BEA 2014 Recap

Hey Everyone!

Some of you might be reading the title of this post and thinking to yourselves "wasn't BEA two weeks ago?" Yes. Yes it was. I'm clearly running a bit behind on my recap post :-) I've been both lazy and busy with work (an interesting combination to be sure), so it wasn't until this weekend that I finally had time to sort through pictures and put this post together. *pats self on back for being on top of things*

Most bloggers who attend BEA do impressively detailed multi-post recaps about their time in NYC, but as mentioned previously, I'm far too lazy for that kind of undertaking, so I'm just going to merge my favorite moments, pictures, and books into one absurdly long ramble. So sorry in advance!

BEA is always something I spend a full year looking forward to, not just for the books, but for the opportunity to spend time with people I don't get to see nearly often enough and the chance to meet entirely new people who love books just as much as I do. BEA just wouldn't be BEA for me though without my amazing mom and mother-in-law who have been so kind as to accompany me the past 4 years. We make a whole week of it, arriving early to do touristy things and staying after to catch a show and hang out with friends, and I couldn't love the two of them more if I tried.

They're going to be less than thrilled with me for posting the below pictures, but I think they look adorable and therefore need to be seen by the entirety of the internet :-) You're welcome, Moms.

(Left: My mother-in-law Cathy; Right: My Pammy)

We arrived on Tuesday morning and just wandered around the city, eating at Chelsea Market and walking the High Line before meeting up with my beloved Danny from Bewitched Bookworms for dinner.

(This picture was actually taken on our last day in NYC, but it's my favorite picture of us. And I swear I brought clothes other than this sweatshirt and the jean jacket you'll see below, but the weather in NYC was much cooler than I'd anticipated, so I had to recycle the only warm clothes I brought!)

Wednesday was the BEA Bloggers Conference which is always fun for me if for no other reason than I get to stuff my face with pastries and hang out with other bloggers. The highlight of the day, however, was attending a brunch hosted by the wonderful people at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. For those of you who don't know, LBYR launched a site called NOVL a while back to bring together readers, authors and book lovers in general, and the brunch consisted of the NOVL team sharing the upcoming titles they're most excited about. This was a truly spectacular way to kick off BEA, and I can't thank everyone who put it together enough for including me.

That same evening I was also lucky enough to attend a party hosted by Epic Reads wherein I completely sucked at trivia and helped lead my team to a rousing loss by coming up with exactly zero answers to the bookish questions we were asked. I'm going to spend a good chunk of time in the months between now and BEA 2015 studying just in case more trivia games are to be played in the future. WATCH OUT EPIC READS, I WILL DAZZLE YOU NEXT YEAR!

The first official day of BEA started out on a high note with a breakfast hosted by the hugely generous group at HarlequinTEEN, and those of us in attendance had the distinct pleasure of chatting with their various authors, editors and publicists, all of whom were incredibly sweet and so very enthusiastic about their books.

After a full day of standing in line after line of awesome and getting to meet a variety of fantastic authors, bloggers, librarians and other bookish people, I got to spend cocktail hour with the team behind MacKids. A huge thank you to them for letting me be a part of their event!

(Left: Danny, Lauren and me; Right: Danny, the wonderful Ksenia and me)

Thursday wrapped up with the YA Author/Blogger Party hosted by Liza Wiemer of WhoRuBlog (with the help of Andye and Hannah!), a truly spectacular evening full of books, food and fun, and I was honored to have the opportunity to attend with my BEA partners in crime, Danny and Mary.

(Top left and right: The view from the party's outdoor space; Bottom from left to right: Me and the adorable Faye from Little, Brown; Danny, Josie Angelini and me; Danny, me and Mary)

Friday was yet another whirlwind day that seemed to be over in the blink of an eye, and then suddenly it was Saturday and my BEA was nearly over. Saturday started out with an amazing breakfast hosted by the team at Bloomsbury, and their crazy delicious donuts gave me the energy (or sugar rush, whichever) needed to tackle the masses in attendance thanks to BookCon (BEA opens its doors to the public via BookCon on the very last day). Before I say a few words about BookCon however, I just want to say again my sincerest thanks to everyone at Bloomsbury and all the other publishers who hosted events and were nice enough to include me.

Now, to BookCon. I'm probably in the minority with my thoughts on BookCon, but I walked away from the last day feeling hugely encouraged by what I saw. While there is certainly room for improvement moving forward (as there always is with anything), what just blew me away about BookCon was the sheer number of people. People who were excited about books. And authors. And book publishing. I may not have loved wandering through a massive crowd wedged into a too-small space, but it made me indescribably happy to see so many people, young and old, show up to meet their favorite authors and proudly flaunt their love for books.

