This week’s topic over on Road Trip Wednesday really spoke to me:

Tell us an author who inspires you.

On the one hand, this is a difficult question because there are so, so many authors who inspire me. Heck, most people who make it all the way through to get a book published inspire me.

But then I thought of an author I recently discovered after asking on twitter for recommendations for beautiful, literary YA, with bonus points if set in another country. From the responses to this call-out, I got a great stack of delicious books. This author’s book was one of those. Thanks again to Dahlia Adler for the recommendation!

SMALL DAMAGES by Beth Kephart was everything I had hoped for. It was gorgeous; it was moving; it was set in Spain. I highly recommend it. Beth has published many other books, and I’m looking forward to reading all of them someday.

But on top of that, I began following Beth on twitter, and I have been so impressed by how kind and gracious she is, and yanno, that actually inspires me more than anything else. I want to be like that. I want to write gorgeous, moving books, and be nice.

So check out her work! You won’t be disappointed. And have a wonderful, uplifting day. 🙂