The brilliant Jenny B Jones’ latest YA novel, There You’ll Find Me is available now from
Thomas Nelson.
Synopsis
Finley Sinclair is not your typical eighteen year old. She’s witty, tough, and driven. With an upcoming audition at the Manhattan music conservatory, Finley needs to compose her audition piece. But her creativity disappeared with the death of her older brother.
She decides to travel to Ireland following his travel journal. It’s the place he felt most alive – and she desperately needs to feel alive again. So she agrees to an exchange program and boards the plane. Beckett Rush, teen heartthrob and Hollywood bad boy, is flying to Ireland to finish filming his latest vampire movie. On the flight, he meets Finley. She’s the one girl who seems immune to his charm. Undeterred, Beckett convinces her to be his assistant in exchange for his help as a tour guide.
Once in Ireland, Finley starts to break down – the loss of her brother and the pressure of school, her audition, and whatever it is that is happening between her and Beckett, leads her to new – and dangerous – vices.
Then she comes across something that changes her perspective irrevocably. Is it enough to convince her that everything she’s been looking for has been with her all along?
Enjoy meeting Finley & Beckett ~ thanks Jen!
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| Credit: Getty Images |
Rel: Brief physical description
Jenny: Finley is tall, with long, dark hair. It’s usually in a messy bun or ponytail. She’s beautiful, but in a low-maintenance way. She’s too busy composing music or doing homework to worry too much about her appearance. Yet the girl’s got undeniably good genes.
I picture her resembling Nina Dobrev from Vampire Diaries (which is appropriate given Finley’s own romance with a boy who knows all about fangs.)
Beckett is tall, has piercing gray eyes, and wavy blond hair in need of a haircut. Obviously he has to stay in shape to play the role of a vampire and to stay in the Hollywood game. I guess buff is not a bad quality in the fellow you’re trying not to crush on.
I think Beckett probably resembles Chris Hemsworth in his younger days. Before he went all Thor and all.
Rel: That would be when he was all Home and Away, playing the character of Kim Hyde in the Australian soap!!
Strengths and weaknesses
Finley’s strength has been her (for lack of better word) strongest trait all her life, but in the loss of her brother, she’s finally met something that she can’t stand against. I think it’s interesting to take a hammer to a character’s core feature. Her strength ultimately becomes her weakness as life starts to suck Finley down like an undertow.
Beckett, a nineteen year old star of a series of vampire flicks, has the strengths that shot him straight to the top of Hollywood’s “It” list. He’s charming, gorgeous, charismatic, and just has that…something.
His weakness is that he’s trapped in a life he never chose, having began as a child star then rocketed to fame. Career decisions have been made for Beckett since he was a little boy, but this boy has grown up and wants something else. He just needs to figure out what that is and how to make it happen.
Quirk (if any)
Finley has a sense of humor. She often uses it as a defense mechanism. She’s enthralled by music, the power and beauty of it. She comes from a very famous, wealthy family, but Finley has been raised to be a very down-to-earth girl. Not being a prima donna herself, she doesn’t put up with any stuff from anyone.
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| Credit: stock.xchang |
Beckett is quirky in that on the surface he is this famous, uber popular teen actor, but once Finley gets to know him, she finds a guy who reads deep nonfiction, takes online college classes on the sly, and breathes in Ireland like oxygen. He’s completely the opposite of what she expected. Finley discovers there might be more to his playboy, wild-child reputation than she reads in the tabloids.
Your inspiration for the character
Finley made a brief appearance in Save the Date, my women’s romance from last spring. I like books that are a series in a loose sense of the word—not by a continuing story, but by characters being related or popping up here and there. As soon as I wrote Finley, I knew I wanted her to have her own story.
Beckett’s inspiration was Robert Pattinson. I am fascinated with celebrities. So much of their lives are completely orchestrated, from what they wear to who they marry. I wanted to take this Twilight heartthrob and totally flip that character on its ear. To me Beckett was my chance to pose the question: Do we see the real person in the tabs, movies, TV? I don’t think so. I don’t think so at all. I think we’d be shocked at the real lives and identities of some famous folk.
Background to the storyFinley lost her older brother two years ago. Though logic says she should have adjusted to her new normal by now, she just can’t shake her grief. She goes to Ireland, like her brother did at her age, and follows his travel journal, using observations of the beautiful country to create an original piece of music to get her into a renowned conservatory. But the grief follows her to the Emerald Isle, and she encounters new problems. Like the hottest teen actor making his vampire movies right there in Abbeyglen and a cranky old woman who falls into Finley’s life. Finley has a lot of troubles, and that balance is not her strength. She controls her life however she can…no matter the cost.
Fabulous spotlight, Jen ~ appreciate it!
Relz Reviewz ExtrasReviews of Save the Date & Just Between You and MeCharacter spotlight on Lucy & AlexCharacter spotlight on Maggie & Connor
November 28, 2011 at 9:51 pm
I read There You'll Find Me in under 10 hours. Probably in under 8 hours.
And I don't read YA.
But TYFM is an excellent read from first line to last — but then again, what would you expect from a Jenny B Jones book?
Compelling characters and a true to life look at grief — and overcoming it.
November 28, 2011 at 11:15 pm
Beth ~ you and me, both! Not a reader of YA but Jen and Lisa Bergren are my exceptions. I loved TYFM and will post my review this week. Trying to find the words to do it justice!
November 29, 2011 at 3:05 am
Looking forward to your review.
December 2, 2011 at 3:07 am
B-B-B-But Mexico is also North America… *pouts* ):
So anyway, I read an eARC of this book and TOTALLY, COMPLETELY and ABSOLUTELY ADORED IT.
Finley & Beckett were extraordinary people! I loved them both so much! <3
and the O'Callaghans and Mrs. Sweeny and BOB! oh Bob he was the sweetest!
Thanks for the post and the giveaway!