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Built On More Than Teen Romance
Forced Apart follows two teens bound by first love and fierce loyalty as they struggle to stay connected through upheaval, grief, and the painful process of growing up. What inspired the introspective, dual-perspective style that lets readers live inside Cali and Sky’s thoughts?
Cali and Sky have been the key figures in this series on two kids growing up in a suburb of a large American city. I wanted boys and girls who read the series to relate to Sky and Cali and to try to make some of their concerns (Sky’s and Cali’s) typical for American teens. So, logically it seemed fruitful to present the thoughts and emotions from the female and the male point of view.
Luckily, these two fictional teens have knowledgeable and invested parents as do many of their friends, and consequently some of the teen challenges, especially sexual developments, are addressed with insight by the parents. Those adult perspectives were more pronounced in the earlier books because young teens need more parental input. In the two books in the series when Cali and Sky are in ninth grade (Not Just Another Brick in the Wall and Facing Revenge), they are more on their own, depend more on consultation and advice from peers as, typical for teens, they break away from a desire for parental involvement.
In Forced Apart, there is the gradual growth on the part of the teens in forging a more adult-to-adult relationship with parents. Examples of this new relationship are evident in Forced Apart when Cali and Shelly Snipe form a supportive bond as they face adjusting to a new life separated from their personal relationships back in Ohio. Sky has a similar supportive and working relationship with his mom and his stepfather as he deals with living closely with Marcie Meadows.
How did you balance the emotional core of the story with the background elements of danger and past trauma, such as the kidnappings?
Sky and Cali would hope that kidnappings are a thing of the past, but what they learned from their traumatic experiences has made them resilient, crafty, and determined to help anyone else who’s path they might cross who is faced with injustice and criminal intent. Although they are now dealing with emotional despair over their separation, they continue to find ways to support and encourage each other. Their bond has been built on more than teen romance.
The friend group feels like a second family. How did you approach writing their loyalty and messy humor to keep the story from becoming too heavy?
The fact of teen suicide looms too large in today’s teen world. Kids who forego suicide as an answer to emotional isolation and humiliation are usually ones who have a network of supportive and knowledgeable friends. Sky and Cali give insight and support to their friends and in return receive the same. Humor helps grease the friendship wheels but there has been a growing unshakeable support when Sky and Cali desperately need it. Teens need to value friendship and to invest personally in building and maintaining friendships.
If you could add one more scene to further highlight the theme of “surviving change,” what moment would you explore?
I should have had a scene where Cali and Sky meet again, during their separation, and before the need to rescue Solina. Probably they would meet again at the stadium of their high school. They needed a face-to-face where they could vent their frustration over being apart but have a chance to express why they were experiencing such emotional loss. To express the ways that their friendship has been important and undeniably crucial in their successful transitioning from teen to adult. Maybe if there is one final book in the series, Sky and Cali may have that conversation when they graduate and go separate ways.
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Cali’s mom must deal with a problematic relationship and one of Cali’s new classmates faces difficult choices because of her toxic and dysfunctional family. Skyler finds himself in a confusing supportive role to a troubled female classmate that puts him at odds with Cali. As in the past, Cali and Sky continue to grow and encounter adventures and dangers that they had not expected to face during their junior year in high school.
Forced Apart
Forced Apart follows Calista Snipe and Skyler McCray as they face the toughest challenge of their young lives. Cali’s family circumstances pull her away from Parkington, away from her friends, and away from Sky. The story blends teen romance, grief, loyalty, and the strange mix of fear and hope that comes with growing up. Most of the book lives inside Cali and Sky’s thoughts, and it shows how two smart teens try to hang on to each other while the world pulls at them. The plot stretches from the shock of unexpected separation to the daily grind of starting over in a new town, all while their old group of friends tries to keep their bond alive. Even with kidnappings in the characters’ past and danger never far away, the heart of the book is emotional rather than violent. It feels more about surviving change than surviving threats.
The writing style felt open and honest, almost like reading a long personal letter from two teenagers who speak before they filter anything. Sometimes the pages run hot with emotion. Other times, they slow down to simple moments like sitting in a car or walking up a hill. I liked that shift in pace. It pulled me in because it felt real. Life for these characters is loud one minute and quiet the next. I did wish, at times, for shorter scenes or tighter dialogue. Still, the sincerity in the writing won me over. The author clearly understands how teens overthink everything and still try to sound brave.
