We’re so excited that we got to sit down with author Gretchen McNeil to talk about her latest title, Get Even. We’ll get right to the interview with Gretchen McNeil, but first here’s the 411 on the book:
Get Even by Gretchen McNeil Series: Don't Get Mad #1
Published by Balzer & Bray on September 16, 2014
Genres: Suspense
Pages: 400
Goodreads Buy the Book
The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars in Gretchen McNeil’s witty and suspenseful novel about four disparate girls who join forces to take revenge on high school bullies and create dangerous enemies for themselves in the process.
Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot have nothing in common—at least that’s what they’d like the students and administrators of their elite private school to think. The girls have different goals, different friends, and different lives, but they share one very big secret: They’re all members of Don’t Get Mad, a secret society that anonymously takes revenge on the school’s bullies, mean girls, and tyrannical teachers.
When their latest target ends up dead with a blood-soaked “DGM” card in his hands, the girls realize that they’re not as anonymous as they thought—and that someone now wants revenge on them. Soon the clues are piling up, the police are closing in . . . and everyone has something to lose.
And now, here’s the chat we had with Gretchen:
***INTERVIEW***
Get Even is the first book in the Don’t Get Mad series. It’s kind of an homage to two of my favorite things—the films of John Hughes and murder mysteries. It’s the story of four girls –Bree, Kitty, Margot, and Olivia—from four totally different social circles who have formed a secret revenge society called DGM to get back at bullies, mean girls, and teachers who have victimized their classmates. Which all goes well until one of their targets turns up dead, DGM is implicated in the murder, and the girls don’t know if one of them is a killer or if somebody else knows their secret.
This book was SO MUCH FUN TO WRITE. Especially my favorite scene which takes place near the beginning of the book where DGM gets hold of the douchey Coach Creed’s reality show audition video and screens it in front of the entire school.
“The Breakfast Club with a body count.”
Editing, by far. I love being presented with a set of challenges by my editor and then coming up with a plan of attack.
Oh hey, I’d like you to meet a few friends of mine. This is Kitty Wei. She’s the student body vice president, and her school volleyball team are the reigning state champions. Yeah, she is tall. We can’t really share clothes.
And you might already know Bree’s dad? Senator Henry Deringer? I know. Bree might be moving into the Governor’s mansion next year.
Yes, Olivia. I won’t forget about you.
“Four Books.” Meaning, when you have four books published you’re finally at the point where you’re establishing a brand, building a readership, cementing a career. Get Even just happens to be my fourth book…
There is still some creepiness and scare factor, but not nearly as much as in Possess, 3:59, or Ten. But there are still dead bodies, so take heart! Also, there is a lot more humor in this book, plus it has a sequel. My first ever series!
“Will you sing for us?”
OMG I AM TOTALLY KIDDING!!! I get asked that all the time (I’m a former opera singer) and I rarely oblige. I’m mean like that.
I’d love for someone to ask my about my unholy love for sports so I can wax poetic about ERA’s, the NFL draft, and why soccer only catches on in the U.S. during the World Cup.
Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables. I’ve basically been in love with him since I was ten.
***About Gretchen McNeil***
Author of YA horror novels POSSESS, TEN, and 3:59, as well as the new mystery/suspense series Don’t Get Mad, beginning in 2014 with GET EVEN and continuing in 2015 with GET DIRTY, all with Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins. Gretchen also contributed an essay to the Dear Teen Me anthology from Zest Books.
Gretchen is a former coloratura soprano, the voice of Mary on G4’s Code Monkeys and she sings with the LA-based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk. Gretchen blogs with The Enchanted Inkpot and was a founding member of the vlog group the YARebels. She is repped by Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
***GIVEAWAY***
Good luck and be sure to check out the other stops on the Get Even tour!
I have been dying to read this!!
I can’t wait to read this! It sounds awesome!
Thank you so much for being on the tour and I LOVE the giveaway graphics in the side bar!!! ~Amber
Thank YOU! xo