REVIEW AND GUEST POST: Love Letters To Writers by Andi Cumbo-Floyd

E-Book Information

• File Size: 429 KB
• Publisher: Andi Cumbo-Floyd (November 14, 2017)
• Publication Date: November 14, 2017
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B076VRRH7D\

Synopsis: In 52 personal, vulnerable letters, writer Andi Cumbo-Floyd shares her personal experiences of the writing journey, offers her perspective on the writing life, and shares encouragement to help writers through the hard and the joyous days of being a writer. The letters cover everything from what it feels like to sign a book contract to the times writing draws out emotion we didn't realize to the need for space in our daily lives. The letters are intimate and honest, each written with love for the writers Cumbo-Floyd holds dear.

Review: 

An easy to read book of short letters to writers. The letters are called "love letters" as they are full of encouraging words to get writers through those times when life and/or your writing are getting you down. There is some advice, such as how to build your "platform," but it's more about growing in self-awareness. The author asks questions that help you dig deep, think about your writing, and most importantly, not to compare yourself to other writers. This is a resource I will pull out and read over and over again to keep myself motivated. Many thanks to the author for writing such an important book!

Rating: Five stars

GUEST POST

Loving on the Writers

by Andi Cumbo-Floyd

So much of the writing about writing out there comes in the form of tips or rules, should or don’ts.  I’m enough of a rebel that I don’t like that for myself as a writer, and often, as an editor and writing coach, I hear the way those rules and lists hinder writers, shutting down their creativity and playfulness and making them feel like things have to be “right” instead of they have to be, well, whatever they have to be.

I’ve found that the writers I most relate to, the writing books that have spoken the most to me, have come from the heart and the experiences of the people who lived them.  Anne Lamott, Annie Dillard, Gayle Brandeis, Stephen King, Laraine Herring – these folks have bared their word-ridden souls in their books on writing, and through their vulnerability, I have been heartened and encouraged even in the hardest days of the writing life.

That’s what I hope – in some small way – Love Letters To Writers does for the wordsmiths who read it. I hope they are encouraged and challenged, and I hope they know that I have told them the truth of my experience as a writer in this world.  The book does include a big of practical suggestions – never rules – that I have drawn from my own experience of writing, marketing, and publishing, but my intention was always to leave space for those experiences which aren’t like my own.  After all, there aren’t that many writers – the great Wendell Berry aside – who also farm. (Oh, the goat metaphors I could include here.)

Writing is not always easy, and so I hope this book lifts other writers a little on the hard days and gently pushes them to keep going when the hard feels too heavy.  I hope I have passed along the gift that so many other writers have given me – a belief in myself, a nudge to just take it one word at a time, and the promise that I am not alone in this journey.  

About the author

Andi Cumbo-Floyd is a writer, editor, and writing coach who lives at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband, four dogs, four cats, three rabbits, six goats, and thirty-six chickens.  Her book Love Letters to Writers: Encouragement, Accountability, and Truth-Telling will be available everywhere books are sold on Nov. 14th.  You can read more of her thoughts on writing at Andilit.com.  

REVIEW AND GUEST POST: Halloween Is Murder (McKinley Mysteries #11) by Carolyn Arnold

Every Day Is Halloween

 

“A nice and fun, old-fashioned mystery. Halloween is Murder was a very well-written and fast read with great characters and a fun mystery with a resolution that I did not see coming.”
–The Reading Café

Ask anyone who loves Halloween and they’ll probably tell you their favorite part about it is dressing up. When you put on a costume, you can be whomever—or whatever—you want. It’s liberating! On top of that, it’s likely that there are all kinds of goodies lying around the house.

When I was a girl, I loved playing Barbie. I loved dressing her up and assigning her whatever life story I wanted. And, man, did I enjoy it! Maybe for a little too long, in fact. I kept playing into my early teens! At the time, I felt like some sort of freak. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted this news to get out to the kids at school. They probably would have called me a baby or something like that. So I kept this part of my life a secret, and I justified my addiction by pinning the blame on my sister, who is six years younger than me—she needed someone to play with!

Now that I’m older—much, much older—I look back and find this aspect of my past amusing. I realize that it’s absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about, but it shows me that I’ve always loved telling stories and acting them out. No wonder I became an author!

