WELCOME POST: Summer’s Edge

Hello! We are quite excited to bring you to out tour for an upcoming release: Summer’s Edge! We are so thrilled to have the opportunity to help boost and support this campy slasher, and we hope you’ll join us along the way. If you haven’t already, ,make sure you pick up a copy for yourself, and don’t forget to follow all of our wonderful hosts so you won’t miss a stop!

Summer’s Edge
Dana Mele
Simon & Schuster
May 31, 2022
YA Thriller, Mystery, LGBTQ+
TW: mentions of death, gore, dead bodies, etc.

I Know What You Did Last Summer meets  The Haunting of Hill House  in this atmospheric, eerie teen thriller following an estranged group of friends being haunted by their friend who died last summer.

Emily Joiner was once part of an inseparable group—she was a sister, a best friend, a lover, and a rival. Summers without Emily were unthinkable. Until the fire burned the lake house to ashes with her inside.

A year later, it’s in Emily’s honor that Chelsea and her four friends decide to return. The house awaits them, meticulously rebuilt. Only, Chelsea is haunted by ghostly visions. Loner Ryan stirs up old hurts and forces golden boy Chase to play peacemaker. Which has perfect hostess Kennedy on edge as eerie events culminate in a stunning accusation: Emily’s death wasn’t an accident. And all the clues needed to find the person responsible are right here.

As old betrayals rise to the surface, Chelsea and her friends have one night to unravel a mystery spanning three summers before a killer among them exacts their revenge.

So, Dana, this is book number 2…yay! How’s this process different from when you released your debut, People Like Us?

Summer’s Edge has been a more relaxed process. People Like Us was written pretty quickly and then it was scheduled for publication within less than a year, which just doesn’t happen anymore as far as I know. It was less than a year and a half from having the spark of the idea for PLU and seeing it on shelves. It’s been about five years for Summer’s Edge! I’d say there’s a happy medium out there somewhere.

If you had to sum up Summer’s Edge in one word, what would it be and why?

Regret. Most of the characters do something that they deeply regret by the end. That’s such a tough question though… I might give a different answer as soon as tomorrow.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve had to Google or research for your books?

Probably something having to do with dead bodies, though what a boring answer for an author. Maybe how long it takes for a body to resurface in fresh water and whether alcohol consumption changes that answer.

We all know you write amazing novels, do you think that you, Dana, could solve a murder mystery if pressed?

Yes. No Promises, but yes.

You seem to have really found your niche in the thriller/mystery/contemporary genre. Have you ever thought of writing in other genres, say…fantasy or romance?

I play around with sci-fi (near future, Black Mirror-type stories) quite a bit, but that would be it I think. I’m not great at romance and fantasy is just too hard. I did try once, and it just wasn’t good.

Where can readers go to keep up with all the cool things you’re up to?

I’m @danammele on Instagram and @danamelebooks on Twitter, though I’m not sure I say anything very interesting on Twitter. I do post updates regularly on IG.

Are you intrigued? Good! We’ve got a copy up for grabs in our giveaway, sponsored by the publisher Simon & Schuster! Click the link here to enter!

Dana Mele is a Pushcart-nominated writer based in the Catskills. A graduate of Wellesley College, Dana holds degrees in theatre, education, and law. Dana’s debut, PEOPLE LIKE US, was published in 2018 and shortlisted for the 2019 ITW Thriller Award for Best Young Adult Novel. A second YA thriller, SUMMER’S EDGE, is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in Spring 2022, followed by TRAGIC, a graphic novel retelling of Hamlet from Legendary Comics.