Happy New Year, everyone! I hope your year is getting off to a great start.
Today I'd like to introduce YA author Ann Herrick and one of her latest books for young adults,
Trading Faces. I've read several of Ann's books, and I heartily recommend them. Ann really understands the heart and mind of a teenager, and she excels in getting these sentiments down on paper (or digital format). To learn more about
Trading Faces, please read on!
Blurb:
What if you went to sleep plain and woke up
beautiful--or vice versa?
An
"Ugly Betty" and a Popular Beauty wind up trading faces—and lives—and the
situation is not what either one expected.
When 15-year-old Darcy Doane wakes up as Cybil
Sheffield, she is thrilled. Cybil is everything Darcy has ever wanted to be.
Pretty. Popular. Only… all the attention isn’t exactly what Darcy expected.
Especially when her own brother, Joey, is crushing on her. Gross. But then
there's Devon, the real Cybil's boyfriend ....
Cybil is shocked when she looks in the mirror and
sees a face she totally doesn’t recognize. She thought not always being the
center of attention might be a good thing, but being invisible is hardly
bearable. Even her boyfriend, Devon, looks right through her! How can she
survive when the only people (except a family of strangers) who even know she's
alive are three dipsticks she can't remember ever seeing before? And why hasn't
she ever noticed her new "brother," Joey, before?
With the school play,
potential boyfriends and an A-List party coming up, Darcy and Cybil have a lot
to work out. There’s a learning curve for both of them, especially after they
are caught fighting at school and forced by the principal to help her at a
Return-to-Work project for displaced women.
Trouble is, how do they get their own lives back? And
who ends up with what guy?
Excerpt:
[DARCY]
Brrrr. It's cold in
here. I must've left a window open. Uuuuh. I hate to get out from
under the covers. One, two, three, fling.
My teeth chatter as
I hunt for my slippers. Where’s the carpet? It feels like … like
wood under my feet. Maybe I'm still dreaming that I'm in Silas
Marner's cottage. I pinch myself.
Ouch!
What's going on?
Why is it so dark in here, anyway? Did the hall nightlight burn out
or something? Where's the lamp?
Where's the
nightstand?
What's this? The wall?
Okay, I follow the wall and find the light switch. Ack! I've run out
of wall. Did I leave my bedroom door open?
Where am I?
There’s a
nightlight here reflecting off a mirror. Somehow, I find myself in a
strange bathroom with a granite floor. I flick the light switch on
and see myself in the big, full wall mirror. I take a good look.
Cybil Sheffield?
I lean in close and blink.
Cybil blinks. I smile. Cybil smiles. Her smile is dazzling.
I nod. Cybil nods. I touch
my nose. Cybil touches her nose.
Wait a minute. I can feel
my nose, and it is cute and round and small enough to fit under a
dime! I've morphed into Cybil! Wow! Is this for real? Maybe I should
pinch myself again. Ow!
I take another
look. Yes! I am Cybil. Even in the morning, without makeup, she looks
beautiful. Her hair's barely even messed up.
I look at my hands. Instead
of large hands with thick fingers and clipped fingernails, I've got
little hands and oval fingernails painted with Cybil's trademark Pink
Opal Glaze nail polish. Hey, my toenails are painted Pink Opal
Glaze, too. Who knew?
Upon further examination I
also detect a pair of pointy, perky breasts, way bigger than mine
even when I'm bloated, peering through the semi sheer nightgown I'm
wearing instead of my over sized T-shirt. Wow, I'm not even sure what
to do with these babies. I'll have to learn to use them wisely.
What am I thinking? Okay,
for some reason, I look like Cybil, and I’ve been transported to
some bedroom that must be hers. But how? Why? And, anyway, even if I
look like Cybil, can I possibly pull off being Cybil? I don’t know
how to act popular. I don’t even know to talk to most people. It’s
not as if I grew up looking beautiful and wearing great clothes,
which must make everything much easier.
Clothes! Maybe I
should get dressed. Maybe I could think better with clothes on. I
certainly can’t run around in this … this nightie all day.
