tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10012515495886596882024-03-20T10:47:29.991-07:00Writing Angels"If the angel deigns to come it will be because you have convinced her, not by tears but by your humble resolve to be always beginning: to be a beginner."
~RilkeCynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05887698019247360370noreply@blogger.comBlogger136125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-62185667727124681722020-07-04T10:01:00.000-07:002020-07-04T10:01:10.860-07:00Cover Reveal For My Next Book!It's that time again--cover reveal time!!!!<br />
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This time it's for my new YA contemporary that will be out March 30, 2021. It's called WITH YOU ALL THE WAY, and it's about family and sisters and, well, sex. (Although I would say that it's a fairly clean book--it's meant to discuss sex, not, uh feature it.)<br />
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Here's the official description:<br />
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<i>A </i><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Forever</span> <i>for a new generation. Bestselling author Cynthia Hand’s funny and frank coming-of-age story is the perfect read for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han.</i></div>
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<i>Ada’s life is a mess. She just caught her boyfriend cheating on her after a humiliating attempt at losing her virginity, and she’s had it up to here with her perfect older sister trying to give her advice about, well, sex.</i></div>
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<i>But things really hit the fan during a family vacation in Hawaii, where Ada makes a heinous discovery: her mom is having an affair. Apparently, no one can keep themselves from falling into bed with people they shouldn’t, so Ada decides it’s time for her to stop trying and start doing—sex, that is. But her best laid plans don’t quite leave room for the truth: feelings, romantic or not, always get in the way.</i></div>
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And here's the cover:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y6z9OE9tNKg/XwC1Dg_v__I/AAAAAAAACug/GbdDL1fBIuUhy92RTmyy__hFFAjIMQi8gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/WYATW%2Bcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="662" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y6z9OE9tNKg/XwC1Dg_v__I/AAAAAAAACug/GbdDL1fBIuUhy92RTmyy__hFFAjIMQi8gCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/WYATW%2Bcover.jpg" width="423" /></a></div>
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This one is an eye grabber, isn't it? I love that it reflects the tropical/jungle idea and the Hawaii setting.</div>
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What do you think?</div>
Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-3750884911377266172019-10-29T04:07:00.001-07:002019-10-29T04:07:39.115-07:00One Week To Go!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8zcwPdkSYeE/Xa3VY3l6dAI/AAAAAAAACg0/9JogZTw1Ljg3933yikp5O9hhLtpHTMqcACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/TheHowandtheWhy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8zcwPdkSYeE/Xa3VY3l6dAI/AAAAAAAACg0/9JogZTw1Ljg3933yikp5O9hhLtpHTMqcACPcBGAYYCw/s320/TheHowandtheWhy.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, it's true. In just one week, THE HOW & THE WHY will be out in the world! As usual, I am filled with excitement and nervousness, especially because this book is so deeply personal to me.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">If you'd like to receive a signed copy of this book, along with some free stuff like bookmarks, quote cards, and stickers, order it <a href="https://www.rdbooks.org/book/9780062693167" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you've already pre-ordered the book and are now kicking yourself because now you won't get the free stuff, STOP KICKING YOURSELF. Just send me an email at writercynthiahand@gmail with your proof of purchase (like a screenshot) and I will send you a signed and personalized bookplate and all the free stuff, free of charge. *U.S. only. Also: THANK YOU. If I could hug you right now and you liked hugs and were okay with it, I totally would. Thank you so much for reading.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you want to help me out this week, please share about the book. Check the book page for the very kind reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly, etc, and the links to how to buy it from pretty much everywhere.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zi3UGktpaDA/XbgcW4OB3PI/AAAAAAAACjA/tM0lp6VTTXYVyJkWY5mfm4hAyYJWybXKgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2019-10-28%2B16.31.14.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="918" height="271" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zi3UGktpaDA/XbgcW4OB3PI/AAAAAAAACjA/tM0lp6VTTXYVyJkWY5mfm4hAyYJWybXKgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screenshot%2B2019-10-28%2B16.31.14.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">And if you happen to live in Idaho, check the events page. I am going to be doing events and school visits like crazy over the next couple months. Including a BOOK LAUNCH at Rediscovered Books in Boise, on November 6 from 7-8:30. So stop by!</span><br />
<br />Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-72995659169442443912019-03-07T11:00:00.001-08:002019-03-07T11:15:30.638-08:00Cover reveal for THE HOW AND THE WHYThis post has been a LONG time coming. The folks over at HarperTeen have been working on the cover of my newest book, THE HOW AND THE WHY (out in November 2019) for over a year, people. And now it is finally ready to show to the world.<br />
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But first, the description:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;">A poignant exploration of family and the ties that bind from <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author Cynthia Hand.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><i>Dear X,</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Today Melly had us writing letters to our babies. I can't imagine you as an actual baby, let alone an eighteen-year-old person reading this letter. I'm not even eighteen yet myself.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>-S.</i></span><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;">Cassandra McMurtrey has the best parents a girl could ask for. They’ve given Cass a life she wouldn’t trade for the world. She has everything she needs—except maybe the one thing she wants. Like, to know who she is. Where she came from. Questions her adoptive parents can’t answer, no matter how much they love her.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;">But eighteen years ago, someone wrote Cass a series of letters. And they may just hold the answers Cass has been searching for.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;">Alternating between Cass’s search for answers and letters from the pregnant teen who gave her up for adoption, this voice-driven narrative is the perfect read for fans of Nina LaCour and Jandy Nelson.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;">And now (drum roll, please!)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;">THE COVER</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P5dFELwsSq8/XIFqUfoBjcI/AAAAAAAACX8/73aNUYAj6loDG5Wc8kVeU-sVXK9Ooi0MQCLcBGAs/s1600/TheHowandtheWhy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P5dFELwsSq8/XIFqUfoBjcI/AAAAAAAACX8/73aNUYAj6loDG5Wc8kVeU-sVXK9Ooi0MQCLcBGAs/s640/TheHowandtheWhy.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;">I am so in love with this cover. I cried the first time I saw it. It is extra personal for me, as the building shown here is the real Booth Memorial Home For Unwed Mothers (what is now Marian Prichett High School for pregnant teens and new mothers). On the left is S, who write a series to her unborn baby, and on the right, Cass, the headstrong girl that baby would grow up to be, gazing at each other across time. (Can you tell that it's summer on the left side, and autumn on the other? SOOOOOOOO COOL!)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;">Here's where you can find the book:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Why-Cynthia-Hand/dp/0062693166/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1551985870&sr=8-1-fkmrnull" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-id-want-to-know-cynthia-hand/1130777482?ean=9780062693167" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062693167" target="_blank">Indiebound</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9780062693167?AID=10747236&PID=7310909&cjevent=40799de1410d11e9820d008b0a1c0e14" target="_blank">BooksAMillion</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062693167/the-how-and-the-why/" target="_blank">HarperCollins</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So what do you think?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span>Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-61150280981334895172018-12-31T07:00:00.000-08:002018-12-31T07:01:05.953-08:00Books I Read In 2018<span style="font-size: large;">I haven't read as many books as I would have liked to this year, but there have been some truly excellent reads of 2018. Some I read for my book club, which is entirely wonderful to be a part of, and some I read to my kids, but most I read entirely for pleasure. And what a pleasurable year of reading it was!</span><div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So here's the list:</span></div>
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Books I read in 2018</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-almost-sisters-joshilyn-jackson/1124807449?ean=9780062105721#/" style="color: purple;">Almost Sisters</a> </i>by Joshilyn Jackson.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">With empathy, grace, humor, and piercing insight, the author of</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">Gods in Alabama</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">presents a powerful, emotionally resonant novel of the South that confronts the truth about privilege, family, and the distinctions between perception and reality - the stories we tell ourselves about our origins and who we really are.</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span></div>
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Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs' weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comics convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman. </div>
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It turns out the caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory. She's having a baby boy - an unexpected but not unhappy development in the 38-year-old's life. But before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional Southern family, her stepsister Rachel's marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved 90-year-old grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she's been hiding her dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood. </div>
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Leia returns to Alabama to put her grandmother's affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and tell her family that she's pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she's got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie's been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family's freedom and future, and it will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing father, and the world she thinks she knows.</div>
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My thoughts: I read this with my book club, and I liked it, although almost a year later it hasn’t really stayed with me. I do remember that there was an element of comic-book writing in it that I really liked and reminded me a bit of <i>Station Eleven</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X3LACWhHOkQ/XCYuYqH3RCI/AAAAAAAACO4/mBiQQm5GjFksXUUrgnLmdJVOFnEWuQq8gCLcBGAs/s1600/the%2Bfifth%2Bseason.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="347" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X3LACWhHOkQ/XCYuYqH3RCI/AAAAAAAACO4/mBiQQm5GjFksXUUrgnLmdJVOFnEWuQq8gCLcBGAs/s320/the%2Bfifth%2Bseason.jpg" width="222" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Earth-Trilogy-Season-Obelisk/dp/031652719X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1546003564&sr=8-2&keywords=the+fifth+season" style="color: purple;">The Fifth Season</a> </i>by N.K. Jemisin.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">This is the way the world ends...for the last time.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></b>A season of endings has begun.<br /><br />It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun.<br /><br />It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter.<br /><br />It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester.<br /><br />This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy. </div>
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My thoughts: THIS BOOK. I have not enjoyed an adult fantasy so much in years. This was easily one of my favorite books ever, not just of the year. The characters were so well drawn. The world was so cool and so tough and so beautiful done. It was also one of the best uses of second person in a novel that I’ve ever seen. SOOOOOOO good.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ko8Av9mlNMQ/XCYu1beDPRI/AAAAAAAACPA/sTxhYA3nGoECGWq9869BOo3t3oiClDYHgCLcBGAs/s1600/the%2Bchemist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="270" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ko8Av9mlNMQ/XCYu1beDPRI/AAAAAAAACPA/sTxhYA3nGoECGWq9869BOo3t3oiClDYHgCLcBGAs/s320/the%2Bchemist.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-chemist-stephenie-meyer/1124120595?ean=9780316387842#/" style="color: purple;">The Chemist</a> </i>by Stephanie Meyer. </b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">She used to work for the U.S. government, but very few people ever knew that. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn't even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now she rarely stays in the same place or uses the same name for long. They've killed the only other person she trusted, but something she knows still poses a threat. They want her dead, and soon. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it's her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Resolving to meet the threat head-on, she prepares for the toughest fight of her life but finds herself falling for a man who can only complicate her likelihood of survival. As she sees her choices being rapidly whittled down, she must apply her unique talents in ways she never dreamed of. </span></div>
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My thoughts: A book club read. Again, I liked it, although my favorite SM is still far and away The Host. I liked the dogs, the lethal heroine, and the solid lack of a love triangle.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NGTJDSR/ref=series_rw_dp_sw" target="_blank">The Obelisk Gate</a> </i>by N.K. Jemison.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Sequel to The Fifth Season, and I liked it maybe even better than the first book. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FTWUW-NtVSg/XCYvect_eUI/AAAAAAAACPI/SPKjgyFIUwE-_gzUjeOg1PYp_aGKNsF9ACLcBGAs/s1600/fawkes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="265" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FTWUW-NtVSg/XCYvect_eUI/AAAAAAAACPI/SPKjgyFIUwE-_gzUjeOg1PYp_aGKNsF9ACLcBGAs/s320/fawkes.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fawkes-nadine-brandes/1127480853?ean=9780785217145#/" style="color: purple;">Fawkes</a> </i>by Nadine Brandes.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<strong>Thomas Fawkes is turning to stone, and the only cure to the Stone Plague is to join his father’s plot to assassinate the king of England.</strong></div>
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Silent wars leave the most carnage. The wars that are never declared but are carried out in dark alleys with masks and hidden knives. Wars where color power alters the natural rhythm of 17th-century London. And when the king calls for peace, no one listens until he finally calls for death.</div>
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<strong><span style="font-style: italic;">But what if death finds him first?</span></strong></div>
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Keepers think the Igniters caused the plague. Igniters think the Keepers did it. But all Thomas knows is that the Stone Plague infecting his eye is spreading. And if he doesn’t do something soon, he’ll be a lifeless statue. So when his Keeper father, Guy Fawkes, invites him to join the Gunpowder Plot—claiming it will put an end to the plague—Thomas is in.</div>
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<strong><span style="font-style: italic;">The plan: use 36 barrels of gunpowder to blow up the Igniter King.</span></strong></div>
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The problem: Doing so will destroy the family of the girl Thomas loves. But backing out of the plot will send his father and the other plotters to the gallows. To save one, Thomas will lose the other.</div>
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No matter Thomas’s choice, one thing is clear: once the decision is made and the color masks have been put on, there’s no turning back.</div>
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My thoughts: I loved this one so much I ended up blurbing it. It had history, romance and magic in perfect proportion.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pI6uhsNhvjA/XCYv1W6hs8I/AAAAAAAACPU/T8YV7xqfGiwsQAbZdzcs0r2JtD5v0LY8gCLcBGAs/s1600/far%2Bfrom%2Bthe%2Btree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pI6uhsNhvjA/XCYv1W6hs8I/AAAAAAAACPU/T8YV7xqfGiwsQAbZdzcs0r2JtD5v0LY8gCLcBGAs/s320/far%2Bfrom%2Bthe%2Btree.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/far-from-the-tree-robin-benway/1125454842?ean=9780062330628#/" style="color: purple;">Far From the Free</a> </i>by Robin Benway.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<strong>Perfect for fans of NBC's "This Is Us," Robin Benway’s beautiful interweaving story of three very different teenagers connected by blood explores the meaning of family in all its forms—how to find it, how to keep it, and how to love it.</strong></div>
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Being the middle child has its ups and downs.</div>
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But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including—</div>
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Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs.</div>
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And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close to the vest, where they can’t hurt anyone but him.</div>
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Don't miss this moving novel that addresses such important topics as adoption, teen pregnancy, and foster care.</div>
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My thoughts: Robin talked to me about this book when she came to speak to my novel writing class one semester a few years ago, and I’d been excited to read it ever since. It’s a book about adoption, and since I am adopted, I was bracing myself to feel very emotional and to connect deeply with this novel . . . but I just didn’t. I don’t know why. I don’t know if there was a part of my brain that was more critical than I would usually be, because I have my own about-adoption novel coming out next fall, or if this adoption experience is simply so far outside of my own experience that it didn’t resonate with me, but I didn’t love this one the way I expected to. Still, it’s an excellent book. The point of view and the writing are beautifully done. I loved the use of the name “Peach,” for instance. A very good read.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>The Stone Sky </i>by N.K. Jemisin.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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This was the finale to the series. She just keeps raising the stakes and finding new cool things to throw at us. I will be reading all of her other work now.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hE0HVwunmSc/XCYwosp9zmI/AAAAAAAACPk/NVFNavfRmKgZoUz63fOiDaV2_d1Hzf3hQCLcBGAs/s1600/station%2Beleven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="263" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hE0HVwunmSc/XCYwosp9zmI/AAAAAAAACPk/NVFNavfRmKgZoUz63fOiDaV2_d1Hzf3hQCLcBGAs/s320/station%2Beleven.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/station-eleven-emily-st-john-mandel/1117737038?ean=9780804172448#/" style="color: purple;">Station Eleven</a> </i>by Emily St. John Mandel (reread).</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, <span style="font-style: italic;">Station Eleven </span>tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. </b></b><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">King Lear</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.</span></div>
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My thoughts: This was my pick for book club. I listened to the audio this time, and was struck once again by how lyrical and moving and well plotted this book is, with this large cast of interwoven characters all dealing with the end of the world. What I love about this book is that, even though it’s a post apocalyptic novel, it ends with hope.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xS8bhWXBXE8/XCYw9A-cJII/AAAAAAAACP4/8L1envmVvtQyvY989Uvz2Ee1Hv8lZ4DKwCLcBGAs/s1600/future%2Bhome%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bliving%2Bgod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xS8bhWXBXE8/XCYw9A-cJII/AAAAAAAACP4/8L1envmVvtQyvY989Uvz2Ee1Hv8lZ4DKwCLcBGAs/s320/future%2Bhome%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bliving%2Bgod.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/future-home-of-the-living-god-louise-erdrich/1125687387?ean=9780062694058" style="color: purple;">Future Home of the Living God</a> </i>by Louise Erdrich. </span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Louise Erdrich, the <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span> bestselling, National Book Award-winning author of <span style="font-style: italic;">LaRose</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Round House</span>, paints a startling portrait of a young woman fighting for her life and her unborn child against oppressive forces that manifest in the wake of a cataclysmic event.</div>
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The world as we know it is ending. Evolution has reversed itself, affecting every living creature on earth. Science cannot stop the world from running backwards, as woman after woman gives birth to infants that appear to be primitive species of humans. Twenty-six-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker, adopted daughter of a pair of big-hearted, open-minded Minneapolis liberals, is as disturbed and uncertain as the rest of America around her. But for Cedar, this change is profound and deeply personal. She is four months pregnant.</div>
