Tara Altebrando profile picture

Tara Altebrando

taraaltebrando

About Me

Let's see: I'm a writer who lives in Queens, New York. My first novel for teens--The Pursuit of Happiness--was published by MTV books. It's about a teenage girl who's coping with her mom's death while working at a colonial village where she meets a cute boy.

KLIATT said this in their review, which I swear I didn't write myself:

"It's hard to imagine this book being more enjoyable. The characters are vivid and complex; they grow over the course of the story and never feel like cliches. Betsy's grief feels real without overwhelming her other emotions. The smooth writing and careful plotting will keep readers interested even if they may guess how it will end. This is a strong debut novel that cries out for a sequel."

Here's what Alex McAulay, author of Bad Girls, said about it,

"A dreamlike evocation of friendship and romance, and how tragedy can be transformed into art. Like Sarah Dessen's The Truth About Forever, The Pursuit of Happiness deals insightfully with love and loss."

What else, what else. Well, I just had a baby! She's almost 6 months old and I'm starting to get some sleep again, which is good since there's work to be done on my next YA book, WHAT HAPPENS HERE, due out next May, again from MTV Books. It's set in Europe and Las Vegas and has loads of intrigue.

I also write "adult" fiction as Tara McCarthy (my maiden name). My novel Wouldn't Miss It for the World about a destination wedding in Belize—the bride and groom are members of an indie rock band—was just published by Pocket Books. And my first novel, Love Will Tear Us Apart is out there, too. It's about a pair of teenage siamese twin pop stars. You can check out some of their songs over at www.myspace.com/sparkssisters

Clearly, I'm pretty into music. My husband's the singer/songwriter of the band Dutch Kills. You can check them out at www.myspace.com/dutchkills

My Interests

reading, writing, music, traveling. i collect spoons from places i've visited around the country and the world and i know that makes me sound geeky. i wish i could say i was really into snorkeling or something but i tried it once in belize and had a complete panic attack.

I'd like to meet:

Readers/Writers/Cool-but-down-to-earth people

Music:

Flaming Lips, Metric, Delgados, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Arcade Fire, Eiffel Tower, Dutch Kills, Teenage Fanclub, Built to Spill, Tegan and Sara, British Sea Power, the Strokes, the Zombies, New Order, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, many many more.

Movies:

Donnie Darko, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Dumb and Dumber, Walk the Line, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Television:

Entourage, The Hills, Flight of the Conchords [cracks me up every time], The Office, Lost, Big Love, and I confess to a weakness for one-hour crime dramas.

Books:

Anything by Sarah Dessen, but especially "The Truth About Forever." Also, "Geek Love" by Katherine Dunn, "Green Grass Grace" by Shawn McBride, "Wonder When You'll Miss Me" by Amanda Davis, John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meaney," Kate Chopins' "The Awakening", David McCullough's "The Great Bridge," "Bel Canto" (I love Ann Patchett)...Recent reading: "Then We Came to the End" by Josh Ferris, "The Boyfriend List" by E Lockhart, "We're All in This Together" by Owen King, "We Need to Talk About Kevin" by Lionel Shriver...

My Blog

Teen Book Review interview

Check out my interview with Jocelyn over at Teen Book Review. She posted an awesome review of What Happens Here a while back and asked really fun questions for the interview...Teen Book Review Intervi...
Posted by Tara Altebrando on Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:43:00 PST

Elle Girl giveaway is happening NOW!

You may win a copy of "What Happens Here" and some other great books, like "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" and the new Meg Cabot, if you enter this contest!Elle Girl Giveaway...
Posted by Tara Altebrando on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:54:00 PST

New MTV Books Blog!

Check out this cool blog where a bunch of authors of books published by MTV Books, myself included, talk about their books and writing and more!MTV Books Blog...
Posted by Tara Altebrando on Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:36:00 PST

My husband's band's new CD

Hey everybody. Just wanted to post about my husband's band, Dutch Kills. They've just released their first full-length CD, Blissville, and it's awesome. You can check out a bunch of songsHEREAnd don't...
Posted by Tara Altebrando on Sat, 07 Jul 2007 01:05:00 PST

Interview with Noria Jablonski, author of

As most of you know, I also write fiction as Tara McCarthy and over at my My Space page for my novel Love Will Tear Us Apart, I've just posted a cool interview I did with the author Noria Jabslonski. ...
Posted by Tara Altebrando on Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:05:00 PST

Live Joural

I now have one.taltebrando.livejournal.comCome on by!
Posted by Tara Altebrando on Wed, 27 Sep 2006 04:17:00 PST

Flaming Lips made me feel the love

So my husband Nick and I went to see the Flaming Lips in concert last night here in NYC. As some of you may know, I reference a Flaming Lips song in "The Pursuit of Happiness." There's a scene in whic...
Posted by Tara Altebrando on Wed, 27 Sep 2006 04:10:00 PST

Interviews with MTV books authors!

Hello!The lovely and wonderful Little Willow has interviewed a bunch of MTV authors, including yours truly. Check out my interview here:Slayground InterviewAnd be sure to check back every day this wee...
Posted by Tara Altebrando on Tue, 29 Aug 2006 06:04:00 PST

Fun podcasts featuring YA writers!

Hey there.So I recently had a chance to talk with Sarah and Mali for the Living Writers show out at WCBN in Ann Arbor. They interviewed me about The Pursuit of Happiness and my "adult" book Love Will ...
Posted by Tara Altebrando on Wed, 19 Jul 2006 06:08:00 PST

I'm the Next Big Thing!

Well, at least the gals over at Popgurls thing I might be! Check out the interview here:Popgurls Interview
Posted by Tara Altebrando on Tue, 18 Jul 2006 11:52:00 PST