Good morning, my loyal readers and long lost friends! I know, I know. It’s not you, it’s totally me. I’ve been hiding out in the writing cave forever. But all that hard work is paying off, because guess what happens today? My latest YA release, #scandal, hits the shelves!
This book is a bit different from my previous novels, which is one reason I had so much fun hiding out and writing it—I loved changing up my style! It’s much more satirical and snarky, with a large and quirky cast of characters, including a horse named Prince Freckles, who, let’s face it, is pretty damn loveable. The narrator, Lucy Vacarro, deals with her situation with a dark sense of humor (she reminds me of someone… who is it… oh yeah… teen me!). It’s also chock full of fun pop-culture references to fan favorites like Veronica Mars, Buffy, and The Walking Dead. Despite the different approach, readers who’ve enjoyed my other stories will still find familiar Ockler dynamics in #scandal. The story features teens dealing with challenges like best friend breakups, epic screw-ups, family secrets, school drama, and of course—falling in love. 🙂 All the things I love writing about! I hope you’ll give it a chance, and I hope you’ll have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.
About #scandal
Lucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public blunders: Avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend Ellie gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And the one where she hates playing dress-up. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.
When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… and the biggest BFF deal-breaker ever. Despite Cole’s lingering sweetness, Lucy knows they’ll have to ’fess up to Ellie. But before they get the chance, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising pics of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions. Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.
By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc, mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal just weeks before graduation.
Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this magnitude: Stand up and fight. Game plan? Uncover and expose the Facebook hacker, win back her best friend’s trust, and graduate with a clean slate.
There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love…
California Fans: I’m Coming Your Way!
If you live in or around Los Angeles or San Francisco, I’d love to meet you during the Summer Lovin’ Tour! From June 22-27, I’ll be visiting bookstores and libraries with fellow YA authors C.J. Flood, Jody Casella, and Suzanne Young. Come see us and get the inside scoop!
Sarah Ockler 
Hello, i came to say that i really loved read your book “Twenty boy Summer” i’m brazilian and now i NEED go to California!
Hi Lorena! Thank you so much for reading Twenty Boy Summer! And yes, California is a magical place to visit if you ever get the chance. 🙂
I love the way that you place the suppose abnormality and shows them as a normal. That is a very important thing to do with teens, so they don’t feel different, unworthy or isolated.
I’m 43 Yrs old,way out of your books league, but I like to learn about children and youth, maybe because I was some what like your characters, different,but as I see not that much different, and that is very important for many children.