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.

Romance: Fiction vs. Reality

It's not very often on this blog that I do a post more personal in nature, but I know I like it when the blogs I love and visit frequently post a little something that gives me a small peek into their world outside of books and blogging, so I thought I might give it a whirl. Mostly this came about as a result of something I saw on Twitter last week; something that, put simply, spoke to me. That sounds a little lame, I know, but when I saw the image I'm about to share with you I knew I had to write about how perfectly it represents my life. And if you can't share these types of profound moments with the entirety of the internet, who can you share them with, you know?

Confession: I love romance. I do. I actively seek out all genres of romance, from contemporary to paranormal, young adult to adult, historical to steampunk. If the book has some sort of sexy, charismatic, funny, sweet, and a-whole-slew-of-other-adjectives hero, I want to read about him. I have an entire list of fictional boyfriends I often tell my husband I would leave him for if they were real (he oh-so kindly takes such statements with a heavy dose of skepticism), and I love nothing more than falling in love with these boys over and over again.

What does this have to do with my moment you ask? The one that made me sit back and go "this is my life in a nutshell" and find a sense of deep peace seeing my exact world put into beautiful, expressive words? Well, here's what led me to that special place people:

THIS. It's like this card was written specifically for me. I saw it, nearly wet myself laughing at its accurate depiction of my day to day life, and then decided it had to be shared, complete with a few snippets of conversation between me and Kevin as supporting evidence that sometimes, just sometimes, the romance of fiction and that of reality can be so very far apart.

Nothing amuses me more than being so deeply involved in the romance between two characters that I feel compelled to share the fictional love with my husband, and then take it one step further by questioning him as to why our real love isn't nearly as dramatic or epic as the one about which I'm reading. This is usually what happens:

(For those of you who have not read the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward, this conversation might not make much sense. Basically, when the Brothers find the person they want to spend the rest of their lives with, they give off a scent of dark spices - a vampire bonding scent that essentially tells everyone around them who the person responsible for inciting that reaction in them belongs to. It sounds weird out of context of the books, but it just works when you're in their world.)

ME: Kevin?

KEVIN: Yeah.

ME: How come when you're near me you don't emit a scent of dark spices?

KEVIN: What?

ME: When you look at me or are in close proximity to me, how come that doesn't trigger any sort of bonding scent from you?

KEVIN: What the hell are you reading?

ME: Nothing you need to concern yourself with.

KEVIN: Clearly I do given you just asked me why my body doesn't leak a weird spice smell upon seeing you.

ME: I'm just saying maybe there's something physically wrong with you that that's not happening.

KEVIN: I think it's more likely there's something wrong with you mentally that you think it should.

ME: I'm almost positive that's not the case. Bonding scents are sexy! You should have one.

KEVIN: I think I'm done talking about this.

ME: Fine. But if you were a Brother, you'd have a bonding scent. And also, you'd tattoo my full name in monstrously large letters across your shoulders so everyone could see the depth of your love for me in ink.

KEVIN: Jesus.

These types of conversations happen fairly often and usually deteriorate rather quickly because Kevin just can't grasp what real love is supposed to be like ;-) I try to share my expertise in this area given my extensive studying of the subject matter, but he, for some inexplicable reason, does not find my knowledge useful.

I was doing a reread of the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning when a new question for Kevin popped in my head. I'd just read the following line:

"One day you may kiss a man you can't breathe without, and find breath is of little consequence" - Jericho Barrons

ME: Kevin?

KEVIN: Yeah.

ME: Do you love me so much you find it difficult to breathe without me?

KEVIN: I don't even want to know what you're reading to make you ask me that.

ME: This is me opening the door wide for you to say something exceedingly romantic about how much I mean to you. Now you just need to walk through it.

KEVIN: How very considerate of you to open that door for me.

ME: I know. Please dazzle me with a statement brimming with so much love that it reminds me in glorious detail of all the reasons I married you.

KEVIN: Right. I do of course love you, however, I've discovered I'm capable of breathing all day at work when you're not present. I'm kind of amazing like that.

ME: You're also a bit of an a-hole. Compliment fail.

I have to admit the lack of constant drama-filled, swoon-worthy romance in our reality is not the fault of Kevin alone. I may contribute a tiny, tiny bit ;-)

ME: Okay, I'm ready to go run errands.

KEVIN: Wait. Did you seriously just go upstairs and change from one pair of sweatpants to another?

ME: Uh, yeah. These are my "going out" sweatpants Kevin. I can't go out in my pajamas now can I? I want to look nice for you when we're out and about. Obviously.

KEVIN: I'm pretty sure you slept in that exact pair of sweatpants last week.

ME: Yes, I did. However, I've washed them since then and have not yet worn them to sleep this week, so they are now, officially, daytime sweatpants. The ones I just took off are nighttime sweatpants. Now that I'm in my daytime sweats and clearly looking my best, we can proceed with our daytime activities.

KEVIN: Jesus.

In all seriousness though, I'm a lucky woman. Kevin is extremely supportive of me, the business I run from home and this blog, and he makes me laugh on a daily basis. While there are no bonding scents or telling indicators of love like an inability to breathe when not in my presence (honestly Kevin!), I wouldn't trade him or my life for the world (well, maybe for Jericho Barrons ;-)

I figured I'd conclude this rather lengthy and rambling post with a few family pictures. Yes, there are WAY more pictures of our dogs than there are of us because Kevin and I almost never take any pictures together and our boys (Gatsby and Griffin) are our babies. We're behind-the-camera type of people and we're both good with that. Hence, the wedding photos below from 5 years ago. They're the only decent pictures I have of us together. It's both funny and pathetic really that we have so few pictures of us as a couple, but here's our little family: