Christmas YA

Hey all, I'm Chantal, this is my first post here ever (but feel free to visit my blog ;) ). I write mainly Urban Fantasy of the crappy kind and adult Sci-fi of the even crappier kind. Yeah, I'm still working on the self-esteem thing.

I thought I'd write about Christmas YA fiction, something I've been thinking of trying my hand at some day.

I remember hating Christmas stories as a teen/YA. Even before that actually. They were always corny and full of happy warm mushy feelings without any sort of gripping, meaningful plot. Aside from Christmas traditional tales like the one with the Little Match Girl which, to this day, still makes me cry. One thing that really annoyed me was that the parents always saved the day. Or worse, Santa!

Most fiction around Xmas/Hanukkah/Yule etc seems to be aimed at very young children. Surfing with the Amazon, I found some books classified as YA with Christmassy themes but they all seem to be basically the same stuff with more words. At best, it some kind of teen love story of the sort "he kissed her under the mistletoe! He must love her now!".

So I ask you all, are there any decent, smart Christmassy YA books out there? Something with a meaningful, interesting, non-trivial plot that ties up nicely with the spirit of the season? Oh and, not uber religious for those of us who don't care for religion, just for the message?

Handcuffs is out!

In an act of BLATANT SELF PROMOTION I would like to announce that my YA novel, Handcuffs is now out.





Obviously, I am pretty fond of this book. My experiences so far make me think that it is a love it or hate it sort of book. Pick it up, read a few pages, let me know if you love it or hate it!

Handcuffs is a book about being trapped, and it isn't just being trapped by one thing. At heart, Parker is trapped by a persona that she has created for herself- being an ice princess. It hides the fact that she is awkward, painfully shy, and not as awesomely cool as her older sister. And the persona also affects her relationships with her family, her best friend, and her boyfriend.

The boyfriend is a big part of the book. I have a contest going on over on my website that if you guess his name I'll send you an autographed copy of the book. Check it out at www.bethanygriffin.com