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WORK TITLE: Who’s That Girl?
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.blairthornburgh.com/
CITY: Philadelphia
STATE: PA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.blairthornburgh.com/about/ * http://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/blair-thornburgh/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2014038920
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2014038920
HEADING: Thornburgh, Blair
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008 140324n| azannaabn |n aaa c
010 __ |a no2014038920
035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca09714363
040 __ |a ICrlF |b eng |e rda |c ICrlF |d OCoLC
100 1_ |a Thornburgh, Blair
370 __ |f Philadelphia (Pa.) |2 naf
372 __ |a Writing
373 __ |a Quirk Books
374 __ |a Author
375 __ |a Females |2 lcdgt
377 __ |a eng
670 __ |a Thornburgh, Blair. Stuff every college student should know, c2014 : |b t.p. (Blair Thornburgh)
670 __ |a Linkedin March 21, 2014 |b (Blair Thornburgh editorial assistant at Quirk Books, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
PERSONAL
Born in Philadelphia, PA.
EDUCATION:Graduated from the University of Chicago, 2012.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Quirk Books, Philadelphia, PA, editorial assistant.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Blair Thornburgh is an editorial assistant for Quirk Books, and she worked under their auspices to adapt the film-to-book title Home Alone: The Classic Illustrated Storybook with Jason Rekulak and Rick Chillot in 2015. Two years later, she went on to write her own story, the young adult novel Who’s That Girl (released by HarperTeen). Thornburgh commented on her writing process in an online Welcome To Ladyville interview, explaining: “Once I’ve got a decent grip on the general shape of my plot and characters, I start writing. I plan out as much as I can (Scrivener! Everyone, please use this word processing program to notecard out your ideas; it will change your life) but I also believe that writing is a heuristic process. The very act of writing helps you discover what you want to write about. This means that my first drafts are kind of like an industrial byproduct of the imagination factory, and NOT the actual text of my novel. It’s hard to think of them this way, because it basically means I have to rewrite everything to get it right, but getting it right is ultimately all there is, so.”
Who’s That Girl is certainly a character-driven novel, and the tale centers on seventeen-year-old Nattie, an active member in her school’s gay-straight alliance club. Nattie’s best friend, Tess, is president of the club, and her good friend, Zach, is also a member. Nattie’s and Zach’s friendship seems to be building toward something romantic, but Nattie has feelings for the recently graduated Sebastian as well. Sebastian is a musician, and Nattie’s club wants to hire him for the school dance, so when Sebastian performs a song that seems to be written about her, Nattie is both flattered and unsettled. She’s not sure which boy to choose, if any, and Nattie turns to Tess for guidance. Despite the romantic plot, this coming-of-age-tale features school politics, well-rounded queer characters, and a focus on female friendship.
In the words of School Library Journal Online correspondent Amanda MacGregor, Who’s That Girl is “pretty much a perfect read, super satisfying and completely absorbing.” The critic also found that “Thornburgh writes great dialogue and memorable characters. There’s great humor, banter, and clever little quips. And while this story is about romance, or the potential for romance, sure, it’s really about friendship.” Maggie Reagan offered similarly positive sentiments in her Booklist assessment, asserting: “Charmingly awkward and rooted in the bonds of friendship more than romance, this is a sweet, funny debut. A contributor to the Vicky Who Reads Website announced that “the plot was interesting enough as this is a more character-based novel that uses the plot to further the characters vs. the other way around. Thornburgh introduced new settings and paced it moderately. She did, however, create a very nice voice for Nattie, which is something I liked. All the characters are uniquely them, and you can usually tell who’s speaking without the need for dialogue tags. The character development was probably the best part, even though I didn’t like Nattie very much.” The contributor then went on to state: “I found the entire novel pretty realistic as they didn’t do anything too outlandish and stayed within their realistic fiction realms, and the LGBTQ+ representation was awesome. . . . Overall, Who’s That Girl was a very unique read that I would classify as coming-of-age due to Nattie’s large amount of character growth. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a fun, contemporary novel with romance on the back burner!” Offering further applause in the online Reading Rambo, a columnist advised: “Who’s That Girl is an excellent blend of nerdery, throwback feelings of being a teenager, and queerness.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist June, 2017, Maggie Reagan, review of Who’s That Girl.
Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2017, review of Who’s That Girl.
Publishers Weekly, May 8, 2017, review of Who’s That Girl.
ONLINE
Blair Thornburgh Website, http://www.blairthornburgh.com/ (February 25, 2018).
Reading Rambo, http://www.reading-rambo.com/ (July 10, 2017), review of Who’s That Girl.
School Library Journal Online, http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/ (July 6, 2017), Amanda MacGregor, review of Who’s That Girl.
Vicky Who Reads, https://vickywhoreads.wordpress.com/(February 25, 2018), review of Who’s That Girl.
Welcome to Ladyville, http://welcometoladyville.com/ (February 25, 2018), author interview.
About
The short version: Blair Thornburgh writes books for and about smart teenagers. Her first book, Stuff Every College Student Should Know, came out from Quirk Books in 2014 and makes a great gift. Her first novel, Who’s That Girl, will be published by HarperCollins in 2017. She lives in Philadelphia.
The Extended Edition™:
Pictured: my progenitors
Pictured: my progenitors
I was born in Philadelphia at the tail end of the ’80s to a pair of preppies-turned-yuppies with adorable matching sweaters (one of which my dad still owns. Yes: he has a sweater that is older than his eldest child. That sweater could’ve voted four years before I could!)
I didn’t speak English until I was almost two and a half, but I had a great made-up language that I would shout from the top of the stump in our backyard and scare the feral cats.
Me, circa 2003: over-ear headphones, knockoff Juicy Couture sweatshirt, copy of "The Westing Game," homemade "Algebra Makes Me Cry" t-shirt
Me, circa 2003: over-ear headphones, knockoff Juicy Couture sweatshirt, copy of “The Westing Game,” homemade “Algebra Makes Me Cry” t-shirt
Despite a really gnarly peanut allergy, a congenital heart murmur, and an unfortunate twirling-in-the-living-room incident that ended with five stitches, I had a great childhood. One time, my mom built my sister and me an indoor playhouse out of a refrigerator box. Another time, my grandmother sewed me a complete tiny Amishwoman outfit for our first grade barn raising, and I used to play in it after school until it got too small. I fell asleep with books in my bed a lot. I cried a lot. I sang a lot in the church choir. I caught the bouquet at my aunt’s wedding reception but remained mysteriously unmarried. In fifth grade, I wrote a story about a lady knight and shape-shifting evil trees. In eighth grade, I spent a lot of time playing Neopets and burning my forehead with my hair straightener. Needless to say, I was not a popular child.
"Quick! Get a good shot of us breaking bread with the Math Department!"
“Quick! Get a good shot of us breaking bread with the Math Department!”
In high school, I managed to talk myself out of some boring classes (9th grade History, Advanced Calculus, and gym, which I had to forge a signature for. DO NOT TELL ANYONE AT GERMANTOWN FRIENDS SCHOOL) so I could take more Latin and French. No regrets. I also had the best group of friends who would stage a DIY Thanksgiving feast once a year in the math department just because we liked food and each other.
Apparently I wasn't wearing my mortarboard correctly, but if I pulled it down all the way I looked bald.
Apparently I wasn’t wearing my mortarboard correctly, but if I pulled it down all the way I looked bald.
I went to college at the University of Chicago because it had a big scavenger hunt and nowhere else accepted me. I majored in Medieval Studies because I adore everything pre-Columbian and wanted to read as many dead languages as possible. I got some new friends who also regularly gathered to eat food and laugh. In 2012, I graduated and delivered a commencement speech to at least 5,000 people—which should have made me want to barf, but my speech was about how much I love my friends, so it was easy to deliver.
Now, I live in Philadelphia again and work as an editor. I write and blog and occasionally teach. Life is grand.
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July 18, 2017
ON THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE WITH BLAIR THORNBURGH
Posted by Quirk Books Staff
Blair Thornburgh is an editor at Quirk Books. She's also an armchair medievalist, feminist virago, extremely poor banjo player, and children's book writer. Her days at Quirk are spent reading Wikipedia articles about Icelandic necromancy for "research," forgetting what she went down to the book room for, eating snacks, and making puns with Rick (oh, and editing books. She does a lot of that). Her hair color changes about every six weeks, give or take. Her first novel Who's That Girl hit bookstores on July 11.
If you were stranded on Mars and could only have one book to read, what would it be?
Is there air there? Do we get enough natural daylight to read by or do I need to bring one of those little clippy book lights? Will Matt Damon be accompanying me?
Hm, no, seriously, I think I'd bring either Possession by A.S. Byatt, Tam Lin by Pamela Dean, the complete works of Shakespeare (they put those in single volumes!), Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman, or Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry. I can't narrow it down further until I know more about the Matt Damon situation.
