Giveaway: Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith

Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith

Furnace Penitentiary: the world’s most secure prison for young offenders, buried a mile beneath the earth’s surface. Convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, sentenced to life without parole, “new fish” Alex Sawyer knows he has two choices: find a way out, or resign himself to a death behind bars, in the darkness at the bottom of the world. Except in Furnace, death is the least of his worries. Soon Alex discovers that the prison is a place of pure evil, where inhuman creatures in gas masks stalk the corridors at night, where giants in black suits drag screaming inmates into the shadows, where deformed beasts can be heard howling from the blood-drenched tunnels below. And behind everything is the mysterious, all-powerful warden, a man as cruel and dangerous as the devil himself, whose unthinkable acts have consequences that stretch far beyond the walls of the prison.

Together with a bunch of inmates—some innocent kids who have been framed, others cold-blooded killers—Alex plans an escape. But as he starts to uncover the truth about Furnace’s deeper, darker purpose, Alex’s actions grow ever more dangerous, and he must risk everything to expose this nightmare that’s hidden from the eyes of the world.

Official Information:

• to enter, please fill out the form below
• entrants must be 13 years of age or older to enter
• September 7 is the deadline
• open only to residents of the U.S. & Canada
• check my contest policy

Many thanks to Zeitghost Media for providing the prize!

Giveaway: The Ivy & Secrets by Lauren Kunze with Rina Onur

Want to win a hardcover copy of The Ivy and Secrets by Lauren Kunze with Rina Onur?

The Ivy (Book, #1)

Freshman year at Harvard--glamorous parties, blossoming friendships, steamy romances, and scandalous secrets. Skip the campus tour and get right to the good stuff: classes are for scoping guys (and their Facebook profiles), not taking notes. The library is for study dates (the medieval history stacks get a lot of action), not studying. And success is a 4.0 GPA... plus getting into the most exclusive parties. How will Callie--a California girl with brains, beauty, and big dreams--and her three roommates survive?

Secrets (Book, #2)

Reputation, Reputation, Reputation.

You're a student at the most prestigious university in the country, and you've been tapped for the most elite social club. You've made it!

Now Don't Blow It!

Callie Andrews triumphed during her first semester at Harvard: she made incomparable friends, found the perfect boyfriend, and received invitations to the most exclusive secret societies. But she may have ruined every-thing with one ill-fated night. Now she's keeping secrets from everyone, including—

Clint
the upperclassman who's too good to be true

Vanessa
the best friend turned backstabber

Gregory
the guy who's a total(ly hot) mistake

and Lexi
the social queen who wants to bring Callie down.

But Callie didn't get into Harvard by giving up, and she isn't about to now. Besides, she's not the only one with something to hide...

Official Information:

• to enter, please fill out the form below
• deadline is on August 25
• open to everyone
• entrants must be 13 years of age or older to enter
• check my contest policy

Author Interview & Giveaway: Kim Harrington (Clarity)

Kim Harrington

Books (Young Adult):

• Clarity (March 2011)

Links:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter

Kim Harrington:

Kim Harrington lives in Massachusetts with her husband and son. When not writing, she's most likely reading, watching one of her favorite TV shows, or fantasizing about her next vacation. She has no psychic powers and is cool with that. Her debut young adult novel, Clarity, came out on March 1, 2011 from Scholastic.

Clarity:
Clarity "Clare" Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch an object and the visions come to her. It's a gift.

And a curse.

When a teenage girl is found murdered, Clare's ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case — but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare's brother — who has supernatural gifts of his own — becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up with Gabriel, the smoldering son of the new detective, Clare must venture into the depths of fear, revenge, and lust in order to track the killer. But will her sight fail her just when she needs it most?

____________________________________________________________________________________

Did you have any input on the cover for Clarity?
I didn’t, but I love what they came up with. When I opened the email that had the cover in it, I actually gasped. It’s so bright and beautiful!

If you were to have a special ability, what would it be?
I would love to be able to manipulate time. Fast forward during boring things like long plane rides. Pause time when I need a minute. Rewind if I want to experience something again.

