True Colors by Krysten Hager Blog Tour + Giveaway

by - Tuesday, October 14, 2014


Happy Tuesday!

I am honored to have Krysten on my blog today promoting her latest book, True Colors. This blog tour is hosted by Double Decker Books, stay tuned for interesting goodies to be won! 

Tagline 'A little competition can really bring out people’s true colors.'

Blurb

    Landry Albright just wants to be one of the interesting girls at school who always have exciting things going on in their lives. She wants to stand out, but also wants to fit in, so she gives in when her two best friends, Ericka and Tori, push her into trying out for a teen reality show modeling competition with them. Landry goes in nervous, but impresses the judges enough to make it to the next round. However, Ericka and Tori get cut and basically "unfriend" her on Monday at school. Landry tries to make new friends, but gets caught up between wanting to be herself and conforming to who her new friends want her to be. Along the way she learns that modeling is nowhere as glamorous as it seems, how to deal with frenemies, a new crush, and that true friends see you for who you really are and like you because of it.

Back Cover

    Every day I walked down the sidewalk to school and wished I were one of the interesting popular girls who ran up with exciting news. Just once I’d like to be one of those girls instead of the being the one who didn’t get invited to things because people “forgot” about me.

Landry gets pushed into trying out for the American Ingénue reality show modeling competition with her two best friends. She doesn’t think she stands a chance, but she advances to the next level in the competition and her friends ignore her when they get cut.  

Enter the gorgeous Devon, who also makes the first cut and includes Landry in her clique. Devon becomes the perfect best friend, but can their friendship survive the competition?

Landry hopes her big break could come at any moment, but soon sees there’s much more to modeling than getting your hair done and looking pretty. She begins missing out on being with new friends like Ashanti, a girl who truly has Landry’s back. Landry also has the chance to have a boyfriend when she meets a boy named Vladi from another school.

Part of Landry wants to be famous (and have her hair look good for once), but part of her just wants to be accepted. She learns about friendships, being true to yourself, and that a good hair conditioner doesn’t hurt.


Excerpt

     A lot of girls at school were talking about trying out, but most of the girls at Hillcrest were jocks. Yasmin McCarty, the most popular girl in our class with one thousand-three people on her social media friends list, could win a modeling competition, but she would never enter because it would be beneath her to stand in line and wait to be judged on her looks. She was always saying modeling and stuff was so superficial, but she was also the same girl who walked around school pretending she was freezing so the teachers would let her wear her designer hoodie over her uniform.

I dunno, maybe some girls just knew they were hot and didn’t need some TV show to confirm it. I loved watching the show, but the thought of going up there to be judged on how I looked scared me. I was afraid of the judges but even more afraid of Ericka. I knew she’d get mad at me if I didn’t try out. So while some girls were secure enough not to need strangers to tell them they were pretty, I spent the whole day trying to figure out the right outfit for my audition (and my dad wondered why my math grades sucked). I mentally went through my closet, and nothing seemed right. My clothes said American Couch Potato, not American Ingénue.

Landry-Character Bio
     
     Landry Lilyanne Albright is an eighth grader at Hillcrest Academy. She was born in Chicago, Illinois to Dr. Tony and Laine Albright. She moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan with her mother when her mom was promoted and her father hopes to move there soon. Landry became best friends with Tori Robins and Ericka Maines soon after enrolling at Hillcrest Academy.

Landry is an only child and enjoys writing and won second place in the Michigan Young Pens writing competition. She has also become interested in modeling after getting through several levels of the American Ingénue modeling reality show competition.

She is currently signed with the Rice-Carter modeling agency in Grand Rapids. She considers Ashanti Russell, Peyton Urich, and Devon Abrams to be her current best friends. Landry hopes to one day date the soap star who plays Colin on, As the Days Roll On, or the cute freshman basketball player, Vladi Yagudin. She loves her English lit class with Mrs. Kharrazzi and enjoys reading. She is on a never-ending quest for a hair product that will end her bad hair days and ways to up her math grade that don’t involve intense tutoring.

