'The Beautiful Between' Book Report: Judy Blume Angst In A 'Gossip Girl' Setting

In her day job at Random House, Alyssa Sheinmel spends a lot of time thinking about what's hot in children's and young-adult fiction. Maybe that's why for her debut novel, she avoided writing a trendy vampire story or a clique-y series. Instead, "The Beautiful Between," which came out on May 10, is a melancholy tale about a girl who may inhabit the same Upper East Side New York as the "Gossip Girl" set, but whose inner life is a whole lot deeper than Serena's or Blair's.

"My husband's big joke is that if only I could write a book with vampires in it, we would be rich," Sheinmel told us. "I don't follow trends as a reader or a writer. I tend to write just what I want to tell."

Connelly Sternin has lived alone with her emotionally distant mother since her father died when she was 2, and to cope with her desolation, she relates everything to fairy tales in her mind. Though she's no poor Cinderella at her fancy prep school, she is pretty shocked when the school's Prince Charming, Jeremy Cole, decides to befriend her. But he's not sweeping her off her feet, and he's not just using her for her brains as they study physics and SAT vocab together. He's looking for someone who understands what he's going through as his little sister suffers from leukemia.

Though Sheinmel said her biggest literary influence was "the fairy tales that I grew up with," the story of how Connelly and Jeremy's friendship thrives in the shadow of tragedy calls to mind Judy Blume's classic YA stories of the '80s.

"That's a huge compliment!" Sheinmel said of the Blume comparison. "I loved 'Tiger Eyes.' I thought that was the greatest book in the whole wide world. Her dad dies in that. He gets shot in front of her, and it's very tragic and horrible."

And because we thought Sheinmel wouldn't be entirely above adding a little bit of fantasy to her story, we invited her to do imagine her ideal cast for the movie version of her book. ("The Beautiful Between" hasn't been optioned for adaptation yet, but we think it's a good candidate.)

Connelly Sternin: "Connelly's name was inspired by one of my favorite actresses, Jennifer Connelly," Sheimel said, explaining that she'd bend space and time to cast a 16-year-old, "Labyrinth"-era version of the actress.

Jeremy Cole: "I'm actually going to go with a contemporary here: Steven R. McQueen," she said. "He plays Jeremy on 'The Vampire Diaries,' and I'm kind of obsessed with that show. Steven seems to have the perfect mix of gentle and adult, sweet and still cool for my Jeremy."

Kate Cole (Jeremy's sister): "I had to call a few friends for their input before my dad finally suggested a young Natalie Wood, precocious and blonde like she was in 'Miracle on 34th Street.' "

Connelly's grandmother: "In a perfect world, she'd be played by (a suitably older) Meryl Streep, who, of course, would steal the show."

Connelly's mother, Ellen: "She's silly but dignified, beautiful but still warm, strong and yet delicate," Sheinmel said. "Maybe they don't make them like that anymore, because I can only think of actresses like Katharine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn."

Head over to Book Fanatics for the next stop on Alyssa Sheinmel's blog tour!

Have you read "The Beautiful Between"? Share your fantasy casting ideas and your reviews here!

Tags Alyssa Sheinmel, Book Report, Jennifer Connelly, Meryl Streep, Steven R. McQueen, The Beautiful Between