The time it was ten lords-a-leaping

I don't even know what to say about that title, so we'll just get right to it.  Here we are for day ten of the 12 Days of Christmas giveaway!

Today we have the lovely Elizabeth Norris on the blog! Let's welcome her, yes?

It's hard to think about the holidays without thinking of family. Mine is...interesting. I think it's my dad's love for all things Christmas, but my parents tend to go all out. Christmas music played almost six months a year and sometimes our Christmas lights were up until March.

When I was a kid, I dreaded the lead up because the "preparation" was so intense. We had to pull huge boxes of decorations out of the attic and spend at least an entire weekend setting up the house. Putting up the tree meant going to the tree farm and picking out the right one (not too tall but tall enough and full enough and one that looked like it would last). Decorating it meant stringing the lights, and wrapping the musical bells around the trunk of the tree, and hanging all the ornaments in just the right position that the reflective ones would the lights.

What I had the most love/hate relationship with though was my mom's Snow Village collection.

I think it started because they were cool decorations.  My dad got her a little cottage that was on our kitchen table: a cute snowy house that lit up on the inside. She liked it so the next year on Christmas morning, she opened up a group of three kids building a snowman and the following year it was a snow house that looked a lot like ours.

Somewhere along the line, we ended up with a bookstore and a hotel and even a police station. Then family members caught on. They noticed my mother was collecting a Snow Village. They knew exactly what to get her for Christmas. It didn't take long before we had our own little cul-de-sac of Snow Village houses. The cottage was surrounded by a Queen Anne Victorian, an Oak Grove Tudor, a Southern Colonial and even a Gothic Farm House. Our Snow Village Main Street had a costume shop, a barber shop, a post office, a fire station, and even a Starbucks. (Really, I couldn't make this up).

Picture taken from here. Not actually Elizabeth's family Snow Village. 

And the collection just kept getting bigger. We ended up with special edition pieces like the Snow Carnival Ice Palace and an ice skating rink with several moving skaters. We couldn't even keep them set up in the room of the house. They were on the top of the piano, in the living room picture window, on the hutch in the kitchen, and on top of bookshelves. One year, they even took over our dining room table.

On one hand, they were really cool miniature house (and other things) and when they were all set up, they were certainly a conversations started for anyone who came over. But they were taking over our house. It took days to set them all up and we didn't have room for them, and why did we really need to display an Armed Forces Recruiting Station around the holidays?

At some point, my mom admitted that she didn't think we needed anymore Snow Village pieces but she didn't know how to tell all of our relatives to stop buying them. So a few years ago, my parents decided to downsize and moved into a smaller house. My mother started rotating which Snow Village streets she was going to display each year, and last year when I opened my own presents, there was a distinctly cube shaped box among my packages. The tag read: "Now that you have your own place..."

I knew two things before opening it: inside would be something Snow Village and if this became a thing, I would be needing a bigger apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Huge thanks to Elizabeth for taking the time! Make sure you're following her on Twitter, liking her Facebook page, subscribing to her blog and adding all of her books on your GoodReads shelves.

And now for the giveaway!!

Reminiscent of Before I Fall, Elizabeth Norris's Unraveling blends realistic coming-of-age issues and heart-stopping romance with something just a little bit more. In this case, a gripping science fiction world.

Unraveling's heroine, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner, is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle's mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother.

And that was before she died...and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. The more Janelle tries to figure him out, the more she starts to believe he's connected to a case her father is working on. The one where people are dying of radiation poisoning and the body count is rising. The one that involves a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth's destruction. If Janelle wants to stop the clock and save the world, she has twenty-four days to uncover Ben's secrets--and keep from falling in love with him.

From debut author Elizabeth Norris, comes this shattering novel of one girl's fight to save herself, her world, and the boy she never saw coming.

 and

Unbreakable, the sequel to Elizabeth Norris’s Unraveling, blends science fiction, mystery, and romance into a thrilling story YA readers won’t be able to put down.

