If you’ve been to the bookstore lately, you’ve likely seen Alexis Bass’ Love and Other Theories out on shelves. Though Bass’ book came out at the end of December, she’s part of the Class of 2K15, a group for 2015 debut YA authors.
“I consider myself a 2015 debut author, since my release date [was]just a couple days shy of 2015,” said Bass. “[It] feels crazy, sort of scary, but mostly exhilarating to finally have Love and Other Theories out in the world!”
Love and Other Theories is a book about a four high school friends who refuse to let their hearts get broken. But while some believe that young adult authors base their novels on their own teen experiences, premise of the book is only partially based on Bass’ real life.
“I took issues and feelings I remember discussing with my friends in high school and cranked them up for Love and Other Theories, where everything is an extreme version of skepticism – mostly about love,” said Bass, who talked to her friends from high school about their adolescent love lives. “It’s easy to feel a little jaded and guarded even before you fall in love, after there’s been so much unrequited love, and so many crushes gone wrong.”
Aubrey and her friends view love cynically. They have low expectations and plan to avoid heartbreak “by giving as little as they expect to get in return,” as they’ve already been let down by love and fear getting hurt.
“They’re afraid of humiliating themselves by putting their feelings out in the open and having them thrown back in their faces if they’re rejected. They all have different reasons for relying on the theories, and they all use the theories as an attempt to keep themselves safe from heartache.”
That view on love seems to be hitting home. Early reviews on Goodreads praised Love and Other Theories as tear-jerker.
“My favorite books are the ones that make me cry. A lot of the people that have contacted me to tell me it made them cry, all cried in different places, funnily enough — though there is this one scene that seems to take credit for a lot of tears,” said Bass.
Bass took her fair share of emotional rollercoasters as a teen. She took things too seriously and would get upset over things that, upon reflection, really weren’t a big deal.
“But then again, I think, hey, if it was serious to me at the time, then I had every right to make a big deal out of it,” said Bass. “Always remember that you should not equate dating success or failure to self-esteem, or think that there are certain things you ‘should’ be doing dating-wise.”
Love and Other Theories is available now. For more, visit Alexis Bass’ website and .
