Lee Kelly's Blog, page 4
February 12, 2015
14 Days of Fictional Swoon — Top 5 Book Boyfriends!
WOOHOO for the 14 DAYS OF SWOON BLOG HOP, hosted by the fabulous www.fictionfare.blogspot.com & www.swoonyboyspodcast.com! This is a fun, fantastic blog hop perfect for Valentine’s Day and I’m so happy to be part of it!
So today I have the pleasure of chatting about my top five FICTIONAL BOYFRIENDS OF ALL TIME. BUT LORD THIS WAS HARD! There are so many leap-off-the-page swoony boys who have captured my heart over my many years of reading, and it was extremely hard to pick just five. I also learned quite a lot about my fictional boy tastes as I pondered this question (like, for instance, I apparently either go for the bad boy type or the bookish type with the heart of gold. Go figure). So without further ado, drumroll please….
5. KENT MCFULLER (BEFORE I FALL, Lauren Oliver) — Okay I know this first choice is slightly random, but BEFORE I FALL is one of my favorite novels of all time, and like Sam, I ended up going from viewing Kent as a bookish outcast to someone unique, under-appreciated, adorable, and worthy of love and admiration.
4. BISHOP (HEXED, Michelle Krys) — He’s cutting and infuriatingly sarcastic and always seems just out of reach, but I had so much fun reading his and Indigo Blackwood’s banter… the bad boy with the secretly good intentions has never been so attractive.
3. AUGUSTUS WATERS (THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, John Green) — Brilliant, poetic, thoughtful, tragic . . . Gus absolutely stole my heart. I’m not a book crier — it takes a lot to do me in — and I was just gutted and laid bare towards the end of this book.
2. CHUCK BASS (GOSSIP GIRL, Cecily von Ziegesar) — Admittedly I fell further head over heels for the TV version of this New York “legend” than the book version. Chuck is ruthless and charming and just the right amount of despicable, and though the show and series are over, I am still not over him.
1. PEETA MELLARK (THE HUNGER GAMES, Suzanne Collins) — Insightful, sincere, compassionate — it’s not often I find a boy that I think so perfectly complements a kick-ass heroine, and Peeta is just PERFECT for Katniss. He had me at “I smuggled you bread.”
YAY! Tweet me your favorite fictional boyfriends at @leeykelly, I’d love to hear them!! And as part of the blog tour, there’s a fabulous giveaway, naturally . . .
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/2e01dabf105/?
. . .and I’m throwing in my own giveaway on Goodreads, a signed copy of my recently released debut novel, CITY OF SAVAGES — enter below!
GOODREADS giveaway for CITY OF SAVAGES
Keep the hop alive and check out the upcoming posts from these awesome blogs:
14 Days of Fictional Swooning Schedule
February 1st- Fiction Fare
February 1st- Swoony Boys Podcast
February 2nd- Literary, etc.
February 3rd- Adventures in YA Publishing
February 3rd- A Soul Unsung: Book Gossip for the Soul
February 4th- Bookish Things & More
February 5th- Books and Swoons
February 5th- Love at First Page
February 6th- Awesome Book Nuts
February 6th- Mainstream Passionista
February 6th- The Book Sphere
February 7th- I Turn the Pages
February 7th- Andi’s ABCs
February 8th- Na’s Not So Newsworthy Thoughts
February 8th- WhoRUBlog
February 9th- Gun in Act One
February 9th- We So Nerdy
February 10th- What Sarah Read
February 10th- Flutters and Flails
February 11th- The Book Addict’s Guide
February 11th- Effortlessly Reading
February 11th- Lostbraincell’s Bookish Blog
February 12th- GReads!
February 12th- Books Equal Awesomeness
February 13th- My Friends Are Fiction
February 13th- Lee Kelly: New Write City
February 14th- Fiction Fare
February 14th- Swoony Boys Podcast
Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of the tour!!
Happy Valentine’s Day to Teachers! GIVEAWAY
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, a few of us writers wanted to express our admiration and love for teachers with a book giveaway! One lucky entrant will win a BRAND NEW collection of Young Adult titles. . . if you submit your name to this rafflecopter, you can win ALL SIX BOOKS for your classroom or library!