It’s been four months since Janelle Tenner stopped the earth’s destruction with the help of Ben, the boy who resurrected her after she died. Ben is gone now—disappeared through a portal to his home world.
Even though Ben broke her heart, Janelle refuses to believe it when Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay tells her Ben is suspected of running a human-trafficking ring across several universes. She vows to uncover the true culprit and rescue the people who have been sold into slavery on alternate earths—not to mention find Ben and prove his innocence.

In addition to Ben, Barclay, and Janelle, Unbreakable brings back fan favorite characters Elijah and Cecily in this action-packed thriller.

That's right, I have copies of Unraveling and Unbreakable up for grabs. Rules for the giveaway are under "terms and conditions" on the Rafflecopter widget. This contest is international and books will be coming from The Book Depository. Oh, and don't forget that Ben is mine, I have proof.

**Good Luck!!**

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The time I had so many followers

You guys.

Today marks a pretty monumental day in my blogging adventure.  Today, I passed 500 followers on the blog via GFC and passed 1000 followers on Twitter. 

When I started this blog a year and a half ago, I never imagined that I would hit those numbers. I wasn't even sure that anyone would read this blog, let alone follow me here.  And today, I just watched the number of followers go up and up and up.

I'm stunned. Elated. Speechless. And a hot mess of flailing.

So.  In honor of this mega awesome achievement, not only do I want to jump through my laptop and hug each and every one of you, I'm going to have a giveaway of some of my favorite books by some of my favorite authors.

Up for grabs?

 

First up: a paperback copy of Unraveling and a hardcover copy of Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris.  I will also include the bonus content booklet. Both books are signed.

Also?

 

A paperback copy of Throne of Glass and an arc of Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas.

This contest is international.  I'm setting up two different Rafflecopters, so there could be two different winners. Additional rules are on the Rafflecopter widget.

Now stand there and let me hug you.

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The time it was all bookish mail -- 3

Welcome to another episode of Signed Books I Got in the Mail...

Sarah Dessen was announced at the 2013 Festival of Books.  She also was going to be signing at the B&N in Huntington Beach over that same weekend.  I didn't want to deal with the crowd that I knew would be flocking to her, mostly because I had never read one of her books.  Thankfully, Jenn was going to be attending a Sarah event and was willing to pick something up for me.

I did send an arc of one of Sarah's books, but Hubs fucked up the address and it didn't get there.  At all.  So, Jenn came to the rescue and bought me a book! Now I can officially add Sarah to the collection.

When Elizabeth Norris announced that any pre-ordered copies of Unbreakable from Books of Wonder would receive special bonus material [including an alternate ending], I placed my order that day.  A couple of days before the book was released, Elizabeth tweeted me and said that she had just signed my book.  I didn't want to get my hopes up since BoW usually has a "no inscription/personalization" rule. 

I shouldn't have doubted her because the inscription is glorious.  Also? That means every single copy of Unraveling and Unbreakable that I own says that I have Ben. He is definitely mine. [I would later also win a signed copy of Unbreakable from Pitch Dark for participating in the Unraveling read along.] 

When Eleanor & Park was released, everyone and their mother told me to read it.  The ever so awesome Jaime offered to get me a signed copy when she went to Rainbow's event.  I think she ended up getting 11 copies or something...

Either way, I'm quite grateful she was willing to get me a copy.  The book is amazing and I can't wait to meet Rainbow myself.

Jaime also went to the Pitch Dark Days event.  I had already ordered Elizabeth's books [plus extra copies at her launch party, but that's another story] and was hoping hoping hoping that Amy Tintera would be doing additional events in SoCal.  Her launch party was at the Bookstore-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named and I refused to go.

However, Kiera Cass hasn't been to SoCal yet... Not one to wait, I asked Jaime to get me a signed copy of The Elite.

I had gotten my arc of Invisibility signed by Andrea Cremer when I saw her at Mrs. Nelson's for the Breathless Reads tour. When the tour dates were announced for Andrea and David to promote Invisibilty, I was unable to get up to the San Francisco date. Thankfully, Colleen was going to be attending the Seattle date. I sent the arc to her and asked for David's signature to be added.

