Merrill Wyatt: Hi, I am Merill Wyatt and I am the author of Tangled Up in Mayhem, which is the third book in the Tangled Up in Luck series. I was originally inspired just by various legends and stories around town of things that had happened, thefts that had occurred, occasionally murders that occurred even though there's no real murders in my book, but all those sorts of historical stories about things that happened in the past. I loved them and I always wanted to know, well, what happened? Okay, what happened long ago in these mysteries? And the truth of the matter is if a mystery is a hundred years old or even 50 years old, we're probably not going to find the answer to that. But I like that within the world of my books, I can actually do that for my characters.

And then finally, as far as the characters of Sloan and Amelia themselves, they just reminded me, honestly, of a lot of students that I've known over the years. I mean, at this point in time, I've had thousands upon thousands of students because I get different groups of students every 12 weeks. So with the character of Amelia, I like the fact that she is just this quirky weirdo who is herself. She's her authentic self. And that doesn't mean that she's not embarrassed or ashamed or, you know, made to feel bad about herself, but she still is just who she is. She's, you know, again, weird and quirky, and that's who she is, and she's going to be that person. And I see a lot of students who are like that, and, you know, they get teased as a result, as Amelia does as well. But there is still just a very brave core there, or at least a very stubborn core there that I really admire.

And then in the case of Sloan, Sloan is somebody who seems like she really has it together. She's on top of it. She's an athlete, she's popular, she's got her place. Other kids respect her. She seems like she's the golden child, but really on the inside, she is just dealing with massive amounts of anxiety. And once again, I think there's a lot of students who can relate to that as well, where people think that they're on it and maybe they are, but also that doesn't mean that they're not feeling vulnerable and unsure on the inside as well.

I definitely hope that my readers take away a sense of happiness and warmth and having been part of Sloan and Amelia's world, but then also taking from their experiences some self-confidence as well. To be able to look at characters like Sloan and Amelia, who in the first book really struggle with wanting to know how to be themselves, how to handle it when kids are mean to them, and figuring out ways to be a little more comfortable with themselves. And then also learning how to support each other in there as well. So the first book, they really do learn how to support each other as friends. And I think that that's something that we think people know how to do naturally, and we don't. So I'm hoping that some kids find some, I don't know, ways within there to try and be kinder to themselves and kinder to the people around them.

Then in the second book, there's a little bit more of a focus on each of the characters feeling comfortable within their family settings, and being comfortable in relation to the other people that they're related to, and once again, how to support themselves with that. And I would want my readers to take away that sense of, it's okay to not always know how to talk to your family members. It's okay to not always know how to relate to them, and yet you can still find ways in there to support each other all the same.

And then really in the final book in the series so far, it's a little bit more about Sloan and Amelia being more independent. And, I mean, their families are still present in there for anybody who's read the first two books because they have really weird families that are great to spend time with, and they're still present, but it's still a lot more about Sloan and Amelia learning to be independent. And that whole growth to be the teen years and especially the early teen years, are all about figuring out how do you separate yourself from your family, yet still connect with them in a loving way. And then how do you stand independently on your own.