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!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book News! New YA Release Coming this Fall!

COMING THIS FALL...

Boy Swap: The secret to sisterly love and scholarly bliss.

Research shows that seven out of ten girl fights are over a guy. The Boy Swap Club fixes all that. In an effort to spread around male cuteness and minimize fights and backstabbing, they just share boyfriends. And Brooke Thomas, consummate band member, has been asked to join the super secret club because the president of the club has the hots for her guy.

Brooke doesn’t want to share her boyfriend. I mean, who does? But how can she say no? She, a second chair flutist in the school band, finds herself sitting between the Varsity Cheerleader Captain and the Homecoming Queen at the first meeting. Her friends will never believe this in a million years.  Too bad she can’t tell them. But she knows. This one event can change her entire life. What if she becomes actual friends with one of these girls? It might be worth sharing her boyfriend. 

Besides, he'll always love her best, right?

---

"So freaking funny! You will cry because you're laughing so hard. Seriously. Rivers of tears."

-Megg Jensen, bestselling author of Shucked

BLACKOUT Release Day!

Happy Release Day to my fabulous friend Deena Lipomi! Deena's been my critique partner since 2006 when we met in a YA Chicklit class given by Lauren Barnholdt. Along with being an awesome young adult librarian Deena's written a number of fantastic middle grade and young adult novels, which I've had the pleasure to read, and her first published one, BLACKOUT is now available wherever books are sold online (Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Smashwords, and iTunes). Read on to find out more about BLACKOUT and check out her trailer below!

About BLACKOUT:

Sometimes the only thing worse than forgetting is remembering...

When 17-year-old  musician Leo and his 15-year-old scientist sister Jenny wake up in a ditch with pains in their hands, they wonder what happened on their drive home from their father’s house in rural Pennsylvania. Their only memory of the past twelve hours is of bright lights flashing through their windshield. Then the blackout.

Leo is content to chalk up the missing  memories and throbbing hands to a concussion and nerve damage, but Jenny won’t  let it go. Soon the siblings uncover clues that they stumbled upon a dangerous and illegal alternative energy project in the Appalachians – and that their  father is involved. If they don’t discover the truth, Leo’s burning hands will  destroy his music career before it begins, and Jenny will never know if her father is the mentor she's always trusted or a mad scientist who will stop at nothing for the success of his work. Not even if it means sacrificing his own children.

Back from Retreat!

This past weekend I went on a writing retreat with some YA and MG writer friends to Dublin, Ohio. I highly advise the occasional writing retreat as a way to get away from it all and get a lot of work done. Though the nightly calls to my kids and their crying was a heart-tugger. My writing pals remind me that the kids do this EVERY time we go on a retreat. Yet they're always just fine and enjoy their Daddy time and all the treats and movies and fun that come with that.

I got a lot of writing done over the weekend-- the first two chapter of a new middle grade and some editing on my new YA coming out at the end of October. There will be a cover reveal for that book in the coming days so stay tuned. And I also listened to two audio books on the drive- John Green's Fault in Our Stars and Gayle Forman's If I Stay. Both were really good though I think I'd advise not driving while listening to the John Green one since my eyes kept tearing up at all the sad bits.

Now that I'm back I'm realizing that summer is winding down and I have to get all the fun last minute swims and walks and day trips with the kids in before school starts up again in three weeks and the madness of four kids in activities hits us again. I'll miss our lazy days. I am happy we're all settled in our new house though and that they'll all be together in one school this year- hurrah for that! And with a return of the school year comes the return of my writing schedule. :-)

Writing Retreat Time!

It's that time of year again, when my writer pals and I drive out from our various locations to one central spot and spend the weekend writing (and laughing and talking shop too of course). I always look forward to these retreats. They motivate me to hit a project hard (and motivation is so hard in the summer when the kids want 24/7 entertainment and there's the lure of swimming and relaxing.). This retreat I'm starting a new middle grade book. I've been taking notes and prepping for a few weeks while also finishing up edits on a young adult book coming later this fall (more info on that soon). I'm hoping this retreat is just the kick start I need to get this book off the ground.

What about you? Do you go on writing retreats?

My Favorite Room (and update on Espressologist the web series + awesome sales on my books!)

*cross-posted from Author2Author.com

I've been MIA for quite awhile. It seems I can't to do too many things at once. We moved in mid-April and the process of getting all of the stuff for 6 people packed and moved was enormous for me! I barely got any writing done. Ok, I didn't write at all during that process. But we're all moved in and I'm getting back to work now. I've been working on the first book in a middle grade series, making notes on a new middle grade book that I'm super excited about, and starting edits on a young adult book. And of course enjoying summer with the kids.

I wanted to share my favorite room in our new house: the library. I've always wanted a library! And this one comes with a coffee bar so I'm hooked (ok, they used it as a library/wine room, but you know me: coffee, coffee, coffee!). Anyway, it's a little room right off of the family room and the kids (and me) love to go in here to read. Here are some pics.

  

(looking in)

 

(the coffee bar)

(cute window to sit by)

(kids fave place to read)

(up close of the books. Still a work in progress as I keep finding boxes of books in the house)

In other updates, in May Alloy Digital announced the web series, Espressologist, at Digital Content Newsfronts, which was SO cool!. You can read about that here. They included some new details about 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?"

So excited to see the book come to life! (Notice how Jane is now Chelsea and she aged a bit? Can't wait to see what else is new!)

There is also some great sales on my books this week. On Amazon, the paperback of The Espressologist is only $3.60. Just Your Average Princess in hard cover is $6.40. And The Paparazzi Project is on sale for 99 cents at B&N and Amazon.

Thanks for reading all the way through this lengthy post. More soon from me, I promise!

Book Talk with Tori from My Fake Boyfriend Is Better Than Yours

This is so darn cute! Check it out-- a "Book Talk" show where the main character, Tori, from My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours is interviewed. Such creative kids!