Interview with Paige Harbison (Here Lies Bridget Blog Tour)

Today we have Paige Harboison here for an interview! This author interview is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for Here Lies Bridget. You can find ou tmore about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops of the blog tour if you'd like to know more about Here Lies Bridget!

How has having a mother who is also an author influenced you and helped you as a writer?

She can read through what I write or tell me that my ideas are stupid or not. Haha.

What inspired you to write this novel? Why did you decide to write about Bridget, who is (at least at first glance) a mean and not very likeable character?

Because flaws, to me, are way more interesting than perfection. I liked the idea of writing from almost the antagonist’s perspective.

Can you tell us a bit about the writing process? Do you have any weird writing habits?

I am more easily distracted while writing than when I do annnnything else. I get everything else done.

        

If you could pair the main character, Bridget, up with any character from any other book, who would it be and why?

I’d like her to just hang around with Hermione Granger. She’d feel sooo stupid so fast. Hermione would have no patience

     .

I've heard Here Lies Bridget is going to be turned into a movie - can you tell us anything about that?

Can’t say too much, but hopefully it happens!

Make sure to check out all the other stops of the blog tour, and keep your eye out for Here Lies Bridget, which has already been released this January.

Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Bridget Duke is the uncontested ruler of her school. The meanest girl with the biggest secret insecurities. And when new girl Anna Judge arrives, things start to fall apart for Bridget: friends don't worship as attentively, teachers don't fall for her wide-eyed "who me?" look, expulsion looms ahead and the one boy she's always loved—Liam Ward—can barely even look at her anymore.
When a desperate Bridget drives too fast and crashes her car, she ends up in limbo, facing everyone she's wronged and walking a few uncomfortable miles in their shoes. Now she has only one chance to make a last impression. Though she might end up dead, she has one last shot at redemption and the chance to right the wrongs she's inflicted on the people who mean the most to her.
And Bridget's about to learn that, sometimes, saying you're sorry just isn't enough….

Interview with Christine Seifert (The Predicteds Blog Tour)

This interview is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for The Predicteds by Christine Seifert. You can find out more about it here. Make sure to check out all the other stops if you'd like to know more about The Predicteds.

Have you always loved writing? What made you want to write a dystopian novel?

I’ve always been an avid reader, and I think that all avid readers at some point want to write. I came to fiction later in my life, though. I have a PhD in English, so most of my early writing has been academic (nothing anyone would want to read except that one guy cloistered in a library somewhere who accidentally trips upon it). Writing fiction is more immediately rewarding than academic writing because you actually get readers! It’s exciting. 

I didn’t set out to write a dystopian novel (and I’d say The Predicteds is more of a contemporary thriller), but I’m really interested in the small ways that societies change. It’s those small changes that seem innocuous on the surface that lead to big, big, big changes. The Predicteds is sort of a prequel to a dystopian world. It’s about that moment when things could go either way.

Can you tell us a bit about the writing process? Do you have any weird writing habits?

I think I might be a weird writer. I always write by hand (with a pen in a notebook) first. I only write dialogue at that point. Then I go to my computer and turn the dialogue into a narrative. I write first drafts pretty quickly because I need to know that I’m making progress! If I don’t finish something quickly, I get squirrely. Once the draft is done, I’ll spend tons of time revising. But somehow that feels easier than staring at a blank page. I also don’t mind deleting. I’ll delete pages and pages without hesitation. I figure easy come, easy go.

I´ve read you´re also a professor and teach writing. How has that affected your own writing?

Being a professor takes a lot of my time and brain power. It definitely takes a lot of my creativity and energy, so I find it hard to write fiction and be in school at the same time. I end up writing a lot over school breaks, however short they are. So that’s a negative of my job: It’s draining. On the positive side, my students totally keep me on my toes. Because I’m always engaged in talking about writing (not fiction, but professional writing) I’m always thinking like a writer. And my students are incredibly supportive. They share their writing goals with me, and I share mine. Together we work on meeting those goals, even though I’m writing novels and they are often writing instruction manuals or branding guides. At the end of the day, the writing process is the same. It’s all about time spent in the chair, attention to audience, and revision.

If you could pair the main character, Daphne, up with any character from any other book, who would it be and why?

Oh, how fun! I think Daphne would really like Alex from The Mockingbirds. Daphne would be outraged about what happens to Alex in that book. And I think they’d push each other to follow their passions. I’m pretty sure Daphne would also get a kick out of
Tom Henderson in King Dork. She likes outsiders, and she appreciates a dark sense of humor.

Which character in The Predicteds are you most like?

