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Meet the Author: Riley Redgate
Riley Redgate is a senior economics major at Kenyon College. In five years, she hopes to have minimum two dogs, and also a job.
Riley’s debut, SEVEN WAYS WE LIE (Abrams/Amulet, March 8, 2016) is a Young Adult contemporary novel. When a scandal at Paloma High School bubbles over, and rumors of a teacher-student affair surface, everyone starts hunting for someone to blame. For the unlikely allies at the heart of it all, their seven ordinary-seeming lives result in extraordinary change. SEVEN WAYS WE LIE is told from each of their perspectives—one for each of the seven deadly sins.
Fun facts:
- Childhood aspiration: She wanted to be a shortstop for the Yankees before she realized that only dudes are allowed to play for the Yankees. With her greatest dream crushed, she settled for the secondary aspiration of being an international-spy-and-veterinarian hybrid, which is not an actual job.
- Favorite book growing up: HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN. She loves nobody more than Actual Misunderstood Drama Queen Sirius Black.
- Surprising personal fact: Good God does she appreciate sharks.
- Favorite things to do (other than reading): Singing with her a cappella groups, playing piano, and songwriting. A secondary, less productive hobby is looking at photographs of Samoyed puppies.
- Greatest thing about being a 2016 debut author: It’s also her graduation year. So much to celebrate.
Where to find her:
Meet the Author: Judy Sheehan
Judy Sheehan always knew she wanted to write, but she got distracted by theater. She was one of the original cast member/creators of the long-running hit Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding and was the playwright-in-residence at New York’s Looking Glass Theatre. She had plays produced there, and at regional theaters around the country. She lives in New York City where frequently misses her subway stop because she’s reading.
Judy’s debut novel, I WOKE UP DEAD AT THE MALL (Random House/Delacorte, March 22, 2016), is a Young Adult contemporary fantasy mystery. Last night, Sarah was a bridesmaid, dressed in hideous mango chiffon. Today, she woke up dead at the Mall of America, where she must work through the unfinished business of her unfinishable life. But Sarah is tied to life and the living in ways that surprise her, especially when she learns that the one person she loves back on Earth is in grave (yes grave) danger.
Fun facts:
- Favorite book growing up: HELEN KELLER’S TEACHER. Because words.
- Favorite time of day/place to write: She’s one of those Starbucks/laptop people.
- Book currently reading/most recently read: OUR SOULS AT NIGHT by Kent Haruf.
- Favorite things to do (other than reading): Bake, eat, walk it off, and start over.
- Surprising personal fact: Judy is the 10th of 12 children.
- Greatest thing about being a 2016 debut author: Sharing the journey and discovering so many universes with universes from so many gifted authors.
Where to find her:
We’re Gluttons for A Free Crit! You too?
Be the first to correctly match the 16th line below to its 2016 debut novel and win a critique of your first 10 pages, donated by Dana Elmendorf, author of SOUTH OF SUNSHINE (Albert Whitman & Co, April 2016)!
Ten whole pages! Now that’s satisfying.
Read on:
Someone was trying to get close to me. It was all the warning I needed.”
Is it from…
A. Robin Yardi’s THE MIDNIGHT WAR OF MATEO MARTINEZ (Carolrhoda/Lerner, March 2016)
B. Michael Miller’s SHADOW RUN (Delacorte, Fall 2016)
C. Emily Skrutskie’s THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US (Flux, Winter 2016)
D. Sarah Ahiers‘ ASSASSIN’S HEART (Harper Teen, Feb 2016)
Send your answer to kimsavageauthor@icloud.com. And good luck!
16th Day Update: Summertime Hues!
The news continues to be all about Sweet Sixteen cover reveals and we couldn’t be happier!
We recently added two pages to our website: check out MG Books & YA Books to see all The Sweet Sixteen covers that have been revealed to date. Prepare yourself! The pages are glorious! And you can link right to the book’s Goodreads pages from the cover image. How’s that for awesome?
FENWAY AND HATTIE
Victoria J. Coe’s Fenway made his debut into the world on this adorable cover for the MG novel FENWAY AND HATTIE set to sniff bookstores on February 9. 2016!
Fenway and his beloved short human, Hattie, are the perfect pair. She loves romping in the Dog Park, playing fetch, and eating delicious snacks as much as he does.
But when they move from the city to the suburbs, there’s bad news. While Fenway’s hard at work deterring intruders and battling a slippery floor, Hattie starts changing. She hangs out in a squirrely treehouse. She plays ball without him. What could be happening?
Crushed and confused, Fenway sets out on a mission. He’s going to get his Hattie back and nothing will stop him—not the Wicked Floor, not the dreaded Gate, not even a giant squirrel!
Get a dog’s-eye view of the world in this hilarious and heartfelt story about two best friends who learn that big changes aren’t always easy, but sometimes trying new things can get you everything you want.
THE FIRST TIME SHE DROWNED
Kerry Kletter revealed her gorgeous cover for her YA debut THE FIRST TIME SHE DROWNED over at Publishing Crawl.
Cassie O’Malley has spent her whole life trying to keep her head above water–literacy and metaphorically. It’s been two-and-a-half years since her mother dumped Cassie in a mental institution against her will for something Cassie claims she didn’t do. Now, at eighteen, Cassie enrolls in college, ready to reclaim her life and enter the world on her own terms.
