DON'T EVER CHANGE by M. Beth Bloom - Review, Interview, & Giveaway

Today I am participating in the DON'T EVER CHANGE Blog Tour hosted by The Fantastic Flying Book Club. DON'T EVER CHANGE by M. Beth Bloom was published on July 7th by Harper Teen. As part of the tour, I had a chance to interview M. Beth and ask about some writing advice and share some fun facts about herself with readers. Please check out the interview and my review of DON'T EVER CHANGE, and then enter for a chance to win a copy of the book.

Welcome M. Beth!!

What are some of the books that make you fall in love with reading?

The Secret History, by Donna Tartt. 

Who Will Run the Frog Hospital, by Lorrie Moore

American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis

How Should A Person Be, by Sheila Heti

Karoo, by Steve Tesich

What is the best piece of writing advice you ever received?

Begin in the middle.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Don’t take yourself so seriously.  Laugh at your own writing, see comedy in tragedy, allow cleverness and wit to move you.

Tell me 5 things about yourself. 

I never take off my gold rings.  EVER.

I don’t know how to use Twitter or really know what a hashtag is.

I collect i-D magazines and even have a i-D logo tattooed on my hand.

My stepsister and I have the same first name.

I’m about to direct my debut feature film in August.

Thanks for sharing!

DON'T EVER CHANGE

by M. Beth Bloom

Publication Date: July 7, 2015

Published by Harper Teen

Pages: 368

Source: Author

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Synopsis:

Eva has always wanted to write a modern classic—one that actually appeals to her generation. The only problem is that she has realized she can't "write what she knows" because she hasn't yet begun to live. So before heading off to college, Eva is determined to get a life worth writing about.

Soon Eva's life encounters a few unexpected plot twists. She becomes a counselor at a nearby summer camp—a job she is completely unqualified for. She starts growing apart from her best friends before they've even left for school. And most surprising of all, she begins to fall for the last guy she would have ever imagined. But no matter the roadblocks, or writer's blocks, it is all up to Eva to figure out how she wants this chapter in her story to end.

Perfect for fans of E. Lockhart, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell, Don't Ever Change is a witty, snarky, and thought-provoking coming-of-age young adult novel about a teen who sets out to write better fiction and, ultimately, discovers the truth about herself.

My Thoughts

I really liked this book. A lot. Like a lot, a lot. I ate this book up! The short chapters, quick wit, and appealing storyline make for an enjoyable, entertaining read. Bloom skillfully pieced together a story about a girl who wants to be on the cusp of something big, but doesn't know exactly how to make it all happen. 

The MANY things I liked:

• The first person perspective and getting to know Eva's thoughts (rational and irrational); the mind of a writer
• Eva - she's judgemental and stubborn and opinionated and I like this about her because it proves that she has some growing up to do. She may not see it, but others do and they make sure to tell her.
• Eva's relationship with her older sister, Courtney. She wanted to be worldly too, but she had fears about growing up and moving on.
• Eva's job as a camp counselor - she didn't have a clue what she was doing and her method of "winging it" 
• Aloof Elliot - he's such a guy, I looked forward to reading the minimalists  texts and conversations  
• Foster - there's just something about him 
• Literary references, thinking about writing, talking about writing (but not much actual writing)
• The take on high school friendships and Eva's need to be best friends foreva' and her reactions when she realizes that those friendships are changing too
• Eva's realization that forgiveness can come easy if you don't make it so difficult
• You don't have to have it all figured out, but you should take the time to live, have experiences and embrace opportunities, so you can figure it out

Favorite Quotes

"You're not alone if you have your books and your pen and your ideas," I say. 

"That's sometimes when the best writing comes out -- when you feel challenged, when you don't want to write because it's too hard," she says. "If you only wrote when you felt inspired, you wouldn't find something new inside of it, you wouldn't uncover anything." 

" . . . I veer pretty close to being an Unlikeable Character, I'm at least aware of the fact. Which means I have the chance to stop what I'm doing and change, before I become so unlikeable that the reader gives up on me, shuts the book, and sends it flying across the room, disgusted."

Disclaimer:  I received this ARC from the author in exchange for my honest review.  I was not compensated in any way other than the ARC provided. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Waiting on Wednesday: Fast Fiction by Denise Jaden

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Fast Fiction: A Guide to Outlining and Writing a First Draft Novel in Thirty Days
by Denise Jaden
Published by New World Library
Expected Publication Date: February 11, 2014
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 Writers flock to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) each November because it provides a procrastination-busting deadline. But only a fraction of the participants meet their goal. Denise Jaden was part of that fraction, writing first drafts of two subsequently published novels in that tight time frame. In Fast Fiction, she shows other writers how to do what she did, step-by-step, writer-to-writer. To insure success, her program begins a month before the month of drafting. This prep period is when plot, theme, characters, setting, etc. are thought through. Then Jaden provides day-by-day coaching for the 30-day drafting period. After reader / writers race to the finish, they are not left high and dry. Jaden’s "After the Draft" revision tips allow readers to determine if a draft is not just workable but compelling, so that they don’t waste months or years in development. Her camaraderie and skill allow Jaden to both instruct and inspire.

