Susanne Winnacker's Blog, page 6

Cover Celebration Contest

I know this seems a little late since I revealed my Impostor cover almost two weeks ago. But I'm in the revision cave right now. So today I'll finally celebrate my cover by giving away ARCs! Better late than never, right?
Here is the pretty again:
July 11, 2013. Add it on goodreads.

But sadly it's not an Impostor ARC I'll be giving away today (but soon). Instead I have two shiny ARCs of other Razorbill books for you. One winner will get: Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff (January 8th, 2013)
The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness.

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

Paper Valentine is a hauntingly poetic tale of love and death by the New York Times bestselling author of The Replacement and The Space Between.
And the second winner will get: The Ruining by Anna Collomore (February 7th, 2013)
Annie Phillips is thrilled to leave her past behind and begin a shiny new life on Belvedere Island, as a nanny for the picture-perfect Cohen family. In no time at all, she falls in love with the Cohens, especially with Libby, the beautiful young matriarch of the family. Life is better than she ever imagined. She even finds romance with the boy next door.
All too soon cracks appear in Annie's seemingly perfect world. She's blamed for mistakes she doesn't remember making. Her bedroom door comes unhinged, and she feels like she's always being watched. Libby, who once felt like a big sister, is suddenly cold and unforgiving. As she struggles to keep up with the demands of her new life, Annie's fear gives way to frightening hallucinations. Is she tumbling into madness, or is something sinister at play?

The Ruining is a complex ride through first love, chilling manipulation, and the terrifying depths of insanity.

I devoured both books. So good. Believe me, you'll want to read them!And I'll add IMPOSTOR and THE LIFE BEYOND stickers and signed IMPOSTOR postcards!
The giveaway is open internationally and ends next Friday, November 23rd at noon EST. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment (preferably with your email address so I can contact you, but I'll figure out another way to do that, if you don't want to make it public).You can get extra entries:Spread the word about the contest on twitter, Facebook or your blog. + 2Pin the Impostor cover on Pinterest or post it on your blog or Facebook + 2Follow my twitter or blog + 1 each
Good luck!

Announcement + Winners

On Friday I got ARCs of my YA thriller IMPOSTOR in the mail! I can't tell you how surprised I was when I opened the package and found my ARCs inside. I couldn't stop staring at the pretty.
Here are the spines:

And then yesterday I officially revealed the cover on YA highway.
Here it is:
CAN TESSA POSE AS MADISON . . . AND STOP A KILLER BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE?

Tessa is a Variant, able to absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance. Shunned by her family, she’s spent the last two years training with the Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, a secret branch of the FBI.

When a serial killer rocks a small town in Oregon, Tessa is given a mission: she must impersonate Madison, a local teen, to find the killer before he strikes again.

Tessa hates everything about being an impostor—the stress, the danger, the deceit—but loves playing the role of a normal girl. As Madison, she finds friends, romance, and the kind of loving family she’d do anything to keep.

Amid action, suspense, and a ticking clock, this super-human comes to a very human conclusion: even a girl who can look like anyone struggles the most with being herself.


I love it so much, and it perfectly reflects the book! 
IMPOSTOR  has an official pub date: July 11th, 2013 from Razorbill/Penguin. And you can even pre-order it on Amazon!
Since I have ARCs now, I'll have my very first IMPOSTOR ARC giveaway very very soon!

But now it's time to announce the winners of my YAmazing Race bonus contest! 

Bwyatt

and

Molly.Frenzel

Please email me your address to this email: books@susannewinnacker.com

Thanks to everyone who participated!

The YAmazing Race + Bonus contest!

Welcome to my blog and the next stop on the third YAmazing Race! I hope you are excited about the MGnificent prizes, the crazy whirlwind blog hop featuring over 50 debut authors and prize packs featuring ARCs, swag, and more! This is my third round and I hope it'll be as successful as the last. The YAmazing Race officially starts at noon (EST) on October 22nd, 2012.
If you want to know more, then head on over to the Apocalypsies website to read the complete rules. Now on to the race!
THE WEEPERS: The Other Life US cover (look to the right for the German and the UK cover)
3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life. 98,409,602 seconds since the heavy, steel door had fallen shut and sealed us off from the world

Sherry has lived with her family in a sealed bunker since things went wrong up above. But when they run out of food, Sherry and her dad must venture outside. There they find a world of devastation, desolation...and the Weepers: savage, mutant killers.

When Sherry's dad is snatched, she joins forces with gorgeous but troubled Joshua - an Avenger, determined to destroy the Weepers.

But can Sherry keep her family and Joshua safe, when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.
THE OTHER LIFE is out now! And its sequel THE LIFE BEYOND will follow in 2013! UK cover

And here's the UK trailer for my book:

In addition to the YAmazing Race, I'm having a bonus contest for you! I'm giving away two signed hardcover copies of The Weepers: The Other Life and awesome bleeding butterfly stickers to two lucky winners!All you have to do to win is leave a comment. My contest is international and open until Monday, October 29 at noon EST.But you can earn extra entries if you like:
Follow me on twitter + 1 entryFollow my blog + 1 entryFollow me on pinterest + 1 entryAdd The Other Life, and/or The Life Beyond, and/or my new YA thriller Impostor (X-men meets The Silence of the Lambs!) on goodreads! + 1 entry eachLet me know in your comments if you have any extra entries.
When you're ready to continue with the race, click here.

The YAmazing Race!

Welcome to my blog and the next stop on the third YAmazing Race! I hope you are excited about the MGnificent prizes, the crazy whirlwind blog hop featuring over 50 debut authors and prize packs featuring ARCs, swag, and more! This is my third round and I hope it'll be as successful as the last. The YAmazing Race officially starts at noon (EST) on October 22nd, 2012.
If you want to know more, then head on over to the Apocalypsies website to read the complete rules. Now on to the race!
THE WEEPERS: The Other Life US cover (look to the right for the German and the UK cover)
3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life. 98,409,602 seconds since the heavy, steel door had fallen shut and sealed us off from the world

Sherry has lived with her family in a sealed bunker since things went wrong up above. But when they run out of food, Sherry and her dad must venture outside. There they find a world of devastation, desolation...and the Weepers: savage, mutant killers.

When Sherry's dad is snatched, she joins forces with gorgeous but troubled Joshua - an Avenger, determined to destroy the Weepers.

But can Sherry keep her family and Joshua safe, when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.
THE OTHER LIFE is out now! And its sequel THE LIFE BEYOND will follow in 2013!

And here's the UK trailer for my book:

In addition to the YAmazing Race, I'm having a bonus contest for you! I'm giving away two signed hardcover copies of The Weepers: The Other Life and awesome bleeding butterfly stickers to two lucky winners!All you have to do to win is leave a comment. My contest is international and open until Monday, October 29 at noon EST.But you can earn extra entries if you like:
Follow me on twitter + 1 entryFollow my blog + 1 entryFollow me on pinterest + 1 entryAdd The Other Life, and/or The Life Beyond, and/or my new YA thriller Impostor (X-men meets The Silence of the Lambs!) on goodreads! + 1 entry eachLet me know in your comments if you have any extra entries.
When you're ready to continue with the race, click here.

Cover Reveal: The Life Beyond!!

Today I'm finally allowed to share the cover for THE LIFE BEYOND, the sequel to The Other Life with you!



I love that it's similar to the cover of The Other Life. Black and white. I'm sure the two books will look fabulous together!
And do you see the bleeding butterfly? It changed, didn't it? It looks more like a hornet. And more dangerous, because that's what this book is. More dangerous for Sherry and Joshua and the other survivors!

And here's the back and the front together: (Don't read the text if you haven't read The Other Life. Spoilers ahead!)

It hits shelves March 1st, 2013 in the UK! Less than five months to go!
I can't tell you how much I love the cover! My UK pub Usborne has done such a fabulous job!
What do you think?

YAmazing Race!

Welcome to my blog and the next stop on the third YAmazing Race! I hope you are excited about the MGnificent prizes, the crazy whirlwind blog hop featuring over 50 debut authors and prize packs featuring ARCs, swag, and more! This is my third round and I hope it'll be as successful as the last. The YAmazing Race officially starts at noon (EST) on October 22nd, 2012.
If you want to know more, then head on over to the Apocalypsies website to read the complete rules. Now on to the race!
THE WEEPERS: The Other Life US cover (look to the right for the German and the UK cover)
3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life. 98,409,602 seconds since the heavy, steel door had fallen shut and sealed us off from the world

Sherry has lived with her family in a sealed bunker since things went wrong up above. But when they run out of food, Sherry and her dad must venture outside. There they find a world of devastation, desolation...and the Weepers: savage, mutant killers.

When Sherry's dad is snatched, she joins forces with gorgeous but troubled Joshua - an Avenger, determined to destroy the Weepers.

But can Sherry keep her family and Joshua safe, when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.
THE OTHER LIFE is out now! And its sequel THE LIFE BEYOND will follow in 2013!
And here's the UK trailer for my book:

In addition to the YAmazing Race, I'm having a bonus contest for you! I'm giving away two signed hardcover copies of The Weepers: The Other Life and awesome bleeding butterfly stickers to two lucky winners!All you have to do to win is leave a comment. My contest is international and open until Monday, October 29 at noon EST.But you can earn extra entries if you like:
Follow me on twitter + 1 entryFollow my blog + 1 entryFollow me on pinterest + 1 entryAdd The Other Life, and/or The Life Beyond, and/or my new YA thriller Impostor (X-men meets The Silence of the Lambs!) on goodreads! + 1 entry eachLet me know in your comments if you have any extra entries.
When you're ready to continue with the race, click here.

Winners!

Sorry for the late post! Sometimes life just gets in the way of things...(as you all probably know!)

Winner of ORIGIN is:
Anstice Potts

Winner of THE INNOCENTS is:
Tamara

I'll contact you soon.
Tomorrow I'll post pics from my trip to Edinburgh and my adventures at Edinburgh book festival!

