Remember high school? Of course you do. Maybe it was the best time of your life. Maybe, and, frankly, more likely, it was an awkward time with some high points and a whole lot of embarrassing moments. Or maybe you hated every minute of it and couldn’t wait to graduate.
For me, it was a mix of the first two. I loved high school. I was a type-A overachiever (shocking, I know), involved in all sorts of extracurricular activities. Not sports so much, although I did run track my junior year until an injury sidelined me permanently. It was probably for the best though. Sports was never my thing.
I was heavily involved in music, however, and academics. And I had plenty of embarrassing moments.
For example, I’ll never forget the football game where the marching band took to the ice-covered field just as the wind began to pick up. When a particularly strong gust took hold of one of the sousaphones, it took down that player and the rest followed like dominoes. It was a thing to behold. Or, I hear it was. I wouldn’t know. I was lying mortified on a sheet of ice under my sousaphone.
But now imagine now that you’re not a regular kid. What if you grew up in a place very different from the average American town? And you find separated from the only family you really know and into a high school where you know you don’t fit in.
Welcome to Kristine Grayson’s newest series: young adult urban fantasies unlike anything else in the genre.
This three-book series, called the Interim Fates, incorporates humor, magic, misunderstandings, and the central theme of finding one’s own identity—the core of the high school experience.
The three books—Tiffany Tumbles, Crystal Caves and Brittany Bends—tell the story of the Interim Fates—Tiffany, Crystal and Brittany—who were first introduced in Grayson’s bestselling Fates Trilogy (Simply Irresistible, Absolutely Captivated, Totally Spellbound). The three teenagers are now mortal and struggling to fit into a world without magic—and without each other.
The Interim Fates series has the long-distance relationships of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (only with more humor), the attitude of Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (but in a magical universe), and the extreme outsider viewpoint of Mean Girls (with less viciousness) all rolled into one.
The books will be released one per month, beginning in August with Tiffany Tumbles.
But both Tiffany Tumbles and Crystal Caves are available for preorder now in ebook on Amazon, Kobo and iBooks. And Brittany Bends will be available in preorder as well by the end of the week.
The Fates Trilogy (and Completely Smitten) will also be getting some attention next week, as we redesign the covers to bring them more in line with the new look you see with the Interim Fates. Stay tuned for those new covers.
I’m thrilled to share this new series with you. Like the best young adult books, the Interim Fates trilogy will appeal to readers of all ages.
After all, given a little bit of time, revisiting those embarrassing high school experiences can be downright amusing.
Or maybe that’s just me. Perhaps I got knocked in the head too hard by a sousaphone.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.
Allyson! These are gorgeous covers!
(I played French horn in marching band. At our school, they argued that it was equivalent to a sport because we had to be at the home games, so we actually got a letter for it.)
I lettered in marching band, too, Dayle! Band geeks unite!