Books, reading, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten 2014 Debuts I’m excited for…

It’s been forever since my last Top Ten Tuesday. FOREVER. But I’ve been browsing the topics and since planning blog posts seems to be one way for me to make sure this blog doesn’t soon resemble an abandoned house. The type someone asks you to enter on a dare or that has fueled campfires stories for decades. The moon reflects on the broken window and even spiders think twice before entering. Anyways…You get what I mean.

This Top Ten Tuesday feature is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and I first came across it on Jaime´s blog.

Top Ten 2014 Debuts I’m excited for

I am very excited about a lot of 2014 Debuts but some of them are especially close to my hearts because those are by people I know. And I CANNOT WAIT TO HOLD THEIR BOOKS IN MY HANDS…

The list below is organized in publication order. Because you know organizing lists is an important task 😛

Out on February 4th 2014

  • WHEN AUDREY MET ALICE by Rebecca Behrens: First Daughter Audrey Rhodes is convinced that living in the White House is like being permanently grounded. Except with better security. What good is having your own bowling alley if you don’t have anyone to play with? After the Secret Service cancels the party she’d spent forever planning, Audrey is ready to give up and spend the next four years totally friendless–until she discovers Alice Roosevelt’s hidden diary. Alice was a White House wild child, and her diary tells all about her outrageous turn-of-the-century exploits, like shocking State visitors with her pet snake and racking up speeding tickets in her runabout. Audrey starts asking herself: What Would Alice Do? The former First Daughter’s outrageous antics give Audrey a ton of ideas for having fun . . . and get her into more trouble than she can handle!

Out on March 18th, 2014

Out on April 8th 2014

Out on April 29th, 2014

Out on May 6th, 2014

  • The Eighth Guardian by Meredith McCardle: Amanda Obermann. Code name Iris. It’s Testing Day. The day that comes without warning, the day when all juniors and seniors at The Peel Academy undergo a series of intense physical and psychological tests to see if they’re ready to graduate and become government operatives. Amanda and her boyfriend Abe are top students, and they’ve just endured thirty-six hours of testing. But they’re juniors and don’t expect to graduate. That’ll happen next year, when they plan to join the CIA—together. But when the graduates are announced, the results are shocking. Amanda has been chosen—the first junior in decades. And she receives the opportunity of a lifetime: to join a secret government organization called the Annum Guard and travel through time to change the course of history. But in order to become the Eighth Guardian in this exclusive group, Amanda must say good-bye to everything—her name, her family, and even Abe—forever. Who is really behind the Annum Guard? And can she trust them with her life?
Out on June 3rd
  • PUSH GIRLS by Jessica Love and Chelsie Hill: An inspiring, real, and fresh young adult novel about how life can change in an instant by Chelsie Hill, one of the stars Sundance Channel’s unscripted series Push Girls, based on her own life.

Out on June 24th, 2014

  • BEHIND THE SCENES by Dahlia Adler: High school senior Ally Duncan’s best friend may be the Vanessa Park – star of TV’s hottest new teen drama – but Ally’s not interested in following in her BFF’s Hollywood footsteps. In fact, the only thing Ally’s ever really wanted is to go to Columbia and study abroad in Paris. But when her father’s mounting medical bills threaten to stop her dream in its tracks, Ally nabs a position as Van’s on-set assistant to get the cash she needs. Spending the extra time with Van turns out to be fun, and getting to know her sexy co-star Liam is an added bonus. But when the actors’ publicist arranges for Van and Liam to “date” for the tabloids just after he and Ally share their first kiss, Ally will have to decide exactly what role she’s capable of playing in their world of make believe. If she can’t play by Hollywood’s rules, she may lose her best friend, her dream future, and her first shot at love.

Out on August 5th, 2014

  • THE GIRL FROM THE WELL by Rin Chupeco: You may think me biased, being murdered myself. But my state of being has nothing to do with the curiosity toward my own species, if we can be called such. We do not go gentle, as your poet encourages, into that good night.