I truly have the best friends.  And who's a spoiled brat?  I am!

What books have you gotten lately?

The time it was the longest event

I wasn't planning on recapping this event. I've seen these particular authors a zillion times and I figured it would be nice to actually just sit back and listen without having to take notes. And then I had a couple of people tell me that they couldn't wait to read my post on it.

Sooooo. Lets see what I come up with, shall we?

I got to Mysterious Galaxy early to meet Michelle for Starbucks. I was there first because traffic was horrible the day before when we met up, so I wanted to avoid it. That left me ample time to people watch. And get "Joanne" yelled at me multiple times.

We got into the store around 5:45 and there were already people sitting down. Thankfully, we were still able to get front row.

After securing our seats, Michelle and I ran over to Starbucks. On our way out, we ran into the authors who were going to interview with Ava. We said hi to everyone quickly and then went back to the store.

The event started promptly at 7pm.  The chair situation was bit odd, so they all decided to stand around the podium.  Veronica started by saying they would do an introduction of themselves and then a brief synopsis before just opening it up to a Q&A session.

When it came to Tahereh talking about her series, she said there was: "Lots of kissing for a girl who can't touch anyone."  I really loved that.

With the angst between Juliette and boy toys: will there be improvements in her situation?

Tahereh struggled to answer at first, the question was sort of worded oddly.  The girl who asked the question kept trying to reword it before she finally said:

Will we see anything about her sex life?

T: Can we get a mic drop? YES. There will be a big finish.

Ransom then commented about the teaser from book 3 that had been released.  Tahereh told a story about how Chapter 62 in Unravel Me made her editor sort of uncomfortable so they had made copies of the chapter and passed them around the publishing house.  Apparently, there is a part in book 3 that her editor is passing around again, but it's not public.

For Anna & Cynthia: both gave an exhale about the series being complete: glad to be done or what's next?

A: both? A bit of mourning. Is working on something new, but thinking about bonus material. Really digging into new book helps.

C: Goes through waves. Up and down due to having to come back to it.

 

Next projects?

C: Can't say anything because it hasn't sold yet

A: A duology, first book titled Blackbird. Mysterious thriller set in modern day LA.

R: Sequel to Miss Peregrine. Takes places during London blitz.

T: Working on book 3, waiting for revisions. Hopefully will work on a new project.

V: Almost done with 3rd book. Working on something every exciting but can't say anything.

What song best describes your writing process?

V: "Hotel California"

T: Listened to rainy mood.com, needs to be depressed while writing book 3.

At this, Tahereh decides to spoiler something from Ransom's second book.  The fact that he coined the phrase "softly crapping". Ransom's response was "there's a lot of birds in the book."

A: "I Can't Get No Satisfaction"

What is your theme song for you book?

R: "People Are Strange" by The Doors

A: "Howl" by Florence + the Machine

C: "Human" by Civil Twilight

T: "Sometime Around Midnight" by The Airborne Toxic Event and "Hurt" by Johnny Cash

V: "Shine" by David Gray

For Ransom: In the second book, will there be scenes in Wales?

Some leaving of wales. Maybe some horses. Softly crapping.

For Veronica: Loved the romance between Roar and Liv.  Will the shocking event be changed? And will there be more novellas? [The second part of this question was something like that]

There will be more novella. Obsessed with secondary characters. Can't just write someone who walks across the room. As for the shocking event question, chooses to take a pass.

Most drastic thing you've done for a deadline?

R: push it by a year

V: A few all nighters. Check into a hotel, becomes gollum of writing. Been hungry and drank coffee creamer. Mixed sugar it's not so bad.

A: Saw a strawberry with a face, went to eat it and took a picture to share on twitter. Now it's out there. What sort of mind set would think that was okay to share?

C: Normally doesn't drink caffeine. Will have a whole tower of iced tea bottles. Writes in the Pepperdine library and is surrounded by other people constantly nodding her head and saying "okay".

T: Gets obsessive pockets of writing and shuts herself off. Survives on tea and whatever is around. Lived on pita bread for a week. Probably just a couple of days.

Are you willing to have your books turned into movies?

A: Be willing? If they begged me.

C: It's very common to sell the rights.

Do you ever find yourself restructuring the scene with a movie in mind?

R: Need to show, don't tell

Ransom then asked: Do you think about the geography of a scene?

A: Drew a map and layout of rooms. Need to be able to see the layout in minds eye to be able to write with clarity.

V: Fight scenes: likes to make sure it's very clear what's going on. Doesn't want to have readers confused with what is going on.

How much of yourself do you see in your characters?

C: Little pieces of herself in all of the characters. Sort of a beginning writer thing. Versions of themselves, but better.

A: To write well, you have to understand the motivation. Tends to put pieces of friends within the evil characters.

R: Not self aware enough to realize. Probably doing it, but not on purpose.

T: Echoing everything else. Inspired in part by everyone she's met. She has 4 older brothers. At Thanksgiving, one of her brothers had just finished reading her book.  Adam has a bird tattoo on his chest.  So does her brother.  He was supremely concerned. Kenji is an amalgam of all of her brothers and mom.

V: Doesn't try, but there's a limit to how well you can know yourself. Tries to create individuals. Doesn't base on people she's knows. Gets essence for what makes them tick: desire or insecurity. Never looked at family and thought: I'm going to make a character out of you.

For Tahereh: Did Warner always start out the same as how he ended up on the page?

T: No. Doesn't outline, finds out what happens when she's writing. At the end of the first book, she knew what was next.

What makes a good villain? Who is your favorite villain?

C: Needs to be more than 2D, vulnerable. Fun to write.  Loves Snape.

A: Darth Vader. Likes a villain you can understand. Real life is the greatest inspiration.

R: Depends on the story. With a horror story, it has to be what you can't understand. Not everything needs a villain. Likes really smart villains like Moriarty.

T: I should be taking notes. Mobsters who could be a family man. Think they can live a normal life, It's just the family business. So interesting that can be so loving and nurturing and then turn around and kill someone.

V:  Loves dark heroes. Loves when there's a real struggle.

R: No villain thinks they're a villain.

How did you come up with the plot?

C: It's all a mystery. Very intuitive.

A: Comes up with patches and outlines. Will revise if she finds that she's making her characters go somewhere that isn't organic for them.

R: Hard to have entire story in the head. Knows the beginning and the end. Makes balsa wood puppets to act out middle.

T: Intuitive. Trust yourself. Doesn't outline or plot. Likes the story to be fluid, lets character decide everything.

V: Process is similar. Combo of plotting but if characters go somewhere else, go off road. Editor will help in process. Wrote the ending of book 1 2 weeks before print.

There were a few more questions after that, but I just got tired of typing. The Q&A went on for over an hour When they concluded the talk, Michelle and I headed to the end of the line because I was getting a defaced copy for Jaime.

It took about 30 minutes or so for us to get to the front of the line.  For me, I only had Anna's book, but I had two for Tahereh and two for Veronica.  I said hi to Cynthia and chatted to her and Anna for a minute.  Then I handed Tahereh Jaime and Erin's copies of Unravel Me.

 

While Tahereh was working on Jaime's book, Michelle and I were chatting with Veronica.  We started talking about all of the places we had seen each other and all of the places I've traveled for book signings.  I said that I really wanted to fly out for Elizabeth Norris' launch party for Unbreakable, but that Hubs wasn't having it. 

And that started us on the conversation of books to read.  Michelle said Eleanor & Park and I said Unraveling and Unbreakable. Veronica told us that she had forgotten to grab a book and that she always needed to have one for down time.  I gushed about how fantastic Unraveling is and she said she was going to buy them!

After saying goodbye to everyone who was there, Michelle and I left.  It was a loooooong night, but so worth it. All of these authors are just so much fun.

Edit: As I read through this the next day, I realize that the charisma and humor these authors have doesn't even remotely come through. Let me assure you, they are amazing. Don't judge them by my shoddy notes and lazy fingers/editing.

