Interview With Chain Reaction Author Simone Elkeles!!

Being from Chicago and going to high school in the same area as author Simone Elkeles (at the same time) has made her Perfect Chemistry trilogy one of my favorite reads.  I definitely can relate to the characters, settings, and situations.  What I truly love about Simone's books is the way my student's relate to them.  I cannot keep Perfect Chemistry and Rules of Attraction on the shelf!  Teens who are not even in my classes come to me asking to borrow these books!  Unfortunately, we have come to the end of the Fuentes brothers saga with the recent release of Chain Reaction, the third installment of the Perfect Chemistry trilogy. Luckily, we were able to have Simone Elkeles take some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions about her awesomely hot books!  Read on to find out more about Perfect Chemistry, Chain Reaction, and what is next in store for her growing number of fans.

How did growing up in the suburbs of Chicago influence the plot and setting of Perfect Chemistry?

Perfect Chemistry is loosely based off of Highland Park High School, which was my rival high school growing up.  The setting is definitely familiar to me, because it’s close to where I grew up.  There is a big Hispanic community on one side of “the tracks” (yes, there are literally tracks separating the town) and kids who live in mansions on Lake Michigan on the other side.  They all go to the same high school, and I thought it would be great to see what would happen if two people from different sides fell for each other.  I’m a girl who was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs.  I know Chicago – it’s in my blood!  I think it’s hard to write about Chi-Town unless you’ve lived here.

What was your inspiration in creating the Fuentes brothers and how did you manage to make them so irresistible? 

Seriously, Alex was first based off of this Mexican guy who works at my bagel store.  Besides making the best bagels in the Chicagoland area, he’s got charisma and swagger that can’t be ignored.  You can’t help but focus on him when you walk in the store.  When he smiles, you smile right along with him.  I think the Fuentes brothers are so irresistible because they’re not only super hot looking, they’ve also got the biggest hearts.  When they love, they love with all of their heart and soul.  It’s also super sexy to be so dedicated to your family that you’d do anything for them – even sacrifice yourself.  I think you fall in love with Alex, Carlos, and Luis Fuentes for different reasons because they’re so different- I’m so thankful my fans love them as much as I do!

Have you done any work with teens affected by gangs?

Yes.  I have spoken with boys at juvenile detention centers in the United States, and I also have fans that have been in gangs.  I met with some of them for research on Chain Reaction and it was definitely eye-opening and heartbreaking at the same time. These teens have been through so much, and have seen too much violence in their young lives – more violence than anyone should see in a lifetime!

What advice do you have for teens who find themselves in the same situations as Alex and Carlos?

My fans who relate to Alex and Carlos find themselves wanting to be like Alex and Carlos – they want to clean up their lives and be a hero.  It’s not easy to do, but it’s definitely possible!  I hope my books give inspiration to teens in those situations.

How long did it take to write each of the Perfect Chemistry novels?

Perfect Chemistry I wrote in four months, but kept rewriting it over five years.  Rules of Attraction took about 4-5 months. Chain Reaction I re-wrote three times over nine months.  

Is there a certain process you go through when writing the books?

Nope.  I don’t write off of an outline, so I just write “Chapter 1” and start typing.  The stories usually come to me as I’m writing them.  Sometimes it’s easier to write at my office where I have no distractions, and sometimes I have to go to a coffee shop where I welcome the background noise. I have no specific process.  Because I had a harder time writing Chain Reaction, I cut pictures out of magazines to represent each character and glued them to a poster board to help me.

Are there any plans for a movie based on Perfect Chemistry? I know we would love to see one!

My film agent, Michelle Weiner at CAA, thinks Perfect Chemistry would make a great television series.  Cross your fingers that a film or series is made, because I’d love to see my characters come to life on the big or small screen!

Can you tell us a little about what it was like on the set of the Chain Reaction book trailer?

