Tara Goedjen

Tara Goedjen adores fairytales, mysteries, and ghost stories.

She wrote her first story at age eleven about children who disappeared at midnight, and she’s been writing ever since. Mostly raised in Alabama, she played college tennis in Iowa and then moved to Alaska and Australia before heading back to the continental US.

While completing grad school, Goedjen worked as a tennis coach, a yoga instructor, a university writing teacher, and as an editor for a publishing house. These days, when she’s not making up stories, she's probably going for a hike, staring at a to-do list, reading a novel, or eating all of California’s seasonal fruit.

Goedjen's new novel is The Breathless.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

I’ve been touring for The Breathless and have just gotten the chance to pick up a book by a writer friend, Amanda Searcy, called The Truth Beneath the Lies. Since I write within the mystery/thriller genre, I tend to reach for those books first, and the cover of Searcy’s novel makes me want to read it: the jagged streaks of color hint at the darkness and danger within. Karen McManus, another writer I admire, described it as “A smart, suspenseful, and unpredictable thriller that will keep readers turning pages until every last lie is revealed.” These are the sorts of books I love: full of twists and turns that keep me guessing, which brings me to…

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova, the first in the Brooklyn Brujas series about bruja Alejandra (“Alex”) Mortiz, a teenager who belongs to a powerful family of witches. I recently finished reading this one and loved how Córdova portrayed the relationships between her characters, which both surprised and delighted me. In the same way that Córdova’s plot points kept me guessing what was to come, I also wondered how Alex would grow on her journey, and which direction her heart would take her. It’s no wonder that Labyrinth Lost was named Tor.com’s Best YA SFF of 2016—and I can’t wait to read the sequel.

Visit Tara Goedjen's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Breathless.

--Marshal Zeringue