Today I would like to welcome to Book Flame Melissa Walker author of Unbreak My Heart
1. What inspired you to write Unbreak My Heart?
The idea of a friend breakup is what I started with. I haven't read enough books that include that, but it happens to lots of people, myself included, so I wanted to write about that experience.
2. How do you come up with the names for the characters in your books?
I walk through Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn a lot and write down names I like. Really. Is that weird?
3. Who do you think is the most complex character in Unbreak My Heart?
I guess I think Clem is, but maybe that's because I was in her head for so long. I know all of her ins and outs, but I only know what she knows about the others. I had tunnel vision for her.4. What's one thing you hope readers will take with them after their finished reading your latest novel?
Whatever they need to. I think everyone get something different from the books they read--you read it with your lens, apply it to your life. And I hope whatever they take is somehow helpful or insightful or whatever. But it's not mine anymore.
5. There are a lot of songs out there that have a story to tell. Which song(s) do you think would make a great book?
Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg. It's like a NOVEL! Listen. I cry. Seriously. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzCk3_6g1o4
6. If you could live in any book which one would it be?
I mean, I would really like to go to Hogwarts...
7. What is the one quote that inspires you above all others?
"A rising tide lifts all boats." It helps me avoid jealousy, which is an easy trap to fall into, I think.
About Unbreak My Heart
"Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’ heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life. Enter her parents’ plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but floating away sounds pretty good right now. Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer and he’s just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem’s walls and heal her broken heart? Told in alternating chapters that chronicle the year that broke Clem’s heart and the summer that healed it, Unbreak My Heart is a wonderful dual love story that fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Susane Colasanti will flock to."
About the author
Melissa Walker is a writer who has worked as ELLEgirl Features Editor and Seventeen Prom Editor. All in the name of journalism, she has spent 24 hours with male models and attended an elite finishing school for girls in New Zealand, among other hardships.
She co-founded I Heart Daily with fellow ex-ELLEgirl Anne Ichikawa in 2009. It’s a daily newsletter about likable stuff.
Melissa lives in Brooklyn and has a BA in English from Vassar College. She would tell you her SAT scores too, but, you know, the math part was hard.
She loves meeting teenagers, and is game to speak at your library or school about writing, books, fashion, magazines or pop culture (but, you know, in a smart way).
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