The ideas inside the book struck me more than the plot itself. The loneliness of being uprooted. The heavy tug of first love. The fear of losing the people who make you feel safe. Those themes sat with me long after I finished reading. I felt frustrated for Cali as she tried to be mature about the choices her parents made, even when those choices broke her heart. I felt Sky’s emptiness when he tried to fill the silence she left behind. The book reminded me how fragile teens can be and how strong they become when they figure out who they want to be in the middle of all that pressure. I also appreciated the look into friendships that feel like family. The group around Cali and Sky is full of loyalty and messy humor. Those moments softened the sadness and made the story feel fuller.
I would recommend Forced Apart to readers who enjoy emotional coming-of-age stories, especially ones that lean into romance and friendship. Teens who like character-driven books will connect with Cali and Sky. Adults who work with teens may also find value here. The book would speak most to anyone who has been forced to start over in a new place and felt the ache of leaving people behind.
Pages: 374 | ASIN: B0FRNN1R22
What Can Become Life Changing
Not Just Another Brick in the Wall! follows two fifteen-year-old students, a boy and a girl (Sky McCray and Cali Snipe), who just started high school and who find out that an older high school girl was kidnapped, raped, and murdered at the school last year. Cali thinks she can help solve the case. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Cali Snipe and Sky McCray had experience being kidnapped (events that happened in the previous three novels in the series). In those stories, a local crime boss had hoped to sell them to sex traffickers for a large sum of money. Using their wits and sometimes with the help of teen friends they were always able to escape, but they are knowledgeable of what fates awaited them if their sale to traffickers had transpired. Consequently, once made aware of the kidnapping and murder of a classmate, they are determined to expose the guilty perpetrator.
Sky had always been the primary creator of the method(s) for his and Cali’s escapes in the past, so this time I wanted Cali to have the limelight in solving this new kidnapping dilemma.
As in the previous novels, friends become crucial, this time for Cali’s ability to gain insight on the criminal responsible for the crime. However, it is her own courage, ingenuity, and her determination that eventually solve the mystery and helps her bring the pedophile to justice.
Cali and Sky are your typical teenagers when not investigating crimes. Are there any emotions or memories from your own life that you put into your characters’ life?
One emotion would be the pleasure of sharing concerns and humor with close friends. Even sharing homework assignments can be bonding and enjoyable and often outrageously humorous.
One memory of my teen days was mine and my friends’ constant curiosity about our budding interest in sexuality and our confusion regarding our sexuality. Accurate information about relationships between males and females was not available to teens when I was in high school. Teens could not even take a book from the local library to read if it contained “adult” material.
I wanted to focus on both these issues for teens in my books. I wanted to highlight the joy of sharing daily experiences, mundane or otherwise, with friends. When we look back on our teen years as adults, we realize how precious and rewarding were those moments. I also wanted to include accurate and timely information on human sexuality that some of my teen readers might be seeking. I also hoped that some parent readers would realize the importance of offering tactful but accurate and enriching advice on sexual issues.
Do you think there’s a single moment in everyone’s life, maybe not as traumatic, that is life-changing?
Absolutely. Sometimes it can be a traumatic or dramatic event like a car or airplane crash or an unexpected health issue or the death of a close relative. Or it could be something as inconspicuous as something someone says to you like a teacher saying you will never learn to write well or solve math problems, or a friend saying to you that it was so out-of-character for you for the despicable way you treated another person. What is then lifechanging is not the event or what was said but how you respond to it. Your positive response to the event is what can become life changing.
What will the next book in that series be about and when will it be published?
The book is already written and published: Facing Revenge. Once again, as in most of the earlier books in the series, both Cali and Sky are instrumental in their own way in facing a challenge, a traumatic event, and finding a successful resolution. Assistance from friends is also crucial to their “survival”.
As in the earlier books, other events typical of teen life occur. Cali, Sky, and friends cope with typical teen situations with humor and with comradery.
