Five years ago tonight, I finished the rough draft of Angelhood. I considered it a “practice novel,” something that would never be published (let alone win three awards). It was simply writing practice as a NaNo project for 2011.
To celebrate the “Book That Wasn’t Supposed to Happen,” I’m releasing a new book trailer. Who knows where the next five years will take my writing journey?
On Wednesday night, nine young adult authors from the Catholic Writers Guild will be teaming up to give one whopper of an early Christmas party on Facebook!
(We know, we know, it’s too early for Christmas, but we thought we’d do it now so that people who are already doing their Christmas shopping could check out these books for gift ideas and maybe even win some books to give as gifts!)
We’ll have more than just books to give away, too! Many unique, special prizes will be offered, so come check it out. Click here to join the Facebook group, and then find the party under the “Events” tab. Be sure to click that you are “going” so that you get all the updates!
Today I am so excited to talk with you about the next book from Leslea Wahl. Leslea and I met online through the Catholic Writers Guild, and then this past summer we got to meet in person when we met up in Rome for dinner!
I knew from reading Leslea’s first book The Perfect Blindside that we would be kindred spirits. Her main character in that book employs the same sort of “Jesus, please help me not to make a fool of myself today” kind of prayers that I’ve been wont to make. 🙂
Anyway, today I get to tell you about her next book, which releases tomorrow!
Title: An Unexpected Role
Author: Leslea Wahl
Genre: contemporary romance with a little mystery
Age group: young adult
Synopsis: High school student and theater geek Josie just wanted to enjoy the perfect summer before becoming an upperclassman. She dreamed of afternoons at the pool and weekends at the lake. But just as the school year is ending, her mother’s latest young adult novel releases, and everyone at school seems to have read it and believes that the terribly embarrassing moments that happen to the main character are based on things that actually happened to Josie. She becomes the target of ridicule at school and is teased mercilessly.
To get away from it all, Josie leaves her Minnesota hometown to spend the summer with her artsy Aunt Lily who lives in a small beach town in South Carolina. Unfortunately, one of the “tier one” baseball superstar athletes from Josie’s school is playing for a baseball team in South Carolina for the summer, and he’s staying in the same beach town. Josie knows he’ll remind her of all the ridicule back at home and make her summer miserable. Not to mention, she’s got her eye on a hot young Latino boy who’s working at the beach town so he can send money back home to his family in the Dominican Repulbic, and baseball star Ryan seems to keep getting in the way.
And if that weren’t enough, there’s been a string of robberies in the small town that no one is able to explain. Josie wants to stop the crime spree and have a little summer romance, but first she’ll have to discover who she really is.
How could I not enjoy this book with all its baseball and musical theater references? Anyone who’s read Angelhood would have no problem imagining Leslea’s main character Josie and my main character Nanette getting along really well!
What I really liked about this book was Leslea’s ability to bring up topics like caring for immigrants and refugees, respect for veterans, and a teen’s struggle to find herself amidst the bullying climate of high school–all without coming across as preachy or didactic. She easily weaves these topics into a tale that teens can enjoy from Josie’s attempts to find romance to her efforts to discover what’s really going on in this small island beach town.
Told with humor and heart, An Unexpected Role is a tale for any teen who enjoys a book with a little romance, mystery, and adventure!
I won this book in a giveaway and was happy to do so since it’s from one of my fellow authors from the Books for Catholic Teens Facebook group.
Title: Ten Commandments for Kissing Gloria Jean
Author: Britt Leigh
Genre: contemporary romance
Age category: young adult (but on the young end, really more upper middle grade in terms of voice)
Synopsis: (from back cover) “Gloria Jean wants her first kiss more than anything in the world. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Parents, friends, the sex ed teacher at school, and her Confirmation class catechists: everyone has opinions about what a fourteen-year-old girl should–and shouldn’t–do. Even Gloria’s own body adds to the confusion with troubles of its own. In a world of mixed messages, Gloria Jean wonders how she can find a way to listen to her own heart, and how she’s supposed to follow the rules if she isn’t even sure what they are.”
