MIA...again

Hey book friends,

I feel so bad because I haven't been blogging, or even visiting blogs lately.

First, I was helping my mom prepare for the move that should be taking place in the next few weeks. Then (most recently) I got sick. We thought it was dehydration at first because its been so freaking hot here. But now we're thinking that it may be some disease that may be related to a rare syndrome that I was diagnosed with five years ago. But as soon as I feel better (I'm hoping soon), I'll get back on track.

Thanks for your understanding,
Jenn-ay

Review: By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

Title: By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead
Author: Julie Anne Peters
ISBN/Publisher: 978-14231618-9/Hyperion (part of Disney Book Group)
Age Group/Genre: Young Adult

Daelyn's in high school and she wants to die. And she's had suicidal thoughts since she was ten years old. She has always been the fat kid that was bullied by all the people around her. And to make it worse, her parents don't seem to understand. Right now, she is no longer fat (but she still feels fat) because of her last attempt at suicide. The last try left her in a neck brace and unable to talk. Oh, she also has to blend up her food so she can "eat".

This time, Daelyn wants to end her life right. She doesn't want to have another failed attempt. She happens to find a website called Through the Light. Here she picks the date that will be her last day on Earth and spends her time writing on the message boards about all the bullying she has endured.

Daelyn spends her last few weeks on Earth planning her distancing from classes and parents. But then she meets this boy that is persistent on hanging out with her. He just sits on the bench when she gets out of school. Daelyn wants to avoid Santana, but at the same time is curious about him. And boy is this wrong timing for her since her last day is almost planned out or is it good timing?

Will Daelyn follow the light???

Wow, this book was a good read. I'll admit, there were times when it was hard to read, but never the less, a good book. Daelyn is so deeply hurt and possibly damaged that I didn't know what to expect in the end for her. I wanted so bad for Santana to be the person that saves her because as much as I wanted the parents to wake up and realize their daughter is drowning, they seemed like the total clueless parental figures.

I definitely recommend this book to the mature young adults in high school and college. I would love for the high school students to read this because of the subject dealing with school bullies. These days, bullying is becoming more common because of the usage of the Internet and cell phones. Rumors and mean acts are more easily spread and this book really shows the affects that it has on the person receiving the bullying. I believe parents, teachers, and counselors should take interest in this book and discuss it with their students when they see one reading it. This book can lead to many informative discussions and can possibly help those victims of bullies and teach everyone to not tolerate bullying.

My Rating

(This book was bought from a store called FullyBooked).

***Now go and grab your fave cup of tea or because it's Deb Caletti's month, grab her fave: coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and HAPPY readings***

Friday Finds (06/11/10)

Friday Finds at the Store is a weekly feature here at My Tea Time is Book Time. It is totally easy and I encourage you let me know what you find. Basically just post the books you found at the bookstore or library. Now others can see the great finds you had and maybe they will pick it up on their next bookstore/library run. HAPPY readings!!!

From the inside flap of The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer

Bree Tanner can barely remember life before she had uncannily powerful senses, superguman relfexes, and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood...life before she became a vampire.

All Bree knows is that living with her fellow newborns has few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don't draw attention to yourself, and above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn't know: her time as an immortal is quickly running out.

Then Bree finds an unexpecte friend in Diego, a newborn just as curious as Bree about their mysterious creator, whom they know only as her. As they come to realize that the newborns are pawns in a game larger than anything they could have imagined, Bree and Diego must choose sides and decide whom to trust. But when everything you know about vampires is based on a lie, how do you find the truth?

(This book was bought from a store called FullyBooked.)

From the back cover of Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson.

Meet Kate Malone---straight-A science and math geek, minister's daughter, ace long-distance runner, new girlfriend (to Mitchell "Early Decision Harvard" Pangborn III), unwilling family caretaker, and emotional avoidance champion. Kate manages her life by organizing it, as logically as the periodic table. She can handle it all---or so she thinks. Then, things happen like a string of chemical reactions: first, the Malones' neighbors get burned out of their own home and move in. Kate has to share her room with her nemesis, Teri Litch, and Teri's little brother. The days are ticking by and she's still waiting to hear from the ONLY college where she's applied: MIT. Kate feels that her life is spinning out of control---and then, something occurs that truly blows it all apart. Set in the same community as the remarkable Speak, Catalyst is a novel that will change the way you look at the world.

(This book was a gift from my Godmother)

From the inside flap of Hate List by Jennifer Brown

What if you wished someone would die and then it happened?

