Excerpt: Defending Taylor (Two Ways to Win!)

DEFENDING TAYLOR is the newest novel in Miranda Kenneally's Hundred Oaks series. I reviewed it last month, and now you can win cool prizes!

The first way to win is to enter the DEFENDING TAYLOR sweepstakes, in which you can win a branded water bottle or a gym prize pack with proof of a preorder.

The grand prize pack

The second way to win is to enter the Rafflecopter at the end of this post for a copy of DEFENDING TAYLOR.

Praise for Defending Taylor

 

“I can’t quite put my finger on what is so enthralling about Kenneally’s newest novel, but it totally sucked me in. I loved that Kenneally didn’t go with an easy, traditional happy-go-lucky ending. I also enjoyed the flawed nature of the characters, which made them feel more relatable. This is a great summer read and my favorite novel by Kenneally so far!” –RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars

 

Summary:

 

There are no mistakes in love.

 

Captain of the soccer team, president of the Debate Club, contender for valedictorian: Taylor’s always pushed herself to be perfect. After all, that’s what is expected of a senator’s daughter. But one impulsive decision—one lie to cover for her boyfriend—and Taylor’s kicked out of private school. Everything she’s worked so hard for is gone, and now she’s starting over at Hundred Oaks High.

 

Soccer has always been Taylor’s escape from the pressures of school and family, but it’s hard to fit in and play on a team that used to be her rival. The only person who seems to understand all that she’s going through is her older brother’s best friend, Ezra. Taylor’s had a crush on him for as long as she can remember. But it’s hard to trust after having been betrayed. Will Taylor repeat her past mistakes or can she score a fresh start?

 

Goodreads Link:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22846823-defending-taylor?ac=1&from_search=true

 

Buy Links (The Defending Taylor e-book includes an exclusive bonus story with Jordan and Henry from Catching Jordan!) :

Amazon- http://ow.ly/a4Kw301nrLX

Apple- http://ow.ly/w51b301ns1v

Barnes&Noble- http://ow.ly/Gucq301nupz

BooksAMillion- http://ow.ly/NU4T301nuF1

!ndigo- http://ow.ly/adQj301nv8W

Indiebound- http://ow.ly/uXtK301nvtk

 

Excerpt from Defending Taylor:

I now understand culture shock: it’s me experiencing Hundred Oaks High for the first time.

A lot of kids go here. Five hundred? A thousand? There are so many I can’t tell. At St. Andrew’s, there were only forty kids in my entire class. We lived on a calm, sprawling, green campus. Walking down the halls of Hundred Oaks feels like last-­minute Christmas shopping at a crowded mall.

Two guys wearing football jerseys are throwing a ball back and forth. It whizzes by my ear. A suspender-­clad male teacher is hanging a poster for the science fair, while a couple is making out against the wall next to the fire alarm. If they move another inch, they’ll set off the sprinklers. At St. Andrew’s, kissing in the hall was an über no-­no. We snuck under the staircase or went out into the woods. Ben and I did that all the time.

Thinking of him makes me stop moving. I shut my eyes. Dating Ben was stupid. Going into the woods with him was stupid. Thinking about what happened makes me so mad, I want to rip that newly hung science fair poster off the wall and tear it apart.

Review: Defending Taylor

Book seven in the Hundred Oaks series
By Miranda Kenneally
Available now from Sourcebooks
Review copy

I am a massive fan of Miranda Kenneally's Hundred Oaks series.   Her stories are appealingly contemporary, tackling issues like class differences, sexism, or fame in the internet age.  Her characters are realistic, each with their own flaws and strengths.  DEFENDING TAYLOR has all those qualities that make this series such a strong one.  DEFENDING TAYLOR also returns to her classic, sporty heroines after JESSIE'S GIRL.

To be misleadingly frank, DEFENDING TAYLOR isn't my favorite novel Kenneally has ever written.  It's stronger than many others I've read this year, but didn't have the appeal to me of many of her other novels.

The eponymous Taylor is a senator's daughter and former incoming captain of her private school's soccer team.  But she got expelled, and now she's going to public school her senior year.  She isn't making new friends, and she's on the outs with her family.  The only one who is there for her is Ezra, her brother's best friend who is home from college for his own mysterious reasons.  Of course, Taylor is reluctant to trust him ever since he stood her up at her sweet sixteen.

