Literary Rock Star Interview with Lindsey Leavitt

Pic and bio from her website

Lindsey Leavitt is a former elementary school teacher and present-day writer/mom to three (mostly) adorable little girls. She is married to her high-school lab partner and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is the author of the PRINCESS FOR HIRE series and SEAN GRISWOLD’S HEAD. 

We're thrilled to have Lindsey Leavitt on Operation Awesome today to answer our questions, especially given her tremendous recent accomplishment of releasing two books within months of each other! Both The Royal Treatment and Sean Griswold's Head are new releases. Without further ado, here's the amazing author's interview:

Katrina: What was the first story you ever remember writing?

Lindsey: THE WINDOW SCENE in 4^th grade. It’s about a girl who dreams about scary stuff out her window, wakes up and that scary stuff is there, and then she dies. The End. I still have it, and often read to classes I visit to prove I have a dark side.

Katrina: I just devoured the first two books in your Princess for Hire series. See my gushing review here. How many books do you have planned for the series? And is a third book in the works? (I know, I’m so impatient, but it’s just getting so good for Desi!)

Lindsey: Thank you! Yep, third book is in the works, out next summer (sorry it’s not sooner. The robots I pay to write only type so fast). The third book will be the final adventure for Desi, but I’d be open to writing from another character’s POV or maybe writing something else set in the world.

Amparo: You've mentioned shelving Princess for Hire's first draft to work on something else because it was too "cute" and not "literary". How did you finally come to terms with your love for writing novels for a younger audience?

Lindsey: The more and more I read in the tween genre, the more I realized how much depth and goodness is hiding in these girly books. A friend of mine, Lisa Schroeder, also once wrote me an email suggesting I think about why a reader would want to read my book, that maybe that girl would want something light and funny to help her get away from reality for a bit (I’ve since received fan mail confirming this!) Seeing the value in writing simply for entertainment really helped me embrace the pinkness of Princess for Hire, and these books have since been a delight to develop.

Amparo: Sean Griswold's Head, in my most humble opinion, sounds amazing.  As both a writer and reader of the genre, what do you think makes contemporary YA awesome?

Lindsey: Strong voice and strong characters. I don’t think these elements are exclusive to YA contemporary, but that’s what draws me in. It’s a broad genre—from the sweet and funny to the gritty and raw—and yet those elements are evident in most great contemporaries. I especially like when there is a mix of funny and angst, like in FLASH BURNOUT by LK Madigan. Also check out a great group I’m a part of, www.thecontemps.com for more fabulous books.

When writing, I love getting to know my characters and making observations from their world view. In SGH, the main character is super-organized, and it was a treat getting into her little neurotic head even though I can’t even organize my own sock drawer (actually, I don’t even have a sock drawer, just a basket of unmatched socks)

Lindsay: How did you approach your research for Sean Griswold's Head as far as understanding the disease (MS) and the family issues surrounding it?

Lindsey: I knew something of MS because my father-in-law was diagnosed when my husband and I were friends in high school. Although my FIL is more open with his kids than Payton’s parents, he doesn’t always communicate how he’s doing, and so it can be hard to know what he’s really going through. So I used that as a base, and also I did lots of research online, mostly through The National MS Society and chat rooms. My husband has also done a few bike rides for MS, so that’s furthered my exposure to the MS community. I’m not an expert, but it’s been really amazing to have readers reach out since the book released and tell me how close or different their own experiences have been.

Katrina: What’s next for you?

Lindsey: I’m working on revisions for the third princess book right now and drafting my next contemporary, AUTHENTICALLY VINTAGE, about a girl who deals with her boyfriend's online cheating by "going vintage"--quitting 21st century technology and accomplishing the goals her grandma once set at age 16. That should be out in 2013, based on how the robots do.

Awesome answers, Lindsey!! Thanks so much for joining us. 

Op Awesome peeps, (if Blogger let's you) shout out to Lindsey in the comments. And if you haven't yet, I highly recommend you read her books. (They also make great gifts to the girl in your life.) 

Happy Friday, everyone! May the Blogger be with you!

