Reviewer X

Steph & Office Supplies: A Love Story

2011-01-24T21:25:00.002-02:00

Somewhere on the other side of town, a young man by the name of Steph's Boyfriend is watching Supernatural. He's known to do pretty normal things from time to time, unlike his gal.

We're midway through a good scene, he's enjoying himself, rah-rah and then... THE PHONE RINGS.

STÉPHANIE flashes across the screen. It's an iPhone, so the screen is pretty awesome, but still, it's STÉPHANIE calling. He knows she's about to go 3000000000 miles an hour, so he sighs and answers. "Hel--"

"I FOUND MORE. I FOUND MORE!!!!! I'M BUYING MORE. THIS NEW DEBIT CARD HASN'T EVER SEEN THIS MUCH ACTION!"

"Yeah, it being new kinda does that..."

"THESE NOTEBOOKS ARE SO PRETTY I COULD CRY."

"How many total is that now?" I won't lie: he sounds tired. We've been having this convo for the past couple of days, ever since I discovered a store at the mall carries the exact brand of notebooks that I *love* and are pretty hard to find.

"SIX. PLUS THE MINIS. WHICH ARE FOUR. PLUS THAT OTHER AWESOME ONE I JUST LOVED AND BOUGHT."

"So...eleven new notebooks. You don't need that much paper..."

"THIS WAY I WON'T EVER NEED TO BUY NOTEBOOK AGAIN FOR LIKE, I DON'T KNOW, A COUPLE OF YEARS."

"You know you'll find the brand again next year before school starts and just buy 70 more, so I don't know whom you're trying to convince."

"CAN THIS BE MY ONE THING I SPEND RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS OF MONEY ON? I'M PRETTY FRUGAL ON THE WHOLE, SO I THINK I'M JUSTIFIED--"

"Pens, highlighters, actually, office supplies in general, ummm.... BOOKS, although one would NEVER KNOW THAT just by LOOKING AT YOUR ROOM, and then there's all the Converse, and--"

"BUZZKILL. YOU ARE SUCH A BUZZKILL. DAMN YOU. Okay, I'm next in line to pay, so bye bye bye, love you, bye."

(The caps are where I was fangirling out of control.)

-

Since then, I've had time to get back home and pile up the notebooks into the Mount Olympus of all paper-product goodness, admire them, and wish I could buy more.

Alas, my bank statement is singing to another tune. If I keep this up, no BEA, and I just can't do that. Too many reasons to go.

So, anyway, my recent FANGIRLING on Twitter let me in on this little secret: Book people are also Worshipers. It makes sense. So why not celebrate it?! This is one topic I could go on forever about, so I'm thinking ... I will. But first:

What's your favorite truly awesome/innovative/just plain weird-and/or-strange-and/or-cool office supplies (particularly post-it products and pens and highlighters; I'm kind of low on those)?

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

2010-12-26T01:39:00.006-02:00

It’s chapter one and you get Charlie’s funeral and, through Vera, a very startling image of this said individual and his habit of scribbling stuff down on paper, popping it in his mouth, and chewing it. See, he’s not exactly six feet under, at least not where Vera’s concerned: he’s haunting her. Vera, the best friend who’s always loved him, as-of-late hated him, and who lost him twice: once to Jenny Flick (which might have something to do with recent animosity…) and the second time to God, if you believe that sorta thing. Things weren’t very settled when he kicked the bucket, and now they’re even less so.

Because Vera witnessed something that changes the entire circumstances of his untimely demise. Something that exonerates him from the hideous actions directly preceding his death, actions attributed to him. She’s keeping it a secret for now—but he won’t let her forget it.

Did you know this novel sold at auction? Did you know that A LOT OF PUBLISHERS were involved in said auction? Did you know everyone wants a bit of A.S. King?

As much of a rarity as that, in and of itself, is in publishing, did you know it’s even rarer to find a gem of these proportions?

See, Ms King didn’t just spin a new weepy tale about a girl (just like you and me) coming to terms with her best friend’s death and growing as a person and blah blah blah. She created characters that came alive, situations that felt very much real, and did so in writing that is just quirkily poignant, poignantly quirky, seesawing between the two (trust me, there is a difference).

Aside from the superb narrative, we have these very realistic characters. There’s Vera, who comes alive in her vulnerable way, someone trying to do the right thing but finding fault lines along the way and lapsing in judgment like any human being. There are her next-door neighbors—the man who’s just TERRIBLE and I’ll tell you what, we would struggle to find a human being more petty than he is. There’s the pizza delivery technician gig that serves as a base for a lot of anecdotal moments.

There are flow charts!!

Most importantly, there’s how Ms King handled the grief. Charlie, in his haunting, is present to us and we can see how tragic these two were—how they made such terrible mistakes that, because of what happened, can never be fixed, which makes them even worse.

And then there are a whole lot of other surprises. It’s kind of hard to account for it all and still be done in time for…well, the rest of life, I suppose (it’s a hyperbole! I’m quite hyper trying to cram all this detail in here to make you want to read this!), so I’ll leave you to it.

The one thing I was not very fond of was the whole James fiasco. I thought the novel was strong enough without it, and the way things worked out in the end… But, ya know, that’s a personal quibble.

Still, it’s…

Smart!

Wonderful!

Fantastic!

A fangirling sort of novel!

And yes, A.S. King is a friend. Yup, she is, she is. Just when you think you know the meaning of awesome, she goes and reinvents it. She’s an amazing person and I won’t keep the fact I think of her as such a secret. If I didn’t love her book I wouldn’t be reviewing it because a) that’s not what she deserves, b) I’m not like that (take my word for it, or check through two years’ worth of archives) and c) this is not what this space is about. I feel confident enough about that to post this very positive review of her work. Especially since there’s the fact she’s been doing this, oh, for almost two decades, her books are all going into auctions, and—oh yeah—she has like a gazillion stars for this one (count ’em—Kirkus, Booklist, Publishers Weekly…). Also, ELLEN HOPKINS blurbed it.

So, yes, A.S. King is certified in that she ROCKS.

Knopf (Random House) | October 12th, 2010, | 326 pages | GoodReads | IndieBound | Book Depository | Amazon
(Source: the author)

Honesty + Publishing; Or, Have You Ever Lied to Protect Your Reputation?

2010-12-19T04:54:00.011-02:00

Miranda Kenneally, author of SCORE (Sourcebooks, 2011) posted this today: Walking on Eggshells in Publishing. ALL the Time.

She talks about fearing putting her name to an opinion because it might have a negative impact on her reputation.

That got me thinking, "So, if you get your book deal, that automatically means you keep your mouth shut so as not to offend anyone. Keep your eye on the ball."

Then I thought, "But wait, what about before that? When you're hoping to sign with an agent? Wouldn't you worry about offending one of them if you disliked something by one of their clients?"

I'm not saying any of these concerns are valid and would result in you not getting an offer you might've gotten otherwise. I can't see an agent being that fanciful, especially if your book has HUGE commercial appeal. (Business standpoint.)

But--well, that's something I'd worry about, because if I were querying, I would be obsessive and do everything down to the very last detail to ensure I didn't turn away an agent for some foolish reason.

And all of this just got me thinking how this can apply to anyone in publishing, not just authors. What about me? I think I might want a career in editorial or agenting some day. While I have never, EVER, and would never post a positive review for a book I hated just to please someone, I confess to holding back a couple of negative reviews because I know the agent or something.

Once, I posted a negative review of a book by an author I really admired and, against what I knew was right, I took it down. She was hurt and we haven't talked since, and that sucked.

The truth is, sometimes posting a negative review just isn't worth it. (Which, again, doesn't mean I change the rating, it means I don't review the book at all or give any public opinion on it.) And it's something to think about if you have a personal interest in the business. How honest can you afford to be?

I'm having second thoughts on publishing this because I don't want people to question my integrity. This is tricky. Oh, well, I'll just hope people take my word for it.

Anyway! I think Ms. Kenneally did a wonderful job of talking about her experience and opening up the discussion about the state of things. If you have any thoughts about this - is it right, is it wrong - please go over there. I don't want to hog the responses she would have gotten from that. My goal with this post is actually a bit of a followup...I want to hear about people who've found themselves in this situation and what happened. To sum it up: opinions, go here. Experiences, that's what I'm interested in!

Have you, a publishing hopeful, a writer (publishing or not), an intern, a professional, a blogger, ever found yourself in a situation where your opinion would be compromising? What did you do? Lie? And if not, how did it work out? Tarnished reputation or just nothing really happened? This can be about anything, not just your opinions on certain books. Regardless, I would love to get a sense of how common this actually is.

Feel free to post anonymously, because honestly, if that's the only way people will be honest, THIS BLOGGER doesn't blame you, judge you, or even really care - I get you. I care about the experience, not the name attached to it.

Not sure if I'll get any responses, but it's worth the try!

ETA: This ETA is like five minutes after I posted. I just want to clarify something before it comes back to bite me in the ass. Just because you know I've read your book and didn't review doesn't mean I hated it and don't want to come out and say so. There are a multitude of reasons I don't review certain books, and the main ones are: I don't think I can write a good enough review because I don't have all that many thoughts about the work, or I can't articulate them; I don't see a reason to review it; I read it just for fun; I tweeted about it and feel that's enough; and, this is the biggest one, I don't review every book I read as a rule, because it would severely cut into my schedule. There's only been one -- maybe two, but no more -- book I've withheld posting a review for because of, well, publishing politics. If you don't see a review for your book it is most likely because I haven't read it, though, as my TBR pile is just huge.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

2010-12-17T23:42:00.003-02:00

Oh!! This one is a fun one. Yes, yes, it is!

First off, if you’re anything like me, you wrote this book off based on the title and cover. Still not sure why Dutton decided to err to the side of bland/not special/sorta stereotypical instead of appealing to us, fabulous, smart readers this book just YEARNS for. So what I’m asking you to do is to put it back on your holiday shopping list. You NEED this book. It is SPARKLY. (Although I promise you’ll get something more substantive than that in just a sec.)

Anna’s bestselling author of commercial fiction father decides he needs to look more cultured to the world at large, so he forces a year of The School of America in Paris down her throat. Yes, forces. Unlike you, me, and pretty much every other girl in the planet, Anna isn’t sure about this. Not when her crush has the potential to be something more. Not when she has a fantastic job. Not when she’s got friends. Think about it. Would you want to spend a year abroad in a place where you don’t speak the language, when everything in your life is going perfectly?

That’s right about where she was. But no matter—she’s being forced, remember?

So when she gets there and bawls her eyes out when her parents leave her at SOAP (love this), a girl knocks on her door and is pretty nice and awesome and that’s Meredith for you. (Couldn’t help thinking of The Office Meredith every time. Not a good picture.) She quickly finds herself situated in Meredith’s group of friends—wherein a guy named St. Clair is also located.

Three inches shorter than her and possibly all the more charismatic for it, St. Clair is just…wow. And that’s when the plot thickens. Because although her heart races, and although it’s obviously something special, and although THEY. ARE. SO. PERFECT. FOR. EACH. OTHER--

He has a girlfriend. She has a love interest back in the States. Neither wants to rock the boat, and neither wants to let go.

All this is the makings for my third favorite romance book ever (behind these two). Now we’ll get to the why.

You know how we’re always talking about how YA books have that tendency to make love based on looks pass off as something normal, or love based on the author’s insistence that love exists even when it clearly doesn’t, or some weird mixture of the two? You know how it’s almost always said too soon or without reason?

Guys. Their friendship is just—wow. You know? Think that person you just connected with. Think the closest thing to a soul connection. Now imagine that coming off the page so strongly, imagine it seems like they’re your friends and you’re the third wheel.

And here’s the hallelujah for friends first.

I loved how this novel handled things. Honestly, it’s truly and divinely romantic, in a subtle way that goes about without trying to acknowledge itself. This is just the best sort of feel-good book that inspires you and makes your heart long for the feelings it brings, so much so that it aches. I couldn’t get it out of my head—not St. Clair, not Anna, and not their story, which is meritorious of all the praise for it’s received.

If you like romance, if you like contemporary, if you’ve lost your faith in love in books, then this one’s for you.

And here’s a bonus reason to check out the book: Anna’s father is totally Nicholas Sparks and Ms. Perkins did something REALLY clever there, which, if you disliked this interview as much as I did, you’ll appreciate.

Also—Stephanie! Namesake! And Perkins! As in perk-ins!

I love a good name.

Anyway, A.

Who’s waiting for Lola and the Boy Next Door?! You gotta love Julie Strauss-Gabel’s (the editor) taste in books. The woman never fails.

Dutton Dec 2, 2010 372 pages IndieBound GoodReads Author Website (No excerpt!)
Source: Bought (Kindle eBook)

Yeah, maybe I'm not totally back yet.

2010-09-21T18:08:00.002-03:00

**this is interesting for those who don't understand me when I say the uni admissions system in Brazil is so much different than in the US**

Current schedule for Steph:

Get up at six.
School at 7:30.
7:30-1:10 - six fifty period classes, with four five minute breaks and one twenty minute one.
1:10-2:00 lunch
2:00-4ish, some afterschool class, although not always, and the time varies
4:30 - get home
Study until 11:30 or midnight or maybe later.

Hoping to get into uni (we do entrance exams here, your hs transcripts have no value whatsoever - it's all test scores) this year. If not, next year will be revision all over again and that sucks. I want to go straight into university from hs (this is my last year and I graduate in Dec).

For those that are more interested, the program for the university I really want to get in is:

First phase: Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Math, Geography, History, Sociology, Philosophy, and Art History.
Detail: While theoretically Phil and Soc are classes I have, we don't have any actual classes - just some leaflets (horrible stuff) and a test every quarter. So now I'm reading about Plato and Kant and Hume and Habermas and Descartes and Locke (not too deeply, it's not SUPER in-depth in the exam, but still, it's a lot given everything else) and I haven't even touched Sociology.
Detail x2: Art History was a class I had on my sophomore year. Don't remember much of it. Have to go back to the prehistoric times and work my way up. Not fun.

First phase is the same for everyone. In the major I'm trying to test in for, Medicine (which is an undergrad course that lasts six years here), it's 54 people per spot & only 10% of applicants make it past the first phase. I should've begun studying in the beginning of the year, but put it off and now I'm struggling to make sense of everything, but by god, I am doing my best.

Second phase: Med = 5 people per spot
Portuguese Lit and language arts, English, Chemistry and Bio (for people who want biology-related majors, like pharmacy, biomedicine, etc - each major group has its set of second phase subjects) + an essay

Oh boy.

This is a school in the south of Brazil so all their lit is different than the southeast, where I live. That means I'm also reading 9 books on their list, four of which are poetry collections, and a lot of which were written in like the 1600s and onwards. BUT! If you're a movie buff & you know Cidade de Deus (City of God), that's one of the contemporary books I'm reading. Cool.

Please wish me luck! I need it. Medicine is the most competitive major and thankfully math and physics are not predominant on the first phase, and disappear completely after that, so that helps. I need 70% to move to the second, and around 80% in the second to make it, and I think I can do it. But I need those 37908923874-hour study days, so I can't be doing much else.

This is a lesson to those of you who procrastinate. I wish I hadn't. I would be so much more chill now, and I would be so much more sure I could pass. My parents, boyfriend and best friend think I can still do it, but they're biased, eh?

So this is why I've disappeared. That and some other secret-ish stuff.

But I do plan on posting when I can! If anyone's still here, I mean.

It could always be worse.

2010-09-07T23:56:00.001-03:00

http://oinks.squeetus.com/2010/09/another-milestone-in-the-marathon.html

That is such a beautiful way of looking at things. Ah, if only more
people (myself included) could think gracefully about the sucky
situations and remember that, the title thought, maybe the world
wouldn't have so many sucky situations in the first place.

"I dare you to steal my book."

2010-09-05T13:49:00.002-03:00

Why, yes, Ms. King did go there. A blog post about having your book pirated and your effort made valueless by selfish people.

And I never noticed how "Miss King" is kind of an...oxymoron of sorts. You're awesome in all sorts of ways, Amy!

So, Agatha Christie

2010-09-01T00:31:00.003-03:00

I have a father who doesn’t share much about himself. They—father and mother—divided their work as such: big picture (him), details (her). He gives lectures, grounds us, does that sort of thing when there need be an intervention. Otherwise? He’s the one who works more and who handles more stress at work, leaving home stress to be handled by my mother, who also works, but not as much as him. (She’s full-time, he’s mega-time.) I love my father, but I don’t know much about him—about his childhood, etc. He just doesn’t share. So how ever do we bond?

Books. (Just when you think you’re running out of reasons why books are great…!)

We read Agatha Christie. And other authors, but mostly Agatha. We even have a routine for acquiring the titles, which consists of exchanging emails until we reach an agreement.

So, I thought I’d share some about Agatha Christie for YA readers who’ve never heard of/read her.

You’ll see her work go into free domain in your lifetime, that’s how old some of it is (1920s!). Glasses are referred to as “Pince-nez”. A sleeping aid is “Veronal”. You can tell the work is not recent, but it’s not dated—it’s chic.

God, I love it.

See, Ms. Christie didn’t write particularly well. But she was a hell of a storyteller. Sure, there are some less-than-stellar titles in her half-a-century-long career, but that’s to be expected. And even those are pretty enjoyable if you’re in the mood. Now, when she strikes the right note, though… WOW, there are some great mysteries in there.

In fact, yeah, her forte is her plotting. There’ve been very few books I have been able to guess the perpetrator, and I’m usually quite good at reader-sleuthing. She always picks the person you least expect it to be.

Now, what I truly love is how dramatic some of her work is. A mystery involving actresses, theater and deep, dark secrets, set in the 30s or so, with that kind of dialogue and so many, from our futuristic hindsight, charming timely references.

Also—a lot of the titles come from nursery rhymes. I love that.

In short, it is not hard to see why she has sold so many books. Even now, 84 years after her first published work.

If you’re looking for a place to start, here are some recommendations:

Five Little Pigs Lord Edgware Dies
And these two are hailed as her best, although I haven’t read them yet: Death on the Nile and And Then There Were None

Feel free to leave thoughts below and say what your favorites are if you’ve read them!

Contest Winners!

2010-08-29T23:06:00.003-03:00

Winners for:

The Absolute Value of -1 by Steve Brezenoff

Jonathan Arnston & Liviania

Tell Me A Secret by Holly Cupala

~The Book Pixie & Jenna

You have all been emailed. Congratulations, and thanks to everyone for participating!

Help me with Kindle selection!

2010-08-27T15:35:00.003-03:00

Ahh, so my boyfriend, proving as always to be a world-class Steph expert is getting me a Kindle for our one-year anniversary. Which, for those of you who know, happened two months ago but he wanted to get me the new generation so he asked for an extension. We're not big gifts people so I didn't feel like I missed much... And then I found out he was getting me a KINDLE. AH!

BUT. Since there's the white option, and the graphite option, I have no idea which one to choose. He also knows this. He says graphite. My brother says white.

I'm so indecisive that I'm going to defer this to you. Help! There's a poll below so feed readers, please join in!

poll by twiigs.com

For those who haven't seen the new Kindle, click here!

Book Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (NO SPOILERS!)

2010-08-25T01:36:00.011-03:00

This novel...

THIS. NOVEL.

Is…epic.

It’s epic in the way that makes you feel different, like you’ve aged, and tired, like you’ve trekked down a single road with no end in sight, and accomplished, like it’s made a ripple in you, affected you in some way. It makes you feel.

I came out of it not exactly crying, but kind of heaving a bit. The urge to cry was there, though. I just couldn’t make any tears come about. It hit me in a way that’s never happened before, like a huge emotional blow but not hugely emotional.

In The Hunger Games, Mrs. Collins creates a world we’re all captivated by, populated with characters we either love or hate, it doesn’t matter, so long as it’s clear that we clearly care.

In Catching Fire, she keeps us on our toes, pulls the rug from under us, and ends in a high note.

In Mockingjay, she recreates that world. She gives us more access to it. She spares no gruesome detail, makes not one thing neat, cuts no corners. She reshapes the characters, making them deeper and messier and more human. She breaks our heart, tugs at the strings of our imagination, makes it impossible for this world to not come alive.

She’s pushed the boundaries yet again here, and I am sure this will be hailed as one of the best series YA has to offer.

Mockingjay feels different from the other two. I’m immensely pleased with it, and yet it was not at all what I was expecting. I was expecting something a little more…straightforward. Not that the previous two are straightforward in a linear way (not so), but they’re usually more earnest. This one’s careful, calculating. More mature in a way. Nothing’s light, nothing is inconsequential.

It also demanded my attention in a different way. I wasn’t reading for the action in and of itself, although that’s always a great motivator and there was plenty of that; I was reading because it was impossible not to. As I said on my Twitter, I love this, but not in a squealy and fangirly way. In a deeper way.

I’m not sure if I’ve said anything here, anything that entices anyone to read, as if there are many people at least in the blogging community who haven’t read it yet, but…there’s really not much to say. It’s useless trying to sell someone this book with an enticing summary because if you’ve come this far in the series, you’ll want to know what happens, and if you haven’t, you really should.

It is a GREAT read. It is a MONUMENTAL read. This is an example of how a novel can have a great ending without selling out, or making things too bright, or being stale to not cause waves. It’s an incredible example of an author whose imagination and whose work exceed her grasp. Who creates something so…wondrous.

Really, I’m in awe. This is a fucking powerful piece of work. Unexpected, breathtaking, hilarious, heart-wrenching, all the while graceful. Sometimes you get lucky to come across something like this.

Well, well, VERY well done, Mrs. Collins. And thank you, for a time well-spent, in a world I will be sure to revisit and, as much as I want to keep it to myself, will end up giving one-way tickets to, to anyone I can get to. Once in...never out. ;)

A. Easy. Five stars. 10 out of 10.

Scholastic | 400 pages | August 24th, 2010 | GoodReads | IndieBound | Amazon

So wrong it's...still wrong.

2010-08-24T20:54:00.002-03:00

I got a Kindle app on my boyfriend's iPhone and I was all excited about getting to read books for relatively cheap (compared to the prices we get here, it's a godsend) and I search for "young adult romance" with the results sorted with price: low to high in the Kindle portion of Amazon and you know what I get?

THIS.

I wouldn't pay a cent to read that first novel. No, I would not.

Back to searching. Also, reading Mockingjay (also with the Kindle app -- ahh, don't have to wait up to six weeks to get it! Got it this morning!

I'm gonna splurge on an iPhone. But...which one?

2010-08-21T11:42:00.003-03:00

A brief history of my cell phones:

First one was icky but cheap & I was a satisfied 11-year-old with a phone. Text messaging! AH!

Second one was when we moved to Brazil. Also icky, but hey, I didn't much care. It crashed and burned a year later.

Third phone lasted six months because I knocked it off the bathroom sink and into the toilet while blow drying my hair. I melted it trying to blow dry it. I BROKE A NOKIA. HOW?

Fourth phone was a gift from my brother-in-law (married to my sister), a phone he tried to give my sister but she declared it "too complicated" for her to use. It was a nicer-than-I-was-used-to Nokia, but it doesn't do much of anything.

