Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
SIMONE ELKELES | When your story isn’t finished…
Author Guest / September 17, 2010

Sometimes your characters (and your publisher) take you places you don’t want to go — like to a not so happily-ever-after ending. Caleb and Maggie from Leaving Paradise wanted a happy ending. They deserved one. They had both been through so much — juvie and a crippling accident — but they still didn’t get their HEA. Not in Leaving Paradise, anyway. As much as they (and I, their author) wanted it, it wasn’t going to happen. Too bad for them. Worse, too bad for me. And so, romance lover that I am, I agonized and fretted over what to do. I had sold the book to the publisher as a YA romance with a HEA. But Caleb and Maggie wouldn’t stay in their box; their characters took over and led them (and their book) to an ending that was real…but not happy. So, after some time (and a few more books – Perfect Chemistry, anyone? were written and hitting the bookstore shelves) I was ready to give Caleb and Maggie their turn in the limelight again. They had suffered enough. Strangely, though, my publisher loved the ending to Leaving Paradise. For them, Leaving Paradise was done. Finito. Paradise had been…

Fresh Pick | PERFECT CHEMISTRY by Simone Elkeles
Fresh Pick / August 4, 2010

January 2009 On Sale: December 23, 2008 Featuring: Brittany Ellis; Alex Fuentes 368 pages ISBN: 0802798225 EAN: 9780802798220 Trade Size $9.99 Add to Wish List Young Adult Contemporary Buy at Amazon.com Congrats! The 2010 RITA Winner for Young Adult Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles A fresh, urban twist on the classic tale of star-crossed lovers. When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she’s worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more. In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks…

Rosemary Clement-Moore | Exciting Reads for Your April Spring Fever Slack-Off…

Fresh Takes from the Teen Shelves All the news, updates and gossip for the Young Adult — books, authors, movies and more! Ah, spring fever. Every April, I have the hardest time making myself do work. I just want to lay around enjoying the gorgeous weather–not too hot, not too cold–goofing off. Which for me means reading books. Here are a few suggestions for your Spring Fever Slack Off, starting with interviews with Kelley Armstrong and Heather Davis, who were nice enough to tell me about their new releases. Kelley Armstrong has been delighting fans of contemporary fantasy and paranormal romance with her Women of the Otherworld series (Bitten, Dime Store Magic) for awhile, and in 2008, she added a series of YA books to her extensive list, the third of which comes out on April 6th. Kelley Armstrong: THE RECKONING is the final book in the Darkest Powers trilogy. In the first book, fifteen-year-old Chloe Saunders started seeing ghosts. After a breakdown at school, she was taken to a group home, which she quickly discovered was not what it seemed. After being on the run in THE AWAKENING, she’s taken shelter in a place that seems safe. But for…