Interview with Elle Strauss, Author of Clockwise and It's a Little Haywire

Today, I have the honor of hosting Elle Strauss on my blog. Elle is the author of the recently-released YA novel, Clockwise, and the just-released MG novel, It's a Little Haywire. She's going to be spending a little time answering with us answering questions about Haywire. But first, you need to know what this book is about!

Owen True is eleven and eleven twelfths and has been “exiled” to the small crazy town of Hayward, WA, aka Haywire, while his mother is on her honeymoon. All he has to whittle away the time is the company of Gramps, his black lab Daisy, and his Haywire friends, Mason and Mikala Sweet. They don’t look so hot this year, in fact the whole town has gone to pot since the mill shut down.

Owen has his first encounter with a real life homeless man who ends up needing Owen’s help in more ways than one. But how does a rich city kid help the small town’s suffering citizens?

And what is Owen to make of the fog train and its scary, otherworldy occupants that appears out of thin air on the old tracks behind Gramps’ house? Do they have the answer Owen is looking for?

Now ... on to the interview!

I love the concept here -- a rich kid getting some real world perspective meets paranormal.  What made you want to tell this story in particular?

I think we all get caught up in our own worlds. It's easy to miss or overlook what's going on around us and in the world, especially when you're a kid. This story collides the main character's reality, a well to do life style, with those who are struggling to get by on far less. It also collides his material world with the spiritual.

What was the coolest part about writing this book for you?

This book is by far the most personal book. The voice of the main character, Owen True, was inspired by letters I found recently that were written to my parents by my eldest son when he was ten. When I listen to Owen True speak, I hear my son Joel. Like Gramps in It's a Little Haywire, my father has a song for every moment. He was the one who helped me to collect the songs for Charlie True's playlist. My daughter Tasia drew the illustrations and I love this opportunity to collaborate on a project with her.

Did you do the illustrations for the book?  If not, who?

  

Oh, I answered this in the last question. My seventeen year old daughter did them. And no, it wasn't slave labor. She owed me money. We bartered :)

Do you think books "with more" will become the new standard in publishing? And by that I mean, books that have illustrations or a playlist or some other bonus material like you've done here?

I definitely do. I only touched the tip of the iceberg here. Once reading devices like Kindle Fire and the ipad become used widely, readers will grow accustomed to books including media that those types of devices can operate, like music, videos and interactive apps.

Do you have a song in particular that you think best catches the mood or personality of It's a Little Haywire?

There's a whole playlist included at the end of the book with hyperlinks to youtube so that kids who've never heard songs like, There's a Lonely Little Robin, or Sugar in the Morning, can have a listen. I'd say the one that represents It's a Little Haywire the most is Catch a Falling Star.

What can your reads expect next from you? We'd love some juicy insight into what you've got cooking up next.

I actually have quite a lot coming down the pike. The sequel to my time travel YA Clockwise called Clockwiser will be out in Apr/May, a companion book called Like Clockwork is set for June. I want to have my merfolk book called Seaweed out this summer and a historical drama about a boy who grows up in Hitler Youth called Playing with Matches out by the end of summer as well.

 And there you have it -- go forth and get Haywire. It's normally $2.99, but it will be FREE for Feb 22 and 23 only.  After after you've done that, be sure to follow Elle around on the interwebs.  :)
www.ellestraussbookscom
Twitter: @elle_strauss
Facebook : Elle Strauss - Author
Goodreads: Elle Strauss Goodreads Author 
Google+: Elle Strauss 
Wattpad: Elle Strauss

Debut YA Book Birthday

Ready for another book birthday bash? Let's celebrate with these debut YA novelists! (I'm pretty excited about this week's debuts!!)

Oppression by Jessica Therrien
Elyse knows what it means to keep a secret. She's been keeping secrets her whole life. Two, actually. First, that she ages five times slower than average people, so that while she looks eighteen years old, she's closer to eighty. Second, that her blood has a mysterious power to heal. For Elyse, these things don't make her special. They make life dangerous. 


After the death of her parents, she's been careful to keep her secret as closely guarded as possible. Now, only one other person in the world knows about her age and ability. Or so she thinks. Elyse is not the only one keeping secrets. There are others like her all over the world, descendants of the very people the Greeks considered gods. She is one of them, and they have been waiting for her for a long time. Some are waiting for her to put an end to centuries of traditions that have oppressed their people under the guise of safeguarding them. Others are determined to keep her from doing just that. But for Elyse, the game is just beginning - and she's not entirely willing to play by their rules.

When the Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellison
After seventeen-year-old Felicita’s dearest friend Ilven kills herself to escape an arranged marriage, Felicita chooses freedom over privilege. She fakes her own death and leaves her sheltered life as one of Pelimburg’s magical elite behind. Living in the slums, scrubbing dishes for a living, she falls for charismatic Dash while also becoming fascinated with vampire Jannik. Then something shocking washes up on the beach: Ilven's death has called out of the sea a dangerous wild magic. Felicita must decide whether her loyalties lie with the family she abandoned . . . or with those who would twist this dark power to destroy Pelimburg's caste system, and the whole city along with it.  

The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg
Brie's life ends at sixteen: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn't love her, and the news breaks her heart--literally. 

But now that she's D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend has been keeping a secret about Jacob, the boy Brie loved and lost--and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there's Patrick, Brie's mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul...who just might hold the key to her forever after. 

