Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the invitation to participate n the blog Tour for 'Mayhem' by Estelle Laure!
Continue below for the synopsis, a letter from the author regarding her book, and my interview with her! 
Estelle Laure, the author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back believes in love, magic, and the power of facing hard truths.
She has a BA in Theatre Arts and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and she lives in Taos, New Mexico, with her family. Her work is translated widely around the world.
MAYHEM by Estelle Laure; On-sale: July 14th, 2020
The Lost Boys meets Wilder Girls in this supernatural feminist YA novel. Synopsis: It's 1987 and unfortunately it's not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy's constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem's own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren't like everyone else. But when May's stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem's questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self. There she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and it opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family, the very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good. But when she gets wrapped up in the search for the man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she is forced to face the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost. From the acclaimed author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back, Estelle Laure offers a riveting and complex story with magical elements about a family of women contending with what appears to be an irreversible destiny, taking control and saying when enough is enough. 
Dear Reader,
Like Mayhem, I experienced a period of time when my life was extremely unstable. I can still remember what it was like to be shaken so hard I thought my head would come off, to watch the room vibrate, to feel unsafe in my own home, to never know what was coming around the next corner. I wanted to run. I always wanted to run. I ran to friends, but also movies and books, and although girls were more passively portrayed in movies like The Lost Boys back then, that feeling of teenagers prowling the night, taking out bad people, being unbeatable . . . that got me through it. I guess that’s what I tried to do here. I wanted girls who feel powerless to be able to imagine themselves invincible. And yes, I used a rape as the seed for that fierce lineage, not without thought. For me, there is nothing worse, and I like to think great power can rise up as a result of a devastating trespass. Please know I took none of this lightly. Writing this now, my heart is beating hard and my throat is dry. This is the first time I not only really looked at my own past, the pain of loss, the pain of the loss of trust that comes when someone puts hands on you without permission, the pain of people dying, the shock of suicide, and put all of it to paper in a way that made me feel victorious, strong, and warrior-like. It is also terrifying. I know I’m not the only one who had a scary childhood, andI know I’m not the only one who clings to stories as salve to smooth over burnt skin. I am so sick of girls and women being hurt. This was my way of taking my own vengeance and trying to access forgiveness. Thank you for reading and for those of you who can relate, I see you and you are not alone. Estelle Laure
☆★☆ Interview with Estelle Laure ☆★☆
If you had to describe Mayhem Brayburn in three words, what would they be?
Furious, curious, perceptive. Which scene or chapter in the book is your favorite and why? I honestly have a lot of favorites and many of them are toward the end and would require spoilers, but let’s just say THE ONE WITH THE BIRDS is my very favorite. Earlier on I love when Mayhem first finds her friends, the dynamics and the wildness of the boardwalk and how certain they are that they’re just the coolest. If you’re lucky enough to really bond with a group of people it’s as good as falling in love and just as seductive. I could feel that feeling again as I was writing and it felt wickedly good. Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with? I would LOVE to do a second book about Mayhem and her friends and family. I think there’s a huge amount of potential in them all, and they were a thrill to spend time with. What would you hope readers might take away with them upon reading Mayhem? I hope they’ll feel invincible and empowered, mostly, but I also hope they’ll feel seen for some essential and possibly hidden piece of themselves. Mostly, I hope they have a really good time reading it. What books, articles, or authors influenced you the most or made you think differently? In life in general? Tons. I think overall Stephen King, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, John Steinbeck, Shirley Jackson, Alice Hoffman, Isabel Allende, Sylvia Plath, and a whole slew of poets have had the most effect. In particular Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath (again), and Gwendolyn Brooks. I could write a book just about all the ways in which they’ve influenced me as a person and are responsible for my education. Oh, and I would be remiss if I did not also mention Stephenie Meyer. If there had not been Twilight I don’t know that I ever would have started writing in earnest.
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