The time it was all about inspiration

My love for Elizabeth Norris knows no bounds.  This is common knowledge.  So, when I was contacted to be a part of the blog tour for Unbreakable [I got an email from someone saying they heard I was a "big fan"], of course I agreed.

Yesterday, Unbreakable was released.  Today, I get to share some of Elizabeth's inspiration behind the amazing series.

 

First off, Janelle. 

And Ben. [Back off, he's mine]

And some of the songs from the official Unbreakable playlist: Save the World. Save the Boy.

"Sober" by Kelly Clarkson The chorus opens, "Three months and I'm still standing... Three months and I'm still remembering" and that really captures what Janelle is feeling at the beginning of the novel.  Not only has the world undergone drastic changes, but Ben is gone and she's trying to pick up the pieces of her life unsure if she really will ever see him again.

"Shallow Life" by Lacuna Coil Janelle is seventeen.  She should be sitting in class, thinking about things like her schedule, homecoming, and what colleges she's going to apply to, but with everything happening to her in Unbreakable, she's being forced into a different kind of life.

"No Light, No Light" by Florence + The Machine This song is perfect.  It encompasses so many of Janelle's feelings.  She can't stop thinking about Ben.  She loves him, but at the same time she can't help be a little mad that he left her, and she really wants to do something to make him stay with her.  Only she's becoming a different person -- everything she's been through is having an impact on her and she wonder if he'll still love who she is.

"Blackout" by Breathe Carolina This song made this chapter happen: 03:11:05:00.  I listened to it in order to get Janelle out of a really tight situation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Huge thanks to Elizabeth and her publicity team for asking me to be a part of this!

If you haven't read Elizabeth's books, you need to go get them now. Click the pictures of the books above to be taken to the GoodReads page for each.  If you want to learn more about Ben, read my interview with Elizabeth here.

Here are some other places you can stalk get ahold of her:

About the Author: Elizabeth Norris is the author of Unraveling and Unbreakable, and the e-novella Undone. Visit Liz on the web at ElizabethNorrisBooks.com and LizNorris.blogspot.com, as well as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Goodreads and Pinterest.

And don't forget to check out the other blogs on the Unbreakable Spring Blog Tour:

April 16th -- Fic Fare
April 17th -- The Readers Lines
April 18th -- Confessions of an Opinionated Book Geek
April 19th -- Good Choice Reading
April 22nd -- The Book Monsters
April 23rd -- Ruby's Reads
April 24th -- Adventures of a Book Junkie
April 25th -- The Noctural Library
April 26th -- Reading Teen
April 30th -- The Book Smugglers

The time it was a book blast

 

Welcome to my first book blast!!  Check below for information about Unbreakable, plus an awesome giveaway for signed books and swag!!

 

Four months after Ben disappeared through the portal to his home universe, Janelle believes she’ll never see him again. Her world is still devastated, but life is finally starting to resume some kind of normalcy. Until Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay shows up. Somebody from an alternate universe is running a human trafficking ring, kidnapping people and selling them on different Earths—and Ben is the prime suspect. Now his family has been imprisoned and will be executed if Ben doesn’t turn himself over within five days.

And when Janelle learns that someone she cares about—someone from her own world—has become one of the missing, she knows that she has to help Barclay, regardless of the danger. Now Janelle has five days to track down the real culprit. Five days to locate the missing people before they’re lost forever. Five days to reunite with the boy who stole her heart. But as the clues begin to add up, Janelle realizes that she’s in way over her head—and that she may not have known Ben as well as she thought. Can she uncover the truth before everyone she cares about is killed?

Elizabeth Norris briefly taught high school English and history before trading the southern California beaches and sunshine for Manhattan's recent snowpocalyptic winter.

She harbors dangerous addictions to guacamole, red velvet cupcakes, sushi, and Argo Tea, fortunately not all together.

Unbreakable is out now, so go get it!! Wanna support my local indie bookstore [and Elizabeth's favorite when she lived in SoCal]? Click here to order it from Mysterious Galaxy!

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The time it was all about Ben Michaels

Have we all learned by now about my love for all things Elizabeth Norris and Ben Michaels? After countless posts about both of them, I feel like this is information that is well known.

