Goodbye To You
Release Date: 07/01/14
Swoon Romance
New Adult
Summary from Goodreads:
Europe? Nope. Mexico? Nope. Key West?
Not me. This summer, I'm playing nursemaid to my sister. Yeah, I know. Relatively good looking twenty-two-year-olds don't spend the summer bedside in the cancer ward, but that's the plan - until my sister threatens me with bodily harm unless I get on the plane.
That's when I met him. He likes me. Really likes me. But more than that, he loves my boobs -- like can't get enough. I have no idea how to tell him that they'll be gone soon. Courtesy of a preventative double mastectomy. Yep. That's what testing positive for the breast cancer gene mutation will do to a girl.
But don't feel sorry for me. I'm enjoying him, holding on until the last possible minute, while I muster up the strength to tell him, and watch him walk away.
Not me. This summer, I'm playing nursemaid to my sister. Yeah, I know. Relatively good looking twenty-two-year-olds don't spend the summer bedside in the cancer ward, but that's the plan - until my sister threatens me with bodily harm unless I get on the plane.
That's when I met him. He likes me. Really likes me. But more than that, he loves my boobs -- like can't get enough. I have no idea how to tell him that they'll be gone soon. Courtesy of a preventative double mastectomy. Yep. That's what testing positive for the breast cancer gene mutation will do to a girl.
But don't feel sorry for me. I'm enjoying him, holding on until the last possible minute, while I muster up the strength to tell him, and watch him walk away.
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A
Frequently Asked Question: Where Do You Find Inspiration for Your Stories?
The quick answer is “Everywhere!”
The longer answer is that while a single source may spark
an idea, the deeper I get into researching the idea, the more the actual story
that ends up on the page is shaped.
GOODBYE TO YOU is my debut novel, and the subject is a
pretty hefty one: a young woman who’s had two first-degree relatives with
breast cancer discovers she carries a mutation that increases her own risk of
developing the disease to about 80 percent. She chooses preventative
mastectomy.
How did I come up with such a story? It started with
steroids.
Yep. Steroids. In December 2012, I had terrible
bronchitis that I let go too long, because we were moving and there was no time
to be sick, or even go to the doctor. Two weeks after the move, I ended up on
steroids to relieve the inflammation. The first few nights on steroids are
tough. While the high doses help me feel better faster, they render me sleepless.
That first night, I ended up on the couch queuing up Netflix. I’d added
90210—not the one that debuted in 1990, but the one that came on in 2008— to
the queue many months before, but had never started it. Eh. Faced with a few
sleepless nights, I pressed “play” and was hooked.
So what does this have to do with GOODBYE TO YOU? During
the fourth season, one of the characters does indeed discover she has a BRCA
gene mutation, placing her at risk for cancer like her mother. I’m in my
forties, and I have a few friends who have been diagnosed with breast cancer,
and I wondered, had they known in their twenties like the character from 90210,
what would they have done?
A search of the Internet revealed some surprising
answers. Some young women choose more stringent monitoring-early mammograms,
more frequent visits to their physicians. Then I found that other young women
were choosing preventative mastectomy.
Wow. Is that what my friends who’d endured different
stages of treatment for their own cancer would have done? The answer was a
resounding “yes.” While the preventative surgery poses its own physical as well
as psychological consequences, taking control of your own health, on your own
timeline, seems a much more appealing option.
Researching the book was a painstaking process, and an
emotional one. A number of young women shared their journeys on their blogs,
from before testing to months, even years, post-surgery. I was in awe of their
courage, and their willingness to share their emotional stories is admirable.
After I’d written the book, and was working on revisions,
a remarkable thing happened: Angelina Jolie revealed that she‘d herself had a
preventative mastectomy. She made a brave decision to have the surgery, and an
equally brave one to announce it to the world, given the obsession with
appearances in her line of work.
With this high-profile story in the news, I felt
validated, that somehow I was not only a writer but a prognosticator. Okay,
maybe not that, but I do remember getting chills and thinking “people will be
more open to reading my story now.” Because before Angelina’s story broke,
who’d have thought about women having mastectomies to prevent cancer? I
wouldn’t have myself if I hadn’t been sick and started watching a show that
would address the diagnosis of BRCA gene mutations in young women.
Thanks, 90210, and a standing ovation to all of the brave
women (and men, too) who have battled breast cancer or been faced with
decisions like my character Thea. You are true heroes, and you’ll never know
how much I admire you.
Also,
I’d like to add that I’m donating my net proceeds from sales of GOODBYE TO YOU
through the end of August to author Pamela Clare’s medical fund. Pamela was
recently diagnosed with breast cancer, had a double-mastectomy, and requires
continuing treatment. I want to do my small part to help out a fellow author in
her fight.
About the Author
I wrote my first
book at six. A retelling of The Three Little Pigs, illustrated by my
grandmother, the book was never picked up and was self-published instead, glued
to cardboard with a cover fashioned from wallpaper scraps.
Today, I write
stories featuring nice guys (or nice guys in-the-making) in between my other
jobs writing research reports for a commercial real estate company, refereeing
two young daughters, navigating the teen waters with a
too-cute-for-his-own-good son, spoiling a neurotic cat, and making my darling,
patient husband shake his head. I'm also an autism mom, chocolate enthusiast,
sports-watcher, nacho-eater, and beer-drinker.
A Maryland native, I live in North Carolina now, but dreams of the beach fuel my fantasties, and my characters can often be found strolling in the sand or sailing along a coast.
A Maryland native, I live in North Carolina now, but dreams of the beach fuel my fantasties, and my characters can often be found strolling in the sand or sailing along a coast.
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Thanks for hosting me on this stop of my blog tour. I really do appreciate it. :)
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