Chandler Baker Author Interview

Photo Content from Chandler Baker

Chandler Baker got her start ghostwriting novels for teens and tweens, including installments in a book series that has sold more than 1 million copies. She grew up in Florida, went to college at the University of Pennsylvania and studied law at the University of Texas. She now lives in Austin with her husband. Although she loves spinning tales with a touch of horror, she is a much bigger scaredy-cat than her stories would lead you to believe.

You can find Chandler as the books contributor on the YouTube channel Weird Girls.

        

ISBN: 9781484750247
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Imprint: Disney-Hyperion
On Sale: Aug. 8, 2017
Format: HARDCOVER BOOK
Edition: N/A
Price: $17.99 ($18.99 In Canada)
Category: YOUNG ADULT FICTION

Praise for THIS IS NOT THE END

"A deeply emotional supernatural thriller with the perfect romantic twist, This is Not the End will totally capture your imagination this summer." ―Brit + Co

"A stunning feat of storytelling that explores one girl's impossible decision, the depth of grief and the long-buried secrets, This Is Not The End will leave every reader's pulse in a frenzy." ―PopSugar

"When I first dove into This Is Not The End, I was not prepared for the onslaught of feels that Chandler Baker was going to send crashing down on me. I never expected to care what happened to Lake, Will, and Penny within the first few pages, but I found myself as grief stricken as Lake was when she experienced her loss. In fact, Chandler was able to tap into my emotions all the way through. The chaotic nature of Lake's emotions mirrored so many of the things I was feeling in real life at the time of reading and helped me feel like I had a much needed friend on my journey. I love the complicated nature of every relationship in This Is Not The End, it gives the book a very real feel, and keeps you constantly wondering who Lake will choose for her resurrection all the way to twist at the end. A great read for anyone looking for a chance to explore their feelings about life, death, and what happens when you get to choose who walks the path with you. " ―Shannon Brewer, BookPeople in Austin, TX

"Chandler Baker captures the intimacy of young friendship with heartbreaking accuracy in THIS IS NOT THE END. Set in a beautifully relatable future world with the technology to bring back deceased loved ones, this read was equal parts page turner and thought provoker. I genuinely had to find out the ending!" ―Melanie J. Thompson, Interabang Books, Dallas, TX

"Chandler Baker's story is almost compulsively readable, and you'll be tearing through the pages to the final twist reveal, but it's celebration of life and living along the way that makes it so powerful" ―Bustle

"The way this unique and thoughtful look at death, grief and self-discovery reveals the relationships between the characters in two alternating timelines teases you to the suspenseful outcome, GAH...that twist!" ―Justine Magazine

"The book smartly deals with grief on many levels and among all the characters. Losing two friends at and being close to the families of the deceased compounds the overwhelming sadness, grief, and guilt that Lake feels. While the author makes sure the reader does not drown in such weighty issues, Baker also does not use the resurrection technology as an easy fix concerning Lake's choice. The technology actually intensifies the questions and issues Lake must confront...a provocative, twisty story with appeal across genders and genres" ―VOYA

Was there a particular event or time that you recognized that writing was not just a hobby?
Right after I finished writing my first “book” in college as part of NaNoWriMo, I knew that I had caught the bug and wanted to make a concerted effort towards publishing something. I graduated a semester early from college so that I could spend that semester trying to write another book before I started law school. For better or worse, I think once I started, I always took myself fairly seriously as a writer!

Has reading a book ever changed your life?
So many books have changed my life in different ways! I think reading the Harry Potter series was incredibly illuminating in terms of how deeply in love I could fall with a story and I suppose before that, The Hobbit. Reading Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver convinced me I wanted to write YA and that I had found where my voice belonged.

In your new book; THIS IS NOT THE END, can you tell my Book Nerd community a little about it and why they should read your novel?
THIS IS NOT THE END is about a girl whose generation of citizens can resurrect a single person when they reach age eighteen, who must make an impossible choice when her best friend and boyfriend both die a month before her eighteenth birthday--and after she has secretly promised her resurrection to someone not even dead yet. I love this book because it has all my favorite elements from the YA literature I read that made me want to be a YA writer: complicated relationships, impossible choices, life and death stakes and secrets.

What was the most surprising thing you learned in creating your characters?
I learned that the main trio of friends wasn’t as perfect as they seemed. And I don’t just mean as people. I learned that their classmates saw them differently than they saw themselves. I really enjoyed exploring those discrepancies.

Why do you feel you had to tell this story?
I shy away from political discussions, but I find speculative fiction a safe place to explore certain ideas—here the regulation of our bodies and healthcare in general. Health-related technologies have such global implications but there is nothing more personal than our own bodies.

