YA Love Tour – Courtside Crush by Kayla Tirrell – Spotlight, Preview

Courtside Crush is a Romeo and Juliet retelling, which means I drew heavily on the play for inspiration.

Here are some fun facts about this new release:

—The prologue is a quote straight from Romeo and Juliet that was tweaked ever so slightly to make it fit the high school where Courtside Crush takes place.

“Two teams, both alike in dignity

In fair Marlow Junction, where we lay our scene

From basketball grudge to new mutiny

Where rival love makes rival schools unclean”

-Probably not Shakespeare

I even had a sticker made that I’m giving to anyone who orders the e-book or paperback. (You just have to send a screenshot of your purchase and your address to any of my social media inboxes to claim one!)

—Many of the characters in Courtside Crush have counterparts from Romeo and Juliet, though it’s not always obvious. We have Romeo and Juliet, of course, but I also included an evil Count Paris, a gender-bent Friar Laurence, a kind-hearted Mercutio, a ginger Tybalt, and a snooty Rosaline. (Can you figure them all out?)

—When I write, I tend to get stuck on a handful of songs. Is it any surprise I listened to a lot of Taylor Swift—specifically Love Story. I just couldn’t help myself!

—After I finished writing Courtside Crush, I bought my very first Funko Pops. They are little versions of Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. I still remember watching the “modern” version of Romeo and Juliet back in the 90s. It was eye-opening to see the “stuffy” play in “real life”.

—I know NOTHING about basketball. Absolutely nothing. But my co-writers both insisted we tackle that sport in our joint series. This meant I had “DO THE SPORTS THING” in my draft—a lot. In fact, they had to basically write some of the sports scenes for me. (Whoops!)

—Courtside Crush just released on 2/12/19 and it’s my favorite book I’ve written to date. I hope you love Jackson and Charlie as much as I loved writing them!