Meg's Diary

Scary Fairies

Today has been insane!

(Actually, this whole week and the entirety of next month is going to be insane with all the work I have to do, which I got behind doing when I was away and then I got even more behind doing when I was trying to watch all the Exileds and Gossip Girls and Interventions I missed when I was away. Well, a girl has to have her priorities. And no, I will never catch up. BUT I’M WORKING ON IT).

But I got some excellent news today! Not one but two great reviews from Publishers Weekly for my January releases! Check it out (warning…slight Princess Diaries spoilers ahead):

Ransom My Heart Meg Cabot. Avon, $13.95 paper (432p) ISBN 978-0-06-170007-1
The gimmick to accompany the conclusion of the Princess Diaries is this delightful historical romance written by series heroine Princess Mia Thermopolis (“with help from” Cabot, who is donating all proceeds to Greenpeace). Finn Crais is the resourceful daughter of a miller living in Stephensgate, England, in 1291. When Finn’s older sister, Mellana, gets pregnant by a troubadour and has no money for a dowry, Finn agrees to carry out Mellana’s ridiculous plan to abduct a wealthy man and hold him ransom, settling on Earl Hugh Fitzstephen, fresh back from the crusades and loaded with gold and jewels. Finn doesn’t realize who it is she’s captured, and Fitzstephen, owing to a curiosity about Finn and wanting to see where the kidnapping will lead, plays along. As to be expected, passions become enflamed, and Finn discovers her sister’s plan may not be a simple as she originally thought. Though predictable, the novel is thoroughly enjoyable and funny. Cabot’s fans, and particularly those graduating from the Princess Diaries, will be pleased, especially as they may have read brief excerpts in Forever Princess, the series finale (Reviews, p. 55). (Jan.)

Forever Princess Meg Cabot. HarperTeen, $16.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-06-123292-3
The Princess Diaries wraps up in a series finale certain to please the legions of Princess Mia fans. Cabot shows off her singular ability to retread her story lines while leaving audiences breathless to get to the last page: Mia will be certain that this time she’s sunk, for real, and oblivious to what is writ large to everyone around her. Here she copes with the pressures of prom (J.P. hasn’t asked her), graduation and college acceptances (she’s lied through her teeth about them), not to mention her 18th birthday and a party orchestrated by the imposing Grandmère. And why doesn’t anyone want to publish her pseudonymous romance novel, Ransom My Heart? (Brief excerpts are tossed in, and absolute devotees can polish off the entire work; see Fiction Reviews, p. 32.) When former boyfriend Michael returns from Japan with his revolutionary medical technology a complete success, Mia is where readers love her: insecure and self-deprecating. By now, however, she understands that being royal means “always being the bigger person, and being kind to others”—and she can act accordingly. A character like this deserves the happy ending Cabot virtually guarantees. Ages 12–up. (Jan.)

Yay! (Princess Mia has commented in her blog as well…check it out here.)

Besides all the work I’ve been doing, I’ve been busy guest posting at other blogs besides mine. There’s the piece I wrote for StupidBlogName, the new YA blog started by authors Katherine Applegate (yes, of the Making Out series fame, one of my fave YA romance series of all time, and the mega-successful Animorphs) and Michael Grant, author of Gone, among many others.

(PS, I’m serious about getting the Crack and Stack Challenge started, so please spread the word. Because of how long it takes some perfectly healthy authors to sign their books, other authors must suffer by being forced to rise at ridiculously early times. So wrong.)

And then there’s the Report from Florida I just wrote for YA For Obama. FYI, my grandma really does have Twilighters Syndrome. And yeah, no, that’s not an unhealthy obsession with Edward Cullen, although you might think so. Grandma sometimes wakes up thinking it’s morning…even at eight o’clock at night. Check out the post for more on what the Old Ladies for Obama are up to.


(There is actually a theme here with the fairy thing…keep reading and you’ll see what it’s about….)

And remember that Guess That Foreign Book Title cover contest I had? Well, I finally picked some winners! Congratulations to Wendy K., Ashleigh C., and Kristen M.

Of course, since I have no idea what the actual correct titles are, I went by the entries which amused me the most (which is not to say there weren’t others that amused me…theirs were just the first three most amusing).

Finally, I was just dared by Lauren Myracle (along with authors Holly Black, John Green, Maureen Johnson, Shannon Hale, Libba Bray, and others) to do something that scares me by October 31, and send proof to her that I’ve done it.

Never one to back down on a dare, I’m doing it…though I’m really scared. I have to keep reminding myself of the Eleanor Roosevelt quote, “Do one thing every day that scares you….” from Princess Diaries 9!

I already know what I’m doing, and it’s truly frightening (to me). Mine involves fairies (or faeries, if you will).


Terrifying!

Yeah, I’m pretty much scared of fairies. I’m frightened of their short skirts and fluttery wings. I think it has something to do with my hating bugs (also, really short skirts…on me, anyway). I know fairies aren’t the same as bugs (or Hooters girls), because they’re magic (or magick), but still! They’re so small! And sexy! They scare me!

So for my Halloween dare, I told Lauren I’d go out in public dressed as a fairy. In a short skirt and wings and spray-on sparkle and everything!

So. Yeah.

Wish me luck on getting all my work done…AND on my dressing up as a—gulp—fairy for Halloween this year. I’m really scared about both!

More later.

Much love,

Meg

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