Thoughts about Eclipse

Last night, I went to see ECLIPSE with Kate and Ross. We got to the theater around 11:50ish and it was already packed. We were almost about to leave because we didn't want to split up in the theater and three seats together were sooo not happening. Then, in a supersparkly way, three seats opened up in the front row. *freaks*

We grabbed the seats and the energy from the crowd was INTENSE. Screaming girls were all around and everyone was losing it. The majority of the midnight crowd at our theater? They were, without a doubt, Team Jacob. !!! Gotta admit, though, I was/am Team Edward, but ECLIPSE is my favorite book and it got me to a place of being torn between Jacob and Edward. It also was so well written as a possibility for a person (Bella) to be in love with two people.

The action in ECLIPSE was intense, the CGI was flawless (Edward's sparkle was fab), and I liked Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria. More romance and Jacob/Bella time was definitely lacking for me as were more talking/intimate moments between Edward and Bella since they were going back and forth about being engaged. This is an instance where I felt the book was better than the movie. But I still enjoyed it greatly and can't wait for it to come out on DVD. It actually made me want to reread ECLIPSE while the movie is fresh in my brain.

I hope everyone who wanted to see it last night made it to theaters! :) Major hearts to K for going out with me and R for being awesome about seeing another Twilight Saga flick.

I Tweeted pics about everything yesterday AND as if ECLIPSE coming out wasn't enough, Barnes & Noble has released CITY SECRETS!! Yaaay for Canterwood Crest #9!

Eclipse at midnight!!! :)

Just got back from the theater where I picked up three tickets for tonight's midnight showing of ECLIPSE. As long as the BFF is feeling up for a couple hours out, we're planning on hitting the show. I. Am. So. Freaking. Excited.

I've got my light blue "Team Edward" T-Shirt and Kate's wearing her "Team Jacob" shirt.


This is a superfun dream catcher keychain that came with my NEW MOON DVD. I offered it to Kate to match her shirt, but she just shook her head. I knew better than to ask if she'd like to use it, but I tried. :D Instead, I clipped it to my purse.

The theater is going to be CRAZY. It was superintense last time with guys and girls both getting into the vampires vs werewolves drama. There's lots of action in this movie, so I'm betting the girls will be dragging their secretly not-so-reluctant boyfriend along.
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Will take pics of the insanity if possible . . . Happy ECLIPSE release and I hope that everyone who's going tonight has so much fun!

Interview available from My Homeschool Companion

A new interview (a podcast of the radio interview with callers will be available soon!) is up on My Homeschool Companion. Many thanks to Dr. Rose Gamblin for hosting me and allowing me to speak to a few reader girlies on Team Canterwood! :) Your signed books will be in the mail soon. Congratulations!

Coming soon . . . the start of summer special blogs and vlogs that will add sparkle to your summer! :)

I. Am. So. Ready. For. Eclipse.

Anyone else getting *ridicuously* excited about ECLIPSE? I am about to fangirl out. Seriously. It's my fave book of the four and I'm soooo ready for the movie! I'll be going in my Team Edward t-shirt with the BFF in her Team Jacob shirt. Yep, we're besties who agree to disagree on teams. :)

First chapter of CITY SECRETS!

Huge thanks to the readers on Team Canterwood's forum that let me know that the first chapter of CITY SECRETS is available to read on Simon & Schuster's Website! Yayness!!

Here's the chapter or you can read it here:

PS: Special thanks to all of readers who called into my radio show today! The lines were so full that we couldn't take all of your calls in an hour. I'm hoping to do a Skype chat soon where we can chat face to face as a fun thank you for all of your awesome support. Congratulations to everyone who won a signed copy--the radio station will be emailing me your addresses soon and I'll get your book in the mail. :)

Chapter 1

1
PARK AVENUE PRINCESS

I PEERED OUT THE TINTED WINDOW OF HEATHER Fox’s Lincoln Town Car and stared up at her building on Park Avenue in NYC. Twenty-four hours ago I’d never imagined I’d be spending fall break with my former arch nemesis.

