If you know me at all, you should know that I love Nothing Bundt Cake (not from Southlake!!), and I love STAY by Allie Larkin. You can read my review here. It was one of my very favorite books of 2010!!  Go buy it. You won’t regret it!  Read her interview below and let me know if you think she is as awesome as I do (just so you know, you will).

Allie, I want to tell you again how much I love STAY!  It was a lovely surprise! 

Thank you so much, Shannan!  I’m thrilled to hear that you enjoyed it!    

1. How long did it take to write Stay and get published?  Because you are a debut novelist, I have to know what you were doing when you got the letter that you were going to be published. 

STAY started as a writing exercise in a creative writing course I took in 2002.  I turned the writing exercise into a short story.  The short story got filed away for several years.  I pulled it out again to take to a writing group, but in the course of trying to make the story stronger, I wrote the wedding scene from STAY.  That scene made me realize that the scope of what I wanted to write was bigger than just a story.

I was in Target when my agent, Rebecca Strauss, called to tell me that Dutton wanted STAY.  She told me I should sit down, but I didn’t. We’d just submitted to Dutton and I didn’t think it could possibly be what she was calling about.  Then she told me, and my knees almost gave out.  I had to sit down on one of the bottom shelves in one of the aisles. 

2. Is the character of Van based on anyone you know?  What about Joe?

Van is purely fiction.  We have a few similarities.  If Van were real, I would absolutely want to be her friend, but she’s not based on me or any of my friends.  Joe, however, is something of a combination of our two German Shepherds, Argo and Stella.  But, I swear, neither of them were drunken internet purchases.

3. What was your drive to write a novel about a girl and her dog?

Van existed as a character way before we got Argo, our first dog.  I had already established that she was in love with her best friend’s fiancé, but I hadn’t figured out how she would move forward after the wedding.  Then, I was in the backyard with Argo one day raking leaves.  I looked over at him lying in the grass chewing on a stick and started thinking about how much he changed my life.  I knew Van needed a big change, and I realized a dog would do that.  But how I decided she would drunkenly order a dog off the internet from Slovakia is beyond me.

4. Did you have any input on the cover?  Is that your dog???

Yes!  That is Argo on the cover!  Apparently, stock photos of black German Shepherds are a little hard to come by, so we offered to take some shots of Argo and see if any would work.  But the design of the cover was all done by Monica Benalcazar at Dutton.  They asked me what I thought, but ultimately those things are better left to people who know what they’re doing.  There’s a reason I’m not a designer.  And I’m so thrilled with the way the cover turned out!

5. Would you please tell us about your website, TheGreenists.com? Do you still use baking soda to wash your face?  Do you love it?

Yes, I do love to wash my face with baking soda!  I do it about once a week to exfoliate and it’s amazing! 

Back in 2007, I started writing a green tips column called Allie’s Answers for a website.  The website ended, but I wanted to keep going, so I started my own website as Allie’s Answers.  My friend, Courtney, started writing with me and I realized it was silly to be Allie’s Answers when it was more than just me writing.  Courtney and I pulled together a team of our favorite bloggers and started TheGreenists.com last year.  We’re all about simple ways to make greener choices that won’t hurt your pocketbook or cramp your style. 

6. What are you working on now?

I’m working on an essay about Stella for an anthology about dog ownership called I’m Not the Biggest Bitch In This Relationship.  And I’m working on a new novel with new characters, but someday, I’d really love to hang out with Van again.

7. What is in your STACK?

SEVEN YEAR SWITCH by Claire Cook is one of my favorite reads so far this summer.  I’m reading THE ONE THAT I WANT by Allison Winn Scotch right now.  And, in the to be read pile: NOT READY FOR MOM JEANS by Maureen Lipinski; I’LL HAVE WHO SHE’S HAVING by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke; DIAMOND RUBY by Joe Wallace; HOW TO SLEEP ALONE IN A QUEEN SIZED BED by Theo Nestor; BACKSEAT SAINTS by Joshilyn Jackson; MY NAME IS MEMORY by Ann Brashears

*salty or sweet –  Salty
*cook at home, take-out or dinner out – Takeout
*do you say pop, soda or coke - Soda
*thesaurus or dictionary -   Thesaurus
*country, hip-hop, rock or classical -  Rock
*Star Wars, Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings –  Lord of the Rings
*fiction or non-fiction –  Fiction
*texting, emailing or talking on the phone –  Emailing
*truth or dare –   Truth
*werewolf or vampire – Time Lord

Awww, isn’t she and Argo sweet? Now, go and get the book. You won’t be disapointed.

