Between the Covers: Pennsylvania Authors!

My backyard (home state!) has a plethora of talent that I have recently been introduced to. Check out these debut novels:
\

Not ANOTHER teenage vampire book?
Beth Fantaskey‘s Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark side could almost be overlooked as one of the long line of Twilight wannabes but readers will be enchanted with the love story of Jessica, a teen from Pennsylvania, who finds out that she is the heir to a vampire dynasty and that on her 18th birthday she must marry Lucius, the son from a rival family. Unlike Twilight there are no sparkly vampires, no convoluted love triangle and Jessica is not the PITA that Bella turns out to be. Beth’s writing is fresh, fun and I am so excited for the sequel!

Silent Mourning
When I heard Jenn R Hubbard speak, she was not shy about her life as a bullied, oft misunderstood kid and she thought that when she wrote she would write for teens that shared he same feelings. In The Secret Year we Colten is in silent mourning after the death of pretty rich girl Julia.  Colt, from the wrong side of the tracks, has a year long secret tryst with rich girl and after her death cannot publicly grieve. The book is not full of dark twists and secretes, not a book of fantasy or magical powers. This book is about a teenager trying to deal with the loss of his secret relationship.

\
Teenaged angst
Vera Dietz has some issues. She has recently lost her best friend, a friend whom she has drifted apart and was trying to drift back together and she has a secret. Nothing too deep but enough to keep you worrying for all of the Veras that you know in life. What a wonderful read!

The unlikely hero
Reading Josh Berk‘s debut novel, The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin, were a few days well spent. I tried not to greedily gobble up the words from the page but I found myself impatiently wondering what was going to happen in the life of Will Halpin, a self described fat deaf kid. A quick read and full of laugh out loud moments there were times when I wasn’t sure if I wanted to learn sign language or look for a mystery to solve.

r’s note: These blurbs are a tad pathetic but check out these books from your local library (some signed!) or visit the author’s websites.
-r