In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety
by Krysten Lindsay Hager
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GENRE: YA
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BLURB:
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. Then Cecily’s best friend Lila begins to ditch her every time Lila’s boyfriend calls. Cecily feels lost, but she and Andrew begin connecting more and she’s never been in a relationship where she felt so understood. Andrew even begins to confide in her about his anxiety. Soon Cecily experiences her own anxiety on a magazine photo shoot, but she manages to impress the magazine staff. 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’s lost two of the people closest to her.
Was her perfect relationship real or was she in over her head?
Was her perfect relationship real or was she in over her head?
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EXCERPTS:
“Good luck at the photo shoot tomorrow,” he said. “You’ll be great.”
I stared out the window on the ride back to the hotel taking in all the sites. As I walked into the hotel I felt a new air of confidence. Instead of just reading about someone going out with a pop star to some fabulous rooftop hotel restaurant and being in the big city, I was living it. This was my life and not some YA book heroine’s. Tomorrow I was off on a modeling shoot. I was living a dream and proving how I was ready for a big life. This was my destiny. I could do this.
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My alarm went off and at the same time an alarm went off in my brain saying, no, I could not do this. What was I thinking? Me, model? That’s where people take photos of you for the sole purpose of other people looking at them, which encouraged judgement and evil comments. People don’t just keep those comments to themselves anymore. Oh no, they grab their phone or laptop or whatever device helps them spew out unhelpful and cruel comments on people’s appearances online for all the world to see.
My stomach felt like spewing all over the nice hotel sheets I was wrapped in. Why did I ever think I was up for this? Those strangers online would destroy me within seconds. Girls like Harlow who were born with an undeniable beauty could do stuff like this and even then, I had seen strangers criticize her online when she posted selfies.
Being anxious always made all my senses go nuts. I ate two slices of toast and then my stomach did a weird flipping thing. Oh no, not today. Looking over at the clock I realized it was almost time for us to leave. Come on, stomach. You’re fine. Just relax and…nope, time to hit the bathroom. Why can’t I just be a big girl and go to this stupid shoot which most girls would kill to do without my stomach freaking out?
1.Did you always want to be an author?
Yes, I was always coming up with stories when I was a kid and writing little storybooks from the time I learned how to write. I had a Cabbage Patch Kid kit that helped you create picture books and I used to play with that all the time. I always loved reading and dreamt of writing my own books someday.
2.Tell us about the publication of your first book.
I had been learning about the business for years and writing and submitting. The year before I got my book contract for True Colors (my first novel), I spent it doing constant critique groups and basically devoted my time to writing and editing. I was completely in that book world. I didn’t know what to expect when I found out I was going to get published, but I remember hearing authors say it’s not what you think it’ll be. There were always published writers at writing groups who looked like they hadn’t slept in days and going on about stress, deadlines, and expectations and you think, oh they don’t know how lucky they are and then one day it’s you and it’s like, I’d kill to sleep for a couple hours in a row and not have expectations I can never meet chase me down.
3.Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?
There are so many in the YA genre, but I enjoy Cathy Hopkins so much. I was going through a difficult time one year after moving overseas and having a horrible reaction to a medication and her work helped me to escape my own world. I had been a fan of hers before, but I really appreciated the worlds she created to take my mind off my own troubles.
4.What's the best part of being an author? The worst?
The best part is hearing something you wrote made you feel less alone. The worst would be the expectations of others.
5.What are you working on now?
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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, Dating the It Guy, and Can Dreams Come True. 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. Landry in Like is a Literary Classics Gold Medal recipient.
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.
Author links:
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:
Krysten Lindsay Hager will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Thanks so much, Elaine! Really appreciate you being on the tour!
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteAnother great book to discover. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book.
ReplyDeleteI was delighted to host you, Krysten. Come back anytime.
ReplyDelete