Brooding YA Hero

Have you ever wished you could receive a little guidance from your favorite book boyfriend? Ever dreamed of being the Chosen One in a YA novel? Want to know all the secrets of surviving the dreaded plot twist?

Or maybe you're just really confused about what "opal-tinted, luminous cerulean orbs" actually are?

Well, popular Twitter personality @broodingYAhero is here to help as he tackles the final frontier in his media dominance: writing a book. Join Broody McHottiepants as he attempts to pen Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me, a "self-help" guide (with activities--you always need activities) that lovingly pokes fun at the YA tropes that we roll our eyes at, but secretly love.

As his nefarious ex, Blondie DeMeani, attempts to thwart him at every turn, Broody overcomes to detail, among other topics, how to choose your genre, how to keep your love interest engaged (while maintaining lead character status), his secret formula for guaranteed love triangle success, and how to make sure you secure that sequel, all while keeping his hair perfectly coiffed and never breaking a sweat.

Linnea Gear was born and raised in Cave Creek, Arizona, a small town known for its Wild West feel. She has been drawing professionally since 2013. Linnea currently lives in Flagstaff, AZ, earning a BS in Chemistry and currently splits her time between drawing concept art and drawing chemical equations.

“Readers—and authors—will swoon and raise a perfectly arched and knowing eyebrow at this clever confection, narrated by an egotistical main character, about writing the perfect main character. With a tongue-in-cheek look at YA tropes, writers are subtly encouraged to expand the genre in a way that is more clever, more subtle, and more inclusive. I would tell you more, but Broody and I are about to meet-cute in an epilogue.” —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things and Between the Lines

"I smiled, I laughed, and I might have swooned! A brilliant combination of humor and clever insights. If you’re looking for entertainment or writing a young adult novel, you need to read this book." –Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval

"Hilarious and sneakily, cheekily feminist in the best way. I'm gifting a copy to every YA reader in my life." —Sandhya Menon, New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi

"Whether brooding snarkily, brooding soulfully, or brooding with a side of melodramatic backstory, Brooding YA Hero embodies everything I love—and love to hate—about the bad boys of young adult literature." —Jessica Cluess, author of A Shadow Bright and Burning

"The sentences are quippy and quotable, and the characters are laugh-out-loud hilarious but that's all just trapping to a truly thought-provoking and challenging satire on the books we love, the books we hate and the books we love to hate." —Laura Lee Anderson, author of Song of Summer

"DiRisio brings her @broodingYAhero Twitter persona to the page in this insidery faux manual “written” by Broody McHottiepants, the sort of dangerously attractive love interest who can be “found in all your favorite books.” After the prologue leaves Broody without work—“There are so many other stories to tell, Broody,” an all-powerful Author tells him. “You don’t need to star in all of them”—he sets out to instruct readers on how to grab the spotlight like him, highlighting an array of character types, techniques, and tropes (“If you’re a supernatural creature, try to find a girl who has no idea of her destiny and obsessively follow her around,” he suggests in a section about meeting one’s love interest). An equally recognizable villain, Blondie DeMeani—Broody’s ex-girlfriend—makes appearances, letting DiRisio show another side to this oft-seen archetype: might Blondie be more than just perfect hair and eye rolls? Amid all of the self-referential, self-obsessed silliness, DiRisio nods toward the forward momentum of YA literature, which is slowly but surely moving away from the familiar heteronormative relationships, predictable clichés, overused tropes, and overwhelming whiteness." —Publishers Weekly

"A clever, tongue-in-cheek novel that will appeal to teens with a disdain for the formulaic. A good choice for YA shelves or where satire is popular." —School Library Journal

"A satirical look at the world of the male hero in young-adult literature . . . In short, subheaded chapters that address the audience directly, he does so, hitting on some funny moments that are also critically insightful. —Kirkus Reviews