A fave series coming to an end

I'm so sad that one of my all time fave series is coming to an end! Sniff!

The first book released in June 2006

The final installment in Sept 2011

The last PRIVATE book by the ubertalented Kate Brian will be released on September 6, 2011. I loved the title, VENGEANCE, and cannot wait to read it. I've got such mixed emotions about it. When I get addicted to a series, I want them to go on FOREVER. I feel that way especially about Private. It was series that Kate introduced me to. She sent me the first four books and that was a mistake on her part, LOL. After that, I kept begging (read: bugging) her for the latest book.

The series is one of my ultimate favorites and it really is one that is memorable for me.



Another series I devoured was Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series and just finished WANTED a few episodes into season one of the show. So, yes, I know who "A" is (no spoilers in the comments, please!!) and it's so fun to watch the ABC Family show and see where they take it. I actually like having read the books and then comparing them to the show. Alloy and Sara put together something insanely magical--a fast-paced murder mystery that's hot, funny and full of cute boys. What more does a girl need? *bows to genius Sara*

I read that ABC Family picked up The Lying Game (Sara Shepard's new series) and I have to grab that first book. There's only one out so far. It's interesting to me that a series was optioned based on only one book being released, but I'm guessing with the success of PLL and Sara's track record, it was a no-brainer. I can't wait to watch the progress of the show and see how soon it'll be on air.


But back to Private. I've read most of the books at least three or four times. I haven't read VANISHED or OMINOUS yet--have to get those. I started THE BOOK OF SPELLS and then got crazy with my deadline. But it's a book I want to go back to ASAP.

What are some of your favorite series? How do you feel when a series ends? I want to know! :)

My TBR pile calls to me . . .

I am soo bad about reading right now! I'm book hopping like crazy because my TBR pile is SO good! I've got Holly Black's RED GLOVE that I'm dying to start. The cover alone makes me want to drink a gallon of coffee and stay awake until I finish it. But I'm already reading two other books.

I just started Richelle Mead's SPIRIT BOUND. I am hopelessly in love with this series. It's fast-paced, dark, romantic...not to mention the vampires. I got hooked on it later than most, but I'm glad I have a couple left to read before the series ends.

I also just started Denise Jaden's LOSING FAITH. Isn't the cover beautiful? I'm intrigued by the concept and thought it would be good to read a stand-a-lone while reading another book in a series to mix it up.

What's calling to you from your TBR pile? Or, what are you reading now? Share!



PS: I have to copy Kate and say how freaking excited I am for RED RIDING HOOD.
OMG.
Cannot wait to see it especially since Catherine Hardwicke directed it. Girl power! :)



Happy Friday and have a great weekend, all!

xoxo

Second summer reading rec: NANCY DREW: SECRET SABOTAGE

It's time for the second summer recommended read!

You HAVE to read NANCY DREW: SECRET SABOTAGE by Carolyn Keene. The book was written by the very famous Editor K, so you *know* it's good!

It's the first in a brand new three book arc and it's super, super exciting to have a book written by the BFF on shelves now. Since you've been sending me books to sign, if you'd like to send this book for Editor K to autograph, send your book the way you've been sending Canterwood books. Directions are here:

Snail mail:

Jessica Burkhart
C/O Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

*Include a SASE if you want a reply! :)

Want me or Editor K to sign your book?

Carefully follow these instructions:

* Put the book and an envelope (unsealed! And do make sure this envelope is big enough to hold the book) with six stamps on it into another envelope with seven stamps on it.

* Address the envelope with seven stamps to me at the snail mail address above.

* Make sure you write your return address at the top of this envelope (the one with seven stamps), otherwise I won't know where to mail back your book.

* Write "media mail" on the envelope w/seven stamps, just to make sure it gets to me.

* If you like, include a note about who you'd like the book signed for.

That's it! :)

If you have multiple books that you'd like me to sign, just follow the same directions for each book.

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!

Note to my awesome readers

Hi, reader girlies!

Ooohhmmygosh, your response to the news about Canterwood being extended to 12 books blew me away. I'm reading EVERY e-mail and you all will get a response, I promise. I'm just in crazy mode as I finish LITTLE WHITE LIES and get it all pretty before sending it to Editor Kate.

Also, yes, absolutely send me pics of you with one or any of the books. I'd love to have them for a collage on my Website. That's so sweet of everyone to want to send those in. E-mail away!

It's been so much fun to chat with you guys on the different forums. Cheers to the girls who started them. Awesome.

I've got to get back to writing and start judging your entries in the Girls Horse Club fiction competition. I've browsed through a few of them and you guys are supertalented. It's going to be a tough job to choose the winners.

But while I've been so busy writing, I've also been drooling over my TBR book pile. I've been sneaking in reading time whenever I can. I finished a couple of ARCS and will blog about those as soon as I can.

