Laurel Sewell on Inside the Characters' Studio!

I am so hapy to host Laurel Sewell, the main character of Aprilynne Pike's Bestselling Wings, on Inside the Character's Studio! Aprilynne is a good friend who has written a fantastic (in all senses of the word) book, and if you're one of the 13 people left in the world who haven't read it...go now!

Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful--too beautiful for words.

Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.

In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.

Welcome, Laurel!

What is your favorite word?
Sunshine. Also my favorite thing. Can those go together?

What is your least favorite word?
Barnes. Even the sound of that name makes me squirm!

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
I like to go outside and play my guitar. It relaxes me and helps me think.

What turns you off?
Dark rooms with no windows. I can't concentrate!

What is your favorite curse word?
I admit, I say damn a little too often.

What sound or noise do you love?
I love music. Almost any kind!

What sound or noise do you hate?
My parents yelling. At me or each other. I hate it.

What profession would you like to attempt?
I think I would like to be a nurse.

What profession would you not like to do?
Strangely, I don't want to be a doctor.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
That my family and friends have been waiting for me.

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Check out other interviews from Inside the Characters' Studio here.

OMG! Carrie Ryan goes HOLLYWOOD!!

This is late to the party, slightly...I meant to post last week when the news went public, but life got away from me...so apologies...but as you all know, I *heart* Carrie Ryan and her incredible book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth which is all zombies and romance and yes, please.

So...imagine my incredible SQUEE when I heard from Publishers Weekly that:

Alan Nevins of Renaissance Literary & Talent has just closed film rights on Carrie Ryan's YA novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Nevins, who brokered the deal on behalf of Jim McCarthy at Dystel Literary, sold the book, which Delacorte Books for Young Readers published in March, to Seven Star Pictures (K-11, forthcoming). Nevins said the book, a zombie thriller set in colonial times about a girl who lives in a religious community in the woods and is equally worried about a zombie invasion and her planned marriage, is in line to "do for zombies what Twilight did for vampires." Supposedly Seven Star is developing the project for an-as-yet-unnamed A-list starlet, and fast-tracking the project with a first draft of the screenplay already in the works.

Uhm...I think it's worth repeating that FHT will "Do for zombies what Twilight did for vampires."

That's my girl Carrie, yo.

Design Your Own Ballgown, Win a copy of The Season!

The wonderful Aprilynne Pike, who happens to be a friend, fellow 2009 Debutante and author of the soon-to-be-on-everyone's-list, WINGS (HarperTeen, May), is hosting a super fun The Season related contest over on her blog! Head on over there, design the gown you'd like to wear to your own first ball and, if Aprilynne picks yours as her favorite, you win a signed copy of The Season!

Who doesn't love ballgowns and free books?

Surely not readers of this blog.

Sarah Cross Sweetens the Deal

The amazing Sarah Cross interviewed me this week for her blog. For those of you who don't know Sarah, you should. Don't believe me? Consider the following five-point plan. First, she's the author of the incredible Dull Boy, which is out in May and which I have been lucky enough to read early. It's clever and funny and endearing and I can't wait to own my own copy! Second, she's super fun and wickedly funny and a blast to hang out with. Third, she knows everything (read: EVERYTHING) there is to know about superheros, comic books, and awesome gaming. And she's a girl, which is rad. Fourth, her name is Sarah. Fifth, she loves Baxter, despite never having met him.

But...I should warn you...she has a flaw. A tragic one. Sarah Cross has never read a Jane Austen novel. I know. I shall wait while you take a moment to recover...................

Admitting the problem is the first step, though. And Sarah has officially admitted the problem...and she is willing to rectify the situation with some coaxing. As part of the interview, she is giving away a signed copy of The Season! AND...if she gets 50 entries in the giveaway, this comic-book-reading-super-hero-loving-Halo-playing Cool Girl will read Pride & Prejudice. Well, at least TRY to read it. If she gets 100 entries in the giveaway, she will READ THE WHOLE THING.

So go on over to Sarah's Blog, enter the contest, and restore sense and sensibility to the world!

...oh...and to those who are wondering, of course I'm not going to make her buy her first book by Aunt Jane. I'm going to buy it for her. :)

The Forest of Hands and STARS!!!

The amazing Carrie Ryan just scored a lovely little red star from Publisher's Weekly! You guys...no joke...The Forest of Hands and Teeth is the next big thing.

Don't believe me? Believe this instead:

Mary's village has been trapped for generations by a very near, very visible menace: the Unconsecrated—insatiable, flesh-eating zombies that constantly tear at the village's fences. Yet the Sisterhood—a conventlike order of religious women charged to protect the village's survival—is as much responsible for the submission of Mary's village as the Unconsecrated. When the fences are breached and the village overrun, Mary and several others escape through gated paths and arrive deep into the Forest of Hands and Teeth, forced to search beyond it for their future. Mary's observant, careful narration pulls readers into a bleak but gripping story of survival and the endless capacity of humanity to persevere. That Mary maintains emotional distance serves to render her yearnings and romantic feelings even more poignant and powerful. Fresh and riveting.

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?

OMG! A Review!

I just had the best surprise...an email from Melissa over at Kidliterate telling me that she just posted a review of THE SEASON! Woot! How excited am I? Even better...she liked it! Of course, I'm not surprised, because it appears that Melissa and I are somehow separated at birth...she apparently also likes cupcakes, lip-balm, Aaron Sorkin and Julia Quinn, and I, too, enjoyed THE SEASON. ;)

Kidliterate is a great book-review blog...one for the feed reader, for sure. And don't miss her recent review of THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH by the lovely and fantastic Carrie Ryan--a fellow 2009 Debutante!

The New Orleans Debutante Tradition

Debutantes are big in Louisiana...especially in New Orleans. It's certainly the French influence...after all, the word debutante comes from the French débuter, which means "to begin." And New Orleans is nothing if not French-influenced (see Cafe du Monde, The Vieux Carre and the best cajun food you can find anywhere on earth).

Post Katrina, though, the debutante community in Louisiana suffered. Today's Times Picayune tells the story of Lynn Lewis, who was royal princess for the Swan's club in 1977, and who followed in a line of friends and family members who had their own Season as part of the Swan's Club in Kenner, LA.  Her two eldest daughters had their own seasons in the late 90s, but her youngest, Candace, was due for her own cotillion in December 2005, just months after the hurricane ravaged the Gulf Coast.  

Because of Katrina, the biannual cotillion was put on hold, and Candace couldn't have her coming out. 

"We had to worry about recovery and rebuilding everything," Swans President Idella Washington said. "We weren't sure when we were going to be able to have the ball, but we knew eventually we would."

But, things are finally back on track:

On July 26, for the first time since 2002, the Swan's Club celebrated its 25th anniversary and presented its Debutante Cotillion at the Marriott Hotel in New Orleans. This year's theme: "A Debs Dream: Believing and Achieving.""

And the best part?  After hours of etiquette and waltz instruction, a scrapbook and essay contest, a presentation tea, and a Mother's Day event at one of the local churches,.Candace Lewis was named queen of the ball.

I couldn't have written that one better.

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In other news, I had brunch today with fellow debutantes Sarah Rees Brennan, Sarah Cross and Sarah Ockler...yes...four Sarah's at one table at Chat 'n' Chew and there was no rip in the space time continuum. Not that we didn't try our best. It was very fun...and so great to chill with a group of brilliant new writers.

Now, I have to be self-disciplined and stop watching Mad Men so I can write. Wish me luck!