#MMBBR #Showcase #FirstLine Will You Won't You Want Me by @missnoraz (Nora Zelevansky)

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“WILL YOU WON'T YOU WANT ME” Synopsis:

Marjorie Plum never meant to peak in high school. She was queen bee. Now,10 years later, she's lost her sparkle. At her bleakest moment, she’s surprised by renewed interest from a questionable childhood crush, and the bickering with her cranky boss—at a potentially game-changing new job—grows increasingly like flirtatious banter. Suddenly, she’s faced with a choice between the life she always dreamed of and one she never thought to imagine. With the help of a precocious 11-year-old tutee, who unknowingly becomes the Ghost of Marjorie Past, and a musician roommate, who looks like a pixie and talks like the Dalai Lama, Marjorie struggles with the ultimate question: Who does she want to be? Nora Zelevansky’s Will You Won’t You Want Me? is a funny, often surprising, novel about growing up when you are already supposed to be grown.

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#FirstLine from Will You Won't You Want Me 

by Nora Zelevansky

"Marjorie Plum was the most popular girl in school, but

 it had been a decade since anyone cared."

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Available now:

BARNES & NOBLE

AMAZON

INDIEBOUND

IBOOKS

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REVIEWS:

“Funny, sexy, and packed with perfect poignant insight that will resonate with readers of any age. I LOVED this book and didn’t want it to end. Reading Zelevansky’s prose felt like watching 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'—Marjorie is so utterly captivating and endearing that even when she’s flailing you don’t want to miss a second of it!”—Nicola Kraus, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Nanny Diaries and Nanny Returns

“Will You Won't You Want Me? achieves that rare combination of razor-sharp wit and romance - a love story that's not afraid to be smart, satirical and wise. Nora Zelevansky's mesmerizing writing captivates from page one.” —Cara Lockwood, USA Today bestselling author of I Do (But I Don't)

“Nora Zelevansky deftly explores the ups and downs of a young woman learning that the first step toward real love lies in coming to love one's true self.” —Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, New York Times bestselling author of Bittersweet

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NORA ZELEVANSKY

Author, Journalist, Satirist, Lifestyle Expert

Nora Zelevansky is a novelist, journalist and editor. As a freelance writer, she covers style, beauty, travel, design, food, wellness, health, fitness, TV and film and burgeoning cultural trends, as well as writing profiles and humor essays. Her work has appeared in publications including ELLE, Vanity Fair, Town & Country, T Magazine (The New York Times), Travel + Leisure, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Style.com, SELF, Salon.com, The Daily Beast and The Washington Post. She is also the editorial director for upscale wellness website, Live The Process.

Her debut novel SEMI-CHARMED LIFE was released on July 3rd, 2012.  This first in a two-book deal with St. Martin's Press draws heavily on her childhood on Manhattan's Upper West side with art world parents, as well as her years as a lifestyle journalist, chronicling (with humor) the latest—sometimes wonky—cultural trends.

Zelevansky attended New York City’s Calhoun School through high school, then Scripps College of The Claremont Colleges in California. After graduation, she moved to LA to work first in film development & acquisitions and then in politics, before transitioning into freelance writing.

She currently lives in Brooklyn, NYC with her husband and baby daughter amidst copious artisanal nooks.

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Q.  What inspires your writing?

A. Many things inspire my writing from my own background to cultural phenomena. But, above all, I'd say, words. I love language and even grammar. Nothing makes me as happy as when the writing is just clicking and you can feel that you've found that perfect cadence.

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being a writer?

A. Both as a journalist and a novelist, I love experiencing something and then describing it -- a place, a feeling, even a smell. With fiction in particular, I think there's something so freeing about allowing the mind to go wherever it pleases and creating characters who do whatever you feel they should in this imaginary world.

Q.  What is the toughest part of being a writer?

A. The blank page. There's nothing as difficult as staring down that as yet unwritten story and worrying that it might not live up to your grand expectations.

Q.  If you could not be writer, what would you do/be?

A. I sometimes joke with my husband that I'd own a pretty shop full of all sorts of items that smell amazing. If I could surround myself in orange blossom and lavender scents at all times, I would.

Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

A. "Where Are My Keys? The Nora ZelevanskyStory."

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

A. Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters by JD Salinger. And I'm so lucky: My father just surprised me with a first edition copy that we saw at Southampton Books during one of my readings for Will You Won't You Want Me? It's now my prized possession.

Q.  Which character from ANY book are you most like?

A. Wow. That's a great question, but super difficult. As a kid, my mother used to say I reminded her of Eloise (who was super precocious and lived in the Plaza). I think I'm probably most like Elizabeth Bennet -- before the positive transformation: deeply stubborn and probably a bit judgmental and bossy, but with a deep sense that justice must prevail.

Q.  What character from all of your books are you most like?

A. I'm not sure if this is really true, but I want to say Belinda from Will You Won't You Want Me? At least she's the one I aspire to be most like. She's an 11-year-old girl from Brooklyn, who sees the world with so much clarity and humor despite her young age. She doesn't quite buy the stories people tell her until she's investigated all angles. In reality, I'm probably most like the main character, Marjorie Plum, who is indecisive and scared in the face of change, but who can feel that there's something more out there for her and fights to find it.

Q.  Which book would you love to take a weekend vacation inside of?

A. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. I just love everything about that era in Paris and the idea of frolicking around Europe with all these great literary figures and artists . . . I mean, what could be better than that?

Q.  What is your favorite season?

A. Fall. I love everything about it: The crisp air, the smell of fireplaces burning, the leaves changing. I even think the best fashion comes out in autumn. What's better than a great pair of jeans and boots with a leather jacket and a cozy scarf?

Q.  What inspired your book cover(s)?  Or what is your favorite book cover and why?

A. I actually didn't have that much to do with the design of my book cover. My publisher created it. But I liked it instantly because I think it's just cool and contemporary looking and also reflects the tone of the book, which is at once sort of light and literary.

Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your book.

A. During my first reading for Will You Won't You Want Me? at Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side of NYC, the bookstore had set up a lovely table to the right of the stage where I could sit and sign books after the reading/Q & A portion was over. I was up at the podium reading, when a strange man came and just sat at the table facing the audience and started reading a random book. It was really funny because it was so obviously set up for signing with flowers and a sign and all! People kept asking me if I knew him afterward!

Q.  Are you working on something new?

A. Yes. I have a manuscript about which I am really excited. Like SO excited. It's something different -- still a sort of delayed and disoriented coming-of-age story (because that's what I always tend to write), but it's from the perspective of a first person male voice. I can't wait to get it out there.

Q.  Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just stopping by?

A.  Just thank you for reading this interview and hopefully for checking out my new novel, Will You Won't You Want Me?. The book is specifically about a 28-year-old woman who feels stuck and can't find a clear path to her future, but the story seems to resonate with people of all genders and ages, who have ever experienced growing pains during a period of transition. Sometimes -- often actually -- change comes when we least want or expect it and we have no choice but to roll with it. Although it's painful, in the end, so often, we end up evolving for the better.

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