ABOUT THE BOOK
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Release Date: April 17, 2018
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery
Synopsis: A dark, suspenseful young adult novel about crime, identity, and two girls with ever y- thing to lose.
Fifteen-year-old con artist Jo Chastain takes on her biggest heist yet — impersonating a missing girl. Life on the streets of Boston these past few years hasn’t been easy, and s he hopes to cash in on a little safety, some security. She finds her opportunity with the Lovecrafts, a wealthy family tied to the unsolved disappearance of Vivienne Weir, who vanished when she was nine.
When Jo takes on Vivi ’ s identity and stages the girl ’ s miraculous return, the Love-crafts welcome her with open arms. They give her everything she could want: love, money, and proximity to their intoxicating and unpredictable daughter, Temple. But nothing is as it seems in the Lovecraft household — and some secrets refuse to stay buried. When hidden crimes come to the surface and lines of deception begin to blur, Jo must choose to either hold on to an illusion of safety or escape the danger around her before it ’ s too late. In Her Skin is Kim Savage at her most suspenseful yet.
GUEST POST / MINI INTERVIEW
I asked the author Kim Savage to talk more about her writing process for a mystery/heist novel. Here are her answers to my questions/
What are the steps to writing a heist novel?
1. Create a character who is savvy but vulnerable. The reader needs to care!
2. Give her skills that can only get her so far.
3. Give her a formidable opponent to create conflict. Dear reader, meet Temple Lovecraft.
How do you start?
With In Her Skin, I started with the motivation of the Lovecrafts. How could they be fooled by an obvious con? Jo’s eyes are a different color than Vivi’s, she doesn’t recall the same memories, and her kidnapping story has holes. I realized the question wasn’t how they could be fooled, but why would they choose to be.
Do you have to plot it out or can you pants it?
I write chapters with bullets, then lay down the bones of a story in a messy first draft. You really can't pants suspense, or you'd end up with logic problems. At least I can’t!
I hope that has interested you in reading the book. Having finished it myself I can definitely say she achieved that goal in writing a book about why someone would want to be tricked. If you want more info on my thoughts on the book, come back tomorrow for my full review.
BOOK LINKS
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KIM SAVAGE
is
the author
of
three critically acclaimed young adult novels, After the
Woods, Beautiful Broken Girls (named
by
Kirkus
as
one
of
the
10
Best
YA
of
2017),
and
In
Her Skin (releasing March
27,
2018), all with Farrar, Straus,
Giroux/Macmillan.
He
r novels have been published
in
Spain, Brazil,
and
Turkey,
and
have
been
optioned for TV. Kim presents
at
conferences
and
book
festivals natio
n-
wide;
has
been featured
on
NPR, Herald Radio,
and
on
local cable stations;
and
she
reads from
her
novels
at
bookstores across the country. A former reporter with a
Master degree
in
Journalism from Northeastern University, Kim's stories are based
in
and around Boston. She lives with
her
family
near
Boston,
not
far from the real
Middlesex Fells Reservation
of
After the Woods. Kim
and
her
husband have three
children, each
of
whom
beg
to
appear
in
her books. They shouldn't.
GIVEAWAY
Prize
:1
finished copy
of
IN
HER SKIN
by
Kim Savage (US
Only)
This is a new book and author to me but I'm really liking the synopsis. I'm definitely intrigued!
ReplyDeleteI read an ARC of this book and I really enjoyed it, much more than After the Woods! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete