The cover! It is here! *jumpy claps and squees*

I am thrilled with the final cover for my New Adult coming out this fall, CAGED IN WINTER. I love the gritty feel of the font, the closed off expression on the cover model (who just so happens to be a near perfect match to Winter), the winter reflection in her sunglasses… Pretty much everything.

So you tell me…what do you think?

And, hey, lookit there–this baby’s on Goodreads!  Annnnnnd you can also pre-order the paperback via Amazon or pre-order for Amazon Kindle! 

2013 has been awesome. I mean…really, truly awesome. Finishing CAGED IN WINTER in June–the goal I’d set for myself. Going to RWA and hanging out with amazing people. I danced next to Nora Roberts, for crying out loud. Getting an agent. Getting my first print deal. Having another novella, SEASON OF SECOND CHANCES, come out (which dropped last week, btw…that’s how CRAZY BUSY it’s been because I didn’t even post about it). 

See what I mean? Awesome. So much so that I’m thinking, it can’t possibly get better, can it? Surely I’ve reached my awesome quota for the year.

NOT SO, MY FRIENDS. NOT SO.

I am so, so thrilled to be working on this project with Rose at St. Martin’s. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done before, and I’m so excited to share it with you!

What’s this mean? Well, it means 2014 is gonna be a busy year. Like…I really hope I remember to, you know, shower and stuff. So I’ll apologize ahead of time for my scarce blog posts.

Because I’m so super excited, I’m giving away some books! Five winners will receive both PLUS ONE and my latest release SEASON OF SECOND CHANCES. And another five will get a copy of the holiday anthology SoSC was in, ALL I’M ASKING FOR. That’s ten winners, baby! You know what to do…

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Helllllooooooo! How was everyone’s November? Mine was cahrayzay. So crazy I couldn’t even spell it the correct way. Between writing and release promo and proposals and, oh yeah, Thanksgiving, I’m basically a zombie. I don’t feel at all caught up, and it’s only going to get worse. You know why? Christmas is 23 days away. 

You’re welcome.

Before you flit off to take advantage of the Cyber Monday sales to knock some of those Christmas things off your list, pull up a chair! Get comfy. Maybe grab a coffee (or hot chocolate, if you prefer). Let’s chat.

For the first part of November, I was banging away on the follow-up to Caged in Winter. I got 25k words into it before I had to break away and focus on a different project for a bit. One I, unfortunately, can’t tell you about yet, but I hope to be able to very soon! So what’s that mean? That means I failed NaNo. *sad violins playing* But you know what else? I wrote 50k words in November–they just weren’t all one project. So, to this I say: I WIN! 

For anyone out there who attempted NaNo, whether you “won” or didn’t, congratulations! You committed to writing and (hopefully) wrote at least a word. Stick with it. Just because you didn’t complete doesn’t mean to toss it away. I’m not scrapping that 25k I wrote. I’m diving right back in. But I’ll be smart about it and do it in January when I don’t have the weight of the entire world bearing down on my shoulders. For those of you who did NaNo and completed it? YAY YOU! Congratulations! Stick with it to finish, or polish that sucker up in edits.

For the rest of November, I was a writing machine, but in different avenues. I wrote several thousand words on a new project, then I wrote a bunch of guest blog posts and had some fun with some author Q&As for the blog tour happening RIGHT NOW! Yep, ’tis the time for blog tours because you know what? SEASON OF SECOND CHANCES (as well as ALL I’M ASKING FOR) comes out on Thursday! If you’re interested in following the tour, getting insight into my crazy mind or reading some excerpts, Closed the Cover, our tour coordinators, have a page listing all the stops! I also have a few extra stops along the way that I’ll be tweeting about.

Let’s get to the fun stuff! Since this week is super exciting for me, I wanted to make this giveaway super exciting for you! Instead of one book, I’m giving away five–that’s right, FIVE!–to one lucky winner. Unfortunately, because I haven’t found that money tree yet, this is not open to international readers. But stay tuned! I’ll have something for you later…

In this giveaway pack, we have The Best Man by Kristan Higgins, Fatal Justice by Marie Force, Things I Can’t Forget by Miranda Kenneally, Relic by Heather Terrell, and Covet by Tracy Garvis-Graves.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

That’s it for this week. I hope to be back next week with another giveaway. That is, if I haven’t lost my head between now and then.

 

I have been sitting on this news for too long, my friends. And by too long, I mean approximately a week. But it was the longest week of my life.

            

*SQUEEEEEEEEEE*

I am so thrilled to be working with Berkley (Penguin) on CAGED IN WINTER, and its sequel (Current title: BOOK 2. I’m so original). I can’t wait to share Cade and Winter and their story with you!

This has been such a fast journey that so much of it honestly hasn’t even sunk in yet. I mean, in June, I was like, oh, hey…I think I’ll write a book. And then:

AGENTS! OFFERS! CONTRACTS! PUBLICATION!

I got the confirmation e-mail from Mandy that the deal had been finalized yesterday as I was making dinner.

And then I became a vibrating mess of excitement. It’s a wonder my children got fed, to be perfectly honest.

To celebrate, I plan to stuff my face with cupcakes and maybe a cocktail (and then let Jillian Michaels kick my ass) on Sunday with some very dear friends. Because what’s better than cupcakes and cocktails? Except, maybe…well, you know. *wink wink nudge nudge*

And I promise, I’ll be back to doing the Make Mondays Suck Less Giveaways just as soon as NaNo is done. I’ve set a high goal again (70k), so I’ve been basically doing nothing but writing and/or plotting and/or planning for the last three weeks. 

And, and…I’m also going to be doing a cover reveal for SEASON OF SECOND CHANCES very, very soon, so stay posted for that!

You guys. I can’t even begin to tell you how awesome my week was. It was so awesome, I don’t even care that it’s Monday. I know, right?

So last week I said I had some exciting news I hoped to share with you soon, and I caaaaaaan! I mentioned in this post that I finished writing a full length new adult novel, and I was done prettying it up and I was diving into the trenches of querying agents. Well, I did. And two weeks ago, I got my first offer. 

The week following that first offer was crazy. I was full of nerves and excitement and anxiety. By the end of the week, I had four offers–all from amazing agents I would have loved to work with. While I was busy trying to decide the all-important choice of who to work with, I had many friends and fellow authors telling me to go with my gut. The problem was, my gut was telling me they were all super great, and I needed to work with all of them and how could I possibly mesh them all into one person? And then I got the final call from the final agent to offer, and my friends were right. My gut, which was previously very tight-lipped and wishy-washy, perked up and told me it was her.

I’m so thrilled to say that last week, I signed on with Mandy Hubbard of D4EO Agency, and I am OMG SO EXCITED I can’t even tell you! She is the exact balance of everything I was looking for. Plus, the first day I was “officially” her client, she sent me this gif in an e-mail, so, you know… MTB.

So now that I’ve shared my exciting news, let’s see who won last week’s giveaway of UNBREAKABLE. Congrats to Christine! Thanks for playing. 

This week I have one you are going to really, really want. If you haven’t had the pleasure of being introduced to Ms. Rainbow Rowell’s work, well…where the hell have you been? I haven’t had a chance to read FANGIRL yet, but I read ELEANOR & PARK and immediately fell in love. FANGIRL came out earlier this month, and you can win an ARC of it by doing your thing with rafflecopter. See you next week!

A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love.

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?