Guest Star: Melissa Walker

It's time for another Guest Star! Our guest this week is Melissa Walker, author of the brand new novel, Small Town Sinners

About SMALL TOWN SINNERS

Lacey Anne Byer is a perennial good girl and lifelong member of the House of Enlightenment, the Evangelical church in her small town. With her driver's license in hand and the chance to try out for a lead role in Hell House, her church's annual haunted house of sin, Lacey's junior year is looking promising. But when a cute new stranger comes to town, something begins to stir inside her. Ty Davis doesn't know the sweet, shy Lacey Anne Byer everyone else does. With Ty, Lacey could reinvent herself. As her feelings for Ty make Lacey test her boundaries, events surrounding Hell House make her question her religion.

Melissa Walker has crafted the perfect balance of engrossing, thought-provoking topics and relatable, likable characters. Set against the backdrop of extreme religion, Small Town Sinners is foremost a universal story of first love and finding yourself, and it will stay with readers long after the last page.

"Walker has written a credible and tender evocation of the moment when a young person’s beliefs begin to emerge and potentially diverge from the teachings of a family’s religion"
— New York Times Book Review

“Both tender and provocative… Walker creates an astutely balanced portrait of a
conservative congregation’s in-your-face response to perennial issues of domestic abuse, teen pregnancy, and suicide, as well as of those who struggle to fit the prescribed Christian mold.”
— Publisher's Weekly

And here's my interview with the author, Melissa Walker

Which came first, the title or the novel?

The novel. I was calling it HELL HOUSE while I was writing it, until people started telling me that might not fly with some bookstores/libraries. I never thought of "the H word" as especially bad, but I didn't want to risk it being an issue, so my agent and I brainstormed SMALL TOWN SINNERS and I love it just as much!

If you could choose one dessert or snack food that you could eat as much as you want of (and never gain an ounce!) what would it be?

Buttered popcorn. I can't stop eating it if it's in front of me. I'll eat until the bottom of the bowl and then I'll chew on unpopped kernels. It's a sickness. I blame years of working in a movie theater in high school.

If your main character, Lacey Anne, could give one piece of advice to teenage girls, what would it be?

Explore the boundaries of your world and don't be afraid to ask questions about why people believe what they believe.

I love the name Starla Joy [Lacey's best friend]! How do you come up with your character names? 

I love to walk through cemeteries to look for character names, but Starla Joy actually started out as just "Sarah." Then I wanted her to have a punchier name, so I moved to "Starla," and I wanted her to have some personality aspects of my friend "Joy" so I added that in the draft to remind myself of who she was. It became "Starla Joy" and I loved it too much to drop the double name.

What are you working on next?

I have a May 2012 novel with Bloomsbury that's untitled at the moment... but it involves summer sun and a very fraught double-love story.

About the author:
MELISSA WALKER has worked as ELLEgirl Features Editor and Seventeen Prom Editor. She is the author of the Violet on the Runway series as well as Lovestruck Summer. Melissa manages a daily newsletter, I Heart Daily, and handles blogging for readergirlz.com, an online book community that won the 2009 National Book Award for Innovations in Reading.

Visit her online at: www.melissacwalker.com

My Life Undecided in Teen Vogue AND Seventeen

Hey everyone! I'm so delighted, I just have to share!

MY LIFE UNDECIDED was chosen as both a TEEN VOGUE Must-Read Book of the Summer AND a SEVENTEEN Summer Beach Read pick! Squeee!!!

You can read the reviews from each by clicking the links below.

Teen Vogue
Seventeen

MY LIFE UNDECIDED is about a fifteen-year-old girl, notorious for making terrible decisions, who enlists blog readers to vote on how she should live her life. But she soon discovers, some things in life simply aren't a choice...like who you fall in love with.

If you haven't seen the book trailer yet, watch it below!



And check out the brand new book website I just launched for the book: www.MyLifeUndecided.com where you can post your own undecided questions and poll our readers for some advice!

Happy Friday everyone!

XO
Jessica

Brody Book Hunt #1

Who likes scavenger hunts!? ME!

I travel around so much I thought, wouldn't it be fun to leave things behind in the various cities I visit...as little mementos for others to find. And thus the idea of the "Brody Book Hunt" was born.

