by Libby Heily
Genre: YA Magical Mystery
Release Date: June 12th 2016
Fire & Ice Young Adult Books
Summary from Goodreads:
Sixteen-year-old Grape Merriweather has just moved to Sortilege Falls and already she knows something isn't right. A small pack of teenage models, too beautiful for words, holds the town in their sway. The models have no plans on making Grape's life easy. But no matter how cruel they are to Grape and the other “Normals”, no one can stay angry with them for long.
Grape's life changes for the better, or so she thinks, when Mandy, the only “nice” model, befriends her. But that’s when the trouble truly begins. Mandy's friendship places Grape smack in the middle of a medical mystery that has the entire town on edge. One by one, the models fall ill from an incurable disease. Grape quickly realizes that the models' parents are hiding a secret, even as they watch their children die. To save her only friend, Grape will have to find the truth–and that means putting her life in danger.
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What Are You Reading?
In college, if you had told me that I would be writing a
Young Adult novel at the age of 38, I would have laughed and reminded you that
I was going to be a playwright.
Playwrights wrote plays, not YA fiction.
It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy Young Adult Lit. I had read a great deal of YA in elementary,
middle and high school. I lived on The
Cat Ate My Gymsuit and Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade. R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike were my
heroes my freshman year of high school.
But I hadn’t read a YA book in all four years of college and I had all
but forgotten it was a genre.
I’d spent most of those years studying theater, reading
plays or books for English courses. I
went to a small school so we didn’t have any fancy classes, just the bare-bones
basics of American Lit, European Lit, and occasionally World Lit. There were no in depth studies of
genres. So, reading any book that could
be described as “pleasure reading” kind of went out the window.
After college, my reading and writing continued in the same
vain. I went to film school and added
screenwriting to my playwriting and art films to my viewing library. Then I met my husband and he dragged me
kicking and screaming into reading and watching science fiction. I found I liked it. A LOT.
The economy tanked in my early thirties and I left the film
world behind and began a more steady career in customer service. My first gig was working in a call center and
that’s where I met a few people who changed my reading habits forever. I’d already added science fiction but hadn’t
really delved into any other genre.
Rachael and Jolean introduced me to Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy,
and Young Adult literature. I devoured
The Hunger Games. I tore threw Sookie
Stackhouse novels. This is also where I
discovered Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
My life has never been the same.
I started writing my first book at age 33 and my first YA
novel at the age of 36. At 38, I’m
working on the second in the series. As
I grow older, what I’m realizing is that it’s okay to read for fun, that it’s
okay to enjoy every word and feel hooked and want to live in a world that is
completely fantastical and fun. As an
adult, I’m learning how to enjoy myself in a way I never did as a kid. I hope I keep meeting new people who open my
eyes to new ways of seeing the world.
The past decade has been completely enriching. I only regret not remembering to read for fun
sooner.
And writing fun stories?
Best decision you could ever make, at any age. Here’s to writing YA at 38 and beyond!
About the Author
I was born during a blizzard. I’m told it was pretty cool, but I have no memory of that time. I grew up in two tiny towns in Virginia and spent most of my twenties moving around the US. I’ve lived in Virginia, Florida, Missouri, and Washington. I’ve settled down, for now, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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Thanks for having me over!
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