Shout out to Robin Mellom, author of DITCHED

Hey sweet YA readers!

YA contemporary is so hot right now, and so fun. Lots of great reads out there, like . . .

JUST ONE DAY by Gayle Forman
(and a sequel is coming soon!)

LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR by Stephanie Perkins
(companion novel to ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS . . . so good!)

BODY AND SOUL by Stacey Kade
(the finale of THE GHOST AND THE GOTH series--just love!)








But here's one you definitely shouldn't miss:

I know Robin personally (we actually went to high school together, can you believe it?!) and she's as sweet as she is talented. Crazy thing is, I read DITCHED (and LOVED it!) before I realized this Robin was the same Robin I went to high school with. It was that whole maiden-name-changed-to-married-name thing that threw me off. 

So let me say it again--I LOVED THIS BOOK, even before I realized I loved the author.  

Here's the blurb from Goodreads:

There's a girl.
Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. That said, she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her.

And there's a boy.
Ian, who always passed her the baseball bat, handle first.
Ian, who knew exactly when she needed red licorice.
Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom.

Then there's a ditch.
But when Justina is ditched, figuratively and literally, she must piece together--stain-by-stain on her thrift store dress--exactly how she ended up dateless...with only the help of some opinionated ladies at the 7-Eleven.

To get the whole store, Justina will have to face the boy who ditched her. Can losing out at her prom ultimately lead to finding true love?

Doesn't it sound amazing? *nods* It really is.:)

I'm over at the YA Valentine blog today getting the full scoop from Robin. Pop over if you can, find out Robin's favorite scene, and say hi.:) 

Plus, if you've got middle-grade readers, Robin had a new MG book coming out next month from Disney-Hyperion! Woot!

Happy Tuesday y'all!

BROKEN FOREST . . . A CYOA Blog Hop!

Hey y'all! Today I'm excited be be part of debut-author Eliza Tilton's Choose-Your-Own-Adventure blog hop to celebrate the release of her YA fantasy, BROKEN FOREST.

If you’ve landed here during your adventure, skip all this and go below.

If you’re wondering what’s going on, go here to start your own adventure! 

And may The Creator bless you on your journey.

Going east is the dangerous choice, and even though you want to run in the other direction, you don’t.

The village is running low on nectar and if the hunts aren’t successful in collecting vast amounts, you risk going through the winter season with none. You remind yourself of how important this is as the trees’ crowded branches begin to close off the moonlight.

Silence fills the forest, and there’s nothing but the cold air to comfort you. You search for water, knowing the flowers tend to grow nearby. It isn’t long before a small stream crosses your pathway.

You hop across and follow the stream deeper into the forest.

A thunderous noise replaces the silence.

You sneak behind the next tree and search the area. In front of you is a small waterfall, not large. The clear water plunges into a pool, and around the pools edge are black flowers.

The wolves are known to roam this area, yet you don’t see any. Could it be luck? You think so, and
slowly walk to the water. You manage to collect all the nectar you can find without incident. It’s a victorious night!

With a bounce in your step, you head back to the clearing, thinking of all the ways you can brag about your bravery until you spot a wolf print.The wolf print doesn’t look fresh, but maybe you should be careful, or start running!

A)    Running sounds like a fantastic idea. Go here

B)     No need to fret. It’s only one print and winter wolves hunt in packs. Go here

----

Want more? I thought so! :)

How about a giveaway? Eliza has BROKEN FOREST awesomeness up for grabs. Check out the Rafflecopter giveaway below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And in case you missed it, here's the BROKEN FOREST blurb from Goodreads:

Hopeless he'll never be more than the boy who didn't save his brother, 17-year-old Avikar accepts his life as the family stable boy, trying to forget the past. But when his sister, Jeslyn, is kidnapped, the thought of losing another sibling catapults him on a desperate quest. With his best friend by his side, and using the tracking skills he learned from his father, he discovers Jeslyn has been taken, kidnapped by one Lucino, the young lord of Daath, a mystical place thought only to exist in fables.

