The cover for the advanced reader copy.

Due to the tragic and untimely death of my Pretenders series, the character who leaked the private journals of five students was never revealed. Until now…

While all five had their reasons, only one of them did it. This character was male. He pretended to be emancipated from his parents because his family’s business (they made tampons) caused him to be bullied in the past. So a very wealthy Daniel Ponowitz became Jagger–the cool street urchin.

As the story progressed, Jagger and Audri became an item. The struggle to conceal his identity intensified. At the end of book 2 (the last one published), Jagger discovered that his father was having an affair with Audri’s mother. In “Fake It To The Limit” (the unpublished book 3) Jagger is conflicted. He has this terrible information about his dad, but confronting him might expose his true identity to Audri. So he picks fights with him instead. One of these fights was going to lead to Jagger saying, “I’d rather be homeless than live with you!”  And his father, calling his son’s bluff, would say, “Go for it!”

So Jagger would be homeless for real. Emergency VISA canceled.

Life on the streets would be brutal and Jagger would realize he’s not cut out for this. On one particularly cold and hungry night, Jagger goes to a homeless shelter. The company that donates food and blankets happens to be his father’s. He realizes that people aren’t always what they seem. His father isn’t all bad. He’s done some good too. With this realization, he returns home with a new sense of respect for the family business. He feels terrible for being ashamed of them. For lying about his identity. For deceiving so many people just to be popular.

Leaking the journals becomes Jagger/Dan’s way of absolving his guilt. Leaking everyone else’s proves he’s not the only liar and cheater. Other people did stupid things to fit in, too. Now he wants to encourage people to be more honest and real. To accept their flaws and the flaws in others.

Fall out from the leaks is bad. Once again, Dan is ostracized. But this time he owns it. And he eventually inspires the other characters to accept themselves for who they aren’t and to be who they are.

So there you have it. I’m bummed I never got to finish the series. I truly think it was my best. Anyway, when I was writing, I switched voices so often I made a playlist for each character to help me get into their heads. For those of you who want to keep the party going…here they are. Ignore the weird numbering. Actually, try to accept it for what it is. 

xoxo Lisi

Sheridan

1. How To Be A Heartbreaker – Marina and the Diamonds

2. Imagine It Was Us – Jessie Ware

3. Diamonds – Rihanna

4. Give Your Heart a Break – Demi Lovato

5. I Like It – Charlie Xcx

6. Beautiful – Christina Aguilera

7. Young and Beautiful – Lana Del Rey

1. Blue Jeans – Lana Del Rey
2. Obsessed – Mariah Carey
3. 10. All I Want Is Everything – Victoria Justice
4. 11. Rule The World – Selena Gomez
5. Popular – Wicked
6. Defying Gravity – Wicked
7. Never Alone – Fame
8. Body Electric – Fame 
9. High Flying Adored – Evita 
10. Light My Candle – Rent 
11. Nothing – Chorus Line
12. What I did For Love – Chorus Line
13. Maybe – Annie

Jagger

1. We Are Young – Fun.

2. Lonely Boy – Black Keys

3. Paint It Black – Rolling Stones

4. Someday – The Strokes

5. I’m Waiting for the Man – Velvet Underground

6. I Want to Break Free – Queen

7. The Pretender – Foo Fighters

8. Wonderwall – Oasis

9. Supersoaker – Kings of Leon

10. Fake Empire – The National

11. Somebody to Love – Queen

1. Sweet Disposition – Temper Trap
2. Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who

14. Fascination Street – The Cure

15. Don’t Stand So CLose to Me – The Police

16. How Soon Is Now? – The Smiths

17. Your Touch – Black Keys

18. ‘A-Punk’ – Vampire Weekend

19. Oxford Comma – Vampire Weekend

1. Trying to Be Cool – Phoenix (secret listening)
2. Ready to Start – Arcade Fire

Lily 

1. Cherry Bomb – The Runaways
2. Skinny Love (Bon Iver cover) – Birdy

3. Oh No – Marina and the Dimaonds

4. Forever – Haim

5. Je T’aime Moi Non Plus – Jane Berkin & Serge Gainsbourg

6. Just Like a Woman (Bob Dylan cover) – Charlotte Gainsbourg

7. Secret Heart – Feist

8. Violently Happy – Bjork

9. Oh! Darling – The Beatles

10. Times They Are A-Changin’ – Bob Dylan

11. Tous les Garçons et les Filles – Françoise Hardy

1. Run The World (Girls) – Beyonce
2. Wildest Moments – Jessie Ware
3. Forget – Lianne La Havas
4. Femme Fatale – Velvet Underground & Nico
5. Extraordinary Machine – Fiona Apple
6. Across the Universe – Fiona Apple
7. Lose It – Austra

