We are thrilled to be hosting YA superstar Amy Plum today!! She is the author of Die for Me, and the recently released sequel, Until I Die. We asked her the burning question that all inquiring minds want to know… American food vs French food.

American Food vs. French Food

I have to say, I miss good old southern breakfasts: grits, buttermilk biscuits, eggs, sausages, gravy, the works! You can get most American foods in France, but one thing I’ve never found here is grits.

When I moved from Paris to New York City, the things I missed most were cornichons (these little pickles that you eat with pâté), runny cheese, and saucisson sec (a cured sausage that has whole peppercorns in it). Now that I’m back in France, I eat all of those on a regular basis!

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Today’s scavenger hunt word is: this

For more information on the super awesome grand prize Amy is giving away, please visit her blog here.

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**GIVEAWAY!!!** **GIVEAWAY** **GIVEAWAY**

Want to win a signed paperback of Die for Me? Just read the rules and fill out the form. It’s that simple!

The Rules
*Open Internationally
*Must fill out the form correctly
*Open to those 15 years of age or older
*Winner will be notified via email, and will not be announced on the blog
*Winner chosen by Random Number Generator
*Giveaway ends May 15, 2012 at 11:59PM CEN

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

So, we’ll be reading Fracture by Megan Miranda for our first book!  As I mentioned in the video, Kate from Ex Libris, Sarah from Sarah’s Random Musings, and Jen from A Book and a Latte will be joining in on the discussion for this book.  All of these lovely ladies have read Fracture already and reviewed it on their blogs – plus we majorly owe them for helping us out with this idea!

I did forget to mention that we will be podcasting about the book and our thoughts as well as answering some questions in a post.  And please, any questions or comments you want us to discuss in a post or during the podcast, let me know!  It’s kind of like taking requests during a concert, but since I am neither musically inclined or famous, I may be stretching that metaphor a bit thin!  You get what I’m saying, right?

So let’s get reading!  And also – don’t forget that you can send me suggestions on names for this occasional YA book club.  Something quirky and clever for things like this never seems to strike me when I need it to, so your help is really appreciated.  And yes, I will totally thank you via video – this naming stuff is serious business!

We talk about The Murder Complex, her publishing journey, her favorite books to read, #TeamDauntless, Teen Shiver and MORE!! She may have also said of us, and we quote, “y’all are beautiful, fabulous and young!!”  This is one of many reasons why we love her!

For more information on Lindsay check out her blog, follow her on twitter, see what the ladies of Teen Shiver are up to and add The Murder Complex to your goodreads feed!

*as always, you can find us on itunes*

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Today marks day 2 of my YAY 4 YA tour. Missed day one? Check out Novel Novice  for a full explanation about this week long event and a chance to meet the characters of the Chosen Ones. Don’t forget that you have a chance to win Chosen Ones book swag by leaving comments in the comments section on my blog concerning today’s topic.

Today, I am stoked to be visiting Girls in the Stacks. What a witty name for such an awesome blog. I am excited to share what book bloggers have to say about the Chosen Ones. As a blogger myself with the highly successful Novel Novice, I can’t express how much respect and admiration I have for bloggers who help spread their love of reading to the masses. What a powerful tool in our informational age.

Below are some excerpts from what others have had to say about the Chosen Ones. You can see for yourself when the Chosen Ones hits the shelves on June 12th:

Chosen Ones, is deep, beautiful and intoxicating. Tiffany Truitt has a gift to communicate an emotional written story. This book was nothing short of AMAZING! WinterHaven Books

Full of suspense, danger, drama, and even forbidden love thrown in, Chosen Ones was everything I had expected from the book blurb. Chosen Ones is deliciously tormenting that will make you feel hopeful and heartbroken at same time. Pages From My Thoughts

Chosen Ones packs a powerhouse of emotions and eerie intrigue. It stole my heart. The Bookaholic

I really, really liked this. It has to be my favourite dystopian. It is so well written and easy to read even though there is a lot of information involved. Tiffany did a great job at the world building. Paranormal Book Fan

Another great book with an awesome kick ass character! The world that Truitt has created is dark and intense. Good Choice Reading

I was not disappointed, this book is incredible and without a doubt one of the best debut’s I have ever read. K-Books

Tess is a fantastic and strong heroine. I loved how her mind worked, how she reasoned situations, and figured things out for herself. She’s very relatable. Her relationship with James was powerful and passionate, and at times, tender. I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough as I anxiously devoured every scene with them, wondering if this would be the moment they got caught. A tense, thought provoking, highly evocative read that stirs every emotion, Chosen Ones is un-put-downable, and a must for Dystopian lovers. Trisha Wolfe, YA author

Don’t forget to head over to my blog and discuss your favorite YA books. Go review crazy for a chance to win some neato prizes including a signed Mortal Instruments poster by Cassandra Clare!!

We are thrilled to be a part of The Selection blog tour!!  After reading the book, that is now going to be a television show, we couldn’t help but wonder about the author herself.  In a book full of romance, wealth, and royalty we had to ask Kiera what she would do if she were queen for a day.