In the grand scheme of things, Halloween is very similar. The holiday allows people of all ages to participate in this fantasy, if only for one night. But as an author, I get to experience Halloween every day of the year. I become someone else every time I sit at my desk and immerse myself into the worlds of my characters. I get to delve into their minds, to know their thoughts, their feelings, their personalities, their lives. And I get to share my imagination with my readers. Now that’s a real treat!

Speaking of, I’m going to grab a small bowl of candy corn and gummy peaches and get to writing. Happy Halloween!
Carolyn Arnold

Book Overview:

Beware of all that goes bump in the night…Sean and Sara McKinley are excited about the haunted house they’ve set up as a Halloween charity fund-raiser, but things take a ghoulish turn when the reporter covering their story is found dead. With the media keeping mum about how she died, Sara’s curiosity is piqued, and she convinces Sean to take on the investigation through their PI firm.

But this case is not without its challenges. The police are actively investigating it, as well, and it’s not even clear that the woman was murdered. It will take a little cloak-and-dagger, dress-up, and finesse for the McKinleys to get to the bottom of it, but they aren’t the kind to give up.

As they troll for leads and work through the skeletons in the reporter’s closet, they unearth a few suspects, but they’ll need to carve out the whole truth if they’re going to find her killer. If they do so fast enough, there might even be time for a little trick-or-treating.

Review: This is the first book I have read in this series, but I am sure it won't be the last! The Halloween theme makes it a very timely read, but it would be a good read for any time of year. It is also easily read as a stand-alone story if you haven't read the earlier books.

Sean and Sara are a great couple....they complement each other's personalities well, which is always helpful for a sleuthing couple, as one can tend to keep the other out of trouble or danger at any given time. The supporting characters also fit well into the mix, and the goodhearted rivalry between Adam, the young tech genius, and Jimmy, the retired police sergeant, adds humor to the story.

Along with the murder mystery, which is filled with red herrings and surprises leading up to a stunning reveal, we learn a great deal about Sean and Sara's haunted house project for charity. It is through that secondary storyline we meet the adorable young Mia, who was my favorite minor character.

I would recommend this book to all cozy mystery lovers, and I definitely plan to read more of this series in the future.

**I received a copy of this book from the publisher with no expectation of a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.**

Rating: Four stars

 You can buy Halloween is Murder wherever books are sold, including the following popular retailers:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple | Kobo | Google Play

To find out more about Halloween is Murder and the other installments in the McKinley Mysteries series, including box sets, visit CarolynArnold.net/Mckinley-Mysteries.

About the McKinley Mysteries:

Romance. Humor. Murder. Are you looking for a murder mystery without all the graphic violence and foul language? Something that you can enjoy in an afternoon and walk away feeling good about afterward? How about a dash of humor and romance? If so, meet former detectives Sean and Sara McKinley. When a billionaire leaves them all his money, they no longer have to work, but they find themselves sticking to what they’re good at—solving murders. Undercover, off the books, and around the world, they’ll get to the bottom of things…and romance it up along the way.

This is the perfect book series for fans of Hart to Hart, Castle, Colombo, Monk, Rockford Files, Psych, and Magnum PI.

About the Author

Carolyn Arnold is an international bestselling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction series and has written nearly thirty books. Both her female detective and FBI profiler series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining, leading her to adopt the trademark, POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.

Connect with CAROLYN ARNOLD Online:
Website | Twitter | Facebook

 And don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter for up-to-date information on release and special offers at
http://carolynarnold.net/newsletters.

REVIEW AND GUEST POST: My Sister's Mother: A Memoir of War, Exile, and Stalin's Siberia by Donna Solecka Urbikas

BOOK INFORMATION

Genre: Memoir

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 1 edition (April 27, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299308502
• ISBN-13: 978-0299308506

Buy link for My Sister’s Mother Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/My-Sister%C2%92s-Mother-Stalin%C2%92s-Siberia/dp/0299308502/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466459162&sr=8-1&keywords=my+sister%27s+mother

Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-sisters-mother-donna-solecka-urbikas/1123568668?ean=9780299308506

UWP:

https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/5503.htm

Synopsis: Donna Solecka Urbikas grew up in the Midwest during the golden years of the American century. But her Polish-born mother and half sister had endured dehumanizing conditions during World War II, as slave laborers in Siberia. War and exile created a profound bond between mother and older daughter, one that Donna would struggle to find with either of them.