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Though she wants to tell the adoptive parents who raised her from infancy, Cedar first feels compelled to find her birth mother, Mary Potts, an Ojibwe living on the reservation, to understand both her and her baby’s origins. As Cedar goes back to her own biological beginnings, society around her begins to disintegrate, fueled by a swelling panic about the end of humanity. </div>
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There are rumors of martial law, of Congress confining pregnant women. Of a registry, and rewards for those who turn these wanted women in. Flickering through the chaos are signs of increasing repression: a shaken Cedar witnesses a family wrenched apart when police violently drag a mother from her husband and child in a parking lot. The streets of her neighborhood have been renamed with Bible verses. A stranger answers the phone when she calls her adoptive parents, who have vanished without a trace. It will take all Cedar has to avoid the prying eyes of potential informants and keep her baby safe. </div>
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A chilling dystopian novel both provocative and prescient, <span style="font-style: italic;">Future Home of the Living God</span> is a startlingly original work from one of our most acclaimed writers: a moving meditation on female agency, self-determination, biology, and natural rights that speaks to the troubling changes of our time.</div>
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My thoughts: I have loved Erdrich since college (which was a long time ago!) and I will read anything she puts out into the world, but this book was so special and of course gorgeous in the writing, and it felt so relevant to the world we’re living in now. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eleanor-oliphant-is-completely-fine-gail-honeyman/1124367992?ean=9780735220690#/" style="color: purple;">Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine</a> </i>by Gail Honeyman.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine. </b><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . . </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><b style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The only way to survive is to open your heart. </b></div>
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My thoughts: Another book club read that I liked. I thought Elinor was heartfelt and entertaining to hang out with.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bXwaIx68E_8/XCYx_ebJKJI/AAAAAAAACQM/6zoGNd8g4iYUhxFjoLCnbhwRTW4rmD_pQCLcBGAs/s1600/killers%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bflower%2Bmoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="263" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bXwaIx68E_8/XCYx_ebJKJI/AAAAAAAACQM/6zoGNd8g4iYUhxFjoLCnbhwRTW4rmD_pQCLcBGAs/s320/killers%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bflower%2Bmoon.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/killers-of-the-flower-moon-david-grann/1123721799?ean=9780307742483#/" style="color: purple;">Killers of the Flower Moon</a> </i>by David Grann (non-fiction).</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes like Al Spencer, the “Phantom Terror,” roamed—many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll climbed to more than twenty-four, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations and the bureau badly bungled the case. In desperation, the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only American Indian agents in the bureau. The agents infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">Killers of the Flower Moon, </span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. Based on years of research and startling new evidence, the book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward American Indians that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">Killers of the Flower Moon</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> is utterly compelling, but also emotionally devastating.</span></div>
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My thoughts: This book was appalling, fascinating, and eye-opening, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes non-fiction.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mr-dickens-and-his-carol-samantha-silva/1125686766?ean=9781250154040#/" style="color: purple;">Mr. Dickens and His Carol</a> </i>by Samantha Silva. </b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Laced with humor, rich historical detail from Charles Dickens’ life, and clever winks to his work, Samantha Silva's <span style="font-style: italic;">Mr. Dickens and His Carol </span>is an irresistible new take on a cherished classic. </b></div>
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Charles Dickens is <span style="font-style: italic;">not </span>feeling the Christmas spirit. His newest book is an utter flop, the critics have turned against him, relatives near and far hound him for money. While his wife plans a lavish holiday party for their ever-expanding family and circle of friends, Dickens has visions of the poor house. But when his publishers try to blackmail him into writing a Christmas book to save them all from financial ruin, he refuses. And a serious bout of writer’s block sets in. </div>
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Frazzled and filled with self-doubt, Dickens seeks solace in his great palace of thinking, the city of London itself. On one of his long night walks, in a once-beloved square, he meets the mysterious Eleanor Lovejoy, who might be just the muse he needs. As Dickens’ deadlines close in, Eleanor propels him on a Scrooge-like journey that tests everything he believes about generosity, friendship, ambition, and love. The story he writes will change Christmas forever.</div>
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My thoughts: I did an event with Samantha last year called “What the Dickens?” (snerk) where she did the most amazing reading (with the accent and everything) from this book. It took me a while to finish because I got busy at the beginning of the year, but I thought it was very well done and the Dickens-lover in me was thrilled at the way CD and his family can to life in this novel. Of course I loved it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7hzVBdcR2QY/XCYz6ehZTKI/AAAAAAAACQs/iMs0ZlM0wRsN3y1LuHAXEpcJJ5guy-R5QCLcBGAs/s1600/my%2Bbig%2Bfat%2Bzombie%2Bgoldfish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="270" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7hzVBdcR2QY/XCYz6ehZTKI/AAAAAAAACQs/iMs0ZlM0wRsN3y1LuHAXEpcJJ5guy-R5QCLcBGAs/s320/my%2Bbig%2Bfat%2Bzombie%2Bgoldfish.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-big-fat-zombie-goldfish-mo-ohara/1113938089?ean=9781250052155#/" style="color: purple;">My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish</a> </i>by Mo O’Hara.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">When Tom's big brother decides to become an Evil Scientist, his first experiment involves dunking Frankie the goldfish into toxic green gunk. Tom knows that there is only one thing to do: Zap the fish with a battery and bring him back to life! But there's something weird about the new Frankie. He's now a BIG FAT ZOMBIE GOLDFISH with hypnotic powers . . . and he's out for revenge!</span></div>
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My thoughts: I listened to the audio of this on a drive with my kids, and I thought it was super clever and funny and my kids have never been so quiet and enthralled during a drive.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-house-in-the-big-woods-laura-ingalls-wilder/1100545480?ean=9780064400015#/" style="color: purple;">Little House in The Big Woods</a> </i>by Laura Ingalls Wilder.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Based on the real-life adventures of Laura Ingalls Wilder, <span style="font-style: italic;">Little House in the Big Woods </span>is the first book in the award-winning Little House series, which has captivated generations of readers. This edition features the classic black-and-white artwork from Garth Williams.</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Little House in the Big Woods</span> takes place in 1871 and introduces us to four-year-old Laura, who lives in a log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. She shares the cabin with her Pa, her Ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their lovable dog, Jack.</div>
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Pioneer life isn’t easy for the Ingalls family, since they must grow or catch all their own food as they get ready for the cold winter. But they make the best of every tough situation. They celebrate Christmas with homemade toys and treats, do their spring planting, bring in the harvest in the fall, and make their first trip into town. And every night, safe and warm in their little house, the sound of Pa’s fiddle lulls Laura and her sisters into sleep.</div>
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The nine books in the timeless Little House series tell the story of Laura’s real childhood as an American pioneer, and are cherished by readers of all generations. They offer a unique glimpse into life on the American frontier, and tell the heartwarming, unforgettable story of a loving family.</div>
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My thoughts: I also listened to this one in the car with the kids, which I came to regret, as it has not aged well in terms of its political correctness. The narrator from Cherry Jones was amazing, but I had to stop and discuss racism with the kids at more than one occasion. I read these books as a child, and I hadn’t remembered that so much of them is Wilder chronicling how to do the things they did back then: this is how you make maple syrup. This is how you smoke meat. It was really interesting, but again, something that I would have liked to edit a bit.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/see-you-in-the-cosmos-jack-cheng/1124861427?ean=9780399186387#/" style="color: purple;">See You in the Cosmos</a> </i>by Jack Cheng.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">A space-obsessed boy and his dog, Carl Sagan, take a journey toward family, love, hope, and awe in this funny and moving novel for fans of <span style="font-style: italic;">Counting by 7s</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Walk Two Moons, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</span>.</b><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><b style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </b><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">11-year-old Alex Petroski loves space and rockets, his mom, his brother, and his dog Carl Sagan—named for his hero, the real-life astronomer. All he wants is to launch his golden iPod into space the way Carl Sagan (the man, not the dog) launched his Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. From Colorado to New Mexico, Las Vegas to L.A., Alex records a journey on his iPod to show other lifeforms what life on earth, </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">his</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> earth, is like. But his destination keeps changing. And the funny, lost, remarkable people he meets along the way can only partially prepare him for the secrets he’ll uncover—from the truth about his long-dead dad to the fact that, for a kid with a troubled mom and a mostly not-around brother, he has way more family than he ever knew.</span></div>
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My thoughts: My kids and I loved this one—it was perfect as an audio book, as it is supposed to be a series of recordings from this kid who is trying to enter a rocket competition. The kid who did the narration did a fantastic job. I felt really great about my kids hearing this one, too--it had a lot of good life lessons and examples of empathy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uyqwbITLc6A/XCY1LI78cqI/AAAAAAAACRU/XqKTHQ9YE_Y_F3k_F7jiBntcZigPUevlQCLcBGAs/s1600/lincoln%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bbardo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="406" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uyqwbITLc6A/XCY1LI78cqI/AAAAAAAACRU/XqKTHQ9YE_Y_F3k_F7jiBntcZigPUevlQCLcBGAs/s320/lincoln%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bbardo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lincoln-in-the-bardo-george-saunders/1123805737?ean=9780553397574" style="color: purple;">Lincoln in the Bardo</a> </i>by George Saunders (reread).</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;"><br />Lincoln in the Bardo</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction’s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?</span></div>
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My thoughts: This is one you’ll either love or hate. I love it, but I already loved George Saunders. This was just such a cool, interested, creative, and fun way to write a historical novel: one part collection of writings and letters about the subject, some of them contradictory, one part fantastical, funny, and inventive ghost story, and one part heart wrenching drama about what it is like to lose a child. I laughed a lot. I cried several times, especially at the end. I also want to add that I think this may be the best audio book ever produced. It has a cast of over a hundred writers and actors reading the parts, and it is such a beautiful thing to listen to.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-curse-so-dark-and-lonely-brigid-kemmerer/1128064594?ean=9781681195087#/" style="color: purple;">A Curse So Dark and Lonely</a> </i>by Brigid Kemmerer.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-style: italic;">Fall in love, break the curse.</span></b></div>
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It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.</div>
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Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she's instead somehow sucked into Rhen's cursed world.</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><b>Break the curse, save the kingdom.</b></span></div>
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A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn't know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what's at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.</div>
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My thoughts: I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this one, and I really liked it. I am a big fan of Brigid, and I love Beauty and the Beast retellings, so this was a no-brainer thumbs up for me. I liked how the “Beauty” was disabled but it was handled so well. I liked the world building, and the “beast” at the end. Pretty cool.</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MiZS68bLAXM/XCY14wtdRCI/AAAAAAAACRk/SqUDruvewNMmiSe8ZiUeG6Ei_I0tTeGbACLcBGAs/s1600/outsider.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MiZS68bLAXM/XCY14wtdRCI/AAAAAAAACRk/SqUDruvewNMmiSe8ZiUeG6Ei_I0tTeGbACLcBGAs/s320/outsider.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-outsider-stephen-king/1127208646?ean=9781501180989#/" style="color: purple;">The Outsider</a> </i>by Stephen King.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories.</b><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.</span></div>
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My thoughts: This one went along pretty slowly at first. So much time was spent setting up the situation, which could have been set up much more quickly. I was getting frustrated and starting to feel like we were just rotating over and over the same events . . . and then I got to a scene that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I had to close to the book and do something else for a while, because I obviously couldn’t go right to sleep. Stephen King is the master. The rest of the book was a wild and terrifying ride.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-okCIPh1thfI/XCY2Tz5J_tI/AAAAAAAACR4/c20MW4akg9U4fvLekSBUTBpIrzbDxiAcQCLcBGAs/s1600/dreamland%2Bburning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="275" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-okCIPh1thfI/XCY2Tz5J_tI/AAAAAAAACR4/c20MW4akg9U4fvLekSBUTBpIrzbDxiAcQCLcBGAs/s320/dreamland%2Bburning.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dreamland-burning-jennifer-latham/1123748175?ean=9780316384902#/" style="color: purple;">Dreamland Burning</a> </i>by Jennifer Latham.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">A compelling dual-narrated tale from Jennifer Latham that questions how far we've come with race relations.</b></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Some bodies won't stay buried.<br />Some stories need to be told. </span><br /><br />When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family's property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the present and the past.<br /><br />Nearly one hundred years earlier, a misguided violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what's right the night Tulsa burns.<br /><br />Through intricately interwoven alternating perspectives, Jennifer Latham's lightning-paced page-turner brings the Tulsa race riot of 1921 to blazing life and raises important questions about the complex state of US race relations--both yesterday and today.</div>
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My thoughts: This may have been my favorite YA this year. I loved the historical aspect of it. I loved the mystery, and the way the layers of the mystery were slowly unwrapped. I cared so much about the characters and was so worried for them. I was also genuinely surprised at the end. A great book.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9aL1h1_YjCU/XCY2y7oFNoI/AAAAAAAACSE/Zyly3EsTUs0-h-IRBEYWp9tGkDZEZEFkACLcBGAs/s1600/the%2Bwonder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="270" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9aL1h1_YjCU/XCY2y7oFNoI/AAAAAAAACSE/Zyly3EsTUs0-h-IRBEYWp9tGkDZEZEFkACLcBGAs/s320/the%2Bwonder.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wonder-emma-donoghue/1123199447?ean=9780316393867#/" style="color: purple;">The Wonder</a> </i>by Emma Donoghue.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In the latest masterpiece by Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">Room</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, an English nurse brought to a small Irish village to observe what appears to be a miracle-a girl said to have survived without food for months-soon finds herself fighting to save the child's life.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Tourists flock to the cabin of eleven-year-old Anna O'Donnell, who believes herself to be living off manna from heaven, and a journalist is sent to cover the sensation. Lib Wright, a veteran of Florence Nightingale's Crimean campaign, is hired to keep watch over the girl.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Written with all the propulsive tension that made </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">Room</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> a huge bestseller, THE WONDER works beautifully on many levels--a tale of two strangers who transform each other's lives, a powerful psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil.</span></div>
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My thoughts: My book club chose this one because it was written by the same woman who wrote <i>The Room</i>, which they loved. But this book feels like the debut literary novel that Donoghue wrote before she wrote <i>The Room</i>. It is way more character than plot driven. My book club was not crazy about this one—it probably got the most tepid response of the year, but I loved it. I thought the main character so flawed and interesting, and the choices she has to make by the end felt so high-stake and heart-wrenching and true.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-very-large-expanse-of-sea-tahereh-mafi/1128058527?ean=9780062878700#/" style="color: purple;">A Very Large Expanse of Sea</a> </i>by Tahereh Mafi.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<strong>From the <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">USA Today </span>bestselling author of the Shatter Me series comes a powerful, heartrending contemporary novel about</strong><strong> fear, first</strong><strong> love, and the devastating impact of prejudice.</strong></div>
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It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped.</div>
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Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother.</div>
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But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds—and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down.</div>
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My thoughts: I take it back: <i>this </i>was my fave YA of the year. It was such a heart book—I could feel the author’s heart coming through on almost every page. It felt like such a relevant, important book about love and anger and the way hate affects you. I loved it, loved it, loved it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YSOtz_L2bM4/XCY4YzTDTKI/AAAAAAAACSk/qeYd1VXfJMgB1DgQLsSX26-9XoF2aPBAgCLcBGAs/s1600/the%2Bpower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="269" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YSOtz_L2bM4/XCY4YzTDTKI/AAAAAAAACSk/qeYd1VXfJMgB1DgQLsSX26-9XoF2aPBAgCLcBGAs/s320/the%2Bpower.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-power-naomi-alderman/1125454421?ean=9780316547611#/" style="color: purple;">The Power</a> </i>by Naomi Alderman.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">What would happen if women suddenly possessed a fierce new power?</b><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In THE POWER, the world is a recognizable place: there's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power--they can cause agonizing pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">From award-winning author Naomi Alderman, THE POWER is speculative fiction at its most ambitious and provocative, at once taking us on a thrilling journey to an alternate reality, and exposing our own world in bold and surprising ways.</span></div>
