Molli Moran's Blog, page 6
November 3, 2015
About Time
A few weeks ago, something happened that if you’d asked me before that moment, I wouldn’t have believed could ever happen: I ended two very toxic friendships. These people had been in my life for several years, and although our formerly close friendships had soured, taking a toll on all of us, I hadn’t been ready to end things. I should have been. When I was constantly getting hurt, constantly afraid to speak my mind — I should have been.
But I wasn’t.
Since then, I’ve thought a lot about why we stay: there, quiet, sad. Growing up, the messages I received from my parents, from teachers, from role models and other authority figures all sounded like variations on, “Be nice. Be quiet. Be polite.” People who should have been telling me, “Be fierce. Be you. Be brave,” didn’t. They pressed into me the importance of niceness like I would later press flowers into pages: from my grandma’s funeral, from a boy, from my prom.
I didn’t learn how to protect myself and my spaces and my voice. I didn’t learn that sometimes, speaking up for yourself is more important than being a peacekeeper. I didn’t learn that some people see (friends, co-workers, romantic partners) would see me as weak because I wasn’t often loud.
I should have.
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Recently, I turned 30. I’ve been thinking about how I spent my 20’s putting myself last. I didn’t leave my town when I wanted to because others wanted me to stay. So I stayed. And that snowballed into a pattern of letting my wants and needs fall to the wayside because someone else needed me to be strong for them, or needed a doormat.
I spent my 20’s waiting. Holding my tongue. Avoiding confrontation when someone had truly wounded me.
I don’t want to be that woman anymore.
My 30’s are for cultivating my spaces, online and offline, and making my stand and protecting those spaces. For speaking up about important things, and for defending myself if need be.
My 30’s are for using my voice to amplify others who are doing good work, and for using my voice to lift up friends and spread love. To spread kindness.
My 30’s are for making opportunities happen for me. For encouraging the supportive, good, positive people in my life. For keeping my heart open, but vetting who I let into it, going forward.
My 30’s are for taking care of myself and not feeling bad about it.
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Friendships end. Doors close. Romances shatter.
Sometimes we see the end coming and have time to batten down the hatches, pulling our walls up to weather the storm.
Sometimes we don’t.
This experience wasn’t something I saw coming, at least, not then, and not how it happened. I wish I’d known. I wish I’d said more or less or something else entirely. I wish I’d been more graceful or less graceful. I wish I wish I wish —
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After, I woke up the next morning, relieved. I took a deep breath, then another, and I knew that whatever had happened, whatever my part in it, that I had to move on. The ties were severed for a reason: to free me from how weighed down I had constantly felt in these friendships. I’d felt that I was walking on eggshells, unable to speak my mind, unable to confide in them for fear of upsetting the balance–that fine, fragile balance, where the relationship was positive as long as the spotlight was on them. I felt like a third wheel. I was unable to breathe, unable to ask for the kind of support I was used to in my other friendships, for fear I’d be labeled as selfish.
That is not friendship. Not a healthy one, at least.
Part of me recognized that the clumsy ending was a good thing. It was over, the BandAid finally ripped off. There would be no agonized emails or texts trying to repair the damage. We couldn’t go back. The curtain had been pulled back. I had seen the way they were capable of treating me (and others that I cared about). They had seen that I was no longer willing to keep silent in order to be their guilty cheerleader.
We’ll never know when the first fissure, egg-shell delicate but invasive, happened. We’ll never know what small hurt settled into our bloodstreams, slowly poisoning what was once good and bright.
But that history and those wounds and the light and the laughter and the blame and the end all have to be put away now, bundled away as I take uncharted steps into my future.
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There’s a peculiar kind of grief when you end a friendship. It has the same weight and shape as when you end a romantic relationship, but it creeps into your bones differently. It presses into them like the bones themselves have gone soft, and that aching sorrow is filtering through.
It’s worse, more convoluted, when you know you’ve done the right thing. When you know that had you stayed, you wouldn’t have changed them, or how you were around them.
Sometimes, all you have is the knowledge that you survived. It hurt like hell, but you survived. You ripped yourself out of their story, where you were nothing but a minor character, and line-by-line, you’re finally writing your own.