And Lucino has plans for Jeslyn.

Last but not least, here's a bit about Eliza...

Eliza graduated from Dowling College with a BS in Visual Communications. When she’s not arguing with excel at her day job, or playing Dragon Age 2, again, she’s writing. Her stories hold a bit of the fantastical and there’s always a romance. She resides on Long Island with her husband, two kids and one very snuggly pit bull.

You can stalk Eliza on Twitter, Tumblr, her website, Pinterest and Facebook.:)






Congratulations, Eliza, and happy blog-hopping everyone! :)

Biggest Week EVAH

I take a break from this:

Copyedits...I OWN you. (Well, I'll at least finish you.:D)

to bring you epic snack-cake, music, and interview goodness. Here's what's happening this week:

NIL!!!!!!!

I'm over at One Four Kid Lit talking about NIL and sharing how NIL was conceived.:) (And did I mention I got my copyedits on Monday, had a fantastic chat with my amazing editor on Wednesday, and am shipping these goodies back by Monday? Yeah. BRING IT.:D Sleep is SO over-rated.:D)

Music love and free tunes:

Over at All The Write Notes, I shared the awesomeness of AWOLNATION and Blondfire live. As y'all may know, I'm a huge Blondfire fan. Hop over if you missed the post because you've still got time to enter the Discover Blondfire giveaway and win $10 in free iTunes.:)

#TakeMyTwinkie contest:

So yesterday I posted my Cupid's Arrow on The YA Valentines blog, where I waxed poetic about the death of the beloved Twinkie (and also shared my newfound knowledge of the Twinkie Deconstructed, which may have been an over-share). :)

Anyway! I'd ordered a Twinkie in advance of my post--and my Twinkie never came. Now I know I don't want to can't selfishly keep this snack-cake goodness to myself.  So the #TakeMyTwinkie contest was born.

Follow my #TwinkieTrack tweets on Twitter as I track my Twinkie, and when it arrives, I'll tweet #TakeMyTwinkie. Be the first to reply with the hashtag #TakeMyTwinkie and it's yours! But the best part? You'll also win a copy of one of my favorite YA releases with a MAC with hair the color of the iconic golden sponge cake.:)

Ok, the rest of my week has been insane with family stuff. Now back to copyedits.:)

Happy weekend and good luck!:)

They're hereeeeeeee! Copyedits.:)

So on Monday, this package appeared on my doorstep:

*stares at...the light...* :)

Inside the golden envelope? My NIL copyedits. 

Ok, so there they sat, on my dining room table, until I could get two of my four boys into bed. I  knew that if I opened THE PACKAGE, my mind would be spinning, and there would be NO WAY I could focus on GO DOG GO and other important nightly reading. So my NIL copyedits waited, until approximately 9.00 pm. 

Then this happened:

I cracked open the edits...

And I read them ALL.

The next morning, the table looked like this:

DONE. (Reading, that is.)

See the notebook to this right? Yup, FULL of NIL notes and copyedit questions.*

Yesterday was packed with family matters with my boys, so my copyedits sat waiting. But today? 

I feel like this:

That's what I'm talking about...

Thanks to Jay C. Spencer for this last pic. So now, bring it on, copyedits!

*Music on my iPod while reading copyedits? Blondfire and Lana Del Ray

NIL is on Goodreads! And other book stuff.:)

Happy April everyone!

NIL is on Goodreads! Woohoo! I've been a Goodreads member for a while, first as a reader, now as an author. And the idea of someone adding NIL to their "to-read" shelf? It makes my day. Truly. I can't wait for people to meet Charley and Thad...and find out whether they make it off the island. *tease alert* hehe

Here is the link to NIL on Goodreads if you're interested. :)

Other book stuff... reads & recs, young-adult style.

Here's what I'm reading right now:

I really enjoyed Book #1 (THE NAME OF THE STAR) so I've been looking forward to this book for some time. I've got high hopes...

And my recent read I can't stop thinking about?

I LOVED this book. TOTALLY LOVED IT.