Tell us about something cool you keep at your desk.
I have this knife that my sister bought me at the Renaissance Faire. It's a real knife, but it's been rusted shut ever since I used it to eat an apple. It also came in handy when I was Joan of ARC (get it???) for Halloween. Besides that, I have a great postcard of Elvis meeting Richard Nixon that my dad gave to me. Nixon looks...uncomfortable.
What's your fandom?
I love Shakespeariana and will often cosplay as actors from the Chamberlain's Men when I attend the Ren Faire (which is hard, because I have to take off my glasses for Authenticity Purposes, and then I bump into people). I also really love the late, great Clone High, which, if you remember, means you can be my best friend. Also Mystery Science Theater 3000 (the new ones were not that bad!) and Jeeves and Wooster (novels or TV show).
What's an unexpected talent or side effect you've picked up while working at Quirk?
When I was editing My Lady's Choosing, I had to make all these wacked-out flowcharts to figure out how the different plotlines would go, overlap, and end. It was really hard!! But I made it work and subsequently bragged about it to anyone who would listen—including you, O people of the internet.
I also sewed a lot of sequins on a bra and convinced my dad to pose for a photo shoot in his underwear. Truly applicable life skills, those.
If you were a Quirk book, which one would you be?
Basic Witches. I cast spells to make my books successes and it ALWAYS WORKS. And I always wear black.
Creative Ladies: Blair Thornburgh
15
Aug
photo_copy
I’m so excited to kick off Creative Ladies with the super-awesome Blair Thornburgh. Blair was nice enough to talk to me about working for Quirk Books, being a writer, and Nora Ephron. You can read more about her on her website and blog, and follow her on Twitter @ATallOrder.
I hope you guys enjoy this interview as much as I did, and remember, if you know any cool, creative ladies who would be perfect for this column, please send me an email at welcometoladyville@gmail.com or comment on this post!
What’s your main creative gig (this can be your day job, your freelance work, or both)? Describe what you do on a normal working day.
My day job is being an Editorial Assistant at Quirk Books in Philadelphia (you may know us for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children). It’s the greatest; I can’t lie. A typical day will see me doing both things editorial (reading book submissions, proofreading manuscripts, helping with edit letters to authors, writing catalog copy) and assistant-y (payment requests, contracts filing, other et ceteras). I love working at a small publisher that cares about making good books. It’s the dream!
What are your creative, just-for-fun (not money or career advancement) hobbies?
I like to say that I make books and then in my spare time I make other books. By night and by very early morning, I write young adult fiction (I just finished a novel! Not to brag! But I’m psyched!) Obviously, this is still kind of “for money and/or career advancement,” but I think of it much more as fun because a lot of it is just indulging imagination. In an ideal future, I’m a crazytalented power author/editor like David Levithan or R.J. Palacio, but for now, I’m psyched just to get to do both. I also write freelance blog posts and essays for sites like the Hairpin and the Billfold when I have a good idea to pitch (usually it’s about snacks).
What inspires you? Feel free to be as literal or as figurative as you want.
Is it lame to say coffee? I really like coffee. My other motivation is kind of anti-movation: I’m pushed to create stuff because I know that no one else will push me. The world is and will remain indifferent to the stuff I make until I make it and prove that, ipso facto, this stuff is worth existing.
In three words, describe your creative aesthetic.
Ephron/Eco lovechild.*
*i.e., I want to my novels to have snappy, funny dialogue but also wax philosophical on issues of grammar and language. I think I mostly pull it off.
How would you describe your creative “process”? Does it involve a lot of staring into space, doodling, or candy eating?
I LOVE staring into space. I heard it called “woolgathering” once and thought that was brilliant: looking around you, casting a wide mental net over everything and pulling it back in for interesting bits of fluff. I space out on the train to work, on long walks, at the gym, whatever, and let my subconscious turn things over. Beginnings are such fun places! Then, once I have an idea for a story, I start taking notes and doing research (my current dreamy little notion is an Elizabethan-set historical YA, so I’ve got a stack of books out from the library and went to the Ren Faire for bonus inspiration).
Once I’ve got a decent grip on the general shape of my plot and characters, I start writing. I plan out as much as I can (Scrivener! Everyone, please use this word processing program to notecard out your ideas; it will change your life) but I also believe that writing is a heuristic process. The very act of writing helps you discover what you want to write about. This means that my first drafts are kind of like an industrial byproduct of the imagination factory, and NOT the actual text of my novel. It’s hard to think of them this way, because it basically means I have to rewrite everything to get it right, but getting it right is ultimately all there is, so.