And it’s about time.
October 25, 2015
An Open Letter to @Teen
Dear Teen associate editor Kaitlin or to whom it may concern,
You recently published an article claiming Teen Wolf fans who write slash fanfic are “nasty as fuck.” I’d like to tell you a short story.
As a teen questioning my sexuality, I turned to slash fic for my favorite fandom, Sweet Valley High. The Sweet Valley High: Senior Year series was the first series I ever read that featured a) a gay character and b) that character as a main, fleshed-out character. As I started writing about this character (and others in the series), and reading fic about him and them, I learned to accept him. And myself.
Fic is one of the few safe spaces queer teens have. Yes, it’s 2015. Yes, more and more people are accepting. But not everyone is. For some queer teens, coming out — online or off — isn’t an option. For some, safety is a very real concern. For some, fic is the only safe space they have.
Reading and writing slash fic allows queer teens to explore their orientation in a safe way, at their own pace. It sends healthy messages about their sexuality. About THEM. It sends the message that they are worthy of love. It’s the happily-ever-after they often won’t find in YA books. It’s safe. It’s accepting. It’s theirs.
In your article, the writer did several things that violates that safety. She:
Linked to creator’s work without their permission, including linking to their blogs, which is a safety riskLinked to explicit content within those fanfics, when your site claims to be open to younger users as well as teen usersOutright described boys kissing boys, being loving with boys as “nasty as fuck.”Can you please tell me who at Teen thought it was okay to publish this article? Can you please tell me who at Teen is homophobic enough to publish this article, change the wording when you were caught, block people who spoke out against your article, and yet — no apology has been issued. The article has not been taken down, as of the time I’m writing this post.
Exposing young children to explicit content is not okay. They should discover that content at their own pace.
Linking to fics and posting excerpts without permission is not okay. You should have asked.
Calling slash fic “inappropriate” is not okay. There is nothing inappropriate about queer relationships.
The associate editor who wrote this piece needs to be made aware of these issues. This article is homophobic, shameful, triggering, and should not have been published. Your editor should be required to issue a formal apology to the many, many queer teens she has insulted. The original article was bad, but changing the headline and saying your word choice was “poor” without acknowledging it was also homophobic is a non-apology.
Queer teens today are growing up in a different world than I did, yes. But it is still not an entirely SAFE world. They deserve their own spaces, where they can be themselves. Where they can love what they love, without fear of it being ridiculed. Without fear of being shamed. Calling the slash fic they write — calling THEM — “nasty af” is degrading and reinforces the mistaken idea they because they are queer, something is wrong with them.
That is not a message you or anyone should EVER send.
Please consider taking down the article and issuing an apology to your readers.
October 11, 2015
Our Stories Aren’t Agendas
Last night, a well-known author criticized the ongoing conversation for diversity in books, specifically in KidLit (YA, MG, and Children’s books). I won’t link to her profile or her comments specifically, because others have and will, and this, unfortunately, is yet another incident in an ongoing problem. (I will name her though: Meg Rosoff.)
This author claims that we don’t need more diverse books. That we have enough already. That there are “hundreds, thousands of them.” That literature “doesn’t have the job of being a mirror.” She thinks that marginalized kids can see themselves in newspapers or other media without needing “mirror books.”
I didn’t read my mirror book until I was 28.
In December of 2013, I read a book called FAR FROM YOU, where the main character, Sophie, refers to herself — out loud — as bisexual. This was the first time I had seen myself in a book, and it went to my head, to my heart, to my bones, and my blood. I cried good tears, healing tears, reading this book.
It should not have taken this long. It should not have been adult me who read this book. I should have had the courage as a teen to look for mirror books, but what’s more, there should have BEEN mirror books when I was growing up. I spent hours and hours in my elementary school library and in my town library and in my high school library. I read everything I could get my hands on, but I was too afraid to ask for books with queer characters.
And if I had asked, I’m not sure how many would have been available, much less ones with bisexual characters.