This is what I'll be doing:

In various cities that I visit, I'll be "hiding" an autographed copy of one of my books somewhere. (Stores, shops, restaurants, etc.) Then I'll Tweet and Facebook clues about where it is and the secret password you need to claim it. 

If you're the first to find the book, it's YOURS! Yep, FOR FREE! Just Tweet/Facebook me back to let me know you found it so I can mark it as "claimed." 

So without further ado, here is the first Brody Book Hunt location:

If you're in the Dallas area, visit the Yogurtville in Carrollton (on Hebron Pkwy) Tell them, "Karma Sent Me" to claim the prize.

Happy Hunting!

Jessica

 

Follow me on Twitter and Win an Autographed Copy of THE KARMA CLUB!

So, I just noticed I'm ALMOST at 1000 followers on Twitter. I know 1000 followers is just a Wednesday afternoon for people like Jessica Simpson and Justin Bieber, but for me, it's pretty dang exciting!

To help me reach that 1000 mark, for every 25 new followers I get, I'll be giving away a free autographed copy of THE KARMA CLUB to a lucky (random) follower. 

So since I'm currently at 900, the first giveaway will happen at 925, then 950, etc, until we reach 1000!

Which means, if you're not already following me, you should! Just click on www.Twitter.com/jessicabrody and click "Follow"

And if you ARE already following me, then just relax. You're already entered!

Winners will be announced on Twitter (obviously!) so all the more reason to follow so you can see your name printed when you win!

Good luck! And thanks for the follow!

XO
Jessica

Guest Star: Suzanne Young

It's time for another Guest Star! Our guest this week is Suzanne Young, author of the brand new novel, A Need So Beautiful

About A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL:

We all want to be remembered. Charlotte’s destiny is to be Forgotten…
Charlotte's best friend thinks Charlotte might be psychic. Her boyfriend thinks she's cheating on him. But Charlotte knows what's really wrong: She is one of the Forgotten, a kind of angel on earth who feels the Need—a powerful, uncontrollable draw to help someone, usually a stranger.

But Charlotte never wanted this responsibility. What she wants is to help her best friend, whose life is spiraling out of control. She wants to lie in her boyfriend's arms forever. But as the Need grows stronger, it begins to take a dangerous toll on Charlotte. And who she was, is, and will become—her mark on this earth, her very existence—is in jeopardy of disappearing completely.

Charlotte will be forced to choose: Should she embrace her fate as a Forgotten, a fate that promises to rip her from the lives of those she loves forever? Or is she willing to fight against her destiny—no matter how dark the consequences?

"A clever and well-written fantasy. Whether Charlotte is an angel or a being less freighted by religious tradition is left up to the reader, but the dilemma of how we can make a lasting impression is a very human concern. Young offers an elegant solution that is well worth consideration."
— Booklist, starred review

“A gripping supernatural romance… An imaginative twist on the timeless battle between dark and light.”
— Kirkus Review

And here's my interview with the author, Suzanne Young!

A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL sounds like such a great concept. How did you come up with the idea?

A family member was sick and I was feeling lost. At my lowest point a stranger gave me advice and it helped me through the tough times. I often wondered how she was there, just when I needed her. It sparked the idea of these beings from the light, meant to help others. And A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL was born.

Which came first, the title or the novel?

The novel. My original title was just BEAUTIFUL—but that was taken. So I thought about it and came up with A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL. And after that, I couldn’t imagine calling it anything else.

What’s your strangest writing quirk or habit? Something that would make all of us go, “huh?”

I like to eat candy corn or other tiny food items while I work.

I love the name Charlotte! How do you come up with your character names?

I discovered a site for old fashioned baby names and now I’m hooked. My characters sometimes go through a few different name changes before I find the perfect fit.

What are you working on now?

The sequel is called A WANT SO WICKED and comes out next summer, so I’m busy revising. I also have a new series THE PROGRAM that comes out Spring of 2013 from Simon Pulse.


About the author:
Suzanne Young currently lives in Portland, Oregon, where she uses the rainy weather as an excuse to stay inside and write obsessively. After earning her degree in creative writing, Suzanne spent several years teaching middle school language arts. Now she can be found at home chasing after her two children and poorly behaved dog and writing novels for teens. You can visit her online at www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com or follow her on Twitter @suzanne_young.

Watch the book trailer: