P.J. Hoover's Blog, page 58

ANGELFIRE by Courtney Allison Moulton ARC Giveaway

I'm not sure about you guys, but I'm one of these people that honestly hopes the paranormal YA fantasy books will never stop coming. Ever. So I'm psyched to share with you this book that releases today! Not only is the cover fabulous, the storyline is amazing (because I love these age-old romances that are felt in the soul). Up for giveaway this week is an ARC of...

ANGELFIRE by Courtney Allison Moulton (Katherine Tegen/Harper, February 15, 2011)



Check out the amazing book trailer!



And Courtney talking about her fantastic new book!



From Amazon:

First there are nightmares.

Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.

Then come the memories.

When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.

Now she must hunt.

Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Source of ARC: From publisher at NCTE


For your chance to win this ARC, all you need to do is:

1) Follow this blog
2) Comment on this blog post


For extra entries:

1) Blog about this contest and leave a comment telling me
2) Tweet about this contest and leave a comment telling me

3) Also, if you've never won one of my contests, please tell me in the comments, and you'll get an extra entry!


And make sure you leave me a way to get in contact with you when you win!

The contest will run through midnight on Friday, February 25, 2011!

CRESCENDO and ELIXIR Winners!

I hope you're all having a great Valentine's Day! Thank you so much to all who entered to win!

The winner of CRESCENDO by Becca Fitzpatrick (Simon & Schuster, October 19, 2010)

is...

ERIKA at One A Day YA!

*****

The winner of ELIXIR by Hilary Duff (Simon & Schuster, October 12, 2010)

is...

RAELENA at Throuthehaze Reviews!

*****

Look for more giveaways coming momentarily...

Writing from the Place: TEN WAYS TO MAKE ROMANCE SIZZLE IN A MANUSCRIPT

Happy Valentine's Day! It's such a lovey holiday, and thinking of it makes me think of first love which is so often found in YA these days. And sure, some stories have romance, and some stories HAVE ROMANCE!

What makes these different? What sets them apart?

Well, we here at THE PLACE (being K. A. Holt, Jessica Lee Anderson , E. Kristin Anderson, Madeline Smoot, Mari Mancusi, and sometimes member Jenny Ziegler) offer up 10 amazing ways to make the romance sizzle in your manuscript. So read up and get ready to revise!

We give you...

TEN REASONS TO MAKE ROMANCE SIZZLE IN A MANUSCRIPT:

1) Have stuff happen off-screen.
It's amazing how much your reader will fill in on their own.
(For example, did Aerin and Luthe have sex in The Hero & the Crown? It's a midgrade Newbery Medal winner, and nothing happens on the page, but I sure thought so. --Madeline)


2) Make the romance forbidden.
And make the roadblock believable. Because if that roadblock can be torn away with one flick of the wrist, I'm not buying it as a roadblock in the first place. It really has to stand in their way.

I want real consequences.


3) Build tension leading up to the first kiss.
Even if this means you REALLY, REALLY want your characters to kiss. Don't let them. Keep the kiss away from them for just one more scene. One. More. Scene.


4) Pining. Lots of pining.


5) Find a picture (Calvin Klein magazine ad, yearbook photo of school crush, pin-up of hunky movie star) and "cast" him as your male romantic lead.
Keep pic close by as you write. Squeegee off lipstick marks as necessary.


6) Ask a friend who writes erotica for tips.
Scale it back ten notches.
Then increase it forward by two.

(there is no picture I can think of to keep it clean here.)


7) Watch John Hughes movies for inspiration.
(I have a forever crush on John Bender. Oh yeah. --Emily)


8 ) Make a playlist with your characters' favorite love songs to listen to while writing their romance scenes.
Feel free to date yourself with these songs. "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" is perfectly acceptable if it puts you in the right writing mood. Ditto "Open Arms."

Remember slow dancing.


9) Treat yourself to a date night with your honey.
And, since you write YA, make it super fun and retro: burgers, ice cream, and a movie (see above for movie recommendations). Thinking of his/her kisses will definitely steam up your love scenes.


10) Emotions
Did I mention those? Because no matter how functional he may be, without emotions, it's just not going to work out.

Winners! THE IRON WITCH, HAUNTED, and Critiques!

Hope everyone's been having a great weekend! We've been running around from one thing to the next, but I'm finally getting a chance to post some contest winners!

The winner of THE IRON WITCH by Karen Mahoney (Flux, February 8, 2011)

is ...
KJOVUS!

*****

The winner of HAUNTED by Joy Preble (Sourcebooks, February 1, 2011)

is ...

Sharli at Entre Libros!

****

The winner of the query critiques from me and Jessica Lee Anderson are...

Jeanmarie Anaya!

and

Avalonne83 at The Black Cat!

****

Thank you a million to all who entered! And don't forget there are a handful of hours left to win a couple awesome books.
CLICK HERE TO ENTER!