If Kiera Cass Were Queen for a Day…

If I were queen for a day, I think I’d like to have all the things any other girl would want… but   probably in ridiculous ways. Like, yes, I would want a new wardrobe. But I think all of it would have to be based off of Jay McCarroll’s final collection from the first season of Project Runway. I love the colors! Oh, and complete with the giant headphones please. I’d just glue my tiara to the top of them and call it a day.

And yes, I need to be pampered. So please schedule my manicure… to be done by Robert Pattinson. I’m a thousand percent sure he’d do a crappy job, but at least he’d be holding my hand. So I’m cool. And I’m queen, so if I really need to point at something, I’ll use my scepter. Or I’ll get one of my minions to do it.

And I’ve said before that our national debt could be fixed with a really awesome bake sale. I stand by that. So you can bet I’d be making some serious cupcakes that day. I’d probably buy a lot too. I am six months pregnant after all. Er, I mean, I care about the country…

Speaking of being pregnant, is there a way I could hire someone to carry Baby Girl for a day? I love her and all, but she’s kicking my bones! I could use a break. Someone find me a baby carrier.

I would also like to do what the princesses in movies do and have animals just come to help me out during the day. But since I live in rural Virginia… it would probably be mostly cows. So. Yeah.

I guess that’s about it. And really, besides not having Rob to come hold my hand or cows to mop my floors, I’ve got it pretty good anyway. Can’t complain.

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This girl is quite witty if you ask us.  We may just have to join her at the manicure station, we mean, we still have a thing for Rob too.  Who doesn’t?

Make sure and follow Kiera on twitter, and check out her blog. Oh, and don’t forget to add The Selection to your goodreads account.

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Take a look a look at the rest of the tour:

Monday, April 9: The Irish Banana Review
Tuesday, April 10: The Non Reluctant Reader
Wednesday, April 11: Girls in the Stacks
Thursday, April 12: Radiant Reads
Friday, April 13: For Those About to Read
Monday, April 16: The Story Siren
Tuesday, April 17: Imaginary Reads
Wednesday, April 18: One Page at at Time
Thursday, April 19: Ashley Suzanne
Friday, April 20: Books with Bite

A big thank you to the fab Kiera Cass and Harper Teen!!

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publisher: Pendrell Publishing
author site: Website  / Blog
buy me: Barnes&Noble  / Amazon

from pendrell:  Waking up in a coffin hungry for blood is only the beginning for sixteen-year-old Ava Blue. When Chance Caldon, the hottie who dug her up, tells her that she’s half vampire, Ava’s world really turns upside down.

Half vamp? Ava can’t believe it…she doesn’t even know what that means! Not until Aldric, a thousand-year-old vampire, shows up and tells her it’s true–and that he’s the one who turned her. Then Ava truly begins to believe what she is. Now, she has to deal with a sudden and powerful bloodlust, the desire to see Aldric dead, and her growing crush for Chance. Ava knows she’s a monster now, she can feel it; and her life is over.

But redemption isn’t lost. Aldric is giving her a chance to regain her humanity. The price? Kill a hundred vampires, or remain a bloodsucker forever.

So Ava sets out to get her life back. But killing vampires begins a battle that could destroy everything she is working toward. In the end, Ava’s decisions will forever change her life and the lives of those she loves. 

Be sure to follow along on the rest of the tour! There are giveaways at every stop!

3rd: Refracted Light Reviews
4th: Fire & Ice
5th: I Am A Reader, Not A Writer
6th: Hypable
7th: Oodles of Books
8th: The Reading Date
9th: A Book Lovers Review
10th: Good Choice Reading
11th: SupaGurl Books
12th: Books with Bite
13th: Once Upon a Twilight - Grand Prize
27th: Live Chat with Jamie on Once Upon a Twilight at 9PM CST (10PM EST / 7PM PST)

So after hearing Lauren Oliver talk two nights ago, I thought I’d just pen my thoughts on why YA is so popular among readers right now-from the target audience of young adults all the way through the actual adults!  Keep in mind that this list is generalized about the many YA books that are set in high school in America or somewhere not too far removed.

Me with Lauren Oliver at the 2010 NCTE (before I was too pregnant to want to be photographed).

First, I loved that Lauren Oliver said she writes about characters who change significantly in terms of their thinking (I’m poorly paraphrasing Oliver’s own words, but that’s essentially it).  That idea was definitely an epiphany for me, because while I considered Oliver’s two YA novels incredibly different-in Before I Fall a realistic mean girl has to relive the day she dies 7 times to figure out how to change what’s wrong in her life and in the Delirium series a good girl has to rebel against a society that believes love is a disease-both girls need to recognize their own faults and the faults of the world around them in order to grow and mature.

So that begins the reasons that YA is popular:

#1: YA books are about  redemption, and that redemption comes while there is still time left to live out the rest of a protagonist’s life (okay so Before I Fall, not a good example).  I love the concept of redemption, and I love that our heroes/heroines have time to actually live productive lives because they have realized the errors of their ways.

#2: YA books take place in settings we know –we as readers either went to high school or are currently in high school so we understand the struggles of characters more easily than say a classic where the protagonist is a street sweeper in Victorian London or a peasant in Cold War Russia.  We have all suffered through the emotions and episodes of being teenagers in America (even if home schooled).