I really want a nice phone. I'm 17, have my own savings, so I figured I might as well get what I want. Now...I don't know what I want! Which is where bloggers come in.

Since I'm international, I have to buy the iPhone at much different rates than US users. Here are the prices:

32gb 3GS = USD $420
16gb 4G = USD $750

I can afford either (been saving for a looong time), but I figured I should ask people who actually have one. Is the 4G so good it justifies the price? I have read the comparisons online but also "so and so tech spec is better by 40%" doesn't mean much to me. I'm talking about user experience. Which do you guys recommend?

Contest: Tell Me A Secret

2010-08-20T10:00:00.003-03:00

Tell me a secret, and I'll tell you one...

In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda’s death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister’s world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own.

Then two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst fears. Stripped of her former life, Miranda must make a choice with tremendous consequences and finally face her sister’s demons and her own.

Yesterday, you read Holly Cupala's Pub Story. Today, you get to throw your name in to win her book. I've got two copies available.

How to Enter
Simply comment with your email address. One entry per person.

Extras
+ 1 if you link to this contest
++ 1 if you also link to Holly's Pub Story when you link to the contest

Specs
US only. You have until the 27th to enter. Go go go!

Contest over. Winners announced here.

Pub Story: Holly Cupala

2010-08-19T10:00:00.002-03:00

Author guest blogs + publication paths = Pub Stories. It's an awesome thing. Click here for more info (esp. if you're an author wanting to participate). Click here for a list of all participants.

About Holly: Holly Cupala wrote teen romance novels before she ever actually experienced teen romance. When she did, it became all about tragic poetry and slightly less tragic novels. When she isn't writing and contributing to readergirlz, she spends time with her husband and daughter in Seattle, Washington. These days, her writing is less about tragedy and more about hope. TELL ME A SECRET is her first novel. Ten percent of the author's proceeds go toward World Vision's Hope for Sexually Exploited Girls.

The Pub Story:

I pretty much did everything you’re supposed to do when you want to be published—joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), took classes, formed writing groups, went to conferences and timidly offered up my pages for critique…

That is, until life dealt my writing path a fatal blow.

Up until that point, I’d been writing picture book manuscripts (horrid ones), craft articles, short stories, and had started a half-decent middle grade novel. I had a story in a Chicken Soup book and more stories on the way. And yet, I couldn’t write another word.

One devastating loss changed everything. Suddenly my writing seemed meaningless. I never
picked that novel back up, and I might not have ever written again if it hadn’t been for several key events.

A few months after, I attended an SCBWI conference, surrounded by encouraging friends.
We went to hear Libba Bray speak on shutting off your brain and getting to the heart of your writing…and suddenly there it was. The entire story raced through my mind like a movie trailer.

I knew I had to write it.

But I had no idea how. Delving into Miranda’s story of secrets and sister loss meant exposing sadness and difficult relationships, to break through to hope and even healing. I tackled it…one sentence at a time.

When I won an SCBWI Work-In-Progress Grant from Judy Blume, it was a signpost—I wasn’t totally wasting my time and babysitting money! (By then we had a second daughter, happy and healthy.) Not only that, it was an open doorway…but one with an expiration date. So I doubled my efforts to finish the novel in time for a NY conference.

I didn’t quite make it, but I did make a lot of excellent contacts, and people were buzzing about the book. So I finished as fast as I could! I’d met a few agents up to that point and had come to the conclusion I should find one, so I started my search in earnest—the grant opened a lot of doors (or at least emails!), and at one point I had five or six agents looking at the full.

That’s when I met my agent, Edward Necarsulmer, Children’s Director at McIntosh and Otis, at another SCBWI event. I read my first 500 words, and he said, “W-w-w-wow.” (Which totally wowed me!) A few weeks later, both he and another agent made offers. But Edward and I had completely hit it off—plus he was really passionate about the story (which didn’t stop him from telling me it needed revision).

We spent three months getting it ready to go, and immediately he sold it in a pre-empt to our top choice!

It’s really surreal, for people to be reading a story so close to my heart, but the response has been kind of amazing. Over and over, readers tell me how emotionally invested they are in Miranda’s story (that, and they stay up into the wee hours reading it!). I’m pretty grateful, actually—that something so hard could become so hopeful. I’m thankful for all of you.

And thank you, Steph, for inviting me to Reviewer X!
-
Are you kidding me? Thanks to Holly for this great guest blog!

Oh, Texas.

2010-08-17T19:27:00.001-03:00

I used to live in Texas and while I adored my time there, this doesn't make me want to go back. Not at all. $*(^Y*& censorship.

Contest: Signed ALONG FOR THE RIDE by Sarah Dessen

2010-08-17T19:05:00.003-03:00

Sarah Says

A lot of people were surprised when it was announced that I’d have a new book coming out in Summer 2009, only a year after my last novel, Lock and Key. I can relate. It was kind of a shock to me, as well.

I wrote Lock and Key while I was pregnant, and edited it in the last few months before my daughter was born. Writing and editing is never that easy for me, and when you factor in the hormones and all the other fun stuff that comes along with carrying a baby, it was quite a wild ride. Suffice to say, I was more than ready to take a big, long break from writing to focus on being a mom. Or so I thought.

About three months after she was born, though, this idea started to come to me, bubbling up in my sleep-deprived mind. I was up at all hours, feeding the baby, trying to sleep or trying to stay awake, and it got me thinking about the night, and how it can seem so long or so short, depending on what you have waiting for you in the morning. I’d look out my window at three or four a.m.—times I was never coherent before motherhood—see a light on in the distance, and wonder who else was up, and why. There was a whole other world at night, one I’d been completely unaware of, and it made me start thinking about the people who chose to live in it, and how they found themselves there. That’s where Auden’s story began.

Some books are incredibly hard to write. Most are, actually. But this one, for me, was a little escape once in a while, and I was more grateful for it than I expected. I wrote Along for the Ride in my daughter’s room, while she slept downstairs, and in the guestroom, while she babbled to the babysitter. I stole half hours here, afternoons there, taking what I could get and using it to get more, and then more, on the page. And when I got stuck, I’d often look out the window and see one of my husband’s friends go zooming by on a bike, taking flight on one of the dirt jumps in my backyard. It was a crazy and chaotic way to write a book, and not at all the kind of structured, methodical approach I’d always used before. And you know what? Somehow, it just worked.

So I might be surprised to find myself here, with a new novel, so soon after the last one. But more than anything, I am grateful. This is the story I was clearly ready to tell. I can’t wait for you to hear it.

Special Stuff

* My review for Along for the Ride (liked this one!)

* The community and the summer promo promo put together by Penguin to celebrate a Summer of Sarah. Go on Sarah-Land (http://sarah-land.ning.com) in order discuss Sarah's book, enter contests to win signed books, Lock & Key necklaces and other goodies! It's all sorts of fun for people who just love Sarah.

* Another chance to win Along for the Ride (this time on Sarah-Land)

* For people who want to know more about the town of Colby, where Sarah's books are set when they're not set in Lakeview, check out Sarah's video on it.

* A cool badge like the one below to add to your websites - click here to make your own!

Visit Sarah-land

Giveaway Rules

To enter this giveaway, please leave a comment answering one of the following questions (just one is enough!):

What was your favorite Sarah Dessen novel & why?

Who is your favorite Dessen character & why?

If you've never read a Sarah book (what!!), tell us how the heck did you manage that!

Extras:
+ 1 if you link to this contest (if you tweet, use #sarahland)
++1 if you link to the contest up on Sarah-Land when you link to mine (located here)
+ 1 if you join/already are a member of Sarah-Land
+ 1 if you link to Sarah-Land

Please leave as many comments as you have entries. Like, for example, if you enter and then do three extras, that's 1 + 3 = 4 comments.

US only. You have until the 31st to enter! Good luck!

The Glass Maker's Daughter by V. Briceland

2010-08-16T10:00:00.002-03:00

This book has been listed as “currently-reading” on my GoodReads for well over a year, but I assure you it’s not because it’s so sinfully atrocious it can only be digested between well spaced intervals.

Rather, it’s because I’m a freak who can’t smell the awesome sitting on her nightstand for a whole freaking year. But--whatever, I could go on about this forever.

Anyway!

In Cassaforte, this little, medieval piece of the world unlike any other, magic abounds. The hierarchical society is divided into a king; seven royal craftsmen families who’re each specialized in a trade (ship building, glass making, book making, to name a few) and able to manipulate magic to enhance their creations; thirty socialite families who standby to become a member of the Seven should one of them fail to perform the rite of fealty; and the common folk. The rite of fealty is a daily tradition that pledges the Seven’s loyalty to the king and to the binding powers of Cassaforte, thereby keeping each family’s magic intact.

Our third-person journey with main character Risa Divetri, the youngest daughter of the glass makers, begins just as she’s about to participate in the Scrutiny, an event in which the children between the ages of eleven and sixteen of the noble families are picked by one of the two gods of Cassaforte to be interned at their respective insulas (universities). There, they learn to practice their family’s magic.

Just as it’s Risa’s turn to be chosen, both the god and the goddess tell her she’s not needed at either insula. And just like that, the unprecedented happens: Risa is left unchosen and, in her eyes and in the eyes of society, worthless. Her glass making is too different from her family’s and without the ability to enchant it, she might as well be an invalid. She resigns to cursing the gods and not knowing quite what to make of herself…until the old king dies and whispers of corruption emergent from the prince threaten the royal families and the integrity of Cassaforte. Then Risa realizes the gods may have had something else planned for her, and goes on to kick some serious ass.

Ah, where to begin, where to begin! This one is not without its faults, to be sure, but there’s just so much to love. I guess I should begin with the structure of the society and the world created herein. I thought the lay of the society was très interesting: the Seven and the Thirty are regarded as snobby, socialite families who look down upon everyone else. But as Risa explains the guards who come to safeguard her during times of peril, the Seven are craftsmen and too busy perfecting their art to be occupying themselves with the crap the Thirty do. I thought that was genius, creating a place where the royals actually do something.

Also, the concept of magic! I can’t really explain without spoiling it, but let’s just say it’s unique. The families each use enchantments to make their products cutting edge--the Divetri’s glass windows can’t be destroyed; the Catarre’s books need only be read once and you’ll know them by heart. As you get deeper into the novel, you learn about its secondary uses and the logic behind it all--well, it's nothing short of creative.

Risa is (really) hard to swallow at times, what with her whining and failing to see the big picture, but I came out appreciating what all she did. Like I said, she kicks some serious ass and she’s a strong heroine for all she withstood and all she accomplished not long after her world collapsed. What's interesting is, I didn’t connect with her, or with the supporting characters, at first, and I was already picturing my review: "The novel starts with the ball already rolling, but the characters are to be looked at, observed, but not felt or sympathized with." But as the novel progressed and the plot began moving… Let’s just say I learned to appreciate the many endearing members of the cast that, while not deep enough to classify this as a character study, could carry the plot and do it with flair. Oh, and Milo, a guard sent to protect Risa. He’d fill up a review all by himself--I just loved him.

And the plot had so many HEART moments. Some have called it predictable, and while I could see some things coming, there were just as many I couldn’t. I thought it was quite well thought out and, aside from being action packed and taking you places you didn’t quite expect, it also had this HUGE end twist at the end that changed my opinion of the novel from “liking” to “great”.

Two remarkable plot things: at one time, Risa is saved by Milo and his sister, another guard, when they use sword-fighting techniques they read about in a Catarre book. We should memo this to the #waysreadingsaveslives committee.

ALSO. There’s a subplot of romance between Risa and Milo and it culminates in a library. JUST SAYING.

So! I did come out with some minor questions, but this novel is just, to me, uninitiated fantasy reader and medieval kingdom enthusiast, great. I feel like I struck gold, actually. What a gem of a novel! There’s just enough fantasy, just enough plot, just enough spirit--in short, more than enough to make you fall in love.

B.

ETA: It is part of a series! The second book is out! I AM SO GONNA FIND OUT HOW TO GET THAT.

Flux | April 1st, 2009 | 320 pages | GoodReads | IndieBound | Amazon | Author Website / Blog | Excerpt

YA Fantasy Showdown

2010-08-15T21:12:00.002-03:00

Oh, but this is awesome.

It started on 10th, and I'm only posting about this now because my email out-black-holes every other black hole in outer space. Here's what the ever patient Heather Zundel, from www.thesecretadventuresofwritergirl.blogspot.com, the person behind all of this, had to say about this event:

Something is going down. Something big.

How would you like to see Edward duke it out against Hermione? Or Katniss and Katsa? Well, guess what? You can, in the first ever YA Fantasy Showdown. In celebration of Suzanne Collin’s final book in the Hunger Games trilogy, a group of bloggers are pitting some of the best-known characters in YA in the ultimate showdown. And you get to pick the winner.

That’s right. You read the battles, evaluate the characters, and vote for who has the honor of moving on to the next round. It’s a tournament like you’ve never seen before (because there’s more). The authors have been asked to participate and advocate their character in writing their own version of the battle. It’s going to be truly epic. Or at least a good way to pass the time until Mockingjay comes out. It all goes down August 10th.

Link: http://yafantasyshowdown.weebly.com/

And it seems that the first phase is out of the way and there are a bunch of sparkly winners, so...go!

Ooooh, Mockingjay leak...

2010-08-14T15:16:00.003-03:00

ETA 08/25/2010: since this still seems to be getting traffic: book review over here.

I guess this is to be expected with a release this big, but it still comes out as a big controversy. For those who don't know, Andrew Sims of MuggleNet.com somehow got his hands on a copy of Mockingjay this past week. He tweeted about it. He posted a picture of it (the one you see above). How did his get it? Scholastic has no idea.

Response to this has been varied. The general consensus is something like "he will/should get in a lot of trouble for this". Of course, just reading comments in this article shows the wide range of feelings people are having:

by Mel C. in August 11 - 5:29 pm

I’m not mad at all. He of all people should be the one to get it. Andrew seems trustworthy enough not to spoil us! I’m just a tad jealous, though!

to

by Jlpnyy on twitter in August 11 - 5:13 pm

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I HATE HIM I WANT THAT BOOK!

to

by MikeMagpuyo in August 11 - 5:10 pm

Luck beyond measure. Wow. Hope the end is grand and fulfilling.

to

by darcy in August 11 - 4:59 pm

why would he tell every onne i dot think that was smart

Sims comment (on the Examiner link I gave above): Sims responded to a request for a comment, saying "I don't really have any comment and honestly I'm just hoping for it to pass. I didn't expect it to get such a reaction!"

My thoughts: Meh. I don't like to presume I know what others' intentions were, but what exactly did he think would happen if he tweeted about it? That not one of his 10000+ followers and their followers' followers and so on would notice he had the most anticipated book of the year, the one with no ARCs, the one not even its publicist (Sheila Marie) got to read? That people wouldn't question him about the fact he's not supposed to have it? Why not be discreet about it?

Personally, though, what happens or doesn't happen to him concerns me not one bit so long as he doesn't post spoilers (which I don't think he will). I'm with Sassymonkey on this: I want to read this book when everyone else will be able to and the discussion will be thrilling and exciting and everyone will be in a frenzy to post about it and AH it will be so awesome.

But seeing the hardcover like that kinda made me really excited. That book! Out on the 24th! In our hands! SO. COOL.

ETA: This Google Blog Search results page yields some interesting commentary on what happened.

Contest: The Absolute Value of -1

2010-08-13T12:00:00.002-03:00

Annnd now for the second part of the Pub Stories ritual, we have a contest! If you didn't read Steve Brezenoff's pub story, you should. And if you want his book, here's a chance to get it.

The absolute value of any number, positive or negative, is its distance from zero: |-1| = 1

Noah, Lily, and Simon have been a trio forever. But as they enter high school, their relationships shift and their world starts to fall apart. Privately, each is dealing with a family crisis—divorce, abuse, and a parent's illness. Yet as they try to escape the pain and reach out for the connections they once counted on, they slip—like soap in a shower. Noah’s got it bad for Lily, but he knows too well Lily sees only Simon. Simon is indifferent, suddenly inscrutable to his friends. All stand alone in their heartache and grief.

In his luminous YA novel, Steve Brezenoff explores the changing value of relationships as the characters realize that the distances between them are far greater than they knew.

Want? Comment (and leave your email address!)! You have until next Thursday, August 20th. USA & Canada only.
1 entry per person.
+ 1 if you link to this contest
+ 1 if you link to Steve's Pub Story
Leave as many comments as you have entries (so one entry, plus if do like fifty extras, you leave 51 comments), explaining what you did in each extra comment for those extra entries (links to where you linked and whatnot). Also, email addresses.

Contest over. Winners announced here.

THIS.

2010-08-13T01:11:00.002-03:00

Good stuff over at The Story Siren's LGBT Lit Days.

This, from a guest post by John from Dreaming in Books:

"Every day I walk through the school hallways, I think at least once that I don’t belong. I contemplate pretending to be straight. Running away. Ending my life. Questioning every little part of me one more time in the hopes that maybe – maybe – I’m not really gay.

I know that it won’t change anything, but living in the hetero-centric world that we do, it’s not like I can help it.

...

A coming out story. Depression. Angst. Anxiety. A protagonist that starts out hating him/herself. That has other people hating him/her. Tough times, a rough patch with the parental units and friends. It’s what coming out entails. And I get that. But I’m sick of having that be the only thing I read in YA."

(Read the rest.)

Like I said: good stuff.

Pub Story: Steve Brezenoff

2010-08-12T12:00:00.000-03:00

Author guest blogs + publication paths = Pub Stories. It's a Tuesday thing. Click here for more info (esp. if you're an author wanting to participate). Click here for a list of all participants.

About Steve: Steve Brezenoff has written several chapter books for young readers, and The Absolute Value of -1 is his first novel for teens. Though Steve grew up in a suburb on Long Island, he now lives with his wife, their son, and their terrier in St. Paul, Minnesota.

You can have a look at some of Steve’s work for younger readers, including the popular Field Trip Mysteries series, here.

---

I didn’t go about this the normal way. In fact, I probably shouldn’t spread some of this around. I broke a lot of rules, and had lots of lucky help. I’d say trying to follow my path would probably put most people in the woods, clutching their manuscript, hiding from an angry mountain lion. Still, here it is.

I’ve been writing for a long time—I wrote my first “novel” when I was fifteen. It was a terrible Arthurian thing, with a sprinkling of Tolkien. I recall fondly when my creative writing adviser asked me what expertise I have in Arthurian legend. Had I done much research? The only answer I had was that I’d watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail . . . several times! She wasn’t happy with that answer. Still, I finished the colossal waste of paper. It is happily lost forever, much like the travelers who walked its pages.

My original major in college was creative writing. I gave it up, though, when I realized I had to write, often poetry, on someone else’s schedule. The nerve of those graduate students, asking us to create art on command. This is particularly ironic when you consider that most of the writing I do today is very much on command. It is even more ironic when you consider that I took a creative writing course my last year of college, and in that class wrote a short story called “Looking Down on Havoc.” I got an A, and worked on and reshaped that story for many, many years. It eventually became a novella of sorts, and one that several people whose opinions I respected found compelling. But still, I was not as serious as I should have been about polishing it, maybe growing it into a full novel, or submitting it for publication anywhere.

Here’s some luck: I got married. That’s lucky in a million ways, obviously. But the main thing is that my wife worked for a children’s publisher here in Minnesota, and when she and her boss needed a short book written very quickly, they came to me. So I wrote it. They liked it. Before too long, I was writing frequently for that publisher. These were “work-for-hire” jobs, mind you, so I wasn’t keeping rights on any of this stuff. I’ll never collect royalties, and I rarely came up with the concepts for these books myself. The point is, though, I was published now, so I joined SCBWI: the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

Of course, I could have joined SCBWI already; it’s an organization that happily accepts both published and pre-published writers. In fact, I’d guess the majority of members are pre-published. But I didn’t know that. By the time my first local conference rolled around, I had several work-for-hire jobs under my belt, and our son had just been born. If anything was the real impetus to get my butt in gear and work toward publishing my novel, it was my new son. Amazing how this little ball of child will give one a shot of ambition.

So, how to go about it? My wife and I did some thinking before I headed to the local conference, and we decided the best thing to do was . . .

(Here’s where pre-published writers need to go get the salt and take it very heavily with what I am about to say.)

. . . create a resume, sort of. On one side of the resume was a nice list of my work-for-hire projects that were out already or would soon be out. On the other side was essentially three query letters, one for each of my works-in-progress.

Let me repeat that: works-in-progress. Unfinished works. Things I was writing that were not done.

I made several copies of this resume. I approached all three speakers whose seminars I attended. I gave them a copy of this thing. They took it graciously. If not for one very understanding and open-minded editor, that would very likely be the end of my tale.

But, lo, that one editor contacted me as soon as the work week started up a couple of days after the conference. He wanted to see everything I had—which, if you’re paying attention, you’ll realize was nothing.

Again I say: works-in-progress. Unfinished work.

I thanked the editor in question for his interested, explained I wanted to polish up a thing or two in the young adult novel I’d described, and would send it along post-haste. In other words, I had to finish it, and fast.

I am mortified to no end as I tell this story, not for the first time.

So, I finished it—I finished that novella, the one based on a short story I’d written twelve years before. I sent it to him. He loved it. But, he told me, it wasn’t finished.

Over the next several months I added to the 35,000 or so existent words another 35,000 or so words. Then it was finished. And the editor still loved it, probably loved it more.

From there, the path was clear and much easier. With an incoming offer, I knew finding an agent wouldn’t be too difficult, and after speaking to Edward Necarsulmer IV from McIntosh & Otis, and discovering we shared a love of J. D. Salinger and the Grateful Dead, I decided to team up with him.

The short version is that I did everything backward. I married into published status. For my novel, I got an editor, then finished the novel, then found an agent. Do not try this at home.

$25 Amazon gift card contest winner(s)!

2010-08-11T15:00:00.000-03:00

Wow, three entries short of 200 -- VERY cool. Thank you all for participating.

Winner:

Ana

(Who won with only one entry...* wow. 2.5% chance she'd win. And she did! Cool.)

Also, I want an honorable mention to go out to Joanne J who had over 20 entries in. That's a lot of advertising she did & I wish I didn't randomize things, just so I could pick her. (No offense to Ana, I think you all get what I mean!) So... I can't do another $25 right now, but I'm sending you a $10 gift card. Thanks!

You should get your gift cards by tonight. Let me know if you don't.

Thank you, everyone!

*She entered twice but her tweet wasn't linked so I didn't count it.

Well, SOMEONE thinks a little highly of themselves...

2010-08-10T23:39:00.003-03:00

This. The most unabashed, fuckwitted author douchebaggery I have EVER seen.

Sorry for the language, but really.

