Where can I buy your books?

My books are stocked in the Young Adult or Teen section of most chain bookstores and some indies. If you don't see them, just ask. Any bookstore should be able to order them and have them for you in a day or so at no extra charge. You can also buy them online at Amazon.

When is your next book coming out?

Endless Summer, the sequel to The Boys Next Door, will appear on May 25 (and The Boys Next Door will be reprinted in the same volume). My next romantic drama, Forget You, is coming out on July 20.

Are you writing a sequel to Going Too Far?

No, and I don't plan to. However, I would never say never. I didn't intend to write a sequel to The Boys Next Door, and you see what happened. In the meantime, if you enjoyed Going Too Far, I hope you will give Forget You a chance.

Are you writing sequels to Endless Summer, The Ex Games, or Major Crush?

I would love to, but I can't unless the publisher, Simon Pulse, decides this is a good idea. You can write to them and tell them what you think at Simon Pulse, Simon & Schuster, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. In your letter, be sure to use the words "awesome," "win," and "Jennifer Echols did not tell me to say this."

Is John from Going Too Far based on a real person, and can I borrow him?

No.

Do you wakeboard like Lori in The Boys Next Door?

No. I did grow up on a lake in Alabama like Lori, and I learned to waterski when I was five. Wakeboarding wasn’t invented yet.

Is bryozoa real?

Oh yes.

Did someone really smear it on you?

Yes. This sort of trauma makes the most compelling fiction.

Were you a beauty queen like Virginia in Major Crush?

That's so sweet! Look closer.

Were you in marching band like Virginia?

Yes! I was the first female drum major of my high school marching band. I also played saxophone (well), drums (a little), trumpet (badly), and oboe (very badly). I wanted to be a high school band director myself, so my first major in college was music education. Then I switched to English and got serious about writing.

Are you making your novels into movies?

I am not in the movie business, but maybe someone else will make my books into movies someday. I've explained how this works on the Pulse Ro-Com Blog in case you're interested.

Did you star in The Notebook?

No, that’s a different Jennifer Echols.

Do you have a secretary?

You’re funny. First I’d get a personal chef.

How can I get my novel published?

The best book I’ve read on the subject is Pat Walsh's 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might.

Did you design your own website?

Isn't that like asking me if I cut my own hair?

I am doing a report on your books for school and I need your bio. Could you please post one? And don't make up stuff, okay? This is for a grade. I know how you are.

Well all RIGHT.

Jennifer Echols grew up in a small town on a beautiful lake in Alabama--a setting that has inspired many of her books. Always interested in creative writing, she finished her first (and still unpublished) novel soon after graduating with a degree in English from Auburn University at age 20. She worked as an editor for newspapers, a writer for business publications, and a writing instructor for three major universities, completed a master's degree in English, and finished the coursework for a PhD in genre studies before selling a book. Since then, she has written four young adult novels for Simon & Schuster, including Major Crush, which won the National Reader's Choice Award, and Going Too Far, which is a finalist in the 2010 RITA, the National Reader's Choice Award, and the Book Buyer's Best. Three more of her novels are forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in 2010 and 2011. Currently she works as a copyeditor and lives in Birmingham with her husband and son. If she were any other author, now she would say something witty about her cat.