Happy Monday! I'm thrilled to be the next stop on Little Brown's blog tour for Sara Grant's Half Lives. Today Sara has stopped Mundie Moms to talk about some of her favorite YA books.
Suggested Topic: Five YA Books That I Read as an Adult but Wish I Had as a Teen
Here are the books I’d send back to teenage Sara Murray in the small town of Washington, Indiana, in the 1980s. I wonder how reading these books at a younger age would change me. They have certainly influenced me as an adult.
To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee –I’m ashamed to say I only read it a few years ago and wished I hadn’t waited so long. The story is captivating and honest. Its message of equality rings as true today – and is as important – as when it was written in 1960.
A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly – This is a story within a story about two young women whose lives link in the summer of 1906 at Big Moose Lake. The end of one life is revealed in letters discovered by the other. There’s murder and romance, but at its core is one young writer struggling to realize her dream. It’s a beautifully crafted novel and I would definitely have identified with a teen girl from a small town who dreams of being a writer.
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. Reading this in my teen years would have saved me a lot of angst. In Beauty Queens, Bray reveals so many secrets about being a girl that I wish I’d known as a teen. There were times as a teen that I thought I was just plain strange or that something was wrong with me. I think everyone feels this for one reason or another at some time while growing up. Beauty Queens would have shown me that I wasn’t so different – that other girls thought and felt the same way I did.
Every Day by David Levithan I’m reading it right now. I haven’t even finished it, but it’s already one of those books that I’ve read bits out loud to other people. What a brilliant concept! It’s about an entity that wakes up every day in the body of someone else. It the kind of book that makes you look at your life and others differently. It’s one of those books that I can’t wait to see how it ends but at the same time I don’t want it to end – ever.
And my final book is a bit of a cheeky selection. Dark Parkies by yours truly. I think my teen self would be overjoyed – and probably quite incredulous – that we achieve our dream of being a published writer!
Half Lives Synopsis
Half Lives is two stories twisted and tangled together – one set pre- and the other years after an apocalyptic event. Icie is a typical teenager, until disaster strikes. Her only hope of survival is escaping to a top-secret mountain bunker. Hundreds of years later, 18-year-old Beckett leads a cult that worships a sacred mountain. But Beckett and his beliefs are under attack. Icie and Beckett must fight to survive. They are separated by time but connected by a dangerous secret that both must protect at any cost.
Sara is an author of fiction for teens and younger readers and freelance editor of series fiction. Shehas worked on twelve different series and edited nearly 100 books.Dark Parties, her first young adult novel, won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Europe. Her new novel for teens – titled Half Lives – is an apocalyptic thriller. She also writes – Magic Trix – a fun, magical series for younger readers.
Sara was born and raised in a small town in the Midwestern United States. She graduated from Indiana University with degrees in journalism and psychology, and later she earned a master’s degree in creative and life writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She lives in London.
Visit Sara via her website & follow her on Twitter
The Giveaway
Thank you to Little Brown, I have two copies of Sara's Half Lives to giveaway! Open to residents of the US only, no PO Boxes. To enter, please fill out the form below:
Posts
Sara's book sounds amazing. And I have to admit that I love her list of book's too. I adored all of them, which makes me even more eager to read hers. Plus it sounds completely original!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a terrific book. Thanks for telling me about it.
ReplyDeleteI love Dark Parties and am looking forward to read Half Lives!
ReplyDeleteKris @Imaginary Reads