Guest Post with Meredith Zeitlin!

So, I recently read this absolutely AMAZING book called Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters written by the sweetest and funniest person ever - Meredith Zietlin! If you haven't heard of the book yet, GO AND SEARCH IT NOW! (Links will be provided below!) It's the cutest book ever <3 You can probably guess from the title that the book is about a certain freshman girl and the disasters she has to go through in high school.You can read my review of it HERE & check out the synopsis below!

Kelsey Finkelstein is fourteen and FRUSTRATED. Every time she tries to live up to her awesome potential, her plans are foiled – by her impossible parents, her annoying little sister, and life in general. But with her first day of high school coming up, Kelsey is positive that things are going to change. Enlisting the help of her three best friends — sweet and quiet Em, theatrical Cass, and wild JoJo — Kelsey gets ready to rebrand herself and make the kind of mark she knows is her destiny.

Things start out great - her arch-nemesis has moved across the country, giving Kelsey the perfect opportunity to stand out on the soccer team and finally catch the eye of her long-time crush. But soon enough, an evil junior’s thirst for revenge, a mysterious photographer, and a series of other catastrophes make it clear that just because KELSEY has a plan for greatness… it doesn’t mean the rest of the world is in on it.

Kelsey’s hilarious commentary throughout her disastrous freshman year will have you laughing out loud—while being thankful that you’re not in her shoes, of course…

Meredith has kindly agreed to write a guest post on HER Freshman Year! To all the people who've read this book, I'm sure you've been wondering what inspired her to write such a hilariously entertaining book; perhaps her Freshman Year as disastrous as Kelsey's? Did the events that happened in the book actually happen to her as well? Well...you're about to find out!
So, KEEP READING <3

ON FRESHMAN YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL

Oh, freshman year. It's such a singular experience, isn't it? It's not at all the same as freshman year of college, for instance, because that's got the anxiety of being at a new school coupled with the excitement of being on one's own as an adult for the first time. And no one knows anyone, for the most part – so there's this team spirit about the whole thing. And it's not like the first year of middle school, either, because then you're still just into the double digits, age-wise. There's pressure to be cool, of course, but it's not quite as intense as it will be in later years. You can slide into middle school pretty seamlessly, as things go.

But being a freshman in high school? The main thing about it is that no matter who you are – what clique you're part of, what clubs you're in, what team you're on, what guy you date – you're going from being a LORD OF THE MIDDLE SCHOOL to being a lame little baby hanging onto the lowest rung of the totem pole for dear life. And that is no fun. And it makes you feel like you have to scramble and prove to everyone around you how cool you are.

And that stinks.

I couldn't think of a better situation to throw poor, beleaguered Kelsey Finkelstein into. I mean, can you? After all, she's a girl with so many ideas, who so badly wants to be liked and to impress, to take part and really do things in a big way. Why not give her a situation where she's practically bound to fail?!

I'm a mean author, huh? But the thing is... Kelsey is me. Was me. (Is me.) So I knew she was going to be okay in the end, and that all those disasters would help her be a stronger person with an even better sense of humor about herself. (Which is something she's going to need to keep on hand for the rest of her life, lemme tell ya.) Does that make me any less horrible?

See, my freshman year was no exception to the rule of terrifying freshmanhood. I started at a new school that year – an all girls' school, mind you – and had to deal with all the usual stuff plus not knowing anyone. I was a mess, naturally, and had all my I HAVE A GREAT PERSONALITY, CAN'T YOU TELL?! defense shields up from the moment I walked through the door. Of course, I say that now, looking back from a distance of many years. At the time, I thought I was fooling everyone into seeing a totally confident and awesome gal who hardly minded her horrible bangs, braces, and the nose she hadn't grown into yet. Oh, the magic of hindsight.

And yes, I made friends and did interesting school things and had lots of fun. I also pissed off a scary junior who tortured me for the next two years (not to mention a REALLY mean teacher who held a grudge against me for four). I was in plays where insane things happened, and thought playing a sport I'd never heard of called lacrosse was a good idea, and went to a prom with a guy I barely knew who got kicked out for smoking pot and left me totally stranded. There were misunderstandings with friends and boys I agonized over and all the wrong ones who liked me and one mess after another. And that was just freshman year - the next three had plenty of their own disasters. So did the ones after that. In fact, just yesterday I realized I had invited over a hundred people to the party to celebrate the release of this book... and I gave them all the wrong address.

Is there a moral to the story? Yes. Freshman year is a good litmus test for the kind of person you can be, in a way. Pretty much everyone survives, but the strongest come out with a few battle scars and some great stories. And who doesn't like a good story, am I right? 

*giggles* I swear I'm laughing my head off right now! You gotta LOVE Freshman year, eh? Meredith's 9th year was certainly a million times more exciting than mine- but I guess going to an all-girl's school has contributed to my lack of high school drama? Soo...after reading this, are you all desperately excited to get your own copy of Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters? Because I guarantee that every page will have you literally rolling on the ground laughing!

Meredith Zeitlin is a writer and voiceover artist who lives in Brooklyn with two adorable feline roommates. She also writes a column for Ladygunn Magazine, changes her hair color every few months, and has many fancy pairs of spectacles.
In case you're wondering whether any of Kelsey's experiences are based on Meredith's own, the answer is NO WAY. When she was fourteen, Meredith looked and behaved perfectly at all times, was never in a single embarrassing situation, and always rode to school on her very own unicorn.

Find Meredith:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads 

Find Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters:

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon  

hehee..check out Meredith's hilarious video!