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Young Adult? I HAVE THREE TEENAGE BOYS!

I did it. I FINALLY did it.

It's no secret that I have three teenage boys that live at home plus a twenty year old that's out of the house, but nonetheless, they have or are going through the growing pains of being a teenager.
I deal with teenage girls on a daily basis because when you  have that many boys in the house, you have to multiply that by 4 because that is how many more teenage boys are in my house THEN you have to multiply that by 7 because that is how many girls will be here at a given time.
When I say I'm around teenagers all the time. . .I meant that I'm literally around teenagers ALL. THE. TIME!
I don't mind. My hubby and I would much rather them be under our roof than somewhere else not knowing where they are. Plus the girls are fun. They like me and give me the girly time I need to thank God that he didn't give me girls *grin*. And my boys think it's cool that the girls at school really like their mom and the teens think it's cool I'm a writer.
Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, always asks me why I don't write Young Adult. My standard response, "ARE YOU KIDDING? I live with it 24/7. Why would I want to write about it?"
Five years later. . .I did it.
I wrote and finished a Young Adult novel.
My niece, for those of you who don't know me~I LOVE LOVE LOVE my niece and nephew like my own and they are 14 and 16 so the same ages as my guys~anyways (see my mind works like a teen), my niece and her high school friends have been my peer audience. Final verdict~THEY LOVED IT!
One of the girls said that she was completely in love with the hot hunky hero! Shh....secretly I am too!
Still...it's a novel that has all the teen angst, sex, social issues that include drugs, drinking and being bullied. BUT it's a Tonya Kappes novel. You know what that means! There is totally a fun loving, eccentric character along with some paranormal.
I have to say that I learned a lot about the teens of today and surprised how truly there isn't a whole lot of difference from when I was a teen (which was well over twenty years ago) in the way they think, social settings, and sex.

Pretty In Pink, which happens to be one mine and my guys fav movies, is truly NOT that far off from today's teens. The boys are still goofy, the girls are still too mature for their age, the partying is still going on with the drinking and sex but the clothes have changed.
I guess you can say that I have pretty good research material when it came to writing the Young Adult. Surprisingly I found that I have a true writer's voice for the genre and really enjoyed writing it.
Do you read Young Adult? What do you like about it?
Leave a comment and I will send the winner an ARC copy of A GHOSTLY UNDERTAKING and some swag!

17 comments:

  1. I have a sixteen year old daughter....I read young adult! Mackenzie loves to go to the book store...she even let's me pick out a book for her occasionally. I bet if I picked out A Ghostly Undertaking for her she would actually read it and so would I!

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  2. Congratulations! I really can't wait to read it! I'm reading a YA right now. Fifteen Forever by Tes Hilaire. The YA with the paranormal mixed in is definitely my favorite YA.

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  3. Great blog. I have loved everything you have written. So a YA? Why not. I would love to win a copy so I could read and review A GHOSTLY UNDERTAKING. One thing I know is if Tonya Kappes wrote it I will love it. :)

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  4. I Love your books and I'm sure anything you do will be wonderful :) Congratulations on the new book that is wonderful!!

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  5. Tonya you know I love just about everything you right. Your stories are fun and light. I do read YA. I find YA a good change from time to time. Sometimes you just need a lighter read. I've read the House of Night Series by PC and Kristen Cast ... totally loved it. Another of my favorite YA series is the Mickey Bolitair Series by Harlan Coben ... another, fun, light YA series.

    I'm trying to finish up Devil in the White City for a book club I belong to because I really want to read Grooming Mr. Right. Hopefully, I can it read very soon.

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  6. You know I'm always dying for your next book! Especially since YA is one of my weaknesses!

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  7. I have a 21 year old and a 16 year old. Can't wait to read this!

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  8. As always so proud of you. I definitely would love to read it. One 14 going on30.

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    1. Congrats Sarsh!! YOU win the prize!! Please email me through the contact page!

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  9. I raised two daughters of my own and had 2 of them friends mostly living under our roof also. One of those extras was definitely our "third" daughter. Her parents were strange and she felt uncomfortable at home. Last summer on her 2 week yearly visit (along with her teenage daughter our "granddaughter") she told us that she truly wished we could have adopted her formally. We would have but for the fact that her mother belonged to one of the Crazier Christian sects whose Minister virtually ran her life. She'd never have signed off on it. My two boys still consider her a sister and Crystal as their niece.

    I'd love to win the ARC of your newest book "Ghostly Undertaking".

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  10. I remember being that age and I got into a lot of mischief.
    When our kids were those ages, they were surprisingly subdued -- as far as getting into trouble -- but don't ask me about getting them to do their homework!
    Please enter me in the drawing, Tonya.

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  11. Always looking for books that will entice my teen-age granddaughters to READ! :)

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  12. I don't have children, but I do read some YA fiction, and a lot of it is quite good. I also remember the classic YA from when I was young (Madeleine L'Engle, anyone?)

    cozyupwithkathy at g-mail dot com

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  13. I have read some YA novels and I enjoyed them. They kind of take me back to my YA days. I'll definitely be reading yours, Tonya. Can't wait to hear more about it.

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  14. Yay! I love your Magical Cures books, and I love YA, so this is definitely going on my TBR list :) Can't wait.

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  15. I read some YA novels. I can't wait to read what you are writing. I have my two younger boys at home; one is 20 & the other 18.

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  16. I have Teen and Tween relatives so I try to read some Young Adult to have something I can talk about with them. At 53, well, my Teen years are far behind me. But I do try to stay young at heart. I have of course read all the Harry Potter which I swear is great reading no matter your age. I also have read the Twilight Series and The House of Night books. I really enjoyed that series. I have them on audio too and listen to them often. They are well written and well, while there is the sex it isn't the blatant stuff my mom used to call "Salacious" and like her, I like the young adult books better for that reason. It is the reason I like some books better than others. I don't feel the romance has to become in your face and graphic. I like when it is more tension and romantic. I really look forward to reading your first YA and hope to see more to come!

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