Blog Tour Stop : The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : The Start of Me and You
Author : Emery Lord
Publication Date : March 31st 2015
Publisher : Bloomsbury
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

Following her pitch-perfect debut Open Road Summer, Emery Lord pens another gorgeous story of best friends, new love, & second chances.

Brimming with heartfelt relationships and authentic high-school dynamics The Start of Me and You proves that it’s never too late for second chances.

It’s been a year since it happened—when Paige Hancock’s first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world for two years, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her—the perfect way to convince everyone she’s back to normal. Next: Join a club—simple, it’s high school after all. But when Ryan’s sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?

Hi guys!

I'm so excited to have Emery Lord on the blog today for a guest post. When I was asked to come up with some ideas for topics, I struggled, but after much brain wracking, I think we came up with a great topic. I love this topic so much because I'm all about femininity, girl power and the importance of flawed female human beings and Emery Lord's novels are all about those themes. I hope you enjoy reading this post as much as I did. Also, check out my review for the wonderful book right here.

Guest Post 

"Flawed female characters in YA: Why we love them and why we need more of them"

I've been thinking a lot about Holden Caulfield lately. He's one of the most universally beloved characters from required reading. He hates school, he's got problems with authority, his voice feels authentic. But there's no female equivalent to Holden Caulfield in the classroom. As a society, we're not asked to empathize with even ONE teenage girl from this century. Scout Finch is a kid. Hester Prynne is married, so she reads like an adult. (Although thank you, Emma Stone and movie gods for “Easy A”!) Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague are a 16th century mess.

Here is why I loved flawed, complex, strong teen girl characters: because they are reality. They're my reality. I grew up with a pack of fierce, vulnerable, wickedly smart, kind and, yes, imperfect girls. They get more respect these days, as teachers, lawyers, accountants, mothers, and clinicians in their twenties. (Though not as much as they should, which is why we need feminism :)) But they were that amazing as teen girls, too. At the time, though, I remember feeling like the whole world was rolling its eyes at us. They just saw was a pack of silly girls giggling too loudly in the corner booth. And maybe we were giggling too loudly. Because we'd seen one another through very difficult times, we worked tremendously hard in school, we had jobs, we had our hearts broken. We knew how to laugh when we could, and we did. It was—and remains—a form of strength.

But, of course, being a woman—and especially a teen girl—can feel like lose-lose.

You're vocal about your opinion? You're bossy. If you're quiet or more passive, you're not being a Strong Woman. You cry, and you're overemotional. You don't, and you're a cold bitch. You have sex or even date a lot, you're a slut. You don't, and you're a prude. You change your mind and don't feel comfortable with someone? Tease. And sometimes I think that if young men had to read and discuss a complex, flawed modern teen girl character- even ONE- in school maybe they'd start to see us as what we are. Complex individuals. We can't be reduced to simple labels that exist to take power away from us.

My rebuttal to all of this—from literary-canon sexism to everyday sexism—is to write flawed young women with full lives. With families and interests and worries and scars and their own problems separate from dating. Girls who mess up sometimes. Who have to try a few times before they get it right. Who can't fix everything in the summer or year that a book chronicles.

I simply don't believe that writing girls who are unfailingly Strong and Kind is the key. While they may act as role models for teens, it's just not reality. We already have unrealistic expectations of teen girls. I think what needs to change is our reactions. To stop expecting girls to be whatever our idea of perfect is. And start insisting that the world sees women more complexly. I truly believe that giving a reader the best and the worst of a character on the page is a portal for exercising empathy, for imagining others more completely. I also believe most readers do exactly that.

I want girls to reclaim power. I want them to never shrink, for they were born to occupy space, and the world is better when they do. I want them to plant themselves like flags in the ground they want for themselves. I want them to be, yes, strong and kind. But I also want them to know they'll mess up, and that's okay. There's strength in apologies, in doing better next time. And just as much, I want the world to see them for the individual supernovas they are. Not boxed in by labels, not perfect. Richly human.

So I see you, "silly" girls in the corner booth, and I say this: keep giggling too loudly. I know your depth; I know your hurts; I know your fierce smarts. You don't have to change who you are to be taken seriously; the world needs to change how it sees and treats women. I plan to keep showing them what we're made of. One of my ways will be with books.

Author Biography 

Emery Lord is the author of Open Road Summer. She lives in a pink row house in Cincinnati, with a husband, two rescue dogs, and a closet full of impractical shoes. Open Road Summer is her first novel.

Visit her online at www.emerylord.com and on Twitter @emerylord.





Giveaway

- Hardcover of The Start of Me and You
- US Only
- Must be 13+ to enter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

March 30th →  Paper Riot

March 31st →  Ex Libris Kate

April 1st →  Lost in Lit

April 2nd → Nick’s Book Blog

April 3rd → Book Addict’s Guide

Be sure to check out the other fabulous tour stops on this blog tour.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing for letting me be part of this blog tour.