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Alex Flinn

Goodreads Author

Born

in Glen Cove, New York, The United States

October 23

Website

http://alexflinn.com/

Twitter

alex_flinn

Genre

Young Adult, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Influences

Richard Peck

Member Since

March 2008

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/AlexFlinn

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NOTE: If you would like to contact me, please visit my Facebook, Twitter, or website or e-mail me (alixwrites@aol.com), but DO NOT MESSAGE ME THROUGH GOODREADS. While I have a bio on Goodreads as a service to my readers, I do not visit Goodreads on a regular basis. Like literally twice a year.

Okay, bio.

I was born on Long Island and grew up on a street called Salem Court. This probably influenced my interest in witches (It also means I can't use that as a password or security question -- and no, I won't tell you my first pet's name). When I was five years old, my mom said that I should be an author. I guess I must have nodded or something because, from that point on, every poem I ever wrote in school was submitted to Highlights or Cricket ma NOTE: If you would like to contact me, please visit my Facebook, Twitter, or website or e-mail me (alixwrites@aol.com), but DO NOT MESSAGE ME THROUGH GOODREADS. While I have a bio on Goodreads as a service to my readers, I do not visit Goodreads on a regular basis. Like literally twice a year.

Okay, bio.

I was born on Long Island and grew up on a street called Salem Court. This probably influenced my interest in witches (It also means I can't use that as a password or security question -- and no, I won't tell you my first pet's name). When I was five years old, my mom said that I should be an author. I guess I must have nodded or something because, from that point on, every poem I ever wrote in school was submitted to Highlights or Cricket magazine. I was collecting rejection slips at age seven!

I learned to read early. But I compensated for this early proficiency by absolutely refusing to read the programmed readers required by the school system -- workbooks where you read the story, then answered the questions. When the other kids were on Book 20, I was on Book 1! My teacher, Mrs. Zeiser, told my mother, "Alexandra marches to her own drummer." I don't think that was supposed to be a good thing. Nonetheless, I learned how to read, and my second grade teacher, Dr. Gross, was much cooler. He was the one who handed me a copy of Ellen Tebbits and said, "I think you're ready for this." I didn't know what that meant, but I was VERY EXCITED.

My family moved to Miami when I was in middle school. I had a really hard time making friends, so I spent a lot of time reading and writing then. But unlike Christopher Paolini or Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, I never finished writing a novel (Note to teen writers: It's okay not to finish your novel in high school). That was also when I learned to be a keen observer. By high school, I'd made some friends and gotten involved in various "gifted and talented" performing arts programs. I studied opera in college (I'm a coloratura -- the really loud, high-pitched sopranos.) and then went to law school.

It was law school that probably helped with my first novel. Breathing Underwater deals with the serious and all-too-common problem of dating violence. I based the book on my experiences interning with the State Attorney's Office and volunteering with battered women. I thought this was a really important topic, as 27 percent of teenage girls surveyed have been hit by a boyfriend. I'm happy that the book is so popular, and if you are reading this bio because the book was assigned for school, I'm happy about that too. There is a companion to Breathing Underwater, in Caitlin's viewpoint. It is called Diva.

I started writing an early (and laughable) version of Breathing Underwater in college (I was really bored on a car trip with my parents). I later learned that my mom tossed it out when she was cleaning my drawers. Thanks, Mom! I didn't get back to it until I had my first daughter, Katie. I'm self-taught. I went to the library and took out books on writing. Then, I read a lot of young-adult novels by writers I admired. I write my first drafts longhand, then I type them.

I think I write for young-adults because I never quite got over being one. In my mind, I am still 13-years-old, running laps on the athletic field, wearing this really baggy white gymsuit. I’m continually amazed at the idea that I have a checking account and a mortgage. So I try to write books that gymsuit girl might enjoy. It’s a way of going back to being thirteen . . . knowing what I know now.

Right now, I live half a mile away from my old middle school, in Palmetto Bay, a suburb of Miami, with my husband, daughters, dogs, and cats. ...more

129 posts
Alex Flinn's Blog

"Oh, Earth! You're too wonderful for anybody to realize you!"