#3: We can live vicariously through YA lit.  I did not date in high school, the cute boy never liked me, I didn’t have much fun until I got to college-but I can have a totally transformative senior year by reading Sarah Dessen or Meg Cabot.  One of my favorite movies is She’s Out of Control with Tony Danza where his daughter goes from ugly duckling to beautiful swan.  The ability to remake oneself completely still resonates with me, and every time I pick up a YA novel, I can transform myself into that girl!

#4 YA Lit tells a good story succinctly.  I love being able to get through a great book in a few hours (or a few settings).    YA lit is great in that there is still awesome vocab (yay for my VocabGal self!), developed characters, original plots, symbolism, literary analysis to be done, etc, but the story can be read more easily and quickly than Dickens or Faulkner where you have to reread full paragraphs to understand the meaning behind each sentence.  I like being able to go fast, yet still be moved by a story!

#5 YA isn’t a genre, it’s simply the age of the protagonist.  I’m paraphrasing Andrea Cremer here (the last author I heard speak before Lauren Oliver).  I love her sentiment-YA books shouldn’t be classified as such-they are just great stories whose heroes/heroines happen to be teens.  We don’t classify Great Expectations as children’s lit, despite Pip being just a boy at the beginning of the story, or consider Jane Eyre beneath us even though she starts her tale as an adolescent.  The popularity of  The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and other “YA” books is due to the storytelling ability of the authors -regardless of the age of the protagonist!

So for now, pick up those YA books without mockery, regardless of your age. They offer hope, inspiration, and simply a great, quick read!  My list isn’t done yet-I plan to keep adding on, but want your imput.  Why are you reading YA?

You might have seen my name pop up on a couple of reviews over the past few weeks but since I’m new in GiTS land, I wanted to formally introduce myself (that, and Stacy told me to do this!)  HA!

I’m Amanda, your newest Stack girl!

Oh, and this is the part where I’m supposed to tell you about myself, right?  Well, my bio that is on the “About” page will give you some background, like how I’m a Children’s Librarian, how I love books, and that I have three cats.  I know, typical librarian has typical feline pets and loves books.  BUT…what don’t you know about me?

1.)  I love music, and I have really broad tastes.  I grew up on the likes of James Taylor, the Doors, and really bad 80s bands.  And while I’ll take some James Taylor or Jim Morrison any time, I’ve grown to love other types of music and artists.  You’ll find Florence + the Machine, Jamie Cullum, Janelle Monae, Weezer, The Black Keys, Imelda May, and lots of other artists on my iTunes.  However, my forever love has been and will always be the Foo Fighters.  Dave Grohl is a god, and if you’ve never seen them live, you are missing out!

2.)  I love technology.  We are at a point in time where connection with almost anyone is possible through the amazing things we’ve created.  Ten or fifteen years ago, would you have thought it possible to be carrying around a phone that didn’t just place calls, but let you manage and write email, check in with friends and family, and access the Internet?  As a librarian, I love the possibilities of technology and trying to find ways to make it and our collections accessible to users.

3.)  YA BOOKS!!!  Seriously, I can’t be the only one who is amazed at the amount of quality stories being published!  Just in the last couple of years, I’ve been terrified (and loved it) by books like The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancy, delighted in Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone (and the second one is called The Days of Blood and Starlight, and it’s out on November 6), and fell in love with the tale of Finnikin and the Rock by Melina Marchetta (second book is Froi of the Exiles and is out on March 13).  I love talking to people about the YA books they are reading now and discussing what we love, what we don’t, and why.  It’s part of why I’m here!

4.)  I love talking to people in general – you can find me on Google+, Twitter, Goodreads, and Pinterest.  You can also contact me at amanda@girlsinthestacks.com  I check my email several times a day!

5.)  I am crafty at the library but when it comes to making fun or cool stuff for my house?  I fail, miserably.

6.)  I don’t have many pictures of myself (mostly because I’m typically the one behind the camera), but this one is my favorite; it’s from a couple of years ago right before my husband and I got married:

And that’s it for me!  Thanks for letting me ramble on a little, and see ya’ll In the Stacks!

We also talk Beautiful Creatures casting (LOVING the picks), Maggie Stiefvater’s new series – The Raven Boys, Lemony Snicket’s new series and the Colbert/Sendak interview and much more.

**as always, you can find us on itunes**

Puzzle Cover Reveal Dates:
Monday, Feb. 6th: Hypable
Tuesday, Feb. 7th: Mundie Moms
Wednesday, Feb. 8th: Girls in the Stacks
Thursday, Feb. 9th: The Readiacs
Friday, Feb. 10th: Novel Novice/Inkspell (full cover reveal!! Pinkie swear!!!)

Official Synopsis

Julianne counts the days until she can pack her bags and leave her old-money, tradition-bound Southern town where appearance is everything and secrecy is a way of life. A piano virtuoso, she dreams of attending a prestigious music school in Boston. Failure is not an option, so she enlists the help of New England Conservatory graduate Isaac Laroche.

