Picture Post No. 7

I just realized I never posted pictures last Friday. Which means I will not make it 52 straight weeks! *shakes fist*

Oh well. I suppose it was bound to happen.

UNRAVELING + A Giveaway

You guys. YOU GUYS. Do you know what today is? Today is the release day of fellow Apocalypsie Liz Norris’s UNRAVELING. Now, I haven’t had the opportunity to read the book yet, but I've been dying to get my hands on a copy ever since I read the summary. Check it out and you’ll know what I mean.

Two days before the start of her junior year, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she's opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And even though it isn't possible, she knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her revival, and Ben's possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI agent father's files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what's right in front of her: Everything that's happened—the accident, the murder, the countdown clock, Ben's sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. And as the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she's going to need to uncover Ben's secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

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

To celebrate the release, some fellow bloggers/writers are answering prompts that are UNRAVELING related (or blogging freely about whatever their little heart desires). Here’s the one I’m answering.

When referring to thrillers: There is always some teeny, tiny obstacle to our dear protagonist's happiness. Like, say, the imminent end of the world. If you find out that the world's expiration date is somewhat nearer than anticipated, what's your next move? What would you do?

This is something I’ve spent an unnatural amount of time thinking about. My mother is a doom and gloom kind of person, so I grew up with someone always thinking and believing in the worst. When I first signed with Joanna way back in 2010 (after querying agents for years), the first thing out of my mother’s mouth was, “Are you sure she’s reputable? Why do you even need an agent? You’re basically giving money away.”

To which I replied, “WOMAN YOU ARE CRAY CRAY.” (Okay, perhaps those weren’t my exact words.)

And, my husband is a true believer of the zombie apocalypse. He’s a science geek, and he suspects if any type of horror/fantasy/sci-fi story came to life, it’d be zombies. Which means we’ve discussed strategy, the effectiveness of a moot in the face of a hoard (with alligators, natch), and whether or not an island would be safe. I suggested Mackinac Island, since it’s close to us, and hello, it’s like the fudge capital of the world (I totally just made that up).

Anyway, I’m getting way off track.

So what would I do if I knew the world was ending and when?

I’d start with the obvious things: stalk Ryan Gosling, steal a car, bungee jump, sky dive, eat a big fat steak, tell my mom I love her, “accidentally” cut off my dad’s (hideous) beard, buy my brother a riding lawn mower (he has a weird love for lawn mowers), punch my old boyfriend in the face, tell my ex-best friend she’s my ex-best friend, and eat lots of chocolate ice cream.

Then, to wrap things up, I’d watch The Notebook.

So, what would YOU do if you knew the world was ending?

Blog about it if you’d like, or answer in the comments!

And to further celebrate UNRAVELING’s release, enter the giveaway to win a copy.


Read the first 90 pages of UNRAVELING for free here (or just skip this step and go buy a copy here). 


And, to learn more about Liz, check out her blog, or follow her on Twitter. 

Picture Post No. 6

TBR Pile --- Or the beast that will never be defeated

There was a discussion the other day on Twitter about Game of Thrones that went something like this, "OMG ROBB STARK IS SO SEXY! AND SO IS JON SNOW!"

Perhaps I am exaggerating (but not by much). The conversation morphed into a discussion about to-be-read piles and how writer/readers are basically crack addicts, but instead of buying drugs from a shady dude on a street corner, they buy books.

I'm okay with being a crack book addict. If I'm going to have any kind of shopping problem, or addiction, I'd rather it be books. Because for every book I buy (whether I read it or not) helps fund a writer's career (this is what I tell myself when I spend another $50 on books when I just spent $50 on books the month before and only read one from the pile).

So here, without further preamble, is my TBR pile.

I seriously cannot wait to read every single one of these books. I'm particularly looking forward to The Night Circus, I Hunt Killers, and Awkward.

And here's my bookshelf with the holes where the TBR pile usually hangs out.

I tend to pack away the books I've read, only because there are four of us living in a really, really tiny house, but someday I will have a library, and ALL of my books will be on display. The day will come damnit. 

The others included in this TBR pile challenge listed what they've read so far this year and I am embarrassed---so embarrassed---to admit I've only read five books so far this year. *hangs head in shame* 

So here are the books I've read:

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer Smith

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord by Sarah Maas

And I also read an awesome unpubbed manuscript by my good friend Danielle Ellison. 

I'm currently reading:

Storm by Brigid Kemmerer and False Memory by Dan Krokos

Bot Wars is due tomorrow, so I plan to finish both books in the next few days and then my total read so far this year will be a whopping seven! 

Check out the other TBR Pile posts:

Trisha Leigh

Liz Norris

Ali Trotta

Rick Lipman

(Side note: when I started piling up the books on my desk to take a picture of my TBR pile, my husband said, "You haven't read any of these books?! Why do you keep buying books then?" And I said, "Let's pretend you never saw this pile.")

Darkling Issue (or Happy Birthday Leigh!)

I'm forgoing the Friday Picture Post today for something I think you will like better.

It's my friend, and agent sister, Leigh Bardugo's birthday today, and I wanted to make her something to help her celebrate.

If you know me at all, you know I lurve Photoshop, but I love hot guys even more. Put those two things together and what do you get? A fake magazine for bad boys.

That's how ROGUISH was born. And when I fell in love with the Darkling from Leigh's forthcoming SHADOW AND BONE, I knew I had to make him a Roguish cover.

So here, in all his dark and bad glory, is the Darkling issue of Roguish.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEIGH! 

I hope you have a good one, and do exotic and fun activities, like skydiving from an airplane whilst wearing an Egyptian headdress, or something.