Oh my gosh, I don't know about you, but I am LOVING this best friend series. I love hearing about so many GREAT YA books (especially my special love- YA CONTEMPORARY) Also, it's fun to look inside the lives of authors and look at the type of teen friends they had. Am I right??Anyhow. Today we are chatting with Nicole McInnes. She's the author of BRIANNA on the BRINK.
Popularity didn't come easily for sixteen-year-old Brianna Taylor. She didn't wear the right clothes or come from the right family. In fact, she didn't come from any family at all, unless you counted Jolene, who just wasn't that much into being a mom. So when Brianna joins the cheerleading squad, she finds herself suddenly popular. But then a one-night stand has life altering consequences, and Brianna must accept help from the one person closest to her mistake.
No longer in control, Brianna must reevaluate all that she thought was important and learn the true meaning of family.
Did
you have a best friend in high school?
NM: Yes,
definitely! I was lucky to have not just a core group of great friends, but a
bestie as well.
Did
you have a favorite song, or a favorite place where you hung out?
NM: Honestly,
there are too many favorite songs to list. Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” does come
leaping to mind, though. We loved hanging out at the local frozen yogurt shop,
on the high school lawn during lunch or just on the metal hallway railings near
our lockers.
Well, I thought you might be close to my age with Soft Cell but when you say frozen yogurt shop, I'm like, nah. I'm old. So...what
did you and your best friend most love to do?
NM: Our
favorite pastime may have been passing notes during class and trying to get
each other to crack up. She was a ballet dancer, and I was big into drama, so
there was always a lot of performance stuff going on in our lives outside of
school as well. We also just liked to chill with our other friends and our
boyfriends, doing stuff in groups, etc.
Sounds like awesome artsy fun!!!What
did you learn from your best teen friend?
NM: I
learned to persist and to be more organized! Seriously, she had/has the neatest
handwriting I’ve ever seen, and she was amazing at organizing everything from
what she was going to wear to Prom to the details of my wedding rehearsal when
she was my matron of honor.
I love that trait in other people, most because I LACK it. Lol. So, are your relationships with friends
different at this stage in your life? How?
NM: My relationships with friends (besties
and otherwise) are different now in the sense that it takes a mutual
understanding of life responsibilities in order to make a friendship work. I
definitely didn’t feel this kind of pressure in high school. These days, if someone
doesn’t get what it’s like to have kids and a career and isn’t able to be
flexible with their expectations (i.e. of how much time I can spend on the
phone or just hanging out), then it’s going to be really hard for me to connect
with that person. That said, my friends who DO “get it” are pure gold to me.
Besties ROCK.
I don't think there's any relationship quite as intense as a Teenage Bestie, because it's a time in your life when you really need someone around. Not that we don't as we get older, life just tends to interfere more or something. Thanks so much for stopping by to share your story!! Can't wait to read BRIANNA on the BRINK. I see it's getting rave reviews from Kirkus!!! Congrats!!!
Nicole
McInnes
BRIANNA ON THE BRINK
BRIANNA ON THE BRINK
Contemporary
Young Adult Fiction
Available wherever books are sold!
Available wherever books are sold!
Twitter:
@Nicole_McInnes
This was such fun, Janet. Thanks! I'm enjoying reading through the series as well. What a neat concept! <3 Nicole
ReplyDelete