WINNER of Princess for Hire and The Royal Treatment ARC is...

Writer Tessa!! 

Congratulations, Tessa! I'll be emailing you to get your shipping addy. I'm excited for you because I LOVED these books.

For those of you who missed my double review, check it out here.

I enjoyed reading your answers to the question, which fiction or real royalty would you be for the day? They were pretty much what I expected (Kate Middleton, Princess Di, and Paris Hilton). This is further proof that, like me, you guys need these books to get a glimpse of royalty outside of Hollywood and England. Amazon princess? Check. Obscure country in Europe? Check. You're going to have so much fun reading these!

For those of you who didn't win, you can read all about them at Goodreads or order them from one of these awesome vendors and wait patiently by your mailbox. :)

The Royal Treatment comes out officially on May 3rd.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and blog/tweeting the giveaway!

Happy reading, everybody!! 


p.s. Linsey Leavitt, the wonderful author of these books, has agreed to an interview with Operation Awesome, so look for that in the near future.

Giveaway + Double Review: Princess for Hire & The Royal Treatment

Check them out on goodreads

Lindsey Leavitt's website

Lindsey Leavitt is a delightful, fun-making genius! I haven't had this much fun since I read Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series. In fact, these two series share a few traits, making it easy for fans of one to pick up the other with confidence.

1) Duplicitous, but exciting careers involving undercover gigs
2) Teen girls capable of extraordinary feats
3) Confusing, twisty romances where nothing is what it seems
4) Realistic family relationships and problems (given the fantastic circumstances)
5) Plenty of awkward teen moments
6) Plenty of reasons to cheer!

Princess for Hire starts off the planned series with a POP. A bubble pop. That's the way Desi's talent agent gets around--in a magical bubble. And the talent Desi didn't know she had? Magic!

What girl doesn't wish she could be princess for a day? Desi signs up for the seemingly glamorous job of substituting for modern day princesses in much need of a vacation. But she really has no idea what she's getting herself into. Through pretending to be somebody else, Desi discovers who she really is--that she's a girl with impact, like Grace Kelly in Casablanca or Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday.

Desi is only thirteen, on the young side for YA, but as the book explains, people with MP (magic potential) tend to be mature for their age. Still, she struggles with bad hair days, armpit sweat circles, and unrequited crushes. She's an every girl. At thirteen, I would've escaped happily into Desi's world and learned a few things about myself right along with Desi. I'm sure girls of all ages will eat up the magical escapism and relate to the real life, day-to-day to which Desi must always inevitably return.

The Royal Treatment continues the series with a fabulous new development! No spoilers here, but I'll just say that it gave me more than one reason to cheer. Only a few months have passed since Princess for Hire and Desi still has her braces on, but she's not the same girl who jumped out of the bathtub, screaming at a rogue bubble. She's learned how to make an impact and she's eager to take her do-gooder-ing to the next level.

I loved Lindsey Leavitt's sometimes bizarre settings, and words like 'technomagical.' The world building is pure delight. Another thing I loved was the characterizations. Desi's best friend, Kylee, is especially multi-dimensional. And I appreciated that Desi never backtracked. That is, the lessons she learned from mistakes in the first book stuck, and she learned from new mistakes in this book. But even though Desi does make mistakes and misjudgments, she is consistently true to herself, which makes her the quintessential Disney princess, even though she isn't a princess at all.

The potential for this character is exciting, and I very much look forward to future installments of the Princess for Hire series. Five stars for both books.

While Princess for Hire is available right now, The Royal Treatment is due out May 3, 2011. So if you haven't read the first one, I recommend buying the first and pre-ordering the second. It's perfect timing to get sucked into Desi Bascomb's technomagical world of princesses and duplicity.

If you'd like to win a copy of Princess for Hire and an advanced reader copy of The Royal Treatment, comment below: which royalty, modern-day or fictional, would you like to be for a day! 

• 1 point for your comment with the answer to the above question.
• 2 points if you're an old follower
• 1 point if you're a new follower
• 1 point if you tweet (with links)
• 5 points if you blog about this contest (with links)

Contest ends April 21, 2011 at 11:59 EST.