Interview with Jennifer Echols

Today I am thrilled to welcome the tremendous author Jennifer Echols! Her latest book, Love Story, was released just last week and although it wasn't a big hit with me, I still am a major, major fan of her earlier novel Going Too Far. So needless to say I was thrilled when Jennifer kindly agreed to answer some questions about Love Story and writing in general.

How would you describe the writing process for Love Story? Were Erin and Hunter fully formed in your head from day one or did their story evolve along the way?

I always write blindly and randomly for about 150 pages, then figure everything out, then write the rest of the book by filling in the blanks, knowing exactly where I’m going.

Love Story is about a girl who wants to become a romance novelist. Did you dream of writing in a particular genre yourself? Which one?

Early on I wanted to be the next Hemingway. I think most English majors are taught to think this way. Also, when I was growing up, my mother had an extremely snobby attitude toward romance novels, as if that was the worst, most damaging thing I could read--even though she was handing me her Mary Stewart books! But at some point I realized that even though I was trying to write more literary fiction, the part of my stories that interested me most was the romance. I decided to concentrate on that. And happily, my mother has lost her snobby attitude, because I have introduced her to Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, and Jennifer Crusie.

Of all the characters you've ever written, which one do you love or connect with the most? The least?

Lori in The Boys Next Door and Endless Summer is the character most like me. I was pretty frustrated with my editor when I started The Boys Next Door because I had gone around and around with her about the idea. So I just wrote exactly what I wanted to, so there. I thought it was funny and I really didn’t care whether anybody else thought so or not. When I sent it to my critique partner to read, she wrote me an e-mail that said, “OH MY GOD YOU HAVE WRITTEN YOURSELF!”

I feel some connection with the bad guys in my stories. As a writer you have to understand where they’re coming from or they won’t be believable. But the villain I have disliked most is Zoey’s father in Forget You. A lot of readers have picked up on this and mentioned it in their reviews. He is cold but scarily familiar.

Recently you announced that you have quit your job as a copyeditor to become a full-time writer (Huzzah! Congrats!). Maybe this is a bit premature, but are you now feeling the pressure to produce even more books or are you just reveling in the absolute freedom of being able to focus on your writing full-time?

Thank you so much! Honestly, I have always written a lot faster than the publishing industry wanted to go. For instance, I wrote Going Too Far in 2005, and it was published in 2009. I wrote Forget You in 2007, and it was published in 2010. My hope is always that I have a contract to write something new, but typically what happens is that I have deadlines and stress and write non-stop for several months, and then it’s all over and I am depressed and write something I’m not sure will ever sell and become convinced that I will never publish a book again. I hope that will not happen on March 1 when I finish writing the last of my books currently under contract, but I’m reasonably sure it will.

Are there any books out there you find yourself recommending over (and over) again? 

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, One Night That Changes Everything by Lauren Barnholdt...and I haven’t yet read Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore, but I’m dying to, and it’s gotten a starred review from Kirkus. It’s coming out a week before Love Story, on July 12.

Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Last fall, I fell extremely hard for Jennifer Echols and her intensely brilliant YA novel Going Too Far. Echols has this knack for beautifully portraying teens trying to figure out relationships while dealing with some pretty weighty family and personal crisis to boot. Naturally, I've been eagerly awaiting the release of her latest YA novel, Forget You, with a heavy dose of giddy anticipation.

Doug and Zoey are not what you'd call the best of friends. Doug has always gone out of his way to torment and be rude Zoey but she hasn't extactly extended the olive branch either. Knowing Doug spent time in Juvie several years ago, Zoey made sure he didn't get a summer job life-guarding at her father's water park with the rest of their swim team.

So when Doug unexpectedly appears at her house acting like her boyfriend, though all he did was rescue her from a car crash the night before, she's more than confused. Especially since Zoey can't remember a single thing about that night before or after the car wreck. All Zoey knows is that she's not Doug's girlfriend because she's dating the handsome - if fickle - football player Brandon. Given their past animosity, Zoey knows she has to figure things out with Doug since he is the only person who knows about her mother's recent nervous breakdown following her father's decision to leave them for his 24 year-old pregnant girlfriend and Zoey really doesn't want that information spread around school. Yet swift as an ocean current, the normally in-control and disciplined Zoey finds her life tearing apart at the seams as her family is one big messed-up tangle, her boyfriend continues to remain suspiciously absent, while another boy, one whom Zoey shouldn't want but can't seem to stay away from either, is fast becoming a constant presence.

