Mundie Moms

Monday, February 25, 2013

Blog Tour: The Trouble With Flirting by Claire LaZebnik

I'm thrilled to be kicking off our mini blog tour for Claire LaZebnik's The Trouble with Flirting, which releases TOMORROW! If you're a fan of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, you'll love this modern day spin to that story. Being MM's, we're huge fans of Jane Austen, this was a book I couldn't wait to read, let alone feature on MM's. Today author Claire LaZebnik stops by the blog to interview herself. 




An Interview with Myself
By Claire LaZebnik
Author of The Trouble with Flirting

So what IS the trouble with flirting?
The name of my new YA novel. Thanks for asking.

But in a more general sense . . .
Oh, in a more general sense . . . the trouble with flirting is that it can get you in all sorts of trouble! Basically there are two options: either you’re bad at it, which means you’ll embarrass yourself (you try to toss your head and end up whacking someone in the chin—stuff like that) or you’re good at it, which can lead to all sorts of dangerous situations. Fun situations, for the most part, but rife with potential pitfalls.

So we should all avoid flirting?

Absolutely not.  Where’s the fun in that?

Tell us about the novel.
Well, aren’t you nice to ask! The Trouble with Flirting is loosely based on Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, but so updated and altered, I’m not sure Austen would recognize it. It takes place at a high school summer acting program. The narrator, Franny Price, is there to work and make money: her aunt is the costume designer and seamstress and has hired Franny for the summer. All the other high school kids are there to act and have fun, which makes Franny feel like she’s an outsider until she reconnects with an old friend—whose brother she happened to always have had a crush on. There are a couple of sophisticated types from Los Angeles, who everyone finds attractive, and Franny tries to both stay out of trouble and take some risks—which is a very tricky balancing act.

Any special reason you set the novel at an acting camp?
Several reasons actually:

  1. My son had just been in a couple of acting programs and I’d visited him there and thought, “this needs to be in a book.”  Cram a bunch of artistic, self-dramatizing types in a dorm together and you know emotions are going to run high.
  2. I hadn’t set a book during the summer before and I wanted to do that. For one thing, it saved me from all that “and then we went to English class” kind of writing you have to do when your novel takes place during the school year. More importantly, people’s emotions run so high during the summer—you fall in and out of love and in and out of friendship and hate and everything so quickly. It’s life lived at a super fast speed, a year crammed into a few weeks.
  3. In the original Austen novel, the main characters put on a play—or at least they try to. They cast the play and start rehearsing it, but never get to perform it. I liked referencing that theater subplot: it’s such a weird little tangent that never goes anywhere.

Okay, quickly now, tell us your favorite
Animal: For a pet, a cat. Cats are soft to pet and independent. For something just to think about, probably a sloth. I relate to sloths.
Food: I eat more peanut butter and jelly (on rice cakes, toast, French bread, you name it) than anything else so that’s quantifiably my favorite. But I really love sushi. And pasta. And potato chips. And donuts. Wait—donuts. That’s my favorite food. Chocolate Krispy Kremes.
Book: Always hard to choose. Jane Eyre, Emma, Our Mutual Friend, Claudine at School . . .
Movie: Broadcast News, Emma
Ice cream flavor: anything with chocolate and mint.
TV Show: Mad Men, Portlandia, Downton Abbey
Song: I’m listening to a lot of Fun. songs these days. I’d take almost any one of theirs.
Pastime: Watching TV and knitting.
Child: Well, obviously it’s—hey! Hold on a sec. No favorites here.

What do you want people to say about you?
She’s nice.

What do you think they actually say?
Claire who?

About the Author:

Claire LaZebnik is the author of Epic Fail and The Trouble with Flirting, both from HarperTeen. She has also written several novels for adults, including Knitting Under the Influence and The Smart One and the Pretty One. With Dr. Lynn Kern Koegel, she co-authored Overcoming Autism and Growing Up on the Spectrum


Visit Clare via her: Website | Twitter | Facebook

About the Book


By: Claire LaZebnik
Published By: Harper Teen
To Be Released on: 2/26/13
Pre-Order it from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Browse Inside
Add It To GoodReads

Franny's supposed to be working this summer, not flirting. But you can't blame her when guys like Alex and Harry are around. . . .

Franny Pearson never dreamed she'd be attending the prestigious Mansfield Summer Theater Program. And she's not, exactly. She's working for her aunt, the resident costume designer. But sewing her fingers to the bone does give her an opportunity to spend time with her crush, Alex Braverman. If only he were as taken with the girl hemming his trousers as he is with his new leading lady.

When Harry Cartwright, a notorious flirt, shows more than a friendly interest in Franny, she figures it can't hurt to have a little fun. But as their breezy romance grows more complicated, can Franny keep pretending that Harry is just a carefree fling? And why is Alex suddenly giving her those deep, meaningful looks? In this charming tale of mixed messages and romantic near-misses, one thing is clear: Flirting might be more trouble than Franny ever expected


THE GIVEAWAY
Thank you to Harper Teen, we have a copy of The Trouble with Flirting to giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


13 comments:

  1. Thanks for the fun post and giveaway! My go to/fav Austin book(s) is a tie between Pride and Prejudice and Emma :)

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  2. Pride and Prejudice thanks for the giveaway

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  3. Totally pride and prejudice really good.

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  4. I'm 35 and I haven't read any Jane Austen. I've tried Pride and Prejudice a few times but I never get very far. I know this is wrong of me and I'm sorry.

    Also, as a side note, I get migraines, and I have to read this blog only in my google reader because the font colors on black backgrounds totally doesn't work for me.

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  5. Sense and Sensibility is my favorite Jane Austen book i love how many emotions the book bring out in me thanks for the giveaway =D

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  6. Has to be Pride and Prejudice! BTW, I also enjoyed Claire's take on it with Epic Fail!

    Thanks,
    Leanne

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  7. Pride and Prejudice has always been my favorite Austen novel.

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  8. Like I said last time Pride and Prejudice best book ever.

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  9. I love Pride and Prejudice - both the book and the movie version with Kiera Knightley.

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  10. Honestly I never got into her as a teen when we read them but Sense and Sensibility would be my pick.

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