YA Fresh

What's Fresh with Melissa Walker's Violet in Private

Violet Greenfield knows she's supposed to be a super-confident nineteen-year-old because she's done runway shows in New York and internationally. But now that she's finally headed to college, she's afraid she'll turn back into that girl who blended into the walls in high school. Vassar is just two hours away from New York City—her friends in fashion think she's crazy to stop modeling now. And her old friend Roger is there...but things have been weird ever since they kissed. The real question is if she's not going to be "Violet on the Runway" anymore...who is she?

Hello Melissa, great to chat with you again! Please tell us about your latest novel VIOLET IN PRIVATE.

Melissa: VIOLET IN PRIVATE, Berkley JAM, August 2008, is the third novel in the series by former magazine editor Melissa Walker about Violet— the wallflower who blooms into an international modeling star—until she realizes there may be more to life than the runway…

Could you share a bit about the main character of your book and what makes her unique?

Melissa: Violet is trying to find herself, which everyone is doing around 18, but she's also dealing with the pressures of the modeling world, which raises the stakes a little in her quest to figure out who she is and where she stands on certain things. Body image issues, drug use, the superficiality of fashionistas--she's dealing with a lot.

How did the idea for this novel come about?

Melissa: Peeking behind the scenes of the fashion world as a magazine editor, I knew it would be a fun and crazy place to set a book about a real girl struggling with her identity. The modeling world is both dark and glamorous--an intriguing combination!

I agree! What do you hope readers will gain from reading this novel?

Melissa: I hope they'll get some insight into fashion and magazines, but also that there will be a realization that every single girl struggles with figuring out who she is and what she stands for, and this is just one regular girl's story.

Thanks for sharing, Melissa. Best of luck with this series! Would you like to close with a novel you highly recommend and why?

Melissa: Recently, I loved BOY MEETS BOY by David Levithan. It's full of rich characters and a classic teen love story in an idealized world that I hope to live in one day!

As a former editor at ELLEgirl and Seventeen magazines, Melissa Walker knows first-hand the ins and outs of the fashion world. She hails from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. Visit her at melissacwalker.com, or at myspace.com/melissacwalker.