CRESCENDO by Becca Fitzpatrick (Simon & Schuster, October 19, 2010)


ELIXIR by Hilary Duff (Simon & Schuster, October 12, 2010)

Simplicity

Let this be our official reminder to keep our writing simple. With staples, scissors, and construction paper, we can create anything!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

*art by Lola*

POSSESSION by Elana Johnson

In the rare event that you don't read Elana Johnson's blog or know that she has a book coming out this June, then take a moment right now to go over and follow her blog. Why? Since the book releases in four months, I'll give you four reasons why:

1) Elana is pretty much made of awesome.
2) Elana's book is pretty much made of awesome.
3) Elana's blog is an incredible wealth of humor and inspiration and knowledge.
4) Elana just seems fun.

Okay, so now that we've gotten meeting Elana out of the way, let's talk about her book. And before you ask, yes, I'd love to give my ARC away. Really, I would. But instead I'm going to be giving away real hardcover copies (as opposed to ARCs) when the release date is closer, so totally check back then.

POSSESSION by Elana Johnson (Simon Pulse, June 7th 2011)


I finished POSSESSION last night after a mad flurry of page turning. I had to find out what happened next. You see, there's this main character Violet (Vi) who is like everything that she isn't supposed to be, and it makes her totally endearing. She's sarcastic and hard-headed and fun.

Wait, she's a lot like Elana (I mean the fun part). She even has short black hair.

Anyway, Violet has a voice that makes POSSESSION stand out in the realm of dystopic fantasy for teens. And then let's talk about the love triangle. Can you say perfect? I had no clue what would happen in the end. Really, no clue. And I'm still spinning after finding out.

POSSESSION is kind of like MATCHED (by Allie Condie) meets CANDOR (by Pam Bachorz). It's perfect for fans of dysoptic and paranormal fantasy, boys and girls, seventh grade and up.

Trust me, you want to read this book!

From Amazon:

Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn…and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them….starting by brainwashed Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous: everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

Source of ARC: From publisher by request

Writing from the Place: TEN REASONS TO HAVE A WRITING GROUP

Writing can be a lonely thing to do, and all you guys out there who go at it alone, I hope you're finding some ways to connect like Skype or texting or tweeting every ten seconds or something.

Okay, so maybe the tweeting thing isn't going to advance your writing career along, but here's an idea of something that is.

A WRITING GROUP

For clarification, this is not a critique group. This is a group of people who get together to write. They all put words on paper at the same time.

Maybe you think you don't have time for this. Maybe you think you don't mind being alone. Well, we here at THE PLACE (being K. A. Holt, Jessica Lee Anderson , E. Kristin Anderson, Madeline Smoot, Mari Mancusi, and sometimes member Jenny Ziegler) offer up reasons why you, too, should be part of a writing group.

We give you...

TEN REASONS TO HAVE A WRITING GROUP:

1) It maintains social skills after long periods of writing in isolation.


2) It's inspiring when you can watch your writer friends make themselves chuckle as they write.
Or maybe they're chucking because they're sneaking zombie stickers up onto the walls. Either way, it's entertaining.



3) Trying to keep up with everyone will increase the amount (and hopefully quality) of what you write.
This is still theoretical. We're not sure there is a valid way to prove this hypothesis.


4) Your group will always have good suggestions for books to read.
Plus, you can trash discuss books you've read without ever having to put it in writing.


5) Someone will usually let you borrow $6 for an egg sandwich.


6) When you get a crappy rejection you can tell your group and they'll totally make you feel better.


7) You can look up and say "if you stabbed a guy repeatedly with a pen knife would he totally bleed out or could he survive?" and you will get advice instead of dirty looks and suspicions of being a serial killer.


8) While taking breaks, you can make TOP TEN lists.


9) You get to have a place called THE PLACE.
At said PLACE, you can order things like Beer Tea and meet people like the drunk night nurses and Sleeping Guy. You get to even see TROLLS from time to time.


10) Isolation sucks.
It's a proven form of torture. Why would you do that to yourself? Torture your characters, not yourself.

FOLLOWER LOVE Giveaway: CRESCENDO and ELIXIR ARCs!

Once again, it's that awesome time of month that Kathy Habel at I am a Reader, Not a Writer organizes a blog hop giveaway. Tons of blogs. Tons of great giveaways. So much fun!

It's the FOLLOWER LOVE Blog Hop in honor of the most red and pink and kissy of holidays, and this time I'm thrilled with the two ARCs I have up for grabs. Just for note, there will be two winners this time.

Up this time around are ARCs of

CRESCENDO by Becca Fitzpatrick (Simon & Schuster, October 19, 2010)


ELIXIR by Hilary Duff (Simon & Schuster, October 12, 2010)



For your viewing pleasure,

The book trailer for CRESCENDO:



The book trailer for ELIXIR:




From Amazon:

CRESCENDO:

The sequel to the New York Times Best selling phenomenon, Hush, Hush!

Nora should have know her life was far from perfect. Despite starting a relationship with her guardian angel, Patch (who, title aside, can be described anything but angelic), and surviving an attempt on her life, things are not looking up. Patch is starting to pull away and Nora can't figure out if it's for her best interest or if his interest has shifted to her arch-enemy Marcie Millar. Not to mention that Nora is haunted by images of her father and she becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened to him that night he left for Portland and never came home.