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My thoughts: I expected to really like this one, as I thought the premise was so cool: young women suddenly discover that they have the power to use electricity out of their hands, and can now inflict pain and assert this power over the men in their lives. It was a cool story, but I didn’t really connect with any of the characters, so for me if felt like a head book—a story that works on an intellectual level but never really involves the gut. So it was a like, not a love, for me with this one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/before-she-ignites-jodi-meadows/1125425267?ean=9780062469410#/" style="color: purple;">Before She Ignites</a> </i>by Jodi Meadows.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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From the <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times </span>bestselling co-author of <span style="font-style: italic;">My Plain Jane </span>comes a smoldering new fantasy trilogy perfect for fans of Victoria Aveyard and Kristin Cashore about a girl condemned for defending dragons and the inner fire that may be her only chance of escape. </div>
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Mira has always been a symbol of hope for the Fallen Isles, perfect and beautiful—or at least that’s how she’s forced to appear. But when she uncovers a dangerous secret, Mira is betrayed by those closest to her and sentenced to the deadliest prison in the Fallen Isles. </div>
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Except Mira is over being a pawn. Fighting to survive against outer threats and inner demons of mental illness, Mira must find her inner fire and the scorching truth about her own endangered magic—before her very world collapses.<br /><br />And that’s all before she ignites. </div>
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My thoughts: I will sheepishly admit that I was late reading this, as Jodi is one of my best friends and this book came out over a year ago, but I finally read it, and I loved it! I am so jealous of the way Jodi was able to pull off this narrative that moves back and forth from present to past. So good! And even if I didn't know Jodi, I'd want to own this book based on the sheer beauty of the cover alone!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Asc6CJPb4dk/XCY5RLgd5YI/AAAAAAAACS4/xAnFpcmtjyQGZjwPfslZwXHUTOfXt3ICgCLcBGAs/s1600/turtles%2Ball%2Bthe%2Bway%2Bdown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="268" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Asc6CJPb4dk/XCY5RLgd5YI/AAAAAAAACS4/xAnFpcmtjyQGZjwPfslZwXHUTOfXt3ICgCLcBGAs/s320/turtles%2Ball%2Bthe%2Bway%2Bdown.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/turtles-all-the-way-down-john-green/1126619413?ean=9780525555797#/" style="color: purple;">Turtles All the Way Down</a> </i>by John Green.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">Looking for Alaska </span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">and </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">The Fault in Our Stars,</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship.</span></div>
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My thoughts: I am a big John Green fan, so I was excited for this one. I liked it—solidly liked it—but <i>The Fault In Our Stars</i>remains my favorite of his work, followed by <i>Looking For Alaska</i>. I think I liked this one a little bit less for two reasons: it felt like a head book, a story that was intellectually great but didn’t ever really grab me by the heart strings, even though I felt intensely bad for the main character at times. It also didn’t feel necessary for this character to be a girl—I think I would have preferred that the main character was male, actually, because that would have felt more authentic. I don’t want to blunder into saying that all female characters should feel a certain way, but this one just didn’t feel female. The romance didn’t connect for me, either. Boo. I will try to backpeddle by saying that this book is John Green at his witty best, though. The lines and the dialogue were so sharp and honest and funny, which is why I heart John Green.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-song-of-achilles-madeline-miller/1103167914?ean=9780062060624#/" style="color: purple;">The Song of Achilles</a> </i>by Madeline Miller.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">The Song of Achilles</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">The Iliad</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction’s brightest lights—and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.</span></div>
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My thoughts: Oh my gosh, THIS BOOK I LOVED. I missed book club when we discussed this and I am still so bummed about it because I had so many thoughts and feelings about this novel. Every now and then I stumble across what feels like a perfect novel, where the characters and plot and language are all aligned just perfectly, and this novel was that way for me. The language was gorgeous but never purple or overwrought. The plot used the reader’s knowledge of the old story of Achilles so masterfully to set up a tense expectation of what was going to happen, and then turn that on its head in the best possible way. The romance felt absolutely spot on painful and wonderful and intense. I was filled with writerly jealousy reading this marvelous book.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pax-sara-pennypacker/1121996228?ean=9780062377012#/" style="color: purple;">Pax</a> </i>by Sarah Pennypacker.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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From bestselling and award-winning author Sara Pennypacker comes a beautifully wrought, utterly compelling novel about the powerful relationship between a boy and his fox. <span style="font-style: italic;">Pax</span> is destined to become a classic, beloved for generations to come.</div>
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Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit. But one day, the unimaginable happens: Peter's dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild.</div>
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At his grandfather's house, three hundred miles away from home, Peter knows he isn't where he should be—with Pax. He strikes out on his own despite the encroaching war, spurred by love, loyalty, and grief, to be reunited with his fox.</div>
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Meanwhile Pax, steadfastly waiting for his boy, embarks on adventures and discoveries of his own. . . .</div>
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My thoughts: This was a children’s book (or middle grade) that we listened to in the car, and it was my favorite children’s book this year. It was, first of all, such a heart book—I wanted to cry at the end of the first chapter. The movement between the kid and the fox point of view was expertly done, each shift adding to the tension of the overall story. There were so many great side characters and relationships. There was a puppet show that took my breath away. Such an amazing, wonderful book that I would recommend for all ages.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SMlQMBpq34Q/XCY6g_XeynI/AAAAAAAACTg/0IGyR7M0Fnkq2RQ5t-t02TbrhmXvjzw6QCLcBGAs/s1600/the%2Bfantastic%2Bmr%2Bfox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="342" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SMlQMBpq34Q/XCY6g_XeynI/AAAAAAAACTg/0IGyR7M0Fnkq2RQ5t-t02TbrhmXvjzw6QCLcBGAs/s320/the%2Bfantastic%2Bmr%2Bfox.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fantastic-Mr-Other-Animal-Stories/dp/B00FFHIRRG/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1546004931&sr=8-2" style="color: purple;">Fantastic Mr. Fox</a> </i>by Roald Dahl (reread).</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Nobody outfoxes Fantastic Mr. Fox!</b><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Someone's been stealing from the three meanest farmers around, and they know the identity of the thief—it's Fantastic Mr. Fox! Working alone they could never catch him; but now fat Boggis, squat Bunce, and skinny Bean have joined forces, and they have Mr. Fox and his family surrounded. What they don't know is that they're not dealing with just any fox—Mr. Fox would rather die than surrender. Only the most fantastic plan can save him now.</span></div>
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My thoughts: Another audio with the kids, a story I’ve read to them several times, but this time we listened to Chris O’Dowd’s narration, which was hilarious and awesome, although my kids did have a hard time understanding the accents, at times. This also had narration from Quentin Blake, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. I mean, awesome, right?</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pSsH_Tvg1ws/XCY64MtqfPI/AAAAAAAACTo/5F3wsOpvDDIuzmMDgBBwRiIxzN0r1ragACLcBGAs/s1600/Liesl%2Band%2BPo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="394" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pSsH_Tvg1ws/XCY64MtqfPI/AAAAAAAACTo/5F3wsOpvDDIuzmMDgBBwRiIxzN0r1ragACLcBGAs/s320/Liesl%2Band%2BPo.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/liesl-po-lauren-oliver/1103141054?ean=9780062014528#/" style="color: purple;">Liesl & Po</a> </i>by Lauren Oliver.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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From <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span> bestselling author Lauren Oliver comes a luminous novel that glows with rare magic, ghostly wonders, and a true friendship that lights even the darkest of places. An E. B. White Read-Aloud Honor Book, it’s perfect for fans of the author’s other middle grade novels: <span style="font-style: italic;">The Spindlers</span>and the Curiosity House series. </div>
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Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice—until one night a ghost named Po appears from the darkness.</div>
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That same evening, an alchemist's apprentice named Will makes an innocent mistake that has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey.</div>
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My thoughts: This was my daughter’s bedtime story for a number of weeks, and she loved it. I thought it was such a creative, heartfelt book about loss and friendship, although it was a bit dark at times and did creep out my seven-year-old a bit.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-od84vdRHTgg/XCY7NuKzGBI/AAAAAAAACTw/fGRLhThnqtYa4FXDkfXaYLs-EFEELf6tACLcBGAs/s1600/scythe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="396" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-od84vdRHTgg/XCY7NuKzGBI/AAAAAAAACTw/fGRLhThnqtYa4FXDkfXaYLs-EFEELf6tACLcBGAs/s320/scythe.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/scythe-neal-shusterman/1113794690?ean=9781442472433#/" style="color: purple;">Scythe</a> </i>by Neil Shusterman.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Two teens must learn the “art of killing” in this Printz Honor–winning book, the first in a chilling new series from Neal Shusterman, author of the </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">New York Times</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> bestselling Unwind dystology.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">Scythe</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> is the first novel of a thrilling new series by National Book Award–winning author Neal Shusterman in which Citra and Rowan learn that a perfect world comes only with a heavy price.</span></div>
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My thoughts: This one was my eleven-year-old son’s bedtime story this year, and he LOVED it. It is definitely dark, but in spite of its serious subject matter it is never gratuitous or gory. I was super into it too, and we are currently in the middle of the second book. Which I am told is going to scar us both for life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hfB2yGpnSrs/XCY7kovsVQI/AAAAAAAACT4/DcO1jTQGQQAc7I_27bQTEl6FNPXmsMX9QCLcBGAs/s1600/an%2Babsolutely%2Bremarkable%2Bthing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="394" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hfB2yGpnSrs/XCY7kovsVQI/AAAAAAAACT4/DcO1jTQGQQAc7I_27bQTEl6FNPXmsMX9QCLcBGAs/s320/an%2Babsolutely%2Bremarkable%2Bthing.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-absolutely-remarkable-thing-hank-green/1127870587?ean=9781524744649#/" style="color: purple;">An Absolutely Remarkable Thing</a> </i>by Hank Green.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In his much-anticipated debut novel, Hank Green<b>—</b>cocreator of Crash Course, Vlogbrothers, and SciShow<b>—</b>spins a sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight celebrity before realizing she's part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagined.</b><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The Carls just appeared.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Roaming through New York City at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship—like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor—April and her friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day, April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world—from Beijing to Buenos Aires—and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her safety, and her own identity. And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Compulsively entertaining and powerfully relevant, </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">An Absolutely Remarkable Thing</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> grapples with big themes, including how the social internet is changing fame, rhetoric, and radicalization; how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty; and how vilification and adoration spring for the same dehumanization that follows a life in the public eye. The beginning of an exciting fiction career, </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">An Absolutely Remarkable Thing</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> is a bold and insightful novel of now.</span></div>
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My thoughts: I have been watching the vlogbrothers for years, and love Hank, so I was excited when his book came out. I really, really liked it. It felt fresh and relevant and original in a way I hadn’t seen before. I loved the concept. I really liked the narration.<o:p></o:p></div>
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However, it was still a 4 and not 5 star for me, weirdly for the same reasons I didn’t five star John Green’s latest book: 1) because I didn’t feel emotionally connected to any of the characters even though I liked all of them, and 2) because it felt super unnecessary for April to be female. Outside of some mention of crying and some makeup and clothing decisions, she did not strike me as particularly female in nature. That is, again, not to say that all women have to feel “feminine,” but there is a way that women experience the world that I didn’t sense in April. It would have felt just as good to me (and probably better) if April had just been a male equivalent. But I feel like writers are encouraged to tell stories from a female point of view because more readers are women, so it widens the readership. Anyway, it was still a remarkable book, and I look forward to what HG will give us in the future.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WseeUa4XUBQ/XCY75zyKMeI/AAAAAAAACUA/lbnPzWHUAqEQcvLomFSb9P_qlS9qrcWzACLcBGAs/s1600/the%2Bname%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bwind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="394" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WseeUa4XUBQ/XCY75zyKMeI/AAAAAAAACUA/lbnPzWHUAqEQcvLomFSb9P_qlS9qrcWzACLcBGAs/s320/the%2Bname%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bwind.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/name-of-the-wind-patrick-rothfuss/1100178957?ean=9780756413712#/" style="color: purple;">The Name of the Wind</a> </i>by Patrick Rothfuss.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">My name is Kvothe.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">You may have heard of me.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature—the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man’s search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend. </span></div>
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My thoughts: I’ve been hearing about this book for years, more recently from my husband, who has read it twice and loved it both times. This is definitely the case where the hype diminished the experience for me a little. When you read blurbs from Hank Green and Lin Manual Miranda and George R. Freaking Martin about how amazing this book is and how your life is not really complete unless you’ve read it, you expect it to blow your socks off.</div>
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My socks are still on. Boo.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I did enjoy the book. I thought the main character was very interesting, and the world building was quite good, and I ate the story up like candy. (It was more than 700 pages, and I read it in a day.) I like those epic fantasies where we get so much of the character’s life, a sense of their full arc, their childhoods, their history, their driving force. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But I also felt like the story ended just when it was actually starting to move forward. I was like, YAY, finally, FINALLY, we’re going to get some real answers! Finally we’re going to see how—<o:p></o:p></div>
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The End.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I haven’t felt this abruptly dropped by the ending of a book since Robin McKinley’s <i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pegasus-robin-mckinley/1100315456?ean=9780399246777" style="color: purple;">Pegasus</a></i>, which I have still not recovered from.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I need to read the second book. I have a feeling that will make it all better. I hope.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y1vKMbvu0qc/XCY8X1-1zGI/AAAAAAAACUI/1F70s2tQy4cSjgAZoKS5MLLj0fFgjuSEwCLcBGAs/s1600/ever%2Bthe%2Bhunted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="394" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y1vKMbvu0qc/XCY8X1-1zGI/AAAAAAAACUI/1F70s2tQy4cSjgAZoKS5MLLj0fFgjuSEwCLcBGAs/s320/ever%2Bthe%2Bhunted.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ever-the-hunted-erin-summerill/1123754331?ean=9781328767004#/" style="color: purple;">Ever The Hunted</a> </i>by Erin Summerill. </b></span></div>
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Description:</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Seventeen year-old Britta Flannery is at ease only in the woods with her dagger and bow. She spends her days tracking criminals alongside her father, a legendary bounty hunter—that is, until her father is murdered. The alleged killer is none other than Cohen Mackay, her father’s former apprentice. The only friend she’s ever known. The boy she once loved who broke her heart. </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">She must go on a dangerous quest in a world of warring kingdoms, mad kings, and dark magic to find the real killer. But Britta wields more power than she knows. And soon she will learn what has always made her different will make her a force to be reckoned with. </span></div>
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My thoughts: This lovely debut rocked me out of the malaise I felt after reading <i>The Name of the Wind</i>. It was such a good little fantasy: solid world building, a heartful, brave main character with such cool powers, and a sweet romance. It also had a satisfying ending, which I was craving. I will be reading the next one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I2OzfJ4dPkQ/XCY-TvtfhYI/AAAAAAAACUg/YueJ5RS6eHs7EOZWEhADSpkSZLAFsBfWACLcBGAs/s1600/circe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="322" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I2OzfJ4dPkQ/XCY-TvtfhYI/AAAAAAAACUg/YueJ5RS6eHs7EOZWEhADSpkSZLAFsBfWACLcBGAs/s320/circe.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/CIRCE-New-York-Times-bestseller-ebook/dp/B074M5TLLJ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1546010097&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=circe&psc=1" target="_blank">Circe</a> by Madeline Miller.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child--not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power--the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /></div>
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Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.<br /><br />But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.<br /><br />With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language and page-turning suspense, <span style="font-style: italic;">Circe </span>is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world.</div>
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My thoughts: It's not a surprise that I loved this book, as I really loved The Song of Achilles. I thought this one was a little less compelling for me, probably because it lacked that central tension that came from knowing what would happen in the story of Achilles, while I could remember very little about Circe. But it was still such an amazing book, and had one of the most perfect, fitting endings of any book I've read in a long time. I will carrying this character around with me for a long time.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So that's it, 2018 in books. What books should I read for next year? What should I listen to on audio, instead? What books would be great to read to my seven-year old daughter and eleven-year-old son?</span></div>
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Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-87378658879856337102018-12-03T11:41:00.003-08:002018-12-03T11:45:11.806-08:00The 12 Days of Holly Chase<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1unnqK4Kkso/XAV7NCwFBCI/AAAAAAAACNc/7l2Fi58kOswYwp9TfCe_vgWJwu5CPP2aACLcBGAs/s1600/Blog%2BTour%2BGraphic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1unnqK4Kkso/XAV7NCwFBCI/AAAAAAAACNc/7l2Fi58kOswYwp9TfCe_vgWJwu5CPP2aACLcBGAs/s640/Blog%2BTour%2BGraphic.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Tis the season for reading Christmas books!<br />
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This year my Christmas novel, THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE, is out in paperback for the first time, and I am doing my best to promote it like crazy this holiday season. It is a young adult retelling of the classic story, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, in which the Scrooge is a spoiled California socialite named Holly Chase.<br />
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What the book's about: </h2>
Holly starts out by being visited by the three ghosts and taking a good hard look at how she's been living her life, (as a horrible human being) but instead of repenting and promising to do better, Holly refuses to change. In other words, she's a Scrooge without the normal happy ending and the "God Bless Us, Every One" moment. The company who works to rescue and rehabilitate a Scrooge-like person every year fails to fix Holly, and not too long afterwards, she's killed in a freak accident. She wakes up (or as nearly as one can "wake up" after being killed) in Project Scrooge's company headquarters, where she is informed that her eternal punishment is going to be to serve as the Ghost of Christmas Past for the rest of eternity. Which is totally going to put a damper on her social life . . .<br />
