FFBC: Welcome to the club, Half in Love with Death by Emily Ross

Half in Love with Death
by Emily Ross
Publisher: Merit Press
Release Date: December 18th 2015
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction

Synopsis:

It's the era of peace and love in the 1960s, but nothing is peaceful in Caroline's life. Since her beautiful older sister disappeared, fifteen-year-old Caroline might as well have disappeared too. She's invisible to her parents, who can't stop blaming each other. The police keep following up on leads even Caroline knows are foolish. The only one who seems to care about her is Tony, her sister's older boyfriend, who soothes Caroline's desperate heart every time he turns his magical blue eyes on her. 

Tony is convinced that the answer to Jess's disappearance is in California, the land of endless summer, among the runaways and flower children. Come with me, Tony says to Caroline, and we'll find her together. Tony is so loving, and all he cares about is bringing Jess home. And so Caroline follows, and closes a door behind her that may never open again.

Inspired by the disturbing case of Charles Schmid, ‘the Pied Piper of Tucson’, Half in Love with Death is a heartfelt thriller that never lets up.

Hello Emily! We are super excited to host you in our FFBC. 

Favorite Book?

I have so many it’s hard to choose, but Mystic River by Dennis Lehane is one of my all time favorites. It’s so sad and dark with such moving and unforgettable characters. And it’s also a tight page turning mystery.

Favorite TV show? 

Mad Men. I’m really bummed that the series ended.

Favorite movie?

It’s a tie between Edward Scissorhands and Silver Linings Playbook.

Your Favorite Song?

The Water (Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling)

Favorite Food?

Mac and cheese, preferably with Buffalo Chicken.

Who is your perfect fictional boyfriend? 

I hate to admit this but it’s Heathcliff, even though I also kind of hate him. 

Favorite Quote?

“To hell with tomorrow. To hell with all problems and barriers. Nothing matters but the Spectacular Now.”  ― Tim Tharp, The Spectacular Now 

What do you find yourself “Fangirling” over?

Kit Harrington. Jon Snow can’t be dead! 

If you could meet one author, dead or alive, who would it be?

I would love to meet F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby was one of the first books that made me realize I wanted to me a writer. Something about Fitzgerald’s lyrical style makes me want to put words on a page, and I bet he was a really cool dude.

What authors are auto-buys for you? 

I’ll buy anything by Gillian Flynn or Tana French. 

For those who have read not the book yet, can you tell us a little about Half In Love With Death? 

Half in Love with Death is a young adult thriller that takes place in Tucson in 1965. It’s the time of peace and love, but nothing is peaceful in fifteen-year-old Caroline's life. Since her beautiful older sister Jess disappeared, Caroline might as well have disappeared too. She's invisible to her parents, who can't stop blaming each other. The police keep following up on foolish leads and assume Jess is a runaway. The only person who pays any attention to her is Jess’s boyfriend Tony. Every time she turns around, he’s looking at her with startling blue eyes, telling her how they can find Jess together, how anything is possible if you believe it. 

Tony is convinced that the answer to Jess's disappearance is in California, the land of endless summer, among the runaways and flower children. Come with me, Tony says to Caroline, and we'll find her together. Tony is so loving, and all he cares about is bringing Jess home. And so Caroline follows, and by the time she learns the difference between truth and illusion, it may be too late.

Half in Love with Death is inspired by the case of Charles Schmid, ‘the Pied Piper of Tucson’.

If you could describe Caroline in 5 words, what would they be? 

Intelligent, curious, romantic, lovely, idealistic 

Is there a specific scene that you had the most fun to write? 

I really liked writing the scene where Caroline is in the car with Tony and Debbie Frank for the first time. Debbie’s snarky dialogue with Tony in this scene came very easily. I just had to step back and let her talk. And I had fun with Caroline as she sort of fumbles with her notes and tries to be a detective. 

What was more difficult to write, the historical aspects or the mystery? 

The mystery was much harder for me than the historical aspects. I had fun researching sixties references and looking at fashion and listening to the music from that era. But figuring out the mystery, planting clues, and figuring out the ending was a challenge. In fact I resisted working out the ending for a long time, and until I did that I couldn’t really make the mystery work. After I finally wrote the end, I had to go back to plant clues and to make sure all the threads hung together. It’s not the ideal way to write a mystery, and the next time I write one I will do more planning up front.

Follow the Half In Love With Death by Emily Ross Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

Emily Ross's YA mystery/thriller HALF IN LOVE WITH DEATH is forthcoming from Merit Press(12/2015). She received a 2014 MCC Artist Fellowship finalist award for fiction, and is a graduate of Grub Street's Novel Incubator program. When not writing she works as a web developer and is the mother of two millennials. Find out more at http://www.emilyrosswrites.com/ or https://twitter.com/emilyross816.

