RACING HEARTS (Book One)
by Laura Lascarso
SHINE /Leap Books, LLC
eBook Novella
Book Description:
Start your engines…
Eighteen year-old Jesse Copeland learns of a local car race sponsored by his father’s nemesis, Shep Bradley, and the prize money might be enough to keep his family from losing their home – if he can win.
Brooke, Shep’s daughter, is also aiming to compete, with or without her father’s approval. She’ll do whatever it takes to persuade Jesse to make her car race ready. Both are driven, both are risk-takers, and soon it’s more than engines getting fired up. Jesse tells himself their relationship is strictly business, until it isn’t.
Can two star-crossed lovers overcome a family feud as old as Ford vs. Chevy, or will the competition become too explosive for these racing hearts?
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My Review:
Racing Hearts: Book One (Racing Hearts #1) is a novella written by Laura Lascarso. I found this novel is easy to read and the story flowed quite well, the character's are well written and you get to know Jesse and Brooke right away.
I won't say to much about the story but it is well written, great story line and in the end you want book 2 right away so you can see what happens to these two characters. Because who doesn't love cute guys and fast cars!!!
Laura Lascarso writing is excellent, her story flows and you want to read more. I am very excited to see where this story goes and what happens with all the character in her story.
I have rated it a 4 star's and cannot wait to read book two in this series.
Guest Post:
Why do you write YA?
By Laura Lascarso
In presenting to classrooms and at conferences, I get asked this question a lot. While it’s an easy question for me to answer, I never feel as though I address it in its entirety. Because there are a lot of reasons why I write YA.
One reason is because I like the conventions of YA where characters feel emotions deeply, take control of their own destinies, and generally kick ass. The structure of YA has a relatively short timeline, which lends to more action and plot twists. YA writers take chances with the subjects of their stories and the way they in which they tell them. I believe in taking risks and challenging yourself to strike out on new paths.
But far and above the mechanics, I write YA because I believe in my audience. Teens and young adults have the capacity to change the world in a positive way. And I believe that it’s my mission and life’s work to empower them to do so.
When I was a teen I thought I knew everything about the world. But now, in my mid-thirties, I realize just how much I didn’t know back then—how painful it is to have your heart broken, how people you think are your friends might not have your best intentions at heart, how money and politics rule the world, and perhaps most importantly, how to take all that anger and frustration and funnel it in a positive, action-oriented direction. My teen self is my adult self, only with a little more knowledge of the world around me. As a writer, I want to share what I’ve learned with teen readers. Not in a preachy, I-know-what’s-best-for-you sort of way, but in a way that encourages the reader to ask questions about their own lives and the lives of others. I do not propose to have the answers, but I do know that the only way to get answers is to ask hard questions, of yourself, your friends and family, and your world.
There’s another reason that I write YA. It’s because I believe in books. Books are a way to experience another life, live in another person’s skin, learn about their challenges and heartaches, and see the world from a different point of view. Many of the problems facing our world right now are because people don’t understand each other—cultures, nations, generations. We make assumptions about others, which leads to prejudice, which leads to hate and violence. In our society there’s a lot of talking but not a lot of listening. When you read about another person’s life experience, you become the listener. Reading teaches you compassion and it allows you to travel to worlds you might not otherwise experience.
In fiction there are heroes and there are villains. In the real world it’s not always so easy to determine who is who, and the slope from good guy to bad guy is a slippery one. This is why it’s so important to know thyself. When I write characters, I see myself in every one of them, villains included. Because every person has the capacity for good and bad. There’s an old Cherokee tale and it goes like this:
One evening an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.’
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: ‘Which wolf wins?’
The old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The one you feed.’
I believe that each and every one of us has the potential for good. I believe that books feed the good wolf inside of us. And that is the reason why I write YA.
About the Author:
Laura Lascarso strives to craft stories that are honest and real with characters who must overcome great odds. Her debut novel Counting Backwards (Atheneum 2012) won the Florida Book Award gold medal for YA literature. RACING HEARTS is Laura’s first e-series with Leap Books. She lives in North Florida with her darling husband, two children and a menagerie of animals.
Watch for Laura’s series with Shine which follows a pair of star-crossed lovers. He wants to honor his father’s legacy; she wants to prove her father wrong in this modern-day Romeo & Juliet set in the world of competitive car racing. (ETA. Fall 2015)
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