 Julianne can’t understand why Isaac suddenly gave up Boston’s music scene to return to the South. He doesn’t know her life depends on escaping it before she inherits her mother’s madness. Isaac knows he must resist his attraction to a student ten years his junior, but loneliness and jealousy threaten his resolve.

 Their indiscretion at a Mardi Gras ball—the pinnacle event for Mobile’s elite—forces their present wants and needs to collide with sins of the past.

Will Julianne accept the help she’s offered and get everything she ever wanted, or will she self-destruct and take Isaac down with her?

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We want more about this “indiscretion,” er, we mean we want to find out if she does self-destruct, a la good ole’ mom. Can June 7, 2012 get here any faster?

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Need more info on WANT and Stephanie?

website / twitter / facebook / goodreads

It was a full house!!  The questions that were asked, as always, were insightful.  During the whole event, I tweeted using #pitchdarkdays.  That was fun and challenging!!  I realized how difficult it is to listen, condense to 140 characters, and remember a hash tag.

Since I mastered that, my next step is to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Here are some pics of the fab trio:

Yes, they are as friendly as they appear!

Ellen Schreiber, Me, Veronica Rossi, and Tahereh Mafi

As an added bonus I was surprised to see the uber cute author, Kiersten White (whom I just adore and I’m sure came to the event just to hug me.  Kiersten, isn’t that true? *crickets*) AND met the fab debut middle grade AND YA author Shannon Messenger (I see a friendship in our future)!

Needless to say it was a super cool night. Thank you, Harper Teen, for allowing me to be a small part of this fantastic tour!  I truly appreciated it!!

Love, STACKGIRL Shannan

A) I had read and thoroughly enjoyed
B) I had just given away to my father for Christmas (it was autographed!!)
C) I interviewed Jack Gantos when he came to St. Louis in September promoting the book!
D) I love Jack Gantos and was thrilled that he finally got some well-deserved recognition!

So here is my metaphor for my “relationship” with Jack Gantos: He is the amazingly cool kid in high school wearing the Ramones t-shirt, skinny jeans, and Chuck Taylors who is too cool for school but loves to show his brilliance by making witty remarks in honors English. I am the dorky girl with the oversized glasses, permed hair, braces and lack of fashion sense, sitting in the corner, worshiping from afar.

As you can tell in my picture with Jack, I’m a little star-struck to be attending an awesome dinner party at NCTE 2010 where he talked to me like I was a normal person and put his arm around me for the picture!

What did we talk about? The fact that his non-fiction memoir A Hole in My Life is the most stolen book from my classroom (because it deals with the time when he, as a teenager, helped sail a boat into NYC full of hash, but alas, got caught and went to jail for a year=hole in life). It definitely is a book kids want to read, but when they finish, they pass it on to their friends and not so much back to me.

Then he came to St. Louis this September and was gracious enough to grant me an interview for Vocabgal -which will be posted next Thursday, Feb 2nd! Again, he chatted with me like I was a normal human being, rather than a star-struck fan (I kept my giggling to a minimum I hope.)

What I love about Jack is that he bases much of his writing on his own personal life, and he has a fascinating, if not always warm and fuzzy, life. Dead End in Norvelt is so interesting because it is almost another memoir -he based it on the time he spent as a child in the town of Norvelt-a town named for Eleanor Rosevelt who created this awesome, pseudo-socialist community where everyone built each others’ homes and paid each other with their own goods and services. Jack’s mother had grown up in this town and, as the book opens, has moved back with her family, but Jack’s father is not as happy with the location…

Jack’s sense of humor and comedic timing describing the events of the story make the book laugh-out-loud funny, yet the poignancy of his task to help the town’s nurse write the eulogies for the last original townsfolk is rather touching (and the fact that these townsfolk start dying off rather quickly also poses a mystery to be solved).

My favorite part of the story is when Jack has to sneak inside an old woman’s house to see if she is dead, so he dresses up in his Halloween costume-which, of course-is a Grim Reaper outfit. The woman isn’t dead, but almost dies when she sees the embodiment of death itself creeping toward her.

This is what you can expect from the book that has it all-humor, excitement, love, eccentricities and Jack’s personal flair. I think the autograph he created just for this book conveys it all!

So, what did I do when I was given this prestigious opportunity?  I did what any respectful blogger would do, spun around my living room floor singing, “the hills are alive with the sounds of music…,” very gleefully and then I packed a suitcase, put my kids (and hubby) in the car, and hit the road to spend a weekend away full of book adventures!

Who’ll be there?? Just a few of they’re so-hot-if-you-touch-them-you-will-burn-yourself authors;  Tahereh Mafi (SHATTER ME), Ellen Schreiber (MAGIC OF THE MOONLIGHT) and Veronica Rossi (UNDER THE NEVER SKY)!!!!

So…come meet, chat with, ask questions and have your books signed by these fabulous authors -TONIGHT!

Want to participate virtually? If you’re like the other STACK girls and live in a cold place and can’t make it tonight, you can still join in on the fun! Here’s how; follow Pitch Dark on facebook and twitter and then follow tweets, using the #pitchdarkdays on twitter!! I’ll be live tweeting throughout the entire event!

Check out the rest of the tour dates!!
Friday, January 13^th
SAN DIEGO
Mysterious Galaxy, 7pm – Shannan will be here!

