Today we are excited to have on the blog Author Sarah Strohmeyer. Sarah took some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions for us. Smart Girls Get What They Want is one of our favorite read this year, we gave it a full 5 trees. You can read the review HERE. This is a perfect book to read this summer if you haven't picked it up yet.
About this Author: Sarah Strohmeyer is the award-winning, nationally bestselling author of fifteen novels one of which, THE CINDERELLA PACT, became a Lifetime Movie, LYING TO BE PERFECT.
Her first mystery, BUBBLES UNBOUND, won the Agatha Award and THE SLEEPING BEAUTY PROPOSAL was nominated for a prestigious RITA™. Her books have been translated into German, French, Italian, Turkish, Taiwanese and a bunch of others.
Her first young adult novel, SMART GIRLS GET WHAT THEY WANT, was published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins, on June 26, 2012.
Sarah: I really wanted to avoid a preachy book, but I also wanted to write something that would appeal to my daughter (then a teenager) and her friends. They loved Louise Rennison, Libba Bray, Meg Cabot and Sarah Dessen but felt there weren't enough books about "them." So they were my target market you might say. Their demands were simple: brains AND beauty, boys who weren't too bro-ish, humor and friendship. All of which equaled Smart Girls. I hope.
OUaT: Gigi, Bea & Neerja are the best of friends for their entire life, they help and support each other in any way, shape or form. Is their relationship based on personal experience? If not, Can you tells us how you came up with this amazing friendship?
Sarah: I had an amazing group of smart friends in high school and I think that's where I learned that if you're going to survive (and I went to a pretty tough high school) then you need to have one another's backs. My best friend, Lisa, and I have known each other since Kindergarten and can still crack me up until I'm gasping for breath. INeerja's largely based on a friend of mine who later became a doctor (and got me through chemistry) and Bea is the conglomeration of every smart girl I knew who acted as if she had all the answers but often, deep down, was riddled with insecurities. (Me?). Gigi's the person I wanted to be but fell far short. I could see Bea boosting Neerja and I could see Neerja being sensitive to Bea's chicken side and I pictured all of them coming to Gigi's aid. So that's kind of how I put together the friendships.
OUaT: We read this story from Gigi’s point of view & I must say that having a best friend like Gigi is every girls dream! She’s my favorite character. Which of the characters is your favorite & why?
Sarah: I'm not gonna lie, my favorite character is Mike. I had a blast writing him because he was carefree and, yet, burdened. A jock and not and super hot, at least in my mind. He had the freedom to say and do what Gigi only dreamed.
OUaT: I noticed that out of the three girls Neerja, didn’t have any romantic involvement with a boy like the other two girls. I would have loved to watch her strong willed personality find true love. Will there be a sequel to this story? If so, can we see Neerja fall in love?
Sarah: Oh, I think Neerja DOES have a romantic involvement. Not only one, but two! Did you mean Bea? I felt it would be artificial for all the girls to end up with guys since that wasn't my experience in high school and my son, a junior, is currently going through the how-come-I'm-the-only-one-without-a-girlfriend phase. I know for a fact Bea will end up with someone hot. He just has to be really impressive to handle her sass.
OUaT: If you’ve read any of my reviews you know how much I enjoy a picture of any of the characters on the cover to help me imagine the person I am reading about. There’s a girl in the cover of your book, Is she Gigi? If not, who is she?
Sarah: Definitely Gigi and the spitting image of my daughter. My publisher and editor at Balzer + Bray, Alessandra Balzer, has met Anna and I like to think hired a model to look like her. We wanted someone who conveyed the essence of Smart Girls, that they were hot, secure, in control and powerful.
OUaT: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sarah: Smart Girls is my 14th book. Before this, I wrote what you'd call chick lit of which one of my books, The Cinderella Pact, was adapted to become a Lifetime Movie, Lying to be Perfect. And before THAT, I was a newspaper reporter so you might say I've been writing for years. My writing's pretty light and fun and I love romance based on real characters and obstacles. It's a challenge to do it well. I live in Vermont with my husband and son, Sam, Fred the basset hound and two cats. Our daughter, Anna, to whom Smart Girls is dedicated, is now a senior at Bryn Mawr.
OUaT: Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
Sarah: Well, I had a horribly chemistry teacher named Buzzard and a wonderful Latin teacher named Fay. Sometime in senior year, the hot jocks suddenly fell in love with the smart girls and the smart girls realized the hot jocks weren't so dumb. It was an eye-opening moment.
OUaT: Did you Design the Cover?
