Nancy Ohlin is the author of CONSENT, ALWAYS, FOREVER, and BEAUTY. She has also collaborated on several celebrity novels, including a New York Times bestselling YA trilogy. She received a BA in English from the University of Chicago. Born in Tokyo, Japan, she lives in Ithaca, New York with her family.
Connect with Nancy: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon
Photo Credit: Emma Dodge Hanson
Connect with Nancy: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon
Photo Credit: Emma Dodge Hanson
Dear Readers,
My new YA novel CONSENT started out as a very different book.
Years ago, I got this idea that I wanted to write a YA about sexual assault. I wrote almost an entire first draft, a retelling, before I realized that I hated the characters and couldn't fix them. I then began another first draft—new retelling, new plot, new characters—but that one didn't come together, either.
The third take, which was not a retelling, was the one that worked. I knew this partly because, as soon as I put my characters on the page, I felt both terrified and exhilarated. Bea is a seventeen-year-old piano prodigy who can't move forward in life because of her messed-up family situation. Dane is a twenty-seven-year old high school teacher who inspires her to imagine a future as a professional musician.
And then things get complicated between them.
As I wrote, CONSENT got very twisty-turny. It went from a black-and-white, "this situation is very wrong and immoral!" kind of diatribe to a much more ambiguous, nuanced, no-easy-answers story. I allowed myself to explore the issue of sexual consent laws not through my eyes or society's eyes but through a teenager's eyes. Bea's eyes.
I hope that CONSENT will spark lots of spirited discussion, especially in this day and age of "Yes Means Yes" affirmative consent laws, Title IX, and the epidemic of sexual assault cases, particularly on college campuses.
I also hope CONSENT will be a page-turning read.
All for now.
Nancy
My new YA novel CONSENT started out as a very different book.
Years ago, I got this idea that I wanted to write a YA about sexual assault. I wrote almost an entire first draft, a retelling, before I realized that I hated the characters and couldn't fix them. I then began another first draft—new retelling, new plot, new characters—but that one didn't come together, either.
The third take, which was not a retelling, was the one that worked. I knew this partly because, as soon as I put my characters on the page, I felt both terrified and exhilarated. Bea is a seventeen-year-old piano prodigy who can't move forward in life because of her messed-up family situation. Dane is a twenty-seven-year old high school teacher who inspires her to imagine a future as a professional musician.
And then things get complicated between them.
As I wrote, CONSENT got very twisty-turny. It went from a black-and-white, "this situation is very wrong and immoral!" kind of diatribe to a much more ambiguous, nuanced, no-easy-answers story. I allowed myself to explore the issue of sexual consent laws not through my eyes or society's eyes but through a teenager's eyes. Bea's eyes.
I hope that CONSENT will spark lots of spirited discussion, especially in this day and age of "Yes Means Yes" affirmative consent laws, Title IX, and the epidemic of sexual assault cases, particularly on college campuses.
I also hope CONSENT will be a page-turning read.
All for now.
Nancy
Title: Consent
Author: Nancy Ohlin
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Release Date: November 10th, 2015
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Print Length: 268
Format: Paperback and Digital
Print ISBN: 978-1442464902
AISN: B00TBKYLWI
Synopsis:
Bea has a secret.
Actually, she has more than one. There’s her dream for the future that she can’t tell anyone—not her father and not even her best friend, Plum.
And now there’s Dane Rossi. Dane is hot, he shares Bea’s love of piano, and he believes in her.
He’s also Bea’s teacher.
When their passion for music crosses into passion for each other, Bea finds herself falling completely for Dane. She’s never felt so wanted, so understood, so known to her core. But the risk of discovery carries unexpected surprises that could shake Bea entirely. Bea must piece together what is and isn’t true about Dane, herself, and the most intense relationship she’s ever experienced in this absorbing novel from Nancy Ohlin, the author of Always, Forever and Beauty.
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