TWISTED Tour Stop!

YA Fresh has been chosen to be one of the stops on Gena Showalter’s TWISTED tour! We’re delighted to participate, and to welcome new readers, who we hope will come back and visit us often!


If you're new to Gena's books, here's the 411 on TWISTED:

His vampire girlfriend might have brought him back to life, but he's never felt more out of control. There's a darkness within him, something taking over…changing him. Worse, because he was meant to die, death now stalks him at every turn. Any day could be his last.

Once upon a time, the three souls trapped inside his head could have helped him. He could have protected himself. But as the darkness grows stronger, the souls grow weaker—just like his girlfriend. The more vampire Aden becomes, the more human Victoria becomes, until everything they know and love is threatened.

Life couldn't get any worse. Could it?

So...

How do you define the “Best Night Ever?” Does going on a mini shopping spree for a chic new outfit, dinner out with your bestie and seeing your favorite music act live in concert sound like it would do the trick? If so, read on!

To celebrate the release of, TWISTED, the third book in her Intertwined series featuring Aden Stone, Gena Showalter is rocking out with her author buds on The TWISTED Tour. The tour spans almost two weeks and 11 author websites, including this one, from August 22nd through September 2nd. The Grand Prize winner will be awarded all the essentials for a perfect night out, including:

- $250 Ticketmaster Gift Card
- $100 American Eagle Outfitters Gift Card
- $100 Visa Gift Card for Dinner
- Glam Urban Decay Makeup Gift Set

A Second Prize winner will receive an autographed set of Gena’s Intertwined series, including INTERTWINED, UNRAVELED and TWISTED.

HOW TO PLAY: Visit this page and check the tour schedule. Visit the sites of each author on their assigned tour date and locate the concert ticket image.

At the end of the tour, fill out the form on the aforementioned TWISTED Tour contest webpage by matching the images you found to the authors’ websites that they were located on before Sunday, September 4th at 11:59pm ET. The winners will be randomly drawn and notified on or around September 9th, 2011.

Good Luck and ROCK ON!

The topic of having the “Best Night Ever,” got me to thinking about what might have been my best teen night...

I finally settled on a dance under the stars the summer I was fourteen. There was a cute boy who I suddenly saw through different eyes as we danced the night away, but all these years later, that night is now less about him and more about me--how special I felt. In hindsight, I know the memories of that night got me through some of my “less-than-special” times to come...escalating it to my “Best Night Ever” in my teen years.

If you’d like to share a bit about your teenage “Best Night Ever,” please do in our comments!

It's Starting: The Twisted Tour

Have you heard about Gena Showalter’s TWISTED blog tour that is starting today? Not only will it be fun for readers to play and to learn more about Gena's newest release, but there's some great prizes involved!

Visit the Twisted Tour page to learn all about it, and to check the blog tour schedule. We here at YA Fresh are happy to be one of the blog tour hosts! Check it out--and be sure to visit us when it is our turn on Saturday!

What's Your Game?

As much as I love reading and writing, there are times when my brain needs a fun and pointless vacation...

Some years ago I got hooked on an on-line solitaire version of the ancient Chinese game Mahjong, where you match tiles. I still play occasionally. Here's what one board looks like:

My #1 on-line addiction, hands-down, is Scrabble, which I play against various friends on Facebook. In fact, I got our own Kelly Parra hooked in as a regular opponent, as well!

Recently, I've also found joy in on-line jigsaw puzzles, which come in numerous sizes and shapes, meaning I can pretty much find one that's right for my time constraints and moods.

So now it's your turn! Please share what games you like to play...so we can check them out, too!

And the Winner is...

Thank you, YA Freshers, for entering in our latest Randomly Fresh Giveaway!!

Remember, keep on commenting on blog entries and you'll have a chance to win our next RFG!

And the random winner is...

MRS. OBIE ~ TEXAS GOTHIC!
Congrats, Mrs. Obie, just contact me through my website with your mailing information and we'll ship your winning book to you!

Thanks and happy reading!

It's that RANDOM time again!

It's Random.
It's Fresh.
It's a Giveaway.
For visitors who comment on YA Fresh.
With a choice from 4 books.
Did I mention it's random?
:)

So if you have commented during the months of July and August (2011 ;) ), feel free to leave a comment with your choice of book to be entered to win one of these FRESH books!

Your choices?

TORN by Erica O'Rourke
FALLEN ANGEL by Heather Terrell
TEXAS GOTHIC by Rosemary Clement-Moore
DASH & LILY'S BOOK OF DARES by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Ready, set, randomly comment to win!


A random winner will be randomly selected on Tuesday, August 16th and announced at any random time on Tuesday. YA Freshers may comment with a book choice randomly from now until Monday evening in which they may randomly comment whenever they randomly feel like it. Okay, that's it, thanks!

A Visit with YA Rising Stars!

This past weekend some writer-friends and I made a trek to "America's Oldest Children's Bookstore," Once Upon a Time in Montrose, California. A panel of YA authors called "YA Rising Stars" held the room spellbound, telling us about their current releases.


On her feet is Suzanne Young, who we recently chatted with here at YA Fresh about her novel, A Need So Beautiful. In addition to the stunning cover and great reviews, the audience really enjoyed the excerpt she read.

Beside Suzanne is Nova Ren Suma, whose debut novel,
Imaginary Girls, has received rave reviews from the Los Angeles Times.