In 1940, Janina Slarzynska and her five-year-old daughter Mira were taken by Soviet secret police (NKVD) from their small family farm in eastern Poland and sent to Siberia with hundreds of thousands of others. So began their odyssey of hunger, disease, cunning survival, desperate escape across a continent, and new love amidst terrible circumstances.

But in the 1950s, baby boomer Donna yearns for a “normal” American family while Janina and Mira are haunted by the past. In this unforgettable memoir, Donna recounts her family history and her own survivor’s story, finally understanding the damaged mother who had saved her sister.

Review: An incredibly honest memoir, dealing with war, exile and refugees. What the author's mother and older sister went through during WWII grabs the reader from the first page and keeps you reading. It is also fascinating to see how their experiences weighed on Donna, who wasn't born until a decade later--and how learning their true story gives her a better understanding of her mother.

I like the fact that the two stories--Janina's and Donna's-- alternate and are woven together until we come to a point where they converge.

The emotional impact of this story will stick with you for a long time after you finish reading, but it is well worth it.

**I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.**

Rating: Four stars

GUEST POST

Growing up in America, trying to deal with the whole immigrant assimilation issue on top of dealing with a mother who could not stop talking about her ordeals during WWII in the labor camps of Siberia was an enormous challenge for me.  Starting with my name, my life was so different from those American friends in my Catholic grade school.  My name officially is the very formal Danuta, which for everyday use in Polish is Danusia, Dana (sounds like Donna), or Danka.  When I started school at the age of four, my kindergarten nun told me my name was translated to Diana, which is not true.  Throughout grade school I went by that name, so that I could blend in better.  

At the age of ten, my mother signed me up for summer camp, using my official Polish name, so the organizers thought I was a boy and assigned me to the boys section, much to my huge embarrassment.  I went home that night and scolded my mother to NEVER use my Polish name of Danuta again!  In high school I changed it to Diane at the behest of a good friend, and by the time I got to college, I used Donna as the more accurate translation.  It was an identity crisis I wasn’t even aware of, but it weighed on me.  Who was I really?

My name confusion seems like a small matter today but is an example of my strained relationship with my mother.  Recently at a presentation of my book, My Sister’s Mother:  A Memoir of War, Exile, and Stalin’s Siberia, someone asked me how my relationship with my mother was before I wrote the book and afterwards.  No doubt about it, my relationship with my mother was difficult from the start.  I didn’t want to be reminded of the war constantly.  I wanted my mother to be like the other kids’ Moms, like the character on the Donna Reed show which I watched religiously, trying to learn how a true American family was supposed to behave.

It wasn’t until I became a mother myself did my mother finally agree to let me write her story.  I think then she thought I would understand her difficult journey trying to save my sister throughout that whole war ordeal.  The original manuscript did not include my struggles with my mother.  In the end, my mother stopped talking about the war as if my writing about it were a catharsis for her, and in some ways it was for me.  Later, when I incorporated my story as it related to growing up with a mother who had been sent to Siberia as slave laborer, I grew to appreciate her difficulties trying to save my sister and to understand her crazy behavior when I was a child and young adult.  The resulting story in My Sister’s Mother is the tale of a mother and her two daughters born years apart in two different worlds but with very different relationships with that mother.  In the words of one reviewer, author Leonard Kniffel, “This stunning, heartfelt memoir looks unflinchingly at the scars borne by one Polish immigrant family as their daughter tries to become a normal American girl in Chicago.  A gripping study of family dynamics, this is also a must-read for World War II history buffs.”

About the author

Born in Coventry, England, Danuta or “Donna” Urbikas immigrated to the USA with her parents and sister, the subjects of the book, in 1952, settling in Chicago, Illinois, and growing up in the Polish community.  After attending Catholic grade schools and a public high school in Chicago, she graduated from the University of Illinois—Chicago Circle with a degree in biology and began teaching high school biology.

In 1976, she took her first trip to Poland to meet relatives and explore her parents’ home towns.  On the cusp of the Solidarity Movement, her movements were restricted by the Communists and the trip became a significant life experience.  Later, she graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois, with a Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering.  The author has published her thesis, technical articles, worked as a teaching and research assistant and served as president of the Society of Women Engineers in Chicago, participating in numerous public speaking engagements.  She went on to work as an environmental engineer and project manager in charge of water and wastewater compliance at coal and nuclear power plants and as an industry spokesperson.

