The
Landry’s True Colors Series is a clean reads young adult humor series about
friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, middle school and high school, frenemies,
crushes, and self-image. It’s a clean reads book so it’s suitable for ages 11
and up.
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 i
mpresses 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.
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.
Other Books in the series:
Best Friends…Forever?
(Book 2):
Landry Albright hopes the new year will start off in an
amazing way—instead she has to deal with more frenemy issues, boy drama, and
having most of her best friends make the cheerleading squad without her. Suddenly,
it seems like all anyone can talk about is starting high school next
year—something she finds terrifying.
Landry gets her first boyfriend (her crush, Vladi), but then
gets dumped just as things come to a head with her friends. She feels lost and
left out, but finds good advice about dealing with frenemies from what she
considers an unlikely source. Landry faces having to speak up for what’s right,
tell the truth (even when it hurts), and how to get past the fear of failure as
she gets another shot at competing in the American Ingénue TV show modeling
competition. Will she get a second chance with her friends, fame, and Vladi?
Landry in Like (Book
3):
Things seem to be going well in Landry Albright’s
world—she’s getting invited to be on local talk shows to talk about her
modeling career, her best friends have her back, and her boyfriend Vladi has
becoming someone she can truly count on…and then everything changes.
Suddenly it seems like most of the girls in school are into
hanging out at a new teen dance club, while Landry just wants to spend her
weekends playing video games and baking cup-cakes at sleepovers. Then, Yasmin
McCarty, the most popular girl in school, starts to come between Landry’s
friendship with her best friend Ashanti. Things take a turn when Yasmin tells
Vladi that Landry is interested in another boy. Can Landry get her
relationships with Ashanti and Vladi back or will she be left out and left
behind?
What people are
saying about the Landry’s True Colors Series:
From Teenage Book Recommendations in the UK: "This is a
fantastically relatable and real book which I feel captures all of the
insecurities and troubles which haunt the modern teenage girl. It is about a
young model who has to go through tough times when she is torn between a life
as a model and managing her friendships. You learn which friends she can most
trust and which will create the drama typical of teenage life. Follow the life
of Landry and try to see if you can find out which are her true friends before
their true colours are revealed. This book is all about relationships, hopes
and truth. I loved this book!"
From Books & Authors Spot: “This book is such an
inspiration for those who just care about their looks and are tensed about
them. This thing is looks aren't everything. This book is related to every
teen's problem. Hager has written a very inspiring novel.”
“Krysten captures the teenage girl today. The struggles are
real, the issues are something children have been dealing with since before I
was a teen, and oddly-Krysten captures the readers! I was prepared for another
"Mean Girls" story. This is NOT that. This is the real story of
teenage girls! You watch Landry flower into a young woman who finds out trust
is an invaluable item to find, and friendships are hard to seek genuine realism
in. You will learn about relationships with not just friends, but peers, boys,
and others. The details put into the book will draw you, and make the story so
much more realistic. Krysten expresses emotions beautifully through her
writing, and the story flows flawlessly…” By Candice J. Conway Simpson
“True Colors, is just a dazzling story of how middle school
kids show their true colors of jealousy, drama, loss and gains of friendship.
However, the way Krysten wrote her story; she wrote it with passion, creativity
and honesty that this story line could be placed in anyone's life at any age.”
Review by Double Decker Books
“Krysten Lindsay
Hager understands what it means to be a teen today, and she writes with an
authentic voice. Landry, the main character, is funny, lively, and very real.
Readers will relate to her struggles with friends and family, self-esteem and
self-discovery, boys and school and life in general. It's fun to read about
Landry's blossoming modeling career and the changes it brings.” Review by
Author Diana Jenkins
Author Bio:
Krysten Lindsay Hager writes about friendship, self-esteem,
fitting in, frenemies, the celebrity world, values, and self-image in
True Colors, Best Friends…Forever? Landry in
Like, Next Door to a Star and
Competing
with the Star. Best Friends…Forever? was ranked at #1 on Amazon’s Hot New
Releases in Teen & Young Adult Values & Virtues Fiction and
True Colors is an international
bestseller. Her work has been featured in
USA
Today, The Flint Journal, the Bellbrook Times, the Grand Haven Tribune, and
on the talk show Living Dayton.
Author social media links:
Purchase:
Laura L. Walker grew up in a large family in the beautiful
Gila Valley of southern Arizona. From the time Laura was young, she spent hours
drawing characters on paper and fantasizing about their adventures. Life became
more serious, however, when Laura met her own hero and they eventually became
the parents of six children. In between spurts of grocery shopping, sewing
costumes or quilts, transporting kids to practices, and making dinner, Laura
still enjoys putting her imagination to good use. She is the author of four
contemporary romances.
"All Penny Merrill wants to do is run her own bakery shop, but her money-thirsty mother and conniving stepfather are making it nearly impossible to keep her dream alive. When Penny finds a clipping advertising a Valentine's Day contest for Arizona's cutest couple, with the winnings being enough for her to hold on to her floundering business, she comes up with an idea that might just work--if she can find the right man for the job.
