100!!!!

Ohmigod! THANK YOU! I just got my 100th follower!

Thank you so much! Ah, you don't know how much this means to me!

I'm also 100 or so away from 20,000 visits to my blog!

This means so much to me! You have no idea.

This mgiht mean a contest . . . Well, actually, I was going to have a contest soon anyways, but this gives me a huge reason to celebrate! Oh, and thank you to the author who offered the copies (Yes, COPIES!)

Stay tuned...

"Waiting On" Wednesday (13)

A Match Made in Highschool by Kristin Walker
May 14, 2009

When the principal announces that every senior must participate in a mandatory year-long Marriage Education program, Fiona Sheehan believes that her life can’t get any worse. Then she marries her “husband”: jerky jock Todd, whose cheerleader girlfriend, Amanda, has had it in for Fiona since day one of second grade. Even worse? Amanda is paired with Fiona’s long-term crush, Gabe. At least Fiona is doing better than her best friend, Marcie, who is paired up with the very quiet, very mysterious Johnny Mercer. Pranks, fights, misunderstandings, and reconciliations ensue in an almost Shakespearean comedy of errors about mistaken first impressions, convoluted coupling, and hidden crushes.

This book sounds like a light, fun, and hilarious read. I can't wait for it!

ETA: I'm sorry, again. I already got this book, I scheduled about a month ago. This books release day got pushed back to February 2010 so really. I just haven't had the time to correct it. Sorry! I promise next week will be correct. (As I already got that one, too.)

Cool Stuff For Hunted!

Here's a new trailer for the highly anticipated HUNTED by PC and Kristin Cast is here and I get the chance to share it today! There's also a little surprise at the end of the post too!

Hunted by PC and Kristin Cast: 3/10/09
The good news: Zoey’s friends have her back again and Stevie Rae and the red fledglings aren’t Neferet’s secrets any longer. The bad news: Ancient evil with the face of an angel has been let loose – that and various other nasties (whose faces aren’t so angelic). Grandma Redbird is in trouble. Heath is in trouble. The House of Night is in trouble. Okay, let’s face it – Zoey’s whole world is in trouble! But when the trouble comes from a being who appears to be beauty personified, will the world believe it? Especially when only a teenager and a group of misfits are the only ones who really understand the danger he brings. Will Zoey have the strength and wisdom to reveal the truth? Especially when, in the House of Night, the truth is often hard to come by…



To read the first chapter of HUNTED, please visit the House of Night website by clicking here.

And the anticipated second chapter below:


Hope you enjoyed it!

Admit it . . .

. . . You'll probably pick up a copy.

What I'm talking about.

You know you're interested even a tad. I don't watch The Hills, never have. But aren't you just a little curious about it? I mean she's a young celebrity and she's writing a book that isn't a memoir. I think that's pretty cool. I want to know if she is even a good writer. I'm just curious.

Oh, and Yan? This is for you. :) Just a few more details . . .

On The Outside: Siobhan Vivian

Siobhan Vivian is the author of the previous release, A LITTLE FRIENDLY ADVICE, and the released today novel, SAME DIFFERENCE. You can visit Siobhan at http://www.siobhanvivian.com/home/

~~~

When I first sat down with my editor to discuss a possible cover for SAME DIFFERENCE, I really didn't have much in the way of ideas. I was still in the process of finishing the manuscript, and the whole thing felt very dizzying and unclear. Honestly, I was stalled.

My editor pitched this concept - a photo shoot of a girl painting on a canvas. You wouldn't see the girl's real face, only her self-portrait.

I understood what he was going for. After all, SAME DIFFERENCE is about a girl in a summer art program. But it became clear to me in that moment that art actually plays a very small part in the story. And I was afraid that putting a painting on the cover would mislead what my book was truly about - a girl figuring out exactly who she was, and divorcing that person from what others thought or expected her to be.

So I promptly went on Getty Images and did some looking around at the stock photos. When I saw the picture that is now the cover, I nearly SQUEED with glee. First off, the girl was PERFECTLY Emily - pretty, but not in a conventional way. Like Ellen Paige from Juno. I also loved the action of her walking through the glass doors, emerging from somewhere, pushing past her reflection in the glass. It was visually so arresting.

I sent that picture over to Scholastic and everyone loved it. My cover was born, and through the process of selecting the image, I had renewed clarity of what I wanted my book to be. I used that fuel and charged through to the end of the draft. Viola!

~~~

Thanks Siobhan!

If any author wants more details on how you can do an On The Outside post with me, please email me at kels.m.17@gmail.com with On The Outside in the subject line and I'll get to you immediately with the details!

Willow by Julia Hoban + Celebration!

Title: Willow
Author: Julia Hoban
Publisher: Penguin
Reading Level: Young Adult/14 and up
Publication Date: April 2, 2009
Pages: 342
Amazon Page

Rating: A
Plot - 17/20
Characters - 20/20
Writing - 19/20
Originality - 18/20
Entertainment - 10/10
Recommendation - 10/10
Total: 94/100

Summary:
Seven months ago, on a rainy March night, sixteen year-old Willow’s parents died in a horrible car accident. Willow was driving. Now her older brother barely speaks to her, her new classmates know her as the killer orphan girl, and Willow is blocking the pain by secretly cutting herself. But when one boy —one sensitive, soulful boy—discovers Willow’s secret, it sparks an intense relationship that turns the “safe” world Willow has created for herself upside down.

Told in an extraordinary fresh voice, Willow is an unforgettable novel about one girl’s struggle to cope with tragedy, and one boy’s refusal to give up on her.

Review:
Wow, this book just blew me away.

Willow is the heart-wrenching story about a girl who lost her parents and starts cutting to make her feel pain, and the story of what happens when her world is interrupted when a boy figures out her terrible, horrible secret and somehow in the terrible mess she's in, a friendship forms, a romantic relationship even.

Willow started off in full force. When we enter Willow's world we enter her in her most vulnerable state. We follow along in a voice told like I'm reading it aloud to an audience, and having it in the point of view, having somebody else tell the story besides Willow herself, makes the book the much more interesting.

Willow, Guy, David and the rest of the characters are developed in a way no other characters I've read before has been. We don't know what they look like, that is for us to find out. We only know who they are and what they are feeling. That only makes the characters Hoban created original and definitely one-of-a-kind.

Willow and Guy's relationship is, well, swoon-ish. Minus the knowledge of Willow's cutting, the emotional and reality is gorgeous and perfect. I loved reading when they were together, I was always hoping that they would meet again after they left each other. I was sad to see Guy go, or the chapter end. Guy's ability and his knowledge of Willow's cutting made their relationship amazingly strong and deep.

Hoban's ability to create the emotions Willow goes through when she cuts was just brilliant. It felt real. It was real.

Willow is a deep and strong book that will keep you glued to it and you won't be able to stop. I started reading the end of it one night and it took me into late in the night because I just couldn't stop until the novel was done. I cried, I smiled, and I was most of all, hopeful. The ending in this novel was perfect. I couldn't of asked for a better way to end it. So, the novel started with full force, and it ended with a bang, a great, strong bang. I honestly cannot say anything bad about this novel and I can't begin to tell you how amazing this novel is, but I tried.

When Willow hits the shelves of book stores around the country, it will hit it with a huge whack. So head to your bookstores on April 2 for Willow. You will not be disappointed.

~~~

Okay now on to the Celebration. I don't want to post all the details on my blog in case I confuse some people, but let's just say that I am so excited to be apart of a huge contest that Lauren from Shooting Stars Mag has put together to honor Julia Hoban and her fantastic book, WILLOW. Julia is super nice and I am so happy I could be apart of this! If you want the details, simply head over to Lauren's blog to find the info about it. It's awesome. Trust me.