Love and Relationships in YA: A Conversation Between Fantasy and Reality

Join us for a conversation with YA authors Lenore Borja and Traci L. Jones as they discuss love and relationships in YA Fiction on January 10th, 2025 at 6PM at our Aspen Grove location!

Love takes many forms in young adult novels—from romantic relationships to the unbreakable bonds of friendship. But how do these connections play out differently in contemporary versus fantasy settings?

Join authors Traci L. Jones (Standing Against the Wind, Finding My Place, Silhouetted by the Blue, Ransoming the Captive) and Lenore Borja (The Last Huntress, The Lost Portal) for an insightful armchair discussion on how they approach love, romance, and relationships in their teen novels.

From classic romance tropes like enemies to lovers, slow-burn, and soulmate love, to themes of found family and sisterhood, Traci and Lenore will explore how relationships in their stories differ—or mirror each other—depending on whether they’re set in the real world or a fantastical realm.

This event will include a Q&A session, so bring your questions and join the conversation about the many facets of love in YA fiction.

Registration includes the following options:

• A signed copy of The Lost Portal by Lenore Borja ... OR
• A signed copy of Ransoming the Captive by Traci L. Jones ... OR
• A 5$ Gift Card to Tattered Cover Book Store

We will have additional books for guests to purchase in store!

If you are unable to attend the event after purchasing a ticket, you are required to pick up your copy of the book (with proof of purchase from your event registration) within 7 days after the event date. If the book is not picked up by that date, you relinquish your copy to Tattered Cover Book Store.

About The Lost Portal by Lenore Borja

Watch the Trailer: The Lost Portal from Author Lenore Borja

For fans of Kendare Blake’s Goddess War series comes this second installment in a gripping YA fantasy series that follows a band of huntresses taking on a world of demons and gods.
For years, Hadley Caldwell kept humanity safe by hunting demons. But that came to an end when the Mirror Realm disappeared. Now her life is filled with bridesmaid dresses, family pressures, and—oh yeah—hosting ancient deities in her sleep. It’s not world-saving work, but if dream-hosting is all it takes to keep the gods happy, she’s willing to play along and leave her huntress days behind her. That is, until the gods demand something more: the Portal of Osiris.
The Portal was part of the Realm. It shouldn’t exist anymore. But the gods believe it does, and claim it holds the key to their salvation. The quest for the Portal takes Hadley and her band of huntress sisters on an enigmatic adventure to the sands of Egypt and beyond. But chasing a portal isn’t as easy as outrunning your past, and soon the only things Hadley knows for certain are that the gods can’t be trusted . . . and some portals should never be found.
Join Hadley, Alice, Olivia, and Soxie in this electrifying second book of the Mirror Realm series as they traverse the globe on an ancient scavenger hunt full of mystery, magic, intrigue, and sisterhood.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lenore Borja grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. She attended Arizona State University before moving to New York City to study acting at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After a brief career as an actress, she spent several years working in executive search and human resources in both New York and San Francisco. She now resides in Fort Collins, Colorado, with her husband and a bossy feline named Maximus. When she’s not writing, she enjoys adventure travel and anything that gets the heart racing, whether it’s hiking, running, or getting lost in a good book.

About Ransoming the Captive by Traci L. Jones

Jazz Sanders has killed her best friend, Landi. Not on purpose, but accidentally while driving home from a party. While most people, including Landi's parents, offer her sympathy and forgiveness, Jazz feels unworthy of either because Jazz has a secret about what she was doing before her best friend sailed through the windshield and died on the road.

Each day Jazz struggles to present a normal face to her family and everyone at school to avoid sympathy and therapy. And each day she thinks about how she no longer deserves love, human kindness, or forgiveness from anyone. Jazz finds herself seeking help at a nearby Catholic church, looking for some guidance in fighting her panic attacks and moments of soul-crushing self-blame.

There Jazz learns about absolution and embarks on a journey of self-forgiveness. She finally settles on trying to emulate the best of Landi by volunteering at the children's hospital where Landi spent every Friday after school. Can Jazz find a way to forgive herself or will she spend the rest of her life punishing herself for Landi's death?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Traci L. Jones holds a B.A. in psychology from Pomona College in Claremont, CA. An M.A. in advertising from the University of Denver and has taken several courses in Creative Writing at the University of Denver. Before launching a young adult novelist career, Traci L. Jones wrote articles for the local business magazines, In The Black and Emerging Markets.

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