Melissa C. Walker's Blog, page 58

Cover Stories: Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

[image error] Courtney Summers is awesome, as many of you guys know. She agreed to do a double Cover Story with me, so here's part one. It's about her debut, Cracked Up to Be. I loved this book, btw. Here's Courtney:"When I found out St. Martin's was going to publish Cracked Up to Be , I was really eager to see what they'd make of the cover. I secretly wished that:1) there would be a girl on it and her face would be obscured, because I like covers that leave character's faces to the imagination and [image error] 2) it wou...

Photo Friday: Snow Days!

I had a down and up week... First, I had to watch my Tarheels lose to Dook. Really, they threw away the game all on their own, but it was a BUM-MER. This is how I roll on game nights. My living room looks very fratty for some reason (I am not promoting beer, but I am promoting pizza): [image error] This is where Swayze goes when I start yelling at the TV during basketball games: [image error] Luckily, after that loss, I had lots of snow to play in at the park up the block from my house. Here are my friends Meredith and An...

Cover Stories + Win-It Wednesday: Year of the Horse by Justin Allen

The winner of last week's contest for a signed copy of Lisa McMann's GONE is... Mitzy! Send me your address, M. [image error] This week, author Justin Allen is here to share his epic Cover Story for Year of the Horse , and to give away a signed copy of the book! Read on, and give us your thoughts below--then you're entered!Here's Justin:"What many readers don't realize about cover designs is just how little input authors officially get. Heck, most times we don't even get final say in the book's title. Really...

Bonus Cover Stories: Grimmer Tales by Erik Bergstrom

[image error] I'm over at Barnes and Noble's Unabashedly Bookish blog again, sharing the Cover Story for Erik Bergstrom's GRIMMER TALES, a cracked fairytale cartoon book (which is undeniably hilarious, if a little dark). Some people have said they have trouble commenting on that blog -- it does require registration -- but swing by for the story in any case (he illustrated his own cover)!Here's a teaser: "We ended up going with the cracked Humpty on the wall with his brains pouring out. I think of Humpty as...

Cover Stories: Heist Society by Ally Carter

[image error] Ally Carter and I shared a cover model once! The model on the cover of Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy also posed as Violet on all three of my Violet covers! (Read that story here.)This week her latest novel, Heist Society , is out, and it's got a fantastic cover, in my opinion. Here's Ally with the Cover Story:"I am not an artist -- not even a little bit. Plus, my wonderful publisher, Disney-Hyperion, has always blessed me with such fabulous covers before that I didn't spend a lot of time tryi...

Photo Friday: Lisa McMann and Suzanne Young!

Got to see a couple of amazing authors this week. Unfortunately, my flash was acting up, so I got two really dark pictures.Here's me with Lisa, whose third book in the WAKE trilogy, GONE, comes out next week (enter to win a copy here!): [image error] And me with Suzanne, whose book The Naughty List came out yesterday!: [image error] Suzanne even filmed a shoutout to readergirlz (see that here). And so did Lisa, but it's under wraps until GONE is out!Again, sorry about the lame-o darkness. I promise next Photo Friday will ...

February on Readergirlz: Copper Sun by Sharon Draper

You guys, seriously, this book will make you cry and ache. And hope. It's amazing. Read it and join in the discussions on readergirlz, or just join in and plan to read it! That works too.

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Win-It Wednesday: GONE by Lisa McMann (Signed!)

The winner of last week's Fashion Swag Bag + Fallen by Lauren Kate is... Lasha! Her unsung book was Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors, which is now on my list too! Send me your address, L. [image error] This week's contest is for a copy of Lisa McMann's about-to-be-released GONE. I was lucky enough to grab a drink with Lisa when she was in NYC this week, and let me just say, the girl rules. Also, I missed my subway stop on the ride home, because I was reading the SIGNED copy of GONE she gave me for Win-I...

Bonus Cover Stories: Dirty Little Secrets by CJ Omololu

[image error] I have great news! Barnes and Noble's UNABASHEDLY BOOKISH blog has asked me to write some Cover Stories for them, and I'll be doing that every Tuesday. Today, I'm featuring CJ Omololu's Dirty Little Secrets (a.k.a. the YA Hoarder book!). Here's a teaser from the story:"When I thought about the cover for Dirty Little Secrets , I was actually thinking of something more graphic, although I had no idea what. We'd seen so many Twilight-esque covers that are cool -- books like The Dark Divine that a...

Cover Stories: The Naughty List by Suzanne Young

[image error] Suzanne Young is one of the most fun authors around. Proof: She does a dance when she gets a new book contract... publicly!Her latest title is The Naughty List, and here's what it's about (summary from indiebound):As if being a purrfect cheerleader isn't enough responsibility! Tessa Crimson's the sweet and spunky leader of the SOS (Society of Smitten Kittens), a cheer squad-turned-spy society dedicated to bringing dastardly boyfriends to justice, one cheater at a time. Boyfriend-busting...