Bloggers Rule!

If you haven't already seen it around the blogosphere there's a really fantastic event happening called Best I've Read 2010



This event brings together loads of awesome bloggers discussing their favorite reads of 2010. I'm over the moon that Nightshade is being featured on many blogs. Even better: there are TONS of giveaways going on as part of BIR2010.

Today you can read interviews and enter giveaways for Nightshade at Once Upon a Twilight and Mundie Moms.

Thank you so much to all the bloggers for their support of Nightshade - you guys are the best!

Go check out Best I've Read 2010 and be sure to enter the awesome contests!!

WOLFSBANE

Nightshade has barely been on the shelves but folks are already clamoring for book 2, Wolfsbane (hurrah!)

I'm thrilled that today is a big day for Wolfsbane: cover reveal day!!!
I can't begin to describe how much I am in love with this cover. Green is my favorite color. I love the way that Calla is in the wild, yet still caged by the vines. AND it is a perfect rendering of one of my favorite scenes in the book!!

And soon, very soon, there will be ARCs. And as soon as there are ARCs there will be contests. I'm thinking that the first Wolfsbane giveaway will reprise my favorite contest, so get your haiku skills sharpened up.

Happy Friday!

Penguin Five

Something very, very, very good delivered today was delivered to my door today.
It was dark, mysterious. Opening the package was so much fun.
Inside was an uppity group destined to make waves this fall. No it's not the Rat Pack, or the Brat Pack - but it is a new pack well worth keeping your eye on.

The Penguin Five.To quote the letter included with the slipcase this box contains "a collection of engrossing and unique YA fiction on Penguin's Fall list - a group of books we're calling the Penguin Five."

And Nightshade is one of the pack.
Pardon me while I faint.

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Okay, back now - though still floating on cloud nine.

I didn't know the Penguin Five was in the works. It was a complete surprise (what a surprise!!!) - but I've had the pleasure of meeting the incredible marketing team at Penguin and they never fail to blow me away with their talent and hard work. Thanks Team Penguin! *kisses* *confetti*

Now good news for readers - besides the awesomeness that Penguin bringing to the world with these books - I'd already begged my way to ARCs of The Replacement and Matched (I read them as soon as I got them; they are both amazing.)

That means I have an extra copy of each...TO GIVE AWAY IN CONTESTS!!! Details to be announced later this month!

For those of you longing for The Eternal Ones and Sapphique (sequel to Incarceron!!) - sorry, I'm selfish enough to want to keep my beautiful slipcase intact. *petstheprecious*

News & Updates

Happy May Day!!
I hope everyone is having as beautiful a first of May as we are here. The air is fresh, the sky is blue. I love May. It's a wonderful month.

As my ARC supply is dwindling, I won't be having a Nightshade galley giveaway this month, but I will be holding contest for other fabulous prizes. Stay tuned for more details!

Fret not! There are other places to win a Nightshade ARC this month. Penguin YR just posted a giveaway on Goodreads and Books Obsession has a giveaway (only two days left to enter; hurry!)

Another event to keep in your sights is the upcoming Paranormal Summer Fest, which will be made of awesome.

I'd like to give a big shout out to all my new followers. Helloooooooooo :) And welcome!!! If you have questions about blog etiquette and particularly about my policy regarding questions about the book, please visit my Wilderness Survival Tips so you aren't mistakenly devoured by the pack.

I'll be spending this May 1 the way any true horse-loving girl does - watching the Kentucky Derby!! I posted on my Derby adventures last year. This year there's a twist in that I have a horse in the race.
It's technically not my horse, but a Macalester alum is one of the owners of Paddy O'Prado, so the college is asking us to all cheer him on. I've always had a soft spot for dapple grays, so it wasn't a tough sell.

How are you celebrating this lovely first Saturday of May?

Winner!!

Thanks so much for the wonderful birthday wishes for my mom and your thoughts about music. My mom printed them out to save - she loved them so much! Thanks for making her birthday extra special :)

And now for the winner - chosen using the Randomizer!

Jessica (jessring)! You win a signed ARC of Nightshade. Congrats!!!

I'm sending you an email now.

The next Nightshade giveaway won't be until June because my May travel schedule is insanity. But if you're looking for a chance to snag an ARC there are two other contests to check out.

Penguin Teen is giving away Nightshade on Facebook.

And Books Obsession is giving away two (yes, TWO!) Nightshade ARCs!

Thanks again for all the entries!!!

CONTEST!: Top Nine O'Nine

It's three days until 2010 - a year that I am awaiting like no other - and I thought I'd send 2009 out with a bang, contest style.

This is my first (and last, of 2009) CONTEST (many more to come in 2010!) - expect all contests to be quirky - because I love quirks - and here is Andrea's Quirky Contest #1. *Trumpets blare*

The time honored tradition of countdowns easily turns into overkill this time of year, but lists are addictive and it's oh so much fun to review the things you loved about the past year (hopefully glossing over those bits you loathed).

The other great thing about the New Year is predicting what's ahead. Isn't playing fortune-teller always fun?

For this contest I'll be mashing these two ideas together.

Top Nine O'Nine (aka Andrea's first blog contest)

The contest: Create a 2010 slogan and post it in the comments section below. Slogans can be silly or serious.

Or, a combination: 2010: The Year Polar Bears Strike Back
The best will be clever, cunning, cataclysmic - you get the idea. I encourage wackiness and snarf-worthiness. Enter as many times as you like, though you can only win once. Bonus points for linking to this contest on your blog!

The prize:

Here come the Top Nine. It's been a great, great year for books (but watch out for 2010 - I think it will only get better!). I'll be awarding prizes for Winner, 1st Runner Up, and 2nd Runner Up. Each winner receives 3 books, a trio from my top 9 books of 2009.* The list is below in alphabetical order by author.

Cassandra Clare, City of Glass (Book 3, Mortal Instruments)
Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire (Book 2, Hunger Games)
Becca Fitzpatrick, Hush, Hush
Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls
Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Beautiful Creatures
Cynthia Leitich Smith, Eternal
Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon
Carrie Ryan, The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Maggie Stiefvater, Ballad**

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place may pick one book from this list they're itching to read, and I'll send it to get 2010 off to a fantastic reading start! Go, slogans, go. Deadline: What else? Entries accepted until 11:59 p.m. (CST) December 31.


**New twist: Since I'm loving the entries so much - here's an added incentive. If I reach 110 (because ya' know, it' s the '10 that matters!) blog followers by the end of this contest, each winner will receive 2 books from the list!
*Disclaimer: Ack!! Picking just 9 books was so hard! So many more I long to add - plus, so many just released books I have yet to read...remorse, remorse!!
** I loved Ballad and Shiver, but it didn't seem fair to have both books on the list and I loved Ballad an eency bit more, so it's the book for this list.