Before I wrap this up with my top 5 books, I do need to mention a little something special about BEA that always brings a smile to my face. What's this grin-inducing something special you ask? The Ellora's Cave booth my friends, the Ellora's Cave booth. You see, they don't just have books at their booth, oh no, they bring their cover models as well. Their muscle-bound, tank top-wearing cover models, and Mary and I never miss an opportunity to get our pictures taken with them. Last year there were only two models available, but this year we snagged three. SUCCESS! I think next year we need to try for four :-)

MY TOP 5 BEA BOOKS:

I got some truly oustanding books this year, but these five are the ones that were immediately moved to the top of my to-be-read pile!

The Beautiful Ashes by Jeaniene Frost
Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper
Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios
Talon by Julie Kagawa
Compulsion by Martina Boone

A few last pictures before I go!

 (Me with Lauren and Pam, two people I've missed at prior BEAs but finally got to meet this year!)

Both a personal and professional highlight, as well as a completely surreal moment, for me was meeting author Kelsey Macke. Some of you may remember me posting about a cover design contest hosted by Spencer Hill Press back in October of last year for Damsel Distressed, a contemporary YA releasing this coming October. I was completely floored when my design won that contest, and seeing it in printed form for the first time with people carrying it around BEA was beyond anything I could have imagined. Kelsey is the cutest thing in the world, and I'm so grateful to her and the team at SHP for giving me the chance to make a dream career become a reality!

(The shot at right was the moment I walked up to Kelsey's table. If my mom had taken a shot of my face, it would have held the exact same expression:-)

(My biggest supporters!)

BookExpo America 2014: Here I Come!

It's BEA time again, so I'm on my way to New York City at a completely absurd hour of the morning to surround myself with thousands of books and book-loving people. I could do without the ridiculously early flight, but other than that I couldn't be more excited! Since I'll be perfecting the art of standing in line this entire week, things on the blog are going to be a bit quiet, but I'll be back on Sunday and will have a full recap sometime next week.

I'm pretty miserable at taking pictures at BEA, but I'm going to make a concentrated effort to be better at it this year and will hopefully capture some of the fun moments on film (so to speak) to share with you guys. If I fail as I have pretty much every year prior to this, I'll just borrow photos from other people I've randomly photobombed and post them ;-)

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

BEA 2013

It only took me a week, but I've finally put together a recap post of BEA 2013! *takes a bow* Well done me.  First I need to say a huge thank you to Danny and Hannah (and also my mom and sister-in-law Tracy) for sending me their photos to use for this post, as I didn't bring a camera with me. I KNOW! I fail at life. My excuse is this: the only camera I own is of the larger variety and I didn't want to haul my mega camera to NYC and try to manage it as well as all the books, so I just threw myself into other people's pictures and hoped for the best. I have to say, all my blogging friends were really great sports about it:)

This is going to be a long and rambling post, so I apologize in advance! There was so much crammed into a single week that I really should have done multiple posts (like the far more intelligent Danny and Hannah), but quite frankly, I was just too lazy to go through all that effort, so instead I've just combined everything into this post. Hope you all enjoy!

DAYS 1 and 2

 Left to Right: Cathy and my mom with Matt Lauer (sort of); The Moms and me; me and Tracy

Unlike past years, my mom, mother-in-law (who always accompany me to BEA and will be known as The Moms for the remainder of this post) and my sister-in-law Tracy (a fantastic new addition this year) got to NYC a full day before the blogger conference. Normally I just hit the ground running and abandon The Moms to go do touristy things while I'm at the conference, but this year I actually got to wander around the city with them. Win.

After checking into the hotel, we took a quick tour through the monstrous public library–it was stunning–before heading to see Grand Central Station and then ordering the epic frozen hot chocolates from Serendipity. I'm not sure how I lived life before trying one, but as you can see in the above picture, I was finally able to be complete after experiencing them this year. I'm not sure what's happening with my face in the picture, all I can say is my mom told us both to smile while we had straws in our mouths, which of course led us to contort our faces in weird ways because one simply cannot suck chocolatey goodness up through a straw and smile at the same time. The chocolate will always win over the smile. It's like my mom doesn't even know me at all ;-)

Day 2 dawned with much better weather than the rain and cold of day one, and while I went to the blogger conference, The Moms apparently went and inappropriately groped a cardboard cutout of Matt Lauer. I don't think I could love them any more if I tried.

