Today the Goddesses of The Naked Hero are THRILLED to welcome Sarah Addison Allen. She’s stripping down Sawyer Alexander from The Girl Who Chased the Moon. Sarah is one of our favorite authors EVER and stopped by to write this about Sawyer, just for YOU!!!
Take it away, Sarah!
The Girl Who Chased the Moon is about a girl who comes to the small town of Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life….But the moment she enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew, she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor bakes hope in the form of cakes.
And that’s just for starters.
Stripping Down Sawyer:
Sawyer is beautiful, magical and Southern – starched cotton, sexy drawl and all. He was privileged and preppy in high school, but was secretly in love with the school’s troubled, pink-haired hard-ass, Julia. Now that Julia is back in town, he’s determined to get her to forgive him for all his teenage mistakes, and to finally make her his. Julia has quite a few not-so-flattering things to say about this plan but, ultimately, who can resist the golden boy…
“He was like crisp, fresh air. He was self-possessed and proud, but everyone forgave him for that because charm sparkled around him like sunlight. Blue-eyed and blond-haired, he was handsome, smart, rich, and fun to be around. And he was disgustingly kind, too, as all the men in his family were, filled to capacity with Southern gentility.”
The Goddess Perspective:
As Julia says in The Girl Who Chased the Moon: “Your peers when you’re a teenager will always be the keepers of your embarrassment and regret. It’s one of life’s great injustices, that you can move on and be accomplished and happy, but the moment you see someone from your high school years you immediately become the person you were then, not the person you are now.”
Sometimes it seems we spend the rest of our lives trying to recover from being a teenager, doesn’t it?
Your Herculean Task:
Who was your secret crush in high school? Or who was the mysterious, quiet or oddball boy (like in that fab retro movie Peggy Sue Got Married) you would like to go back and get to know?
**SOMEONE WILL WIN A COPY OF SARAH’S BOOK!!!!**
Sarah Addison Allen is the New York Times bestselling author of Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen. She was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, where she is currently at work on her next novel. You can visit Sarah Addison Allen’s website at www.sarahaddisonallen.com.
About Goddesses
Hi Sarah and welcome! We love having you as a guest goddess. All of your covers are AMAZING. I love your novels. They are like comfort food. They are warm, inviting and wrap around me when I read them. Thank you for being here.
I dated my high school crush and BELIEVE me, I am glad I didn’t hold on!
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My high school crush was an older by a few years biker who lived down the street. It was not pretty. Like Tonya, I’m glad I didn’t hold on.
Your new books looks fantastic! Loved The Sugar Queen and Garden Spells and can’t wait to read this one. =)
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That was fun! I love Sarah Addison Allen! I totally want to read this book!
My high school crush was a boy named Daniel Emanus. And that is, oddly, about all I remember of him. He was a skinny Native American with long black hair and looked somewhat like Anthony Kiedis. He smoked (yuck!) an played the guitar and had probably repeated about 3 grades. And I used to prank call him and spend hours obsessing about him.
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Misa Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Ah, the good ole’ days of prank calling!!!
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Hi Sarah, your book cover is beautiful, and the book sounds wonderful. And what a pretty picture. You’re definitely model material. I want a room where the wallpaper changes to suit my mood. I’m sure I’d resemble a kaleidoscope.
My high school crush was a brut of a football player. We dated until I realized he preferred 18-wheelers to me – COME BACK – I think he got hit hard one time too many – COME BACK – He rode off into the sunset, and I high-tailed it to THE DIRTY SIDE (NYC). He owns a trucking company, and I married a guy who loves to watch sunsets with me – COPY – AND THAT’S A BIG 10-4.
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Wow, that sounds like such beautiful story. Oh, my goodness, it the wallpaper could follow my moods, how wild that would be. I’m Poppy would commit me.
My high school crush sadly passed away in a motorcycle accident, two years ago. He was a wild and sad boy, with beautiful blue eyes. His life just never got together. He loved my family, and we loved him, but in the end, college and life called me in a different direction. And he just seemed to stay in the same destructive place. I do have some very sweet and fond memories of him. I think he’ll always hold a very special place in my heart.
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I am so looking forward to reading this story! Thanks to Sarah and the Goddesses for this lovely post. The comments about how, when you see people from high school again you become who you were not who you are now, really resonated with me. I think that time period etches itself upon us with a script that can’t be removed. I had a few high school crushes–a couple who were quiet, quirky and artistic and one who was this vibrant, musical golden boy. I found out all of their “hey, whatever happened to him” stories later (the Internet is an amazing detective device!) and, while I wish them all well, I’m glad I didn’t stay…
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Misa Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
It’s the same as falling into old family patterns/sibling roles, too! You slip back to what and who you were and that’s how people want to remember you or want you to be, even if it’s not the truth anymore.
