[Blog Tour] The Art in Liv, Forever by Amy Talkington

Liv, Forever by Amy Talkington
SoHo Press, 280 pages
US Release Date: March 11, 2014 - Today!!
Barnes & Noble | Amazon | IndieBound | TBD

When Liv Bloom lands an art scholarship at Wickham Hall, it’s her ticket out of the foster system. Liv isn’t sure what to make of the school’s weird traditions and rituals, but she couldn’t be happier. For the first time ever, she has her own studio, her own supply of paints. Everything she could want. 

Then she meets Malcolm Astor, a legacy student, a fellow artist, and the one person who’s ever been able to melt her defenses. Liv’s only friend at Wickham, fellow scholarship kid Gabe Nichols, warns her not to get involved, but life is finally going Liv’s way, and all she wants to do is enjoy the ride. 

But Liv’s bliss is doomed. Weeks after arriving, she is viciously murdered and, in death, she discovers that she’s the latest victim of a dark conspiracy that has claimed many lives. Cursed with the ability to see the many ghosts on Wickham’s campus, Gabe is now Liv’s only link to the world of the living. To Malcolm.

Together, Liv, Gabe, and Malcolm fight to expose the terrible truth that haunts the halls of Wickham. But Liv must fight alone to come to grips with the ultimate star-crossed love.
--------------------------Goodreads Summary

Art In Liv, Forever

by Amy Talkington

My title character, Liv, is an artist. She’s obsessed with art—making it and knowing everything about it. Basically, she sees the world through art. So I thought I’d write here about the ways I tried to layer this obsession into her character and her voice.

First, and most obviously, Liv references artists and artworks. Why? Well, it’s what’s on her mind. It’s just how she thinks. These are her cultural reference points. Like, it’s not about Justin and Selena, it’s about Pablo (Picasso) and Dora (Maar). But my favorite art references are when Liv uses artworks to help explain her emotions.

Like when Malcolm does something really awesome she says:

“Impressive,” I said, downplaying the fact I was dying inside. Brain exploding like a Pollock. Heart melting like one of Dalí’s clocks.

Pollack

Dali

Or when Liv hears something potentially scary about Malcolm, she says:

Something washed over me right then, a feeling of sickness and powerlessness. I was Christina in Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World: stranded in a field, helpless and alone. Faceless. And Malcolm was the house: safe, secure, poised on top of the hill. I knew it had all been too good to be true, that there was something wrong with him, there had to be.

Wyeth

Or after Liv and Malcolm first connect, dancing.

Like Klimt’s famous lovers in The Kiss, we formed a single unit, as if we were wrapped in that same glistening, golden robe, protected. We were an island in a swirl of waltzing couples, a steadfast island amid a swarm of conformity.

Klimt

Another thing Liv does is references art materials and artistic styles. Among other things, it was a handy way to describe the way the other ghosts looked to her. Like:

When I turned, I suddenly came face to face with a pale girl. She was faint, as if painted in watercolor.

And, finally, Liv talks about seeing herself and her interactions from different angles, like a painter. Often, she disengages from a scene and imagines it from different vantage point. I hoped these moments would foreshadow when Liv is dead and actually is looking at herself from an invisible, “other” vantage point. All these moments lead up to this moment:

My body was cold and dull. Plump with death. My eyes were clouded, but I looked almost serene. My dark hair spread around my head, kind of like that famous painting of Ophelia floating in the river. Funny, I’d made so many self-portraits and yet I’d never really looked at myself and realized I was actually kind of pretty.

It’s bittersweet, I think. Liv was looking at herself all those years—drawing herself, painting herself—but she wasn’t really seeing herself (or loving herself) until it’s too late.

