Lee Nichols
Books (for teens):
- Deception
Website/Blog
When Emma Vaile's parents leave on mysterious business trip, it gives her the perfect excuse to be a rebellious teen. Throw some parties, get a tattoo (or maybe just a piercing), and enjoy the first few weeks of her junior year. Then her best friend stops talking to her, the cops crash her party, and Emma finds herself in the hands of a new guardian—her college-age "knight in J.Crew armor," Bennett Stern—and on a plane to his museum-like mansion in New England.
After enrolling at Thatcher Academy, Emma settles in by making friends with the popular legacy crowd. But she can't shake the strange visions that are haunting her. She has memories of Thatcher she can't explain, as if she's returning home to a place she's never been. Emma doesn't trust anyone anymore—except maybe Bennett. But he's about to reveal a ghostly secret to Emma. One that will explain the visions . . . and make Emma fear for her life.
Describe Deception in three words.
Romantic. Mysterious. Kick-butt.
What are your must haves when you are writing?
I'm not a desk person, so mostly a comfy spot. I usually work on the couch in the living room or on our bed.
What were you like as a teen? Did it have any influence over your characters in Deception?
Definitely the teasing banter she shares with her friends is the way I was with my friends. And my parents were divorced and my mother worked a lot, so I was very independent the way she is.
Where there any differences for you, in writing a Young Adult novel?
I don't find it that different. I'm still trying to create believable characters, settings and situations. The characters just happen to be younger.
Who were were favorite authors as a teen?
The YA market wasn't nearly as strong as it is now, but as a younger teen I devoured Lois Duncan and S.E. Hinton. I also had two older brothers and read a lot of the science fiction and fantasy they left lying around the house. Favorite literary authors I couldn't get enough of were John Steinbeck, J.D. Salinger and Jane Austen.
Three novels currently in your reading pile.
13 LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPES, by Maureen Johnson
DOGS, by Nancy Kress
THE TOURIST, by Olen Steinhauer
If you could travel back in time for one year, where would you go and what three things would you take with you?
I love my uncle's house on a lake in Maine. I'd take my husband, son and the dogs.
Are you working on anything now? Can you tell us anything about it?
I've just finished the second HAUNTING EMMA book called BETRAYAL, which comes out March 2011 and I'm writing the third, POSSESSION which will be published late 2011.
Thanks so much Lee for stopping by! Deception sounds fantastic!
I have two advance readers copies of Deception up for grabs as well!!
Official Contest information:
- to enter, please fill out the form below
- entrants must be 13 years of age or older
- contest deadline is August 13, 2010
- contest open to US residents only!*
- check out my Contest Policy/Privacy Policy