Do you have any of the same characteristics as Clare?
I have a sarcastic sense of humor like Clare does. And we both love our families fiercely.

Team Justin or Team Gabriel?
I’m definitely on a team, but I can’t tell you which one. Not without a heavy bribe anyway. ;)

What's next for your writing career?
Up next is PERCEPTION, the sequel to CLARITY, coming in March 2012. And then in fall 2012 I have a standalone supernatural mystery coming out, but it doesn’t have an official title yet. I’m very excited about both!
____________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks so much to Kim for stopping by! I also have a finished copy of Clarity to giveaway to a lucky reader!

Official Information:

• to enter, fill out the form below
• entrants must be 13 years of age or older
• April 23 is the deadline
• only open to U.S. residents
• book is being shipped straight from Scholastic
• check my contest policy

Giveaway: The Liar Society by Lisa Roecker & Laura Roecker

Do you love a good mystery with a sassy heroine and an amusing adventure? Here's your chance to win a copy of the Roecker girls' THE LIAR SOCIETY.

Kate Lowry didn’t think dead best friends could send e-mails. But when she gets an e-mail from Grace, who died mysteriously a year before, she’s not so sure. When the emails continue, Kate is forced to confront her school’s resident druggie, a sketchy administrator, and even her own demons.

As Kate moves closer and closer to the truth, she teams up with a couple of knights-in-(not so)shining armor–the dangerously attractive, bad boy, Liam and her love-struck neighbor, Seth. The three uncover an ancient secret lurking in the halls of their elite private school with the power to destroy them all.

But the truth doesn’t always set you free. Sometimes it’s only the beginning.

Official Information:

• to enter, fill out the form below
• open to everyone
• April 21 is the deadline contest closed*
• only entrants 13 years of age or older may enter
• check my contest policy

Giveaway: Mad Love & Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors

Mad Love by Suzanne Selfors

When you're the daughter of the bestselling Queen of Romance, life should be pretty good. But 16-year-old Alice Amorous has been living a lie ever since her mother was secretly hospitalized for mental illness. After putting on a brave front for months, time is running out. The next book is overdue, and the Queen can't write it. Alice needs a story for her mother—and she needs one fast.

That's when she meets Errol, a strange boy who claims to be Cupid, who insists that Alice write about the greatest love story in history: his tragic relationship with Psyche. As Alice begins to hear Errol's voice in her head and see things she can't explain, she must face the truth—that she's either inherited her mother's madness, or Errol is for real.

Coffehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors

When a random act of kindness involves Katrina with Malcolm, a handsome teenage guardian angel intent on fulfilling her greatest wish, fame and fortune seem like the most obvious requests. But after two botched wishes, Malcolm knows Katrina is hiding something from him. How can she tell him the truth, when her heart's desire has become Malcolm himself?

Official Information:

• to enter, please fill out the form below
• March 11 is the deadline contest closed*
• both books go to one winner (thanks to Walker for providing the prize)
• open to US only
• entrants must be 13 years or age or older to enter
• check my contest policy

Giveaway: Haven by Kristi Cook

Haven by Kristi Cook

Violet McKenna isn’t a normal girl with normal teenage issues; she has more to contend with than most people could handle. Violet thought she was just crazy when she had a vivid vision of her dad’s murder. Her life started falling apart when her premonition came true. She’s had flashes of other events too. The problem was nobody believed her until she found a new school: Winterhaven.

At Winterhaven, Violet finally feels like she belongs. She quickly finds a close group friends and discovers that they too have psychic ‘gifts’—as do all the students at Winterhaven. But as soon as she feels settled she discovers the most intriguing and alluring boy she has ever met, and things quickly go awry. As the attraction between them grows, intense visions of the boy’s death start to haunt her. In her premonitions the secret he is unwilling to share begins to reveal itself. And to Violet's horror, she learns that their destinies are intertwined in a critical—and deadly—way.