What day is this,
anyway? Friday? Yikes! I've got an algebra test—
No, wait. Darcy has an algebra test.
Wait, a few days ago Cybil was moved into the class. Does she study?
Huh? Why am I even thinking about algebra?
What am I going to
do? What about Mom and Dad and Joey? Do they think I'm missing? Am
I missing? Are they frantically searching the house and the woods for
me? Or am "I" still home? Maybe "I'm" sitting at
the breakfast table eating Grape Nuts, as usual. Maybe "I"
have turned into an android.
Or. Maybe Cybil has been turned into
me?
[CYBIL]
I peer into the mirror over the
dresser. The light is not great in here, so everything looks a little
blurry. Ack! I slap my head with both hands. I went to bed
great looking and woke up … yuck! Total nerd! Dull,
stringy hair—definitely not my color—close set eyes …
and this nose. I run my fingers over the bridge of it. Where's
my perfect little nose?
Where did this wide
one come from? Did I bump into the bedpost in my sleep or
something?
What happened?
Whose face is this? Maybe someone from school? Why is it suddenly my
face? I try to think. Is this a nightmare? Well, of course, looking
like this is a nightmare, but, I mean, am I really awake? If I’m
asking myself that question, I must be! Wait. Maybe I’m just …
just not completely awake yet. I close my eyes, count to ten,
yawn, stretch, open my eyes and look in the mirror again. Eeew!
That face is still there.
And my room. What's with the log cabin
walls, braided rugs and country kitch décor?
I run around the room. Where's my
four poster queen sized bed? I open doors. Where's my
walk in closet? Where's my bathroom?
Okay, calm down. Think! Maybe I can
look this up on the internet. Ack! Where’s my computer? I sit on the edge of the bed. Hmm, a
quilt bedspread. How department store. Wait a sec. This looks like a
genuine hand made quilt—
I take a deep breath. Maybe … maybe
Mother worked her decorating witchcraft in here. I mean, she is a
"Consulting Interior Designer; Residential; Designing Space for
Your Lifestyle; Over Twenty Years Experience; Evening Appointments
Available; Member ASID."
She put herself through design school
with the piles of beauty pageant scholarships she won.
Everything from Miss Grass Seed Queen all the way up to Fourth
Runner Up in the Miss Most Beautiful Teen of America
pageant where she also won the Talent Contest with her piano
rendition of Footloose. So she also knows makeup. Maybe she
gave me and my room some kind of reverse makeover in my sleep.
But why would Mother do such a sick,
cruel thing? There's only one way to find out.
I find the closet.
Ack, what a dinky closet, and the clothes—yipe, what a mess! I grab
a robe to cover the graying T shirt draped over my—eek!
Where are my boobs? I've got to find some answers before
things get any worse.
I peek out into the hall and find the
same cabin look out there. This is so not good. I tiptoe down
the hall and creep down the stairs. I see light spilling through a
doorway to my left. Maybe that's the kitchen?
It is.
Problem. There are three people
sitting around a scrub top kitchen table. I have zero clue who
they are and no idea where I am.
Author Bio:
Ann
Herrick is the award-winning author of several books and short stories for kids
and teens. Included in the awards her books have won are the ALA Recommended Book
for Reluctant Readers, IRA/CBC Children’s Choice and EPIC Best YA Novel
Finalist.
Ann grew up in Connecticut,
where she graduated from The Morgan School and Quinnipiac University.
She now lives in Oregon
with her husband, who was her high-school sweetheart. Their wonderful
daughter is grown, married and gainfully employed, and has given Ann her only
grand-dog, Puff, a bloodhound-rottweiller-beagle mix and six grand-kitties.
While she misses the East Coast, especially houses built before 1900, she
enjoys the green valleys, fresh air and low humidity in the Willamette Valley
of Oregon.
Ann loves cats, walking, the Oregon Ducks and working in her
back yard. In addition to stories and books for children and young
adults, Ann also writes copy for humorous and conventional greeting cards. She
loves to hear from her readers and can be contacted through her web site:
http://annherrickauthor.com
PURCHASE LINKS:
