L.E. DeLano's Blog, page 12

BLUE is named a 2022 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in Teen Fiction

BLUE has been named a 2022 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in Teen Fiction. Check out all the honorees here.

Many thanks to the judges and to IPA for this honor – and for giving me the terrific first-world problem (and total humblebrag) of running out of room on my book cover. I am blessed.

A To Z Book Review: Copper Sun by Sharon Draper

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My pick for the letter C in my A to Z Book Read was Copper Sun by Sharon Draper.

Copper Sun gives us a story from two points of view: first, we meet Amari, a West African girl of fifteen, living an idyllic life with her tribe. She’s being happily courted by the man she will be married to in a year’s time, she hates chores like any teenager, loves her mother’s cooking, and dotes on her younger brother, a child of ten.

All of this changes in every terrible way possible when her village welcomes a group of white-skinned men, introduced by a neighboring tribe. They attack, killing Amari’s entire family and burning her village before dragging the few survivors off in chains. She ends up on a slave ship where she meets an older woman, who, despite her kindness to Amari, isn’t afraid to give her some hard truths: Amari was now a slave, she would never have her old life or see her homeland again. She will be beaten, she will be raped. Despite all of that, she must survive.

All of this comes to pass with the emotional impact of a fist to the stomach, without the need for gratuitous detail. Once the ship docks, a sick, starving, and shell-shocked Amari is sold to a wealthy and often vicious plantation owner as a sixteenth birthday present for his sniveling, cruel son. She’s given a new name and shares a slave cabin with Polly, an indentured white girl, and the other main character in the story.

The chapters alternate from either girl’s point of view (though the majority are Amari). We see Polly’s prejudices laid bare and watch her point of view evolve as Amari learns English and Polly realizes (and also witnesses) the horrors of Amari’s day-to-day life. We see Amari’s intelligence and resilience as she learns to do whatever it takes to stay alive. The story comes to a head with a harrowing two-month escape to what the two girls hope will be freedom.

I like the fact that the girls became friends through their shared hardships, but the author didn’t try to make them instant besties. Amari never for one moment forgot that there was a barrier between them and while you got the feeling they would get there someday, nothing was rushed.

I’m giving this one a firm 4 1/2 stars. While there were some predictable plot elements, nothing pulled me out of the narrative. This story will haunt you.

BLUE Wins Gold From The Reader Views Literary Awards

I am extremely happy to announce that BLUE won the 2021-2022 Reader Views Reviewers Choice Gold Medal in Young Adult Fiction, and a Bronze Medal in the 2021-2022 Reader Views Overall Grand Prize for Fiction (chosen from all category winners). In addition, BLUE was named Reader Views Kids Best Teen/Young Adult Book of the Year. See a complete list of winners HERE.

When I set out to write this complicated, heart-wrenching, oddly hilarious story, I never dreamed it would get the amount of accolades it has garnered so far. I am beyond thrilled and eternally grateful.

Thank you for reading my book, and falling in love with Blue, Maya and Devon just as hard as I did.

A To Z Book Review: THE BONE SPINDLE

My Letter B Read was The Bone Spindle, a fairytale retelling of Sleeping Beauty with a delicious twist: the beauty is a sleeping prince named Briar Rose – and the “Rose” name identifies him as a member of a powerful family of witches blessed with light magic. Fi, historian and cultural anthropologist extraordinaire teams up with treasure hunter Shane (secretly a Princess of a war clan and able to swing an axe like a champ) to go after a hidden treasure in a fallen kingdom. Instead she gets roped into a curse that ties her to the sleeping Briar Rose, setting her up as his one and only savior.

Along the way there is plenty of adventure with booby traps, bloodthirsty witch hunters, calamitous curses, terrible ex-boyfriends, and the looming spectre of the Bone Witch who cursed Briar in the first place. We also meet a mysterious young woman named Red who catches Shane’s eye and pulls her into a mystery set-up for book two.

Overall, this was an enjoyable romp, with lavish world-building, humor and loads of twists and turns. Despite that, it read slow in some sections, and the insta-love Briar had for Fi fell short for me. Still a good read, and I look forward to book two.

Four Stars.

BLUE Is The 2021 SPARK Award Winner!

