Guest Post and Giveaway: Again by Lisa Burstein

Today I'm excited to share a guest post and giveaway with you, from Again by Lisa Burstein. Thanks for stopping by!

Age Group: NA/Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: 9/22/14


GoodReads

How far would you go for a second chance?

 Eleven years after flunking out of college, Kate has finally hit rock-bottom. Losing her job and boyfriend in one drunken night, she’s determined to fix her life by going back to the moment when she let partying and sex take over and do things right. At twenty-nine, she heads back to freshman year of college, with a catch.

 Pretending she's nineteen with a new roommate and full class schedule is easy. When she meets her shy, sexy and seven-years-younger RA Carter, following her self-imposed sobriety and celibacy rules is proving to be anything but.

 A senior enduring years of regret, Carter is more than ready to graduate. He’s anxious to move on from the party his freshman year where he witnessed his frat brothers about to commit a sexual assault. Instead of doing the right thing and stepping in, he looked the other way and left. His guilt has made for a lonely four years.

 When he meets the new freshman on his floor, spunky and confident Kate, he wonders if his time as an outcast has finally come to an end.

 Kate and Carter’s growing friendship and undeniable attraction make it harder to hide the demons from their respective pasts. But when their secrets are finally revealed, will their chance at starting over together still be there?

1. Again will be available for only $0.99 for the first two weeks of release, then will be $3.99

 Amazon  |  BN  |  iTunes  |  Kobo

 

Again, in Five Words

Funny- Kate is a riot, her one-liners kill me.

Sweet- Carter is probably the sweetest hero I’ve ever written, aside from what he’s done in his past.

Sexy- Kate and Carter navigating their forbidden feelings for each other is one hot ride.

Redemptive- Carter and Kate both realize that forgiveness really begins with them.

Second-chance- Who doesn’t wish they could go back and change something they’ve said or done. Both Kate and Carter get to see if this wish is really worth wishing for.

The Challenge of Kate

Tell us how you made twenty-nine-year old Kate into a believable college freshman.

I have a cousin who always looked really young, like ten to fifteen years younger than she really was. She even told a story (with pride) that when she was thirty-two she went to Disneyworld alone and to get to the front of the lines she pretended she’d lost her parents and they were waiting for her up there. AND PEOPLE BOUGHT IT. So I made Kate someone with a baby face, the kind of person who ALWAYS gets carded, when she’s on a bus in the city people ask her if she’s okay, she looks out of place in her business suits, etc. Then I just had her buy the wardrobe of a college student. Voila nineteen

  

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Lisa Burstein is the author of the Young Adult Novels: Pretty Amy and Dear Cassie, and the New Adult Novels & Novellas: Sneaking Candy, The Next Forever & The Possibility of Us. She is also a contributor to the essay collection, Break These Rules: 35 Young Adult Authors On Speaking Up, Standing Out, and Being Yourself. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats. Again is her self-publishing debut.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads

Cover Reveal + Excerpt: Again by Lisa Burstein

We are so excited to share the cover for Again, by Lisa Burstein! We also have an excerpt from chapter one. Be sure to let us know what you think!

 

Title: AGAIN
Author: Lisa Burstein
Age Group: NA/Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: September 22, 2014


GoodReads

How far would you go for a second chance?

 Eleven years after flunking out of college, Kate has finally hit rock-bottom. Losing her job and boyfriend in one drunken night, she’s determined to fix her life by going back to the moment when she let partying and sex take over and do things right. At twenty-nine, she heads back to freshman year of college, with a catch.

 Pretending she's nineteen with a new roommate and full class schedule is easy. When she meets her shy, sexy and seven-years-younger RA Carter, following her self-imposed sobriety and celibacy rules is proving to be anything but.

 A senior enduring years of regret, Carter is more than ready to graduate. He’s anxious to move on from the party his freshman year where he witnessed his frat brothers about to commit a sexual assault. Instead of doing the right thing and stepping in, he looked the other way and left. His guilt has made for a lonely four years.

 When he meets the new freshman on his floor, spunky and confident Kate, he wonders if his time as an outcast has finally come to an end.

 Kate and Carter’s growing friendship and undeniable attraction make it harder to hide the demons from their respective pasts. But when their secrets are finally revealed, will their chance at starting over together still be there?

 

Excerpt

Chapter One

Kate

  College-take-two started with me hiding in the dorm lobby men’s bathroom. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice the urinals until after I ran inside.