(Via Leila)

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

2010-08-10T00:00:00.001-03:00

Not many people know this--actually, thinking about it now, NO ONE knows about this--but after I first read Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, I got into this habit of writing letters between Ella and the prince about the widest range of (sometimes strange) topics. What made it so fun that I spent whole afternoons writing them was that I tried my hardest to make them sound as royal-ly and posh as possible. The result? Possibly the epitome of stunted prose, if there ever was any. I was parodying myself, so I guess I learned early on to enjoy the art of making fun of thyself. At least I did something right.

Anyway, I had actually forgotten all about that until I read this book… See, our main hunk, Lucius Vladescu, is in America on a mission. When he and Antanasia, a vampire roughly his age but from his rival clan, the Dragomirs, were born in Romania, they were pledged to each other. Meaning they would marry once they came of age in an attempt to join the power and reign all the vampires together peacefully. But then, when the worst happened and their vampire village was attacked and their parents killed, Lucius was sent to live with his family’s Elders and Antanasia was entrusted to an American couple on the scene who were there to study the Romanian subcultures until she became eighteen. The couple took Antanasia Dragomir, vampire princess, back to the States and renamed her Jessica Parkwoord.

So, Lucius came around right before Jessica’s 18th birthday. And when he shows up, her whole world comes crashing down. Jessica’s a self-professed logical person, and the idea of marriage pacts and the very existence of eternal creatures like vampires really set her off. But eventually, she can’t deny them anymore and she has to face the situation head-on. They say she has a choice about the marriage…but does she really?

So, anyway, what made me think about my old writer-doodles was Lucius’s letters to his Uncle Vasile, who practically his (very cruel) father. The letters, albeit containing very funny tidbits, had this sort of forced charm to them… I don’t know, it’s Lucius’s only first-person narrative in the book (the rest is all told by Jessica’s POV), so maybe there was some urgency to make sure we understood he was regal. But…

That was the first thing that annoyed me.

Now, what’s funny is the beginning of this novel as a whole didn’t work for me. I’ve never had a more serious reason to call it quits on the grounds of “been there, done that” (because of the letters), and yet I kept going…and going…and going until it got better, somewhere past page 60. That’s where this novel’s--Ms Fantaskey’s--good writing began writing in the tune of the actual story and things began moving.

That’s when I got sucked in. And this is where I tell you this won’t be an easy review to write.

First, the packaging is so, so wrong for this book. It BELLOWS “FLUFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!” when this novel is anything but. Sure, the beginning was pretty fluffy, but as far as I’m concerned, that beginning Never Happened. The rest of the novel took a very, very unexpected turn for the dark side of things, full of angst and all things gloriously worth reading about.

This was a most welcome change of pace. A beautiful, very touching scene of Jessica getting an old portrait of her mother, the queen, and almost having a conversation with her as she tried to figure out how to incorporate her mother’s royal spirit while also being Jessica. Several emotionally-driven scenes with Lucius who keeps her on her toes.

I really liked the Jessica we saw toward the middle of the novel. After months of going on and on about the pact, Lucius suddenly stops and has it in for another girl, one Jessica hates. (And it’s not designed to make her jealous. He just becomes interested in her.) She confronts him about it and when he’s dismissive, where other main characters would have just backed down in order to protect their already hurt feelings, she presses him about it. When he’s hurtful to her, she slaps him hard across his face. She doesn’t take his shit. I loved the spunk, LOVED.

And Lucius…he’s one volatile character. Brought up with strong morals, strong manners, and strong sense of loyalty towards his family. The same family who’s ruthless, never hesitating to pound the message home. He’s got two physical scars to show it and a god knows how many emotional bruises. He’s quick-tempered, but he’s also mesmerizing and charismatic and charming. But most of all he’s an arrogant prick whose snobbish outlook bothered me to no end at first and made him quite unsympathetic. Then I kind of just accepted it into his character and it became funny and sometimes endearing. He’s not my type, but he sure seemed Jess’s… :)

I also liked quite a bit about the marriage-pact plotting that I can’t talk about as it’s spoiler-y.

Anyway! This is a hard review to write because up to this point, save from a comment here or there, this sounds all positive, right? But there’s also a lot of negative.

I hate to be the one to be comparing yet ANOTHER vampire book to
, but some of the plotting evokes just that. When I finished the novel, I thought, “This is a pretty good idea of the direction Twilight should’ve gone.” It’s not a book without its faults, but at least the vampire mythology is creative and includes no sparkling. The main character takes way too long to get over her vampire incredulity, especially since she was brought up in a house of believers of all things weird and the fact Lucius is walking proof of it, but other than that she’s got a backbone and isn’t willing to face her man. And said man is not NEARLY as stalkerish as Edward. He can be a bit overbearing in his chivalry, but no “I watch you while you sleep”.

It’s not a retold version of Twilight. It has its own creativity, I think. It stands on its own.

What didn’t stand on its own were nearly every character aside from Jessica and Lucius. That was the second thing that annoyed me big time. Jessica’s best friend since she was four was oddly always off to the periphery, awaiting her cue that Jessica needed someone to fill a scene with or some help getting her hair ready. The parents…what parents? Same deal as the best friend: only pop in when the plot makes them help Jessica. She could probably send them off and host a huge-ass party at her house and they probably would never mention it. Jessica’s love interest? I liked him in the breakup scene. Wish he’d gotten more screen time. And I don’t get the bully. It seems Jessica is the only one targeted and it’s just…never explained.

Then some spoiler-y plot stuff toward the end felt messy in hindsight.

And although I liked the (admittedly hurried ending), I have to say, it reminded me a bit of New Moon. (Don’t kill me for bring up the comparisons again!)

And now for my closing arguments… I didn’t sleep at all last night and instead read this. It took my mind off the fact I needed to sleep but couldn’t. It got me into its story. It’s a flawed book, yes, very much more so than I would usually care for. But sometimes this happens--sometimes a book I can admit has a lot of problems turns out to be really, really enjoyable and worth the read. This one was one of those. If you’ve had that happen to you, and none of the review stuff sets you off, maybe give it a try?

As it is, I have to give it a 6.5. I do recommend, but not to everyone.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | February 1st, 2009 | 351 pages | Beth Fantaskey's site | GoodReads | IndieBound | Amazon

*If you've read the book & haven't seen the extras (which contain spoilers!) on Ms Fantaskey's website, here it is.

The Damage My Childhood Book-Eating Did

2010-08-08T10:00:00.001-03:00

Nowadays, if you ask me what I want to be you’ll get one of two answers:

Pediatric oncologist
Children’s book editor

It’s tearing me apart, trying to choose. I’d take Mr. Frost’s advice and pick the road less traveled by, but just which one fit’s the bill?

On the one hand, medical school is tough and long and arduous and did I mention tough? Also, I don’t know (m)any 17-year-olds keen on specializing in something that will lead to watching many innocent children be forced to fight for their lives and, sometimes, despite their remarkable strength, lose said (and sad) fight. It really is depressing.

Then again, being that I live in BRAZIL, somehow migrating over to NYC to pursue a career in book publishing isn’t exactly easy either. Lots of immigration stuff to be dealt with, never mind I have no family in the vicinity. Also: Great Amazing Boyfriend has no plans of living in the States.

But, how did I land myself with these two choices?

Well, it all started with a bright-eyed, tiny two-year-old who loved bedtime stories her mother told her so much that she began somewhat reading at that age (2 or 3) and then progressed to reading fairy tales and then to Harry Potter in Portuguese. Then she moved to the US. As she was learning English at age 9, she began with easy books: Junie B. Jones, Pee Wee Scouts, Cam Jansen, Scooby Doo mysteries, A-to-Z Mysteries, and yes, eventually Harry Potter in English.

Then, when she hit middle school, she began reading Lurlene McDaniel and was introduced to the world of tear-jerkers and books about dying cancer kids who had uplifting endings but nevertheless reduced her to outright crying by their last pages. And that’s when she began getting so attuned to All Things Cancer and began studying a lot and then some more and then some MORE of that to the point where she could go on and on about many different forms of cancer and its treatments.

Her brother told her to consider becoming an oncologist. It had never occurred to her before.
She liked the idea. She especially liked that by doing medicine, she’d be able to do volunteer work in Africa and help the sick there, too. She loved that she’d be able to work with children with cancer. She wanted so badly to be a part of that world. This was at age 11 or 12 or so.

THEN this girl began reading a popular chick lit author. Eventually she read two bestsellers of said author and was inspired to began writing a third book in the series, as fan fiction, when she went to the writer’s forums and saw other people did that. So she did! And her fanfic somehow attracted many readers and built up her confidence to where she wanted to write her own stuff. So she moved over to the writing forum and began several stories, ended none, but that was fine because soon she became the an avid user of the writing forum, where she stayed for…three years. The writers there were all about her age and many had very interesting stories, so…

This made her do a LOT of reading and give a LOT of constructive-criticism. Just like that, a passion was born. This girl loved critiquing. She loved correcting people’s grammar, analyzing character motives and arcs, pointing out plot inconsistencies, all with the intention of seeing a more polished text. And the other writers did the same to her stories! It was a huge community thing. This started when she was 13 or so.

She began evolving in reading and growing into straight YA, starting with some Ro-Coms and then browsing around more the YA section at her local B&Ns. She moved to Brazil but she still loved reading in English.

Her interests as a writer also evolved and she began reading agent and editor blogs, especially those who represented YA, and learned what she could about the industry. She began learning about who represented whom, publishing terms, how book deals come to be…and she went to serious writer forums (both YA and general) to see what she could learn.

This goes on ’til today. She has a blog now and she studies YA more intensely because of it and also keeps herself up-to-date on all that’s happening in the industry. She’s made tons of contacts. This girl even managed to convince her mother to fly from Brazil to NYC and attend BEA in 2009. There met some agents and one editor and countless authors and loved every minute of it.

So, you see, books are what made her the person she is today. She loves books--not just the final product, but also the journey they took in order to get their behinds in stores. She loves the idea of working with authors who have the potential to change lives. She loves the idea of helping improve books that touch many. She wants to be a part of it.

Then again, she loves children. She also wants to be a part of helping these kids she admires so much. She wants to dress in bright colors and carry little gifts for them and try to help them maintain a positive attitude through what is so obviously a scary chapter in their lives. She wants to be a caring doctor, not a jaded one. She wants to do volunteer work and be able to offer medical help sick people in underprivileged parts of the world.

Damn you, books. See what you did to me? You make me want to do two things that I can't possibly do at the same time and I have no idea where to even begin choosing which is right for me.

But also... I thank you. I thank you for, firstly, teaching me English better than any ESL teacher could. I thank you for inspiring me. I know that in whichever path I choose I’ll be a passionate professional, and that’s one of my biggest goals: be in LOVE with my job. You made it possible for me, a completely directionless girl, to feel some sort of calling.

Mission accomplished.

Vibes by Amy Kathleen Ryan

2010-08-07T20:59:00.005-03:00

Two years ago, Kristi correctly predicted her father was about to walk out on she and her mom. Just weeks later, he does, going to Africa to start over fresh and escape his humiliation in the face of yet another medical malpractice suit. Kristi blames her mother for constantly putting him down and pressuring him about his career ambitions, so the two of them, who were never exactly buddies to begin with, are even further apart. And to make things even better, Kristi’s best friend, Hildie, decides the popularity afforded to her by her supernaturally good-looks is worthy of trading Kristi in for at the exact moment Kristi needs her the most. But like Kristi says, can you really blame Hildie for never looking back at her ugly ex-best friend when she could have the glamour of being in the In Crowd?

(I certainly can! But we’ll save Unabashed Judgment of Characters for later.)

Oh, and remember that little prediction about her father’s impending abandonment? That’s how Kristi found out she’s psychic. Kind of. She begins reading people’s minds after that. Of course, given she isn’t exactly popular and her un-stellar temperament after all the Shit Went Down, what people are thinking proves to be hard to swallow. Fortunately, the tough skin she developed helps her get through the day.

But nothing will help her face the father who abandoned her way back and who’s suddenly back in town, and with some not-so-pleasant news. It turns out Kristi may have been premature in blaming her mother, unjustifiably mean in the past two years to anyone she’s had contact with, and a little too self-absorbed.

Well, if nothing else, Kristi is a fantastically funny and witty narrator. She’s got wonderful, unique traits, like the fact she makes her clothes out of the most absurd materials--such as umbrellas!--and is great at it. Or how she’s obsessed with opera to block out people’s thoughts. Reading her account of what happens is oftentimes hilarious and I stopped MANY times to mark down quotes I like. Just so you have an idea:

*Jacob’s parents are English, but that’s not the reason they’re weird. They’re so pale that when you first see them, you think they’re dead, and when you get to know them, you wish they were.

*“Oh?” Brian asks, raising one eyebrow in delight. I guess he isn’t delighted enough to raise both eyebrows.

*David leans over Hildie and looks at her work. I’m pretty sure he’s smelling her work.
He’s a teacher? Mallory asks. [in a note]
He seems to think so, I write back.

*“You have a nice house,” Gusty says.
I shrug. “It keeps the rain off my head.”

That’s really, really great voice.

And yet…this novel was rather weak. It felt half-done, uncooked, not left out to marinate enough--whichever sounds best.

Right off the top of my head, the thing that most bothered me was that everything had this stereotypical feel to it, and in a really unpleasant way, to boot. It honestly felt like the school and some of the main characters were pre-made for cutting corners on creativity so as not to dig too deeply and thus complicate an otherwise very neat story. Like Jacob, one of the only students who was friends with Kristi. He’s so categorically nerdy: annoyingly overeager, spits too much, uses too big words to be cool and is naïve-bordering-stupid. Or the principal of the New Age-y high school, who’s a total hippie caricature and only seems to pop up to get students to “express themselves” or do some other--again with this term--New Age-y exercise. Or Hildie, the ex-BFF, who is evil and slightly slutty and whose motives for being evil are…never explained. Or The Father, who apparently suffers from Peter Pan Syndrome. This wouldn’t be such a problem if they weren’t defined by only those listed traits.

Bottom line is, almost no character is given nearly significant screen time so as to come to life.

And then the other very, VERY tiring thing in this novel is the amount of times we hear about guys staring at Kristi’s huge-ass boobs. And when I say huge-ass, I mean what I gather to be C-cups. Like I said, everything is so stereotypical that there doesn’t seem to be not even ONE guy who doesn’t drool over them. Of course, there is also not a chapter that goes by in which we don’t hear about how huge they are.

She seems to get more success with her C-cups than I get with my D-cups. What I’m saying is, that’s not exactly how it goes down. Not every single guy on the face of the planet--especially not your good friends whom see you every day--will be thinking very explicit thoughts about you 24/7.

Aaaaaand… there’s a lot more I could list that bothered me. How all of Kristi’s thoughts seemed to be about how ugly so-and-so is and how beautiful (and therefore stupid) so-and-so is and how this guy who happens to really like her is so ugly she can’t stand looking at him and how it’s okay for her to think like this but the moment one of the popular girls brings up his skin it’s “shallow” and how her father’s big revelation isn’t treated carefully enough and he comes out looking like a total ditz and that really cannot be how he is and it’s just another example of the stereotypes/too-simple-characterizations here.

Or I could bitch about how Kristi’s remorse progresses unevenly and culminates in a very lame and not meaningful enough way to be a hallmark of this novel, or how the Bad Skin Dude develops a sort of bond with one of the popular girls that is never fully explained, or how disgustingly Kristi’s ignorance of the seriousness of anorexia is excused when she admits she didn’t know “it could kill you”.

And then there’s the issue with the hearing voices thing. The idea of WHY is only very briefly presented and it’s quite interesting, but the author just kinds of leaves you hanging at the end in a very un-cool and frankly too-lazy-to-tie-this-up way.

All in all¾ loved the voice, but the execution could have been done MUCH better. I did finish the book, and since I did say it felt half-cooked, I will give it 5 out of 10 stars, which is what, like, a C-? D+? Hmm. I'd read more by this author for the voice alone, though. Like I said: funny.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 250 pages | October 6th, 2008 | Author Website | GoodReads | IndieBound | Amazon

Book sightings in Brazilian bookstores!

2010-08-05T22:00:00.000-03:00

My boyfriend and I went to the mall to browse today and we went into its TINY TINY TINY SHAME OF A BOOKSTORE and much to my delight and surprise and overall squeee-ness, I found MANY blogger favorites, in Portuguese.

For anyone who doesn't know, yes, I am Brazilian.

So, anyway, I got his iPhone and I began snapping pictures of all of the ones I could find. He's used to my antics so he didn't even ask. The saleslady, however, was looking at us with some contempt. To avoid staying conspicuous, I gave him the phone and asked him to get pictures of the House of Night series and he did, just like that, when the saleslady went to ring up someone else's items.

And that is the ultimate testament of how awesome my boyfriend, J, is.

The end result:

How awesome is THIS?

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
(Portuguese: Sussuro - which means "whisper")
*Didn't take a centered picture of it, but you can see The Vampire Diaries right beside it!

Shadow Kiss (loved the first in the series) by Richelle Mead
O beijo das sombras (Portuguese)

Wake by Lisa McMann
Despertar (Portuguese)

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (LOVE.)
Feios (Portuguese)

Stargazer (first in the series review) by Claudia Gray
Caçadora de Estrelas (Portuguese)

Blue Moon by Alyson Noël
Lua Azul (Portuguese)

Betrayed, Untamed and Marked by PC Cast & Kristin Cast
Traída, Indomada and Marcada (Portuguese)

And yes, there was Twilight too, but that's just so cliché nowadays that I thought I'd give the others a chance to shine.

As you can see, all are American bestsellers and most are about vampires. A bit unfair that that's the only selection currently available in Brazil? Well, yeah. Keep in mind this is a small store of a huge chain and I'll try to go into one of their larger stores when I go to a bigger city. HOWEVER, you should know that this is HUGE for Brazil. There has never been such selection beyond Harry Potter and Meg Cabot for teenagers, and I know contemporary authors like Elizabeth Scott are also due to come out here--so there's hope yet!

Who's your favorite character?!

2010-08-04T13:46:00.002-03:00

Who're your favorite male and female characters of all time & why?

And I mean, if you could only pick ONE of each.

Comeback Contest: $25 Amazon Gift Card

2010-08-03T04:23:00.005-03:00

Wish I had $50 to give out, but I'm pretty broke so we'll go with $25! Oh well!

$25 TO SPEND ON AMAZON

Contest Deadline: August 11th
Open to: International - I mean, it IS a gift card, right? :)

To Enter:
Leave a comment with your name & email address where I can send the gift card to (but protected - substitute @ with [at] and . with [dot] to avoid spam!)

Extras:
+ 1 for each place you link to here (tweets, sidebar...)
+ an extra point if you mention it with a link on a blog post!

Please, please, PLEASE:
Comment as many times as you have entries. Like, one entry + 5 extras = six comments. It's easier to randomize this way. If you only comment once but have 20 entries, I will only count it once.

That's it!

CONTEST CLOSED. WINNERS TO BE ANNOUNCED LATER TODAY.

Really need more pub stories!

2010-08-02T10:07:00.000-03:00

Helllooooo, authors! I'm hoping to continue my Pub Stories feature and I need more to post! If you're interested in seeing the format, you can find that out here. It's basically a guest blog in which you write your journey to publication - from your time as an amateur, to when you got your agent, to how you landed your book deal. They got a lot of traffic when I did them back last year.

So, if you're interested, email me! This is one of the few things I do with authors without necessarily having reviewed their book. What I used to do was also host a giveaway the day after for the author's latest release, which we can arrange with your publisher.

Thank you!

Very LeFreak by Rachel Cohn

2010-08-01T04:19:00.003-03:00

I cannot do Rachel Cohn anymore. I just--I’ve tried. I really have. I’ve read most of her books, I even enjoyed one or two, but the latest ones were torturous to get through and just--ARGH, I’m on the edge, BIG TIME.

*deep breath*

So, the book’s about Very LeFreak*, a girl with a technology addiction. She’s in heaps of trouble with the dean and the RA due to her negligence of her Columbia schoolwork, her wild parties, and the flash mobs she’s always organizing for her Jay Something fellow dorm residents. Not that she really cares, because the only thing she seems to give a rat’s ugly ass about is her cryptic cyber boyfriend, El Virus.

So anyway, her addiction gets to the point where it’s overbearing even her closest friends (one of which she alienated when she slept with him, then he wanted a relationship, and she didn’t), so they stage an intervention sanctioned by the dean and Very’s RA to get her to detox: live with very, very limited access to electronics until the remainder of the semester. Since El Virus is MIA…she gives into it.

But then, when she’s checking her messages one day during her allowed time, he’s back and so’s her need for the machine and so she falls off the wagon and goes all berserk when she finds out that her friend destroyed her confiscated laptop by being nosy trying to open an encrypted file and, upon failure, launching a deadly virus onto said laptop rendering it useless and oh my god, the friend threw it away and Very’s so angry she--

Tries to kill him. But then she’s quickly overpowered and lands in rehab for her OBVIOUS problems.

Yeah, WOW.

Quick assessment: the first part is kind of really jumbled up and sometimes boring and if you're anything like me, you'll have no desire to go on but only do so because you must finish the book to be fair in your review. Nothing really happens; the characters are just...there...and they're not there to entertain or intrigue or compel, they're just there to exist and only sheer force of will moved that portion of the book forward for me.

But then, the second part is much, much better. At first. Then it's just--oh, we'll get there when we get there.

So, in the second part, Very's in rehab and she decides to commit this time, even though El Virus may be out there. Now, this is something I didn't really understand: Why, if he was such an obsession before, was she so readily able to let go of him and of her hopes of finding him over the summer? You have to understand that in the first part, this girl didn't so much as breathe without imagining him doing dirty things to her and then, when he's finally back on her turf, she just goes...click! What???

Moving on: she works on her addiction, reluctantly at first, in this place that has absolutely NO electricity. In the rehab, she talks to a much-needed shrink and those scenes are the best parts of the entire book. Rachel Cohn did a BEAUTIFUL job with Very's character. That is the one huge highlight in the book. Her motivations are complicated but well-founded, her character arc is great, and her voice is natural and for the most part consistent. I didn't really LIKE her as a person, but at least I, the reader, viewed her as one.

And then it went bad again.

HUGE SPOILER ALERT

.
..
...
....
...
..
.

Very meets El Virus at the camp. They're all soul-mate-y but she's become less promiscuous so she holds back on putting out and then, when she gets her one night out near the end of the program, she sees her college roommate who's going to a nearby camp at the same joint she goes to and somehow they kiss and she realizes she's in love with HER and--GAH.

I mean, it's implied that the roommate is lesbian before all this happens and Very is an open bisexual who's been with other girls, so at least it's not all that ~OUT THERE~, but WHY, GOD, WHY?

WHY did El Virus need to show up? And why did he need to be, quite frankly, a little bit...creepy?

And WHY did there need to be a cheeseball conclusion to an otherwise down-to-Earth book about a cynical girl who DOES NOT DO CORNY?

This is where this book becomes a train wreck. God.

Without mentioning that from the depiction in the book, it's really hard to make up your mind about whether you believe in technology addiction or not.