“Wow,” I said, turning to Heather. “You live here?”

She flicked her blond hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Don’t freak out, Silver. This is just the driveway. If you’re acting like this now, you might have a stroke when we get inside.”

This was where I’d be staying for Canterwood Crest’s weeklong fall break. Until last night I’d been supposed to stay with my best friend and roommate, Paige Parker, but . . . my thoughts stopped short. I didn’t want to think about my fight with Paige.

The driver, in a crisp black suit and red tie, halted the car. His brown hair was streaked with gray and he had been supernice to us on the ride from school. He got out of the car, opened Heather’s door, and offered her a hand. I scrambled out after her and she sighed.

“Paul was going to come around to your side next,” Heather said. “At least act like you’ve been to a real city before.”

“I have,” I said. “I—” I shook my head, not wanting to finish the sentence. The last time I’d been to NYC was when I’d visited Paige last summer. We’d been planning this fall break forever, until . . .

“Sasha!” Heather said, putting a hand on her hip. “Space much?”

“Sorry,” I said, directing my gaze back to the building. “Forgot what I was going to say.”

But there was no way I could forget. Not the awful fight Paige and I’d had last night at Friday’s Homecoming dance. In a flash of images I saw Paige and me standing in the bathroom just off the Canterwood Crest ballroom. Paige had accused me of being jealous that Ryan was her boyfriend because I didn’t have one. And I’d lost it. It had been too much after I’d suffered through Homecoming week—forced to do activities with Jacob (my ex-almost-boyfriend) and Eric (my ex-boyfriend). I’d wanted Paige to be more sensitive about everything. But instead she’d turned on me.

The trunk of the car slammed shut and an attendant came and picked up Heather’s and my suitcases, loading them onto a cart.

“C’mon,” Heather said. “Our stuff will be upstairs in a sec.”

I followed her as a doorman tipped his hat, opening the door to let us inside. “Miss Fox,” he said.

“Hi, Allen,” Heather said. She smiled at him and we walked into a lobby that looked like something out of a movie set. Nothing looked real.

“You have exactly two seconds to gawk before I shove you back in the car,” Heather said to me.

I couldn’t help it. The white-and-sandy-colored marble floors gleamed. A security guard monitored people heading for one of the six elevators. The gold elevators looked imposing, and elevator attendants waited to offer assistance if necessary.

A giant stone fireplace, surrounded by crimson high-backed chairs, cast heat across the lobby. Gleaming gold fireplace tools were hung on the hearth. It looked like a spot I’d never leave during the winter if I lived here. I’d curl up with Misty of Chincoteague, one of my favorite books, and read for hours.

Placed around the room were coffee tables and end tables—most with neat stacks of magazines, and others with vases of flowers. Potted plants were in the corners of the room. There were a few cream-colored couches where people sat and read books or chatted in quiet tones on their phones.

My gaze traveled upward to the high ceiling and six crystal chandeliers that sparkled. Hundreds of crystals dangled from the chandeliers and reflected bits of light onto the ceiling. The chandeliers alone screamed elegance.

On the opposite side of the elevators, a staircase with a gleaming wooden railing wrapped around the side of the room, over the fireplace, and to what looked like another level of the lobby. I stared down at my jeans and flip-flops—I looked so out of place here.

“Enough already,” Heather said, grabbing my elbow. “People are going to stare. I do live here and have to see my neighbors occasionally when I’m here on break.”

“Sorry,” I said.

I followed Heather past the security desk. She waved at the guard and he smiled at her.

We waited for the elevator, then stepped inside. The doors closed behind us and I almost fell back against wall when I turned to face the door.

“There’s a TV in your elevator?” I asked.

Heather smirked. “So easily impressed. It’s only going to get better from here, so chill before you pass out or something.”