Up for grabs: (5) copies of Haven by Kristi Cook, courtesy of Simon Pulse

Official Information:

• to enter, fill out the form below
• February 27 is the deadline contest closed*
• only open to U.S. residents
• entrants must be 13 years or older to enter
• book(s) are being shipped straight from publisher
• check my contest policy

Giveaway: Across the Universe & Unearthly

I haven't had much contests this month and one that I actually will 'sponsor,' or however you'd like to call it. I talked about this on Twitter and asked a lot of tweeps what book they wanted the most for this month, January. I'll be giving away two books that have already released and you will receive (for each) a beautiful, shiny hardcover copy. I apologize that I'm only giving away two books but I'm spending for a big contest coming up... which you should look out for!

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Official Information:

• to enter, fill out the form below
• February 17 is the deadline
• open to everyone
• one winner, two books (directly from Amazon)
• entrants must be 13 years of age or older to enter
• check contest policy

contest closed

Author Guest Post & Giveaway: Hélène Boudreau (Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings)

Hélène Boudreau

Books (Young Adult):

• Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings (2010)

Hélène Boudreau:
Hélène Boudreau grew up on an island surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean but now writes fiction and non-fiction for kids from her land-locked home in Ontario, Canada.

She has never time-travelled or saved an endangered bird, nor has she ever spotted a mermaid in the wild, but she believes mermaids are just as plausible as sea horses, flying fish, or electric eels.

Real Mermaids Don't Wear To Rings:

First zit. First crush. First…mermaid’s tail?

If she hadn’t been so clueless, she might have seen it coming. But really, who expects to get into a relaxing bathtub after a stressful day of shopping for tankinis and come out with scales and a tail?

Most. Embarassing. Moment. Ever.

Jade soon discovers she inherited her mermaid tendencies from her mom. But this revelation raises a serious question: if Mom was a mermaid, how did she drown?

Jade is determined to find out. But how does a plus-sized, aqua-phobic, mer-girl go about doing that, exactly? And how will Jade ever be able to explain her secret to her best friend Cori, and her crush, Luke?

This summer is about to get a lot more interesting…
____________________________________________________________________________________

Real zombies, real vampires, real MERMAIDS?

Do mermaids lurk deep beneath the ocean’s surface? Do zombies really exist? Are there vampires among us? Maybe…maybe not…

Stories of mythical creatures can grow from real life.

It has always fascinated me how stories of mythical creatures evolve. Sometimes, these creatures are inspired by real-life sightings of unusual creatures.

Unicorn tales, for example, may have started with a sighting of a single-horned deer. These deer aren’t ‘magical’ but they’re definitely unusual. They are genetic mutations and are born with only one horn.

But, like a game of telephone-tag, a story like this can get out of hand. Before you know it—a mythical creature is born.

But is truth stranger than fiction?

Creatures in the wild can seem just as weird and freaky as the mythical ones you read about or see on screen. Here are just a few ‘stranger than fiction’ actual-factual mythical-like creatures.

REAL VAMPIRES:

The payara or vampire fish from the Amazon River has vampire-like teeth. They are so long; its upper jaw has built-in holes for its teeth to slip into so it can close its mouth!

And from the blackest part of the ocean…the vampire squid. It might only be six inches long but the vampire squid’s eyes are as big as a large dog’s!

These large eyes help it see at ocean depths of up to 3,000 feet. Vampire squid feed off crustaceans or fish and live in complete darkness. Vampire squid also have photophores (light producing organs) which they can turn off and on to confuse predators or attract prey. Oh…sparkly!

REAL ZOMBIES:

The Komodo dragon is the biggest known lizard in the world. This fierce reptile is a top-of-the-food-chain predator. It will eat almost anything, including its own young. Its saliva contains dozens of smelly bacteria, which make its breath stink.

Talk about dragon-breath!

REAL MERMAIDS:

Do these exist? Well, ch’yeah! Was there ever any doubt? ;-)

But seriously…you just never know!

