Violet on the Runway

Melissa's first book, Violet on the Runway, is out! Buy it here, or find a bookshop near you that carries it for all you "I don't shop at Barnes & Noble or Amazon because they keep the little guy down" hippies out there.

It is an awesome book. I read it before it was released (because I'm a VIP kind of dude and you are not) and enjoyed it tremendously. Melissa is a very talented writer, and she brings such a realistic spin to her characters. She doesn't fall into the trap of using typical 'teen' stereotypes that are very black and white, as many teen writers tend to do. There are no 'jocks' vs. 'nerds' in the stereotypical sense (though, as with any good story, there are underdogs, and people you hope get taken down a few notches), and the story isn't one of 'loser conquers all'...It is far more complex than that, which how teenager-hood really was. If you think back, we all had 'jock days' and 'nerd days'. Some days, you felt like you were on top of your game. Great friends, great fun, etc., and then the next week, you could feel like you were all alone. And Melissa captures all of that so well, especially the ever-important relationship between the two main characters, Violet and her best friend Roger. You feel you know these characters, and you are intrigued by them. They aren't merely a device to promote the storyline (i.e., girl moves to city becomes model). Too many best sellers these days have a plot that races along and is intriguing but where the character development is nil (e.g., anything by Dan Brown). Melissa's characters are the heart and soul of the story, and one could, and I hope Melissa does, put them in a variety of different situations and plot lines in future books, and you would still be interested in them.

Plus, if I say it's awesome, it usually is. I'm a tastemaker, baby.

Congrats, Melissa!!

YR