The farther Nora delves into the mystery of her father's death, the more she comes to question if her Nephilim blood line has something to do with it as well as why she seems to be in danger more than the average girl. Since Patch isn't answering her questions and seems to be standing in her way, she has to start finding the answers on her own. Relying too heavily on the fact that she has a guardian angel puts Nora at risk again and again. But can she really count on Patch or is he hiding secrets darker than she can even imagine?

ELIXIR:

Clea Raymond has felt the glare of the spotlight her entire life. The daughter of a renowned surgeon and a prominent Washington DC politician, she has grown to be a talented photojournalist who takes refuge in a career that allows her to travel to the most exotic parts of the world. But after Clea's father disappears while on a humanitarian mission, Clea's photos begin to feature eerie, shadowy images of a strange and beautiful man—a man she has never seen before.

When fate brings Clea and this man together, she is stunned by the immediate and powerful connection she feels with him. As they grow closer, they are drawn deep into the mystery behind her father's disappearance, and they discover the centuries old truth behind their intense bond. Torn by a dangerous love triangle and haunted by a powerful secret that holds their fates, together they race against time to unravel their pasts in order to save their lives—and their futures.

Source of ARCs: Passed on from local indie bookstore


For your chance to win these ARCs, all you need to do is:

1) Follow this blog
2) Comment on this blog post


For extra entries:

1) Blog about this contest and leave a comment telling me
2) Tweet about this contest and leave a comment telling me


And make sure you leave me a way to get in contact with you when you win!

The contest will run through midnight on Sunday, February 13, 2011!

*****

Don't forget I'm also giving away

A query critique!
CLICK HERE TO ENTER

An ARC of THE IRON WITCH by Karen Mahoney (Flux, February 8, 2011)
CLICK HERE TO ENTER


A signed ARC of HAUNTED by Joy Preble (Sourcebooks,February 1, 2011)
CLICK HERE TO ENTER!


*****

For the rest of the blog hop tour, the whole list is provided below for your entering convenience. Good luck!

VORDAK THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE

So I know I gave away an ARC of this over the summer, but I hadn't yet read it until this past week. I run a fourth grade boys' book club, and one of the kids suggested we read this book. My son read it first and kept trying to read me parts that made him laugh. I thought "yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's good. I'll read it soon."

And then I read it.

And I busted out laughing I'm not sure how many time.

VORDAK THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE: HOW TO GROW UP AND RULE THE WORLD by Scott Seegert (EgmontUSA, August 2010)


Vordak is freaking hilarious. He has this perfect "rule the world" attitude and glosses over his failures with such ease it makes we want to rework my life and be more like him. I'm nowhere close to fourth grade, but even at my mature (*cough, cough*) age, I loved this book.
I can't recommend it enough for boys third grade and up, fans of the WIMPY KID books. Do your kid a favor and look for VORDAK today!

The book trailer which is equally humorous:



From Amazon:

Slip on your acid-free gloves, make sure you have a duplicate copy of How to Grow Up and Rule the World (just in case something should happen to this one) and try to follow along as the incomparable, superior-in-all-ways Vordak the Incomprehensible teaches you a thing or two about villainy. Now you, too, can try (and fail) to attain Vordak's level of infamy.

From selecting the most dastardly name, to choosing the ideal henchmen, to engaging in witty repartee with disgustingly chipper superheroes, experienced supervillain Vordak the Incomprehensible guides readers step-by-step toward the ultimate goal of world domination (from his parents' basement in Trenton, New Jersey).
With chapter titles like "Bringing Out the Evil" and "Building a Top-Notch Evil Organization," numerous bold illustrations, and detailed quizzes to assess your level of dastardliness, this book provides everything necessary to rise above the masses, and then rub your ascent in their faces.

In return for this wealth of knowledge, Vordak requests nothing more than an honored place in the evil regime of he who achieves control of the world. (And, of course, the opportunity to assume command, should things not work out.)


Jessica Lee Anderson, VORDAK, and me at BEA this past summer!

THE VESPERTINE ARC Winner

Thank you so much to everyone who entered to win! In case you haven't seen, the author, Saundra Mitchell, is running an even cooler contest where you can win your dream gown (well, actually, a $300 VISA gift card!). So head over and enter for that before you forget!

Anyway, the winner of THE VESTPERTINE by Saundra Mitchell (Harcourt Children's Books, March 7, 2011)


is...

Christine Marciniak!

*****

Thanks a million, guys, for being so supportive of the contests! I really love sharing these awesome ARCs with you!

Don't forget I'm also giving away

A query critique!
CLICK HERE TO ENTER

An ARC of THE IRON WITCH by Karen Mahoney (Flux, February 8, 2011)
CLICK HERE TO ENTER


A signed ARC of HAUNTED by Joy Preble (Sourcebooks,February 1, 2011)
CLICK HERE TO ENTER!