My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours - Quick Pick!

Whoo hoo! MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS is a 2012 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers!

Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit Starring: LUCIENNE DIVER

About Fangtastic:

What do you wear to face down a cadre of killer kids? 

Gina Covello would rather be working on her manicure than missions for the Feds’ paranormal unit to which she’s been recruited.  That changes when a group of killer kids takes out a family in the sunshine state and disappearances begin to plague the lifestylers who only play at the kind of existence our fanged fashionista leads.  She and her crew are sent undercover into the vampire clubs…which turn out to be run by real vampires.  While Gina’s BFF Marcy hangs with the steampunk-styled Burgess Brigade that spawned the killer kids, Gina herself is supposed to get in good with the fanged fiends behind the scenes, even to the point of playing double-agent, offering to hand over her powerful boyfriend Bobby.  Her playacting threatens to become a bit too real when she discovers things about her spy handlers that make her wonder whether she’s truly on the right side of the battle between Feds and fangs.

Our Interview:

1)      How much time do you spend on marketing your book? Is there one specific type of marketing that you find works best for you?

I’m lucky I eek out time to write.  So this year I delegated a bit…in as much as I hired More Than Publicity to do a music video for the Vamped series and an original song, which fans can download for free from my website.  I blog, tweet, Facebook, and run contests, like the one I’m doing now with a Kindle giveaway, but I’m really not certain what time of marketing is most effective.  The biggest seller of books is word of mouth, and that’s all up to the fans!

 2)      How do you come up with the names of your characters?

Some introduce themselves . It was that way with my heroine, Gina.  She was just…who she was.  I couldn’t imagine her being anyone else.  Other names I have to think about.  They really have to feel right for the characters.  I have to think about what each name suggests to me and is likely to suggest to the reader.

3)      Have you ever based one of your characters on someone you know? If so, did that person find out? How did they react?

Usually my characters are a hodgepodge of people I’ve known.  Every once in awhile, a person gets a more direct cameo, though usually they know about it, like my friend the gothic magician who appears as…a gothic magician in the fourth book, Fangtabulous (forthcoming January 2013).  I’m always asked if I’ve ever put myself in a book, and I have in a way.  Much like Alfred Hitchcock does in his movies (not that I’m in any way comparing myself with one of my idols), I have a walk on in Vamped. 

4)      Would you ever try writing in another genre?

I’ve already begun the Latter-Day Olympians urban fantasy series, which is geared more for adults than teens.  Bad Blood is the first book (already in digital, print May 1^st); I’m at work now on the sequel, Crazy in the Blood.

5)   Who is (or who are) the Young Adult author that turns you into a fangirl?

I’d be a blithering idiot over Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games) and Rick Riordan (the Percy Jackson series).

6)  Do you prefer reading on an ereader or book in hand?

I have a first generation Kindle.  I think I owned it for an entire year before I ever turned it on.  I love physical books.  LOVE them.  The feel, the smell, the covers, the collectability.  However, we’ve long since run out of room for them.  I still buy hardcopies of my favorites (and for my son), but I have to admit that it’s far easier to store e-books and they don’t collect the dust.

About the Author:

Lucienne Diver is the author of the popular Vamped series of young adult novels (think Clueless meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer).  School Library Journal calls the first book, “a lighthearted, action-packed, vampire romance story following in the vein of Julie Kenner’s “Good Ghouls” (Berkley), Marlene Perez’s “Dead” (Harcourt), and Rachel Caine’s “The Morganville Vampires” (Signet) series.” VOYA has suggested that the books “will attract even reluctant readers.”

Her short stories have been included in the Strip-Mauled and Fangs for the Mammaries anthologies edited by Esther Friesner (Baen Books), and one of her essays appears in the anthology Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories (HarperTeen). 

Hunger Games, I'm Addicted to Thee!

I know, I know, I'm the last person on earth to pick up The Hunger Games. And WOW, it's so awesome!! I'm listening to it on audiobook right now and I'm so hooked. I've gone outside to shovel three times today just to keep listening to the story. And ok, to pull the car out too. And look at this great video below, it's the new Taylor Swift song, Safe and Sound, from the movie. Can't wait to see it! 

Are you a Hunger Games fan?

Giveaway: Signed JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS

I haven't done a giveaway in a long time so here's one! Looks like I'm 20 followers away from 100 on my blog so the contest ends when I hit 100. I'm giving away a signed hard cover copy of my latest book- JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS. To enter you must be a follower of this blog and you must be a US resident (sorry, no intl shipping). Comment to let me know that you're a new or existing follower. If you tweet or facebook about the giveaway let me know that too in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry.

Good luck!

Things That Make Me Happy: Finding a Series

One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year was the Dawson's Creek complete series!