It was amazing, surreal, and super emotional. Seeing my characters come to life, as I’d always imagined them, is completely mind-blowing.  I was giddy and dorky the entire time, loving every single second of it.  It was also stressful, because we had to film it in one day instead of the planned two days (long story) so all the scenes had to be done quick and we had to move on to the next scene/location before we lost any daylight.  I loved working with my longtime friend from high school Pete Jones who directed the trailer, and producer Judd Nissen really put the pieces together in such a quick timeframe I have no clue how he did it – I was really thankful for his expertise.  Watching the Director of Photography Dean Bushala on set was amazing- he’s seriously a genius with a camera and I’d love to work with him again.  If you were there, you wouldn’t know it was just a book trailer- you would have thought you’d walked on set of a major motion picture. 

The covers of the Perfect Chemistry books definitely add to their appeal and the cover of Chain Reaction is by far the hottest.  What did you think when you first saw it?

I thought the cover for Chain Reaction was hot, and I loved that Nikki looked Hispanic, but I didn’t know how I’d incorporate that shower cover scene into the book.  I got the cover before I wrote the book, which is the same thing that happened to me with Rules of Attraction.  I love the covers for the Perfect Chemistry series – they’re edgy and sexy just like the books!

Now that the Perfect Chemistry trilogy is completed what can your fans expect next?

I’m going to be writing a story about a girl who falls for a boy who just came out of rehab.  The story will hit close to home, because when I was a senior in high school I met and started dating a boy who’d just come out of rehab and had been an alcoholic/drug addict since he was 12 years old.  It will not be auto-biographical, but I assure you a lot of it will be first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to date a recovering alcoholic/drug addict as a teen.  I still remember going to Cocaine Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings before our dates.  The boy taught me how to live hard, laugh hard, and love hard –something I still carry to this day. I probably wouldn’t be writing romance if it weren’t for that relationship, where I loved so deeply and our relationship became so intense the boy became part of my soul.

Thank you so much Simone for answering our questions!!  Chain Reaction is available now at bookstores everywhere.  (I just saw it at the Lake Geneva Target!!)

Want to watch the Chain Reaction book trailer?  Click HERE!!

Chain Reaction is HERE!!!! And so is Simone Elkeles!!!!

First of all, if you have not read the first two Perfect Chemistry novels by Simone Elkeles I highly recommend that you do - NOW!!!!!  Rarely does a book come along that appeals to everyone, but Perfect Chemistry and Rules of Attraction have been breaking age, ethnic, and gender barriers since they were released.  Now the third installment of the Perfect Chemistry series, Chain Reaction, is set to do the same!  Be sure to check back here at X-treme Readers on Monday to read an interview with Simone Elkeles about her books and also find a link to the Chain Reaction book trailer!

Don't panic X-treme Readers - I have our classroom copies of Chain Reaction, but this time I get to read it first!!!

I am posting this now because I will be out of town (although I have yet to start packing) and away from technology on Monday, so I have scheduled Blogger to auto-post on the blog.  Not being the most tech savvy blogger, I am a little nervous that I messed up.  I just realized that I forgot to preview the post, sigh . . .

Also, the X-treme Readers will be making their debut on the blog the week of Sept. 7th!!!  Hopefully once they take over the blog things will be a lot smoother :-)

Have a great weekend and don't forget to check back on Monday!!!!

Guest post by Soul Quest author Amy Maurer Jones!!!!

The Soul Quest Trilogy – Amy’s writing debut, Soul Quest is a Young Adult Paranormal Romance novel. The completed work is 71,749 words and is the first book in a trilogy.

Synopsis for Soul Quest:
            Do you remember how horrified you were about the idea of attending high school? I remember ticking off those last miserable days of my summer vacation following my eighth grade year. Maybe you don’t, maybe you were one of those people. You know who I’m talking about, people like Melissa Small, the distinguished District Attorney, Larry Small’s daughter, popular, gorgeous... and absolutely terrifying to someone like me, Liv Glyn. No, I am far from measuring up to the standards required to make Melissa’s crowd. I’m not even close. I’m just a simple man’s daughter, mostly tolerated by my peers with average looks. If this isn’t depressing enough for you, stay tuned, it gets worse.
            I was commanded with spirit at birth by the Great Spirit, Hala. I know, it sounds crazy but it’s true. If you think it's difficult being a teenager, try being a teenager who was born destined to save the world from soul sucking Daevas and their mutant progeny Aengels.
            There are four of us. My companions of spirit are Laith, Brayan and Meena. Melissa Small is Laith’s step sister and she is always meddling where she doesn’t belong, further complicating our lives. To make matters even worse my best friend Jedd is apparently aware of things that are typically undetectable to ordinary humans. So, I have to lie to Jedd, the boy who has been my constant standby since the third grade, to shield him from the horrible and very dangerous truth. Did I mention that I think I’m falling in love with him? The term awkward doesn’t even begin to cover it, trust me.
            Welcome to the mess that is my life.