What if the killer was someone you loved?

Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends, and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

(This book was a gift from my Godmother).

From the back cover of Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

At Fairfield High School, on the outskirts of Chicago, everyone knows that south siders and north siders aren't exactly compatible elements. So when head cheerleader Brittany Ellis and gang member Alex Fuentes are forced to be lab partners in chemistry class, the results are bound to be explosive. But neither teen is prepared for the most surprising chemical reaction of all---love. can they break through the stereotypes and misconceptions that threaten to keep them apart?

(This book was a gift from my Godmother).

What did you find???

***Now go and grab your fave cup of tea or because it's Deb Caletti's month, grab her fave: coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and HAPPY readings***

Review: Fire

Title: Fire
Author: Kristin Cashore
ISBN/Publisher: 978-0-575--08512-1/Orion Books
Age Group/Genre: Young Adult
Okay Graceling fans...you should know (just in case you don't know right now) that this is the prequel-ish novel to Graceling. Oh, and know that it does not involve Katsa or Po because the novel Fire is a story that takes place long before Katsa's birth and in a nearby kingdom that doesn't have Gracelings, but rather monsters.

Monsters in the Dells are similar to regular animals, but they have gorgeous coloration to them. And Fire, the main character, is the last human monster and the reason she is named Fire is because of the color of her hair. Fire is a beautiful young lady and is too beautiful to the point that she has to hide from other monster creatures and even humans because they will attack and harm her.

Fire doesn't just have her beauty, but she can also read minds along with controlling them. She lives in her father's home (and he is also a monster, but used his powers in a bad way) near her dear friend Archer's home. Fire is scared that her powers will be used just like her father used his and also tries to leave his shadow (even after his death).

Her powers are needed though when control over the kingdom is in danger. Fire, Archer, Prince Brigan, and the other royal family members need to fight for the kingdom. But how does Fire handle the usage of her power?

I wish I could say that I loved this book just like I loved Graceling, but I thought this book was a bit slow in the beginning. Things didn't pick up for me until the middle of the book when I started to get interested with the romantic relationships and their complications. I wanted to know more about Prince Brigan (and I was so rooting for him), but also felt sorry for the player, Archer.

Fire seemed a bit annoying at first because it seemed as if her beauty was something incredibly horrible. However, once I understood her character more, I also understood why her beauty could be something to see as negative. Once I got over this fact, I learned to enjoy her character and see past her beauty and more into her personality. Also, when I thought about the choices Fire had to make and leaving the shadow of a parent, I tended to enjoy the novel more.

I do recommend this book, but you'll need to know that this is meant more for the mature young adults because of the romantic relationships in this book.

Favorite lines...

Are you determined to leave me in this world to live without my heart? Archer, page 80
There's a great passage on page 161 about choices. You'll have to read it yourself because it's too much to type out. (go read the book!)

My rating

(This book was bought from a store called FullyBooked).

***Now go and grab your fave cup of tea or because it's Deb Caletti's month, grab her fave: coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and HAPPY readings***

Thursday Cover Throwdown (06/10/10)

I'm sure that I've seen something like this on other blogs (so if you can direct me to the one that is hosting it, I would be really happy). But anyways Thursdays will be the day that I compare book covers for one book and we decide which ones we like best.

Here we go...

vs.vs.

This one is hardcover vs. paperback vs. paperback. I like the one in the middle. The simple hands with gloves and stuff. But I actually own the one on the right, which isn't bad at all.

What about you...which one do you like???

***Now go and grab your fave cup of tea or because it's Deb Caletti's month, grab her fave: coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and HAPPY readings***

Review: Nature of Jade

Title: The Nature of Jade
Author: Deb Caletti
ISBN/Publisher: 978-1-4169-1006-0/Simon Pulse (part of Simon & Schuster)
Age Group/Genre: Young Adult

Seventeen year old Jade DeLuna is a senior in high school struggling with her family's relationships (a sports loving father who goes to the basement while he's home; a mom who is more involved with Jade's high school than she is...for goodness sakes, this woman goes to prom and Jade doesn't even plan on going), friendships distancing, and above all...panic disorder. Panic disorder took over her life and she even goes to a psychiatrist and psychologist to help. But the things that seem to calm her down are the elephants at the local zoo. Jade visits them and when she can't, she watches them on the web cam.

