Blog Tour Interview: Julie Anne Peters

Describe yourself in five words or less.

Shy sun-loving vegetarian animal lover


What are some things that you like to do?

Laugh (a lot), go to the theater (preferably musical theater), sing along with CDs in my car, read mysteries, thrillers, and edgy YA fiction, try out new restaurants, support charities that help children and animals, daydream, and people watch.


You're able to change one event that happened in your life. What event would you change and why?

I ratted on a friend once. I’ll never forget it, and I wish I could go back in time to make it right.


What is the first thing that pops in your head when you think of Alyssa?

Secure in her sexuality.


Is there anything the readers may not know about you after reading the book that you'd like them to know?

I think this book is making a full circle back to the first lesbian love story I wrote, Keeping You a Secret. However, I’ve tried to update the social and political climate a bit by making Alyssa an out lesbian—at least to herself and at school. With every new book I try to push myself artistically, and with She Loves You, She Loves You Not… I wanted not only to tell a story within a story, but to use second person point of view. It was fun, and a challenge.

Seventeen-year-old Alyssa thought she knew who she was. She had her family, her best friends, and most importantly, she had Sarah. Sarah, her girlfriend, with whom she dreamed with about the day they could move far away and live out and proud and accepted for themselves, instead of having to hide their relationship.

Alyssa never thought she would have to make that move by herself, but disowned by her father and cut off from everyone she loves, she is forced to move hundreds of miles away to live with Carly, a mother she barely knows, in a town where everyone immediately dismisses her as 'Carly's girl.' Struggling to forget her past and come to terms with her future, will Alyssa be able to build a new life for herself and believe in love again? Or will she be forced to relive the mistakes that have cost her everything and everyone she cared about?

This compelling novel about coming out, finding love, and discovering your place in the world will speak to anyone who has known the joy and pain of first love and the struggle to start over again.

Julie Anne Peters was born in Jamestown, New York. When she was five, her family moved to the Denver suburbs in Colorado. Her parents divorced when she was in high school. She has three siblings: a brother, John, and two younger sisters, Jeanne and Susan.

Her books for young adults include Define "Normal" (2000), Keeping You a Secret (2003), Luna (2004), Far from Xanadu (2005), Between Mom and Jo (2006), grl2grl (2007), Rage: A Love Story (2009), By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead (2010), and She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not... (2011). Her young adult fiction frequently deals with LGBT issues.

To learn more, click here.

In My Mailbox

Hosted By: The Story Siren

Inspired By: Pop Culture Junkie

It was a kind of slow week this week, but I AM catching up on reviews. Hooray!

For Review:


Purchases:

Before & After: Kirsten Hubbard

A travel writer and young adult author, Kirsten Hubbard has hiked ancient ruins in Cambodia, dived with wild dolphins in Belize (one totally looked her in the eye), slept in a Slovenian jail cell, and navigated the Wyoming badlands (without a compass) in search of transcendent backdrops for her novels. She lives in San Diego, California. Learn more about Kirsten at www.kirstenhubbard.com!

I'm more zen than I thought I'd be. The scariest part is the unexpected. And everything’s unexpected! I don’t know how the book will do, when my first not-so-great review will come in. I don’t know how many people will come to the launch party, how many books will sell, if my jackalope dress is as cool as I think it is. But one thing’s for sure: A week will pass no matter what, and on the other side of it, I’ll be an author.

I think the main feeling is humbled. By the countless congrats, blog posts, tweets, facebook messages, emails and well-wishes that started on release day and still haven’t stopped coming in. There’s no real sense of how the book did, and I probably won’t know for weeks or months. But the buzz was everywhere, and it was thrilling. I had no idea I could love this industry more than I already did. Despite my nervousness (extreme nervousness), the launch party was a success, and my jackalope dress was indeed as cool as I thought it was. And now… I’m ready to get writing again :)

Reviews for Like Mandarin
A Good Addition
Good Choice Reading
Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

Find Lisa & Laura Roecker
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Buy Like Mandarin
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

Before & After: Ashley Hope Perez

In her words:

When I’m not reading, writing, or teaching, I am hanging out with our little boy, Liam Miguel. He keeps me very, very busy. In the scraps of time that remain, I also like to run (I did the Houston Marathon in 2007 and the Chicago Marathon in 2009), bake (but let’s don’t revive the “Cookie Girl” nickname, please), watch movies, work in my garden, and destroy my mom in long-distance games of Scrabble. My husband is a hard-core Metallica fan who’s also addicted to Vicente Fernández’s soulful ballads, which means I also get plenty of exposure to an eclectic mix of music. Our household also includes a very sweet-natured cat, Sugar Mama, who would like the world to know that she was here before Liam.

Learn more about Ashley at www.ashleyperez.com!

I was mostly busy using up the book advance on a termite treatment for our house and furniture for our (then brand-new) baby boy, Liam Miguel. Oh yeah, I also stalked lots of authors online to see how they “behaved” on blogs and in their comments because the whole Internet community was new to me. Also... explaining to relatives and former students for the ga-zillionth time why they (still) couldn’t buy the book yet. And maybe I set up a google alert so I could now the MINUTE something new about me or about What Can’t Wait came up.

On the release date, I drove to all the bookstores in my town to make sure they had What Can’t Wait. One store has it in the window, and I still drive by obsessively to check that it’s there. The best thing about life after publication is hearing from readers, especially students. I went on a mini book tour in Houston and did half a dozen school visits, which left me jonesing for my teaching days. I still write with my students in mind. In fact, I have another bun—ahem, book—in the oven: The Knife and the Butterfly. It’s in revision and will be out in 2012. I’m slowly gathering the ingredients for my third, top-secret, novel.

Reviews for What Can't Wait
Forever Young Adult
The Book Memoirs
Writing YA

**Also, check out a guest post Ashley did on Diversity in YA here.

Find Ashley Hope Perez
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Buy What Can't Wait
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

In My Mailbox

Hosted By: The Story Siren

Inspired By: Pop Culture Junkie

Thankfully, I didn't get a bunch of books in for review this week. I say "thankfully" only because I am so behind -- having an unexpected shipment of books with deadlines kind of does that for you. However, as promised last week, I thought I'd showcase a few of my Kindle purchases. I think I should get rid of my Kindle, though... it's already making me pass my weekly budget for books!

For Review:


My Purchases:
{Hardcovers/Paperbacks}


{Kindle}