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Today I'm very excited to share a guest post with you from Amy Talkington author of Liv Forever. I'm currently reading the book and really enjoying it! (review soon to follow!)
To see more about the book click the banner above.
To see more about the book click the banner above.
Here's a bit about the book:
When Liv Bloom lands an art scholarship at Wickham Hall, it’s her ticket out of the foster system. Liv isn’t sure what to make of the school’s weird traditions and rituals, but she couldn’t be happier. For the first time ever, she has her own studio, her own supply of paints. Everything she could want.
Then she meets Malcolm Astor, a legacy student, a fellow artist, and the one person who’s ever been able to melt her defenses. Liv’s only friend at Wickham, fellow scholarship kid Gabe Nichols, warns her not to get involved, but life is finally going Liv’s way, and all she wants to do is enjoy the ride.
But Liv’s bliss is doomed. Weeks after arriving, she is viciously murdered and, in death, she discovers that she’s the latest victim of a dark conspiracy that has claimed many lives. Cursed with the ability to see the many ghosts on Wickham’s campus, Gabe is now Liv’s only link to the world of the living. To Malcolm.
Together, Liv, Gabe, and Malcolm fight to expose the terrible truth that haunts the halls of Wickham. But Liv must fight alone to come to grips with the ultimate star-crossed love.
I love ghost stories (almost as much as zombie books!), so when I heard about this one I knew I had to read it. It's a ghost story but with a great twist. And then when I got Amy's guest post I was even more excited. It's about whether she believes in ghosts or not!!
Welcome Amy!!
Amy Talkington is an award-winning screenwriter and director living in
Los Angeles. Before all that she wrote about music for magazines like Spin, Ray Gun, Interview, and Seventeen (mostly just as a way to get to hang out with rock stars). As a
teenager in Dallas, Texas, Amy painted lots of angsty self-portraits, listened
to The Velvet Underground and was difficult enough that her parents finally let
her go to boarding school on the East Coast. Liv, Forever is her first novel.
And now - does Amy Talkington believe in ghosts??
Because Liv, Forever is—in part—a ghost story, people keep asking me if I believe in ghosts so I thought I’d write a little bit about that.
The short answer is: yes I believe in ghosts. I don’t necessarily imagine they’re as fully formed and interactive as Liv but I do think a spirit might sometimes linger if he/she/it feels the need to. I’ve had this experience—or witnessed it—several times in my life.
When I was in film school one of my professors was making a documentary about a one-hundred year old woman named Gladys. She was so old that when I met her (in the mid- 90s), she was still pretty shocked by my mini-skirt. Like, she was already past-retirement when the mini-skirt was invented! But anyway, he was filming her because she communicated regularly with her dead husband, Walter. She had for years, like forty years (he’d died in 1955). My professor invited me to come have conversations with her on film (and thus be part of the movie). I adored her and I completely believed that she spoke to Walter. She had a uniquely deep love for him. It was palpable. I could feel the truth of their communication. She was entirely lucid and charming. It was fascinating and has always been percolating in my mind.
And there have also been weird moments in my own life. Here’s one story that still gives me chills. My grandmother really wanted great-grandchildren but she didn’t get them while still alive. After she died my mother moved into her house and, after a number of years, I finally married and got pregnant. My mom insisted on hosting a small baby shower in Dallas. On the day of the shower we were (as usual), running late and scrambling to pull things together. My mother hadn’t had time to wrap the presents she’d gotten. She needed a small box for an item and asked me to look in her closet on the shelf where she kept gift-wrapping. It was the same shelf where my grandmother used to keep spare gifts but my mother had emptied it of gifts and turned it into the “gift wrapping shelf.”
I reached up there and there was a box. Right in front. And just the right size. I handed it to my mother and she opened it. Inside was a perfect vintage baby bib that said “Welcome little angel.” My mother had cleaned the shelf ten years before and had been using it for wrapping ever since. Ten years. She’d never seen the box. She was certain it was not there. Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe my Grandmother waited until she knew she was going to have a great grandchild and decided she ought to send her a gift.
The short answer is: yes I believe in ghosts. I don’t necessarily imagine they’re as fully formed and interactive as Liv but I do think a spirit might sometimes linger if he/she/it feels the need to. I’ve had this experience—or witnessed it—several times in my life.
When I was in film school one of my professors was making a documentary about a one-hundred year old woman named Gladys. She was so old that when I met her (in the mid- 90s), she was still pretty shocked by my mini-skirt. Like, she was already past-retirement when the mini-skirt was invented! But anyway, he was filming her because she communicated regularly with her dead husband, Walter. She had for years, like forty years (he’d died in 1955). My professor invited me to come have conversations with her on film (and thus be part of the movie). I adored her and I completely believed that she spoke to Walter. She had a uniquely deep love for him. It was palpable. I could feel the truth of their communication. She was entirely lucid and charming. It was fascinating and has always been percolating in my mind.
And there have also been weird moments in my own life. Here’s one story that still gives me chills. My grandmother really wanted great-grandchildren but she didn’t get them while still alive. After she died my mother moved into her house and, after a number of years, I finally married and got pregnant. My mom insisted on hosting a small baby shower in Dallas. On the day of the shower we were (as usual), running late and scrambling to pull things together. My mother hadn’t had time to wrap the presents she’d gotten. She needed a small box for an item and asked me to look in her closet on the shelf where she kept gift-wrapping. It was the same shelf where my grandmother used to keep spare gifts but my mother had emptied it of gifts and turned it into the “gift wrapping shelf.”
I reached up there and there was a box. Right in front. And just the right size. I handed it to my mother and she opened it. Inside was a perfect vintage baby bib that said “Welcome little angel.” My mother had cleaned the shelf ten years before and had been using it for wrapping ever since. Ten years. She’d never seen the box. She was certain it was not there. Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe my Grandmother waited until she knew she was going to have a great grandchild and decided she ought to send her a gift.
Wow! So cool! Thanks so much for sharing that story. My husband I talk a lot about the belief in ghosts mainly because I watch all the ghost hunting shows. It's stories like these that really make me wonder!
If you want to know more about the book and Amy check out the links below.
Ha! I love the great-grandmother story. I believe that was a gift from Amy's grandmother.I love ghost stories, too, and will look for Liv, Forever. Thanks for telling me about it.
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