Blog Tour Stop: The Day I Met Suzie

I  was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of The Day I Met Suzie a couple of weeks ago, after reading the blurb and immediately becoming intrigued. I am a huge fan of contemporary fiction and fiction that deals with real life problems. 

I know that a lot of my blog readers are also fans of realistic young adult fiction and so I'm very glad to be able to introduce you to this new book through a guest post from the author, Chris Higgins. 

Here, Chris gives you some insight into her latest book and the effects that debt has on the young.

“The Day I Met Suzie” is about a 17 year old college student called Indie who gets into debt through no fault of her own. As she struggles to manage her finances she falls into the clutches of a loan shark. Soon her life is turned upside down and she finds herself in a new and terrifying underworld governed by fear and threats. In despair, Indie rings the Samaritans and tells the person on the end of the phone the whole sorry story, which unfolds in retrospect.Her story could happen to anyone. Indie is just an ordinary girl though she has more going for her than most. She’s from a stable family, has a boyfriend she loves, is popular, highly motivated and focused, and has a part-time job to help finance her studies. But even she, with all her advantages, is easy prey for loan sharks and the other scum who prey on the young and inexperienced.Debt is a massive problem for young people today but the government seems to be ambivalent about it. On the one hand it wants our youth to get qualifications, to have careers, to be responsible and independent members of society. On the other hand, it positively encourages them to take on massive loans in order to achieve these ideals. No wonder young people are confused. From talking to the Samaritans, Indie realizes that they hear stories like hers all the time and  she gains perspective on the chain of events that led her into this mess. Through desperate measures of her own, she eventually finds the strength to extricate herself from the potentially tragic situation she has fallen into.Not everyone is as strong or as fortunate as Indie. That’s why I wrote this book.

I'd like to thank both author Chris Higgins and the publisher of the book, Hachette, for providing me with this exclusive guest post. I hope it's given you all some insight into this book and made you want to give it a go!

The Day I Met Suzie by Chris Higgins is released on 7th March 2013 in the UK