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THE WATER AND THE WILD by K.E. Ormsbee tells the story of Lottie Fiske, a 12-year-old girl who enters a strange new world in an attempt to save her best friend’s life. Before Lottie sets out on her quest, she lives in a boardinghouse on Kemble Isle, a fictional island off the coast of New England. Lottie’s bedroom overlooks a green apple tree, which later proves very important to the story. But what might you find inside Lottie Fiske’s bedroom --- in particular, on her nightstand? And what do those objects say about her character? Find out in K.E.'s blog post, below, and be sure to check out her other stops along the tour, which you can find at the bottom of the page!

A college pamphlet
Lottie and her best friend Eliot are determined to make excellent grades and earn academic scholarships to colleges on the mainland. Lottie’s tired of her stuffy life on Kemble Isle. She wants to go places and do things on her own terms, far beyond the reach of her controlling guardian, Mrs. Yates. Though college might be six whole years away, Lottie’s already hard at work researching her options. 

A sweet-so-sour
Lottie’s favorite candy, sweet-so-sours, make your eyes water and turn your tongue crazy colors. She and Eliot regularly exchange sweet-so-sours --- especially when one of them is having a bad day. As Eliot reasons, “They give you something else to cry over. Your eyes start watering from the sour, not the bad, and you start to forget what was so awful in the first place.”

An English textbook
Since Lottie plans on getting a scholarship, she’s studying hard at Kemble School. This week, her textbook is bookmarked in a section on Irish poetry. Lottie is studying a poem by W.B. Yeats entitled “The Stolen Child.”

A jar of wilting clover
Lottie loves the outside world, and she believes her room would be very gloomy if there were no plants to liven it up. She saves up her money to spend on flowers and other plants to keep by her bedside. Trouble is, Lottie’s not very good at remembering to water her plants. As a result, they’re always in a state of drooping decay.

There you have it! A complete inventory of the items on Lottie Fiske’s nightstand. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading this top secret insider’s info, and if you want to learn more about Lottie Fiske, you can pick up a copy of THE WATER AND THE WILD, which is out now!

About K. E. Ormsbee

I was born and raised in the Bluegrass State. Then I went off and lived in places across the pond, like England and Spain, where I pretended I was a French ingénue. Just kidding! That only happened once. I also lived in some hotter nooks of the USA, like Birmingham, AL and Austin, TX. Now I'm back in Lexington, KY, where there is a Proper Autumn.

In my wild, early years, I taught English as a Foreign Language, interned with a film society and did a lot of irresponsible road tripping. My crowning achievement is that the back of my head was in an iPhone commercial, and people actually paid me money for it.

Nowadays, I teach piano lessons, play in a band you've never heard of and run races that I never win. I likes clothes from the 60s, music from the 70s and movies from the 80s. I still satiate my bone-deep wanderlust whenever I can.

THE WATER IN THE WILD blog tour stops