Thursday, May 2, 2013

THE NEXT BOOK!! (Yes, some info for you on my upcoming project)

Wait. This has nothing to do with Going Under? Should I even read the rest of this post?
 
Please. Please read it.

I’ve been keeping pretty hush-hush on my current writing project because I wasn’t sure when I was supposed to talk about it. It’s one of those things where you have to figure out how long to ride the promotional wave of your current book before mentioning another. (Until I realized that promotion for your current book never stops.) I figured that now that I’m safely out of the Top 100 in the Kindle store, it’s time to discuss what I have planned for you next.

True to S. Walden form, I am currently writing yet another New Adult book that deals with high school social issues. It’s an interesting hybrid of standard-NA-love-story meets the controversy that this completely inappropriate author likes to write. So unlike Going Under, which many people mistakenly thought was a romance novel (no, it is primarily about guilt, revenge, and forgiveness), I am actually currently writing for you a romance novel. And just because I want to, I’m going to throw up some language that’s still in the working stage but will give you a better understanding of this unconventional love story.

 

Title

Good

 
Series

Yes! It’s the Too Good series. My first one. But don’t worry. As I’ve mentioned before, I do a lot of market research, so I’m aware that readers are fed up with cliffhangers and the like. I will not end Book 1 with a relationship cliffhanger.

 

Heroine and Hero

Cadence Miller: 17-year-old high school senior
(she turns 18 in the book, good grief)

Mark Connelly: 28-year-old high school calculus teacher

 

Book Description:

  
Cadence Miller is a good girl. She just happens to make one terrible mistake her junior year in high school which costs her ten months in juvenile detention. Now a senior, she’s lost everything: her best friend, the trust of her parents, driving privileges, Internet access. And most importantly, anonymity. Everyone knows about her mistake, and the kids at school like to remind her with hate notes in her locker, pranks, name-calling—the works.

But there is one bright spot in the hell that’s become her life: Mark Connelly, her very cute, very off-limits 28-year-old calculus teacher. She falls hard for him—a ridiculous schoolgirl crush headed nowhere. She can’t help it. He’s the only good thing at Crestview High. She doesn’t expect him to reciprocate her feelings. How inappropriate, right? But he does. And he shows her.

And that’s when her life goes from bad to good.

(This is a New Adult fiction book that contains explicit sexual situations and some language.)

 

 
Yeah, so I realize I’m taking a chance with this one (as I do with all my books, it seems). I know many of the student/teacher relationship books out there involve professors and college students to make them a little more accepting. Yeah. I really don’t do “accepting.” Plus, the story spoke to me. It wanted to be written. Cadence needed to be written. Not only am I taking a chance with the stark age difference between heroine and hero, but I’m also taking a chance infusing spirituality in this book. It’s not enough that Cadence would embark on a completely inappropriate relationship with her teacher, but I wanted to make sure she was a Christian as well. So there you go. Start ruffling those feathers. She’s a Christian. She’s involved with a 28-year-old while she’s still a minor. She’s impressionable but not disgustingly naïve. It’s very much a love story that explores personal values, societal expectations, and the meaning of true love.

 
I do have to share this because I thought it was funny. My agent asked me, “Summer, now they don’t do it until she turns eighteen, right?”

“Well, I looked up the age of consent in Georgia. It’s sixteen,” I replied.

Brief pause.

“Summer, they don’t do it until she’s eighteen, right?”

“Oh, Marisa. Don’t you want to wait and find out?”


Not revealing the cover yet. Expected publication date for Good is Fall 2013, but I'm working to change that. I think it'll be earlier. You can add the book to your "To Read" shelf on goodreads. Go here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17801215-good

And that's that. Tell me what you think? Am I completely out of my mind?

28 comments:

  1. Can't Wait!! Sounds so good!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't wait as well! Deff a to be read! Adding it to my shelf now!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This book is definitely going to strike a sensitive nerve with a lot of readers but honestly that's what being an author is all about! It's ok to push the boundaries and make people think outside the box. For me personally I enjoy the "unconventional" stories!