And beyond this, I didn't like this book because I didn't like its tone. I mean, Ms. Cohn is very adept at world-building and YES, she's definitely got a huge talent for voice. But...there's something intangible that just sets of me off. There's the fact I didn't like the structure of the book or how it dealt with sex, but this goes much deeper than that. It just--

This is why I can't read Rachel Cohn anymore. I think her books are all wrong for me in terms of essence, never mind the other stuff that goes into books (characters, plot, etc) and I can't explain why. It's unsettling.

But anyway--D+. Very, at least, was well-done.

I'm (Sorta!) Back

2010-08-01T03:59:00.001-03:00

Hey guys -- just wanted to let everyone know I'm kinda back. I went MIA because I got overwhelmed and burned out and ... I dunno. I even stopped reading for a year, if you can believe that. I certainly can't.

Anyway, I missed this a lot, and I was still receiving books even now, a year later, so I just picked one up (Very LeFreak--already reviewed) and decided to give it--this--another shot. We'll see how it goes.

It'll be way less intense than it was the last time I was full-time blogging. I'm reaaally busy with school, my adorable boyfriend (oh yeah, I got me one of those!!), and a lot of other real life things. Plus, I also don't want to be in that stressful situation again.

This is just on a trial basis. I need to see if I can handle it.

But, anyway, just wanted to say I was back and I hope I still have some of my old readers here! You guys were wonderful. :)

Thanks,
Steph

The LIAR Cover Thing

2009-07-24T19:52:00.000-03:00

Buzzing 'bout the blogosphere: the cover girl for Liar by Justine Larbalestier. The protagonist is an unreliable narrator if there ever was any, but I think anyone who reads the book can conclude she was being serious about not being white, having short cropped hair, and being boyish in many aspects.

So why is the cover this?

Here's a handy PW article and Justine's (very articulate) blog post on it.

I don't have anything to say that hasn't already been said. But I thought I'd add this in, to address the people I've seen saying Justine should've fought harder against this cover art.

So, at BEA, I had the pleasure of getting my ARC signed by her. We chatted a bit, Lenore, Alea, Justine, and I (as well as Anna, another Aussie and a Bloomsbury publicist). Justine was lovely. Anna was lovely. I got a huge kick out of hearing them speak in their lovelylovelylovely accent.

We left.

A while later, Lenore and I ran into Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier at the Bloomsbury booth. It was after BEA had closed for the day and we were just roaming. No other fans were nearby, so we got to speak to them a bit more. I asked Justine for some more of her business cards with both the Aussie and the American cover of Liar and casually asked what she thought of the cover.

Very frankly, she said, "I think it's a beautiful cover and that Bloomsbury did a wonderful job of making it eye-catching. But my protagonist isn't white, so this isn't reflective of the book I wrote. This is why I like the Australian cover more. Nevertheless, they decided to go with this cover in the US."

She said something about another version that I can't recall right now, but yeah, that portion is what really matters. It's what she's always been saying. Authors don't usually have a say in what their cover will end up being. Even when they're the writer of a lead title, like Justine is. So please stop treating her like she's in the wrong in this, all the naysayers.

It's a good book, at any rate. I don't believe a boycott is necessary because it'll ultimately hurt Justine, someone who's active in writing multi-cultural. But if you're upset with this cover, I do urge you write to Bloomsbury about it.

(Oh! And yes! I'm back.)

I beseech your help.

2009-07-02T15:20:00.003-03:00

With what I should read next. I haven't read anything in two weeks. Help help help! Just give me suggestions, don't worry about whether I have 'em or not. This can also help me in my Birthday Shopping List. :)

Heya, my loves

2009-06-22T22:06:00.003-03:00

So, it's been, what, four days since my birthday and at least three pounds added to the overall baggage?

Great.

Anyhow, for the next week I'll be cramming endless amounts of information for my eight-subject course load because Tuesday next week = huge-ass exam. AND THEN I GET JULY OFF, HUZZAH.

Anyway, I may or may not update. You'll know either way. Don't forget about me, though!

Human Hymen Rights

2009-06-20T18:44:00.000-03:00

Via I Heart Daily: A new incentive to put a cap on the elevated teen pregnancy rates in Sierra Leone dictates that a girl who can prove she's a virgin can be offered a chance to gain a university scholarship.

I had a whole post planned out for this but I think it can best be summarized by: *shudder*

Steph

BEST Birthday Ever

2009-06-18T17:14:00.001-03:00

No one cares but I just want to remember this day, so...

The day's not over yet but I'm about to go under to study chemistry for my finals tomorrow (true story), so I thought I'd post this today:

This day's been absolutely magical!

In the morning we overslept so I basically had no breakfast and rushed to the car for my mom to drive me to school (got there with fifteen seconds to spare). In the car she pulls out this small package and says, "Open it!"

Mind you, I went to NYC for BEA two weeks ago and it was understood that aside from paying half of the trip, my parents' half was my birthday gift. So far all the birthday money I've gotten from relatives has gone straight to my dad's wallet. I'm happy this way because what parents allow their kids to miss a week of school, three exams, and get on international flights to the most expensive cities in the world?

I thought so.

But anyway, I opened it up and a crystal frog was inside. Crystal! Frog! (I'm a frog maniac, by the way. Stuffed/figurine ones in any case. It's gotten better as I've grown older, but it's still there.)

I squealed.

Got to school and walked in my maths class and one friend handed me a hilarious note saying happy birthday and no one said anything else. But they weren't conspicuous about it: they seemed a bit ticked off with me, and even though my bullshit detector's fine tuned 99% of the time, they had me believing they'd forgotten.

I was heartbroken because, well. I don't need gifts or any show-offy displays of birthday remembrance, but a HUG from my FRIENDS?

And then in the second class with this brilliant yet utterly unfit to teach physics teacher, they began singing happy birthday until the dude begged them to stop. I was so surprised by that I thought it was someone else's birthday. -.-

THEN. Over the second break, a bunch of people came up to me and hugged me and said, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" and it was great.

THEN. On the third break, which is the 20-minute one we get, they handed me two bouquets of origami flowers. (Lots of Japanese people 'round these parts. 80% of my friends are Japanese descendants, I'd wager.) It was so beautiful. I was just there admiring them and hugging my friends when they said, "There are messages inside the flowers."

I lost it. We sat around in a huge circle and I read them all and they were all so wonderful. You have no idea. Inside jokes galore, lots of laugh, lots of, "Never stop being strange or crazy!" sentiments (ha! I am quite strange in real life. More so than on the blog).

They helped me fold them all back up and we went to class.

My mom picked me up from school and took me to Subway (I LOVE SUBWAY). Some recent family stuff has made it so that I almost never have alone time with my mom anymore so it was this huge deal. She bought us these great juices and took me to two cappuccinno places (one of them so overpriced they'd put Starbucks to shame, but damn, good coffee).

And she got me a chocolate rose.

Here I am, about to do chemistry. PARTY TOMORROW, woo!

My weekend's all hectic so you may not see a lot of me. But thanks for all the birthday wishes from everyone who's sent them. And even though my friends and family don't know about this blog, and even though I've all but cried on them that's how excited I am, a huge shout out to them.

I AM SO HAPPY!

Steph
P.S. My grandmother just shoved some money to me. I can't get into this a lot, but right before the NYC trip there was an emergency and my mom was almost calling it off when my grandmother told her to JUST GO ALREADY. So not only has she given me the best gift ever with that, she's now insisting I take her money. Naturally, I refused.

She just stuck it in my underwear drawer instead.

Abercrombie & Fitch Me

2009-06-16T22:33:00.000-03:00

Starting in 8th grade when I began wearing a lot more black than I had previously, people began to have a problem with me on a superficial level. I was the only member of the 7th grade volleyball team not to make the team again in 8th grade and my replacement was this absolutely horrible player. My teachers for the first time ever began giving me the evil eye when they saw me walk into their advanced classes. I retained many of my friends in all cliques I’d made previously but it was harder now to approach the preps (you know the type) because they’d get into this monologue about how I was “so emo.”

I went through a couple of phases in response to these accusations in my middle school years. First, I harbored a growing resentment toward the preps. How dare they judge me based on a color--not even a fashion as I was never “emo”--and think they had the right to reduce me to their idea of what I was worth? I banded with other similarly styled people and we would basically face off the preps anytime they gave us trouble. We even gave them trouble ourselves, teasing them for the price tags on their clothes. Turns out that when they’re not in big numbers, they’re just like us--vulnerable as hell. And I was no better than them.

Then, I moved away from all of that and my new school in another country had a uniform. Aside from expensive shoes and accessories, you couldn’t really establish clashing personalities with clothes alone, so that problem was done with. With this change a new mentality dawned to me:

Frankly, I couldn’t care less what your style is, how much you spend on your clothes, where you buy your clothes, or any such thing. That’s your business.

And I still subscribe to that school of thought. That said, a new mentality I’ve recently come to cultivate is that you should be mindful of the value of the companies you buy your clothes from. Not to say it gives you a right to tear other people down because what the company they’re wearing doesn’t agree morally with you. It’s more on a personal level: What messages are you supporting?

For instance, this recent piece about Abercrombie & Fitch: Banning a girl with a prosthetic arm to the stockroom because she doesn’t fit their corporate Looks Ideal. (This on top of all other negative press they’ve gotten for things that sicken me.) Now, I personally can’t tell an A&F outfit from an, say, AE one. Even if I could, it doesn’t sit well with the person I am today to make assumptions about you based on that alone. So again, this isn’t for show, it’s on a personal level.

Do you like the idea of your money being used to keep a company perpetuating these ideas alive? Do you want that?

Me? I sure as hell don’t, and even if I had the money to buy things at A&F, I’d still stay far, far away. If I was interested in that look I would find somewhere to get it.

Pub Story: Sarah Rees Brennan

2009-06-16T07:00:00.000-03:00

Author guest blogs + publication paths = Pub Stories. It's a Tuesday thing. Click here for more info (esp. if you're an author wanting to participate). Click here for a list of all participants.

About Sarah: Sarah Rees Brennan was born and raised in Ireland by the sea, where her teachers valiantly tried to make her fluent in Irish (she wants you to know it's not called Gaelic) but she chose to read books under her desk in class instead.

After college she lived briefly in New York and somehow survived in spite of her habit of hitching lifts in fire engines. She began working on The Demon’s Lexicon while doing a Creative Writing MA and library work in England. Since then she has returned to Ireland to write and use as a home base for future adventures. Her Irish is still woeful, but she feels the books under the desk were worth it. Visit her at www.sarahreesbrennan.com.

The Story

When I got my book deal, I pretty much told the world. My mother, obviously. My second cousins in Australia. The lady I was buying gum from at the newsagent's. (She gave me a kind of strange look...) And the people who didn't know me asked how old I was, and when I said 23, they said 'you're awfully young!' The people who did know me said 'At last!'

I started writing when I was five years old, and scribbled a story and spun a bunch of lies about how it was A Masterpiece that I had been slaving on for years to my grandfather, who was a huge muscular guy who was ex-army, worked down at the docks, hated books and loved sports. Because he loved his strange little bespectacled granddaughter as well, he played along. I needed no more encouragement - when I was seven, I finished my first book, which was about ponies and ninjas. They were my primary interests at the time, and I still think both are pretty cool now.

I never stopped writing books. Growing up, it was the great constant of my life: when I was nine and playing with dolls, when I was sixteen and dressing like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I wrote books that started out Regency comedy of manners like Jane Austen, got bored half-way through and murdered someone spectacularly over tea and scones. I wrote a Romeo and Juliet-style love story where the villain and the comic relief wandered off from the tragic romance, had wild adventures and made out a lot. I wrote the love story of a boy and a ghoul, which was somewhat spoiled by the ghoul's irresistible impulses to eat the boy's face right off.

When I was sixteen, I got a literary agent and was offered a book deal: it fell through, partly because I realised the publisher wanted the gimmick of a sixteen year old writer more than they actually liked my book. In retrospect, I thank goodness for that: the book was pretty awful! But at the time, and when my literary agent retired when I was eighteen, it was pretty crushing. I managed to have an excellent time in college anyway, and wrote a four-book high fantasy epic in which the beautiful golden-haired princess who the hero fell for at first sight was secretly a power-mad dominatrix. Writing was just something I always did: I was unhappy and sometimes felt ill when I didn't do it. I finished more than twenty books and started about a thousand, and every time I started a new book, I thought to myself, maybe this is it. Maybe this is the one.

I moved from Ireland to New York for a publishing internship right after college, which was one of the scariest and the most fun things I've ever done, and in between catching lifts with fire engines and making snow angels in Central Park, I started reading a lot of agents' blogs. I even picked a favourite agent's blog: Kristin Nelson's at www.pubrants.blogspot.com. I was writing too, of course: co-writing with a friend, which fell through with a crash. Then I had to leave New York because, well, people get sensitive if you try outstaying your visa's welcome...

Back in Ireland, preparing for another move near to London, I hadn't written anything in a few months. Then I started thinking, among other things, about that tall dark mysterious stranger who often appears in books. You know the one. Few words. Knows everything about whatever supernatural or criminal (or supernatural AND criminal) thing that's going on. Also supernaturally and criminally good-looking. And I began to write a book from inside that guy's head, worrying about fighting demons and paying the electricity bill, fixing the sink and practising the sword in a tiny back garden in London. And just like always when I started, I thought, maybe...

I wrote while a little lonely and trying to make new friends in London. I wrote when I was making tinfoil fairy wings and trying to persuade the library where I worked to let me wear them. I wrote an email to Kristin Nelson, my dream agent, in a fit of midnight madness and daring, and I was amazed when she took me on. I was even more amazed when four publishers offered for the book.

Twenty books. Twenty years, and worth every second.

No more maybes. This was the one.

And the CATCHING FIRE winner is...

2009-06-15T22:26:00.000-03:00

...Rasco!

For some reason, after we passed the 200th comment, the entries didn't show up anymore. Thus, I picked the winner by drawing a number at an online Randomizer and counting out which person it was from the emails I receive with each comment received. So don't worry, even if you didn't see your comment, it was counted. This particular winner was in the 200s, so, ya know, that tells you something right there.

Thanks for playing and stay tuned!

BEA Recap: To Khy, from David Levithan

2009-06-14T18:32:00.001-03:00

The sound's not great...ugh. Sorry, Khy, but the room was BUSTLING and I tried my best!

Description:

I, Steph from http://reviewerx.blogspot.com, LOVE Megan McCafferty.
Khy over at http://freneticreader.blogspot.com LOVES David Levithan.

Awhile ago, Khy went to a Megan McCafferty signing and got Megan on video saying hi to me.

A few weeks back I was in NYC for BEA and, since I was in town, went to an author signing put together by some fellow bloggers, and David Levithan was present.

What could I do BUT make Khy a video?

Enjoy!

It's Not You, It's Me by Kerry Cohen Hoffmann

2009-06-14T06:00:00.005-03:00

Henry breaks up with Zoë. Zoë decides that she won’t have it because it was her relationship, too, and it is clearly Her Whole Life, and she should have some say in its disintegration. So she decides the best way to woo him back is by climbing up a tree right outside his window and slipping a poem she wrote about him in, giving him a collage she made of their Happier Times in plain sight at school, befriending his new love interest so as to further stalk every aspect of his life, and pestering him until you lose all your sense of civilization and wish she were real so you could whack her upside the head with a copy of Twilight.

But then you realize that even if by some miracle characters could come alive, she wouldn’t have enough meat on her to stand up and take the blow because she’s so freaking one-bordering-on-two dimensional. As is every last miserable character in this mess of a novel.

Zoë is a more psychotic Bella, down to the worshipping the ground Henry walks on and the excessively clumsy streak that acts as a catalyst way more times than it ever should, which is precisely zero in any situation.

Her best friends, Shannon and Julia, are either indulging her crap by giving her more ideas out of Stalker Today or acting like the Voices of Reason, which is fancy coming from people who 50% of the time are no better than she is. The chip on Zoë’s shoulder had more personality than the sum of all their parts, not surprisingly.

And the love interests were clearly on a leave of absence because I cannot, for the life of me, remember anything striking about them.

Tying everything up is a heavy-handed message that you shouldn’t use people and you shouldn’t lose your sense of self in a relationship because that’s a Big Turn Off and the guy will lose interest. But it fails on so many levels, none the least in the realistic aspect, where you gotta wonder if something this ridiculous is meant to be funny and if so, whom exactly is the joke on? The only redemptive quality is that the writing flows, but even so, what can you do with that when everything else flakes out on you?

So, really, this is the tale of what a more psychotic Bella would do if Edward had stuck around after the breakup in New Moon. And for just $16 you can be a proud owner.

Any takers?

1 star if I did that kind of rating system. Not sure what grade--D or F? Eh, who cares, bottom line is: no recommendation.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

2009-06-13T07:00:00.003-03:00

Woo. Long review. But, first blog review for this book! (That's actually the reason you're seeing this so early. Give it a couple of months and EVERYONE will be reviewing it.)

There’s something almost seductive about the title, isn’t there? It kind of dares you to pick the book up.

Anyway. It all begins when Coach--he who teaches biology--forces Nora, a straight-A student, to switch lab partners and she suddenly finds herself opposite of Patch, a mysterious-seeming senior. At the same time, things are going terribly awry. Nora’s sure she’s being followed. Her room’s ransacked. And everywhere she turns, Patch is there, lips tugged in a smile, the face of confidence.

And he seems to know everything about her. At once she doesn’t know if she should succumb to his charms and run into his arms, or listen to her gut and run away from him. Whatever he wants, he’s not telling her. To escape his lure, Nora turns to the other boy vying for her attention, Elliot. But he’s not what he seems either, and the connection between him and Patch runs deeper and deadlier than she could know.

Basically? Nora’s stuck in the middle of a sinister game of revenge. Both Patch and Elliot seem to want something from her, and in a place where sides shift suddenly and unearthing hidden motives gives way to more secrets, Nora’s got some tough soul-searching ahead of her to figure out whom to trust--and not much time to get there.

The first chapter opens in biology class, with a Barbie doll and her Ken counterpart stripped naked and covered with leaves in strategic places. They’re about to start on the reproduction unit. Immature comments are shouted out and upfront and center we meet three integral characters: Nora, Vee (the BFF), and Patch. And so it begins, this journey with them, where at equal parts it feels like we’ve known them our whole lives (they’re well-written) and, especially where Patch is concerned, they keep us at the edge of our seats (again, they’re well written). And they shine.

Oh, but does Patch shine. Here’s your unabashedly cocky (anti?)hero, an absolute ass, and possibly all the more attractive for it. Not one thing that comes out of his mouth is predictable, except maybe predictably swaggering, and it’s that quality and his unwillingness to share part of his past that make him magnetic. It’s hard to say this without giving spoilers, but we see many, many sides of him, most of which are not goody-goody, which serve to make him one of the most complex and interesting characters in the book.

And the plot? What can I say about the plot so as to not give anything away? Well, it’s clever and hides surprises in the folds of its intricacies. Especially when you’ve got the pacing this book does, which makes five pages go by in no time, ten stretch into twenty, and fifty come and go in a snap. There’s actually even a scene at the very, very end where the plot turns in on itself and ties things up in a way I would usually hate but couldn’t here because I thought it was bright and fitting with the story.

Which doesn’t go to say this book is perfect. First up is a classic case of a useless character--in this case a bitchy cheerleader named Marcie--who dropped off the face of the earth and resulted in an unresolved plot thread. Second: For a proclaimed disciplined student, Nora lacked a certain amount of drive. Heroines without it are no-no to me. But, you know, she’s under constant threat. So we may see some redemptive ambition in the sequel. Here’s to hoping. Further, there’s a leap in the progression of the Nora/Patch dynamics that made things feel a bit too sudden and mistimed. (I’ll have more to say after it’s released.) And finally, I hate to be the one to compare yet another book to Twilight, but there were a couple of scenes that brought it to mind. Nothing formulaic or that made Hush, Hush unoriginal, and I’m not sure if the existence of said scenes is necessarily negative, but…I could do without the surges of déjà vu, y’know?

That said, it’s really hard to hold all of that against the book, though, when I recognize that, save for my minor complaints, this is exactly the type of thing I like to and want to read: dark and both relevant and whimsical, with memorable characters, great quotability, and abundant humor. Hush, Hush doesn’t stop at exciting--it was an experience so complete and enjoyable, it tides you over. It’s not hard to picture fandoms being built around it, copious fanfic taking up terabytes of space, or a movie being made. There’s just that special quality that makes it compulsive and turns willing readers loyal. A shoo-in for the best of 2009, obviously. A shoo-in for a lot more, actually, but I’ll stop here and observe how things will unfold.

I read somewhere that Ms Fitzpatrick worked on this book for five years and has over two thousand pages of deleted scenes to show for it. That’s a lot of dedication. And it worked: this is good. You gotta give it to her--she earned the buzz she’s been getting, which I’m sure is just the tip of the iceberg for what comes down the line. So, tell me, Becca, how does it feel?

Simon & Schuster BFYR | 400 pages | October 13th, 2009 (you'll get a reminder closer to pub date) | Becca's website | GoodReads | IndieBound | Amazon

How I babysit

2009-06-12T12:44:00.002-03:00

Thought I'd illustrate just how awesome my niece is. We both sit when I babysit.

We can last a pretty good while like that if she's in a good mood. (Which she wasn't for the 48HBC.) We give a whole new meaning to the word 'multitasking' if I do say so myself.

Boo!

There may be something in it for anyone who can guess which book I'm reading. Hint: It'll only be released in late fall. And everyone is buzzing about it. Lenore, shush.

Damn, L has some good interviews.

2009-06-12T10:27:00.003-03:00

Lenore's always had a knack for interviewing and, like such, I always enjoy reading the ones she posts on her blog even if I've never heard of the author before. Her latest is great--not only because of the topic (go see for yourself), but because the author, Paul Harris, gave what just might be the best answer to the ask-yourself-a-question bit:

Q: Is there a question you’ve always wanted to be asked but never have been?
A: I am going to use this excellent question to harp on about a key pet peeve of mine that I am always amazed never gets any political attention in America. So the question is: What simple thing would most improve America for Americans? My answer is: give everyone a minimum of four weeks vacation a year. Ideally, five. In Europe we are generous with our vacations. In America many people only get two. I find this astonishing. Sometimes newspaper columnists here in the US even laugh at the French/Germans/Italians for their long summer vacations and their smaller Gross National Products. Well, the joke is on them.

And it goes on to enumerate and eloquently justify his point. But I'm obviously not going to quote the whole thing on here. Move on over to L's for a bit.

Hey, book bloggers?

2009-06-12T06:00:00.001-03:00

So, I reviewed Tempo Change by Barbara yesterday, right? I decided to put this quote from the book in a separate post because I thought it might just inspire some interesting discussion, and it'd be best not to let said discussion and review commentary mingle.

Here goes:

“ Then, before my dad made his entrance onto the stage, Meg came out and made a big deal about him. She announced half his credits and called him the Vanguard of Poetic Punk, or something equally disturbing, and it suddenly occurred to me that I used to say things like that. Back when I was a critic. Back when I was somebody who just talked about other people's works in a sassy way, trying to invent new phrases and make it all sound so important. That was before I knew what it was like to try to put the whole thing together and actually perform for people and get something across to them. ”(Page 206)

Thoughts? From anyone, authors and book bloggers alike.

