AMY SPALDING reads from INK IS THICKER THAN WATER

Ink Is Thicker Than Water (Entangled Publishing)

One of Skylight Books' favorite YA authors returns with a novel about the lengths we go to find out who we are.

For Kellie Brooks, family has always been a tough word to define. Combine her hippie mom and tattooist stepdad, her adopted overachieving sister, her younger half brother, and her tough-love dad, and average Kellie's the one stuck in the middle, overlooked and impermanent. When Kellie's sister finally meets her birth mother and her best friend starts hanging with a cooler crowd, the feeling only grows stronger.

But then she reconnects with Oliver, the sweet and sensitive college guy she had a near hookup with last year. Oliver is intense and attractive, and she's sure he's totally out of her league. But as she discovers that maybe intensity isn't always a good thing, it's yet another relationship she feels is spiraling out of her control.

It'll take a new role on the school newspaper and a new job at her mom's tattoo shop for Kellie to realize that defining herself both outside and within her family is what can finally allow her to feel permanent, just like a tattoo. 

Amy Spalding grew up outside of St. Louis. She now lives in Los Angeles with two cats and a dog. She works in marketing and does a lot of improv. She has more tattoos than she can count. Amy would love for you to visit her online at www.theamyspalding.com or on Twitter @theames.