Read This Book: the ESPRESSOLOGIST

Maybe your weather is better than it is in DC today, but I’m personally sitting here with down slippers and a steaming cup of coffee, cursing the cold drizzle outside. Which is the perfect night to be talking about Kristina Springer’s debut young adult novel, THE ESPRESSOLOGIST. Grab a latte and cozy up to her story today! (Buy on IndieBound, Amazon or your local bookstore).

A bit about THE ESPRESSOLOGIST:

What’s your drink of choice? Is it a small pumpkin spice latte? Then you’re lots of fun and a bit sassy. Or a medium americano? You prefer simplicity in life. Or perhaps it’s a small decaf soy sugar-free hazelnut caffe latte? Some might call you a yuppie. Seventeen-year-old barista Jane Turner has this theory that you can tell a lot about a person by their regular coffee drink. She scribbles it all down in a notebook and calls it Espressology. So it’s not a totally crazy idea when Jane starts hooking up some of her friends based on their coffee orders. Like her best friend, Em, a medium hot chocolate, and Cam, a toffee nut latte. But when her boss, Derek, gets wind of Jane’s Espressology, he makes it an in-store holiday promotion, promising customers their perfect matches for the price of their favorite coffee. Things are going better than Derek could ever have hoped, so why is Jane so freaked out? Does it have anything to do with Em dating Cam? She’s the one who set them up! She should be happy for them, right?

Kristina answered my three fave questions:

--I think teen books can, and should, be read by grown-ups. Tell my grandma Grace why she should read your book.
You would love it Grandma Grace! The Espressologist hooks up coffee lovers of all ages!
--What would your 16-year-old self say if she read your book?
This is so good-- and that farting in the bathroom thing totally happened to me in junior high too. Weird.
--I am fascinated by writers' inspirations. Tell me about a real-life setting that found its way into your book.
Starbucks. I wrote the entire book from the same table in my local Starbucks. This was so incredibly useful- I wish I could sit down and write in every setting I use in my books.

And finally, all about Kristina:

Kristina Springer has a Bachelor of Arts in English Education from Illinois State University and a Master of Arts in Writing from DePaul University. Her first novel, THE ESPRESSOLOGIST, was published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux on October 27, 2009. Her second novel, MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS, also from FSG, will be published in the fall of 2010. She lives in a suburb of Chicago, IL with her husband Athens and their four small children Teegan, Maya, London, and Gavin.