  I stood with my back tight against the wall gasping air like it was Riesling and I was at an all you can drink happy hour.

  How the hell did I think I’d ever pull this off? Pretend to be a nineteen-year-old freshman at twenty-nine-years old?

   Going back to college might not have been one of my best ideas—but it was the only one that might finally change my life. I wanted to change my life. I needed to. It was just hard to convince myself of that once I was actually on campus with tons of real freshman all around me.

  I guess it’s a lot easier to fantasize about living your life over again than to actually go through with it. 

 

  “Are you lost?”

 

  I turned and found a built, blonde-haired hottie washing his hands. He dried them quickly, crossed his arms over his broad chest and leaned against the sink.

 

  That was the moment I realized I was in the men’s bathroom. The moment my breathing went from gulping Riesling at an all you can drink happy hour to puking it up into the disgusting toilet at the back of the bar when drinks went back to full price.

 

  My knees went wobbly. My mouth was dry; my head seemingly floating on top of my neck. I couldn’t tell if I was suddenly unbalanced because of how handsome he was, or the realization I clearly was lost.

 

  Minus a penis lost.

 

  “Shit,” I reached for the door handle with sweaty palms. At least I was making the kind of a stupid mistake a real freshman would.

 

  My wide, wild eyes probably made me look as confused by my surroundings as any other student arriving, but honestly I was terrified and not because I’d almost caught this guy with his pants down, because this whole idea was insane.

 

  “It’s okay,” he said, walking toward me, waving his large hands to calm me. “This is definitely not the worst thing I’ve seen someone do the first day back.” He smiled showing teeth that reminded me of toothpaste commercials. It brought out the sweetest dimple the size of an M&M on his chin.

 

  Fuck me. I smiled back.

 

  He paused; eyeing me up and down, perhaps noticing the tight body I was showing off in a desperate attempt to appear nineteen.

 

  “What makes you an expert?” I asked hoping to change his focus, Maybe he wasn’t regarding me for the reason I thought; tight body or no, I was not nineteen. I was twenty-nine. Why the hell would anyone believe any different?

 

  He pointed to his red polo shirt.

 

  Turns out he was doing his job.

 

  The area above his right pectoral muscle read Resident Advisor, Hudson University. There was something I couldn’t identify in his sea-glass blue eyes; almost like he was holding back, putting up a good front.

 

  I knew his look well. It was one I’d mastered. When it got too hard to wear my own everything-is-fine-mask I doused it in alcohol and sex and bad choices, but that wasn’t a solution anymore.

 

  And clearly, everything wasn’t fine.

 

  “I need to get out of here,” I grasped for the door latch again, trying to put out the fire blazing in my neck and face.

 

  He reached from behind me and also went for the door. His hand brushed against mine blistering enough to brand my skin.

 

  My pulse popped like the last minute of popcorn in a microwave. I needed to get away from him. I would have usually chastised myself for even glancing in his direction. Not that I had much choice considering I’d been the one who put us in such close and uncomfortable quarters.

 

  Twenty-nine-year-olds didn’t spontaneously combust from a college kid’s accidental touch. But damn, this guy was fine. My RA back in college-take-one was nothing like this. If he had been I might have made it past the first semester.

 

  I might have passed my actual college-take-one classes.

 

  Of course, I also might have spent it studying what was under his khakis.

 

  “Let me help you,” he said, pushing on the latch as I continued to pull. His voice was a deep vibrato, as deep as his blue eyes seemed.

 

  “I can open a door,” I said, pulling as hard as I could. Nothing happened.

 

  Apparently I couldn’t.

 

  He lifted his arms I-surrender-style and stood back stifling a laugh. “It’s a push.”

 

  “I knew that,” I looked down as I finally pushed the door open and we exited the bathroom. Not because I was embarrassed, though who was I kidding?

 

  I kept my eyes away from his. I didn’t want to show him my face. Have him laugh and say, what the hell are you doing here old lady? Or even worse, are you here helping your daughter or son move in?

 

  It was one thing to be told you had a baby-face your entire life. It was another to put it to the test next to actual babies!

 

  That was why I’d run into the bathroom. Too bad my early-onset cataracts had obscured the mammoth M and stick figure dude.

 

  We stood in front of the door, the dorm lobby brimming with students and their parents. I should have just walked away, but I liked the way he was checking me out, his gaze sliding from my just purchased Uggs to my just purchased white winter hat with cat-ears smashed over my recently highlighted blonde hair. I had been doing my best to look student-like.

