Goodbye 2014!

It's been a great year.:)

I published my first book. I sold two more. I went to my first book convention and my first book festival and then a few more.:) I met TONS of readers and tons of other writers & authors. I fangirled over authors who I still can't believed I got to hang out with, and I laughed and joked with them and learned they were REAL people--like you, and me.:)

And I learned a TON. :) About writing, about me.

I rediscovered things I forgot along my writing/publishing journey, and am SO glad I remembered them.:) Like the fact that books are creative works of art. Not everyone will love each one, but some will, and that's who authors write for. :)

I learned that it's not about the days you can't find the time or inspiration to write; it's about the days you DO.

I learned that not every shiny new idea will turn into a finished book, but some will. And I learned typing The End never gets old.:)

I learned that writing on deadline is different and hard and DOABLE and deeply rewarding.

I learned that publishing is a journey, not a destination--like life, and each writer's road is different at every point. (Whoa-that was freakishly deep. ;D )

I learned that it's hard to say goodbye to characters in a series. And I learned that just because it's easier to let them all live, that doesn't mean you should.

I learned that writing on deadline feels more solitary than expected.

I learned that friendship among writers is real and true and life-saving.:)

I learned that my family and friends are amazing and have blessed me beyond measure, and so have all the readers who took a chance on an unknown debut author and picked up NIL. *hugs all the #NILtribe*

Thank you to all who helped make 2014 an amazing year! I love all of y'all!

See you in 2015!

Cover shout out for DAUGHTER OF CHAOS

Ok, so over at the YA Valentines blog today, my fellow Valentine, Jen McConnel had a BIG reveal: the cover of her YA debut, DAUGHTER OF CHAOS!

AND IT'S GORGEOUS. :)

So gorgeous, in fact, that I'm going to give it a shout-out here! I can't help it; it's just so pretty.

But first, the book blurb from Goodreads:

Witches must choose the path they will follow, and Darlena Agara is no exception. She’s been putting it off long enough, and in her case, ignoring it has not made it go away. In a moment of frustration, Darlena chooses to follow Red Magic, figuring she had outsmarted the powers that be, since there’s no such thing as Red Magic. But alas, Darlena’s wrong (again) and she becomes a newly declared Red Witch.

Her friends are shocked and her parents horrified by the choice Darlena has made. As a Red Witch, she now governs one third of the world’s chaos. She is the walking personification of pandemonium, turmoil, and bedlam, just as the patrons of Red Magic would have it to be.

But Darlena believes there must be more to Red Magic than chaos and destruction, and she sets out on a journey to achieve balance. Only doing so puts her at odds with the dark goddess Hecate, who simply will not allow Darlena to quit. She encourages Darlena to embrace who and what she is and to leave good magic to the good witches. If only Darlena could, life would be simple, and she would not be the Daughter of Chaos.


Cool huh? :) And FYI: DAUGHTER OF CHAOS is the first in a YA paranormal trilogy.

And even though you have to wait until 2014 to read it, you can swoon over the cover now:

So. PRETTY.:)

Woohoo!

Congratulations Jen! Go head over to the cover reveal party happening RIGHT NOW at the YA Valentine blog and you can enter to win two sweet YA books! 

And don't forget to enter to win 2 awesome YA summer reads on me--just check out my previous post.:)

*throws YA book love all over the blogosphere*

In the meantime, want to know more about Jen? Here's the links:

Website: http://www.jenmcconnel.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jen_McConnel
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18106165-daughter-of-chaos
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jenmcconnelauthor

Happy reading!!!!

Cover Love for BURN OUT

Eeeep! Fellow Valentine Kristi Helvig's debut BURN OUT has a cover . . . and it's AMAZING!!!

But before I show you the awesomeness-that-is-Kristi's cover, here's BURN OUT's description:

Most people want to save the world; seventeen-year-old Tora Reynolds just wants to get the hell off of it. One of the last survivors in Earth's final years, Tora yearns to escape the wasteland her planet has become after the sun turns "red giant," but discovers her fellow survivors are even deadlier than the hostile environment.

Earth's last survivors? Hostile environment? And escape?

WANT!:)

BURN OUT releases April 8, 2014.

*sniff*

I know, I know--the wait is l-o-n-g.:) But until then, you can swoon over Kristi's cover:

*stares at the pretty cover*

My favorite part? The tagline: The last girl on Earth . . . just got company.