Who would have believed that a monstrous 24-foot long giant squid with ten-inch wide eyes, like the one captured in Japan in December, 2006 could actually exist?


Imagining ‘what if’ is one of the most important factors in scientific discovery AND fiction writing.

____________________________________________________________________________________

It's your turn! Share your proof (real or imagined) that mermaids actually do exist and you'll be entered to win a copy of Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings!!

Thanks to Sourcebooks for providing the prize!!

Official Information:

• to enter, fill out the form below
• entrants must be 13 years of age or older
• February 13 is the deadline
• only open to U.S. residents
• book is being shipped straight from publisher

contest closed.

Giveaway: The Girl Who Became a Beatle by Greg Taylor

Do you like music? How 'bout Hollywood? Fame? Rock 'n Roll? And, the biggest question of all: Do you like the beatles? If you do, then, this book will definitely intrigue you! The Girl Who Became a Beatle doesn't release until February 15, so, here's a chance to get an early copy. I've got one arc to giveaway to one of my lucky readers. Thanks to Feiwel & Friends for providing the prize!

She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!

When Regina Bloomsbury’s band, the Caverns, breaks up, she thinks it’s all over. And then she makes a wish—

“I wish I could be as famous as the Beatles.”

The Beatles are her music idols. The next day, she gets up to find that the Caverns are not just as famous as the Beatles, they have replaced them in history! Regina is living like a rock star, and loving it. There are talk shows, music videos, and live concerts with thousands of screaming fans. And Regina is the star of it all.

But fame is getting the better of Regina, and she has a decision to make. Does she want to replace the Beatles forever?

Here is a rocking novel about the good and the bad of Hollywood, fame, and rock ’n roll.

Official Information:

• to enter, fill out the form below
• February 3 is the deadline
• open to U.S. residents only
• book is coming straight from Feiwel & Friends
• only entrants 13 years of age or older may enter
• contest closed

Loser/Queen Giveaway

Have you been seeing this title and cover all around the blogosphere? Wanna have a bigger chance to win that awesome prize pack? Well, your at the right page! I have one paperback copy of Loser/Queen by Jodi Lynn Anderson and a hand-made knitted pom pom keychain to give to one of my lucky readers! Thanks to S&S for providing the prize!

Cammy Hall is what anyone would describe as a loser. She lives with her grandparents and has adopted their way of life… right down to the comfortable shoes and early bedtime. And can she help it that she actually likes to knit?

At school, her skills with knitting needles and some yarn go completely unappreciated: people like Bekka Bell reign while Cammy and her best friend, the fearless Danish exchange student Gerdi, watch from the sidelines. Cammy’s used to being an outsider; after years of humiliating moments, her goal is simply to fly under the radar. Then she suddenly starts receiving mysterious text messages that lead her right to all the embarrassing secrets about the most popular kids in school. Cammy never expected to be able to climb up the high school food chain, and the agenda of the texter may be questionable—but how can she possibly give up the chance to be Queen?

Official Information:

• fill out the form below
• open to everyone
• January 27 is the deadline
• entrants must be 13 years of age or older
• check out my contest policy
• contest closed - winner announced

Entice by Carrie Jones Giveaway

Want to read Entice? Here's your chance! The Need series is definitely a great read and I definitely recommend it to you all! I reviewed all 3 titles already; Need, Captivate & Entice. Entice, the most recent book in the series, just recently released and now here's your chance to win a copy along with an awesome bookmark. Thanks to Bloomsbury for providing the prize!

And, if you want to, you can become a fan of the Need series on Facebook, take a poll, or even, check out the Bloomsbury fan page!

Zara and Nick are soul mates, meant to be together forever. But that's not quite how things have worked out.

For starters, well, Nick is dead. Supposedly, he's been taken to a mythic place for warriors known as Valhalla, so Zara and her friends might be able to get him back. But it's taking time, and meanwhile a group of evil pixies is devastating Bedford, with more teens going missing every day. An all-out war seems imminent, and the good guys need all the warriors they can find. But how to get to Valhalla?

