Guest Post: Lorraine Zago Rosenthal (Author of Other Words for Love)

Please welcome Lorraine Zago Rosenthal, debut author of Other Words for Love. Thank you Lorraine for including me in your blog tour, I feel honored. I absolutely adored this book, it definitely captured realistic issues surrounding family, love and friends. If you missed my review, check it out here.

The book was released a few days ago, so if you are interested run on over to your bookstores. I hope you all enjoy the post and make sure you leave some comment love for Lorraine!

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Lorraine was born and raised in New York City, where she went to high school in Queens at St. Francis Prep. She graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Education. She also earned a Master's degree in English, with a concentration in American and British Literature, from Northern Kentucky University which is located just across the bridge from Cincinnati. In addition to writing, she enjoys reading, exercising, and spending time with her husband. She's also a movie buff and an amateur film critic. Other Words for Love is her first novel. She's currently working on another YA novel that is also set in NYC.

For more info on Lorraine, visit her sites:

-Blog

-Twitter

-GoodReads

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Other Words For Love by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal

Reading Level: Young Adult

Release Date: Available Now

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Pages: 368

Summary: When an unexpected inheritance enables Ari to transfer to an elite Manhattan prep school, she makes a wealthy new friend, Leigh. Leigh introduces Ari to the glamorous side of New York—and to her gorgeous cousin, Blake. Ari doesn't think she stands a chance, but amazingly, Blake asks her out. As their romance heats up, they find themselves involved in an intense, consuming relationship. Ari's family worries that she is losing touch with the important things in life, like family, hard work, and planning for the future. When misfortune befalls Blake's family, he pulls away, and Ari's world drains of color. As she struggles to get over the breakup, Ari must finally ask herself: were their feelings true love . . . or something else?

Purchase through: Amazon / Kindle / B&N / Book Depository

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Guest Post:

What’s the “love” in

OTHER WORDS FOR LOVE?

The main love relationship in my novel is between Ari—an artistic high school student from Brooklyn—and Blake, a gorgeous college guy from a wealthy family who lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Ari is a smart, sensitive girl who (before she meets Blake) spends her time drawing, studying, and helping to take care of her two young nephews—the children of her older sister. Ari’s longtime best friend, Summer, is blonde and beautiful and never without a date, which makes

Ari feel even worse about the weekends she spends at home instead of out with a boyfriend.

She wonders if things will ever change—but miraculously, they do. Ari’s life is forever altered when she transfers to a prep school in Manhattan and becomes friends with Leigh. Ari is introduced to Leigh’s cousin, Blake—and to Ari’s amazement, he asks her out. Suddenly she has the things she never expected to get—an intensely romantic relationship with a sweet, handsome, attentive guy, hopes and plans for a future with him, a taste of the exciting and glamorous side of New York, and Summer’s envy.

But the love in the story isn’t only between Ari and Blake. There are different types of love between Ari and other characters. There is also the question of what those feelings really are, and the issue of pleasing the people you love or doing what you truly want.

Ari has several relationships in the story—with her parents, her friends, and her sister, Evelyn. Ari even has feelings for Evelyn’s husband, Patrick—a rough-around-the-edges but good-hearted and very attractive firefighter. Ari has been not-so-secretly dreaming about him for years, and she struggles with her crush on him and the guilt it causes.

Ari also feels guilty when her friendship with Leigh comes between her and Summer. Ari has never had to juggle two friends before, but she has a bond with both girls and doesn’t want to lose either one.

Then there’s Ari’s mother, Nancy, who has always been one of the few people who appreciates Ari for who she is. Nancy sees everything that is special about Ari, and has high hopes for what she can become. She wants the best for Ari—but, in her opinion and to Ari’s dismay, that might not be Blake.

The love between Ari and the other characters exists in several forms, is expressed in various ways—and, by the end of the story—has grown and changed into different things.