Nitty-gritty details: I’m very ambitious with writing goals. Revising this last novel, I had a daily goal of two thousand words on weekdays and as much as I could on weekends. I know; it was awful. I didn’t sleep much. I got up too early and stayed up too late. I was obsessive. But I did it, and even better, it got done.
Oh, and I totally make character-themed Spotify playlists. No shame.
What creative accomplishment are you most proud of?
My most recent (hahahaha, because I’ve written SO MANY) novel. I had the idea to retell Tristan and Isolde as a YA novel at the end of my senior year of college, and a year and a half later, I’ve done it! Pretty much! It’s something like 90k words and still in need of a few tiny polishes, but I’m pretty much ready to launch it into the world. It’s tacky to say it, but this is the book of my heart. The harder I worked, the more I fell in love.
The printed and spiral bound manuscript of Blair’s novel. As she puts it, “Doesn’t look like much, but it’s a year and a half’s worth of love/writing/obsession!”
photo (22)
I was also a speaker at my college graduation, which I never in a million years thought I would do, let alone do and not mess up. It was hugely wonderful and I can’t believe I didn’t throw up first.
What’s a big creative challenge/failure/embarrassment you’ve learned from?
Hmm. I wouldn’t call it a “failure,” exactly, but I worked for a bit as a journalist during and after college, and I learned A LOT—including that it wasn’t for me. I loved writing pun-laded gossip quickie pieces but dreaded things like interviews, investigations, and follow-ups. I liked getting paid to write, but I didn’t like doing the writing, and to me, that was a turning point, knowing that there could be more than one way to make a living with words. At the end of last summer, I decided to chuck it all, move to an illegal Canadian sublet for three months, and write my damn novel. It was a risk, but it worked.
Who’s your Creative Lady role model (this can be a person you know, a celebrity, a fictional character, etc.)?
The Noras: Roberts and Ephron. Nora Roberts is a downright badass: her books are good and sell like crazy and she takes no shit from anyone. Her one rule of writing is “ass in chair.” What more do you need?
When I was struggling and starving living in New York and trying to be a reporter, Nora Ephron’s books kept me from abject despair. She was so warm and funny and whip-smart, just like I want to be. I remember one night, riding the J into Manhattan and walking to Tompkins Square Park, reading her last book of essays and deciding that, dammit, I was going to write her a well-worded fan letter. Twenty minutes later, I got a text from my mom that Nora Ephron had died. I sat in the park and just wept.
What time of day are you most creative? Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Morning! Working on a farm one summer made me a total circadian weirdo; I LOVE getting up early and accomplishing things before 9 AM. In the summer, I work nights, too, because something about sealing myself in my air-conditioned bedroom creates a pleasant chill-chest of white noise and concentration. Basically, I like to work any time that I can feel alone.
Being an awesome Creative Lady can be overwhelming. What do you do to relax?
Drink whiskey! That’s a joke, kind of! In seriousness, I like talking walks (see above) and I’ve recently gotten into barbell weight training. Highly recommended.
What books would you recommend to other Creative Ladies?
Writer types, please read Bird by Bird, The Elements of Style, On Writing (Stephen King), Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne, and Second Sight by Cheryl Klein. Everyone else: Steal like an Artist is great.
What advice would you give to other Creative Ladies who want to do what you do?
Be ambitious and do not stop. Reading a lot is good; reading intelligently is better. Don’t define yourself by your degree (I majored in Medieval Studies, for God’s sake). And email me if you want a novice career whisperer for publishing/writing/journalism—I’ve had more and more generous help from people than I could ever have hoped for and I’m dying to pay it forward.
What’s your Creative Lady motto?
Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit (Perhaps one day it will be pleasing to remember even these things).
This is a line from Virgil’s Aeneid, which is probably the most important book I’ve ever read. The idea here is twofold: to see yourself through hard times by knowing that the experience will make a good story, and that stories, above all, validate the human experience.
Print Marked Items
Who's That Girl?
Publishers Weekly.
264.19 (May 8, 2017): p62.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Who's That Girl?