Out on August 26th, 2014

  • AT YOUR SERVICE by Jen Malone: Thirteen-year-old Chloe Turner wants nothing more than to follow in Dad’s footsteps as a respected concierge in a posh NYC hotel. After all, living at a hotel is heaven, and perks like free concert tickets and all-access passes to boutiques, restaurants, and attractions aren’t too shabby either. When the spoiled brat child of an important guest is only placated by some quick thinking on Chloe’s part, Chloe is awarded the role of Junior Concierge. But she might be in over her head when tasked with tending to the every whim of three royal guests: a twelve-year-old princess who can’t stand Chloe, a cute fourteen year-old prince(!), and their ten-year-old sister, who has a nasty knack for getting herself lost. After the youngest princess slips Chloe’s care, Chloe and the remaining royals must embark on an event-filled hunt for her through NYC’s best tourist spots.

Out in October 2014

  • DAMSEL DISTRESSED by Kelsey Macke: Kelsey Macke’s DAMSEL DISTRESSED, about 17-year-old Imogen Keegan and her struggle with obesity, self-harm, and the infuriatingly perfect stepsister who makes her want to drown herself in a vat of Nutella, with accompanying soundtrack of original songs written and performed by the author’s band, Wedding Day Rain, in an innovative mash-up of prose, technology, drawings, and music, to Danielle Ellison at Spencer Hill Contemporary, for October 2014, by Jessica Sinsheimer at The Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency

No exact release date yet but coming to bookstores near you in 2014 too

Let’s face it I’m also excited for many more than just 10 Debut Books. My current Goodreads Debut list has  If you want to see more amazing MG/YA debuting this year, don’t hesitate to check OneFour KidLit 

So tell me which books do you want to get your hands this year?

revising, What´s Up Wednesday

What´s Up Wednesday? The first edition of 2014

WUW Winter Holly 1

What´s up Wednesday is the brainchild of Jaime and Erin. It´s a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what’s up. Should you wish to join, make sure to leave a link to your What’s Up Wednesday post in the widget on Jaime´s blog.

What I´m reading

 I am reading two wonderful books at the moment:
One about to be published this year.

The writing is gorgeous and the story captivating. I´m half-way through the story and have a hard time putting it down.

In parallel, I´m beta-reading an AMAZING YA novel by Jen Malone. I cannot tell you how much I´m enjoying the story. Loving it! (and you guys she has an MG coming out during the summer – it sounds great!)

What I’m Writing

I have the feeling I´ve been revising for months. Oh, wait. I have 🙂 My goal is to finish revising in January but this new twist I introduced requires major rewriting. I really think it´s making my story much stronger, so I need to power through!
Here´s a little bit I´m not sure I´ll keep but which gives a bit more insight into Erin´s past.

My shoulders slouch. I remember how everything changed after I testified. The way my best friend Summer was no longer allowed to play with me. We had promised to be BFFs and Summer snuck around to meet me but when her parents found out, she got into so much trouble that she stopped talking to me. One morning, some kids threw chewing gum in my hair and they taunted Summer to do it too. Tears sprung to her eyes but she did take the bubblegum from her mouth and in one swift movement it landed in my ponytail.  I sobbed in the corner after class, trying to get the bits out with the help of the teacher who apologized over and over again for not seeing anything. Summer passed by me without saying a word.  Mama had to cut  my hair super short that night. I don’t want that for my little brother.

What else I´ve been up to

I spent the holiday season at home in France and at my in-laws in the south of Germany, enjoying family time and celebrating my husband´s birthday.
For Christmas, I received my first slow cooker and I have been enjoying some yummy meals out of it.
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What inspires me right now

My word for 2014: Balance.

and everyone else´s goals and resolutions and thoughts about the new year. So. Much. Inspiration. ❤

I can’t wait to check all your posts and see what you’ve been up to 🙂

Book Review, Books

Five reasons to fall in love with ALIENATED by Melissa Landers…

Get ready for a book that won’t let you go even after you turned the last page! Thank you NetGalley and Disney Hyperion for allowing me to read an advanced copy!

Summary from Goodreads.com: Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them.

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket. Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara’s classmates get swept up by anti-L’eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn’t safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara’s locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class.

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she’s fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

Before even getting into the five reasons to fall in love with ALIENATED, let me take a second to say that I’m still giddy about this book, I’m still thinking about it even though I’ve read it weeks ago.

As a writer, yes it does make me go through moments like OMG I JUST CANNOT…to those realizations…

I can totally do it!

So, why fall in love with ALIENATED?