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This sounds like a great book. Definitely going to put it in my TBR pile!
High school. Gah. I was a band geek in high school, so most of the guys I had crushes on were either other band geeks or the most golden of golden boys, the football players. SENIOR football players at that. I don’t think I’ve seen a single one of my crushes since graduation. I’m okay with that though because I have a feeling that they’d never compare to what my memories tell me they were, lol.
Great topic, btw!
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Misa Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Best to leave memories intact, I agree, Danica!
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Your book sounds great and what a beautiful cover. You certainly live in the right surroundings to write this kind of book. The Asheville area is beautiful.
My high school crush was doing his draft time in the army and was introduced to me by a cousin my father couldn’t stand. He was 25 years old, tall, handsome, and he drove a big convertible. My father broke that romance up fast. He thought he was a loser in the army. He actually was the grandson of one of the wealthies families in the south. I saw him 15 years later when we accidently sat by each other on a flight out of Atlanta. I was married and he was divorced. He was even better looking than he was at 25. I never saw him again.
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Misa Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
How neat that you did see him one more time, Ruby! Thanks for stopping by. =)
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Garden Spells is one of my all-time favorite books. I have it and Sugar Queen on my keep-forever shelf and have been eagerly awaiting this new book. I love your writing and wish you the very best continued good luck.
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Would love to read this! A beautiful cover and promises of a great read.
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Sounds like a really interesting book. I’d love to read it.
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I fell in love on the first day of 10th grade with the shy nerd seated next to me in Biology. We didn’t start dating until senior year, and what a magical time it was. Thanks to Facebook, he and I and our entire families are now reunited. We were all very close back in the day (he and my brother became best friends after we started dating). Twenty years later, I am happily married, he is miserably divorced. Thanks to the Navy, there’s a good chance that at some point we will live near each other, and I’m sure that he and my husband would be fast friends. They are a lot alike… but I’m glad I didn’t settle, because I ended up with the better of the two!!
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Misa Reply:
March 11th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Great story, Lanette! It’s wonderful to hear of all the happy endings.
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I’ve read both Garden Spells and Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. I loved them both, Garden Spells is my ultimate fav, and I won’t borrow out my book in worry of not getting it returned! lol
My high school crush was a bad boy from another town from where I grew up. He had the typical bad attitude, party boy, kicked out of school for fighting thing going on. Complete opposite to the good girl that I was, but I adored him. Recently, he found me on FB, and we have become friends, and he’s no longer the troublemaker that he was. He’s actually a great man, working a heroic profession. So glad we never did get involved, or we may not have been able to have a great friendship now as adults.
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Misa Reply:
March 11th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Good to know some of those bad boys do grow up, Shelley! Face Book is pretty cool in how is allows us to reconnect.
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I fell in love with this really handsome guy; he seemed really sweet and nice. He talked to me even though I was the geekiest nerd on the planet. I was head over heels in love. He used to call me on the phone to talk, and I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. Then, one night while we were talking, I heard a snicker on the other end of the phone. It turned out that whenever he called me, his girlfriend and a bunch of his other guy friends were all over his house, listening on the phone extension and laughing their butts off at me. While I had been thinking I was the luckiest girl in the class, I was actually the class joke. It took me ages to be able to trust a boy again. But now I am married to a wonderful man who loves and protects me and our two fabulous kids. I have a career that I love and lots of good friends who share my life. And him? He peaked in high school and spends most of his time online reliving the “good old days.” Time does wound all heels!
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Misa Reply:
March 11th, 2010 at 11:34 am
“Time does wound all heels” !!!! You got that right. What a horrible thing they did! Glad you found your prince charming.
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Can’t wait to read about Sawyer…. my crush started in the 5th grade, when he stole my shoes while I was on the monkeybars on the playground….my heart was his from that day on. I loved that boy from that day on and oddly enough as we got older we both had two younger brothers who happened to each be the same age and best friends (all 4 of them)…so it made my crush it made my crush even harder because they we were always around each other but other than playing with my heart some he never felt the same way.
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Misa Reply:
March 11th, 2010 at 11:33 am
Oh, Shawn, I bet as a kids that was hard! Bittersweet.