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I recently wrote about growing up (and living as an adult) as a queer Southerner. I talked about how I pass as straight without trying, and how I recognize that passing is an enormous privilege. I talked about the discrimination I face regularly, some from people who know I’m queer, some from people who don’t.
I am just one of many, many stories.
We ALL deserve mirror books.
Now.
Not ten years from now. Not twenty. Now.
Kids growing up now who will soon begin looking for themselves in books deserve mirror books.
Queer (LGBTQIAP+) kids deserve mirror books.
Disabled kids deserve mirror books.
POC kids deserve mirror books.
Neuro-diverse kids deserve mirror books.
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Here is what people who meet me don’t know.
I grew up in a home where my parents checked out for several years, due to things I’m not yet ready to talk about. No one was around to help me learn how to drive. Most days, we only had food because my grandfather brought it to us. My parents were barely hanging on.
No one was there to help me realize that being attracted to guys AND girls wasn’t wrong.
I went looking for myself in books and I
didn’t
find
myself.
If I didn’t, others didn’t.
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It is ridiculous to claim we have enough diverse books, enough marginalized characters, when we clearly don’t. When Twitter is an echo chamber, recommending the same ones over and over again, but Tumblr is a ghost town, where teens don’t even know many of these books exist.
It is ridiculous to think, as Meg Rosoff claims, that queer POC kids can find themselves in the newspaper or a “pamphlet,” where stories about people like them usually paint them in an unflattering light.
It is ridiculous to claim that books don’t have a job, when their VERY JOB is to BE a mirror to marginalized kids, and as Tess Sharpe said today, a window to privileged kids.
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We are not done. We have not done enough. When publishing still elevates books by white, cis, able-bodied authors over everyone else — we aren’t done.
When marginalized authors default to writing white characters because it’s all they know, or because they are terrified it’s the only way they’ll publish or be published — we aren’t done.
When white authors are lauded for writing poor rep, but queer and POC authors who do the same aren’t even noticed, or have to try that much harder, we aren’t done. We haven’t done enough.
Our stories are NOT agendas, but books CAN have an agenda. They can teach empathy. Awareness. Understanding.
They can change lives.
Save lives.
FAR FROM YOU changed mine. Everyone like me — and everyone who is marginalized — deserves that chance.
Let your book’s agenda be to hold up a mirror for someone who has never seen themselves in a book.
To give someone hope.
To open someone’s eyes to the world, to people who don’t look like them. To show them there is more than their perspective, more than their voice.
Please, help me. Let’s combat this privilege by lifting up our own. Read the #OwnVoices hashtag on Twitter. Buy/borrow books recommended there and review them. Read and review books with marginalized main character. Talk about negative rep and lift up positive rep. Amplify women of color who are writing, or disabled authors or queer authors or neuro-diverse authors.
We still have work to do.
October 5, 2015
From One Fat Girl to Another, or, Dear FUTURE PERFECT
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Future Perfect by Jen Larsen Published by HarperTeen on October 6, 2015
Add on Goodreads
Buy @ Barnes&Noble • Buy @ Amazon • Genres: young adult contemporary
Source: Galley from the publisher
Every year on her birthday, Ashley Perkins gets a card from her grandmother—a card that always contains a promise: lose enough weight, and I will buy your happiness.
Ashley doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with the way she looks, but no amount of arguing can persuade her grandmother that “fat” isn’t a dirty word—that Ashley is happy with her life, and her body, as it is.
But Ashley wasn’t counting on having her dreams served up on a silver platter at her latest birthday party. She falters when Grandmother offers the one thing she’s always wanted: tuition to attend Harvard University—in exchange for undergoing weight loss surgery.
As Ashley grapples with the choice that little white card has given her, she feels pressured by her friends, her family, even administrators at school. But what’s a girl to do when the reflection in her mirror seems to bother everyone but her?
Through her indecisions and doubts, Ashley’s story is a liberating one—a tale of one girl, who knows that weight is just a number, and that no one is completely perfect.
Dear Ashley (and Jen Larsen),
The picture above was taken in April of this year. I am sunburned in it. I am happy. I am in love with my girlfriend.
I am fat.
