Her entry begins:
Though my own work doesn't quite fall under the "rom-com" category (my debut, If You're Out There, can best be described as a friendship-themed mystery/comedy with a dash of romance), my reading is heavy on the light and fluffy. A recent favorite was the debut YA novel Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan (out April 30). It follows a girl's romantic trials and tribulations during her summer job dressed as a hot dog. Honestly, the story had me at hot dog, and it did not disappoint! I also...[read on]About If You're Out There, from the publisher:
Part whip-smart suspense tale, part touching story of friendship, this is an extraordinary debut about a determined teen trying to solve a mystery no one else believes in.Visit Katy Loutzenhiser's website.
After Zan’s best friend moves to California, she is baffled and crushed when Priya suddenly ghosts. Worse, Priya’s social media has turned intoa stream of ungrammatical posts chronicling a sunny, vapid new life that doesn’t sound like her at all.
Everyone tells Zan not to be an idiot: Let Priya do her reinvention thing and move on. But until Zan hears Priya say it, she won’t be able to admit that their friendship is finished.
It’s only when she meets Logan, the compelling new guy in Spanish class, that Zan begins to open up about her sadness, her insecurity, her sense of total betrayal. And he’s just as willing as she is to throw himself into the investigation when everyone else thinks her suspicions are crazy.
Then a clue hidden in Priya’s latest selfie introduces a new, deeply disturbing possibility:
Maybe Priya isn’t just not answering Zan’s emails.
Maybe she can’t.
My Book, The Movie: If You're Out There.
Writers Read: Katy Loutzenhiser.
--Marshal Zeringue
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