Not Anything

Thanks again to Everyone for joining another fun giveaway!! And thanks to Carmen Rodrigues for donating a copy of her debut novel, NOT ANYTHING, to share with a YA Fresh reader.

And the winner is...

CAROL!!

Carol, please contact me with your mailing address and I'll get the book out to you!

Thanks and Happy Reading!!

What's Fresh with Carmen Rodrigues's Not Anything & a Giveaway!

A powerful debut novel about a girl living a not-so-glamorous life in a city that's all about glamour.

It always sounds way more glamorous than it is when Susie Shannon tells people that she's from Miami. But Miami's not all sunshine and hotties. It's endless zip codes and mega high schools where, if someone lost anything-including themselves-they just might not find it again...

Not that Susie ever lost herself. No way. Ever since her mom died, she made sure to keep her world safe. With no boyfriend, an increasingly MIA best friend, and a dad who couldn't pick her out of lineup to save his life, she somehow managed to stay okay.

Then she met Danny Diaz. Danny's is the life that she's destined to change. At least that's what Mr. Murphy said when he begged Susie to tutor Danny. She doubts that she could change anyone's life, but what if Mr. Murphy's right? Or better yet, what if Danny is destined to change hers?

Hello, Carmen, it's great to have you here to chat! Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your first sale?

Carmen: I've been writing since the age of eleven. I started with my own version of angst-ridden 'I love you. Why don't you love me?' poetry and graduated to the short story format by the time I was at FSU. Eventually, I realized that I had a novel lurking inside me. It was around that time that I began to write my first young adult book, NOT ANYTHING.

It took several years to write NOT ANYTHING and then a few more years to get an agent. After that, NOT ANYTHING sold relatively quickly to Berkley Books (an imprint of Penguin). The whole process was extremely exciting.

Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.

Carmen: Schedule? What is this thing you call a schedule? I'd love to say that I get up everyday, make a cup of tea and then sit down for three hours of hard-core writing, but that would be a big, big fib. Sure, I aspire to that type of routine, but that type of routine doesn't necessarily aspire to me. Lately, my writing is done on the fly, whenever I can fit it in. Sometimes I write during the morning, other times at night. The important thing is that I find the time to write whenever I can.

I know what you mean! It is a lot about squeezing time in when we can. What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.

Carmen: I'm working on a few projects, primarily one dealing with toxic friendships and the results of that. It's pretty different from NOT ANYTHING, in the sense that these new characters have even more to deal with -- suicide, drugs, and abusive relationships.

In NOT ANYTHING, Susie, the main character, has to come to terms with the death of her mother, which happened five years earlier. Her journey is difficult, but she has a strong support group to help her through the process. In this latest manuscript, tentatively titled LAST DAYS OF SEPTEMBER, my characters are left to navigate these uncharted waters alone, which is pretty scary for them as characters and pretty scary for me as the writer. Hopefully, LAST DAYS OF SEPTEMBER, will find its way to a bookstore in the near future!

Thanks so much for sharing with us, Carmen! I wish you the best with your writing career. Would you like to close with a writing tip?

Carmen: Absolutely! My biggest piece of advice is this: Always trust your instincts and your voice. Trust your instincts when it comes to approaching the business side of publishing and trust your voice when it comes to your writing. Every writer has a distinct voice that he/she should nurture. Your voice is what makes you unique! Don't lose it. Develop it.

Carmen Rodrigues was raised in the multicultural suburbs of Miami. Her debut young adult novel, NOT ANYTHING, is available at bookstores or online at www. amazon. com. For more, visit www.carmenrodrigues.com or www.myspace.com/carmen_rodrigues.

NOT ANYTHING sound good to you? Leave a comment from now until Sunday @ midnight and I'll announce the winner Monday morning. Happy commenting!

We All Scream...

for ice cream!

I know an 8th grade teacher whose spring project is to have her students design a new flavor for Ben & Jerry’s. The kids break into small groups to create a clever name (with kudos given for following the company’s philanthropic slant), a recipe, a marketing campaign, and then they make the actual ice cream, followed by a presentation to the class.

One group some years back came up with a flavor called Mother Cherr-ee-sa (get it...Mother Theresa?), featuring vanilla ice cream with bits of cherries (and other stuff that remains Top Secret). The teacher liked it so much that she challenged them to submit the recipe to Ben & Jerry’s. They did, but I don’t believe there was ever a response.