I was practically giddy. I love Dawson's Creek and it hasn't been on TV, even in reruns, in years. What's that about? Is there no one else out there who loves the kids from the creek? When it was in reruns I watched each episode from the first show through the finale and then started over again when it looped. About the third time the reruns had looped to season one my husband finally said Really?! But I loved them! I wanted to live on the creek with them! And now I get to watch them all over again any time I want.

And I've recently made a new discovery, one that makes me super happy and has given me a new place that I want to live (Stars Hollow anyone?).

Gilmore Girls!!! How did I miss them the first time around?! They're brilliant! And the Soap channel has just started re-showing them from their 2000 pilot. I'm DVR-ing all of them of course and now I always have a bunch of Gilmore Girls waiting for me. And I looked ahead to see the finale is in 2007 so YES! 7 years of episodes ahead for me! 

Don't you love when you discover a series after it's already over? So there's no waiting around, longing for the next installment? I like doing this with books too. I still haven't read any of the Harry Potters. And I just last week started Hunger Games. WOW! Why didn't anyone tell me it was so good?! Just kidding. I definitely heard all the buzz but made myself wait.

Anyone else do this?

Girlfriend's Cyber Circuit Starring: EILEEN COOK

Welcome Eileen Cook and her newly released book (1/3/12), Unraveling Isobel 

 "Thrilling and creepy, super sexy, and so very hilarious." --Lisa McMann, bestselling author of the Wake trilogy

“Ideal for readers who like their stories supernatural but their dream guys human.” –The Bulletin

“Spine-tingling setting….Isobel’s sass and her steamy romance with her new stepbrother will help readers race toward the dramatic conclusion.” --Publishers Weekly

“This blend of paranormal romance, murder mystery and quirky, coming-of-age narrative offers tasty moments….Cook gives readers a fast-paced plot, a likable narrator, and interesting characters.” -Kirkus

"Isobel, all snark and sharp edges covering some intense vulnerability as she continuously checks in to see if she has crossed into mental illness (as her father did when she was young), is a compelling narrator."-  Horn Book Magazine

About the Book:

Isobel’s life is falling apart. Her mom just married some guy she met on the internet only three months before, and is moving them to his sprawling, gothic mansion off the coast of nowhere. Goodbye, best friend. Goodbye, social life. Hello, icky new stepfather, crunchy granola town, and unbelievably good-looking, officially off-limits stepbrother.

But on her first night in her new home, Isobel starts to fear that it isn’t only her life that’s unraveling—her sanity might be giving way too. Because either Isobel is losing her mind, just like her artist father did before her, or she’s seeing ghosts. Either way, Isobel’s fast on her way to being the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.

Our Interview:

1)  How did you get the idea for Unraveling Isobel?

I work as a counselor and am interested in mental health issues. I think one of the most difficult things about having mental illnesses is that you can’t trust your own perception of reality. How do you cope when you aren’t sure what you see and hear is real?  I decided I wanted to write about Isobel who struggles with trying to figure out if she’s seeing a ghost, if she’s going crazy, or if her step dad is trying to make everyone think she’s crazy so he can get rid of her.

Plus, I’ve always loved gothic novels. I love creepy old houses, buried family secrets and the potential for a ghost or two.  Not to mention a cute boy in the picture.

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

I got a great letter from a young reader who had read my middle grade series, The Fourth Grade Fairy.  She wrote that she really liked the books and that I should “keep up the good work.”   I still have the card on my desk.

3)   What are the last five young adult books you read?

In the Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Don’t Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

I also got to read two ARC of some novels coming out later this year and they were great-

Never Enough by  Denise Jaden 

The Right and the Real by Joelle Anthony.

4)   Are you on twitter? Where can we follow you? 

Yes!  Please follow me.  I even try and be funny sometimes. You can find me at Eileenwriter

5)   What are you working on now?

I am working on a book that we’re currently calling Shady Sadie (stay tuned I suspect the title will change!). It’s the story of Sadie, who is a teenage con artist. When she realizes that she looks like an age enhanced photo of a missing child she decides to pull the ultimate con… until she begins to suspect she may actually be the missing child.

6)  Do you prefer reading on an ereader or book in hand?

I love the feel of a book in hand and like to see them all lined up on my bookshelf. However, I do love my iPad and there are few things better than being able to go on a trip with a dozen books all loaded onto it. 

About the Author:

Eileen Cook is a multi-published author with her novels appearing in six different languages. She spent most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which is great training for a writer. 

You can read more about Eileen, her books, and the things that strike her as funny at www.eileencook.com.  Eileen lives in Vancouver with her husband and two dogs and no longer wishes to be anyone or anywhere else.