But as she struggles to find her way forward, the starling truths she uncovers about her own family narrative make it impossible to cut the tethers of a tumultuous past. And when the unhealthy mother-daughter relationship that defined Cassie’s childhood and adolescence threatens to pull her under once again, Cassie must decided: whose version of history is the truth? And more important, whose life must she save?
THE FIRST TIME SHE DROWNED will arrive at your local bookstore on March 15. 2016!
SUMMER OF SLOANE
Erin L. Schnieder revealed her sun-warm cover for THE SUMMER OF SLOANE with help from Pop!Goes The Reader.
Warm Hawaiian sun. Lazy beach days. Flirty texts with her boyfriend back in Seattle. These are the things seventeen-year-old Sloane McIntyre pictured when she imagined the summer she’d be spending at her mom’s home in Hawaii with her twin brother, Penn. Instead, after learning an unthinkable secret about her boyfriend, Tyler, and best friend, Mick, all she has is a fractured hand and a completely shattered heart.
Once she arrives in Honolulu, though, Sloane hopes that Hawaii might just be the escape she needs. With beach bonfires, old friends, exotic food, and the wonders of a waterproof cast, there’s no reason Sloane shouldn’t enjoy her summer. And when she meets Finn McAllister, the handsome son of a hotel magnate who doesn’t always play by the rules, she knows he’s the perfect distraction from everything that’s so wrong back home. But it turns out a measly ocean isn’t nearly enough to stop all the emails, texts, and voicemails from her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend, desperate to explain away their betrayal. And as her casual connection with Finn grows deeper, Sloane’s carefree summer might not be as easy to find as she’d hoped. Weighing years of history with Mick and Tyler against their deception, and the delicate possibility of new love, Sloane must decide when to forgive, and when to live for herself.
SUMMER OF SLOANE will be arriving in bookstores on May 3. 2016, just in time to pack in your beach bag!
BEYOND THE RED
Ava Jae released her gorgeous cover for BEYOND THE RED with a little help from YA Books Central.
Alien queen Kora has a problem as vast as the endless crimson deserts. She’s the first female ruler of her territory in generations, but her people are rioting and call for her violent younger twin brother to take the throne. Despite assassination attempts, a mounting uprising of nomadic human rebels and pressure to find a mate to help her rule, she’s determined to protect her people from her brothers’ would=be-tyrannical rules.
Eros is a rebel soldier hated by aliens and human alike for being a half-blood. Yet that doesn’t stop him from defending his people, at least until Kora’s soldiers raze his camp and take him captive. He’s given an ultimatum: Be an enslaved bodyguard to Kora, or be executed for his true identity–a secret kept even from him.
When Kora and Eros are framed for the attempted assassination of her betrothed, they flee. Their only chance of survival is to turn themselves in to the high court, where revealing Eros’s secret could mean a swift public execution. But when they uncover a violent plot to end the human insurgency, they must find a way to work together to prevent genocide.
FEAR THE DROWNING DEEP
Sarah Glenn Marsh revealed her hauntingly beautiful cover for FEAR THE DROWNING DEEP over at Pop! Goes the Reader.
Witch’s apprentice Bridey Corkill has hated the ocean ever since she watched her granddad dive in and drown with a smile on his face. So when a dead girl rolls in with the tide in the summer of 1913, sixteen-year-old Bridey suspects that whatever compelled her granddad to leap into the sea has made its return to the Isle of Man.
Soon, villagers are vanishing in the night, but no one shares Bridey’s suspicions about the sea. No one but the island’s witch, who isn’t as frightening as she first appears, and the handsome dark-haired lad Bridey rescues from a grim and watery fate. The cause of the deep gashes in Fynn’s stomach and his lost memories are, like the recent disappearances, a mystery well-guarded by the sea. In exchange for saving his life, Fynn teaches Bridey to master her fear of the water—stealing her heart in the process.
Now, Bridey must work with the Isle’s eccentric witch and the boy she isn’t sure she can trust—because if she can’t uncover the truth about the ancient evil in the water, everyone she loves will walk into the sea, never to return.
The Debut Club: An interview with Moriah McStay, author of EVERYTHING THAT MAKES YOU
Sweet Sixteener Shannon M. Parker recently spoke to Fearless Fifteener Moriah McStay about her contemporary YA debut, EVERYTHING THAT MAKES YOU (March 17, 2015 from Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins).
About the Author:
Moriah McStay grew up in Memphis, TN, where she acquired a come-and-go drawl and a lifelong love of cowboy boots and fried pickles. She attended Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. Two graduate degrees and seven jobs later, she finally figured out what she wants to be when she grows up. EVERYTHING THAT MAKES YOU is her first novel, and she’s probably at home right now working on another one.
Find Moriah on her website, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.
The Debut Club: An interview with Catherine Doyle, author of VENDETTA
Sweet Sixteener Ellen Goodlett recently spoke to Fearless Fifteener Catherine Doyle about her YA romantic thriller, VENDETTA (February 24, 2015 from Scholastic).
About the Author:
Catherine Doyle lives in the west of Ireland. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in English from the National University of Ireland, Galway. VENDETTA is her first novel.
Find Catherine on her website, Twitter, Tumblr, and Goodreads.
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