The Trick to Landing

When you wipe out in life, who helps you get back up again?

After a gnarly fall in competition, a DUI, and moving in with her mom dashed her hopes for a spot in this year’s X Games, 16-year-old skateboarder Summer O’Neill is left with one last shot at redemption. But her fresh start is even harder than getting back on the half pipe: hours of community service, a party girl reputation she can’t shake, and life with a mother she hardly knows leave Summer scrambling to keep her world stable.

The very last thing Summer is looking for is a boyfriend, at least until she meets Sebastian Vega. Steady, unassuming, and self-assured, he’s everything she’s not. Before long, she’s sneaking out for midnight sandcastle building excursions and trading in her art class for private photography lessons with Bastian.

But Summer’s past won’t stay behind her and Bastian has problems of his own – including a bleeding disorder that seeps into every aspect his life. While he pushes against the limitations of his hemophilia, she is bound by the rules of her probation. When the ramifications of her past crimes collide with his frustration, it may be more than their budding relationship can bear.

With the next X Games qualifier rapidly approaching, Summer has to own up to her mistakes if she wants to soar again. If she can’t, she’ll lose more than her second chance. She’ll lose her future—in skating, and with Bastian.

Raised in Avon, Ohio, the duct tape capital of the world, Jenny Kaczorowski began her writing career as a featured columnist for her hometown newspaper. After spending her college years earning a BA in journalism (focus on photojournalism) from Kent State University, she vowed to never spend another winter in Ohio. After moving to Los Angeles, she found a job as a grant writer for Sound Art, a non-profit that teaches music in inner-city neighborhoods.

At the urging of a friend, Jenny finally decided it was time to do something with all of the snippets of stories she wrote during microeconomics and wrote The River Remembers, a YA paranormal mystery that earned a spot in the quarter finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, where it was described as “atmospheric, evocative,” “richly textured, dark and dreamy.” Since then, she has completed two more novels for young adults and is seeking publication one step at a time.

Apart from writing, Jenny is still an avid photographer, loves music despite no discernible musical talent and reads the dictionary for fun. She lives near Los Angeles with her husband, baby daughter and terror, er, toddler son. The four of them are always looking for their adventure.

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