  1. The. Voice. This is one example where I would follow the character everywhere because I have the feeling I know them so well. Because their voices leap through the pages, despite being in third-person. It flows naturally and finds a spot by your heart.
  2. Cara and Aelyx—and the entire cast of characters. All of them individually and together. Their interaction and how they were all their own individuals. I could see them hanging out outside of the pages, because they had their own hobbies, their own interests. And I wanted to spend more time with them.
  3. The plot. The idea of an exchange between aliens and humans and everything that it implies: fear of the unknown, of the “other”, learning about oneself, the adventure for both teenagers but also the weight they carried on their shoulders.
  4. The blogging element: It’s not the most important element of the novel but I have to say as soon as Cara mentioned she was going to blog about the exchange and about everything she learns about Aelyx and L’eihr traditions, a little part of me just connected with her even more.
  5. The romance. There are some serious swoony moments in this book. But there’s more than that. Just like the voice and all the rest of this book: nothing feels forced. It doesn’t feel like Melissa tried to put romance into the plot because it would help the intensity of it all. Nope, the romance develops and becomes part of the characters.

Please, please, please read it as soon as it comes out, because I need to talk to someone about it 🙂

You can add it on Goodreads here:

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)

 And should you wish to pre-order a copy, all links are on Melissa’s website.

Tell me, what is the last book you read?

writing

My word for 2014 is…

BALANCE

Source: Sarah Janes Studio Website Credit: Sarah Janes

When I looked back at my resolutions and goals for 2013, I realized that as always many were left in the dust and many are still dear to my heart (like spending more care-free moments with my hubby aka without the blackberry, doing more sports, baking and cooking more…).

On the 1st of January last year, I wrote as one of my goals:

Finding more of a balance. Work has been insane last year. And while I don´t think it will slow down in 2013, I need to find better ways to deal with it. Especially since my hubby will probably travel more and his schedule will get even busier.

I was right in the sense that work didn’t slow down and that my hubby was even busier. But that balance idea kind of didn’t happen and I yearn for it.  Part of it is to make sure I make the time to do the things that are important to me. Another element is to let go of the things I cannot control and of the negative talk (–> this one is really tough). You know the one I am talking about: “I should have had, I shouldn’t have had, it shouldn’t be, it will never…”

While I don’t have the magic recipe for it, I do have some goals which I hope will help in this regard:

  • Dedicate more time to the people important to me (including me)
  • Jog with my hubby at least once a week (yes it means waking up at 4.45 am but I do feel more serene after it)
  • Workout another time during the week
  • Revise DADDY’S LITTLE ANGEL (it should go to my dear and lovely CPs by beginning of February)
  • Query DADDY’S LITTLE ANGEL
  • Start a new project
  • Writing down every night 3 things that made me smile
  • Finally use Google Hangout to chat with some of the friends I made online
  • Join RWA
  • Read 50 books (I even started a Goodreads challenge :-))
  • Take more pictures

What are you looking forward to in 2014?

Blogging

My 2013 blogging year in review

Hope you’re all enjoying a wonderful holiday season….The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,700 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

It holds everything from most popular posts to keywords leading to this blog to people most commenting on it 🙂

I am very grateful for another blogging year of connecting and supporting and sharing and laughing.

As they say in German: GUTEN RUTSCH INS NEUE JAHR!

SEE YOU IN 2014!

revising, What´s Up Wednesday

What´s Up Wednesday? The busy bee edition…

WUW Winter Holly 1

What´s up Wednesday is the brainchild of Jaime and Erin. It´s a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what’s up. Should you wish to join, make sure to leave a link to your What’s Up Wednesday post in the widget on Jaime´s blog.

What I´m reading

 Well…I forgot my Kindle and to bring a book with me today. Which means of course that I have to go to the bookstore to buy one during my lunch break. Because as my husband correctly pointed out (he knows me well), not having a book with me is dramatic.

What I’m Writing

 Revising. Revising. Revising.

What else I´ve been up to

Working a lot. I was in the US last week for Thanksgiving. It was wonderful! but work is taking a LOT of my time right now.

What inspires me right now

Dahlia had her cover reveal. You can check it out here and even enter to win an ARC.

Rebecca is the sweetest and agreed to sign a copy of her book for my niece when it comes out. You can pre-order your book here.