In the evening of day 2, I had the privilege of going to dinner with two of my very favorite people in the world, Danny and Pushy of Bewitched Bookworms, and authors Katie McGarry and Julie Kagawa before heading to the HarperCollins Blogger Party. Katie and Julie are so much fun and incredibly easy to talk to, and I'm pleased to say I made it through the entire dinner without saying anything absurd, something I sometimes do to fill awkward silences when they happen. Luckily for me (and everyone else really, it's impossible to guess what might come out of my mouth when there's a pause in the conversation), there were no silences at this dinner as we were all constantly laughing too hard.

Left to right: Pushy, Me, Katie, Julie, and Danny

Danny and I left dinner and headed to the Harper party which was loud and had crazy lighting, but was an absolute blast. The authors and publicists casually wandered through the sea of people all night so I not only got to meet authors Cora Carmack, Eve Silver and Elizabeth Norris, but I was also able to chat with some of the truly wonderful people at Harper that I'd been speaking with via email all year.

Left to right: Me and Cora Carmack; Danny, me and Bailey from IB Book Blogging; me, Alison Lisnow and Elizabeth Norris

We all had name tags at this party which was of course helpful in figuring out who everyone was, but with my awesomely large handwriting and my poor use of space I ran out of room for my blog name in its entirety, so I spent the evening wandering around as Jenny from Supernatural Snar. Way to go Jenny, way to go. *pats self on back*

DAY 3

Day 3 was the actual first day of BEA and brought me back together with not only loves of my life Danny, Pushy, and Bailey (and her fabulous mom!), but also put me face to face with Hannah from the Irish Banana Review whom I absolutely adore and may have attempted to climb like a tree when I saw her for the first time. I excel at all social graces you see, so clinging to her like a monkey was a lesson in etiquette for all those present ;-)

I started out the day at the HarlequinTEEN breakfast where I was reunited with the brilliant Katie McGarry and Julie Kagawa as well as Amanda Sun, Elizabeth Scott and several of the amazing publicists and editors who work with them.

While the breakfast was a truly fantastic way to start the day, I have to say the highlight for me was when my friend Mary from The Book Swarm texted me to say I needed to head over to the Ellora's Cave booth because all the Cavemen (aka cover models) were present and available for pictures. This I could not miss.

 Left to right: Me, Taylor, Mary, and another Caveman whose name I don't know but it doesn't matter anyway because look at his arms

My friend's name is Taylor and he's apparently a cowboy from Texas. Okay, he's definitely from Texas but whether or not he's an actual cowboy is a bit up for debate. He's a cowboy in the Ellora's Cave calendar anyway, so I think that counts right? Right. About 10 seconds before this picture was taken, Taylor had his face in my neck as he was hamming it up for the camera, which to be honest, startled the crap out of me and instead of playing it cool, I let out a very unfeminine grunt, snapped my left shoulder up as a defense mechanism (I'm ticklish okay? Don't judge me!) and promptly clocked my poor Caveman right in the cheekbone. I really should teach a class in composure and gracefulness because, clearly, I'm a master at them.

After the first day of BEA wrapped up I was off to the Macmillan Blogger Party where I got to meet several bloggers I'd spoken to online but never had the pleasure of meeting, as well as had an opportunity to speak with the people behind the Awesome that is Macmillan.

Hannah and I left the Macmillan party together and embarked upon what she so aptly calls the Great Taxi Hunt of 2013. It was rush hour when we left and there was simply not a single cab to be had. Hannah and I were all "It would be great if someone could stop and kindly give us a ride" and every single cab in NYC was all:

Super. I finally saw a cab that looked like it was slowing to let a passenger out, so I took off sprinting down the street and appeared breathless by the back door only to have the cab pull away and go a few feet further down the way. Once again, I ran down the street and ended up outside the rear passenger window as if by magic, a huge (and let's be honest, probably creepy) smile on my face as I began gesturing to the guy in the car to see if he was going to be getting out in the near future. For a third time, the cab pulled away from the curb and then stopped another several feet down the road. At this point, I was getting just plain desperate. There was more running, only this time when I stopped beside the cab my hand gestures were decidedly more emphatic and I was near to ripping the door open and bodily removing the passenger from the backseat. Luckily for him, he got out under his own power and Hannah and I were off to the Penguin Bird Bash and then finally the YA Author/Blogger Rooftop Party hosted by Liza at Who RU Blog and Andye of Reading Teen.

This party was beyond fun and had the most stunning views of both NYC and New Jersey, and I was simply honored to be there.

