Release Date: May 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one moment to change everything.
Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were orphans. We put our lives into storage and moved to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my shattered heart, my shattered life, would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent.
Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix appeared out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. Just like that, I was in danger of losing my heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen.
Of course, nothing is ever that easy. Because Vincent is no normal human. He has a terrifying destiny, one that puts his life at risk every day. He also has enemies . . . immortal, murderous enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind.
While I'm fighting to piece together the remnants of my life, can I risk putting my heart—as well as my life and my family's—in jeopardy for a chance at love?
Settings/Life in Paris
DIE FOR ME takes place mainly in the 6th and 4th arrondissements of Paris, the arrondissements being the city’s 20 neighborhoods. To know which arrondissment you’re in when wandering around Paris, just look up at any street corner to see a sign with the name of the street and the arrondissement will be printed with it.
Each arrondissement has its own special ambiance. I chose the 6th for Kate’s grandparents because among several old wealthy neighborhoods, it has the most artsy flair. It also is within walking distance of the river, which plays a part in the book, and near the Boulevard Saint-Germain with its bustling café culture. And it just happened to work out that the antiquities gallery that I baed Papy’s on is within walking distance!
Every place I talk about in the book actually exists. The only thing I made up was the Café Sainte-Lucie, because there wasn’t a pretty enough café standing where I wanted it to, close to the Métro and to both Vincent and Kate’s houses.
Kate’s grandparents building actually stands a few blocks away from the park that I have placed it next to on rue du Bac. And Jean-Baptiste’s house has been taken over by a museum (how dare they!), and I borrowed its courtyard from a house a few blocks away. But Jules’s art studio is unchanged: it was the last apartment I had in Paris. Which meant that I was constantly at the Village St. Paul perusing the antiques and vintage stuff. And all of the other locations were places I know very well.
I like your question about “using Paris as a character” because that’s exactly what I tried to do. Paris for me is a sentient being. She’s a woman...of course! (On one of the bridges there’s this not-very-pretty, but terribly regal statue of Saint Geneviève, the city’s patron saint, that I think of as “the statue of Paris.”) As a woman, Paris is incredibly sexy in a sophisticated way. She is extremely cool. She is bemused by her occupants, but likes to toy with them, sometimes in a slightly sadistic manner. If you lose your heart to Paris, you will never regain it completely.
I live three hours south of Paris now, so I don’t get to the city as often as I would like. But when I do, as soon as I step out of the train and onto the city street, it’s like someone has given me a huge shot of Prozac in the arm. I am giddy with happiness when I am there. Even though it’s not all beautiful, it is all pure magic to me. (Especially the not-so-beautiful parts.) Paris is quite small for a capitol city, so every inch of it is drenched in history.
When Kate talks to Vincent about the jousts that used to take place on the Boulevard St. Antoine, I was actually the one who used to sit on the steps of the church just outside my apartment, imagining the pageantry that took place right in front of me. Paris is the most amazing, incredible book—a book of history and love and tragedy and scary things lurking in the shadows. It’s just waiting for you to open it to suck you in and change you forever.
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Also as a special treat for you lovely readers. I have a SIGNED Die For Me bookmark for one lucky winner! Thanks Amy & Teen Book Scene!
Official Contest information:
Official Contest information:
- to enter, please fill out this FORM
- entrants must be 13 years of age or older
- contest deadline is May 6, 2011
- contest open to US mailing addresses only*
- ONE ENTRY PER PERSON!
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