And through her observations of these wonderful creatures, she finds a guy watching the animals too. This mysterious guy sometimes goes by himself and sometimes with a little boy. Jade wants to find this boy and in the process, she also gets a volunteering job at the elephant house.

It turns out, Jade does run into the mystery guy named Sebastian and they do hit it off. But there is still something mysterious about this Sebastian who is raising his son with the help of his grandma. Jade's panic disorder lessens when she's around Sebastian, but how does Jade deal with the other relationships in her life?

I read a few of Ms. Caletti's books and I enjoyed them all. So I was super stoked to start this one and I loved this one as well. The elephants do play a major part in this novel and each chapter starts off with a quote about animal behavior, which makes us think about how animals and humans are alike. Thus, how the nature of animals lead to the nature of Jade.

Jade does have a condition that is affecting her life. She fears many things and Caletti does such a good job of making this type of disorder realistic. I can say this from experience. The thoughts that Jade had and the feelings she felt while expressing her anxiety were things I felt and sometimes still do. Sometimes, this made it a little hard to read because it hit so close to home. But the book gives hope that this type of panic disorder can be healed.

This book incorporates so many different types of relationships...parents/children; friendships; husband/wife; boyfriend/girlfriends; animals/humans. And together in this book, it worked. As the reader, we pull for Jade and we want the best for her and her family. We want to get to the bottom of what her family issues are. But also, we fall for the elephants she cares for and the people that care for these animals (including Jade).

The Nature of Jade is story that I do recommend to young adults and even to adults that are fans of Sarah Dessen and of course Ms. Deb Caletti. I loved this book and can't wait to read more books by Deb!!!

Favorite lines...

Your sibling, after all, is the only other person in the world who understands how fucked up your parents made you. page 27

Well, if you don't feel secure, safe, you'll never feel free. If you're not free, you can't be secure. page. 93

Fear causes the greatest changes, when you think about it. Fear is a monumental force. page 188

My Rating

(This books was bought from a store called FullyBooked).

***Now go and grab your fave cup of tea or because it's Deb Caletti's month, grab her fave: coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and HAPPY readings***

Around the blogosphere...Contests!!!

• La Femme Readers is giving away Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler. The contest ends July 7th.
• Alaine - Queen of Happy Endings is having her monthly giveaway. You get to choose 1 of the 3 books including The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C W Gortner; The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer; or The Lies We Told by Diane Chamberlain. The contest ends June 30th.
• All About {n} is giving away one of the four books in The Immortals series by Alyson Noel. And it'll be an autographed copy. The contest ends on June 21st.
  

***Now go and grab your fave cup of tea or because it's Deb Caletti's month, grab her fave: coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and HAPPY readings***

Saturday's 6 Degrees of Blogging Separation

This is a new thing that I want to try out. I saw this on Simply Stacie's blog. Basically you click on one of the blog buttons on your blog and continue until you get to your sixth place and have your 6 degrees of blogging. Usually my small feature will include a little interview with that particular blogger, but not this week...sorry friends.
Here we go...

>

And the 6th blog I stumbled upon belongs to Casey from A Passion for Books. She has a very informative blog and a super pretty banner. I think you all should check the blog out.

And be on the lookout, I may stumble upon your blog in the future for this 6 Degrees of Blogging Separation.

***Now go and grab your fave cup of tea or because it's Deb Caletti's month, grab her fave: coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and HAPPY readings***

Q&A with author Deb Caletti

Deb Caletti is the author of many wonderful YA books. They include The Queen of Everything, Wild Roses, many more, and most recently, Six Rules of Maybe. This month I am featuring Ms. Caletti on my author spotlight. She was kind enough to provide me with a Q&A for my blog. So thank you Deb and her publicist, Taryn.

Q: Your main character, Scarlet, is deeply involved with everyone around her--her mother, her sister, her brother-in-law, and her neighbors. She says, “I thought it had worked for me, looking after everyone else. But it didn’t. Not anymore.” In your opinion, what is it about being a young adult that causes them to put others before their own wants and needs?
A:

I think it isn’t so much a “young adult” thing as a human being one. Some of us just come with the “giver” gene, or else we develop it for a million complicated reasons. Scarlet, like most of us, starts this behavior waaay early. She’s the one who always gets paired up with the bad kid, and she’s the one who walks the sick girl to the office when no one else wants to. Sometimes it’s all about being kindhearted, but it can also spill over into being unassertive about what’s right for us. It’s an important balance--how much of our life is “other” and how much of our life is “self.” Often, too, the folks who are mostly takers are magnetically drawn to givers (huh, no wonder, right?). Givers don’t think too much about this until they are resentful and exhausted, as Scarlet finally becomes in SIX RULES.

