Today we are very excited to share an interview with author L.S. Stratton!
Read on to learn more about the author, the book, and a giveaway!
Meet the Author: L.S. Stratton
L.S. Stratton currently lives in Maryland with her husband, their daughter, and their tuxedo cat, where she is already musing about her next standalone YA thriller.
About the Book: Sundown Girls
In the tradition of Jordan Peele and Tiffany Jackson’s The Weight of Blood, a YA thriller about a Black teen whose fight for survival forces a small southern vacation town to face its dark history of racial violence.
When sixteen-year-old Naomi Ward and her family head to a secluded cabin in the Shenandoah Valley for summer vacation they don’t know the small, mountain town of Sparksburg, Virginia has a dark and twisted past. But when they arrive, Naomi can’t shake the feeling that something about Sparksburg just isn’t right—and it smells god awful, but for some reason Naomi is the only who can smell the town’s stench. When she learns Sparksburg had once been a Sundown Town—a town where Black people weren’t allowed after sunset lest they be murdered—Naomi’s unease starts to make sense.
As Naomi digs more into Sparksburg’s violent origins, she finds herself haunted by the ghost of a girl, appearing nightly outside her window. Then she learns of two girls who’ve recently gone missing and suspects the past may still be present in Sparksburg and beneath the quaint façade of this tourist town is a palpable danger.
When Naomi decides to track the disappearance of the two girls herself, she becomes suspicious of a local man who has kindled fear in Naomi more than once. She soon learns he has a connection to one of the missing girls, and Naomi is certain he’s responsible for the disappearances.
When no one believes her, Naomi takes matters into her own hands. But to save the missing girls, she’ll have to finally face her own past trauma as a “missing girl” as she finds herself in a fight for survival.
Gripping and triumphant, L.S. Stratton tells an important and unforgettable story of racial reckoning inspired by historical events.
~Author Chat~
YABC: What inspired you to write this book?
I’d always wanted to write a novel about sundown towns, but I had to find the right entry point to the story. The right plot had to fall into place. When I developed the basic outline of Naomi’s story, she fit the theme I was searching for. I wanted a character who was tortured by her past—just like the fictional former sundown town of Sparksburg, Virginia, where the novel takes place.
YABC: What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?
I would say the “big twist” scene toward the end of the novel is the scene I’m most proud of. Every good mystery has a twist and sometimes, readers see it coming, but I don’t think most will see this one before it happens. I can’t go into much detail about it for obvious reasons, but It’s both shocking and heartbreaking. It also fits the theme of the book though.
YABC: Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
Patience and endurance in this industry are key. I’ve been traditionally published for over twenty years and honestly, I am just now starting to see some real positive movement in my writing career. Before that I was just slowly building my craft and audience, experimenting with different styles and genres and getting a greater understanding and comfort with my voice. Not everyone is going to be a huge success with their first book, second book, or even third. You’re going to get contracts and lose contracts. I’ve had to end series that I’ve loved when the sales were no longer there and start new ones. But I keep trying. I keep writing. I know my voice has a place and audience for it.
YABC: What do you like most about the cover of the book?
I love the colors in the cover for Sundown Girls. They’re so vibrant! I’d seen so many ghostly or paranormal YA covers that use lots of blue hues, and we had considered going in that direction. When you establish a trend with readers, the impulse is to stick with it so they have an idea of what the story is as soon as they see the book on a store or library shelf. But I thought the warmer tones of yellow, orange, red, and purple not only more accurately conveyed “sundown” but also fire which is a recurring symbol in the novel. The colors also grab your attention.
YABC: What is the main message or lesson you want your reader to remember from this book?
The message I hope readers remember is the only way we can move forward and heal is to acknowledge and atone for the past. It has to be done on a personal level. Naomi and her family figure that out during the course of the novel. And it has to be done on a national level. Rewriting history or outright forgetting it doesn’t make us better as a people or a nation. It just increases the risk of repeating the mistakes of our forefathers.
YABC: If you could collaborate with any other writer in history, who would it be?
I would have loved to collaborate with Edith Wharton. I love her wry tone and the insight into social nuisances that she shows in her novels. She also is a vivid storyteller.
YABC: What would you say is your superpower?
It’s probably tenacity. I’m too stubborn to give up completely. If one route doesn’t work, I’ll try another. If I feel like I just want to give up entirely, I’ll take a prolonged break and try again later. I know I’ll get there eventually. It doesn’t mean I don’t have moments of doubt or feel that something seems pointless, but I tell myself that I come from a people who couldn’t see the practical chance of victory but kept trying. Slavery. Jim Crow. They endured it all but still kept going.
YABC: How do you cope with criticism from editors or the public?
I’ll be honest . . . I take criticism from editors a lot more seriously than I do the general public. My editors know the story I’m trying to tell. Most acquired the book based on how much they loved the idea or manuscript. They’re paid to critique my work and give me constructive feedback. They’ve seen the outline and all the drafts. They know where I’ve started in the writing process and want to help me get to a successful conclusion to produce the best version of the book I want to write.
While I do want readers to like, enjoy, and understand my work—especially those who have read my books before—I’m not going through the same creative process with them as I do with my editors. Readers are evaluating the end product based on their personal tastes. But I didn’t write the book to cater to their personal tastes; I wrote what I wanted to write, and this is the result. With all that being said, if there is consistent criticism from readers about a particular book, I do give a lot more credence.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
My next book will be an adult thriller coming in 2027 that is tentatively titled, Good Morning, Luv. It’s a dual timeline novel. In the present, a woman named Adriana gets engaged but is still haunted by memories of her college fiance Lucas who died mysteriously the night of their proposal seven years before. When Adriana’s new fiance is also killed a mere week after his proposal, she starts to unearth buried memories of her past college years to figure out how the two men’s deaths are related and if she may also be in danger. The novel explores themes like the Me Too Movement, bro culture, and toxic masculinity.
I’m also working on my second YA novel. I love it so far. I’m hoping I can share more about it in the future.
Title: Sundown Girls
Author: L.S. Stratton
Release Date: January 27, 2026
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
ISBN-13: 9798217004942
Genre: Young Adult
Age Range: 12 and up
~ Giveaway Details ~
Three (3) winners will receive a copy of Sundown Girls (L.S. Stratton) ~US Only!
This sounds like a powerful read and I can’t wait.
I can’t wait to read this book!