I first noticed the cover for Lost Stars by Lisa Selin Davis and was immediately sucked in. I was intrigued by the premise and really enjoyed the book. So when I got the invite to be part of the blog tour, I couldn’t sign up fast enough.
Before we get to Lisa’s interview, let’s check out the book!
Title: LOST STARS
Author: Lisa Selin Davis
Release Date: October 4, 2016
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Pages: 288
Get it: Indiebound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | GoodreadsBefore her older sister, Ginny, died, Carrie was a science nerd, obsessively tracking her beloved Vira comet. But now that Ginny is gone, sixteen-year-old Carrie finds herself within the orbit of Ginny’s friends, a close-knit group of seniors who skip school, obsess over bands (not science), and party hard.
Fed up with Carrie’s behavior, her father enrolls her in a summer work camp at a local state park. Carrie actually likes the days spent in nature. And when she meets Dean, a guy who likes the real Carrie—astrophysics obsessions and all—she starts to get to the heart of who she is and who she wants to be.
Sounds good, right?
1. Please give the elevator pitch for Lost Stars.
Astrophysics, post-punk music, construction work and true love.
Or this: Carrie, a sixteen-year-old girl still reeling from her older sister’s death, has forsaken her former nerdom to take her sister’s place among her hard-partying friends. Carrie has been waiting all her life for two things: a boyfriend, and to see the Vira comet, which only comes by every 93 years. But the summer of the comet’s arrival, she’s in so much trouble that her father makes her sign up for a junior construction job at the state park, which could interfere with both—who could love a girl in a hard hat and work boots? Meanwhile Carrie is so angry and distraught, and so misbehaved, that her father has taken away her telescope. But when Carrie meets the new boy next door, and is reunited with her former best friend at the construction job, she remembers what she cares about and who she really is, and discovers that she can be loved despite, or even because of, what shames her most.
2. Where did the idea come from?
I didn’t set out to write a young adult novel. A friend of mine had done the storytelling contest called The Moth, and I was inspired to try it myself—it was something I’d always wanted to do. The theme was Dirt, and for a long time I didn’t think I had any stories about dirt. Then I remembered the summer I was sixteen, when I had this youth construction job at the state park. I had to ride my bike around town with a hard hat affixed to the back, wearing work boots, with dirt under my nails, because my father would only let me stay with him if I did this job (I was not a well-behaved teenager). And it turned out that a boy I’d had a quiet crush on for years finally noticed me because of that hard hat and those work boots! I then turned the story into an essay for The New York Times’ Modern Love column. And from there, Lost Stars was born, only the girl in this story is far smarter, cooler and more talented than I am.
3. Why do you love Carrie and why should we root for her?
I love her because she’s funny and smart, and because she’s both so smart and so stupid; how can someone be able to calculate the trajectory of a comet but not figure out that her best friend feels dissed? She is this combination of tainted and innocent: She’s never had a cup of coffee but has drank more than her weight in beer. She has allowed herself to be fondled on a football field but has rarely actually kissed a boy, and certainly has never kissed one that she liked. She was essentially yanked out of adolescence and placed into young adulthood too quickly, and she is bewildered and hopeful and angry all at once, a girl in an emotional maze, trying to work her way out.
4. What was the weirdest thing you googled while researching?
At one point I decided I wanted Carrie’s mom to have a magnet on her fridge from the funeral home that handled Carrie’s sister’s funeral, but I thought maybe that was too outlandish. So I googled “funeral home magnets.” And, yes, I got plenty of hits. That’s apparently a thing. Also: slang words of the 80s. Ways to cut up t-shirts, 80s-style. Most important events of the 1980s. How black holes work. Poisonous plants. And so many others—a googling bonanza.
5. Were there any scenes that had to be cut that you wish could have stayed?
I can’t remember what was cut, but originally I had started the book off with what is now the second scene: Carrie screaming at her father, slamming the door, lighting a joint, putting the Pixies on the turntable. Just, open the page and wham—conflict! Several people felt that was too jarring, and suggested I put in a prologue. So I took a scene from later in the book—not the climax, but the point at which things begin to change in a more profound way—and repackaged it for the beginning.
Speed [ish] round:
1. You get the call/email/letter that says you’re being published for the first time. Describe the next 5 minutes.
Screeching, clapping like a seal, texting my husband and my best friend, writing something about it on Facebook, then going back to my seat at work and quietly leaning over to a colleague and saying “I just sold my book!”
2. What three things would you take to a desert island?
A guitar. A cat or dog that magically has immortality, so that no matter what it’s always hanging out with me on the desert island. A crate-load of books!
3. You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?
Alice Munro’s book of short stories, Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You.
4. Who is your favorite book boyfriend and book BFF?
I love Theodore Finch in All the Bright Places, even though he doesn’t get to be her boyfriend in the end (Oops, spoiler?). I love Elise’s friends in This Song Will Save Your Life—there are complications, jealousies, but ultimately they lead her into a new world where she’s accepted, and accepts herself.
5. What is the one thing about publishing you wish someone would have told you?
That just because it gets published doesn’t mean everyone in the world will think it’s good and that thousands of people will immediately buy it, and then for the rest of your life you won’t have to do anything but write more books. Although there’s still time for that to happen!
6. You wake up and discover you are Bella in Twilight. You know how it plays out. What do you do differently? {Huge thanks to Bookish Broads for letting me use this question}
Realize that I can in fact live without the love of the world’s most captivating non-human boyfriend and discover that warm-blooded creatures actually make better mates.
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I’m super crazy excited to have my first YA novel, Lost Stars, come out in October 2016. I also have a novel for grownups called Belly, published by Little, Brown a few years ago. For the last 12 years or so, I’ve paid my rent by writing articles for The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal and a zillion other publications.
Before that I worked in film and TV, doing props and other art department jobs, including a four-year stint making props for Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues. I live in Brooklyn (but, hey, I moved here before it was cool) with my hubby, two kiddos and our kitty.
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Huge thanks to Rockstar Book Tours for the invite and to Lisa for taking the time. Make sure you’re checking out Lisa’s website, following her on Twitter, liking her Facebook page, and adding her books to your Goodreads TBR.
Definitely check out the rest of the tour for extra goodies and keep scrolling for a giveaway!
**Good Luck!!**
Lovely post Stacee :D Thank you for sharing about this book. <3 I haven't heard about it before, but it looks SO PRETTY. Now I'm curious about it :) Hugs.