Blog Tour: A Better Bad Idea by Laurie Devore (Interview + Bookstagram + Giveaway!)

Item: A Better Bad Idea
Author: Kaity

Posted March 16, 2021 by Kaity in Book Tours, Bookstagram, Giveaways, Interviews / 0 Comments

Happy Tuesday and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for A BETTER BAD IDEA by Laurie Devore! Today I am very excited for you to read my interview with Laurie, plus I have a pretty bookstagram picture of the book to share with you! AND after that, you can enter to win a print copy of the book for yourself! Don’t forget to follow along with the rest of the tour and learn more about the book and author too!

A Better Bad Idea by Laurie Devore
Published on March 16, 2021 by Imprint
Genres: YA, Contemporary, Thriller
Pages: 352
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Laurie Devore's new YA novel is a searing look at a forgotten girl who has no good choices left, but one better bad idea . . .
Evelyn Peters is desperate. Desperate for a way out of McNair Falls, the dying southern town that’s held her captive since the day she was born. Desperate to protect her little sister from her mother’s terrifying and abusive boyfriend. And desperate to connect with anyone, even fallen golden boy Ashton Harper, longtime boyfriend of the girl Evelyn can never stop thinking about — beautiful, volatile, tragically dead Reid Brewer.
Until a single night sends Evelyn and Ashton on a collision course that starts something neither of them can stop. With one struck match, their whole world goes up in flames. The only thing left to do is run—but leaving McNair Falls isn’t as easy as just putting distance between here and there and some secrets refuse to stay left behind.
A reckoning is coming . . . and not everyone is getting out alive.

If you could trade lives with any book character for a day, who would it be and why? What about a week? A month, year, or forever?

I feel like the book characters I like the most are usually going through it so I’m not sure if I actually would want to trade places with them for one day.

That said, I did imagine that it might be run to go to the alternate earth in place of Sloane in Veronica Roth’s Chosen Ones. Again, maybe not on one of the days where big drama is going down, but I’m very interested in getting a magical cocktail at a dive bar.

What would you do if you spent the day with Evelyn? Where would you go to eat, hang out, relax, etc.?

Goodness, I’d probably have to start out by taking Evelyn to therapy. Then maybe we’d go to a spa as an apology for everything that happened. Then maybe a good country concert – Turnpike Troubadours would be my pick (once we can all go to concerts again!)

If Evelyn were to hang out with characters from other books, who would they be and why?

She and Sadie from Courtney Summer’s Sadie would probably have a lot to talk about – specifically murder.

What was your favorite bit of research you ended up not using?

I read a really wonderful nonfiction book called Evicted by Matthew Desmond about the eviction crisis in American cities, which seems even more relevant now in the time of covid. While I was able to use some details from the book, I couldn’t really delve into the specific way poverty affects those living in cities since my book is so centered on the rural South.

**What is your favorite quote, scene, or moment from A Better Bad Idea?**

I love this particularly dramatic line in act 2 when Evelyn is considering Ashton’s personal brand of self-destruction:

“Closure is a myth coated in gasoline and cheap whiskey.”

Were there alternate endings you considered, or did you always know where the story was headed?

I didn’t just consider alternate endings; I wrote the first draft of the book with a completely different ending. I’d actually say the book got a much happier ending than I had previously planned – you’ll have to read for yourself and see if you agree!

coming soon!

Laurie Devore was born and raised in small town South Carolina and graduated from Clemson University. After four years in the balmy Midwest, she returned to her home in the south, where she now lives and works in Charleston. In her spare time, she reluctantly runs marathons, watches too much TV, and works a “y’all” into every conversation. She is the author of Winner Take All and How to Break a Boy.