I am over-the-moon thrilled to announce that Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) has named BLUE as their 2021 SPARK Award Winner in YA!

This is an enormous honor, and I am beyond thrilled that they chose my my multi-layered, sad, happy, complicated, sappy, hard-to-explain book. BLUE was a real labor of love, and I couldn’t be more proud.

A to Z Book Review: ALIAS GRACE

My goal in 2022 is to read my way through the alphabet, at least one book per letter (more if I have time). My choice for the letter A was ALIAS GRACE by Margaret Atwood.

My rating:

Grace Marks has been incarcerated these many years for her part in the murders of her former employer, Mr. Kinnear, and his housekeeper.

A (willing?) accomplice to the bloodthirsty dealings of her former coworker (lover?) and convicted at the age of 15, there are enough details – and of course, Grace’s impressionable age – to cast doubt on the validity of the conviction. Grace herself has no clear memory of the murders, having blacked out at various times during that evening. A visiting psychologist has been brought in to see if he can help Grace uncover hidden memories.

From the very beginning, Atwood masterfully weaves bits of backstory through assorted newspaper article citations of the murders, witness statements, and Grace’s own retelling of her life story – interspersed with disturbing little offsides and observations from – and about – Grace.

I was captivated from the beginning, and constantly drawing conclusions about Grace’s innocence – then second-guessing every one of them. I had a sneaking suspicion about the state of Grace’s mental health that was confirmed – and then re-examined, leaving me unsure to the end if Grace was a poor girl with a hard life who had endured trauma and abuse at multiple hands and was taken advantage of by many people – or if Grace was all of that, and had developed a cunning, manipulative mind to cope with it all. And did that make her any less innocent or guilty?

I understand this has been adapted for Netflix and I plan on giving it a view. This book will have your mind in a whirl, determined to piece it all together. Atwood doesn’t tie things up neatly with a bow, but leaves you to draw your own conclusions, and you’re going to have a lot of them. In her afterword, Atwood tells us all about the true-life story of Grace Marks, and the insight into her research makes it all the more fascinating.

I absolutely recommend this book. Fascination factor: 1000.

What’s On Tap For 2022?

Now that the whirlwind of 2021 is behind us, it’s time to regroup and set the stage for next year. My writing plan is severely ambitious. That’s a nice way of saying I’m out of my freaking mind and I may well be updating this blog from a tiny, padded room this time next year. Here’s the rough outline:

Publish one YA novel – this one a holiday romance! Look for an announcement in early fall.Finish drafting and query one new manuscript (an extension of my NaNoWriMo project, a witchy Cinderella retelling).Extensively revise and query two completed manuscripts – one fantasy, one sci-fi thriller Begin drafting a new YA novel (Fantasy)Continue the submission process with BLUE for various book awardsAttend the PA School Librarians Association conference as a signing author for BLUE (April)Attend book festivals in PA and NJ (COVID restriction dependent)

Those are just the goals in YA. I also write romance under another pen name, and the plan there is two new novels, two novellas, and two short stories by year-end, as well as querying one project. All of this is done around my full-time day job and being a partially-disabled single parent of a special needs child. It’s madness, utter madness, but believe me when I say that creativity is what keeps me sane. I think. Who am I to judge my own sanity, really?

Anyway, that’s the plan as of today. What it actually morphs into is TBD.

Happy New Year, everyone. Let’s hope we all get close to our goals, or have fun reinventing them as we go along!

Farewell To 2021

What a year it’s been!

I started out the year with a manuscript in hand, a posse of great Beta Readers, and a lot of high hopes. I found an outstanding cover and interior designer, and in April, it was Cover Reveal Day for BLUE.

From there, I took a breather and hammered away at another manuscript, and also managed to publish three novellas and two novels in another genre under my alter ego pen name.

Summer arrived, along with a return to in-person book festivals! I had a great time at The Festival of Books in the Alleghenies and the Collingswood Book Fest. I look forward to returning next year!

The fall brought an in-person book signing event with my fellow SCBWI authors at Aaron’s Books in Lititz, PA, followed by another terrific SCBWI author event at the Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts 2021 Conference.

