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Tag: Blue

BLUE Is The 2021 SPARK Award Winner!

I am over-the-moon thrilled to announce that Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) has named BLUE as their 2021 SPARK Award Winner in YA! This is an enormous honor, and I am beyond thrilled that they chose my my multi-layered, sad, happy, complicated, sappy, hard-to-explain book. BLUE was a real labor of love, and I couldn’t be more proud.

Pub Day For BLUE!

BLUE is finally out – all except the audiobook, unfortunately. We had a delay in production (thanks COVID!) and hope to have it out within the next few weeks. I’ll make an announcement when it’s available. In the meantime, you can snatch it up in paperback or eBook. Buy Links Here. I’m so glad to share my angry, miserable, hopeful and hilarious story with the world. Be sure and let me know if you guess the twist at the end!

Dream A Little Dream, Or Battling For BLUE

It’s Pub Day Eve for BLUE! I’ve been here twice before in YA (and quite a few more times in other genres), but this one means a hell of a lot to me. You see, BLUE almost never was because I quite nearly ceased to be. Five weeks before DREAMER released in 2018, I was battling for my life against a devastating brain bleed in a hospital room far from home. I survived obviously, but lost the use of the left side of my body. As a single mom with… Read more Dream A Little Dream, Or Battling For BLUE

Blue Excerpt: Blue And Maya

In this excerpt, Blue and Maya are in their first afterschool detention with the school counselor, Mrs. Ramsey, and it’s not going smoothly. Blue is determined to get through this and avoid confrontation, but she has no idea what kind of pressure Maya has being a scholarship student at a wealthy, white private school. “Nobody ever treats her or her family like they don’t belong.” Maya grumbles. “So give her an example,” Mrs. Ramsey encourages. “When did you have to deal with someone treating you badly?” “I’ve been called names.… Read more Blue Excerpt: Blue And Maya

BLUE Excerpt: Jack’s Letter

In this scene, Blue receives a letter from her brother, Jack, who is currently serving a six- month sentence in a boot camp style program for his part in the accident that killed the father of her classmate, Maya. He asks Blue to come and visit him—something she hasn’t yet been able to make herself do. I hold the letter in my hand for a moment, just staring at his familiar scrawl, not really reading the words. There’s an ache in my chest as my eyes begin to focus again… Read more BLUE Excerpt: Jack’s Letter

BLUE Excerpt: The Book Project

In this scene, Blue and her newly-acquired boyfriend, Devon, are working on a class project that requires them to select a book to preserve for posterity and write a presentation on it. Blue grabs a book from her MLM-loving mother’s bookshelf, and she and Devon brainstorm some talking points until it all takes a turn. “Mindfulness Over Madness: Your Guide to Self-Realization Through Negation Release,” Devon reads. “This is your book?” “It’s one of my mom’s. I had to grab something. Should be easy to talk about.” His brow crinkles… Read more BLUE Excerpt: The Book Project