The Espressologist on BN.com

So cool! Barnes & Nobles featured The Espressologist in a post today about snack pairings. Check it out!

The Espressologist is an ILLINOIS READS book!

Ahhh! One of my books was chosen for the Illinois Reads program and they want me to come to a ceremony in Springfield! So cool!!

"Congratulations! Your book, The Espressologist, has been chosen as one of the books for the annual ILLINOIS READS program.

Under the auspices of the Illinois Reading Council, ILLINOIS READS is an annual statewide project to promote reading for all Illinois citizens. The thirty-six titles chosen, from birth to adult, will be introduced into classrooms, public health facilities, public and school libraries, and bookstores. The website,www.illinoisreads.org, will allow adults and students (above age 13) to post book reviews, book trailers, artwork, and discussions about the books. We will be printing bookmarks, posters, public service announcements, television interviews, and more to promote the program. We will also want to link to your website, as well as offering additional activities to accompany your book.

The program will be formally launched on March 12, 2014 at the Illinois Reading Council Conference in Springfield, Illinois. We hope that you can join us for the ceremony at the Old State Capitol, along with a host of state and local officials."

Books to Movies Giveaway Hop: THE ESPRESSOLOGIST

Thanks for stopping by my blog during the Bookhounds & I Am a Reader, Not a Writer Books to Movies Giveaway Hop!

If you're new to me and my books I'm a young adult/middle grade author and I write mostly fun, light, contemporary books. You can find out more about me here. My newest young adult book, BOY SWAP, comes out October 16th. If you're a regular to my blog you know that I sold film rights to THE ESPRESSOLOGIST last year. So exciting! In May, Alloy Digital announced the web series, Espressologist, at Digital Content Newsfronts, which was SO cool! You can read about that here and here. They said it's slotted to release this holiday season. And they included new details on the script:

"Based on the popular book by Kristina Springer, The Espressologist mixes one part Central Perk from Friends with a splash of Jane Austin’s Emma to create a series brimming with humor and heart.

Working at her neighborhood coffee shop as a barista, twenty-something Chelsea has a front-row seat to people and their crazy, entertaining lives. Always an astute observer of human nature, Chelsea stumbles upon a methodology that makes a love connection between her customers’ personalities and their drink orders. This comedic series follows Chelsea as the stakes are raised and her bizarre dating formula leads to more people (namely friends and co-workers) looking for Chelsea to replicate her success. But will she ever make a match for herself?"

If you've read the book you'll notice Jane is now Chelsea and she's aged a bit. I can't wait to see what else is new! I'm so excited to see the book come to life!

If you want a chance to read the book before the series premieres, I'm giving away an autographed hard cover copy of THE ESPRESSOLOGIST (with bookmarks/stickers) to one lucky winner (US only).

About the book:

What’s your drink of choice? Is it a small pumpkin spice latte? Then you’re lots of fun and a bit sassy. Or a medium americano? You prefer simplicity in life. Or perhaps it’s a small decaf soy sugar-free hazelnut caffe latte? Some might call you a yuppie. Seventeen-year-old barista Jane Turner has this theory that you can tell a lot about a person by their regular coffee drink. She scribbles it all down in a notebook and calls it Espressology. So it’s not a totally crazy idea when Jane starts hooking up some of her friends based on their coffee orders. Like her best friend, Em, a medium hot chocolate, and Cam, a toffee nut latte. But when her boss, Derek, gets wind of Jane’s Espressology, he makes it an in-store holiday promotion, promising customers their perfect matches for the price of their favorite coffee. Things are going better than Derek could ever have hoped, so why is Jane so freaked out? Does it have anything to do with Em dating Cam? She’s the one who set them up! She should be happy for them, right?

***

And if you want a chance to win even more books, follow the list below my Rafflecopter form to go to other great websites on the blog hop!

Thanks for stopping by and good luck in the giveaway!

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The Espressologist News & Giveaway!

You guys remember when I announced that Vuguru had purchased the film option for The Espressologist?  This morning I got the news that they were exercising their option! Wheeee!