I am the heaviest I’ve ever been. I won’t talk about numbers. That is for me alone, and my weight isn’t about a number, any more than anyone’s is. There is no perfect number, no magic number that frees you from society’s standards. That’s a construct.
The number my scales show me has always impacted how I feel about myself. My esteem, whether at a higher or a lower point, has always come from within. It’s plummeted when I let society whisper into my ear that I wasn’t pretty, wasn’t thin, wasn’t this, wasn’t that, wasn’t enough, wasn’t —
You understand.
___
I am well-versed in euphemisms. I learned them years ago, when I didn’t lose my “baby fat,” when I graduated high school and gained the “freshmen 15,” when a life-changing, important relationship ended and my weight began creeping above a number I could control. When I shied away from saying, “I’m fat,” choosing instead to call myself, “heavy.” As if saying the word “fat” would diminish everything else about me.
I didn’t step on a scale for years. I bought flattering clothes. I exercised. I lost weight. I gained weight. I lost a lot of weight. I gained a lot of weight. My body and I volleyed love and hate back and forth in equal measures. Even when I fell in love and flew across the country, through clouds and time zones, and walked with Katie beside the ocean — even then, taking my clothes off felt at least partially like removing armor.
Sometimes, I’d stare in the mirror, letting my vision blur and looking past what I saw as if I could find the girl inside — the girl who could run for miles and lift weights and be noticed when she walked into a room.
I never found her.
___
I read a book this summer. Your book. FUTURE PERFECT examines society’s obsession with weight and weight/beauty through the unapologetic eyes of a fat teen — a girl who loves herself as she is, despite, or maybe because of, her body. That girl is you, Ashley, and I want to say thank you.
Thank you for loving yourself and your body, equally.
Thank you for being sex-positive.
Thank you for the message that I hope teens read and receive, that there is nothing wrong with being fat.
Thank you for insisting you are worthy of love.
Thank you for demanding to be treated as an equal.
___
I looked in the mirror again the other day, after a long, hard day of battling various whispers. Some of them are related to things I can’t change right now. Others stem from things I can.
This time, I wasn’t looking for the thin girl inside of me. I wasn’t wishing to be anything other than what I was in that moment.
I was simply looking at me. The girl blessed or cursed with wide hips from both sides of the family. The girl with brown eyes and brown hair, the girl who occasionally snorts when she laughs. The girl who cries because of the right song, or when she’s reunited with her girlfriend. The girl who is in love — and in love the way she never dreamed she could be.
That girl is fat.
I am fat.
And finally, finally, I’m starting to love myself, not despite my perceived flaws, but simply for who I am. I still want to be healthier, but I’m not chasing a far-flung dream of the impossible standards magazines and movies force upon us, as women. I’m also not hiding behind euphemisms anymore.
And I won’t be anything but a friend to my body.
___
While reading FUTURE PERFECT, I felt tender, scrubbed raw. Like so much of the discomfort with myself I’d refused to acknowledge had disappointed under the positive force of Jen Larsen’s book. Reading about Ashley, I couldn’t ignore who I was. I couldn’t ignore the fact that people love me exactly as I am.
Watching Ashley come to a deeper understanding of herself and her body made me take a look at myself and at mine. For the first time, I saw not too much skin, but just skin. Not something to dress in outfits that would flatten my shape, but simply my shape.
My dream isn’t a number anymore. It isn’t a pants size.
It’s to be healthy.
And to love myself, along the way instead of only after.
To Jen Larsen for writing a book that has the potential to change the way teens feel about their bodies, thank you. From the bottom of my changing heart, thank you. I can only hope it resonates with teens the way it did with me.
Love,
Molli
September 23, 2015
Being Queer in the South
I grew up in church. I grew up in a household where the word “gay” was never said, unless it was with scorn. I grew up where you voted Republican, if you voted at all.
I grew up passing as many things. As straight. As middle-class, sometimes. As neuro-normal. As Christian, which I haven’t been in longer than I can say. I grew up seeing this happen, and realizing, it was safer this way. It was safer to hide, to pretend my first girlfriend was just my best friend. To hide my crushes. To tell myself the reason I didn’t date many guys was because I was a late bloomer.
