Cover Reveal: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Paperback Release Date: February 5, 2013
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Find it on Goodreads!

Kelsey upon first seeing this cover: Wooooahhhhh.

And minutes later, once the awe wore off enough for language to return: Goregous! I love the dual imagery here of the snow and the pink. I wonder if everything on this cover is as thematically significant as it was with the Shatter Me cover. And if it is, what does the ice mean for our Juliette?

I have no idea Unravel Me has in store for us, so I am waiting with bated breath for the release of the publisher's summary. The only clue we have to go on now is this:

They want to find me. I will find them first.

Yikes!

*EDIT* We have a cover copy!!

tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
it's almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

Paperback Cover Reveal: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Paperback Release Date: October 16, 2012
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Find it on Goodreads!

Here's the thing about the original Shatter Me cover... well... mmmmm... basically, I hated it. I'm sure it was hard to make a cover to do that book justice (it's so incredibly different and wonderful), but I felt like the original cover wouldn't really do any book justice. Let's use the Old Spice man to illustrate:

In essence, the harback cover = your man, and the paperback cover = the man your man could smell like.

We both know which one you want. I mean, LOOK AT IT. That cover is by far the best YA cover I think I have seen in years.

*swoon*

Armchair BEA: My Life Changing Decision

Story time!

Working on a cover copy
for a Fall 2012 release!

People wonder how I ended up interning at Random House.

What you probably don't know is that I applied for an internship all six of the Big Six. I didn't get an answer from nada one of the other five, except Random House, and that's because I e-mailed the Editor-in-Chief (now Publicist) directly.

You: How did you do that?
Me: Well, I happened to know her.
You: But how does one become friends with authors, editors, etc?
Me: If sneaking into their homes and leaving dead mice on their pillows doesn't work, then you're probably out of luck.
You: Is that what you did?
Me: I tried that first,* but eventually experienced greater levels of success when I attended a book conference. Specifically, Siren's Conference.

Sirens Conference 2011

Actually, it was a strange coincidence that I ended up there. I was sitting in my bed... at college... in Vermont... and I was trolling around Tamora Pierce's website looking for inspiration for my English thesis when VOILA! I saw that she was going to be at a conference in Colorado two days from then. And I thought, well hey, I should go to that! (It's not like I have classes, or plans, or I don't know, a life...) So while sitting in my bed... at college... in Vermont... I booked a plane ticket for the next day and magically attended this conference that changed my life. The very conference that lead to my English thesis, my Random House internship, this blog, and many, many subsequent friendships and books. The ironic part? Tamora Pierce got sick and didn't even show up, but that didn't matter (because I got to work on her book the following summer!)

Now hey, I'm not saying that you should follow my path in life and spend a thousand dollars you don't really have on an impromptu book adventure. (I think we have already established that you should not be following all of my life choices, because if you were you might be freezing your butt off in the January cold at a gas station after getting into a truck with a German driver who spoke no English and dropped you off somewhere in g-forsaken Belgium at 3 am... But I digress...)

What I am saying is there are a lot of opportunities to get involved off the internet, even if you can't make it to New York for BEA. I'm not the veritable expert on book conventions, but there are loads of smaller ones happening in all kind of places around the country. For you west coasters Siren's might be an interesting possibility since it's near Portland, Oregon this year. I'm sure a lot of you have been to book signings, but if you have the resources, I would absolutely suggest trying to attend an actual conference.

Don't get me wrong, book signings are awesome (I just went to one earlier today), but a lot of time I find they leave a level of personal intimacy to be desired. I chit chat with an author and they probably say something nice, and I say something nice, and then we smile at each other, and your forced to move on else things get really awkward or they file some kind of restraining order. Developing an actual relationship is more difficult, and it takes more time than 30 seconds (unless you're soul mates like myself and Tahereh Mafi, and the friendship-magic happens instantly**) Conferences are all about developing those new friendships, kind of like Armchair BEA has been doing remotely. When else are you going to get the chance to stay in a hotel with Holly Black, Kristin Cashore, or Justine Larbalestier? Or get lulled to sleep with hot chocolate and a short story written and read by Laini Taylor? Or go in the jacuzzi during a snow storm with Sarah Rees Brennan?

Maybe your life is fabulous and you're doing all of these things right now. But if you aren't and they interest you at all, I would definitely suggest looking into a conference. And if any of y'all have any questions for me, I am more than happy to answer!

Who knew that one impulsive decision made while cuddled into my Anthropologie bedspread on a cold October night would put me in New York City 18 months later, just on the heels of a lunch with editors before an evening book signing, planning out my outfit for a launch party the following day. And I'm not even attending BEA!

Pretty exciting, huh?

Siren's Conference 2012

* I solemnly swear I have never illegally snuck into another person's home and left them a creepy present. Probably.

** That's a lie: I have never met Tahereh Mafi. So far I have had to idolize her from a distance, but someday I am convinced she will realize I am her soul sister.