In any case, with Coldstone’s and other ice cream stores offering infinite add-in’s, anyone can create their own flavors. I’ve seen people get wildly inventive. And while I always applaud creativity, sometimes it makes me wonder if there isn’t beauty in simplicity, too?

For instance, I really, really like a plain vanilla soft serve. At Coldstone’s, I never vary from sweet cream with toasted almonds. And one of my favorite desserts in the world is plain old Baskin-Robbins’ chocolate ice cream.

How about you? More’s better? Less? And any ice cream recipes you want to share? Come on, we’re all friends here. We’ll keep your secret!

Hey Everyone! I'm here to spread the word about the YPulse 2008 National Mashup!

The conference will take place on Monday, July 14th and Tuesday, July 15th in San Francisco.

And YPulse wants those of you in the Bay Area to come and join them!

2008 Ypulse National Mashup Conference
July 14-15, 2008
Hotel Nikko, San Francisco, CA

Here are the deets:

The Ypulse Books Publishing Mashup at The 2008 Ypulse National Mashup

The annual Ypulse National Mashup conference is the event for those who are immersed in the youth space and interested in successfully using technology to connect with today's youth. It’s an event where attendees learn how to harness social media and technology in ways that are ethical, authentic and add value for tweens, teens and early twentysomethings.

More than one in four readers of ypulse.com and the Ypulse Daily Update newsletter are teachers, librarians, counselors and ministers who recommend books to their students, clients and the public. These professionals are the largest single group that read Ypulse and attend Ypulse Mashup conference events. That's the reason we've created a special preconference session to focus on books this year: The Ypulse Books Publishing Mashup.

· Presentations and panel discussions include "Meeting Young Readers Where They Live - Online," "Writing for a Youth Audience" and "Visual Storytelling," covering everything from how successful YA authors connect with reluctant readers, to trends in YA publishing and why teens are mad for manga.

· Speakers and panelists are from companies including Scholastic, Readergirlz, Star Farm Productions, Hachette Book Group USA, Zest Books/Orange Avenue Publishing, Penguin Group (USA), JacketFlap, Kamikaze POP and VIZ Media.

· Participating YA authors include Lisa McMann, Melissa Walker, Jeff Savage and Debbie Huey.

We’d love to invite California professionals with an interest in children and YA literature and books publishing to join us for this event. The session will start at 8:15am on Monday, July 14th, and continue through a morning of presentations and panel discussions to 11:45am. And, even if you can’t attend the entire Mashup conference starting that afternoon, you’ll also be invited to join conference attendees at 8:00pm for a special screening of the documentary film “American Teen,” followed by a Q&A with the teens from the film.

Sounds like an awesome event!! Learn more about the conference @ www.mashup.ypulse.com.

Thank You, All!

Kelly and I were thrilled with the wonderful response to our ARC contest of The ABC's of Kissing Boys. And even though I only have one copy to give away, I'm going to go out on a limb and select two winners. No, they don't have to share. But I will be asking my editor if she'll be kind enough to send me another.

So, with no future adieu, the winners are:

EMILY in AZ

The Story Siren

Please contact me through my Myspace (www.myspace.com/ferrarotina) or my website (http://www.tinaferraro.com/) and we'll get the ARCs out to you!

Tina

Win an ARC of ABC’S!

Last week I received 4 Advanced Reader Copies of my January 13, 2009 release, THE ABC’S OF KISSING BOYS. (Yay!) Just 4...but Kelly’s been kind enough to pass on her copy and let me offer it up to a YA Fresh reader.

Leave a comment telling us what you think of the cover and/or the story, and you’ll automatically be entered to win. The contest will close at 6 pm PST this Sunday, June 22, following which I will chose and announce the winner.

So, about the cover...those of you who know my books are going to be surprised. Very surprised. Gone is the playful cartoon look, and in its place, a close-up photo. The reason for the change is that Random House wants to attract a broader, older range of teens for this book. Great, huh? This is eye-catching, too!


About the book, well, I re-read it last weekend. And I realize I’m being totally immodest, but I actually thought it was a fun read. I not only liked the way it turned out, I even laughed a few times at my own stupid jokes!

Here is the back page blurb:

Parker has played soccer practically since she could walk. Now she’s a high school junior and a shoo-in for Varsity. I mean, the coach moves everyone up from JV to Varsity. It’s just what happens.

