The Remarkable Journey of Charlie Price

Today is an exciting day, one where my two of my worlds are colliding and I couldn't be more excited for former client and now published author, Jen Maschari!

Some of you already know that for the ten years before I switched to designing book covers I was a wedding stationer. I thoroughly enjoyed my job and got to meet some truly fantastic people, many of whom I've been lucky enough to stay in touch with over the years. Once such person is Jen Maschari, one of my brides whose love of dogs immediately endeared her to me at our first meeting and led to the design of the save the date for her wedding. Jen had one bulldog at the time (she now has two - SO CUTE!), so we of course needed to include that face in her stationery suite:

Just a few months after Jen's wedding I started Supernatural Snark, and we stayed in touch on Twitter thanks to a shared love of books. Little did I know that Jen was writing a book of her own, one that sold to Balzer + Bray and releases today. GO JEN!!! WOO HOO!!

I'm so very thrilled for her and wanted to share her book on the blog today to help celebrate the birthday of her MG debut, The Remarkable Journey of Charlie Price. I hope you guys all add this one to your lists!

Ever since twelve-year-old Charlie Price's mom died, he feels like his world has been split into two parts. Before included stargazing and Mathletes and Saturday scavenger hunts with his family. After means a dad who's completely checked out, comically bad dinners, and grief group that's anything but helpful. It seems like losing Mom meant losing everything else he loved, too.

Just when Charlie thinks things can't get any worse, his sister, Imogen, starts acting erratically—missing school and making up lies about their mother. But everything changes when one day he follows her down a secret passageway in the middle of her bedroom and sees for himself.

Imogen has found a parallel world where Mom is alive!

There's hot cocoa and Scrabble and scavenger hunts again and everything is perfect . . . at first. But something doesn't feel right. Whenever Charlie returns to the real world, things are different, and not in a good way. And Imogen wants to spend more and more time on the other side. It's almost as if she wants to leave the real world for good. If Charlie doesn't uncover the truth, he could lose himself, the true memory of their mother, and Imogen . . . forever.

Find Charlie Price:

Amazon • B&N • IndieBound • Goodreads

Find Jen:

Website • Instagram • Twitter

Guest Post: Michael Northrop + Rotten

I'm super excited today to share the blog with young adult author Michael Northrop as part of the promotional tour for his newest release, Rotten. As a massive dog lover myself, I can't wait to read this book and am madly in love with the guest post Michael has put together. I've often wondered (I've actually probably given more thought to this than is healthy and normal) what breed of dog I'd be, but I've yet to come up with an answer. I have boxers, so maybe I'll just say boxer? Except they have lots of energy and I'm spectacularly lazy, so basically I'd fail as a boxer. Awesome. Michael is kindly going to share with us what breed of dog the characters in this book would be, so I hope you all enjoy!

ROTTEN CHARACTERS: A BREED APART

A quick glance at the cover will tell you that the title character of my new book is a Rottweiler. Rotties are big, strong dogs, originally bred to guard cattle and pull carts. The other characters in the book, being mere humans, aren’t likely to do either of those things. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have distinctive, doggish characteristics. Here’s a look at how the cast would translate into the canine world.

JD: The book’s narrator is suspicious by nature and not a fan of too much yapping, but he’s determined, ultimately loyal, and not afraid to stick his nose into things.

The verdict: bloodhound.

JD'S MOM: Technically, she would be a bloodhound too—I’m pretty sure that’s how that works—but we are pretty far into the realm of unreality already so . . . Hardworking, patient, protective, and a little put upon.

The verdict: sheepdog.

JANIE: The only one who’d stand a chance at a dog show, Janie is also a crafty problem solver. Her breed needs to be elegant and smart.

The verdict: Sheltie.

RUDY: JD’s loyal best friend, Rudy is a natural for canine casting. He’s not quite as clever as a Sheltie (sorry, dude) or as suspicious as a bloodhound, and he likes to rile things up a bit.

