YA A to Z: Rachel Hawkins

Why I chose Rachel Hawkins:

Excuse me for a moment while I fangirl… I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Rachel Hawkins! Her books are fantastic! Her twitter feed is hilarious! Just…just LOOK at that picture! Okay, I’ll try to contain myself. But sometimes I can’t even, y’all.

If I’m remembering correctly, I was first introduced to her book Hex Hall when it showed up in one of my Junior Library Guild deliveries. I was intrigued, so I read it. Fascinating, well developed characters, fast moving plot, plenty of reader engagement AND snappy dialogue?! Sign me up! I purchased two more immediately. Since then, I think I’ve had to purchase at least 4 more. She is quite the popular author amongst my students. I’m sure the booktalks I do of her books don’t hurt, but I have found a fantastic word of mouth underground trend in her fans. She followed it up with Demonglass which was that rarest of all gems – the second book of a trilogy that was not the typical narrative lull between a strong start and a bang up finish, but actually the best book significant measure. That was actually the first time I’d ever experienced that phenomenon.

My favorite Rachel Hawkins story is from her tour with Ally Carter. I’d been following them both avidly on Twitter for a while when they announced that they were being sent on tour together for a few stops, and it turned out that my fantastic local book store was to be one of their stops – oh, joy! Then, as the week before their arrival wore on, their tales from their tour got increasingly silly. I followed their adventures on Twitter as they got off at the wrong train stop and only realized when their driver had to come from a different state to pick them up. And then…when they got to my book store…they told us the whole story! I was in heaven! Just look at me.

Brief Biography:

Rachel is an Alabama girl who taught high school English for three years before she decided to take a chance on this whole writing thing. I think it’s worked out pretty well. She is married with an elementary aged son.

Books:

• Hex Hall (2010)
• Demonglass (2011)
• Spellbound (2012)
• School Spirits (2013)
• Rebel Belle (2014) I reviewed this earlier.
• Miss Mayhem (upcoming, April 2015)

You can find Rachel online:

@LadyHawkins on Twitter

On Tumblr

If you like Rachel Hawkins’ books, I’d recommend:

• Ally Carter
• Kiersten White
• Louise Rennison
• Sue Limb

Join the conversation!  Share a post about your favorite author OR tweet us your favorite author with the tag #YAAtoZ. While we’re sharing our favorite authors, we would love to hear about yours. We all might find some new authors we haven’t heard of before. And the more authors we share, the more comprehensive and diverse the list becomes. 

#YAAtoZ Schedule: Week 1 4: A ; 5: B ; 6: C ; 7: D  Week 2 10: E ; 11: F ; 12: G, H, I ; 13: J, K ; 14: L  Week 3 17: M ; 18: N, O ; 19: P, Q ; 20: R, S ; 21: T  Week 4 24: U ; 25: V, W ; 26: X ; 27: Y ; 28: Z

Filed under: YA A to Z