Thanks to my former student Lisa for tipping me off about Tone Deaf, a (forthcoming ?) publication by Olivia Rivers, who, from her blog reveals, is "a high school student, a literary agent intern, and an obsessive-compulsive reader. She has a slight obsession with Kootenai County in Idaho, and she’s pretty sure life will always be awesome as long as Irish accents exist. She lives with dysautonomia, a chronic medical condition affecting her nervous system. Portions of proceeds from her “Tortured Elements” series go toward supporting youth with dysautonomia." (http://oliviarivers.blogspot.ca/) I write "forthcoming" publication hesitantly because the text is already available to readers on the internet on Wattpad.com. If you're interested in checking it out, you can find Tone Deaf here.
Rivers' last book was published by Red Sparrow Press and available through Amazon as an eBook.
One Goodreads, she explained, "I
have to be honest: "Tone Deaf" was never intended to be read by others.
I wrote the story out of frustration, when I was unable to find a book
that featured a realistic main character with disabilities.
One day, on a whim, I posted the first chapter
of “Tone Deaf” on Wattpad.com. The response I received was absolutely
amazing and humbling. Apparently, I wasn’t the only reader frustrated by
the lack of disabled main characters. “Tone Deaf” received over 1,000
hits within a week of being posted, and to this date, has over 750,000
hits.
Some
readers have ventured to call “Tone Deaf” a “diverse” book, but I have
another word for it: Realistic. In reality, not every person is
perfectly healthy or functional. And not every person is white,
straight, and good-looking. And, honestly, who would want that? The
world would so boring without the diversity it presents us.
I
truly hope "Tone Deaf" presents this diversity and reality in a way
that readers can relate to. And, most importantly, I hope readers enjoy
the characters and love-story within the book!" http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/637547093
For more information about the book, you can follow posts on the Tone Deaf Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/tonedeafanovel