Interview with Sarah Henning for Throw Like A Girl

Throw Like a Girl

by Sarah Henning
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: January 7th 2020

Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance

Synopsis:

Friday Night Lights meets Morgan Matson's The Unexpected Everything in this contemporary debut where swoonworthy romance meets underdog sports story.

When softball star Liv Rodinsky throws one ill-advised punch during the most important game of the year, she loses her scholarship to her fancy private school, her boyfriend, and her teammates all in one fell swoop. With no other options, Liv is forced to transfer to the nearest public school, Northland, where she'll have to convince their coach she deserves a spot on the softball team, all while facing both her ex and the teammates of the girl she punched... Every. Single. Day.

Enter Grey, the injured star quarterback with amazing hair and a foolproof plan: if Liv joins the football team as his temporary replacement, he'll make sure she gets a spot on the softball team in the Spring. But it will take more than the perfect spiral for Liv to find acceptance in Northland's halls, and behind that charming smile, Grey may not be so perfect after all.

With well-drawn characters and a charming quarterback love interest who's got brains as well as brawn, Throw Like a Girl will have readers swooning from the very first page.

Can you briefly describe THROW LIKE A GIRL and its characters? 

Throw Like a Girl is about a down-spiraling softball player named Liv Rodinsky who is recruited by an injured quarterback, Grey Worthington, to be his not-so-back-up on the football team headlined by her ex-boyfriend, Jake Rogers. 

There’s some swoony romance, lies by omission, and a journey that tests all of Liv’s strengths—physical, emotional, and mental. Along the way she learns to make her own choices, trust her heart, and that standing up for herself doesn’t necessarily mean walking away. 

Who would you say is your favorite character from the story and why? 

Do I have to pick? ! I seriously do love them all. I love Liv’s determination and work ethic, Ryan and Danielle’s supportiveness, Addie’s confidence, Jake’s drive, and Grey’s, well, swoon-worthiness. Seriously, this entire cast is basically made up of people I would love to be around all the time. Well, except Stacey—she’s just a jerk. 

How did the story occur to you? Did you find inspiration anywhere? 

I have a background as a sports journalist, which meant many nights covering football, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf—you name it, I probably covered it as either a reporter or copy editor on the sports desk. I cut my teeth at papers in Northeastern Pennsylvania and South Florida, both places where high school and college football are king. For a good six or seven years of my life, fall Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, were made up of football of every stripe. 

I was years removed from that life when the idea for Throw Like a Girl came to me, while I was on a run, exhausted from staying up late, watching the Kansas City Royals play post-season baseball with a newborn on my lap. I’m not sure if it was the lack of sleep or the endorphins from my run or maybe a combination of both, but I suddenly decided it would be super fun to drop an elite softball player into the world of high school football. Toss in some questionable choices, on-the-field romance, far too many donut references, and Throw Like a Girl was born. 

If you could choose one song to describe your book, which one would it be? 

Can I mash-up Lizzo’s “Like a Girl” and Taylor Swift’s “I Think He Knows”? Those two together would make the perfect song for this book. 

If your book was going to be made into a movie, who would play your characters?

As I was writing it, the closest person I could find that looked like Liv in my head is Ana Ivanovic, who is a retired professional tennis player from Serbia. I know that’s out of left field, but considering my background in sports journalism, you’ll have to excuse me. As for Grey, the closest I’ve come is Noah Centineo, who is the exact reason there’s a Peter Kavinsky reference to Grey in the book. 

What drink and place do you think will go with your book to have a perfect book date? 

It’s not exactly conducive to reading to have a date in a football stadium, so I’d recommend chilling on the deck in the sun the morning after the game with some donuts and hot chocolate. Donuts are very important in Throw Like a Girl, by the way, as are carbs in general. This is a book where the characters eat.

Can you recommend your readers any other books in case they are left hungry for more once they finish THROW LIKE A GIRL? 

Yes! If you want more sports action, I’d recommend Break the Fall by Jennifer Iacopelli, which comes out in February. It’s a book about a scandal in the US gymnastics community right before the Olympics. As a former competitive gymnast, I drank it up! And, if you want humor and high achieving high schooler hijinks, I’d recommend Amanda Sellet’s debut By The Book, which comes out in May. It’s about a bookworm who starts to give dating advice based on classic novels to hilariously awful results. 

What’s next for you? 

I actually have two books out in 2020, which is insane to me. After Throw Like a Girl, I have the start of a fantasy duology, called The Princess Will Save You, out July 7th. It’s basically a gender-swapped take on The Princess Bride. Instead of the commoner true love going to rescue a kidnapped princess, the princess goes after her true love, a stable boy, when he’s kidnapped by pirates as part of a plot to force her hand into marriage.

