The End of Violet and Abby by Scott Silver
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal
Violet and Abby pledged to stay best friends forever,
a vow put to the ultimate test when Violet dies in a
tragic accident—and comes back. Now boys are turning up dead, attacked by a creature both alien, and terrifyingly familiar and Abby is beginning to suspect that her best friend may have returned...different. Funny and heartbreaking, ‘The End of Violet and Abby' combines the sharp observations of Mean Girls with the sarcastic wit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to tell the story of two young women struggling to save their friendship—and each other—from an ancient evil that threatens everything they love.
It seems like every time that I find a Young Adult book written by a guy, I absolutely adore it. And Scott Silver's The End of Violet and Abby was no different. I was totally engrossed in this book from the start. At times, I had to remind myself that the writer was a male. Usually, you can tell whenever a male writes females characters. But Scott was seriously spot on. I loved it!
Violet and Abby are both fantastic characters. I feel like the author devoted a lot of time to perfecting them and it really shows. There were times that I laughed, cried, and screamed at them. Abby was my favorite, and I truly felt a connection to her.
Seriously, you guys. If you love some snarky attitudes on characters that will make you laugh and cry, you have to pick up this book. I'm so blown away by Scott Silver and The End of Violet and Abby. I hope to see a lot more from Scott!
**I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review with no compensation.
Depends. Some days I say it’s ‘heartbreaking.’ Other days I say it’s ‘bitch-tastic.’
2. Where did you get the inspiration for the plot from? It's so unique and interesting!
Funny you should mention that, because I kind of stole the premise (In writing we call it ‘borrowing’ or ‘paying homage’). Few years ago I saw this movie on Netflix called Jennifer’s Body with Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. And it pissed me off. So. Much. It upset me because I loved the premise. This idea of two best friends being pulled apart by a supernatural force really spoke to me and yet the movie totally dropped the ball. Then for the next week ideas kept popping into my head about ways to tell that story and get it right. Seriously, by the end of the week I had 10 pages of notes scribbled down and that was the start of Violet and Abby.
3. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, which would you pick?
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders. It’s his debut collection and it’s mindblowing. Emotional, surreal, heartbreaking, and utterly hilarious. This guy’s the alpha and omega for me and had a huge impact on my writing. In fact I was fortunate enough to take a summer writing seminar with him years before he got big. At the time I was struggling with how to incorporate my oddball, snarky humor into my work and George gave me some great tips that I still remember to this day. Next time I saw him he was on the Colbert Report. Glad he’s doing well.
4. It's unusual to see a guy writing a Young Adult book from a female point of view. What made you decide to write the book that way?
I knew from the start that the story would be in Abby’s voice from her perspective, so I paid special attention and made sure that everything about her—hopes, fears, strengths, shortcomings—were genuine. It’s funny because when I first sent the book out to beta readers for feedback the stuff I was most concerned with was the observations on ‘Girl World’ and teen life. And yet that’s the first thing everyone wanted to talk about and seemed to resonate. So I guess I did my job!
5. Dog-eared pages or bookmarks?
I always lost bookmarks when I was a kid, so now I fold back pages. It’s bad and I know I should stop. At this point I would also like to apologize to the Seattle Public Library System for returning many, many books in poorer shape than when I checked them out.
6. What's up next for you? Any projects or new releases coming up?
Right now I’m doing the rounds supporting Violet and Abby, but I’ve got some plans for new stuff in the coming year. A short story for sure and possibly even the first part of a new book. Anyone interested can connect with me on Twitter @thesilverdome or join my email list here and become official members of the Silver Society. It’s lots of fun, we have ice cream sandwiches delivered to the Dome every other Friday.
His spare time is spent reading comics and YA Lit, listening to cheesy synthpop, hosting trivia nights, and catching up on all the TV shows (so please, no spoilers). He lives in Seattle, WA. The End of Violet & Abby is his first novel.
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