I grew up by pretending to be someone I wasn’t. I got so good at pretending that I almost lost who I actually was.
___
I still pass as straight, to strangers. I’ve never figured out what it is that’s bred into us here, why the reaction I get most often to coming out is, “That’s such a surprise. I never would have thought you were gay.” Is it the way I talk? Is it how friendly I am? Is it that we grow up having purity ideals drilled into us as soon as we can understand what’s being said?
Online, I’m out. To my friends, I’m proudly out. To them, I’m the version of myself I’ve always longed to be. With them, I’m free. To my family, I’m out (even though we don’t talk about it).
At work, I’m very quietly out. There are allies, and there are those of us who are queer, hesitantly befriending one another, slowly sharing our stories in stolen breaks and low-pitched conversations, pressing our secrets into the spaces between us.
Passing isn’t something I actively try to do or something I want to do. I’m constantly surprised that anyone assumes someone else is straight or able-bodied or any number of things.
Passing is a double-edged sword. A privilege AND a curse. It’s necessary, here, and in other places. It’s something I’ve used as a shield in dangerous situations. It’s something not everyone has to use. I’m lucky. Not everyone is.
I wish no one had ever to worry about passing. About coming out. But we do.
It’s 2015. Marriage Equality passed. Maybe you’re thinking, “Why wouldn’t you proudly declare your orientation to anyone who will listen? It’s safe now!”
No.
It isn’t.
Not everywhere.
“Marriage Equality passed!” You say. “We don’t need books about coming out for teens.”
Yes, we do.
___
It’s a friend at work I’ve spent hours talking about Supernatural and various geek-y pursuits with proclaiming something is “so gay,” in a tone clearly meant to be an insult. I’ve been considering coming out to him soon.
It’s a co-worker telling me she’s accepting, then following it up with, “It’s not our place to judge someone else’s choices.”
It’s a co-worker a few tables away in the lounge rattling his newspaper and exclaiming that, “Those queers are ruining everything.” I sit in silence, shaking. It’s the first — but not last — time I feel afraid at work.
It’s a regularly abrasive customer going off on an unprovoked rant about how, “The faggots are to blame,” while I ring him out. I stand there near tears, sick at my stomach. Later, I beg to never have to wait on him again, and am told there’s nothing anyone can do.
It’s my extended family, where we gather for holidays and everyone asks me careful questions about my work, what my plans are for the holidays, and how my “California vacation” was, never mentioning the fact I went to see Katie, my girlfriend. They’ve never asked if they’ll get to meet her.
It’s a friend I’ve respected for years posting a meme about his “Straight Pride” on Facebook, how it’s “Natural, it’s worked for thousands of years, and you can make babies!”
It’s a gathering of old and new friends, laughter flowing, when someone asks how my “friend” is doing. I quietly correct them. “Girlfriend,” I say, my voice soft under the conversations around us.
It’s my father, at a family event, vocalizing his hopes that, “Molli will marry a nice guy one of these days.”
He has never said Katie’s name.
I don’t live in fear. I’m planning to move to California soon, where hopefully, I’ll get to be the best version of myself all the time. In the meantime, I decide when it’s safe to come out. I don’t live in fear.
But fear is still a part of my life, as a queer Southerner.
To my family, my bisexuality doesn’t exist. They think I’m a lesbian, or that I’m “confused about your sexuality.” They think it’s because I had a bad relationship in the past, so it’s a guy’s fault I’m this way. They use words like “f**” around me as if I can’t hear them — or worse, I can, and it doesn’t matter to them.
But my bisexuality matters. So do yours. And anyone’s. Whether you’ve been with your same gender or the opposite. Or both. Or neither. Whether you’ve been in one relationship or ten. Whether you have a preference for one gender over the other.
We ALL matter. We are ALL valid.
September 15, 2015
Blog Tour: Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales
For this tour, things are a little different. Leila is interviewing the bloggers on the tour! I’m going to tell you guys a bit more about the book, and about a fun way YOU can participate, then we’ll get to my interview.
From the author of This Song Will Save Your Life comes a funny and relatable book about the hazards of falling for a person you haven’t met yet.
Seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley is recklessly loyal. Taking care of her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But she’s tired of being loyal to people who don’t appreciate her—including her needy best friend and her absent mom.
Arden finds comfort in a blog she stumbles upon called “Tonight the Streets Are Ours,” the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter. When Peter is dumped by the girlfriend he blogs about, Arden decides to take a road trip to see him.
During one crazy night out in NYC filled with parties, dancing, and music—the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does—Arden discovers that Peter isn’t exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn’t exactly who she thought she was, either.
1. What’s your favorite post you’ve ever written?
Ooh, starting with the hard questions. I’ve written some deeply personal reviews, and I’m VERY proud of them. But I think my favorite post to date is my take on the Dear Teen Me series.
2. Who’s your favorite blogger to read and why?
Although I adore a lot of bloggers, my favorite is Jamie at The Perpetual Page-Turner. She has such a passion for books, is a huge supporter of authors and the blogging community, and writes amazing posts.
3. TONIGHT THE STREETS ARE OURS is about a girl tracking down her favorite blogger in person. Have you ever met your readers in real life? If so, what happened?
I’ve met a few fellow bloggers in real life, at book signings. My favorite was the time I went to Victoria Schwab’s launch party for THE ARCHIVED. Champagne, books, bloggers, and my favorite author!
4. In TONIGHT THE STREETS ARE OURS, Peter gets a really amazing opportunity thanks to his blog–but his blog also gets him in a lot of trouble. What are the most positive and most negative experiences you’ve had as a result of your blog?
This may sound hard to believe, but I’ve never had a negative experience because of my blog! I’ve made some great friends and contacts, read some amazing books, and met great authors.
Positive experiences…my favorite is the time I went to California for the first time. I went to the (other) ocean, I met Tamara Ireland Stone, who I adore, and the best part is, I met my Katie in person. We’d been online friends for years before we ever began to wonder if we might be becoming MORE. When we met in person, we just KNEW. The second time? We were even MORE sure.
Fast-forward two plus years. We’ve read the same books, recommended books to each other, laughed over stories, cried over them. Our relationship was strengthened thanks to reading THE HUNGER GAMES, and when I started blogging and reading more, we got even closer. I loved her so very much.
How will our story end?
Reader, this spring I gave her a promise ring.
5. TONIGHT THE STREETS ARE OURS is not only the title of my novel; it’s also the name of Peter’s blog in the book. He got it from a Richard Hawley song. How did you choose the name for your blog?
This is fun and simple: I started out as ONCE UPON A PROLOGUE in 2011, but ultimately, I wanted something that was more ME. And there were lots of “Once Upon A….” blogs. I loved books (obviously), and I’m a fairly whimsical person. I combined the two, and BOOKS AND WHIMSY was born.
On Saturday, post your stories about your best, wildest night, the night YOU owned, at #TonightTheStreetsAreOurs!
August 20, 2015
Cover Reveal: Something in the Air by Marie Landry
Hi all! I’m super excited to help reveal the cover for SOMETHING IN THE AIR, a New Adult contemporary romance by my friend, Marie Landry. Marie’s books are always a treat to read, and her upcoming sounds absolutely swoon-worthy.
Ready to see the cover? Scroll!
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Something in the Air by Marie Landry
Contemporary New Adult
Publication date: November 3rd, 2015
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Synopsis
Her life hasn’t gone as planned, but she’s about to realize that sometimes the best things happen when you stop expecting life to be a certain way…
When Rose Morgan put off her college plans to help her mother through a difficult time, she thought it would just be a bump in the road of her journey. She got a job to help pay the bills and started picking up the slack at home. But three years later, her bumpy ride hasn’t smoothed out yet, and Rose feels stuck. She’s working at a job she hates and living with a manipulative mother. She’s tired of feeling like her life has stalled, tired of the resentment and anger building inside her with each passing day.
Then Declan Connelly appears in her life, and even though the hot Irishman is seriously tempting, Rose is determined not to let him in. She’s afraid to suck anyone into her bizarre life, especially someone who seems too charming for his own good. She soon learns there’s more to Declan than his sexy accent and charismatic personality, though. He’s a good man, and he wants Rose in his life, baggage and all. He’s got his own, and he isn’t scared away like she originally feared he would be.