    ReplyDelete
  4. No you are not out of your mind at all! I love the idea of the book. But then again I love controversy. Keep pushing the limits and boundaries.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love when authors take risks! That's how all of the best books are born... :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Are you out of your mind? NO. Not at all. You write these kinds of stories really well! I recently read a series with the same premise except they have a bigger age gap and I absolutely did not like it (not because of the age gap). Can't wait to read Good though, I know I'll just love it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm sooooo in! I loved Going Under and I know I'll love this one as well :) I love a good "ruffled feathers" kind of read.....it shakes things up a bit. Can't wait!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm in!! I'd read it right now if it were out. I love books that don't follow the norm. I am well aware that love doesn't follow societal rules. Can't wait!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. It sounds really good. I can't wait to read it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think it sounds great! Risky...but good! What's life if you don't take risks? I had a hard time reading Going Under, only because it scared the HELL out of me that stuff like that goes on in schools and I have a very young daughter. But, it was a great story, and I think it opened a lot of people eyes (mine included) to the "real" world. Can't wait to read more from you!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Absolutely cannot wait to read it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. WOOHOO! I can't wait to read it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. This sounds very intriguing! I can't wait to read it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. oh YAY! You are such an amazing author and Going Under was seriously one of those books from this year that is still sticking with me! Can't wait to read this one!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I am so reading this! Sounds really good!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I can't wait to read this!! Yes it is a "risky" topic but hey it's real...I can assure you it happens because I lived it, survived it and married him....he was teaching economics though ;) xxx
    And thanks for the non-cliffy ending very very much appreciated :D

    ReplyDelete
  17. Sounds like a book I am defiantly going to have to read!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for all the comments, everyone! I'm glad you're looking forward to this one. I dragged my feet about it because I kept debating between this series and another series I'm putting out after this. I literally almost flipped a coin: student/teacher are-you-freaking-kidding-me book or Ireland-revenge-love story. You know why this one won? Well, first off, GOOD is nearly complete. Second, I passed it by my biggest fan. Yes, she is the only one on the planet I've EVER allowed see my very rough, very incomplete writing. She told me "this is the one." I just hope she's right :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yes, you're completely out of your mind! :) But you're writing the story I hoped you would choose to write. So yay!

    Fall 2013? Wow, that's fast girl! Looking forward to reading it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Donna,

      I actually wrote most of that book when I polled you on it. So aside from a few chapters, it's finished. I'm kind of hoping I get it out before the fall. I'm getting hair extensions. Know what I'm saying? I've got important expenses. :)

      Delete
    2. Hmmm...so does that mean you have the first book of your Ireland love story written already too? :P

      Delete
    3. Yeah right! Try 10,000 words. That series will be the hardest. Period. I'm actually going to Ireland at the end of the summer for research. A little over two weeks. Five major cities. I'm keeping a photo journal to share on my blog. :)

      Delete
  20. Completely out of your mind?! NO!!!! This is a brilliant out of the box story! Which we all need at the moment, and from the synopsis you are in the perfect direction!! I cannot wait, and really looking forward to this story! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Summer... Holy moly. I cannot wait for this. I adore an unconventional (and controversial) story and i will be all over this book like a rash. You're brilliant and i'm waiting with bated breathe for MORE!!!!

    x Sylvia

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks for posting this.This is awesome!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. This sounds amazing! I read a book called Boy Toy which was about a teacher's involvement with one of HER students. Completely different take, and REALLY unconventional. But the boy was nowhere near the age of consent... and she went to prison.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anything that isn't politically correct, is probably worth writing about.

    ReplyDelete
  25. That conversation between you and Marisa had me literally laughing out loud. I love your "unconventional" and "controversial" stories. Makes for a nice change of reading. I very much like that you do your research, too!

    ReplyDelete