We're excited to welcome Jennifer Jabaley to CLC to celebrate the publication of her debut thriller, What's Yours Is Mine. Melissa will be reading this soon and is excited to dig in. We enjoyed chatting with Jennifer and learning more about the book and other fun information. Thanks to BookSparks, we have one copy up for grabs!
Jennifer Jabaley is the award-winning author of Lipstick Apology and Crush Control. She won Georgia Author of the Year in the young adult category and was nominated for the Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award. Jen is a practicing optometrist. She brings sharp focus to eye care by day and to storytelling by night. She lives in the north Georgia mountains with her sports-obsessed family and two rescue dogs.
Synopsis:
Valerie Yarnell is a hardworking single mother who’d do anything for her daughter, Kate. Kate is a dancer with dreams of stardom, just like her talented best friend, Colette. Despite Valerie’s sacrifices, it’s Colette’s mother, former prima ballerina Elise, whom Kate adores. And Colette has become like the practically perfect sister Kate never had. How can Valerie not feel frustrated, ineffectual, and a little jealous of the queen bee of dance moms? Not only has she hijacked her daughter, but Elise is married to the man Valerie pines for.
Valerie Yarnell is a hardworking single mother who’d do anything for her daughter, Kate. Kate is a dancer with dreams of stardom, just like her talented best friend, Colette. Despite Valerie’s sacrifices, it’s Colette’s mother, former prima ballerina Elise, whom Kate adores. And Colette has become like the practically perfect sister Kate never had. How can Valerie not feel frustrated, ineffectual, and a little jealous of the queen bee of dance moms? Not only has she hijacked her daughter, but Elise is married to the man Valerie pines for.
Rivalries are forming. Tension is mounting. In preparation for an elite dance competition, Kate outshines the more promising Colette onstage, and the pressure is on for Colette to keep her position in the spotlight—and especially to keep her demanding mother happy. Who could have foreseen the violent attack that sabotages everything? Anyone who’s been watching closely.
As ruthless and sinister ambitions are exposed, a media firestorm and an explosive town scandal erupt. Before it’s over, two mothers and two daughters will learn just how fierce and dangerous a rivalry can still get. (Courtesy of Amazon.)
“A gripping mother-daughter story set in the highly competitive dance world, What’s Yours Is Mine had me hooked from the first page. Jennifer Jabaley is a fresh new voice in women’s fiction, and I can’t wait to read what she writes next.”
—Camille Pagán, bestselling author of Good for You
—Camille Pagán, bestselling author of Good for You
“A fascinating dive into the secret, scandalous lives of two dance moms and their daughters. Packed with twists and compelling characters, I tore through it.”
—Sarah Pekkanen, New York Times bestselling author of The Locked Ward
What is a favorite compliment you received on your writing?
When my editor bought WHAT’S YOURS IS MINE, she said my writing style was “A beach read, but there’s a shark in the water.” This perfectly encapsulated the type of stories I like to tell.
When my editor bought WHAT’S YOURS IS MINE, she said my writing style was “A beach read, but there’s a shark in the water.” This perfectly encapsulated the type of stories I like to tell.
What were the biggest rewards and challenges with writing What's Yours Is Mine?
The biggest challenges were keeping the three different POVs sounding unique to their age and experience, creating enough red herrings so the reader would be surprised by twists, and doing enough research into the world of competitive dance to make the setting/backdrop authentic without it being “a dance book.”
The biggest rewards so far have been hearing early readers’ fantastic reviews, and listening to my daughter’s take on the book play by play as she read.
If What's Yours Is Mine was made into a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles?
Valerie: Selena Gomez
Kate: Jenna Ortega
Elise: Reese Witherspoon
Colette: McKenna Grace
Andrew: Justin Baldoni
Chad: Liam Hemsworth
What is the last thing you had a really good laugh about?
My husband is a big jokester and we laugh a lot, but for some reason the first thing that popped into my head happened a little while ago. At the dinner table my daughter said, “Oh there’s a banquet next week. I’m getting induced (instead of inducted) into the National Honors Society.”
And my husband said, “Geez, they must have really high standards.”
My husband is a big jokester and we laugh a lot, but for some reason the first thing that popped into my head happened a little while ago. At the dinner table my daughter said, “Oh there’s a banquet next week. I’m getting induced (instead of inducted) into the National Honors Society.”
And my husband said, “Geez, they must have really high standards.”
If your life was a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it?
This is the best question I’ve ever heard!! I absolutely love that show. And I love John McEnroe’s narration. I totally struggled and over-thought this question. But when I asked three separate friends who they thought would narrate my TV life, all three of them, without hearing each other, said Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. And yes. That works.
If we were to visit you right now, what are some places you would take us to see?
I’m fortunate to live in a beautiful, charming, mountain town. Think Stars Hollow from The Gilmore Girls. This time of year, we’re overrun with tourists (well almost year-round we’re overrun with tourists). We’d tour Mercier’s Orchards, take a boat ride on Blue Ridge Lake, and drive over to the gorgeous Ocoee River and hike the Rhododendron trail while watching kayakers and white-water rafters sail by. We’d stroll through downtown visiting the boutiques, coffee shops, and the new indie bookstore. We’d do cocktail hour at one of the many local vineyards, then follow with a dinner at one of the amazing fine dining restaurants in town.
Thanks to Jennifer for visiting with us and to BookSparks for sharing her book with our readers.
How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here.
Giveaway ends August 10th at midnight EST.
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