Sarah Henning is a recovering journalist who has worked for the Palm Beach Post, Kansas City Star and Associated Press, among others. While in South Florida, Sarah lived and worked through five hurricanes, which gave her an extreme respect for the ocean. When not writing, she runs ultramarathons, hits the playground with her two kids and hangs out with her husband Justin, who doubles as her long-suffering IT department. Sarah lives in Lawrence, Kansas, which, despite being extremely far from the beach, happens to be pretty cool.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Interview with Amber Smith for Something Like Gravity

Something Like Gravity

by Amber Smith
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Release Date: June 18th 2019

Genre: Contemporary, LGBT, Young Adult, Romance

Synopsis:

For fans of Love, Simon and Eleanor and Park, a romantic and sweet novel about a transgender boy who falls in love for the first time—and how first love changes us all—from New York Times bestselling author Amber Smith.

Chris and Maia aren’t off to a great start.

A near-fatal car accident first brings them together, and their next encounters don’t fare much better. Chris’s good intentions backfire. Maia’s temper gets the best of her.

But they’re neighbors, at least for the summer, and despite their best efforts, they just can’t seem to stay away from each other.

The path forward isn’t easy. Chris has come out as transgender, but he’s still processing a frightening assault he survived the year before. Maia is grieving the loss of her older sister and trying to find her place in the world without her. Falling in love was the last thing on either of their minds.

But would it be so bad if it happened anyway?

Can you briefly describe SOMETHING LIKE GRAVITY and their main characters?

Something Like Gravity is a story about falling in love for the first time and finding yourself in the process. It’s told across one summer, through the alternating points of view of Chris and Maia. Chris has recently come out as transgender and is grappling with his changing relationships with family and friends, while processing a trauma from his past. When Chris decides to leave home to visit an aunt for the summer, to get out from under the scrutiny of his parents, he meets Maia. Maia is still reeling from the recent death of her older sister and is trying to find her place in the world without her. Chris and Maia’s worlds look very different, but they are drawn to one another, as each are trying to figure out who they are going to become in the face of equally life-changing events. 

Who would you say is your favourite character from the story and why?

This is such a hard question – I don’t think I can choose a favorite between Chris and Maia! So instead of “favorite” I think I’ll say the character I most aspire to be more like is Chris. Don’t get me wrong, Chris definitely has flaws, like sometimes he has unrealistic expectations of other people, can be quick to judge, and tends to push himself too hard. But he has also been through some real tough sh*t, and no matter what happens he never loses himself or gives up hope. That is something that I relate to…in that I’m always striving to stay positive even when things are hard.

How did the story occur to you? Did you find inspiration anywhere?

There were a lot of different pieces of inspiration behind Something Like Gravity. Writing is always very therapeutic for me, and I found over the course of the last several years I’ve increasingly needed a place to address and process the recent backlash against the LGBTQ community (in the wake of tremendous progress, with marriage equality in the U.S.) As a queer person myself, it’s been so heart-wrenching to see the transphobia ramping up over the last several years. I also wanted to continue exploring grief and trauma in ways that are different from my previous books. But the thing that inspired me to turn Something Like Gravity into a love story is that my soul really needed to write about something that was equally as powerful as all of the difficult, painful topics I feel drawn to write about, and in this case, that something became a story about falling in love and finding hope, against all odds.

If you could choose one song to describe your book, which one would it be?

Just one? Okay, the pressure is on… Here goes: “At the Stars” by Better Than Ezra

If your book was going to be made into a movie, who would play your characters?

I have been pondering this question WAY too often for my own good over these past several months as Something Like Gravity has been becoming more of a reality every day, so I can say with total certainty that my ultimate dream team would be Elliot Fletcher as Chris and Katherine Langford as Maia.

Summer is here and we love to go out and enjoy the sun. What drink and place do you think will go with your book to have a perfect book date? 

Strawberry milkshakes at an old-fashioned ice cream shop (I didn’t even have to pause to think about that answer!)

Can you recommend your readers any other books in case they are left hungry for more once they finish SOMETHING LIKE GRAVITY?

Absolutely! All of these books share some common threads with Something Like Gravity in one way or another, and are excellent reads:

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

The Meaning of Birds by Jaye Robin Brown

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon

What’s next for you?

I don’t think I’m allowed to reveal too much about what’s next, but I think it’s okay to say that I’m experimenting with some different formats like epistolary and verse. Challenging, but also really fun too!

Amber Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of the young adult novels The Way I Used to Be, The Last to Let Go, and Something Like Gravity. An advocate for increased awareness of gendered violence, as well as LGBTQ equality, she writes in the hope that her books can help to foster change and spark dialogue surrounding these issues. She grew up in Buffalo, New York, and now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her partner and their ever-growing family of rescued dogs and cats. You can find her online at AmberSmithAuthor.com.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Release Day Launch: Act Like It by Lucy Parker

It’s release day for Act Like It by Lucy Parker! I am so excited to share this new contemporary romance with you! Lucy is sharing an excerpt and a giveaway with us today, so be sure to check it all out!

