Sweet

by Emmy Laybourne

Overview

They'd kill to get thin.

“Simultaneously terrifying, hilarious, and action-packed, Sweet is a wild ride that holds up a warped mirror to our society. I loved it from the first line to the last.” —Marie Lu, New York Times–bestselling author of Legend and The Young Elites

The luxurious celebrity cruise launching the trendy new diet sweetener Solu should be the vacation of a lifetime. But Laurel is starting to regret accepting her friend Viv's invitation. She's already completely embarrassed herself in front of celebrity host Tom Forelli-the hottest guy ever!-and she's too sick to even try the sweetener. And that's before Viv and all the other passengers start acting really strange.

Tom knows that he should be grateful for this job and the chance to shed his former-child-star image. His publicists have even set up a 'romance' with a sexy reality star. But as things on the ship start to get wild, he finds himself drawn to a different girl. And when the hosting gig turns into an expose on the shocking side effects of Solu, it's Laurel that he's determined to save.

Emmy Laybourne, author of the Monument 14 trilogy, takes readers on a dream vacation in Sweet that goes first comically, then tragically, then horrifyingly, wrong!

By Emmy Laybourne:

The Monument 14 Trilogy
Monument 14 (Book 1)
Monument 14: Sky on Fire (Book 2)
Monument 14: Savage Drift (Book 3)

Sweet

The Berserker series
Berserker (Book 1)
Ransacker (Book 2)

Praise for Sweet:

“Laybourne's fictional world highlights themes of friendship, the culture of celebrity, and addiction...A finely knit narrative in which romance pairs perfectly (somehow) with societal horror.” —Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Libraries, NC, School Library Journal

“Laybourne's masterful novel opens as a comical potential romance, becomes suspenseful, then horrific, and ends as a gripping action-adventure survival story sure to enthrall readers ... The book is recommended as required summer reading.” —VOYA, Starred Review

“Combining mystery with a bit of romance and a peek into Hollywood's obsession with being thin, Laybourne creates an interesting commentary on society's addiction to weight loss and diets.” —Booklist

“While maintaining an exciting, face-paced, terrifying narrative, Laybourne manages to weave in details that highlight friendship, the culture of celebrity and addiction.” —Asheville Citizen-Times

“Laybourne delivers a candy-coated horror novel that alternates between increasingly violent scenes and Laurel and Tom's poignant romance.” —Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250079992
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	06/07/2016
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

EMMY LAYBOURNE is a novelist, teacher, and former character actress. Emmy's Monument 14 trilogy has earned critical praise ("Frighteningly real… riveting" - New York Times Book Review, Editor's Choice) and has been nominated by readers to the YALSA Teens Top Ten in 2013 and 2014.Before her life as an author, Emmy performed original comedy on Comedy Central, MTV, and VH1; and acted in the movies Superstar, The In-Laws, and Nancy Drew, among others. Emmy lives outside New York City with her husband, two kids, and a flock of 8 nifty chickens.

Editorial Reviews

Simultaneously terrifying, hilarious, and action-packed, SWEET is a wild ride that holds up a warped mirror to our society. I loved it from the first line to the last.” —Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author of Legend and The Young Elites

“Laybourne's fictional world highlights themes of friendship, the culture of celebrity, and addiction...A finely knit narrative in which romance pairs perfectly (somehow) with societal horror.” —Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Libraries, NC, School Library Journal

“Laybourne's masterful novel opens as a comical potential romance, becomes suspenseful, then horrific, and ends as a gripping action-adventure survival story sure to enthrall readers ... The book is recommended as required summer reading.” —VOYA, Starred Review

“Combining mystery with a bit of romance and a peek into Hollywood's obsession with being thin, Laybourne creates an interesting commentary on society's addiction to weight loss and diets.” —Booklist

“While maintaining an exciting, face-paced, terrifying narrative, Laybourne manages to weave in details that highlight friendship, the culture of celebrity and addiction.” —Asheville Citizen-Times

“Laybourne delivers a candy-coated horror novel that alternates between increasingly violent scenes and Laurel and Tom's poignant romance.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