What does that mean? Well, books can be optioned by a production company and they hold the rights for a period of time (usually 1-3 years). During this time they figure out if they can make the project work. Like, secure funding, attach actors, producers etc. This guy explains the process pretty well. Some books get optioned again and again and nothing ever comes of it. Companies can't produce every book they option. But if they're ready to move forward with a book they'll take the next step and buy the rights.

And that just happened for Espressologist!

I'm so, so happy! This thing is really going to happen! I can't wait to see the characters from my first book come to life. Totally over the moon today!

So, I feel like doing a giveaway. :-) I'll be doing another one next week when Paparazzi Project comes out (did you mark it on Goodreads yet?) so please don't think I'm a nag for the next two weeks telling you to enter and win stuff. :-) Enter below to win a coffee date with The Espressologist (a signed copy of The Espressologist plus $5 Starcbucks giftcard). And hey, for this contest, there will be FIVE WINNERS!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jane Austen Giveaway Hop

Thanks for stopping by my blog during the I Am a Reader, Not a Writer's/vvb32reads' Jane Austen Giveaway Hop!

If you're new to me and my books I'm a young adult/middle grade author and I write mostly fun, light, contemporary books. My newest YA, THE PAPARAZZI PROJECT, will be released on December 15th of this year. For this blog hop, I'm giving away my YA book inspired by Emma, THE ESPRESSOLOGIST, (shipping in the US only).

About the Book:

What's your drink of choice? Is it a small pumpkin spice latte? Then you're lots of fun and a bit sassy. Or a medium americano? You prefer simplicity in life. Or perhaps it's a small decaf soy sugar-free hazelnut caffe latte? Some might call you a yuppie. Seventeen-year-old barista Jane Turner has this theory that you can tell a lot about a person by their regular coffee drink. She scribbles it all down in a notebook and calls it Espressology. So it's not a totally crazy idea when Jane starts hooking up some of her friends based on their coffee orders. Like her best friend, Em, a medium hot chocolate, and Cam, a toffee nut latte. But when her boss, Derek, gets wind of Jane's Espressology, he makes it an in-store holiday promotion, promising customers their perfect matches for the price of their favorite coffee. Things are going better than Derek could ever have hoped, so why is Jane so freaked out? Does it have anything to do with Em dating Cam? She's the one who set them up! She should be happy for them, right?

With overtones of Jane Austen's Emma and brimming with humor and heart, this sweet, frothy debut will be savored by readers.

--

And if you want a chance to win even more books inspired by Jane Austen, follow the list below my Rafflecopter form to go to other great websites on the blog hop!

Thanks for stopping by and good luck in the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Exciting News! The Espressologist Film Option!

I'm so excited to announce that Michael Eisner's (the former Walt Disney CEO) production company Vuguru has optioned The Espressologist for film!!


Vuguru is doing some super awesome stuff and I'm so excited for a chance to work with them. Here's a little bit more about them from Wikipedia:


"Vuguru is an independent multi-platform studio [1] founded by Tornante (headed by Michael Eisner) in March 2006. The studio's first project, "Prom Queen", consisted of 90-second shorts in 80 episodes and was distributed online, beginning in April 2007.[2] A second project entitled "The All for Nots" (Source: NY Times, March 2008) was distributed online and on HDNet. Subsequent offerings include "Back on Topps," "Foreign Body," "Pretty Tough," "The Booth at the End" and "Don't Ask Don't Tell." [3] The studio will produce web television series for distribution on the Internet, portable media devices and cellphones.[4] In November 2010, Vuguru signed an agreement with AOL to produce a minimum of six scripted series over the next year, each a series of roughly 90-minute episodes, for distribution by AOL.[5]"

So yeah, one day in the future you might be sitting on the subway watching an episode of The Espressolgoist on your phone. How freaking cool is that?!


***Many thanks to my film agent Jerry Kalajian  at IPGLM and my literary agent Kerry Sparks at Leving Greenberg Literary Agency.***

Foreign Covers

I got two more foreign covers for The Espressologist today. The Indonesian version released on February 3rd:

And the Korean one releases March 12th:

Fun stuff!