Fresh New Voice of YA- Holly Cupala Interview + Contest

1) How did you get the idea for Tell Me A Secret?
The idea kind of just fell out of the sky—it was after a very difficult year personally, and I almost gave up writing. But then our friend Justina Chen (who had just come out with her first novel) asked me if I was thinking of writing about it, and that opened a door. We were at a writing conference, and then we went to hear Libba Bray speak…and suddenly the whole thing flashed through my mind like a movie trailer—a story about this girl whose bad-girl older sister had died mysteriously, and she’d been holding the family together as the good daughter, and there were all kinds of secrets and a romance with a super-hot sci-fi guy—and a pregnancy to blow everything apart. So I wrote it down as fast as I could.


2) What was The Call like? Tell us all about it!
Wow, that was one of the most amazing days of my life. I was actually walking out the door to hop a flight to LA for the SCBWI writing conference when my agent called me. This was only a couple of weeks after he’d started shopping it, so I wasn’t expecting anything. But then he said there was multiple interest, and one editor had put in a pre-empt offer. My dream editor! The one who edited one of my favorite books, The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean. I was floored because I didn’t even dare hope—she’s an award-winning, amazing editor. So as I was getting on the plane, I called just about everybody I know and was floating that whole time at the conference. My husband is awesome—he sent me this gigantic bouquet of red roses, maybe 50 of them, to celebrate. What a weekend!


3) Have you always been a fan of YA, or are you still new to it all?

Well, I will confess to you that TELL ME A SECRET isn’t my first YA novel—I wrote two teen romances in eighth grade, before I actually experienced teen romance. Confession #2: when I was a teen, I consumed the gamut of YA: Catcher in the Rye to Sweet Valley High…and I’ve loved to read it ever since! My faves are Speak, Gingerbread, Fat Kid Rules the World, Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, and Ellen Hopkins’ novels.


4) What is your writing process like? Do you have any special rituals or items that you need to have in order to write (aside from laptop or pen and paper)?

Strawberry licorice. Tea, Earl Grey, Hot. A huge dose of procrastination, my favorite sketch/notebook, and my MacBook Air. I love music, but I can’t listen while I write so I fill my head and house with it when I’m not.


5) What book(s) are you reading now, or are about to start?

Right now I think I have about five going: A BLUE SO DARK, by Holly Schindler; FOR THE WIN, Cory Doctorow; ADIOS, NIRVANA (out in October) by Conrad Wesselhoeft; INTO THE WILD NERD YONDER by Julie Halpern. Plus an unpubbed one from my writing group.


6) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor?

I love that Jelly Belly sour mix. Anything sour just calls my name and I can’t resist!


7) What book(s) are you working on now? Can you tell us anything about it?

The second novel has just been released from the classified vault: tentatively titled STREET CREED, it comes out Fall 2011. It’s about a suburban girl who runs away from home—she has secret reasons for running away and there’s a lot at stake, and she ends up with this group of homeless kids on the streets of Seattle. It’s dark and romantic, another book that’s full of suspense and secrets—and what it means to love.

Thank you, James, for inviting me to visit Book Chic and featuring TMAS this week!


And thanks so much to you too, Holly, for stopping by and answering a few questions!

Contest time! I have four Tell Me A Secret two-chapter sample booklets to give away (plus a ton of swag) so if you want a copy, leave a comment on this post by June 19 at 11:59pm EST and you'll be entered. I'll pick winners randomly and you'll be notified shortly after. Please leave your email address in your comment if it's not on your blogger profile so that I have a way to contact you. Good luck to all!

Also, be sure to check out tomorrow's tour stop on the Tell Me A Secret Virtual Tour, which is at Through the Tollbooth! And there's also tons of giveaways happening on Holly's site throughout the tour, so go check it out here!

Fresh New Voice of YA- Sea Excerpt Vlog

Hey everyone! This week will be something different. Since I am too broke to buy AA batteries until the 18th, I've enlisted the help of a fellow blogger to help me with today's reading. Today, Vania from Reverie Books (and VLC Media) is reading a bit from Sea by Heidi R. Kling. Hope you all enjoy!



Sea is out in stores now, so grab a copy!

Fresh New Voice of YA- Tell Me A Secret by Holly Cupala

Tell Me A Secret by Holly Cupala
"It's tough living in the shadow of a dead girl. . . .

In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda's death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister's world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own.

