Thizz, A Love Story
Genre- Contemporary YA with mature content
By- Nicole Loufas
Expected Publication Date- November 1st
In 2006, while the San Francisco Bay Area was immersed in the Hyphy Movement - Dani was fleeing the city for the small coastal town of Eureka. With a past she wants to forget and a future that may be out of reach - Dani finds Thizz and her world turns inside out.
Dani has a plan. Get into CAL Berkeley. All she has to do is survive six months in Eureka, California. Her plan seems to be working until Matt, the boy she's secretly crushing on, sets her up with his best friend.
Nick Marino is the star of the basketball team, grandson to the wealthiest woman in the county, and the town drug dealer. Nick introduces Dani to Thizz on their first date and suddenly smiling becomes easy, conversations are comfortable. Now if she can just figure out if the tingles she's feeling are caused by Nick or Thizz. After a few weeks of both - she doesn't care.
With Nick by her side, thizz flowing through her veins, and Matt keeping all her secrets - Dani settles into her new life; forgetting about the tragedy that drove her there, and the plan she had to escape.
Matt fell in love with Dani the first time he saw her. He also knew whatever drove her from San Francisco to Eureka in her last semester of high school wasn't something she wanted to share. When she finally started to open up, Matt hesitated just long enough for his best friend Nick to swoop in. Forced to sit and watch their relationship grow, Matt also learns of Dani's obsession with Thizz. He secretly feeds her addiction in a desperate attempt to win her heart.
Pressured into joining Nick's crew, Matt finds himself in the middle of Eureka's own hyphy movement and the hit list of a local biker gang. When a school project uncovers a disturbing link between Dani's parents and Nick's uncle, Matt is torn between his loyalty to Nick and his feelings for Dani as he tries to convince Dani that her life is in real danger; while persuading Nick to turn on his uncle to save the girl they love.
Author Interview-
What inspired you to write Thizz, A
Love Story ?
I’ve
always loved to write. I saw a topic
that interested me and decided to write about it. In the mid-2000’s there was a
movement going on in Northern California. Hyphy Movement. Rappers were talking
about Thizz, which is slang for ecstasy. Kids were eating it up. I was really surprised that so many people
were using this drug, yet there was no awareness for it among the community. I
started researching and found no sites touting its dangers, only where to go to
find out if your pills were pure. It was
shocking. To have this level of use happening across the state and nobody
knowing it existed unless you listened to rap music. So, I set out to write a story about just
that. I set the story in Eureka, California to show that something like this
can move from the city into a small town without anyone even knowing.
When or at what age did you know you
wanted to be a writer?
I
wrote a screenplay when I was eleven with my then best friend. It was a female
version of The Outsiders. We were so obsessed with that book and the movie.
After that I just always wrote. My mom bought me a typewriter when I was 13 and
I would spend hours writing. None of it
made any sense, but it made me feel good. At that age, I think it was a really
good outlet for me.
What is the earliest age you
remember reading your first book?
The
first book I remember reading was Chicken Little when I was four years
old. An older cousin taught me to read
it. I had it memorized by the time I started school. My kindergarten teacher flipped out when she
saw me reading it and told the principal. They called my mom and had me tested
for genius. It turned out I was totally not a prodigy.
What genre of books do you enjoy
reading?
I
go through phases. Right now I’m on new adult/romance. But I’ve read all of
John Grisham, I love the I Am Four Series. I just really like a good story.
What is your favorite book?
You
know this is like an impossible question. But I’m going to go with my first
favorite, that is The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.
It started my love of reading.
You know I think we all have a
favorite author. Who is your favorite author and why?
This
has changed over the years, but I don’t think any of my former favorites can
match my current. Colleen Hoover. She is
a genius. I love her style, but it isn’t
how well she writes, it's the format of her books. She weaves in art, and music, and poetry so
perfectly to the story line. I love how
she involves her readers in her process.
Her book Confess uses actuals confessions sent to her by her
readers. She’s the queen.
If you could travel back in time
here on earth to any place or time. Where would you go
and why?
I
would go back to the first day of my freshman year in high school. I would do
everything right. I’d participate in P.E., I’d join the school newspaper. I’d pay attention in science class and run
for student council. I would go to
dances, hell I’d decorate the gym for the dances. I’d go to prom and football games. I would do high school. I didn’t do high school the first time. I got pregnant my junior year, even before
that I was a horrible student. My teachers were like who are you when I showed
up for class. It was bad. I was bad.
When writing a book do you find that
writing comes easy for you or is it a difficult task?
Easy.
If it were something I had to struggle with I don’t think I would do it. Writing has to come naturally, or else it’s just
words. Writer’s block or getting in the
mood...that’s different. Even when I
don't feel like writing. I can write 6,000 words about why I don’t want to
write.
Do you have any little fuzzy
friends? Like a dog or a cat? Or any pets?
Yes! Achilles, my dog. He’s a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and he’s my
BFF. He’ll be 10 years old on Oct.
11th. He has the same birthday as my
mom, which is good. So now I never forget her birthday. :)
What is your "to die for",
favorite food/foods to eat?
My
to die for is something I’ll eat even when I’m full. These can’t be in my
house, I must consume it all before I sleep.
That is chocolate eclairs. I have anxiety about my husband or kids
eating my eclairs. If they do, someone is dying.
Do you have any advice for anyone
that would like to be an author?
Don’t
give up. Don’t rush the process. Even if you think your book is better than
the three you just read - it isn’t. Put
out your best work. The only difference
between you and a published author is that they finished their work in
progress.
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