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Friday, April 22, 2016

Scarlett Epstein Hates it Here by Anna Breslaw Blog Tour: Guest Post


Hi guys! Today, Anna Breslaw is on the blog today to share with all of you what influenced her while writing her debut novel Scarlett Epstein Hates it Here! I also made some graphics with a couple of my favorite quotes from the book, so be on the lookout for those! I hope you guys enjoy this post ^_^






Scarlett Epstein Hates it Here by Anna Breslaw
Published by Razorbill
Publication Date: April 19, 2016
Buy it: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
Meet Scarlett Epstein, BNF (Big Name Fan) in her online community of fanfiction writers, world-class nobody at Melville High. Her best (read: only) IRL friends are Avery, a painfully shy and annoyingly attractive bookworm, and Ruth, her weed-smoking, possibly insane seventy-three-year-old neighbor.

When Scarlett’s beloved TV show is canceled and her longtime crush, Gideon, is sucked out of her orbit and into the dark and distant world of Populars, Scarlett turns to the fanfic message boards for comfort. This time, though, her subjects aren’t the swoon-worthy stars of her fave series—they’re the real-life kids from her high school. And if they ever find out what Scarlett truly thinks about them, she’ll be thrust into a situation far more dramatic than anything she’s ever seen on TV…

Guest Post by Anna Breslaw

First of all, I have tons more influences than just the three below—but these are the ones that I think show the most in the book. (For instance, Stephen King is my all-time favorite writer but I doubt you could tell that from Scarlett.)

I’ve always wanted to write speculative books (i.e. very light fantasy or near-future sci-fi) that are pretty funny, a little bit sad and somehow grounded in current reality. For a long time there wasn’t much of those genre-bending YA books, and I thought I’d have to pick a side. There are more of those now— Adam Silvera’s More Happy Than Not, Patrick Ness’s The Rest Of Us Just Live Here, the more contemporary parts of Parker Peevyhouse’s Where Futures End—but before those there was The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep And Didn’t Have To by D.C. Pierson. 


I love the shit out of that book. Really funny, very current, and a just-right sci-fi-ish twist (not spoiling; it’s in the title) that actually emphasizes all the characters’ humanity. The protagonist is a boy who lives with his brother and divorced dad, and there’s all these bleak/funny little touches about what it’s like to live in a house full of guys—it was just so original and great. I was pumped to get a blurb from him. That book made me feel like there was a place for a girl version of that kind of story, and made me confident about including the sci-fi-ish fanfiction in a mostly-contemporary book.

While D.C.’s book influenced the genre-blending, Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling series influenced the contemporary parts. As a smartass teenage girl from New Jersey myself, I devoured those books and was so thrilled that Jessica grew up to have, more or less, the life I wanted. (Not to mention stoner Marcus Flutie, the refreshing opposite of insta-love, which might be the best meet-cute I’ve ever read in YA.)

And then—be still my heart—there is the WB’s teen lineup from like 1998 to 2000, also known as the “everything is a metaphor for a universal teenage fear.” For example, Angel losing his soul after sleeping with Buffy = The fear of losing your virginity to an older guy and then he’s a complete dick to you afterwards. Using the extraordinary to make the ordinary as scary on the outside as it feels on the inside. Ditto for Roswell, only it’s aliens instead of vampires and there far fewer verbose nerds.


Lycanthrope High, the show Scarlett loves, is pretty clearly (I think, at least) inspired by Buffy. The showrunner is definitely a Joss Whedon type, known for reversing the offensive female character tropes we’ve become familiar with (i.e. the helpless blonde cheerleader is the first to die). What inspires Scarlett’ writing, initially, is the fear of a hot, popular girl stealing the guy she likes: “Hot popular girl” becomes “dumb, sexy robot designed by an evil corporation.” But as Scarlett comes to realize that this attitude is judgmental and slut-shaming, her fanfiction goes to deeper, more mature directions, much like the show she loved.

Brittany: Thank you, Scarlett, for stopping by our blog today! Make sure you guys check out the other tour stops! ^_^




Monday, April 18, 2016

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Friday, April 22, 2016

Monday, April 25, 2016

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Friday, April 29, 2016

4 comments:

  1. Great guest post! I'm so excited to pick up a copy of Scarlett Epstein. It's been on my list for months. It's interesting to hear what books inspired Scarlett and I love to hear that the show that Scarlett writes fanfic about is based off of WB shows from the late 90's. I loved Buffy!

    Traci @ The Reading Geek

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    1. So many of my other friends are loving this one! I hope that you love it too ^_^

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  2. Such a lovely blog tour post Brittany :D Thank you for sharing sweetie. <3 This book looks SO CUTE. I love that cover :D Not for me, but curious. Hope you have had the most awesome weekend. <3

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    1. I hope you had a great weekend, lovely! So many people have told me that this book is hysterical so for that reason I might read it at some point.

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