I know a book is going to stay one of my all-time favorites when I keep going back to the story...when I keep thinking about the characters and their growth and their choices--and how each choice impacted the plot. Gayle Forman is a master, and JUST ONE DAY is absolutely one of my favorite reads of 2013. If you haven't read it, run to your local bookstore and scoop it up. You won't be disappointed.:)

Other recent reads I loved too: Kasie West's PIVOT POINT, A. G. Howard's' SPLINTERED, and Jennifer Nielsen's THE FALSE PRINCE.

Next on my TBR list:

The cover alone is amazing.

If you had one book to recommend I read next, what would it be? And what's your favorite read of 2013 so far?

Friday Five

I haven't blogged in what feels like FOREVER. At least not here.:)

But yesterday over at All The Write Notes I talked about pacing, and how to know when you've hit the sweet spot in your novel.:) Thanks go to the a capella group Walk Off The Earth for the inspiration!

Anyway, I realized I hadn't posted in almost a month, because I've been super busy. So here's a quick Friday Five explaining what's happening with me, and with NIL . . .

5. Craft.

Yesterday I blogged about pacing perfection. Go here if you have a minute. Or 4 minutes...:)

4. Beta-reading.

I've been blessed to read for some amazing YA writers, who are all as sweet as they are talented. You're in for a treat from Becky Wallace, Trisha Leaver, and Lindsay Currie. I've read manuscripts from all three lovelies in the past few weeks, and all were exceptional.:) Way to go girls! *fist bump*

3. Chasing boys.

Mine, in particular.:) Lacrosse, soccer, golf, tennis, and swimming all spread among the four. Lately my writing time has felt pinched, which I hope to remedy soon!

2. NIL

My big edits are done! Woot! I'm not sure of the process, but I think copy edits or line edits are next. :) I bit the bullet and took the dreaded author photo yesterday. I don't know why, but photo shoots are always so intimidating. But it's done...new pic soon! And coming soon to the blog will be a NIL playlist...pics that inspired NIL...and more.:)

1. Music.

This weekend I'm going to see AWOLNATION with my sweet husband. Blondfire and Mother Mother are opening, and I CAN'T WAIT. I listened to AWOLNATION when I was revising NIL, especially the opening scenes from Thad's POV. And I discovered Blondfire during the same time. Their song "waves" is one of my absolute faves. I'm a huge fan, and since I found them when I was still fully involved in the NIL world, I think Blondfire will always remind me of NIL. :)

Here's my favorite Blondfire song right now....

Where The Kids Are

Blondfire

So what's your weekend plans? And what have you been up to lately? :)

Monday Madness

Hi everyone! Happy President's Day!

My boys are home from school, it's cold out (well, cold for us here in Jacksonville. It's 32 degrees outside and the frost has made our grass crunchy.:D) and with clear skies, I can feel it's going to be a great day.

A quick post today, about tunes and Valentines and NIL and my morning epiphany.:)

Top five things on my mind this morning:

5. My first post over at All The Write Notes. I blogged about fresh new artist finds, featuring a British singer-songwriter Hannah Trigwell. I LOVE HER. Go check out the post. It's worth it, I promise, just to hear her voice.

4. Tomorrow is my first post over the The Valentines! I'm interviewing the awesome Anita Grace Howard, the authored of the epically cool novel, SPLINTERED. There will be goodness and giveaways, because Anita is that amazing.

3. I am freezing.

Which leads me to the revelation that...

2. I am a wimp. I should go running yet I can't bring myself to go out when it's still under 40 degrees, which is ridiculous.:)

1. NIL. I woke up thinking about it's cover. Or what it's cover might look like. I've had a million different ideas, and I can't wait to see what Henry Holt does with it, because they are AWESOME with covers.

I don't know when the cover reveal will be, but I'll let you know as soon as I do. :) In the meantime, I'm, going to start sharing my NIL playlist soon. Some songs are for Thad, and some are for Charley. And the songs, like the two characters, are very different, but hopefully equally awesome.:)

Happy day! What's on your mind today?