Mugging for the Camera

Many of our readers known I'm a Facebook Scrabble fan.  Okay, maybe addict!  So how thrilled was I to get a Scrabble mug from my daughter for the holidays?  I have used it every morning since, and maybe best of all, when the cocoa/coffee/tea is finished, the empty mug reveals a triple word score!  

When clean, it now joins our assortment of other "signature mugs," like the ones that have pictures of our kids, our favorite college emblems, or apt little sayings.

I thought I'd shout it out to our YA Fresh readers!  Do you have any favorite mugs in your home, that represent your personality, friends/family, likes and dislikes?  If so, please share!
  

Happy Holidays!

To all of our celebrating YA Freshers:

Have a safe and happy holiday celebration!!

~Kelly and Tina

Winners!

Thanks to all who commented on The Starter Boyfriend giveaway, naming characteristics that are important in a boyfriend--starter or otherwise.  We got some terrific feedback, including honesty, humor, loyalty, kindness, understanding...

Now time to shout out two winners!

GIRL FOR CHRIST

and

JILL THE OWL.

If you two would contact me at admin@tinaferraro.com, I will get paperback copies in the mail to you!


 

The Starter Boyfriend Giveaway!

In some fun news, my latest release, THE STARTER BOYFRIEND, is now available in paperback, as well as e-book.  Just in time for the holidays!

The paperback version is not currently available in stores, but anyone interested can contact me at admin@tinaferraro.com for purchase/mailing information.  

I invite all to enter to win one of the two paperback copies I am giving away!  All you need to do is leave a comment stating a characteristic you think is important in a boyfriend--starter or otherwise...

* * * * *

To kick off this celebration, the price of the e-book is now $1.99 (through the month of December only).  It can be purchased through these websites:

Amazon Kindle

Barnes and Noble Nook

Smashwords.

* * * * *

Good luck, and check back here Monday the 17th to learn the winners!

YA Books as Holiday Gifts

One of the things I love most about the holiday season is buying books.  For friends, family--and even myself.  (Almost every year there’s a present at my house whose tag says “For Tina” in my own handwriting.)

I thought it would be fun to mention some great young adult book recommendations. I’ll start with what I consider a holiday classic:

Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle:

Sparkling white snowdrifts, beautiful presents wrapped in ribbons, and multicolored lights glittering in the night through the falling snow. A Christmas Eve snowstorm transforms one small town into a romantic haven, the kind you see only in movies. Well, kinda. After all, a cold and wet hike from a stranded train through the middle of nowhere would not normally end with a delicious kiss from a charming stranger. And no one would think that a trip to the Waffle House through four feet of snow would lead to love with an old friend. Or that the way back to true love begins with a painfully early morning shift at Starbucks.

And I’ll add what I’ve already shared with our readers was my favorite YA book of the year:

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Oct. 11th, 1943—A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.

When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.

As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage and failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?

So now it’s your turn.  What are some YA books you’d recommend to give as gifts this year?

 

What's Fresh with Eileen Cook's The Almost Truth

From the author of Unraveling Isobel and The Education of Hailey Kendrick, a smart, romantic novel about a teenage con artist who might be in over her head.

Sadie can’t wait to get away from her backwards small town, her delusional mom, her jailbird dad, and the tiny trailer where she was raised…even though leaving those things behind also means leaving Brendan. Sadie wants a better life, and she has been working steadily toward it, one con at a time.

But when Sadie’s mother wipes out Sadie’s savings, her escape plan is suddenly gone. She needs to come up with a lot of cash—and fast—or she’ll be stuck in this town forever.

With Brendan’s help, she devises a plan—the ultimate con—to get the money. But the more lies Sadie spins, the more she starts falling for her own hoax…and perhaps for the wrong boy. Sadie wanted to change her life, but she wasn't prepared to have it flipped upside down by her own deception. With her future at stake and her heart on the line, suddenly it seems like she has a lot more than just money to lose...

Hi Eileen, great to have you back on YA Fresh! Please share with our readers what your YA novel is about.

Eileen: THE ALMOST TRUTH is about Sadie, a teen-age con artist. When she discovers she looks like the age enhanced photo on a missing child poster she decides to pull the ultimate con until she begins to suspect she might be the missing child.

What was the main inspiration for this book?

Eileen: Most often book ideas come to me as a collection of unrelated things. A bit of an idea here, another piece there, until it sticks together as one idea. This process can take months or years. This is one of the few books where I can remember the exact second I had the idea. I was on the ferry and saw a missing child poster. At the bottom there was an age-enhanced photo so you could see what the person might look like now. I had the thought "How weird would it be if I looked like the age enhanced photo?" In that instant the idea of the book dropped into my head. I ran back to my seat and wrote it down as fast as I could. I spent another week thinking over some different details, but I started writing almost right away.

What are you working on for us next?

Eileen: I am working on a new YA which is currently being called LOST TO BE FOUND, but stay tuned the title may change. It’s about a girl named Avery who decides to search for her birth mom as part of her senior project, but ends up finding out more about herself.

Please share your perfect writing day.

Eileen: The perfect writing day would mean writing in a house near the ocean. There’s something about water that I love. I’d write during the day without a single beating my head on the desk moment, and spend the evening reading by the fire.

Thanks again for sharing, Eileen, good luck with your writing! Let's close with what popular writing advice do you never follow?

