Tag Archives: high school

New Release Spotlight: “In Over Her Head,”A Sweet, Sassy Teen Romance from Krysten Lindsay Hager

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One of my favorite YA and Teen Fiction authors has a new book! Krysten Lindsay Hager’s stories will bring you back to middle and high school, but in a good way. They’re funny, quirky, and oh so true to life.

Over Her Head

About the Book

Cecily wants a big life, but can she handle it?

Cecily feels like she has it all: great best friends, the beginnings of a career as a model/actress, and she’s dating her favorite singer, Andrew Holiday. Just when it seems like all her dreams are coming true, everything comes crashing down when a photo of Andrew with another girl appears online. He swears nothing happened, but Cecily is crushed. She feels like she lost two of the people closest to her.

Was her perfect relationship real, or was she in over her head?

Purchase In Over Her Head

About the Author

Krysten Lindsay Hager

Who knew all those embarrassing, cringe-y moments in middle school and high school could turn into a career? And who would have thought that daydreaming in math class would pay off down the road?

​Krysten Lindsay Hager writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. She is the author of True Colors, Best Friends…Forever?, Next Door to a Star,  Landry in Like, Competing with the Star (The Star Series: Book 2), Dating the It Guy, and Can Dreams Come True.

Her debut novel, True Colors, won the Readers Favorite award for best preteen book and the Dayton Book Expo Bestseller Award for childen/teens. Competing with the Star is a Readers’ Favorite Book Award Finalist.  Krysten’s work has been featured in USA Today, The Flint Journal, the Grand Haven Tribune, the Beavercreek Current, the Bellbrook Times, Springfield News-Sun, Grand Blanc View, Dayton Daily News and on Living Dayton. ​

Krysten is also a member of AlzAuthors, the global community of authors writing about Alzheimer’s and dementia from personal experience to light the way for others. Two of her books, Dating the It Guy and Competing With the Star, have a dementia subplot, helping to explain the disease to teens.

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Swim Fast! Dream Big! Girls Varsity Swim Season Has Begun!

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Swim Season FREE meme 2

Girls Varsity Swim Season starts in mid-August.

For ten years my life revolved around swim practice, swim meets, fundraising, travel, and one swimmer in particular.

My daughter’s swim career ended in February, 2017. The previous October, I published my Young Adult novel Swim Season, which was inspired by my years of sitting on those cold, hard bleachers cheering her on.

I got more than a sore butt. She and her teammates inspired me to write this novel, and it took five years for me to put it together. It covers the entire season, from tryouts, to dual meets, to county and state championships.

It also covers the highlights of senior year: Football games, dances, friendships, first crush, college prep, and a host of other anxieties, including divorce, a blended family, a Wounded Warrior, PTSD, incarceration, and more.

There’s a lot in the 593 pages that comprise this book.

Book Description

Sometimes winning is everything.

Champion swimmer Aerin Keane is ready to give up her dreams of college swimming and a shot at the Olympics. As she starts senior year in her third high school, Aerin’s determined to leave her family troubles behind and be like all the other girls at Two Rivers. She’s got a new image and a new attitude. She doesn’t want to win anymore. She’s swimming for fun, no longer the freak who wins every race, every title, only to find herself alone.

But when her desire to be just one of the girls collides with her desire to be the best Two Rivers has ever seen, will Aerin sacrifice her new friendships to break a longstanding school record that comes with a $50,000 scholarship?

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To honor  these swimmers, I’m offering Swim Season for FREE on Kindle August 27-29. Pick up your copy here. Also available in paperback and audiobook. 

To learn more about Swim Season, read my post Write What You Know and Then Some – Researching My Young Adult Novel “Swim Season.”

New Release Spotlight: “Meet Me at Half Court,” Young Adult Sports Fiction by Julie L. Spencer

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I’m a sucker for YA sports fiction ever since I wrote Swim Season. Having the inside scoop as a swim mom inspired me to write about these varsity athletes who give their all to their sport. In a few weeks varsity season will be upon us and the athletes will be back in their games (or meets.) Until then, enjoy this new novel from Julie L. Spencer.

All’s fair in love and sports… until her boyfriend comes home.

Basketball was Christine’s ticket from high school to college and her dream of becoming a scientist. The cocky new kid at school was getting in her way, and into her heart.

Dylan knew his snarky new tutor was smart, gorgeous and a great basketball player. He just didn’t realize she had a boyfriend, until after he kissed her.

Now he has a choice, play fair and wait for Eddie to screw up? Or fight to win back Christine’s heart?

Purchase Meet Me at Half Court now!

 

About the Author

Julie SpencerJulie L. Spencer lives in the central Michigan area with her husband and teenagers. She has a very full life managing a conservation district office, writing grant proposals & book reviews, and chasing after several teenage athletes. Julie’s been writing since she was in junior high, but prior to publishing The Cove, her only published work was her Master’s Thesis. She loves to read and write New Adult Contemporary Christian Romance novels, and has several more novels nearing publication.

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The Writing Life: Write What You Know and Then Some – Researching My Young Adult Novel “Swim Season”

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My daughter had been swimming competitively for five years when I came up with the idea to write a novel about girls’ varsity swimming. Sitting on those cold, hard bleachers season after season gave me more than a sore you-know-what. It sparked my imagination, creating a story line and cast of characters that would show in written form what high school swimming is like for these girls. As I wrote the story, they were always at the heart of it. I wrote it for them. And I wanted it to be as accurate and realistic as possible.

In many ways, writing Swim Season was natural and easy. Through many autumns, I’d watched my daughter and her team swim their hearts out, beside parents rooting for their own swimmers. In the beginning, I knew next to nothing about the sport, about swim meets. But as the years went on, I learned.

I learned simple things, like the order of events. Try finding your kid on a pool deck swarming with dozens of young swimmers in caps and goggles when you’re not sure which event it is, or whether your child is swimming in it or not. Impossible. Continue reading →