Me and Hannah overlooking the Freedom Tower and NYC/NJ

The remaining two days of BEA were filled with amazing books and even more amazing bloggers and authors, and it was without a doubt my best BEA experience yet. I can't thank all the publishers and publicists enough for including me in some of their unbelievably fabulous events, and I just don't have the words to explain how much everyone in this community of book lovers means to me other than to say I feel privileged to call myself a blogger and be in such outstanding company.

A very special thank you goes out to my mom and Cathy, whom BEA just wouldn't be the same without. I'm lucky to have you both.

I'm going to wrap up this exceedingly long post with a few more random pictures, and the sincere hope that I get to meet many more of you at next year's event!

Left to right: Me, Hannah and Mary; my mom, me, Hannah and my mother-in-law Cathy; Danny, Pushy, me and Olivia from The Reading Enchantress

BEA Bound!

Hey Everyone!

I just wanted to throw up a quick post today to let you know the blog will be slow for the next several days as I'll be attending BookExpo America in New York City. This will be my third year going and, as always, I'll have my mother and mother-in-law in tow so it will inevitably be yet another family adventure. Win.

I fail at taking pictures mostly because the only camera I own is a large one with multiple lenses, and I lack the motivation to lug it through NYC and BEA on top of carrying books, so usually I just sort of throw myself into pictures with other people and then randomly ask if they'll email me a copy. Well done me. I do plan on doing a recap when I return though, so I guess you'll all find out how successful I was at photo bombing people ;-)

To give you a little laugh, I thought I would leave you with my favorite picture from last year: Me (left) and Melissa from I Swim For Oceans with a pirate.

Confused? Believe me, I was too. I don't know how we ended up with this pirate. One minute we were sitting on the ground taking a break from the lines and the next thing I know poof! Insta-pirate. Awesome.

Talk to you all next week!

Things of Awesome: May Edition

Okay. I think I just need to admit defeat with this feature and demote it to a every-once-in-a-while-when-I'm-not-too-lazy-on-the-weekends-to-do-it post, because the sporadic nature of it really prevents it from deserving the title of "feature". There are handful of fun things I want to share with you this month though, complete with a new conversational snippet between me and Kevin. I hope it makes you guys smile, and Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

1. LOSING IT EXTRA SCENES

I read Losing It by Cora Carmack a little while back and loved it to pieces, so I'm thrilled to share the news that Cora is going to be releasing several scenes from Garrick's point of view! *flails* Please excuse me while I die of excitement. She's planning on releasing the below four scenes periodically as pre-orders for her new release Faking It (which is also completely amazing, I highly recommend - comes out June 4th) reach certain numbers.

Scenes:
•       The One Where They Meet
•       The One Where They Meet…Again
•       The One Where He Changes His Mind
•       The One Where Bliss Gets Her Way

Um. Yes please! I need inside Garrick's head as soon as possible. The below widget will keep you all updated as to where the pre-orders stand and which of the above scenes will be released next. I hope you guys add Faking It to your lists!

2. HARPER IMPULSE

HarperTeen's new Impulse imprint might be one of my favorite things ever. Novellas don't always interest me, but I love that Harper and their various authors are releasing these little shorts that give us a look at a familiar world through a different character's eyes. Some of the novellas and short stories, of course, are new and completely unrelated to any full-length series, but I've found I've even enjoyed those as well. Below are the newest Impulse titles for May!

Allies: An Insignia Novella

In S. J. Kincaid’s fast-paced and humorous sci-fi Insignia trilogy, the earth is in the middle of World War III when teen gamer Tom Raines is recruited to train with other young cadets as a pivotal member of the elite combat corps, the Intrasolar Forces. At the Pentagonal Spire’s training academy, he makes the best friends of his life—fellow government weapons-in-training Wyatt Enslow, Vik Ashwan, and Yuri Sysevich.

In this 47-page prequel novella to the series, budding genius Wyatt Enslow—intensely loyal and hyperintelligent if occasionally, hilariously, socially awkward—takes center stage as S. J. Kincaid reveals Wyatt’s life before she found her place, and her own inner strength, among her devoted band of friends at the Spire.

Playing Keira

From a breakthrough voice in YA fiction comes a captivating digital-original 50-page short story starring a supporting character from the novel You Look Different in Real Life.

The premise was simple: Five kids living their real lives, with a new movie about them every five years. But that was before Keira's mother walked out and the cameras captured every heartbreaking detail for the world to see. Now Keira doesn't even know what "real life" means—she only knows how to pretend to be herself.