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And all that is just what happens in CHAPTER ONE.<br />
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I had so much fun writing this book, and I'm so thrilled to be sharing it with readers this holiday season. On that note, we're doing a promotion called TWELVE DAYS OF HOLLY CHASE, which will include a blog tour, a bookstagram tour, a live video chat, and a bunch of amazing giveaways. It starts today! Check out the sites below on the appropriate day to get in on all the fun!<br />
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Blog Tour: </h2>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/3 </span><a href="http://littlebookwormreviews.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Little Book Worm Reviews</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/4 </span><a href="https://hauntedbybooksblog.wordpress.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Haunted by Books</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/5 </span><a href="https://notoriouslaylow.wordpress.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Ultimate Fangirl</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/6 </span><a href="http://theyabooktraveler.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The YA Book Traveler</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/7 </span><a href="https://vickywhoreads.wordpress.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vicky Who Reads</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/8 </span><a href="http://www.novelknight.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Novel Knight </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/9 </span><a href="https://acourtofcrownsandquills.wordpress.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Court of Crowns and Quills</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/10 </span><a href="http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That Artsy Reader Girl </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/11 </span><a href="https://wildandwonderfulreads.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wild and Wonderful Reads</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/12 </span><a href="https://thecleverreader.wordpress.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Clever Reader</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/13 </span><a href="http://bookcrush.in/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">BookCrushin</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-4acb449d-7fff-26ca-ff24-7b2b7e8ca62e"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/14 </span><a href="http://knoxdiver.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mary Had A Little Book Blog</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
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Bookstagram Tour:</h2>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/3 - </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/erinsummerill/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@erinsummerill</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/4 - </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/moonlight_rendezvous/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">moonlight_rendezvous</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/5 - </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/shutupnread/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@shutupnread</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/6 - </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/_magicbookdom_/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@_magicbookdom_</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/7 - </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/latestreads/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@latestreads</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/8 - </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/heyatlascreative/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@heyatlascreative</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/9 - </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/bookrockbetty/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@bookrockbetty</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/10 - </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/saltybadgerbooks/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@saltybadgerbooks</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/11 - </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/oh.hey.books/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@oh.hey.books</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/12 - </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/fromlibrarywithlove/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@fromlibrarywithlove</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/13 - </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/unicornbiblio/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@unicornbiblio</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-b31459e6-7fff-41fb-18e7-8d5e77423fa6"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12/14 - </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/novel.novice/" style="text-decoration: none;">@novel.novice</a></span></span><br />
<br />
I am super excited to see all this new Holly Chase content and thrilled to be able to give away so much stuff. I had custom ornaments made for me to sign and give away, I am throwing in a few of my favorite Christmas movies, and I have knitted handmade hats and mitts to bestow upon the lucky winners.<br />
<br />
Even if you don't win the giveaway, there's some great things I have to give to you.<br />
<br />
First,<br />
<h2>
A trailer in a pear tree:</h2>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f-twAupo5IE" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
The talented Sarah Kershaw at <a href="https://yourbooktravels.com/">https://yourbooktravels.com</a> made this trailer, and I am in love with it. I love it even more because it features an original song that was written and recorded by my bestie and grad school roommate Lindsey Hunt for her new album.<br />
<br />
And the second treat, to anyone who wants it, is<br />
<h2>
a custom-made Christmas card from ME, </h2>
signed by me, of course, and stuffed with as much swag as I can fit in the envelope. This would also be a good opportunity to get your book's "signed" by me, too. Just let me know how many you need, and I will send along some signed bookplates.<br />
<br />
Just <a href="https://goo.gl/forms/VrYTPnDNrWW5ZsC43" target="_blank">click this link</a> and fill out the form, and the card (and stuff) will be coming your way!Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-6700385261478994522018-07-12T08:17:00.000-07:002018-10-08T08:34:58.338-07:00News and Tour Wrap Up<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">So MY PLAIN JANE has been out for two weeks, and I (and the other two Janies) have been getting all the love!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">In the first week we went on an amazing tour in which we:</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pSqnKAYy_B0/W0e3p6iF_KI/AAAAAAAAB_4/gayKbKUUNFsiUyeAqgjJXqbfdpMUL-A9QCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_6383.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="color: #f20042; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1594" data-original-width="1600" height="318" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pSqnKAYy_B0/W0e3p6iF_KI/AAAAAAAAB_4/gayKbKUUNFsiUyeAqgjJXqbfdpMUL-A9QCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_6383.JPG" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 14.079999923706055px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Met a real live HEDGEHOG named Pixi Sticks in Salt Lake City!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;" />
<br />
<div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px; text-align: center;">
Answered a lot of fun questions and performed a bit of MY PLAIN JANE (with costumes!)</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px; text-align: center;">
(Thanks to the Fabulous Book Fiend for the fun video from our Denver event)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BDvk-375cUY/W0e5qbGLTEI/AAAAAAAACAE/vssyKRQwJPw3-zHCAJlX_bJ6AHlXSPM6ACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_6418.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="color: #f20042; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BDvk-375cUY/W0e5qbGLTEI/AAAAAAAACAE/vssyKRQwJPw3-zHCAJlX_bJ6AHlXSPM6ACLcBGAs/s400/IMG_6418.JPG" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 14.079999923706055px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Almost melted in Phoenix, but we kept right on laughing</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
and then we returned to Salt Lake City, where the three of us sat down to start writing our next book, MY CALAMITY JANE. It was business as usual for the Janies:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aNLnRq-QuFE/W0e7DRu_nPI/AAAAAAAACAo/5qId0lkKMjgIb5MCLbCijJuPsP6SNF3CACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_3274.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="color: #f20042; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aNLnRq-QuFE/W0e7DRu_nPI/AAAAAAAACAo/5qId0lkKMjgIb5MCLbCijJuPsP6SNF3CACLcBGAs/s400/IMG_3274.JPG" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 14.079999923706055px;"><br /></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">And then something AMAZING happened:</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0awWKP19zIQ/W0e7CgghI9I/AAAAAAAACAs/ruG0HNYHAd4Ww18tORrUERwFTxInY5mFwCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_6473.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="color: #f20042; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0awWKP19zIQ/W0e7CgghI9I/AAAAAAAACAs/ruG0HNYHAd4Ww18tORrUERwFTxInY5mFwCEwYBhgL/s400/IMG_6473.JPG" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 14.079999923706055px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MY PLAIN JANE hit the New York Times bestseller list!!!!!!!!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">Needless to say, it was an amazing two weeks, and thanks so much to everyone who came out and supported us. We have the best, most enthusiastic, hilarious readers, and I love you all so much!</span><br />
<br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">If you're feeling a bit cheated because we stuck to the western United States this time, and you live on the eastern side, we have good news. The Janies will be meeting up in August in Virginia to finish writing MY CALAMITY JANE, and while we're there, we'll be doing two book events. The first is at Barnes & Noble Charlottesville on Saturday, August 4th, at 12pm.</span><br />
<br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">And the second will be at One More Page in Arlington on August 7 at 7pm:</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0sSUbezpAvA/W0e1lvJuFlI/AAAAAAAAB_g/EfpwwPPVo8AlWQ-8tH5VRH6QXuFsm256wCEwYBhgL/s1600/One%2Bmore%2BPage%2Bevent%2BMPJ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #f20042; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0sSUbezpAvA/W0e1lvJuFlI/AAAAAAAAB_g/EfpwwPPVo8AlWQ-8tH5VRH6QXuFsm256wCEwYBhgL/s400/One%2Bmore%2BPage%2Bevent%2BMPJ.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">So come and see us there! We promise that we will perform for you, too!</span><br />
<br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">In less exciting news, I just sent copyright infringement takedowns to a huge amount of piracy sites. This depresses me so much. Please don't steal my books. At this stage, every single sale of MY PLAIN JANE counts so much, I can't emphasize enough how much it matters. The Janies and I would really like to keep writing books together, but we can't do this if our sales aren't good enough. So please don't pirate!</span><br />
<br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">On that note, I have some awesome news. MY PLAIN JANE is, as of this week, available at Target! But this is no ordinary version of the book. This version has a whole EXTRA CHAPTER at the end, like an epilogue to our epilogue. The Target version of the book is the only place you can get this extra content (which we had so much fun writing!), and they have only printed a limited amount of these, so once they are all sold, they're gone.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_ozXMnn8n80/W0e-EEwiPWI/AAAAAAAACBQ/a7owPrqNHVAmCBkiWEgNHw0vSo4LMt1YwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_6334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="color: #f20042; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_ozXMnn8n80/W0e-EEwiPWI/AAAAAAAACBQ/a7owPrqNHVAmCBkiWEgNHw0vSo4LMt1YwCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_6334.JPG" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></div>
<br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">So run to Target, people! (Or you can get it online </span><a href="https://www.target.com/p/my-plain-jane-target-exclusive-edition-by-cynthia-hand-brodi-ashton-and-jodi-meadows/-/A-53672802" style="color: #f20042; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">.) And have a good laugh with us about the invention of the double date.</span><br />
<br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">Thanks again for all the love for MY PLAIN JANE. </span><br />
<br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Bentham; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">XOXO</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "bentham"; font-size: 17.600000381469727px;">Cynthia (and the Janies)</span>Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-39824683996472666582018-04-18T08:56:00.001-07:002018-04-18T08:56:31.333-07:00Life Inside My MindI've been very busy with an impending book deadline this week (er, this year, actually), and I JUST GOT MARRIED, like, two weeks ago, but I wanted to be sure that I called your attention to a wonderful anthology that I was fortunate enough to contribute to, which recently hit shelves wherever books are sold. It's called LIFE INSIDE MY MIND.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9HL1iG87PKk/WtdlRSKG_8I/AAAAAAAAB7o/roGO0xB3G30VedE3rgI5KDbroD7xpBTNwCLcBGAs/s1600/DacnsqkU0AAGXZy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9HL1iG87PKk/WtdlRSKG_8I/AAAAAAAAB7o/roGO0xB3G30VedE3rgI5KDbroD7xpBTNwCLcBGAs/s400/DacnsqkU0AAGXZy.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
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Here's the description:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">Your favorite YA authors including Ellen Hopkins, Maureen Johnson, and more recount their own experiences with mental illness in this raw, real, and powerful collection of essays that explores everything from ADD to PTSD.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">Have you ever felt like you just couldn't get out of bed? Not the occasional morning, but every day? Do you find yourself listening to a voice in your head that says "you're not good enough," "not good looking enough," "not thin enough," or "not smart enough"? Have you ever found yourself unable to do homework or pay attention in class unless everything is "just so" on your desk? Everyone has had days like that, but what if you have them </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">every </span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">day?</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">You're not alone. Millions of people are going through similar things. However issues around mental health still tend to be treated as something shrouded in shame or discussed in whispers. It's easier to have a broken bone--something tangible that can be "fixed"--than to have a mental illness, and easier to have a discussion about sex than it is to have one about mental health.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Life Inside My Mind<i> </i></span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">is an anthology of true-life events from writers of this generation, for this generation. These essays tackle everything from neurodiversity to addiction to OCD to PTSD and much more. The goals of this book range from providing home to those who are feeling alone, awareness to those who are witnessing a friend or family member struggle, and to open the floodgates to conversation.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
This is such an important, helpful, heart-full collection of thoughts by so many writers I deeply admire. The essay I contributed to this anthology deals with the hands-off manner in which I used to regard the topic of depression and suicide in my friends while I was in high school--one friend in particular--and how my view changed as I became an adult and lost my own brother to suicide.<br />
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Please consider picking up a copy. This would also be a great one to buy and donate to your local library or high school library.<br />
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Here are links to some of the places you can buy:<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Inside-My-Mind-Struggles/dp/1481494643/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524065399&sr=8-1&keywords=life+inside+my+mind" target="_blank">Amazon</a> / <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/life-inside-my-mind-maureen-johnson/1127951227?ean=9781481494649#/" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a> / <a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781481494649" target="_blank">IndieBound</a> (which is a site where you can locate your nearest independent bookstore who is selling the book)<br />
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Thanks.<br />
<br />
Also: I JUST GOT MARRIED!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My friend and co-author Brodi Ashton was the officiant, and she cried through the entire time we were reading our vows, which was so cute and sweet, and I love her so much! (and of course I ALSO LOVE MY HUSBAND!)</td></tr>
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<br />Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-19456287963097295982017-10-23T12:39:00.000-07:002017-10-23T12:46:55.255-07:00New Book Out TOMORROWI'm working on the as-yet-not-finished new book like a beast this week, but I wanted to pause to give you all a gentle reminder:<br />
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THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE IS OUT TOMORROW!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="giphy-embed" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://giphy.com/embed/bUCi0oAiWZMw8" width="480"></iframe><br />
<a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/excited-bUCi0oAiWZMw8">via GIPHY</a><br />
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This is not a drill, people!<br />
<br />
Also, for my Boise friends: <a href="http://www.cynthiahandbooks.com/p/events.html" target="_blank">I AM HAVING A LAUNCH PARTY ON THURSDAY AT 7PM</a>. Please come. Please, consider this your opportunity to support me as your friend. Because there is nothing sadder for an author than a book event with only like five people in attendance.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="giphy-embed" frameborder="0" height="262" src="https://giphy.com/embed/K7ST040lsKynS" width="480"></iframe><br />
<a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/sad-K7ST040lsKynS">via GIPHY</a><br />
(This is literally the gif that came up when I typed "sad author." I was like, aw. And then I remembered that <a href="http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Shore-Thing/Nicole-Snooki-Polizzi/9781451623758" target="_blank">Snooki wrote a book</a>. AW.)<br />
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<br />
I will read from the book, if you want. I'll tell you about my adventures in Hollywood this past month, including the time I was licked by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0958387/" target="_blank">Jerry Zucker</a>'s dog for an entire hour while I was trying to pitch Holly Chase as a movie. I'll pass out signed Christmas cards and bookmarks and answer all your burning questions.<br />
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Fun will be had, I promise. No pressure to buy the book. Just come, and I will be forever grateful.<br />
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Click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/285886875261908/?acontext=%7B%22action_history%22%3A[%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22bookmarks%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22bookmarks_menu%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22[]%22%7D%2C%7B%22surface%22%3A%22dashboard%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22calendar_tab_event%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22[]%22%7D]%2C%22ref%22%3A46%2C%22source%22%3A2%7D" target="_blank">here</a> for the Facebook invite.Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-33823062278017127652017-10-12T14:57:00.003-07:002017-10-13T05:53:59.666-07:00News, Covers, Movies, and MittsI've got a big news build up for you this time, so brace yourself. There's a lot.<br />
