Happy Release Day, FIRELIGHT...And A Celebratory Giveaway!!!

You know it. I know it. Today's the day FIRELIGHT by Sophie Jordan hits stores!

And to celebrate, I have not one, but two fabulous surprises...

First, a guest post by the author herself. And, second, I'm giving away a gorgeous ARC of FIRELIGHT!!!

So, let's just get to it. Here she is, Sophie Jordan (talking about romance in YA...hurray!):


When Kimberly Derting asked if I wanted to blog at her site, I went into total fan girl mode. You see, I luuuuuved The Body Finder. It just hit all the right notes for me. Suspense. Mystery. Adventure. Romance. Um, romance … Truly it’s one of the best young adult novels I’ve ever read . And one of the yummiest romances I’ve read, too. To honor that, I thought it only made sense to talk about the subject of romance in YA.

While not a requisite, romance and YA … well, it’s like peanut butter and jelly. They just go together. And there’s a reason for this. What teenager isn’t worked up over someone at least some of the time … er, if not all the time? It’s almost unnatural to not have those feelings at some stage of life -- but when you’re a teenager? C’mon. It’s as natural as breathing. And this is what I hoped I captured in Firelight. The butterflies in your belly, the exquisite torture, the longing ... I don’t feel any of that is melodrama. It’s real. I taught high school. I was in high school not so long ago that I can still remember what it felt like to crush on a guy(s). I think I liked a different guy every few weeks. Um, I might have even liked more than one guy at the same time (gasp). And I was the mature-nose-in-the-book type, too – not at all your wild party girl. Which leads me into …

The love triangle. Yeah. I’m going to talk about it. It’s another natural by-product of adolescence. There can never be an over-abundance of love triangles in young adult novels for me. It just makes the book all the more realistic for me. I much prefer reading about a sixteen-year-old girl conflicted in her feelings for a boy because there’s another tempting boy who happens to be interested in her, too. Seems normal. Seems healthy. I don’t really want to read about a girl so convinced she’s met the love of her life that she excludes the possibility of anyone else. Ugh. I like questions. I like doubts. I like ambiguity. It’s less boring that way. Conflict just gravitates to the love-triangle scenario. And face it, where would a book be without conflict?

In case you have guessed, there is a love triangle in Firelight (and of course a lot of steamy, steamy romance). Well, just a little bit of a triangle. It’s just touched on in the first book, but I’ll go ahead and admit this triangle is explored more in the second book of the Firelight series. To be honest, if you ask me which guy is better for Jacinda – Will or Cassian, I can only say they both have their good points. Neither is perfect, but both are good at the core. We’ll just have to see how the series plays out and who Jacinda picks. Rest assured, the romance will always be there.

So I guess the fated question is this: how do you like your romance “served”? I’m hoping for steamy!

Thanks, Kimberly for having me here!


Now, here's all you have to do to enter:

Just leave a comment here before midnight tomorrow, Wednesday September 8th. That's it! I'll choose one random winner for the copy of FIRELIGHT!

Good luck, everyone.

And happy release day, Sophie!!!