Oh, snap. I can't wait for BURN OUT to hit the shelves. :)

To help held you over until then, the YA Valentines are sharing the YA book love and hosting another epic cover-reveal giveaway! Hop over to the YA Valentines blog, join the BURN OUT cover party, and you could win 2 sweet YA reads.

Happy Tuesday!

An EPIC YA Valentine COVER REVEAL + GIVEAWAY!!!!

Ok, y'all, I'm SO EXCITED. Like beyond-crazy excited.

Because Sara B. Larson's DEFY cover is just that awesome.

And today YOU get to see it.

Amazing, I know, right?!

But before I show you the gorgeous cover of DEFY, here's a little more about the book itself:

A warrior and a protector, the prince's best guard is also a girl in hiding. No one knows who she really is--or so she thought. But when her world suddenly changes, and two men begin vying for her heart, one girl must stand up against a terrible evil or risk losing everything.

DEFY will hit stores on January 1, 2014. That's right: January, 1, 2014.  New Years Day. It's be the first sweet YA release of 2014! :)

Ok, y'all have waited long enough.

So here it is...



the epic cover of DEFY...

wait for it...

wait for it...

BOOM.

The amazing cover of Sara B. Larson's novel DEFY:

Isn't it amazing?

To celebrate the epicness of DEFY's cover, the YA Valentines are hosting a sweet giveaway of two books that rock: GRACELING and SHADOW AND BONE. Why those books? Because if you love those books, you will swoon over DEFY.:)  To check out the The Valentines giveaway, go here.

And to make the DEFY-epic-cover-reveal-celebration even more fun, I'm giving away my copy of BITTERBLUE, the sequel to GRACELING. I figure that now that we've made you drool over DEFY and forced you to wait, I could send you something to ease the pain.:)

To enter to win BITTERBLUE, just leave a comment about the DEFY cover below. Using the random number generator, I'll pick a random comment to win.:)  Contest* closes Thursday, June 20 at midnight, EST. Winner announced next Friday (June 21st)

*Contest open to North American residents only. Sorry y'all. Got to keep my shipping costs low...it's a hardback copy too.:)


***UPDATE: The contest is closed and WE HAVE A WINNER!!!! Thanks to the random number generator, lucky comment #3 was the winner! Congratulations Winterfaerie! Winterfaerie...shoot me an email or tweet or leave another comment to get your copy of BITTERBLUE. Thanks to all who stopped by to give Sara some cover love.:)

A Sweet Treat

Tomorrow is going to be full of AWESOME.

Why, you ask?

I know what you're thinking... It's Valentine's Day, the same day flowers inexplicably shoot up to 10x their usual price, chocolate is guzzled like water and people are suddenly overcome by the desire to write sappy haikus.

All true. (And I have homemade hearts and goofy stuff all over my house to prove it, which I totally love.:D) But the main reason I'm stoked for tomorrow is that The Valentines blog goes live!

Woohoo! It's a sweet site to find cool YA books debuting in 2014.  Fourteen cool YA authors Valentines with books dropping in 2014. You can find out their sweetest/goofiest/most memorable Valentine's Day memory, and enter to win heaps of our very favorite YA books.

Pop on over today if you have a minute. But definitely pop over tomorrow and in the days to come. We'll be talking books, interviewing authors and agents, engaging in shenanigans and possibly definitely embarrassing ourselves. :)

And it will be AWESOME.

So happy almost February 14th! And get ready to share the YA book love...

NEWS!!!!!!!

My debut novel NIL sold! *pinches self*

It's still a bit surreal.: )

I've known for a while, and I'm SO glad to finally be able to share this news. (Secrets are HARD. :D) But I love this book, and its characters. And I can't wait for y'all to meet them!:)

Here's the official announcement on Publisher's Marketplace:

"Lynne Matson's NIL, when teens end up on the Island of Nil, through a "wormhole" in space, they have 365 days to catch a gate back home or die; a newcomer falls in love with a boy who only has 86 days left...will Nil let them survive?, to Kate Farrell at Holt Children's, for publication in Winter 2014, by Jennifer Unter at The Unter Agency (world English)."

-Sept. 5, 2012

I'm so grateful to my agent, Jennifer, for making this happen. She is truly made of awesome. :)  I can't wait to work with Kate, and to be honest, Henry Holt publishes some of my very favorite authors (like Mary Pearson and Leigh Bardugo) so I'm just a *little* star-struck.

HUGE hugs to my family, friends, and awesome crit partners (who are also friends!:D). I couldn't have done it without y'all. Cupcakes for life are on me. :)

Happy Wednesday y'all!