Guest entry by Kristin Walker

Here it is, everyone: the next Tenner guest entry, and the latest chance to enter the big ARC giveaway.

To recap, comment here for an entry, link this entry elsewhere (like Twitter, your blog, or via skywriting over Venice Beach, for example) for additional entries. (And by all means, click through my blog to find the other posts about this contest, and comment and link to them too for extra entry goodness.) The winner will receive an ARC of THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF -1 and a signed copy of Dia Reeves's crazysauceawesome BLEEDING VIOLET.*

Now, here's Kristin Walker, author of A MATCH MADE IN HIGH SCHOOL, to drop her thoughts on the subject of "a fish out of water." Take it away, Kristin!

Fish-out-of-water? Man, that is totally applicable to A MATCH MADE IN HIGH SCHOOL. It has lots of fishes out of lots of . . . waters. The biggest fish is my main character, Fiona. She’s somewhat of a loner and is definitely not into fashion, popularity, makeup, slobbering over every jock that walks by, and anything else that might occupy the mind of your average teenage girl. So just being in high school feels odd enough to her sometimes. But that’s only the beginning; later on in the book it gets worse. Fiona gets roped into joining the cheerleading squad. And it is so much fun to laugh at her!

Seriously, fish-out-of-water stories are either deeply touching or riotously hysterical. And although I like to be touched deeply just as much as the next gal, when given the choice with the characters in my book, I always went for the joke. So that’s where I steered Fiona, poor thing. But she survived. And I think that’s one of the most salient points of fish-out-of-water stories; they inspire us to survive. They make us explore the limits of our own comfort and wonder if we could endure swimming in that kind of pond, whether it’s filled with snapping turtles or just cheerleaders.

Thanks, Kristin. Everyone drop by her website to learn more about A Match Made in High School, which is out now and ready to buy!

*The Absolute Value of -1 has swear words in it. Lots of swear words. Bleeding Violet ain't exactly church-friendly either. So if you're under thirteen or that sort of thing bugs you -- or both -- please don't enter!