The verdict: A rowdy Jack Russell terrier.

AARON: The big dog! Woof! A big, blue-eyed guy and leader of the pack, this one is easy.

The verdict: Siberian husky (the one out front).

MARS: Small, yappy, and maybe not entirely housebroken.

The verdict: a manic miniature pinscher. No offense to min pins, but they are notoriously yappy (and hard to housebreak).

GREG: Last but not least, JD’s uncle and the family lawyer. He’s loyal and helpful, if not especially dynamic.

The verdict: A legal beagle, perhaps?

• • • • • • • • • • 

ROTTEN

A troubled teen. A rescued Rottweiler. An unlikely friendship.

Jimmer "JD" Dobbs is back in town after spending the summer "upstate." No one believes his story about visiting his aunt, and it's pretty clear that he has something to hide. It's also pretty clear that his mom made a new friend while he was away–a rescued Rottweiler that JD immediately renames Johnny Rotten (yes, after that guy in the Sex Pistols). Both tough but damaged, JD and Johnny slowly learn to trust each other, but their newfound bond is threatened by a treacherous friend and one snap of Johnny's powerful jaws. As the secrets JD has tried so hard to keep under wraps start to unravel, he suddenly has something much bigger to worry about: saving his dog.

Website • Amazon • Goodreads • Facebook • Twitter

Don't miss out on the rest of the tour! Full schedule is available here. 

I Have Well Behaved Dogs?

I'd like to take a break from reviewing books today and bring you another snippet of my life with two ridiculous boxer dogs.

We were on our daily walk through the neighborhood and passed a woman going door to door (note to self: shut front door when you get home to avoid sales pitch). She turned and looked at us, smiled, and opened her mouth to say something. I'm thinking she might tell me they're pretty and ask a question about them, as this is usually the case (please see my previous post about the attractiveness of my dogs). Instead, she said, "your dogs are really well behaved."

I was so startled by her comment I'm fairly certain my only reply was "whuh?" Kind of a cross between "what" and "huh". Don't be jealous now, not everyone can be born with my eloquence, it just comes naturally to me.

This comment was so absurd that I giggled to myself the entire walk home. My dogs are most certainly not well behaved. In the slightest. Griffin (on the right) pulls like a freight train the entire time, earning us the oh-so original statement "who's walking who" from many a passerby. He also feels it necessary to pee on every single tree, bush, leaf, or stick he passes and, as a result, is the proud owner of the entire neighborhood. Well done Griffin, well done.

I've seen dogs in our area that are well behaved. They sit quietly with their owner while waiting to cross the street and walk beside them at a normal, non-frenzied pace. Meanwhile, my dogs have hallucinated a squirrel or rabbit that is invisible to everyone else in the yard we're passing and are hopping up and down excitedly as though it's really there. Pretty fantastic.

Passing another dog on the street is always an experiment in strength and endurance on my part. Luckily, my dogs aren't super vocal and don't bark in the presence of other dogs, but they do however find it highly amusing to spin in circles, tangle themselves up, and then simultaneously try to rip my arms from their sockets while swiping my feet out from under me with their leashes. Passing people on the street creates a similar reaction.

Gatsby and Griffin are both extremely friendly and loving, but "well-behaved" is most certainly not the first thing that would come from my mouth when describing them. They have their moments of brilliance, but on a walk those moments are often few and far between.

Don't let the above picture fool you. That sweet, unassuming pose they adopt is a ruse. Just ask the poor UPS man. Griffin engages in guerrilla-style warfare when he comes to the door. He sits at the front door, looking adorable and innocent, then waits patiently until the UPS man makes it to the front step and deems it safe to approach. As soon as he gets within 2 feet of the door BAM! Griffin jumps up and bangs on storm door, creating a very loud noise and making a second pair of brown shorts a necessity for the UPS guy.

I love these dogs, I should have taken them to obedience school yes, but my life would be much emptier and less entertaining without them both.