About Wendi Nunnery
Author Bio (Provided by BookFishBooks LLC):
Wendi Nunnery is the author of The
Mayfield Family Story. She is also a regular contributor to The
Huffington Post and The Simply Beloved, a lifestyle website for women
of faith. She is a proud alumna of Georgia Southern University and,
at any given time, you can find her with a cup of coffee and a book.
She lives, loves, and mothers in Atlanta, Georgia. The Best Kept
Secret is her first novel.
So here we go.... Wendi was kind enough to provide a guest post!
Guest Post (Provided by Wendi Nunnery)
Teen
Book Reviews Guest Post
The
Best Kept Secret by Wendi Nunnery
Thank
you so much for having me today! I’m
so excited to be on this blog tour sharing more of my thoughts on The
Best Kept Secret.
One
of the questions I get asked the most is, “How
did you get published?”
Well, the simple answer is,
“After
many years of hard work.”
But that’s
pretty much a given, right? Every writer knows that hard work is just
part of the deal. So here’s
the long(er) answer.
I
got lucky.
No,
really.
I
tried my hand at traditional publishing for nearly five years - on
and off - with two different books until I finally found my publisher
on Twitter last fall (I’m
actually not kidding). You’ve
probably heard this before, but traditional publishers won’t
take unsolicited manuscripts, meaning that if you send your novel
directly to them it will probably go straight into the slush pile.
What - or, rather, who
- you need on your side is a literary agent. The process for getting
an agent to represent you is arduous. It takes lots of research, lots
of query letters, and lots of hope. If an agent likes your query
letter, they will ask to see your book. And if they like your book,
well, you’ve
got yourself an agent. I only had one agent ask to see The
Best Kept Secret, and
that was at a writers conference three years ago. She loved my
writing, but didn’t
personally connect with the story. And that kind of thing happens
more often than not.
In
September, I was scrolling through the Twitter profile of one of the
other agents I met at that same conference. She had created the hash
tag #MSWL (which stands for “Manuscript
Wish List”)
and hundreds of agents and publishers were using it to tell their
followers what kind of books they were looking to represent. It was
there that I found BookFish Books. They’re
a small press and they were looking for realistic young adult novels.
I sent them a query and a few sample pages, after which they asked to
see the full manuscript. Five weeks later, I had a book contract.
So
maybe it was luck and
persistence that got me published. But luck definitely played a role.
The
benefit of being published with a small press is that I have more
authority than I would with a traditional publisher. And I’ve
gotten to know the BookFish team as friends. They are incredibly
supportive, super friendly, and great at their jobs. They care about
The Best
Kept Secret and they
care about me. And I wouldn’t
have found them if I hadn’t
been rejected by the traditional guys.
I
hope that if you’re
trying to publish your first novel, or if you’re
just sitting down to write those first few pages, you’ll
keep in mind that every writer’s
journey is different. There is no “right”
way to become an author. That’s
the beauty of the world we live in now: the opportunities are
basically endless and success can come in a number of different
forms. Just keep your fingers to the keyboard (or, if you’re
really legit, keep your pen to the paper), and keep searching. The
right way for you
could be just a tweet
away.
Thanks so much for that, Wendi!
So I was asked to review the novel today, and I'm very excited to share with you my review. But first, the synopsis.
Synopsis (Provided by BookFishBooks)
In high school, everyone has secrets.
Even well-brought-up Emma Fraser.
Emma’s sophomore year started out all
wrong. First, her best friend Andy confessed to losing his virginity
leaving Emma all alone in the V-Club. Then the rest of her friends
got weird and suddenly Emma finds herself feeling like the people she
knows best have become total strangers. And total strangers are
becoming friends.
When Deegan Burke, a rich, gorgeous
senior, asks Emma to be his date for the prom, Emma thinks her luck
has begun to change. But rather than being able to bask in this
newfound glory, her whole world starts to unravel. And when secrets
that once seemed so innocent start to take a very dangerous turn,
Emma discovers that true friends are friends no matter what…and
some secrets aren’t worth keeping.
My Review
This book was incredible! It was well-written and absorbing, and the characters are real to me. The fact that Emma feels that she doesn't fit in because she is the only person in her year that is a virgin is unique and striking, bluntly hitting home and completely balancing out the love-triangle 'choosing between boys' cliché.
The characters are relatable. Their language and actions are not robotic, they are real and human. You can feel the passion in their fights, and in their love and confusion.
I thought that it was an utterly beautiful novel, despite the underlying clichés. But, unlike other novels, this novel makes the clichés its own. When you read it, it's like you forget that the clichés aren't completely original.
I'll be honest, apart from a couple of clichés, I have nothing but praise to give this novel. It is exciting, and emotional, and passionate, and encompasses teenagedom completely.
It is a beautiful representation of the expectations that begin to press on teenagers, the fragile relationships we have, and so much more.
I adored this novel, and so am going to award it:
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