Fiona is the narrator of the awesome, super funny new book A Match Made in High School. I'll let goodreads tell you a little bit about what happens to her in the book:

When the principal announces that every senior must participate in a mandatory year-long Marriage Education program, Fiona Sheehan believes that her life can’t get any worse. Then she marries her “husband”: Jerky jock Todd, whose cheerleader girlfriend, Amanda, has had it in for Fiona since day one of second grade. Even worse? Amanda is paired with Fiona’s long-term crush, Gabe. At least Fiona is doing better than her best friend, Marcie, who is paired up with the very quiet, very mysterious Johnny Mercer. Pranks, fights, misunderstandings, and reconciliations ensue in an almost Shakespearean comedy of errors about mistaken first impressions, convoluted coupling, and hidden crushes.

---
Fiona is totally cool, so I had to ask her a few questions:

1) Best and worst things about babysitting?

Best thing: International Corn and movies. Worst thing? Their house is so perfect that I'm afraid to even let a burp loose in there.

2) How did you get to be so good at pranking people?

I always sucked at it! But Todd quickly became an unrelenting inspiration for evil.


3) I kind of love that you and Sam watch Sixteen Candles. Obviously you both have good taste. Any other favorites movies?

Uh, yeah. Okay, I confess to a couple of guilty pleasures like Bridget Jones and Pride and Prejudice (either version), but I also love classics like Sid and Nancy and The Commitments. Roid Sally Roid!

Is it bad that I haven't seen any of those?

4) What is the most truly tacky thing you have seen/encountered recently?

I saw this girl use the end of her designer sunglasses to dig some kind of monster wax clog out of her right ear. She flicked it, too. She totally picked it, rolled it, and flicked it. That's what they call the NOCD trifecta.

That's a really horrific mental image. Thanks.

5) What is one thing you will never do?

Skinny dip. Gross. At the very least there'd better be a fabric barrier of some kind between my genitals and the nasty water where everyone else's cootches and danglies are bobbing around.

An Interview with Kristin Walker

Kristin Walker is the hilarious author of the recently released A Match Made in High School. My review will be up tomorrow, but let me just say that I loved it and laughed throughout the whole thing.

Here's a description straight from goodreads, in case you need it:

When the principal announces that every senior must participate in a mandatory year-long Marriage Education program, Fiona Sheehan believes that her life can’t get any worse. Then she marries her “husband”: Jerky jock Todd, whose cheerleader girlfriend, Amanda, has had it in for Fiona since day one of second grade. Even worse? Amanda is paired with Fiona’s long-term crush, Gabe. At least Fiona is doing better than her best friend, Marcie, who is paired up with the very quiet, very mysterious Johnny Mercer. Pranks, fights, misunderstandings, and reconciliations ensue in an almost Shakespearean comedy of errors about mistaken first impressions, convoluted coupling, and hidden crushes.

---

And here's the awesome interview:

1) Your book is HILARIO. Was there ever a time where there were unfunny things in the book? How did you decide what was funny and what was just lame so you could get rid of the lame stuff?

First of all, I'd like to officially lay claim to having coined the word "hilario." I only have rock-solid proof back to July 2008, but I know it was earlier, and I'm sure it was me. I remember distinctly being too lazy to finish the whole word. But I can't imagine how it spread. Hold on, I did use it in an email to Mandy Hubbard around that time, and we all know how that girl can talk. Luckily, most of what she says is super-smart though, so when she talks, I generally take notes. Of course there's always the chance I accidentally stole hilario through cryptomnesia, which apparently is a real thing. Who knew?

And B. Sure, there were many times un-funny things were happening. Some of them needed to happen, lots of them got the axe. The one thing I never did was sacrifice a joke, though. If I thought there was anything mildly amusing about a passage, I did everything I could to "make it work." *bows in silent reverence to Tim Gunn*

Actually, I think some jokey bits did get cut in the first revision I did for Razorbill, but I made up more. And I can always recycle the scraps of funny.