Once upon a time, Paula Stokes emailed me and asked for some info about living in SoCal for a book she was working on. Of course I shared my love for California burritos, some touristy-landmark type places, and maybe a few popular clothing trends. Flash forward a few months later and she offered the book for me to read for authenticity.
I ended up devouring the book and looooooving it. The story is amazing, the characters are people I want to hang out with {hello guitar playing therapist with tattoos that may have been created just for me}, and it’s definitely going to be one of my top books of 2015.
Today I get to introduce you to one of the characters. Before you meet Dr. Leed {AKA Dr. Hottie}, let’s check out Paula’s new book!
Maguire is bad luck.
No matter how many charms she buys off the internet or good luck rituals she performs each morning, horrible things happen when Maguire is around. Like that time the rollercoaster jumped off its tracks. Or the time the house next door caught on fire. Or that time her brother, father, and uncle were all killed in a car crash—and Maguire walked away with barely a scratch.
It’s safest for Maguire to hide out in her room, where she can cause less damage and avoid meeting new people who she could hurt. But then she meets Jordy, an aspiring tennis star. Jordy is confident, talented, and lucky, and he’s convinced he can help Maguire break her unlucky streak. Maguire knows that the best thing she can do for Jordy is to stay away. But it turns out staying away is harder than she thought.
From author Paula Stokes comes a funny and poignant novel about accepting the past, embracing the future, and learning to make your own luck.
Sounds good, right?
And now, here’s Paula!
Paula: Dr. Leed, Maguire’s therapist, was actually added during the revision process as my editor and I deepened the mental illness focus of the story. It’s tricky to write therapy sessions because they can feel didactic or remove the reader from the action of the story. To combat that, I front-loaded a few of the sessions as a sort of prologue and also strived to make Dr. Leed an interesting character who even gets a bit of a story arc for himself. Also, he’s basically a grownup book boyfriend ;) Here’s more info on Dr. Leed:
Name: Daniel Leed, PhD
Age: 33
School: Undergrad at UCLA, grad school at Berkeley
Family: Both of my parents live in the Bay Area
Hobbies: listening to music, reading, snowboarding, cooking
Here’s Maguire’s initial impression of Dr. Leed:
“I don’t want to talk about that.” I raise my head just long enough to meet Dr. Leed’s eyes. They’re a warm brown, obscured partially by the navy blue glasses he wears. He runs one of his pinkies along his bottom lip. His nail beds look a little gray, like maybe he sported some black nail polish recently. I swear everybody in Southern California has a secret second life. Housewives are aspiring actresses. Busboys are screenwriters. Shrinks are rock stars. Nobody is okay with only being one person. I get tired just thinking about it.
I lean back in my chair and try to envision Dr. Leed as a punk rocker. It’s not too much of a stretch. He’s got dark brown hair that’s a little long for a medical professional, and I can see the outlines of forearm tattoos through the thin fabric of his long-sleeved shirt.
“What do you want to talk about?” he asks.
“Nothing.” I scrape the toes of my sandals back and forth across the patterned carpet. It’s black with overlapping white circles, but if you squint a little, the circles almost look like skulls.
“Okay,” he says. “I can’t make you talk.” He taps some more notes into his computer.
I watch the movement of his fingers, trying to guess what he’s writing, but he’s too fast. “What are you saying about me?”
“What makes you think I’m saying anything about you?” He gives me a half-smile. “Maybe I’m just emailing my girlfriend.”
I return his half-smile with a quarter-smile, more than a lot of people get. I decide I don’t completely hate him after all.
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Paula Stokes writes stories about flawed characters with good hearts who sometimes make bad decisions. She’s the author of several YA novels, most recently Liars, Inc. and The Art of Lainey. Her writing has been translated into eleven foreign languages.
Paula loves kayaking, hiking, reading, and seeking out new adventures in faraway land.
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Huge thanks to Paula for spoiling me rotten and sharing this awesomeness. Make sure you’re checking out her website, following her on Twitter and Instagram, liking her Facebook page, and adding all of her books to your Goodreads TBR shelf.
