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Yeah, so....welcome to the blog of Judith Tewes, young adult contemporary fiction author. Here be edgy stories with a side of snark.

Heartbreakers Blog Tour: Day 4


Swoon-worthy kisses, sizzling romances, and epic tales of heartbreak. Welcome to the Heartbreakers Blog Tour. 


Here you'll be introduced to some of the brightest and best young adult / new adult authors around, as well as snag sneak peeks at upcoming titles guaranteed to get your emotions running high and your heart racing. 


And don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter GIVEAWAY at the end of this post for chances to win a FREE Kindle, loaded with titles from our participating authors. Who can resist a HEARTBREAKER?

DAY FOUR: B.A. BINNS and DENISE JADEN


B.A. Binns is the author of Minority of One:


Neill Mallory: Young. Black. Gay. A young man who's future has been set in stone by a loving family, whether he likes it or not.
Sheila Galliano: Young. White. Former poor little rich girl, now just poor. Facing an unknown future with a mother she barely knows.
Invisible ties bind these two together, ropes that tighten when Neill's brother is arrested for the murder of Sheila's mother. These two outliers have to work together to uncover the truth and make futures of their own while they uncover the past they share.



B. A. Binns writes to attract and inspire young readers with stories of “Real Boys Growing Into Real Men…and the people who love them.” Ms. Binns finds writing a major exercise in self-discipline, and the perfect follow-up to her life as an adoptive parent and cancer survivor. She has written three contemporary multicultural Young Adult books: Pull (2010), Being God (2013), and Minority of One (2014). In 2010 she was a finalist in the RWA Golden Heart® contest. Her work was named to YALSA’s 2012 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers, won a 2010 National Readers Choice Award, and has been nominated for the 2012-2013 Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award, and the 2013 Cybils award.  



1. Heartbreak can come in many forms: a messy breakup, a disappointing setback, death of a loved one, or a broken friendship. Has writing ever had a hand in helping you deal with a wounded heart?



Not my writing. I actually tried something like a memoir once, but it was so painful. 

2. Top 5 films about heartbreak? 


Titanic – 1997 – This is the movie that got me through the death of my sister. I don’t know what there is about me that found comfort in watching hundreds of people die, but I would walk into the movie for the sinking scene, and then leave. For whatever reason, that helped.
Harold and Maude – 1971 – I know, its suicide more than breakup, but this movie still resonates with me.
Brokeback Mountain – 2005 (I think this is one of the saddest love stories I ever saw.)
Ghost – 1990
West Side Story – 1961

Top 5 songs about heartbreak?

Curse you, I literally had to winnow through dozens of songs. In the end picking only five was impossible, especially since there are two different kinds of heartbreak, the pain of breakup and about recovery.

First – songs about the pain

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry by Hank Williams (Did you ever see a robin weep When leaves begin to die? Like me, he's lost the will to live, I'm so lonesome I could cry)
Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers (I’ve hungered for your touch the long, lonely time)
Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack (He was strumming my pain with his fingers, singing my life with his words)
The Tracks of My Tears by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (Outside I'm masquerading, Inside my hope is fading)
Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton (Time can bring you down, Time can bend your knees. Time can break your heart, Have you begging please)

I actually prefer the other kind of heartbreak song, the kind that says I am so over you, I will not let the loss bring me down.  These are the songs that keep me going.

I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor (I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong and I grew strong)
What Goes Around Comes Around by Justin Timberlake (In time you will find, What goes around, Comes all the way back around)
Irreplaceable by Beyonce (I will have another you by tomorrow)
Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’ by Journey (Now it's your turn to cry, Na na na na na na)
We Just Disagree – Dave Mason (Let's leave it alone, 'Cause we can't see eye to eye)

I credit Gloria Gaynor with getting me over my first really bad breakup. I have lived the Justin Timberlake song, and someday I have got to write a story based on Irreplaceable, because no man is, yeah!!

Thanks so much for joining us on the tour! Want more? Of course you do! Check out her website / Twitter / Facebook

____

Denise Jaden is the author of Never Enough:


Loann’s always wanted to be popular and pretty like her sister, Claire. So when Claire’s ex-boyfriend starts flirting with her, Loann is willing to do whatever it takes to feel special…even if that means betraying her sister.

But as Loann slips inside Claire’s world, she discovers that everything is not as it seems. Claire’s quest for perfection is all-consuming, and comes at a dangerous price. As Claire increasingly withdraws from friends and family, Loann struggles to understand her and make amends. Can she heal their relationship—and her sister—before it’s too late?

Denise Jaden's writing has appeared in Mississippi Crow Magazine (Spring, 2008), The Greensilk Journal (Fall 2007 - where her story, LOCKED AWAY, won an Editor's Choice Award),and The Tidepool Fiction Ezine. Her novels from Simon & Schuster have received various awards through Romance Writers of America, INSPY, and SCBWI. The first draft of her debut novel, LOSING FAITH, was written in 21 days during NaNoWriMo 2007. Her second book NEVER ENOUGH, took about eight years longer. Her first non-fiction book, WRITING WITH A HEAVY HEART: Using Grief and Loss to Stretch Your Fiction, was out in October, 2012. Her second non-fiction book for writers, FAST FICTION will be out in March, 2014 from New World Library. She lives just outside Vancouver, Canada with her husband, Ted, and their nine-year-old son, who she homeschools (and who writes during NaNo each year), Teddy.


1. Heartbreak can come in many forms: a messy breakup, a disappointing setback, death of a loved one, or a broken friendship. Has writing ever had a hand in helping you deal with a wounded heart?    


When my dad passed away in 2011, writing was a necessary escape for me. During that time, I probably wrote the most romantic novel I’ve written to date (it’s not out yet, but it’s called FOREIGN EXCHANGE). When I sat down to write each day I felt as though the characters took me into their world for an hour or two and let me rest from the heartache of my own life. 

2. Top 5 songs about heartbreak? Top 5 films?      


Songs:
Thanks for Nothing by Fefe Dobson
Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar
Here I Go Again on My Own by Whitesnake
Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Push by Avril Lavigne

Films:
When Harry Met Sally
Love Actually
My Girl
With Honors
Man on Fire

Thanks so much for joining us on the tour Denise! Want more? Of course you do! Check out her website / Twitter / BlogFacebook.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

3 comments:

  1. Denise Jaden said...:

    Thanks so much for hosting us, Judith! Boy was it hard to come up with those films and songs, but it's so fun seeing everyone else's choices!

  1. Lynn Lovegreen said...:

    Great posts, Denise and B. A.! I have read Minority of One by B. A Binns, and it's an awesome book!!!!

  1. B. A. Binns said...:

    Lynn, thank you so much for loving my book.

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