August Must Read Giveaway

I've been giving away the must read books each month and this month is a big one for me. It's the release of False Memory by Dan Krokos. I simply love this book. Like I love it as much as I loved Hunger Games. I also think the author is pretty awesome too.

To win this awesome book, fill out the form below between now and midnight on August 10th (EST)!

Miranda wakes up alone on a park bench with no memory. In her panic, she releases a mysterious energy that incites pure terror in everyone around her. Except Peter, a boy who isn’t at all surprised by Miranda’s shocking ability.

Left with no choice but to trust this stranger, Miranda discovers she was trained to be a weapon and is part of an elite force of genetically-altered teens who possess flawless combat skills and powers strong enough to destroy a city. But adjusting to her old life isn’t easy—especially with Noah, the boyfriend she can't remember loving.

Then Miranda uncovers a dark truth that sets her team on the run. Suddenly her past doesn’t seem to matter...when there may not be a future.

July 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 July 2012 pick is Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard. I heard about Susan's book probably a year ago and have been dying to read it ever since. Steampunk and Zombies in historical Philadelphia--how could that not be amazing?

There’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

So to win, just fill out the form below between now and midnight on July 20th (EST)!

June 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 June 2012 pick is...


Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone. It's a YA fantasy novel that I had been hearing amazing things about even before I got my hands on an ARC. As a huge fantasy fan, I'd been dying to read it ever since I first heard about it. And I know Leigh on twitter and she's totally awesome.

And of course then I did read it. And WOW. I went in with high expectations because of all the great things I'd heard, and this novel surpassed them all. The characters are amazing, the world is real and wonderful, the plot is mind-blowing. It's a book no one should miss.

Inspired by Tsarist Russia, SHADOW & BONE brings to life a fantasy world of superstition and science, saints and samovars, in which a lonely refugee must leave behind her best friend- and first love- to save her country from the growing darkness of the Unsea. But first she must contend with the dangerous and decadent world of the kingdom’s magical elite and their powerful leader, a creature of dark charm and deadly ambition.

To win a copy of Shadow and Bone, just fill out the form below between now and midnight on June 7th (EST).

Good luck!

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?

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).

April Giveaway

I've been doing Must Read Giveaways each month for 2012, but April is special for me. Because on the 24th, my own book, Unraveling, will be out in the world. So instead of a Must Read Giveaway this month where I give away a book by someone else, I'm going to give away a signed copy of Unraveling.

(This contest is open internationally!)

To win, simply fill out the form below between now and midnight April 20th!

February Must Read Giveaway Encore!

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. I couldn't actually narrow it down to just one book so there's another chance to win this month.

My encore pick is Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne. For the longest time I didn't know anything about the book, but I couldn't get the cover out of my head. I mean, with this cover, it's not an easy book to overlook.

Then I read the description and just knew that this was going to have to be on my to read list. It's a psychological thriller!

When sixteen-year-old Faye arrives at Holbrook Academy, she doesn’t expect to find herself exactly where she needs to be. After years of strange waking visions and nightmares, her only comfort the bones of dead animals, Faye is afraid she’s going crazy. Fast.

But her first night at Holbrook, she feels strangely connected to the school and the island it sits on, like she’s come home. She’s even made her first real friends, but odd things keep happening to them. Every morning they wake on the floors of their dorm rooms with their hands stained red.

Faye knows she’s the reason, but what does it all mean? The handsome Kel tries to help her unravel the mystery, but Faye is certain she can’t trust him; in fact, he may be trying to kill her—and the rest of the world too.

Rich, compelling writing will keep the pages turning in this riveting and tautly told psychological thriller.

So to win, fill out the form below between now and midnight on February 21st!

On Music that Inspired Unraveling

As someone who's super inspired by music, of course I have a playlist for Unraveling. It’s pretty eclectic and some of it is a little on the embarrassing side, but here it is. The music I listened to while writing and editing Unraveling.



Create a playlist at MixPod.com

February 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.

For February 2012, I actually couldn't decide between two awesome debuts, so there are two chances to win. The first chance is for Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood. It's an alternate history about witches, all I keep hearing about it are fabulous things, and again the cover is beautiful.

Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word . . . especially after she finds her mother's diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.

To win, fill out the form below between now and midnight on February 7th, and check back on the 15th for another February Must Read Giveaway.

Unravelling with Two Ls

I'm so excited. When I got home the other day, waiting on my doorstep was a package from HarperCollins. It felt "bookish" so I knew it was the best kind of package.

I might have let out a squee when I opened it up. Inside was a copy of the ARC of the Unravelling UK edition! (Note, it's spelled "Unravelling" with two Ls, so it's not a typo :)

Here it is, hanging with my other copies

The Cover Gods definitely smiled on me. I have not one, but two amazing covers that I love. They're both so different, but they both manage to really represent the book.

