Book Cover Reveal: INTO THE DARK: The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain

Oh I am in love!  I absolutely adore Bree as an author and I am so very excited for this one! 

Wanna know more?  Check out Bree's post and an ARC giveaway!

http://breedespain.tumblr.com/post/55006142766/title-and-cover-reveal-for-my-new-book-and-arc?og=1

Book Signing and Review -- Natalie Whipple's TRANSPARENT

Okay, so this was forever ago, and I've been a horrible blogger, but I wanted to post because Natalie is made of awesome and her launch was so much fun!

Here's some of the snippets from her launch.  As usual remember I write these down as close to actual quotes as possible, but sometimes they get a little off. 

• Dreams, i can see them but I didn't know how to achieve them (talking about writing)
• It's like stars.  When they're far away they're nice to look at and you're not sure what they're like up close, and that can be nice.  
• I went to college -- go for your dreams but have a back up plan was my mantra

 

• Finished college and all I wanted to do was write, so I found myself at home with my baby and decided to start writing
• I didn't know how to catch my dream.  I thought it might just fall out of the sky and into my lap. They don't do that.  You have to go out and get them.
• Slowly I was ablet to catch this star thing and start bringing it down to me, but it was a lot of work.
• This book was difficult (talking about TRANSPARENT) my agent said it all had to be re-written, so 1 chapter at a time I wrote it and sent it to my writer's group thinking they'd hate it, but they didn't.  I was reeling that star in slowly.
• When I finished edits it sold to a publisher in 6 weeks, and that's when the dream got really real.  The star, the dream, got so real and so close.  
• It's (talking about the dream) not just a pretty sparkly thing in the sky.  It's a huge burning ball of gas that could kill me, but I can't take it back because at that point gravity took over.
• But I'm really glad I went for my dreams even though it's been pretty much the hardest thing in my life.  Don't let that stop you!

Isn't she awesome!  Now is her book awesome?  Read on!

TRANSPARENT

by Natalie Whipple

Paperback, 350 pages

Published May 21st 2013 by HarperTeen

 

Placement in the Pile:  Reaching New Heights

 

Summary:

Plenty of teenagers feel invisible. Fiona McClean actually is.

An invisible girl is a priceless weapon. Fiona’s own father has been forcing her to do his dirty work for years—everything from spying on people to stealing cars to breaking into bank vaults.

After sixteen years, Fiona’s had enough. She and her mother flee to a small town, and for the first time in her life, Fiona feels like a normal life is within reach. But Fiona’s father isn’t giving up that easily.

Of course, he should know better than anyone: never underestimate an invisible girl.

Review:

Think x-men meets mobsters in a dystopian world.  Yeah, it's cool.  

 

Natalie Whipple does a great job drawing you in instantly.  Fiona is a believable, likeable character.  A teenage girl with all the normal insecurities we can all relate to, even though she's invisible.  In fact her literal invisibility is what gives her the biggest connection to a real life teenager.  Don't we all feel invisible sometimes?

 

The pacing of the book was constant and I loved every minute.  

 

If you're in the mood for a good summer read this one is for you!  I am very excited to see what else we get from Natalie!  She's one to watch!  

Jaime Richardson's CELEBRATE EVERY DAY

This is a much belated book signing report, so you might see me actually posting more often for a while.

My dear friend Jaime Richardson, blogger at sophistimom.com has a fabulous cook book that came out May 7, CELEBRATE EVERY DAY: Recipes for Making the Most of Special Moments with Your Family.

It is a lovely book with awesome photographs -- that she took herself, and stories to go with the gathering ideas and recipes. Jaime writes with such ease and really has great practical recipes made from scratch to treat your family to some awesome food.

I love the wind action on her hair in this shot!

Me and Jaime!  Love this girl, and her book!

Plus as a special bonus you get to see my real name in print!!!!  Jaime was so sweet enough to list me in her acknowledgements as I helped test some of the recipes before it was printed.  And oh man how I love them!  Like her herb garlic bread, and mint lime-aid, are fast, easy recipes that are just to die for that have become staples in our home!

Some of the delicious samples!  They were all to die for.  The plum tart, and the homemade granola

bars!  Oh my!

If you love to cook like I do, this is a GREAT book to pick up!

What I'm Doing Tomorrow

So I missed Thursday Three again, so look for that next week, but I wanted you all to know of an awesome event tomorrow.  If you are in Utah come to the King's English Bookshop at 2:00 for my dear friend Jaime Richardson's cookbook launch.  You will not be disappointed with her amazing book and recipes! 

She is the blogger of http://www.sophistimom.com/category/well-fed/  Which is one of the best blogs ever. 

I'll be posting pics and info from the event, but even more I'd love to see you there!

Thursday Three

1) I slack!  Wow has it really been an entire month since I've blogged!?  I need to do better!  What have I been up to that whole time?  2 family birthdays, 2 book club meetings, and reading my friends' manuscripts mostly, thus I can't blog about them!

2) One of my book club meetings was to go see The Host movie.  I'd give it a reaching new heights rating as far as movies go.  Having read the book it really had the same feel, quiet, internal struggles that mirror the external struggles of the humans around Wanda.  Not a lot of action, but some interesting moments depicting what it would be like to have two entities within one body, both fighting for control.  If you enjoyed the book it was worth seeing -- regardless of the bad reviews.  I didn't anticipate much.  And enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

3) Writing Conference season has hit Utah and I am sad to not be a part of it this year.  One of these days -- like blogging -- I will be a better, more consistent writer.  Until then, I read and adore authors.  ;)

Check this out!

One of my favorite authors, and favorite human beings for that matter, Julie Berry has a new book coming out in September and it looks so amazing!  ALL THE TRUTH THAT IS IN ME, is definitely on my to read list.  I can't wait to get my hands on it!

Check out the publisher's weekly post about it!

http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/56470-first-look-all-the-truth-that-s-in-me.html

Moody

I know this is like a sacreligious thing for someone who absolutely loves books inside and out -- I mean I love that I know about the entire process, the author's plight to not only write, but re-write, learn their craft from books, conferences and writing partners.  The stress of finding an agent, and then again a publisher, then more rewriting.  The fact that each and every book on the shelf stands for years and years of someone's heart and soul being poured out onto a computer screen! -- but I am not in a reading mood!

How do you get through those times? 

My First Sundance Experience -- AUSTENLAND!

I know this is very much behind, but I really wanted to share with you all the amazing experience I had supporting local author extraordinare Shannon Hale, and her awesome novel AUSTENLAND turned film.

 I was super lucky enough to have a friend that got tickets to go and invited me!  Woot!  I had been waiting for this one.

 Here's our group of Austen fans, Shannon fans, overall book fans!

 The BEAUTIFUL Egyptian theater in Ogden, UT.

 Jerusha Hess (the co-writer and director for the film), and author Shannon Hale taking questions after the show.  They talked about how much fun it was, some fun things that happened on set, and what's next for both of them.

 At the after party!

 Yeah, that's me and Shannon.  ;)  I've met her several times and she is just one of the most amazing people!

 At the after party they had these awesome actors dressed up in period garb.

And in fancy human sized bird cages -- swoon!

And the BEST part of it all!?  Sony bought the rights to the film that night, so AUSTENLAND the movie will be coming to theaters near you this summer!

It was absolutely hilarious.  Any lover of Austen, or even those who like to make fun of us Austen-lovers will absolutely laugh their heads off at this film!  You MUST put it on your to-see list!  I plan on going again!