Emery Lord Books In Order

Publication Order of The Start of Me and You Books

Publication Order of Emerly Lord Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Emery Lord is a bestselling young adult fiction author from the American Midwest best known for writing stories about weird families, best friends, high school, and crushes. She has the uncanny ability to make her readers feel more awkward than they thought possible yet combustibly alive. Lord always knew she wanted to be an author and made plans for it even as she took the communications writing route that she believed would be more viable. However, it was not until she was twenty-three that she realized that if she wanted to write fiction she had to be writing fiction. She wrote a lot while she was a teen and while in college though for the most part she did personal essays. During this time, Lord would take the experiences in her life and craft brief nonfiction like that found in magazines. It was her way of finding meaning and catharsis and framing her problems and finding closure. She was also a voracious reader growing up and as an English Lit major found that there was a dearth of the novels that had the unflinching earnestness and emotional honesty she craved. Her journey toward publishing young fiction came about when she was thirteen and read a Sarah Dessen novel that she found at the library. Once she graduated and started writing, she always knew she wanted to write YA.

A lot of her novels are about her personal experiences as she believes that life alternates between plot and character development years. Her ultimate character development year came in 2010 while she was twenty-three and working long hours at a 9-5 job. She was writing her first novel and submitting to publishers even as she had to fit in social life, pay bills and do housekeeping. It was a tough time and she almost gave up chasing her dream but she kept at it until she got a breakthrough in 2010. At a time when she had fallen out of love with the world and was in despair, she decided to concentrate on fiction. It was a world she had full control of and like a maniac she was possessed and wrote and published her first novel “Open Road Summer” by 2014. She drew the novel from things that made her happy such as having the backbone to walk away, road tripping, forgiveness, best friends, small-town Fourth of July parties, bantering and near misses. She currently lives with her husband who is also a best friend in a century-old row house in Cincinnati.

“Open Road Summer” was inspired by Emery Lord’s travels between Columbus and Cincinnati, where she passed several country music summer tours. She had at one time listened to the song ‘Cooler Than Me” by Mike Posner that got her interested in country music. Wanting to write something about Middle America, she combined her experiences on grief, friendship and the desire for a female narrator to write her characters and settings in the novel. The inspiration for “The Start of Me and You” came from Lord’s teenage years when she desired to write about a generic suburb that has overlapping groups of people coming and going. She wanted to write about friends, and boys and a home that was not perfect or suave but just human with a lot of kindness, flaws and good qualities too. She was coming back from a grieving period during this time and this is also reflected in the experiences of the fictional character. In the novel “When We Collided,” Emery writes a novel of swoon-worthy romance and strong friendship that may just bring out a tear or two. The powerful romantic read is the story of the love between an aspiring chef busting his ass to provide for his siblings, and widowed mother and a passionate artist struggling to make it in a new town while also dealing with bipolar disorder.

Lord’s debut “Open Road Summer” is the story of Reagan O’Neill who leaves her boyfriend and her rebellious ways. She is not the only one in a bad spot as her best friend Lilah Montgomery a country superstar also has her own heartbreak to deal with. The good thing is that the long-awaited 24 city tour that Lilah had been planning for months is just about to start. It could be the perfect opportunity for the two girls to get on the road, heal their hearts and enjoy a summer full of breakup ballads. But then a charming boy named Matt Finch that is supposed to be an opening act on the tour busts into their lives. His next boy charm is not something Reagan was prepared for so soon after her breakup. Lilah and Reagan navigate the ups and downs of friendship and fame and soon come to learn that maybe giving one’s heart to someone who deserves it may be a risk worth taking.

“The Start of Me and You” is a story brimming with authentic high school shenanigans and earnest relationships. The novel asks the question of whether it is too late for second chances. Paige Hancock had been grieving the death of her boyfriend in a tragic accident for the best part of a year. She had shut herself out of the social scene for too long but is now ready to have a second stab at it. Her plan is to get Ryan Chase her old crush to get interested in her again. If she can get him to date her again she could convince her friends and family that she was back to normal. Once she did that, she would join a club and her journey back into society would be complete. But then Max who is the nerdy and sweet cousin to Ryan comes into town and soon convinces Paige to join the Quiz Bowl team. Her plan seems to be falling apart and she is no longer so sure if she will be able to face her fears or be open to the life she thinks she wants to live.
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Emery’s novel “When We Collided” features Jonah Daniels a seventeen-year-old from Verona, Cove who suddenly loses his father, a man who had been the family’s compass. His widowed mother is so devastated and falls into depression. This means that Jonah is now in charge of the family and has to run the restaurant and home, and take care of his five siblings. But just as he is getting the hang of his new role, Vivi Alexander, a new girl comes into town threatening his established ways. The unfiltered and charming Vivi is a vivacious girl that has refused to take her medication even though she has been told it would make her feel better. She slides seamlessly into the Daniels household soon after meeting him and shows her gameness and imagination as she wins over all the siblings. But she is soon faltering as her zest for life ebbs and it is not long before she becomes adventurous, which then turns into all-out danger seeking. Their love is put to the test through each high and low but the question is what will happen when love is not enough?