Ariella Moon: A New Young Adult Series From Krysten Lindsay Hager

I'm thrilled to welcome back into the spotlight Young Adult author,

Krysten Lindsay Hager!

Hi Lindsay. I am so excited about your new book, CAN DREAMS COME TRUE? Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions.

1. What drew you to writing for young adults? Are you still a teen at heart?

I turned to books for comfort and escape when I was a preteen and teen. I always thought it would be amazing to write a book that others could connect with the way I connected to the books my favorite authors wrote. My favorite emails are when people tell me they were going through a difficult time and one of my books helped them escape.

I still remember those teen years so vividly and even now I find myself in situations where it feels very much like high school—mean girls and cliques don’t end after you graduate unfortunately.

2. What would you say is your heroine’s most admirable quality?

Cecily is very loyal, funny, and real. She’s a good friend and I like how she begins to speak up for herself even though it’s hard for her. Stepping out of her comfort zone is also difficult for her and she’s honest and real about that, but she still tries even when she’s scared.

3. What was your favorite subject in school, and why?

I liked history and literature classes. In college I loved the women and literature classes and gender and communications classes.

4. What is your favorite genre to read?

I love biographies and I read YA and middle grade a lot. I like books on current events, Christian non-fiction, and women’s fiction.

5. I know you are super psychic. At what age did this ability manifest?

I was writing for my university newspaper and interviewed a psychic who had done some popular TV shows. I remembered her telling me sometimes when you’re around someone with psychic energy it can influence you. Right after (within a week) that I had a couple of strange dreams that I shared with people because they were odd. One was about a relative hanging out with people who had passed on and the next day I got a call she had died at 4 am that morning. I got a lot of calls after that got around. A week after I had another really odd dream that happened in real life and it freaked my sister out. Previously I had a moment here or there, but it wasn’t until that interview that anything happened where people were noticing it.

Now people are kind of used to me saying random things that there’s no way I could know. I don’t have the dream thing happen all that often though. What usually happens is I randomly come out with something someone needed to hear and I have no idea why I decided to say that at the very moment they needed to hear it.

6. What can your fans look forward to next?

I’m working on the next Cecily Taylor book, which has been a lot of fun. I’ve got a couple other projects I’m working on, too. Stay tuned!

We will! Thanks, Krysten!

Can Dreams Come True? (Book One of the Cecily Taylor Series) by Krysten Lindsay Hager

Contemporary YA fiction

Cecily has always had a huge crush on singer Andrew Holiday and she wants to be an actress, so she tags along when her friend auditions for his new video. However, the director isn’t looking for an actress, but rather the girl next door—and so is Andrew. Cecily gets a part in the video and all of Andrew’s attention on the set. Her friend begins to see red and Cecily’s boyfriend is seeing green—as in major jealousy. A misunderstanding leaves Cecily and her boyfriend on the outs and Andrew hopes to pick up the pieces as he’s looking for someone more stable in his life than the models he’s dated. Soon Cecily begins to realize Andrew understands her more than her small-town boyfriend—but can her perfect love match really be her favorite rock star?

Excerpt 1:

I started to feel anxious after lunch. After all, I had been an Andrew fan for a long time, and even though I had seen him in person, this was a huge deal to get to meet him. What if he wasn’t what I had imagined? I didn’t expect him to fawn over me or anything, but what if he was rude or ignored me? It would kill my fantasy of him as being this sweet, quiet, sensitive songwriter who wore his heart on his sleeve while also being kind of a loner/rebel with just a touch of bad boy in him. Oh man, I would be crushed if he didn’t notice me or worse—if he ended up flirting with Harlow.

In all his magazine interviews Andrew always said looks weren’t important to him, and what he noticed in a girl was if she was true to herself. He said he went for “bright girls who were sweet and easy to be with.” Now that I thought about it, that was the kind of fake crap magazines put out about all the teen celebrities. It was like when I saw Lawrence Claibourne, my favorite actor who claimed to be Mr. I’m-just-looking-for-a-sweet-girl-to-read-poetry-to on a red carpet with a model whose boobs were falling out of her dress and had overdone the lip fillers—I mean, you just knew he wasn’t into her for her personality. But Andrew wasn’t like Lawrence. Andrew seemed so sincere and deep. Lawrence had a smirk and you could tell he was a player, but Andrew seemed like he had been hurt and needed to find the right girl who he could open up to and learn to trust again. . .or at least that’s what he said in his last interview.

The final bell rang and my heart shot up to my throat. This was it. I was on my way to meet my crush. From now on, any dreams of him would be marred by the reality I was about to face.

Was it better to keep wondering what if and keep the fantasy alive or to go and actually meet him?

Excerpt 2:

Okay, if I wanted to do a good job in this music video then I had to become this character and show how she and Andrew were soulmates who would recognize each other just by walking by.

Andrew got into position and the director yelled, “Action.”

Andrew and I began to walk toward one another. He glanced away from me and then right as we got closer, he gave me an intense, longing stare which almost took my breath away. I lost all focus and forgot what I was supposed to do. It was like time was standing still and we were the only two people in the world.

“Cut!” Dimitri said. “Perfection. You absolutely nailed the look, Cecily. Let’s try it again, but this time the focus will be on Andrew’s angle.”

My face felt warm as I walked back on my mark to go again. How did I get my look so perfect when I hadn’t done anything intentional? Andrew’s gaze had been so overwhelming I had forgotten everything I was meant to do. Then it hit me—my look hadn’t been an act. Whatever I did in the scene was how I actually felt in the moment and if Dimitri said it was the perfect look then it meant I must have been showing my true feelings for Andrew. How embarrassing! Did people think I was acting or was my stupid kiddie crush apparent to everyone now? Andrew would probably take the security guys aside and tell them there was a stalker present and to quietly escort me off the premises without making a scene. The whole crew would laugh over how the dumb star struck kid got caught up in her obsession with the pop star. I never should have done this. At least before I had the fantasy, now Andrew was aware of my existence and instead of remembering the connection we had earlier, he’d see me as just another fan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Krysten Lindsay Hager writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. She is the author of True Colors, Best Friends...Forever?, Next Door to a Star, Landry in Like, Competing with the Star, Dating the It Guy, and Can Dreams Come True? True Colors, won the Readers Favorite award for best preteen book and the Dayton Book Expo Bestseller Award for childen/teens. Competing with the Star is a Readers' Favorite Book Award Finalist.

Krysten's work has been featured in USA Today, The Flint Journal, the Grand Haven Tribune, the Beavercreek Current, the Bellbrook Times, Springfield News-Sun, Grand Blanc View, Dayton Daily News and on the talk show Living Dayton.

WEBSITE: http://www.krystenlindsay.com/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/krystenlindsay/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/KrystenLindsay

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/KrystenLindsayHagerAuthor

PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/krystenlindsay/

AMAZON BIO: https://www.amazon.com/Krysten-Lindsay-Hager/e/B00L2JC9P2/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1518310668&sr=8-1

Buy links:

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079S3KJSH

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079S3KJSH

Amazon IN: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B079S3KJSH

Amazon Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B079S3KJSH

Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B079S3KJSH