19. Nuclear Season – Charlie XCX

1. Everybody But Me – Lykke Li
2. I’ll Kill Her – Soko (iffy lyrical content)
3. Sleater-Kinney – Modern Girl
4. Just A Girl – No Doubt
5. The Mother We Share – CHVRCHES
6. Your Drums, Your Love (Duke Dumont Remox) – AlunaGeorge
7. Skeletons (Acoustic Version) or Zero – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
8. Q.U.E.E.N. ft. Erykah Badu – Janelle Monae

Vanessa

1. Meditation and Stress Reduction – Deepak Chopra

1. What Are the Seven Principles of Manifesting Your Desires – Deepak Chopra
2. How Gratitude Creates Abundance and Consciousness – Deepak Chopra

3. Green Eyes – Erykah Badu

4. Forget – Lianne La Havas

5. On and On – Erykah Badu

6. At Your Best – Aaliyah

7. Self Hypnosis – Positive Affirmations for a Better Life – The Subliminal Mind

1. Want U Back – Cher Lloyd
2. The Shift – From Ambition to Meaning – Wayne Dyer

9. No Scrubs – TLC

10. Bow Down – Beyonce

11. Big Girls Don’t Cry – Fergie

1. I’m Wide Awake – Katy Perry
2. How to Get What You Really, Really Want – Wayne Dyer
3. Stay – Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko
4. The A Team (Ed Sheeran cover) – Birdy

16. The Trouble with Love – Kelly Clarkson

17. Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis

18. One Step at a Time – Jordin Sparks

19. Perfect – P!NK

1. Your Drums, Your Love – AlunaGeorge
2. You Belong to Me – Taylor Swift
3. Settle Down -Kimbra

Duffy

1. Find Your Love – Drake

2. Work Hard Play Hard – Wiz Khalifa 

1. Pursuit of Happiness ft. MGMT – Kid Cudi
2. Ruffneck – Skrillex

1. Get Lucky – Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams

6. Mirrors – Justin Timberlake (guilty pleasure)

7. Day ‘N’ Night – Kid Cudi

8. Use Somebody – Kings of Leon 

9. Liar – Mumford & Sons

10. The Cave – Mumford & Sons

11. Over – Drake

1. Holy Grail ft. Justin Timberlake – JAY Z
2. Forever Young – JAY Z and Mr. Hudson
3. First of the Year – Skrillex

15. Thrift Shop ft. Wanz – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

16. Trojans – Atlas Genius

17. Purple Yellow Red & Blue – Portugal. The Man

18. All of the Lights ft. Rihanna & Kid Cudi – Kanye West

19. Somebody That I Used to Know ft. Kimbra – Gotye

20. Out of My Head ft. Trey Songz – Lupe Fiasco

The post PRETENDERS: PAYOFFS AND PLAYLISTS. A Spoiler Alert Exclusive. appeared first on Lisi Harrison.

Who is X? Read at your own risk to discover the truth…

Actually, there’s no risk of spoilers because I never published the ending of this series and I never will. I know, it’s unthinkable. It’s also not my fault. My 2014 series Pretenders was supposed to be four books. I wrote and released two. As I was outlining the third I got the dreaded call. My editor was leaving my publisher to start her own imprint. There was more to the conversation but my ears were ringing so loudly I couldn’t hear it. The bottom line: The series was over. I fought for a chance to write the conclusion but was shut down. My agent didn’t think it was a big deal. He didn’t think anyone would care. I did. Guess who was right. Over the years I’ve answered countless messages from unsatisfied readers by promising to reveal the mysterious identity of X. This is me delivering on that promise. 

First a quick premise recap:

Nominated by the students and faculty, the Phoenix Five are Noble High Schools’ best-at-everything freshmen – or are they? One of the five students broke into the safe in the teachers’ lounge, stole all of the Phoenix Five students’ private journals, and then published them in a book. The Phoenix Five return to Noble High as sophomores, excited about new clothes and high goals, to discover that their secrets are out, and their private journals exposed; now everyone will know the five of them are pretenders. The five students are, for all appearances, normal with a twist: Jagger’s parents are in jail, so he lives in the back room of a pet store; Lily has been homeschooled all her life and doesn’t want anything normal ever again; Sheridan is beautiful but channels celebrities because she has no confidence; Duffy is a jock who will do anything to make the varsity basketball team, and Vanessa is an overachiever striving for perfection while trying to keep her family together. As the lives of the Phoenix Five intersect and interweave, each character creates his/her own view of their interactions – and the possible answer to the question on everyone’s mind – who stole the journals and WHY? The ramifications of all the illegal activities, lies, crushes, friendships, and honest feelings – that remains to be seen.

By the end of book two, the character’s lives were pretty messed up.

Vanessa: Hacked into the school’s computers and changed her grades. She also improved Lily’s grades and Lily has no idea.