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1. THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE is going to be out in only TWO WEEKS! I had the idea for this novel years ago, so I am so excited for it to be finally seeing the light of day. Holly is the modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge, which was so fun to write. I can't wait for you to meet her. Go <a href="http://www.cynthiahandbooks.com/p/books.html" target="_blank">here</a> to the book page where you can find out more and click one of these links to p<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333232; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15px;">re-order: </span><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062318503/the-afterlife-of-holly-chase" style="color: #78469c; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none;">HarperCollins </a><span style="color: #333232; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15px;">/ </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Afterlife-Holly-Chase-Cynthia-Hand/dp/0062318500/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486563548&sr=8-1&keywords=the+afterlife+of+holly+chase" style="color: #78469c; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none;">Amazon</a><span style="color: #333232; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15px;"> / </span><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-afterlife-of-holly-chase-cynthia-hand/1125454839?ean=9780062318503" style="color: #78469c; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a><span style="color: #333232; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15px;"> / </span><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-afterlife-of-holly-chase/id1205398767?mt=11" style="color: #78469c; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">iBooks</a><span style="color: #333232; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15px;"> / </span><a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062318503" style="color: #78469c; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none;">Indiebound</a></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NUrMkdPWLI8/Wd_d7UYyZLI/AAAAAAAAB0A/tLJwpMz-eaw7-AhGbu43ITMlJu1CH06awCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_3849%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NUrMkdPWLI8/Wd_d7UYyZLI/AAAAAAAAB0A/tLJwpMz-eaw7-AhGbu43ITMlJu1CH06awCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_3849%2B2.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the first hardcover has arrived and it is soooooo shiny</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qxUWs_Cj0sM/Wd_nLpZa6AI/AAAAAAAAB0U/Le_YL6NJiBourjTzyiY9hYfrZI-rNwtVQCEwYBhgL/s1600/FullSizeRender%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1065" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qxUWs_Cj0sM/Wd_nLpZa6AI/AAAAAAAAB0U/Le_YL6NJiBourjTzyiY9hYfrZI-rNwtVQCEwYBhgL/s640/FullSizeRender%2B3.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at the back! Gah!</td></tr>
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I'm going to do a special pre-order giveaway-- the first hundred people who preorder the book (email me at writercynthiahand@gmail.com with a screenshot of your completed order) will get a personalized Holly Chase card, signed by me, and something from a fun selection of Christmas-oriented swag.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bLRN_2LLyEQ/Wd_nLvA79OI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/7oo7XxHmTYEi-O100PbQlrWd2VTUDKqWwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_3866.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bLRN_2LLyEQ/Wd_nLvA79OI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/7oo7XxHmTYEi-O100PbQlrWd2VTUDKqWwCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_3866.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Show me that you're spreading the word about THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE, by tweeting about it, adding to your To Read pile on Goodreads, doing a post on your website or blog, or Instasharing, (again, email me with your screenshots or tag me in the posts) and you'll be entered to win even more great prizes, like:<br />
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a Christmas hat, knitted by moi<br />
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a pair of Christmas fingerless mitts, also knitted by yours truly<br />
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a special Holly Chase themed Christmas ornament<br />
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a signed and personalized hardcover of <i>The Afterlife of Holly Chase</i><br />
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signed copies of some of my other books<br />
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signed bookplates and bookmarks<br />
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and a bunch more!<br />
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So spread the word! And keep checking back, because there are going to be a lot more giveaways and fun events as we get closer to Christmas.<br />
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2. <i>The Afterlife of Holly Chase</i> is also coming to Australia on 10-23-17. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the cover--look!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.harperapps.com/covers/9781460754283/y648.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="386" src="https://i.harperapps.com/covers/9781460754283/y648.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squee! It captures the book so perfectly! I can't even!</td></tr>
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3. I've also spent a big chunk of the past few weeks trying to get Holly Chase on the road to becoming a movie, which has been so exciting and stressful. (No movie news I can share yet, but I've got my fingers crossed.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EJKJtX88rQ8/Wd_d7NhCcoI/AAAAAAAABz8/pNzmYjP21ewotgboPrhkDi_wz4ea1ZvmQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_3684.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EJKJtX88rQ8/Wd_d7NhCcoI/AAAAAAAABz8/pNzmYjP21ewotgboPrhkDi_wz4ea1ZvmQCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_3684.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me hanging out with Napoleon on the lot at Fox, where we were pitching TAoHC</td></tr>
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So yeah, I have Holly Chase on the brain.<br />
<br />
But . . .<br />
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4. The Janies also have a new book coming out--in June 2018, to be exact. And it now has a COVER. We will be revealing the cover TOMORROW, so head over tomorrow to <a href="http://www.ladyjanies.com/">www.ladyjanies.com</a> to check it out.<br />
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5. It's fall! (Okay, this is only going to be news to people in, say, California.) Fall is my favorite season: I love sweaters, leaves, and KNITTING. I have been knitting up a storm.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OTrpyYlcLUI/Wd_d6rhX34I/AAAAAAAABz4/kB4clKcVrsMJtE2zse59JcUHyYlwcr3CQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_3834.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OTrpyYlcLUI/Wd_d6rhX34I/AAAAAAAABz4/kB4clKcVrsMJtE2zse59JcUHyYlwcr3CQCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_3834.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You too, could have fingerless mitts, but these are mine.</td></tr>
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6. I got a puppy. Her name is Poesy. The cats are not thrilled.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dlSLtGsM7ss/Wd_d4b2bfyI/AAAAAAAABz0/uzu_4tCazOYWyLzZC_-gIcaPYPGllYBGwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_3828.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dlSLtGsM7ss/Wd_d4b2bfyI/AAAAAAAABz0/uzu_4tCazOYWyLzZC_-gIcaPYPGllYBGwCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_3828.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poesy also clearly digs fall.</td></tr>
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7. I'm going to be doing a few events around the release of Holly Chase, mostly in Idaho, but also in Miami and some other places. Check out the Events tab to find out where and when.<br />
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That's it--all the news I can think to share right now. Don't forget to enter the giveaway, and look for the MY PLAIN JANE cover tomorrow.<br />
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xoxo<br />
<br />
CCynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-86545533098999393262017-02-08T06:08:00.001-08:002017-02-08T06:14:03.641-08:00Cover RevealAs promised, today I'm going to show you all the cover to my new book, THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE, which is coming to bookstores on November 7, 2017.<br />
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But first, here's the description:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>On Christmas Eve five years ago, Holly was visited by three ghosts who showed her how selfish and spoiled she'd become. They tried to convince her to mend her ways.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>She didn't.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And then she died.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Now she's stuck working for the top-secret company Project Scrooge--as the latest Ghost of Christmas Past.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Every year, they save another miserly grouch. Every year, Holly stays frozen at seventeen while her family and friends go on living without her. So far, Holly's afterlife has been miserable.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>But this year, everything is about to change. . . .</i></span><br />
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Woohoo, so exciting! So, ready to see???!!!!!<br />
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<br />
Here you go:<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vToaKlWtQUY/WJskbN75dMI/AAAAAAAABuU/E-bDajScAO8ZKnuSHdJpHy7GTWhVBJYpwCLcB/s1600/Afterlife%2Bof%2BHolly%2BChase%2Bcover%2Bsnap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vToaKlWtQUY/WJskbN75dMI/AAAAAAAABuU/E-bDajScAO8ZKnuSHdJpHy7GTWhVBJYpwCLcB/s640/Afterlife%2Bof%2BHolly%2BChase%2Bcover%2Bsnap.jpg" width="423" /></a></div>
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I love this cover so much!!!!! I should point out that it's going to be <b>printed on foil</b>, so everything that is white here is actually going to be a sparkly silver color. I love the symbols: the coffin, the roses, the snowflakes, the candle, the stars, the tiny lightning bolts, all of which are so important to the story. I also love the way the detailing on the edges hearkens back to that older style of book, like my own tiny copy of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.<br />
<br />
*in cover love*<br />
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*swoons*<br />
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So what do you think? Let me know in the comments below. And be sure to take part in this giveaway, where I will give one lucky reader my first copy of the ARC. (One of the ways to enter the contest is to comment below. . .)<br />
<br />
<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="2702fb0b11" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/2702fb0b11/" id="rcwidget_8q3j9j4x" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script>Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-7322191102747986362017-02-07T05:43:00.004-08:002017-02-07T05:43:41.398-08:00News and an Upcoming CoverI've got news! I've got a huge buildup of news, actually. I love news! So here goes:<br />
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1. <b>I am doing an event this week!</b> Listen up, Idaho people, because I am moderating an event at the Boise Barnes & Noble on<b> THURSDAY, Feb 9, at 7pm</b>. I'm going to get the chance to interview the phenomenal Victoria Aveyard, author of THE RED QUEEN series (I toured with Victoria a couple years ago and it was so fun--she's a fellow Tolkien / George R. R. Martin fan, so of course we got along wonderfully) and the brilliant Sophie Jordan, who I've been a huge fan of since her FIRELIGHT series (and now she's going to be here promoting REIGN OF SHADOWS series) and can't wait to spend some time with in person!<br />
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I'll also be signing copies of the UNEARTHLY series, THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE, and MY LADY JANE. So come out!<br />
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2. <b>The ebook of THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE is on sale, big time <a href="https://www.harpercollins.de/buecher/young-adult/die-unwahrscheinlichkeit-des-glucks">in Germany </a>all month!<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The promotional price will be 5,99 € (usually 14,99 €) and the promotion will run 2/1 to 2/28. (Sidenote: I love this cover. The title translates to "The Improbability of Happiness." Make of that what you will, ha, but I love the way it looks like a math problem on the cover, juxtaposed with the dandelion and the girl. (And the ya! in the corner.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">3. <b>MY LADY JANE hit the </b></span><i style="font-family: inherit;"><b>New York Times</b></i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b> list </b>in January! I am so thrilled about this, especially because my two co-authors now get to put the all-prestigious "New York Times bestselling author" label in front of their names. And that label will now go on the paperback, too. (The paperback is coming in June.) MLJ has also been landing on all kinds of wonderful lists lately, including the <a href="https://ameliabloomer.wordpress.com/2017/01/26/2017-amelia-bloomer-list/">Amelia Bloomer list </a>(which is all about celebrating feminism, which we really wanted to do when we wrote MLJ), the <a href="http://www.ala.org/yalsa/2017-best-fiction-young-adults">YALSA 2017 Best Fiction for Young Adults list </a>, and the <a href="http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/Choices_17_list.pdf">Cooperative Children's Book Center </a></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/Choices_17_list.pdf">Choices</a>. It's so great to see this book that gave us such joy to write being appreciated by so many people. Thanks, people!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">4. This week, the Janies and I are finishing the first official draft of MY PLAIN JANE, which is the book in which we save Jane Eyre / Charlotte Bronte. This novel has been so much fun to work on, and we can't wait until YOU get to read it. Which will be a while. Like Summer 2018, a while. But we are hard at work on it, and it's coming!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To tide you over, I'll leave you this. It's a brilliant cartoon by <a href="http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=202">Kate Beaton</a> that captures, in a nutshell, what we think might be wrong with Jane Eyre. *spicy language alert*</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And now for the biggest news of ALL:</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">4.<b> I HAVE A NEW SOLO BOOK COMING OUT</b>. It's called THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE, and it will be out on November 7, 2017. You can pre-order <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Afterlife-Holly-Chase-Cynthia-Hand/dp/0062318500/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486473657&sr=8-1&keywords=the+afterlife+of+holly+chase">here</a>. It's a teenage retelling of Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL, which I had loads of fun writing. It's got a touch of magic and romance and great costumes, and I WILL SHOW YOU THE COVER TOMORROW.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That's right. TOMORROW. 9 Eastern. I will reveal the cover of THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE. It is, in my somewhat biased opinion, the best cover EVER. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Enter the contest (which involves shamelessly plastering the Holly Chase cover everywhere you can think of) to win the very first ARC of THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE that I get my hands on.</span></span><br />
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So stop by here tomorrow!Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-59454434807570367872016-07-27T09:46:00.004-07:002016-07-27T13:02:51.161-07:00UndergroundOkay, so I haven't been around on this website for a while. *checks the last time I posted* *it was February* Yep.<br />
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I've been super super super busy promoting and writing marketing content for my latest book, MY LADY JANE, on the Lady Janies website here: <a href="http://www.ladyjanies.com/">www.ladyjanies.com</a>. And I've been working with my besties on a new Jane book, too. Woot woot!<br />
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I am also on a very tight deadline for my next solo book. So I'll be underground for a little while yet.<br />
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But check back soon for some amazing news that I'll be allowed to share with you any day now, and, if you're interested in what I'm doing, keep track of my feed on Twitter (@cynthiahand) or Instagram (@cynthiahand).<br />
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I'll just be here typing away.<br />
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<a href="http://giphy.com/gifs/computer-napoleon-dynamite-kip-l3E6BG56dhjuawAX6">via GIPHY</a>Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-73158865416889151012016-02-06T00:00:00.000-08:002016-02-06T00:00:08.239-08:00Paperback PromotionSo this week THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE is coming to paperback, and to celebrate (and to try to er, promote it), I am going to do an exclusive giveaway to help get the word out. So tell your friends--if this is a book you think they'd like to read, NOW is the time to get it.<br />
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Between now and Tuesday only, when you buy the paperback, I will send you a signed THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE bookmark (while supplies last). All you have to do to receive this is to :<br />
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1. Email me a screenshot of your purchase or your receipt or whatever form of proof you can produce that you've bought the book during this promotion time.<br />
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2. In the email, tell me your mailing address. Please make sure it's complete.<br />
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3. If you're interested in winning a signed advanced copy of MY LADY JANE, click on the rafflecopter contest below and follow the instructions. No international entries, sorry. You can get an entry for just tweeting about the contest, but you'll get FIVE entries if you actually bought the TLTWSG paperback.<br />
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4. Enjoy TLTWSG while you wait for your awesome bookmark (and possibly, your ARC)!<br />
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5. Accept my many many thanks. You rock.<br />
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Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-33848670149690930992016-01-20T09:00:00.000-08:002016-01-20T09:00:20.242-08:00My Lady Jane<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LvwMzrLsuHc/Vh_jFJpUI9I/AAAAAAAAAGc/EGYnnPUVcPM/s640/MyLadyJane_final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LvwMzrLsuHc/Vh_jFJpUI9I/AAAAAAAAAGc/EGYnnPUVcPM/s640/MyLadyJane_final.jpg" height="640" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new book!</td></tr>
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For those of you curious about what's next for me, I should probably tell you about MY LADY JANE. It's coming out on June 7, 2016, published once again by the wonderful HarperTeen, and it is quite possibly (cover your ears, UNEARTHLY and THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE, Mama loves you, too) my favorite book that I've ever written.<br />
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Let me explain.<br />
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Writing THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE was difficult. It was a subject that had been tumbling around in my brain for a while, and it felt important to talk about, but I knew from the start that writing it was going to just about kill me. It was so hard, and there were so many days I wept copiously at my keyboard, but I did it and I was so glad I did. I am so proud of that little book. It's my heart's truth, right there on the page.<br />
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But needless to say, it took a lot out of me. I went into a bit of a funk after I finished writing THE LAST TIME WE SAID GOODBYE.<br />
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So I needed something else. Something that would be a joy to write. Something to make me laugh.<br />
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At this point I'd been talking for more than a year with my friend Brodi Ashton (author of the EVERNEATH series) about writing a book together. I had this strange little idea that we could retell the tragic story of the Lady Jane Grey. If you know British history, you'll know that LJG was "the Nine Days Queen," as she was the queen of England for nine(ish) days in the year 1553, before Mary Tudor kicked her off the throne and had her beheaded.<br />
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I thought we could rewrite Jane's story. . . as a comedy. And Brodi Ashton had the best comedic sense of any writer I knew. So it made sense to team up.<br />
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You should have seen the look on Brodi's face while I was trying to pitch her this idea. We were having lunch at Cafe Rio. I was yammering about how great the real Jane was--<i>a book nerd even before book nerds were a thing, so smart and passionate and awesome, and how dare she get her head chopped off, a girl like that! We could write an alternate version, and we could write it so Jane lives! We could use magic in place of the religious elements of the real story! </i>Then I started talking about this idea I had that maybe our magic could be that people turned into animals, and maybe Guildford, the guy Jane was forced to marry, could be cursed to spend his days as a horse, <i>wouldn't that be funny, and then the story would kind of be like THE PRINCESS BRIDE and like SHREK and like LADY HAWKE and there's not really anything like that in YA, right, so it'd be so cool and it'd be funny and it'd be a blast to write, don't you think?</i><br />
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I am not great at pitching. Kudos to Brodi for keeping her face so carefully blank as she ate her salad and listened to me go on and on about how awesome it was going to be. "Sure," she said a the end of this conversation. "Sounds like . . . er, fun."<br />
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We didn't talk about it again for, oh, about six months. This time we were hanging out in Virginia with our friend Jodi Meadows. Somehow I got on the subject of this awesome novel about the Lady Jane Grey that Brodi was going to write with me (<i>you're still going to write it with me, right Brodi? Right?</i>) and Brodi turned drowning eyes to Jodi, hoping our friend would say something reasonable like, "Hmm, Cynthia, a <i>comedy</i> about a famous beheading? That seems a little far-fetched."<br />
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Instead Jodi said, "That sounds amazing. There's not much comedy in the YA fantasy market."<br />
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And I blurted out, "Hey, you write fantasy. You're funny. Would you like to write it with us?"<br />
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And Jodi (poor, dear Jodi) said yes, why yes she would. And Brodi looked relieved that now she wasn't the only person who'd been fool enough to agree to such a thing.<br />
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Fast forward six months. California. Jodi and Brodi were visiting to do a couple of events in Los Angeles and talk to my novel writing class at Pepperdine. And what did I keep bringing up, over and over and over again?<br />
