YA Fresh

How to Hook a Hottie: Three Months and Counting...


How to Hook a Hottie will hit shelves on January 8, 2008, and to say I’m getting excited is like saying some people saw High School Musical...

I’ve changed the icon on my MySpace (www.myspace.com/ferrarotina) to the new cover. My web master is about to update my webpage (www.tinaferraro.com). I’m waiting to hear from my publicist about the details of the marketing plans. And I spent a couple weekends revamping my giveaway bookmarks.

But what’s most fun is the reactions I’m getting from teens about the title. I keep hearing, “Oh, I have to read that one!” And they want to know if I give them honest-to-goodness tips and tricks (answer: yes, but I can’t guarantee the success rate) and if the main character gets the hottie in the end (not saying, but that’s where I mention that I am first and foremost a romance writer).

And then I usually tell them about the Hexagon for Hooking Hotties on page 91 which offers a chance for the book’s characters (and for its readers) to see how compatible they would be with their own fill-in-the-blank hottie. This Hexagon was created for me by a NASA rocket scientist (no joke--I have one in the family), and tested out on a team of teens who are actively in pursuit of hotties (not too hard to find). So it’s got some real merit--but again I have to warn that “results may vary”.

In any case, 82 days seems so close and yet so far. I’ll just have to fill my time reading the great fall/winter YA releases. Anyone have any recommendations for me?