 

  But I was pretty sure I looked like Hannah Montana.

 

  It had been easy to Photoshop my high school transcript so it seemed like I graduated a year ago. Simple to change my one semester of F’s to A’s, to take the SATs again, to get a fake ID, to dress like any other nineteen-year-old. It took an hour to sublet my rent-controlled New York City apartment.

 

  Being here and acting like a college freshman would clearly be a lot harder.

 

 

 Be sure to add Again on GoodReads!

 

 

About Lisa Burstein

Lisa Burstein is the author of the Young Adult Novels: Pretty Amy and Dear Cassie, and the New Adult Novels & Novellas: Sneaking Candy, The Next Forever & The Possibility of Us. She is also a contributor to the essay collection, Break These Rules: 35 Young Adult Authors On Speaking Up, Standing Out, and Being Yourself. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats. Again is her self-publishing debut.


Website | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads

TEASER TOUR: SNEAKING CANDY by LISA BURSTEIN ~ TEASER AND GIVEAWAY

I'm really excited to be part of the Teaser Tour of Sneaking Candy by Lisa Burstein. Be sure to check out the teasers, along with the big giveaway!

 

 

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Publication Date: 12/9/13

 

 

All I ever wanted was to make a name for myself as Candice Salinas, creative writing grad student at the University of Miami. Of course, secretly I already have made a name for myself: as Candy Sloane, self-published erotic romance writer. Though thrilled that my books are selling and I have actual fans, if anyone at UM found out, I could lose my scholarship…and the respect of my faculty advisor, grade-A-asshole Professor Dylan.

Enter James Walker, super-hot local barista and—surprise!—my student. Even though I know a relationship is totally off-limits, I can’t stop myself from sneaking around with James, taking a few cues from my own erotic writing…if you catch my drift. Candy’s showing her stripes for the first time in my real life, and I’ve never had so much fun. But when the sugar high fades, can my secrets stay under wraps?

 

"SNEAKING CANDY is fun, sexy and sweet, with a hero every reader will swoon over."                ~ Monica Murphy, New York Times Bestselling Author of One Week Girlfriend

"SNEAKING CANDY lives up to it's title, it's a treat every time you pick it up!"                             ~  Jennifer McLaughlin, New York Times Bestselling Author of Out of Line.

"With smart, strong leading characters, an original premise, and a plot that will keep you guessing until the end, SNEAKING CANDY is a breath of fresh air."                                              ~  Lyla Payne, USA Today Bestselling Author of Broken at Love

 

James swam closer to me. “I would ordinarily try to kiss you right now, but we’re on campus,” he said, continuing the fantasy of the two of us just being together without the complications of being the two of us.

Here it was—the kiss conversation. I guess it was impossible to deny there was something happening between us. Whether he finally said it or not, I could feel it. My whole body was begging for him, pleading on its knees.

“What about any of this is ordinary?” I asked. We were floating side by side. Toe-to-toe, shoulder to shoulder, cheek to cheek. I could have ducked underwater. I could have run out of the pool, or away. There was a whole world I could have put between us if I wanted to, but instead I hovered there waiting to see what he would do next. Waiting to see what I would do next.

“The part where we are supposed to stay away from each other,” he said, turning to me. His lips were so close, waiting for mine to connect, to make a choice, to show him I could make a choice.

“I’ve been thinking about revising that rule,” I said, the words out before I could stop them.

“Ooh, revision. We going to take a red pen to this relationship?” he asked his breath as warm as the water on my face.

I shrugged. I couldn’t respond. I’d already said too much. It was easier to write the words, easier to hide behind silence. Confessing my real feelings for James would only do one thing—get me hurt. Sure, he wanted to kiss me now, to be with me now, but that would change. I would never let myself be in a situation like that again.

“I think I’m going to get out.” I swam to the wall, climbed up the stairs, and sat on the edge with my legs dangling in the water.

James swam over to me. “It’s too bad we can’t be together,” he said, his face parallel to my wet knees, “because this gives me some ideas.”

Droplets from his hair pinged against the surface. He exhaled so close to my thighs it felt like each freckle on my skin was the result of a lightning strike.

Maybe I could leave Candice behind and just be like one of Candy’s characters. Why couldn’t James and I have a purely physical relationship? It was clear my Miami life was sorely, or not so “sorely,” lacking in that department, and after drinks with Professor Dylan, it appeared James could be trusted to keep his mouth shut.