Then she meets Garrett on a bus to New York City. At first, Keira creates a fictional identity and enjoys the freedom of being someone totally different. But as their brief connection turns into something more, Keira starts to see what life could be like if she just stopped pretending and accepted the person she really is.

Jennifer Castle's pitch-perfect teen voices and sharp insights—together with a teaser to You Look Different in Real Life—make this story a must-read, especially for fans of Sarah Dessen.

You fan find the full list of available Impulse titles HERE.

3. THE QUILL AWARDS

Fashioned after The Oscars, The Quill Awards is an awards show for young adult books put together by a couple bloggers, with various categories and nominees as well as a coterie of twenty-one bloggers acting as The Academy and voting for the winners.

From the website:

A new type of award show exclusively to celebrate the last year in Young Adult fiction. It will boast all aspects of a traditional award show: awkward banter, fancy clothes, signature statuettes, and all other attributes we both love and mock. What makes this "new" is that this award show will not take place at some fancy venue, but rather it will be filmed at multiple dates in multiple locations, and then edited to form one cohesive show.

You can expect appearances from many of your favorite bloggers and authors, as well as industry professionals and maybe even some special guest entertainers. It will truly be a time to honor all aspects of the YA community. It will be quirky and homey, but hopefully also interesting and well done. The show will air late June/ early July at a date to be determined. The final list of nominees will be posted on April 26th. 
 
You fan find the full list of nominees and place your vote for the Countdown Award here.

Website • Twitter • YouTube

4. BEA

In a couple weeks I will be in NYC attending BookExpo America for the third time. I will be there with a ridiculous smile plastered on my face and my mom and mother-in-law in tow to help me master the BEA monster with our now finely-tuned divide and conquer technique. I cannot wait.

Danny and Pushy of Bewitched Bookworms and Hannah of The Irish Banana have put together some fantastic posts about what to expect if you're attending for the first time, so instead of a long rambling post of my own, I'm just going to link to their sites because they've got everything covered.

I hope to see many of you there!

5. LIFE WITH KEVIN

For the full story behind these little conversational snippets go HERE.

Kevin: I know what's going on.

Me: What, now?

Kevin: I know what's going on with the movies.

Me: I haven't the slightest inkling what you could be referring to.

Kevin: You think I haven't figured out that all three of the movies we've watched in the past couple days have had Jeremy Renner in them?

Me: Coincidence.

Kevin: Really. That's what you're going with?

Me: Yes. Maybe I just had an intense desire to watch movies about a SWAT team, a genetically enhanced badass specializing in badassery, and a sexy, leather-clad superhero who rocks a bow and arrow. You ever think of that?

Kevin: No. Want to know what I think?

Me: I'm not sure I do. I don't think I like where this is headed.

Kevin: What I think is that you've chosen Jeremy Renner as a real life version of one of your fictional men and now you're obsessing.

Me: LIES!

Kevin: We both know I'm right.

Me: Huh. I'm not sure if I love that you know me so well or if I find it irritating that there's absolutely no mystery left in our relationship.

Kevin: It wasn't exactly difficult to figure out. Nearly ninety percent of the time you don't have a clue what we're watching because you're reading, and then all of a sudden you want to watch three very specific movies all in one weekend. Kind of a tip-off.

Me: I think you're mistaken. Subtlety is one of my strong suits. I excel at it. EXCEL.

Kevin: Clearly. You've probably already gone to IMDB to cyber-stalk him and are currently considering going and buying any of his movies we don't already own.

Me: Dammit Kevin! That's it. I want a divorce. I need to be with someone less observant who doesn't call me out on my romantic fixations. I'm going to go and make a profile on Match.com immediately.

Kevin: Sounds good. Let me know what kind of interest you get.

Me: I suffer you to live.

Things of Awesome: January Edition

Back in December I put together a little fun-book-related-things post and promised I would try and turn it into a monthly feature if my inherent laziness didn't kick in and prevent me from doing so. Surprisingly enough, I've managed to put together this mini feature for the second month in a row! *self high five*

I've made a slight alteration to the format though. From here on out I'm going to list 4 bookish Things of Awesome and then share a book-related conversation between me and my husband. I did a post a few weeks ago about the differences between the romance of my reality and that of fiction, and many of you expressed an interest in reading more of the strange conversations I force Kevin to have with me, so I figured we'll see after this if it's still something of interest to you. Enjoy!