What part of Lake did you enjoy writing the most?
I most enjoyed developing her relationship with her brother Matt. They had history. They had a close relationship when they were younger, but at the point the story starts, that relationship is damaged beyond repair. And it really is beyond repair. But there is room to make it better. Lake has to find her responsibility in what went wrong between them.

If you could introduce one of your characters to any character from another book, who would it be and why?
I think Lake would have a lot to discuss with Mia Hall from Gayle Forman’s If I Stay. They both have a lot of grief to process and have had to make huge sea-change decisions at a young age.

What are some of your current and future projects that you can share with us?
The last book in my High School Horror Trilogy came out this month and so I’m glad for fans of the books to have Teen Phantom in their hands! I also just signed a book deal for my first adult novel, WHISPER NETWORK, which I am currently writing and am over-the-moon thrilled to share with readers next summer.

Which character have you enjoyed getting to know while writing THIS IS NOT THE END?
Answer: I loved getting to know Matt, Lake’s brother. He was always fun to write on the page because he was just so mean! I knew there was more under the surface.

Any new and exciting books that you would like to share?
On the YA side, I just read and loved Robin Benway’s Far From the Tree. And for adult, I adored Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere!

What was your favorite sitcom growing up?
Friends, of course!! Chandler Bing for life.

What is the last movie that you saw at the cinema?
I think Ladybird, which I loved. Has a very YA feel to it, actually. At the risk of sounding pretentious I find myself more drawn these days to indie relationship-type films like Ladybird and Edge of Seventeen.

Can you define love in your own way?
Absolutely. For the most part, I define love as a feeling that I would go above and beyond, do anything for the people whom I love.

What do you think about the most?
Writing (seriously) and my husband and daughter. All things that make me very happy. I’m lucky that my thoughts spiral around those things in my life, I think.

Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly knew?

Answer: When I was younger, I would insert myself in the “standing up” for those kids who weren’t being played with on the playground, etc. It was probably a bit self-righteous and off-putting come to think of it.

How would you like to spend a Sunday morning?
Making breakfast, reading in bed with my husband and daughter, taking a walk.

Where can readers find you?
Answer: People can always email me through my website: www.chandlerbakerbooks.com or find me on Instagram (@chandlerbakerbooks) or Twitter (@ChandlerBakerYA)

FAVORITE TIME PERIODS FROM HISTORY

• 1960’s – United States
• Middle ages
• Ancient Rome
• The Wild West – United States
• Roaring 20’s United States
• The Renaissance, Italy
• The French Revolution
• The 80’s – United States
• Age of Enlightenment – Paris
• Victorian Era - London

I wonder if for the rest of my life, I’ll be haunted by beautiful days.

On one cloudless, radiant summer afternoon, Lake Devereaux lost everything. The car crash claimed the lives of her best friend and boyfriend, the people who had become her family after her own fell apart. But she doesn’t have to lose them both.

The development of resurrection technology has changed the world. Under the new laws regulating the process, each person gets one resurrection to be used or forfeited on their eighteenth birthday. Mere weeks away from turning eighteen, Lake faces an impossible choice.

Envisioning life without one of the people she loves most is shattering enough, but Lake carries an additional burden: years ago, under family pressure, Lake secretly—and illegally—promised her resurrection to someone who isn’t even dead yet.

The search for answers about her future draws Lake more deeply into the secrets of her past until she begins to question everything about those closest to her. Betrayals and hurts both new and old threaten to eclipse the memories she once cherished.

Then Lake meets a boy unlike anyone she’s encountered before, who unflinchingly embraces the darkest parts of her life . . . and who believes that all resurrections are wrong.

Which path is the right one? And how can Lake start to heal when she can't move on?

You can purchase This Is Not the End at the following Retailers:

        

And now, The Giveaways.

Thank you CHANDLER BAKER for making this giveaway possible.

Winner will receive a  Copy of THIS IS NOT THE END Swag 
(Signed Copy and Stickers) by Chandler Baker..

WEEK ONE

APRIL 2nd MONDAY JeanBookNerd INTERVIEW
APRIL 3rd TUESDAY BookHounds YA GUEST POST
APRIL 4th WEDNESDAY TFAULC Book Reviews EXCERPT
APRIL 5th THURSDAY Here's to Happy Endings REVIEW
APRIL 6th FRIDAY Sweet Southern Home EXCERPT

WEEK TWO

APRIL 9th MONDAY Literary Meanderings INTERVIEW
APRIL 10th TUESDAY A Dream Within a Dream REVIEW & EXCERPT
APRIL 11th WEDNESDAY Sabrina's Paranormal Palace TENS LIST
APRIL 11th WEDNESDAY Book Freak-Out REVIEW & EXCERPT
APRIL 12th THURSDAY Wishful Endings REVIEW & INTERVIEW
APRIL 13th FRIDAY Movies, Shows, & Books TENS LIST

jbnpastinterviews