About the Book

Book: A Country of Their Own

Author: Hope Bolinger

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Release date: April 4, 2023

THE NOTEBOOK meets SEVENTEEN AGAIN.

Priscilla is an old soul. Carter can’t wait to leave Florida, a haven for the elderly.

Together they’re forced to do community service at a retirement home. But all the residents look like teenagers. Are they meant to bring together the lovable residents Scarlett and Paul—who are actually 80 years old? Or is it too late for them to find love?

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About the Author

Hope Bolinger is a Managing & Acquisitions Editor at End Game Press and the Founder of Generation Hope Books.

More than 1400 of her works have been featured in various publications ranging from Writer’s Digest to Keys for Kids to HOOKED to Crosswalk.com.

She has worked for various publishing companies, magazines, newspapers, and literary agencies and has edited the work of authors such as Jerry B. Jenkins and Michelle Medlock Adams.

Twenty-one of her books are under contract or out now with traditional publishers, and she hopes more of her stories will find a home soon. She has also contributed to twelve other books.

Interview with Hope

Q: What was the inspiration behind this novel?

Hope: Two things. First, it comes from this photo series: https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/reflections-of-the-past-tom-hussey/. But it also comes from my grandmother. She gave me a love of publishing and sadly passed away in 2020. I wrote this book for her.

Q: How long did it take you to write this novel?

Hope: Two weeks. It bled out of me fast onto that page. It was the fastest I’d written a book at the time. The record now is seven days.

Q: What do you hope readers take away from this novel?

Hope: I really want them to see the importance of listening to every generation. There aren’t many novels that cover ageism on both ends of the spectrum. I’m hoping this can help us to love one another better.

Q: Would you share something about yourself that most readers wouldn’t know?

Hope: I do need to get this officially diagnosed, but after talking with a number of counselors and taking a number of tests, I do believe that I am autistic. I knew there was something always different about me but I could never put two-and-two together. Considering there aren’t many neurodivergent voices in the market, I’d love to be one of the few in the fiction realm.

Q: What do you like to do when you aren't writing?

Hope: I’m a busy soul for sure, and love to do a lot of things outside of the writing space. I love theater, music, modeling on local runways and shoots in Cleveland, and hiking. I enjoy so many different activities.

More from Hope

Can you write a book based on a photo series.

I did. I stumbled across this photo series in my college days and it never let me go: https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/reflections-of-the-past-tom-hussey/

It made me think about how all people, young and old, are young at heart and wise beyond their years. In the publishing industry, I have experienced a great deal of ageism. You can seldom go to a conference without someone telling you something along the lines of, “Wow. I had no idea that you were so wise. I assumed because you are young that you know nothing.”

And I know that many of my fellow writers who are older have experienced ageism to the same degrees.

So I wanted to write a book that would level the playing field.

I wanted to have two teen main characters who end up good friends with two characters who are well into their 80s—who simply look like teens thanks to the funhouse mirror effects of Country Acres (a retirement home in which the 80-year-old characters are residents).

What made the book hit even closer to home was that I wrote it right after my grandma passed away—and right as the COVID shutdown took effect in 2020.

Grandma had played a huge role in my writing. She and I read my first book together. She owned a bookstore in which, when I was eight, I helped her to run the cash register. And she always supported me in my publishing dreams.

I am sad that she and Grandpa passed long before they could read this. But this book also encapsulates them. That my grandma tap danced well into her eighties, and that my grandpa would ride the waves on a boogie board.

We’re all young, we’re all wise … let’s listen to one another.