But that’s not what happens.

This year Coach Hartley moved up every JV player but two--and Parker was half of that unfortunate equation.

School starts, and she’s stuck with (horror of horrors) the freshman, and her love of the game is seriously beginning to fail. Worse? The friends her own age are showing signs of cutting her loose, and now the freshman guy across the street is looking like her only companion.

But Parker’s determined to get her life back. She concocts the perfect plan to get on Varsity. The only catch? She has to trick her way into the annual kissing booth, then pull a stunt crazier than she could ever possibly dream up on her own. Only the kissing booth kiss has to look real. And Parker is less than experienced in playing on that sort of field.

She knows that practice makes perfect, now she just has to find the right kind of coach...

If you want to read the first chapter, check it out on my website, www.tinaferraro.com. Meanwhile, I hope you leave a comment...and good luck!

A New Look!

We have a new look for YA Fresh! It's a big change but we needed more sidebar space and a new style. :) :)

We are still in the fixing stages, and adding our friend links within the next couple of days so please be patient! :)

Thanks!

And Our Caption Contest Winner Is...



"Hello? Hello? This dumb phone keeps ringing but nobody's there!"submitted by C. R. Evers.

Christy...please contact me through my MySpace (www.myspace.com/ferrarotina) or my website (www.tinaferraro.com) to give me your contact information!

I will be sending you a copy of Carrie Jones's TIPS ON HAVING A (GAY) EX-BOYFRIEND!


Congrats to Christy, and thanks to all who entered!

Tina and Kelly

Friday Fresh: Caption It!

Some time ago we had fun here captioning a dolphin-kissing-dog photo. Since then, I’ve been keeping my eyes open for another picture that might equally inspire our imaginations. Let’s go with this one!


I'll start: "Save the last dance for me."

Okay, I'm sure YOU can do better. Jump in with your captions. The contest will close on Sunday night at 6:00 pm PST. Soon after that, I will announce the winner, who will receive a copy of TIPS ON HAVING A GAY (EX) BOYFRIEND by Carrie Jones (who we had the pleasure of interviewing recently here at YA Fresh).

Who's next?

And the Winner is...

Thanks to everyone for participating in Rachel Vail's LUCKY giveaway! And the randomly picked winner is....

softindierocker --> Lucy D.!!

Yay! Lucy, please email from my website with your mailing address.

And stay tuned with YA Fresh this summer for more fun giveaways! :)

What's Fresh with Rachel Vail's Lucky (& a Giveaway!)

It's all good . . . and lucky Phoebe Avery plans to celebrate by throwing an end-of-the-year bash with her four closest friends. Everything will be perfect—from the guest list to the fashion photographer to the engraved invitations. The only thing left to do is find the perfect dress . . . until Phoebe goes from having it all to hiding all she's lost.

Phoebe's older sisters warn her to keep the family's crisis totally secret. Unfortunately, her alpha-girl best friend looks increasingly suspicious, and Phoebe's crush starts sending seriously mixed signals. Phoebe tries hard to keep smiling, but when her mother is humiliated in Neiman Marcus while buying Phoebe that perfect dress and her father decides to cancel her party, she panics. How far will she go to keep up her image as a lucky girl?

With lucky, Rachel Vail begins a powerful sisterhood trilogy, comprised of one book for each of the three fascinating Avery sisters, with all their secrets laid bare during the year that completely changes their lives. Phoebe is the youngest; her story combines first love and flip-flops, friendship and sisterhood, humor and tears. Breezy, witty, and poignant, lucky is Rachel Vail at her breathtaking best.

Hello, Rachel, thanks so much for joining us! Could you please tell us a little about your writing background
and how you made your first sale?

Rachel: I never wanted to be a writer, growing up. Though my nickname in camp was bookworm and reading was my favorite activity, though I craved stories more even than food and wrote poems and books all the time, I thought that to be a writer you had to be good at spelling (ugh) and handwriting (couldn't master cursive) and then, when I got older and wiser, that to be a writer you had to be very old if not dead.

I just liked stories. Also, sentences.

In college, my dreams of becoming a spy were dashed when I found all my classes unbearably boring. I took a playwrighting class for fun and it changed everything. Writing in that class wasn't fussy. It was work, and it was fun. I decided to become a playwright, director, and actor.