With Patrick's help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she's ready to move on. But how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?


Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby
Meet Josephine Foster, or Zo Jo as she’s called in the biz. The best pint-sized photographer of them all, Jo doesn’t mind doing what it takes to get that perfect shot, until she’s sent on an undercover assignment to shoot Ned Hartnett—teen superstar and the only celebrity who’s ever been kind to her—at an exclusive rehabilitation retreat in Boston. The money will be enough to pay for Jo’s dream: real photography classes, and maybe even quitting her paparazzi gig for good. Everyone wants to know what Ned’s in for. But Jo certainly doesn’t know what she’s in for: falling in love with Ned was never supposed to be part of her assignment.


So, are you as excited as I am now??

Cover Reveal ~ GRAVITY by Melissa West

 Check out this amazingly beautiful cover.

 GRAVITY by Melissa West (October 2012, Entangled Publishing)

In the future, only one rule will matter:

Don't. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last
person she expected hovering above her bed - arrogant Jackson Locke, the
most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind
of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help
him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her
question what she's been taught about his kind. And against her instincts,
she's falling for him. But Ari isn't just any girl, and Jackson wants more
than her attention. She¹s a military legacy who¹s been trained by her
father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can
know - especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the
information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping
silent will start a war.

Pre-order from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Gravity-Melissa-West/dp/1620610914/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 Add to Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12844575-gravity

Happy Debut YA Book Birthday

It's Valentine's Day, so I'm thinking that if a book debuts today, it had better be swoon-worthy! And since there's not much I like better than swoon, let's see this week's line up.

Scarlet by A.C. Goughen
Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance. Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in. It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.

Above World by Jenn Reese
Thirteen-year-old Aluna has lived her entire life under the ocean with the Coral Kampii in the City of Shifting Tides. But after centuries spent hidden from the Above World, her colony's survival is at risk. The Kampii's breathing necklaces are failing, but the elders are unwilling to venture above water to seek answers. Only headstrong Aluna and her friend Hoku are stubborn and bold enough to face the terrors of land to search for way to save their people. But can Aluna's fierce determination and fighting skills and Hoku's tech-savvy keep them safe? Set in a world where overcrowding has led humans to adapt - growing tails to live under the ocean or wings to live on mountains - here is a ride through a future where greed and cruelty have gone unchecked, but the loyalty of friends remains true.


Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale
When 17-year-old Rosie's mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington's Disease, her pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty percent chance of inheriting the crippling disease herself. Only when Rosie tells her mother's best friend, "Aunt Sarah," that she is going to test for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie wasn't her real mother after all. Rosie was swapped at birth with a sickly baby who was destined to die.

Devastated, Rosie decides to trace her real mother, joining her ex-boyfriend on his gap year travels, to find her birth mother in California. But all does not go as planned. As Rosie discovers yet more of her family's deeply buried secrets and lies, she is left with an agonizing decision of her own, one which will be the most heart breaking and far-reaching of all.

Various Positions by Martha Schabas
* Note - many of the reviews on Amazon say this is not appropriate for YA audiences

Trapped between the hormone-driven world of her friends and the discontent of her dysfunctional family, fourteen-year-old Georgia is only completely at ease when she's dancing. When she is accepted into Canada's preeminent ballet school, Georgia thinks it is the perfect escape. Artistic Director Roderick Allen singles her out as a star, subjecting her to increasingly intensive training, and Georgia obsesses about becoming the perfect, disciplined student. But as she spends more and more time with Roderick, it's not so clear exactly what their relationship means. Is he her teacher and mentor, or is there something more? These blurred lines will threaten both Roderick's future at the academy and Georgia's ambitions as a ballerina.

The Vanishing Game by Kate Kaye Myers

Jocelyn's twin brother Jack was the only family she had growing up in a world of foster homes-and now he's dead, and she has nothing. Then she gets a cryptic letter from "Jason December"-the code name her brother used to use when they were children at Seale House, a terrifying foster home that they believed had dark powers. Only one other person knows about Jason December: Noah, Jocelyn's childhood crush and their only real friend among the troubled children at Seale House.

But when Jocelyn returns to Seale House and the city where she last saw Noah, she gets more than she bargained for. Turns out the house's powers weren't just a figment of a childish imagination. And someone is following Jocelyn. Is Jack still alive? And if he is, what kind of trouble is he in? The answer is revealed in a shocking twist that turns this story on its head and will send readers straight back to page 1 to read the book in a whole new light.


February 16th releases ~

Trafficked by Kim Purcell
Hannah believes she's being brought from Moldova to Los Angeles to become a nanny for a Russian family. But her American dream quickly spirals into a nightmare. The Platonovs force Hannah to work sixteen-hour days, won't let her leave the house, and seem to have a lot of secrets - from Hannah and from each other. Stranded in a foreign land with false documents, no money, and nobody who can help her, Hannah must find a way to save herself from her new status as a modern-day slave or risk losing the one thing she has left: her life.

Hmmm... not sounding so swoon-worthy after all. What do you think about this week's debut releases? 

And just so you're not left feeling romantically deprived, here's the song I'm swooning over lately. Those floating lanterns are amazing (and real, I've learned). Quite possibly this is the most romantic Disney scene ever.