Let me start by saying who I am most NOT like: Daphne. I don’t have her confidence, nor do I have her quick temper. I hope I’m more open-minded than she is. I’m probably most like Melissa, Daphne’s mom, though I’m far less free-spirited. Like Melissa, I suspect I’m kind of clueless sometimes. I’m working on that…

Thanks for the great interview answers!

Make sure to check out all the other stops of the blog tour, and keep you're eye out for The Predicteds, which has already been released (September 1st 2011).

The Predicteds by Christine Seifert

(Amazon / Goodreads)

Daphne is the new girl in town and is having trouble fitting in. At least she has Jesse... sort of. He wants to be more than "just friends," but there's something he's not telling her about his past. Something dangerous. When a female student is brutally attacked, police turn to PROFILE, a new program that can predict a student's capacity for drug use, pregnancy, and violent behavior, to solve the case. As the witch hunt ensues, Daphne is forced to question her feelings for Jesse–and what she will do if her first love turns out to be a killer.

In My Mailbox #27

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren where you can talk about the books you bought or received this week.

Bought:

Rules of Attraction (Perfect Chemistry #2) by Simone Elkeles
(Amazon / Goodreads)

When Carlos Fuentes returns to America after living in Mexico for a year, he doesn’t want any part of the life his older brother, Alex, has laid out for him at a high school in Colorado . Carlos likes living his life on the edge and wants to carve his own path—just like Alex did. Then he meets Kiara Westford. She doesn’t talk much and is completely intimidated by Carlos’ wild ways. As they get to know one another, Carlos assumes Kiara thinks she’s too good for him, and refuses to admit that she might be getting to him. But he soon realizes that being himself is exactly what Kiara needs right now.

I loved Perfect Chemistry (review), and I'm excited to read the companion novel, even though I'm not sure whether I'm going to enjoy it, since it sounds like it's basically the same sory as in Perfect Chemistry...

NetGalley:

This week I joined NetGalley. I was reluctant to because I thought I'd hate reading a whole book on the computer, but it's totally fine. I'm loving NetGalley, and I might have overdone it a little...

You Are My Only by Beth Kephart
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Emmy Rane is married at nineteen , a mother by twenty. Trapped in a life with a husband she no longer loves, Baby is her only joy. Then one sunny day in September, Emmy takes a few fateful steps away from her baby and returns to find her missing. All that is left behind is a yellow sock. Fourteen years later, Sophie, a homeschooled, reclusive teenage girl is forced to move frequently and abruptly from place to place, perpetually running from what her mother calls the “No Good.” One afternoon, Sophie breaks the rules, ventures out, and meets Joey and his two aunts. It is this loving family that opens Sophie’s eyes, giving her the courage to look into her past. What she discovers changes her world forever…

The cover is beautiful, and it sounds intriguing!

Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff

(Amazon / Goodreads)

When you're sixteen and no one understands who you are, sometimes the only choice left is to run. If you're lucky, you'll find a place that accepts you, no questions asked. And if you're really lucky, that place has a drum set, a place to practice, and a place to sleep. For Kid, the streets of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, are that place. Over the course of two scorching summers, Kid falls hopelessly in love and then loses nearly everything and everyone worth caring about. But as summer draws to a close, Kid finally finds someone who can last beyond the sunset.

I've heard great things about Steve Brezenoff, and Brooklyn, Burning sounds like a great, original read!

Saving June by Hannah Harrington
(Amazon / Goodreads)
 

Harper Scott’s older sister has always been the perfect one, so when June takes her own life a week before her high school graduation, sixteen-year-old Harper is devastated. Everyone’s sorry, but no one can explain why.
When her divorcing parents decide to split her sister’s ashes into his-and-her urns, Harper takes matters into her own hands. She’ll steal the ashes and drive cross-country with her best friend, Laney, to the one place June always dreamed of going: California.
Enter Jake Tolan. He’s a boy with a bad attitude, a classic-rock obsession and nothing in common with Harper’s sister. But Jake had a connection with June, and when he insists on joining them, Harper’s just desperate enough to let him. With his alternately charming and infuriating demeanour and his belief that music can see you through anything, he might be exactly what she needs.
Except June wasn’t the only one hiding something. Jake’s keeping a secret that has the power to turn Harper’s life upside down again.

This one has been on my wishlist for ages - it sounds right up my alley.


Calli by Jessica Lee Anderson
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Fifteen-year-old Calli has just about everything she could want in life—two loving moms, a good-looking boyfriend, and a best friend who has always been there for support. An only child, Calli is excited when her parents announce that they want to be foster parents. Unfortunately, being a foster sister to Cherish is not at all what Calli expected. First Cherish steals Calli’s boyfriend, then begins to pit Calli’s moms against one another, and she even steals Calli’s iPod. Tired of being pushed around and determined to get even, Calli steals one of Cherish’s necklaces. But this plan for revenge goes horribly awry, and Cherish ends up in juvenile detention. Isolating herself from her moms, her boyfriend, and even her best friend, Calli wrestles with her guilt and tries to figure out a way to undo the damage she’s caused. When her moms are asked to take on another foster child, Calli sees an opportunity to make amends for her past mistakes.