I’ve posted most of the art references on my website www.amytalkington.com (on the Liv page). If you want to know all the latest on Liv, Forever follow me on Twitter @amytalkington and Tumblr http://amytalkington.tumblr.com/

Meet The Author

Amy Talkington is an award-winning screenwriter and director living in Los Angeles. Before all that she wrote about music for magazines like Spin, Ray Gun, Interview, and Seventeen (mostly just as a way to get to hang out with rock stars). As a teenager in Dallas, Texas, Amy painted lots of angsty self-portraits, listened to The Velvet Underground and was difficult enough that her parents finally let her go to boarding school on the East Coast. Liv, Forever is her first novel.

Connect With Amy

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr

Thanks so much Amy for joining my blog, I love seeing inspirations and depth to characters! I can't wait to read Liv, Forever.

To Purchase
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[Blog Tour] Guest Post: 16 Things I Thought Were True by Janet Gurtler (& me!)

16 Things I Thought Were True by Janet Gurtler
Sourcebooks Fire, 304 pages
Expected US Release Date: March 4, 2014

Heart attacks happen to other people #thingsIthoughtweretrue

When Morgan's mom gets sick, it's hard not to panic. Without her mother, she would have no one—until she finds out the dad who walked out on her as a baby isn't as far away as she thought...

Adam is a stuck-up, uptight jerk #thingsIthoughtweretrue

Now that they have a summer job together, Morgan's getting to know the real Adam, and he's actually pretty sweet...in a nerdy-hot kind of way. He even offers to go with her to find her dad. Road trip, anyone?

5000 Twitter followers are all the friends I need #thingsIthoughtweretrue

With Adam in the back seat, a hyper chatterbox named Amy behind the wheel, and plenty of Cheetos to fuel their trip, Morgan feels ready for anything. She's not expecting a flat tire, a missed ferry, a fake girlfriend...and that these two people she barely knew before the summer started will become the people she can't imagine living without.
-------------------------Goodreads Summary

Purchase!

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | IndieBound | TBD

I am so stoked to have Janet Gurtler on my blog today! She is a powerful voice in contemporary YA lit, and I can't wait to read more of her books. In celebration of her new book, 16 Things I Thought Were True (my review will post Friday, and spoiler: so emotional and thought-provoking!), I get to post a couple things that Janet thought was true, and throw in my own things! I cheated and split mine, but I hope you enjoy anyway.

And of course, please do pick up 16 Things when it releases on March 4!

16 Things Janet Gurtler & I Thought Were True

(Or: 2 Things Janet Thought Were True, 8 Things I Thought Were True, and 6 Things I Found Out Were, In Fact, True.)

(I thought that title would be too long.)

(I was right.)

1. I thought Mall Santa’s were Santa’s employees.

2. I thought the Easter Bunny pooped chocolate eggs.

1. James Marsters is British.
Not even lying when I say finding out he isn’t is among one of the top disappointments in my life.
2. Every traffic light was monitored by people.
They manually changed the lights according to the need or car presence, and I thought they were in bad moods when they took awhile to change the lights.
3. Peppermint mochas are only seasonal.
4. Everyone loves and adores the TV show Friends.
Everyone will automatically understand every quote or reference I make.
5. Social media isn't addictive.
6. It’s easy to keep personal and professional life separate.
7. High school attitudes and drama stays in high school.
8. Friendship is forever.
The effects of friendship are forever, and if you’re lucky some are—but friendship itself is unfortunately not.

1. Justin Timberlake really did marry Jessica Biel.

This is an old one that still depresses me to know.

2. White mochas are grossly more unhealthy than a regular mocha.

3. All blue nail polish stains.

ALL.
(Unless you get a good base coat. I recommend CND Stickey.)

4. People expect an immediate response when they text you.

They’ll get immensely offended if you don’t.

5. A heart never really heals.

Sometimes you think it does, and it could be for years, but then you see something, smell something, remember something and you realize your heart has only rebuilt around the hurt.

6. Family doesn't require a blood relation.

Thanks so much for joining my blog, Janet!

Connect with Janet

Website | Twitter | Facebook

[Guest Post] Steven Parlato, author of The Namesake!

