Spotlight: Keep Her

Keep Her, by Leora Krygier

She Writes Press

Publication Date: September 6, 2016

www.leorakrygier.net

About the Book:
Maddie does not believe in destiny. In fact, destiny is the furthest thing from the 17-year-old’s mindset. Drawing on instinct and intuition, she’s an artist who makes collages using photographs and castoff scraps. But when her brother becomes involved in an L.A. street gang, Maddie is unable to find inspiration. Just when she’s feeling completely lost, she meets young filmmaker Aiden. Fate, endangered whales and a worn copy of Moby Dick draw them together, but Aiden has a secret that threatens to destroy everything.

Author Bio:

I'm the author of "When She Sleeps" (Toby Press) a New York Public Library Selection for "Best Books for the Teen Age." I'm also a former Los Angeles Juvenile Court judge, and the author of "Juvenile Court - A Judge's Guide for Young Adults and their Parents" (Scarecrow Press)

But besides all that, I've lived in the heart of Paris and in a teeny apartment overlooking the town of Saint Tropez in the South of France. I now live in Los Angeles with my amazing husband, David.

I love the beach, dogs, chocolate, hiking the Santa Monica Mountain trails, and making my friends stop for me when I see a photograph I absolutely have to take. (In full disclosure, they usually don't stop and end up one block ahead of me, but that's okay)

I loved writing "Keep Her." Maddie is a little bit like me (sometimes) But her journey took me to some unexpected turns, and that's the fun of it.

Praise:

“Leora Krygier weaves an eloquent story about two star-crossed lovers. I absolutely loved this heartbreaking but uplifting tale.”

--- Linda Schreyer, author of Tears and Tequila

“A riveting, complex tale of adventure and love. Maddie and Aiden, both unmoored by loss, make their way—together.”

--- Sarah Lamstein, author of Hunger Moon

“A flood, a drought and saving endangered ocean animals are gently woven into Leora Krygier's new novel, Keep Her—a beautifully told tale of Maddie and Aiden, who discover themselves while navigating the magical world of meant-to-be love.”

--- Jackie Hirtz, co- author of Lola Zola and the Lemonade Crush and New Girl on Salt Flat Road

"Krygier perfectly encapsulates all the emotional struggle that comes with losing a loved one - the guilt, the loss, the anger, the sadness. I really enjoyed reading Keep Her, and I think it's one book I would like to read again and again... it's the kind of book you would like to take your time over, while lying on the grass in the warm sunshine, unpicking and savoring emotions and secrets."

--- Marilyn Chin, The Salonniere's Apartments

"Leora Krygier is an artist, and words are her medium....Keep Her is a book that will draw you in with its wonderful story line, characters you will champion and cry with, and a new respect for how the classics, like Moby Dick, can still inspire us and touch our lives. Leora Krygier never disappoints."

--- Stephanie Corbett, Head of Circulation Services, Holmes County District Public Library, and Goodreads Reviewer

Excerpt:

      "He was looking at me. No, more like staring at me - as open as the old camera he was holding, a camera with a big hole where the lens was supposed to be, and the insides exposed.

       And I stared right back at him, taking in all his colors.

       Edges of sand-colored hair, soft, vein-blue eyes, and the green cover of the paperback book he was also holding.

       I was fourth in line at the camera store, waiting to pick up some prints I’d ordered weeks ago, and before I knew it, I felt it coming on again, that same tug of war, the two sides of my overcrowded head going at it – numbers on the left, images and colors on the right –each trying to get my complete attention – when the two sides of my brain did something they never did. They called a fifteen-second truce and pounded out a strange joint mission in two, short words, like an S.O.S.

      Rescue.

     Him.”



Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.