“What kind of ideas?” I wanted to know what they were, badly, but could I go through with them?

“Not the kind a student should be thinking about his teacher.”

 

Pre-order Sneaking Candy

Amazon  |  Barnes and Noble  |  KOBO 

Giveaway
To celebrate the awesome blurbs Sneaking Candy has received Lisa is giving away books from Monica Murphy, Jennifer Mclaughlin & Lyla Payne! Make sure to follow Lisa on twitter for more teasers and chances to win all week long!

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

 

 

 

About the author

Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She is the author of Pretty Amy, The Next Forever, Dear Cassie and Candy, Stripped. As well as a contributor to the upcoming essay collection, Break These Rules: 35 YA Authors On Speaking Up, Standing Out, and Being Yourself. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats.

 

 

Website  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  GoodReads

 

 

 

 

 

DEAR CASSIE READ-A-LONG

I've never done one of these before, but I, along with my friend Amy at Book Loving Mom, are helping author Lisa Burstein host a read-along for her book Dear Cassie. 

(click on cover for GoodReads page)
 

So what does a read along mean? It means you and other people read Dear Cassie at the same time on a schedule. Maybe you've already read it. Maybe it's been waiting on your shelf or e-reader, or maybe you've been meaning to read it. Whatever the case- now you can read it and WIN PRIZES and HAVE FUN!

How do you participate? Lots of ways.

• You can comment on discussions on the book page on GoodReads.
• You can tweet you favorite lines, passages, characters using #CassieReadAlong or take photos of favorite passages/quotes, or of where the book is while you read, etc.
• You can shout-out your daily "fucks" count, or favorite use of swear word. (I personally love this one!)
• AND, that's not all, each tweet you send or discussion you start or respond to enters you to WIN your choice of 5, 3 or 1 - Entangled Teen Digital Books! 3 Lucky Winners!

It all ends with a twitter chat hosted by Teen Librarian Toolbox on April 30th, where you get to tweet with other readers and ask me questions!

 

Schedule:

• Week of April 1st- Chapters 1-7
• Week of April 8th- Chapters 8-15
• Week of April 15th- Chapters 15-22
• Week of April 22nd- Chapters 22-29
• Week of April 29th- Chapter 30

 

You can purchase Dear Cassie at:

Amazon  |  Barnes and Noble  |  Book Depository

 

 

{REVIEW} DEAR CASSIE (PRETTY AMY #2) by LISA BURSTEIN

Series: Pretty Amy #2
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Date: 3/5/13
Format: eARC
Pages: 352
Source: Received from publisher for review

What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?

You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

You’d be wrong.

There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.

What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?

But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.

And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?

Pretty Amy gave us Amy's version of the Prom night from Hell. The night she, Lila, and Cassie lit up, and went down in flames. The consequences of their actions, and how it changed her. Dear Cassie is Cassie's story, but we quickly learn that getting arrested and going to jail was the least of Cassie's problems. That twenty-eight days at a Wilderness Camp may push Cassie beyond her limits, but it may also save her.

At this point, a pattern has been established: Lisa Burstein is brilliant. I was blown away by her talent with Pretty Amy. Her ability to tap into the innermost thoughts of a troubled teenage girl, and bring that to the surface with her beautiful writing, is shocking. That brilliance continued in The Next Forever, in which she bravely writes an authentic young relationship, and only promises forever a day at a time. In Dear Cassie, Burstein has solidified my opinion that any conversation about must-read books for teens must include her books. They are that important.

I say that not only because they are thoughtful, honest, and bold, but also because she offers an alternative to the "perfect" heroine who finds herself in a troublesome situation. Burstein offers the troubled heroine, a girl that we don't often see in Young Adult fiction. I try, so hard, to take myself out of reviews, and I don't always accomplish that. But I could never remove myself from a review of Burstein's books. She writes about the other girl. The girl who swears too much, smokes, kisses too many boys. Not the vulnerable, meek girl who everyone wants to protect, but the vulnerable, off-putting girl with a tough exterior. I was that girl. My friends were that girl. We were Amy, Cassie, and Lila. There are a lot of girls out there and they need books like Burstein's.

As much as I was prepared, Dear Cassie caught me off guard. Cassie came off as very harsh in Pretty Amy. She is harsh. I identified with Amy and did not think I would have that experience with Cassie. I did. Cassie, though very tough, was so very fragile, and it was beautiful and exhausting to get to know her. She is a girl who uses sarcasm as a shield, who uses the word "fuck" like a weapon.

