Girl on the Ferris Wheel by Julie Halpern & Len Vlahos Book Tour, Guest Post & Giveaway! {Ends 1/21/21}

Book details:
Girl on the Ferris Wheel by Julie Halpern, Len Vlahos
Published by: Feiwel & Friends
Publication date: January 12th 2021
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Synopsis:       In Girl on the Ferris Wheel, Julie Halpern and Len Vlahos expertly tackle this quirky and poignant romance that explores what first love really means--and how it sometimes hurts like hell.
      Tenth graders Eliana and Dmitri could not be more different. He’s an outgoing, self-confident drummer in a punk band called Unexpected Turbulence. Eliana is introspective and thoughtful, and a movie buff who is living with depression.
        Dmitri quite literally falls for Eliana when he sees her in gym class and slams into a classmate. The pair then navigate the ins and outs of first love. Exciting, scary, unexpected, and so much more difficult than they ever imagined. They say opposites attract, but they soon realize that there is so much they just don’t understand about each other. It begs the question: How long can first love possibly last when you’re so different.

Goodreads ~ Purchase: Amazon ~ B&N ~ iBooks ~

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  GUEST POST

Len’s experience growing up and playing in bands, and how that influenced GIRL ON THE FERRIS WHEEL

         When I was six, Santa brought me a Magnus Organ. It was a two-octave, boxy little keyboard with a whirring fan inside that was louder than the music it made. But I didn’t care. My life-long love affair with music began, I’m fairly certain, with that organ.
           But first loves rarely stand the test of time. It wasn’t until I bought my first electric guitar – a 1978 Fender Stratocaster – with my own money, that I was *really* hooked. I was 13 years old.
            In high school, some friends and I started a band, and…
           We. Were. Awful! (Like drunken-dogs-barking-at-feral-cats-who-are-hissing-back, awful.)
          But we practiced, spending countless hours in my parents’ basement, grinding it out. Our early attempts at songwriting grew more sophisticated over time, and eventually, we, and our songs, got good.
          We called ourselves Woofing Cookies (a line from a movie called Time Square), put out our own 45rpm single, and went on the road. To find out what happens, read my first book, The Scar Boys, which uses the events of that failed tour as the backdrop for the story. The book is really a love letter to music.
        After writing The Scar Boys and its sequel, Scar Girl, my next two books veered off into science fiction, but music, and writing about music, kept calling to me. First loves will do that. When Julie and I sat down to start Girl on the Ferris Wheel, I knew my character needed to be musical. But I also knew I didn’t want to write another guitar player.\
         So what to do? The truth is, every person who has ever played guitar in a rock band secretly wants to be a drummer. Boom. I had my answer. Dmitri would play the drums. And just like with my earlier books, writing about music was therapeutic, fun, and completely engaging.
         My hope is that Dmitri’s love of music (and drums, and being in a band) make him a more interesting character, and help him connect with Julie’s beautiful drawn character, Eliana. I hope you’ll think, so, too.

AUTHOR BIO:
       Julie Halpern is the award-winning author of seven young adult novels, one novel for adults, and one picture book for young readers. In her imaginary spare time she enjoys traveling, making cosplay for her kids, and eating baked goods. Julie lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Caldecott-winning author and illustrator Matthew Cordell, and their two children.
       Len Vlahos dropped out of NYU film school in the mid ’80s to play guitar and write songs for Woofing Cookies, a punk-pop four piece that toured up and down the East Coast, and had two singles and one full-length LP on Midnight Records. After the band broke up, he followed his other passion, books. He is the author of The Scar Boys, a William C. Morris Award finalist and a #1 Indie Next pick, and Scar Girl, the book’s sequel. Len lives in Denver with his wife and two young sons, where he owns the Tattered Cover Book Store.

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Giveaway details:
Tour-wide giveaway (US only)

• Paperback copy of Girl on the Ferris wheel

This grand prize giveaway - ends Jan 21st:

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a Rafflecopter giveaway