When two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst fears, Miranda is stripped of her former life. She must make a choice with tremendous consequences and finally face her sister's demons and her own."- summary from Amazon

This book was hard to put down, though I totally took on Deb Caletti's dare. She said in the blurb "I dare you to set it down during its last hundred pages." AND I DID. Not because the last hundred pages are bad or anything, but mainly because I'd finished with lunch and had to walk back to the Javits. But that's beside the point. I still did it!

Anyway, the blurbs on this novel are spot-on; it's a wonderful coming of age story and is very raw and emotional. Cupala's prose flows well, and keeps the pages turning. I loved Rand's voice and it was just so honest and pure. Reading about what she was going through was heartbreaking and sometimes I had to put the book down just to let the words sink in.

But be warned, some stuff will (hopefully) cause you to become angry. Rand's mother was that character that just got me so pissed off. There were many times I just wanted to punch her, or have Rand punch her, or have the dad punch her; in other words, she needed a good punching. It's a bit rare that I get so worked up over a character, which is a good thing because it shows how well this book is written that it can affect a reader that way.

The relationships within the novel are handled so well, are written so deftly, and are so complex that it's hard to see this as a debut. I can't say enough good things about this book; it's really that good. Definitely one to check out.

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associates link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Small Bloggiesta update- Only got through #s 1,3, 6,9, and 10. #2 is being done by other people as my batteries died and I don't have enough money to buy more at the moment. So tomorrow, the lovely Vania will be reading from Sea by Heidi R. Kling. Thanks Vania!! But yeah, I didn't really work on it as much as I should have; it was a bit of a busy weekend.

In My Mailbox- Week of June 7 + Retrospective

Here's the picture of my books this week.



Books Shown:
Rosebush by Michele Jaffe
Crash Test Love by Ted Michael
A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley
The Lighter Side of Life and Death by C.K. Kelly Martin
The Necromancer by Michael Scott
God is in the Pancakes by Robin Epstein
Sunshine by Robin McKinley



And here's the retrospective:

Monday- I posted my recap of Lisa McMann's Pittsburgh event, complete with a hilarious story at the end.

Tuesday- I reviewed Numbers by Rachel Ward, which I got through Around the World tours.

Wednesday- I reviewed Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, which I also got through Around the World tours.

Thursday- I posted a review of The Iron King by Julie Kagawa and am giving away a signed copy! Contest ends June 24.

Friday- I reviewed The Star Shack by Lila Castle, which is out now!

Saturday- I'm participating in Bloggiesta, so go check out what I plan to do this weekend, and check back Monday morning for what I got accomplished.

Bloggiesta 2010!

So I saw that Natasha at Maw Books (who I've met!) is running Bloggiesta again this year and I'm going to be taking part in it like I did last year. I'm doing much better this year than I was last year in terms of content as I've got stuff scheduled for almost every day the rest of this month. I've also got my review schedule up for July, so I'm working on reading all those books. Be prepared for a TON of reviews in July, only to be broken up by more editions of Ask Book Chic (thanks for all the questions, everyone! Keep them coming!) and the weekly In My Mailbox, along with the Fresh New Voice of YA feature (Shadow Hills and hopefully Siren!) right in the middle of July.

Which reminds me, I just completed my first week of posting something every day (aside from the monthly FNVs). Did you all like it? I always worry that it's just too much to be posting every day, but I know of many bloggers who do it and they still get more comments than I do, so I guess it can't be that overwhelming for the blog reader. Let me know what you all thought!

But anyway, I do still have some things to do that are pretty important:

1) Put together and schedule all the Fresh New Voice of YA posts for next week.
2) Record the excerpt vlogs for Fresh New Voice of YA.
3) Update my review and interview/guest blog lists.
4) Maybe do a Review Policy? Thoughts on that?
5) Write up review for The Line by Teri Hall and Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus.
6) Make a list of all my contests going on now and those that will be happening.
7) Continue to organize my mess of an inbox. I got it halfway cleaned out during a trip to my parents' place a month or so ago.
8) Post my reviews on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
9) Update my 2010 Debut Challenge list and put in review links.
10) Nothing to do with the blog, but still something that needs to get done. Write at least 3000 words over the next two days in my new story.


So there's my list for this year's Bloggiesta! Let's see how I do. I'll keep you all posted on my twitter (link in sidebar) and will mention how it all went in Monday's post. Wish me luck!