The author is a cancer survivor, currently working as an Illinois Licensed Real Estate Broker, community volunteer, and writer, living in Chicago with her husband.

https://danutaurbikas.wordpress.com

Facebook URL:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008391876134

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/pub/donna-urbikas/12/1b2/1b3

BLOG HOP, GIVEAWAY AND GUEST POST: Lilacs for Juliana by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Synopsis: Petite Juliana Beauchamps possesses a vivid imagination, which comes in handy as a librarian. When a handsome giant of a lumberjack comes to town and rescues her from possible tragedy, she’s shaken by the event. A dashing beer baron, James Yost, from Milwaukee, also pursues Juliana’s attention. Meanwhile, a library trustee determines push out the female librarians. 

Set in 1891, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Book Three in The Christy Lumber Camp Series focuses on Richard “Moose” Christy, the youngest of the sons, as he prepares to manage his first lumber camp. When Yost hires Juliana to organize his personal library, and her letters from Wisconsin suggest foul play, will Richard need to save her once again? And will his secret need to be revealed to win her heart?

The first two books of the series are:

     

Guest Post by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Secondary Characters – Amputation

When I recently wrote the third book in The Christy Lumber Camp Series, Lilacs for Juliana, I got to the end and there was a storyline thread that I wanted to wrap up neatly. The trouble was—the ending I imagined took me down a rabbit trail. You see, I wondered if my hero, Richard, might really come across one of Juliana’s deceased brothers—who’d perished in the Civil War. So I did a WHAT IF?

The scenario I had was of Richard finding a homeless man in Milwaukee, who ended up being one of the brothers. I began researching Civil War veterans in the 1890s. Then I went to Pinterest and found all kinds of horrific pictures of these poor men who’d had limbs (in some cases all!) amputated!

I had to go back to the drawing board. In the end, I didn’t see that this ending was realistic nor necessary. Although I’m not positive that all of Juliana’s three brothers killed in the Civil War are indeed dead, for this book it didn’t serve any purpose, other than distracting me, to have Richard discover one of them. So in the end, it served no purpose to have one of the brothers come back as an amputee who’d survived. Now I need to clean up that Pinterest board, because this was not an aspect of the novel!

Question:

The author has to think of the reader when writing. Have you considered that? Have you ever read a book where you thought—why did the author bother including that thread in the book? Why did they add that extraneous stuff at the end?

Giveaway For This Post: A paperback or ebook copy of Lilacs for Juliana, or any one of the other books in The Christy Lumber Camp Series. Comment and leave your email address to win.

Blog Hop Giveaway: To enter for a 6 inch Magenta (Hot Pink) Kindle Fire and a cover case, hoppers need to comment on at least SEVEN of the blogs. 

Blog Hop Schedule:

September 7th Heroes, Heroines and History

September 12th  Overcoming with God 

September 14th   BookBabble

September 16th   Cheryl B Book Blog

September 18th   D’s Quilts & Books

September 23rd  Sunnie Reviews

September 24th  Buzzing About Books

September 30th  Captive Dreams Windows

October 1st Singing Librarian Books

October 5th Perspectives by Nancee

October 7th Stuff and Nonsense

October 14th Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations

About the author
Carrie Fancett Pagels (www.carriefancettpagels.com) “Hearts Overcoming Through Time” is a Christian historical romance author. "Saving the Marquise's Granddaughter" releases from Pelican Group/White Rose in 2015. "The Lumberjacks' Ball" (2015) is the second book in The Christy Lumber Camp Series. Her historical romance novella, Selah Award finalist, The Fruitcake Challenge (2014) hit the #1 spot bestselling in genre on Amazon and was also finalist for the Family Fiction Book of the Year. In July, 2014, Carrie won in Historical Genre for Family Fiction's The Story 2014 contest, with her short story The Quilting Contest, now available in published anthology from Salem Publishing. 

Carrie's novella, Return to Shirley Plantation: A Civil War Romance, was an Amazon Civil War best seller and remained on the top-rated list for a year. Her short story "Snowed In" was published in Guidepost Books A Cup of Christmas Cheer. Nonfiction chapter contribution to Selah Finalist God's Provision in Tough Times by Cynthia Howerter and LaTan Murphy (Lighthouse of the Carolinas, 2013). 