That didn't work out either, because I got an idea for a character who had to blurt out her inner life... she needed a novel to tell her story. So I quit my theater job and moved home with my parents to write it. That became my first book, WONDER. After it was written, I sent out letters to every agent listed in every reference book in my library, and got a big pile of rejections along with a very small pile of acceptances. Then I waited for something to happen, and meanwhile started my second book. Bored, I moved for the summer to Martha's Vineyard, where I worked as a nanny and in a bookstore. While there I met Judy Blume, who was the most generous and kind and funny person, exactly as amazing as I had always wished and imagined she would be -- and she loved my book! She introduced me to her agent and her editor (at Orchard books) and launched my career. I am so lucky to have met her -- and to have her still in my life as a role model and colleague, plus as a friend and confidant.

Wow, how wonderful, Rachel! Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.

Rachel: My typical day:

Make a pot of tea.
Get the kids up and out to school.
Drink tea and read the newspaper.
Approach the computer warily, sneaking at it sideways.
Reread the stuff I wrote yesterday.
Despair.
Drink more tea.
Write in my notes file about how little I know about where the book is going or what to do next.
Realize I need to check something in the newspaper or on the blogs or email.
Realize I spent much too long on that.
Despair.
Alphebetize the refrigerator.
Dash back to the computer, ambushing it.
Write more in my notes file, mainly question about my characters and what they want.
Figure out a small something; resist the fear that probably it won't work.
Write.
Write.
Write.
Smile a little.
Remember I didn't hit save recently and burst into a sweat.
Hit save.
Reread, edit.
Save.
Yoga or run.
Think of a good thing mid-workout that makes what I wrote earlier not quite work anymore.
Rewrite it in a mad dash because otherwise I'll be late for pickup.
Run to school.
Did I save that last version?
Sweat.
Dash home.
Save.
Make fresh pot of tea.

haha! Great, Rachel! Please tell us about your latest novel, LUCKY and what we can expect from your characters.

Rachel: My newest novel is called LUCKY. It was published by HarperCollins, on April 29, 2008. It is the first book in a trilogy about three sisters, and I am so excited about it. Here is a starred review it just got from Bulletin!:

Middle-school graduation is approaching, and despite some differences of opinion among the hostesses, Phoebe's excited about the huge graduation party that she's planning with her friends. When her mother
loses her lucrative job in high-powered finance, however, the comfortably moneyed world of Phoebe and her two older sisters takes an alarming turn. Already uneasy about the snobbery of her best friend, Kirstyn, and the shifting planes of insider- and outsiderdom within her clique, Phoebe stubbornly refuses to share the news with her friends and tries to figure out a way to kill the party she can no longer afford to host without denting her social status. What could be a superficial tale about a girl whose tragedy is having to pass up a $400 dress becomes, under the skilled hands of Rachel Vail, a highly readable, thoughtfully nuanced account of a fourteen-year-old just beginning to realize how lucky she has really been. The book has clear sympathy for Phoebe's position - she really is worried about her mother, and Kirstyn really does dismiss people summarily for lesser crimes - but it doesn't let her off the hook, either: not only does her dad very appropriately take her to task for her questionable priorities in a family crisis, it turns out that Phoebe has been underestimating Kirstyn, who has silently been a better friend to Kirstyn than Phoebe has been to her. We've had more dramatic sagas of
the sudden fall from wealth, but this is superior for its realism, its moderation (Phoebe isn't a snobby princess, just a young person who can't quite grasp that what she's accustomed to isn't quite the norm any more), and its understated complexity of characters and relationships. Readers will drink up the drama and impatiently await the planned follow-up titles. (STARRED)

Awesome, review! What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.

Rachel: The next book, called GORGEOUS, is the sequel to LUCKY, and will be published by HarperCollins in Spring '09. It is told from the perspective of Allison, Phoebe's 15-year-old sister. Here is the first look at the front flap of GORGEOUS:

She's looking good...but Allison Avery can't believe it. Growing up with beautiful, blonde sisters, Allison has always been the dark-haired, "interesting looking" Avery. So when the Devil shows up and offers to make her gorgeous, Allison jumps at the chance to finally get noticed. But there's one tiny catch, and it's not her soul; the Devil wants her cell phone.