Calli sounds interesting, even though I'm not that big a fan of the cover. I'm taking part in the blog tour for Calli, and Jessica Lee Anderson stopped by for a This or That interview earlier this week. You can read it here.

There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones
(Amazon / Goodreads)

When Finley travels to Ireland as a foreign exchange student, she hopes to create a new identity and get some answers from the God who took her brother away and seems to have left her high and dry. But from the moment she boards the plane and sits by Beckett Rush, teen star of the hottest vampire flicks, nothing goes according to Finley's plan. When she gets too close to Beckett, a classmate goes on a mission to make sure Finley packs her bags, departs Ireland-and leaves Beckett alone. Finley feels the pressure all around. As things start to fall apart, she begins to rely on a not-so-healthy method of taking control of her life. Finley tries to balance it all-disasters on the set of Beckett's new movie, the demands of school, and her growing romance with one actor who is not what he seems. Yet Finley is also not who she portrays to Beckett and her friends. For the first time in her life, Finley must get honest with herself to get right with God.

The cover is adorable, and the story sounds cute too!

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

New Releases September 2011

New Releases:

Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff

(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: September 1st 2011

When you're sixteen and no one understands who you are, sometimes the only choice left is to run. If you're lucky, you'll find a place that accepts you, no questions asked. And if you're really lucky, that place has a drum set, a place to practice, and a place to sleep. For Kid, the streets of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, are that place. Over the course of two scorching summers, Kid falls hopelessly in love and then loses nearly everything and everyone worth caring about. But as summer draws to a close, Kid finally finds someone who can last beyond the sunset.

The Predicteds by Christine Seifert
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: September 1st 2011

Daphne is the new girl in town and is having trouble fitting in. At least she has Jesse... sort of. He wants to be more than "just friends," but there's something he's not telling her about his past. Something dangerous. When a female student is brutally attacked, police turn to PROFILE, a new program that can predict a student's capacity for drug use, pregnancy, and violent behavior, to solve the case. As the witch hunt ensues, Daphne is forced to question her feelings for Jesse–and what she will do if her first love turns out to be a killer.

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger
(Amazon / Goodreads)


Release date: September 5th 2011

Most high school sports teams have rivalries with other schools. At Hamilton High, it's a civil war: the football team versus the soccer team. And for her part, Lissa is sick of it. Her quarterback boyfriend, Randy, is always ditching her to go pick a fight with the soccer team or to prank their locker room. And on three separate occasions Randy's car has been egged while he and Lissa were inside, making out. She is done competing with a bunch of sweaty boys for her own boyfriend's attention.
Lissa decides to end the rivalry once and for all: she and the other players' girlfriends go on a hookup strike. The boys won't get any action from them until the football and soccer teams make peace. What they don't count on is a new sort of rivalry: an impossible girls-against-boys showdown that hinges on who will cave to their libidos first. And Lissa never sees her own sexual tension with the leader of the boys, Cash Sterling, coming.

The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle

(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: September 6th 2011

Sixteen-year-old Laurel's world changes instantly when her parents and brother are killed in a terrible car accident. Behind the wheel is the father of her bad-boy neighbor, David Kaufman, whose mother is also killed. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Laurel navigates a new world in which she and her best friend grow apart, boys may or may not be approaching her out of pity, overpowering memories lurk everywhere, and Mr. Kaufman is comatose but still very much alive. Through it all, there is David, who swoops in and out of Laurel's life and to whom she finds herself attracted against her better judgment. She will forever be connected to him by their mutual loss, a connection that will change them both in unexpected ways.

 

Going Underground by Susan Vaught
(Amazon / Goodreads)


Release date: September 13th 2011

Del is a good kid who’s been caught in horrible circumstances. At 17, he’s trying to put his life together after an incident in his past that made him a social outcast—and a felon. As a result, he can’t get into college; the only job he can find is digging graves; and when he finally meets a girl he might fall in love with, there’s a whole sea of complications that threaten to bring the world crashing down around him again. But what has Del done? In flashbacks to Del’s 14th year, we slowly learn the truth: his girlfriend texted him a revealing photo of herself, a teacher confiscated his phone, and soon the police were involved.

You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis

(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: September 13th 2011

It's been a year since Luna's mother, the fashion-model wife of a successful film director, was hit and killed by a taxi in the East Village. Luna, her father, and her little brother, Tile, are still struggling with grief. When Luna goes to clean out her mother's old studio, she's stunned to find her mom's cell phone there—charged and holding seven unheard messages. As Luna begins to listen to them, she learns more about her mother's life than she ever wanted to know . . . and she comes to realize that the tidy tale she's been told about her mother's death may not be the whole truth.