Forget You is one of those novels that captures all the breathless joy of a summer romance while doling out its fair share of heartache and hurt at the same time. The premise of the novel itself is incredibly intriguing - a girl who can't stand not being in control, yet who can't remember the details from the one night that significantly changed her life.

As much as I wanted to fall head over heels in love with this story and even though Jennifer Echols has this innate connection to the psyche of the average teen, I never once believed Zoey's assertion that she and Brandon were in fact an item. Zoey's a smart girl, she knew all about Brandon's tendency to wander (he'd told her in detail himself), not to mention that she was basing their entire relationship on one hurried sexual encounter with no discussion about a relationship whatsoever. Yet she persisted in believing that she and Brandon were a couple despite her feelings for Doug. I can see her wanting to hold onto that 'relationship' as a way of anchoring her out-of-control life, yet it just seemed like she was just grasping at straws.

What I can fully understand however is Zoey's inexplicable (to her) attraction to Doug because, boy howdy, is he ever a winner. Whereas Zoey often irritated me, Doug constantly impressed me with his maturity, depth, and willingness to sacrifice. That said, Zoey and Doug as a couple exhibit some real chemistry. I'm just not sure if should be classified as anything deeper or longer-lasting than lust. They are like two magnets, who despite all their best efforts can't but help be drawn to each other. Every encounter leaves both feeling raw and frustrated yet wanting more than ever to spend time together. Fundamentally Forget You is in large part a novel about sex. The consequences of sex, the longing for the opposite sex and how sex itself is viewed differently by different people. How simple yet how complicated sex can be at the same time. All of this information which constitutes Zoey's crash-course on the subject during the first few weeks of her senior year.

Because Everyone Likes a Second Opinion:
The Book Whisperer review
Cleverly Inked review
Gossamer Obsessions review
Lurv a la Mode review
The Story Siren review
Wondrous Reads review

book source: provided by the publisher

Going too Far by Jennifer Echols

Let's start with the classic bad girl meets good boy story and then turn it on its head with characters who totally rock and are so much more than they seem.

Aaaannndddd BEGIN!

On June 7th (graduation night), Meg is getting out of the small Alabama town she was born and raised in with plans to never, ever come back. She only has a couple of months before graduation in which she plans to get into as much trouble as possible without getting caught. That is until she gets caught by Mr. By The Book Officer John After. Her punishment is to ride patrol with Officer After for one week in hopes of seeing the error of her ways and going on to lead a productive life.

What she doesn't count on is the fact that Officer After is young, incredibly handsome and more than a little funny (usually unintentional). While he initially seems pretty one-dimensional in his mission to 'save' Meg, John reveals himself to posses immensely deep waters leaving me wanting more, more, more. And Meg! Blue hair and full of bravado - I love her.

Both have a past chock-full of skeletons and more than a few hangups when it comes to relationships. Meg has been living life fast and hard (for very good reasons), just waiting for the other shoe to drop. All Meg wants is to get out of Dodge and John is content to stay where he is - definite damper for any relationship. Both are feeling the pull to get closer but each is on the defensive and know exactly what buttons to push.

Much as I love Meg's narrative, as a girl, I felt like some key descriptions of Meg's motorcycle-riding status were missing. Even if I had dyed my hair blue and had firmly established myself in bad girl-landia, I'd still want to wax poetic about my biker chick status at 17. Maybe that's just me wishing I was more edgy than actually I am, but that would be a selling point in my book and she hardly mentioned it at all. (!)

Even though the ending felt rushed, Going too Far caught me from the first and held on tight. Meg's monologue stunned me with it's subtly and humor of all things. I totally dig this chick in her road to self discovery and maturity. And Johnafter. *sigh* He cares! He really cares!! Sometimes I felt like I was watching MTV with all the teeny lingo, but since I enjoyed this book so much, I really didn't care. Not one bit.