Launch Party!

The publication of TARNISH is only a week away (eep!) and I went to my local independent bookstore today to finalize plans for the launch party.

This year, I'm doing something a little different.  My dear friend, and sister YA Muse Talia Vance and I are joining forces for a double launch party at the Avid Reader in Davis, CA on Saturday, June 22 at 4 p.m.

Talia's book, SPIES AND PREJUDICE, came out today and I am delighted to be able to share a podium with her.  We'll be talking about books, answering questions and playing Reading Roulette, as well as giving away galleys of upcoming novels from both of our publishers, Penguin and Egmont.

So if you're in the area, come by and say hello!

And have a slice of cake. :)

Literary Weekend!

This past weekend, I met up with authors and book bloggers at the Palo Alto Litquake festival at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center.  The weather was gorgeous, the festival fun and free and casual and the conversation amazing (aren't they all when they're centered around books?)

I spoke as part of a panel with authors Corrine Jackson (IF I LIE), Veronica Rossi (UNDER THE NEVER SKY) and Talia Vance (SILVER), moderated by the amazing Pan Van Hylckama-Vlieg, known as Bookalicious Pam to the blogging world, but also a literary agent with Larsen Pomada.  We talked books and the publishing process, and answered the truly difficult questions like "If you went to Hogwarts, which house would the sorting hat put you in?" My answer? Hufflepuff. Because I'm kind of unsortable, and it's the place where people who haven't quite decided where their place is yet.  Veronica would be my roommate. :)

Talia Vance, Corrine Jackson, Veronica Rossi and me.
And no, we didn't color-coordinate on purpose!

We were joined by some members of the amazing Northern California book blogging community and dinner afterwards included lively discussions of our favorite books...

Debbie (@DebWorldofBooks) Nancy (@RavenousReadr) Tara (@tarataterbeans)
Mindy (@bookluvrmindy) Jaime (@arnoldjaime13) and Pam (@BookaliciousPam)

The most exciting part of the day was seeing all of our books together, being sold at the event by Books, Inc.  Corrine's isn't officially published until tomorrow, and Talia's will be in stores on September 8, but we got early pickings (and of course I had to buy both!)

Friday Five -- Talia Vance

Today's Friday Five author is Talia Vance, author of SILVER (Flux, September 8, 2012) and SPIES AND PREJUDICE (Egmont, Spring 2013).  I met Talia at the Big Sur Writer's Workshop in 2009, and immediately fell in love with her tight writing and snappy dialogue.  It is my great pleasure to interview her, and to call her a friend.

THE FIVE:


1.  What is your earliest memory?

I was probably 3 or 4 years old.  I was crawling under the kitchen table.  I remember clearly my grandmother telling me that I would not remember this when I was older.  And I decided then and there that I would.  I committed that little incident to memory and never let go.  I have no idea what prompted her to say that, but it sparked a little bit of defiance in me.  It’s part of what made me believe I could do anything I set out to do.

2.  What single thing would improve the quality of your life?


Work less.  Play more.

3.  Who would play you in the film of your life?


Drew Barrymore.

4.  If you knew you would be stranded on a desert island, which book, piece of music, and snack food would you take with you?


The Time Travelers Wife, Counting Crows’ August and Everything After, and Starbucks’ Skinny Vanilla Latte

5.  What is your favorite writing motto/mantra?


Finish the book.

Talia's Books: 

SILVER:


Brianna Paxton has been invisible to guys since the eighth grade. She's pretty enough, it's just that no one bothers to look. There's almost nothing that can't be explained with science, and Brianna has a theory: she's missing the pheromone that attracts people to one another. Brianna's theory is shot to hell in one frozen, silver moment, when time stops and Blake Williams not only sees her, he recognizes something inside her that she's been hiding from even herself.

Before Brianna fully understands who and what she is, she accidentally binds her soul to Blake. Forced to find a way to reconcile forbidden love and her bloody heritage, Brianna discovers that there's nothing pointless about her, and Blake may be in the most danger of all.

Preorder SILVER.

SPIES AND PREJUDICE:


At sixteen, Berry Fields knows everything she needs to know about love. It sucks. As an employee for her dad's private investigation company, she's seen it firsthand. Men lie, cheat, leave. Even Berry's dad is love's victim, having never fully recovered from the death of his wife eight years earlier.

When Tanner Halston and his brother Ryan transfer to McHenry High, Berry is not impressed. She knows the type—good looking and full of himself. And it doesn't help that Tanner always seems to catch her at her worst moments. But when Berry's best friend hits it off with Ryan, it becomes impossible to avoid Tanner.

Berry embarks on her own investigation into her mother's death, determined to discover the truth. As she gets drawn deeper into a web of lies, she finds herself fighting against everything she thought she knew, about her mother, herself, and her growing attraction to Tanner Halston.

SPIES AND PREJUDICE will be published by Egmont in the spring of 2013.


Find Talia on Twitter
And Goodreads