Likes: Reading, soap operas like, “As the Days Rolls On,” ice cream sundaes from Ignatowski’s Ice Cream Palace, shopping, magazines, cartoon movies, the Skylar Halston YA mystery series, English lit class
Dislikes: mean people, gossip, math
Role models: Talisa Milan from American Ingénue, Melani Parkington from American Ingénue
Future career choices: Writer, English teacher, model, actress
Motto: Be yourself

Character Interview with Landry Albright from True Colors.

What's the worst thing that's happened in your life? What did you learn from it?
When my friends all got mad at me—first when Ericka and Tori stopped speaking to me after we all tried out for the American Ingénue reality show modeling competition and I made it to the next round and they didn’t. But I learned who my true friends were after that.

Tell me about your best friend.
I have two or three besties. Tori used to be my best friend, but after she got mad at me over that modeling thing…I just don’t trust her the same way. Ashanti Russell is one of my closest friends. We became closer after getting to know each other better. She always has my back. Peyton Urich is another of my best friends. We met when Tori and Ericka weren’t speaking to me. She’s been such an amazing friend. And Devon and I have best friend bracelets together, but…sometimes she gets a little controlling.

What is one strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? Why is it so powerful and lasting?
I was in a dance recital when I was four years old. We were supposed to be little ballerinas and have scarves attached to our tutus, but my mom was still in school at the time and she came home late and forgot to give me my scarves. So all the other little girls pulled out their scarves, and there’s a video of me looking on either side of my tutu for my scarves and then bursting into tears crying “Mommy!” as I ran off the stage. My grandmother said I was adorable, but I don’t think it was any coincidence my grandfather died two weeks later.

What is your greatest regret?
That I messed up my introduction during the American Ingénue competition. All I had to do was say, “Hi, I’m Landry Albright from Grand Rapids, Michigan,” and instead I said, “Chicago, Illinois,” my old state and when I went back to correct it, I totally slammed into the next contestant, made the microphone shriek and embarrassed myself. If I could go back in time, I’d totally choose that moment to change.

Do you ever lie?
Well, I don’t outright lie, but when my dad asks about my math grades, I do point out how awesome I’m doing in English and hope he changes the subject.

What do you like best about yourself? Least?
Best? I think I’m a nice person and a good friend. Least? My hair. I’d much rather have Devon’s dark, curly hair or Peyton’s dark red hair.

What is in your refrigerator right now?
Leftover butterscotch and vanilla pudding from the variety packs my mom and I eat all the chocolate out of.

What’s on your bedroom floor?
Dirty clothes—like my Hillcrest school uniform that makes me look like a dead goldfish, my mom’s favorite sweatshirt that I borrowed and got something blue on (when did I have fruit?), and some magazines.

What’s on your nightstand?
Magazines, YA mystery novels, gum wrappers, and my favorite lip gloss.

Imagine you’re doing intense spring cleaning. What’s easy to throw out? What is difficult to part with?
Did my mom put you up to asking this? I hate cleaning my room, but whatever. I guess the easiest stuff to throw out would be all the candy wrappers and to put my soda cans in the bin to take back for a deposit. What’s difficult to part with would be my magazines. I like to hang onto them and look at them at night before I go to bed. And I would never part with my stuffed animals—especially the blue mouse my dad got me when I was little.

If you could spend the day with someone you admire (living, dead or imaginary), who would you pick?
Talisa Milan, my favorite model who won the American Ingénue competition. She’s so busy that I doubt I could keep up with her, but I’d love to see what it’s like to be her just for one day. She hosts a video show, does makeup and hair care commercials, goes to school, and she’s dating a member of the band, The Puking Baby Dolls.

Are you upset your name is not in the title?
Not really. Krysten almost used it for the title of the sequel, but at the last minute she changed it. She told me she might use that one for the third book though.