Saturday, January 14^th
PHOENIX
Changing Hands, 4pm

Thursday, February 16^th
DALLAS
B&N Southlake, 5pm   – Stacy and Nancy will be here!

Friday, February 17^th
AUSTIN
B&N Austin, 7pm

Saturday, February 18^th
HOUSTON
Blue Willow Book Shop, 4pm

Tempest by Julie Cross
Release Date: January 17, 2012
Publisher: St. Martins Griffin
Julie Cross online: Website / Twitter
Find Tempest: Amazon / Goodreads

From Goodreads: The year is 2009.  Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just  harmless fun. That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future. Desperate  to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities. But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this  powerful young time-traveler.  Recruit… or kill him. Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

FANTASY CASTING: 

Who would you choose to play the part of Miss Stewart?  Julie Cross and I have made our decisions.  Comment below on who you would want to be in the movie version of Tempest.  If you are fans of Glee or The Vampire Diaries, you will surly be fans of our picks!!

Julie Cross has picked Naya Rivera (left), and while I think she is gorgeous; I like Kat Graham (right). Kat is super talented and seems to have the essence of Miss Stewart.

Teaser Quote: October 12, 2007 (2:30 p.m.)

My hands were on her face, her mouth moving with mine, fingers curling around the back of my neck, the stream from the shower running over us like a waterfall. It was just like the first time…a couple of years in the future.

GIVEAWAY!!!!

Click  this FORM  to try to win 1 of 5 signed copies of Tempest by Julie Cross. Readers can enter on each blog, for a total of 15 entries and must leave a comment to enter. This is the last night of the giveaway.  It ends at midnight tonight so enter away. Check out the Tempest Blog Tour Page for a list of everyone on the blog.

*We’re sorry, but we couldn’t hold this in any longer … What’s up with Peeta’s hair?? Is it just us, or does it look forced and unnatural? Are we experiencing another “bad wig” moment a la Jacob? (yes, we do realize Josh Hutcherson is not wearing a wig, that makes it even more disturbing.)

Heidi Ayarbe’s newest book, WANTED, is coming out in May.  And we wanted to have a little fun.  We are revealing the cover of Wanted tomorrow, along with the awesome Kari at A Good Addiction and of course, on Heidi’s blog.  Along with that we will have LOTS of giveaways - including a SIGNED arc of Wanted .  Ohhh, I am so excited I can’t stop thinking about it.

Wanted is a take on Bonnie and Clyde – read Heidi’s cool research on them.  So in light of that we thought it would be fun to pair YA couples that could take the country by storm!  If so, comment away on any of our blogs.

Mine? Of course, Katniss from The Hunger Games.  That girl can do anything.  She’s my hero!  And  Ethan from Beautiful Creatures.  He’s swoon worthy and those two would rock it!

So, come back tomorrow for the cover reveal of Wanted by the wonderful Heidi Ayarbe and lots of giveaways!  I mean lots.  lots and lots.

—–

where to click: goodreads amazon twitter HarperTeen

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There are a ton of favorable reviews for Shatter Me, and all before the book hit the shelves. Are you  feeling awesome?
I’m feeling humbled and grateful and mildly terrified, actually. I still can’t even believe this whole thing is real. November 15th will come and go and I still won’t be sure.

Do you have a favorite part of Shatter Me? Ours are the memories of Adam and Juliette in grade school. Sigh…
I do love the unfolding of backstory – learning about a character’s history and their motivation for doing what they do. But I think I love the kissing parts best. Haha.

What is your one vice while you do your edits?
When I’m working I drink wayyyyy too much tea and eat a lot of chocolate. It’s terrible.

Do you have the whole trilogy mapped out already or are you taking it one book at a time?
I know, generally, where the series is going and how it will end, but things get clearer and more solid with every book I write. I’ve just finished the second book, for example, which means I now know more definitively where the characters are headed than I did at the end of the first book. I like to leave things a little loose in my mind to allow room for the unexpected; characters, once brought to life, are very dynamic. They’re constantly changing and their decisions shape the course of the story. I have to let them lead the books.

Are you doing anything exciting for the release of Shatter Me?
I’m having a launch party on the 16th (the day after the book comes out) but other than that, no. I’ll probably get myself to the bookstore on the 15th and spend a while staring at it on the shelf. I’ll also try not to embarrass myself by crying in public.

Describe your reaction from the call saying your book was going to be published.
I think I used a bad word. I also fell down and didn’t hear anything Jodi (my agent) said for the rest of the conversation. She basically had to repeat everything to me again. And then I called my mom who started crying and screamed a lot.

Then I had to pull myself together and walk back into my office like nothing had happened.

You say you are addicted to coffee, but the real test is, do you have a Starbucks GOLD card?
You know – I don’t actually get most of my coffee from the outside; I have a Nespresso machine that does everything for me. I just pop in a coffee pod and attach the milk canister and press a button and it makes me the perfect latte. I’m obsessed with it.

LIGHTING ROUND!!!

boots or flip flops? Boots forever and ever.

beach or mountains? I prefer the mountains. The Alps, specifically.

chocolate or gummies? Chocolateeee

texting or emailing? I can text in my sleep.

spooky or silly? I love silly. I hate spooky.

latte or frappuccino? Latte.

