Please join me in welcoming New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author and two-time RITA award winner, Kristan Higgins, author of Until There Was You, as she provides us with a guest post today.
She will be discussing with her readers, "The power of the past"
Hi, my name is Kristan, and I’m a dork. Well, I was a dork, a geek, a very uncool kid. I may be incredibly cool now (I’m not), but the past never leaves us, does it? We either learn for it or are haunted by it, but we can’t really forget it. I will always be the dorky kid I was in middle school no matter how old I get. Bad hair, thick glasses, terrible at sports, yadda yadda. Definitely more Freaks & Geeks than Glee, know what I mean? I yearned for Catholic high school so I could wear a uniform. Yearned!
Recently, a reviewer contacted me to talk about UNTIL THERE WAS YOU, my latest release. “I loved how you played with the juxtaposition of generations,” she said.
“Oh, yes, definitely,” I murmured, scrambling to pretend I did that on purpose. “Juxtaposition. So interesting.”
Well, I may not have done it on purpose, but yes, okay, there are several generations involved in this story. Posey Osterhagen, the heroine of UNTIL THERE WAS YOU, is definitely motivated by younger self. Back then, she was a misfit teenager with massive case of unrequited first love, and her self esteem took quite a few hits in high school—most notably on prom night. The culprit is Liam Murphy, whom Posey worshipped from afar with a desperation only a teenager can feel…and Liam receives that adoration with the sense of entitlement only a teenager can feel.
But fate has a sense of humor, and now, in the present, Liam has other worries. He’s the widowed father of a teenage girl, and his mission in life is to prevent some boy from talking her into the same mistakes he talked Baby Girl’s mother into so long ago.
It was so much fun to write about Liam’s struggles with his daughter. Nicole is a typical teenager—she wants more independence, resents her father’s hovering but still wants Daddy there to make everything okay. And it was especially fun since so much of the murky past between Posey and Liam took place when she was sixteen; almost the same age as his daughter is now. Oh, the pain of the past! The angst of the teenage years!
Posey’s present-day challenge is to see if Liam’s any different from the bad boy of Bellsford High. Liam wonders about Posey’s seemingly unwarranted wariness around him; she’s one of the few women who’s not falling over herself to get close to him.
So here’s my question of the day—do you think people can change from how they were in high school? Have you ever met someone who seemed so much one way but turned out to be someone else entirely?
Posey Osterhagen can't complain. She owns a successful architectural salvaging company, she's surrounded by her lovable, if off-center, family and she has a boyfriend—sort of. Still, something's missing. Something tall, brooding and criminally good-looking…something like Liam Murphy.
When Posey was sixteen, the bad boy of Bellsford, New Hampshire, broke her heart. But now he's back, sending Posey's traitorous schoolgirl heart into overdrive once again. She should be giving him a wide berth, but it seems fate has other ideas...
{November 10-24, 2011}
- Only residents of the U.S. are eligible to win
- No P.O. Boxes please
- Giveaway copies will be sent directly to winners from the publisher
- 1 copy will be available depending on entries
- Winners will be randomly selected using random.org and contacted via email
- Please check my Contest Policy before entering
To enter:
Please fill out the form below & post a comment to Kristan's question {do you think people can change from how they were in high school? Have you ever met someone who seemed so much one way but turned out to be someone else entirely? }
*Thanks to Little Bird Publicity for providing the prize!
25 comments:
Yes, I think people can change from how they were in high school but I also think they have to actively want to change...it's a concious effort. I have met people who I didn't like in school because they were selfish and self-centered as adults and now they are totally dedicted to doing things for others and aren't interested in the limelight for themselves. It's totally cool!
I do believe most people do change from highschool. I think most people realize they were immature in their attitudes and ways of thinking in school and as they grow and experience life their characters do change. I think those that don't are people who are small and narrowminded to begin with and have no hope of changing because they have no desire to be anything other that what they already are.
I'm on the fence about changing. Not too long ago one of the "mean girls" from school had a daughter with mine on a VB team. I thought she had changed but after telling her something in confidence (I was uncomfortable around a guy I once dated and I told her why) she went and told another mean girl from school (who she acted like she wasn't friends with anymore and who was married to the guy) and they both turned on me and threatened me and my daughter.
I think that some change can come but deep down whatever type of person you are is what you are.
yes most of them do.
Ugh, I hope they do! I graduated about 8 years ago...and most of my friends SEEM to be the same as when they were in highschool. Everyone has just gotten chunkier with better jobs :) Hopefully that changes! :D
rachie2004 AT yah00 *d8t* c-m
I am married to my high school sweetheart, I think we've changed as we have grown up and had life experiences but much of our core values and true being are still same awkward kids (me more than him) from those school days.
@MollyMcMom I should add we've been married almost 18 years!