Next to Nova is the effervescent Holly Goldberg Sloan, who is new to novels after many years of success as a screenwriter of such films such as "Angels in the Outfield" and "Made in America." She talked about her debut novel, I’ll Be There, which sounded delightful.

Far left, here is Cindy Pon, who discussed Fury of the Phoenix, the sequel to her popular novel, Silver Phoenix. Cindy has appeared here at YA Fresh before when we met at the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator's conference and posed for pictures!

Here is Cindy a little while later, delighting us with an excerpt from her book:


And here is a shot of Cindy, Suzanne and me, taken before the signing session, a photo I call "Hi, YA Freshers!" since we were all sending hello's to our readers. And take note of the cupcake pop in Suzanne's hand, just of many special treats made for the event.


On a final note, color me especially delighted to have won a book in their random event giveaway!

If any of our readers has heard good things or enjoyed reading any of these books, please tell us here. Or if you simply want to read them, well, jump on in, too!

My Summer Reads

Since Tina shared her summer YA reads, I thought I'd share my catch-up from this summer.

I started off with Sarah Dessen's Along for the Ride. Always a pleasure to read a summer Dessen novel, with down to earth characters who seem to jump off the page, and family drama that pulls you right in.

Then I moved on to a couple of my favorite paranormal series, such as Rachel Caine's Ghost Town. Once again awesome suspense and danger with the Glass House clan and those ancient, creepy Morganville vampires (minus Michael Glass, of course!)

And next was Cassandra Clare's City of Fallen Angels. Can you say intense? Clare creates a brilliant fantasy world of angels, demons and creatures that I love to explore in her Mortal Instruments series!

These reads are all highly recommended as fantastic YA reads!

Join Us on Facebook!

I was just updating the YA Fresh Facebook Page with interviews and chat on some of our favorite books, and I realized that some of our readers may not be aware that it exists...


So please, if you're on Facebook, use the link I provided to go over there and "like" the page to join. And if you come back here and tell us, well, not only will Kelly and I appreciate it, but it'll count as a comment toward our next Randomly Fresh Giveaway!

See you there?

What's Fresh with Jennifer Echols's Love Story!

SHE’S WRITING ABOUT HIM. HE’S WRITING ABOUT HER. AND EVERYBODY IS READING BETWEEN THE LINES.

For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions—it’s her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family’s racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin’s college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a local coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter . . . so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she’s sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He’s joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin’s heart with longing. Now she’s not just imagining what might have been. She’s writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter . . . except this story could come true.

The awesome Jennifer Echols is back with us to share about her latest novel, Love Story! Thanks for joining us Jennifer! Tell us about your book in ten words or less. Okay, go!

Jennifer: Erin writes about her crush and he reads the story!

Haha, thanks! Other than your main character, who's a favorite character of yours in your novel and why?

Jennifer: I love Erin’s best friend and roommate, Summer. Sometimes I like to create tension between the heroine and her best girlfriend, but this time I had fun writing this girl who is wholly supportive of Erin and has a pure, innocent spirit.

Tell us something fun about your new book. It can be a character detail, something that inspired the story, or a behind the scenes story from the writing process.

Jennifer: I lived in Kentucky for seven years, and while I never owned a racehorse, I knew a wealthy family that had! It would have been impossible for me to enjoy that beautiful landscape so long and not have it emerge in a novel sooner or later.

What is your favorite comment you’ve received from a fan?

Jennifer: I’ve gotten several messages lately from people who have been sick and were able to forget their lives for a while and get through treatment by reading. That always touches me, especially when they have read my book GOING TOO FAR, which has a heroine who has been very sick.

Thanks again, Jennifer! Best of luck! Let's close with what are you working on now?

Jennifer: I’m writing a new romantic comedy that will be published by Simon Pulse in December. Then I’m finishing a new romantic drama, SUCH A RUSH, which will be my hardcover debut in July 2012.

Jennifer Echols is the author of romantic dramas for MTV and romantic comedies for Pulse. She currently lives in Birmingham. Visit her on the web at www.jennifer-echols.com.

We All Scream For Ice Cream

Summer = ice cream to me! Whether it’s Baskin-Robbins, Ben & Jerry's, Cold Stone's and/or from the supermarket freezer, I am fan. In fact, last summer, some of you may remember, I posted a yummy recipe here for Mexican ice cream that was made with store-bought vanilla.

And while I’ve eaten that again this summer--and it’s just as good--these days, my mind has moved onto another kind of ice cream. Homemade.

When I was a kid, some family friends had the old-fashioned crank kind of ice cream maker. I remember they needed to use rock salt and that someone had to hand to crank continuously for hours. We'd take turns. Which was exhausting, but made the ultimate treat even sweeter!


These days, my family owns an electric ice cream maker, with the only real problem being that you have to put the bowl in the freezer overnight to get it to the right temperature--in other words, you need to plan it a day or so ahead of time.

So when I came upon a homemade ice cream recipe recently that could be made spontaneously, I thought, why not? And it turned out really, really well. In fact, those of who had been to In ‘N Out (a drive-thru burger place), thought it tasted like their chocolate shakes.

Here’s all you do. Beat together with a mixer:

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 2/3 cup chocolate syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

until soft peaks form. Then put it in a 9” square pan, cover with foil, put in the freezer for 4 hours. (But I will add that you’ll want to finish it in a day or so, because it will sort of harden with freezer burn if it sits too long.)

If you try it, please let us know how you liked it.

And in any case, help us all keep cool by telling us your favorite ice cream or flavor?