Title: You Asked for Perfect

Author: Laura Silverman

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Release Date: March 5th 2019

Genre: Young Adult, LGBT, Contemporary

My Review

Synopsis:

Senior Ariel Stone is the perfect college applicant: first chair violin, dedicated community volunteer, and expected valedictorian. He works hard – really hard – to make his life look effortless. A failed Calculus quiz is not part of that plan. Not when he’s number one. Not when his peers can smell weakness like a freshman’s body spray.

Figuring a few all-nighters will preserve his class rank, Ariel throws himself into studying. His friends will understand if he skips a few plans, and he can sleep when he graduates. Except Ariel’s grade continues to slide. Reluctantly, he gets a tutor. Amir and Ariel have never gotten along, but Amir excels in Calculus, and Ariel is out of options.

Ariel may not like Calc, but he might like Amir. Except adding a new relationship to his long list of commitments may just push him past his limit.

BOOK LINKS

Goodreads| Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

AUTHOR INFORMATION

My debut novel, GIRL OUT OF WATER, is a summery coming-of-age story about a California surfer girl sent to landlocked Nebraska for the entire summer. It debuted in May 2017. You can order it from most book retailers and of course request it at your local library! My second novel, YOU ASKED FOR PERFECT, is about the effects of intense academic pressure on a teenage Valedictorian-to-be. It comes out March 2019, and you can add it on Goodreads here.

I have degrees in English and Advertising from the University of Georgia, and I have an MFA in Writing for Children from the New School. While I lived in NYC, I interned at Penguin and two different literary agencies. In addition to writing, I also freelance edit manuscripts and query letters. Please check out my services if you’re interested! I particularly love helping with those query letters!

You can find Laura Silverman at the following sites:

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

Q&A WITH LAURA SILVERMAN

Thank you, Laura, for stopping by on the blog! I had so much fun chatting with you!

1. Your second book is coming out in March, that’s so exciting! What inspired you to write this story?

I went to an extremely academically competitive high school. We were pressured to take as many AP classes as possible and do well in them. At the time, almost ten years ago now, this high school experience was pretty unusual. We jokingly called the school a university instead of a high school. But I’ve noticed in recent years it’s been more and more common to put this intense academic pressure on high school students all over the country, and that amount of pressure can be extremely harmful to the mental and physical health of the students. I wanted to write a book where high school students feel seen and heard. I wanted to tell them that they are much more important than their grades. I also wanted to send a message to teachers, parents, administrators, etc. Many already know this pressure is an issue, but I hope they will work harder to solve it.

2. I read an ARC of YOU ASKED FOR PERFECT a couple months ago and I absolutely loved it! I related to Ariel so much, and I know a lot more readers will, too. Was it difficult writing Ariel’s character, or any of the other characters?

Ariel’s voice came fairly naturally to me. He’s one of the other main reasons I wrote this book. I’ve had his voice in my head for years now. Originally, he belonged to another book I scraped after a few chapters, but his voice stayed in my head, so a couple years after that, I started writing YOU ASKED FOR PERFECT. That said, it was definitely still difficult in a way to write his voice because the poor guy is super stressed out for a large portion of the book. I felt that stress right along with him and would often continue to feel it after my writing session. Thankfully there are some fluffy, happy scenes in the book as well that gave us both some relief J

3. If you could give one piece of advice to those struggling with any type of pressure to be perfect, what would it be?

Reach out to people and ask for help – whether it’s parents or a therapist or someone else. Perfection is overrated, and hopefully someone in your life can work with you, provide comfort, and help shift your perspective.

4. What was your writing process like for YOU ASKED FOR PERFECT?

As mentioned above, it was super stressful! I had a lot of high school flashbacks. I wasn’t exactly like Ariel, but there were times when I felt like a single grade or project was the end of the world. I really dipped back into that internal spiral, and it was a difficult space to live in again.

5. There are a ton of inspiring authors out there. What advice would you give them?

Write what you enjoy! I strongly recommend writing fanfiction if you’re just starting out. I wrote a ton of fanfiction in college, and it was the best writing practice. You get instant feedback from your reviewers, and you’re incentivized to keep posting new chapters because they’ll want to know what happens next. And most importantly, it’s really fun!

TOUR SCHEDULE

See what other amazing blogs joined this fantastic blog tour!

http://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2018/12/tour-schedule-you-asked-for-perfect-by.html

YOU ASKED FOR PERFECT GIVEAWAY

Prize: Win a copy of YOU ASKED FOR PERFECT by Laura Silverman (INT)

Disclaimer: INT as long as Bookdepository ships to the country of the winner.

Start Date: 11^th February 2019

End Date: 24^th February 2019

Thank you, Fantastic Flying Book Club, so much for having A Court of Coffee and Books on the blog tour!