Susane Colasanti Blog Tour: Stop 6

Myth #6. The popular kids will be the most successful.

In case you haven’t heard, it’s the eccentric, nerdy, quirky kids who grow up to be the most interesting, caring, accomplished people. Game on.
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1. What kind of research has gone into WAITING FOR YOU?

The greatest amount of research pertained to anxiety disorders and depression. Like Marisa, I was also a very depressed teen, but not to the extreme that she experiences depression. I discovered that having a generalized anxiety disorder, which involves obsessive thoughts, excessive worrying, and extreme fear of being humiliated, commonly results in states of depression. In Waiting for You, Marisa uses cognitive behavioral therapy to modify her thoughts and actions, so I had to determine what that process would entail for her.

With every book I write, I want the details to be accurate so I can create a realistic story. Waiting for You takes place in an actual boating community on Long Island Sound. I researched the town’s events and landscape to develop a realistic feel for each scene. Since I didn’t know much about Connecticut, I had to find out about things like the legal driving age and the state curriculum guidelines. I also made sure I knew exactly how podcasts worked, since they play a major role in the book.

2. Do you collect anything like Nash does with bells and Marisa with sea glass? What significance is it to you?

I love this question! Yes, I’ve always been a passionate collector. I had a fierce stamp collection in junior high. I’ve collected coins, postcards, printed pencils, erasers, crystals, movie ticket stubs, matchbooks, fortunes…all sorts of fun stuff. I still collect a few things. Whenever I travel somewhere that has sand, I always bring home a small sample. So I actually have a sweet sand collection! I think Gelly Roll pens are the ultimate, so I collect those. And I still add stamps to my book when I see good ones.

I’m not sure if these things have any particular significance. They speak to me. Anything glossy or sparkly catches my eye. It’s usually the little things in life that make me the happiest.

3. If you could spend a day with any three authors, who would they be? What would you do? Why?

If I could spend a day with S.E. Hinton, it would be the ultimate. The Outsiders was pretty much the only book I had to read for school that I actually liked. It inspired me to think about writing my own young-adult books one day, so that I could help teens the way The Outsiders helped me. From what I know about Susie, she’s a laid-back kind of girl. Maybe we’d play backgammon or cards and then go to Chat ‘n Chew for grilled cheese sandwiches.

Louise Fitzhugh died a year after I was born, but I wish she were still alive. I’d really want her to know how much of an impact Harriet the Spy had on me and so many others. It’s an amazing thing when someone’s work lives on with an invincible life of its own after its creator is gone. I’d want to know about how life in New York City was back in the day. We could walk around the places she loved the most and she could talk about the way they used to be.

Laurie Halse Anderson is my favorite contemporary YA author. We’re both published by Viking, so I’ve been able to visit with her a few times. But we haven’t yet chilled as friends. There’s a sort of Zen garden by the river that’s very peaceful, which I think Laurie would like. It’s cool to have a secret, calm place in the middle of a busy city. She loves coffee, so I’d take her to my neighborhood coffeehouse. I probably wouldn’t have coffee, though. I’d have a granita, because they are so frothy and delicious.
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Title: Waiting For You
Author: Susane Colasanti
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Reading Level: Young Adult, 12+
Publication Date: May 14, 2009
Pages: 336
My Edition: ARC
Amazon Page

Rating: B
Plot - 17/20
Characters - 16/20
Writing - 18/20
Originality - 15/20
Entertainment - 10/10
Recommendation - 9/10
Total: 85/100

Summary:
At the beginning of her sophomore year, Marisa is ready for a fresh start and, more importantly, a boyfriend. So when the handsome and popular Derek asks her out, Marisa thinks her long wait for happiness is over. But several bumps in the road—including her parents’ unexpected separation, a fight with her best friend, and a shocking disappointment in her relationship with Derek—test Marisa’s ability to maintain her new outlook. Only the anonymous DJ, whose underground podcasts have the school’s ear, seems to understand what Marisa is going through. But she has no idea who he is—or does she?

In this third romantic novel from Susane Colasanti, Marisa learns how to “be in the Now” and realizes that the love she’s been waiting for has been right in front of her all along.

Review:
To be honest, this was the first novel of Colasanti's that I have read. And I tried reading her other novels. I just couldn't get into them. I'm not really sure why, until I read this novel.

The beginnings of Colasanti's novels aren't really strong, they seem a bit shallow and cliched. But the more I read Waiting For You, my thoughts on the novel changed. The novel turned my thoughts a whole one-eighty. In the beginning of the novel I didn't have high expectations and I figured it for a shallow novel, in the middle my thoughts started changing to about ninety and I began thinking that maybe this novel isn't as bad as I thought it might be, I decided that I was actually enjoying myself reading Marisa's story. Then by the end of the story I realized there was much, much, much more to this novel then a cliche love story that we all know how it would work out.

This novel is about love, yes. It's also about trusting the people you know, about family, and how divorce can change you. It has a major issue that teens face each year: depression. It has the problems that could go wrong with meeting strange people online (in a light way). It just had so, so, so much more then I thought it would. It surprised me! I ended up really liking this novel!

Marisa at first seems like the average sixteen year old girl in high school. But she wasn't. In the beginning you started to see that differences between average teen girls. And in the middle you could definitely see how different she was. She was a good friend, she was a girl who desperately wanted someone to love her for who she really is. She was depressed. The depression in this novel was a really different part that I never expected. And I loved it! I haven't really read a novel where a girl (or boy) goes through depression, and that not along with some other diagnoses. The supporting characters weren't the best, no. But they were still good. They had enough layers and uniqueness that they felt different from each other.

Colasanti's writing was pretty good. I enjoyed her style of simple writing. It was easy to read and fun. Just really simple, and it was a nice change in pace from what I was was reading for awhile. (Especially during testing week!)

Overall this novel was light and fun and simple. On the outside. In the inside this novel produce shocking results and a totally different uniqueness then expected. It is sure to be on to pick up when your in the mood for a easy novel, but a novel then has many layers to it.

Oh, and I just say how much I loved how the title completely fitted with the novel? Well it so did in a way that I don't even remember any other book doing of!
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Okay, get ready: THERE'S ALSO A GIVEAWAY! Whoo! Okay, the prize is a signed finished copy of Susane Colasanti's Waiting For You.

Contest details:

• You have now until midnight next Friday, the 15th of May.
  
• One winner will be chosen at random.
• Comment with the answer to this question to be entered: What do you want to be (or wanted to be) when you were little (career-wise)?
  
• US only! Sorry International readers!

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Here's a Susane Colasanti Sampler for you!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13828116/Susane-Colasanti-Sampler
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Thanks to Susane for stopping by Reading Keeps You Sane and answering my questions and to the awesome people at Penguin for setting this up!