Did your story end too soon?
I’m getting a sequel and she’s working on a third book, so I’m okay with it as long as she lets Vladi call me and stuff.

Did you and your author agree on the storyline?
Well, at first she told me I had no say in any of it, but she can’t really control what I say or do. I’m just me and she has to figure out what to do with that. She calls it, “frustrating,” but hey, I told her, “You’re the one who became a writer. What did you expect, genius?” So whatever. She’s got to deal with it.

Dream Cast List for True Colors

                When I first got the idea for the book, I was in the sixth grade and imagining what the band The Bangles would have been like at age thirteen/fourteen. Over the years I’ve collected pictures of what I imagine some of that characters to look like. You can find more on my Pinterest site: http://www.pinterest.com/krystenlindsay/true-colors-inspiration/

Landry Albright: Over the years I’ve pictured Landry as Ashlee Simpson when she was doing her reality show. Now, I’d say maybe Elle Fanning could play her.

Ashanti Russell: My original image for Ashanti was Letoya Luckett (original member of Destiny’s Child) and I pictured her at 14. Now I think Zendaya would be a great choice, too.

Vladi Yagudin: Ross Lynch

Talisa Milan: Talisa is the model Landry admires for her work ethic and is sort of the “smart” model (like Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington were when I was growing up) and Landry is always reading what a hard worker Talisa is, so I picture Jennifer Lopez as Talia.

Devon Abrams: Selena Gomez with curly hair!

Mrs. Kharazzi (Landry’s favorite teacher): Shohreh Aghdashloo

Mr. Albright (Landry’s Dad) Ty Treadway

Hana Ito: Fumie Suguri (figure skater)

Yasmin McCarty: Victoria Justice

Peyton Urich: Bella Thorne

Thalia Zimmer: Ciara Bravo

India Allen: Stephanie Scott

Tori Robins: Laura Marano

Ericka Maines: Ariana Grande

Arianna Seymour: Dove Cameron

Colin the soap star (Landry’s celebrity crush): Michael Bergin

Blake Alderson (Devon’s older movie star crush the girls tease her about): Liam Neeson

Mrs. Albright (Landry’s mom): Darlene Vogel

Landry’s Grandma Albright: Michael Learned

Mrs. Urich (Peyton’s mom):  Sharon Osbourne

Mr. Urich (Peyton’s dad): Harrison Ford

Kyle Eiton: Austin Mahone

Doug (Devon’s crush): Spencer Boldman

Manny: Adam Irigoyen



Bradley McMillian (Ashanti’s soap star crush) Shemar Moore


Author Post: Large Coffee


Krysten Lindsay Hager is an author and book addict who has never met a bookstore she didn’t like. She’s worked as a journalist and also writes middle grade, YA, humor essays, and adult fiction. TRUE COLORS is her bestselling debut novel from Astraea Press. She is originally from Michigan and has lived in South Dakota, Portugal, and currently resides in Southern Ohio where you can find her reading and writing. She received her master’s in American Culture from the University of Michigan-Flint.


Krysten's Link:

Website:
http://www.krystenlindsay.com

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/KrystenLindsayHager?fref=nf

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/KrystenLindsay

True Colors Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22444090-true-colors?from_search=true

Krysten's Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8298036.Krysten_Lindsay_Hager

Google+
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KrystenLindsayHager/posts

Amazon Link:
http://www.amazon.com/True-Colors-Krysten-Lindsay-Hager-ebook/dp/B00L2G0YJS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412131104&sr=8-1&keywords=True+colors+by+krysten+hager

True Colors Trailer

Buy Links 








Giveaway
Author Giveaway Krysten Hager

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3 comments

  1. Thanks Natasha, what a great job you did!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much for being a part of this and featuring True Colors and Landry!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oooh, really interesting story! I really liked the character interview. Also, that's some dream cast you have there! Ross Lynch as Vladi? Swoon!

    Lovely character bio and interview! :D

    -Kat @ Perusing Bookshelves

    ReplyDelete

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