ARC giveaway!

I've been at Edinburgh Book Festival for the last week, talking about THE OTHER LIFE, and I'm now trying to catch up on emails, laundry and a lot of other things. Once that's done you'll get a post with lots of photos from Edinburgh! For now I have a giveaway for you!
Before I flew to Edinburgh, I sent line edits for my new YA thriller IMPOSTOR off to my lovely editor, Caroline. And she was so generous to send me a few ARCs from fellow Razorbill authors! Of course I won't keep them all to myself!
Here are the ARCs I have for you:

ORIGIN (pub date: September 4th, 2012)

Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home—and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia’s origin—a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.

Origin is a beautifully told, shocking new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever, no matter the cost. This is a supremely compelling debut novel that blends the awakening romance of Matched with the mystery and jungle conspiracy of Lost.


THE INNOCENTS (pub date: October 16th, 2012)


Nothing ever came between sisters Alice and Charlie.
Friends didn't.
Boys couldn't.
Their family falling apart never would.
Until they got to Serenity Point.
"The Innocents" is the first in a new series of young adult novels that weave a saga of nail-biting drama, breathless romance, and gothic mystery.










There'll be two winners. All you have to do to win is leave a comment with your email address. If you want to gain extra entries, you can:
Follow me on Twitter + 1 entry
Follow this blog + 1 entry
Tweet or blog about the giveaway + 2 entries
The giveaway is international and ends this Friday, the 31st, at 3 EST. I'll announce the winners shortly after.

Summer Update!

It finally stopped raining in Germany!

Before I'll tell you what I've been up to in the last few weeks, I'll have to tell you about the Amazon Kindle 100 promotion. The Other Life is part of it. That means you can buy the ebook for only $1.99!
So if you've been thinking about buying the book, now is probably a good time! :D

And today's a special day: The Other Life is six months old in the UK! Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since my book hit shelves in the UK!

A few days ago, I got to see the almost final UK cover of The Life Beyond (sequel to The Other Life)! It's deliciously creepy just like the first!

I've been editing The Life Beyond and Impostor in the last few months, but now that both manuscripts are with my editors, I have a few days to catch up on other stuff...like emails and spending time in the garden.

I started growing my own herbs and vegetables.

Here you can see our dog with the tomato plant. It was super tiny when we bought it two months ago but has been growing steadily despite the lack of sunshine.
This is the first tomato. I wish the sun kept shining, then maybe I could harvest my own tomatos in a few weeks!
Here's the lamb's lettuce and the arugula.
Cilantro and Parsley.
Oregano and more parsley!

And here's the doggie enjoying the sunshine with his new short hair! It took my husband and me hours over the weekend to get rid of his fur.

I'm still doing my vegetarian diet. It's been two months!
Now I'll go sit in the garden with a homemade Green Iced Tea with lime wedges. Yum!
I hope you're enjoying your summer!

Updates + reviews!

A few days ago, School Library Journal reviewed The Other Life.
Here's what they had to say:

WINNACKER, Susanne. The Other Life. Bk. 1. 254p. (The Weepers Series). CIP. Marshall Cavendish. 2012. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-7614-6275-0; ebook $7.99. ISBN 978-0-7614-6276-7. LC 2011025228.

Gr 8-10–It’s been 1141 days since Sherry has seen daylight in a postapocalyptic Los Angeles. She and her family are bunkered by the military after a rabies outbreak and have been receiving sporadic radio warnings to stay put. Armed and at their breaking point (no rations and a deceased grandfather in the freezer), the 15-year-old and her father venture out to find food and help. In the light of day, they see the skyline of a bombed city and bodies strewn near deserted neighborhood bunkers. The gloomy setting launches a fast-moving tale of survival as Sherry’s father is snatched out of a deserted Walmart by grotesque-looking and terrifying creatures. Saved from the same fate by a teen vigilante named Joshua, Sherry learns about the Weepers, who evolved into human predators after the mysterious rabies outbreak three years earlier. Joshua drives Sherry to Safe-haven, an abandoned winery outside the city, where other survivors have gathered. Her quest to have Joshua help find her father and rescue her family from the bunker is fraught with violent and bloody clashes with Weepers and raises more questions than are answered about their humanness and the government’s role in their development. Flashbacks from Sherry’s former everyday life as a teen, in italics, contrast with her new stark reality, and her fascination with numbers adds layers to a character who is likely to become tougher and more heroic in future episodes. This title is sure to please reluctant readers craving action-driven dystopian adventures.–Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY
So yay!
And as for the update, it's not really book related. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I started a vegetarian diet and I'm happy to say that I'm still on track. I haven't eaten meat or eggs in the last four weeks (except for a few bites of fish and shrimps at a wedding a few days ago...couldn't resist. *sigh*) and I'm feeling great and not yet missing anything. I've even lost 11 pounds so far, despite my falafel addiction! Maybe I'll have a longer post up in the next few days in which I'll write a bit about my experiences.
I hope my US followers have a great 4th of July tomorrow!