Here is our personal pitch:

SALVA (Salvador) RESENDEZ is a god at Liberty High School. Quarterback. National Honor Society Member. ASB President. His Mexican immigrant family has high expectations, and Salva is prepared to fulfill them—mostly—but what he really wants is to blend in with his friends and enjoy his senior year. A goal bound for destruction when an asinine requirement forces him into AP English with the teacher from hell. And with walking disaster area, BETH COURANT. Who may be his salvation. But what neither Salva nor Beth knows is that the cost of salvation is mortality.

Tell us three random things about yourself.

I’ll tell you one for each of us:

Salva is taking AP calc.

Beth has a habit of losing her calculator.

I have a bunch of main characters—from Salvation, Academy 7, Aurelia, and Exile—that like to get together and throw parties of my blog.

What’s the best thing about writing YA?

The exquisite, amazing feeling of getting to know a character, discover a new scene, and realize a full story.

Out of all your books, which character was the most difficult to write…..on the flip side, who was the easiest?

The villains tend to be the most difficult. Because, you know, they lie.

As far as the easiest, yikes! All the characters have a mind of their own. But I will say that Robert, from Aurelia, is the most patient and Beth, from Salvation, is the most helpful. At least she tries to be, though she has been known to trip and cause even more of a mess. 

If you could have dated any one of your characters in high school who would it be and why? 

I think would be very unwise to answer that question. It’s never a good idea to place yourself in opposition to your heroines—especially when one of them is extremely strong willed!

Guilty pleasure TV shows?

Once Upon a Time

The Mentalist

The Good Wife

So You Think You Can Dance

Favorite CD....right now. 

Sadly, my CD player is broken. And no, I can’t blame Beth for this.

What books, music or authors have inspired you?

Books:

Peter Pan by James Barrie

Alanna the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I could go on listing these forever.

Music: I love the song “Unlimited” from Wicked.

Authors: Laurie Halse Anderson, John Marsden, S.E. Hinton, Tamora Pierce, Ann Rinaldi, Sherwood Smith, Sally Watson, Sharon Shinn, Laura Ingalls Wilder . . . I could go on and on.

We know you’re a writer, but are you a big reader too?

Obviously.

What are some of your favorites?

Ice cream-chocolate chip mint

Pizza-pepperoni

Movies-Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, Mary Poppins. I just saw Les Mis & loved it!

What’s on the horizon for Anne?

My current new year’s resolution is to finish Redemption. Aurelia, the heroine of Aurelia and Exile, demands that I wrap up her third and final novel. She’s dying to tell you all about it, but she knows this is Salva and Beth’s moment so she is very patiently—for Aurelia—biting her tongue. Though, as a tradeoff for such good behavior, I did post one blog about Redemption here.

Thank you, Tina, for hosting Salva, Beth, and I on our tour! You and your visitors are all welcome to come visit us any time on:

Our website: www.anneosterlund.com  Our blog: www.anneosterlund.blogspot.com  And the other stops on our SALVATION Blog Tour! 

Anne Osterlund grew up in the sunshine of Eastern Oregon and graduated from Whitworth College. She lives in a cute little yellow house with her new feline friend, Charlotte, and her own library of young adult books. She also teaches sixth grade and enjoys immersing her students in language, literature, and imagination. Anne has written three novels, Aurelia, Academy 7, and Exile, all published by Penguin Books, and is polishing a fourth.