400 Follower Contest: Fire

2009-06-11T20:15:00.002-03:00

In honor of those four hundred (!!!) individuals, I'll do a giveaway open to those who are my followers. I know who the 400th follower was, and anyone who comes after won't be eligible for this contest, I'm afraid. (I have mentioned time and again that I would have contests exclusively for followers of mine.) But you will be for the next benchmark number, whichever one that is, so it's not all bad. :)

Anyway, I'm giving away an ARC of Fire by Kristin Cashore, the second book in the Graceling world, out in October.

Fire, Graceling's prequel-ish companion book, takes place across the mountains to the east of the seven kingdoms, in a rocky, war-torn land called the Dells.

Beautiful creatures called monsters live in the Dells. Monsters have the shape of normal animals: mountain lions, dragonflies, horses, fish. But the hair or scales or feathers of monsters are gorgeously colored-- fuchsia, turquoise, sparkly bronze, iridescent green-- and their minds have the power to control the minds of humans.

Seventeen-year-old Fire is the last remaining human-shaped monster in the Dells. Gorgeously monstrous in body and mind but with a human appreciation of right and wrong, she is hated and mistrusted by just about everyone, and this book is her story.

Wondering what makes it a companion book/prequel? Fire takes place 30-some years before Graceling and has one cross-over character with Graceling, a small boy with strange two-colored eyes who comes from no-one-knows-where, and who has a peculiar ability that Graceling readers will find familiar and disturbing...

Just leave a comment.
You must have been a follower before kim pickett, the 400th, became one.
+1 for linking here.
Leave as many comments as you have entries.
INTERNATIONAL. Deadline: June 26th, 2009.

One small stipulation--I'll only be in the US in July, and I can only mail it out then. (Postage is cheaper there.) The contest will be over in two weeks, and from there it's only a one week wait time till it's in the mail, so it's not too bad.

Tempo Change by Barbara Hall

2009-06-11T06:00:00.002-03:00

I know a LOT of book bloggers have this one but there are barely any reviews, so listen up, y’all!

You take one look at it and think it’ll be your typical whiny book. You read the back copy--a famous, absent father? An all-girl band to get his attention? WHINY. Pass.

God, I hate this cover. When I first looked at it, it was like, “Couldn’t they afford to ink the whole thing?” The girl’s pretty and all but…meh. I mean, doesn’t it look a bit awkward? A tweenish? And frivolous? (Am I crazy?) I wasn’t planning on reading it.

Evidently, I did, or else we wouldn’t be here. The whole nine yards:

Amee and I have this thing where we’ll randomly ask the other to pick each other’s next book to read. In this case, I couldn’t make up my mind and deferred to Amee’s expertise in picking whatever from my pile. After a moment of deliberation, she picked Tempo Change, either because she was genuinely interested or because she knew it’d result in a snarky review if I hated it. Yeah. I don’t secretly (or not so secretly, I guess) call her Ambiguous Amee for no reason. ;)

I told her, “If I hate it, it’s your fault.” She laughed as she often does at my antics and sent me off to read.

A decade ago, sophomore music guru Blanche’s father walked out on them to go “find himself.” See, he’s an artiste, a renowned musician who went into obscurity because he’s so complicated. (That is indeed sarcasm you see. Blanche doesn’t quite go there, but I’m cruel and uninvolved and I say he’s scum.) Blanche tries not to grudge him this and is level-headed about his fame, but she idolizes him anyway and craves contact with him aside from his sporadic emails. Even though she fights off the “artist” label like the curse she thinks it is, insisting instead on being a “musical critic”, Blanche inadvertently finds herself in a band that she secretly hopes will bring him to her.

(The premise kind of reminded me of I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert. They’re very different though.)

What I liked here is that, right before my eyes, Tempo Change transformed from an accumulation musical notes and references, to an exploration of ambition, talent, expectations, and reality. Blanche longs to understand the intricacies of having a gift and having dreams and everything that comes in between.

Because look at her examples: a mother she views as talentless with perceived frugal ambition settling for a quiet life, and a father with more talent than he needed who ended up abandoning her and isolating himself. It’s a struggle for her to understand the middle-ground, especially when she’s blinded by her desire of a father and her sharp criticism of the parent she does have. (That age-old thing of it being easier to get mad at the ones you love because you know they’'ll keep loving you back. Always wanting what you can’t have.)

It’s more of a coming-of-age novel than anything else, and I swear, as riddled as it was with Truths, what makes Tempo Change stand out is its own reflections of those Truths. The biggest example I can think of this is when Blanche says, “Because I didn’t realize that when your prayers get answered, it doesn’t look the way you expect it to. It doesn’t look like happiness, necessarily. It just looks like getting what you asked for.” Pretty cool, huh?

Final, conclusive reaction: I like this. I tweeted about this. I’m surprised by how much I like this.

Delacorte | 256 pages | June 9th, 2009 | GoodReads | IndieBound | Amazon

MANY Contest Winners!

2009-06-10T23:29:00.002-03:00

For Elizabeth Scott contest:

Brittany (I'm guessing a LOT of people are jealous!)

For Lisa Schroeder contest:

Shelburns - I Heart You, You Haunt Me
robin_titan - Far From You

For the Elizabeth and Lisa contests, winners please email me at reviewerx AT gmail.com with 'ELIZABETH WINNER' or 'LISA WINNER' on the subject bar and send me your addresses. You have until June 15th!

For the epic The Chosen One contest:

** IF YOU DID NOT GET MY EMAIL AND SEE YOUR NAME BELOW, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT thechosenone AT reviewerx DOT com. If you did get my email, follow the instructions there! **

You have until June 15th to get me your addresses!

Instant winners!
Amee
Beth
Ilis
Becky
Melanie
Iryna
Leonore
Aryanna
Saundra

If you think you're an instant winner and don't see your name on this list, EMAIL ME (thechosenone AT reviewerx DOT com with ** Am I an IW? ** on the subject.

Other winners!
SunShine (Rachel)
*Heather*
Amber (Sammyjones)
Zoealea
Jenn (Liddypool)
Amelia (bookjunkiereviews)
a flight of minds
RachieG
Erica (the book cellar)
Wrighty

Simply_Megan
tencentnotes
Cinnamon (A Journey of Books)
Ashley (books obsession)
Gaby (startingfresh)
A.S. King
Laina Has Too Much Spare Time
Kathleen Elizabeth
SMD
Mish

Annie (Anne Taylor)
I Heart Monster
Max Brown
Hillary (booklovergal12)
sweetmelissa818
debbiesworld
Lindsey (Kindred Spirit)
Kaitlyn (WritingAboutRead)
wdebo
kalea_kane

canadiangiveaways
Jessica (Read Sleep Dance Read)
Alyssa (Shady Glade)
janetfaye
katterley
Marie Burton
Carrie K.
Harmony
Michele P.
Dixie
Dominique

Contest: Eyes Like Stars

2009-06-10T17:12:00.007-03:00

You saw Lisa Mantchev's Pub Story yesterday. Today, you get a chance to win her debut novel, Eyes Like Stars, only out in July.

Enter Stage Right

All her world's a stage.
Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.
She is not an orphan, but she has no parents.
She knows every part, but has no lines of her own.
Until now.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every place ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Open Curtain

One entry per person. +1 for linking to this contest. + 1 for linking to the Pub Story. Leave as many comments as you have entries, please. US only. Please leave your email address on your comment entry(-ies).

Contest over. Winner to be announced.

Email

2009-06-09T03:41:00.002-03:00

Hasn't been answered in a week. The fact I'm up at 3:42am telling you this should be some sort of an indicator as to how things have been. I'll get caught up tomorrow, hopefully. Sorry to everyone expecting a timely response--I'm really quite terrible at email and lately it hasn't gotten any better. >.< Anyway, scroll down for the pub story.

Pub Story: Lisa Mantchev

2009-06-09T03:35:00.000-03:00

Author guest blogs + publication paths = Pub Stories. It's a Tuesday thing. Click here for more info (esp. if you're an author wanting to participate). Click here for a list of all participants.

Pretty, pretty cover...

About Lisa: Lisa Mantchev grew up in the small Northern California town of Ukiah. She can pinpoint her first forays into fiction to the short stories she thumped out on an ancient typewriter. Playwriting came a few years later with an adaptation of Maeterlinck's The Blue Bird for May Day Festival in the fourth grade. She makes her home on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state with her husband Angel, her daughter Amélie and four hairy miscreant dogs. When not scribbling, she can be found on the beach, up a tree, making jam or repairing things with her trusty glue gun. Eyes Like Stars is her first novel. Find out more at http://theatre-illuminata.com.

The Story

When I have anxiety dreams, I'm usually in some version of Christopher Durang's An Actor's Nightmare: being shoved onstage in a costume that doesn't fit (when there's a costume at all!) and realizing I don't know my lines.

Publishing a book is a little bit like standing in a spotlight, waiting to see if the performance will receive applause or a barrage of rotten fruit. But I feel lucky to be standing here at all, even if I do get pelted with oranges.

No one wants to read a book about the theater.

It's too niche.

Almost as bad as a book about the opera.

I have no idea how we would market this.

These responses are not verbatim, but variations on a theme that we heard when Eyes Like Stars was out on submission. It had taken me nine months to write the novel, sign with my agent, and get it on the editors' desks, and only about nine days to feel that all hope was lost, that my cupcake-riddled, fairy-glittery story wasn't ever going to find a home.

And under all the despair and hair pulling, I wondered if they weren't right. Who would want to read a fantasy set in a theater?

People who like reading and acting and Phantom of the Opera... and High School Musical--that's doing pretty well!--and unconventional fantasy? Please? Maybe?

I hadn't thought about it during the writing process, because that's the time for putting your fingers on the keys and your nose to the screen, but afterward I had plenty of time to think over things like target audience and appropriate age range and marketability.

Before I had the chance to go completely insane, the offer came in from Feiwel & Friends. In keeping with the power of nine, it took nine months before the contract was signed and the news went public. By the time the books hits the shelves, it will have been three years from the time I put the first word on the screen. The novel went through several major revisions--my editor (the lovely and incomparable Rebecca Davis) helped me take a shiny idea and turn it into a novel that worked

But it was, and always will be, a book about the theater.

And I see the excitement over the new Glee TV series, I am hearing the first reactions of the YA bloggers and reviewers who also happen to be theater-lovers, costumers, drama enthusiasts... and I know that it was not too niche, that people DO want to read about theater, that authors shouldn't worry that their book is too different than what's already out there because it may just be the book that readers are waiting to crack open.

48-Hour Book Challenge: Finish Line

2009-06-07T14:28:00.003-03:00

I am officially done with 48HBC! It was great fun and I recommend you do it next year if you didn't do it this year--or hey, that you do it again next year, as I hope I'll get the chance to.

Anyway, as I was babysitting yesterday (I've mentioned this way too many times, huh?), I didn't finish as many books as I wanted to in that time. I'd be reading extra-slow to make space for my brain to coordinate several activities: entertain my niece (dancing...or something similar to it), rock her stroller, hold her (and somehow hold the book, too), and occasionally have to get up to do some chores.

So I read 5 books.

Catching Fire
Shiver (still some pages to go, actually)
The Formal
The Demon's Lexicon
and Drive Me Crazy

My total amount of pages would be something like...less than 1500. And I read for ~~21 hours and 24 minutes.~~

WAIT I HAD NO IDEA THE SOCIAL NETWORKING HOURS COUNTED. I have no idea how much time I actually spent networking socially, but just my blog updates were at least half an hour plus...an hour or so Twittering? That's like 23 hours then.

I DID TWENTY THREE HOURS THEN.

I don't want to talk about it.

On the bright side, I did surpass my 20-hour goal. So there's that. Next year my goal will be 25 hours and 8 books.

But regardless, this was an awesome community effort to flip as many pages as possible for as many hours as possible and to be in such great company while doing it--and reading everyone's updates along the way--is what I think makes this challenge such a success. Seriously, try to join in next time one of these is done.

Cheers to MotherReader for putting this together.

Late-night gems

2009-06-07T00:24:00.004-03:00

We won't even talk about how many hours I'm at for the 48-hour book challenge because it's so pitiful, I'm going to cry myself to sleep. Actually, I'll cry myself to sleep tomorrow. Today I get to read myself to sleep.

In an attempt to keep things positive, here are some gems you only get--at a discount with bulk orders--at the X Headquarters:

My reading time and productivity was severely impaired with irregular babysitting hours with my 4-month-old niece, who is prone to wailing like her life depends on it. It also doesn't help that she has some sort of ear infection or ache or something, and is coming down with a cold. (It's nearing winter here in the southern hemisphere.) So anyway, I would constantly have to set my book down and dance to Lil Jon's "Get Low" for her to shut up. And you thought Emma from Friends and her "Baby Got Back" fetish was bad.

The second hilarity comes in the form of my mother having this habit of coming into my room every night before she retires to her own chambers (it's a small master bedroom, but I like calling it 'chambers'. hee!) and doing the cross in Greek. It's this thing that came with her Greek Orthodox upbringing. She came to do that today but since my lower bed was pulled out for my nephew to sleep in, she couldn't get to my head and torso so she did it to my closest body part, which just happened to be my butt.

Why yes, my mom blessed my butt to sleep.

Night, y'all.

48HBC Update #2

2009-06-06T18:15:00.000-03:00

More info on the 48 hour book challenge.

Okay, I have...20 hours and 19 minutes to go until I hit my 48 hour deadline, and I have finished 11 hours and 30-something minutes. Do we have to post exact timetables of the reading we've done? Cos I haven't a clue. I'm only counting the hours, to be honest.

Books I've read:
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (review)
The Formal by Kate Harmon (review)

Books I've Started:
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (page 170)

Books I'm Hoping to Finish in the next 9.5 hours:
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

Official tally:
Books read: 2.5
Hours read: 11 hours and 30 minutes
Things to take into account: A screaming niece who needs rocking from someone who's not the best multitasker ever while reading.

The Formal by Kate Harmon (48HBC)

2009-06-06T18:08:00.001-03:00

The Formal is the third book in the Sorority 101 series by Kate Harmon. (Not sure if this too is written by Marley Gibson. I know for a fact the first two are, but who can tell?) I've been trying to find this for a while now because I enjoyed the first two well enough. I like reading FUN!, whimsical type books every once in a while, which is why I chose this for my third 48 Hour Book Challenge book.

Jenna and Tiger are having trouble moving forward with their relationship. When it's unveiled Tiger has had previous experience in that department--I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about--Jenna can't get it out of her head. What if the other girl is better than her? What if he's still in love with her?

Roni and Lance hit a rough patch when Roni becomes too involved in ZZT's Formal, since all the planning's been dumped on her by an older and stressed-out-by-the-LSATs sorority sister. He can't understand how important being part of a family like ZZT is important to Roni ("Shouldn't you be channeling all this energy into your schoolwork and our relationship?"), which obviously rubs Roni the wrong way.

Lora-Leigh and DeShawn are casual as ever, but they're definitely making progress in the relationship territory. Until DeShawn decides to go to the NFL drafts and whatever they have - however special - doesn't have good survival odds. She gets into FIT but struggles with the decision of going or not when the weight of what she's leaving behind--her sorority, her best friends, and the entire LU life.

This one's more focused on the romantic relationship of the girls than the sorority itself, as was with the previous two books (and what you'd expect with the series title like it is). You don't necessarily need to read the previous ones to understand this, because there's some rehashing here and there. Truthfully, I don't remember a whole lot about them so I can't say if the references to events in the predecessors gets overbearing or not, but it was a nice crutch to go on.

There's not a lot to be said about this third installment. I paid $4 for it at The Strand and spent 3ish hours reading it and it kept me entertained while I babysat my crying-her-lungs-out niece. Everything's a little too obvious (not to mistaken with predictable. It's that too, but obvious is more how I'd describe it) and the characters are getting a little too blushy-blush for my tastes, but hey. More than anything, I'm getting tired of the super happily-ever-afters. After 250 pages of angst and commotion in the problematic relationships, you would think a simple gesture wouldn't fix everything.

What I mean is, it's readable and pretty fun if you're into this sort of thing (which I am), but not the most impressive addition to this already not-exactly-stellar series. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone whose tastes don't correlate exactly with mine or anyone who's looking for something different. The first book was decidedly better, though.

I told myself I'd only spend 10 minutes writing this so I could get back to reading, and I've gone two minutes over, so I'm signing off. ;)

48HBC Update #1

2009-06-06T10:07:00.006-03:00

Books I've finished:

1. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (4 hours)

Books I've started:

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (1.5 hours-so far!)
+1 hour since posting this! So far.
+1.5 more hours since last update.

Total so far: 8 hours. 1.5 to go until I hit the 24hr mark!

Books on my pile:

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Ash by Malinda Lo
Soul Enchilada by David Macinnis Gill
The Formal by Kate Harmon

Totally gave up hope of finishing all of 'em due to the fact I crashed last night at 10:30 and woke up at 8 today, after only having read 5 hours. 5 hours until I pass the 24 hour mark. But I still have plans of making it to the 20+ hour group!

48-Hour Book Challenge: Starting Line

2009-06-05T14:30:00.000-03:00

I'm scheduling this back to be posted at 2:30pm my time because that is officially when I began my reading marathon and I just decided to participate in this, even though I'm kinda breaking a rule by not having read for five hours before coming online. Oh well, at least that's three hours I've read already!

Join us! You still have time. Check rules here and link to your Starting Line post here.

BEA Recap: Horror Stories

2009-06-05T08:00:00.000-03:00

You know those horror stories agents and editors use as cautionary tales for what to never, ever do around them? Like to not hand them an unsolicited manuscript, follow them to public restrooms, or pitch them in the middle of a social event? Like, use common sense?

Okay, well. I never knew people would actually consider doing any of those things to lit bloggers. But I’ll tell you what, this is how I’m debuting my series of BEA recaps: rude and awkward but funny situations I found myself in at BEA.

First up was at the blogger booth. Firebrand set up a space for bloggers to sit in scheduled hour-long slots to meet readers or people who were interested. Think an author signing, but for bloggers. We had some materials to hand to curious people who passed by and trading cards to use as business cards, etc. Fun idea, huh?

Well, my slot was at 11am on Saturday. I didn’t get many visitors (way to feel like a reject, Steph!) when a middle-aged man stopped by and asked what bloggers did and how much we charged for our services. The two other people signing with me, Trish and Molly, were busy chatting with other visitors, so I explained that we do this for free as a hobby, etc…

He perked up. He pulled a (very cheap-looking) book from a suitcase he was carrying and began pitching this true crime novel to me, even after I’d told him I only do YA. I’m not good at telling industry people off in person, and my subtle attempts to get him to leave me alone failed to work, so I was stuck there. Half an hour the guy was there.

Out of an hour I had to be there. He took up half my time, and out of my peripheral vision I saw people come up and leave once they saw how engrossed he was in this one-sided conversation I couldn’t get out of. He handed me the book and said, “You gotta review it.”

“My review pile is way too big right now--”

“This will be a bestseller. Did you miss the part where a feature film is being made for July?”

Are movies even made that quickly? It sounded off to me.

“That’s great! But I really can’t--”

“Take it!”

“Uh…okay.” I took the book and put it with my stuff. “Thanks.”

“So you’ll review it?” He was looking at me so expectantly.

“…Um.”

“Hey, Steph, I gotta show you something,” the event coordinator said. “One second,” she told the guy. We walked over to the computer and she said, “You looked like you needed some help there.”

“Oh, thank you. Yeah. No kidding. He’s been here for half an hour and he’s badgering me.” I was really annoyed, more so by the fact I hadn’t found the courage to defend myself.

We browsed Twitter for a couple of minutes and I said, “Okay, I’m going back. Thank you.”

The guy was talking to another coordinator when I went back to my seat, and the coordinator looked just as uncomfortable as I’m sure I did. I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and I said, “Look, I’m not going to be able to review this as my readership is mainly comprised of teen girls who aren’t your target audience.”

He looked so immersed in his conversation with the other coordinator that he just nodded, took the book, and went on talking. I almost said something to him, but the coordinator who saved me looked like she had it under control, so I just left.

Oh my GOD, was that awkward. It makes you wonder if people have no common sense at all.

Then! At 12:30pm I was moderating a YA consumer panel. We had four teen girls (five with me, but I wasn’t a panelist) talking about their reading habits and such. We got a ton of audience questions and when the panel finished, some audience members came up to talk to me. I got through the first two people okay and then as I was talking to the third, this guy came up to me.

Another guy, mind. Lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice.

He poked me. I politely motioned for him to wait a bit as I was in the middle of a conversation with another person. He tapped his foot, the classic image of an impatient prima donna, and it took my all not to roll my eyes. A couple of minutes went by, and I was still talking to the other person. Instead of waiting, he grabbed my shirt and turned me to face him and handed me a couple of children’s books.

“Read these, okay?”

“I’m sorry but--” As you can see, I was getting a little bolder. No Uhh…s this time.

“Read them, okay?”

He looked anxious to leave, so I figured if I said okay he’d go. “Sure!”

He grabbed my wrist and pulled the books from my hand. I was getting a bit creeped out, but since I wasn’t alone in the room, I said nothing. He pointed at the title and said, “If you type that into the Internet, you’ll see the website. You’ll read them, right?”

I pulled my hand back, gave him a wan smile and did like a thumbs up thing.

He left.

I apologized and continued my conversation with the other person--who looked about as irked as I was when the guy finally left--and when I was all done talking to the awesome people who stayed after the panel to chat, I threw the books in my bag and left for the book blogger panel.

Long story short: When I left New York on Monday, those two books remained in the hotel room. My bags were heavy enough as it is. Here’s to hoping the hotel housekeeper has a kid who’d be interested.

All I’m saying is: That’s not the way to pitch bloggers. Or anyone. I never thought I’d have this problem--I mean, I’m a book blogger. What published author would have the audacity to impose themselves on a person like that? It’s one thing to casually come up to someone and say, “Hi, I’m ___ and my book, ____, published by ____, might appeal to you.”

But…the above? Ick.

I guess all’s fair in marketing and BEA?

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

2009-06-04T21:30:00.000-03:00

Years and years of wishes made over birthday candles are finally answered when Anna turns fifteen and Matt, her best friend, finally kisses her. The two carry out a secret romance, delaying telling Matt’s sister--and Anna’s best female friend--Frankie until the two siblings’ annual trip to California, where he can find the best way to tell her. But they never get to that point because a month later, an undetected defect in Matt’s heart leads to a car accident, claiming Matt’s life and any semblance of normalcy in Anna’s and Frankie’s.

Anna promised Matt she’d let him tell Frankie of their hidden relationship and with his passing, she can’t bring herself to confess to her best friend. This secret robs her of her right to mourn--she feels so guilty and protective of Frankie that she becomes the strong one in the friendship, saving them from the depths of depression while also dealing with her demons. And the family trip to California Frankie’s parents are planning a year later in order to bring some closure isn’t helping, especially when all Frankie wants to do is hook up with twenty boys. How can Anna really embark on that when she’s still in love with her best friend’s dead brother? At the same time, how would she explain a refusal to take part in it?

