Krysten Lindsay Hager is an author
and book addict who has never met a bookstore she didn’t like.
She’s worked as a journalist and also writes middle grade, YA,
humor essays, and adult fiction. TRUE COLORS is her bestselling debut
novel from Astraea Press. She is originally from Michigan and has
lived in South Dakota, Portugal, and currently resides in Southern
Ohio where you can find her reading and writing. She received her
master’s in American Culture from the University of Michigan-Flint.
Tagline: A little competition
can really bring out people’s true colors.
Blurb: Landry Albright just
wants to be one of the interesting girls at school who always have
exciting things going on in their lives. She wants to stand out, but
also wants to fit in, so she gives in when her two best friends,
Ericka and Tori, push her into trying out for a teen reality show
modeling competition with them. Landry goes in nervous, but impresses
the judges enough to make it to the next round. However, Ericka and
Tori get cut and basically "unfriend" her on Monday at
school. Landry tries to make new friends, but gets caught up between
wanting to be herself and conforming to who her new friends want her
to be. Along the way she learns that modeling is nowhere as glamorous
as it seems, how to deal with frenemies, a new crush, and that true
friends see you for who you really are and like you because of it.
Back Cover : Every day I
walked down the sidewalk to school and wished I were one of the
interesting popular girls who ran up with exciting news. Just once
I’d like to be one of those girls instead of the being the one who
didn’t get invited to things because people “forgot” about me.
Landry gets pushed into trying out for
the American Ingénue reality show modeling competition with her two
best friends. She doesn’t think she stands a chance, but she
advances to the next level in the competition and her friends ignore
her when they get cut.
Enter the gorgeous Devon, who also
makes the first cut and includes Landry in her clique. Devon becomes
the perfect best friend, but can their friendship survive the
competition?
Landry hopes her big break could come
at any moment, but soon sees there’s much more to modeling than
getting your hair done and looking pretty. She begins missing out on
being with new friends like Ashanti, a girl who truly has Landry’s
back. Landry also has the chance to have a boyfriend when she meets a
boy named Vladi from another school.
Part of Landry wants to be famous (and
have her hair look good for once), but part of her just wants to be
accepted. She learns about friendships, being true to yourself, and
that a good hair conditioner doesn’t hurt.
Excerpt
The competition was for girls between
the ages of thirteen and seventeen, but it felt like Ericka, Tori,
and I were the youngest ones there. I only saw a couple of girls from
school, and the lineup looked more like something you’d see on a
music video set. All the girls were gorgeous, and they had these
curvy womanly bodies. I looked like a skinny little kid next to them.
The first girl walked out, and I heard the judges say she “owned
the runway,” and, “walked like a gazelle.” I was starting to
feel ill. I wasn’t sure which way it was going to come, but I knew
I had to find a bathroom — fast. I started to get out of line when
Ericka grabbed my wrist.
“It’s almost time,” she said. A
tiny bit of spit flew out of her mouth and hit my cheek.
I wasn’t sure why she was so intent
on me going through with it, but she had a death grip on my arm, so I
didn’t have much of a choice. Her number was called and she walked
out to the stage. One of the other girls said she walked like a kid
with sand bucket stilts on her feet, but she came back with a smirk
on her face like she knew she’d get chosen.
“They said they had never seen such
long legs,” she said.
Tori was next.
“She walks like a gorilla at feeding
time,” said the girl behind me. I went next, and I tried to focus
on not tripping over my feet. My mom’s pumps had a rubber sole on
the bottom, which probably wasn’t the brightest idea seeing as my
shoes were making squeaking noises as I walked. I was so nervous I
couldn’t stop smiling as I walked. I looked like the plastic clown
who blows up balloons with its mouth at the Pizza Palace. When I got
to the end of the runway, I tried to cross my feet to turn like the
other girls had, but I over rotated and ended up doing a full spin
which made my kilt fan out and gave the mall walkers a view of my
blue underpants. I tried to act like it was intentional and did an
extra turn. One of the judges put her hand up to stop me, and I held
my breath as she started to speak.
Landry Lilyanne Albright is an eighth
grader at Hillcrest Academy. She was born in Chicago, Illinois to Dr.
Tony and Laine Albright. She moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan with her
mother when her mom was promoted and her father hopes to move there
soon. Landry became best friends with Tori Robins and Ericka Maines
soon after enrolling at Hillcrest Academy.
Landry is an only child and enjoys
writing and won second place in the Michigan Young Pens writing
competition. She has also become interested in modeling after getting
through several levels of the American Ingénue modeling
reality show competition.
She is currently signed with the
Rice-Carter modeling agency in Grand Rapids. She considers Ashanti
Russell, Peyton Urich, and Devon Abrams to be her current best
friends. Landry hopes to one day date the soap star who plays Colin
on, As the Days Roll On, or the cute freshman basketball
player, Vladi Yagudin. She loves her English lit class with Mrs.
Kharrazzi and enjoys reading. She is on a never-ending quest for a
hair product that will end her bad hair days and ways to up her math
grade that don’t involve intense tutoring.
Likes: Reading, soap operas like, “As
the Days Rolls On,” ice cream sundaes from Ignatowski’s Ice Cream
Palace, shopping, magazines, cartoon movies, the Skylar Halston YA
mystery series, English lit class
Dislikes: mean people, gossip, math
Role models: Talisa Milan from American
Ingénue, Melani Parkington from American Ingénue
Future career choices: Writer, English
teacher, model, actress
Motto: Be yourself
True Colors Playlist
These songs
could serve as the soundtrack for the book—or for Landry’s life!
It’s a mix of new songs, older ones, ones that spoke to me when I
needed them most, and ones I feel will speak to you.
- Shake It Off—Taylor Swift
I feel like this
song could be an anthem for Landry as she gets ready to do her
American Ingénue competition stuff while worried about what
people at school will say about her.
- Popular Song—MIKA ft. Ariana Grande.
This song shows how
Landry feels about Arianna and Yasmin and fitting in at school.
- Over it—Katharine McPhee
The first time I
heard this song was during a reality show where two friends were
having a falling out. I think this song sums up Landry thinking about
Ericka and Tori and having enough of fake friends.
- Friends—Jody Watley Feat. Eric B. & Rakim
The lyrics say it
all. The ultimate “frenemies” song. I blast this one when I’m
hurt over something a friend has done.
- Beautiful—Christina Aguilera
Great song about
accepting yourself as you are and seeing the beauty within.
- Brave—Sara Bareilles
The ultimate
self-confidence song when you’re feeling not so sure of yourself.
- Skyscraper— Demi Lovato
This song
represents the tough days Landry has when she feels letdown by who
she thought were her best friends, Tori and Ericka
- Be With You—The Bangles
The ultimate crush
song. The Bangles were a huge influence for me as a tween and I can
picture Landry humming this while doing her homework and thinking
about her crush, Vladi. It’s the perfect crush song.
- Whole Wide World—A'me Lorain
This song so
captures what it feels like when you have that first big crush. It’s
so poppy and fun. I imagine Landry singing this in her bedroom (into
her hairbrush!) after seeing Vladi at the basketball game.
Links
Thanks for featuring TRUE COLORS!
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