—-

See.  I told you she was made of awesome.  Check out the rest of the tour and if you happened to miss a day, which I am sure you didn’t, but just in case you did, just click on the blog link below.  They are made of awesome too.

Monday: The Story Siren

Tuesday: Bookalicio.us

Wednesday: Reading Teen

Friday: The Book Smugglers

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GIVEAWAY!!! GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!
Want to win your very own copy? Follow the rules and enter below!!

official rules:
*open to US only
*must be 13 years or older
*one entry per person
*giveaway ends November 17, 2011 at 11:59PM CEN

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

And because I have no shame, I’m posting another picture of Tahereh and I.  No shame at all…

10/24 update -  James Frey is using a writing factory of MFA writers to write the I AM NUMBER series, read this.

*as always you can find us on itunes*

She’s talking all about her new book Virtuosity (read me review here) – cover design, plays a little violin for us (WOW!) AND she tells us about her 2013-yet-to-be-named-book about two sisters and romance. For more, press play.

GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!!
Want to win a signed copy of this fab book? Just read the rules and fill out the form below.

official rules:
*open to US only
*must be 13 years or older
*one entry per person
*giveaway ends October 24, 2011 at 11:59PM CEN

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

Need even more? For the complete Dark Souls book tour click here.

but first little more about Dark Souls…
publsiher: Scholastic
release date:August 1, 2011

description:
Welcome to York, England.

Mist lingers in the streets.

Narrow buildings cast long shadows.

This is the most haunted city in the world. . . .

Miranda Tennant arrives in York with a terrible, tragic secret. She is eager to lose herself amid the quaint cobblestones, hoping she won’t run into the countless ghosts who supposedly roam the city. . . .

Then she meets Nick, an intense, dark-eyed boy who knows all of York’s hidden places and histories. Miranda wonders if Nick is falling for her, but she is distracted by another boy — one even more handsome and mysterious than Nick. He lives in the house across from Miranda and seems desperate to send her some sort of message. Could this boy be one of York’s haunted souls?

——

Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings

Harry Potter, definitely. I couldn’t make head or tail of LOTR!

high heels or flip flops

I like the look of high heels, but I grew up in New Zealand, where flip-flops were (almost) mandatory.

truth or dare

I’d choose truth, but that doesn’t mean I’d REALLY tell it!

werewolf or vampire

Can I say: neither? I’m much more interested in ghosts.

Peeta or Gale

Gale.

dialogue or description

I’m a novelist, so I lean towards the many things you can do with point of view – we don’t have to lean quite so hard on dialogue.

thesaurus or dictionary

Both, though the latter has the edge. English is an amazingly huge language. Why stick to just a few hundred words?

football or American football

Football (as in soccer, or rugby). Too many commercial breaks in American football!

scary movies or rom-coms

I’m not very good with scary, but so many rom-coms these days feel tired or trite, and insult our intelligence. (My favorite rom-com: ROMAN HOLIDAY.)

Fanta or red wine

At home: red wine. On vacation somewhere hot: Fanta during the day, and white wine at night.

plotter or plunger

Depends on the book. For YA novels, I tend to plot. For my other books, I wend my way in.

—–

Awesome answers!!! I love that Paula writes about ghosts yet is ”not good” with scary movies. Though we may have to question her Gale response, hmmmm…

Do you dare to face your fears? Turn down the lights, turn up your speakers, and answer the multiple choice questions to find out what you’re really afraid of. Girls in the Stacks and Patrick Carman present the Dark Eden Fear Test.

I’ve taken the fear test.  Mine is Death.  ummm…yeah.  I’m a wimp!  I need to keep my imagination under control.

——

Dark Eden by Patrick Carman
release date: November 1, 2011
publisher: HarperCollins
author links: twitter website

description – When Will Besting approaches Fort Eden for the first time, he knows something isn’t right. With more terrifying secrets at every turn he discovers a hidden fear deep inside himself, a dark mystery a thousand years in the making, and the unexpected girl of his dreams. But can he save everyone from the dangers of Fort Eden before it’s too late?

Also, check out this freaky book trailer.  ummm… I’ll just live with my fears thank you very much!

Check out all the stops on the Dark Eden blog tour!

October 3rd: The Bookish Brunette
October 4th: The Reader Bee
October 5th: Novel Novice
October 6th: The Bookworms
October 7th: Girls in the Stacks
October 10th: Between the Pages
October 11th: Dark Readers
October 12th: Letters Inside Out
October 13th: The Book Faery
October 14th: Books Complete Me
October 17th: Two Chicks on Books
October 18th: Starry Sky Books
October 19th: Great Imaginations
October 20th: Once Upon a Twilight
October 21st: Me, My Shelf and I
October 24th: Fiktshun
October 25th: PageTurners
October 26th: Icey Books
October 27th: Truly Bookish
October 28th: Stuck in Books

We at Girls in the STACKS have a special place in our hearts for Becca Fitzpatrick. She was our blogs first interview, first video (see it here) and first author of a book both Shan and I (Stacy) read that we went completely nuts over. She will always be tops with us. Always.

