OKAY. WE’VE REACHED OUR THIRTY PITCHES AND THIS AGENT SHOP IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED FOR PITCHES. COME BACK TOMORROW AROUND 10:00 AM EST TO SEE IF YOURS WAS ONE OF THE PITCHES THAT MADE IT IN!
GOOD LUCK!
Welcome to another ‘Agent Shop’! YAY!
Tomorrow, the awesome Sara Crowe will be here to look at the thirty pitches that make it through.
But today, we have Marianna Baer with her YA novel:
FROST
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
(Now THAT is a fantastic cover!)
Here’s the blurb:
Leena Thomas’s senior year at boarding school starts with a cruel shock: Frost House, the cozy Victorian dorm where she and her best friends chose to live, has been assigned an unexpected roommate – confrontational, eccentric Celeste Lazar.
What Celeste lacks in social grace, however, her brother, David, a recent transfer student, makes up for in good looks and charm. But while he and Leena hit it off immediately, Leena finds herself struggling to balance her growing attraction with her fear of getting hurt.
As classes get under way, strange happenings begin to bedevil Frost House – frames mysteriously falling off walls, doors locking by themselves, furniture toppling over. Celeste blames the housemates, convinced they want to scare her into leaving. And while Leena tries to play peacekeeper between her best friends and new roommate, soon the mysterious happenings in the dorm, an intense triangle between Leena, Celeste, and David, and the reawakening of childhood fears all push Leena to take increasingly desperate measures to feel safe. But does the threat lie with her new roommate, within Leena’s own mind . . . or in Frost House itself?
Reviews:
“Marianna Baer’s novel, FROST, puts a unique, 21st Century spin on the usual Gothic ghost story.” – Lois Duncan, author of DOWN A DARK HALL and STRANGER WITH MY FACE
“Providing chills and romance at an unflagging pace, Frost is a mysterious, suspenseful thrill ride that refuses to let the reader go even after the last word is read.” – Carrie Jones, NYT bestselling author of the NEED series
You can visit Marianna HERE
And you can buy FROST at Indiebound or Amazon
And now a little bit about Marianna!
ME: What was your inspiration for this book?
Marianna: My senior year at boarding school, I lived in a tiny dorm called Frost House with a few of my closest friends. Once I started writing YA, I knew I wanted to set a novel there — it’s such an intense social situation, being 17 and living pretty much on your own with your peers. No going home at night to escape any drama. The ghost story/psychological suspense aspect of FROST came from my love of that genre, and from the fact that the real Frost House, a dilapidated old Victorian, always seemed like it held secrets in its walls.
ME: I love it when something specific in an author’s past can roll into something later. So cool. When it comes to writing, are you a plotter or a pantser?
Marianna: Unfortunately, I’m a pantser. In my dreams I’m a plotter — what a luxury, to know where your story is going! But it’s only when I’m living the story along with my characters that I know what they’d do in different situations.
ME: How you said unfortunately cracked me up. I often wish I could be a plotter too. Since we’re all dying to know, how did you find your agent? Care to share the call?
I had just graduated from an MFA program, and both my advisor Cynthia Leitich-Smith and fellow student Varian Johnson recommended Sara to me. I wasn’t surprised when she asked to read my full, considering I had the references, but I was surprised to get a call back in just a couple of days. No beating around the bush — Sara said straight out in her phone message that she loved FROST and wanted to represent me. I remember standing next to the answering machine and literally shaking with excitement. I was so nervous to talk to her that I emailed instead of calling, and asked if we could talk the following week. I needed the weekend to compose myself!
ME: Love, that, story! I can imagine you were nervous, but it sounds like you both hit it off. We all know how hard it is to write, edit, query or submit. What’s one piece of advice you’d pass on to aspiring authors?
Be patient. Be patient with the time it takes to learn the craft, to write your first draft, to revise, to write the best query letter, to hear back from agents, to get your editorial letter, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc… You’re going to be waiting for something at every stage of the process, and it really helps to not be in a rush with any of this. Especially with the writing itself.
ME: Excellent advice! You don’t have to ‘give away’ anything major, but do you have anything new in the works?
I’m writing a second standalone YA titled IMMACULATE. It’s about a 15-year-old girl in Brooklyn who is pregnant, but says she has never had sex. It’s a complicated story (I’m putting my patience to work!), but I’m incredibly excited about it.
ME: Marianna, thanks for visiting us at Musetracks. FROST is on my TBR list. The cover had me hooked, but the blurb solidified the deal. Looking forward to it!
- – - -
Okay, you know what time it is.
It’s
GO
time!
Oh, and BTW, I’ll pick a random comment that uses the word FROST, to win the TOP PITCH SLOT for tomorrow!
Good luck everyone.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
