Interview: Miranda Kenneally +Things I Can't Forget

Today I'm thrilled to welcome young adult author Miranda Kenneally to the blog to answer a few questions about her newest release, Things I Can't Forget. I have absolutely adored all the books in this fabulous contemporary series, and I highly recommend it to any reader who loves very character-driven stories. Thanks so much for stopping by Miranda!

This series focuses on a variety of different sports including football, softball and horse racing. What's one sport you'd love to work into a future novel just so you can learn more about it?

Curling. Pushing a big piece of steaming metal across the ice with a broom sounds fun! For real though - I would probably want to write about lacrosse, because I have no idea what goes on in that sport. I never even knew it existed until I moved to DC when I was 18.

If you were to sit down with Kate for a promotional interview, what's the first thing you'd ask her? What might she ask you?

If we're talking Kate at the beginning of THINGS I CAN'T FORGET:

I'd ask Kate why she didn't get the guts to ask out Will Whitfield until senior prom, when it was too late for her. Kate would ask me why I haven't been to church in 12 years!

If we're talking the end of the book:

I'd ask Kate if she's going to try out for intramural soccer in college, now that she can run well again. Kate would probably invite me to come back to church with her. And I would consider it, because she asked.

Let's say in a few months you're going to be a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp along with Kate. What camp activities have you most and least excited?

Most excited - Swimming, hiking, singing, and making smores.

Least excited - Cooking over a campfire. It's hard to build a fire with wet logs! Also, I am terrified of spiders, so I would not look forward to using a bathhouse where spiders may have nested.

If you could spend five minutes with pre-Catching Jordan Miranda, what would you most like to tell her about the journey she's about to embark on?

I'd tell her not to spend so much time obsessing over whether or not her books are going to fail and to just keep writing the best books she can, because if the books are good, they will sell. I'd also say don't put too much stock in one bad review, but look at the individual lives you influence. If you help just one reader, it's all been worth it.

What's one thing you learned about Kate while writing Things I Can't Forget that you didn't know about her from just your outline or notes?

So many things. I didn't know she was a soccer player in high school. I also didn't know she was a daddy's girl. And I didn't know she liked green beans so much!

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MIRANDA KENNEALLY

Miranda Kenneally is the author of CATCHING JORDAN, STEALING PARKER, THINGS I CAN'T FORGET (March 2013), and RACING SAVANNAH (December 2013). Miranda is the co-creator of Dear Teen Me. The Dear Teen Me Anthology was published on October 31, 2012. She enjoys reading and writing young adult literature, and loves Star Trek, music, sports, Mexican food, Twitter, coffee, and her husband. Miranda is represented by Sara Megibow at Nelson Literary Agency.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

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THINGS I CAN'T FORGET

Some Rules Were Meant To Be Broken.

Kate Kelly has always been labeled the good girl. Too good, according to some people at school—although they have no idea the guilty secret she carries. Kate turned her back on everything she’s been taught to help her best friend Emily, who accidentally got pregnant. And the guilt over her decision is weighing on her. This summer, she’s a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp, and she wants to put the past behind her. Unexpectedly, she runs into Matt – the first guy she ever kissed, and he’s gone from a geeky songwriter who loved The Hardy Boys to a buff lifeguard who loves to flirt – with her. He’s inspiring feelings in her that make her question everything she’s been taught about the world – and help her understand what Emily experienced. Kate used to think the world was black and white, right and wrong. Turns out, life isn’t that easy.

Home Run Blog Tour: Review of Stealing Parker

STEALING PARKER
(Catching Jordan #2)
Miranda Kenneally
Contemporary Young Adult
256 pages
Sourcebooks Fire
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Parker Shelton pretty much has the perfect life. She’s on her way to becoming valedictorian at Hundred Oaks High, she’s made the all-star softball team, and she has plenty of friends. Then her mother’s scandal rocks their small town and suddenly no one will talk to her.

Now Parker wants a new life.

So she quits softball. Drops twenty pounds. And she figures why kiss one guy when she can kiss three? Or four. Why limit herself to high school boys when the majorly cute new baseball coach seems especially flirty?

But how far is too far before she loses herself completely?

MY THOUGHTS
Ms. Kenneally initially impressed with Catching Jordan, showing a unique proficiency for wrapping up an emotional story in a deceptively simple package, and she continues to illustrate that gift in Stealing Parker. What could have been a cute and fun coming-of-age story with an adorable (and at times naïve) teenage heroine turns into a captivating tale that touches on a wide variety of issues to wring from us every drop of varied emotion we possess. While not entirely religious in nature, there is a stronger undercurrent of faith and God than was seen in Catching Jordan, but Ms. Kenneally manages to feature Parker’s struggles with her Christianity somewhat prominently without tossing it in our faces. Though some may balk at the portrayal of those who tend Parker’s church, the beautifully tense and infinitely layered relationships between Parker and a myriad of hugely appealing secondary characters are highlights, drawing us in even when certain elements may throw up a red flag.

Parker is an endearing young woman, someone we can see is battling with herself and those around her after her mother’s very public departure from her life after admitting she was gay to her family and friends. Those who claim to be Parker’s friends – as well as the church community that seems to hide behind the word “Christian” as though being labeled as such automatically makes them good people – abandon her, her brother, and her father, casting them out and rescinding their precious stamps of approval to leave them in emotional tatters. Parker then has our automatic support, our desire to stand at her back and bolster her against a torrent of ignorance and hate for something completely out of her control strong from page one, and while we often want to shake her for her sometimes willing blindness to how her actions affect her and those around her, our connection to her never wavers in its strength.

One of the most appealing aspects of this story is the growth we see in Parker in such a short number of pages, going from a confused, hurt, and somewhat oblivious girl to a still confused young woman, but one who has her eyes and heart open far wider than when she started. She makes a myriad of mistakes, allowing the opinions of others to drive her actions rather than acting for herself, but while the actions themselves are those of girl lacking a bit in maturity, her handling of the repercussions of her decisions is that of someone far older. She accepts the pain she causes and does her best to remedy it, never whining or breaking down even when we are tempted to drop to our knees in dejection on her behalf. She recognizes and owns her poor judgment when it boldly confronts her, learning from the experience and leaving us with the knowledge that she’ll be more self-aware moving forward.

As with Catching Jordan, the romance takes a more meandering route to get to its final destination, delighting us with tension while also sometimes cruelly playing with our fragile hearts to keep us coiled tight the entire time we’re reading. Ms. Kenneally is quickly becoming a favorite contemporary young adult author, and I am more than eagerly anticipating what romantic roller coaster she’ll take me on next.

Rating: 4/5

Don't forget that Miranda is a part of Get Real: Contemps on Tour with fellow YA authors Janet Gurtler and Lisa and Laura Roecker, so be sure and check the full schedule HERE to see if they're stopping in a city near you!

Character Interview + Giveaway: Mike Woods and Catching Jordan

Today I'm hugely excited to welcome Jordan's brother, Mike Woods, to the blog as part of the promotional tour through Teen Book Scene. Mike was nice enough to answer a few questions for me about growing up with Jordan as well as playing football, and it's possible I unintentionally got him to share a bit of personal information as well (go me!). If you have yet to read Catching Jordan, I hope you make time in the near future as it was one of my favorite books of the year (you can read my full review here)!

If you could sit your dad down and talk to him about Jordan knowing he would actually listen to you, what would you most like to say?

She’s as strong as me and has just as much heart. Jordan and I aren’t that different.

What was the very first thing to come out of the mouth of Jake Reynolds when you introduced him to Jordan?

“I know you’re from Tennessee because you’re the only ten I see.” And yes, then I punched Jake in the face. But that’s par for the course with Jake. People are always slapping him.

*Jenny falls down dead laughing* I think I love Jake a little bit ;-)

Do you have a favorite family football moment between you and Jordan, or between you, your dad, and Jordan?

One year when I was nine and Jordan was six, when Dad was still playing for the Cowboys, his team didn’t make it to the Super Bowl and he decided to stay home with us and watch it in front of the TV. Our TV was tiny then, only like 32 inches, and Dad kept complaining about how small the screen was and maybe we should’ve gone to the game in Los Angeles, and Mom kept smacking his hand and telling him to shush. During the halftime show, there was a performance by Bon Jovi that was also broadcast in 3D. Mom had picked up the special 3D glasses for us at the grocery store, and we all put them on, even Dad. He looked damned ridiculous. And Jordan and I laughed and made fun of him for hours and he kept wrestling us to the floor. Yes, he was still wearing those 3D glasses when he put me in the headlock.

You excel at talking to people and chatting them up. Who would you say you’ve had the most fun schmoozing in recent history?

Most people only think of me as the quarterback of the Tennessee Vols. Sometimes I wonder if people even know I have a life beyond football. I’m majoring in business (bet you didn’t know that!), and well, at the beginning of the school year, the university had the gall to put me in an 8:00 a.m. class. I just don’t do 8:00 a.m. And that means I certainly don’t do class at 8:00 a.m. I’m not like my sister, Jordan – she’s a morning person. So I was desperate to get out of this class (International Econ), so I went to see my advisor. I had never been to see her before, as the school had never made such an egregious error with my schedule. Turns out my advisor, Jackie, is insanely attractive, and she was having none of my “8:00 a.m. and I just don’t get along!” talk. I told her that I needed my beauty sleep. She just stared at me and crossed her mile-long legs and my heart flew up into my throat. After twenty minutes of me pleading, Jackie yawned and told me to grow up and get out of bed like everyone else. Needless to say, my schmoozing didn’t work and I’m reminded of that three times a week at 8:00 a.m. during International Econ.