Represented by Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary Agency. Founder of Colonial American Christian Writers group. Owner/administrator of the group blogs "Colonial Quills" and "Overcoming With God." Member of Romance Writers of America (RWA), American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), and FaithWriters. 

Was a licensed psychologist for over twenty-five years. Has an adult daughter and a middle school aged son. Married the love of her life, Jeffrey D. Pagels, in 1987.

Carrie is the former ACFW Zone Mid-Atlantic Zone Director and Virginia/West Virginia Area Coordinator and continues to serve as co-hostess of the Tidewater Area Christian Writers group. 

GUEST POST AND SPOTLIGHT:Unintended by Justine Alley Dowsett & Murandy Damodred

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for

Unintended by Justine Alley Dowsett & Murandy Damodred

About Unintended:

Four people. Four very different lives. Four tales interwoven.

Meet Kenzie en Shareed, the High Clan Chief’s daughter who is sent south to fulfill a treaty by marriage only to marry the wrong man; Kadrean Authier, the Crown Prince who must come to terms with his new bride, even if he doesn’t much like the idea; Garron D’Arbonne, a noble Lord who has been commanded to marry a cool and aloof princess he doesn’t love; and Vivianne Chappelle, a young and ambitious woman who is in love with her abusive father’s manservant and must find a way to avoid having her entire future decided for her.

Fate and wills collide in this Shakespearian-style romantic comedy about good intentions and their unintentional consequences.

Book Details:

Title: Unintended

Author Name:  Justine Alley Dowsett and Murandy Damodred

Genre(s): Fantasy Romance, Romantic Comedy

Tags: Fantasy, romance, comedy, Shakespearian-style, romantic comedy.

Length: Approx. 440 pages

E-book:  978-1-987976-08-3

Paperback:  978-1-987976-07-6

Release Date: August 17, 2015

Publisher: Mirror World Publishing 

http://www.mirrorworldpublishing.com/

Tour Host: Sapphyria's Book Promotions 

http://saphsbookpromos.blogspot.com/

Purchase Links:

Amazon ~ 

Kindle = http://amzn.to/1P1GMBD

Paperback = http://amzn.to/1L0hkM4

Mirror World Publishing ~ 

ebook = http://mirror-world-publishing.myshopify.com/products/unintended-ebook

Paperback = http://mirror-world-publishing.myshopify.com/products/unintended-paperback

Follow the Tour to Read Reviews, Guest Posts, and Spotlights:

http://saphsbookblog.blogspot.com/2015/08/blog-tour-schedule-unintended-by.html

Meet the Authors:

Murandy Damodred (left) & Justine Alley Dowsett (right):

With a background in Drama and Communications from the University of Windsor, Murandy Damodred (left) enjoys fantasy fiction with strong romantic subplots. She is an avid roleplayer and is happiest when living vicariously through her characters. Though she’d rather think of herself as the heroine of her next novel, in the real world she is an expert in sales and management living in Windsor, Ontario.

From obtaining a BA in Drama at the University of Windsor to becoming an entrepreneur in video game production and later, publishing, Justine Alley Dowsett’s unswerving ambition has always led her to pursue her dreams. Today she lives in Windsor, Ontario and is still writing and publishing fiction novels. When not focusing on growing her business, she enjoys role-playing with friends and developing new ideas to write about.

GUEST POST BY JUSTINE ALLEY DOWSETT: Five Ways To Escape To A Fantasy Setting Without Leaving The "Real World"

When writing Unintended, Murandy and I did a lot of ‘research’, which is to say that we took every opportunity to immerse ourselves in medieval culture. You know what I’m talking about; princes and princesses, castles, horses, and handwritten letters. Here’s a list of 5 ways we found that you can use to escape the ‘real world’ for a little while…

1. Explore a castle or other historic site

We chose Casa Loma in downtown Toronto because it’s really the only castle that you can find in Southwestern Ontario, but even still, it was a great experience. As far as castles go, it’s not that old and it’s not that big, but it helped to get an idea of the scope of what our characters would be dealing with. And for a bonus, it has secret passageways to explore and an escape tunnel that leads to the greenhouse!

2.   Go horseback riding or hiking

I’m sure Murandy regrets our decision to go horseback riding, seeing as she fell from her horse minutes out of the stables and broke her collarbone, but I’ve always wanted to go. If, like Murandy, horses are really your thing, you can always go for a hike. The important thing is to get away from civilization for a while so you can get a taste of what it might have been like back before cars and electricity.