Romantic tension has been long simmering between them, and now they have the shared experience of struggling with their families' expectations of them as they decide what they want in life.  It's cute, but I didn't feel much spark when reading.  There's very little standing in the way of their relationship except for that missed party.  The explanation, when it comes, makes sense and I believe Ezra would keep it secret even though that was a bad decision.  But it felt unbalanced to me because Ezra's issues are a side note while Taylor's are the focus.

Although it is not instantly revealed, DEFENDING TAYLOR doesn't take too long to explain why Taylor was kicked out.  She was caught with a bunch of Adderall (that was actually her boyfriend's).  Taylor didn't snitch, because her boyfriend would lose his scholarship and she can weather the storm better with her powerful father (somewhat reasonable) and because she would be socially ostracized as a snitch (if this were an old-timey teen movie). 

She's pissed that her dad made no efforts to protect her (even though he believes in not throwing the family name around) and her boyfriend didn't confess to protect her (for the same reasons she didn't confess to protect her).  Which is totally fair.  There are mitigating factors, but no one stood by her, and that hurts no matter what.

But here's the thing: the police don't get involved.  She isn't tried as a drug dealer.  Her school treats her solely as an occasional user, which she admits to being.  (In fact, they drug-tested her and she had Adderall in her system.)  She gets kicked out of her posh school, but she doesn't even have to go to rehab or do community service.  DEFENDING TAYLOR makes some great points about how drug users are demonized in the US, but I got tired of Taylor whining about being punished for a crime she didn't commit.  She got caught due to her boyfriend's carelessness, but she is being punished for a crime she committed.  I wish more of the focus had been on the excessiveness of how the public reacts (which is, to be fair, a big deal in the story when the press gets wind of the story).

DEFENDING TAYLOR is a cute summer read, but sometimes I got a little fed up with the heroine.

Interview with Miranda Kenneally

Miranda Kenneally is the author of JESSE'S GIRL, which comes out next Tuesday, July 7th.  I loved JESSE'S GIRL (my review), so I'm happy to share this brief interview with you.

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1. Your heroes and heroines all have varied, detailed interests. JESSE'S GIRL is set in the music industry, for instance. How much research do you do to get these aspects of your characters' lives right?

Depends on the book. For RACING SAVANNAH, which is about horse racing, I did 3 months of intensive research before I even started writing the book. I spent time in Kentucky and read a ton of books about horse racing. I hung out in barns with horses and went to races. With JESSE'S GIRL, I felt like I knew enough about music to go ahead and start writing, but as I got more into the story, I consulted with a guitar expert and a girl who has her own band (like Maya) to confirm details. For BREATHE, ANNIE, BREATHE, about a girl training to run a marathon, I didn't do any research on running because I had already run one before. Research all depends on how much I already know.

2. The Hundred Oaks books are all loosely connected, so characters tend to reappear when it is logical to do something. How far in advance do you plan out their lives? For example, Sam and Jordan appear at age 24 in JESSE'S GIRL. Did you know where they'd end up when you finished CATCHING JORDAN?

No, I haven't made any effort to plan their lives. I'm just keeping things loose and seeing who shows up and what they are up to. It's kind of fun to be in the dark. :) Teaser: I will say that I mention a character about 2 times in RACING SAVANNAH. Now I am writing a book about that random character's sister. i definitely didn't plan it. Just happened! This new book is coming out in 2016 and is loosely related to Racing Savannah.

3. With six books under your belt, you have a bit of experience. Which was the hardest novel to write? 

JESSE'S GIRL! I seriously rewrote this book like 6 times. Considering I was doing the "girl meets famous guy" trope, I wanted to make sure Jesse and Maya were realistic and I had to make my story different from everything else out there. Also, writing a book where most of the action takes place on one day is super hard!

4. You've talked quite a bit on your blog about how much revision goes into your novels. Are there any bits you're particularly happy that you cut?

Yeah, actually. In the first draft of JESSE'S GIRL, I could tell Maya and Jesse had sizzling chemistry. It was hot! I actually had to tone it down so it wouldn't be too racy! Unfortunately, though, my first beta reader said, "This book will never sell because it's so cliche. Girl falls for famous boy: it's been done. So I did a draft in which Maya gets together with another dude, and she and Jesse just become best friends. It felt really forced, so I ended up going back to the version in which they are a couple.