Finally, the ARC copies of BLUE went out, the reviews started rolling in, and I let out that breath I’d been holding since that manuscript left my sweaty, little hands. Whew! They liked it!

In November, I had a wonderful book launch party at the best Indie Bookstore in the Philadelphia area, Towne Book Center! That was followed by a book signing at Barnes and Noble Wyomissing, and then the announcement that BLUE was a 2021 NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite in Young Adult Fiction. Wow! What a way to end the year!

What’s in store for 2022? That, my friends, is the subject of another blog post. For now, I’ll rest and ruminate and count myself fortunate to have had such a year. Thank you to everyone for your part in it!

A Book Review Roundup

I’m going to be tooting my own horn for a bit, so please indulge me. I’m very grateful to anyone who reads my book, but doubly grateful for those who take the time to review, as well.

Here are a few reviews of BLUE I’d love to share:

“Overall a spellbinding, breathtaking story.” – hecticreadinglife Instagram

“If you are looking for charming and emotionally impactful read then I think Blue is definitely the book for you.” – books4jessica Instagram

“Blue is a complex YA novel that challenges the reader to look at multiple perspectives of a difficult situation. ” – marsupialliterature Instagram

“Where do I start? There were so many turn of events that I couldn’t even fit in a short break from reading. It’s been a while since I’ve felt such an emotional connection to a book.” – Bookish Trisha Blog

“This may be my favorite read of 2021.” – Adventures in Writing Blog

“I highly recommend this enlightening young adult novel full of angst, forgiveness, and guilt by association. The characters are engaging and genuine and the plot is very realistic. I can’t wait to pick up a book by this author again.” – The Eclectic Review Blog

Goodreads Reviews

Amazon Reviews

Major thanks to all of you who’ve reviewed and reposted, retweeted and reblogged. You’re the best!

Where Did I Get The Inspiration For BLUE?

I’m always curious about story origins, and I thought I’d share a bit about this book. BLUE was a blend of two real-life things.

First, I had a friend who went through a horrible event. On Christmas Eve, she was driving home from her closing shift at her retail job, it was dark and she was on a rural road. A young man who was intent on ending his own life threw himself in front of her SUV. She couldn’t stop in time, and ended up striking and killing him.

She was physically unhurt but it really messed her up with PTSD. To make things worse, the young man’s family tried to sue her even though the guy had a history of mental illness, left a suicide note, and a security camera at a local business captured the whole thing on video (which she had to watch in court). They were unsuccessful with the lawsuit, but it took a huge toll.

She quit her job, moved back in with her parents, and got good, professional counseling. A year or so later, she decided to go to college and work on a degree, as a new direction for her life. Her first day, first class at a nearby university, she walked in the door, and there was the guy’s sister in her class. Long story short, they eventually ended up friends, despite the horrible thing that tied them together.

I always thought that might make a good story, but as I began writing it, it just never evolved well. I picked that idea up and worked on it a dozen times over the years, but it was just missing something.

Then my daughter became a teenager, and quite out of nowhere, life decided to rain misery on her in her junior year of high school. A confluence of outside forces hit her from a few different people and situations, and despite all the support I could throw at her, the support of her teachers, and the help of a really good therapist, she just seemed “stuck” in her bubble of misery.

I felt so helpless and frustrated – none of these things that were making her miserable were what you’d call permanent things, and I wanted her to realize that all of it would pass, and she just needed to push herself through it. Perspective is a lot easier when you have decades of life experience to draw from, and honestly, in her seventeen years of life these were the worst things to ever happen to her, impermanent as they were. She did push through, and I’m fiercely proud of her for it, but it was heartbreaking for a while there.

I finally realized I wanted to write a book about perspective, and the original story was never going to work for that—not without devoting a significant portion of the book to suicide prevention and discussions of mental illness. So I changed the circumstances of the accident, made Blue an unwilling bystander. I hit her with a few other miseries until she was deluged and wallowing, then connecting, understanding and redefining to a much better place, mentally and emotionally.

BLUE became a journey from hopeless to hopeful, from feeling like everyone was trying to rewrite your story to realizing nobody really knows anyone’s story, entirely. I love how it evolved, and these characters will always have a piece of my heart.