Anna’s love-soaked memories of Matt--of romantic things they did together or flashbacks dating even further back, Before The Kiss, when she was still falling in love with him--are all we have to go on the man itself and yet he’s such a force in this novel. I’m not sure what it takes to make a character of the past have believable influence over the present, to convince us he’s real over such limited glimpses of all he was. But Matt resuscitated in all the passages Anna’s conflicted about all things relating to him, and if nothing else, there’s something really pure in that quality.

Luckily, there’s no need to get on the “if nothing else” optimistic train because there’s so much else. The characters are there, not one of them flawless but every last one real. Even unblemished Matt (don’t speak ill of the dead, eh?) leaves some ambiguity he can’t answer for. Further: At its core, this is a story about love, but not always a love story, and incorporates all manifestations of said love--familial, platonic and romantic. It’s just so well rounded.

But! As much as I’d evidently love to praise this book seven ways way past Sunday, one thing wasn’t… cooked long enough for me. The single most compelling factor herein is Anna’s conflicted feelings about her loyalty to Matt and her attraction to this new summer boy, Sam. While I thought Sam’s character was for all intents and purposes all right, as a reader, after experiencing her emotional rollercoaster in light of every miniscule thing, I couldn’t feel her desire for him. What there was of it paled to her descriptions of how Sam made her feel…I don’t know.

Also, a bit minor, but I thought Frankie lost a lot of her characterization in the year following Matt’s death. We get to see a ton of Matt and Anna of the past and Frankie is lost in transition. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a crystal (sea glass?) clear picture of her grief painted left and right but…it just would’ve been nice to understand her in such an emotionally-investing novel.

With all this said, though, ya know what? I don’t care. Sam could be an allegory for all future guys in Anna’s life and how she’ll deal with the anxiety that comes with wanting to forget but also remember, and the frustration of not knowing just what was it she lost with Matt and if she’s betraying him. Anna’s exploration of this theme is worth every page.

The writing’s just beautiful and the way Sarah Ockler writes about grief, incorporating a very particular sentimentality to it, is subtle and genuine and inimitable. This lingers. I do recommend this novel, I do I do! B

Little, Brown | 290 pages | June 1st, 2009 | Excerpt | GoodReads | IndieBound | Amazon

Win all of Erin Downing's books

2009-06-03T20:15:00.001-03:00

I feel like I'm turning into contest central here, but alas, that's about how it goes when you're in the Finals Arena. -.-

You all saw Erin Downing's Pub Story yesterday. Now, it's time to sample the outcome of said story. Three lucky winners each get all three of her Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies books.

Dancing Queen
It's official. Olivia is a superfreak. Sure, she may have landed the hottest internship at an übercool TV music station. And yes, she's chilling with A-listers in London all summer. But when she meets her very first pop star, she gets caught in a revolving glass door and falls smack down on her bum -- all in one quick motion.

Luckily, Rocker Boy thinks Liv's quirks are adorable. He takes her clubbing at the hippest spots! Liv may be clumsy on solid ground, but on the dance floor she sparkles. The summer's just begun and she's already captured the spotlight -- and a celeb's heart, too. Now if only she was sure he's the right guy...

Prom Crashers
It was love at first sight for Emily and Ethan. But then Em lost his number and, with it, all the hope of finding a real boyfriend before the end of senior year. All she knows about Ethan is his first name, that he has a supercute smile, and that he's going to a prom this month. Which high school? That's anyone's guess....

Em enlists the help of her three best friends, who quickly score formal wear and hail a limo. Together, Emily, Max and Sid vow to find Ethan, to find a cure for senioritis, and most important, to find true love -- one hilarious prom night at a time.

Drive Me Crazy
Kate's tote is packed and she's ready for a road trip! She and her two best friends, Sierra and Alexis, are geared up for a week of fun and freedom on the road to their family lake houses in Love, Wisconsin. Best of all, when Kate reaches Love, she'll be reunited with Lucas, with whom she shared a steamy end-of-summer kiss last year. Kate can't wait to see Lucas again and pick things up exactly where they left off.

Then Kate gets some seriously bad news: Alexis's sarcastic, condescending, hot-but-he-knows-it cousin is crashing the girls' road trip. Adam bugs Kate in every possible way. Now Kate just wants to get the road trip over with so she can spend the summer in Lucas's arms. But the road to Love is full of surprises...

Who wants? Here's what you gotta do to win:

What's your favorite romantic comedy book is (by any author)? What's a teeny little explanation of why you like it?

Answer this in the comments section and your name will be added to the draw.

+1 each time you link to this contest anywhere
+1 if you link to Erin's Pub Story

Leave as many comments as you have entries, telling me what you did in each. (Answering the question + 1 extra = 2 comments; so on.) USA only.

You have a week, until June 10th. Go go go!

Contest over. Winner to be announced.

Pub Story: Erin Downing

2009-06-02T02:56:00.000-03:00

Author guest blogs + publication paths = Pub Stories. It's a Tuesday thing. Click here for more info (esp. if you're an author wanting to participate). Click here for a list of all participants.

About Erin: Erin Downing is a one-time book editor who now works at Nickelodeon. She spent a few months as a cookie inventor (but had to quit after she ate too many). Erin has lived in England, Sweden, and New York City and now resides in her native Minnesota. Visit her at http://www.erindowning.com.

The Story

I’m Erin Downing, author and snacker, and this is my Pub Story.

To set things up, I should let you know that I am probably one of the few authors I know who can’t honestly say, “I have always wanted to be a writer.” But the fact is, I haven’t. I grew up loving to write essays for English class, and I’ve always loved reading and writing about books…but writing fiction? Getting inside my own head and putting it on paper? No, thanks.

In fact, I was never even a journaling person. I was just a reader and an English major and a wannabe actor (this last whim only lasted a very short time—the ultimate prize would have been a starring role in one of those very amusing tampon commercials).

Besides reading and English-majoring, the one thing I have always been good at is being honest and sharing my opinion. Quite honestly, I’m too honest and opinionated most of the time. But this honesty and a love of critique and reading made me realize I’d like to pursue a career as a book editor. Specifically, a children’s book editor. Even more specifically, I decided I’d like to edit very commercial fiction that a lot of people would like to read, which to me meant something like The Babysitter’s Club series.

So I went to my college guidance advisor in Minnesota and told her so.

ME: I would like to become a children’s book editor. Can you help me?
HER (chuckling): That is not a career. You mean you’d like to be a journalist?
ME: No. An editor—of books?
HER: Good luck with that. There is no such job.

Well, she was crazy, of course. There is such a job—it just meant I would probably need to move to New York and make almost no money, both of which I was more than happy to do. I was ready for the big city and glamour! So I sent resumes to every publisher I could think of, and somehow managed to schedule an exhausting round of interviews with approximately eight different publishers (some of whom were so stuffy that had I gotten a job there, I would be a much—uh, different—person today). I ended up extending my visit by two days to fit in one last-minute interview…at Scholastic.

I hustled straight from the interview to the airport to fly home, and while I was in the air headed back to Minnesota, I got a voicemail message from Scholastic offering me my dream job. I was hired by a fellow named David Levithan (ahem—heard of him?) who was, at the time, editing the last books in The Babysitter’s Club series! Can you believe it?

To skip through time a bit, I will just summarize the next few years by saying that I worked on some awesome books with amazing authors who remain my idols to this day. The things I loved most about my years as an editor were working with authors to bring their characters to life and helping them plot out sticky spots in their manuscripts. It was some time during these years that I subconsciously realized I wanted to create characters of my own, and began to understand how much I enjoy molding the structure of a story.

Some stuff happened (which I won’t bore you with), but I eventually quit my Scholastic career and moved to Stockholm, Sweden, with my husband for a year. Now, finally, we get into the writing piece of this Pub Story.

While I was living in Sweden, I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to do with my life. I started playing with some stories on paper, and spent a lot of time people-watching and daydreaming characters. One day, I went to see that dumb movie with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, the one where she has amnesia? See, I don’t even remember what it was called, but I do remember that I came home from the movie and wrote the first scene of what would eventually be Dancing Queen, my first book. (For the record, the scene I wrote that day was eventually edited out and a new one took its place. That happens.)

I worked on the first few chapters and an outline of what the book would look like, with the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy line in mind. Why? Well, one of my fellow Scholastic editorial colleagues was responsible for that line at the time, and I knew she would be kind enough to look at my submission, but would also be painfully honest about whether my book totally sucked. I counted on her to tell me I should just give up, if that’s what she thought I should do. But she did not. In fact, she told me to keep playing, keep tinkering, keep writing, and gave me heaps of suggestions along the way. Unlike other stories like this that end badly, I did eventually get a contract for that book once it was written, and my first book was published by Simon Pulse approximately nine months later.

Side note: I do not have an agent, but I am very comfortable being pushy to get what I need/want and I love to negotiate. That’s another story.

Back to the story: While I was on maternity leave with my first daughter, before Dancing Queen was even in bookstores, I was brainstorming with my husband and good friend/author-extraordinaire Robin Wasserman (read Skinned!) for a new book hook. We hit on the concept for Prom Crashers, my second book. I wrote a proposal for my editor, she bought it, and I was given five months to write it so we could get it out in time for the next prom season. I did it!

At this point, my editor left Simon & Schuster, and I was assigned a new editor. Nothing good happened for about nine months. Many rejected proposals later, I was down in the dumps and worried I would never be published again. Then, out of the blue (without realizing how good her timing was, since I’d mentally given up), I got an email from Anica Rissi, who had just started as a new Senior Editor at Simon Pulse. It said (to paraphrase), “We miss you at Pulse, and I am going to be your editor moving forward, if that’s okay with you.” Okay? Okay!

I sent her a new proposal I’d been working on – for Drive Me Crazy, a book that will be out in June – and she loved it. Once again, tight deadline. And, get this—in a totally crazy twist of fate, the very same week I got a “yes” to a proposal I’d submitted for Scholastic’s Candy Apple line. Juicy Gossip had a deadline four weeks before Drive Me Crazy, and I suddenly had less than six months to write TWO books, and have a full-time job, and be a mom to not-yet-one-year-old twins and a toddler. I survived.

That was last summer. After the insane deadline frenzy, I took some time off to play with my kids and some ideas for *different* types of books that I’d been wanting to dig into. My lovely editor Anica and I spent some time talking about my writing career, and we had some very similar ideas about where I should go. Throughout last fall and into early this spring, I worked on a proposal for a new teen book called Kiss It. It’s very different from my earlier work, and I’m in the middle of writing it now. Assuming I finish writing it, Simon Pulse will publish it in Summer 2010, and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.

Until then, I’m really enjoying the ride.

Thanks for reading my Pub Story, and my books!

Thanks, Erin!

Contest: Catching Fire

2009-05-31T16:40:00.004-03:00

Yeah yeah, I am totally serious. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. I'm paying (a lot) for my internet usage, so I can't add cover and description, but I'm sure you're all tired of hearing that. :)

Comment to win. This is US only because this trip to the US has made me POOR. +1 for each time you link straight here. Leave as many comments as you have entries. (So if you enter and do one +1, you leave two comments; one entry and 2 +1s = 3 comments, etc.)

Not sure when the deadline is (we'll see what the response is), so hurry!

Contest over. Winner announced here.

I'm in NYC!

2009-05-28T23:42:00.002-03:00

Hi all, have to make this quick cos my hotel charges for internet. I'm in NYC and I met a ton of people today, including Michelle Zink, Alea, Lenore, Amy (My Friend Amy), Melissa Walker, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Korianne, Marie, Steph Su, Sharon, and many many others I'm not gonna say right now cos of time. But anyway, it's been fab. If anyone wants to meet at BEA tomorrow, I'll be at the YA Editors' Buzz. K? See you then!

Contest: Lisa Schroeder's Books

2009-05-27T12:00:00.002-03:00

You saw Lisa Schroeder's Pub Story.
Now it's time to win Lisa's books.

From Lisa herself:

Man, Elizabeth Scott is a tough act to follow, giving away a whole stack of books. I only have two books out, but I’m happy to give away one of each to two lucky people.

I Heart You, You Haunt Me
Girl meets boy.
Girl loses boy.
Girl gets boy back...
...sort of.

Ava can't see him or touch him, unless she's dreaming. She can't hear his voice, except for the faint whispers in her mind. Most would think she's crazy, but she knows he's here.

Jackson. The boy Ava thought she'd spend the rest of her life with. He's back from the dead, as proof that love truly knows no bounds.

Far From You
Lost and alone...down the rabbit hole

Years have passed since Alice lost her mother to cancer, but time hasn't quite healed the wound. Alice copes the best she can, by writing her music, losing herself in the love of her boyfriend, and distancing herself from her father and his new wife.

But when a deadly snowstorm traps Alice with her stepmother and newborn half-sister, she'll face issues she's been avoiding for too long. As Alice looks to the heavens for guidance, she discovers something wonderful.

Perhaps she's not so alone after all...

Sound good? You have until June 3rd to enter. Leave a comment indicating which one you'd like, or, if you have no preference, let us know that.

+1 If you link directly to this contest post
+1 If you link to Lisa's Pub Story
+1 -sekkrit-

Please leave as many comments as you have entries (for instance, one entry = 1 comment, 1 entry + 1 extra entry = 2 comments, so on). Makes my life easier. ;)

Contest closed. Winners announced here.

Pub Story: Lisa Schroeder

2009-05-26T12:00:00.000-03:00

Author guest blogs + publication paths = Pub Stories. It's a Tuesday thing. Click here for more info (esp. if you're an author wanting to participate). Click here for a list of all participants.

* Noteworthy: Lisa gave a bit of insight on the production of novels in verse: snagging an agent, selling, word count, editing, etc. I've never found this sort of info easily, which is why I think this is a particularly informative Pub Story.

About Lisa: Lisa is the author of two young adult novels, I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME and FAR FROM YOU, both published by Simon Pulse. She works as a Compensation Analyst by day at a local hospital and squeezes writing in during the early morning hours and on the weekends. She lives in Oregon with her husband and two sons. In 2010, she’s excited to have two new novels coming out -- a mid-grade novel called IT’S RAINING CUPCAKES and another YA novel-in-verse, CHASING BROOKLYN. Visit her online at http://lisaschroederbooks.com/.

The Story
I had been writing for a long time. A. Freaking. Long. Time. Like years and years. And all around me people were getting big deals with their exciting books for kids and teens and skipping through the field of publishing daisies, and holy crap did I want to SKIP through those daisies too!

Although I had published a picture book with a small house, my dream was to publish a novel. I’d written three mid-grade novels that didn’t go anywhere. The third one I’d come close to getting an agent a couple of times, but I still wasn’t skipping. So, in 2006 I read about an on-line YA class an author was offering and I signed up. 2005/2006 was when the young adult world really started to take off. YA novels were selling like crazy. It wasn’t that I necessarily wanted to go where it was hot, it just made sense to learn more about writing for this age group in case I ever had a story idea that would fit.

I read a LOT of YA during that time and discovered Laurie Halse Anderson, Sonya Sones, Sarah Mlynowski, Ellen Hopkins, Sarah Dessen, and many others. So, I started writing a YA novel, and while in the middle of that story, I had a dream about a girl whose boyfriend died and he loved her so much, he couldn’t leave her. I got up the next morning and started writing about Ava and Jackson – the story that eventually became I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME.

The weird thing was that the story came out in a different format from anything I’d ever written. I wrote ten pages before I sat back and thought, Lisa, what in the ^&*% are you doing? As if it isn’t hard enough to get a book published, now I was writing in this sparse, poetic style that would probably make it even harder.

Still, I liked what I had, so I kept going. The story poured out of me like nothing else I’d ever written. I found it fun and challenging at the same time to tell the story in this unique way. Still, I worried that calling it “verse” when I wasn’t nearly as poetic as other verse authors would mean I would be stuck on the boring old sidewalk forever while others around me continued to skip through those daisies.

I finished the book and had a few people give me critiques, including Sonya Sones, who was incredibly helpful in getting my book polished and ready to submit. Finally, in August of 2006, I was ready to start querying agents. I put the word count in the letter, and at that time, the book came in at a whopping 13,600 words. Verse novels are just shorter. (It did grow by about 2,000 words, though, during the revision process with my editor). One agent told me (after reading only the query letter) – this is too short to be a novel, it’s probably more of a novella. Another agent told me – I wouldn’t know a good verse novel from a bad one, so I’m definitely not the agent for you. It wasn’t long before I was frustrated and feeling like it would be back to the Idea Store again to find a new idea and start over on a new project.

Finally, I had an agent request to read the manuscript, because she had a client who had been talking about writing a novel-in-verse, and she was “curious.” This, by the way, proves my point that so much of what happens in publishing is luck, i.e. right place, right time. A couple of weeks later, she e-mailed me and said she loved the book and thought the verse created a unique atmosphere that she didn’t think I would have achieved had I written in traditional prose.

We had to submit to quite a few editors before we found one who fell in love with it. I mean, let’s face it. I had this paranormal story going on combined with what is traditionally a very literary style. I think most editors read it and just weren’t sure what to do with it. Is it literary? Is it commercial? What IS it?

Anyway, Simon Pulse took me on and although I’m still very much a struggling author with a day job trying to break out, I’ve finally gotten to skip through the field of publishing daisies. I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME came out in January, 2008 and is in its seventh printing. Simon Pulse bought my second novel in verse, called FAR FROM YOU, out now, which is another book about love and loss, healing and hope. I just finished revisions on my third one, coming out in 2010, called CHASING BROOKLYN, another ghost story, this time with two ghosts, one who is tormenting Brooklyn and another who is trying to protect her.

Steph asked – how is writing, submitting, and revising a verse novel different from a traditional novel?

I think some houses view verse novels as risky. Editors wonder if teens will open up the book and be turned off by the format. Certainly Ellen Hopkins, a NYT best-selling author, has proven teens will read verse. On the other hand, not everyone is going to like it. I know that. I get that. And it’s okay! Just like not everyone likes fantasy, not everyone likes historical fiction, etc. etc. Ultimately, just like any book, I think it comes down to telling a good story. That has to be the number one goal each and every time. The format in which I choose to tell the story isn’t as important as telling a good story.

As far as revising a verse novel, it’s really tricky because with my editor’s help, I go in knowing what needs work to make the story better and to make the characters more developed. But at the same time, I’m constantly asking myself, is it poetic enough? There are times when lots of dialogue is needed, and let’s face it, realistic dialogue is not going to be poetic. So I do the best I can, and hope people know it’s a fine line, and hope they might try to appreciate the challenges writing a novel-in-verse comes with.

-

Thanks, Lisa!

Waiting for You Winners

2009-05-25T23:22:00.001-03:00

Erica and Iryna!

Email me your addresses, please!

Edit: If you're in NYC!

2009-05-25T18:17:00.004-03:00

Just as an addendum to my last post looking for writers/agents/editors/publicists/etc going to BEA, this came up: I'm going to be in NYC Wednesday (May 27th) through Monday (June 1st--but I don't know when my flight leaves, so there's that). So if you're not necessarily going to be at BEA, or you are but prefer meeting elsewhere, email me anyway.

And again, the reason I'm doing this is because this is like the greatest opportunity ever to get some real info about agent and editor jobs, the industry, etc., all face-to-face.

:)

ARE YOU GOING TO BEA?

2009-05-24T22:27:00.004-03:00

I AM!!! :D

I feel silly doing this, but since this is sort of a really huge thing for me (cos I live abroad and will be traveling to NYC exclusively for this), I want to make sure I meet everyone I know or who knows me who will be there. And since I have found out some autographing authors whose names aren't on the lists, and others still who aren't signing but will be there nonetheless, I want to ensure I have everyone.

So if you'll be there (and you don't have to be an author--lord knows I'm hoping to meet some editors, agents, etc just to chat about their jobs), email me. Let's schedule some face time. ;)

And I really do mean it about the agents/editors/etc (particularly editors). I'll be making a college choice in a year and this is a golden opportunity for me to learn more about the job (since it's what I really, really want to do). I promise that:

I won't try to hand you an unsolicited manuscript.
I'm harmless.
I won't take up a lot of time. I'm a fast talker.

Like I said, I feel silly doing this. But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, and a girl doesn't go to NYC all the time. And a girl would also like to let you know that you don't have to be in YA for her to want to meet you. I'm a people person--I like meeting everyone.

Retrospective (3)

2009-05-24T22:25:00.000-03:00

** If you've sent me any email in the past two weeks, please note that I am overrun with distractions from Le Real Life and what with the upcoming BEA and all, and I haven't had time to respond to hardly anyone. Sorry, sorry, it's coming! **

Anyway: This is not my idea: I've see "this week in review"-type posts everywhere. Sometimes "this month in review". Same thing. However, I've had a few people ask me if they could do it after I did a In Hindsight post two weeks ago (of course you can! It's everywhere!), and I've seen a couple do it since, and I think this would be a neat way to keep up with each other's blog if we get behind. Thus, a retro meme type deal.

So, if you want to participate, just post what you did in this past week (feel free to link here so people know where to get other people's list) on your blog and add a link to your post below.

1. The drama continues...

2. Elizabeth Scott stops by for her Pub Story. (!) Hers is one of first novels being sold third and coming out first and third novels sold coming out sixth and all that kind of weird timing. Oh, and of three different editors for one manuscript. Quite confusing unless you read it. So do.

3. AND THEN SHE BECAME EVEN MORE AWESOME AND DONATED ALL SIX OF HER BOOKS TO A GIVEAWAY.

4. And then I read an awesome book called Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead and reviewed it.

Add yourself to the list if you've participated:

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

2009-05-24T02:40:00.001-03:00

I think this book was up for grabs at BookDivas a couple of years back and the only thing that stopped me from getting it over Angel’s Choice by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (a good one--and my first ever review) was the cover. (If not BookDivas, probably some other similar situation.) It, in my opinion, made (makes) Vampire Academy look derivative and I’m just not so into vampires that I can read stuff that didn’t come recommended to me.

Now, I’m trying really hard to learn to love the cover because, god forbid, it is what it is, but you don’t have to tell me twice to love the story behind it. I already do.

Moroi vampire princess Lissa Dragomir and half-human, half-vampire (dhampir) Rose Hathaway are finally caught two years after fleeing St. Vladmir’s academy for reasons only Rose could tell you. In a world where the Moroi--or good, magical, harmless vampires--are dwindling in numbers with the proliferation of Strigoi--bad, killer vampires--the burden of protecting the Moroi falls upon the dhampirs, who need them for procreation. Gifted with an unique bond that allows her to experience Lissa’s feelings, delinquent Rose’s only saving grace against expulsion from the Academy is that she’s the princess’s ideal guardian.

But being under house arrest and exhausted with all her extra training with the steamy Dimitri Belikov as part of her preparation toward becoming a guardian (making up for lost time, if you will) doesn’t stop Rose from piecing together shocking truths and parallels between her recently orphaned friend’s depression and magic, their bond, and an enigmatic former teacher who was taken away.