The book opens with eighth grader Gloria Jean going on her first movie date with a boy–although she swears to her mom it’s really just boys and girls hanging out as friends since her two female friends are also bringing guys as well. Secretly, Gloria Jean is hoping this date will end with her first kiss, but part way through the movie, she experiences “the Troubles” and needs to run to the bathroom. It takes her a long time to come back to her movie seat, and the “mood” is ruined by then.
Eventually, Gloria Jean learns that the “troubles” she’s been plagued with is actual celiac disease. She can’t have any gluten, and when she does it wrecks havoc with her digestive system, making her feel absolutely miserable, and it could have serious consequences later in life. This means she can’t receive Communion, which makes participating in her Confirmation retreat and regular Sunday Mass a matter of utter social awkwardness for Gloria Jean. Every young teen and preteen just wants to fit in, and Gloria Jean is standing out like a sore thumb when she can only receive from the chalice.
If you heard me on the Jennifer Fulwiler show last week, we were talking about good books for Catholic kids, some overtly Christian and others not. As you can probably guess, this book is very overtly Catholic. It’s essentially Theology of the Body told in novel form. Her Confirmation classes are set up in direct contrast to her sex ed classes at her public middle school. At times, some teens may feel this book gets a bit preachy.
However, if you’re a parent of a preteen who doesn’t know how to get started talking about your values with regard to sex, this book may be a good place to break into that conversation. Or if you’re a parent of a child with celiac disease, this book might make them feel less alone.
This contest is open to anyone with a U.S. mailing address. (Sorry, international YA fans, I found out the hard way that mailing a book is really expensive. Mailing a whole stack of books would be outrageous.)
Contest opens: June 14, 2016
Contest ends: June 27, 2016 (midnight, CDT)
To enter, you just need to do two things:
That’s it!
Want an extra entry point? Share the news of this giveaway on Instagram. Tag me @a.j.cattapan and use the hashtag #YABooksGalore.
Want to see me look silly? Watch this video.
Click here to sign up for the Insiders Club. Then comment below to enter!
I had a chance to read an advanced copy of Theresa Linden’s new release (officially, it comes out on May 26), and I’m happy to share a bit about it now!
Title: Life-Changing Love
Author: Theresa Linden
Genre: contemporary romance
Age group: YA
Synopsis: There are several “love stories” going on here, but the main character is Caitlyn, who is about to turn 15 and is being introduced to the idea of old-fashioned courtship. There’s no dating without parental involvement, and things must be taken slowly. Caitlyn would like to try out this way of getting to know someone with her crush, Roland West, but Caitlyn’s not the only girl with her eye on Roland. Another girl’s interested, too, and her parents aren’t holding her to any courtship rules. How can Caitlyn compete? To complicate matters, another girl she knows is pregnant, and the boyfriend’s pushing for an abortion. Then Caitlyn learns something about her own parents and their dating mistakes that makes her question everything she’s learned.
Theresa Linden is one of my fellow Catholic Writers Guild members, so she does a nice job of weaving Theology of the Body into her story. This book has a strong pro-life message and would be a great way to talk about difficult dating and sex topics with your teenager. Theresa keeps the story engaging and realistic (this is not a saccharine love story nor are the characters all goody-two shoes).
Plus, there are some scenes in Italy. Enough said. 😉
You can pre-order it on Amazon here.
Leslea Wahl is one of my fellow Catholic Writers Guild members, and I was thrilled when I won a copy of her award-winning YA novel The Perfect Blindside in a recent giveaway. Since the grad school spring semester has now winded down, I was able to delve into this book–and once I did, I was hooked. Leslea’s got a very engaging story here!