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FFBC: Welcome to the club, The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno

The Half Life of Molly Pierce
by Katrina Leno

Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: July 8th 2014

Synopsis:

You take it for granted. Waking up. Going to school, talking to your friends. Watching a show on television or reading a book or going out to lunch.

You take for granted going to sleep at night, getting up the next day, and remembering everything that happened to you before you closed your eyes.

You live and you remember.

Me, I live and I forget.

But now—now I am remembering. 

For all of her seventeen years, Molly feels like she’s missed bits and pieces of her life. Now, she’s figuring out why. Now, she’s remembering her own secrets. And in doing so, Molly uncovers the separate life she seems to have led…and the love that she can’t let go.

The Half Life of Molly Pierce is a suspenseful, evocative psychological mystery about uncovering the secrets of our pasts, facing the unknowns of our futures, and accepting our whole selves.

“A smart, seductive page turner, deeply felt and full of surprises.” (Madeleine George, author of The Difference Between You and Me)

“Unfolds its careful origami slowly and hypnotically, taking on one shape after another before finally revealing itself as something stranger and more beautiful than I’d anticipated. A moving, expertly wrought story that will keep surprising you past the last page.” (Bennet Madison, author of September Girls)

“A Tilt-A-Whirl of a first novel, a breathtaking thrill ride that takes you in one direction and then spins you off in another, over and over, keeping you guessing with every turn of the page.” (Michael Thomas Ford, author of Suicide Notes)

“With a distinct and mysterious voice that matches its mood, The Half Life of Molly Pierce will pull you into Molly’s—and Mabel’s—world.” (April Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Girl, Stolen)

I am a writer from the East Coast, currently living in Los Angeles.

My first book for young adults- The Half Life of Molly Pierce- will be published on July 8, 2014 by Harper Collins.

Impossible to pick just one! So here are a couple… THE LETTERS OF VINCENT VAN GOGH (they made the epigraph of my book!), THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA (CS LEWIS), COLLECTED STORIES (Gabriel García Márquez), THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH (Norton Juster). SO MANY MORE! But I’ll stop here.

Of all time: The X Files. Of past times: Mad About You. Of current time: Doctor Who. Disclaimer: I don’t like TV as much as most people seem to like TV right now.

Animated: Robin Hood (Disney, 1973). Romantic: When Harry Met Sally. Iconic: The Princess Bride. Holiday-ic: While You Were Sleeping.

Between the Bars, by Elliott Smith.

French fries. 

Remus Lupin.

“Part of me is made of glass, and also, I love you.” Nicole Krauss, THE HISTORY OF LOVE. 

Disney. Harry Potter. French fries. 

Donald Barthelme. Because he seems like he’d have the most interesting things to say. 

Never stop fangirl/boy-ing.

 

Hi Katrina! We are super excited to host you in our FFBC. 

Yayyyy, happy to be here!

THLOMP (unfortunate acronym) is my first novel! Molly Pierce is a young woman experiencing memory lapses and blackouts. She loses time, wakes up in strange places… She hasn’t told anyone yet, because she’s very concerned that people will label her as “crazy.” I put a lot of myself into the character; she’s very much a version of myself, about twelve years ago. 

Well I had to do a lot of research into Molly’s particular mental illness (no spoilers here!), and that was really interesting but also sad—because we don’t know a lot about it. Some doctors even debate its very existence because there aren’t a lot of documented cases. This was good, in a way, because it gave me a lot more freedom in my writing. I could kind of create my own version of the illness because I had so little firsthand accounts to guide me. AND each account I read was SO different, it gave me the creative license to be different, too. 

So sad, but quietly hopeful.

I enjoyed writing the end of the book, to be honest, not only because it was a relief to finish it (!) but because it felt very cathartic, very full circle. It was the ending I wish I could give to anyone suffering from depression or mental illness. It’s an ending that doesn’t fully resolve things, because I don’t think depression and mental illness are ever fully resolved. But there can be a turning point, it can be very positive, and it can mean the difference between accepting a life of internal misery or making the decision to search for something brighter. Something brighter doesn’t always come right away… It’s all a journey. So the ending of the book is definitely the start of another journey. 

Ohh!! Right now I am crushing SO hard on Chloë Grace Moretz. I think she’s a spectacular actress and would fangirl all over the place if she played Molly. She’s not even particularly what I had in mind when I wrote Molly (I rarely think of looks, to be honest. I think it’s the least interesting part of writing a character) but I think she would step into the role brilliantly. Or Ellen Page! She’s amazing. Either one of them! I think Logan Lerman would make a fantastic Lyle. Saoirse Ronan would make a perfect Erie. I don’t know about Sayer! He’s a bit of a mystery to me. Elle Fanning would be a fairly spot-on Hazel. This is fun!

Look What Happened to Mabel, from Mack & Mabel. It’s really nerdy, but I wrote the whole book listening to the 1974 soundtrack of this musical.

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