From conception to final product, what has been the best part of your debut writing journey?

Honestly, there have been so many wonderful parts in my  path to publication it’s hard to only acknowledge just one part as the ‘best’,  but if I had to – I can say without question it has been the wonderful and kind  support that the blogging community and readers from around the world have shown me.

When I was writing THE FAERIE RING I was just writing a story that I  wanted to read. Sure – you dream of selling it and being published and other  people reading your story too – but it’s quite AMAZING when people you don’t  even know send you an email or a note about how excited they are to read your  book. Also, my publisher, Tor Teen, and editor, Susan Chang, have been SO  fantastic in supporting the book from involving me in the cover design (which I  LOVE) and also providing me with the opportunity to do signings at BEA and ALA.  I have met so many wonderful people along the way, like my fellow debut authors  at The Class of 2k11, as well as readers. I feel like I’ve had my 15 minutes and WAY more and my book isn’t even out yet!!

How is your family reacting to all the praist of The Faerie Ring?

My family has been very supportive the whole way. I don’t think hey really believed I would ever sell the book (that’s why if there are any unpublished writers out there reading this – remember – NEVER give up – nobody else is going to pursue your dream but you!) but they were very happy when it  did sell! Also, they’ve been very patient because the process is s-l-o-w and  it’s been two years since I sold the story to Tor Teen. After awhile, their eyes sort of started to glaze over, if you know what I mean, so I don’t talk about it a lot, but now that it’s so close – they are hearing about it more!

For more information on The Faerie Ring, check it out at goodreads and make sure and stop by Kiki’s blog, as well The Class of 2k11!!

—-

Check out the rest of The Faerie Ring blog tour hosted by the fab girls at MUNDIE MOMS:

9/30- A Blog About Nothing- author interview, *book  giveaway
10/1- The Secret Life of A Bibliophile- review
10/3- I Read Banned Books- author inteview
10/4- Mundie Moms- author interview
10/5- Reading Teen- guest post
10/6- The Story Siren- review & author interview
10/7- Eve’s Fan Garden- review, *book giveaway
10/8- Page Turners- review

Want to know more? Just check out DARK DAYS here and here.

Like we mentioned earlier DARK DAYS are coming, but first we have DARK“Kiersten White shows off her comedic timing” DAYS, in which Kiersten White interviews herself. Brace yourself for funny and touching moments. Eh, who are we kidding the whole thing is just chuckle after chuckle.

Kiersten: Hi Kiersten! I’m so excited to get to interview you today on behalf of Girls in the Stacks for the Dark Days Tour!

Kiersten: Thank you for taking the time to—wait. Umm, is something wrong here?

Kiersten: No, I’m good to go. First, I wanted to ask about

Kiersten: WAIT. Kiersten, I’m Kiersten. You’re interviewing yourself. I mean, I’m interviewing myself. That doesn’t make any sense. And you aren’t even a Girls in the Stacks team member. They are all way more articulate than you.

Kiersten: Don’t be a diva. You agreed to this interview.

Kiersten: You are so weird!

Kiersten: Not as weird as you are. Well, exactly as weird as you are. Moving on. Why did you give up your lifelong dream to be a photographer for National Geographic and decide to write YA books instead?

Kiersten: What are you talking about? I wanted to do that for like two weeks. In fourth grade. Until I heard they had to sleep in nets in the canopy of the Amazon with a hundred billion bugs. But I did want to write and illustrate picture books instead of YA until I realized I was a really crap artist, and that I was the most interested in YA stories in my head.

Kiersten: You ARE a really bad artist.

Kiersten: Shut up. So are you.

Kiersten: I’m interested in this “YA stories in my head” phrase. Have you always carried around stories in your head? What kind of storage do you use? Are we talking Tupperware? Or luggage? And if so, do you use the luggage with the little rolly-wheels, because otherwise what’s the point, it’s so hard to lug anywhere!

Kiersten: I’m thinking more along the lines of a cement mixer. Everything churning all the time, getting mixed up together, and then suddenly BAM out of nowhere I dump a whole story into the waiting framework!

Seriously though, I’ve always told myself stories, even had running strings of narrative that I’d go back to when I was bored or stressed. I remember lying awake in bed at night for hours, running the same scenes over and over in my head, tweaking, fine-tuning, re-imagining. The first YA book I ever wrote was a development of one of those ideas that I’d been playing with since I was a young teenager.

Kiersten: So, again we are back to the weird thing.

Kiersten: I even dream in stories. I thought everyone did—dreamt stories that they  weren’t really part of, just watching, maybe the main character but not usually. My husband has informed me that this is odd, though.

Kiersten: You mean our husband.

Kiersten: No, I mean MY husband. If you think I’m going to share, you’ve got another thing coming.

Kiersten: You do realize we are typing this while he sits on the floor, reading. This is kind of creepy.

Kiersten: Are you going to ask me another question or what? I don’t have all night. We look terrible when we don’t get enough sleep.

Kiersten: Which is always. Okay, two more questions. What would you say your biggest inspiration is for stories?

