HOPE BOLINGER
Acquisitions Editor. Novelist.
YA Contemporary
Reads set right now
Blaze (Blaze Book One)
Danny knew his sophomore year would be stressful . . . but he didn’t expect his school to burn down on the first day.
To make matters worse (and they were about to get a lot worse), he — and his three best friends — receive an email in their inboxes from the principal of their rival, King’s Academy, offering full-rides to attend the town's prestigious boarding school. Danny wants nothing to do with King’s Academy and says no. Of course his mother says yes. So off he goes to be bullied and picked on for not being part of the popular and rich "in crowd."
From day one at King’s, Danny encounters hazing, mocking insults from girls at the "popular and pretty" table, and cafeteria food that, for such a prestigious school, tastes as if it were purchased from a military surplus supply warehouse. If he survives, Danny will have to overcome his fears of failure, rejection, and loneliness—all while standing strong in his beliefs and walking into the fire.
Den (Blaze Book Two)
Danny Belte barely survived his sophomore year at King’s Academy.
His junior year doesn’t start off much better. Facing a series of mysterious suicide attempts that begin on day one—and a disturbing pattern that appears to connect them—Danny has a feeling something far more sinister is at play. He tries to narrow down a list of suspects as those closest to him disappear, one by one.
Can he protect his friends from a possible murderer on the loose? Or will he find himself trapped in a fate worse than a lions’ den?
Vision (Blaze Book Three)
After Danny Belte ends up with a gunshot wound to the head, he's shipped off to a local psychiatric center under the assumption he'd attempted suicide. Knowing that a classmate had tried to kill him, and having a photographic memory to prove it, keeps him sane. After meeting the fun and playfully rebellious members of his ward, he suspects that some underlying connection ties them all together. Haunted by revealing visions, he may have a chance at discovering one conflict of interest that will buy their ticket out of the ward.
But memories are dangerous things. He may just make as many enemies as friends. Enemies who want his memories erased.
Or worse, want him dead.
The Blaze Trilogy answers the question, what would the book of Daniel look like if it was set in a modern high school? Vision brings the adventures of Danny Belte to a satisfying conclusion.
A Country of Their Own
Priscilla is an old soul who doesn’t hang out with anyone younger than 50. Carter is a social media influencer who can’t wait to get out of Florida, the haven for retirees.
Together they meet doing community service at a retirement home known as Country Acres. But all the residents look like they’re … teenagers, not 80-somethings on up.
They’ll attempt to bring together an unlikely pair in the home: the soft-spoken Paul and the headstrong Scarlett, two residents who know love and loss all too well. But will they manage to bring the two together before tragedy strikes at Country Acres? And is there an expiration date on love?
Angels Wept Tonight
Phantom of the Opera gets a modern twist.
Tina is just a homeschooled high school senior trying to get into a good music program for next fall—and trying with her best friend Raphael to snap some senior pictures at northeast Ohio's famous mansion built in the 1920s—Stilgoe Hall.
Little does she know that she's stumbled across a family gathering of the Daaé. A famous musical empire with a dark not so well kept secret, their son, Eric.
Eric, who has climbed the ranks of video-sharing platforms on social media, hides half of his face. And any girl who has happened to get close enough to get a date has fled at the sight of what hides underneath the mask.
When the Daaé ask to hear angelic Tina's voice, they strike a deal. She'll go on tour with them—and if she can keep her silence about the family secrets the whole time—they'll help her find her way into a good musical program, full scholarship.
But she doesn't anticipate falling for Eric, nor for falling waist-deep into a tangled web of the family's dark history. And that could not only cause her to lose her scholarship, but get her killed in the process.
Finding Number Ten
After her father committed suicide one year ago, Aisley has come up with ten reasons to stay alive each day.
But when her boyfriend breaks up with her right before choir tour to NYC, her dream college turns her down for a full-ride, and mother hints that she's evicting her the minute she graduates ... Aisley gets desperate.
She decides she'll commit suicide in the same place her father did. In New York. Unlike him hurling himself out of his office window, she'll do it off the Empire State Building.
On a mysterious train ride over, she ends up saving the life of a Broadway-hopeful—right before the actress had planned to commit suicide.
Caught on a looping adventure on the supernatural train, Aisley may just save the lives of several people. Or she'll let them slip through her fingers, and lose herself in the process too.