Monday, November 5, 2012

Blurb Blitz: Watch Me Disappear by Vanaskie Mulligan


Lizzie knows it isn’t right to eavesdrop, but is it really eavesdropping if her neighbor Maura makes all of her phone calls on her parents’ pool deck in easy earshot of Lizzie’s backyard? And of course it’s wrong to go snooping around on someone else’s computer, but is it Lizzie’s fault that Maura keeps her computer turned on (and logged in to Facebook) all the time?

 
Lizzie Richard’s father has moved the family around every few years to advance his career, so she has never had a chance to develop the kind of “BFF” relationships she thinks most kids have. She’s bracing herself for another lonely year at her third high school when her new neighbor Maura gets sick of watching her little brother when she could be partying. Thanks to Maura’s plotting, Lizzie becomes everyone’s new favorite babysitter. Seeing her opportunity, Lizzie breaks her strict parents’ rules and uses Maura’s computer to create a secret Email address and Facebook account. She is quickly friended by Missy, a fellow transfer student as eager for a friend as she is. Things are looking up for Lizzie until Maura’s ex-boyfriend Paul sets his eye on Missy. Caught between her new best friend and the neighbor whose friendship promises instant popularity, Lizzie doesn’t know what to do—because she’s fallen for Paul, too.
 
Excerpt:
I like the makeup better when I put it on myself. I apply it more lightly than they had, so it looks more natural. Try as I might, I’m not very handy at hairstyling, though. I can’t seem to tease the roots as Katherine instructed, and I have no luck with the up-dos they showed me. In the end, Katherine produces a small set of scissors and, while I hold my breath, trims some fringy bangs and layers, which we iron flat into a funky style. When we’re done, I don’t look like me, but I look sort of good. And good thing, too, because all the little pieces she cut are never going to fit into a ponytail.
 
“See,” Maura says. “That wasn’t so hard.”
 
“Maybe we should come raid your closet and see what we can do with that,” Katherine says, laughing smugly. She has gotten a little friendlier as the day has gone on. When I let her cut my hair, I think that sealed the deal. She is willing to at least consider extending friendship to me.
 
“You won’t find much interesting in my closet,” I say.
 
“What, no secrets?” Maura asks, suddenly turning our conversation away from the safe realm of appearances. My heart pounds. I’m not ready for this kind of conversation. Is this where they turn on me?
 
“No,” I say. “No cute clothes or skeletons.”
 
“How disappointing,” Maura says. “I thought there was a wild child in you that we had yet to uncover.”

 “You’ve met my parents. They don’t allow much for wildness.”
 
“Exactly. Kids with strict parents are usually the ones who let it all out when they step outside their parents’ grasp.”
 
“I guess I’m still pretty much within their grasp,” I say.
 
Maura makes a tsk sound. “I thought for sure there was more to you, Lizzie,” she says.

I shrug. I wish there was more to me, too.

  

AUTHOR Bio and Links:
 
Diane Vanaskie Mulligan began writing Watch Me Disappear during an after-school writing club she moderates for high school students. This is her first novel. She holds a BA in American Studies from Mount Holyoke College and a Master’s degree in teaching from Simmons College. When she isn’t teaching or writing, she’s the managing editor at The Worcester Review and the director of The Betty Curtis Worcester County Young Writers’ Conference.  You can also find her occasionally strumming her guitar and singing at various bars in central Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband.

 

Connect with Diane: 

Website: www.dvmulligan.com 




 

 

 
~Giveaway~


Diane will be awarding a $25 Amazon Gift Card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.
 
To enter just leave a commnet with your email address! for more chances to win please follow Diane's Tour:

11 comments:

  1. Hi Tara,

    Thanks for hosting this stop on my blog tour! I'll stop back this afternoon, so if any of your readers have questions, feel free to post them. I'd love to chat and say hello.

    Also, I recently changed my twitter handle to @dianevmull!

    Cheers,
    Diane

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  2. This looks really intriguing; love the cover, too.

    vitajex(at)aol(dot)com

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  3. I love the title. It sounds like things are going to get interesting for Lizzie

    fencingromein at hotmail dot com

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  4. How interesting this book sounds! I'm looking forward to it!

    justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

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  5. Thanks for checking out my excerpt! If you follow the tour, you can check out some different excerpts!

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  6. What attracts you to YA, Diane?
    catherinelee100 at gmail dot com

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    Replies
    1. I would consider this more upper YA, meaning appealing to teenagers and adults. My motive is telling a great story. I don't think about audience on the first draft. It wasn't until I had a whole draft of this that I knew that to market it, I would have to consider it YA, but it's not just for kids.

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  7. Sorry I missed your first day of partying! I don't normally read YA books, but this one has me intrigued and wanted to read more.

    kareninnc at gmail dot com

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  8. Very interesting. I can see that Lizzie is going to get herself into all sorts of trouble.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete