On Teachers, Librarians, and Free Copies of Unraveling

When I was teaching, I had a lot of students who said things like, “I hate reading” or “I haven’t read anything since Goosebumps in third grade.” (I taught high school English classes, so presumably anyone who had managed to get into Honors American Literature should have read something since Goosebumps.)

As a result I always prided myself on finding just the right book that changed their minds. Which means I know first hand how important it is for librarians and teachers to have books—and how much money it can cost (sometimes out of your own pocket) in order to maintain that.

So I’m giving away 100 FREE copies of Unraveling to teachers, librarians, or coordinators or programs that promote literacy.

Enclosed with the book will be a hard copy of the discussion guide, and I’ll be happy to personalize the book for anyone who wants it personalized. (Signed books and anything by Jodi Picoult were the most commonly stolen books from my classroom library, so I won’t take offense if you don’t want my signature.)  

If you’re a teacher, librarian, or coordinator of a program that advocates literacy, and you’d like a free copy of Unraveling, fill out this form. If you aren’t, but you know someone who is, please pass along the information!

This is first come, first serve until those 100 books are gone. But I will ship anywhere in the US. (Sorry everyone not in the US—as I’m paying for the shipping myself, I’ve got to stay in my own budget).

One Week From Unbreakable!

We're only one week from the release of Unbreakable and I can't begin to express how excited I am.

First, for anyone who hasn't read Unraveling yet, the ebook is on sale for only $1.99 this week.

There's still time to pre-order Unbreakable at Books of Wonder and get the extra content booklet. 

Check out the Unbreakable events I have planned here.

And for everyone else, I'm doing several twitter events next week to celebrate:

I will be doing an Unbreakable Twitter Teaser with PageTurners (April 21^st, 8pm ET) and BookHounds (April 22^nd, 8pm ET) hosting. Followers can send @pageturnersblog and @maryinhb page numbers from Unbreakable and I will respond with a line from the book and bit of back story or insight about it. There will also be a giveaway both nights. On April 24^th, at 8pm ET, I will be participating in a Live Chat with @mundiemoms hosting. Hashtag for all three Twitter events: #BeUnbreakable

THE DARK DAYS OF SUMMER 2013 ARE COMING!

I'm officially part of the Dark Days Tour this summer.

Here's the official announcement!

UNBREAKABLE PRE-ORDER PRESENTS!

It’s been almost a whole year since Unraveling was published, which means Unbreakable will be out in 36 days. (So will the Unraveling paperback).

I’m celebrating the release with Books of Wonder who is offering everyone the chance to PRE-ORDER Unbreakable and get a SIGNED book.

And the best news is, you won’t just get a signed book.

You’ll also get an EXLUSIVE Pre-Order Present.

You’ll get signed swag. And THIS:

It’s an EXTRA CONTENT BOOKLET which includes exclusive and never seen before scenes:

An Alternate Beginning
A Pivotal Scene from Ben's POV
A Pivotal Scene from Barclay's POV
An Alternate Ending

Here’s where you can pre-order!

It's Here

Undone is officially available!

Get your digital copy now.

Excerpt from UNDONE

Undone is available tomorrow! So here's a short preview, the opening page:

Certain moments in my life are imprinted in my memory.

They’re easy to recall with perfect clarify whether I want to remember them or not. Any small thing can trigger them: a phrase, a smell, a thought. It brings everything back like I’m reliving that moment, a brief scene in the movie of my life, complete with how horrible I felt at the time. And I usually felt horrible in those moments, because for some reason it’s the moments that I want to forget that stick around.

Like in eighth grade when I had my first kiss with Jane Sheriden and my arm got stuck awkwardly between her head and couch: just thinking about it still makes me cringe. Or when Ms. Wittak caught me cheating in Algebra freshman year because I’d saved the formulas I needed to remember in a fake game on my graphing calculator, and she tore up my test in front of the whole class.

Then there were memories that were more significant.

The pivotal moments that changed everything.

Those I don’t want to forget. Now that I’ve had too much time to think about them, to replay them over and over again in my mind, they’re the things I wouldn’t take back, that I wouldn’t do over.

