We are so excited to participate in the My Life After Now tour! We’ve got author Jessica Verdi here with us today, but first, the 411 on the book:
Title: My Life After Now
Author: Jessica Verdi
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Pages: 304
Lucy just had the worst week ever. Seriously, mega bad. And suddenly, it’s all too much—she wants out. Out of her house, out of her head, out of her life. She wants to be a whole new Lucy. So she does something the old Lucy would never dream of.
And now her life will never be the same. Now, how will she be able to have a boyfriend? What will she tell her friends? How will she face her family?
Now her life is completely different…every moment is a gift. Because now she might not have many moments left.
We chose My Life After Now as one of our most anticipated reads this spring on the podcast. We can’t wait to read this book!
Let’s hear from author Jessica Verdi:
Jessica has close ties with the HIV/AIDS world. How has this affected her and her friend’s lives personally, and how do you think My Life After Now will contribute to ongoing HIV awareness initiatives?
Though I don’t have HIV personally, I feel like it’s always been around me. When I was little, I had a family member who died from AIDS. I didn’t know much about what that meant at the time, but I knew how sad it made my family.
Then, for a while, HIV/AIDS was everywhere in pop culture. It seemed everywhere you looked during my teen years the entertainment industry was referencing the AIDS crisis. Salt-n-Pepa’s “Let’s Talk About Sex,” Janeane Garofalo’s character waiting for her test results in Reality Bites, the musical Rent (which I was obsessed with—okay, still am), Pedro on The Real World: San Francisco, Jenny in Forrest Gump, Stone and Robin on General Hospital… But then that all kind of dropped off.
In the early 2000s, it seemed people kind of stopped talking about it. At least, they weren’t talking about it as much or with the same vehemence as they had in the ’80s and ’90s. That’s probably because, thanks to advancements in medication, people aren’t dying from AIDS at the rate they used to. So the whole issue is a little “out of sight, out of mind.”
A few years ago, someone close to me found out they were HIV-positive, and suddenly the issue was brought back into the spotlight for me. When’s the right time to go on medication? What do you tell someone you’re dating? Should you tell your co-workers or not? Will you ever be able to have children of your own? People with HIV/AIDS have to think about all these questions, and so many more, every single day.
I decided to write My Life After Now because I wanted to do something to help get the HIV/AIDS conversation going again, especially with teenagers. It’s a subject that’s gone largely ignored in YA literature up until now, yet it’s a huge part of our world. Hopefully this book will be a step toward filling that gap.
Wow. That makes us want to read this book even more.
How about you? Have you checked out My Life After Now yet? Read it with us! We’ve got a copy to give away!! To enter, just leave us a comment and let us know how HIV has impacted your life.
Giveaway ends April 15 at 11:59pm EST and open to US Residents only. Good luck!
I’ve been fortunate enough to not have to see any of my friends or family suffer from HIV. That I know of, anyway. But I do remember being a young kid and my mother’s long time friend died from it and it really affected her. I also watched Pedro on the real world and that was the first time I really learned about the disease. It has made me make better choices in my own life and for those of my kids.
jaidahsmommy(at)comcast(dot)net
It’s going to be end of mine day, except before finish I am reading this fantastic piece of writing to increase my know-how.
Luckily, none of my friends had the misfortune of being HIV positive, but the awareness of disease is at a high level. I suppose it has made me more cautious.
Forgot to say I wasn’t from the US, so am not eligible for the giveaway.
I haven’t had any experience with HIV. I think because I’m younger and the disease is in decline due to the use of condoms, I have had the benefit of not interacting with it.
Thanks for the giveaway!
mestith at gmail dot com
I don’t directly know anyone with HIV but I’ve seen many people, famous and infamous, die of this disease. It has made me more careful during intimacy and I’ve talked with my children about protection. I also have a deep sadness for anyone diagnosed with HIV and anger for those who are kicked out of school, unfriended, treated like monsters because of HIV.