BOOKS

There's nothing easy about losing someone you love.

Payton Brave knows that all too well. In Losing Brave by actress Bailee Madison and Stefne Miller, Payton can’t get over the disappearance of her sister, Dylan. The twins were crazy close...until one day Dylan is just gone. Payton was there the day Dylan vanished, but she can't remember a single detail about how it happened—in fact, she can't remember anything from the *entire* day...

A year later, Payton isn't quite over the loss. She's not acting like herself, and her reckless outbursts are starting to get her in trouble. Then, the body of another missing girl is recovered—and Payton’s memory of what happened to Dylan slowly starts coming back. She won’t stop until she figures out what happened that day—even if it costs her life.

We chatted with Bailee (aka our February/March cover girl!) about meeting Stefne, the inspo behind the intense thriller, crafting a family-friendly story—and much more...

On connecting with her co-author...
Bailee and Stefne Miller met the way a lot of people do these days: the internet! The actress DM’d Stefne on Twitter a few years ago to tell her she loved her books. “We became friends over social media and on the phone,” said Bailee. "Things just blossomed from there!" Long-distance relationships for the win.

On finding the spark for Losing Brave...
So when Bailee needed someone to revise the script of her 2016 flick Annabelle Hooper and the Ghosts of Nantucket, she didn't hesitate to call Stefne. Then, Stefne thought up something amazing: “She came to me one day after we wrapped and was like, ‘I have this idea, would you ever be willing to write a book?’” Bailee said. "I had always wanted to write a novel, so of course I said yes!"

On choosing a genre...
In case you couldn't tell from the plot of Losing Brave, Bailee is a huge fan of psychological thrillers. The co-authors wanted this page-turner to have the “suspense and drive” of the genre—but with a twist! "I thought: What if we were able to take the suspense and the drive of the psychological thriller and make it 100 percent family-friendly?" Bailee said. So they did just that!

On the struggles of writing...
One of the hardest parts of writing the book, according to Bailee? Revising. The editing process was “insane,” she says. But she wasn't alone. "Stefne and I would Skype, text and send each other notes and be on the phone. It was such an amazing, collaborative process."

On balancing it all...
Because Bailee is essentially Wonder Woman, she wrote the book while producing one movie and acting in another—and the hard work was worth it. "It feels surreal to say that I'm an author now. I'm so excited for everyone to read the book!"

You can grab a copy of Losing Brave online HERE and find it in bookstores everywhere now.

by Kira Barrett | 1/30/2018