You guys are seriously in for a treat today! Paper Lantern Lit, the brainchild of Lauren Oliver, Lexa Hillyer and more is releasing its very own boutique digital imprint, The Studio, making it a whole new power player in the publishing industry. Today, I'm so excited to reveal the cover of one of their very first titles, Beautiful Girl by Lida James. This new adult novel has crossover young adult appeal, and I think it might be the perfect book for reluctant NA readers like myself. Take a peek...
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Preorder the book here
Publish Date: October 28th, 2014
Plot Synopsis
Sophomore year at Dutchess College has just begun, and Nicole is still haunted by memories of her first love, Zach. As the changing leaves fall on the stately Hudson Valley campus, she takes solace in running—pushing herself to go harder, faster, to be the best. With the wind blowing through her hair, she can almost convince herself that she is beautiful, that she will find love again.
So when Nico runs, quite literally, into the maddeningly elusive Justin, she’s convinced she’s found the guy to make her forget her ex—despite the warnings of her friends and her straight-edged running partner, Luke.
But when Nico is attacked in the woods after a wild night of partying, everything changes. Suddenly, Nico begins receiving anonymous threats, and she no longer knows where to turn for help—or whether even her close friends can be trusted.
All she wants is to be one of the beautiful girls—the ones who never have to chase perfection. But in order to uncover the truth, she’ll have to face a past she had hoped to leave behind forever. She thought she could outrun the darkness, but darkness has a way of catching up…and only one boy can save her.
Lida’s Thoughts on the Beautiful Girl Cover
I love the cover art for Beautiful Girl. She’s running but you can’t tell if she’s running away from something or if she’s being chased. She’s not looking back and she has a slightly carefree gait, so you can’t tell if she’s afraid or if she’s unaware, reckless even, running into the woods alone at what appears to be dusk. I think that really illustrates the themes in the book. And I love the tag line – Darkness has a way of catching up.
When writing Beautiful Girl, I was inspired by books and television with a certain level of dark, but relatable grit. If you like Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, the TV show Girls, and The Secret History by Donna Tartt (my personal favorite college thriller), then I think you’ll love Beautiful Girl.
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Lida James grew up in Brooklyn, New York and graduated cum laude from Vassar College with a BFA in English (and a lot of film credits, too). After working as a cameraperson on feature films in NYC she relocated to Los Angeles in search of mountains and waves.
Once there, she wrote and sold screenplays (and snowboarded and windsurfed). She continues to enjoy living in Los Angeles with her husband and their two children – all shredders like herself – and two rescue dogs. Beautiful Girl is her first novel.
Once there, she wrote and sold screenplays (and snowboarded and windsurfed). She continues to enjoy living in Los Angeles with her husband and their two children – all shredders like herself – and two rescue dogs. Beautiful Girl is her first novel.
Hum...intriguing! Definitely different than other NAs and much more intriguing than the same, worn out plots they've been spinning.
ReplyDeleteExactly! I'm loving how different this sounds than the same-old, same-old NA tale :)
DeleteI love that cover and the blurb sounds so intriguing, Melissa. I'm loving how NA is finally starting to branch out into other genres. Thanks for sharing! I'll be adding this to my TBR!
ReplyDeleteYou bet! Isn't it cool that PLL is offering us titles now, too?!
DeleteHm dunno really
ReplyDelete