Well, the first thing I can tell you is that Vampire Academy isn’t derivative.

Rose, the main character, may be hard to like at first. Her fierce loyalty, passion and strength may come across as cocky and irritating, but with each passing page, her character is unveiled and what you see is that she’s determined to keep her best friend safe. Which is the beauty factor of this book: at its heart, it’s a tale of friendship.

Lissa and the supporting cast are all just as well written, but it’s a good thing this is told from Rose’s perspective, as she’s my favorite. Well, from the girls. There’s your assortment of hot guys thrown in for good measure, but y’all can sigh over those yourselves. ;)

What struck me most, however, was how unique the mythology here is. I won’t get into it because it’s very carefully plotted to be relevant to the conflict and such, but it’s presented prominently and the vampiric culture was almost a character itself in that it leaped to life. You had your religion, your customs, and your taboos, and you can’t help but become immersed in it.

And what I appreciated a lot? The ending wasn’t a cliffhanger whatsoever but just as effectively makes me wish I had the second book right here with me. (Which I will, if the good Lord permits my bookstore to ship it out on time, in two days.)

I can see where the Vampire Academy series gained their fame and momentum. If this first book is of any indication, it’s a perfect contender for word-of-mouth: it propels praise. I just couldn’t wait to start talking about how much I liked it. It was an immensely fun and satisfying read, complete with originality to boot.

You definitely get your money’s worth after 300+ pages of action-packed narrative at $9, is all I’m saying.

Further: I'm sorry, but someone really needs to fix the typographical errors herein. It's been 17 printings y'all, there's just no excuse anymore.

Razorbill | 332 pages | August 16th, 2007 | Website | Excerpt | GoodReads | IndieBound | Amazon

Win All Elizabeth Scott Books!

2009-05-20T00:00:00.003-03:00

Yooohooo! Okay, a little confession: I edited Elizabeth Scott's Pub Story a bit. See where it says:

I figure there's only one way to finish this story - you know who I really have to thank?

You.

All of you who've bought my novels and told your friends about them, sent me emails, and just generally remind me every day that I am the luckiest girl ever.
It should say:

I figure there's only one way to finish this story, and that's to give one person a copy of every single novel I've written. That's right--a copy of all of my novels--because you know who I really have to thank?

You.

All of you who've bought my novels and told your friends about them, sent me emails, and just generally remind me every day that I am the luckiest girl ever. So, one person will get signed copies of the following:

Bloom, Stealing Heaven, Love You Hate You Miss You (out June 2nd), Perfect You, Something, Maybe, and Living Dead Girl.

Whoever thinks I'm beyond excited about hosting this contest would be right. ;)

So, descriptions!

Bloom
Lauren has a good life: decent grades, great friends, and a boyfriend every girl lusts after. So why is she so unhappy?

It takes the arrival of Evan Kirkland for Lauren to figure out the answer: She's been holding back. She's been denying herself a bunch of things (like sex) because staying with her loyal and gorgeous boyfriend, Dave, is the "right" thing to do. After all, who would give up the perfect boyfriend?

But as Dave starts talking more and more about their life together, planning a future Lauren simply can't see herself in -- and as Lauren's craving for Evan, and moreover, who she is with Evan becomes all the more fierce -- Lauren realizes she needs to make a choice...before one is made for her.

Stealing Heaven
Dani has been trained as a thief by the best - her mother. Together, they move from town to town, targeting wealthy homes and making a living by stealing antique silver. They never stay in one place long enough to make real connections, real friends - a real life.

In the beach town of Heaven, though, everything changes. For the first time, Dani starts to feel at home. She's making friends and has even met a guy. But these people can never know the real Dani - because of who she is. When it turns out that her new friend lives in the house they've targeted for their next job and the cute guy is a cop, Dani must question where her loyalties lie: with the life she's always known - or the one she's always wanted.

Perfect You
Kate Brown's life has gone downhill fast. Her father has quit his job to sell vitamins at the mall, and Kate is forced to work with him. Her best friend has become popular, and now she acts like Kate's invisible.

And then there's Will. Gorgeous, unattainable Will, whom Kate acts like she can't stand even though she can't stop thinking about him. When Will starts acting interested, Kate hates herself for wanting him when she's sure she's just his latest conquest.

Kate figures that the only way things will ever stop hurting so much is if she keeps to herself and stops caring about anyone or anything. What she doesn't realize is that while life may not always be perfect, good things can happen - but only if she lets them....

Living Dead Girl
Once upon a time I was a little girl who disappeared.
Once upon a time my name was not Alice.
Once upon a time I didn't know how lucky I was.

When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends -- her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.

Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.

This is Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

Something, Maybe
Everyone thinks their parents are embarrassing, but Hannah knows she's got them all beat. Her dad made a fortune showing pretty girls--and his "party" lifestyle--all over the Internet, and her mom, who was once one of her dad's girlfriends, is now the star of her own website. After getting the wrong kind of attention for far too long, Hannah has learned how to stay out of sight...and that's how she likes it.

Of course, being unknown isn't helping her get noticed by gorgeous, confident Josh, who Hannah knows is her soul mate. Between trying to figure out a way to get him to notice her, dealing with her parents, and wondering why she can't stop thinking about another guy, Finn, Hannah feels like she's going crazy. She's determined to make things work out the way she wants....only what she wants may not be what she needs.

Love You Hate You Miss You
It's been seventy-five days. Amy's sick of her parents suddenly taking an interest in her. And she's really sick of people asking her about Julia. Julia's gone, and Amy doesn't want to talk about it. No one knew Julia like she did. No one gets what life is without her.

No one understands what it's like to know that it's all your fault.

Amy's shrink thinks she should keep a journal but instead, Amy starts writing letters to Julia. And as she writes letter after letter, she begins to realize that the past holds its own secrets--and that the present deserves a chance.

Not too shabby, huh?

Official stuff: ONE winner gets all of these signed. This person must be in the US. This person must be awesome. This person must comment to enter.

Deadline: Two weeks from now - June 3rd.

How to enter: Comment for each entry you get. First one's free. Then, if you do any of the extras, leave a comment for each thing (TELLING me what you did for that entry) (like seven extras + regular entry = 8 comments) so it's easier for me to draw names. Sorry to be anal but anyone who's does multiple entries knows how painstaking tallying everything up is.

Extras:
+ 1 if you link to this contest post
+ 1 if you link to her Pub Story
+ 1 if you link to my review of Bloom (since it's my favorite, I think it's my best review of her books)
+ 1 if you join the Elizabeth Scott Facebook group
+ 1 if you link to the Facebook group
+ 1 -sekkrit-

So yeah, that's seven entries you can get, plus however many more you earn by linking to this from different places. ;)

Contest closed. Winners announced here.

Pub Story: Elizabeth Scott

2009-05-19T00:00:00.001-03:00

Author guest blogs + publication paths = Pub Stories. It's a Tuesday thing. Click here for more info (esp. if you're an author wanting to participate). Click here for a list of all participants.

A bit about Elizabeth: Elizabeth Scott grew up in a town so small it didn't even have a post office, though it did boast an impressive cattle population. She's sold hardware and panty hose and had a memorable three-day stint in the dot-com industry, where she learned that she really didn't want a career burning CDs. She lives just outside Washington, DC, with her husband; firmly believes you can never own too many books; and would love it if you visited her website, www.elizabethwrites.com.

The Story

Here's my pub story. The first young adult novels I sold were actually the second and third ones I'd written--but they didn't come out until years after my first novel--which was the third novel of mine that sold--had been published. (In fact, that third novel comes out this June!)

What happened was this: I'd been writing for fun for about five years when some friends talked me into sending stuff out. I had a few short stories published and wrote up a query letter for my first young adult novel, Bloom. I didn't do anything with it though, until I ran across an agent's blog entry about email queries back in April 2005.

I thought-- "Hey, email query! I can do that! I'll send it off, get rejected, and then boom! I've tried and can tell everyone so! Hurrah!"

And then the agent wrote me back six minutes later and asked to see the first three chapters.

About five hours after that, she asked for the full.

The next day, she sent me a note asking if we could talk that night, and I ended up signing with my first agent. I'll call her Agent Q, and she worked for a small agency that has since become part of a larger agency.

Agent Q sent Bloom out to an editor on an exclusive and I settled in to wait.

Fast forward a few months, and I'm at an SCBWI conference and have arranged to have the first ten pages of my second novel critiqued. I figure it can't hurt to have an editor read them and tell me what needs to be fixed, you know?

So I get to the conference and I'm staring at all the published authors and trying to guess who my critique editor, Tara Weikum, is. I spot her right away--she's gorgeously dressed and just looks like someone who knows so much about books.

I'm instantly terrified. What was I thinking sending in those ten pages? Will she at least like something? Maybe the first chapter? A little bit?

I'm one of the first people to be critiqued, and so I go, trembling, to meet with her.

And she likes the pages! In fact, she says she wants to see all of the novel, which is called STEALING HEAVEN.

Tara ended up buying that novel and and my third novel about a month after that conference. STEALING HEAVEN came out last June and will be out in paperback this July and that third novel, LOVE YOU HATE YOU MISS YOU, will be in stores on June 2nd, almost four years after the book sold (So you see, when people talk about how productive I am, it's more a matter of timing than anything else :-) )

And remember that first novel, a little story called BLOOM? I asked Agent Q to send it out after STEALING HEAVEN and LOVE YOU HATE YOU MISS YOU sold, and she did, and it sold to an editor at Simon Pulse. That editor actually ended up leaving the company, and BLOOM passed to another editor. Orphaned before I'd even been published, but at that point--having parted ways with Agent Q and signing with a new agent, Robin Rue at Writers House. who took a chance on me after her then-assistant (and now agent herself!) Diana Fox decided she liked the query I'd sent, I thought, "Bring it on!"

And then S&S did some reorganizing and I ended up with another editor.

That's right. Editor number THREE.

I was so nervous--at this point, I was afraid the book would never be published!--so I arranged to go and meet Bloom's new editor.

That editor was Jen Klonsky and the moment I met her, I knew Bloom was in great hands. And it was--Jen and Simon Pulse have been AMAZING to me.

So that's my story. Sold my second and third novels before my first, had my first novel come out first, and my second and third come out after later novels!

I figure there's only one way to finish this story - you know who I really have to thank?

You.

All of you who've bought my novels and told your friends about them, sent me emails, and just generally remind me every day that I am the luckiest girl ever.

-

Further: Hey y'all, back to Steph. I'm just tacking this here at the bottom (maybe tackily so, but so it goes) to say that Elizabeth is one of the classiest authors I've ever talked to and her books are addictive fun. My favorite is still Bloom, so if you're looking for a place to start: You're welcome. ;)

Ai ai ai

2009-05-17T20:03:00.002-03:00

Hey all,

I wasn't around this weekend and when I got back, I heard something not-quite-so-good that happened on Kristi's blog and involved me and a couple of authors, apparently. You won't find it up anymore because Kristi removed them (mostly anon commenters bashing other people? I can very clearly see why she'd do that), and neither could I, so I don't have the full story. All I know is--

One of the criticisms directed at me was of my vlog. For those who didn't watch it, I got on camera and set up a little scenario where I took Courtney Summers's debut novel, Cracked Up To Be, and took it hostage until Courtney she lets read her next book, Some Girls Are. It was a joke, and I though most people got that, except now I see they didn't because this commenter was appalled at how I was "demanding a book" and how they were "appalled" Courtney found it funny.

Guys? Courtney and I email a lot. We converse. This isn't out of the blue, and it's not me demanding a book--it is a long-running joke I have with Courtney since she's in what seems interminable revisions and all I want is another Summers book. I was struggling to make my vlog a bit, as Courtney would put it, ~*sparkly*~, so I threw that storyline in there. I wouldn't do it with (m)any other authors, but I knew Courtney would probably be amused.

In fact, we're doing something very ~*sparkly*~ with Some Girls Are, which you'll see when the time comes, but yeah: That's why the subject comes up all the time between us. It's just a ritual. I bug her about her book, she goes ALL CAPS on me, and we talk about shiny objects.

Anyway, I can't believe we're arguing semantics over a vlog where a stuffed turkey grinded with a book. I wish people would get the full story. The worst thing about this is that it was an anonymous commenter, so I can't even email them. Please get your facts straight before you go bad-mouthing someone, especially if you don't sign your name by it.

How gorgeous is THIS cover?

2009-05-15T09:00:00.002-03:00

Seriously, I think it's one of my favorites ever. It's the paperback version of The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson, which I loved and reviewed last year. What I like about this is that the hardcover cover art reflected on the humanity aspect of this novel, whereas this new cover is its scientific side. Very effective change of scenery. I think I'm actually going to pick one of these up myself--even though I already own the hardcover. See? Pretty + love = Steph spending $$$ (could this count as an alliteration?).

The blurb: In the not-too-distant future, when biotechnological advances have made synthetic bodies and brains possible but illegal, a seventeen-year-old girl, recovering from a serious accident and suffering from memory lapses, learns a startling secret about her existence.

It really is quite good.

Shadowed Summer winner

2009-05-14T17:40:00.002-03:00

...is SMD! Thanks to all who entered.

Don't forget you can still enter:

The 50-hardcover-copy contest for The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

The contest for two hardcover copies of Waiting for You by Susane Colasanti

Good luck!

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

2009-05-14T09:00:00.000-03:00

Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey is trapped by promises she’s made to the dead. A vow at her mother’s deathbed lock her into the responsibility of taking care of her large family. Shortly after, her older brother inexplicably runs away and her pa can’t go on his logging job, thus placing the family in a financial strain. Pa is distant, things are bleak, and the future Mattie was hoping for at Barnard College quickly evaporates into thin air when she slowly realizes how dire the situation is. It’s 1906, they’re poor, and there’s no one to help them.

Fate would have it, however, that her father would need her to take a job six miles away from home, at Glenmore, a resort/hotel. There she comes face to face with her second promise she’s to make to the deceased: a guest, Grace Brown, hands her a stack of letters and makes her swear to burn them--and then turns up dead in a boating accident and her fiancé is nowhere to be found. Mattie is spooked, and she reads the letters…and finds out there’s more to Grace’s life and death than just that and that there might be more to her--Mattie’s--life, too.voice. I know many people who read this blog are writers, so if you’re one, I know this would sit especially well with you: Mattie is basically the queen of all aspiring writer heroines. Even though she grew up in a rural setting where many are not properly educated, she insists on using correct grammar and writing daily. She loves reading, and if you’re familiar with the classics, you’ll get her many references to them. The dictionary her mother spent a lavish amount of money on is her most prized possession. She has a word of the day, every day, without fail.

There are a lot of things that work here, most of all Mattie’s And you know what was one of my favorite scenes, actually? When she comes across this really nice notebook at the store, and it costs 45 cents. She has 60 cents from selling fiddleheads, and even though her family is wanting for food, and even though she’s extremely considerate of them, she can’t stop herself--she buys it. And later she’s reprimanded for this. It’s such a powerful, trying section of the book.

Despite the focus the official description seems to place on Grace Brown’s death--based on true facts--this is more of Mattie’s story than anyone else’s. The events leading up to the letters and Grace’s death take up the majority of the story, and things switch to the present--when she’s reading Grace’s letters--as they begin relating back to Mattie’s own life. What really sucks is that just when Mattie begins to truly live, the book ends, but it’s an instance where I’ll happily defer to my imagination for contingency because everything up till then was wonderful. The writing is just that beautiful and evocative.

This book, to me, is one and the same as Prep--if you’re not into reading slow-moving, very thoroughly explored, multifaceted stories, you probably won’t enjoy it. But it is, hands down, one of the best, most satisfying books I’ve read in a long time. Despite all my touting of how it’s wonderful this, and wonderful that, do you know how I know it’s a winner? It’s by how easy writing this review was. Positives are usually the hardest, and yet here I am with so much to say. That’s how you recognize a jewel. I kind of want to hug it and never let go. A.

Further: Grace Brown's murder and Jennifer Donnelly's inspiration for writing this book.

Harcourt | 380 pages | April 1st, 2003 | Jennifer's website | GoodReads | IndieBound | Amazon

Hahaha, "bit lit".

2009-05-13T16:42:00.000-03:00

LOVE this term for vampire novels. Acquired from a PSnark interview with Australian black dog books publicist Kristen Young. This is a part of an event Adele is hosting, wherein she interviews all sorts of personnel from Aussie pubs. Go check it out!

When friends get negative...

2009-05-13T09:00:00.000-03:00

Following Kristi (The Story Siren)'s discussion yesterday about whether bloggers and authors could/should be friends, I have a followup question:

Have you ever written a negative review for an author friend?

Have you ever received a negative review from a blogger friend?

(That's two questions? Oh whatever, they're one for each demographics. So!)

I ask because: I have a number of authors I talk to frequently. Those may not all represent deep deep friendships, but they are still, nevertheless, friends, and in my opinion, when you get to that territory, you have to proceed with caution. I am wickedly hard on books and nitpick things some of my (non-author) friends find insane. But so it goes.

Anyway, up until a while ago I had had the luck of genuinely enjoying books by those authors I had regular contact with. And then...I found one I wasn't so crazy about. And I posted a review and I felt sick to my stomach and I didn't know what to do. It irreparably damaged the relationship I had with that author--and I think a negative review always does, to some extent--which sucks because the person in question is someone I really and truly respect.

I guess what I'm asking is, is it possible to be friends with someone who reviews your book negatively?

Before I hand it to you guys: I am well aware that my real duty is with my readership and reporting back to them as honestly as I can. I do that--I hope I've earned your trust after all this time. ;) But friendships within the community--as relatively small as this one is--do happen, and this is a very sticky situation. As much as I believe a book is separate from its creator, there is also the fact I am very publicly citing every little wrong thing about the manifestation of a friend's years of work.

"Dystopian high school sex comedy" indeed!

2009-05-12T18:32:00.001-03:00

From the woman herself:

Alessandra Balzer at Balzer & Bray/HarperCollins Children’s Books acquired World English rights to New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty’s new novel in a two-book deal from Heather Schroder at ICM. Bumped is a sharply funny and provocative dystopian novel set in a world where only teens are able to have babies, and are contracted by adults to carry them to term. Megan is best known for her Jessica Darling series, which started with Sloppy Firsts and most recently ended with Perfect Fifths.

I remember when she talked about this in her Girl Week interview...

Pub Story: Heather Duffy-Stone

2009-05-12T10:00:00.000-03:00

Author guest blogs + publication paths = Pub Stories. It's a Tuesday thing. Click here for more info (esp. if you're an author wanting to participate). Click here for a list of all participants.

A little back-story: I loved This Is What I Want to Tell You (Flux, 2009) and reviewed it here. Shortly after, Heather got in contact with me about an unanswered question I had, and coincidentally, I was just thinking about starting Pub Stories--and she was the first person I asked to participate! /trivia

About Heather: Heather is a counselor, a writer and a teacher. For the moment, she lives in Brooklyn, NY. Her first novel, THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO TELL YOU, which is about falling in love for the first time and maybe getting a tattoo, will be published by Flux in March 2009. Visit her online at http://heatherduffystone.com.

Selling This Is What I Want to Tell You felt surreal. For a long time I never thought something like that could happen to me.

I had considered myself a writer for most of my conscious life. It was the only thing I ever wanted to do. After I graduated from college, where I studied Literature and Creative Writing, I applied to MFA Programs in Fiction. I didn’t get in. To any of them. This really shook my confidence, which to be honest was fragile to begin with. I stopped writing for a long time. And when I did write, I did so in secret. I didn’t want anyone to know or see what I was doing in case they wanted to see it.

Two years ago I moved back to New York after living in Italy for a time and I had this idea. I had to write it. I was ready for people to see it. I just had a feeling about it. So I joined a writing class. And I wrote like crazy for four months. I just wrote so hard. During this time I read an interview with Andrew Karre who was the Acquisitions Editor at Flux. That’s who I want to edit my first book, I thought. That’s it. My friend Micol Ostow had a book coming out with Flux and she agreed that it would be a good match for me. I finished the book in December 2007 and I sent it to Andrew on New Years Day. January 1, 2008. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no agent. I just felt like it was time.

Over the next month Andrew asked for the manuscript and read it and we had a few conversations. The first time we spoke, I knew. He got the book. He said all the right things. I felt like I was living in a fog. When I received the offer letter from him, I literally turned off my computer and went and sat on the other side of the room. I couldn’t believe it.

It was at that point that I found my agent, Jenoyne Adams. She’d been recommended to me by a few people and it so happened that she represented two incredible writers, Nora Pierce and Reyna Grande, who I had worked with years before when I was living in Los Angeles. When Jenoyne and I talked on the phone, I was in Vermont visiting my niece who was only a few weeks old. Everything was covered in snow. I know this sounds over the top, but I just had this feeling that so many things were beginning…

Epic Contest: The Chosen One

2009-05-11T10:00:00.007-03:00

Oh, I'm just doing a teeny, tiny giveaway. You know...*twirls hair*

*snaps bubble-gum*

*nonchalance*

It's just for a mere FIFTY HARDCOVER COPIES of The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams.

Nothing big, really.

...
...
...

Pfft, who am I kidding?! This is huge! Biggest contest I have ever held--and you're all gonna help me turn it into a success, right? :)

Here's some info:

Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated polygamous community without questioning her father’s three wives and her twenty brothers and sisters. Or at least without questioning them much—if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. But when the Prophet decrees that Kyra must marry her 60-year-old uncle—who already has six wives—Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family.

TO WIN:

Special Circumstances:
And I reviewed it yesterday here. Those who commented on the review before this contest was posted and do not own/have not read a copy (ie ARC) of this yet, if you're in the US or Canada, please become a Facebook fan and email me to claim your copy--you're an instant winner! First seven people to email me for this win!

Everyone else?
Here's what you do to enter! -US & Canada only-

Leave a comment (one entry). If you have a Facebook page, go on and become a fan. I obviously cannot monitor who DOES have a Facebook page and who doesn't, but those who do and become a fan and tell me so, you get +2.

+1 if you link to my review.
+1 if you link to this contest post directly.

(That's a total of 5 entries--more if you do the latter two things in many different places!)

But first...
First three people to leave a comment and become a fan on Facebook automatically win. If you're one of them, email me your address, please!

To make things interesting, the top ten people who talk about this contest the most and in the most places (and tweets do count for this--one apiece) will automatically win. Be sure to list every place you linked (and what you linked) from, and put your grand total somewhere.

To make things even more interesting: I'm reserving some copies for a second sort of giveaway when this one is over. More details to follow.

Any questions? Giveaway open for three weeks. That's June 1st, people!

Contest closed. Winners announced here.

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

2009-05-10T16:52:00.001-03:00

In thirteen-year-old Kyra’s world, a man must have three wives in order to go to heaven. In Kyra’s world, she’s got two mothers besides her own, twenty brothers and sisters, and more on the way. In Kyra’s world, modern medicine is forbidden, books are burned, and people like her fifteen-year-old sister Emily, with mental disabilities are seen as God’s pariahs.

