Rachel Bateman's Blog, page 2

(W)e Were Liars

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Code Name (V)erity

I have two weeks. You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.

That’s what you do to enemy agents. It’s what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine – and I will do anything, anything to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.

He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything...

(U)nder the Trees

Beautiful cover by Divine at Yonderworldly

Desperate to prevent an abusive arranged marriage, Princess Araya flees to a neighboring kingdom, only to land at the mercy of the impulsive Crown Prince Thoredmund, who provides refuge in a secluded forest and teaches her survival skills. Her surprise at the unexpected hold the prince has on her heart mirrors his shock at falling for the one girl he can’t have.

As the young couple’s feelings for each other grow, the fragile alliance between the two...

(T)wenty-Eight and a Half Wishes

For Rose Gardner, working at the DMV on a Friday afternoon is bad even before she sees a vision of herself dead. She’s had plenty of visions, usually boring ones like someone’s toilet’s overflowed, but she’s never seen one of herself before. When her overbearing momma winds up murdered on her sofa instead, two things are certain: There isn’t enough hydrogen peroxide in the state of Arkansas to get that stain out, and Rose is the prime suspect.

Rose realizes she’s wasted twenty-four years of...

(S)idekick

Russ is tired of coming in second to his best friend, Garret. Whether it’s in sports, in school, or with girls, he can never get ahead. Something has to change, and when a new girl comes to town he sees his chance. He has to win her over before Garret does, but proving he’s not second best won’t be easy when Garret is a pro.

Russ will do anything to beat Garret, including using his little sister to get closer to the new girl. He has to be careful, though, because if anyone at school finds ou...

(M) – (R) Book Recommendations

Books I love love love.

(J)okes (K)ill (L)izards

So. Still trying to catch up to the letters I left behind when I was sick. I asked my buddy Jessica for topics for J, K, and L – with bonus points if they all worked into one post, and this is what she came up with.

Which is kinda funny (puntotallyintended), because I was already thinking about writing about jokes. So here I go. I’m not really sure how lizards work in yet.

Wait. Wait. Figured it out.

*~*~*~

I was thinking about jokes the other day, and about how so many jokes are made at the...

(H)armony and (I)nspiration

(Spencer’s Own “Livin’ In The Moment” official video.)

Nearly every time I tell someone I’m an author, they ask we where I get my ideas for my books.Where does your inspiration come from?they ask again and again and again.

The thing is, I don’t usually know. Sure, I can usually point to something specific for parts of each book –99 Days of Laney MacGuirecame from me working through my own sexual assault;Someone Else’s Summercame pretty much entirely from my love of lists and road trips;The S...

(E)xcitement (F)angirl (G)uilty pleasure

Oy. Monster came home from school last week with a bit of a sniffle. I hadn’t been sleeping well for a week at this point, so I knew my immune system wasn’t doing great. So I wasn’t surprised at all when I got sick. Iwassurprised though when Monster only ever had the sniffles, and a couple coughs, and was totally better two days later…and then both Geek Husband and I were totally wiped out fordays.It definitely hit us harder.

Anyway. I’m back up and running at about 75% now, and that’s good e...

(D)rill Team

The Stars At Night takes place in small town Texas, in the world of competitive Drill Team.

(ThinkBring It On but with Drill Team instead of Cheerleading. And a few other key differences I’m keeping secret so far. )

I was on the drill team in high school. That’s right – I was a full blown high-kicking, baton-twirling, splits-doing drill girl. I wore the sparkly outfits and the awesome boots and the short short skirts. I was part of a fantastic team, and some of the girls are still some of my...