Dreams really do come true. Just ask Michele Young-Stone, Richmond mom and author of the fabulous (no seriously, it’s great read our review of the Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors.)
Don’t take our word for it, honey. Target loves her. Big book publishers love her. Not just us Richmond gals who are in awe of her mighty pen and larger-than-life passion for creating characters that love, hurt, inspire.
Michele has recently been named a Target Emerging Author, and her paperback (debuts April 5th) will be in Target late May through July 10th. At 1,700 stores.
And if that wasn’t fancy enough, Michele just obtained a two book deal with Simon and Schuster. We’ll be watching you, Richmond mom. With shock and awe. Congrats on being the March 2011 Richmondmom.com Rockstar.
In the Spring look for the paperback publication of The Handbook for Lightening Survivors.
The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors was nominated in the fiction category for the 14th Annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards.
Heidi Durrow, author of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, nominated Michele for a Bread Loaf Fellowship.
And, Michele will be a part of the Virginia Festival of the Book, in Charlotesville, VA March 16 – 20, 2011. Alden Bigelow, Susan Gregg Gilmore, Deborah Prum (moderator), Michele Young-Stone will be at Barnes and Noble (1305A Emmet St.) March 17, 2011 at 2:00pm talking about Fiction: Parallel Lives.
Keep up with Michele Young-Stone on Facebook and Twitter!
Every once in a while you read a book that’s so damn good you need to tell everyone about it. The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors is one such book. Intriguing characters Buckley and Becca, both survivors of lightning strikes from two different worlds, grow up with dysfunctional, partial, interesting families that drew me into their worlds and left me wanting to reach out and hug them. Their yearning to find love from their parents–and from anyone–left me yearning to finish the page in the hopes that these affectionate, lightning-strike-fearing oddballs would find the normalcy they so desperately sought. Along the way, fabulous, outlandish characters swoop into their lives like Padraig John and Clementine glitter the story’s landscape like the fish scales adorning Becca’s paintings.
Watching these two characters grow up, sharing their struggles, successes, loves, pains, and lightning strikes was a small glimpse into a world in which I could have stayed. I was a bot disappointed when the story ended, only because it left me wanting to follow these characters for the rest of their lives.
The icing on the cake? The author, Michele Young-Stone is a Richmond mom and native, and having met her I felt quite honored to know such a creative and gifted author. No wonder the reviews are rocking.