Playing Favorites with Sydney Salter

It has been said that playing favorites isn't nice, but sometimes it's impossible not to! Join me weekly at The Hiding Spot as I share a favorite author... and the author shares a few favorite things of their own.

SYDNEY SALTER

Genre: Contemporary YA
Books:

My Big Nose & Other Natural Disasters (2009)

Swoon at Your Own Risk (2010) Review

Sydney Salter writes YA novels that masquarade as light beach reads, but are actually amazing coming-of-age stories that both entertain and inspire.

MY FAVORITES

Novel: Swoon at Your Own Risk
I loved this novel for two main reasons: the boys and the message. I was boy crazy through most of high school - okay, so maybe I still am - so Polly's fear of being boyfriendless and unliked was extremely easy to relate to. I appreciated that Salter could write a novel where the girl gets the guy and figures out who she is (without a boy). It's the best of both worlds.

Character: Polly
You know how sometimes you meet someone and you don't really click, but then later they become one of your best friends or favorite people? That basically describes my experience with Polly. She was standoffish at the beginning of the novel, but she quickly grew on me!


Quote: "'He's so into you,' Sonnet said. 'Do you see the way he stares? And he's always writing stuff in that little notebook. Probably odes to his Fair Polly.'

'I'm sure it's just a grocery list or something. I think he uses a lot of hair product.'"

There are so many great quotes in SWOON, but I think they have a more powerful impact when read in the context of the rest of the novel. This quote, however, is both funny and demonstrates Polly's use of sarcasm and humor to hide from truths she doesn't want to acknowledge. It says a lot about the main character, plus her comebacks are generally hilarious!

THE FAVORITE FAVORS

Food: Hamburger.
I’ve eaten my share of gourmet meals, but it’s always the hamburgers I remember most. Ah, the rosemary aioli on the Five Napkin Burger in New York, that tasty bacon burger at The Galley on Lopez Island, Washington… Nothing beats a great burger.


Quote: “A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.” –Anthony Trollope.

Trollope’s words remind me to keep working diligently toward my goals—even if I only manage to write a hundred words, I’m still that much closer to finishing. This quote also reminds me to take the long view of things, and not expect too much of myself too soon.

Animal: Turtles.
Okay, so I’m sensing a theme here. I like turtles because they remind me that slow and steady wins the race. But they also remind me to have a hard shell when it comes to criticism and all the failure that comes along with creative work. (I collect small turtle and tortoise figurines—and have two pet Russian tortoises.)

Holiday: Halloween.
Confession: I trick-or-treated until I was twenty-two, technically for charity (we sang spooky carols)—but I never turned down a Reese’s Cup. Now I host an annual Witches Luncheon; we go all out with our costumes and descend upon a local restaurant. At night, I delight in handing out excessive amounts of chocolate to the neighborhood kids—and teens know to come late when I’m extra generous with my fistfuls of candy!

Number: 17.
I loved being seventeen, I love seventeen year olds, and I especially love writing about seventeen year olds.

For more information about Sydney and her novels

check out the links below:

Website

Twitter

GoodReads