Q: Scarlet discovers what she believes are The Five Rules of Maybe. It isn’t until later that she realizes there are actually Six Rules of Maybe. The sixth rule catches her off guard: “Most importantly, know when you’ve reached an end. Quit, give up, do it with courage. Giving up is not failing – it’s the chance to begin again.” Why is this an important rule or lesson?
A:

I think giving up is a hugely important lesson, and an overlooked one. We’re so into the rah rah ideas that YOU CAN DO ANYTHING! YOU CAN BE ANYONE! That we forget that it’s often not true. Sometimes we can’t. I don’t think that’s bad news. Not at all. I think it’s important news. I worry that lately we’ve forgotten how critical it is to see ourselves realistically. Quitting, moving forward, being resilient about failure--those are all things that haven’t gotten much air time lately. And yet, this is perhaps the most important rule of all. It’s the way we can ride out the bumps without crashing.

Q: A common theme of self-discovery develops for all of the characters as they consider what they really want for their future. Did you draw upon any of your own experiences to create these realistic journeys?
A:

Self-discovery, finding “home”, dealing with being a mostly good-hearted but flawed person in a complicated world--yep, those are all repeating themes in my work. And, yes, absolutely--I draw on my experiences for all of my books. I have never stolen an old lady from a rest home (like in Honey), or been given an enormous sum of money from a stranger (like in Indigo). But I HAVE lost faith in love and have felt my world turn upside down and have had to rethink and rethink my future. Writing is always my therapy, the attempt to work out particular events and questions I’m trying to understand. (Too bad no one actually gave me that fat sum of money, though.)

Q: Why do you write for young adults?
A:

Becoming a YA author was actually a lucky accident. The first book that I published, The Queen of Everything, was written as an adult book. I thought it was an adult book, anyway. When it was picked up by Simon & Schuster for the young adult market, I found myself here. This is the route for many YA writers, but I think most of us will agree that it is a happy and fortunate detour. I found myself in a great place, with these readers I love for their honesty and true passion for books. Fate plucked me up, I’m sure, and set me down where I belonged. What’s cool, too, is that because I didn’t (and still don’t) know how to write a “young adult book” (whatever that is), I have an audience that varies in age from 11 to 91. I hope my readers can also feel that I don’t treat them as “teens” (a word that too often is used in some weird kind of quotation marks), but just as the fine people and kindred book lovers that they are to me.

Q: What were some of your favorite books growing up?
A:

I was as much a book addict then as I am now. I think I’ve spent a great deal of my life so far lugging huge, unwieldy stacks of books home from the library. How to even choose favorites, you know? I loved Ramona the Pest. I loved Little Bear. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. The Incredible Journey. The Chronicles of Narnia. Okay, I’ll stop there.

Q: Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
A:

Always. Since I was about seven years old. Except for that brief period of time when I wanted to be Nancy Drew.

I hope you all decide to pick up some of her books. I know for sure that I enjoy reading her novels and I'll be picking up the most recent one later this month.

Thanks again Ms. Deb Caletti for the quick responses to my e-mails and this Q&A time : )

Where to find Deb Caletti...
Website
Facebook

***Now go and grab your fave cup of tea or because it's Deb Caletti's month, grab her fave: coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and HAPPY readings***

Friday Finds (06/04/10)

Friday Finds at the Store is a weekly feature here at My Tea Time is Book Time. It is totally easy and I encourage you let me know what you find. Basically just post the books you found at the bookstore or library. Now others can see the great finds you had and maybe they will pick it up on their next bookstore/library run. HAPPY readings!!!

From the inside flap of Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

It's not that far from Evanston to Naperville, but Chicago suberbanites Will Grayson and Will Grayson might as well live on different planets. When fate delivers them both to the same surprising crossroads, the Will Graysons find their lives overlapping and hurtling in new and unexpected directions. With a push from friends new and old---including the massive, and massively fabulous, Tiny Cooper, offensive lineman and musical theater auteur extraordinaire---Will and Will begin building toward respective romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history's most awesome high school musical.

(This book was bought from a store called National Books).


From the back cover of Evermore by Alyson Noel

After a horrible accident claims the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom can see people's auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone's entire life story by touching them. Going out of her way to avoid human contact and suppress her abilities, she has been branded a freak at her new high school---but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.

