So much has been going on lately I hardly know where to begin. So to narrow things down (and keep this post under seven billion words), I’ll try sticking to book related news. Like:
Did you know the Mediator series got optioned by FremantleMedia?
You didn’t? That’s okay. I know you’ve been busy.
If you don’t know what FremantleMedia is, they’re the company that’s produced a ton of your favorite television shows, like American Idol and The Biggest Loser, but they do dramas and comedies, too.
So, this is really good news. Stay tuned for more updates!
Here’s some other book related news for May:
Underworld is finally available in paperback! To celebrate, I’m holding a giveaway of advanced reader copies of Awaken (which will be out this July)
, the final book of the Abandon series. Post a picture of your copy of Underworld or Abandon in a funny place on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram, with the hashtag #winawaken, and you could win a copy of the uncorrected proof Awaken.
Hmmm, pretty.
(Death is just getting warmed up, you know. And so am I.)
The contest is only going to go on for a another week or so, so enter soon!
I’m giving out another prize in May, but this one’s not going to you or me. It’s going to an author at the Children’s Choice Book Awards and YOU can vote here to decide who you want me to give it to!
You can even come to the gala if you want. Buy your ticket here! (All the money goes to a very good cause, Every Child a Reader, a 501(c)3 literacy organization committed to instilling a lifelong love of reading in children).
Here’s another book-related opportunity for you to do good in May:
I’m giving away all of the books seen in the photo below, signed (including an uncorrected proof of the final book in the Abandon trilogy, Awaken) to the reader who bids the most on them in New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak’s annual online auction to raise money for diabetes research!
Bidding starts May 1. Opening bid $3.00. Go here on May 1 and start bidding!
It’s for diabetes research, so be generous! I know you know someone who’s been affected by this terrible disease!
(Slutty-McSlut-Slut-A-Lot has been unaffected by diabetes, but she feels bad for people who have been.)
What else is happening that is book related? Well, among other things I’ll be at some book festivals in September for the next Heather Wells book! I’ll post the details (such as where I’m going and when, exactly) later. That book used to be called Size Twelve is the New Black.
But that title is so 2012! That book (which will be out in September) is now called The Bride Wore Size 12 (don’t you love it?), and the cover looks like this:
Heather Wells is used to having her cake and eating it, too, but this time her cake might be cooked — her wedding cake, that is.
With her upcoming nuptials to hunky PI Cooper Cartwright only weeks away, Heather’s already stressed. But when a pretty junior turns up dead, Heather’s sure things can’t get worse — until every student in the dorm where she works is a possible suspect, and then Heather’s long-lost mother shows up.
With a murder to solve and a wedding to pull off, Heather doesn’t have time for a tearful mother and bride reunion. Instead of wedding bells, she could be hearing wedding bullets. Heather’s determined to bring the bad guys to justice, even if it’s the last thing she does … and this time, it just might be.
Here’s some more book related news for May:
Paul Rudnick’s new YA book Gorgeous comes out May 1. DO NOT MISS IT.
I got a chance to read a sneak peek of this book and I LOVED IT. Everyone should buy a copy of this book because it’s like a warm spring breeze after a long dystopian winter!
From Publishers Weekly:
Paul Rudnick’s Gorgeous: Suppose fairy tales came true. Suppose an ordinary teenage girl from a Missouri trailer park was suddenly on the cover of Vogue, dating a Hollywood hunk, and possibly in line to be the next queen of England? That’s what happens to 18-year-old Becky Randle in playwright/screenwriter Rudnick’s YA debut, an inspired mashup of familiar stories—commoner becomes princess, ugly duckling turns beautiful—made new. Instead of three wishes, Becky, rechristened Rebecca, receives three dresses from reclusive super-designer Tom Kelly, who knew Becky’s late mother. The ensembles transform Becky into nothing less than the most beautiful woman in the world—“Once I caught sight of my reflection I was riveted, hopelessly enraptured, as if I was watching the most impossibly glamorous car accident, or the birth of the baby Jesus, if Jesus had been the world’s first supermodel”—with a couple catches. With writing that’s hilarious, profane, and profound (often within a single sentence), Rudnick casts a knowing eye on our obsession with fame, brand names, and royalty to create a feel-good story about getting what you want without letting beauty blind you to what’s real. Ages 14–up.
Some of you probably know Paul Rudnick from his long running movie review column in Premiere Magazine (and now for Entertainment Weekly) under the name of Libby Gelman-Waxner, or maybe for his satirical pieces in the New Yorker (one of my favorites is the irreverent “Married to Jesus: Mrs. Melissa Christ”). Paul also wrote the screenplays for some of my favorite movies, including Isn’t She Great (the Jackie Suzann story), In & Out, and many more.
Well, his book is even funnier. Yes, it has some dirty words (does anyone know a teen who hasn’t uttered a dirty word or two?) but more importantly, it has a heroine with genuine warmth and heart (with a best friend “named after the fancy chocolate, Rocher”).
Anyone who doesn’t read this book will be missing out.
Guess who else has a book coming out this spring? Lauren Graham! YES! From Gilmore Girls and Parenthood (could you believe that finale? I know, I cried, too).
Here it is!
Guess what? I also got to read a sneak peek copy of Someday Someday Maybe (it’s out April 30) too! It’s a YA, too, and REALLY GOOD (only in a different way than Gorgeous).
It’s about a girl pursuing her dream of being an actress, living in NYC in the 1990s, taking whatever work she can get and just trying to make it. There are tons of great parts, but the two that really stood out to me were the doodled calendar entries (they look like real calendar entries straight out of a real day runner circa 1995!) and the fact that it’s filled with zingers like (summaries, not direct quotes):
Heroine’s father, on the phone to heroine, offering career advice:
“You know, honey, there’s this new show on TV, called ‘The Friends.’ Why don’t you get a part on that show?”
Heroine: “Dad, it’s called ‘Friends.’ And I think they have all the friends they need. But thanks for the tip.”
So funny.
Well, that’s all the book related news I can think of for now (admittedly, I’m writing this from a hotel overlooking Disneyworld in Orlando, so I’m slightly distracted. I’m not going to tell you why I’m at Disneyworld, even though it’s book-related – NOTHING TO DO WITH MOVIES OR TV THOUGH. I’ll tell you someday, someday maybe)!
If only we could all stick to book-related news (because there was nothing more serious to talk about). Wouldn’t the world be a happier place?
Have a magical day.
More later.
Much love,
Meg
