Fresh New Voice of YA- Anna and the French Kiss Excerpt Vlog

Today, I'm reading from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Hope you all enjoy!



Anna and the French Kiss is out in stores now!

I figure I might as well do my recap here of the Stephanie Perkins event I went to in Salisbury, NC this past weekend. I woke up early, drove down, had Wendy's for lunch, then went to the bookstore. For parking, I found a spot right around the corner, but I had to parallel park, which is hard for me to do. It took me like 10 back-and-forths, but I got in without hitting either car and being close to the curb. I totally pwned that parallel parking spot.

Anyway, I got out and walked to the store. I had no idea where the event was going to be held. I didn't think it'd be a problem, but it turned out this indie store had several floors. So I wandered on the main floor since I arrived early, looking around for where Stephanie would be. I came to the end of the aisle and, lo and behold, there was a cat.

Sorry for the bad picture, but I snapped it quickly cuz I felt weird taking a picture of a cat. Anyway, obviously I pet it for a while and talked to it. It reminded me so much of my cat Hershey at home, which made me miss him even though I'd just seen him that morning.

After that, I wandered off, went downstairs, and there was the children's section where the signing would be held. I browsed around and enjoyed looking at all the books. Once I'd finished though, I had nothing to do, so I started reading Anna while I waited for Stephanie to show up.

Stephanie was a tad late because she'd missed her exit by 15 miles due to getting distracted by the audio book she was listening to. Her cute husband was also accompanying her (also, I found out Carrie Ryan wanted to come but for some reason, she couldn't; I would have died if she came- I've been wanting to meet her for so long!). Stephanie said hi to everyone, chatted a bit about the book, did a QnA (more on that later), read the first chapter, then signed books.

I got in line and there was this girl behind me who looked familiar who had been snapping pictures with a big camera throughout the signing. But I wasn't entirely sure who she was, so I didn't want to introduce myself and find out that it's not actually the person I thought it was. Too embarrassing. I got up to Stephanie and introduced myself and as soon as I did, she got up and hugged me which I thought was so sweet. She sat back down and started to sign my book and I mentioned how I felt bad not buying a copy especially after hearing the woman in front of me go "I read this for free, but I'm buying three copies to give to my daughters/nieces/gay nephews and/or sons/friends of my children/grandchildren (I wasn't paying enough attention to see who she'd gotten them for)." Stephanie said it was okay and that she understood. We also talked about when I got the book and tweeted about it and all that.

Then, of course, we got the picture. I asked the girl behind me if she'd mind taking a picture (she had ended up taking the picture for the woman in front of me) since she was what I called "the Camera Lady of the day". She took two pictures in case one was bad or didn't take or whatever. Here's the fruits of her labor:

I thanked Stephanie and the Camera Lady, grabbed my book, said goodbye, and headed out, though I did stop to pet the cat some more. I did want to take a better picture but the bookstore employees were looking at me with suspicious eyes, so I just left. Which reminds me- there was actually another cat! Downstairs while Stephanie was talking, an all-black cat came out and wandered around the space. After a few minutes, it started meowing in a lonely/scared way, but kinda low, though we all heard it. No one seemed to point it out though. I thought it'd be funny if the cat hopped up on the table in front of Steph and just meowed at her since it was QnA time.

Oh and by the way, when I posted my IMM the other day, that girl at the signing left a comment! She had recognized me too, kinda, and wrote about the signing on her blog. This is where the QnA section comes up- she kept notes on what Steph said, so there's some fun tidbits there (and much better photos). Check it out!

Fresh New Voice of YA- Interview with Melissa Jensen

1) How did you get the idea for Falling in Love with English Boys?

It started with London, probably my fave place in the world. I wanted to write a book about a teenage girl in London. But I couldn't decide whether to write about a modern character, or one from the Regency (1811-1820, think Jane Austen and Lord Byron). I love love love stories that connect contemporary and historical settings, so I started working on that connection and FiL was born.


2) You've written several other books, but this is your first Young Adult novel. What brought you to the YA genre? Have you always been a fan of YA?

For me, it's more about the audience than the genre itself. The Teens are the years in our lives when everything is most amplified. Everything affects us more dramatically. We have intense loves and friendships. Parents often become the Enemy; we have Frenemies. We might have sex. Music and movies and books take on an importance in our lives that they will never have again. That's the time I wanted to write about, and the people I wanted to write for.


3) Tell us all about The Call/The Email for publication! Where did it happen? Did you do anything to celebrate the sale?

I was making dinner. I can't remember what. Probably something involving greens and sriracha sauce. Whatever it was, we abandoned it and went out for sushi. Any excuse (book sale, birthday, nothing in the fridge...), we go out for sushi.


4) What's your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor (or flavors, if you're so inclined)?

I'm not a huge candy person, but I nab all the Toasted Marshmallows from the bean pile. And I was actually able to answer that without thinking, because my husband's mother mailed us a big box of candy for Halloween. She does it every year, sending all the stuff they have in Ireland that we can't get here: Maltesers, real Cadbury, Jelly Babies, Winegums... And this year she sent us a huge bag o' Jelly Bellies. Which come from California. This bag had gone from CA to Dublin to PA. We had the best-traveled Jelly Bellies in the Western Hemisphere.