“I’m not going to faint,” I muttered.

The elevator doors opened and I held my breath as we stepped into the hallway. The walls were eggshell, and the dark gray carpet had red and gold swirls. Golden accents ran along the top of the walls, near the ceiling, and I half-expected a movie star to emerge from one of the rooms. This looked like a building where celebs would def live.

We turned the corner and stopped in front of a dark cherrywood doorway labeled PH1 in gold. Heather pressed four numbers into a keypad, and I wiped my sweaty hands on my jeans. Heather’s parents weren’t exactly . . . nice, and Mr. Fox always made me nervous. He never missed a chance to be intimidating or to make the people around him sweat.

The red light on the keypad turned to a blinking green, and Heather pushed down the door handle. I took another breath, hoping I’d made the right decision by coming here. But it was too late to go back now. My parents had left for vacation, and there was no way I could—or would—stay with Paige. I was stuck here no matter what.

© 2010 Jessica Burkhart

Call me!

Just a reminder that at 11am EST you can call into a live radio show to ask me questions and be entered to win a signed copy of TAKE THE REINS!

All of the deets are here: http://jessicaburkhart.blogspot.com/2010/06/radio-interview-where-you-ask-quetions.html

Can't wait to talk to Team Canterwood!

BFF's book sighting at B&N

Stealing this photo from @JRAngelella's Twitter. It's the *first* pic of @KateAngelella's Nancy Drew! It's called Nancy Drew (Secret Sabotage: Book One of the Sabotage Mystery Trilogy.) I watched Carolyn Keene aka Kate write this book and it's soo exciting to have an official pic of it out in the wild! :) Yaaay! I've got my copy, now I just need her to autograph it . . .

PS--Check out the purple nails. Sally Hansen in HD purple. So. Pretty. K painted mine in a superfun black that I heart.

PPS--I highly encourage Team Canterwood to check it out since Editor K penned it.

xoxo and happy weekend!

Summer vlogs--yay!

Hi, Team Canterwood!

I hope everyone's out of school by now (yaaay, summer!) or at least very close to getting out.

Summer seems like the perfect time to share things that I love, so I'm going to be doing a series of fun summer vlogs!

I'll be doing vlogs with summer book recommendations of my fave reads, a view of my sparkly lipgloss collection and lots of *very* fun things. Plus, as a superawesome bonus BFF/Editor K will be filming some of these so I'm able to move the camera better and be more active in the vlogs. Yay!

Happy summer! :D

PS--The Canterwood Website will be getting a MAJOR makeover this summer and I'll be sure to post when the changes are up.

Teens Read Too Hall of Fame :)

I'm SO thrilled to announce that TAKE THE REINS has been reviewed by Teens Read Too! The site gave TTR 5 stars and a gold award for the June 2010 Hall of Fame. Among other titles for the award are Kieran Scott's SHE'S SO DEAD TO US. Yaay!

Jennifer Rummell also reviewed CHASING BLUE. I'm so excited that it also got 5 stars.

Thank you so much to Teens Read Too and Jennifer for reading and reviewing two Canterwood books. :)

City Secrets full front and back cover

Since you guys were speculating about what the back cover copy said for CITY SECRETS, I got the full image from the art department to share. :)

I hope you love it as much as I do and yaaay July 6!

Tomorrow or over the weekend, look for a post about my new favorite book, DORK DIARIES: TALES OF A NO-SO-POPULAR PARTY GIRL that features our own Sasha Silver in a way you'd never expect . . .

Yay winners of CITY SECRETS!

It's time to draw the random winners of CITY SECRETS! There were sooo many entries and you guys are all sooo sparkly and amazing that I thought it would be a fun surprise to give away FOUR copies instead of three! Yaaaay! :)

I'm soooo excited to announce them!!! Eeeee! :)

The winners (all drawn at random) are:

Larah

Claire A.

Cassidy M.

