“We sit silently and watch the world around us. This has taken a lifetime to learn. It seems only the old are able to sit next to one another and not say anything and still feel content. The young, brash and impatient, must always break the silence. It is a waste, for silence is pure. Silence is holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking. This is the great paradox.” 
 ― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

“I have survived. I am here. Confused, screwed up, but here. So, how can I find my way? Is there a chain saw of the soul, an ax I can take to my memories or fears?” 
 ― Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak

“Do you think I'm pretty?"  
"I think you're beautiful."  
"Beautiful?"  
"You are so beautiful, it hurts sometimes.” 
 ― Richelle Mead, Vampire Academy

Contest Winners!

Congratulations to Karen who has won the May Must Read Contest. Her prize is a copy of Bitterblue! I have my copy on my TBR shelf and I've been staring at it lovingly. I can't bring myself to read it quite yet because I know it will be over entirely too fast. But I've been hearing such wonderful things about it.

And congratulations to Chloe B who has won the YAmazing Race stop. Her prize is a signed copy of Unraveling with a bookmark or two thrown in.

Thanks to everyone who entered both contests. If you didn't win, more contests will be underway in June!

On Casting

In honor of Unraveling's first week in the world, I'm going to cast the characters for the Unraveling movie in my mind (and by "in my mind" I mean not real). Here's who I pictures as the main characters. (And of course, I would actually have no say in the casting if it was ever something that was more than just in my mind.)

Janelle Tenner

Hailee Steinfeld: I loved her in True Grit!

Ben

Young James Franco, from his Freaks and Geeks days

Barclay

Taylor Kitsch

Now, if you were casting Unraveling, who would be in your movie?

“You are, and always have been, my dream.”
 ― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

The YAmazing Race Round 2!

Welcome to my stop on the YAmazing Race with MGnificent prizes, a crazy whirlwind blog hop featuring over 50 debut authors and prize packs featuring ARCs, gift certificates, swag, and more! If you haven’t yet been to the Apocalypsies website, please click here to start from the beginning and read the complete rules. Now on to the race!

UNRAVELING by Elizabeth Norris

Two days before her junior year, Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, her life flashing before her, then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she's opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And though it isn’t possible, she knows with every fiber of her being that Ben has brought her back to life.

But her reincarnation, and Ben’s possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI-agent father’s files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what’s right in front of her: Everything that’s happened—the accident, the countdown clock, Ben’s sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. As the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she’s needs to uncover Ben’s secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

UNRAVELING is a gripping story of one girl’s fight to save her family, her world, and the one boy she never saw coming.

Got all that?

Store it away in your brain for the quiz ahead! You'll be able to win some awesome apocalypsie prizes.

But before you go – bonus contest! Simply leave a comment with your email address to be entered to win a signed copy of UNRAVELING!

Ready to move on? Click here to go to the next stop on the race!

May Must Read Giveaway

I'm insanely excited for all the awesome books coming out in 2012, and I decided what better way to celebrate than to pick the book I'm most excited for each month and give it away.

My May 2012 pick is Bitterblue by the amazing Kristin Cashore who is one of my favorite novels. From the description it sounds nothing short of amazing.

The long-awaited companion to New York Times bestsellers Graceling and Fire

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck's reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle--disguised and alone--to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn't yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

To win Bitterblue, fill out the form below between now and midnight on May 7th (EST).