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

Next out is Truth or Dare, which is about love and social divisions and a hundred-year-old art mystery. At the moment I'm working on a teen love story/ghost story and a middle-reader book about missing children. Both are more cheerful than they sound. I'm really a Happily Ever After, Hearts & Flowers kinda girl.


6) As a writing professor and published author, do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Absolutely. So much that I'm putting a Weekly Writing Tip on my website (melissajensen.com). The big one, the one thing I believe keeps more people from getting published than chronic run-ons is not finishing. It seems like common sense: Finish a book. But it's amazing how many people have pieces (usually the first three chapters) of multiple books, and not a single complete one. You have to get to "The End" at least once before you should even *think* about agents, editors, and who will play your heroine in the movie.


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

Right now I'm rereading "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead for my class. It's one of my favorite YA books from the last several years and I'm teaching it for the first time. After that, I'll probably read Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's new book, and then either Armistead Maupin's most recent or Alain de Botton's.

In My Mailbox- Week of December 6 + Retrospective

I did a LONG video for just a couple books and some swag. I ramble too much; I also adopt a Southern Belle accent and wave a fan. That probably got your attention. It's almost 11 minutes long. Enjoy!



Books Shown:

A Time of Miracles by Anne-Laure Bondoux (Nov. 2010)
Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr (Feb. 2011)
Rival by Sara Bennett Wealer (Feb. 2011)
Blessed by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Jan. 2011)
The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell (Mar. 2011) plus some awesome swag
Bookmarks for The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder

Also, it's too late (it's past midnight and I've been up since 7:30am!) for me to write about the Stephanie Perkins event, but it should be up next Sunday. It's a pretty short recap, but it still involves energy and the like to write it.


Here's what I did this past week:

Monday- I did a list of 5 things that happened to cross my mind 10 minutes before this entry was scheduled to post.

Tuesday- I reviewed Violet in Bloom by Lauren Myracle, which is out in stores now.

Wednesday- I interviewed Michele Jaffe, author of Bad Kitty and Rosebush.

Thursday- I reviewed Rosebush by Michele Jaffe, which is out in stores now!

Friday- As part of Fragment Friday, I read a section from Spray by Harry Edge, out in stores now.

Saturday- I reviewed Fallen Angel by Heather Terrell, which will be out in stores Dec. 28.

Please comment on some of these because no one's commented on them yet and they're all wonderful posts, esp. the interview!!

Fallen Angel by Heather Terrell

Fallen Angel by Heather Terrell
"Ellie was never particularly good at talking to boys—or anyone other than her best friend and fellow outcast, Ruth. Then she met Michael.

Michael is handsome, charming, sweet. And totally into Ellie. It’s no wonder she is instantly drawn to him. But Michael has a secret. And he knows Ellie is hiding something, too. They’ve both discovered they have powers beyond their imagining. Powers that are otherworldly.

Ellie and Michael are determined to uncover what they are, and how they got this way . . . together. But the truth has repercussions neither could have imagined. Soon they find themselves center stage in an ancient conflict that threatens to destroy everything they love. And it is no longer clear whether Ellie and Michael will choose the same side."- summary from Amazon

I was a bit wary about this book because I've gotten a bit tired of the "love at first sight" plotline and so in the beginning, I wasn't too into the book. I even considered just putting it down and reading something else.

But then a little over a hundred pages in (it was still a fairly quick 100 pages), something clicked. I think it was the fact that Ellie and Michael had had a fight and she was running away so there wasn't any more of that lovey-dovey stuff. Which is alright because I do enjoy romance, but only when it's done right. This just moved way too quick for me. This book is part of a trilogy and so it made me think that the author was moving the Book 2 romance plotline into Book 1 (click link to find out more about the Book 2 syndrome). It was a nice change of pace.

Along with that came information about the mythology behind it all and some action scenes and it was pretty much awesome the rest of the way. The mythology is what really cinched it for me. There's a lot going on here, but it's so unique to me (I haven't read too many fallen angel books) that I was really interested in hearing more. I'm excited for the sequels.

I think another thing in the beginning that bugged me a bit is that once Michael and Ellie find out about each other and all that, they spend a lot of time convinced that they're vampires. The title kinda ruins things. I think it would have been nice to be misled a bit since they don't know much, but when you already know they're fallen angels because of the title, it gets a bit frustrating for the reader when the characters spend a lot of time convinced they're something else.

Overall, the book has some flaws, but for a paperback book, it's decent and the good does outweigh the bad by a lot. Definitely worth a shot while you wait for the final book in the Hush Hush trilogy. Plus, Book 2 will be out early next summer, I think.

FTC: Received ARC via Around the World Tours. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Fragment Friday- Spray by Harry Edge

Fragment Friday is a weekly meme hosted here on this blog where you read an excerpt from either your current read or one of your favorite books and post it on your blog to share with others! It's a fun way to learn about new books or to hear a sample from a book you're dying to read.

Today, I'm reading from Spray by Harry Edge, which is already out in stores now! Hope you all enjoy!



I also love how I say it's the shortest video and then I continue talking for a while. I can never just stop talking.

Put your link down in the Mr. Linky below!