Girlfriends Cyber Circuit presents… Jennifer Echols!

Quick reminder… keep entering for your chance to win the High School Flashback Tour prize pack! Winner to be announced tomorrow.

And now… it’s GCC time! Today, I’m delighted to bring you the fabulous RITA nominee…

Jennifer Echols

Welcome, Jenn!

The Girlfriend

Name:

Jennifer Echols

Short Bio:

Jennifer Echols grew up in a small town on a beautiful lake in Alabama–a setting that has inspired many of her books. Always interested in creative writing, she finished her first (and still unpublished) novel soon after graduating with a degree in English from Auburn University at age 20. She worked as an editor for newspapers, a writer for business publications, and a writing instructor for three major universities, completed a master’s degree in English, and finished the coursework for a PhD in genre studies before selling a book. Since then, she has written many young adult novels for Simon & Schuster, including Major Crush, which won the National Reader’s Choice Award, and Going Too Far, which is a finalist in the 2010 RITA, the National Reader’s Choice Award, and the Book Buyer’s Best. Her next novel, Forget You, will be released on July 20. Currently she works as a copyeditor and lives in Birmingham with her husband and son. Please visit her online at jennifer-echols.com.

The Book

Endless Summer
May 25, 2010
Simon Pulse
(Note from Kay: I LOVED The Boys Next Door!)


The Boys Next Door and the sequel, Endless Summer, in one volume!

Two irresistible boys. One unforgettable summer.

Lori can’t wait for her summer at the lake. She loves wakeboarding and hanging with her friends–including the two hotties next door. With the Vader brothers, she’s always been just one of the guys. Now that she’s turning sixteen, she wants to be seen as one of the girls, especially in the eyes of Sean, the older brother. But that’s not going to happen–not if the younger brother, Adam, can help it.

Lori plans to make Sean jealous by spending time with Adam. Adam has plans of his own for Lori. As the air heats up, so does this love triangle. Will Lori’s romantic summer melt into one hot mess?

Up Close and Personal

1.   PURSUING YOUR DREAMS: Everyone has the ability to be extraordinary, they just have to embrace what makes them unique and special and pursue their dreams with passion and confidence! Was being a published author a dream of yours? If so, how does it feel to have achieved your dream?

It was a dream of mine for years, I worked very hard to achieve it, and I am thankful every day. I honestly believe it’s important to remember what life was like before, because it gives me a very different perspective. I never take this career for granted.

2.   CHANGING YOUR WORLD: Changing the world doesn’t have to mean finding a cure for cancer or creating lasting world peace (though it definitely can!). It just means finding a way that you can make the world a little better off for having lived here, whether it’s making a difference to one person or a million, to the earth, to animals… whatever is important to you. What is one way you would personally like to make the world a better place?

This may seem small, but I am still very proud that I was the first female drum major of my high school marching band. Since then, girls and boys have both been drum majors at my high school. I’m sure it never occurs to them that there was a time when this position was not open to girls, and I think that’s terrific.

3.   GRATITUDE: Gratitude is a huge part of the You 2.0 life. Taking a moment to count our blessings is the best way to remember what’s truly important (especially when life is hectic and crazy!). What are you grateful for?

So many things: my career, my friends, my family, our health. The main character of the book I’m writing now is an optimist—and I’m not!—so I’ve been reading a lot of books on optimism. They all agree that the best way to be happier in life is to see the glass as half full and to take time every day to be grateful for what you have.

Author Fun!

4.   SECRET SQUEE MOMENT: What is the coolest thing that’s happened to you since becoming a published author?

My novel Going Too Far is a finalist in the RITA, with a huge ceremony at a national conference in Florida in July. I can’t wait!

(Yay, Jenn!!!!!!!)

5.   ALL-TIME MOST MEMORABLE BOOK: What book had the greatest impact on you growing up?

The Beginning Place is a wonderful fantasy coming-of-age novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. If fantasy isn’t your thing…it isn’t mine, either, but this exquisitely written book is worth it.

6.   THE REAL DEAL: If you could go back in time and give your teen/tween self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Pluck your eyebrows. I was afraid to do this after reading a YA novel by Paula Danziger called The Pistachio Prescription, in which a girl plucks her eyebrows for the first time and goes way overboard…but trust me, teen self, some moderate tweezing would do a world of good.

Thanks to Jenn for a terrific interview.   And be sure to pick up your copy of Endless Summer when it hits shelves on Tuesday!

Entry Filed under: Girlfriends Cyber Circuit