Posts By: Giselle

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century
Rachel Harris
Release date: September 11th 2012
by Entangled Publishing

On the precipice of her sixteenth birthday, the last thing lone wolf Cat Crawford wants is an extravagant gala thrown by her bubbly stepmother and well-meaning father. So even though Cat knows the family’s trip to Florence, Italy, is a peace offering, she embraces the magical city and all it offers. But when her curiosity leads her to an unusual gypsy tent, she exits . . . right into Renaissance Firenze.

Thrust into the sixteenth century armed with only a backpack full of contraband future items, Cat joins up with her ancestors, the sweet Alessandra and protective Cipriano, and soon falls for the gorgeous aspiring artist Lorenzo. But when the much-older Niccolo starts sniffing around, Cat realizes that an unwanted birthday party is nothing compared to an unwanted suitor full of creeptastic amore.

Can she find her way back to modern times before her Italian adventure turns into an Italian forever?

Guest Post by Rachel Harris

Thanks so much for having me, Giselle! I’m not sure if you remember this, but I’ve been a fan of your blog ever since you kindly (and uber-patiently) walked my techno-dumb self through the confusing process of leaving my ‘Waiting On Wednesday’ link in comments without all the crazy code mess (he he). And see, I can’t even describe what it is you helped me do, because I’m so techno-dumb…yet it’s my love for technology that I’m here to talk about today. And how my addiction to it is just one reason why

Don’t get me wrong, the idea is awesome. Experiencing a different world, a time long gone, and a culture completely different from my own would rock in theory. And in My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century, Cat Crawford gets to do just that. When she brazenly walks into a tattered green gypsy tent and marches back out a short while later, she gets a chance of a lifetime for she finds she’s no longer in the twenty-first century, but instead in Renaissance Firenze.

Living vicariously through Cat’s many, many, many humorous exploits was a blast, and readers of the book will even notice that I don’t make her abandon her own techno-addictions. In her contraband backpack, she has her funkadelic purple iPhone, her iPod, and her trusty digital camera… but even with all that, I don’t think it would be enough for me. Because I love me some air-conditioning. And my pretty pink e-reader. And my laptop brain.

And did I mention air-conditioning?

Y’all, I’m from Texas. Mama needs her air-conditioning.

But seriously, think about it. Technology and all those cool advancements affect almost part of our daily lives.

From the moment my television flicks on in the morning, programmed to wake me up to the local news, to the iPhone I grab off my nightstand so I can check email, Facebook, and Twitter, to the radio I flip on while I’m taking my shower, and the Kindle I read while eating my breakfast, I’m surrounded by it.

My beautifully cool refrigerator keeps my favorite beverage (Diet Mt. Dew for those who care) deliciously cold, the microwave heats up left over muffins to the perfect crumbly, gooey consistency, and the TV in the living room keeps the kidlets occupied while I sit at my desk and hammer out my daily word count on the computer. And may I remind you that all of this is happening in my comfortable, 72-degree home while the Texas sun blazes and kills my grass at a nasty 100 degrees?

I haven’t even started on the snazzy car sitting in my driveway. With one turn of the ignition, I can head to a grocery store filled to the brim with way too many choices, to a movie theater for a date night with my husband, or to an artery-clogging drive-thru to bribe my kids with French fries. (Of course, I never really do this. Just mentioning it here for illustration purposes *grin*).

How easy would it be for YOU to give it all up… even if you knew a hottie like Lorenzo was waiting for you on the other side (Le sigh)?  

Thanks so much for stopping by, Rachel. Personally I wouldn’t know what to do without the online world. How would we ever know stuff? Like what people ate for lunch. That’s info I look forward to every single day! 😀

 

As a teen, I threw raging parties that shook my parents’ walls and created embarrassing fodder for future YA novels. As an adult, I read and write obsessively, rehash said embarrassing fodder, and dream up characters who become my imaginary friends. When I’m not typing furiously or flipping pages in an enthralling romance, you can find me homeschooling my two beautiful princesses, hanging out with my amazing husband, or taking a hot bubble bath…next to a pile of chocolate. MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEENTH CENTURY is my first novel. I did have my own fantabulous Sweet Sixteen in high school. Sadly, it wasn’t televised.