Title: The Perfect Blindside
Author: Leslea Wahl
Genre: contemporary fiction
Age group: YA
Synopsis: Jake Taylor surprises everyone when he wins a silver medal in snowboarding at the Winter Olympics, but his parents aren’t thrilled at the sudden rush of attention their son is getting. Seeking a more normal high school experience for their son, Jake’s parents whisk him off to a small town in the mountains of Colorado–not too far from snowboarding training ground, but far enough away from the paparazzi. Most of the people in town are thrilled to have an Olympic silver medalist move in, but not honors student Sophie Metcalf. She’s got a theory about cute guys like Jake: they can’t be trusted because their good looks make it too easy for them to get what they want. But when trouble starts brewing in their small town in the form of slashed tires, rumored ghosts in old coal mines, and false accusations, the egotistical snowboarder and the judgmental honors student may just need to team up to uncover what’s really going on in this not-so-sleepy little town.
Leslea Wahl does an amazing job of making her characters realistic while still infusing faith into her story. I love the way she has Sophie pray throughout the book. Her prayers aren’t overly pious long epistles; they are quick, in-the-moment, down-to-earth (“Seriously, Jesus, help me shut my trap”) kind of prayers. Basically, the way I pray! 🙂
The pitfall in a lot of Christian fiction is to make the characters either holier-than-thou saints or really, really terrible sinners who suddenly do a 180. I enjoyed how Leslea gives her characters realistic flaws (you’d expect a boy who’d just won an Olympic silver medal to be a bit egotistical) and then let’s them have some character development without swinging the pendulum between sinner and saint too far or too fast.
Not only are the characters enjoyable, but the story line is very engaging as well. I’ll admit I kind of guessed what was going on fairly early in the story, but I think teens and their parents will still find this story to be a fun, fast read.
You can find The Perfect Blindside for purchase here.
You can learn more about Leslea Wahl and her writing in the following places:
Website: http://lesleawahl.com/
Blog: http://lesleawahl.com/blog/
Facebook AuthorPage: https://www.facebook.com/LesleaWahlbooks/
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/14178590.Leslea_Wahl
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LesleaWahl
Instagram: Leslea_Wahl
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/lesleawahl/
I’m linking this post up with the Open Book linky hosted by author Carolyn Astfalk and CatholicMom.com. Click on either link to see what others are reading this month!
In April, my debut novel Angelhood will be one year old. Awww!
To celebrate, I’m giving away five copies of the audiobook version of Angelhood to five people who subscribe to my newsletter during the month of March.
What else do you get when you subscribe besides a chance to win an audiobook copy of Angelhood?
I met author Stephanie Engelman online through the Catholic Writers Guild and discovered that she writes YA just like I do! So, of course, I jumped at the chance to review her book, A Single Bead, when it released earlier this month.
Title: A Single Bead
Author: Stephanie Engelman
Genre: contemporary realistic fiction
Age category: YA (but okay for middle grade, too)
Summary: (from Amazon) On the anniversary of the plane crash that took the life of her beloved grandmother and threw her own mother into deep depression, 16-year-old Katelyn Marie Roberts discovers a single bead from her grandmother’s rosary—a rosary lost in the crash. A chance encounter with a stranger, who tells Katelyn that a similar bead saved her friend’s life, launches Katelyn and her family on a quest to find the other missing beads. Their journey, filled with glimmers of hope, mystical events and unexplained grace helps Katelyn understand that faith, family and the help of others can restore what was lost.
A Single Bead by Stephanie Engelman and my mom’s St. Therese of Lisieux rosary
I found a lot I could relate to in this book. As many of you know, I lost my mother back in August, and the grandmother in this story reminded me a lot of my mom. And let’s just say I’m really thankful that I didn’t react to my mother’s death the way Katelyn’s mom reacts to her mother’s death.I think young teens who struggle with believing in prayer and maybe even believing in God’s ability to work in their lives will enjoy this book. Katelyn seems to be a pretty typical teen who has some faith but hasn’t gotten to the point of really making it a part of her everyday existence yet. Stephanie does a nice job of balancing out faith-filled characters with those who struggle with their faith.
This could make a great Confirmation present for a teen girl if you’re looking for something a little different to give.
You can follow Stephanie on her blog A Few Beads Short. (Don’t you just love that blog title? Personally, I think I’m more than a few beads short, but that’s another story. 😉 )