Because of Janelle.

She saved my life when we were ten. She anchored me by being who she was, and somewhere along the line, I fell in love with her.

In just about every significant moment in my life, she’s there. Whether she knew it or not. 

(A Little More) On Undone

UNDONE, my novella set in the world of Unraveling, will be out 3/5! That’s only 3 days away.

This was a really fun project for me, but it actually wasn't even my idea. 

My editor suggested it. She asked me if I’d be interested in writing a novella from Ben’s POV and if I had any stories that I wanted to tell from his perspective. As soon as she mentioned it, I knew exactly what I wanted to write.

Only instead of just one story I wanted to write three. 

In my mind, there are three major moments that impact the series that readers could never get from Janelle's point of view because she just couldn't ever be there. Those were the stories I wanted to tell.

The first story, "Before She Knew Me" is a prequel that takes place during Janelle and Ben’s sophomore year of high school and readers will be able to get to know more about what Ben was like before the events of Unraveling.

The second story, "When I Saved Her" takes place during the events of Unraveling and is the moment, Ben realized he loved Janelle.

The third story (and my favorite!), "After I Left Her" begins after the events of Unraveling and carries into the events of Unbreakable so there’s a little overlap between the two books. 

When I sat down to write each story, I already had an outline. Because I wrote these after writing both Unraveling and Unbreakable, it was very clear what needed to happen in the stories, plot-wise. 

But my favorite thing about novellas or stories written from a different perspective is the the fact that you discover something new and maybe unexpected about the characters and the world. (For instance one of my favorites was when I read Ender's Shadow and discovered the role Bean played in Ender's Game.) 

So my goal for writing the stories of Undone was to write them in a way that would allow readers to learn something new, not just about Ben, but also about Janelle and the world of Unraveling, and of course at the same time, that meant I just had to make sure that Ben's version of events and Janelle's version of events didn't create any inconsistencies. (Thank goodness for copyeditors!)

Now that it's about to come out, I can say that I'm really excited for Ben's voice to be out there in the world, and for readers to know him a little bit better.

Add it to your Goodreads!

“So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me... everyday.” 
 ― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

Best Books of 2012

I read so many amazing books this year--I reached a total of _ books for the whole year, and since I tend to put down books I don't like, that's a lot of good books. But there were a few who rose above as new favorites, and here they are. The top three books I loved best in 2012:

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

I don't normally read a lot of nonfiction but oh my God, this book is amazing. I flew through it, shocked and enthralled by what was happening and in the back of my mind I kept thinking, "oh my God this is a true story, this really happened!" It's incredible. Susannah Cahalan is my new hero.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

So everyone has heard of this book by now, and it deserves the attention. The alternating POVs are incredible--they're both so real and authentic and I loved them equally. And by chapter 3 I was hooked and I knew I wouldn't be putting the book down until I was done. I desperately want to write a book this intelligent some day.

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

I love this book. It's beautiful, it's engrossing, it's swoonworthy, and it's not quite like anything else. It's one of those books that I read and wished the world was real and these characters were real. I want to go to their town and be their friend.

The Unbreakable Giveaway

Unbreakable ARCs are here. In fact I have three of them.

The question is who wants one? They really don't do anyone any good if they're just sitting on my bookshelf at home, right?

So I'm giving those copies away and giving someone the chance to go on a date with Ben.

Here are the details:

Two winners will get an advanced copy of Unbreakable

and

One grand prize winner will get an advanced copy of Unbreakable and be able to name a character in the novella

Now this character that you'd have to name, here's the deal--she's going on a date with Ben, and she needs a name. You can name her after yourself, after someone else, or you can make a name up.*


The contest is open internationally and is open from right now until midnight Dec 14th.
I'm happy to sign the ARCs if you want them signed.
If you haven't read Unraveling, you can still enter. I can send you a copy of Unraveling instead.

If you don't win, you can request and ARC of Unbreakable by filling out this form.

To enter the contest:
Fill out the rafflecopter below. There are chances for extra entries of course.



a Rafflecopter giveaway
*The name does have to be approved by my editor, but she's never had a problem with one of my names.