04/27/2015
Seventeen-year-old Laurel is on the famous “Cruise to Lose,” thanks to her best friend Vivika. Despite a ship packed with famous celebrities—including former child-star Tom Forelli—and affluent passengers eager to try a revolutionary new sweetener, Solu, Laurel doesn’t feel pressured to shrink her size-14 body. Switching perspectives between Laurel and Tom as the seven-day trip progresses, Laybourne (Monument 14) introduces multiple characters who range from Timothy Almstead, the conniving CEO of Solu, to Jaideep, a waiter who becomes a life-saving ally. Passengers’ miraculous weight loss turns deadly as the sweetener induces an addiction so intense that fights, debauchery, and cannibalism soon follow. Scared for skeletally thin Vivika and even more frightened at the prospect of Solu’s global release, Tom and Laurel battle zombielike addicts to warn others about its effects. Some oversimplified dialogue and lackluster descriptions aside, Laybourne delivers a candy-coated horror novel that alternates between increasingly violent scenes and Laurel and Tom’s poignant romance. Though the message is plain—love yourself as you are—the ramifications of not doing so are terrifyingly clear. Ages 13–up. Agent: Susanna Einstein, Einstein Literary Management. (June)

Publishers Weekly

03/01/2015
Gr 9 Up—A posh, seven-day celebrity cruise begins as a pre-launch publicity party for Solu, a groundbreaking new artificial sweetener. Passengers are promised they will lose five to 10 percent of their body fat in a matter of days. Over the course of the week, they lose a lot more than fat. Celebrity TV host and emcee of the festivities, Tom, is 19 and handsome. When he shows interest in Laurel, 17, she is excited but cautious. As a tender romance between the two develops, a strict diet and a case of sea sickness keep them from Solu. Most passengers, however, eat Solu with every meal. The weight loss is dramatic, but so, too is the unexpected side effect of rage. The ensuing addiction to the substance (sucking spilled Solu out of the carpet, anyone?) yields homicidal actions—and worse. As dead bodies pile up, Tom and Laurel realize it is up to them to get off the ship and warn the world about Solu before its widespread public release in a few days. Tom and Laurel are sympathetic characters with personal histories, hang-ups, and hopes. Laybourne's fictional world highlights themes of friendship, the culture of celebrity, and addiction. The horror bits (stated but not described gratuitously) push the story to the border between realism and supernatural horror but in such a believable way that readers will have second thoughts the next time they tear open a packet of sweetener. VERDICT A finely knit narrative in which romance pairs perfectly (somehow) with societal horror.—Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Libraries, NC

School Library Journal

2015-03-11
Celebrities, romance, and carnage on the high seas. It's pretty skeevy for a meet-cute, but when 17-year-old Laurel vomits on 19-year-old Tom's shoes, it's destiny—and foreshadows flavors to come. Laurel's on this luxury weight-loss cruise to keep a friend company; Tom's there as a television host, trying to wrangle his child-star career into something more serious. The ritzy cruise is sponsored by Solu, a sugar substitute and weight-loss catalyst that's supposedly a "solu"-tion for fatness. Tom declines Solu because of his strict "clean eating" diet; Laurel declines from seasickness and wariness. At first, Solu's effects are merely preposterous, causing a 13-pound weight loss in two days. But soon passengers become walking, tooth-dropping cadavers, so addicted—think heroin times meth times vampires—that they're rioting and committing frenzied murder to drink one another's Solu-filled blood. With former competitors from Survivor and The Bachelorette aboard, the who-will-survive plot works well, fast-paced yet farcically cheesy. (Tom can identify someone's "schizoid break" because "I did a guest star on Criminal Minds"; then again, according to Laurel, he's "so frickin' manly.") Tom and Laurel alternate narrating, their first-person voices indistinguishable. The wealthy passengers' superior obliviousness seeps into the text, as when Laybourne calls the multiracial ship crew "a walking United Nations" and a black girl "strong and angry." A glitzy bloodbath with the most ironic title ever. (Horror. 13 & up)

Kirkus Reviews