The best of 2008...

Had to share this...am at my parents' house, snowed in for New Years with them, my sister and Eric...watching the ball drop in Times Square...and talking about the big events of 2008. Of course, November 4th 2008 ranks pretty high on my list of the biggest and best of events. That reminded me of Ani DiFranco's performance of her song "November 4th 2008," which is awesome. Awesome. Enjoy, peeps. And Happy 2009.

xoxo

I <3 Your Blog...

I'm just over the moon because Holly over at Writer's Block Reviews gave me the I LOVE YOUR BLOG award!!!  This is particularly exciting for me because I've never received a blogging award before...and this is obviously a sign of good things to come in 2009!  (Or the end of an excellent 2008, I guess...but I'm going to go with the 2009 theory)

SO....without further ado: 

The rules:

1. Put the logo and rules on your blog. (check)
2. Link the person who nominated you. (check)
3. List seven of your favourite blogs. (easy!)
4. Tell them they’ve been nominated! (done!) 

Nominations:
1. Frenetic Reader 
2. What Vanessa Reads
3. YA Book Realm
4. Presenting Lenore
5. MyFavoriteAuthor
6. YA New York
7. Booklover Carol's Reviews

New Feature! Tour Dates!

I'm adding a Tour Date feature to the right sidebar of the blog (and a readings and visitations tag)...right now, it's quiet, but hopefully there'll be lots to share in no time! I'll link there to events I'll be attending, readings I'll be having, and blog tours I'll be doing. (And...speaking of blog tours...I'd love to come hang out on YOUR blog for a day or two if you'll have me! Just shoot me an email at sarah at macleanspace dot com)

I'm super excited to say that I'll be participating in the famed Teen Author Reading nights in March in NYC... I'll be reading from The Season along with the fantastically talented Donna Freitas, Siobhan Vivian and P. E. Ryan at the Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library on March 4, 2009 from 6 - 7:30pm.

If you're a New Yorker (or even a tri-stater)...please come hang out with us!

The Teen Author Reading Nights are the brainchild of the incredible David Levithan (author of, among other things, Boy Meets Boy and Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist)...and they take place once a month at the Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library, 425 6th Avenue at 10th Street, New York, NY.

For a full list of the readings, check out Madeleine George's awesomely organized list over at her blog, By George (Madeleine is reading as part of the February 11th group).

OMG! It's totally for real! The book is COMING! Gak! (cue freaking out about what passage to read aloud!)

Smiling's Our Favorite!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Merry merry! xoxo

Merry merry...xoxo

For all of you Gossip Girl fans out there (yes...even those of you who refuse to admit it...)...I give you warm-as-Chuck-Bass-in-a-smoking-jacket wishes for the holidays!

The Increasingly Less Than Friendly Skies

Eric and I are currently en route to California to celebrate Christmas with his family. And it’s been a heckuva route. We left our cozy NYC apartment on Thursday night to bring Baxter to my parents’ house in Rhode Island for a spa week while we wing our way to lovely Shaver Lake, California, where Eric’s nature-loving parents have built the home they plan to retire to. It’s a stunning place, which I’m sure I’ll have more to say about later in the week. (Hopefully they will prove less dramatic than Thanksgiving.)

Suffice to say that with a 4 hour drive to RI on Thursday night and a 3:30 am wake up call this morning (after a giant snowstorm no less) to get to the Providence, Washington, DC, and Denver airports on time, respectively, I was thoroughly prepared for things to be less than perfect. After all, this is the Holiday Season and a three-leg flight is NEVER a good idea. But, we were leaving at 6am ET, expecting to be in Fresno, CA at 2:30 PT. No biggie. A long day, sure...but I am prepared. I am zen. I am the walrus.

Yeah. Right.

As I write this, I am sitting on the floor of the Denver International Airport. I have been sitting on this patch of floor for approximately 6 hours. I'm thinking of getting a ficus tree. And maybe recarpeting.

Oh, our flight out of snowy Providence went off without a hitch, but things in DC were not nearly as well organized (I suppose we shouldn't have been surprised by that), and we ended up missing our Fresno connection by mere minutes. Like, 7 minutes. Then, there was the hour stuck Dante's 14th level of hell (United Airlines customer service--go back and check the Inferno. It's there), after which we were FINALLY supposed to get out of lovely Colorado at 6pm MT. No go. Plane delayed. Maybe you'll see California before Christmas Eve, suckers.

Back when I was preparing to be zen about the whole travel thing, I had plans. "No problem!" I said to myself. "I'll take any extra layover time I can get to write!" Yes...well...as you can probably imagine...that didn't happen. Instead, I read an entire romance novel on my new Kindle (OMG how I love the Kindle...but that's another post for another time), confiscated Eric's DS to play Super Mario World, and took the world's most impressive nap (during which a child nearby had uncontrollable, unmutable hiccups for 2 HOURS. Jeez! Get thee to a doctor, kid!). Not a lick of writing done. My editor (who hopefully is not reading this) would be le disappointed.