1. HARPERTEEN'S DARK DAYS TWITTER CHAT

HarperTeen is the publisher behind some of my most anticipated reads of 2013, and they're starting out the year in rather epic style with their Dark Days Tour.  You can find all the information about the tour stops and the participating authors on their website, and I'm crazy jealous of all of you lucky people who get to attend the various signings. Unfortunately, neither of the first two legs of the tour is coming even remotely close to me *sobs* but I've got my fingers crossed that they stop in Ohio at some point!

Though I won't be able to attend any of the actual signings, there is going to be a Twitter chat with Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Tahereh Mafi and Veronica Rossi on January 30th at 8:15pm EST, and I will be there with a big dorky grin on my face. Luckily, given it's Twitter, no one will be able to see it. I hope lots of you will join me in following @PitchDarkBooks!

2. THROUGH THE EVER NIGHT TRAILER

I absolutely adored Under the Never Sky and cannot wait to finally get a copy of Through the Ever Night. I've been reading tons of reviews for it and they're all glowing, so I have absurdly high hopes that my love for this series will only grow with the sequel. Check out the trailer:

3. SPIRIT ANIMALS

In September of 2013, Scholastic is going to be publishing a new multi-platform, multi-author fantasy adventure series. What does that mean you ask? Well, I'll let the fabulous people at Scholastic tell you:

Spirit Animals centers around the fantasy world of Erdas where children who come of age go through a ritual to determine if they have a “spirit animal,” a rare bond between human and beast that bestows great powers to both. In this breakthrough series, four children from different cultures undergo an annual ritual and discover that they have been chosen for a greater destiny. Each book in the series will unlock expanded gameplay on the immersive Spirit Animals online game site. The role-playing online game—available through any web browser—will allow kids to customize their own unique heroes, choose their spirit animals, and go on quests to help save the world of Erdas.

“With Scholastic’s latest entry into multi-platform, readers are transported into a whole new fantasy realm with Spirit Animals,” said Ellie Berger, President, Scholastic Trade. “Spirit Animals has a compelling premise, a relatable cast of multi-cultural characters, magnificent animals, and a vibrant online game—this is 21st century storytelling at its best. We cannot be more excited about introducing this epic series to kids everywhere.”

The first book will be written by New York Times bestselling author Brandon Mull (releases September 10th), and the second book will be written by none other than Maggie Stiefvater (releases January 2014).

4. BOOK EXPO AMERICA

BEA Registration is now open! YAY! Anyone that registered last year will know that it was a bit of a debacle with things being unclear as to what type of badge bloggers were supposed to register for and what fees were associated with our badge. Fail. This year, the organizers of the BEA Bloggers Conference (formerly the Book Blogger Convention) have written a post outlining how registration this year has changed. Very helpful. The only problem at the moment (at least for me when I tried) is the registration for the BEA Bloggers Conference (which also includes the 3-day BEA pass) is not currently open, so when you try to go through the registration process, you get held up on the second page. I'm sure that will be remedied soon, unless I'm the only one having that problem in which case I'll need to call them. *sigh*

If you're not registering for the blogger conference though, you should be able to breeze through registration just fine. I'm so looking forward to seeing a lot of you there!

5. ROMANCE IN REALITY

A bookish conversation with my husband:

Me: Question.

Kevin: Yeah?

Me: How come you never say anything exceedingly romantic to me?

Kevin: Like what?

Me: “If I were to live a thousand years, I would belong to you for all of them. If we were to live a thousand lives, I would want to make you mine in each one.” (The Evolution of Mara Dyer)

Kevin: Guys don't talk like that.

Me: I feel like some do.

Kevin: No.

Me: So what you're saying is I shouldn't expect any such heartfelt and swoon-worthy statements from you?

Kevin: Let me ask you this–

Me: Does your question answer my question?

Kevin: In a roundabout sort of way.

Me: Okay.

Kevin: Has the guy who said that ever walked into the bathroom he shares with the girl to whom he said it, climbed in the shower, and proceeded to snake the drain because it was clogged and both guy and girl were standing ankle deep in water whenever they showered?

Me: I'm not sure how this is at all relevant. But no, I don't believe so. Not many romance heroes take the time to snake a shower drain. At least on page.

Kevin: I feel like the above action proves I'm a hero in my own right.

Me: How so?

Kevin: Because, when I snaked said drain and then proceeded to pull out a two-foot long wad of smelly, disgusting hair, I heroically managed to refrain from vomiting.

Me: I'm not sure I'm entirely clear on the point you're trying to make here.

Kevin: I have many points, all brilliant. One, if this guy–

Me: His name is Noah.