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That novel about the Lady Jane Grey.<br />
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Sometimes I can be like a dog with a tooth in a towel, I tell you.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, Jodi, and Brodi that fateful week in California</td></tr>
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There was a free day in the middle of that week. We were thinking about going to Disneyland.<br />
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"But instead, we could stay home and start writing this Jane Grey novel," I suggested cheerfully. "I mean, we could go to Disneyland any old time, but how often could we write a book together? And maybe there are three characters, and we could each write one and rotate chapter to chapter."<br />
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And that's how MY LADY JANE was born. Because I shanghaied my two besties into writing a book with me instead of spending the day at the happiest place on earth. But it worked out, because now that book is a REAL book, and it's going to be out this summer.<br />
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I loved every minute of writing MLJ. We each wrote an opening chapter that day in California, each taking the point of view of a different character: Edward, Jane, or Gifford (who you'll notice that we slightly renamed). We talked about the story a lot and hashed out plot points and revised a little, and then a couple months later we met in Utah to hide away in Brodi's mountain condominium to really work on the book. The days went like this:<br />
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We'd get up, eat breakfast, shower and get coffee.<br />
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We'd spend the morning writing and brainstorming and giggling to ourselves at our own jokes.<br />
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We'd eat lunch.<br />
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We'd write hard all through the afternoon and finish our individual chapter.<br />
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We'd eat dinner.<br />
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We'd sit around the living room with our laptops and read our day's chapter out loud to each other, and we'd laugh and laugh. Sometimes we'd laugh until we'd cry. We'd make suggestions. We'd plot. We'd plan for what we'd write the next day.<br />
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We'd stay up late talking.<br />
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And then we'd get up the next morning and do it all over again.<br />
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It was the most fun I'd ever had writing anything. It was exactly what I needed. Fun fun fun.<br />
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At the end of that week we had twelve chapters of a novel, and we'd fallen in love with the story of Lady Jane Grey.<br />
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A comedy. An adventure. A fantasy. A story about friendship and loyalty and love and being true to yourself.<br />
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It's so good, you guys, the best book I've every written a third of. Seriously. And the best part is that now I get to share all the joyful fun with all of you.<br />
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If it sounds like MY LADY JANE is going to be up your alley, please check out our website, <a href="http://ladyjanies.com/" target="_blank">The Lady Janies </a>for more information about where you can pre-order the book and join <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1YnlIp-DyE-r4lv1X8rLLvwQ2MF_XCXCQw3e2r-wJk10/viewform?usp=send_form" target="_blank">our new fan club.</a><br />
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Trust me. It will be good for a laugh.<br />
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<br />Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-13341081950952637732015-12-31T10:50:00.000-08:002016-01-16T17:20:02.741-08:00What I Read in 2015It's that time again, when I list the books I read this year. To be honest, it was a lighter reading year than I've had in a very long time. I had a lot of other things on my plate this year, but I snuck in a book whenever I could.<br />
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So here we go:<br />
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1. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-impossible-knife-of-memory-laurie-halse-anderson/1115700021?ean=9780147510723" target="_blank">The Impossible Knife of Memory</a></b> by Laurie Halse Anderson. I've been a huge fan of LHA all the way back to <i>Speak</i>, and this book was just as good. What is so killer about Anderson is her amazing ear--she just gets how teens talk and how they feel and conveys it so well on the page. I am struck anew with writerly envy every single time I pick up one of her books.<br />
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2. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-orphan-queen-jodi-meadows/1119738844?ean=9780062317384" target="_blank">The Orphan Queen</a> </b>by Jodi Meadows. Okay, disclaimer: Jodi is one of my very best friends, so I am not exactly objective when it comes to her work, but in my opinion this is one of her best books. If you love fantasy, you'll love this. It has it all: magic, political intrigue, a kick-ass heroine and a guy who runs around wearing a mask. Love love this one.<br />
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3. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-martian-andy-weir/1114993828?ean=9780553418026" target="_blank">The Martian</a> </b>by Andy Weir. This is an adult book, and I loved it so much I bought it for my parents. They, er, thought it was a bit boring at times and greatly preferred the movie. I will have to agree to disagree--the book is awesome. It is a love letter to science in the best possible way, and the voice of the main character is so winning and lively that it's easy to follow all the science that comes with surviving when you've been abandoned on Mars.<br />
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4. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/golden-son-pierce-brown/1118476760?ean=9780345539830" target="_blank">Golden Son</a></b> by Pierce Brown. If you caught my list last year you'll notice that the first book in this series, <i>Red Rising</i>, was one of my favorites of the year. I went into Golden Son with a little bit of trepidation, honestly, because I loved the first book so much I was worried that the second one couldn't possibly measure up. I was wrong--this book is every bit as tense and engaging and beautifully written as the first novel. Easily the best sci-fi I read all year.<br />
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5. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-glass-casket-mccormick-templeman/1115292741?ean=9780385743433" target="_blank">The Glass Casket</a></b> by McCormick Templeman. I really liked this fantasy/horror retelling with whispers of Snow White and Rose Red and the Snow Queen all in one. Reading the book felt like a beautiful nightmare, in the best sense possible.<br />
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6. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alice-in-zombieland-gena-showalter/1109674045?ean=9780373210893" target="_blank"><b>Alice in Zombieland</b> </a>by Gena Showalter. This felt like the good old paranormal teen stories of old to me, which I miss. The modern life of the main character was so believable. I also loved the ways the author used clouds and symbols.<br />
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7. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-darkest-part-of-the-forest-holly-black/1119439640?ean=9780316213073" target="_blank">The Darkest Part of the Forest</a></b> by Holly Black. Ah, Holly Black, you slay me. How do you do it every single time? This story was soooooo compelling, one of those hide-in-the-closet-so-I-can-finish-reading kind of books--you other mothers know what I'm talking about. I loved that this was a fairy book, and the characters were so well drawn and the plot was so engaging. Sigh. *fangirls all over Holly Black.<br />
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8. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-the-bright-places-jennifer-niven/1119884781?ean=9780385755887" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">All The Bright Places </a>by Jennifer Niven. Okay, so this was the year of the suicide novel. That sounds like it shouldn't be a thing, but it's good. It's an issue we need to talk about. And it felt like all of these suicide novels came out at roughly the same time, my own included. So I read a bunch of these last winter. ATBP ended up being one of my favorites, because the characters, particularly the guy character, felt so real to me. Bring tissues for this one, though. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to cry at the end.<br />
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9. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-heart-and-other-black-holes-jasmine-warga/1119565627?ean=9780062324672" target="_blank">My Heart and Other Black Holes</a></b> by Jasmine Warga. This one is hard for me to talk about for a few reasons. If you've read the acknowledgements of my book <i>The Last Time We Say Goodbye</i>, you'll know that I lost my younger brother to suicide when I was in college. Books about suicide can be pretty difficult for me. This book came out the same day as TLTWSG, and we were going to tour together, so HarperTeen sent me an ARC. I got to page ten, and then I had to put the book down for a while. It's a story about a girl who is contemplating suicide, and she seeks out a "partner," someone who also wants to kill himself. She ends up connecting with a boy who wants his life to end on a specific date: April 7. The entire book from that point counts down to April 7. Which just happens to be the date that my brother died. I got to that date and felt a ripple of shock go over me. It was painful to read and anticipate how Warga's April 7 was going to turn out, but I did pick up the book again and keep reading, and I'm so glad I did. It's a beautiful story about, i think, how human connection can save us.<br />
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10. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-was-here-gayle-forman/1119671511?ean=9780451471475" target="_blank"><b>I Was Here</b> </a>by Gayle Forman. I am a big fan of Gayle Forman--her book If I Stay is one of my favorites of all time, and I've never read a book of hers I didn't like. That said, this one is probably my least favorite, even though it's a very good book. This is about a girl whose best friend has committed suicide, and the girl goes on a journey searching of answers. Again, a really good book, but it felt like a head book to me instead of a heart book. If you know what I mean.<br />
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11. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-young-elites-marie-lu/1118663092?ean=9780147511683" target="_blank">The Young Elites</a></b> by Marie Lu. I loved Marie's previous Legend series, but I have to say I loved this novel even more. The Main character was just so fascinating, and the world the book operates in is dark and engrossing. And the end was so awesome.<br />
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12. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/red-queen-victoria-aveyard/1119565624?ean=9780062310637" target="_blank">Red Queen</a></b> by Victoria Aveyard. Again, I might be a bit biased, as I toured with Victoria this year, but this novel was so well crafted--it keeps you pretty much on the edge of your chair for the entire read. If you read a lot of fantasy, you'll dig it. The ship situation is pretty intense in this story, too. Hot guys and red-blooded girls for the win.<br />
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13. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-distance-between-lost-and-found-kathryn-holmes/1119613603?ean=9780062317261" target="_blank">The Distance Between Lost and Found</a></b> by Kathryn Holmes. I really love survival stories, so I was excited to read this one, about three teens lost in the woods. It was pretty good, too, a little kitchy at times, maybe, but a feel-good read, for sure.<br />
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14. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-ember-in-the-ashes-sabaa-tahir/1119671406?ean=9781595148032" target="_blank"><b>An</b> </a><b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-ember-in-the-ashes-sabaa-tahir/1119671406?ean=9781595148032" target="_blank">Ember in the Ashes</a> </b>by Sabaa Tahir. This was the book that I recommended when people asked me for my favorite book this year. In so many ways it was just another one of the gazillion fantasies that flooded the market this year, but IT WAS SO GOOD. It's from the point of view of two characters, and the stakes are so high for both of them, and I was just holding my breath for them by the end. AWESOME AWESOME.<br />
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15. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-wicked-thing-rhiannon-thomas/1119645605?ean=9780062303530" target="_blank"><b>A Wicked Thing</b> </a>by Rhiannon Thompson. This was an excellent retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story, which begins with the kiss that wakens her and proves that happily ever after isn't necessarily a given.<br />
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16. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-glass-arrow-kristen-simmons/1119439443?ean=9780765336613" target="_blank"><b>The Glass Arrow</b> </a>by Kristen Simmons. Gosh, this was the year for great fantasies (and the word glass in the title, apparently). This one hooked me right away, and had one of the most interesting, engaging main characters I read this year.<br />
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17. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/grasshopper-jungle-andrew-smith/1109483427?ean=9780142425008" target="_blank">Grasshopper Jungle </a></b>by Andrew Smith. This book about aliens was hands-down the goriest, foulest-mouthed, most intense YA I read this year, but it was also really funny at times and incredibly authentic to the experience of a teenage boy. I enjoyed it.<br />
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18. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-strange-and-beautiful-sorrows-of-ava-lavender-leslye-walton/1115960951?ean=9780763680275" target="_blank"><b>The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender</b> </a>by Leslye Walton. The title is so apt for this book, which is both strange and beautiful, about a girl who is born with wings. But ultimately it is about so much more than that--it's about family and womanhood and the way people can treat each other as symbols instead of as human beings.<br />
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19. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-game-of-love-and-death-martha-brockenbrough/1120521277?ean=9780545668347" target="_blank">The Game of Love and Death</a> </b>by Martha Brockenbrough. I loved this one--it felt a bit like The Book Thief, about Love and Death competing with each other over the lives of two star-crossed lovers in the 30s. The world of this novel was so rich, and the story was so tense and compelling, and the premise was so imaginative and well wrought. A great book.<br />
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20. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/crimson-bound-rosamund-hodge/1120113574?ean=9780062224767" target="_blank">Crimson Bound</a></b> by Rosamund Hodge. Yet another amazing fantasy. At this point some of the fantasies had started to blend together in my head a bit, but this one stood out for Hodge's deft use of sexual tension--I liked her book Cruel Beauty a little bit more than this one, but she continues to write attraction mixed with hostility so well. Great writing and imagery in this one, too.<br />
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21. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/daughter-of-deep-silence-carrie-ryan/1120422119?ean=9780525426509" target="_blank">Daughter of Deep Silence</a> </b>by Carrie Ryan. I am a HUGE Carrie Ryan fan, and I tore through this book the moment I got my hands on it. It's a great, quick-paced thriller where you definitely can't see all the twists coming.<br />
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22. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wrath-and-the-dawn-renee-ahdieh/1120422062?ean=9780399171611" target="_blank"><b>The Wrath and the Dawn</b> </a>by Renee Ahndieh. One of my favorite books of the year--this is a super cool retelling of the 1001 Arabian nights. I found the world and the characters here simply mesmerizing, and I loved the storytelling aspect, and how the revenge in the main character's heart slowly shifts into something else, and the torment of the male lead. Wow. Wow wow.<br />
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23. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dead-lands-benjamin-percy/1120058402?ean=9781455528240" target="_blank"><b>The Dead Lands</b> </a>by Benjamin Percy. This is an adult novel that reimagines the Lewis and Clark expedition in a post-apocolyptic landscape, and it was brilliant, easily my favorite of Ben Percy's books so far. I loved that the Sacajawea character was constantly thinking about just murdering the whole bunch of them so she would be rid of them. I loved the steampunk feel.<br />
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24. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/miss-peregrines-home-for-peculiar-children-ransom-riggs/1100388567?ean=9781594746031" target="_blank">Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children</a></b> by Ransom Riggs. Okay, so I read and loved this two years ago, but this year my family and I went to dinner with Ransom and Tahereh, (his equally lovely and talented wife) and my eight-year-old son was immediately enraptured by Ransom and came home wanting to read his book. So we read it, although I had to do some heavy editing because it was a bit too scary for my kid.<br />
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25. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/vengeance-road-erin-bowman/1120874786?ean=9780544466388" target="_blank"><b>Vengeance Road</b> </a>by Erin Bowman. I LOVE Westerns, and I was instantly smitten by the cover of this book, so I went right out and got this the day it came out. It was a fun, exciting read, and I loved following this kick-ass girl's path through the Old West. Awesome.<br />
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26. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/walk-on-earth-a-stranger-rae-carson/1120977496?ean=9780062242914" target="_blank">Walk On Earth A Stranger </a></b>by Rae Carson. Another Western! Woohoo! This one I felt had a bit more of an "educational" feel to it--like we were learning about the history of the Oregon trail as we went along, but as usual Carson's language was beautiful and the little paranormal twist to it made it so cool.<br />
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27. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/these-broken-stars-amie-kaufman/1114702233?ean=9781423171218" target="_blank">These Broken Stars </a></b>by Amie Kaufman. A sci-fi version of the Titanic, set in space and on some distant planet. There was a moment in this one where I literally gasped--what happened was so unexpected. I'm eager to read the next one.<br />
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28.<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/every-last-word-tamara-ireland-stone/1120512519?ean=9781484705278" target="_blank"> <b>Every Last Word</b></a> by Tamara Ireland Stone. This was easily my favorite contemporary YA of the year--it was just so heartfelt and authentic and true. I loved the main character in all her flawed and wonderful struggles--she is trying to hide her obsessive-only OCD from her mean-girl friends, learning how to express herself and come to love herself through writing, and reinventing her life. If there's one book I wish all teens would read this year, this is it.<br />
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29. <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bone-gap-laura-ruby/1119705382?ean=9780062317605" target="_blank"><b>Bone Gap</b> </a>by Laura Ruby. Gosh, this was a beautiful book. It struck me as a literary novel that got swept into the YA category because the characters are fairly young. I don't want to give too much away, but I flat-out loved this one--the gorgeous language, the strange yet familiar story, the yearning characters, the small-town revelations.<br />
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30. <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-accident-season-mo-ra-fowley-doyle/1121098428?ean=9780525429487" target="_blank">The Accident Season</a> </b>by Moira Fowley-Doyle. This was an awesome book, too. I think this year, which my more limited time and budget, I really only bothered with books that I had a strong sense that I would love. This one is about a family with a kind of curse on them--every October they tend to get into strange "accidents." It had mystery and romance and one of the best family dynamics that I've read in YA.<br />
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So that's it--the books I read this year! If I had to pick favorites I'd go with:<br />
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<b><u>The Darkest Part of the Forest</u></b>, if you miss the paranormal romance phase and love the dark and engrossing kind of fantasy.<br />
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<b><u>An Ember In the Ashes</u></b>, if you want a book to get completely lost in.<br />
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<b><u>Bone Gap</u></b>, if you're in the mood for something beautiful and completely engrossing.<br />
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<b><u>The Game of Love and Death</u></b>, if you like historical and magical.<br />
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<b><u>Every Last Word</u>,</b> if you want a contemporary that will make you think about the ways we define ourselves.<br />
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What strikes me every year when I go to make this list is just how great teens have it now--you have SO MANY AMAZING BOOKS TO READ. I mean, seriously. There are great books of every type and genre--the world is your oyster. Every year I am amazed at both the quantity and quality of the books on the YA shelf, and I grew up in a time where there was no YA shelf--you just kind of skimmed the adult shelves looking for something that would speak to you.<br />