Lily: Bad grades are important now that she’s speaking out about the pressure student face. How will it look when she gets people to underachieve and she has straight As?

Duffy: He’s finally paid off his debt to Anton and can enjoy all the attention he’s getting from the girls. He’s such a ladies man that he’s a legend to the guys on his basketball team. What he doesn’t know is that those “girls” were hired by Anton to help him sell clothes and cologne. But he’ll find out soon enough. And it won’t be pretty.

Sheridan: Publically embarrassed when her dress splits during a school performance. Can you say fat shamed?

Jagger: After lying to everyone about having no parents and living off the streets, he catches his rich father having an affair with his girlfriend’s mother.

Book 3 was going to be called Fake It To The Limit and the above stories would continue to unfold. The question was, which story would lead a character to a place where exposing these journals made sense? To be honest, I had no idea who it was going to be when I wrote the first two. It was only after I outlined the third that it became clear.

Who would you choose and why? Post your ideas in the comments section and I’ll reveal the answer, along with the playlists I made for each character, next Wednesday.

xoxo Lisi

I know you hate me. But come one. Let’s have some fun! I can’t do everything around here.

The post The Pretenders Ender appeared first on Lisi Harrison.

I had an interesting request in my Facebook inbox yesterday, one nobody in their right mind would pass up. Julia from Brazil asked if I would be a part of her large-scale scavenger hunt. How large scale? She explains it like this:

“This year I’ve joined G.S.H.W.H.E.S., which stands for The Greatest Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen. And the reason I’m here writing you this is because my team really needs your help. One of the tasks is to get a NYT best-selling author to read the “California Driver Handbook – Laws and Rules of the Road” dramatically in a video. It doesn’t have to be the entire text, just a section. We would be eternally grateful (!!) I really hope you can help us, if not, you’ll still be one of my favorite authors.  Thank you for your time. – Julia”

You all know by now I’ll do anything for my fans. Press play on the first recording and then click on the video of my dramatic reading below.

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I hope this helps and GOOD LUCK!!!

Have a weird request for me? Send it to me Facebook inbox along with your #wearepretenders confessions. I’m loving what you’ve submitted so far.

TTYW,

Lisi

The post SO YOU THINK YOU CAN ACT… appeared first on Lisi Harrison.

TTYW,

Lisi

The post Forever Pretenders appeared first on Lisi Harrison.

It’s been less than a month since Pub Day and I ah-dore all the positive feedback on the second installment of the Pretenders series. If it’s more you want check out this page. It has a preview of License to Spill plus journal entries called “spilled secrets” for Lily, Vanessa, Jagger, Sheridan, and Duffy.

I’m starting book 3 and want to know what you think so far. Who’s X Phonie? Did you catch my clues? Who has the strongest motive for spilling these secrets? Come on… spill it!

TTYW,

Lisi

The post Spill it! appeared first on Lisi Harrison.

Hi friends. I’ve got three more video replies for you today. Plus some sweet under-eye circles to prove how hard I’m working. Jannette, Jacinda, and Kaelan, these are for you.

* * *

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Opps, my reply was too long so the video was cut short. The rest said: It’s easier to admit you’re not perfect than it is to cover it up.

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More to come next week!

TTYW,

Lisi

The post Q&A Part 3 appeared first on Lisi Harrison.

Shame on you person who invented video. SHAME ON YOU!

Today’s response is for Adia.

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TTYW,

Lisi

The post Q&A Continued appeared first on Lisi Harrison.

She’s so a Sheridan.

I’m back in the office, working hard to respond to your questions. Gustavo, Rebecca, and Maya, I’ve answered you today. More to come next week on the Blah-g and be sure to check my Facebook page for more photos from the Summer Soiree.

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The post Raging Glitch Part 2 appeared first on Lisi Harrison.

Your view.

My view. (This will be your view soon too.)

The post Raging Glitch appeared first on Lisi Harrison.

But what if you could like it? What if you wanted to learn and study? What if you wanted to write papers and break off into groups to “discuss?” It’s possible, if you like what you’re being taught.

Behold the Pretenders Educator’s Guide. This baby is filled with dozens of ways teachers can school you on my series. Instead of writing a paper on Romeo and Juliet you could be writing about Lily and Duffy.

I know this year is winding down but it’s not too late to give a copy to your teacher or principal so they can jump on it for next year. The best part? I will go to your classroom and participate in the lesson. I don’t care where your school is, the more inconveniently located the better. I can watch you act out monologues from characters, read your essays, grade your essays, or discuss the writing process in general. I’m up for anything. Let’s hope your teacher is too. Print it, email it, leave in on the windshield of their fuel-efficient car. Just do it!

See you in class,

Lisi

The post Study this! appeared first on Lisi Harrison.