Author Spotlight on…Cat Patrick – Heise Reads & Recommends

This is the first post in a new feature I’m calling “Author Spotlight on…” Many times I find favorite authors who have written multiple books I love and recommend all the time, and I want to feature those authors with all of their titles so you know about them and what books to look for, especially if it’s an author you might not be familiar with. Rather than focusing on just one book, this will focus on the author’s body of work.

CAT PATRICK

one of my favorite contemporary writers with a sci-fi twist

What do I love about Cat?

-She writes standalones.

-She writes books that read as contemporary realistic fiction, but have a sci-fi twist.

-She writes smart books.

-She writes the most genuinely nice guys in YA.

-She has the best first date scenes.

-She writes books that I don’t want to stop reading.

Cat’s Blog

Cat on Facebook

Follow Cat on twitter

I asked Cat the same question I’ll ask each Spotlight author:
What do you hope readers take away from your books?

The desire to eat sweet potato French fries.

Okay, maybe not literally, but symbolically at least. I’ve eaten my weight in sweet potato fries recently—most notably during amazing writing weekends with a dear author friend. That in mind, here’s what sweet potato fries mean to me:

Inspiration. I want people to set down my books and think, “If she can do it, so can I.” (And that doesn’t have to be about writing: The “can do” can be about anything from playing the tuba to learning to juggle.

Adventurousness. I try to make my main characters a little bit adventurous, in a positive way that I hope is catching. Why have regular fries when you can eat the sweet potato kind?

Kindness. It’s easy to be hard on the person in the mirror: To blame him or her for not acting or looking a certain way—or for something as simple as eating too much fried deliciousness. I hope that my books leave people with an inclination to be kind, not only to others, but to themselves, too.

I absolutely recommend that you get your hands on Cat Patrick’s books if you haven’t yet.
I’d love to hear what you think!

FORGOTTEN (her debut novel)

Release Date: June 7, 2011

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Number of Pages: 304

Each night at precisely
4:33 am, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of
that day is erased. In the morning, all she can “remember” are events
from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a
trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a
new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you’d
easily forget, yet try as she might, London can’t find him in her
memories of things to come.

When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it’s time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.

REVIVED

Release Date: May 8, 2012

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Number of Pages: 352

My Review

It started with a bus crash.

Daisy
Appleby was a little girl when it happened, and she barely remembers
the accident or being brought back to life. At that moment, though, she
became one of the first subjects in a covert government program that
tests a drug called Revive.

Now fifteen, Daisy has died and been
Revived five times. Each death means a new name, a new city, a new
identity. The only constant in Daisy’s life is constant change.

Then
Daisy meets Matt and Audrey McKean, charismatic siblings who quickly
become her first real friends. But if she’s ever to have a normal life,
Daisy must escape from an experiment that’s much larger–and more
sinister–than she ever imagined.

From its striking first chapter to its emotionally charged ending, Cat Patrick’s Revived is a riveting story about what happens when life and death collide.

THE ORIGINALS

Release Date: May 7, 2013

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Number of Pages: 304

A riveting new story from Cat Patrick, author of Forgotten and Revived.

17-year-olds
Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey Best grew up as identical triplets… until
they discovered a shocking family secret. They’re actually closer than
sisters, they’re clones. Hiding from a government agency that would
expose them, the Best family appears to consist of a single mother with
one daughter named Elizabeth. Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey take turns going
to school, attending social engagements, and a group mindset has always
been a de facto part of life…

Then Lizzie meets Sean Kelly, a
guy who seems to see into her very soul. As their relationship develops,
Lizzie realizes that she’s not a carbon copy of her sisters; she’s an
individual with unique dreams and desires, and digging deeper into her
background, Lizzie begins to dismantle the delicate balance of an
unusual family that only science could have created.

JUST LIKE FATE (co-written with Suzanne Young)

Release Date: August 27, 2013

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Number of Pages: 304

Caroline is at a
crossroads. Her grandmother is sick, maybe dying. Like the rest of her
family, Caroline’s been at Gram’s bedside since her stroke. With the
pressure building, all Caroline wants to do is escape–both her family
and the reality of Gram’s failing health. So when Caroline’s best friend
offers to take her to a party one fateful Friday night, she must
choose: stay by Gram’s side, or go to the party and live her life.

The consequence of this one decision will split Caroline’s fate into two separate paths–and she’s about to live them both.

Friendships
are tested and family drama hits an all-new high as Caroline attempts
to rebuild old relationships, and even make a few new ones. If she
stays, her longtime crush, Joel, might finally notice her, but if she
goes, Chris, the charming college boy, might prove to be everything
she’s ever wanted.

Though there are two distinct ways for her fate to unfold, there is only one happy ending…

For more fabulous authors, check out Sarah’s Author Love feature at her blog, YA Love.

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