Damen is gorgeous, exotic, and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head---wielding a magic so intense, it's as though he can peer straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she's left with more questions than answers. And she has no idea just who he really is---or WHAT he is. The only thing she knows to be true is that she's falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.

(This book was bought from a store called FullyBooked)

From the back cover of Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate has gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy- and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad's obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany's lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?

A fresh, funny, utterly compelling fiction debut, Sloppy Firsts is an insightful, true-to-life look at Jessica's predicament as she embarks on another year of teenage torment---from the dark days of Hope's departure through her months as a type-A personality turned insomniac to her completely mixed-up feelings about Marcus Flutie, the intelligent and mysterious "Dreg" who works his way into her heart.

(This book was bought from a store called PowerBooks)

What did you find???

***Now go and grab your fave cup of tea or because it's Deb Caletti's month, grab her fave: coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and HAPPY readings***

Special Weekend Spotlight...Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars is going to be a series premiering on ABC family next week. And if you didn't know, it is based on the popular book series by Sara Shepard. I was lucky enough to be one of the bloggers that received a little e-mail containing a Q&A with Ms. Shepard. So here it is (not in its entirety) ...

Moderator:
I was wondering how much influence did you have in the casting process?

S. Shepard:

I did not have input into the casting process. That was all done on the other side of the country, so I didn’t know who they were going to cast, but when they did cast the girls I was very excited to see who they chose to be Ali, who they chose to be Aria, and Spencer and all of the rest. They don’t necessarily look like the girls that I described in the books but I think that’s okay because they really embody each of the characters and they do a great job playing. Spencer is a great Spencer; Emily is a great Emily; they might not look precisely like the dolls on the cover but they’re great representations of the girls.

Moderator:
How does it feel as an author to have your book come to life on screen?

S. Shepard:

It’s pretty crazy. I’ve seen the pilot, that’s the only – I know they’re shooting more episodes but the pilot is the only one that I’ve seen and it is really, really close to the first book; so many little details like Aria’s pet pig Petunia makes an appearance which is in the book which is based on something in my life. Aria comes back from Iceland.
All of the scenes are what I wrote so it was really – I just kind of kept giggling the whole time that I saw it because it was surreal, but really amazing. I almost couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing that this thing that I thought of is now on TV. It’s pretty great.

Moderator:
I just wanted to know if right now you have any sort of end game for the books. There are sort of a lot of ends so far but what – will there always be an A, et cetera. I know you can’t tell me all of that but –

S. Shepard:

No, no. The final book Wanted comes out the same day that the show is premiering and it is the conclusion to the series so A will be revealed and a lot of the mysteries will be solved. It is left – it’s left a little creepy and open-ended, but there is an end to the series. I wanted, and I am very happy that my publishers agreed, that we sort of wanted to go out kind of on a high note and not just drag things out and make everything make sense. Yes, the thrilling conclusion which is coming out June 8th and it will be really fun that readers who have hung on from the very beginning will be able to read the very last book and then go right into watching it on TV. I’m very excited for that.

Moderator:
From a writer’s standpoint, what’s more dangerous: a pretty girl with secrets or an average-looking girl who knows your secrets?

S. Shepard:

Hm…I always think it’s the girl that knows the secret, personally. Well, it depends on what she does with it. In Pretty Little Liars there is a somewhat average looking girl who knows some secrets who – I don’t want to give too much away, but she definitely uses them in ways that aren’t great. I would say knowing someone else’s secret is always a little scarier, at least in Pretty Little Liars world.

Moderator:
Are you involved in the screenplay writing or do you oversee that process?

S. Shepard:

No, I am not involved in the screenplay writing. Some of the people that I’ve worked with developing Pretty Little Liars, they are very involved so I feel comfortable that it’s not going to go in this like kind of crazy direction that I wouldn’t be happy with because some of these editors and producers I’ve known for a long time.
I did get to read the screenplay pretty early on and I was pretty happy with it. I think it had been through a lot of revisions by then but it was pretty true to the pilot so for me it was like, well, this is just like the book, so of course I’m happy with it. I am not a screenwriter so I did not have a part in that but I think Marlene King, who is the main screenwriter, I think she’s done a great job.

Moderator:
Hi. I know that a lot of authors think about what if their books became a movie, but in the aspect of having a series how do you think this will work better for TV since it is like you have a lot of books in the series instead of having just movies?