"I would much rather have someone holding me at arm's length than trying against all odds to hold me."

Prom night sucked for Cassie, but is not the worst thing that has happened to her by a long shot. During her stay at camp, through physical and mental challenges, Cassie's tough exterior slowly dissolves until she reveals just how lost and ashamed she truly feels. Through breaking and exposing her vulnerabilities, Cassie unknowingly is being built back up. Stronger.

And there's a boy. Isn't there always? Ben. Ben is attending camp as well, and he immediately annoys and intrigues Cassie. Ben is persistent, and I loved that. But the antagonistic relationship-turned friendship-turned more (?) is not about Ben saving Cassie or vice versa. It is about acceptance, and simply being there beside one another.

As you may guess, Dear Cassie was an intense experience for me. As much as I loved the writing and could have devoured it in one sitting, I had to pace myself. Cassie's intensity was at times too close for comfort, emotionally exhausting. An author that can make you feel that intensely is a treasure. Dear Cassie is a treasure.


Favorite Quote:

  "Come pray with me," Rawe said.
  "I can't," I said, instead of just saying no.
  "You don't have to be religious to pray," she said.
  "But you have to be good." I paused, looking at the orange pinecones that covered the ground. "Deserving," I continued, "and I'm not." I was surprised I'd admitted it out loud. It was one thing to punch myself unitl I couldn't breathe and keep everyone away like I had porcupine needles coming from my skin. It was another thing to say it, especially when I couldn't even write what that really meant yet.  ~eARC, 25%

 
  "Why?" I asked. "Why do you keep coming back for more?"
  "I think I can make you happy," he said, his eyes on the sky. "I also think you're funny as hell."
  "Thanks," I said, "but I'm pretty sure I've never been happy."
  "Exactly," he said, putting one arm behind his head.  ~ eARC, 56% 



Preorder Dear Cassie at:

 

 

The Pretty Amy Series

 

(click on cover to go to GoodReads page)

 

My Reviews of:

Pretty Amy  |  The Next Forever

 

 

About the author:

Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Fiction from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University and is glad to finally have it be worth more than the paper it was printed on. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats.

Connect with Lisa at:

Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads | Blog | Website

 

 

{COVER REVEAL & EXCERPT} DEAR CASSIE by LISA BURSTEIN

Guess what. I have another cover reveal to share with you! Today I have Dear Cassie, by Lisa Burstein. Dear Cassie is a companion to Pretty Amy. I really enjoyed Pretty Amy and am excited to be able to participate.
 

 

 

**I love this cover. Plain and simple.**

 

 

What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?

You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

 

You’d be wrong.

There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.

What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?

But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.

And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?

 

 

Not only do I have the cover to share, but also an excerpt from Dear Cassie 

 

We kept walking on the lake trail, the bullfrogs croaking. There was also a humming in my ears from the nicotine.

It could only be from the nicotine. It had nothing to do with being outside, at night, alone with Ben. It had nothing to do with Ben coming to the cabin and taking me instead of Nez and it definitely had nothing to do with the stars above us shining like they were the sky’s tiara.

I stopped on the trail and looked up, taking them in, when all of a sudden bright colored lights exploded in the sky—fireworks, one after another, on top of each other, huge kaleidoscopes of light, like sparkling rainbow spiders.

“How did you know?” I asked, my voice going softer, like if I talked too loudly they would stop. It was so beautiful, after weeks of so much ugly.

Ben turned to look at me, the colored lights in the sky turning his skin pink, blue, green. “I’m magic.” He shrugged.

I geared up to tell him to fuck off, because that was some corny-ass shit, but then I realized that he really kind of was. In that moment he was able to actually make me forget being me.

“I would try to kiss you,” he said, “but I’m afraid you’d kick me in the balls.”

“I probably would.” I laughed, the sky filling with noisy color like paint launching from a giant popcorn popper. “But like I said, it wouldn’t be about you.”

“I guess I’ll have to figure out how to make it about me,” he said, taking off his boots and socks and standing. “Come on.”

“There is no way I am getting near that water again,” I said.

“I’ll make sure nothing happens to you,” he said, holding his hand out to help me up.

I looked at his palm, open, waiting, just wanting to hold mine. For once, I didn’t think about anything except that there was a cute, sweet, smart-ass boy standing in front of me with his hand out.