Kevin. Right. Well, my point is that if Noah had to actually snake the shower drain of this girl he wants for a thousand lifetimes and was subjected to the misery that is pulling out monstrous clumps of wet hair like I do for you in our current lifetime, he might revise his statement. Some of the romance and mystery leaves a marriage when faced with massive shower drain hairballs. My second point is that I am a man of action, not words.

Me: You are a man of action.

Kevin: Yes.

Me: And?

Kevin: And therefore you know how I feel based on what I do, not what I say.

Me: So you're saying your lifetime-spanning love for me is expressed through an act of plumbing?

Kevin: For the sake of this argument, yes.

Me: It's possible you've made a good point. Though I feel it necessary to mention that if Noah did snake Mara's drain–

Kevin: *snorts*

Me: A little maturity please, Kevin. Honestly.

Kevin: You're one to talk.

Me: Anyway, if Noah was to snake Mara's drain in lieu of a romantic declaration, I don't think he would make Chewbacca noises while he did it.

Kevin: That just goes to show you he is clearly the lesser man. The noises were appropriate based on what I pulled out of that drain.

Me: Fine. You win this one.

Kevin: I fall in love with you a little bit more every time you admit defeat.

Me: If that's the best you can do, I guess I'll take it.

Sweet Hope Cover Design Contest: Vote Now!

 

Hey Everyone!

Some of you may have seen my post last week regarding the cover design contest for Sweet Hope, the sequel to one of my favorite reads this year, Sweet Evil. In that post, I might have mentioned my undying, slightly obsessive love for one Kaidan Rowe. He's delicious. And if one of my covers is chosen, I'll be immortalized in ink alongside him as the girl who tempts him away from Anna with her wit and charm but, being the extraordinarily selfless person I am, nobly turns down his aggressive advances and convinces him to return to Anna to spare her a broken heart. Okay. Maybe that last part takes place all in my head, but the first part about my name in ink is true enough.

Voting for the cover design contest is now open, and you can see all the gorgeous entries over at Bewitched Bookworms. You can vote for multiple covers, and once the voting is tallied, the top 6 covers will be announced and will advance to the final round before a winner is chosen. I'd love it if you guys would pop over there and cast a vote for the covers you love because this is a truly unbelievable prize! If my entries below happen to be among your favorites, that would be amazing, but there are some truly stunning designs and I can't wait to see the top picks! Vote HERE.

MY ENTRIES:

 

Now I would like to take a few moments to get a little personal. I have something to share with all of you, and I think it's best to prepare yourselves. You see, in June I attended Book Expo America with my good friend Melissa from I Swim For Oceans and we had quite the experience. One that involved the L. Ron Hubbard booth and an overly friendly, dare I say handsy, tiny pirate. I give you this memento of our time with said pirate:

I think we should all take a moment to let the gloriousness of this picture sink in before I call attention to a few disturbing things.

...

Ready? First, let's all take a closer look at his face. I have no explanation for his expression. He looks dazed, whereas Melissa and I look terrified and uncomfortable (mostly because we were both of those things). He did seem rather fixated on Melissa's hair, telling her that it was the color of the sun (he did not offer any sort of poetic comparison for my hair - WTH pirate?), so perhaps the slack-jawed look is a result of a blond hair fetish. Yikes.

Speaking of a possible fetish, I 'd like draw attention to his, um, sword as I feel it supports my pirate-is-creepily-in-love-with-Melissa theory. Anyone else notice how his sword is quite forcefully jutting out from his groin and pointing directly at her crotch? I think it's trying to tell us something. His junk sword is making an enthusiastic beeline for Melissa, and the smile plastered on her face makes me think she has no idea what his masculine weapon is up to. RUN MELISSA! RUN AWAY FROM THE HORNY PIRATE'S SWORD BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!

I feel like it's inappropriate for me to be in this picture at all. I'm just there on the left like a third wheel of douchey-ness in this strange, suddenly frighteningly sexual tableau. And who gave me that book? I don't remember picking that book up at all, but there it is in my hand in all its L. Ron Hubbard glory.

I think I should crop myself out of this picture, blow it up, frame it, and then send it on to Melissa so she can treasure it forever and ever. Get it? Treasure? Because he's a pirate? Yes? No? Fail.

BEA Bound + Giveaway

Hey Everyone!

I just wanted to do a short post to let all of you know the blog will be quiet for the next several days as I'll be attending BookExpo America in New York City. For an incomprehensible reason, I've booked the same 6am flight I took last year even knowing how completely ridiculous I am at absurdly early hours. Apparently I don't learn from past mistakes, so once again my mother, my mother-in-law, and the adorable Melissa from I Swim For Oceans will all be trekking to the Port Columbus International Airport at the laughable hour of 4am. Whuh.