I am going to ask Jackie on a date as soon as I get the nerve. Would I get in trouble for dating my college advisor? I should ask Dad’s lawyer.

Do you still worry about whether or not people will compare your football career to your dad’s or have you been playing long enough that you no longer feel you’re in his shadow?

I worry about that every day. Every time I fumble or throw an interception. But regardless, I love the game, and that’s what matters, not me trying to live up to something I could never compete with. Besides, if I don’t make it in the NFL, I’ll try to buy a franchise one day. (As soon as I save up the money and have the credit to get the loans.)

How much do we love Mike? I believe there are two scheduled companion novels for Catching Jordan scheduled for 2012 and 2013 (cannot wait!), so you can find more information on those, Miranda, and Catching Jordan here:

Website
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GIVEAWAY

Kari over at A Good Addiction is hosting a giveaway for a very cool marked up, one of a kind copy of Catching Jordan with additional entries for all of you who are following the tour. You can find the form and all the information including a list of the tour stops HERE. Commenting on this post will grant you one extra entry.

CATCHING JORDAN

What girl doesn't want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn't just surrounded by hot guys, though - she leads them as the captain and quarterback on her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys, and that's just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university. But now there's a new guy in town who threatens her starring position on the team... and has her suddenly wishing to be seen as more than just a teammate.

Review: Catching Jordan

CATCHING JORDAN
Miranda Kenneally
Contemporary Young Adult
288 pages
Sourcebooks Fire
Available Now
Received through Teen Book Scene
for review

THE STORY
Jordan's following in the the footsteps of her dad and older brother by leading her high school football team as captain and quarterback. She can't imagine doing anything else with her life and wants nothing more to play college football. Despite her father's adamant refusal to acknowledge how good Jordan really is, her senior year is looking pretty promising.

Until Ty arrives. Handsome, athletic, danger-to-her-position-as-quarterback Ty. Jordan has always been one of the guys, best friends with receiver Sam Henry since they were little and close friends with the rest of her teammates, but with the arrival of Ty Jordan starts to want to be seen less as their captain and more as a young woman.

Little does Jordan know that Ty's presence in her life will affect far more than her hormones, and as the year progresses everything around her begins to change. At home. On the field. With her friends. But her love of football remains unwavering, and in the face of romantic and family drama, it may be the one thing that will help her traverse it all.

MY THOUGHTS
Catching Jordan is a book that by all appearances seems as though it will hold few surprises; one that will be cute and enjoyable but fairly predictable, and one that’s sure to be entertaining without being emotionally taxing. Ms. Kenneally proves to us, however, just how misleading appearances can be, presenting us with a character rich story and a realistic portrayal of high school life that has us heart-deep in complicated relationships before we even have a chance to realize we’ve dipped a toe in the water. What could have been a simple story about a tomboy falling for the handsome new guy and discovering a different side of herself is in fact something far more interesting—a thorough examination of the ever-changing connections between friends and teammates as well as parents and children when wants, needs, and dreams begin to alter the landscape of the future for all those involved.

Upon first meeting Jordan, we wonder if we’ll be able to relate to a young woman whose entire life focuses on a single sport to the exclusion of all else, but her quirky sense of humor in addition to her love of the game of football and her teammates quickly has us throwing our full support behind her. We can’t help but read with a little smirk on our faces as the seemingly unflappable quarterback starts to unravel a bit in Ty's presence, the insecurities that a creep up endearing her to us for their ability to make her seem so very real. While Ty rattles her a bit, he never succeeds in reducing her to a young woman we don’t recognize, instead she maintains the same attitude we've appreciated all along but also begins to expand her tunnel vision with regard to football so it includes a few of the other things that make life worth living.

Perhaps the most unexpected aspect is the depth of feeling this story evokes, the new addition of Ty to both the school and the team creating a quiet rumble that steadily grows in strength until it threatens to crumble the very foundations of Jordan’s carefully constructed world. This tale could have consisted of several descriptive instances of doe eyes and casual brushes of various body parts, but it refuses to stay that superficial, instead plunging far beneath the surface to show us a young woman’s world thrown into emotional chaos as love and friendship are found in places she never previously thought to look. The resulting tension from the multitude of changes happening in rapid succession is something we feel with every inch of our being, and we find ourselves tangled in a spectacularly beautiful web of knots we're in no hurry to unwind.

Jordan’s family is another highlight of this tale, their conflicts with one another as intense as the drama caused by the handsome catalyst that is Ty, and their interactions like a shovel that digs the story ever-deeper, making it all the more intriguing for the new ground we gain. Sex is a prevalent topic, and while both Jordan and the other characters are a touch cavalier in their thoughts and actions, it's not emphasized so strongly as to detract from the rest of the story. Overall, Catching Jordan is a book easily devoured in one sitting and one that is far more satisfying than we initially expected, making it a truly pleasant surprise that lingers in our memories when we were previously convinced it would only be a passing fancy.

Rating: 4.5/5