3. Check out your local society for historical re-enactment or visit a renaissance faire

Murandy and I both used to belong to a sword-fighting group called ‘Grand Melee’ where we’d compete in tournaments locally. I learned a lot and it was a great way to stay fit. There are lots of medieval re-enactment groups to be found where you can get a similar experience, or some places host renaissance faires where you can immerse yourself in the culture for a day. Of course, there’s always Medieval Times, as well!

4. Write a letter with quill and ink

We did this a lot, actually. Ink can be found at your local craft store and we bought our quills from Chapters, but you can find them online if you need to. We also got a hold of some decent stationary and a wax seal. (Yes, we take our ‘research’ very seriously!) Armed with these supplies, Murandy and I spent a good deal of time penning letters to one another. Most of these were in character, which helped to set the tone as well!

5. Watch a movie, television show, or read a good book
Game of Thrones is a really popular one right now, but there are lots of TV shows, movies and books that can take you away. In fact, our publishing house, Mirror World Publishing, is all about escapism, so that’s a good place to start! Of course you can always just read Unintended...

GUEST POST AND REVIEW: Jessica Verdi, Author of What You Left Behind

Synopsis: It’s all Ryden’s fault. If he hadn’t gotten Meg pregnant, she would have never stopped her chemo treatments and would still be alive. Instead, he’s failing fatherhood one dirty diaper at a time. And it’s not like he’s had time to grieve while struggling to care for their infant daughter, start his senior year, and earn the soccer scholarship he needs to go to college.

The one person who makes Ryden feel like his old self is Joni. She’s fun and energetic—and doesn’t know he has a baby. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to keep his two worlds separate. Finding one of Meg’s journals only stirs up old emotions, and Ryden’s convinced Meg left other notebooks for him to find, some message to help his new life make sense. But how is he going to have a future if he can’t let go of the past?

My review: I was fascinated by the idea of a YA novel written from the male point of view, especially by a female author. Jessica does a fantastic job of getting into the mind of a teenaged boy. Ryden has so much going on in his life--mourning his girlfriend, raising his daughter, holding down a job, going to school, being on the soccer team--and we get insight into his thoughts on all of it.

Sometimes I felt sorry for him, and other times I just wanted to shake him...much like how I feel about most ACTUAL teenagers. The entire cast of characters in this book are realistically written and very believable. Ryden's mother is always there to support him, but she also makes him be responsible for his daughter as much as possible. His friends are unsure how to react to him, with the exception of Meg's sister and Meg's best friend, both of whom are straightforward with him, good or bad. 

There are a lot of ups and downs to this story, but the ending was very satisfying. I'd love to read a sequel, several years in the future, to see how things are going, not just for Ryden and Hope, but for the other characters as well.

My rating: Four stars

GUEST POST FROM JESSICA VERDI

My question: How different was it to write this novel from the point of view of the opposite sex?

Thanks so much for having me on your blog, Teresa, and for your great question! What You Left Behind is my first book from the POV of a boy. I absolutely fell in love with Ryden as I was writing, and I felt like I really knew him. In so many ways, it was easier to write from his POV than from the POV of a female narrator as I did in my first two books. I think, because he's a boy and I'm not, I may have subconsciously felt more freedom to just take his character wherever it needed to go, because, since we were already so different, there was no element of "me" clinging to him. No "Well, I would or wouldn't do that," etc. So it became more of an “anything’s possible” process, which was really fun.

I'm glad to have written a book from the POV of a boy because there are plenty of boy readers out there who need to see themselves represented in literature, and as something more than just the love interest of the female main character. (Not that there’s anything wrong with a good, juicy romance!) There just seems to be a shortage of male narrators in YA lately, and that may or may not be related to the fallacy that “boys don’t read.” Boys absolutely read, and they need to see themselves on the page just as much as the rest of us do. I love that there’s a boy (and only a boy) on the cover of the book, and I'm hopeful boy readers will pick it up and find Ryden interesting and identifiable.

About the author

Jessica Verdi lives in Brooklyn, NY, and received her MFA in Writing for Children from The New School. She loves seltzer, Tabasco sauce, TV, vegetarian soup, flip-flops, and her dog. Visit her at jessicaverdi.com and follow her on Twitter @jessverdi.