When you were in high school, was there someone you wanted to be just like?

OK, fine. I wanted to be like Madonna. And then I wanted to be like Patti Lupone. Obviously, I have some sort of limelight complex. But, along these lines, I'm super excited for the recent release of fellow contemporary young author Kirsten Hubbard's debut novel LIKE MANDARIN. Here's the description of the book.

It's hard finding beauty in the badlands of Washokey, Wyoming, but 14-year-old Grace Carpenter knows it's not her mother's pageant obsessions, or the cowboy dances adored by her small-town classmates. True beauty is wild-girl Mandarin Ramey: 17, shameless and utterly carefree. Grace would give anything to be like Mandarin. When they're united for a project, they form an unlikely, explosive friendship, packed with nights spent skinny-dipping in the canal, liberating the town's animal-head trophies, and searching for someplace magic. Grace plays along when Mandarin suggests they run away together. Blame it on the crazy-making wildwinds plaguing their Badlands town. Because all too soon, Grace discovers Mandarin's unique beauty hides a girl who's troubled, broken, and even dangerous. And no matter how hard Grace fights to keep the magic, no friendship can withstand betrayal.

In Like Mandarin, 14-year-old Grace Carpenter would give anything to be like Mandarin Ramey. Mandarin is seventeen, self-assured, irreverent and mysterious; the notorious wild girl of their small Wyoming town.

Kirsten's book is likely to raise fascinating questions for readers and introspective ones too. Was there somebody you would have given anything to be like when you were a teenager? Maybe a sibling, relative, teacher, or even a celebrity.

Let me know who you wanted to be like and why!