Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
I have been showcasing quite a few Swoon Reads authors since I started hosting for Xpresso Book Tours – this is wicked lovely as I first came to recognise Swoon Reads when a fellow book blogger first told me about her appreciation for reading their stories. She’s since left the book blogosphere and opted to return to University; however, it always struck me that at some point in my readerly life, I ought to start to pick up the stories being published by Swoon Reads. Hence why you’ve seen an influx of authors by this publisher arriving on Jorie Loves A Story via guest author features like today’s interview with Ms Vale!
There were a few quirkily clever things about this particular YA Contemporary Romance which intrigued my eye towards wanting to a) read it and b) feature the novelist: it was set in a small coastal towne in Maine (for a girl who likes New England, that was a bit of a no-brainer! Go Sox!), it has a pro-positive LGBTQ+ narrative and it is a Contemporary Rom. The latter being the icing on the cake for me as Contemporary Romances are hit/miss with me as you well know if you’ve been spending time digging round my archives and/or have been a long-time reader of my blog. I vacillate between reading mainstream & INSPY Contemporaries these days – however, I always manage to find quite a few Contemporaries in mainstream which make me ‘swoon’ after them; thus I am wicked happy to say I am *celebrating!* this lovely new YA Contemporary on its #PubDay!
In truth – the author mentioned she doesn’t consider this a YA Contemporary Rom inasmuch as a straight-up coming-of age Contemporary YA – I am thrilled either way, as finding strong stories which have convicting plots and a strong balance of contemporary life & issues is something to celebrate as much as finding a contemporary set story-line which seeks to represent a realistic impression of a girl coming-of age in our modern world.
Give a hearty welcome to debut novelist Lillie Vale & let’s tuck close to this convo where we explore not only the setting and the characters of “Small Town Hearts” but her writerly process to bring this story to life! If you’ve already earmarked this one to read OR were one of the lucky few who read it as an ARC – I’d love to hear your thoughts & comments in the threads below this interview!
Likewise, if this is your first visit to my blog – guest features & convos are best accompanied with your favourite cuppa & brew – where you can settle in, enjoy the feature and stay a spell visiting with me and my guest author. May this new release have a plotting which will tempt your readerly heart as much as it has mine.
Small Town Hearts
Subtitle: Rule #1 Never Fall for a Summer Boy
by Lillie Vale
Rule #1 – Never fall for a summer boy.
Fresh out of high school, Babe Vogel should be thrilled to have the whole summer at her fingertips. She loves living in her lighthouse home in the sleepy Maine beach town of Oar’s Rest and being a barista at the Busy Bean, but she’s totally freaking out about how her life will change when her two best friends go to college in the fall. And when a reckless kiss causes all three of them to break up, she may lose them a lot sooner. On top of that, her ex-girlfriend is back in town, bringing with her a slew of memories, both good and bad.
And then there’s Levi Keller, the cute artist who’s spending all his free time at the coffee shop where she works. Levi’s from out of town, and even though Babe knows better than to fall for a tourist who will leave when summer ends, she can’t stop herself from wanting to know him. Can Babe keep her distance, or will she break the one rule she’s always had – to never fall for a summer boy?
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9781250192356
Published by Feiwel & Friends, Swoon Reads
on 19th March, 2019
Published by: Swoon Reads (@SwoonReads)
a publishing subsidiary of Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan
Formats available: Hardback and Ebook
Converse on Twitter via: #YALit & #Contemporary with #Novel19s
as well as #SmallTownHearts + #LilliVale with #LGBT or #LGBTQ Contemporary
About Lillie Vale
Lillie Vale, upon discovering she could not be one of Santa’s elves or attend Hogwarts, decided to become a writer to create a little magic of her own. Enjoying the romantic and eerie in equal measure, she’s probably always writing a book where the main characters kiss or kill.
Born in Mumbai, she has lived in many U.S. states, and now resides in an Indiana college town where the corn whispers and no one has a clue that she is actually the long-lost caps lock queen. She can be reached on Twitter and Instagram (which are linked in this bio). Small Town Hearts is her debut novel.