I pulled off my boots and socks and took it.

We stood at the lakeshore, our hands still clasped, the water licking our feet, fireworks decorating the sky.

I turned to him. He was looking up, his mouth open in wonder like he was trying to swallow the moment.

It was definitely one worth keeping.

 

**Wow. That was a great excerpt!**

 

Lisa is hosting an EPIC CONTEST to celebrate DEAR CASSIE’ s cover reveal. Lisa wants you guys to share diary entries of your favorite fictional characters with me. That’s right, choose ANY character from books, TV, movies, a cereal box and write a 500-750 length diary entry from their point of view.

We will choose the top 5 and then let the masses vote on their favorite. The favorite will be published in the final version of DEAR CASSIE. You read that right, published with the author’s name! The additional four will win $20 book buying gift cards.

So get diary-ing! Send you entries to prettyamystories@yahoo.com by January 1st!

Voting for the top 5 will begin January 7th, with the winner being announced January 14th!

 

About the Author:

Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Fiction from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She lives in Portland, OR, with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats. Dear Cassie is her second novel.

Twitter  Facebook  Website

 

You can preorder Dear Cassie at:

Powell's  |   Book Depository   |  Amazon |  Barnes & Noble

 

PRETTY AMY PROM STORIES

Recently, PRETTY AMY author Lisa Burstein and her editor Stacy Cantor Abrams attended the Romantic Times Convention. At the convention, they wore prom dresses chosen by voters and they asked others to share their worst prom stories. (Boy, could I tell a few.)

Lisa and Stacy are now sharing the hilarious results of asking for the worst prom stories. Enjoy!

Blog Tour ~ PRETTY AMY, by Lisa Burstein

Welcome to The Bookish Babe's stop on the PRETTY AMY Blog Tour! For my stop, I have a Q&A with author Lisa Burstein about terribly important things such as favorite comfort foods and television shows...You know, the things you're dying to know about!  And to finish it off, my review of PRETTY AMY. 

You can find the complete tour schedule at Lisa's website.

Q&A with Lisa Burstein

Andrea: Lisa, I know you are a tea seller. I grew up on instant tea (blasphemy!). Can you recommend a delicious tea for a newbie like me?

Lisa: Earl Grey is probably the best place to start :).

Andrea: I'm a foodie. What is your favorite comfort food?

Lisa: Mashed Potatoes. Sometimes I'll have a whole big bowl of them for dinner. Those are the nights my husband makes his own dinner. I say, "mashed potato bowl tonight" and he knows, I'm not cooking.

Andrea: Lol! This reminded me of Carol Kane in License to Drive!

Andrea: Favorite movie from teenage years? Favorite song?

Lisa: Breakfast Club, I was in LOVE with Judd Nelson(who wasn't?). I can't pick one song, but one of my favorite bands was Gun-N-Roses. Appetite for Destruction was my favorite album.

Andrea: I have officially declared you my "pop culture soulmate".

Andrea: What do you like to do to unwind?

Lisa: Read. Surprising right? ;)

Andrea: What tv show is a must-see in your home?

Lisa: Seinfeld, yes in re-runs. Shows on now, me and my husband never miss The Killing.

Andrea: Can you recommend a great book?

Lisa: A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is my ultimate favorite.

Andrea:Can you tell us a little more about the Pretty Amy Project?What inspired you to create it? Lisa: Basically I wanted to provide a safe place where teens who had read PRETTY AMY could share their feelings about the book and how they feel it relates to their lives and their experiences. I am asking them to tell me how they've felt like Amy. How they got over it. How they are getting over it. How they are embracing it. I am inviting them to tell anything they've been too afraid to tell before. I will be creating a blog to showcase the stories, teens can decide whether they want to be anonymous and or have their names listed. I am hoping it will let teen girls know they are not alone. That a lot of people feel what they feel: the desire to belong, to fit in, to have people who understand them. I was a lot like Amy. Just like her I had such a desire to belong, to fit in, to have people who understood me. I wanted that so badly and I guess I never felt like adults understood that. It was most of the reason I wrote PRETTY AMY. If I'd had it when I was in high school I feel like I would have been able to understand my feelings better. I wouldn't have felt so alone. That feeling was something I never admitted to anyone, not even my friends and I wanted to let teens know it's okay to feel lonely even surrounded by friends and family.

Andrea: I can't tell you how happy this project makes me!