I think people can change from who they were in high school. Kids in school are just finding out what life is like and what choices they have. As they make choices right or wrong they learn and grow from them, and that inables them to change from good or bad. I also think that values instilled as children help make us make decisions in life and guide us as we grow
I changed alot since high school, I had 3 brothers and lots of cousins in sports so all the coaches didn't know my first name only by my last,Fiore so until finally I told them off, in a nice way...it was at a football dinner. I also losted alot of weight so people treated me different and I was the same, just thinner so I stayed away from them for they were phoney. Some of them still are but a few are quite different.One of the coaches was my boss and he told me he should of known my first name.
carolefiore@yahoo.com
I can't imagine someone NOT changing since high school. Gosh, we were really just kids then. Of course, the change can be for good or bad!
castings at mindspring dot com
I think people can and do change to a certain extent, since most people do mature past their high school selves. I'm not sure about deep rooted personality traits. I think a lot of the "mean girl" types probably carry a lot of that with them into adulthood, as it's often caused by their own insecurity, but as they go out into the world a lot of the loner "wallflower" types gain confidence and blossom more. That probably rambled a bit but I think I got my point out there!
I think essentially we don't change, we just have a bigger pool of ways to deal with scenarios. This is why the concept of "glory days" is a reality for a lot of people. I think either people are overcoming their high-school experience or wishing they could go back, but it's still the bar against which we measure the success/lack of in our lives. Why else do high-school reunions cause so much angst or anticipation?
I think everyone changes to some extent; we get more mature, one hopes, and more secure, and certainly have more life experiences to draw from than the ones we had when we were kids. To me, one of the saddest things to hear is that high school was the best time of someone's life. I loved high school, don't get me wrong...but if I left behind the happiest time of life when I was 18, the next few decades would be very long!
I have no doubt that people change after high school. We change throughout our lives in our beliefs, in our outward personalities, and even in our foundations as we grow and learn. It would be sad to stay the same, I think. What would there be to look forward to, after all?
For most of us, I think the changes in us from the way we were in high school are maturation types of changes. The dorks no longer feel dorky because 1) they come to recognize their talents and appreciate them and 2) the non-dorks grow up and realize that they wish they had the talents the dorks have. The popular people tend to stay fairly popular, but others value their status less and their personalities more. The fringe kids usually retain whatever quirkiness made them stay on the fringe, but they often learn to incorporate that and move among many circles instead of remaining just in a specific group of friends with certain a narrow focus. In other words, we all grow up a little and learn to appreciate other qualities in others and in ourselves besides beauty and popularity. It's not that we don't still appreciate those qualities as well, but we learn that other qualities are just as valuable, if not more so.
And Until There Was You is a wonderful book! I loved Liam and Posey!
Oh yeah, people change....their attitudes, beliefs, and goals. You have to change to evolve and stuff.... LOL
Umm... could my answer be any more lame?
I think people can change the superficial things, but character traits are pretty much ingrained by high school. To really change, the person has to want to.
Perhaps the core of a person doesn't change a lot, but there is still a lot of maturing to do based on experiences that will continue to change people. Only people who stayed in the same, unchanging environment won't change very much.
I think we mature but are basically the same people we were then. When I have gone to reunions, I have seen the same traits in people as when we were in school so long ago.
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
I definitely believe that people can change~I'm one of those people. In high school, I was anti-marriage & kids. I wanted to be a corporate accountant & thought I'd be happy living my life at a desk all day, living in a fancy condo somewhere. Three years after graduating, I met the man that would change all of that for me. Now I'm a SAHM, military spouse & I absolutely love my husband & kids. I'm so glad I changed my beliefs about it all! So not what I thought I wanted for my life, but definitely better than I could ever have hoped for!
harlan_michelle@yahoo.com
I definitely think people can change when they grow up after high school. From what I have heard from my husband and his friends, he was kind of a sarcastic pain in the butt in high school but we have been married for almost 8 years now and he is still sarcastic but sweet now :).
candc320@gmail.com
I fully believe that people can change after high school. First, there's the promises that we'll always be friends and our children will be friends...that doesn't always work out. I have seen quite a few people that I went to high school with who have drastically changed in looks, values, temperament, etc.
Oh, definitely! Usually, immaturity in high school is as common as puberty so the older you get, hopefully, the more aware you become of what is truly important!
People change. It's difficult to stay the same when life and the world around you is constantly changing and you are influenced by it. However, I don't think it's possible that the core of someone's personality change that much. An introvert isn't likely to become an extrovert. And of course, my perceptions of people have changed over time. You meet people and think how honest and understanding they are and they reveal bigotry or vice versa. First impressions aren't always accurate and don't often reveal hidden depths in people.
I believe people can change, if they truly want to. I have met people, who seemed very nice, but in reality were backbiters. So, yes I have met people who seemed one way , but in reality, were another.
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