The Falling Girls and Female Friendships

Hi everyone!

It’s like everything that I’ve written in this newsletter has led me up to this week. Yes, it’s today that I get to write in my newsletter So Very (a take off on the saying “How very," from the movie Heathers) that my very Heathers-esque book, THE FALLING GIRLS came out this past Tuesday.

THE FALLING GIRLS is about two best friends, Shade and Jadis, who do everything together. They sleep in the same bed, they share clothes and even give each other stick and poke tattoos. But when Shade decides to join the cheerleading team, Jadis sees it as a betrayal. It’s especially hurtful when Shade becomes friends with a group of mean girls called The Three Chloes (hello, Heathers) and Jadis feels entirely left in the dust. At the Homecoming Dance, one of the cheerleaders suddenly dies and it’s clearly not an accident. Shade can’t help but wonder if her best friend is to blame.

I wrote this book for everyone who’s ever had a friendship issue or had a friendship breakup. It’s part of life, to have issues with friends and we don’t always come out of it okay. I’ve had my share of them. It’s not something that changes as you get older. I think it just can get more complicated. Women go to our friends when stress happens, we go to our friends for everything. What do we do when that person isn’t in our life? It can be more painful than romantic love.

• You can buy the book here at Amazon!

• If you want a signed copy, you can order from Watchung Booksellers, my local bookstore in NJ. Just write who you would like it signed to in the instructions when you check out

• Or you can buy it anywhere books are sold!

• You can listen to the audio book here

PLEASE please write a review on Amazon if you bought my book from them. It matters so much in the book sales world. Even if it’s not your thing, it would really mean a lot to me.

As a side note: if you write a review like this one on Goodreads, then I’ll be your best friend.

Plus! I’m doing a giveaway of tattoos that Penguin designed to match Shade and Jadis’s tattoos in the book. Fill out this form and I’ll send you some tattoos!

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Where have I’ve been? What have I been doing?

Lots of exciting things happening in THE FALLING GIRLS world!

First off, I was on NPR this weekend. HELLO, WEEKEND EDITION ON NPR!!!

It was one of the most nerve racking moments of my life. But I think I was able to fake a pretty calm front during the interview! You can listen to that here.

I had an incredible discussion hosted by Word bookstore about writing, about teenage girls and “Bad Art Friend” with Jessica Goodman author of They’ll Never Catch Us and Kathleen Glasgow, author of You’ll Be Home Soon.

I wrote this article about Cheer Moms in the New York Times

I asked the question “What is YA?” on Teen Librarian Toolbox

Lastly, I wrote about mean girls for Publishers Weekly

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What I’m reading/watching

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks but I still have time to read great books and watch shitty TV.

Kim Kardashian on SNL was actually funny; re-reading Election by Tom Perrotta; obsessed with Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp in Impeachment; Animal by Lisa Taddeo; “Bad Art Friend”; The Morning Show (I love Jennifer Aniston, what can I tell you?) ; You’d Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow; “My Time With Kurt Cobain.”

Love,

Hayley