This is me (left) and Melissa yesterday at an event in Cincinnati:

We will not look like this on Monday. My eyes will be half closed and I most definitely will not be smiling until it's a more reasonable hour. Sorry in advance if you see me prior to 10am ;-)

PENGUIN PANEL

For those who aren't attending BEA but live in the in the New York City area I just wanted to list a couple events that are taking place this week in case any of you might be able to attend. First up, the fantastic people over at Penguin are hosting a panel at the New York Public Library on Tuesday, June 5th from 6pm to 7:30pm. From Penguin:

The Not-So-Secret Life of the American Teenager: Bridging the Gap between YA and Adult Fiction

On this panel, Penguin authors Laura Harrington (Alice Bliss) and James King (Bill Warrington's Last Chance) join forces with fellow YA authors Mari Mancusi (Blood Coven Vampire novels), Veronica Wolff (The Watcher series), and Emily McKay (The Farm) to draw comparisons between Adult literature and the growing YA market. How do these authors craft novels that both teens and adults enjoy?  Whether their characters are parents reconnecting with their teenage children or teens battling high school bullies or vampires, each author offers readers a glimpse into teenage life-the milestones, the angst, the blissful moments-that both teens and parents can relate to. Moderated by Lev Grossman, author of the New York Times bestselling novels, The Magicians and The Magician King, these authors discuss books that appeal to readers of all ages.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 5th from 6 to 7:30 PM

WHERE: South Court Auditorium, located in the Stephen A Schwarzman Building on Fifth Ave at 42nd Street. (New York Public Library)

If you think you can make it, don't forget to register - you can do so HERE.

GIVEAWAY

For those of you who can't make it, Penguin is generously providing me with an amazing goodie bag to give away on the blog today. WOO HOO! This goodie bag includes:

- 1 copy of Veronica Wolff’s ISLE OF NIGHT

- 1 copy of Mari Mancusi’s BOYS THAT BITE

- 1 copy of Lev Grossman’s THE MAGICIAN KING

- 1 ARC of THE FARM by Emily McKay

- Bookmarks for Rachel Caine’s BITE CLUB and Veronica Wolff’s VAMPIRE’S KISS and other    cool swag, including a YA sampler.

To enter, please just leave a comment on this post and include a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open to US residents only and will run through midnight EST on Friday, June 8th after which time a winner will be chosen and announced on the blog. Good luck everyone!

TEEN AUTHOR CARNIVAL

Teen Author Carnival is an event that brings together a huge list of fantastic young adult authors for several panels as well as books signings. I can't wait to attend this event, and when I list the title for one panel in particular, you'll know why. The panel I'm most excited for: Where Have You Been All My Life (Let's Talk Boys). Win. I will be gleefully attending this panel and also possibly drooling.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 5th 6:30pm to 9:30pm (after hours)

WHERE: Jefferson Market Library

You can find the full details and author list HERE.

SHADOW ON THE WALL SIGNING

Note: Shadow on the Wall is not a young adult book, but I wanted to include it in the list for those who might be interested. This title won the General Fiction/Novel category of the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

I'll be back to posting on Friday, have a wonderful week everyone!

Me + Traveling

I just wanted to do a quick post to let you all know my posts and comments will be a little erratic this week as I'm off to brave the madness that is Book Expo America. For some reason beyond my comprehension, I booked a flight at 6:00 am. Whuh. Now, for those of you who are morning people, this is not a big deal. For me, it's pretty much the worst idea imaginable. I'm not a morning person. Not even a little. Those who encounter me in the morning most often never heal from the scars of the experience.

My mom and my mother-in-law are accompanying me on this little adventure and here's how I picture tomorrow morning's conversation with my mother (who is a morning person) going:

MOM: Good morning Jenny! We're going to NYC today!

ME: ....

MOM: This is going to be a blast. I've got my coffee, I'm all packed, I just can't wait to get there.

ME: ....

MOM: Have you got everything?

ME: Red circles plus blue circles = pizza.

MOM: Okay. I'm going to interpret that as a "yes".

ME: Carrots.

MOM: I'm just going to stop talking to you until we get there.

ME: Panties.

MOM: Right.

So, you see, coherence is not my strong suit when awakened at an unnatural hour. I apologize to all airport officials in advance who will have the unfortunate experience of crossing my befuddled path. I'm hugely excited to be going though and I do have some very fun posts planned while I'm away. I'll be back at the end of the week and posts will return to normal. Hope to see a lot of you there!