And even if Zara and her friends discover the way, there's that other small problem: Zara's been pixie kissed. When she finds Nick, will he even want to go with her? Especially since she hasn't just turned. She's Astley's queen.

Official Information:

• fill out the form below
• January 14 is the deadline
• U.S. residents only
• entrants must be 13 years of age or older
• check my contest policy
• contest closed - winner announced

Christmas & New Year's Giveaway

It's almost Christmas and New Year! It's time for presents, celebrations, family time, etc... my present to you is this small giveaway! I don't want to use all my Christmas money because I'm actually saving up for a new laptop right now. When I thought of having one, I definitely knew it was a good idea, but I wasn't so sure what to giveaway! I thought about what should be up for grabs for quite a long time but nothing ever came to mind. So, since, I have nothing right now, I decided to leave it up to the winner!

The winner will choose any January release and I'll order or pre-order it from The BookDepo. You can check out my January releases in my main post; Upcoming Releases.

Also... I wanted to add a little something to complicate this giveaway... and it's a survey! I know quite a lot of us hate surveys because yes, they're boring, but, this one is pretty short and it's not too complicated. Some of you guys might not want to fill out the survey so, this isn't mandatory. I don't want to force you guys! Though, I'd really appreciate it if you did fill out the survey because it's going to help me improve my blog in the future. It's completely anonymous so you can be 100% honest! If you do have less than 5 minutes of spare time,

FILL OUT THE SURVEY!

Official Information:

• fill out the form below
• open to wherever book depository ships to
• entrants must be 13 years or older
• January 8, 2011 is the deadline
• check my contest policy
• contest closed - winner announced

The Lost Saint by Bree Despain Giveaway

Who's excited for The Lost Saint? Because I know I am! So many of us LOVED The Dark Divine that I know a lot of you guys are DYING to read The Lost Saint! Your in luck right now because thanks to an extraordinare (another way of saying an awesome Egmont publicist, muhahaha!), they sent me an extra ARC of The Lost Saint and some beautiful The Lost Saint themed blue nail polish (it matches the cover of the book if you noticed) to give to one of my lucky readers!

Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi. She was infected with the werewolf curse while trying to save him, and lost her beloved brother in the process.

Desperate to find Jude, Grace befriends Talbot, a newcomer to town. But as the two grow closer, Grace’s relationship with Daniel is put in danger — in more ways than one.

Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace begins to give into the wolf inside of her — not realizing that an enemy has returned and a deadly trap is about to be sprung.

• ARC of The Lost Saint
• The Lost Saint themed blue nail polish

Official Information:

• fill out the form below
• December 24 is the deadline (a good present to know that you won!)
• open only to entrants 13 years or older
• being a follower isn't mandatory but it would be awesome if you were!
• readers and book lovers all around the world may enter
• check my contest policy
• contest closed - winner announced

Contest: Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa Klein

Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa Klein

The greatest unsolved mystery of American history--what happened to all the colonists who landed on Roanoke Island in 1587? This novel traces the fortunes and misfortunes of one Cate Archer, banished to Virginia by a jealous Queen Elizabeth because of her dalliance with Sir Walter Ralegh. What will be her fate in this dangerous New World?

Up for grabs: (1) finished copy of Cate of the Lost Colony donated by Bloomsbury

Official Information:

• fill out the form below
• November 30 is the deadline
• open only to US entrants
• entrants must be 13 years or older
• check my contest policy
• contest closed - winner n/a

Contest: Bloomsbury Prize Pack

I've got a special giveaway just for my international readers. International readers only. I apologize to all US residents, but, you guys have TONS of opportunities to win contests, while international residents don't! You can still enter my Twenty Book Giveaway (twenty books are up for grabs!) I hope making this international contest won't upset my US readers too much! :)

Up for grabs: (1) Bloomsbury YA Prize Pack

• Need by Carrie Jones (paperback)
• Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin (ARC)
• Where the Truth Lies by Jessica Warman (ARC)

Official Information:

• fill out the form below
• November 27 is the deadline
• open only to entrants 13 years or older
• international residents only (Canada counts)
• ALL U.S. ENTRANTS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED *
• check my contest policy
• contest closed - winner announced - package sent

48 Hour Spooktastic ARC Giveaway

Happy Halloween! I've got a very special 48 hour treat for you guys... No tricks. Just treats.