 The Inspiration for The Soul Quest Trilogy

Soul Quest was inspired by a really weird dream. My hubby is a night owl and loves to stay up late watching the History Channel. I had this dream about a little boy standing in the middle of mirrored room. The little boy looked just like my son when he was 3 years old. He had cute chubby cheeks, curly blond ringlets and beautiful hazel green eyes.

The little boy was watching images flicker on the mirrored walls in the room. The mysterious mirrors showed images from historical disasters such as Hitler's dictatorship, Martin Luther King Jr. and Kennedy's shootings and Nine Eleven... you get the gist. Anyway, it had a major impact on me. The next day I asked my husband what he was watching on television the night before. He said it was a special episode on the History Channel dedicated to the worst events in history. He acknowledged all of the above mentioned tragedies were a part of the episode.

I suppose as a mother the dream was symbolic of the wrath of the world posing a threat against my children. So, I decided to turn it into a positive thing. In this effort my little boy became Hala, the Great Spirit. Hala is a being as old as time, a spirit who resembles a child in physical form.  Before I knew it, a quest for justice against evil began. Since I work with teenagers it was only natural that they became the heroes in the plot. The basis of the book is good verses evil but I tried to weave into the underlying tone that life is about choices, good and bad.

- Amy Maurer Jones, author of The Soul Quest Trilogy

Review: Envy by Gregg Olsen

Murder is such a dirty word…

New York Times bestselling adult true crime author Gregg Olsen makes his YA debut with EMPTY COFFIN, a gripping new fiction series for teens based on ripped-from-the-headlines stories…with a paranormal touch.

Crime lives--and dies--in the deceptively picture-perfect town of Port Gamble (aka “Empty Coffin”), Washington. Evil lurks and strange things happen--and 15-year-olds Hayley and Taylor Ryan secretly use their wits and their telepathic “twin-sense” to uncover the truth about the town's victims and culprits.

Envy, the series debut, involves the mysterious death of the twins' old friend, Katelyn. Was it murder? Suicide? An accident? Hayley and Taylor are determined to find out--and as they investigate, they stumble upon a dark truth that is far more disturbing than they ever could have imagined.

Based on the shocking true crime about cyber-bullying, Envy will take you to the edge--and push you right over. (goodreads.com)

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

When I found out via Daisy Chain Book Reviews that one of my favorite true crime authors was now delving into the world of young adult fiction I was way excited!  Who better to weave together true crime, mystery, and paranormal fantasy into a fast paced young adult novel than Gregg Olsen?  For years young adult mysteries have languished being replaced with the ever -popular paranormal romance.  While these books have had elements of mystery in them they are mainly focused on the romantic entanglements of humans and otherworldly creatures such as vampires and werewolves.  What happened to just a good old-fashioned mystery?  One where you have to piece together clues and sort through the red herrings to figure out who-dunnit?  Now that Gregg Olsen has entered the YA fray with Envy, the first installment of his Empty Coffin series, there is a fresh new voice that expertly encompasses all of the elements of a “can’t put the book down” mystery mixed with all of the things we love about YA novels. 