The Namesake by Steven Parlato
Merit Press, 256 pages

While he may be the smartest boy at St. Sebatian's Academy, Evan has no idea why the father he's named for committed suicide. A searching story of a boy's too-early coming of age

The Namesake begins when Evan is asked to "write about what he knows" for college essays, by teachers sure that such a gifted artist will get a full scholarship. What Evan knows is not as much as what he doesn't know, however. He doesn't know why his father chose to hang himself on Easter morning while he and his mother were at church, and what the secrets of a small town can tell him about his father . . . and himself. Hoping to finally uncover the truth, Evan and his best friend, Alexis, dig into the town's past only to discover it's dark roots . . . and that some secrets are best kept hidden.
-------------------summary provided by the Publisher

Happy Release Day to The Namesake and Steven Parlato!

Released by the new YA imprint Merit Press, trust me when I say The Namesake is intense and mysterious and you will not want to sent it down the moment you realize what Evan is uncovering. Please enjoy the guest post below from the author, and make sure to check out The Namesake!

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | IndieBound

Life Lessons from The Namesake

By Steven Parlato,

Author of The Namesake (Merit Press)

As a poet, I tend to be leery of explanations; often that perfect last line is my desperate attempt to guarantee the reader gets it, that the message is clear. In such cases, I hear the voice of my dear friend and teacher, Edwina Trentham, advising me to "Trust the poem." Almost always, that perfect last line gets cut. So discussing the life lessons of my novel, The Namesake, is a challenge. I'll mostly leave it up to my characters to dole out the lessons, trusting my readers to find those they need most, learning them alongside the main character, Evan Galloway.

Still, without dictating meaning, I can say The Namesake, to me anyway, is a novel of faith, forgiveness, and love. While religion, Catholicism specifically, plays an important role in the story, faith takes a broader meaning. Faith -- in self and in relationships, as well as in God -- drives the plot. Ultimately, although he questions, Evan realizes that, without faith, life at its core is empty.

Another colossal lesson Evan learns from his doomed father is that forgiveness, that most precious gift, is supremely difficult to grant oneself. The scene where Father Brendan discusses forgiveness and love was a very poignant one for me to write. It's probably the closest I get to an overt message, and it still has the power to make me emotional when I read it. Maybe that's because it's a hard-won lesson for me as well.

Without seeming like I'm channeling Celine Dion, I have to say The Namesake is also about the power of love. Evan finds, through its loss and through what remains, just how essential love is to existence. He also recognizes that where there is love, there is, inevitably, unimaginable pain. Significantly, he comes to realize that this coexistence of love and loss is symbiotic. As Evan puts it toward the end of the book, ". . . the bad stuff seems important in a new way. Like part of the recipe: the bitter lemon that makes the coconut sweeter." One of my working titles for the novel was actually The Sweet Bitter, but perhaps I was being both too vague and too obvious.

Personally, writing The Namesake has taught me lessons of faith, of persistence, and of trust. There were many stumbling blocks along the road to publication, yet I knew I owed it to these characters to tell their story. There were moments of great doubt that I could do justice to the book, and I often battled that loud inner voice telling me this story didn't matter. I found affirmation in the faith of others: my wife, Janet; supportive family members; good, honest friends. They believed when I didn't. And I found strength in Evan -- he's just so freaking persistent -- to continue, even at the lowest points. I came to trust that the story was there, that it needed to be told, and that I was, in fact, the only one who could tell it. The Namesake took me to some pretty dark and unexpected places, but with faith, I uncovered truly important lessons about writing, about life -- and about myself. Now it's time for you, reader, to find lessons of your own. Feel free to share them with me.

© 2012 Steven Parlato, author of The Namesake

Steven Parlato, author of The Namesake, is a writer, illustrator, and an English professor. His poetry has been featured in Borderlands, Freshwater, Connecticut River Review, Peregrine, and Pirene's Fountain, and he is the winner of the 2011 Tassy Walden Award for New Voices in Children's Literature. He lives with his family, and is at work on his next novel.

For more information please visit http://stevenparlato.com and http://www.adamsmedia.com/merit-press-books and follow the author on Facebook