This Is for Tonight
Jessica Patrick
Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication date: May 4th 2021
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
When Andi attends a music festival with one goal in mind – capture an interview with a famous band so she can pay for college – she gets more than she bargained for in this YA novel about family ties and finding your own way.
Andi Kennedy needs to make money for college, and fast. But her little YouTube crafting channel, while fun, isn’t exactly a money maker. So she’s heading to the world-famous Cabazon Valley Music and Arts Festival with a goal – film a video that will launch her channel into popularity and turn it into a legit money making venture, even if it means selling out her creative vision.
Instead, she finds obnoxious Jay Bankar, the annoyingly hot host of a popular prank channel who is the actual worst. Andi hates everything Jay stands for, which makes the undeniable connection she feels with him really freaking inconvenient. Soon she finds herself competing with Jay for an interview with the festival’s headlining band, which could be the key to turning her little channel directly into college tuition. But she’s starting to discover that there is more to Jay than his jerky on-screen persona, and she has to decide what’s more important – winning, or giving a second chance to a guy who couldn’t be more wrong for her.
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Interview with Jessica Patrick
What made you want to become a writer?
I’m not even sure I ever made the decision, really. I’ve always been a writer of some sort – when I was a kid I had a ton of pen pals all over the country and I wrote letters back and forth with them for years. Then I started blogging regularly on lots of different platforms, starting with xanga. I didn’t start writing fiction until I discovered YA; I connected with it immediately and something about it felt like this is what I should be doing. This was 15 years ago, and I’ve been fully immersed in all things YA – reading and writing – since then. I pursued publication, earned my MFA, and now I couldn’t quit writing even if I wanted to.
What inspired you to write This Is For Tonight?
I went to the Coachella music festival two years in a row, and I thought it would be a fun setting for a book, so I figured I would write one. Turns out I was wrong – all you really do at a music festival is stand around and watch bands play, and that’s not very exciting to read about for 300 pages. I ended up making up my own music festival so I could add some elements that kept it exciting, but I still tried to capture all the fun and chaos I experienced at Coachella.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in This Is For Tonight?
Andi Kennedy is a senior in high school who is about to graduate and is having some major stress about her college plans. She, along with her twin brother, Jordan, has been accepted to her dream school. But, while her brother got a full ride to play basketball, Andi is passed over on the scholarship she applied for, and her family can’t afford the tuition. She has a small YouTube channel focused on crafting that she loves, and she wonders if she could some way turn her channel into a money-making venture that would help her pay for college.
Jay Bankar is the host of a very popular YouTube prank channel called You Know I’m Right. He’s known for being a complete jerk to everyone on his videos, and his most popular show is one where he tricks his grandma into thinking he got hit by a car. He’s pretty much the worst, and Andi knows who he is and can’t stand him.
These two end up camping across from each other at the Cabazon Valley Music and Arts Festival campground and competing against each other for an interview with the festival’s headlining band. And, of course, antics ensue.
You know I think we all have a favorite author. Who is your favorite author and why?
This is the hardest question! I love so many authors, but I think my favorite is Katy Upperman. Katy has been a writing friend of mine for a long time, and she’s really been someone who has cheered me on at every step of the publishing process. But she also writes just the kind of books that I LOVE. Her writing is gorgeous and her love stories get you good right in the heart. So, a nice person who also writes beautiful, unputdownable romances? Yes, please. Favorite forever. Love her.
Can you tell us a little bit about your next books or what you have planned for the future?
I’m working on something that I call a ghost book, even though it’s not exactly a ghost book…I just don’t know what else to call it. It’s about a breakup but also about ghosts a little bit. I don’t know. Working on it is taking forever, but I’ve been trying to write it for a long time and I’m glad it’s finally happening.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
It focuses on two of my favorite things – live music and internet culture. I love exploring both of those in the things I write! I don’t even mean to keep writing music and internet books, but it just keeps happening.
I also really enjoyed doing a lot of work on getting it ready for publication during pandemic lockdown. I couldn’t go to a music festival in person, so it was fun to be able to visit one through the pages of this book.
Author Bio:
JESSICA PATRICK runs a high school library by day, writes YA romance by night, and pets as many dogs as possible in between. She lives in Southern California with her cute family and she has an MFA from Spalding University, an annual passport to Disneyland, and about 75 tabs open on her internet browser. She is the author of This is for Tonight.
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