Suzanne Young was originally thinking about writing a novel on ninja cheerleaders. Instead, she came up with a story about spying cheerleaders that catch cheating boyfriends in the act.
“I thought about problems I had in high school, like hunting down cheating boyfriends,” Young said. “But really I wrote a love story, and the spying came second.”
In The Naughty List, the secret Society of Smitten Kittens is a band of high school cheerleaders who provide evidence for girlfriends who think their significant other may be cheating on them.
“It’s kind of like Fight Club, you don’t tell anyone,” Young said.
The Smitten Kittens have their own coding system, and an anonymous form of communication with their clients to ensure their privacy. The suspecting girlfriends simply send a text message to a number, and the SOS drop off an unmarked envelope in their locker or at their house that proves if their boyfriend is cheating or innocent.
“It’s like a word-of-mouth type of organization,” Young said. “It’s a girl code of honor, just the guys don’t know about it, and the girls don’t tell the boys.”
And what happens when the head member of SOS, Tessa Crimson, finds her own boyfriend on the Naughty List? Well, you’ll have to read to find out.
The characters and stories aren’t based on the author’s own experiences—she never participated in a secret boyfriend-spying society. She does relate to the feelings of having your first boyfriend, and the insecurities that they could be cheating on you.
“You see all the evidence, and you don’t want to believe it,” Young said. “The parts [in the book] that were really sad, I was really sad when I wrote them. But I had a great time writing it. It was very therapeutic.”
Young, who was working and raising her children when she started the novel, used any free time she had to work on the book.
“When I first started, I was working at a school, so I would write in my car in the morning, during lunch then when I get home,” Young said. “Occasionally I would have my husband take the kids on the weekends, and I’d spend eight hours just typing.”
Now the author is able to write full time while her kids are at school, or she escapes to a hotel for a day or two for some quiet time. Sometimes she gets ideas during her day-to-day life that she has to write down before she forgets.
“When I drive, I have the best ideas,” Young said. “A few times I’d be stopped at a red light, and grab a notebook and write them down, or just write a text message to myself.”
The Naughty List, originally titled The Smitten Kittens, is the first book in The Naughty List series by Young. And despite the racy book covers, the content gets a G rating.
“They sent the book cover to my mother’s house” Young said. “She called me, and asked ‘What is this you sent me? Are you sending me porn?’ and I said that’s my book cover!”