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I absolutely adore all of Sarah’s books! She has an awesome talent! There are not many authors that can make “quirky” and magic so believable. Doesn’t everybody have a magic tree that throws fruit? Or, wallpaper that changes patterns? Or, books that appear whenever you need just the right one? I love you, Sarah. Please continue being the wonderful author you are! You are my addiction.
My high school crush was a guy two grades above me. I was a freshman and he was a junior. It was the time of James Bond and the Beatles and I absolutely thought he was delicious! He was my James Bond and Paul McCartney! Tall, in the lanky sense of the word, but all the better to strut his stuff onto the football field as drum major leading our high school band. He had beautiful brown eyes that looked like warm hot fudge! He was funny and best of all, just happened to be a good friend of a cousin of mine. But, alas, I was too smitten and shy to really do anything about my feelings, and he remained my love from afar. But, to this day, I still have an occasional dream about him. He must have been imprinted on my soul.
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Misa Reply:
March 11th, 2010 at 11:32 am
She makes the magic look easy, doesn’t she, Kay?!
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Well, I’d love to win, please sign me up.
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Well, I was lucky enough to get my hands on an ARC of The Girl Who Chased the Moon, so I’ve already met Sawyer and have to say he is quite irresistible
I can’t wait for the release date, so I can get my own copy and reread it. Sadly, there were no guys like Sawyer at my high school. Which might be why no one could hold my attention for very long and I had a different crush every month. As for oddballs, that probably would have been me!
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Misa Reply:
March 11th, 2010 at 11:31 am
You lucky girl, Jackie! How’d you get the ARC?! I can’t wait for my copy to arrive.
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I never had a boyfriend or secret crush in high school because I went to an all girl school through high school. Growing up in the KSA, this was standard procedure over there to make sure girls would not mix or talk to boys in order to prevent vice. I did not develop a secret crush on a boy until I went to college in the USA. His name was Jono, but because he was studying to be a preacher, my brother and I called him father John. I wish I could have spent more time with him and gotten to know him better. It could have turned into something, as he was one of the only boys I ever really liked and thought of as a genuine person. He was a sweet, quiet person, with a very kind and gentle soul. He was always willing to help those in need and go out of his way to help them. Quite a rare person.
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I JUST got the best news! Sarah Addison Allen is going to be a featured author on Books on the House NEXT week! She’s giving away 3 more copies of her book, so be sure to come by and ENTER TO WIN!!!!
Stop by NOW to orient yourself and spread the word about Sarah’s visit!!!
http://booksonthehouse.com
http://booksonthehouse.com/kids
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I think I’m a new fan, and can’t wait to get all your books.
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I was never one to keep my crushes a secret, I had cutivated a standoffish personna, so all I ever had to do was speak to someone of the opposite sex and it was assumed I was interested. This lead to several embarassing moments, a boyfriend I didn’t know I had and a date to homecomming that turned into a “relationship” the moment I said yes.
Dispite all of this there was John.
I never knew his last name, and years later when he popped up in my mind I would discover he wasn’t in the yearbook.
What I did know was he had beautifull blue gray eyes, sandy blondish brown hair that changd color with the seasons, olive toned skin that you just knew would tan well in the summer, and he liked to rollerblade. I could fill a thimbull with the amount of words I ever heard him say, ” Maybe we could meet up some weekend and blade…?” Which we never did. I saw him once the summer before college, he was rollerbladding town the road on the other side of the median from me. In the amount of time it took me to think, “Is that John?” “Can I do a U-turn here?” “Screw it I will…” He was gone.
Now I am very happily married, thank god.
Bye-bye John.
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I had a major crush on a football player! Jeez, how stereotypical, right? I can even remember his name and football jersey number – and I have been married to my soulmate for 36 years! Funny (as in odd, NOT as in laughable!) how we cling to these high school memories, even though we’d just as soon blank most of our high school years from our memories! Sigh.
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Wow. High school crush?? I had various and sundry crushes off and on in high school… my crushes tended to change with what was in season. You know… when it was football season there was a boy from a neighboring, and rival, school, who played defense. When it was basketball season I was crushing on the star center. But we’re supposed to be fickle in high school aren’t we?
I actually won the eye of my favorite crush, briefly, a few times… Greg and I dated our junior year and planned to go to prom together. I wasn’t the most popular girl in our class (I wasn’t the least popular either, tho) and the upper classman that Greg played basketball with decided that I just wasn’t good enough with him and he ditched me a few weeks before prom…. we still went to prom together but it was pretty awkward.