 

After I won the arc for Unbreakable, I really wanted to do something with Elizabeth.  She's always so so so nice and so so so amazing.  Somehow I got it in my head *cough*Ava*cough* to ask for an interview and she said yes!!

 

But, before we get to that, did you know there is going to be a novella?

 

I've been waiting forever to use this gif

 

It's called Undone, it comes out on March 5th.  Did I mention that it's all Ben POV?


Before the accident. Before their universes collided. Before they fell in love.

Riveting and romantic, Undone: An Unraveling Novella contains three short stories set in the world of Unraveling, the first book in the gripping sci-fi duology by Elizabeth Norris.

Before Ben Michaels saved Janelle Tenner’s life, Janelle saved Ben when he stumbled through an interuniverse portal into a completely new world. That day, he fell in love with the girl of his dreams. And he never forgot her.

Through three stories told from Ben’s point of view, learn how Ben and his friends discovered their ability to travel between worlds, how Ben first met Janelle, and how he pined for her for years before he actually got the chance to meet her, save her life, and capture her heart. And find out what happens to Ben between the cliff-hanger conclusion to Unraveling and the beginning of its heart-stopping sequel, Unbreakable.

Doesn't that sound amazing?

Okay.  Let's get to Elizabeth now....

 

1. Was it easier or harder to write in Ben's POV?

 

It was definitely a little harder. I think Janelle's voice is a little closer to my voice (apparently I swear a lot) so I had to really make sure I thought about the differences in their character and the differences in his voice through out the whole process, and especially when editing. I also had my boyfriend read through the short stories and answer questions to make sure Ben didn't sound to girlie. At one point, I even believe we had a conversation that started with me saying, "Hey so if I died and you found me dead and all messed up, what would you be feeling?"

 

2. Did you see Ben as a character right away or did he grow in response to Janelle?

 

Ben was always a character in his own right. I think in my head, neither one of them could have existed without the other. Janelle was who I wanted to be when I was 17 and Ben was the guy I wanted to find in high school (but didn't), and then of course there's some sci-fi in there as well... 

 

3. When you started writing Unbreakable, did you know the ending right away?

 

Yes. I almost always know the ending when I start writing. It's the middle and the opening scene that sometimes take a little longer for me to figure out. (I rewrote the beginning to Unbreakable four or five times). When I started writing I of course knew where I had left all the characters at the end of Unraveling and I knew a little of what I was going to put them through in this one--but I knew where I wanted them to end. Even when I was contemplating whether to write a third book in this series or write something new for my third book, this is still where this story would have ended.

 

4. When you're writing the swoony lines, do you sit back and laugh at the flails you know you're responsible for making happen? :D

[I had planned to post an amazing swoony flail quote from Ben in Unbreakable, but I decided to let you find it all on your own. Also, I couldn't pick just one.]

 

Haha, no! I have no idea. A lot of the time when I'm writing, I think I'm in some kind of weird trance where I'm just typing away. Sometimes a scene just sort of comes together in my mind and I have to write it--I do a lot of typing in the notepad of my iphone, sometimes in the most random places, like bathrooms, the subway, department stores. And a lot of the time, I think those tend to be some of my best scenes.
 

I actually wrote part of that scene while I was walking down 6th avenue (I am that person that uses my phone and tries to walk at the same time. Once I walked into a street sign because I was checking my email and I hit my head so hard I ended up with a concussion, but it hasn't stopped me).

 

5. Who are your favorite swoony boys?

 

Jonah from Jellicoe Road, Po from Graceling, Adam from Where She Went, Adrian from the Vampire Academy books. And admittedly I was Team Edward and really wanted Hermione to end up with Harry instead of Ron.

 

Speed round:

 

1. You're in San Diego for one meal. Where do you go and what do you order?

 

It depends on how much money I have. If I don't have much, I go to Roberto's in Del Mar and get a carne asada burrito and guacamole with chips. Or I'd go to Miso Harney's in Old Town and ask Mike (he's an amazing sushi chef) to make me something spicy. He's like a wizard.