Kiersten: Emotions. I’ll hit on something that strikes an emotional chord in me—whether it is a book, a movie, a song, even an image—and I’ll want to create something to capture that particular feeling. I think that’s why I start so many things but know within a few dozen pages whether or not they’ll work. Even if I like the plot, if it doesn’t have a soul, doesn’t have the emotional core I wanted, I won’t continue. That’s also why you can enjoy books across genres. No matter what they use to tell the tale, whether it’s monsters or science or high school, the emotions at the center of it all are what we relate to as people.

Kiersten: You are, like, so totally deep.

Kiersten: Liar.

Kiersten: Okay, yes, I’m a liar. I can also fake cry on demand! But you already knew that. Last question: Why haven’t we talked about Paranormalcy and Supernaturally, the novels you’re going to be on the Dark Days Tour to promote?

Kiersten: Because we are terrible at self-promotion. But, if you insist, how about, HEY GUYS READ THOSE BOOKS THEY ARE AWESOME.

Kiersten: Works for me.

Kiersten: Excellent. Chocolate?

Kiersten: Always.

——

Need more DARK DAYS excitement? Well, you’re in luck – check out the trailer below!! It’ll make you wish you lived in one of the cities below.

Meet HarperTeen authors Claudia Gray (FATEFUL), Kiersten White (SUPERNATURALLY), Amy Garvey (COLD KISS), Anna Carey, (EVE), and Jocelyn Davies (A BEAUTIFUL DARK) as they visit the following cities:

Wednesday, October 12^th
7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
19401 Alderwood Mall Parkway
*Lynnwood, WA*
with Claudia Gray, Kiersten White, Amy Garvey, and Anna Carey

Thursday, October 13^th
7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
7881 Edinger Avenue
*Huntington Beach, CA*
with Claudia Gray, Kiersten White, Amy Garvey, and Anna Carey

Friday, October 14^th
7:00 PM
Tattered Cover
9315 Dorchester Street
*Highlands Ranch, CO*
with Claudia Gray, Kiersten White, Amy Garvey, and Jocelyn Davies

Saturday, October 15^th
1:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
2999 Pearl Street
*Boulder, CO*
with Claudia Gray, Kiersten White, Amy Garvey, and Jocelyn Davies

Sunday, October 16^th
2:00 PM
Anderson’s
123 West Jefferson
*Naperville, IL*
with Claudia Gray, Kiersten White, Amy Garvey, and Jocelyn Davies

In celebration of the HarperTeen Dark Days tour, I’ve come up with some Dark Days of Literature—things that, were they to have happened, would be so dark it’s almost not worth thinking about.

1. Frodo keeps the ring. He uses it to become the All Powerful Overlord of the Shire, forcing all of the hobbits into slavery to support his pipeweed habit.

Also, everyone dies of lung cancer.

2. Lucy, Peter, Susan, and Edmund enter the wardrobe. It is just a wardrobe. Thus starts the most boring summer in the history of  summers, and they all become mathematicians.

3. Instead of receiving an owl-delivered invitation at age eleven, Harry gets a pigeon. It’s all downhill from there.

4. Like all of my teenage diaries, Mia’s Princess Diary starts with a New Year’s resolution to write every day. And ends two days
later.

5. Edward fails to resist the urge to kill Bella that day in Biology. The Twilight series is much, much, much shorter. Jacob never gets to take his shirt off.

6. Everyone in Panem is well-fed; the Moderately Peckish Games lack tension.

7. Milo doesn’t even make it past the Phantom Tollbooth before the toy car’s battery dies. He goes back to being bored.

8. Alice mistakenly falls down a robot hole rather than a rabbit hole, and short-circuits the Cyborg Mad Hatter with tea.

9. Sherlock Holmes gives up detective work and instead writes Murder Mystery Party Games full-time. It’s always the maid.

10. And finally, in what would be this author’s personal Dark Day, the internet breaks, and I am forced to actually be productive.

Or, you know, take a nap.

—-

We don’t even want to think about #1, #3, #5 or #6 (shivers). Hey, check out the video for the Dark Days tour and prepare yourself, because you’re gonna want to go!!

Here are the tour dates, are they rolling through your town? Sadly, they’re not coming through Texas. We’ll try and not hold that against HarperTeen (haha).

Wednesday, October 12^th
7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
19401 Alderwood Mall Parkway
*Lynnwood, WA*
with Claudia Gray, Kiersten White, Amy Garvey, and Anna Carey

Thursday, October 13^th
7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
7881 Edinger Avenue
*Huntington Beach, CA*
with Claudia Gray, Kiersten White, Amy Garvey, and Anna Carey

Friday, October 14^th
7:00 PM
Tattered Cover
9315 Dorchester Street
*Highlands Ranch, CO*
with Claudia Gray, Kiersten White, Amy Garvey, and Jocelyn Davies

Saturday, October 15^th
1:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
2999 Pearl Street
*Boulder, CO*
with Claudia Gray, Kiersten White, Amy Garvey, and Jocelyn Davies

Sunday, October 16^th
2:00 PM
Anderson’s
123 West Jefferson
*Naperville, IL*
with Claudia Gray, Kiersten White, Amy Garvey, and Jocelyn Davies