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So what was YOUR favorite book of 2015? Tell me in the comments. And stay tuned for tomorrow, where I will give you the list of books I read to my son in 2015. *spoiler alert--there was an equally-great selection of kids books this year.<br />
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<br />Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-44431907005857033532015-10-07T16:28:00.002-07:002015-10-07T16:38:06.512-07:00The Power of One Good Friend<br />
I've been trying to write this post for a year. Brace yourself, it's going be long and weepy, but sometimes these things just need to be said because it's important to say these things out loud (sort of). So here it goes:<br />
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One morning last October I was packing up and getting ready to leave Yellowstone National Park, where my family had been staying at the Old Faithful Inn for a long weekend. My cell phone rang. I smiled when I saw who was calling: my friend Joan Kremer, who had been my off-and-on writing partner for the past six years.<br />
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"I was just thinking about you yesterday," I said as I picked up. "Happy birthday!"<br />
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But on the other end, there was silence.<br />
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"Joan?" I asked.<br />
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Nothing.<br />
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"Silas?" I said, thinking maybe Joan's baby grandson, whom she adored and was often joyfully babysitting, had gotten ahold of her phone. "Silas?"<br />
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A throat cleared. Then, in a faltering voice, Joan's wife, Brenda, told me that Joan had suffered from a sudden brain hemorrhage the day before. She'd been in the hospital all night, surrounded by her family, but there hadn't been anything the doctors could do.<br />
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"She's gone," Brenda whispered.<br />
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After I hung up I sat down on the edge of the hotel bed in total shock. Just like that, my friend, who I'd spent hours upon hours talking to and laughing with and goofing around with, was dead.<br />
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Gone.<br />
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I spent the first several months in that stage where I couldn't get my brain around what had happened, where it felt like there'd been some kind of awful mistake. Joan can't be gone, I'd think. There was just so much I had to tell her. I never got to tell her, I kept thinking, how she kind of saved my life.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PEPJoNAaEjs/VhWciOIz6II/AAAAAAAABXo/iiUkYKhOwJY/s1600/meandWill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PEPJoNAaEjs/VhWciOIz6II/AAAAAAAABXo/iiUkYKhOwJY/s400/meandWill.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hiking with my son in Westlake Village, CA</td></tr>
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Rewind seven years. My husband and I had just moved to southern California so my husband could start his new job at Pepperdine University. We had very little money at first, and only one car. Every day my husband took the car to Pepperdine, and I was stuck at home with my toddler in a city where I didn't know anyone.<br />
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To say that I was unhappy during that time is such an understatement that it almost makes me laugh. I was deeply depressed--a touch of postpartum, a dash of guilt that I clearly wasn't "enjoying the time" with my baby, a whole lot of cabin fever. I was bored. I was wildly lonesome--the kind of lonely that caused me to start up conversations with the grocery store clerk just so I'd have a flicker of adult conversation. The second my husband crossed the threshold of our apartment I was like an excited puppy waiting at the door. The problem was, he was usually exhausted at the end of the day, trying to get on his feet in his new job.<br />
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It was not a good year.<br />
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In April of that year I heard an NPR story about a new internet phenomenon: SecondLife, a virtual world sort of like The Sims but where the inhabitants were all real people and the content was all created by the players. It wasn't a game so much as a social experiment, NPR claimed, and it cited colleges setting up virtual campuses to hold virtual classes and people doing cool things like recreating the Sistine Chapel and having poetry readings attended by people from all over the world.<br />
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I was intrigued. I was also, as I've said, dull-eyed bored, so I thought I'd check this Second Life thing out. So, one day during my son's nap, I created a profile, put together an awkward avatar, and stumbled into another world.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LET_I91tG_g/VhWZAqQqFVI/AAAAAAAABXI/Z6SfP6yhLdc/s1600/SISTINECHAPEL1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LET_I91tG_g/VhWZAqQqFVI/AAAAAAAABXI/Z6SfP6yhLdc/s400/SISTINECHAPEL1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My avatar at the virtual Sistine Chapel</td></tr>
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I'm always a little hesitant to talk about SecondLife, honestly. It shows off my geek side, sure. There are some incredibly cool things to see and experience in that place--yes, there IS a virtual Sistine Chapel, where you can fly up and get a closer, private look at every nook and cranny, which is SO cool-- but there is also a very seedy underbelly. It can be like a gigantic costume ball where everyone is wearing masks. Real money is constantly flowing through that world--money for virtual clothing for your avatars, virtual property that you can rent, virtual furniture you can buy for your virtual property, sounds and textures and animations for sale to make your experience more and more lifelike, and it isn't really surprising that the best selling items in SecondLife have to do with sex.<br />
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It can be a creepy place, is what I'm saying. But I guess, like anything, SecondLife is what you bring to it.<br />
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So there I was, duck-walking around a self-proclaimed "writing center" in SecondLife--somewhere that people had set up to hold these aforementioned poetry readings and serve as a resource for writers--when I literally (or virtually, I should say) bumped into an avatar named Alas Zerbino.<br />
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Like me, Alas was new to SecondLife. She quickly introduced herself as a freelance writer and educator who'd heard the same NPR story that I had and come to check it out.<br />
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So we decided we'd check it out together.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kRRifzkd_ak/VhWZQ5XxHUI/AAAAAAAABXQ/x865PojcRxQ/s1600/virtualvvg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kRRifzkd_ak/VhWZQ5XxHUI/AAAAAAAABXQ/x865PojcRxQ/s400/virtualvvg.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alas Zerbino and me in the virtual Vincent Van Gogh exhibit</td></tr>
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At first we were just merry traveling companions. There's a lot to do and see inside Second Life, and from pretty much that first day, Alas Zerbino and I experienced it together. We went to poetry readings and fiction writing groups. We explored the Emerald City and the planet Mars and the inside of the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh. We shopped. One of our favorite things was to collect a bunch of free hair demos (in SecondLife, you have to buy your hair the way one buys a wig, already styled, but most places will let you try on a demo first) and then try on the silliest ones and laugh our butts off. In the beginning Alas wore her hair in an updo--a cascade of curls. Over the years we both went through a series of different looks, but Alas always sported auburn hair, large brown eyes, and a hint of a smile.<br />
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We were a bit guarded with each other at first. We were both wary of the dangers of the internet, and we didn't give out our real names and locations. We didn't voice chat--only type. But over the weeks and then months that Alas and I hung out in that virtual space, the details of our lives started to trickle out. We started to talk about more than just our writing. Alas Zerbino slowly became Joan, and Clarissa Tolsen (which was my avatar's name) became Cynthia, and we spent less time exploring and more time just finding cool places to talk.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lqoHTmOtDNU/VhWZlGYYS6I/AAAAAAAABXY/FI7z78ly1L8/s1600/alasanditalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="376" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lqoHTmOtDNU/VhWZlGYYS6I/AAAAAAAABXY/FI7z78ly1L8/s640/alasanditalk.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joan and me literally hanging out</td></tr>
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It didn't add up to that much time that we spent together, really, maybe one or two hours a couple of times a week, but it made a HUGE difference in my life. Suddenly I had someone to talk to, and not just someone, but Joan--Joan who was quietly funny and whip-smart, sympathetic yet capable of calling a spade a spade when the need arose. We were both writers and mothers. Her younger sister had died when Joan was a teen--my younger brother had died when I was twenty. She was older than I was, in the next stage of her life, with two kids in their late teens / early twenties who she was constantly worrying about, but she remembered her early times with her kids so well. We had so much, we found, to talk about.<br />
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After so long feeling completely adrift, I felt like I'd found myself again. And it was all because of the power of one good friend.<br />
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It was about a year after I met Joan when I had the idea for UNEARTHLY. At the time it seemed like a huge undertaking--WRITING A NOVEL!-- one that I had tried before and pooped out on long before I'd finished. When I told Joan about it, she was the best cheerleader. Not only did she urge me to just start writing, she offered to write with me. By this time Joan and I had pitched in to get our own little spot in SecondLife, a place we called Story Mountain, which was basically like a big ski lodge where Joan and I compiled all the SL information about writing and writers into one beautiful reference location and where I taught intro classes in creative writing from time to time.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A_ab_kSRbOE/VhWkiY2t0hI/AAAAAAAABYA/sPpAyk7JRZc/s1600/writinginSL2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A_ab_kSRbOE/VhWkiY2t0hI/AAAAAAAABYA/sPpAyk7JRZc/s400/writinginSL2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My alter ego working on my real book.</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: center;">So for the next six months after I had the big idea for UNEARTHLY, Joan and I showed up every day at Story Mountain to work. We both set up virtual desks with virtual computers and directed our virtual avatars to sit at those desks and type while we sat at our own real life computer and wrote. We wrote hard for a couple of hours, and then we retreated to a couch in my Story Mountain office. We copied and pasted our day's work onto a virtual notecard and traded. We read each other's work and offered advise and encouragement. <a href="http://www.cynthiahandbooks.com/p/1333-connecting-toin-world-voice-chat.html" target="_blank">(Click here to see a transcript of one of our discussions of Unearthly.)</a> And then we showed up the next day, and the next day, and the next.</span><br />
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At the end of that six months I had a novel, and within a year, I had a book contract with HarperCollins and my life would be forever changed.<br />
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And it was all because of the power of one good friend.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aNVXnZMoElQ/VhWkzp-f5fI/AAAAAAAABYM/DtPiINPV28s/s1600/joanandme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aNVXnZMoElQ/VhWkzp-f5fI/AAAAAAAABYM/DtPiINPV28s/s400/joanandme.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joan and me in Chicago</td></tr>
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I met Joan is real life once. I came to Chicago for the Romantic Times Book Convention. Joan and Brenda drove down from Wisconsin. I remember that I was a little nervous to meet her in person, and I knew I was being silly. We ran up and gave each other a big hug and then found a spot to hang out and talk. I shouldn't have worried; it was just the way it always was--totally comfortable. Sure, we weren't as thin or as well-dressed as we were in SecondLife, but guess what? Our friendship wasn't based on looks, obviously. We had a great time.<br />
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In the past few years we didn't log in to SecondLife as much. I became monumentally busy with all of my Unearthly stuff, and I had another baby. Joan finished her novel and shopped it around for an agent, but didn't have any luck. But she was tough--she just kept working on it, revising and revising. And then along came Silas, her grandson, and Joan threw herself into being the epitome of the loving grandmother. We both got caught up in other things, but every now and then we carved out a little bit of time and found a place to work together--a virtual cabin or a virtual beach, wherever we could put down some virtual laptops to work. We'd write and we'd talk, and it was always like picking up right where we left off.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4yfiwYIPwOE/VhWNDRU3kCI/AAAAAAAABW0/OF8ua-OCDHA/s1600/Beach%2Bwriting_002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="338" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4yfiwYIPwOE/VhWNDRU3kCI/AAAAAAAABW0/OF8ua-OCDHA/s640/Beach%2Bwriting_002.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joan and I writing together and also 1500 miles apart</td></tr>
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This is the last picture I have of Joan and me: the two of us as avatars writing together. Today, on what would have been Joan's birthday, I pulled it out and looked at it, and finally let myself have a good long cry over the loss of my friend. I wish I could call her right now and say <i>thank you</i>, <i>for being my person when I desperately needed a person, for being my cheerleader and my writing partner and my friend. You showed me just how much power one good friend can have in changing a life.</i><br />
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Thank you, Joan. Love you. Wherever you are.<br />
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<br />Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-76525031478843398802015-09-30T20:36:00.000-07:002015-09-30T20:36:57.338-07:00Young Adult Scavenger Hunt<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This tri-annual event was first organized by author <a href="http://www.tigerscursebook.com/"><span style="color: #2288bb;">Colleen Houck</span></a> as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors...and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive <b>TWENTY</b> signed books, one book from each author on the hunt in my team!<b> </b>But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!</div>
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<b>Go to the <a href="http://yascavengerhunt.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #2288bb;">YA Scavenger Hunt</span></a> page to find out all about the hunt. </b>There are THREE contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the <span style="color: #bf9000;">GOLD TEAM</span>--<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4PnSmxtnYAQ/VgDJk08RnhI/AAAAAAAABVY/b25XViLSMrw/s1600/Team%2BGold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4PnSmxtnYAQ/VgDJk08RnhI/AAAAAAAABVY/b25XViLSMrw/s320/Team%2BGold.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
but there is also a red team and a blue team for chances to win a whole different set of twenty signed books!<br />
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If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to<span style="color: #2288bb;"> <a href="http://yascavengerhunt.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage</a></span>.<span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div>
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Scavenger Hunt Puzzle</h2>
<b>Directions:</b> Below, you'll notice that I've listed <span style="color: magenta;"><span style="color: black;">my</span></span> favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the <span style="color: #bf9000;">gold team</span>, and then add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!).<br />
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<b>Entry Form:</b> Once you've added up all the numbers, <a href="http://yascavengerhunt.blogspot.com/p/enter-here.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;">make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize</span></a>. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.</div>
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<b>Rules:</b> Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by October 4, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.</div>
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<br />Scavenger Hunt Post</h2>
Today, I am hosting Pintip Dunn on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Kw-j7tznUg/VgDKZAxAPlI/AAAAAAAABVg/APkzjQLQARk/s1600/Pintip%252Bcropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Kw-j7tznUg/VgDKZAxAPlI/AAAAAAAABVg/APkzjQLQARk/s400/Pintip%252Bcropped.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pintip Dunn</td></tr>
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<span data-sheets-userformat="[null,null,515,[null,0],[null,2,16776960],null,null,null,null,null,null,null,0]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Pintip Dunn graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. She then received her J.D. at Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the YALE LAW JOURNAL. She is represented by literary agent Beth Miller of Writers House. She is a 2012 RWA Golden Heart\u00ae finalist and a 2014 double-finalist. She lives with my husband and children in Maryland."]"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Pintip Dunn graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. She then received her J.D. at Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the YALE LAW JOURNAL. She is represented by literary agent Beth Miller of Writers House. She is a 2012 RWA Golden Heart® finalist and a 2014 double-finalist. She lives with my husband and children in Maryland.</i></span></span></div>
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Find out more information by checking out the <a href="http://www.pintipdunn.com/" target="_blank">author website</a>!<br />
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Buy the book from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Forget-Tomorrow-Pintip-Dunn/dp/1633752380/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440798573&sr=8-1&keywords=pintip+dunn" target="_blank">here</a>!<br />
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<span data-sheets-userformat="[null,null,515,[null,0],[null,2,16776960],null,null,null,null,null,null,null,0]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Imagine a world where your destiny has already been decided...by your future self. \n\nIt's Callie\u2019s seventeenth birthday and, like everyone else, she's eagerly awaiting her vision\u2015a memory sent back in time to sculpt each citizen into the person they're meant to be. A world-class swimmer. A renowned scientist. \n\nOr in Callie's case, a criminal. \n\nIn her vision, she sees herself murdering her gifted younger sister. Before she can process what it means, Callie is arrested and placed in Limbo\u2015a hellish prison for those destined to break the law. With the help of her childhood crush, Logan, a boy she hasn\u2019t spoken to in five years, she escapes. \n\nBut on the run from her future, as well as the government, Callie sets in motion a chain of events that she hopes will change her fate. If not, she must figure out how to protect her sister from the biggest threat of all\u2014Callie, herself. "]"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Imagine a world where your destiny has already been decided...by your future self. <br /><br />It's Callie’s seventeenth birthday and, like everyone else, she's eagerly awaiting her vision―a memory sent back in time to sculpt each citizen into the person they're meant to be. A world-class swimmer. A renowned scientist. <br /><br />Or in Callie's case, a criminal. <br /><br />In her vision, she sees herself murdering her gifted younger sister. Before she can process what it means, Callie is arrested and placed in Limbo―a hellish prison for those destined to break the law. With the help of her childhood crush, Logan, a boy she hasn’t spoken to in five years, she escapes. <br /><br />But on the run from her future, as well as the government, Callie sets in motion a chain of events that she hopes will change her fate. If not, she must figure out how to protect her sister from the biggest threat of all—Callie, herself. </i></span></span></div>
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Exclusive Content -</h2>
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<span style="color: magenta;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">FORGET
TOMORROW – alternate opening<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The following is the original
opening of FORGET TOMORROW. I decided not to use this scene pretty early on –
although I’ve always liked it, this scene didn’t fit the direction of the
story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was originally scene two is
now the opening of the book. Enjoy!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>We’re
learning in school that our ancestors believed in God. He took many forms,
appearing sometimes as a single omniscient being and other times as a whole
gang of deities. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>“God
was necessary,” Ms. Farnsworth lectures, tapping teal blue fingernails against
her beaky nose, “because back then, in the pre-Boom era, time travel was
nothing more than a theoretical possibility.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>She
doesn’t add that time travel still
isn’t possible, at least not for physical bodies. In the future, we’ve apparently
figured out how to send memories back in time, but so far, the present’s yet to
see evidence of an actual time-traveler. Unless, that is, you count Ms.