The Scary Teen Reads Pack (ages 15+)

Up for grabs: (2) The Scary Teen Reads Pack donated by Little Brown Books and Hachette Book Group

• The Witches' Kichen
• The Saga of Larten Cresley: Birth of a Killer
• Bloodthirsty
• Dark Song

Official Information:

• fill out the form below
• two winners
• November 1 is the deadline (48 hours)
• entrants must be 15 years old or above
• open only to US & Canada and no P.O. boxes
• contest closed - winners announced

Author Guest Post: Elizabeth Rudnick & Giveaway

Elizabeth Rudnick

Books (Young Adult):

• Tweet Heart

Links:

Website : Blog : Twitter

Elizabeth Rudnick:

Elizabeth Rudnick is a debut author who also is a senior edit at Disney Press in New York City. She's edited books based on movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and Prince of Persia as well as Miley Cyrus's memoir, Miles to Go, which was a New York Times bestseller.

She lives in Connecticut with a bug mutt named Jack Dyson. He has the ability to suck up anything in his way and has a habit of watching hours of mindless television!

Tweet Heart:

Claire is a #hopelessromantic. Lottie is determined to set up her BFF with Mr. Perfect. Will wants his #secretcrush to finally notice him. Bennett is a man with a plan.

Claire can’t believe it when her dream guy starts following her on Twitter. She never thought he noticed her, and suddenly he seems to understand her better than almost anyone.

But the Twitterverse can be a confusing place, especially when friends act differently online than they do in person. Things get even more complicated when Claire realizes she’s falling for someone else, the last person she ever would have expected….

____________________________________________________________________________________

How Tweet Heart Was Born

First, I just want to say thank Mavie, for asking me to write about my experience working on Tweet Heart. It was such fun--and yes, at times, quite painful--so it is always nice when people want to hear about how it all came about.

I guess, I’ll start with the beginning--how did I come up with the idea to write a book in all tweets, emails, and blogs? And the answer is--I got dumped. Silly, I know. But people are always saying write what you know and in this case, I knew exactly what it was like to like someone from afar who, for all intents and purposes, would never like me back. Or, if he did, he’d manage to break my heart. So, yes, I had been recently dumped and was sitting on my couch discussing it with my then roommate. I was going through all the great things the guy had said while we were dating and mentioned that in one of our first emails, he had said that I made him feel twitterpaited. And suddenly, lightning struck. I thought out loud, wouldn’t it be funny if there was a love story told all in tweets? A courtship limited to 140 characters? What if it were called Tweet Heart? And so the idea was born.

Of course, I quickly found out that having a title and a gleam of an idea doesn’t a book make. I fleshed out the idea--I wanted it to have some sort of hook besides the tweet factor and I also wanted it to have some nods to classic literature given that it was based on such a modern technology. The novel Cyrano de Bergerac was where I landed. It is a story about mistaken identity and I just modernized it to make it a story of mistweeten identity. Claire was the first character to come to life and I will admit, she is probably the most like me (though I think Bennett and I share some qualities as well!). It definitely wasn’t easy writing the book and where I started and what was printed are worlds apart. For example, originally, I was just going to write in all tweets but I quickly discovered that it is hard to move a story along when you are only really allowed to work in “dialogue”. That was where the blogs and emails came in. They are how I helped move the plot along and then relied on the tweets as the conversations. And let me tell you, for someone as wordy as me, limiting those conversations to 140 character interactions was tough! I spent a LOT of time going back and cutting and trying to come up with clever ways to shorten thoughts. But it was worth it because I think, or hope rather, that in the end, the novel speaks to the way teens think and speak today. It is a book in their language and the responses I’ve gotten make me feel like I succeeded in getting that voice across. For the most part that is :)