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Unfortunately, along with the excitement of adjusting to a new school environment, Cali and Sky discover that last year a student was abducted, raped, and murdered. The police investigation is at a standstill. Because of her history with kidnapping, Cali believes she might find some answers to the murder mystery. She drags Sky into her quest. Will Cali’s involvement in the murder open Cali to being a victim herself? Cali and Sky may be new to Parkington High, but they are not new to danger.
A Retired School Counselor
Almost Fourteen follows a group of middle school students as they navigate the complexities of young love, friendships, and school drama, all while facing real-world dangers and moral dilemmas. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Almost Fourteen is actually a continuation of a series that originally I started for two of my grandchildren when they were in 5th and 6th grade (The Mystery of the Old Purse). As a writer I became invested in the two characters (Cali Snipe and Sky McCray), and I began inventing situations for the two characters. Also, as a retired school counselor, I was familiar with some of the school situations that teens encounter and need to navigate as they transition into adults. I try to include those situations in the novels.
I was also interested in showing examples of positive parenting, concerned and functioning adults trying to mentor their teen son or daughter in a beneficial fashion.
There was a lot of time spent crafting the character traits in this novel. What was the most important factor for you to get right in your characters?
I hope the way they converse with each other, the dialog between teen characters, mostly ones who are motivated and have high personal expectations, would be realistic. Unfortunately for a writer, teen-speak changes rather rapidly so it is difficult to make dialog of characters always apropos for the current generation of adolescents. For example, currently (2024-25) most teens communicate largely via phone texts while when I was working as a school counselor most teens communicated face-to-face.
Judy Bloom and S.E. Hinton do this better than me. Their youth characters still register well with modern youth.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Teen romance, teen friendship, teen rivalries, inspirational teachers/coaches, healthy teen activities/sports, self-reliance when solving challenges.
I hope the series continues in other books. If so, where will the story take readers?
As it now stands, the series has followed Cali and Sky and their friends through junior high and into high school. In Forced Apart, Cali and Sky are in eleventh grade. If I do write the eighth volume in the series, they will be in twelfth grade, will have already seen some of their friends graduate and go on to other experiences, and they will also be graduating and moving on to develop new friendships either in college, in the military, or in the workforce.
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Not Just Another Brick in the Wall
Not Just Another Brick in the Wall! follows Calista “Cali” Snipe and Skyler “Sky” McCray through their first year at Parkington High, surrounded by a colorful circle of friends. It’s a story about growing up, testing limits, and figuring out identity during those shaky teenage years. The novel captures the texture of adolescence. The gossip, the awkward humor, the risky choices, the first brush with adult problems. There’s a lot of talk about friendship, loyalty, dating, and the lines between fun and danger. It’s a coming-of-age story that takes its time, mixing the sweetness of young love with the unease of real-world threats like drugs, death, and betrayal.
I found myself pulled in by how honestly it portrays teenage life. The writing feels raw and unfiltered, almost like eavesdropping on a bunch of high schoolers figuring things out as they go. Sometimes the dialogue rambles, but that’s part of the charm. It’s messy in the same way real conversations are. I liked that the author doesn’t talk down to teens. He lets them be confused, hormonal, funny, and scared all at once. Some scenes take their time to develop, and the number of characters can be overwhelming. Yet, beneath the chatter, there’s something genuine and kindhearted. The story cares about its kids, even when they don’t always make the right choices.
What struck me most was how the book balances innocence and tension. One minute it’s light and full of laughs, the next it dives into darker corners like grief, pressure, and manipulation. It doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable truths. I caught myself feeling protective of the characters, even the ones making mistakes. The counselor subplot gave me chills, not because it was overtly sinister at first, but because of how quietly it built up. The book made me remember what it felt like to be young, to think I knew everything, and still feel lost. That nostalgia hits hard.
Not Just Another Brick in the Wall! is an emotional and honest portrayal of adolescence. I’d recommend it to readers who like realistic teen fiction that doesn’t whitewash life. It’s heartfelt and worth reading together. For anyone who remembers high school as both the best and worst of times, this book will feel all too familiar.
Pages: 234 | ASIN: B0DNZ1LCCF
LITERARY TITAN 