THE JULIAN GAME by Adele Griffin

If you haven't had the chance to meet Adele, she is one of the nicest/charming/quirky/funny/entertaining people on the planet. And when you read her newest book THE JULIAN GAME you'll see exactly why we have a total girl crush on her.

A bit about the book:
All new girl Raye Archer wants is a way into the in crowd, so when ice-queen Ella Parker picks her to get back at her ex, the gorgeous Julian Kilgarry, Raye is more than game. Even if it means creating a fake Facebook identity so she can learn enough about Julian to sabotage him. It's a fun and dangerous thrill at first, but Raye hadn't counted on falling for Julian herself and igniting Ella's rage.

As Raye works to reconcile the temptress Elizabeth with her real-life self, Ella serves up her own revenge, creating an online smear campaign of nasty rumors and trashy photographs. Suddenly notorious, Raye has to find a way out of the web of deceit that she's helped to build, and back to the relationships that matter.

Adele Griffin's riveting novel explores the issues of generation Facebook: the desire to be someone else, real versus online friends, and the pitfalls and fallouts of posting your personal life online for all the world to judge.

Lila's Take:
We seriously think any and all aspiring YA authors should read this book for a lesson in authentic dialogue. Adele NAILED it! And obviously this book should be required reading for every ACTUAL young adult out there. Not only does Adele build an incredibly entertaining and believable cast of characters, but she addresses the super-timely and important subject of online personas and their potential repercussions. THE JULIAN GAME is a fascinating and fun read. You will NOT be disappointed!

Check out Adele's take on our standard fare...spoiler, she's HILARIOUS.

1. Tell us about your book in 140 characters or less.

The Julian Game is a cold, fierce, short novel about revenge, betrayal, and "real" versus online identity.

2. Where did you get the idea for THE JULIAN GAME (as the official idea whores, we have a vested interest here.)

I am not only an Idea Slut of Note, but I am also a Creepy Eavesdropper. I think my very first inkling of this story was listening to a group of girls at a CVS talking about how their soccer team was going to pee on the captain's (of the opposite team's) yard. First I thought: ew! Then I thought: kids today! Then I thought: I really need to hang out at CVS more, because that mess should go in a story. And it did.

3. Someone has a pair of scissors to your head (oooh, SCARY!) and you have to choose: Awesome title or gorgeous book cover?

The image is everything; my husband is dyslexic and he is a sucker for presentation; he'd buy a box of fried smelt if the smelt looked yummy on the box. And I was thinking lefty scissors, so I wasn't that scared.

4. When did you know you had to be a writer?

I was seven years old. I wanted to run away from home but didn't want to approach my grandparents directly, because it seemed impolite. So I wrote them a story about a girl who went to live with her grandparents, and how it improved the quality of her entire life. It was not a very good story, and so I had to remain with my parents.

5. Twizzlers or M&Ms?

M&Ms because you cannot shake Twizzlers into your popcorn. It's not even a choice, L&L, it's not even a choice!

So admit it, you have a girl crush, don't you? It's okay, we've already fessed up to Adele and we feel MUCH better getting it all out there. In fact, you can confess in the comments and we'll enter you in the contest to win all of the amazing books featured on our blog this week. Two birds, one stone. We're all about efficiency.