Young Adult
Pages: 320 Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: June 28, 2011
Amber’s life is spinning out of control. All she wants is to turn up the volume on her iPod until all of the demands of family and friends fade away. So she sneaks off to the beach to spend a day by herself.
Then Amber meets Cade. Their attraction is instant, and Amber can tell he’s also looking for an escape. Together they decide to share a perfect day: no pasts, no fears, no regrets.
The more time that Amber spends with Cade, the more she’s drawn to him. And the more she’s troubled by his darkness. Because Cade’s not just living in the now—he’s living each moment like it’s his last.
Some books are meant to be thought-provoking
Some are meant to steer up emotions
Some are just meant to be entertaining
And some, like this one,
are meant to make you smile, and appreciate.
If you've read Lisa's books,
you know what I'm talking about.
She always creates real characters,
Facing difficult moments
Beautiful stories, written in verse.
So this book is about the important things in life,
In January, 2010, I was about to work my last day at the day job I had worked for five years. A number of things had happened that made this feel like the right decision. But then, a week or so after my last day at the day job, we got word that my editor at the time didn't think the project proposal I had sent her was good enough to be published. And another book we'd sent out to publishers had been rejected enough times that it was time to face reality - it wasn't going to be published.
My back was up against the wall. I needed to sell a book - writing was my job now!
I let myself feel bad for a few days. And then, I prayed for inspiration, something I do often, actually. But the difference is that here, even now, when things looked so bleak, I believed it would come and I would find the story I was meant to write. I was scared, but it didn't feel hopeless, if that makes sense. I knew what I had to do was find a story I could get lost in. I needed to forget about the business side of publishing, as much as I could, and just focus on story.
This time, inspiration came via The Grammy award show the first weekend in February. Specifically, this performance by Pink:
Somehow, I hadn't heard the song "Glitter in the Air" before. The next day, I downloaded the song and listened to it over and over the next few days. The song is just so incredibly beautiful, and speaks of so many things: Fear, uncertainty, loneliness, and love, to name a few.
One line in the song caught my attention more than any other: "Have you ever wanted an endless night, lassoed the moon and pulled that rope tight?"
I love that image!! She's saying - please don't go, moon, I don't want this night to end.
And I started thinking about the feeling of desperation two people might feel in not wanting the night to end. So that led me to brainstorm reasons why a teen girl might not want the next day to come. It took a while, to figure it out, but I finally did, and I began to write a book that I knew now was going to take place over a 24-hour period of time, which scared me. Because, it's not an easy thing to do! How do you keep tension going while creating scene after interesting scene in the span of such a short amount of time?
I'm very much a pantser when I write - that is, I let the characters and story lead me along and I discover things as I write. I didn't know exactly who Amber was going to meet as she made her way to the beach, just that she would meet someone. And then, at the aquarium, which is an actual place I've visited, she meets a boy who is as enthralled with the jelly fish exhibit as she is.
Jelly fish are pretty magical. Have you ever stood for a long time, just watching them? They are almost hypnotic. It was at that point, I think, where the story took over. When Amber met Cade met and had their connection, I knew then I was in it for good. I was now writing a story I would finish and I was really excited about it. It felt good. It felt right. And yes, like the jelly fish they watched, it felt magical.
But I didn't tell anyone. I just wrote. I needed to keep everyone out and just let it be me, Amber and Cade. After you've written many books, the expectations people have for you can be debilitating. Sometimes even paralyzing! I couldn't let anything get in the way of this story. So I kept it to myself, and I didn't let myself feel bad about that. Do what you have to do, I say!
I finished a draft in about six weeks. Toward the end, I had a few marathon writing days. Music was playing, words were flowing, and I simply couldn't leave the story. It's what writers long for - days like those!
It can be really hard sometimes, to keep the business part of being an author separate from the creative part. But this book reminded me how important it is to do that. I had to shut off the noise of the outside world, and more importantly, the voices in my head telling me I was in deep trouble. What if I never wrote anything ever again that was marketable, I heard in my head on more than one occasion. I had to tell that voice to shut the hell up.
Magic probably won't happen when writing from a place of fear or worry or doubt. Magic happens by sitting down, opening your heart, and trusting that story, above all else, is the most important thing. Find the story. Fall in love with the characters. And write.
Interestingly enough, one of the themes that emerged from the book was one of fear, and not letting it get the best of you. If I had let fear get the best of me, THE DAY BEFORE would never have come to be. I now understand those other projects were rejected for a reason. Why? So I would find my way to this story. I'm so thankful now for those rejections!!!
And I'm really, REALLY excited to share the story of THE DAY BEFORE with all of you! I hope readers enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Thanks, Sab, for having me here to share the story of how THE DAY BEFORE came to be.
______________________________________
Thank YOU Lisa! You always inspire me so much.
THE DAY BEFORE is out in stores TODAY! Believe me, you dont want to miss this one! :)
Young Adult
Pages: 256 Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: May 24, 2011
Abby accepted that she can’t measure up to her beautiful, magnetic sister Tess a long time ago, and knows exactly what she is: Second best. Invisible.
Until the accident.
Now Tess is in a coma, and Abby’s life is on hold. It may have been hard living with Tess, but it's nothing compared to living without her.
She's got a plan to bring Tess back though, involving the gorgeous and mysterious Eli, but then Abby learns something about Tess, something that was always there, but that she’d never seen.
Abby is about to find out that truth isn't always what you think it is, and that life holds more than she ever thought it could...
Elizabeth Scott is one of my favorite writers. To me at least, she's like one of the huge authors in YA. Every time she has a new book, I'm desperate to get it. This was no exception. I love her writing. She has this particular way of making you feel and see, instead of just reading. She creates down to earth and shaking stories that reach the hearts of readers.
Between Here and Forever, has a slow start. To me it felt a bit repetitive at the beginning, when the reader is just getting involved with the character, Abby's low self esteem is being repeated over and over in several ways. It probably just felt that way since I get annoyed at people who show so much self pity, but that's how it felt to me. I wanted to slap Abby or close the book. But then it gets to a point where suddenly everything is awesome and Scott's magic began to blossom. Eli was... something else. I wanted to hug him and take care of him. I seriously loved his character.
Overall, it was just such a cute read, and like I said the male protagonist provoked tenderness in me instead of.. well, hot melting feelings, so it just felt to me a bit more MG than YA. Which is, of course, not a bad thing at all, but it was one of the main things I thought as soon as I closed the book. The fact that she included Bloom's characters as the parents was a bonus that I sadly figured out after reading it, so I'm committed to read it again and savor that bit.
I loved the setting, I loved the story, I loved the message. I love Elizabeth Scott and everything she writes.
Young Adult
Pages: 288
Publisher: Poppy
Release Date: September 7, 2010
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.
But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.
Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.
Okay, so this book and I did not connect... at first. It was so weird, and I'll try to explain the best I can. It starts off with this hateful snob who thinks she's better than everyone, spitting out cuss words for no reason, and acting as childish as a teen can act, thus contradicting all her supposed utter intelligence. Then she's told she's a duff, which basically means she the ugly, fat one in her posse, and she starts having delirious self-esteem issues while dealing in the worst possible way with her family's crisis. Not a book for me, right?
Here's where it gets interesting: I wanted to stop reading, I wanted to sincerely say I did not enjoy this read. But it was like a bad gossip... you can't stop yourself from wanting to hear it. You know you shouldn't, but geez, it's just such good gossip material! From a certain point on, I was glued to the book til the very last page. I know this is totally contradicting, but what can I say? Definitely a very, very guilty pleasure. I could totally relate with Bianca when she says she's ashamed of secretly watching Gossip Girl. That's how I felt reading this. Like I should hide it from my smarter self, if that makes any sense.
The book includes explicit sex, constant cussing, meaningless underage sex, parental abuse, etc. All issues that would normally draw me in, but they were taken in such a bubbly brain-dead way, that it was just annoying. And yes by annoying I mean I kept helplessly reading because I needed to know what happens and just ended up enjoying the whole thing. I'm probably not making any sense, but that's how I felt. The plot was probably the high point.
For those of you who just love a guilty pleasure, and like me, enjoy reading about friends with benefits, you might like this one.
From the Contemps site:
"The Contemps are a group of YA authors with contemporary novels releasing over the course of a year. We are passionate about realistic fiction because these are the books that remind us we're not alone in this real world. Our mission is simple - to spotlight contemporary fiction for young adults through blog posts, author events, and (over)sharing from our teen years"
Challenge:
Love to read contemporary fiction? Accept the Contemps Challenge and promise to read at least 18 of the 21 upcoming Contemps books between now and August 15, 2011. One lucky challenger will win the grand prize: ALL 21 of our books! That's like a whole bookshelf of books!
To enter:
Participants must be at least 13 years old.
Send an e-mail by November 15, 2010 with I ACCEPT THE CONTEMPS CHALLENGE in the subject line to: contempscontests(at)gmail(dot)com
Start reading! Visit the Books page for the complete book list or add books to your "to read" list from the Contemps' Goodreads page
My List:
Girl Stolen by April Henry
Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler
Fall For Anything by Courtney Summers
Trapped by Michael Northrop
The Day Before by Lisa Schoeder
Between Here and Forever by Elisabeth Scott
The Duff by Kody Keplinger
Losing Faith by Denise Jaden
The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard
Family by Micol Ostow
Pearl by Jo Knowles
Saving June by Hannah Harrington
Freefall by Mindi Scott
Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt
Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer
Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker
Back When You Were Easier to Love by Emily Wing Smith
Publisher: Simon Pulse
, has a slow start. To me it felt a bit repetitive at the beginning, when the reader is just getting involved with the character, Abby's low self esteem is being repeated over and over in several ways. It probably just felt that way since I get annoyed at people who show so much self pity, but that's how it felt to me. I wanted to slap Abby or close the book. But then it gets to a point where suddenly everything is awesome and Scott's magic began to blossom. Eli was... something else. I wanted to hug him and take care of him. I seriously loved his character.
's characters as the parents was a bonus that I sadly figured out after reading it, so I'm committed to read it again and savor that bit. 