5. If you could shadow a famous musician for a day, who would you pick? 

Justin Timberlake. Because duh!

Review: Jesse's Girl

Hundred Oaks series
By Miranda Kenneally
Available now from Sourcebooks
Review copy
Read an excerpt

I have thoroughly enjoyed all the books in the Hundred Oaks series that I've read.  The books don't share many characters, but what they do share is a setting and a sensibility.  Hundred Oaks is a fictional small town in Tennessee.  This does allow old characters to show up when needed, but often they aren't since the books more forward in close to real time.

Jordan Woods and Sam Henry from Miranda Kenneally's first book CATCHING JORDAN do make several appearances in JESSE'S GIRL.  They're now in their twenties and working, but they are relevant because Maya Henry is Sam's little sister.  Maya wants to be a professional musician, even though the band she started just kicked her out.  She's in for a major stroke of luck, because her principal's nephew is country music star Jesse Scott.

I liked the way Kenneally wrote the beginning of their relationship.  Jesse makes a bad first impression with Maya, but she doesn't take it too much to heart.  It's not instant love, but it's not instant hate either.  It's a believable progression of two people getting to know each other and trusting each other once their initial confidences aren't betrayed. 

I did think that JESSE'S GIRL has a pacing issue.  The first part mostly covers one madcap, Ferris Bueller's Day Out-style day where Jesse and Maya break free of their responsibilities and instead pursue the things that make them happy.  Then there's some fairly shallow ups and downs covering a decent chunk of time until the dramatic climax and denouement, which is again quick.  That slow section in the middle slows what is otherwise a ridiculously charming romance.

I was a little wary of reading a high-school romance between a famous teen and a normal girl, but Kenneally pulls it off wonderfully.  Maya and Jesse share a love of music and performance, and only find more common ground from there.  Both of them are good at drawing their own boundaries in the relationship, and I believed in the ways Kenneally showed them working through their problems. 

JESSE'S GIRL was a fun read, and I think many will enjoy it, both new fans and old.  I will have an interview with Kenneally posted sometime in the future; there was an unavoidable delay which is why it is not posting today as promised.

Excerpt: Jesse's Girl

If you're like me, you've been reading and loving Miranda Kenneally's Hundred Oaks series.  In fact, I'm going to be hosting her on her next blog tour on June 24th.  There's going to be an interview, so be sure to visit that Wednesday!

The newest book in the series, JESSE'S GIRL, comes out on July 7th.  If you buy it before then, there's a cool pre-order campaign sponsored by the publisher (Sourcebooks Fire):

Everyone who emails teenfire@sourcebooks.com will automatically receive an email of the EXCLUSIVE Jesse’s Girl Playlist, and will be invited to attend a LIVE online author event on July 6, the day before JESSE'S GIRL goes on-sale!

In addition, if you pre-order the book and send your proof of purchase (and mailing address) to teenfire@sourcebooks.com, you’ll not only get the exclusive playlist and event invite, but you’ll also receive a signed/personalized bookplate, a super-cute custom guitar pick, and entered to win a $300 gift card to TicketMaster so you can go to a concert or musical or some other fun event. 

And here's an excerpt to whet your appetites:
As much as I love music, I am generally not a fan of country. I don’t like banjos. I don’t like sappy lyrics about trucks and hauling hay. Dolly Parton is my mortal enemy—my mom plays “Jolene” over and over and over and over, and it makes me want to chop my ears off like van Gogh. Yeah, yeah, I’m from Tennessee, where it’s a crime if you don’t love country, but I like deep, rumbling beats and singing loud and fast and hard. I do not like closing my eyes and crooning to a cow in the pasture. Yet here I am at a Jesse Scott concert, getting ready to meet him and to see if he’ll let me shadow him next Friday.

My school requires every senior to “shadow” a professional for a day. It’s their way of helping us figure out what kind of career we want. Like, if you want to be president when you grow up, you might get to shadow the mayor. Want to be a chef? Have fun kneading dough at the Donut Palace. When I said “I want to be a musician,” I figured they’d send me to work in the electronics section at Walmart.

I certainly never expected to shadow the king of country music.