Alex Flinn interview at Not Your Mother's Bookclub.

From the interview:

What were your favourite books to read as a teenager?

I liked dark books like The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (but also Mario Puzo, Mary Higgins-Clark, and V.C. Andrews). As for YA, I read some M.E. Kerr, Paul Zindel, and Paula Danziger, but the only YA author I read a lot of of was Lois Duncan. The Hunchback of Notre Dame was my favorite book, though. The main character in my upcoming novel, Beastly, is obsessed with Quasimodo and other monstrous and/or deformed characters, and also reads Dorian Gray. This suited his personality (He is a beast himself), but I also hoped it might get other teens to pick up The Hunchback. I loved that so much as a teen because Victor Hugo's dismal worldview really meshed with my own at the time. I've been criticized for writing dark books (not Diva), but I think reading dark fiction can be validating for some teens. It was for me.

Arrrgh.  I don't know how I missed Diva -- it came out last OCTOBER!? 

Must find copy and read ASAP.