The Book Goddess: Blog Tour: Dear Cassie - Lisa Burstein (Author Interview)

DEAR CASSIE

by Lisa Burstein - March 5th2013

from Entangled Teen

ABOUT THE BOOK:

What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?

You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

You’d be wrong.

There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.

What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?

But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.

And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?

ADD TO GOODREADS

AUTHOR INTERVIEW with LISA BURSTEIN!

Hi Lisa!

1. Dear Cassie is a follow up story from Pretty Amy. How is it different writing Amy's story to Cassie's story?

Cassie is a lot more confident than Amy. She is dealing with demons from her past just like Amy is, but she hides it a lot better, from most people anyway. Dear Cassie was also from page one a romance and Pretty Amy was not.

2. Which story did you find more difficult writing, Cassie's or Amy's? And why?

Hmmm...probably Cassie, because she is so different from who I am and she is dealing with some pretty heavy issues. Even heavier than what Amy dealt with in Pretty Amy if you can believe it.

3. What attributes of Amy and Cassie do you most admire? And what do you not?

Admire: For Amy I would say her humor, for Cassie I would say her toughness.

Don't Admire: For Amy I would say how bad she feels about herself, for Cassie her inability to let go of things.

4. Who's your favorite character that you've written so far and why?

I think Cassie, she is just so fun, in a situation that is anything but. I really love how tough she is on the outside, but how vulnerable she is on the inside.

5. We are loving Pretty Amy, Dear Cassie and The Next Forever and contemporary is my favorite genre,but do you think you'll ever write a paranormal or a fantasy?

I don't know. I don't really have ideas for books in those genres, my mind doesn't really work that way. I am in awe of people who can write amazing paranormal, fantasy or dystopian. I think Suzanne Collins is a goddess.

6. And finally, what comes after Dear Cassie? Next book, new projects you can tell us about?

Well, they are all in proposal right now, so nothing is definite, but I'm hoping Lila will be able to tell her story and I have two other books that may be coming out in the next year, year and 1/2 as well.

Thanks! :)

About the author of PRETTY AMY and DEAR CASSIE!

Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Fiction from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University and is glad to finally have it be worth more than the paper it was printed on. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats. Pretty Amy is her first novel. She never went to her senior prom.