Then, after graduation, I got a call from Greg inviting me to a movie over his fall break when he was home from college. We went to a movie and had a pretty good time… I ended up visiting him at college a few weeks later and going to a party at another nearby school. I didn’t hear from him for a few months when he called and invited me to a fraternity formal. I went, since I had never really gotten over whatever it was that was there…. of course, that night I went out with my girlfriends and met the guy who would eventually become my husband.
At our ten year class reunion (after my divorce) Greg and I spent the entire night hanging out together, talking about our various attempts at dating and laughing our butts off about it. I’m glad we’ve remained friends.
Are happy endings allowed????
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Hi,
I went to my 20 year high school reunion this fall. On the way there I was very confident in my accomplishments over the last 20 years. I am a mom of 4. Married for 16 years. I have 2 college degrees, and work as a labor and delivery nurse. As soon as I walked in to the reception hall, incidently, where we had our Senior Prom, I felt like an ugly, overweight, fringe member of the class. I know I had lots of friends, but was never part of the “in crowd”. There they were, thankfully minus my secret crush. I looked and looked for him. He was my crush since 3rd grade. We worked on a European Excursion project in school, all about Spain. Then in 4th grade he was my square dancing partner in gym class. OMG. I sat behind him in math in 10th grade. Watched him play basketball on the Varsity team and knew exactly where he sat during lunch. Always thought he was so cute. He never, ever knew. My elementary school friends and I Facebook chatted about him and I guess I wasn’t the only one who loved him from afar. Ahhhhh. I would never go back and do school again. But I do wonder what he is up to.
Sarah, love your books. Can’t wait for next week.
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Gentleman: a cultured man who behaves with courtesy and thoughtfulness
It was the older brother of my best friend through High School. I always think of him as a rare gentlemen, comparable to a shot of 18 year Macallan Whiskey served neat. What more could a girl ask for, then her first love to be kind as well as sexy. Thinking back now, how much he made my heart race and ache in the same breath yet I remember him with great fondness.
He always made the effort to speak and hold conversations with me, flirting harmlessly and occasionally we dated. Just a brief taste was all I asked for. When it grew close to serious; he had a long conversation with me about why he would not let it go any further.
When he graduated it was reminiscent of a loved one going off to war. He joined the Army and would not take advantage of my feelings because he was leaving our small town. I reflect back occasionally and think what a great guy and how rare that is and have made it my goal to raise my sons to treat women the same way.
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My secret crush wasn’t so secret really. As a matter of fact someone brought his name up on FB the other day and I realized just how sweet he really was to me.
I was 13, he was 16, maybe 17 and of course he was one of the town’s “bad boys”". Straight, long, beautiful brown hair with some streaking from the sun and chlorine of the pool. Beautiful eyes, but mostly, he had a smile that could melt a girl’s heart from 100 paces!!! Oh I was so “in love”. LOL He was probably my first real crush.
I flirted with him outrageously. I couldn’t wait to get to the pool to see him. I’d go by his house really slow to see if maybe he was outside and if he was I’d always stop to see what he was doing that day and try to figure out how I might be able to do the same thing. I was shameless.
But after seeing someone else mention him on FB and I began thinking about all the outrageous things I had done, I realize, he was really sweet to me. I was just a kid really, still in grade school (we had grade school at that time which went from K-8), he was in high school. But he was never mean, never told me to go away I was too young, nothing like that. And he could have very easily, most guys that age would have. He never did. He accepted me and my massive crush and took it, I think, as a compliment and treated me always with respect. I don’t think he was such a “bad boy” after all.
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Hi! I loved Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen. Both were amazing!
I had many high school crushes, but the last one I had was a guy who I realized wasn’t very nice. He was very introverted, but funny. No one seemed to ever like him, and when I mentioned he was cute and looked like Ethan Hawk, I was gawked at. We had a class together, and I thought he was cute, smart, and funny (but awkward). He always seemed to get on the bad side of my friends, so it wasn’t meant to be (can’t be with a guy who makes the friends upset before we’re even dating). I heard he graduated early from college and went on to do something in finance or accounting, making a mint a year. No surprise to me. He seemed to know what he was doing, and was tres smart. Plus, his kind of looks would grow as he aged. He was the crush I didn’t talk about too much, but liked.
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Nice review! Impressive. Bravo!
I found you through the blog hop.
-Juju
Tales of Whimsy.com
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