**Thanks to Lisa Burstein for taking the time to answer my questions!**

Amy is fine living in the shadows of beautiful Lila and uber-cool Cassie, because at least she’s somewhat beautiful and uber-cool by association. But when their dates stand them up for prom, and the girls take matters into their own hands—earning them a night in jail outfitted in satin, stilettos, and Spanx—Amy discovers even a prom spent in handcuffs might be better than the humiliating “rehabilitation techniques” now filling up her summer. Worse, with Lila and Cassie parentally banned, Amy feels like she has nothing—like she is nothing.
Navigating unlikely alliances with her new coworker, two very different boys, and possibly even her parents, Amy struggles to decide if it’s worth being a best friend when it makes you a public enemy. Bringing readers along on an often hilarious and heartwarming journey, Amy finds that maybe getting a life only happens once you think your life is over.

 
"Unfortunately, I am only myself. I am only Amy Fleischman."(pg1)


Thus begins PRETTY AMY. Amy is lost. Amy is afraid to speak out. Amy is afraid of being lost in the crowd, so she does the only thing she knows to gain attention: She acts bad. She smokes, she drinks, she hangs out with fellow "bad girls" Cassie and Lila. What Amy doesn't realize, though, is that she's digging herself a hole. With each misdeed, with each burned bridge, she's going deeper and deeper. Until the night she, Cassie and Lila cross the line. Without the shadows of Lila and Cassie to hide behind, Amy is forced to face her bad decisions and decide whether the consequences are worth it.

Oh, to be a teenager again. The saying "Youth is wasted on the young" is painfully accurate. Teenagers have such potential. The world is sitting there, just waiting on them to venture into the unknown. But, that's looking at it with hindsight, with all the painful bits removed. Things like self-esteem, self-worth, fitting in, friends, frenemies; they all can be torturous to navigate. So to be put back into that frame of mind, a lost girl, was draining.

I'm fairly certain author Lisa Burstein has Jedi-Mind Skills. Never, in all my *cough* twenty-eight  years of reading have I ever felt quite so exposed. There were moments when Amy was internally pleading with someone to see her, the scared girl behind the facade, that I had to gently set the book down, take forty-five deep breaths, wipe the tears away, then dive back in. It's not necessary to be just like Amy to get her. I wasn't, on the outside, I was an excellent masker of emotions.  But deep down, I was so painfully lost that I could have easily spun out of control. The fact that Burstein was able to bring Amy and her feelings so firmly to life, and put me right back into her situation, is mind-boggling.

I also read this book from the perspective of a mother. I've vowed to myself to learn the lessons I found in PRETTY AMY. Don't be like Amy's mom and dad. It's actually very simple, if you think about it.
PARENTS: Don't rush into accusing, blaming, and punishing. ASK YOUR CHILD QUESTIONS. Ask them if there is something going on inside that makes them act out. Ask, ask, ask. Then hug. Let them know you are there, no matter what.

Although PRETTY AMY was heavier than I originally thought, there were many laughs. Amy's internal dialogue had me smiling. Her observations: on her parents, her therapist, her coworker, her neighbor, her friends were wry and painfully accurate. Her friends, Cassie and Lila, were not in the story as much as I expected. And that was great as far as Lila goes, because that girl was so self-absorbed. I had a friend like Lila and just, ugh. Cassie on the other hand was a riot. I loved that girl and wish she had more book time. But...I hear Cassie's getting her own book! That's a total win. I can't wait to read an entire book from her point-of -view.

 I wish I had PRETTY AMY when I was seventeen years old. I would like to think that I would have read it, and learned something through Amy instead of, well, drinking and smoking and hanging out with bad boys. Maybe this book would have shown me I had worth, besides being the girl who was popular but could still party like a rock star. The best I can do now is pass the story on to my own daughter someday, and a girl I know, right now, who could use some PRETTY AMY.


Favorite Quote:

"I probably should have been scared to smoke that much, but I needed to be annihilated. I had to forget tomorrow, when I would wake in one of three hotel rooms we'd rented, alone in that big bed, my dress crumpled up on the floor like a discarded attempt at a love letter." (pg. 16)

"They would fill me up with their secrets. They would make me feel like my silence was a choice. Like being left over was a choice."  (pg. 228)


Expected publication: May 8th 2012 by Entangled Publishing


You can purchase PRETTY AMY at:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository


Source: Received from publisher for review.