S. Shepard:

I think it will work really well for a series because there is just so much material. I think – every author wants their book to be a movie and they think about it and I’m guilty of that, too. There is so much going on in the mystery and the back story of all this, it’s so deep that I think it’s perfect for TV because there is a chance to develop all of that. You really wouldn’t have that opportunity in a 90 minute movie unless they did sequel after sequel which would be pretty ridiculous. I think it’s great for TV.

Moderator:
Which pretty little liar are you most like do you think?

S. Shepard:

I am most like Aria. I mean I think I’m like all of them. When I wrote them, there is a little bit of me in all of them. As far as what I was like in high school, I didn’t have an affair with a teacher, but Aria is kind of artsy. She’s not really interested in being popular and she just wants to be herself. I think at least the last couple of years I high school I was a lot like that.
I identified with her with how all she really wants is just to get out of this little town and the people are all the same. They’re just so perfect and she – that drives a lot of her story and that’s kind of why she falls for someone older and interesting and not like a lacrosse player.
I was very much like that so she is very close to my heart, but all of them really are. I have—I share things with all of them and I think that’s what helped me write about them because I could easily identify with where they were coming from.

Moderator:
I’m sure you’re asked this all the time, but I want to know what was the inspiration for the Pretty Little Liars book series, particularly like the mystery elements and those kinds of things?

S. Shepard:

I am asked that a lot. It’s always kind of a hard question to answer because in some ways I’m not – it didn’t come together in like a day. I knew that I wanted to write a mystery series and I had some great editors that I was working with and we sort of kicked around ideas and we sort of thought up well, what happens – text messaging – this is five years ago and text messaging was sort of becoming bigger and bigger and what happens if some girls start getting weird texts? Then for the piece of like, oh maybe it was the lost friend. Then I started to develop what this friend could be like and the secrets that she would have on them. It all kind of came together pretty slowly. I did think about the characters a lot right away and their secrets and things like that. As far as what the series has become I mean, I don’t think I knew from the start that it would be such a mystery with such a back story and so much tragedy. I love what it’s become because I love writing about mysteries; I love reading them. I also love the part in Pretty Little Liars about sort of the perfect town that’s turned inside out by this kind of stuff. There is a lot in the books about how the media just hounds the girls and how everybody is talking about them and I loved writing about that and that’s just right up my alley. It was sort of a long process of thinking it out, but I’m happy with the series as a whole.

This was a great Q&A that was hosted. Thanks to Meg for e-mailing me and stay tuned for more PLL posts. Now, I hope everyone gets to watch Pretty Little Liars when it debuts on ABC Family on June 8th at 8/7 central.

***Now go and grab your fave cup of tea or because it's Deb Caletti's month here, grab her fave: coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and HAPPY readings***

Thursday Cover Throwdown (06/03/10)

I'm sure that I've seen something like this on other blogs (so if you can direct me to the one that is hosting it, I would be really happy). But anyways Thursdays will be the day that I compare book covers for one book and we decide which ones we like best.

Here we go...

vs.

I prefer the one on the left and it's also the one that I own. I like the striped pattern on it.

What about you...which one do you like???

***Now go and grab your fave cup of tea or because it's Deb Caletti's month, grab her fave: coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and HAPPY readings***

Author Spotlight: Deb Caletti

I wanted Deb Caletti to be my A.S. for May, but that month was a horrible blogging month for me. So June will be dedicated to Ms. Caletti. I read a few of her books already and really, really, really lurved them. So I hope you pick her books as well and enjoy them just as much.

A little bio...
Deb was born in San Raphael, CA. At a young age, she was very much a bookworm and a little sister (I can totally relate to those facts...yay little sisters). Around eleven years old, Deb and her family moved to Washington. In college, she studied to be a journalist, but she also worked in the writing lab where she met many of her writing supporters. However, it wasn't until after the University of Washington, marriage, and kids, that she started to pursue her dream of being a writer. When she's not writing her books, she is reading books, painting, writing lyrics, and speaking about writing books.
*information was found on her website*

Here are her YA books...
The Queen of Everything (2002)
Honey, Baby, Sweetheart (2004)
Wild Roses (2005)
The Nature of Jade (2007)
The Fortunes of Indigo Skye (2008)
The Secret Life of Prince Charming (2009)
The Six Rules of Maybe (2010)

Where to find Deb Caletti...
Website
Facebook

***Now go and grab your fave cup of tea or because it's Deb Caletti's fave: coffee (or whatever beverage you prefer) and HAPPY readings***