I Need Your Help...Again!

It's getting close to the release of my third book, JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS (10/11/11), and you know what I'm fretting about now? How to sign it!

You may recall me talking about this in the past on A2A. I like to sign something cute with my name instead of just my name. With The Espressologist I asked you guys how to sign the book and you gave me the great suggestion, "Love & Lattes!" I always use that when I sign them. For My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours someone suggested "Keep it Real!" and I've used it ever since. But now? I'm stumped. Here's a bit about the book. Do you guys have any suggestions for me?

Just Your Average Princess

Jamie Edwards has loved growing up on her family’s pumpkin patch in Average, IL, and she’s always dreamed of one day being the town’s Pumpkin Princess at the annual Pumpkin Festival. But when her rich and famous cousin, Milan Woods, comes to town and changes everything, Jamie knows she has to expose Milan for who she really is and teach her that life’s not all pumpkins and apple butter at the patch.

Girlfriend's Cyber Circuit: STARRING JENNIFER ECHOLS!

Here’s a book that is so up my alley! Jennifer Echols’s LOVE STORY was just released last week and it sounds awesome.

About the Book:

From Jennifer Echols, the award-winning author of Going Too Far and Forget You, comes LOVE STORY(Gallery Books; July 19, 2011; $11.00), a provocative and powerful story of teen romance, set against the bustling world of a New York City university.

For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions – it’s her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family’s racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin’s college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a local coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter… so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she’s sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He’s joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin’s heart with longing. Now she’s not just imagining what might have been. She’s writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter… except this story could come true.

Our Interview:

KRISTINA: In my book, THE ESPRESSOLOGIST, Jane, a coffee barista, matchmakes people based on their favorite coffee drinks. What’s your favorite coffee drink? (If you don’t like coffee, tell me what your favorite drink in general is. But I am sorry, you’ll never find love. Kidding!)

JENNIFER: Skinny vanilla latte.

KRISTINA: What is your most favorite (or, weirdest, craziest, funniest, most touching etc.) comment you’ve received from a fan?

JENNIFER: I’ve gotten several messages lately from people who have been sick and were able to forget their lives for a while and get through treatment by reading. That always touches me, especially when they have read my book GOING TOO FAR, which has a heroine who has been very sick.

KRISTINA: Are you on twitter? Where can we follow you?

JENNIFER: I’m @JenniferEchols. If I’m going outside to write and accidentally kick a rattlesnake, as I did the other day, you will find out there first.

KRISTINA: What are you working on now?

JENNIFER: I’m writing a new romantic comedy that will be published by Simon Pulse in December. Then I’m finishing a new romantic drama, SUCH A RUSH, which will be my hardcover debut in July 2012.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I can’t wait to read your newest!

About the Author:

Jennifer Echols is the author of teen romantic dramas for MTV Books and teen romantic comedies for Simon Pulse. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with her family. Please visit her online at www.jennifer-echols.com.

Beach Creatures, Book ideas, and Jillian Michaels

It's August and I'm kinda bummed. I'm so not ready for the summer to come to an end. But all of the back to school ads and registration forms are flooding in. Blah. So I'm trying to hurry up and get in all the summer activities I had planned for the summer. Like hit the beach.

This weekend we went to New Buffalo, Michigan, and it was gorgeous! Perfect day for the beach.

The kids had so much fun and loved picking up anything and everything on the beach. Like this:


Any guesses what it is?

We think those are teeth and that it's some kind of jaw. But who knows?

I'm also excited to start a new book idea! I love this part of the writing process! I just finished revising one book and my agent is reading it this week. Crossing fingers that she thinks it's ready to go. So now I'm ready to start something else. I have a middle grade I want to work on but I just got a great YA idea and I'm afraid if I don't write out at least the first few chapters I'll forget something.

I'm also getting ready for the release of JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS on 10/11. I love fall and it's a perfect fall book so I hope to be doing a lot of fun stuff with it. I'm trying a little promo experiment that I'm going to blog about Thursday on Author2Author and probably cross-post here. So more on that later.

My other summer goal was to get in shape! Well, I've been trying hard for awhile with spin classes and boot camps and muscle classes but things are not moving very quickly. So I'm adding in the Jillian Michaels 30-day shred on top. Yes, double workouts! I'm doing hers at 6:30am everyday and then doing class later in the morning. I may die at the end of the 30 days. It's only day 8 though and I'm still standing so we'll see.

Oh! And my other summer goal was to de-stress. I have no idea how to do that yet though. So if you any suggestions, throw them at me!