Everything in Rose’s life is changing quickly. It’s finally her time–time to figure out what she wants and what her future holds. Time to get swept off her feet and not fight it. But when her plans might take her away from all the amazing new things in her life, including Declan, Rose has to make a choice. Is she willing to chase her dreams, even if it means letting go of love?
About the Author:
Marie Landry has the best job in the world—one where she gets to make stuff up for a living and shamelessly eavesdrop on everyone around her. She writes happily ever afters while dreaming about the day she’ll have her own epic love story to tell. Most days you can find her writing, reading, fantasizing about traveling the world, listening to U2, watching copious amounts of TV on DVD, or having grand adventures with her nephews and niece.
For more on Marie and her books please visit http://sweetmarie-83.blogspot.ca. She also loves to chat with fellow book lovers, so feel free to tweet her @SweetMarie83 any time!
LINKS
Blog: http://sweetmarie-83.blogspot.ca
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MarieLandryAu...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SweetMarie83
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Instagram: http://instagram.com/sweetmarie_83
July 23, 2015
Hand-in-Hand Recs: Chasing Life
The show: Chasing Life
Where/when it airs: ABC Family, Monday nights
What it’s about: April, a hard-working journalist struggling to prove herself at her job, gets a diagnosis she never expected. Just as she’s beginning a new relationship with smokin’ hot music reviewer Dominic, she’s diagnosed with leukemia. Chasing Life follows her struggles with life, her health, work, her complicated family, and love. Laughter, tears, and kissing in droves.
What it’s perfect for: Fans of New Adult books
Even though I don’t think April’s age is stated a great deal in Chasing Life, this show to me is PERFECT for fans of New Adult books, because it essentially IS a new adult show. April is working as a journalist, but she’s starting at the bottom of the ladder, and having to work her way up in a competitive environment, where her boss basically ignores “floaters” like her. She’s incredibly driven and might have it all together a bit more than some NA characters do, but there’s still a very real, very relatable sense of “WTF am I doing with my life” permeating throughout the show. At no point is April presented as someone who has all the answers, and I like that.
April may not be in college, but she still has a lot of things to sort out. The show picks up a few years after her father’s death, so she and her family are still trying to get on the same page there, plus April is dealing with huge changes in her life, due to her illness, and an “it’s complicated” love life.
There’s an AWESOME family dynamic though. For a show about cancer, this isn’t a cancer show. There’s a lot of laughter and I love all of April’s family, especially her grandmother, who’s totally zany.
AND THE FRIENDSHIPS. April has a love/hate/competition with her friend Danny at work. And then there’s her bestie, Beth. Best friendship EVER.
Oh and did I mention that there’s kiiiiiind of a little love triangle? There are two men in April’s life: intense, good-guy Dominic, and sexy, live-in-the-moment Leo.
Heyyyyyy Dom, how YOU doin?
OH HAI LEO
Oh, what’s that? You aren’t convinced yet? Let’s see what else the show has to offer: diverse characters! POC characters! Characters who are living with cancer/disabilities but don’t let it define them! Kickass, strong women! Positive female friendships!
Oh and did I mention the girls flirting with girls?
OTP.
The wonderful thing is, all this diversity is just THERE. Sure, there’s an adjustment period for a few of the things, like when a character comes out. But I love this show and these characters. They root for each other. They champion each other.
Girls.
Kiss.
Girls.
And no one cares, for the most part! Well, they DO, but in a supportive way. No one makes a big deal out of it.
Seriously, check out an episode PLEASE. It’s full of swoon-worthy romance, loads of heart, humor, and twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The pacing and flow of the first season was SPOT ON. I look forward to this show every week when it’s on — and Season 2 JUST started. It makes me laugh. It makes me cry. It makes me flail. It makes me wish the episodes were longer than an hour, and that doesn’t happen very often, folks.
