I’m honored to be the guest blogger today on author Cynthia Leitich Smith’s fabulous blog “Cynsations.” Cynthia is a New York Times and Publishers Weekly best-selling author of YA Gothic fantasies, including Tantalize and Eternal, as well as several picture books for children. Here’s a teaser from my guest post about setting in YA novels, “Setting, Wherefore Art Thou?“: “We need setting in our stories. We need the richness that makes up setting, the sensual engagement that can only come from hearing the crunch of frosty grass under the protagonist’s bare feet, or feeling the sudden whispery kiss of a spider’s web dangling from the eaves. We’d just have a girl walking across a lawn and a creepy old house. Where’s the joy in that?” For my full take on setting, check out “Cynsations.” To learn more about the amazing Cynthia, go to CynthiaLeitichSmith.com.