So despite Amor and Summer Secrets having been out for almost a year now (can you believe it?), I’m still thrilled to see reviewers who are just discovering it and discussing it now with their readers. Specifically, Renee at Book Girl Review did something I thought was particularly cute. She posted a two-sentence teaser from Amor while she was still in the process of reading it.
It’s a description of Mariana’s brother, Vince. And truthfully, I’ve never seen this quote pulled out on its own before. So it was interesting even for me, the author, to read the lines on their own merit. Here it is:
Amor and Summer Secrets
“It came so naturally to him- the ability to adapt to any situation or, even better, make it more enjoyable. He could have fun at a funeral, if it were socially acceptable.”
This gave me an idea to pull some mini quotes out of my WIP. I’ve discussed the never-ending WIP often here on the blog—mostly how it’s been driving me slowly insane. But I’m getting freakishly close to reporting some good news (fingers and toes crossed), that I’ve decided to give you a little peek inside the minds of my characters.
In short, this is a young adult spy novel with lots of action, tragedy, and of course romance. Think Alias meets The Da Vinci Code meets Nancy Drew.
So here goes! The first glimpse inside my massively revised YA novel:
ANASTASIA RISING
Opening line of the book
“Only my sister could turn Mother’s Day into a drinking holiday. Especially given the fact that she wasn’t a mother, and we had no cause for celebration.”
(It must be noted that this by far my favorite opening line of all my novels.)
ANASTASIA and her sister KEIRA
“We argued nonstop about everything from my grades (which tanked from B’s to barely scraping by C’s in a single quarter), to my suspension rate (which alarmingly accelerated due to skipped classes), to Keira’s lost surgical career. We resented each other. We resented our parents. And we resented the Red Sox for winning the World Series and making everyone in the city so damn happy.”
ANASTASIA
–“The most striking trait that I inherited were my smoky gray-blue eyes, which—depending on who you asked—either made me appear perpetually gloomy or a tad mysterious. My sister voted for ‘gloomy.’”
–“I didn’t think. I didn’t pause. I didn’t plan. I forgot everything my master instructors had ever taught me. I simply reacted. I grabbed a handheld silver mirror from the dresser beside the door and flung it like a Frisbee at the attacker’s head.”
–“I felt a sudden pang in my chest. It was strange, but for some reason I had never considered death as a possible outcome.”
CHARLOTTE, Anastasia’s friend
“Charlotte had a bedroom library that consisted of everything from Pride and Prejudice to Advanced JavaScript. She actually read Law Reviews for enjoyment. It was amazing that she was still fun to hang out with.”
MARCUS
“His face was perfect, but frankly hard to focus on while he was half-dressed, especially given the giant black tattoo inked on his neck—a bull with two curved horns and angry eyes. It was hard not to gawk.”
JULIAN
“There was an air of respect that followed him—cab drivers were nicer, waiters more attentive, and I was guessing employees who fell easily in line. I doubted that Julian had much trouble getting what he wanted.”
If I do get some official good news soon, I will post a longer celebratory teaser. I might even skywrite the entire novel, like across America, in Scriptina font, in purple smoke. How’s that for a publicity stunt?
POP CULTURE RANT: Fox Philly
So the finale of So You Think You Can Dance was on last night. And you know I love this show. Even if this season was less than exciting—Is it just me or were the dancers too good yet not as interesting? We need more breakers, but I digress—Last night my crappy local station, Fox Philly, aired too many commercials and thus entirely cut Kayla and Jeanine’s Mia Michaels routine from our broadcast. I’m not kidding. We saw the last ten seconds of it, and that’s it. I googled the situation and discovered that this was, in fact, a Philadelphia-specific problem. So boooooo Fox Philly! I don’t know what was up, but that was a bad call. So for any of my local SYTYCD diehards, I found the clip on YouTube. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.
I love So You Think You Can Dance! That stinks that you didn’t get to see all of the routine. I’m so mad that Evan is in the top four! Ade was the better dacner. I agree that the dacners this year were amazing, but I think the top 3 guy dancers (Joshua, Will & Tiwtch) from last season were better and more interesting than this year’s.
Teasers! <3 your opening sentence! Sucks you right in. Now I have lots of questions about to the relationship of the sisters (where are the parents and why are they resented). Charlotte and Julian sound like the most interesting characters besides Anastatia (oh and Kiera). They all sound interesting!
I loved your teasers. I can’t wait to read more.
I also have a funny story about the Amor and Summer Secrets teaser. I read the blog and then a few days later read the book. When I got to that line in the book I knew that I had heard it before. I went back and was skimming the book. It seemed like such a unique line that I thought it had to have been a mistake that you would have used it twice. Then I could not find the quote earlier in the book, and it was driving me crazy because I just knew I had already read it. I got a chuckle today when you reminded me of why it was familiar.