Goddess Fish Promotions is organizing a Virtual Book Tour for Ruined - Stratford
High Series, Book One by Marian Cheatham, a YA Contemporary Romance available
now. The tour will run September 22, 2014 to October 17.
Marian will be awarding an eBook copy of Ruined to a randomly drawn commenter at
each stop during the tour. A Grand Prize of a signed paperback copy of Ruined
plus a new DVD of Much Ado About Nothing starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma
Thompson will be awarded to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the
tour (US only).
To place your comment and stand a chance to win, please use this Rafflecopter code:
Blurb
When your life has been ruined by lies, do you seek justice … or
revenge?
Blythe Messina spends her senior year focused on her studies and
college, and not on
her ex, Stratford High's lacrosse star, DB Whitmore. At least,
that's what Blythe keeps telling herself. But her younger cousin, Bonni, knows
otherwise. Same goes for DB, who swears to be over Blythe and their breakup,
but his teammates aren’t fooled.
When scandalous photos of Bonni and the team captain are texted
around Stratford, Bonni's virtuous reputation is ruined. She professes her
innocence, but no one believes her. No one, except Blythe and DB, who come
together to uncover the truth. But, will they stay together?
Ruined is a modern twist on a classic Shakespearean romance.
"Deceit, loyalty, honor, and romance--Ruined has it all! A
teen version of Much Ado About Nothing that Shakespeare aficionados are sure to savor!”
Kym Brunner, Author of Wanted: Dead or in Love & One Smart
Cookie
All books in the Stratford High series will be modern retellings
of a Shakespeare classic. Ruined is inspired by Much Ado About Nothing.
Excerpt
BLYTHE MESSINA
6
I’d been bitchy and on edge ever
since that blasted luau last Saturday. Seeing DB, talking to him, being near
him again, had taken my life off course. For days now, I’d been ordering my
brain to
STOP THINKING ABOUT HIM. We were
ancient history, two people doomed from the start, like Antony and Cleopatra or
Marie Antoinette and King Louis. So why couldn’t I regain control
of my world? I snatched up my
backpack and my Coach crossbody bag, and did a quick once-over in my bedroom
mirror. The hair was tied back in a no-fuss ponytail. The jeans were clean,
well, relatively. This faded ASPCA
tee was past its expiration date, but good enough for school. I turned off my
bedroom light and went in search of Bonni.
She wasn’t in her room or downstairs
in the kitchen. So I grabbed a frosted Pop-Up and headed into the garage, where
I was blinded by piercing sunlight. Someone had left the outer door open, and
my new hybrid was nowhere to be found. I shaded my eyes and peered outside.
Halfway down our long driveway, I
spied Bonni and Uncle Leo with their backs to me, their heads together under
the opened hood of my car. They were talking, but in this quiet
morning air, their voices carried.
Even from this distance, I could hear fragments of their conversation. And if I
heard them, so could our neighbors. I was hurrying toward the hybrid,
anxious to warn my cousin and uncle
to keep it down, when I heard something that stopped me in mid-stride.
“… believe what Cory told me … DB
and Blythe …”
Had Bonni just mentioned DB and me
in the same sentence?
I ducked behind the six-foot-tall
hedges lining the drive.
“What else did Cory say?” Uncle Leo
asked.
Author bio and links
Marian
is a full-time writer of contemporary and historical young adult fiction. A
native Chicagoan and a graduate of Northern Illinois University, Marian taught
special education and worked in the business world before pursuing her dream of
becoming a writer. She would rather be at her desk than almost anywhere else,
but of course, that isn’t always possible. So when she’s not writing, she
enjoys reading, gardening, walking the dog, travelling with her husband, and
researching new projects. Not necessarily in that order.
She
adores anything Shakespeare. An avid reader of Shakespeare biographies, she has
travelled the world to see his plays, visiting Stratford, Canada as well as
Stratford-Upon-the-Avon, Great Britain, and the new Globe Theater in London.
Her latest YA novel, Ruined, Book One in her new Stratford High series – modern
retellings of Shakespeare’s plays - is inspired by the Bard’s classic romance,
Much Ado About Nothing. Book Two, inspired by the Merchant of Venice, is due
out fall 2014.
Her
debut YA, Eastland, came out in February 2014. Based on the real-life story of
the 1915 Eastland boat disaster in Chicago, Marian lectures about the Eastland
to schools, libraries, and book clubs, as well as co-hosting haunted Chicago
tours of Eastland disaster sites. She writes a post on the subject on the
Tribune’s Chicago Now blog site. Visit her at:
@CheathamMarian
Finally, I asked Marion how she came to write young adult fiction. Here's what she answered:
Writing YA fiction
was a progression from picture books, to middle grade, to YA. The progression
reflected the changes in my own life as the kids grew up. When the girls were
in high school, I had to sign a few permission slips giving the district the
right to use books they deemed ‘controversial.’ Of course, I was curious, so I
read those problematic books. A few, I truly enjoyed like, Middlesex by Jeffrey
Eugenides or Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Then the kids began talking about books
they were reading, Harry Potter being the most discussed book in the
neighborhood. I started reading that series and was hooked right from the
start.
YA literature was
exciting and brimming with story possibilities. Anything seemed to go when it
came to YA and as a writer, I appreciated that. So, I started writing a few
novels of my own. The story ideas always flowed from some real-life incident
that had either happened to one of the kids or something that I myself had
experienced. My first published novel, Eastland,
was really my fourth completed YA manuscript. Those other three books weren’t
publish-ready, but they were great practice for me. Even now, with Ruined, and
all the forthcoming books in the Stratford High series, it takes hard work to
get it right.
There’s the painful
first draft to deliver, then I share it with trusted writer friends in my
critique group and work through their suggestions. Next, the manuscript goes to
the editor for the first content edit to see if I really have a complete novel.
Do the chapters flow together? Is there enough tension? Are the characters
fully developed? These are questions that the editor addresses in that first
go-around. The manuscript returns to me with notes and notes and notes. I get
to work on the re-write, send it back for an editorial proofread, more
corrections are made, and then, maybe if I’m really, really lucky and I’ve put
in the time and sweat and hard work, I’ll have a finished young adult novel to
share with readers. Easy, right? But totally worth it!