Here's the fabulous Unravelling cover 

(which will be in UK, Australia, and New Zealand)

My favorite thing about it, is the countdown numbers on the front--it's an important moment in the book! 

It's a Real Book

Well, almost a real book. It's officially one step closer.

Unraveling officially feels like a real book. Before the end of the year, I finished my first pass pages.

And thanks to my fabulous editor, I got a couple copies of the official jacket.

After looking through my home library for the hardcover book with the right number of pages, I managed to snap some pictures.

Of the cover

Of the back 

And with the other books on my shelves

The jacket is around Blood Red Road, which I haven't read yet, but I've heard is amazing. 

On the Inception of Unraveling

Like most of the crazy stories in my life, this once starts with “So I met this guy…”

Only, I didn’t actually “meet” the guy in a traditional sense—I became friends with him over the internet. He was a friend of a friend, funny, intelligent, charming. We traded meaningless comments or jokes with friends, but the more I got to know about him, the more it seemed we had in common. We liked the same movies and television shows, we both loved to read and to write, and we just seemed to be on the same intellectual wavelength. We recommended books to each other and we could talk about anything and everything.

And somewhere along the line, I realized he had become my best friend—and then we met, and it just felt like we belonged together (I’m a hopeless romantic, I know). Of course, he lived in another state and neither one of us had any ambitions to ever move so we started muddling through a long distance relationship, making up our own rules and trying to figure out what worked best for us.

Which got me thinking about long distance relationships. They’re hard—flawed and tragic. Most of them are doomed from the beginning. The emotional highs and lows in that type of relationship add an intense stress to even the most calm lives.

In June 2010 (during one of those emotional lows), I thought about how universally unfair it was, that I’d finally found this guy who was perfect for me, who really belonged with me, and yet he actually also belonged somewhere else. And that was the moment of inception of UNRAVELING. Because at its heart, it’s a star-crossed love story. Janelle and Ben are from different worlds, and in their darkest moments, they find each other.

I am also a huge science fiction and fantasy nerd, and I hate the perception that science fiction just has to be space operas (though I like those too) so I wanted UNRAVELING to be accessible to people who don’t know a lot about science or who don’t normally read science fiction. I spent about two months thinking about the plot and writing down character ideas in a notebook while riding the subway, and then I started writing pieces of dialogue and a few key scenes.

Then in December 2010 I wrote the first 100 pages. Unsure whether I should finish or set it aside, I shared those pages in a writing workshop in early 2011 and in March I reluctantly sent them along with a synopsis to my agent.

 The day the book sold, I was at lunch with three friends. Near the end of lunch my agent called and said “where are you?” When I told her she said “Come to my office. Don’t even pay your bill. Just get up and leave.” I did and when I got there she told me about the offer.

And I promptly called that guy who inspired it all.

The YAmazing Race!

***Thank you to everyone who participated in the Race! It's officially closed.

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! And remember, you must complete ALL FIVE quizzes to be eligible for a prize pack.

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

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

January 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 January 2012 pick is Everneath by Brodi Ashton. I love Greek mythology, so I was excited about this one as soon as I heard it ties into the myth of Persephone and the Underworld. I also think the cover is simply to die for. (I really want that dress).

It doesn't come out until 1/24 but I managed to snag an ARC and I just finished reading it. It's amazing.

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

If you want to win a copy of Everneath, fill out the form below between now and midnight January 20th (EST).

Top Five of 2011

My top five favorite things of this year:

5. 21 by Adele

Adele is brilliant. She has such a powerful voice, and the music and lyrics are perfect.

This the first album I've bought in a while where I enjoyed every single song. I've played this over and over again and still I love all of the songs.

Of course my favorites are "Rolling in the Deep" and "Set Fire to the Rain" but none of the songs feel like they'll ever get old.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II


I was skeptical about splitting book seven into two movies, but the way it was handled here was perfect for me. Though I liked Part I a little better (it was more true to the book), I loved everything about this movie.

Between the books and movies being over (something that's been a part of my life for like the last 15 years!), I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.

3. Where She Went by Gayle Forman

So this is also my number one favorite cover of the year. There's just something about the model that's so entrancing. This was definitely one I was excited to buy and keep on my shelf.

And then I read it.

So. Amazing.

It takes so much to write an impressive follow up (I loved If I Stay), and even more to write one that has alternating past and present chapters that are both equally engaging. I read this in one sitting. And I WEPT.

2. All Things Game of Thrones


I fell in love with the TV show and then all five books. I've become a complete George R. R. Martin fangirl.  That he can create such complex and relatable characters, and a world with so much history, is simply amazing. And the show! It's perfect. Definitely the best thing on TV.

1. Chime by Franny Billingsley

This was definitely my favorite book of the year. It was dark and complex and I was on the edge of my seat for the whole read. Briony is the kind of character I want to know and be friends with.

The voice, the writing, the descriptions, the story! Everything was so amazing that I was depressed for a few days after I finished it because I couldn't spend more time in that world!