the end.
More: Book Nut
As part of the
Teen Book Scene Epic Fail Tour, I am hosting author, Claire Lazebnik, for an interview. A challenge for her is to answer some if not all questions with lines from the book. Also, be sure to enter below for a chance to win a copy of
Epic Fail and a stress ball!
Who was your biggest cheerleader while writing this book?
My husband is always there for me, always willing to read whatever I’ve written and give me advice to make it better (he’s a professional writer too, only in TV, so his notes are really good). And my kids love seeing my books in stores and hosting book parties and stuff like that. But they’re more likely to distract me from working than they are to cheer me on—they want my attention. So do the pets. The little white dog is always excited when I get up in the morning—does that count as cheerleading?
Who was your favorite character to write?
Elise, who narrates the book. She gets to think all sorts of funny, insightful things, like, “Mom and Dad loved to say, ‘We trust you to behave appropriately,’ and then not trust us at all. I didn’t want to deceive my parents. But they didn’t leave me much choice.” I like getting in the mind of a teenager—deep down, I still feel like one even if I don’t look much like one anymore.
Who was the most challenging?
Elise’s mom. I kept making her too crazy and had to pull her way back. There’s nuts and then there’s nuts. The trick was to make her realistically annoying and embarrassing, to figure out the things she could say that would make her daughters writhe in embarrassment, but still be something a parent might think is a good thing to say. For example, after her daughters come back from a party with their dates, she says way too energetically, “Did you have a good time? No drinking, right? Who needs alcohol to have fun?” A parent might actually say that—but it’s still embarrassing.
Did you listen to any specific music to get you in "the mood" to write?
I don’t start off listening to music—I mostly get in the mood to write by seeing what funny things my friends have posted on Facebook--but my two main breaks are to walk the dogs (while I listen to my iPod) and to clean up the kitchen a little (also done listening to my iPod).
If you looked at my iPod playlist, you’d think I was some kind of crazy woman: I have such a weird mixture of music and I always have it on shuffle, so a song from the musical Next to Normal will be followed by an Adele song, which will be followed by a Beatles song, which will be followed by Vampire Weekend . . . I’m all over the place musically. But I like the constant surprise of what will come up next. I love Pandora for that reason, too.
If you could jump into the life of any of your characters who would it be?
Melinda Anton. Who wouldn’t want to be a famously beautiful movie star for a little while? Elise says, “Everything about her face was so familiar: the beauty spot near her lips, the large luminous blue eyes, the unusually arched eyebrows, the cheekbones any woman in America would kill for—and which Derek had inherited, come to think of it . . . She felt . . . like someone I had spent hours and hours of my life with. Which I guess I had, only she was always lit up on a screen and I was always in the dark below, watching her.” We adore our movie stars here in the U.S., don’t we?
What is your favorite part of LA?
The beach, of course! I was just the