Jamie P.


You'll all be getting e-mails as soon as this is posted, so check your inboxes!

Cassidy, I'm overlooking your email address (brain is warped from writing!) so I'm sending you your message via YouTube.

The sooner you get back to me, the faster you'll receive your book. So happy for everyone!

Canterwood books appear at Justin Bieber concert!

Look at all of the amazing Aladdin MIX (Simon & Schuster) books that girls were showing off at Justin Bieber's concert for The Today Show! I see Beacon Street Girls, Devon Delaney, Behind the Bit, Triple Fault, Take the Reins and many others! So, so cool to see them there! Yaaay! :)

Remember to scroll down to enter the give away for signed copies of CITY SECRETS!

Win a signed copy of CITY SECRETS!

**NEW NOTE**

A few entries included phone numbers as a way for me to contact you. I can't post your # on the Internet (sooo not safe!), so you have to comment again with an email address or another way for me to reach you.

Guess what? I've got early copies of CITY SECRETS (Canterwood Crest #9) that's out July 6th. I think it's time for a weekend giveaway. :)

I've got three signed copies to share! Yay!

So, here's how to enter: leave a comment on this post, and/or my LiveJournal (all comments here are screened, so your comment won't appear until I read it first). If you do anything extra such as mention the contest on your Facebook, Twitter, blog, YouTube, message board, etc, leave me a link in your comment and that'll count as an *extra* entry. You can do as many of these things as you can and they'll all count as extra entries. Please do NOT leave any spoilers in your comment about previous books, 'kay?

You have until Tuesday, June 8th at 11:59pm EST to enter. After that, I'll close the comments and will contact the winners. You'll have your book in the mail next week.

Only US residents can enter and you have to leave me a way to contact you (such as leaving an email address). If I don't hear from you within a few days and you're a winner, I'll have to draw another name.

Go Team Canterwood!

xoxo

Who wants an early signed copy of CITY SECRETS?

Just heard a rumor that copies are in! :) :)

If you guys are, you know, interested . . . I'll be doing a giveaway very soon!

Keep checking back for details!

Yaaay CITY SECRETS!

Newspapers in Education feature

This ran in several Oklahoma newspapers in their insert for Newspapers in Education from May 30th to June 5th. Special thanks to Faith Wylie of the Oologah Lake Leader for interviewing me and running the story. :)

Radio interview where you ask the quetions! :)

Check my sidebar on my main blog for all of the details, but on June 23 at 11am EST I'll be doing a live radio interview. At 11:25, the phone lines will open and *YOU* can call in and speak with me. :) Also, callers will be entered into a drawing to win signed Canterwood Crest books!

The call in number is: 1-800-775-4673. I would LOVE to talk to some of you and answer any questions about writing, Canterwood or anything on your mind. It would be so cool to talk to Team Canterwood! :D

You can listen live, or if you can't make it to the live show, it will be available a few hours later online for you to listen. I'll post a link when it's archived.

I'll post a reminder a few days before the show airs. I'm so excited and I really hope to speak to some of you. The call is completely toll free since it's an 800 number, but do ask your parents before you call.

So you can check it out, here's the Website. Scroll down to the right side of the screen and at 11am EST on June 23 click on the "LifeTalk" widget that looks like this:



And that's all you have to do! The show starts at 11EST and you'll be able to listen via your computer. So. Excited. :)

Break night

(Or, a totally random post on how I'm relaxing tonight . . .)

Watching New Moon

Doing my nails in Essie's "Bachelorette Party"

Then, reading Shadow Kissed

After that, I've got a list to make of things that need to be done before my Utah trip with K. Lots of things on the list. Starting with, obvi, writing. But tonight's for taking a break.

Although . . .

I'm getting superexcited about next month's release of City Secrets. It's crazy to think that it'll be my *ninth* book on shelves. It'll definitely be time for book-stalking when CS releases.

Happy Tuesday!