Sarah: No. That was the HarperCollins art department and I think they did a fantastic job of conveying the message.
OUaT: Are there certain characters you would like to go back to?
Sarah: I'd like to follow them as they deal with college admissions, the weird and fun stuff that goes on senior year, the risk taking. I love those girls.
OUaT: You know I couldn’t leave without asking, Will there be a sequel to Smart Girls Get What They Want? Will we be able to catch the girls in College?
Sarah: That's a great idea! And all I can say is we shall see!
OUaT: I noticed that out of the three girls Neerja, didn’t have any romantic involvement with a boy like the other two girls. I would have loved to watch her strong willed personality find true love. Will there be a sequel to this story? If so, can we see Neerja fall in love?
Sarah: Oh, I think Neerja DOES have a romantic involvement. Not only one, but two! Did you mean Bea? I felt it would be artificial for all the girls to end up with guys since that wasn't my experience in high school and my son, a junior, is currently going through the how-come-I'm-the-only-one-without-a-girlfriend phase. I know for a fact Bea will end up with someone hot. He just has to be really impressive to handle her sass.
OUaT: If you’ve read any of my reviews you know how much I enjoy a picture of any of the characters on the cover to help me imagine the person I am reading about. There’s a girl in the cover of your book, Is she Gigi? If not, who is she?
Sarah: Definitely Gigi and the spitting image of my daughter. My publisher and editor at Balzer + Bray, Alessandra Balzer, has met Anna and I like to think hired a model to look like her. We wanted someone who conveyed the essence of Smart Girls, that they were hot, secure, in control and powerful.
OUaT: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sarah: Smart Girls is my 14th book. Before this, I wrote what you'd call chick lit of which one of my books, The Cinderella Pact, was adapted to become a Lifetime Movie, Lying to be Perfect. And before THAT, I was a newspaper reporter so you might say I've been writing for years. My writing's pretty light and fun and I love romance based on real characters and obstacles. It's a challenge to do it well. I live in Vermont with my husband and son, Sam, Fred the basset hound and two cats. Our daughter, Anna, to whom Smart Girls is dedicated, is now a senior at Bryn Mawr.
OUaT: Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
Sarah: Well, I had a horribly chemistry teacher named Buzzard and a wonderful Latin teacher named Fay. Sometime in senior year, the hot jocks suddenly fell in love with the smart girls and the smart girls realized the hot jocks weren't so dumb. It was an eye-opening moment.
OUaT: Did you Design the Cover?
Sarah: No. That was the HarperCollins art department and I think they did a fantastic job of conveying the message.
OUaT: Are there certain characters you would like to go back to?
Sarah: I'd like to follow them as they deal with college admissions, the weird and fun stuff that goes on senior year, the risk taking. I love those girls.
OUaT: You know I couldn’t leave without asking, Will there be a sequel to Smart Girls Get What They Want? Will we be able to catch the girls in College?
Sarah: That's a great idea! And all I can say is we shall see!
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Great post, I saw this book on Goodreads and it looks so good. The cover is so adorable and now that I actually know what its about, I really want to read it. Its a really good idea and I can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this opportunity, Yara. It was a fun interview and such a great way to get the word out. Fun questions, too!
ReplyDeleteMy best achievement in high school was helping in my school's Relay for Life:)
ReplyDelete-JennyC
I thought this author's name looked familiar-I loved The Cinderella Pact and that makes me even more excited about this book, which I will be reading soon!
ReplyDeleteJust making myself show up every day and muddle through to graduation! I played on teams, sang with choirs, belonged to clubs, but it was still just so hard going through the grind of it every day:)
ReplyDeleteThank you for this wonderful giveaway! I so have been wanting to read this one. I guess my best HS achievement was making dean list.
ReplyDelete- Beckie
My best High School achievement was taking all foreign languages my school had to offer and being told I was a polyglot! I took Spanish, French, Latin, German, and Italian all co-currently and passed all. Thanks for the chance at this great giveaway!
ReplyDeleteI guess my best achievement was being in the National Honor Society.
ReplyDeleteI was the 1st person in my school to Major in Music.I guess that you could say that I just sang my way through high school. LOL And I loved every minute of it. I honestly think that it was some of the absolute best times of my life.
ReplyDeleteMy best achievement would definitely be receiving the honor of being inducted into the National Honor Society of High School Scholars. This was because not too many people in my high school achieved this and it was nice to be surrounded with others who were keen on staying on track and being successful in school <3
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway opportunity , sounds like my friends and me from high school .