Act Like It
by Lucy Parker
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: November 30th 2015

Synopsis:

This just in: romance takes center stage as West End theatre's Richard Troy steps out with none other than castmate Elaine Graham

Richard Troy used to be the hottest actor in London, but the only thing firing up lately is his temper. We all love to love a bad boy, but Richard's antics have made him Enemy Number One, breaking the hearts of fans across the city.

Have the tides turned? Has English rose Lainie Graham made him into a new man?

Sources say the mismatched pair has been spotted at multiple events, arm in arm and hip to hip. From fits of jealousy to longing looks and heated whispers, onlookers are stunned by this blooming romance.

Could the rumors be right? Could this unlikely romance be the real thing? Or are these gifted stage actors playing us all?

It would have helped if she’d got further than the couch part of the couch-to-5k training plan she’d printed off the internet. Lainie crossed the finishing line and immediately dropped her head toward the ground, leaning her hands against her thighs and fiercely rejecting the urge to vomit. She was embarrassingly unfit, but if the chain-smoking, foulmouthed comedian two steps ahead of her could finish with a smile on his face and no visible signs of nausea, then so could she. She straightened with an effort, cringing as her back made an audible cracking sound. Performing in a play was a physical job, for God’s sake. It required stamina. She didn’t even have the excuse of sitting behind a computer all day.

Camera lights flashed as more participants made it over the line. They included several soap actors, a controversial political commentator, a popular abstract artist, and a DJ from Radio 1. The fund-raising committee had managed to put together a respectable hit list of names for the Shining Lights UK 5k, considering that Fun Runs were among the least popular of charitable events. She couldn’t even say the term without an ironic inflection on the first word. What kind of half-witted masochist actually enjoyed running on a drizzly October morning in London? On a weekday, no less, when there were plenty of people about with laptops and coffee cups, observing the mania with perplexity.

Lainie had tried to suggest an alternative—a bake-off, a rock concert—but the director of the foundation was a jogging enthusiast who refused to believe that other people might not share his predilection for spandex. She saw him now, standing by the refreshment table, doing some kind of yoga stretch and looking cool and unfazed. He didn’t even have sweat stains in his armpits. Unnatural.

“Well done!” he called to her. “How was that?”

About thirty-five minutes of pure, wheezing hell, thank you for asking.

“Great,” she said, desperately sucking air into her abused lungs. “Brilliant way to start the day.” If you enjoy unrelenting pain. “I beat my personal best time.”

Which was true, in the sense that she had never run a 5k before and hopefully never would again.

Oh, well. It was all money for worthy coffers.

“Couldn’t agree with you more,” he enthused. “Nothing more invigorating than an early morning run.”

The poor man had obviously never had early morning sex. Or a caramel latte.

He nodded toward the throng of spectators, shivering under their support banners. “Good to see the SOs out in force, as well.”

“The SOs?” she asked blankly, trying to follow the direction of his gaze. Had she failed to swot up on necessary athletic jargon as well? Safety Officers? Sports Officials? Sulky Octopi? She had no idea.

“Significant others. Always helps to have a cheerleader on the sidelines, doesn’t it?” He chuckled. “Yours looks a bit worn around the edges. Dragged him out of bed early, did you?”

Completely at sea, Lainie didn’t respond. Then she finally saw what—or rather whom—he was looking at. Richard was leaning against a pop-up art installation. The enormous statue of a polar bear wore an identical frown and a similar amount of facial hair. The bear was evidently very worried about the status of global warming; a stroppy and still unshaven Richard appeared more concerned with his own warmth, or lack thereof. His hands were thrust in his pockets and he was doing the standing jig-dance of the cold and crabby, bobbing from one foot to the other.

Absently excusing herself from the grinning director, Lainie hurried over to him, blowing on her own ungloved hands. Now that she had stopped running, the chill was creeping in.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, amazed and irritable. This had not, as far as she knew, been on their agreed list of activities, and she couldn’t imagine he was pining for her company. She felt justifiably annoyed with him for turning up when she was a red-faced, snot-nosed mess. Not that she had ever exactly bowled him over when she was a painstakingly curled, professionally made-up siren, either.

Although he hadn’t seemed repelled during that one rain-saturated moment earlier in the week. Which she was never going to think about again. She’d been telling herself so all week.

He hadn’t wanted to kiss her.

Had he? 

Lucy Parker lives in the gorgeous Central Otago region of New Zealand, where she feels lucky every day to look out at mountains, lakes, and vineyards. She has a degree in Art History, loves museums and art galleries, and doodles unrecognizable flowers when she has writer’s block. 

When she’s not writing, working or sleeping, she happily tackles the towering pile of to-be-read books that never gets any smaller. Thankfully, there’s always another story waiting. 

Her interest in romantic fiction began with a pre-teen viewing of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (Firth-style), which prompted her to read the book as well. A family friend introduced her to Georgette Heyer, and the rest was history.

a Rafflecopter giveaway