But Kyra doesn’t question any of it. Or at least she wouldn’t, if not for her hidden passions: the boy she’s secretly fallen in love with and hopes to marry and the Mobile Library on Wheels she sneaks off to. The bookmobile opens her eyes to two worlds: the realm of fiction, by which she’s getting more enamored by the book; and a world depicted in the newspapers she reads, where there are doctors who could help her mother through her risky pregnancy.

And then Kyra’s whole world is shaken when she finds out she’s been Chosen to be her uncle’s seventh wife. Armed with the knowledge she knows of life within and outside her commune, Kyra has four weeks until the wedding has been set in order to make the single riskiest decision of her life.

I immediately identify with any book where the main character is forbidden to read and yet finds a way to do just that, and falls in love with it even when she knows she shouldn’t because it’ll only land her trouble. There’s just something so powerful and heartbreaking in that trope that does me in every time, and if nothing else, in this book, where everything seems foreign, it was that element--that love for reading--presented in the very beginning that I used as a crutch going into Kyra’s world.

You know, thinking about it now, I think that is the root of my fascination with books set in repressive atmospheres--that emotions and desires most view as basic are considered a crime to the residents therein. I can’t imagine a place like that, but it exists nevertheless, and the struggle to liberty is a journey I’m always willing to embark on.

So imagine the situation here: Kyra’s thirteen and is told she has to marry her ancient uncle, an act that even she knows is incest. She’s mature from being her mother’s firstborn and having to look after her younger siblings, but even the maturity acquired in the place she lives doesn’t save her from falling into the trap of hoping she’ll get to marry the boy with whom she’s in love. Her father tries to reason with their leader, but to no avail. As the wedding draws nearer, it becomes clear just how corrupt the values she’s been told to hold holy are (and this is a spoiler, so I won’t specify), but what’s the alternative? Run away and expose everyone? Lose her beloved family?

The story is written sparsely enough to create a space for the reader to step in, and leaves off in an open-ended manner that might not resonate with some. Even so, The Chosen One is ambitious and nothing short of gorgeous. B

St. Martin's | 200 pages | May 12th, 2009 | Publisher page | Facebook fan page | GoodReads | IndieBound | Amazon

Retrospective

2009-05-10T09:25:00.001-03:00

This is not my idea: I've see "this week in review"-type posts everywhere. Sometimes "this month in review". Same thing. However, I've had a few people ask me if they could do it after I did a In Hindsight post two weeks ago (of course you can! It's everywhere!), and I've seen a couple do it since, and I think this would be a neat way to keep up with each other's blog if we get behind. Thus, a retro meme type deal.

So, if you want to participate, just post what you did in this past week (feel free to link here so people know where to get other people's list) on your blog and add a link to your post below.

~

Contests: A list of various online contests; win Waiting for You; win Shadowed Summer (this week's Pub Story giveaway!).

On Sunday, I vlogged. And it was creepy. Preview: There is a turkey and he dances.

I then asked you what your favorite 80s movie is so I could gain some much-needed culture.

Then I cranked up the awesome by picking a lesbian retelling of Cinderella, Ash by Malinda Lo, for my Waiting on Wednesday. I just think that's the most unique angle ever.

Pub Story: Saundra Mitchell, author of Shadowed Summer, proves that sometimes quitting doesn't make you a quitter, it makes you a published writer.

Random! Once again! 50 things (about me). Preview:

27. I am not traditional in the slightest except for the fact I really, really want a crazy Greek wedding.

28. But I don’t know if this means I want a marriage. Do I?

29. Oh who am I kidding: I am so traditional in some aspects. I want a marriage.

30. And many, many kids.

31. Except that if I live in NYC, will that even be possible? The many, many kids bit?

32. Fine, I’ll settle for three and--

33. Four.

Annnnnd - a list of some upcoming sad-sounding books because I'm into that sort of thing.

-

Okay, so, good? Link up if you wanna participate!

Remember Amaze Me, Faze Me, Daze Me?

2009-05-09T13:52:00.004-03:00

I haven't done that in forever, have I? Here are some new additions to my 'what comes out in 2009' list, featuring books I found that deal with hard premises. I may make this like a regular feature - 'From the tragic wing' or something - depending on how many more I find!

After by Amy Efaw
(August 11th, 2009 // Viking Juvenile - Amazon | Indiebound)
Who would leave their own baby in the trash to die?

Certainly not someone like Devon--a straight-A student, soccer player with Olympic dreams, more mature than her own mother. But desparation and panic drover her to do what most people can't even imagine. Now Devon's in a juvenile detention center, charged with attempted murder. If she's tried as an adult, she faces life in prison.

Does Devon deserve that punishment? Your answer depends on whether you believe her story--that she didn't even know she was pregnant. Was she buried in a denial so deep that she was unable to register the seemingly obvious signs of pregnancy? Or were her actions the result of a more devious, premeditated plan?

Steph: I've read it and it is indeed very good. You can see a dedicated post for it here.

Positively by Courtney Sheinmel
(Sept 15th, 2009 // Simon & Schuster Children's - Amazon | Indiebound)

An unforgettable novel about a girl struggling with HIV.

Steph says: Interested to see in how this pans out. I would also love to see more of a synop (what are the circumstances??), but in any rate, I'll definitely keep an eye out for this one.

Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles
(August 11th, 2009 // Candlewick - Amazon | Indiebound)
What I could find about it:

Jo said it used to be called SLUT.

One pregnancy. Four friends. It all adds up to a profound time of change in this poignant, sensitively written YA novel.

Tells, from four points of view, the ramifications of a pregnancy resulting from a "one-time thing" between Ellie, who feels loved when boys touch her, and Josh, an eager virgin with a troubled home life.

Steph says: I am sold.

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr
(October 1st, 2009 // Little, Brown - Amazon | Indiebound)
Samara Taylor used to believe in miracles. She used to believe in a lot of things. As a pastor's kid, it's hard not to buy in to the idea of the perfect family, a loving God, and amazing grace. But lately, Sam has a lot of reason to doubt. Her mother lands in rehab after a DUI and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. When a young girl in her small town is kidnapped, the local tragedy overlaps with Sam's personal one, and the already-worn thread of faith holding her together begins to unravel.

Steph: I gotta say, I'm not big on religious inner conflict, but I have a feeling Sara Zarr can make me enjoy it. I also love the title--I wonder if it alludes to the 'once' of the past or innocence. We'll see.

How It Ends by Laura Wiess
(August 4th, 2009 // MTV/Pocket Books - Amazon | Indiebound)
Lenore asked Laura what the book is about (as there is no description anywhere), and here's a portion of it:

How It Ends grew out of some haunting, unanswered questions and two completely separate, very disturbing images I've had tucked away in the back of my mind for years. The unanswered questions were born as a result of several people who were dear to me passing away and me realizing -- after it was too late, of course -- that there were so many things I'd never asked them, stories only they knew that I should have taken the time to listen to and mostly, odd fragments of info discovered after their deaths that couldn't be resolved and will now always remain mysteries.

You can find the rest on Lenore's blog by clicking here.

Steph says: Ooo!

--

I'm one of those people who love sad-sounding stories because they often resonate with me. And I know I can't be the only one. Who's with me?

50 things about me

2009-05-08T22:20:00.001-03:00

Aka, what one does on an uneventful Friday evening.

1. I may have a crush on Joe Jonas. I like his twirly (not girly, mind) dance moves.

2. I also like his stage presence.

3. But mostly I have a huge ol’ crush on Dr. Chase.

4. I have two feet of naturally brown hair.

5. You touch it, you die.

6. Speaking of “die”, I once had it highlighted (dye--get it? Get it?! :P).

7. I hated it, and it took three years to grow out. More or less.

8. I’m one of those perpetually unhappy people no matter what the situation: when I have options or when I don’t have.

9. Here’s how I see it: too many options = a lot I end up not picking because I can only choose one.

10. Not enough (good) options = I’m trapped.

10.5 But if I can take my pick, I’d rather have choices to pick from.

11. I have a friend who bites her toenails (yes).

12. I tried doing it once and it just utterly grossed me out in a way I cannot express with mere words.

13. But more than anything, I was grossed out when my cousin tried to show me the “Two Girls, One Cup” video. Forget the loss of a hymen as the loss of innocence--that was what robbed me of mine.

14. The above is as true as they come, which goes to show you how clearly unstable SOME PEOPLE are.

15. My biggest fear is that I’m stupid.

16. When I read The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld, the guys in my class wanted to know if they fit the bill.

17. This would actually be flattering if they meant it. They were being ironic.

18. This was in 2007, aka my Year To Forget. That means I was unhappy, reclusive, and clearly repulsive.

19. (English) words cannot express how much I hate Portuguese.

20. I don’t even know accurate enough words in Portuguese to explain my disdain of it.

21. Which may be part of the problem.

22. Despite what anyone says, I want to be an editor.

23. The reason being that even though they’re underpaid, overworked, and so stressed, there is absolutely nothing else that has called to me like that job has.

24. Although I wouldn’t mind being a prosecutor.

25. Which means I’ll be studying law, and that’ll be my fallback career in case the editor thing doesn’t fly.

26. (Please please please, Universe, make it fly.)

27. I am not traditional in the slightest except for the fact I really, really want a crazy Greek wedding.

28. But I don’t know if this means I want a marriage. Do I?

29. Oh who am I kidding: I am so traditional in some aspects. I want a marriage.

30. And many, many kids.

31. Except that if I live in NYC, will that even be possible? The many, many kids bit?

32. Fine, I’ll settle for three and--

33. Four.

34. Though I’m sure I’ll be over it after the first.

35. What does the fact I’m talking about kids and marriage at fifteen say about me?

36. I’m really, really hesitant about posting or saying anything that might offend anyone.

37. I’m also quite aware of how that sounds given our surroundings.

38. I’m allowed to curse in front of my parents.

39. And my teachers.

40. And so, by proxy, in front of everyone else.

41. Just not at them.

42. My parents also allow things most people’s parents wouldn’t, including my most liberal friends’ parents.

43. Ironically, they’re the strictest of all my friends when it comes to school attendance and other “old fashioned” manners.

44. These words will probably come back and bite me in the ass when my parents do something I don’t like, but anyhow, most of the time, I have the coolest parents in the world.

45. Also, the coolest brother.

46. And if Taren says one more sexual thing about him to me, I will flush her down a toilet.

47. “Hubby”, “pics”, “totes” and “vids”, are all abbreviations that annoy me.

48. Which, okay, only “pics” and “vids” give me hives. “Hubby” is all right sometimes.

49. On that same note: you don’t SURF the WEB.

50. You surf a wave. You browse the internet.

...and you should probably expect more of these at random. I had fun. Hope you did too!

Who wants free books?

2009-05-08T18:35:00.000-03:00

Cindy Pon, author of the newly-released Silver Phoenix, is holding a really massive contest in which you can win a $100 gift card OR one of her original Chinese brush paintings. (I'd take the painting but that's just me.)

More info on that here.

Reader Rabbit is having an abundance of Canadian Month (have you check that out yet?) contests! Here are the links:

http://readerrabbit.blogspot.com/2009/05/giveaway-summoning-and-awakening-by.html

http://readerrabbit.blogspot.com/2009/04/contest-year-of-secret-assignments.html

http://readerrabbit.blogspot.com/2009/04/giveaway-of-miss-smit hers-by-susan-juby.html

http://readerrabbit.blogspot.com/2009/04/giveaway-of-cracked-up-to-be.html

http://readerrabbit.blogspot.com/2009/04/giveaway-of-signed-copy-of-i-know-its.html

http://readerrabbit.blogspot.com/2009/04/ultimate-canadian-book-giveaway-some.html

Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Comeback Season and You Are Here is also holding a contest:

In honor of the release of my new book, You Are Here, I’m running a contest to see who can put together the ultimate road trip mix. In the book, Emma and Peter drive from New York all the way down to North Carolina. What would you have listened to along the way? You don’t have to make an actual mix or send in any music; just list the twelve songs you think would be the most fun to listen to while driving, and I’ll draw the winners randomly.

Prizes include: the very first signed copy of You Are Here, a signed copy of my first book, The Comeback Season, and, in honor of the road trip theme, audio books of Twilight, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and The Lightning Thief.

Send all entries to thecomebackseason AT gmail.com by Friday, May 15th.

Contest: Shadowed Summer

2009-05-07T15:11:00.004-03:00

Winner of Prophecy of the Sisters is Amber!

« Saundra Mitchell's Pub Story thataway.

Now, for the giveaway of one signed, hardcover copy of Shadowed Summer, Saundra's debut novel!

Nothing ever happened in Ondine, Louisiana, not even the summer Elijah Landry disappeared.

His mother knew he ascended to heaven, the police believed he ran away, and his girlfriend thought he was murdered.

Decades later, certain she saw his ghost in the town cemetery, fourteen-year-old Iris Rhame is determined to find out the truth behind "The Incident With the Landry Boy."

Enlisting the help of her best friend Collette, and forced to endure the company of Collette's latest crush, Ben, Iris spends a summer digging into the past and stirring old ghosts, in search of a boy she never knew.

What she doesn't realize is that in a town as small as Ondine, every secret is a family secret.

Comment to win. You have until May 13th.

+1 If you link to this contest
+1 If you link to Saundra's Pub Story
(And you get a +1 bonus if you do BOTH, making it +3 total)
+1 -sekkrit- criterion

That's a total of four extra entries possible!

Contest closed. Winner announced here.

Pub Story: Saundra Mitchell

2009-05-06T21:06:00.000-03:00

Author guest blogs + publication paths = Pub Stories. It's a Tuesday thing. Click here for more info (esp. if you're an author wanting to participate). Click here for a list of all participants.

(It's not Tuesday, but we'll flow with it anyway!)

Saundra Mitchell on herself: A longtime screenwriter, I'm a debut novelist this year with my southern gothic ghost story, SHADOWED SUMMER. When I'm not writing books, I'm the head writer and an executive producer for Fresh Films (www.fresh-films.com) and Girls in the Director's Chair (www.girlsinthedirectorschair.com)- teen filmmaking programs where we provide the instruction and equipment, and teens get to make short films. And when I'm not writing books or screenplays, you can catch me goofing around on the Internet, writing fan fiction, brushing up on my history, making paper, soap or bread from scratch, or taking pictures of cemetery statuary. You can visit me online at www.saundramitchell.com!

The Story
This is mostly a story about quitting.

Which- I know, inspiring, right? But it's the truth. After fifteen years as a screenwriter, I was burned out. Tired of writing other people's stories. Tired of watching actors and directors and sponsors change my words from the script to the screen. Tired of being the last one to see any given film, tired, tired, tired. I had forgotten how to love screenwriting, and I was ready to quit.

But I have a busy head; I'm bad at just quitting. Give me free time, and I'm liable to do something... untoward with it. So rather than just quit screenwriting, I told myself, "Self, write a book! That will be yours! See how it goes!"

And I did! I wrote my first novel, THE WESTON BOYS that spring, polished it up, and started querying agents. I loved that little book, so fierce and full of passion and intention. And boy howdy, I queried the bejeezus out of it. I got partial requests, full requests, and then, in the end... rejections. Lots and lots of rejections. As I started to run out of places to query, I wrote another little book, THE INCIDENT, just to see if I could do it again. Since I didn't want to have two novels out to agents at the same time, I submitted THE INCIDENT to the Delacorte Press prize, just for haps.

After eighty (yes, eighty. 8. 0.) rejections on THE WESTON BOYS- well, two things. I loved screenwriting again, and I was ready to give up on the whole write-a-novel-that-is-all-mine bag. Except, again, I have a busy head. I'm bad at just quitting. But, I do like to gamble with the universe, so I told myself, "Self! You owe THE INCIDENT ten queries." And I decided if I didn't get a literary agent in those ten queries, I would be done with writing novels.

I got an agent for THE INCIDENT in two queries.

And my agent was awesome- we got along so well. We loved chatting and gossiping about celebs, and we were busy revising THE INCIDENT while we waited to hear on the Delacorte Press prize. Several months later, I didn't place or show, and my agent and I had whittled THE INCIDENT down from 72k to 50k, changed the title to LAST SUMMER'S IRIS, and started submitting.

At first, I thought it was wicked exciting that one of the major houses offered a revision letter (not an offer.) But it turns out that you can revise for six months without an offer, and at the end of six months have a drastically changed manuscript and no offer. And since we were revising with this editor, all other submission stopped. Dead. Dunzo! It tied things up with one person who isn't willing to commit, so this is both a lesson in writing and in dating: if they're just not that into you, it's probably time to move on.

The thing is- the notes from this house were fantastic, and I could have done them all. I did do them all- except for ONE. Can Iris be crazy, instead of haunted? the editor asked. And you know, Iris could have been crazy instead of haunted- but she wasn't. That was my line- it was a ghost story, it had always been a ghost story, and it always would be a ghost story. So with regret, after months of revising and hoping and wishing, I withdrew my submission. Commence floundering.

So much floundering; my agent didn't want to submit it anymore, I didn't want to write something new just for the editor who'd spent six months working over LAST SUMMER'S IRIS, and then a this, and a that, and so many little things that I can't even detail all ended up in one thing:

I had to quit my agent.

And because we had contracts and agreements, it had to be decisive- formal letters, and waiting periods before I could legally pursue other representation. And during that waiting period, I really did believe that I would be done writing novels forever. Hey, I'd gotten close. It was a good try. But LAST SUMMER'S IRIS bothered me at night; it had never been submitted widely. I'd worked so closely with one editor that my agent and I never really sent it anywhere else.

And my busy, bad-at-quitting head said, "Try again."

And I said, "No thanks, crackbaby. Look, I have scripts again! Yay, we love scripts."

Busy, bad-at-quitting head said, "TRY AGAIN OR ELSE!"

And since it's my head, and I have to live with it, I decided to acquiesce in such a way that I got my way in the end- I would query ONE agent. One. And if I didn't get that agent, then I would be done forever. So I went back to the draft we'd submitted, before all the revisions with that editor, back when the book was still mine. And I used up the waiting period researching agents, studying them, reading the books they represented. If I was going to gamble on just one, I had to make it the right one at least. That way, my bad-at-quitting head couldn't come back later and say, "FAILXOR! YOU DID NOT TRY! DO IT AGAIN!"

When the waiting period expired, I wrote one query letter for LAST SUMMER'S IRIS, to Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger, Inc.. She was building her list, I liked all the books on her list that I could read, and- just for shiny good luck- her latest book sold was called GHOST ROAD BLUES. With her, I figured, Iris could stay haunted and sane forever. I wrote my one last query letter for literary representation ever and sent it into the mists.

Sara responded from the mists- she requested a partial. Then a full. Then representation.

Three months later, she sold LAST SUMMER'S IRIS to Delacorte Press. Yeah, the same Delacorte Press with the prize that I'd lost, on the big bloaty 70k version of this book, back when it was called THE INCIDENT, and had an entirely different ending. And now it has an entirely different title- that's why a little ghost story about a girl named Iris debuted this year, as SHADOWED SUMMER.

So, see- this is a story about quitting. You don't have to be certain, cheerful or optimistic to succeed- you just have to be willing to try one more time. Sometimes you have to be ready to walk away, you really do. You have to be ready to fail. But you always have to try once more to make sure. And that's my pub story.

Waiting on Wednesday: Ash

2009-05-05T20:17:00.002-03:00

Waiting on Wednesday = Jill at Breaking the Spine's idea. (Posted today because I saw Lenore had posted hers today and that confused me into thinking it was Wednesday and I don't feel like scheduling it so there you go.)

Ash by Malinda Lo
Pushed into indentured servitude for her stepmother in the City to pay off her father’s debts, Ash is consumed with grief. She misses her family and her happy life at the edge of the Wood where old magic used to linger in the air like fairy breath. Her only joy comes from the brief, stolen walks in the woods with the dark and dangerous fairy Sideman. Ash’s single, unspoken hope is that someday he might steal her away, as fairies are said to do.

But on the day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, from Alisa she learns the art of the hunt, how to ride and track. Their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, but it grows and changes, and with it, Ash reawakens her capacity for love—and her desire to live.

IT LOOKS FAB.

Book Blogging Panel at BEA

2009-05-05T18:23:00.003-03:00

From the woman Natasha Maw herself:

I'm emailing you three because I know you are big players in the YA book blogging community and are continually striving to educate bloggers on "how to" blog. This year at BEA there will be a book blogging panel to discuss the book blogging phenomenon and how we can work together with publishers, authors, and booksellers. I think this is a great opportunity to have a lot of open conversation.

Right now we are brainstorming topic ideas and want to make sure that we represent book bloggers honestly and fairly. We'd love to hear both yours and your readers input and ideas. Would it be to much trouble to ask if you'd help direct the YA community over to this post: http://blog.mawbooks.com/2009/04/16/bookexpoamerica so we can make sure that their voices are heard?

If you have any questions, do let me know! Thanks!

Steph again: If you guys have any ideas, I urge you to go over to Natasha's blog. This panel will be sensational and mega-important to us book bloggers as a whole - adult, YA, romance, etc - so every bit of input is essential!

Contest: Waiting for You

2009-05-05T16:38:00.002-03:00

Read a bit, friends:

Susane Colasanti Sampler Susane Colasanti Sampler PenguinYoungReaders

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Fiction Books when it happens take me there

And - I have two copies of the final thing - pretty hardcover and all - I can give away. Shall we say you have till ... the 16th to enter! US & Canada only. Leave a comment - link to this +1 - post the chapter sampler link on your site +1 - embed the chapter sampler +2.

Gogogo!

Contest is over. Winners to be announced.

Your Fave 80s Movie(s)

2009-05-05T01:16:00.000-03:00

So, Taren introduced me to the wonder that is Heathers.

And now I'm taking recs. Taren's been pretty good about giving me a list the size of Jupiter of movies to watch - seriously, I don't think I've seen half as many movies in my meager almost-sixteen years of life. As it is, I am not a movie-goer.

But I'd love to know the oldies you guys love! I really ought to become more cultured. The only thing I seem to know spectucularly well (and could probably recite in my sleep) is publisher info: publicist email addresses, who's published by whom, yaddayadda. And honestly, no one but me (and Taren, occasionally) cares, so that doesn't do me much good.

In other news, life has been fabbity fab fab recently. Alas, this translates into no blogging material. Why do I need to be bored out of my mind to have any sort of posting inspiration? It boggles my mind. Anyhow, you?

The creepiest vlog ever.

2009-05-03T01:22:00.005-03:00

Is mine. I had to make it crap quality because my internet is sucking today and wouldn't upload anything better, but yeah. The brunt of it is, I had to make a vlog for Trish (which is almost done!) and I decided to do one for my own blog as well (partly because Khy inspired it so). Keep in mind I filmed most of it at 1:00am which would be why I look so spectacularly messy, and keep in mind I'm not right in the head.

Courtney Summers, I hope you're watching this.

Everyone else: Enjoy! And I totally get it if you beg for me to never vlog again!