Lisa Williams Kline’s tenth novel, One Week of You, will be released by our Goldenjay Books on February 4, 2019. One Week of You is already getting wonderful reviews:
- “Kline has a gift for writing complex characters and creating stories with a beating heart.“ -Emily Smith Pearce, author of Isabel and the Miracle Baby and Slowpoke
- “Achingly true to new love in all its confusion and comedy, and even its moral complexity.” -Claudia Mills, author of Zero Tolerance
- “Kline has adroitly combined all the ingredients of a heartfelt coming of age story with an enticing mystery—and there’s plenty of humor and poignant life lessons baked right in.” – John J. Bonk, author of Madhattan Mystery, Dustin Grubbs: One-Man Show, and Dustin Grubbs: Take Two
We wanted to share a little bit more about this exciting new title and give you a sneak peek at her lovable heroine, Lizzie.
Katie Pryal: Lisa, thanks for talking to us about your new novel. We’re excited to introduce readers to Lizzie. So tell us: Is this book based on any real events or people?
Lisa Kline: Yes, this book is loosely inspired by a couple of different events that really happened. First, my older daughter had to carry a flour baby as part of her health curriculum when she was in middle school. The kids had to keep track of the bag of flour for the entire week, to simulate what it would be like to care for a baby. I found it so interesting and also thought it had comic possibilities. Second, one year when my younger daughter was in high school, there were three bomb threats in one week. The school handled it very well. I was interested in how the kids responded to the repeated evacuations. I didn’t end up writing about bomb threats—I changed the events to pranks being played by the students, which was less scary.
KP: What is your favorite part of this book (no spoilers, please!), and why?
LK: My favorite part of the book is one of the last scenes, when Lizzy babysits. It’s loosely based on a real experience that I had when I was a teenager. I guess I can’t reveal what happens though because that would be a spoiler! I think it’s both funny and poignant and makes for a perfect ending for the book. I love the way Goldenjay Books has described the book as being a “heartwarming coming of age story about first loves and hard truths.”
KP: We love to hear about our authors’ other writing projects. Have you written other books? Tell us about those.
LK: One Week of You is my tenth book for young readers. My first book was Eleanor Hill, which was based on my grandmother’s childhood growing up on the coast of North Carolina. I used her letters and photos to write it, and I really felt her angel was looking over my shoulder as I wrote. I was so thrilled it won the North Carolina Juvenile Literature Award. My second book was called Princesses of Atlantis, and is the story of two friends in middle school who are writing a novel together. After writing about Atlantis, I then wrote a nonfiction book about floods. My next novel was Write Before Your Eyes, the story of a girl who finds a magic journal and everything she writes in it comes true. Finally, I wrote the five-book Sisters in All Seasons series, about stepsisters who have various adventures while they are learning to be friends.
KP: Do you have any pets? We’re partial to adorable and goofy pet photos, just so you know.
LK: Yes, we have a sixteen year old dog named Candi who has survived all kinds of events, including a stroke, and jumping from a moving car, and also has a myriad of health problems, including cataracts, and a heart murmur. My husband, who is a veterinarian, is taking good care of her, and she is chugging along. I think she looks like a meerkat. We also have a talented and affectionate cat named Lionman who can open doors and print documents at will. In this picture he has started reading One Week of You and is clearly upset that he is not in it.
KP: When you aren’t at home, where are you most likely to be found?
LK: I used to be a runner, but to save my knees, I’ve become a walker. I walk between three and five miles a day, and love it. I sometimes walk alone, but if I can get my husband or a friend to walk with me, it’s the best. We walk and talk and the miles roll by. I also love browsing in bookstores and have way too many books. I mean, way too many.
About ONE WEEK OF YOU:
For Lizzy Winston, one week will change everything.
Fifteen-year-old Lizzy Winston has always been a good kid—and she sees the good in most everyone else, too. When she meets the charismatic Andy Masters, she starts crushing hard. He distracts her from other parts of her life that she’s trying to hold together. Her grades are slipping, she causes her mom to miss a new job opportunity, and her friends’ actions are making her question what’s right.
Andy seems like a great guy. He’s funny and charming, the Clown Prince of Lakeside High. He loves digging up news stories for the high school TV station, but he’s got some secrets of his own. As he and Lizzy get closer, she grows skeptical of his motives. When she does her own digging on Andy, she learns that everyone has secrets—no matter how good they seem.
Someone’s pulling pranks at Lakeside, and Lizzy thinks she knows who it is. When the pranks escalate and put students in danger, she must decide where her loyalty lies. She doesn’t want to get a friend in trouble, but if she keeps quiet, someone will get hurt. In one week, she learns that adulthood brings new, complicated responsibilities. Is she ready to do the right thing if it means losing her friends?
You can pre-order your copy of ONE WEEK OF YOU for paperback or for Kindle here.
About Lisa Williams Kline:
Lisa Williams Kline’s young adult novel One Week of You will be released in February 2019 by Goldenjay Books. Kline is the author of nine novels for young people, including Princesses of Atlantis (Carus), Write Before Your Eyes (Delacorte), the five-book Sisters in All Seasons series (Zondervan), and Eleanor Hill (Carus), which won the North Carolina Juvenile Literature Award.
Kline is also author of a collection of short stories for adults entitled Take Me (Main Street Rag). She is a winner of the Press 53 Short Story Contest and won Honorable Mention in the Glimmer Train Winter Fiction Open.
A graduate of Duke University, she has a masters degree in Radio, Television, and Film from UNC-Chapel Hill, and an MFA from Queens University. She has served as president of the Charlotte Writers’ Club, is a former board member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, is a mentor in the SCBWI Mentor Program, and critiques manuscripts for Writers’ Digest. She lives in North Carolina with her veterinarian husband, Jeff, and numerous spoiled pets. Their two daughters visit frequently with their dogs and—as one might imagine—they have a howling good time.
You can pre-order your copy of ONE WEEK OF YOU for paperback or for Kindle here.