It's been absolutely crazy here for weeks -- or it feels like it's been weeks! -- and now I'm excited to post the cover for my next book ORDINARY BEAUTY, which will be released on June 14th, 2011.




And here's a blurb, thanks to Gallery Books:

From the author of the critically acclaimed novels Such a Pretty Girl and Leftovers comes ORDINARY BEAUTY, the compelling story of a girl whose life has been destroyed by her mother's drug addiction.

Seventeen year old Sayre Bellavia grew up knowing she was a mistake, unplanned and unwanted. She's been neglected, used, and left behind. Taken away and put in foster care, then returned to her mother who, for one miraculous year, got sober, found love and became pregnant. When unspeakable tragedy struck, Sayre sacrificed all and stuck by her mother, tried to help her, be important to her even as her mother slipped away into a violent haze of addiction, revealing a heartbreaking betrayal and destroying the only real family Sayre ever had.

Broke, homeless and alone, Sayre struggles to survive and wonders if her mother has ever, even for a moment, actually loved her and if, after a lifetime of being blamed for ruining her mother's life, she still loves the woman who hurt her so badly. Needing the truth, Sayre embarks on an urgent, terrifying journey to reach her mother, who is near death, ravaged by her own destructive behavior, and who alone holds the answer to Sayre's desperate, unspoken question. 

 A haunting, beautifully written journey of a girl determined to break free from the cycle of self-destruction, and who continues to hope and search for a future—ORDINARY BEAUTY is a gripping and gritty novel that will have both teens and parents talking.