An Interview with Suzanne Young

Today, to kick off a week of posts dedicated to the awesome book The Naughty List , I have a post with the strawberry smoothie (that adjective will make sense once you read the book) author, Suzanne Young. Here's a description of the book, straight from goodreads:

As if being a purrfect cheerleader isn’t enough responsibility!

Tessa Crimson’s the sweet and spunky leader of the SOS (Society of Smitten Kittens), a cheer squad–turned–spy society dedicated to bringing dastardly boyfriends to justice, one cheater at a time. Boyfriend-busting wouldn’t be so bad . . . except that so far, every suspect on the Naughty List has been proven 100% guilty!

When Tessa’s own boyfriend shows up on the List, she turns her sleuthing skills on him. Is Aiden just as naughty as all the rest, or will Tessa’s sneaky ways end in catastrophe?

The Naughty List. Is your boyfriend on it?

And now, the interview:

1) Have you ever investigated someone's maybe-cheating boyfriend? Or done anything super ninja-like, like Tessa? Fess up.
Do you mean, have I ever gone through a boyfriend’s wallet, followed his car through a neighborhood and then break into his house to see if a girl was in his room? Nope. Never did that.



2) Sure. ;) What is the biggest thing you and Tessa have in common? Thing you don't have in common?
I think we both like to make people happy. I’m definitely guilty of the smiling through the sadness stuff. But I totally swear. A lot.

3) Why did you decide to have Tessa use food names instead of curse words? And how long did it take you to come up with strawberry smoothie? :D
You know, I’m not sure when the non-cursing started. It might have been with Strawberry Smoothie. I thought, what’s a really cute way to say her relationship is smooth? Wait! She loves smoothies! It sort of went crazy from there.

4) If you were a spy, what would be your number one gadget of choice?
Definitely a listening device. Hearing people’s conversations would be so fascinating. You’d learn a lot about them. Maybe some things you wouldn’t want to know.

5) How did you get started writing YA?
I’ve always written short stories, generally with MC’s that were college age. When I started writing my first full-length novel, I wanted her to be a senior in high school. From there, I realized I was writing YA. I’m not sure I have a voice for anything else. I just love the pacing of YA.