Blair Thornburgh. HarperTeen, $17.99 (400p)
ISBN 978-0-06-244777-7
Nattie and her friends all belong to their suburban Philadelphia prep school's small gay-straight alliance, aka
the OWLALGBTQIA; they aren't persecuted or harassed--that would require being noticed. But that's just
fine with junior Nattie, best friend/club founder Tess, and the two Zachs, one gay, one straight. Then the
much cooler Sebastian Delacroix--already graduated, and fronting a band that's getting airplay--writes a
song that might be about Nattie. They had a moment once, and he texts her occasionally, but does he like
her? And what about the infinitely patient "Zach the Anarchist" (actually a vegetarian liberal)? Does he want
more than friendship? Nattie would like to keep the Sebastian part of her life separate, but this proves
increasingly impossible as the alliance struggles to sponsor a school dance that the popular kids will attend.
Although the story can skew a bit too cute, debut author Thornburgh thoughtfully charts the tensions and
loyalties among a solid group of friends. Rom-com-savvy readers won't be surprised by how things turn out,
but getting there makes for sweetly offbeat and entertaining reading. Ages 13-up. Agent: Uwe Stender,
Triada U.S. Literary. (July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Who's That Girl?" Publishers Weekly, 8 May 2017, p. 62. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A491949164/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=998fdb47.
Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A491949164
Thornburgh, Blair: WHO'S THAT GIRL
Kirkus Reviews.
(May 1, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Thornburgh, Blair WHO'S THAT GIRL HarperTeen (Children's Fiction) $17.99 7, 11 ISBN: 978-0-06-
244777-7
A teen is unwittingly vaulted into the limelight by her old crush when his band hits the charts with a song
that he seems to have written about her. Seventeen-year-old socially awkward Natalie "Nattie" McCulloughSchwartz
is most comfortable with her tightknit group of friends: extroverted Tess and the two Zachs
(known affectionately as Tall Zach and Zach the Anarchist), who, with Nattie, make up the core of Owen
Wister Preparatory Academy's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual Alliance.
However, the unresolved events of an evening the year before, when cute, mysterious Sebastian approached
her at a party, land her in a complicated scenario in which they keep exchanging somewhat flirtatious texts
after the song about her debuts. At the same time, she and Zach the Anarchist also have a history that won't
seem to stay in the past. The main narrative is predictable, but this is balanced by clever dialogue and
welcome subplots involving Tess coming to terms with telling her family she is gay and the
OWPALGBTQIA running a disastrously funny bake sale to raise money to sponsor their school's winter
formal in order to make it more inclusive. The lead characters seem to be white, Tall Zach is Jewish and gay,
and Nattie's family has a Chinese exchange student, Sam Huang, living with them. A light, funny romance
that offers few surprises but a fair degree of satisfaction. (Fiction. 13-18)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Thornburgh, Blair: WHO'S THAT GIRL." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A491002782/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=4ac11050.
Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A491002782
Who's That Girl
Maggie Reagan
Booklist.
113.19-20 (June 2017): p100.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Who's That Girl. By Blair Thornburgh. July 2017. 400p. HarperTeen, $17.99 (9780062447777). Gr. 9-12.
Nattie in a nutshell: 17, good at dead languages, allergic to strawberries, almost been kissed (twice--once by
her good friend Zach, once by now-graduated hottie Sebastian Delacroix). Nattie's content with her wacky
family and her core group of friends--they're all members of the gay-straight alliance, and Nattie's BFF Tess
is the president, currently leading a charge to raise money for an LGBT-friendly winter formal. But then
Sebastian rolls back into town with his band, Young Lungs, and their new hit single, "Natalie." For Nattie,
whose musical taste leans more toward Joni Mitchell than hipster rock, this is both flattering and alarming.
Is she really that Natalie? Do she and Sebastian, who has started messaging her on social media, actually
have a connection? If they do, what does that mean for Nattie's friendship with Zach, the boy who's always
been there? Charmingly awkward and rooted in the bonds of friendship more than romance, this is a sweet,
funny debut. Readers will sympathize with Nattie as she pushes herself out of her comfort zone. --Maggie
Reagan
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Reagan, Maggie. "Who's That Girl." Booklist, June 2017, p. 100. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A498582844/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6264a3da.
Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A498582844
Who's That Girl by Blair Thornburgh: Yurts! Rock Stars! Teenage Angst!
July 10, 2017
"Everything weird started the day my dad brought home the yurt" is how Who's That Girl, a YA music-filled novel, begins.
