Crossing the Line
by Ellen Wolfson Valladares
Genre: YA Magical Realism
Release Date: March 6th 2018
WiDo Publishing
Summary:
Laura, who died thirty years ago, enlists the help of a tenacious high school reporter named Rebecca, who is very much alive. Rebecca, although skeptical and conflicted by her supposed encounters with a spirit, determines to learn the truth about Laura’s tragic death. As the clues unravel and their worlds collide, Rebecca finds herself at a dangerous crossroads.
Laura, now pulled back into everything she left behind when she died – her old high school and memories of her life and death—has been in training for this exact moment. And nothing means more to her than succeeding at her assignment.
It is her one chance to make sure that what happened her does not happen to anyone else, and especially not to her new friend, Rebecca.
by Ellen Wolfson Valladares
Genre: YA Magical Realism
Release Date: March 6th 2018
WiDo Publishing
Summary:
Laura, who died thirty years ago, enlists the help of a tenacious high school reporter named Rebecca, who is very much alive. Rebecca, although skeptical and conflicted by her supposed encounters with a spirit, determines to learn the truth about Laura’s tragic death. As the clues unravel and their worlds collide, Rebecca finds herself at a dangerous crossroads.
Laura, now pulled back into everything she left behind when she died – her old high school and memories of her life and death—has been in training for this exact moment. And nothing means more to her than succeeding at her assignment.
It is her one chance to make sure that what happened her does not happen to anyone else, and especially not to her new friend, Rebecca.
Buy Links: Amazon
Interview with Ellen Wolfson Valladares
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Crossing the Line?
The book alternates in first person points of view between the two main characters, Laura and Rebecca. Laura is a Spirit who died at 17 in 1983. Rebecca is a high school student living in 2013.
Laura is now a student in the afterlife at The Academy, where young spirits train and then take on missions to help kids in Life. We meet Laura as she takes on her first major mission, which includes preventing what happened to her from happening again. Laura’s mission takes her back to her old high school, where she was a popular Homecoming Queen and dated the hunky baseball player, Brad Peterson. While Laura must stay focused on helping the girls she’s been assigned to, she starts getting pulled back into memories of her own life and death.
Rebecca is a sophomore at St. Pete Southern High School in St. Petersburg, Florida. She’s a curious and skeptical reporter for the school newspaper so when she starts having encounters with Laura’s spirit, she questions what is happening and sets out to find out more. That leads her on a path where she begins to learn about her own special abilities to communicate with spirits, as she also begins to unveil new details about how Laura died. Rebecca’s friendships, her new relationship with Tyler, and her own beliefs get tested along the way.
Some of the other characters in the book include Katie, the other girl involved in Laura’s death, Brad, Laura’s high school love, Michelle, Laura’s best friend, and Laura’s current best friends at The Academy, Gary and Latoya. In Rebecca’s living world, we meet her friends, Nicole and Jenny, her love interest, Tyler, and Teresa, a quiet, depressed teen who is at the center of Laura’s mission.
Can you tell us a little bit about your next books or what you have planned for the future?
I have some ideas brewing, but nothing has solidly fermented just yet. So I would say I am in the stage of waiting for an inspiration that I can’t say no to. For the immediate future, I am looking forward to sharing Crossing the Line with readers and connecting with those who enjoy it.
How long would you say it takes you to write a book?
I think people are always surprised when I tell them how long it takes me. My first book took almost seven years just to write and this one probably took me about three years, but then another two for rewriting and editing. It’s a huge commitment and takes a lot of perseverance. My belief is that it’s not how fast you get there, it’s that you finish what you started. I also believe everything unfolds in the timing it was meant to.
What is your favorite childhood book?
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
If you could spend the day with one of the characters from Crossing the Line, who would it be? Please tell us why you chose this particular character, where you would go and what you would do.
I think it would be Laura in her spirit form. I would love to visit The Academy and spend some time with her in the Rock Garden, where she likes to go to think, or sit by the beautiful lake and watch the swans do tricks. I’d also love to sit in on some of the classes and learn more about how things work in their world and how they communicate to people who are living. The Academy is a beautiful university campus like setting. I would imagine feeling so peaceful being there and also comforted by experiencing the possibilities of such beauty and inspiration existing beyond life.
What was the hardest scene from Crossing the Line to write?
I would say the most difficult scenes were probably the ones in which Teresa’s father is being cruel to her. I don’t like conflict or confrontation and grew up in a pretty peaceful household, so fighting of any kind makes me uncomfortable, especially when there is a person of lesser power who cannot defend themselves.
What made you want to become a writer?
I have always loved to write since I was a child. I think my mother must have encouraged writing because three out of four of her children ended up as writers. I even have an old school assignment from when I was nine in which I wrote that I wanted to write a children’s book when I grew up. When it comes down to it, I just love words and the freedom of expressing myself in written form. I’ve been very fortunate to do what I love as a profession as a journalist and now, as an author.
Just for fun
(a Favorite song: Calling All Angels
(b Favorite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
(c Favorite movie: The Wizard of Oz
(d Favorite tv show: Stanger Things
(e Favorite Food: Chicago pizza and fresh Florida stone crab claws, not necessarily at the same time LOL
(f Favorite drink: La Croix sparkling water
(g Favorite website: Don’t really have one
Thanks so much for visiting with us today!
About the Author
Ellen Wolfson Valladares is an award-winning writer/author, workshop facilitator, community volunteer, and mother. Her first book, a children’s novel entitled Jonathan's Journey to Mount Miapu, received a Mom’s Choice Gold Award and the 2009 Coalition of Visionary Resources Visionary Awards Book of the Year award. A native Floridian, she lives in Weston, Fla., with her husband, two children, two dogs, and a cat.
Author Links:
Blog Tour Organized by:
1 comments:
Love the post!
Post a Comment