The one thing I did want to do, along with creating a compelling and entertaining story (with its own staircase moment because I’m still waiting for mine so why not live vicariously through my characters?), was to also address the fact that things like twitter or email or IMs or blogs--they are great and can be wonderful ways of communicating, but they can also lead to more drama than is necessary. Will is the perfect example. He was happier living behind his computer and telling Claire how he felt online but that backfired. If he had been up front with her and talked to her face-to-face, he probably would have saved himself a lot of heartache. Don’t get me wrong, I rely on email a lot to get across thoughts to friends and loved ones. But we should never forget that sometimes, good old fashioned talking can be more rewarding. :)

Thanks again Mavie!! I hope your readers are all as twitterpaited with Tweet Heart as you were!

____________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks so much to Elizabeth for stopping by! I really loved Tweet Heart and I hope you readers will too!

I also have a signed copy of Tweet Heart up for grabs! Thanks to Elizabeth for donating!!

Official Information:

• fill out the form below
• November 17 is the deadline
• open to everyone
• entrants must be 13 years or older
• check my contest policy
• contest closed - winner announced

Twenty-Book Giveaway

Have I caught your attention yet? Hope I did! After much discussion on Twitter, I decided to call this a Twenty book giveaway!

It's time for another clean out! I need to make some room for my shelves so I decided to giveaway my double copies. This time, it's not just 15 books (like last time), now, it's 20 books! Here's a list:

ARCs:

• Girl In Translation by Jean Kwok
• The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller
• Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
• Freefall by Mindi Scott
• She Thief by Daniel Flinn
• For Keeps by Natasha Friend
• Crusade by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie
• Crecendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
• Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
• Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

PAPERBACKs:

• Sloane Sisters by Anna Carey
• Explorer X-Alpha
• Graffiti Girl by Kelly Parra
• Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey
• Alibi Junior High by Greg Losted
• I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have To Kill You by Ally Carter
• Firespell by Chloe Neill
• Greek: Double Date by Marsha Warner
• Who Made You a Princess? by Shelley Adina (signed)

HARDCOVERs:

• Gringolandia by Lynn Miller Lachmann

Official Information:

• fill out the form below
• November 8 is the deadline
• open to US only
• entrants must be 13 years or older
• 20 winners total
• books are chosen by random for each winner
• check my contest policy
• contest closed - winners announced

Contest: The Twin's Daughter by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

The Twin's Daughter by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Lucy Sexton is stunned when a disheveled woman appears at the door one day... a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lucy's own beautiful mother. It turns out the two women are identical twins, separated at birth, and raised in dramatically different circumstances. Lucy's mother quickly resolves to give her less fortunate sister the kind of life she has never known. And the transformation in Aunt Helen is indeed remarkable. But when Helen begins to imitate her sister in every way, even Lucy isn't sure at times which twin is which. Can Helen really be trusted, or does her sweet face mask a chilling agenda?

Filled with shocking twists and turns, The Twin's Daughter is an engrossing gothic novel of betrayal, jealousy, and treacherous secrets that will keep you guessing to the very end.

Up for grabs: A copy of The Twin's Daughter donated by The Bookologist

Official Information:

• fill out the form below
• open to US only
• November 4 is the deadline
• entrants must be 13 years or older
• check my contest policy
• contest closed - winner announced

Contest: Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

Avery Hood is reeling from the loss of her parents--and the fact that she can't remember what happened to them even though she was there.

She's struggling to adjust to life without them, and to living with her grandmother, when she meets Ben, who isn't like any guy she's ever met before.

It turns out there's a reason why, and Ben's secret may hold the key to Avery finding out what happened to her parents...

But what if that secret changes everything she knows about--and feels for--Ben?

Up for grabs: A copy of Low Red Moon donated by Bloomsbury USA

Official Information:

• fill out the form below
• open to US only
• October 31 is the deadline
• entrants must be 13 years or older
• check my contest policy
• contest closed - winner announced