And the mentors of Pitch Wars selected their mentees, did you know that Erin has been chosen as an alternate? You should definitely go and congratulate her…

I can’t wait to check all your posts and see what you’ve been up to 🙂

revising, What´s Up Wednesday

What´s Up Wednesday? The Thanksgiving edition…

What´s Up Wednesday

What´s up Wednesday is the brainchild of Jaime and Erin. It´s a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what’s up. Should you wish to join, make sure to leave a link to your What’s Up Wednesday post in the widget on Jaime´s blog.

I´m switching it up today because I need to finish getting ready for our trip to the USA. We´re leaving today for Maryland…where we´ll spend Thanksgiving 🙂 It´s been forever since we spent Thanksgiving in the US and I´m very excited. I´m responsible for the mashed potatoes (garlic red and sweet).

In the plane I might try to revise. I won´t be ready for Pitch Wars but…I got a breakthrough…

And then…this also made me feel better.

I´m so thankful for my husband, my family, my friends and all of you. Writing can be lonely but it definitely doesn´t like it thanks to you!

I can’t wait to check all your posts and see what you’ve been up to 🙂

Query, revising, writing

What I learned last year from #Pitchwars

If you are on Twitter, you may have noticed the hashtag #PitchWars popping up on your feed. In the words of the amazing Brenda:

Pitch Wars is a contest where published/agented authors, editors, or interns choose one writer each, read their entire manuscript, and offer suggestions to shine it up for agents. The mentors critique the writer’s pitch to get it ready for the agent round. Mentors also pick two alternates each in case their writer drops out of the contest. A special alternate showcase is held on some of the mentors’ blogs and the mentors will critique the alternates’ pitches. (…)

  • Simple truth: if you don´t try, you most likely won´t succeed

Last year, I hesitated and hesitated and hesitated before entering the contest.  I had started querying and I was getting some positive answers but overall I was not 100% sure of my manuscript – basically I had queried a tad too early. Gathering up some hidden courage, I tweeted what my book was about. And I got some positive answers both from mentors but also from other participants.

I ended up being selected by the truly wonderful Dahlia as an alternate. The very talented Ghenet was her first pick and the lovely Nikki Urang was her other alternate. (by the way Nikki is getting published next year, you should totally add her book to Goodreads).

  • Contests are subjective

Contests are subjective. Not everyone gets chosen. It´s basically like querying, it depends on a lot of factors. Dahlia ended up posting why she chose the people she did (her full post “This is my brain on Pitch Wars” is very enlightening, so yep you should totally read it)

ONE TWO THREE by Elodie Nowodazkij: Something must’ve been in the air the day I made my final selections, because I ended up with not one but two dance-themed manuscripts, which still makes me laugh because I know nothing about dance. However, I’m a big sucker for characters who are really passionate about their hobbies (…) For me, what was actually the biggest hook was a totally personal thing – Elodie’s MC, Natalya, comes from a Russian family, and having minored in Russian Studies in college, I happen to love when Russian culture plays into a story. Every agent and editor is going to have his or her sweet spots, and that’s one of mine!

Social media bonus: Elodie had actually tweeted about her ms at some point before Pitch Wars, and holy cow did her tweet about its premise stick in my brain. When you’re actually staring at your inbox hoping a certain something will pop into it, it’s a very good sign!  (…)

And just like querying, you won´t know unless you take the plunge. The waters may be cold and the waves may be crushing you but they recede after awhile, leaving you ready to start anew.

  • My manuscript got stronger

Dahlia also went the extra mile and polished more than just my pitch. She read pages and gave me very very detailed feedback. Feedback that ended up making my manuscript so much stronger. I also got feedback from a ninja mentor (aka Danielle Ellison) which took the time to tell me what was working and what wasn’t.

  • Meeting new people/reading amazing stories

A team spirit developed. People cheered on the sidelines. Connections were made. I ended up reading some amazing books.

This year, there are more mentors, even more agents participating. I may try to enter DADDY´S LITTLE ANGEL (if I´m ready) but even if I don´t, I know I´ll encourage others and I´ll cheer for them.

If you have a manuscript ready to query but you still feel like an extra pair of eyes will help you out – I say, check it out!

Photography

Capturing a moment in time – Hamburg pictures

As you know I was in Hamburg two weeks ago…time flies…And it was the perfect opportunity to take a bunch of pictures.

Here’s a selection.

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Hope you’re having a great Monday! How was your weekend?