Carpe Diem - Paperback

by Autumn Cornwell (Author)

In this delightful romantic adventure, a 16-year-old overachiever learns how to seize the day.

I've got my entire life planned out for the next ten years -- including my PhD and Pulitzer Prize, claims 16-year-old overachiever Vassar Spore, daughter of overachiever parents, who in true overachiever fashion named her after an elite women's college.

Vassar expects her sophomore summer to include AP and AAP (Advanced Advanced Placement) classes. Surprise! Enter a world-traveling relative who sends her plans into a tailspin when she blackmails Vassar's parents into forcing their only child to backpack with her through Southeast Asia.

On a journey from Malaysia to Cambodia to the remote jungles of Laos, Vassar sweats, falls in love, hones her outdoor survival skills -- and uncovers a family secret that turns her whole world upside-down.

Vassar Spore can plan on one thing: she'll never be the same again.

Front Jacket

I've got my entire life planned out for the next ten years--including my PhD and Pulitzer Prize, claims sixteen-year-old Vassar Spore, the daughter of overachiever parents, who, in true overachiever fashion, named her after an elite women's college. Vassar expects her sophomore summer to include both AP and AAP (Advanced "Advanced "Placement) classes. Surprise! Enter a world-traveling relative who sends her plans into a tailspin when she blackmails Vassar's parents into forcing their only child to backpack with her through Southeast Asia.

On a journey from Malaysia to Cambodia to the remote jungles of Laos, Vassar is faced with things she isn't prepared for--adventure, danger, a Malaysian cowboy-slash-bodyguard her own age--and in learning to "live in the moment" uncovers a family secret that turns her world upside down.

Vassar Spore can "plan "on one thing: She'll never be the same again.

Squat toilets, profuse sweating, bamboo huts, jumbo centipedes--these are just some of the delights Autumn Cornwell has encountered in her global travels. Not to mention the I-can't-believe-it's-true Laotian jungle adventure that inspired "Carpe Diem,"

A travel junkie, Autumn has explored twenty-two countries and counting. She's spent the last couple summers working with refugees and orphans in Burma, Thailand, and Laos. Southeast Asia remains close to her heart since her days as a missionary kid in New Papua--where she ate her weight in guavas and mingled with reformed headhunters and cannibals.

Autumn lives in Los Feliz, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, with her husband, J.C., and their son, Dexter. This is her first novel.

Visit Autumnat www.autumncornwell.com .

Back Jacket

July 27th: I'm freezing. My head itches. I can't remember the last time I had a shower or anything to eat besides sticky rice. This is not how I planned to spend my summer--or end my life. If only we hadn't answered the door that rainy night in May . . .

Author Biography

Squat toilets, profuse sweating, bamboo huts, jumbo centipedes-these are just some of the delights Autumn Cornwell has encountered in her global travels. Not to mention the can't-believe-it's-true Laotian jungle adventure which inspired Carpe Diem.
A travel junkie, Autumn has explored 22 countries and counting. She's spent the last couple summers working with refugees and orphans in Burma, Thailand, and Laos. Southeast Asia remains close to her heart since her days as a missionary kid in New Papua-where she ate her weight in guavas and mingled with reformed headhunters and cannibals. Which was nothing compared to navigating the intrepid jungles of the TV & Film Industry, where she spent most of her career.
Autumn lives in Los Feliz, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, with her husband JC, and their son Dexter. Carpe Diem is her first novel.