Exclusive interview with Melissa Marr and a review her new Gothic novel about a woman whose life is in danger
Rating: Three Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“When I was in my twenties, I had a stalker,” says Made For You author Melissa Marr. “It wasn’t a case of an ex or a friend who became obsessed. This was a stranger who was clearly unwell. He attempted to enter my home several times, and there were 911 calls. The feeling of being terrified, of not being able to sleep at my apartment, of asking why me? That was the spark for this book.”
A story of dark obsession with twists and turns to keep you reading, Marr’s book is mostly told from victim’s point of view. A few chapters told from the stalker’s point of view will make you squirm. There are some lighter moments with a romance reemerging for Eva. Not for the squeamish, this is a dark thriller.
Eva Tilling lives in a little town in North Carolina where nothing ever seems to happen. She gets hit by a car. Was it deliberate? If so, who would want to kill her? The accident has left her with a special ability. She can foresee people’s deaths when they touch her. While she’s recovering from the hit-and-run an old boyfriend, Nate, reenters her life. They reconnect and he helps her with her new ability. As they spend time together the threat becomes more intense. Her family and friends are in danger too.
“I went from sleeping at friends’ places to having friends sleep at mine to eventually moving,” says Marr. “Luckily, my ability to relocate was enough to spare me from the sort of things the police listed as possibilities. So, jump forward fifteen years, and I was living in a hospital for several weeks because the baby I adopted was born addicted to several drugs. The combination of being in a hospital so long and the stalking experience in my twenties formed the core of the book. My graduate thesis and years of teaching Southern Literature provided the setting.”
Made For You hasn’t been optioned for film or television, but Marr’s book Wicked Lovely has. Weta Digital and Pukeko Pictures are on the project. “My producers [from Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Picture Show] have been a joy from the beginning, but when they said Weta was onboard, I expect that my whole neighborhood heard me squeal,” says Marr. “They did Lord of the Rings, Avatar, and so many gorgeous films.”
“Like all of my YA books, Made For You also has a lovely British editor,” says Marr. “In the UK, Rachel Denwood has been my editor for years now. An editor not only helps tighten and polish a book, but she also stands in at the meetings at the publisher as the author’s advocate. A bad editor is crushing, and a great one is critical to help a book reach the reader as well as be presented to its best ability. Editors at quality publishers, like all three of my publishers: Harper, Penguin, and Little, Brown/Hachette, are very thorough.”
Marr’s other books include Wicked Lovely, Desert Tales, Faery Tales & Nightmares (a short story collection), Graveminder, The Arrivals, Loki’s Wolves and Odin’s Ravens.
Marr lives in Virginia.
Made for You by Melissa Marr. Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: HarperCollins (September 16, 2014), Language: English.ISBN-13: 978-0062011190 $ 17.99
