Summer was always a favorite time for me when I was a teen. Looking back, I can see how those summers shaped not just me, but the young adult novels I write as well. I thought I’d share some photos of places I spent time at as a teen that ended up in my books.

First is an ice cream shop in Saugatuck, Michigan that appears in both my novel Next Door to a Star, and also the “meet cute” location where Cagney meets hockey player Max Brazil in Summer of Possibility. It was such a cute setting that I thought it’d make the perfect spot for teens to hang out. We used to go there for ice cream in the summer, so I thought I’d have one of the characters, Sam, work there and flirt with Cagney and cause an embarrassing meet cute with her and Max. Sam was always the guy she crushed on from afar every summer, and I thought it’d be interesting to have him take notice of her when she goes to visit her aunt.

The next is a pier in Grand Haven, Michigan that has featured in Competing with the Star where Hadley and Nick go for a walk on their date. It also serves as a setting in my fictional town, Bloomington Shores, where in Falling for a Star in the City, Paige and Viktor go for a walk when they begin to grow closer. I spent year after year walking down that pier in the summer. I’d see people walking hand in hand and thought what a great spot for a teen couple on a date. The scene with Paige and Viktor is one of my favorites because she gets nervous going that far out and he helps her conquer her fear.

Lastly, this is a place overlooking the water in Holland, Michigan, where I spent countless summers at the beach and watching the sailboats. This place helped make up Bloomington Shores which features in When Stars Collide in the City, Falling for a Star in the City, and Summer of Possibility…and more to come as Summer of Possibility is the first book in the Bloomington Shores Series and the hometown for many of the girls in the Stars in the City Series. It also inspired Blue Arbor the setting of the YA pop star Cecily Taylor Series.

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