Why I'm Waiting 

 Not every reader is a writer, but I know that there are many of us who have a story in us that we want to tell. Some of us need a little help and this book offers step-by-step, day-to-day coaching to get that story out. It sounds exactly like what I need.

Bookstore Memories and writing A Trick of the Light by Lois Metzger

A Trick of the Light
By Lois Metzger
Published by Balzer + Bray
Hardcover: 208 pages
Available: June 18, 2013
 

Description
Mike Welles had everything under control.

He was a good student, an outfielder on the baseball team, a good son, a loyal friend. But that was before. Now things are rough at home, and they're getting confusing at school. He's losing his sense of direction, and he feels like a mess.

Then there's a voice in his head. A friend, trying to help him regain control. More than that: The voice can guide him to become better and stronger than he was before, to rid his life of everything holding him back. To figure out who he is again. If only Mike will listen.

Writing with devastating power and precision, acclaimed author Lois Metzger gives us the story of one young man's battle with his own shadows -- a spare, stark, and vital tale of the way in which the things we build to protect ourselves can threaten to destroy us.

 A Trick of the Light is out today and I am honored to host author Lois Metzger on my blog. When I asked her to share her favorite bookstore memory from the perspective as a reader or a writer, she shared that they don't necessarily have to be separate. 

Welcome Lois Metzger!!

It was the year after college. I was living on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, California, working as a "temp," which meant I got sent out on a new office job every few days. Mostly I was a typist, but I also filed, ran errands, answered phones, took messages.

On my block on Telegraph Avenue, there was a Laundromat I went to regularly and, right next to it, a tiny science-fiction bookstore I would linger in while the clothes were spinning. It was basically a narrow horseshoe-shaped hall with books floor to ceiling; you just made your way down one aisle and came back up the other way. There were ancient issues of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Astounding, Galaxy, and anthologies such as Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions, and musty old paperbacks, some of them Ace Doubles, which meant you could read an entire novel, flip the book over, and then read another novel. I don't even remember that store's name but it had a profound effect on me.

Now, I'm a science-fiction fan from way back. My junior year at the State University of New York at Buffalo, my writing teacher was the legendary SF (please, never sci-fi) writer Samuel R. Delany. He asked me if I'd ever heard of the Clarion Writers' Workshop, which was just for science-fiction writers. I said no. He told me to go there. So I did, for six weeks during the summer of 1975, at the campus of Michigan State University, in East Lansing. A new teacher came every week (my year, there were Samuel R. Delany, Joe Haldeman, Gene Wolfe, Roger Zelazny, and the final two weeks were co-taught by married writers Kate Wilhelm and Damon Knight). My classmates included Robert Crais, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Gregory Frost, who've gone on to great things (and I'm very proud and happy to say we are still friends after all these years). I also wound up living with Kate and Damon briefly; they had a bunch of kids from previous marriages and I always felt like one of them.

So for years I read a lot of science fiction, and wrote a lot of science fiction, but there was one writer who always scared me: Philip K. Dick. I thought he would be too "out there" for me, that his alternate worlds and shifting realities would make my head hurt.

One day, while doing laundry, I headed into that tiny SF bookstore. This time, at the end of the narrow hall, I picked up an almost-crumbling issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. There was a short story called "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale." Wonderful title. And it was by Philip K. Dick. I bit the bullet, stood there and read it.

Okay, I was hooked. It was so imaginative, and funny, and had so twists and turns -- a bit dizzying, but it didn't make my head hurt. It has to do with implanted memories, and suppressed memories, and people who are not who they say they are. That story, later the basis for the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Total Recall and the Colin Farrell 2012 remake of the same title, has inspired me to this day.

My new book, A Trick of the Light, is about a 15-year-old boy, Mike Welles, who develops an eating disorder. He has a voice in his head. This voice urges him on to destructive behavior. It tells him not to eat when he is famished. It tells him to exercise when he is exhausted. It tells him to reject the people who love him, because they are not trustworthy. This voice is the narrator of the book.

When I started writing A Trick of the Light, it was a more conventional narrative. Mike, from the beginning, had a voice in his head, which interrupted his thoughts and actions, but Mike told his own story. As the novel deepened and got more complicated, the voice became more of a presence and took up more "air time." Finally, in one of many rewrites, it became the narrator.

It occurred to me that this was kind of strange, to have the voice in someone's head be the narrator of a book. But I had read a lot of Philip K. Dick by then, including what's now my favorite of his, Time Out of Joint, about a man living in a totally fake environment (though it appears to be an ordinary, dull-as-dishwater suburb), surrounded by people who are all "in on it." So I figured, strange is okay. Strange is good. Strange is what makes the alternate world go round. I had found the way to tell Mike's story.

© 2013 Lois Metzger, author of A Trick of the Light

Author Bio
Lois Metzger, author of A Trick of the Light, was born in Queens and has always written for young adults. She is the author of three previous novels and two nonfiction books about the Holocaust, and she has edited five anthologies. Her short stories have appeared in collections all over the world. Her writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, and Harper's Bazaar. She lives in Greenwich Village with her husband and son.

For more information please visit http://www.loismetzger.com, and follow the author on Facebook