Eileen: Write what you know. For me part of the fun is learning something I don’t already know.

Eileen Cook is a multi-published author with her novels appearing in six different languages. She spent most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which is great training for a writer. Her latest release, Unraveling Isobel came out in Jan 2012. You can read more about Eileen, her books, and the things that strike her as funny at www.eileencook.com. Eileen lives in Vancouver with her husband and two dogs and no longer wishes to be anyone or anywhere else.

What's Fresh with Iva-Marie Palmer!

We welcome Iva-Marie Palmer to YA Fresh today, to talk to us about writing and her young adult novel, The End of the World As We Know It.  

Hi, Iva-Marie!  Tell us about your novel!

The End of the World As We Know It is the story of four teenagers – not friends – who get locked in a basement together during the biggest party of the year. As if that’s not already ripe territory for a disastrous, anxiety-ridden evening, aliens attack their Midwestern suburb and they are the party’s only survivors – and the only people around for miles. They take it on themselves to find out what’s going on and maybe save the world.

Sounds great!  Now, please share your typical writing day schedule.

Nothing is as typical as I want it to be, because I’m balancing writing with a day job and a toddler and all the other fun facts of grown-up life.

But when I’m really cranking on a project, or am working toward a tight deadline, I have to make time in whatever parcels of the day are available to me. My most reliable habit is that I get up early, around 5:30 a.m. most days to write.  I love writing in the early morning, because everything is quiet. Not just the house and the world, but my mind. If I don’t get the morning writing in, then I go to work or go about my day and, by evening, there’s a good chance all of the day’s stressors and anxieties have worn me down or are crowding up the creative parts of my brain. So, I like getting something down at dawn.

Tell us about another project in the works.

I have a few things spinning in my crazy brain, and I know I need to pick one soon. I think what’s calling to me most is another humorous YA, in which a ‘90s-obsessed music store clerk has to fend off a corporate takeover of her beloved but dilapidated mall. I have a lot written but I’m reworking some aspects. Does “All’s fair in love and retail” work as a tagline?

Sure does!  In closing could you please share a writing tip?

Being a writer is writing. So write, already! I think there are some great things about the internet for writers, like so much research at your fingertips, not to mention all the book blogs (and being featured on them. Thank you, YA Fresh!), plus Facebook and Twitter, etc., for connecting with fans or potential readers. But I also think all this technology has made it harder to just write. 

Thanks for visiting with us, Iva-Marie, and we wish you wonderful things with your book!

Shout Out Your E-Published YA Titles!

It's Black Friday at YA Fresh!  To celebrate all weekend, we’d like to encourage our author friends to share with us in the comments the title (and perhaps brief description and links) of young adult novels that they have had exclusively e-published, either through self-publishing or small, independent publishers.  

And for those of our readers doing some book shopping on-line this weekend, well, check them out! 

I will start...

For those of you who don’t know, I have a new release:  THE STARTER BOYFRIEND is about a 17 year-old girl who turns her attentions towards a tuxedo mannequin when real life--friends, family and a surfer boy--become too much to handle. 

It is available through Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook and Smashwords.

Okay, so who's next?

This Time of Year

It's nearly Thanksgiving in the US, and I can admit the fall and winter holidays are my favorite time of the year. The holidays brings up memories of family get-togethers, lots of good food, and tasty treats as a child.

Families change and grow in different ways. As of a couple of years ago, Thanksgiving has fallen upon me to host!

It does add a little pressure to make everything just right since I'm still pretty fresh in the hosting department! However, I've learned to take that extra breath when things get stressful and believing everything will turn out just fine. Maybe not perfect, but being together with your family, and enjoying the special day, and truly being thankful for all that you have are what matters most.

I hope for those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving that you have someone to share it with and are able to express what you are thankful for on Thursday's special day. And a special shout out to the families on the East Coast who are struggling with their loss of homes and more due to Sandy, YA Fresh is sending our best to you and your families.

~Kelly

New Release: The Starter Boyfriend

I am excited to announce my new young adult contemporary release in e-book!  

The Starter Boyfriend

a young adult contemporary

by Tina Ferraro

17 year-old Courtney is completely stressed. 

There's the rift with her softball teammates, homework, housework, 

her part-time job at the tux shop, her dad’s upcoming wedding...enough! 

Would it be too much to ask for someone special in her life, 

a boyfriend she could talk to, count on, even lean on a little?

The best she’s got is a blue-eyed surfer boy who seems to save his 

biggest moves for his board, 

and a “friend date” to Homecoming with a guy still in love with his ex. 

Oh, and then there’s the tuxedo mannequin in the shop window, 

who happens to be reliable and an amazing listener.

When the mannequin gets stolen in a senior prank, 

Courtney finds herself in a midnight pursuit along beach boulevards, 

trying to save more than the mannequin, but the job she’s come to love. 

After turning to the unlikeliest of people for help, and finding that surfer boy is 

as resourceful as he is good-looking, her load begins to lighten. 

In fact, she soon might find not only what she needs, 

but what she wants, too.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen, including the critiquing "fairy dust" of our own Kelly Parra!  And special thanks to the readers who kept asking me when I'd have something new out! 

Check it out here at Amazon Kindle, and here at Smashwords. Also available at Barnes and Noble Nook.