First, a thing: this book was written by my brilliant friend Blair Thornburgh, editor at Quirk, author of this viral post about medieval Christmas carols, and one of the only people who shares with me a deep love for singer/songwriter/owner-of-many-scarves Loreena McKennitt. This is mainly being noted because my normal jam is nonfiction about the 19th century, so this might seem a little out of scope.
NOW. I mean, it starts with a yurt. That's already +500 points. Who's That Girl is an excellent blend of nerdery, throwback feelings of being a teenager, and queerness. No, the main character isn't queer, but she's a member of her school's version of what back in the day was the GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) and here is the extremely-long-and-therefore-accurately-acronymed OWPALGBTQIA.
The main character, Nattie (aka Natalie), has a crush on a recently graduated student named Sebastian Delacroix. Sebastian, in my mind, looks like Eliza Dushku's brother in Bring It On:
Sebastian and Nattie had a moment the year before after a party, and she's been social media stalking him ever since. He started a band called The Young Lungs, and they have a song that starts climbing up the charts. That song...is called 'Natalie.'
OKAY BUT DO YOU EVEN REMEMBER having a crush on someone in high school? Do you remember over-analyzing every single thing they said or did and how it might be them secretly trying to communicate with you?
So now imagine they wrote a song and the title is your name. So Nattie's trying to negotiate that mess, and then the OWPALGBTQIA is trying to throw a school dance that allows their LGBTQIA students to come out in a grand way if they want, and maybe a coming out scene at the end made me cry, I don't know, you're not the judge of me.
There is also, of course, a quiet but strong young man in the OWPALGBTQIA who is maybe into Nattie, because this is a YA book, BUT I will say that their interactions are cute and real and he's not some perfect YA boy like in some books, Anna and the French Kiss I am looking at you. Also there is a lot of talk of Catullus, which is so great, more nerd things in books please.
Essentially, Who's That Girl lets you relive that time when nothing was more important than analyzing a text and makes the very good point that sometimes, maybe you just need to sit in a yurt.
Book Review: Who’s That Girl by Blair Thornburgh
JULY 6, 2017 BY AMANDA MACGREGOR LEAVE A COMMENT
Publisher’s description
tltbutton6This laugh-out-loud debut is filled with hilarious awkward encounters, a supportive LGBTQ organization, and too many cheesy lyrics to count—all with the compulsive readability of Audrey, Wait! and Boy Meets Boy.
Junior Nattie McCullough has always been that under-the-radar straight girl who hangs out in the cafeteria with her gay-straight alliance friends. She’s never been the girl that gets the guy, let alone the girl that gets a hit song named after her.
But when last summer’s crush, smoking-hot musician Sebastian Delacroix—who has recently hit the mainstream big-time—returns home to play a local show, that’s just what she gets. He and his band, the Young Lungs, have written a chart-topping single—“Natalie”—which instantly makes Nattie second guess everything she thought about their awkward non-kiss at that June pool party. That it was horrific. That it meant nothing. That Sebastian never gave her another thought.
To help keep her mind off of Sebastian and his maybe-about-her, maybe-not-about-her song, Nattie throws herself into planning the school’s LGBTQIA dance. That proves problematic, too, when Nattie begins to develop feelings for her good friend Zach. With the song getting major airplay and her once-normal life starting to resemble the cover of a gossip magazine, Nattie is determined to figure out once and for all if her brief moment with Sebastian was the stuff love songs are made of—or just a one-hit wonder.
Amanda’s thoughts
whos that girl
The publisher’s description up there gives a pretty thorough summary of the plot, but doesn’t really at all capture how utterly charming and compulsively readable this story is. Nattie and her friends are awesome. Her parents are great. The romantic tension (and denial/ignorance of romantic feelings) is pitch perfect. Nattie makes mistakes and bad choices and is unable to see things that appear totally obvious to the reader, but I mean those things in all the best ways; I say those things to mean that she is such a real character, flawed in realistic ways, learning and making realizations just like we all do. Adult me reads about Sebastian and rolls her eyes and thinks, girl, don’t waste time having a crush on him. But teen me is always around, and she’s like, but he wrote a song about her! Eek!
Thornburgh writes great dialogue and memorable characters. There’s great humor, banter, and clever little quips. And while this story is about romance, or the potential for romance, sure, it’s really about friendship. This review is short not because I didn’t like the book–I loved it–but because you just need to go read it and discover the excellence for yourself. Pretty much a perfect read, super satisfying and completely absorbing.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Edelweiss
ISBN-13: 9780062447777
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 07/11/2017