 

Calli by Jessica Lee Anderson
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: September 13th 2011

Fifteen-year-old Calli has just about everything she could want in life—two loving moms, a good-looking boyfriend, and a best friend who has always been there for support. An only child, Calli is excited when her parents announce that they want to be foster parents. Unfortunately, being a foster sister to Cherish is not at all what Calli expected. First Cherish steals Calli’s boyfriend, then begins to pit Calli’s moms against one another, and she even steals Calli’s iPod. Tired of being pushed around and determined to get even, Calli steals one of Cherish’s necklaces. But this plan for revenge goes horribly awry, and Cherish ends up in juvenile detention. Isolating herself from her moms, her boyfriend, and even her best friend, Calli wrestles with her guilt and tries to figure out a way to undo the damage she’s caused. When her moms are asked to take on another foster child, Calli sees an opportunity to make amends for her past mistakes.

As I Wake by Elizabeth Scott
(Amazon / Goodreads)


Release date: September 15th 2011

What if you woke up and didn't know where you were? What if you didn't know who you were? And what if, when your memories started to come back--what if they didn't match the you that you're supposed to be?
Ava is welcomed home from the hospital by a doting mother, lively friends, and a crush finally beginning to show interest. There's only one problem: Ava can't remember any of them--and can't shake the eerie feeling that she's not who they say she is. Ava struggles to break through her amnesiac haze as she goes through the motions of high-school life, but the memories that surface take place in a very different world, where Ava and familiar-faced friends are under constant scrutiny and no one can be trusted. Ava doesn't know what to make of these visions, or of the boy who is at the center of them all, until he reappears in her life and offers answers . . . but only in exchange for her trust.

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: September 18th 2011

Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love. And Jeremy is hands-down the wrong guy for her to fall for. He is infuriating, arrogant, and the only person who can stand in the way of Carmen getting the one thing she wants most: to win the prestigious Guarneri competition. Carmen's whole life is violin, and until she met Jeremy, her whole focus was winning. But what if Jeremy isn't just hot...what if Jeremy is better? Carmen knows that kissing Jeremy can't end well, but she just can't stay away. Nobody else understands her--and riles her up--like he does. Still, she can't trust him with her biggest secret: She is so desperate to win she takes anti-anxiety drugs to perform, and what started as an easy fix has become a hungry addiction. Carmen is sick of not feeling anything on stage and even more sick of always doing what she’s told, doing what's expected.

My Beating Teenage Heart by C.K. Kelly Martin
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: September 27th 2011

Ashlyn Baptiste is falling. One moment she was nothing—no memories, no self—and then suddenly, she's plummeting through a sea of stars. Is she in a coma? She doesn't remember dying, and she has no memories of the life she left behind. All she knows is that she's trapped in a consciousness without a body and she's spending every moment watching a stranger.
Breckon Cody's on the edge. He's being ripped apart by grief so intense it literally hurts to breath. On the surface, Breckon is trying to hold it together for his family and his girlfriend, but underneath he's barely hanging on.
Even though she didn't know him in life, Ashlyn sees Breckon's pain, and she's determined to find a way help him. As her own distressing memories emerge from the darkness, she struggles to communicate with the boy who can't see her, but whose life is suddenly intertwined with hers.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: September 27th 2011

Mara Dyer believes life can’t get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.
She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.
She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been
through, she can fall in love. She’s wrong.

Re-releases / New in Paperback:

The Absolute Value of -1 by Steve Brezenoff

(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: September 1st 2011

Noah, Lily, and Simon have been a trio forever. But as they enter high school, their relationships shift and their world starts to fall apart. Privately, each is dealing with a family crisis—divorce, abuse, and a parent's illness. Yet as they try to escape the pain and reach out for the connections they once counted on, they slip—like soap in a shower. Noah’s got it bad for Lily, but he knows too well Lily sees only Simon. Simon is indifferent, suddenly inscrutable to his friends. All stand alone in their heartache and grief.

Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala

(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: September 20th 2011

It's tough living in the shadow of a dead girl. . . .
In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda's death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister's world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own.
When two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst fears, Miranda is stripped of her former life. She must make a choice with tremendous consequences and finally face her sister's demons and her own.
In this powerful debut novel, stunning new talent Holly Cupala illuminates the dark struggle of a girl who must let go of her past to find a way into her own future.

What September releases are you looking forward to?

Back to the Books Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Back to the Books Giveaway Hop! This giveaway hop is hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Buried in Books and you can find out all about it here.