Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley This is one of the most gorgeous books about grief and young love I’ve read. Actually, it’s one of the most gorgeous books I’ve read, full stop. Following the drowning death of her brother, Rachel returns to the city where she grew up and to her one-time friend and crush, Henry. Rachel hasn’t been back in three years and before she left, she wrote Henry a love letter — he didn’t respond. Now the two are working together at his family’s struggling bookstore. The novel is unsurprisingly the recipient of many awards, including Australia’s Prime Minister’s Literary Award.   The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han Jenny Han is best known for To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, which, fair. But I loved this novel (the first in Han’s Summer series) about teenage Belly, who spends her summers at a beach house in North Carolina with brothers Conrad and Jeremiah. The book captures all the confusion and excitement of adolescent crushes and friendships, but it’s also about the importance of the family we make for ourselves. It’s currently being adapted into a TV series.   Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon It’s so…

1–What is the title of your latest release? EVERYTHING WITHIN AND IN BETWEEN 2–What is it about? EVERYTHING WITHIN AND IN BETWEEN is about Ri, who tries to learn Spanish to reconnect with her absent mother and Mexican heritage, but who is hiding her efforts from her strict grandmother—who has kept her from both. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I love that the setting is in Santa Barbara, the beautiful beach town where I live that is often referred to as the “American Riviera,” because the geography and climate share similarities to areas along the French coast of the Mediterranean Sea. EWIB prominently features one of my favorite beaches and some of the beautiful architecture in Santa Barbara, such as the red-tile roofs, that I love as well.   4–How did your main character(s) surprise you?  I wrote about a main character whose mother is Mexican American and whose dad is white. She’s trying to come to terms with her identity given her light skin and mixed heritage because that’s something I’ve struggled a lot with, but I found Ri surprising in the scenes when she becomes incredibly angry with her grandmother for keeping her…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Sarah! Please tell us about yourself and your new book, RUTHLESS. Hello!  Thanks for having me!!  I started off my career writing for television (and still do!), so my prose tends to be fast-paced and dialogue-heavy.  RUTHLESS is the third book in my EYE OF THE BEHOLDER trilogy, about a seemingly idyllic future society where good people are rewarded and bad ones punished… “good deeds” make you more beautiful, while “bad” ones lead to deformity and death.  By the time we get to the third book, our main character, Grace, has learned the truth about her world, and she’s on a mission to set things right.  Although, “setting things right” is more complicated than it seems, just like in real life – and that’s a lot of what this series is about, that nothing is black and white. RUTHLESS marks the end of your Eye of the Beholder trilogy. What have you loved the most about creating these books? Is it bittersweet for this series to come to an end? I’m really excited for this full trilogy to be out in the world!  Though RUTHLESS was the hardest book I’ve ever written, I’m really proud of…