Below are the covers of these fabulous books, as well as links to the participating authors’ Web sites and Twitter handles. And it would be great if you could help spread the word! Please use the hashtag: #authorsloveteachers to get the word out about this giveaway, and thanks so much!! And please check out Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s blog for more information on a Middle Grade giveaway!
Sarah Darer Littman
Twitter: @sarahdarerlitt
Author site: Sarahdarerlittman.com
Lee Kelly
Twitter: @leeykelly
Author site: www.newwritecity.com/books
Alexis Bass
Twitter: @alexisbasswrite
Author site: www.alexisbassbooks.com
Nova Ren Suma
Twitter: @novaren
Author site: novaren.com
Cindy L. Rodriguez
Twitter: @RodriguezCindyL
Author site: cindylrodriguez.com
Jo Knowles
Twitter: @JoKnowles
Author site: www.joknowles.com
January 14, 2015
THANK YOU BUSTLE
I thought this list was so much fun (and the comparison made me squeal) — Erin Enders of Bustle put together a list of YA Debuts next year to check out, based on readers’ favorites — take a look!
December 29, 2014
Junior Library Guild!
I am SO thrilled and honored to announce that CITY OF SAVAGES has been selected as a 2015 Junior Library Guild book for 2015!!
A little more on how Junior Library Guild works here: http://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/how-jlg-works/
And CITY OF SAVAGES is listed here (looks like it will be available this summer!) Woohoo, I am so excited!!! http://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/books/list.dT?q=city+of+savages
December 10, 2014
VOYA review!
I teared up reading this — thank you VOYA MAGAZINE (http://voyamagazine.com/) for an amazing review!!
CITY OF SAVAGES
By Lee Kelly
(Saga Press; ISBN 9781481410304; February 2015; Spring 2015 catalog)
*Starred review*
In post-war Manhattan, sisters Phee and Sky struggle to survive among the other ruthless citizens under the control of Rolladin. Phee is a toughened girl with more courage than she can handle, and her older sister Sky is a dreamer who loves to read. When they meet at the annual Census with strangers who have an incredible message, Sky and Phee are forced into an adventure they may not be able to handle. While a love triangle threatens to tear the sisters apart, they learn of their family history along with the secret past of the POW camp. The girls have to depend on each other to survive the dark and violent world in which they live.
Kelly’s prose is gorgeous and brilliant as she seamlessly tells a satisfyingly dark tale through alternating the sisters’ points of view. The two voices of the strong female leads are perfect for showcasing the story of human nature, self-preservation, and the strength of the familial bond. The surprising plot layers will keep readers invested through every twist and turn until the last page. Very dark and violent in places, the story is extremely intense but keeps the shining bond of the two sisters in the forefront. This is one of the best and most original dystopian stories available for teens today and an absolute must-have for any library serving teen readers.
December 2, 2014
PORTUGAL!
Woohoo, CITY OF SAVAGES is going to Portugal! From Publisher’s Marketplace:
Portuguese rights in Portugal to Lee Kelly’s CITY OF SAVAGES, to Individual, by Iria Villahermosa of The Foreign Office, on behalf of Allison Devereux at Wolf Literary Services.
October 28, 2014
Goodreads Giveaway — CITY OF SAVAGES!
Just in time for Halloween — the first GOODREADS giveaway for CITY OF SAVAGES! Part family drama, part near-future thriller, the book is the first to kick-off Simon & Schuster’s YA/crossover imprint, Saga Press, on February 3, 2015. The giveaway starts tonight and appropriately ends at the creepy hour of midnight on Halloween. ENTER HERE to win a copy!
October 12, 2014
Five Things I Learned at Comic Con
I was fortunate enough to be asked to participate in Simon & Schuster’s panel this past Thursday at New York Comic Con, THE SAGA BEGINS: A New Imprint from Simon & Schuster. My debut novel CITY OF SAVAGES is the first book the new imprint is releasing on February 3rd of next year, and I joined the honorable Ken Liu, Nnedi Okorafor, Sam Munson, Executive Editor Joe Monti, and moderator and Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy co-host David Barr Kirtley in discussing our books and the imprint in general. And after fan-girling my fellow panelists and getting my nerves under control, I ended up having a blast. That’s me, next to Sam Munson, listening intently to Ken Liu describing his world-building process for THE GRACE OF KINGS:
And here’s a clip of me later attempting to describe my own process for my work-in-progress, AMERICAN SHINE (which is set during the 1920s): comic con video
While the day was all-together something out of a dream, I did walk away with a complete appreciation for the largest pop culture event on the east coast and an unparalleled excitement for the SAGA venture.
