The Voice
by
Jennifer Anne Davis
288 pages
Published by Lands Atlantic Publishing (1/29/13)
I won this book (ebook version)
5 STARS
The summer before her senior year of high school, Audrey is snatched out of her home. She survives the humiliation, the psychological torture, and the rape with the help of a voice in her head. Guardian angel? Madness? Or the only soul to reach inside and keep her from floating away? The hell Audrey endured carries over to her new life, the one defined by pitying looks, overcrowding loved ones, and an inability to be touched. In a desperate move, her family sends her to live with her aunt in California. Now that she can be someone else, can she take control of her constant nightmares? Will she move past her observer role and act on her new and growing feelings for the boy next door? How will her affection for the voice in her head, the one who saved her, fit into reality? And finally, with the trial of her kidnapper and rapist looming, will she survive long enough to testify?
From page one, I was hooked. Audrey pulled me into her world of pain so thoroughly, I had to follow her to the other side. I needed to be there every step of her journey back to herself. And I'm glad for it because I met her awesome aunt, a high school teacher and a woman with a heart full of hurt. I fell in love with the twins next door, friendly Caleb and anti-social Justin. We only really meet one of her brothers, but he offered a glimpse into the life Audrey had before everything changed. Jennifer Anne Davis doesn't shy away from the terrible subject matter surrounding her main character. She gives evil a face, a name, and a smell. She makes him real, which makes what he did real. First time readers are lucky because they get to be hit with page one and feel the amazing pull of a compelling read.
I recently discovered how much I enjoy interviewing authors. I emailed Jennifer Anne Davis and asked her if she'd like to do a mini-interview with me. You know her answer. Yay!
I read in your bio that you started out
with an essay, “Caution: Warning Label Not Included” in the
anthology Manual for Motherhood. What motivated you to make
the leap into YA fiction?
I love to read YA. I’m not sure when
I first started writing, why I didn’t write YA. But after my
contemporary adult manuscript was rejected numerous times by agents
and publishers, I decided to write the type of book I wanted to read
instead. I taught high school English and tutored teens for years, so
making the transition was rather easy. Writing YA came naturally to
me. And that’s how The Voice came to be!!
Was there a moment for you when you
decided you had to do this, you had to be a writer and not just to
create stories for your own enjoyment?
Yes!!! After the birth of my second
child, I had this story stuck in my head. I swear I dreamed about
these characters for over a year. I decided I had to write their
story. I did, and the experience really taught me the act of writing
more than anything. I tabled the manuscript and wrote something else
that I thought would be more marketable. One day I hope to go back to
that original story—the characters still haunt me sometimes so I
think the story needs to be published. We’ll see!
What's a typical day for you?
Once I take my three kids to school, I
come home and sit in my writing room and work. I write or edit all
morning! Then I pick the kiddos up and do homework with them. After
they’re all in bed, I spend the evening reading.
Will you venture back into tales of
motherhood in your writing, or have you found a home in YA fiction?
I have found my home in YA fiction. I
am currently working on a three book series. The first book is slated
for release in the spring of 2014. While it’s still YA, it is a
fantasy series. I like being able to write different genres, but
staying in the YA sphere. I love creating and writing characters that
are discovering themselves and learning to find their place in the
world. It’s satisfying and fulfilling. I can’t imagine doing
anything else.
I noticed your family included a wide
range of pets, including a gecko...hmm. Is there a pet you absolutely
vetoed, that your kids begged for, but you put your foot down?
YES. My kids, especially my
five-year-old daughter, really want a snake. There is no way at all
that a snake will enter my house. Period. The thought freaks me out.
I swear, if my husband caves on this one, I will simply die. I can’t
handle the THOUGHT of a snake in the house somewhere. Not that I’m
particularly keen on the gecko or frogs, but at least they’re small
and they stay in my son’s room.
You can learn more about The Voice and Jennifer Anne Davis HERE.
I went to Colorado this week. Yep, I saw beautiful mountains, deer, elk, buffalo, buffalo chips (poo), a black bear, and every shade of brown under the sun. I set out on this vacation to snow ski. I've always wanted to, but figured it was one of those things a clumsy girl like me should never do. I did it! Sure I stayed on the bunny hill the entire time and my dad (a real ski person) kept telling me to stop looking at my skis and my four year old zipped past me without falling on his rump once. The kid even lifted one leg then the other. Showboat! I fell twice at the very beginning. I felt unsteady and my brain automatically sent the message to fall good and proper. I excel at falling the right way to minimize injury. You learn that nifty trait after hundreds of stitches, a handful of concussions, a few broken bones...you get the picture. Once I realized the point was to find balance, I stopped throwing myself down on the slush. I loved it. I sucked at it. I wanted to chuck my snow boots off the mountain, or maybe chuck them at my dad. I'm happy to be back in the land of rain and all-over-green. Maybe I'll try skiing again, or maybe it's time to tackle another adventure wish list...zip line baby!
