On Little Wings . . . the best novel you haven't read yet!

Every once in a while a piece of literary fiction, sneakily classified as young adult, silently enters the world of literature and leaves you breathlessly in awe that such a compilation of words should be held in your hands and read by you.

Such is On Little Wings, Regina Sirois' debut novel.

Sixteen year old Jennifer lives an ordinary life in small town Nebraska and doesn't believe in the 2% factor until midst English lit assignment she unwittingly stumbles on an old photograph stuffed in a book. The innocent question of 'Who is this?' begins the first real fight in her family. The photo is of her aunt Sarah, her mother's older sister. Jennifer has always been told both of her parents are only children, just as she is an only child.

Jennifer sets out for Smithport, Maine to stay with Sarah and learn about her mother's family and hometown she never knew of. Her secret hope is to learn the truth of what caused the fracture between Sarah and Claire and heal wounds twenty years old.

Unexpectedly, she meets a gifted young man, Nathan, who could just be her first 'more than crush'.

There's also a host of great characters to love: Cleo, the Jacks, Monty, Claude, Hester, Darcy, and best, Little, who is anything but.

The best part of the book though is Regina's artistry with the words. She is a true wordsmith. I think it stems from her poetess background. To quote an idea from her book, she has words in her soul.

I had the great fortune of reading On Little Wings as Regina wrote it.(This does not make me biased, I have loved this book from the start) She agonized over every word, every nuance. every grammatical possibility. Her agony was not in vain. But don't take my word for it. Order your own copy and be excited to stay up late and procrastinate the demands of your ordinary life to dive into On Little Wings.  Right now it is available on Amazon in paperback or for the Kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_15?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=on+little+wings&sprefix=on+little+wings%2Cstripbooks%2C369

Regina wrote this as a story for one of her beautiful daughters. When the literary world seemed to turn its nose up a her novel, she published it herself and once it attracted attention on Amazon and blogs, a smart literary agent knocked on her e-mail door and asked to represent her. She graciously signed on the dotted line. Thank you!

Regina is now at work on her next novel. I expect it to be every bit as good. Here are a few questions Regina agreed to answer for me so you could know her better.

  Q: What is your fave flavor of ice cream?

R: I know I will lose a lot of fans this way, but I'm not a lover of ice cream. I'm a smoothie girl. No bananas. That's important. And if you want to put a virgin pina colada in my hand and set me in the sun to bake, I won't complain about that, either.

Q: Where would you go on vacation if it was just you and your husband with untold amounts of money?

R: We've always joked about going to Fiji because, as Truman says in the Truman Show, it's as far as you can go before you start coming back.

Q: And then, the same but with the girls? 

R: We are talking about taking the family to Hawaii to celebrate the book. I told my husband that if my book never gets published we could scoop up the money we've made and go cry about it in Hawaii. And if we are too busy ziplining through the jungle and lowering ourselves into burning volcanoes and swimmming with stingrays, we can skip the crying part. :)

Q: How many times have you been to Maine?

R: Once. One day. Four hours total. But let me just say, that for a midwest, land-locked young woman, every smell, every sight, every shingle on every house is permanently locked in my mind. That is why I could write the details. I couldn't forget anything if I tried.

Q: How are the flying lessons going for _____?

R: I have a working title for my next book, but I'm such a nerd that I don't want to make it public yet (I'll tell you secretly, okay?). For now, I call the book First Flight. Flying lessons are scheduled to begin in a few weeks!!! My first draft is almost complete. That means I'm about 10% done... editing is a bear!

So dear reader, did you order your copy of On Little Wings yet?