about the book
Future prospects for girls living in Creek View, California, are to have babies, live in double-wide trailers, and work the night shift at Taco Bell. This, however, isn’t the life for Skylar Evans. She dreams of attending art school, and after high school graduation, there is one step left between Skylar and her dream: work three months at a minimum-wage job over the summer. The taste of freedom tastes sweet in her mouth.
But when Skylar’s mother loses her jobs, she feels her dreams begin to crumble. Everything Skylar has worked for is on the line, leaving her to choose between her dreams and her loved ones.
Josh Mitchell, 19, also from Creek View, escaped the town in his own way. He joined the Marines. His own ticket out is lost when his leg is blown off in Afghanistan, and he must return to Creek View, changed.
Paradise might not be appropriately named, but it’s the unique motel off dusty Highway 99 where Skylar and Josh come together to work. The two very different teenagers find an unexpected friendship through their shared isolation, which soon develops into to something deeper.
about the author
Heather Demetrios, originally of Los Angeles, spends her time traipsing around the world or reading herself into imaginary places. As the great-granddaughter of a couple who met during World War I—he, a soldier, and she, his nurse—Heather had no choice but to end up a hopeless romantic. Then, while still in her mother’s womb, Heather’s mother was struck by lightning! (She thinks her superpowers are just waiting to reveal themselves.)
At age 16, Heather’s first job was at a cookie store in her local mall. Then, during her senior year she learned how to knit in order to receive a part in Ten Little Indians. She was killed onstage by one of her best friends while performing her new talent.
After receiving an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, her first novel, Something Real, earned Heather the PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award. She also authored Exquisite Captive, I’ll Meet You There, and The Lexie Project. Her favorite part of the writing process is revising because she loves seeing her stories get better and better and better.
Extending her writing passions, Heather founded Live Your What—an organization that fosters passion in all ages and that creates writing opportunities for underserved youth.
With an impressive number of tattoos, Heather currently lives with her husband in New York City and calls the East Coast home. Her greatest inspiration, she says, is traveling. She’s been to twenty-five countries and has lived abroad twice.
Source:
Author website
Author Interview: Book Jems
Also by Heather Demetrios:
Blood Passage (Dark Caravan Cycle, Book 2). Balzer + Bray. March 2016.
Something Real. Henry Holt & Company (BYR). 2014.
Exquisite Captive (Dark Caravan Cycle, Book 1). Balzer + Bray. 2014.
read more!
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation, Junior, a budding cartoonist, is determined to take his future into his own hands. He leaves his troubled school on the reservation to attend an all-white high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
Darius & Twig by Walter Dean Myers
Darius loves to write; he hopes to someday get his creative fiction published. Twig is almost a polar opposite, with stellar grades and athletic ability in middle-distance running that is already getting him college scholarship offers. These two are best friends, and as their high school careers are coming to an end they face tough decisions together.
Something Real by Heather Demetrios
Life on reality TV is familiar to Bonnie. She and her twelve siblings starred on Baker’s Dozen, until it was canceled. Bonnie has been trying to live a normal life. When her mother and the show’s producer decide to bring the show back, Bonnie isn’t permitted to quit, and her new real friends and a maybe-boyfriend could be lost. Her goal is now to make her life her own no matter what it takes.