Though her deal with Devil seemed like a good idea at the time, Allison soon realizes that being gorgeous isn't as easy as it looks. Are her new friends and boyfriend for real, or do they just like her pretty face? Allison can't trust anyone anymore, and her possessed phone and her family's financial crisis aren't making things any easier. Plus, when she finds out that she might be America's next top teen model, all hell breaks loose. Allison may be loosing control, but how far is she willing to go to stay gorgeous forever?

Following the critically acclaimed LUCKY, Rachel Vail continues her poignant sisterhood trilogy with the rebellious middle Avery sister, Allison. Fiery, sarcastic, and just plain fun, GORGEOUS captures the heartbreak and hilarity in one girl's attempt to have it all.

Thank you again, Rachel! I wish you the best with your writing career. Would you like to close with a writing tip?

Rachel: My writing tips:

Read, read, read - but mostly read what you love

Write in your private journal (that's a life/coping tip at least as much as a writing tip)

Love your characters and your story much more than your words - be ruthless about throwing out words, pages, chapters in allegiance to improving the story.

Know everything about your characters, but especially this:
What do I want?
Why?
(Is what I really want the opposite of what I think I want?)
What am I willing to risk to get it?
Who is stopping me from getting it?
Why?

Tell something true.

Have fun.

Rachel Vail is the author of The Friendship Ring series, as well as Wonder, Do-Over, Ever After, and Daring to be Abigail. She has also written the picture books Over the Moon and Sometimes I'm Bombaloo, and a series of early-reader books called Mama Rex & T. Rachel lives in New York City with her husband and two sons. Visit her website, www.rachelvail.com.

Post a comment and you'll be entered to win a free copy of Rachel's LUCKY!! Winner will be announced Wednesday. :)

Friday Fresh: One More Time!

I got the nicest compliment this week. A young woman who had interviewed me for a newspaper told me that her sister liked my books so much she was reading them a second time...

It reminded me how, back when I was a teenager, I used to re-read favorites, sometimes finding something new and different, sometimes just enjoying being in that familiar world again--and knowing everything would turn out fine.

How wonderful that someone feels the same about the books I’ve written!

These days, my read time is precious and short. When I do read, I am often catching up on friends’ releases or reviewing here for YA FRESH. I usually have 40 or 50 other books in my To Be Read Pile.

But earlier this year, I found and re-read a book I loved as a teenager, MR. AND MRS. BO JO JONES, about two teens “forced” to drop out of high school and marry before their baby was born. It held up amazingly well in my eyes, even though the attitudes were pretty dated, and I was now viewing it as an adult, rather than a teen.


How about you? Have you had the chance to re-read a favorite book lately? Or wish you could? Share it with us!

What's Fresh with Marley Gibson aka Kate Harmon



A fresh new series-the Sorority 101 novels will make every teen girl want to join!

High school is already a distant memory for incoming Lattimer University freshmen Jenna, Roni, and Lora- Leigh. Jenna can't wait to meet cute college boys, Roni can't wait to get away from home, and Lora- Leigh . . . well, Lora-Leigh couldn't care less. She's going to LU and participating in sorority recruitment only to appease her mom. Sorority girls are pretty, rich, and snotty, and Lora-Leigh doesn't want to be one of those girls. So she's shocked to find herself actually connecting with the sisters of Zeta Zeta Tau. And her new friend Jenna can relate. She came to recruitment only because her roommate begged her to, but now she can't decide which sorority to join; she likes them all! Roni, on the other hand, knows which sorority she should join, but she came to LU to reinvent herself. As recruitment progresses and the girls prepare to make big decisions, they'll need to heed the best advice there is: follow your heart. Now where will it lead?

Hi Marley, it's great to chat with you! Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your first sale?

Marley: I started writing stories when I was a little kid. I used to write and illustrate them and then “sell” them to my family at an auction where they would bid like a quarter or something. Hmm...sort of prepared me for the publishing industry, eh? Then, in high school, I wrote teen romance stories about my friends and their boyfriends. I wrote throughout college and in my professional career where I’ve been a marketing and events coordinator for (gasp!) twenty years. A lot of press releases, letters, contracts, ad campaigns, newsletters and website copy. I started seriously writing for publication in January 2001.