 

2. If you could wake up one day, just knowing how to do something, what would it be?

 

Dance. And I mean like So You Think You Can Dance dance.

 

3. What are you reading right now?

 

I just finished Pretty Little Liars which I had never read before, and I'm about to start Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn.

 

4. Are there any authors out there that you fangirl over?

 

So many. I met JK Rowling at her signing for Casual Vacancy in NY and I was so in awe of her. I also totally fan-girled Melina Marchetta, Gayle Forman, and Kristin Cashore when they did a signing together, and I think I probably always will.

*sigh*

Isn't she just awesome?

Huge thanks to Elizabeth for taking the time to deal with my fangirling answer my questions!!

Now. 

Remember when I mentioned winning an arc of Unbreakable? I actually won the grand prize in Elizabeth's contest and the chance to name a character in Undone. [There is actually a hilarious story that goes with this, but I'm far too lazy to go into the specifics.  Just know that it was funny.]

Let's all take a guess as to what name I picked.

And this last part is just bragging, but I'm gonna tell you about it. 

Ben was the very first boy that was given to me, thanks to Kassiah.  After winning the arc of Unbreakable, I was on a quest to get an arc of Unraveling to complete the collection. I posted it on Twitter and Ava told me that she was working on it, to give her some time.  Less than a day later, she told me that she had found a copy, but wouldn't give me the details via text.

Turns out, she got me an arc straight from Elizabeth.  From her personal collection.

 

                                                               Yah, I kept the post-it.

Anyways...

To celebrate the release of Undone, I'm giving away stuff! There will be three winners.  The grand prize winner will win a hardcover copy of Unraveling, an e-book of Undone and a hardcover copy of Unbreakable [when it is released on 4/23/13]. Two winners will get an e-book of Undone.

The grand prize winner will get books from The Book Depository. Winners of the e-book copies will choose between Barnes & Noble or Amazon for delivery.

Rules for the giveaway are listed under the "terms and conditions" on the Raffelcopter widget.

Good luck!!

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The time it was a best of list

So. Everyone is busy posting their best books of 2012 and since I'm not a reviewer, I wasn't going to contribute. At the last minute [obviously], I have decided to add my very own best of list.

In no particular order, here are my top 4 [yes, 4] authors I met in the year 2012.

Michelle Hodkin

My love for Michelle is strong. I mean, we flew to Chicago for her. The trip was fun, Michelle was amazing. And most importantly? I got Noah.

  

I may or may not be in talks with MGRB to start a campaign to get Michelle here in 2013 for Retribution.

Sarah J Maas

I met Sarah several times in 2012. Every time, I was a hot mess of fangirling. First was ALA, second time was at CC, third time was the Throne of Glass release party and the fourth time was my birthday.

Where she gave me a birthday hat to wear. And signed my birthday card.

Disregard the fact that my eyes are shut. 

Sarah is always so amazing and I may or may not have some tentative plans with her in 2013, thanks to Ava.

Elizabeth Norris

I believe, by now, everyone knows of my love for Ben and how Kassiah got him for me.  And how I got him again when I met Elizabeth in San Diego.

  

But then, somehow. I won an arc of Unbreakable when Elizabeth had a contest. And in the arc, she signed him over to me again. In case anyone was going to dispute this ownership.  :D

Stephanie Perkins

The first time I met Stephanie was at Festival of Books. Ava made me stand in line with her to see Stephanie. And when I got up there, I proceeded to have the worst case of word vomit. But, Stephanie took it all in stride and hugged me.

I saw her again a few days later, on the YA or Bust tour. In the process, Lucy blew up on the freeway. We still decided to go and when I word vomited the entire story to Stephanie, she immediately got up, came around the table and hugged me. Again. And thanked me for coming.

 

She attempted to make Kassiah share Étienne, but since his name was spelled wrong [something Stephanie and I both missed], Kassiah says its not binding.

Guess I'll have to try again when Isla comes out.

All in all, 2012 was a great year. I met a lot of awesome authors and I can't wait to see what 2013 brings.