GCC Tour: THE BOYS NEXT DOOR by Jennifer Echols

I'm thrilled to be touring Jennifer Echols this week, and her book, The Boys Next Door. Check it out!





Order the book!

About the Book:

Lori has spent every summer on the lake, swimming and wakeboarding with the three boys next door, and working at the boys’ family marina. Lori is close to Adam, the “baby” of the family, who's her age. But secretly, she’s always had a thing for the middle brother, Sean. And this summer, Sean actually seems to be—dare she think it—flirting with her. She figures he’s only being nice because they're like family, since he’s not into younger girls. Until he steals Adam's (even younger) girlfriend.

Lori and Adam team up to get Adam’s girlfriend back, and to get Sean for Lori. But then Lori begins to notice ADAM. He’s grown taller. More mature. And Lori thinks Adam is interested in her, too. And that’s when their ploy finally works. Adam gets his girlfriend back, and Lori gets Sean. The right couples are finally in place, and everything should be smooth sailing. So what’s with all the waves?

About the Author:

Jennifer Echols is the author of the National Readers Choice Award-winning Major Crush, about a high school pageant queen turned band geek in a small southern town. Boy in Blue, about a rebellious teen who is sentence to accompany a police officer on his night shift patrol—and falls for him, will be published by MTV Books in February 2009. Growing up on beautiful Lake Martin in Alabama, Jennifer learned to water-ski when she was five (wakeboarding wasn't invented yet). She now lives high and dry with her husband and son in Birmingham. Visit her on the web at www.jennifer-echols.com

Jennifer's Answers to My GCC Questions:

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL “WRITING DAY”?
I get up at 4:30 a.m. and write until I have 1350 words or whatever my quota is for that day. Then I start my “real” job as a freelance copyeditor.

DO YOU RECALL THE KERNEL OF INSPIRATION FOR THIS BOOK?
I wrote a proposal for a book with a similar plot that was set at a dirt-racing track, and a book with a different plot that was set on the lake where I grew up. My editor asked me to take the first plot and set it at the lake.

PICK A CHARACTER IN THE BOOK AND TELL US WHAT TRAIT YOU SHARE (OR COME CLOSEST TO SHARING) WITH THAT CHARACTER.
The heroine, Lori, is the character I’ve written who’s closest to the real me. I am exactly that dorky. In fact, when my critique partner read the manuscript, she called me and said, “OMG YOU’VE WRITTEN YOURSELF!”

IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND, WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A MAGICAL TRUNK THAT GAVE YOU LIMITLESS BOOKS TO READ, OR A LIMITLESS SUPPLY OF PAPER ON WHICH TO WRITE?
Since I read A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh, I’ve been haunted by the specter of being trapped in the jungle, reading the collected works of Charles Dickens over and over like that book's protagonist. So I’ll take the paper.

BEER OR WINE? Beer.

CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Chocolate!

WHAT’S YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOK? Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.