And be sure to read about the other characters at Forever 17 Books, In Love with Handmade and Bookiemoji.
Now. Are you super excited to get your greedy hands on a copy of Girl Against the Universe? Paula is so nicely offering an arc up, so go forth and enter!
**Good Luck!!**
I have to seriously thank you for Dr Leeds Stacee! A proper awesome book boyfriend I don’t have to age in my head!! ;)
Also… I NEED TO TRY THE CALIFORNIA BURRITOS!!
Love the cover and the book sounds amazing!
I’m writing a book w/a therapist in it, so this really got me thinking. Love the interview!
The color of the cover is catchy. This sounds very interesting. I haven’t read any Paula Stokes book (though I’ve been eyeing The Art of Lainey for a very long time now), but they all sound good. I should bump it up on my reading list.
The cover is perfection. I can’t even pinpoint why I love it, it just feels right. I also think I’ll be claiming this therapist as a new book boyfriend.
They’ve thought out this cover so well! I love how there are tennis balls everywhere, but they look casually placed and it’s not too much. I also love how the girl steals all the attention, even though she is just in a corner and doens’t even take that much space. The title is really ‘in your face’ in a good way! All those little elements make for a great cover! I bow for the creators of this cover, so well done!
The “secret second life” line about Dr. Leeds is really intriguing!
I’m usually wary of therapists in books but, Dr. Leeds seems like a really interesting character!
Okay so I take back when I said I think Jordy would be one of my book boyfriends. I want Dr. Hottie! I usually don’t care about the therapists in a book but Dr. Leed sounds very interesting, I think he’ll be my favorite therapist!
I need this book now! I seriously can’t wait!
The description of the book is very interesting and i definitely want to read it. Girl with bad luck who tries to do everything to prevent it is naturally a win for me :D
I. Am. Swooning! Maguire can take Jordy…. I want Mr. Hottie for myself! I know I shouldn’t JUST base myself on looks but *fans self* Dr. Leed sounds pretty much like Adam Levine. Paula always seems to write amazing characters <3
Okay, maybe Dr. Leed should be my book boyfriend (a bit more age appropriate than Jordy). I like the concealed tattoos and the possibility that he has worn black nail polish. It definitely makes him more appealing and easier to relate to. I love that “everybody in Southern California has a secret second life” as well.
Oh my, Dr Hottie definitely sounds like a character that I want to learn more about! A tattooed and long-haired doctor sounds exactly like my sort of person. I love that there is going to be a focus on mental health in this book. I am SO eager to pic it up!
Lol I love the title of this post ;) Dr. Leed sounds like fun! He’s not the strict type of therapist which I think is awesome. I’m sure he’s going to be added to everyone’s book boyfriend list ;)
Therapist with tattoos, yes please. Might even become more of a book boyfriend than Micah ;) But seriously excited to read a book with all of this!
I’m curious to find out the cause of those gray nail beds. It does say he’s interested in music… Hmm. Can’t wait to read it!
YESSSSS a therapist who isn’t mean, and has quite a sense of humor. ;) I can’t wait till I get to read this book, I bet his conversations will be the best :D
Awww I like him! He seems cute and fun! This book just sounds better and better the more I hear about it! So excited!!!
Lauren G.
I didn’t think I would ever like reading about a therapist as a main character until I read PAPERWEIGHT, but now that I am interested in therapists as more than side characters, I hope that Paula does an amazing job with Maguire’s therapist :)
Being from LA, that line about a bunch of people having a second life is definitely amusing! :) Doctor Hottie, lol. He seems like an awesome character, and definitely a unique therapist.
Awesome book cover and I really liked the blurb, also can’t wait to meet Dr. Hottie personally :D
Thanks for all the comments, lovely people :) And Staceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I love your pretty new blog design :D
THANK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU
<3 <3
A grownup book boyfriend? SIGN ME UP.