My first sale came in March of 2006. Because of my agent’s fantastic reputation and track record for YA sales, she received a call from Puffin Books saying they really wanted to do a sorority series and did she have a writer who could come up with a proposal. I worked hard for three straight weeks writing character sketches, plotting an outline and writing the first three chapters of the first book. Well, I took a shot at it and two months later, we had a deal. I wrote the first two books of the series, entitled, SORORITY 101: ZETA OR OMEGA? and SORORITY 101: THE NEW SISTERS, under the pen name, Kate Harmon. Other writers will be taking over from here since I’ll be working now on my own series, GHOST HUNTRESS, under my name that comes out in May 2009.

Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.

Marley: When I’m in the blood fever (i.e. writing on deadline or getting revisions done), I work steadily 1-2 hours per week day. I try to take the weekends off, if I can do it. I work a full time 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. job (with two hours total of commuting), so I write during my lunch hour and when I get home at night. I have an Alphasmart Neo that I use when I’m writing and I have a writing room set up at home where I work, as well. I like to play Dance, House or Trance music (as loud as I can stand it) when I’m writing. Because I type about 100 words per minute, I can churn out a good 1,200 words or more in an hour of writing time. The way I write is I see my book in my head like a movie, so then I just belch it out (for lack of a better word) onto the page and then the real writing is in the re-writing or revisions where I go back and straighten and tighten and smooth things out. The biggest part of the routine is I don’t make excuses and never have...I just write.

Please tell us about your latest series and what we can expect from your characters.

Ooo...thanks for asking! I’m so excited about my new series! In November 2007, my fabulous agent sold my GHOST HUNTRESS series in a three-book deal to Houghton Mifflin’s Graphia line. The books are THE AWAKENING (May 2009), THE GUIDANCE (October 2009), and THE REASON (May 2010). They are about sixteen year old Kendall Moorehead who never imagined in a million years that she’d become a ghost huntress. But after moving from Chicago to an historic southern town, she finds herself awakening to her latent psychic powers...and discovering there’s a ghost in her bedroom! With the guidance of a local medium and the help of her new friends and ghost hunting team (including a massively cute skeptic who makes her heart do flip-flops), Kendall must quickly develop her newfound intuitive abilities to talk to the other side and discover why a belligerent spirit is trying to harm her father.

Sounds awesome! What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.

Marley: I’m really focused on the writing the GHOST HUNTRESS books and getting reading for a lot of promotion with them. I do have other irons in the fire, but nothing I can talk about right now. Just enjoying my writing time and my creativity and trying to keep notes on the ideas as they come to me. You know how crazy we writers are with the voices in our heads. LOL!

Thanks again for sharing with us, Marley! I wish you the best with both of your cool series! Would you like to close with a writing tip?

Marley: I’ve been getting asked a lot lately “how do you find time for your writing with a full-time job?” The answer is, I don’t. I make time for my writing because it’s something I have to do. I have characters and stories and dialogue and ideas in my head that want to come out and be heard. I don’t just talk about writing, I back it up with words on the page. It’s not an easy choice to put yourself out there for rejection, possible ridicule, judgment, and critique, but when you have the finished project in your hand and can say “I did that,” well, there’s no better feeling in the world...to me. Just. Do. It. (Thanks, Nike!)

Marley Gibson made her young adult debut in May 2008 with SORORITY 101: ZETA OR OMEGA? and SORORITY 101: THE NEW SISTERS from Puffin Books, writing as Kate Harmon. She holds a BA in Communication from The University of Alabama (Roll Tide!) and has been involved in marketing and events for over twenty years. She works full-time in the financial industry as an event planner. An avid reader, travel enthusiast, and closet gourmet chef, Marley is a member of the New England Romance Writers of America, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and is the Creator and Founder of Chick Lit Writers RWA. Her GHOST HUNTRESS series, under her own name, will debut from Houghton Mifflin in May 2009. She lives in the Boston area with her best friend, personal webmaster, and hubby, Mike. She can be found online at www.marleygibson.com, at her blog www.booksboysbuzz.com, or on MySpace at www.myspace.com/mhgibson.

One Is the Loneliest Number...


This has been a wonderful contest, and I wish I had more than one autographed copy of How to Be Bad to bestow on more than one winner...but sadly, that is not the case. So that said, the YA Fresh winner of How to Be Bad is...

PAPERXXFLOWERS

Paperxxflowers, please contact me at admin@tinaferraro.com with your mailing information and I'll get the book right out to you!

Thanks to all who entered, and we hope you continue visiting with us.

Tina (and Kelly)