a line in the dark - malinda lo interview
Today I'm so excited to be chatting with the remarkable Malinda Lo about A Line in the Dark, her newest book and one of my favorite thrillers of the last few years. It's a sinister mystery about girls in love with girls, toxic friendships, and murder, of course. I got to ask Malinda a few questions about her book and her writing! Stick around to the end to enter a giveaway and to learn more about the book and author!!!
Let's start off with a quick one. Give us five words that best describe A Line in the Dark.
Gone Girl meets Mean Girls
Tell us a little bit about Angie and Jess. What are they like?
Jess Wong is a comic book artist who has a secret crush on her best friend, Angie Redmond, whom she thinks of as the perfect girl next door. Angie is openly queer but has never had a girlfriend, and she really wants one.
Which one is more similar to you and why?
Superficially I’m more like Jess, because she’s also Chinese American and a storyteller, but she’s not very much like me in reality. However, I’ve felt like every single one of the characters in A Line in the Dark at some point in my life. That’s the great thing about being a writer — you are inside the head of every one of your characters, even if they’re completely different from you in reality.
What are your favorite YA books featuring f/f romances?
I love YA books that have complicated relationships between queer girls, although they’re not always capital-R Romances. I love the relationship between the two girls in Nina LaCour’s We Are Okay because it feels so realistic for a first love.
I also really love the romance between Pen and Blake in M-E Girard’s Girl Mans Up. They have so much chemistry, and their relationship is sweet and awkward and fun all at once.
What thing do you most hope readers take away from reading A Line in the Dark?
I want them to be on the edge of their seats. I hope I keep them guessing until the last page!
Thank you so much for joining us on Sarcasm & Lemons!
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The line between best friend and something more is a line always crossed in the dark.
Jess Wong is Angie Redmond’s best friend. And that’s the most important thing, even if Angie can’t see how Jess truly feels. Being the girl no one quite notices is OK with Jess anyway. If nobody notices her, she’s free to watch everyone else. But when Angie begins to fall for Margot Adams, a girl from the nearby boarding school, Jess can see it coming a mile away. Suddenly her powers of observation are more a curse than a gift.
As Angie drags Jess further into Margot’s circle, Jess discovers more than her friend’s growing crush. Secrets and cruelty lie just beneath the carefree surface of this world of wealth and privilege, and when they come out, Jess knows Angie won’t be able to handle the consequences.
When the inevitable darkness finally descends, Angie will need her best friend.
AUTHOR BIO
Malinda Lo is the author of the young adult novels Ash, Huntress, Adaptation, and Inheritance. Ash was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and was a Kirkus Best Book for Children and Teens. She has been a three-time finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Malinda’s nonfiction has been published by The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The Huffington Post, The Toast, The Horn Book, and AfterEllen. Malinda is co-founder with Cindy Pon of Diversity in YA, a project that celebrates diversity in young adult books. She lives in Massachusetts with her partner and their dog. www.malindalo.com
check out the rest of the tour
SCHEDULE
Week One:
Week Two:
enter to win
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Enter for a chance to be one (1) of three (3) winners to receive a hardcover copy of A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo. (ARV: $17.99 each).
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 12:00 AM Eastern Time on October 16, 2017 and 12:00 AM on October 27, 2017. Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about October 30, 2017. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.
A Princess in Theory / Alyssa Cole - A prince is under pressure to marry, so he tracks down his long-missing fiancé. When she doesn't recognize his famous face, he decides to take the opportunity to pretend to be normal for a while and enjoy courtship as a normal citizen. This one has been on my radar ever since I heard about it (which was about five minutes after I read An Extraordinary Union, check that one out, too!) but it's even more relevant now. It's not even my usual genre (contemporary when I usually hang in historical), but with a summary like that, who could resist? I'm a sucker for royals in disguise of all sorts.
A Christmas Kiss
- A young interior designer with a calculating and demanding boss has a
chance encounter with a handsome man in an elevator. Later she discovers
that the man is her boss's boyfriend, and he doesn't recognize her! Through
shenanigans, they end up working together as she interior decorates his
home for a holiday party, and the longer she puts off telling him that
she's the mystery kisser, the more awkward the idea of coming clean.
