Our featured debut author for today once won at a lip-synching contest! That sure could be fun, doesn't it?
13 Random Facts
1. My favorite ice cream flavor is rum raisin.
2. I love to take public transportation when I visit a new city.
3. Just like Cricket in NANTUCKET BLUE, I was once a chambermaid on Nantucket.
4. I think Big Sur, California is pure magic.
5. When my dog rests his head on my shoulder, I melt into a gooey puddle of love.
(Sidenote: My 3-year old sister is not a dog, but I feel the same way when she does that. :D)
6. I just started an organic garden.
7. I was once in an instructional video for learning French.
8. I was also once in an MTV public service announcement for safe sex.
9. I'm addicted to Yogurtland! (Do they have that outside LA? I don't know, but it's soooo good!)
10. I like to go treasure hunting at flea markets.
11. I'm a Taylor Swift fan.
(Sidenote: Do you know I tackle hug all the people who loves Taylor Swift? *tackle hugs!*)
12. I wish I could play the guitar and sing like my best friend from summer camp, Lisa.
(Sidenote: I wish I could play the guitar as good as Taylor and write songs THAT easy, like her.)
13. When I first moved to LA, I won a hundred dollars and a t-shirt in a lip-synching contest. My song was The Humpty Dance!
(Sidenote: Well, I did a lip-synching twice--not in a contest--but it end up in Facebook anyway. People believed I have that super wonderful voice. That was awkward.)
***
More about Leila!
LEILA HOWLAND loves to read, explore L.A., and engage in funny and meaningful conversations with her friends and family, especially her brother who calls from Washington D.C. whenever he’s waiting for the bus. A lot gets discussed in those phone calls, but they tend to end abruptly when the bus shows up. She can really cut the rug, but wishes she could sing without people covering their ears. A graduate of Georgetown University, Leila spent five years acting in New York where she was a company member of the award-winning Flea Theater in Tribeca. It was a lot of fun and she often talks about “getting back into it.” The closest she has come was a stint as an extra on The Young and the Restless in 2010. Leila now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two dogs. She teaches high school English and blogs for HelloGiggles. NANTUCKET BLUE is her first novel.
Here's Leila's debut novel!
by Leila Howland
Published May 7th 2013 by Disney Hyperion
Blurb (Goodreads):
For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she’ll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams.
Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn’t.
When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.
But it’s the things Cricket hadn’t counted on--most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits--that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality.
A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue.
Head over to Oops! I Read A Book Again for debut author Danielle DeVor!
Yesterday: CJ Flood (Infinite Sky) and Chelsea Pitcher (The S Word)
Tomorrow: Jennifer Ann Mann (Sunny Sweet Is So Not Sorry) and Helen Douglas (After Eden)
Calling YA/NA/MG debut authors of 2014! Want to join us on this fun event? Fill out this form! Don't forget to spread the word with your debuting friends!
I used to live on the island of Martha's Vineyard, right next to Nantucket, so that alone intrigues me and makes me want to read this book!
ReplyDeleteYogurtland! I am OBSESSED with frozen yogurt, and I get Yogurtland whenever I visit my relatives in the LA area :)
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