Five things I learned:
5. I should have been going to Comic Con for years.
Never before have I been able to buy comic books, Star Wars T-shirts, a True Blood cocktail guide, and the latest installment of a YA fantasy trilogy in the same room, shopping alongside superheros, villains, and approximately 35 Lady Lokis. And there were dozens of panels I would have loved to attend, not to mention authors I wish I had met, if only I had more time.
4. Next year I have to go in costume. My husband and I already have the threads.
3. I get FAR less nervous speaking in public about something I love (writing, reading, S&S, the new imprint, my editor… you get the idea).
2. I’m keeping totally intimidating company in S&S’s SAGA imprint (see list of other panelists above). I was very, very lucky for this opportunity to sit alongside these fantastic and award-winning authors, and I’m beyond ecstatic that CITY OF SAVAGES has a home with S&S.
1. I can’t wait for Spring of 2015 to read all of these amazing SAGA books. Take a look at the list here!
May 19, 2014
My Writing Process
OH MY GOODNESS it’s been way too long (as in six months — sigh/cringe/oops). I have been writing, I swear, AND blogging if you can believe it (check out movellas.com!) but when my agency sister, the amazing Jayme Woods,pinged me for the #mywritingprocess blog tour, I knew it was time to dust off this site and actually post something. Here’s goes….
1) What am I working on?
Right now I’m working on the second book in my deal with Simon & Schuster’s Saga Press. It’s historical fantasy, I’d say something of “The Departed” meets “Boardwalk Empire” meets “True Blood” . . . but with sorcerers. Yikes that sounds like a tall order to pour (and that’s how it’s feeling these days!)
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I think a lot of historical fantasy focuses on the middle ages, the era of kings and knights and wizards and witches — I don’t know if this is because magic and witchcraft was more accessible and part of life during those times, or if it’s just an appealing era to write about. But I think the 1920′s America was such an incredible time — of money and excess and change — that it feels a really rich backdrop for a story where impossible things become possible.
3) Why do I write what I do?
Because I can’t write anything else, haha. Seriously, I have tried to write straight-up contemporary (though I’d still like to think I have a book in me!) and I have tried to write lush fantasy with a world and its complications far different from our own. I always end up blending the two, making the familiar strange, and the strange familiar. As a reader, it’s my favorite gray area to travel through as well.
4) How does your writing process work?
Gah, it changes a little depending on the project, but speaking in general terms, it goes something like this:
1. A spark!
2. Notes on the spark.
3. Dreams about the spark.
4. Mad scrawls of storylines relating to and fleshing out the spark.
5. So many notes and mad scrawls that I’ve got no choice but to start organizing them.
6. The beginnings of a rambling outline.
7. Some kind of compass: a synopsis (especially if my agent or editor has asked), or at least a vague act-by-act breakdown.
8. Fast, messy first draft (often without dialogue punctuation / stream of conscience / longwinded, cringeworthy passages)
9. A BREAK, then turning back and reading the first draft and gathering big picture issues that need to be addressed/what needs to changed/what’s working.
10. A slow painstaking revision based on the above analysis.
11. A BREAK, followed by writing a “revision letter” to myself with targeted issues that need to be addressed in the second draft.
12. A (not as slow) painstaking revision based on the above analysis.
13. Polish, polish, polish.
Thanks again to Jayme Woods (@writejayme!) and to all of the amazing writers who are part of this blog tour — tags to come :)!
November 6, 2013
Blogging on Movellas!
I’ve recently teamed up with two fantastic writers (and people :), Virginia Boecker and Chandler Baker, and we’ll be sharing our thoughts on writing, revising and everything in between over at the wonderful writers’ site, Movellas. Check out our first post below:
http://www.movellas.com/blog/show/201311051104229153/what-s-the-recipe-for-nanowrimo-success