Boredom finally set in about 10 minutes ago. You are the lucky recipient of the product of that boredom. If all goes well, when next you hear from me I'll be in the snowy foothills of the Sierra Nevadas plotting to avoid actually going out INTO nature (Hazards of marrying a Californian--wilderness walks).

So...I'm thinking of you guys...may you have safe, speedy travels to wherever you're going this holiday.

xoxo

'Tis the Season

I'm elbow deep in NINE RULES TO BREAK today, but I had to share this...Eric just made me the best Christmas present ever. Note the title and author.

It's official!

I'm guessing that since this was announced today in Publisher's Lunch, I can probably announce it here as well. I'm VERY lucky to say that I'm joining Avon's romance list.

Author of the forthcoming YA novel, THE SEASON, Sarah MacLean's NINE RULES TO BREAK WHEN ROMANCING A RAKE, a Regency set romance about a twenty-something spinster who, on the eve of her younger sister's wedding, sets out to seduce the Marquess of her dreams by breaking every rule by which a lady of high society is supposed to abide, to Carrie Feron at Avon, in a good deal, in a three-book deal, by Alyssa Eisner Henkin at Trident Media Group (NA).

(cue squealing and excitedness!)

Q: Who loves free books?

A: Everyone loves free books.

Every person. Even more, everyone REALLY loves free books they get to choose themselves! Especially you!

So hightail it on over to the 2009 Debutantes, comment on the amazing Jennifer Hubbard's post and enter to win a $25 gift card to Powell's bookstore! Just in time for the holidays, don't you think you deserve a little gift yourself?

If you're not sure what to buy with your awesome gift card, how about something to keep you happy in 2009?

How to get an early copy of The Season...

March 09 is just around the corner...but if you know the right awesome teacher, you can get The Season two months early! Scholastic Book Clubs TAB Club (stands for Teen Age Books) is carrying the hardcover version of The Season in their January flyer! Right there on page 2!

So...cozy up to your nearest and dearest middle school Scholastic Book Clubs teacher, and see if he/she'll let you order an early copy of the book!

Make the Holdiays Awesome. Give Books!

Inspired by Sarah Ockler's Buy a Book, Save the World post, I am feeling the love for book buying for Holidays. One of the things I like best about Amazon is preordering. You pop a bunch of books in your cart, enter your credit card info, and get charged as they ship...so...in honor of the Holiday Season, I present:

The Official Sarah MacLean Recommends book-of-the-month club! Pre-order these upcoming novels for the teen (or the YA lover) in your life, pop in your credit card info, and get charged as they ship, one a month, through the next six months! Christmas shopping list, complete!

January 2009: Is there anything better than an Anna Godbersen book to wile away the cold, sad, post-festive days of January? Take it from me, there isn't. Start 2009 with Envy: A Luxe Novel . That's how I'll be starting mine. And because there's no cover yet on the Amazon page for Envy, I shall tempt you with a link to it. Are you kidding me? WHO DOESN'T WANT TO READ THAT BOOK?

February 2009:
Do you long for the days of spine-tingling ghost stories that scared the bejeesus out of you? Long no longer! Pre-Order Saundra Mitchell's Shadowed Summer and spend February sleeping with the lights on!

March 2009: Ok. I'm torn. Because, as you know, my book comes out in March...so I would really like to recommend you preorder that. HOWEVER. There is another, AMAZING book that is making its debut just 10 days after mine. And I promise you, Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth is going to be THE YA book to read this Spring. Perhaps you could just read The Season quickly? ;)

April 2009:
It doesn't get better than Lisa Ann Sandell's newest book, A Map Of The Known World. I'm serious. Lisa's written a stunning book that reminds us of the two things that make life beautiful...art and love. A must buy for the girls on your list.

May 2009:
Ok...Sarah Cross is my hero. She's written a book that is so clever, so funny, so...well...perfect that I don't quite know how I would have been able to wait until May for Dull Boy. Luckily, I didn't have to. First line of the blurb will suck you right in: Superpowers are awesome - unless you actually have them, like Avery does. Uhm...yes. I must read that.

June 2009:
June gets two recommendations...one for the girls, and one for those who think girly books are, well, girly. Plus, they're both written by Sarahs. So how could I choose?

Sarah Ockler...yes, the muse of this post...is also an amazing author. I know this because I just finished an ARC of the incredible Twenty Boy Summer, which is, you heard it here first, going to rake in the awards in 2009. Don't be the only one who hasn't read it. That would make you very uncool.

Also coming in June is the long awaited The Demon's Lexicon, by the incredible Sarah Rees Brennan. Demons + Magic + Hot boys with talismans and swords = yes, please.

This is just a sampling of the amazing books (Like Aprilynne Pike's Wings, Aimee Friedman's Sea Change, and dozens more from the 2009 Debutantes) that are coming throughout the first half of 2009...not to mention the hundreds ALREADY out that I'd love to recommend...stay tuned for more recommendations in the coming weeks and months!

What's on your list of books that must be given as gifts this year?