When Bubby became more prominent in the story though, one of my beta-readers (who happens to be from Rhode Island) stepped up to the plate (heh!) and helped me relate pivotal moments in the narrative to legendary events in Red Sox history.

I initially tried to teach myself as much as possible about baseball and the Sox in particular. The other area of research had to do with the Red Sox. I’m kind of the anti-fashionista so I had to depend on a few teenage daughters in my household to advise me on that score. An unforgiveable email prank involving an elderly teacher forces 16-year-old Raina. Can she find the perfect match for her sister and get back on her good side, or will her tanking grades mean a second expulsion In her debut novel, Suri Rosen creates a comic and heartwarming story of one girl trying to find happiness for others, and redemption for herself. The date-gone-wrong scene in the park – the one with the Porta-potty – was a complete joy of letting my imagination run wild! I’ll also admit to doing some digging about fashion designers. I found that inventing them was too much fun.

First, I went online to get a taste of dates gone wrong – like how bad could a blind date really be? (It turns out pretty bad.) In the end though, I didn’t use any of the stories that I read on the Internet. I actually did a fair amount of research. What type of research was involved in writing in Playing with Matches? Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read Playing With Matches. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Research is often important, even for fiction writers. Playing With Matches - Ebook written by Suri Rosen. Sometimes the Curse of the Bambino is not just the Curse of the Bambino! Baseball became a language for them and a way for Bubby to subtly advise Raina without really advising her. As Bubby’s presence in subsequent drafts grew more important to the story, the Sox offered a whole added layer to her relationship with Raina.

The fact that she was surrounded by so many Yankees fans at Aunt Mira’s house just made her life more miserable. Raina was constantly being uprooted throughout her childhood because of her father’s work, so for her, the Red Sox had a deeper meaning – stability and a sense of home. No! I was just really intrigued by the idea of using baseball as a symbol and as a language.

Playing with Matches by Suri Rosen