“Do any human beings realize life while they live it, every, every minute?”
– Thornton Wilder, Our Town

What does it mean to realize life every, every minute? And is it possible to do that and also accomplish anything?
When I was a high school senior, I got the lead in a play, Our Town, at our local communi... Read more of this blog post »

View more on Alex Flinn's website »

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Published on June 15, 2018 08:03 • 10 views

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Combine Editions
Alex Flinn’s books

Average rating: 3.81 · 229,586 ratings · 16,599 reviews · 21 distinct works • Similar authors

	Beastly (Beastly, #1; Kendra Chronicles, #1) 3.84 avg rating — 162,398 ratings — published 2007 — 76 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Kiss in Time 3.77 avg rating — 18,332 ratings — published 2008 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cloaked 3.65 avg rating — 14,309 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bewitching (Kendra Chronicles, #2) 3.95 avg rating — 9,674 ratings — published 2012 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Breathing Underwater (Breathing Underwater, #1) 3.90 avg rating — 7,242 ratings — published 2001 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Towering 3.34 avg rating — 6,261 ratings — published 2013 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Beastly: Lindy's Diary (Beastly, #1.5; Kendra Chronicles, #1.5) 3.75 avg rating — 2,945 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mirrored (Kendra Chronicles, #3) 3.67 avg rating — 1,742 ratings — published 2015	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Diva (Breathing Underwater, #2) 3.55 avg rating — 1,824 ratings — published 2006 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Breaking Point 3.64 avg rating — 1,499 ratings — published 2002 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Alex Flinn…

Series by Alex Flinn

Kendra Chronicles (4 books)
by

Alex Flinn (Goodreads Author)

3.84 avg rating — 177,296 ratings

Beastly (1 book)
by

Alex Flinn (Goodreads Author)

3.84 avg rating — 165,333 ratings

Breathing Underwater (2 books)
by

Alex Flinn (Goodreads Author)

3.83 avg rating — 9,066 ratings

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Alex’s Recent Updates

Alex Flinn wrote a new blog post "Oh, Earth! You're too wonderful for anybody to realize you!" “Do any human beings realize life while they live it, every, every minute?” ... Read more of this blog post »
Jun 16, 2018 12:07AM · 1 like · like
Alex Flinn rated a book it was amazing Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this book because, in addition to dealing with the important topic of transgender teens in a middle grade novel, it also dealt effectively with bipolar disorder. I have two relatives with bipolar disorder (or, rather, one -- my cousi ...more
Jan 19, 2017 02:50AM · 8 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alex Flinn rated a book it was amazing The Best Man by Richard Peck	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 16, 2016 12:43PM · 5 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Best Man by Richard Peck. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Best Man by Richard Peck <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alex Flinn rated a book it was amazing Saving Red by Sonya Sones (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 16, 2016 12:42PM · 7 likes · like
Alex Flinn rated a book really liked it Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Some of the reviews and promotional materials have compared this to Gone Girl. I liked Gone Girl, and I liked this book, but they're seriously nothing alike. I guess every mystery for the next five years is going to be "like Gone Girl." Gone Girl is ...more
May 15, 2016 12:30PM · 6 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alex Flinn wants to read Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 15, 2016 12:28PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alex Flinn and 34 other people liked Sarah's review of Mirrored (Kendra Chronicles, #3): "(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.) *“Mirror, mirror, in my hand, who is the fairest in the land?”* This was an okay Snow White retelling, but I did have some is..." Read more of this review »
Apr 06, 2016 04:41AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Mirrored by Alex Flinn. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Mirrored by Alex Flinn <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alex Flinn and 1 other person liked Carrie Mansfield 's review of Mirrored (Kendra Chronicles, #3): "A clever and subtle retelling of Snow White - it should appeal to all YA fans, even those who aren't normally into YA. A full review will post on my blog on 9/16."
Feb 23, 2016 12:56PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Mirrored by Alex Flinn. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Mirrored by Alex Flinn <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

More of Alex's books…

Quotes by Alex Flinn

“Just because something is beautiful doesn´t mean it´s good.”
― Alex Flinn, Beastly

tags: beauty, fairy-tale

952 likes

“those who do not know how to see the precious things in life will never be happy.”
― Alex Flinn, Beastly

tags: happiness

590 likes

“You shouldn't miss someone who don't miss you, right?”
― Alex Flinn, Beastly

tags: miss

445 likes

See all Alex Flinn's quotes »

Polls

What 'fractured/modernised/rewritten fairytale' would you like to read in April?

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

14 votes, 50.0%

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

9 votes, 32.1%

Beastly by Alex Flinn

3 votes, 10.7%

Violet Eyes: A Retelling of the "Princess and the Pea" by Debbie Viguié

2 votes, 7.1%

28 total votes

5 comments

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