Port Gamble, Washington is not your average scenic small town.  Bad things happen there.  Behind the historic homes and beautiful beaches there is evil, and the first thing one learns is that evil never takes a holiday.  Things were not going well for Katelynn Berkley.  She was depressed and lonely, shutting herself off from everyone who once cared about her.  Former friends Taylor and Hayley Ryan knew that Katelynn needed help, yet they had a difficult time accepting that Katelynn’s unexpected Christmas evening demise was actually a suicide.  First there was the manner in which Katelynn supposedly used to kill herself, an espresso machine in the bathtub.  Next, were the cryptic messages they were sure Katelynn was sending them from beyond the grave.  Messages they felt would unlock the mystery behind Katelynn’s untimely death.  As twins, Taylor and Hayley share a psychic connection beyond the boundaries of normal sibling relationships.  They have kept the extent of their connection a secret from everyone except each other.  How would anyone else be able to understand that they can catch glimpses of the past and future and possibly receive messages from the dead?  Their gift has been something that they never gave much thought to until the death of their former friend.  Taylor and Hayley want to know the truth behind Katelynn’s death and agree to use their abilities in solving what they come to believe is her murder. 

The idea of psychic twins might seem a little far-fetched, but Gregg Olsen does a masterful job of creating a subtly to their messages that makes the storyline completely believable.  The messages Taylor and Hayley receive are little more than feelings and glimpses they get when they come into contact with something that belonged to Katelynn.  These bits of information are what help to propel them in their quest to discover the truth about Katelynn’s death.  The cast of characters who reside in Port Gamble are brilliant.  Every family has a secret they wish to keep hidden.  This not only adds to the creepy factor of the story, but also sets up numerous plotlines for future installments.  One of my favorite characters was Starla Larsen.  Her name alone is genius.  What better name than Starla for a girl who feels that she is better than everyone around her and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.  Starla is the proverbial “mean girl” in the story and she plays the part well.  A villain the reader will relish to learn more about. 

One of the things that make Envy an engrossing story is the way in which Gregg Olsen weaves fact with fiction throughout the book.  While Port Gamble and its residents are his own creation the plot is loosely based on the true story of Megan Meier.  Megan was thirteen years old when she committed suicide after being horrifically cyber bullied.  Her case brought attention to the cruelty that can be perpetuated by both teens and adults through the various social media outlets many of us innocently enjoy.  By using what he knows best, true crime, Olsen creates a story that keeps the reader captivated until the very end.  Some of the plot choices he makes are extremely bold and refreshing in that he chose not to soften the events of his story just because it is being written for a young adult audience.  There are more than a few OMG moments throughout Envy!

While Katelynn’s story comes to a satisfying resolution not all loose ends are tied up in the final chapters of Envy.  The second novel in the series, Betrayal, is set for release in the fall of 2012 and promises to deliver on some of the edgier themes touched upon in the first book.  Might we see the very first well -done young adult serial killer novel?  I hope so!  Gregg Olsen definitely has the experience and talent to tackle a topic of that magnitude.  I definitely recommend Envy for any reader who loves to be scared, but you might just want to sleep with the light on! 

Envy is set for release in September 2011.  Click HERE to watch the trailer!

Slacker!!

Ok,
So I have been a total slacker this summer.  I have been reading, but not writing reviews :-(  My bad.  Just remember that the purpose of this blog is for the X-treme Readers in my class to take take over the review posting. Things will definitely be heating up in the fall!!

I do have a new review over at Daisy Chain, so be sure to check that out!!!

Hope everyone's summer is going well and I should have some new reviews posted here soon!!!!

New Blog!!!!!

As a fan of true crime and adult mysteries I have created a new blog, Criminal Pages,  separate from the X-treme Readers blog to review these non-YA titles.  If you are a fan of either true crime or mystery please take a look.  I could use some followers :-)

Jen

New Review at Daisy Chain

Due to the end of the school year craziness I have not been able to keep up with my blog.  Sorry!!  I have read some awesome books and will post reviews ASAP.

I have a new review of Ann Aguirre's fantastic book Enclave posted at Daisy Chain Book Reviews, so check it out if you get a chance!!

I am also excited to let you all know that there are 26 kids signed up to take my Extreme Reading class with another 20 on a wait list!!  Holy Moly - that's A LOT and I can't wait to get them blogging and reviewing!!

Finally, stay posted for my summer read list - it's going to be huge, but I am determined to tackle all the books I put on it!!

Happy Reading,

Jen