Recs: If you like books by Cora Carmack, Jennifer Blackwood, Lia Riley, Katherine Locke, and J. Lynn, I think you will fall head-over-heels for Chasing Life.
Do you watch Chasing Life? If not, did this post make you want to start? If you watch Chasing Life, who is your / are your favorite character/s? Are you team Dominic or team Leo? I’d tell you which one I am, but…spoilers. HEH.
July 21, 2015
Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Diverse Reads
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish.
This week’s topic: Top Ten Books that Celebrate Diversity
Did someone read my mind? This topic is near and dear to my heart, and I’ll probably struggle to narrow my list down to ten, but let’s see what happens. 
July 17, 2015
The One Announcing As You Breathe Again
After I talked about my crazy-long writer’s block, I mentioned I was coming out of it, finally. It was such a relief! Once I started writing again, this book poured out of me in about two months, which is fairly quickly for me. (As You Turn Away took 10 months or so from start to finish.) I haven’t talked a lot about As You Breathe Again yet, but because things are moving along (it’s with my editor now, I’ve seen some cover comps), I wanted to do a silly FAQ for y’all.
And yes, it’s in the form of me interviewing myself. I CAN’T STOP.
You’ve written another book! Congrats, I think?
Hahaha yes. This will be my third published book. Sometimes I’m so very happy to be a writer. Other times, I don’t know why I do this to myself.
So what is As You Breathe Again about?
AYBA, aka Farm Boy Book, picks up a year after As You Turn Away. It’s dual POV like AYTA was, and it’s Reece Walker and Lanie Shaw’s story. It’s the first truly diverse book I wrote, because Lanie is a person of color, and Reece is a single dad, raising his son after the death of his ex-wife.
So it’s not a sequel to As You Turn Away? That’s a bummer.
No, it isn’t. It’s a companion novel, with several appearances from Jonah and Quinn, the couple in As You Turn Away. As You Breathe Again can be read as a standalone, although if you’ve read AYTA, you’ll know more backstory and such. Bonus scoop: there is a possible second Jonah/Quinn book in the pipeline.
Can you describe each of the main characters in three words?
I can try! Reece: determined, protective, old-fashioned. Lanie: vivacious, strong-willed, head bitch in charge, loving.
Seriously, is there kissing? I hope there is.
There IS kissing. There’s also a fingering scene, some dirty jokes, sex, implied hayloft sex, and lady head.
Okay but is it ALL kissing?
No. Some writers have this ability to write a lot of steamy scenes in their books, and they’re talented enough that it turns out to be a great book for all the sex. This is…technically by the ages (25), the very tail end of New Adult, if not already adult contemporary romance age group, so I tried to balance the sexy stuff with the family scenes, friendship (no girl-girl hate here), etc.
What’s this diversity thing all about?
We Need Diverse Books is so close to my heart. I’ve talked in several different posts about why I support the work they’re doing. For me, diversity can be included organically in books, and to that end, I’ve pledged to ALWAYS include it in my books.
Okay cool. Is this a super serious book?
Are there serious moments? Yes. Reece is dealing with his ex’s death, and still trying to do his best to be a single dad. Lanie has some issues of her own, but I’ve tried hard to balance the deeper issues with a whole lot of heart, humor, and some swoony-ness. I wanted to show a strong couple who doesn’t let life/drama/etc tear them apart, but instead, is committed to working through tough times together, to get stronger.
Awesome! How can I keep up with news on As You Breathe Again?
There are a couple of ways, actually. You can like my Facebook page, add As You Breathe Again on Goodreads, and join my Facebook reader group, Southern Swooners. You can also follow me on Twitter, where I mostly talk about YA books, my superhero obsession, and make that’s what she said jokes.
And finally, you are always welcome to visit my For Bloggers page, where bloggers/reviewers can sign up to help me promote my new releases, review my books, etc.
If you have any other questions, silly (“Does Reece talk like a hick?” “Yes, because he is one, and I’m in love with him.”) or serious (“Recommend me a diverse book!”) or want to chat about Doctor Who, share kitten pictures, or swoon over fictional characters, find me on Twitter: @MissMolliWrites. I’ll be there, let’s face it, every spare moment.