*** I couldn't figure out how to work in a non-sequitur quote today. Boo, you whore (Go! Name that movie!)

Top Ten Quotes from Books

Hey, thanks for stopping by! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's adventure is top ten favorite quotes from books.

This one was a lot harder for me than usual, as I do not have a particularly good memory for quotes (The only movies I ever quote are Mean Girls, Anchorman, and She's the Man because I just don't have a capacity to remember much more, and those ones are the best). Also, I am really in the moment when I read (unless a book is terrible), so I don't stop to write quotes down. THEREFORE, I bring ye lovely folks not my list of top ten quotes (as I have no idea what they are), but a list of five quotes that made me LOL and five quotes that made me think.

So, without further ado, Five Quotes That Made Me Laugh:

1. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
“Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?"
"Unfortunately, Lady of the Haven, my one true love remains myself."
"At least," she said, "you don't have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland."
"Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.”

2. Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
“Good luck explaining to God that you used to spank one of his heavenly beings."
Mom gave a startled laugh. "Sophie!"
"What? You did. I hope you like hot weather, Mom, that's all I'm saying.”

3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
In our world, I rank music somewhere between hair ribbons and rainbows in terms of usefulness. At least a rainbow gives you a tip about the weather.

4. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Lissa and I had been friends ever since kindergarten, when our teacher had paired us up together for writing lessons. Forcing five-year-olds to spell Vasilisa Dragomir and Rosemarie Hathaway was beyond cruel, and we’d—or rather, I’d—responded appropriately. I’d chucked my book at out teacher and called her a fascist bastard. I hadn’t known what those words meant, but I’d known how to hit a moving target. Lissa and I had been inseparable ever since.

5. Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead
He has no right to threaten my boyfriends. I'm eighteen. An adult. I don't need his help. I can threaten my boyfriends myself.

and Five Quotes That Made Me Pause:

6. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
That’s just the kind of thing that kids do to each other. It’s no big deal. There’s always going to be a person laughing and somebody getting laughed at. It happens every day, in every school, in every town in America—probably in the world, for all I know. The whole point of growing up is learning to stay on the laughing side.

7. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
He’s wrong he’s so wrong he’s more wrong than an upside-down rainbow.

8. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
I always wonder about raindrops.
I wonder about how they're always falling down, tripping over their own feet, breaking their legs and forgetting their parachutes as they tumble right out of the sky toward an uncertain end. It's like someone is emptying their pockets over the earth and doesn't seem to care where the contents fall, doesn't seem to care that the raindrops burst when they hit the ground, that they shatter when they fall to the floor, that people curse the days the drops dare to tap on their doors.

9. Where She Went by Gayle Foreman
That’s the thing you never expect about grieving, what a competition it is.

10. Where She Went by Gayle Foreman
I look at her there in the shadows of the shut-down city, her hair falling onto her face, and I can see her trying to figure out if I’ve lost it. And I have to fight the urge to take her by the shoulders and slam her against a shuttered building until we feel the vibrations ringing through both of us. Because I suddenly want to hear her bones rattle. I want to feel the softness of her flesh give, to hear her gasp as my hip bone jams into her. I want to yank her head back until her neck is exposed. I want to rip my hands through her hair until her breath is labored. I want to make her cry and then lick up the tears. And then I want to take my mouth to hers, to devour her alive, to transmit all the things she can’t understand.

I know I just gave you a lot to read, but hopefully you liked those as much as I do. Granted, quotes rarely hold their full impact when out of context, so perhaps they just seemed like words words words. Where there any that struck you? I look forward to reading y'alls top ten quotes this week!

Tahereh Mafi's E-Novella Reveal!

It seems that today is the day for exciting news! Tahereh Mafi, the wonderful, talented, and hilarious author of Shatter Me announced that, while she may have shattered the hearts of her many followers when the publication date of Book 2, Unravel Me, got pushed back to February 5, 2013, she's rewarding their love with a special e-novella from Warner's point of view called Destroy Me, which comes out October 16, 2012!

Now I don't know about the rest of you, but despite the fact that he is a misogynist and a psychopath, I have a strange love for Warner, so I am super excited to get to know him in a more personal way! Tahereh Mafi really made her mark last year, bursting into the YA scene with a character that had a voice very unlike any protagonist we'd ever seen. Seeing as Warner is a very different person than Juliette, I can't wait to see what she'll do with his unique voice.

For more information, here's Tahereh herself making the vlog announcement:

Q: Are you Team Adam or Team Kenji or Team Warner?

A: Yeah, you know, I don't actually play sports, so....

How great is she? Are you all excited for this release? If my mother's reaction is any indication, I am in the minority in liking Warner, and definitely in the minority for thinking that Adam is sketchy. Where do you all stand on the love triangle / love rhombus (square? parallelogram?) in the book?