Well, guess what was confessed in the Sunday New York Times ?  We are not alone! We have been shouting our YA love for years now and we find out, in addition to the hundreds of other beloved blogs out there, that several in the entertainment business agree with us.  It’s kinda funny.  I feel like we are friends now.  We have a ”little” club for those who are not still in high school who can scream about Katniss, yearn for the love of Grace and Sam, be friends with Simon, wonder what is to happen to Patch, and experience difficult times that maybe we wouldn’t have taken so much to heart if we were still in high school – Speak and Compromised anyone?

I feel that kids these days are just so bright!  Maybe if I had these books to love when I was younger, I would think I had been smart too!  I love Nancy Drew and
Babysitters Club but they don’t compare to The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments Series, The Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy where we learn a bit of German poetry. 
Or even Compromised where we learn about homeless kids.  Doesn’t that hit home now that we have kids of our own?  And who doesn’t enjoy a little love from a sexy vampire (or werewolf) to innocently dream about?

Now I am not saying that there isn’t a place for adult books anymore.  Some of my favorite books this summer have been adult books.  Stay by Allie Larkin and The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen struck my heart and made me yearn for more. How long has The Help been on the best sellers list?  I’m saying that YA fiction makes me happy.  It makes all of us happy.  So, yeah, we’ll stick with it and besides, some women share clothes with their high school kids, we will just share books – and have something to talk about.

See you in the STACKS!
Shannan - who is darn stinkin excited about MOCKINGJAY!

When I first started reading Stay by Allie Larkin, I began a friendship with Van.  But as I read, I kept thinking where is this dog?? Then Joe came along in a most hilarious way.  Studly, adorable, lovable Joe.  After meeting Joe, who needs Scooby Doo?

Van has grown up living in her best friend’s guest house along with her mother who worked as the family’s housekeeper.  After college, Van is maid of honor in the wedding of her best friend and the boy she has loved since freshman year in college.  You know the one boy that you are secretly and madly in love with yet he meets your best friend and falls for her. 

Van has lost people in her life that she loves.  How does she cope?  Well, by getting a dog! (This part is hilarious, especially at the vet’s office!)  Throughout many struggles and learning how to cope with them, Joe is her constant companion, her rock, and her pathway to love.

I just loved this book!  Did the adorable dog help with my evaluation?  You bet cha’!  Larkin is able to connect the reader to all the characters in Stay – the dog included.  You care for them, understand their pain, and want true love to conquer.  Believe it or not, I felt the yearning for love in this book as I did in Twilight.   I grew to love Van as a friend.  You see her mistakes that aren’t made by a stupid character like in horror movies, but real mistakes that we all could make.  She freaks out like we do, gets annoyed by people, has self doubt, and finds friendship just like us.  Could she be me?  Sure.  I love Van because she could be one of us.  I love real characters.  And this book is filled with them.  Just wait until you meet the vet!  I can’t stop thinking of the characters that just have to be real.  It just makes me smile! 

Stay doesn’t seem like a debut novel.  Larkin’s descriptions and character development had me from the beginning.  I get her sense of humor and sarcasm.  Every action the characters made was done so with a purpose.  I literally didn’t want it to end.

I just couldn’t be happier that I had the pleasure to read Stay.  I want MORE!!  More, I tell you!  I will be singing the praises of this novel and encourage anyone to pick it up and be in for a treat!  (No pun intended!) 

I give Stay 5 STACKS!  Now, do you hear me??  PICK THIS BOOK UP AND READ IT!

Love,
STACKGirl Shannan who just gave her dog, Chewbacca, a big ole’ hug!