Farnsworth, who seems stuck in a fashion-era of her own making.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Even
now, she tosses her pink feather boa around her shoulders as if she’s a
flamenco dancer. Or a flamingo. “Any questions?”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My hand shoots into the air. “You mean, our ancestors
didn't have to wait until their 17th birthdays?” I blurt out. “They had this
God’s comfort all of their lives?”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My classmates gasp. Ms. Farnsworth blinks. Even my best
friend Marissa knits her eyebrows like she’s just been pinched. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What am I saying? This is blasphemy.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Every citizen in the North Amerie is allotted one memory
to fling into the space-time continuum, to be received by his or her
seventeen-year-old self. The memory can be sent any time after the legal age,
but conventional thinking advises waiting as long as possible, to ensure choosing
a proper memory.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Sometimes,
I feel as if I’ve been waiting all my life to turn seventeen. I measure my days
not by my experiences but by the time remaining until I receive my memory, THE
memory, the one that’s supposed to imbue meaning into my life. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>They
tell me, then, I won’t feel so alone. I’ll know, without a shred of doubt, that
somewhere in another spacetime exists a future version of me, one who turns out
alright. I’ll know who I’m supposed to be. And I’ll never feel lost again. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Too
bad I have to live through sixteen years of filler first. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>“Calla
Ann Stone.” Ms. Farnsworth’s high-pitched voice squeaks an octave higher. “I
hope you’re not seriously suggesting that the Agency is mistaken in setting the age of receipt? You don’t actually believe
that a sixteen-year-old is mature
enough to handle future memory?” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%;">
<i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Right. As if a few
months’ time will stop Bobby Fernandez from drawing pictures of his anatomy on
his desk screen and turn him into a responsible adult. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>I drop
my eyes to the table. “Of course not.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ms. Farnsworth sits in her chair and drums her hands
along the edge of her desk, fingers dangerously close to the button embedded in
the underside of the glass. “That’s not the way it sounded to me.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Eighteen pairs of eyes fix on her hands. The button is
supposed to be a secret, but everyone knows it’s there. One push, and officials
from ComA will descend on the school so quickly, you would think they were
staked out in the trees. The button’s only been pressed twice since I’ve
started school – once, when Mikey Russell made a ball fly across the
racquetball court, without touching it,
and the second time, when Lena Pereles flipped out and started hacking at the ComA’s
Rulebook with a pair of scissors. I really don’t want to be number three.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>“Callie’s
not herself today,” Marissa says, grabbing my arm. “She’s getting her memory
tomorrow, remember? It’s enough to put anyone on edge.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ms. Farnsworth purses her lips. My heart misses a few
beats and then, thank the Fates, she moves her hand from the button.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I was hoping you could tell us about the time you
received your memory,” Marissa continues. “It must have been so exhilarating,
learning that you would someday become a teacher in this school.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, I suppose I could.” Ms. Farnsworth pats the glass
beads around her neck. “As you know, my class was one of the very first to
receive the memories in a structured manner Before the Agency intervened, the
memories struck individuals like a bolt of lightning – randomly but so vividly,
it gave the survivors of the Dark Days the hope they needed to rebuild the
future…” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>I mouth
“thank you” to Marissa. We turn to our desk screens, and I tap out a word here
and there, barely comprehending what I’m typing. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>It’s
over. I’m safe. She didn’t report me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>And
then I hear, from somewhere behind me, in a voice so low it might just be my
imagination: “It’s not like the Agency has any control over it.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Enter the Contest</h2>
<div>
And don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, <span style="color: magenta;"><span style="color: black;">Cynthia Hand</span></span>, and more! To enter, you need to know that <span style="color: black;">my</span> favorite number is <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;">37.</span> Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the <span style="color: #38761d;">green team </span>and you'll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Continue the Hunt</h2>
<div>
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author!<span style="color: magenta;"> <a href="http://www.rysa.com/YASH">Click here!</a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Enter The Extra ARC Giveaway</h2>
<div>
In honor of this special event, I'm going to give away 1 extra signed copy of <i>THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE</i>. Just follow the directions in the rafflecopter below:<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="2702fb0b8" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/2702fb0b8/" id="rcwidget_8ttx48sd" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script>Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-50384290205383203892015-08-31T13:05:00.000-07:002015-08-31T13:21:15.642-07:00Deadline Week RundownThis is what last (deadline) week looked like for me:<br />
<br />
<u>Monday - Friday:</u><br />
<br />
6 am - Woke up, drank coffee, and worked on my revision for the new book.<br />
<br />
7:30 am - Woke the kids up, drank coffee, and got them ready for school.<br />
<br />
9 am - Returned home from dropping off the kids, drank coffee, dinked around on the internet and/or called my agent / editor to freak out over my impending deadline and book issues.<br />
<br />
10 am - 4 pm WORKED WORKED WORKED on the revision, eating lunch at my desk. Also drank some coffee.<br />
<br />
4 pm - Picked up my kids. Homework. Shenanigans.<br />
<br />
6 pm - Threw something together for dinner and shuttled the kids to various activities and / or found a movie for them to watch so I could WORK WORK WORK on my novel.<br />
<br />
8 pm - Bedtime for kiddos, which is always a circus entitled, Tricks My Children Do To Avoid Going To Bed. I should charge admission for this. . .<br />
<br />
9 pm - WORKED WORKED WORKED on the novel.<br />
<br />
12 am - Went to bed. Stared up at the ceiling thinking about the revisions.<br />
<br />
1 am - Fell into fitful sleep in which I actually revised my novel in my dreams. All night long I wrestled with phantom lines.<br />
<br />
5 am - Woken up by two cats jumping all over me who had decided it was time for the human to WAKE UP AND PLAY. Threw ungrateful cats out of the bedroom.<br />
<br />
6 am - Started all over again.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Behold the oh-so-glamourous life of a writer! It went like this until Friday, where I'll add -<br />
<br />
11:52 pm (8 minutes before my deadline) - Pressed send to give the draft back to my editor<br />
<br />
12 am - Went to bed, stared up at the ceiling for no good reason.<br />
<br />
3 am - Finally got my brain to turn off enough to fall asleep. But that's okay because it's Saturday so I can sleep in. . .<br />
<br />
5 am - Woken up by my 4 year old because she was cold. Also, was it time for cartoons?<br />
<br />
<br />
The weekend was a total blur- not even sure what I did there--maybe cleaned up the house and had some friends over for both me and the kids, ate donuts and pizza, played the game Munchkin for the first time, which was highly entertaining, but mostly just sat still with my brain going DUHHHHHH DOHHHHHHH DERRRRRRRR.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Which leads me to this morning, which went like this:<br />
<br />
7 am - Woke up and laid in bed for a while.<br />
<br />
7:30 am - Woke the kids up and got them ready for school<br />
<br />
9 am - Returned home and threw myself into my To Do pile: finished several writer errands I've been procrastinating on, like signing up for YASH and filling out my author profile stuff they make me do for every book for the new book, sent a barrage of emails<br />
<br />
10 am - Stared at the computer.<br />
<br />
11 pm - Spent an hour making homemade banana bread. The house now smells amazing.<br />
<br />
12 pm - Ate leftover pizza and took a shower so long it would have made Al Gore cry.<br />
<br />
1 pm - Stared at the computer.<br />
<br />
1:30 pm - Wrote a bizarre blog post about my schedule for the past week.<br />
<br />
2 pm - Eyed the notebook for the next project. . .<br />
<br />
2:03 - Picked up a pen.<br />
<br />Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-80277809703327444722015-07-20T08:00:00.000-07:002015-07-20T08:00:03.770-07:00Novel #6So last Wednesday I finished the first draft of my sixth novel!!!!<br />
<br />
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<br />
. . . which I can't tell you much about yet.<br />
<br />
*frowns* Well, that's no fun.<br />
<br />
What CAN I tell you?<br />
<br />
Hmm, well:<br />
<br />
-It is a stand-alone.<br />
<br />
-It is NOTHING like my last (solo) standalone, (i.e. THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE) in that it is not a straight contemporary, and it will probably (hopefully) make you laugh more than it will make you cry. (I did sniffle a bit writing a scene or two at the end there, but that's just me. I'm emotional about the needs of my characters.)<br />
<br />
-It is also nothing like my last (group) standalone (i.e. MY LADY JANE) in that it is not a fantasy, and I am not writing the point of view of a sixteen year old boy.<br />
<br />
-It was a blast to write, because I've had this story in my brain for, like, three years now and it was awesome to finally get to write it.<br />
<br />
-It was the fastest I've ever written a book.<br />
<br />
-It's probably the roughest first draft I've ever produced, which is both exciting and terrifying for me, because, at this point, so much could change.<br />
<br />
-The main character is EVIL. I love her so much. I also kind of hate her. She and I have a love-hate thing going.<br />
<br />
-It is mainly set in Manhattan, and also a little bit in Malibu, and I listened to Taylor Swift's new album a lot while I was preparing to write it. Like, a lot a lot. Welcome to New York.<br />
<br />
-It will (fingers crossed) be out Fall 2016.<br />
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<br />
These last few days I haven't even really known what to do with myself, because I have been working SO HARD for the last six months and my brain just wants to keepgoingkeepgoinsomuchtodo. I spent a few hours today playing SKYRIM, which, I kid you not, I have not played since May 2012. And the whole time I was playing I felt vaguely guilty, like I was betraying my writer self by letting my video-gamer flag fly for even a little while.<br />
<br />
But that's how it goes.<br />
<br />
If you need me, I will be over here either a) working on my mad-bow-skillz or b) pacing while waiting for my editor to tell me what she thinks.<br />
<br />
Either way, it's always good to be at that place where I've written a NOVEL. It feels like a miracle every single time.<br />
<br />
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Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-49317138898940296682015-06-01T08:23:00.000-07:002015-06-01T08:23:11.174-07:00The Last Time We Say Goodbye in ItalyIt's June! (How did that happen?!)<br />
<br />
This month THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE is coming out in Italy. (June 16, to be exact). The publisher there (Harlequin Mandadori Editore) has been so wonderful and proactive, so there's going to be an official Italian blog tour, starting today, featuring lots of exclusive content from me and other sources.<br />
<br />
And here is the Italian cover:<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
Beautiful, right? I love it.<br />
<br />
So if you're Italian, or if you speak Italian, <a href="http://www.harlequinmondadori.it/hm/Libri/Young-adult/L-ultima-volta-che-ti-ho-detto-addio">here's the link</a> to where you can buy the Italian version.<br />
<br />
Ciao!Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-89046962416348654302015-05-27T07:10:00.000-07:002015-05-27T14:29:42.029-07:00Playing Catch UpWow, I have been absent from this blog for a long time. Sometimes this crazy, unreal writing life of mine leaves me very little time for anything else. What have I been doing these past few months? Well, let's see:<br />
<br />
1. In February I went on the Epic Reads tour with Victoria Aveyard and Jasmine Warga to Chicago, North Carolina, and Florida. This was so fun, especially because I got to meet two lovely debut authors and get to know them beyond their books. These girls were so smart and funny and great to be around. Some highlights of this tour include: a. being in a Chicago cold spell that was so fierce that they cancelled school and my nose hairs froze (but I did get to eat the most amazing pizza), b. getting to interact with so many amazing readers and booklovers, c. HARRY POTTER WORLD at Universal Studios, and d. Girl Scout cookies that a wonderful reader brought us.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Book tour!</td></tr>
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<br />
2. In March I went to New York City to throw a book launch for my friend Jodi's new book, THE ORPHAN QUEEN. We had an awesome event at seriously the best children's book store I've ever been to (Books of Wonder!), ate dinner that night at a place that uses chocolate in everything on the menu (Max Brenners!) and then tearfully said goodbye to my friends (it was okay; I'd see them next month). I spent an extra few days in New York researching for my new book (which takes place in NYC), meeting with my HarperTeen editor, and hanging out with my agent--who is one of my favorite people in the world.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A picture my agent took of me outside of a restaurant in New York</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
3. In April I went to ENGLAND with the Lady Janies. In case you missed this from an earlier post, the Lady Janes are myself, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows, three authors who wrote a book together this year about the Lady Jane Grey called MY LADY JANE. (<a href="http://ladyjanies.com/">Click here to go over to the Lady Janies page and find out more about this</a>.) Anyway, in between the first and the second draft of the book we went to England to do some research and work on the revisions all together. I'll save the highlights for the Lady Janies web space, but I will just say that it was the best trip ever. We wrote, we laughed, we took a gazillion pictures and video, we got lost, we got found, we wrote some more, we laughed some more, and we enjoyed every bit of our adventure.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lady Janies at Windsor Castle</td></tr>
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<br />
4. In May I went to Texas to take part in the Romantic Times Book Convention, which was, as usual, both overwhelming and awesome. I was on a couple of brilliant panels, the first on how to throw a successful launch of your book (led by the always-charming Victoria Scott), and the second on writing tips and techniques led by Aprilynne Pike. On this second panel was Alyson Noel, Rachel Caine, Claudia Gray, me, and . . . Kathy Reichs. KATHY REICHS, as in the real life forensic anthropologist who writes the books they make the TV show BONES about. She may have asked me to pour her some water. I may have poured her a glass, and then poured some water on the table. Because I am smooth that way.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My view from the giant book signing at RT. That's Rachel Harris on my left.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
5. I worked my backside off all this time on MY LADY JANE. Yesterday we turned in our final draft before the book goes to copy edits, and I have serious revision hangover. I would be just lying on the couch going GAHHHHHH for a few days, but I can't. I have a draft due on my next solo book (which I can't really tell you about yet) coming right up.<br />
<br />
So consider this the part where I peek out of my writing cave, wave to you all, and then . . . crawl right back in.<br />
<br />
I'll be out more at the end of summer.<br />
<br />
I hope.<br />
<br />Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-66271698779632651792015-02-17T08:42:00.001-08:002015-02-17T08:42:25.086-08:00Epic Reads TourI'm moments away from the big black car coming to pick me up for the Epic Reads tour! I am so excited to meet my fellow tour-mates: Victoria Aveyard and Jasmine Warga. I read both of their books last month and loved them. Yay for new friends!<br />
<br />
I'm also super excited to see the readers and bloggers who are going to show up in Chicago, Chapel Hill, and Florida! See below for dates and times. Yay for old friends!<br />
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See you there!<br />
<br />
xoxo<br />
<br />
CCynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-44008819837884471842015-02-09T20:44:00.004-08:002015-02-09T20:50:22.652-08:00Backstage<br />
Tomorrow THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE is on the shelves. I have nervous stomach. This is normal. Usually it feels like Christmas Eve at book launch; I'm excited that the day has finally arrived, and nervous to see if readers will respond to it, and thrilled to see the real book on a real shelf in a real bookstore. Usually at this point I'm swimming in newly-purchased swag, exhausted by all the blog tour stuff I've been writing (one year, I think it was with HALLOWED, I actually wrote nearly 20,000 words worth of interview/marketing stuff in the weeks leading up to publication. Good grief--that is like 1/4 of a book!) determined to <i>enjoy the day</i> (which to me means a mani-pedi, lunch out, and a trip to the bookstore to see the book in the wild), and just slightly nauseated.<br />
<br />
But this book feels different.<br />
<br />
Last night I had a dream that I was backstage. I spent my high school and college years as an actress in local theaters, so this is a typical dream of mine. It usually goes like this: I'm backstage, nervous, and then I go out there and either a) can't remember my lines and have to improv the whole play (which I suck at, btw) or b) go out there and get that beautiful-and-slightly-out-of-control high of simply letting myself go. That's when the magic happens. I perform, but it doesn't feel like performing. It feels like me.<br />
<br />
You can tell I miss the theater.<br />
<br />
In last night's dream, I was waiting backstage in that cozy blackness with the smell of sawdust and hairspray, waiting, waiting, for the show to begin. I took my place at center stage, and the curtain rose. Slowly. There was a huge crowd out there in the dark, the biggest crowd I'd ever seen. A spotlight flared up on me. Silence fell over the crowd. And I felt. . .<br />
<br />
Naked. Not physically naked (although I'm sure I've had those dreams, too, gah), but naked in the way that all of those people had come and bought their tickets to see ME. Just me. Standing there in front of them. No lines. It wasn't that I'd forgotten them so much as there were no lines, in this play. No costumes. No makeup or fancy hairstyles. Just me.<br />
<br />
And I had a choice: improv (which remember, I suck at) or let go.<br />
<br />
I took a deep breath, and woke up.<br />
<br />
It's hard to describe how vivid the dream was, or how perfectly it captured what I'm feeling now, as I wait for February 10 to arrive, the day of my book, this book that I put so much of my heart (and tears) into.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow.<br />
<br />
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<br />Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-30455446385313708342015-01-27T10:24:00.000-08:002015-01-28T13:37:46.914-08:00Another Giveaway and A Bit of NewsWow, time is moving fast. THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE comes out in two weeks!<br />
<br />
I got another wonderful package in the mail--5 real copies of the Australian version of TLTWSG.<br />
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<br />
Pretty, right?(See below for how another rafflecopter, where you can win a copy or one of the last 2 ARCs before the book actually comes out.)<br />
<br />
Which brings us to how, yes, TLTWSG is going to be available in some other countries:<br />
<br />
Here's the list so far:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Australia from HarperAustralia (Happy sigh--I love my Australian fans and I will someday finally get over there to meet them!)</li>
<li>Italy from Harlequin Mondadori</li>
<li>Germany from Darkiss</li>
<li>Hungary from Maxim Konyvkiado</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
I also wanted to announce that TLTWSG will be available as both an ebook and an audiobook, all out on February 10th.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="2702fb0b7" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/2702fb0b7/" id="rcwidget_37jy69ch" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script>
Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001251549588659688.post-45636189691090051862015-01-13T09:33:00.001-08:002015-01-13T09:33:08.039-08:0028 Days From NowThis morning I got a package from HarperTeen! As usual, it took my breath away to open up the box and see my own name on the cover of this beautiful book. My own book. About to go out into the wide, wide world, only 28 days from now.<br />
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I am so proud of this book. I mean, I'm proud of all of my books. They all take so much time and energy and passion to write. But this book was especially difficult, and especially close to my heart, so it feels like something of a miracle to see it actualized.<br />
<br />
So what do I want to do now? I want to give it away! Enter my rafflecopter contest to win this book, signed by me. I am also giving away some signed ARCs of the book this week. Just follow the directions below. (Contest starts tomorrow. U.S. entries only, please. The contest officially starts tonight at 12am, and you can do some things to get an entry every day, so check back.)<br />
<br /></div>
<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="2702fb0b6" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/2702fb0b6/" id="rcwidget_pt0rb0x0" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
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<br />
Also, I have some tour news. I am going on the Epic Reads Winter Tour with <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/red-queen-victoria-aveyard/1119565624?ean=9780062310637" target="_blank">Victoria Aveyard</a> and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/red-queen-victoria-aveyard/1119565624?ean=9780062310637" target="_blank">Jasmine Warga</a>. So here's where and when you can come see me and get your books signed:<br />
<br />
<b>February 18, 7pm</b> at Anderson's Bookstore, 123 Jefferson Ave, Naperville, IL<br />
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<b>February 19, 7pm</b> at Flyleaf Books, 752 MLK Jr. Blvd, Chapel Hill, NC<br />
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<b>February 20, 7pm</b> at Barnes & Noble Orlando, 481 N. Alafaya Trail, Orlando, FL<br />
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<b>February 21, 2pm</b> at Vero Beach Bookcenter, 325 Miracle Mile, Vero Beach, FL<br />
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Check my Events page for more upcoming appearances, and leave a comment there with the name of a bookstore and city you'd like me to visit. I will seriously take that under consideration in my travel planning for the year.<br />
<br />
*goes back to stroking the pretty pretty book*<br />
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<br />Cynthia Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09513222409391539291noreply@blogger.com29