Things I want to read right now? Fiona Finkelstein, Big-Time Ballerina!!. Isn't the cover insanely adorable?


Releases Sept 2009

And Positively. Again, a stunning cover and I adored Courtney's first book.

Releases Sept 2009

Finally, Twenty Boy Summer. I've heard so much about this book and can't wait to start.

Book stalking in the 'hood

I realized that I haven't been book stalking in my new neighborhood yet! So, today, I did. I met the lovely Annie at Barnes & Noble who works in the children's department. I told her my name and the series and she was like, "Oh. Oh!! The horse books!" She was super sweet and filled that B&N basket with my books to sign. I was about to die. I signed a basket of books and it was so fun. So, if you want autographed copies of TAKE THE REINS, CHASING BLUE or BEHIND THE BIT, they're in stock.

Like a dork, I went to B&N last night to get a book (THE GLASS CASTLE), but forgot my other reason for going. The above! My reader girlies have been emailing me to say I've got a short story in the current issue of YOUNG RIDER Magazine and I hadn't had the chance to grab a copy. Thank you so much to Lesley Ward for running a bio box and mentioning the Canterwood books. Really sweet of you and I appreciate all of the YR support.

This is said issue. (Above.)

And okay. I was taking pics of all of my friends' books and the security guy was looking at me like, "What are you doing crazy girl?" I was finally like, "Dude. I'm a writer. These are my friends' books. 'Kay?" This was when I was snapping the pic of R Pattz. *grins* And NO--I did not purchase anything Rob-related. I was good.

Mandy's PRADA AND PREJUDICE. (Oh, and note from here on--I did not face out or move any of these books. This is how they were on shelves.)

Jenny Han's THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY.

Cindy Pon's SILVER PHOENIX!

PORTIA'S EXCLUSIVE AND CONFIDENTIAL RULES OF TRUE FRIENDSHIP by Anna Hays and edited by Miss Liesa Abrams.

THINGS ARE GONNA GET UGLY by Hillary Homzie. Um, go Aladdin MIX for being faced out everywhere. Just sayin'.

NYT bestselling DORK DIARIES also edited by L Abrams.

Yay, all! :) Thank you, Annie, for being so wonderful!

Also, a huge congrats to Alyson Noel on her GIANT new book deal. What I love about Alyson--she's had monster success recently (not that she wasn't doing amazing before!) and it hasn't changed her at all. She's still one of the nicest authors I've ever met and I'm thrilled for her!

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles rap video book trailer

Wanna see something SERIOUSLY awesome? Check out Simone Elkeles' rap video book trailer for her upcoming YA release. You MUST watch the unrated version! It's soooo freaking good!

I've never seen anything like this and I'm SO ordering PERFECT CHEMISTRY.

Yay, Simone! :)

Great Halloween Reads

I wanted to do a quick Halloween book round up! These are some of my favorite Halloween books that I've either read this year or in years past. They're spooky, scary and perfect reads for this season! :)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Classic, right? The good old Headless Horseman tale is frightening and it'll keep you up all night! I love it.

Tantalize grabbed me when I saw the cover. (I know, bad me for picking a book that way...) The plot blew me away and I fully plan on reading it for a second time this weekend. It's one of those books you can't forget.

Ah, Bliss! Lauren knows I almost didn't even open it because I was too scared. I'm sooo glad that I did! It's creepy, oh yes, but the pacing is INSANE. (Seriously, L. Kudos!) My favorite parts are the journal entries and the d'oh! moment when I figured out who was writing them.
Finally, though a fantastic read for any season, the Twilight series certainly is fun for Halloween. Y'all know the story, so I don't have to gush.

What are some of your fav Halloween reads?

Books for my St. Louis trip

I've started to gather books for my trip to St. Louis and since I wanted to try different genres and new authors, I got some help from 1001 Books for Every Mood by Hallie Ephron. It's a cool book with lots of recommendations, summaries and tidbits about, obviously, 1001 books.

So, for trip reading, I've got on my list:

A Confederacy of Dunces
Girl, Interrupted
Girl with a Pearl Earring (then I'll have to watch the movie!)
The Historian (tried it and didn't have time to finish it, but I'm ready now!)
Sideways

Anyone read any of these? My bookbag will be full. Especially since it's going to have those books plus YA and MG.

I made the mistake of watching The Black Stallion over the weekend and now I'm obsessed with the series again. I <3 Walter Farley. I'll be rereading a couple of those books on the trip.

I'll be doing a Diary of a Debut Author video from Shriners and am excited about it!

Reading binge

I've been reading like crazy this past weekend and now beginning of this week. When I get so wrapped up in writing, my reading time gets restricted a bit. But I've been on a little writing break, so I've been attacking the books in my gotta read pile.

First, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Don't know WHY I didn't read this book before now. OMG, it's one of those books where I sit up and say, "Damn! I wish I'd written that!" If you haven't read it, it's fun, fantastic and one of the best boy narrated books I've ever read. I've got the second one on order now.

I've also gotten addicted to the Beacon Street Girls series by Annie Bryant. They're adorable tween books and they have this timeless feel because they aren't overly peppered with fast changing pop culture references. Love them.

Then, I read Off Season. It's even better than Dairy Queen. So. Good.

My list is still long with several Class of 2k8 books and various others. I'm getting through it, though.

Oh! I've chosen the second book in my Best Beach Reads. Video number two (to be shot soon) is... Rites of Spring (Break) by Diana Peterfreund. Yay! Look for that vlog review coming soon.

What's everyone reading right now?

How long do you keep old drafts?

Got a question for y'all. When do you recycle (meaning throw out) old drafts? If you keep them, how do you store them and/or organize them?

I looked into my closet and I've got 3 plastic tubs of printed drafts for my 3 (Eeep! I've written three!) books and a couple of postal boxes with newer drafts. I'm definitely keeping all of my edit letters and drafts my editor or agent have sent me, but what about the drafts in between? Do you hold onto those until the book is an ARC and then toss them? Or not.

I'm not sure.

I do know I want to keep the first draft of each book. But the other stuff I probably don't need. Hmm.

If I can remember, I'll try to post what book I'm reading at the end of every entry.

Today, I'm reading Wish You Were Here (HarperTeen) by Catherine Clark. Great so far! I love the postcard entries in the book.

Books on my Wow! list

The List of Wow! books



I'm back! Wow, the week flew by. I was B-U-S-Y with Chasing Blue and made an attempt to get through my humongous reading pile. But...I was sidetracked. By Eclipse. Yeah. In my reading pile for this week are the books I meant to get through last week:

Lock and Key--Sarah Dessen
Letters from the Heart (Beacon Street Girls)--Annie Bryant
Legally Blonde--Amanda Brown

I've realized over the past week that the Twilight series are Wow! books for me. This is all subjective, of course. What makes a Wow! book for me might not make one for you. The list of Wows! are small and I don't add to it often. I'm not naming authors who are Internet friends, but authors I DON'T know who are on the Wow! list are J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Kate Brian and Sara Gruen.

I define a Wow! book as a book that:

* makes me laugh, cry, or have heart palpitations
* makes me slip into my "screech monkey voice" (thanks, Jason) that I use when I'm super-excited about something and am telling someone else about it
* forces me to run to my computer and get back to work with hopes of one day writing a Wow! book
* keeps me up at night thinking about the book's Wow! qualities

Why did I name the four above authors?

J.K. Rowling

Given, right? Maybe not for the reasons you might think. Yes, I absolutely ADORE Harry & Co. I could reread the books a million times (I'm inching toward that!) and never tire of them. The pacing of the plot is why I love J.K. Is there ever a dull moment in HP? Nope. Did she get millions of kids hooked on reading? Yes. She's the Plot Queen and I bow to her mad skills. ;)

But I also feel linked to her even more now after watching her speech at Harvard's graduation. We have an insanely similar background (it's quite freaky, actually) and I admire her open attitude about things she's gone through and how that propelled her writing. That's for another post, but from one writer to another, she has personally inspired me in many ways.


Stephenie Meyer

As I read Eclipse last night, I paid attention to how I reacted to different elements in the story. I realized Eclipse evokes a PHYSICAL reaction from me. Wow! factor material. How many books do that? Not many. Waiting for the final installment is torturous! It's one of the few series where I'd go stand in the pouring rain until midnight to get a copy.


Kate Brian

Kate's Private series is the first YA series I read that has all of the elements that intrigue me--boarding school, mystery, mean but smart girls and love. Hot guys, too, but I can't use THAT as my sole Wow! factor. ;)

Kate's the Teen Queen of Cliffhangers and I've learned so much from reading her books. I'm always the last one to crack the mysteries, by the way.


Sara Gruen

As a horsey writer, I appreciate the detail to the equestrian world, the realistic view of competing and running a stable and the lack of equine related mistakes in the text. From what I've read, Sara is a huge animal lover and that comes across on the page. Riding Lessons and Flying Changes infuse horses with love, relationships, family and loss--both animal and human. Those books are up there in my Wow! list along with my other adult horse favorite--The Horse Whisperer. I hope that if I every try adult horse fiction that I'm able to capture some of the spirit that made me love Sara's books.


So, what's a Wow! book for you?

Read My Lips by Teri Brown

Check out this great trailer by friend and S&S author Teri Brown! :) If you haven't already, go order a copy of Teri's YA novel, READ MY LIPS.

:)

Weekend reads--share yours!

So, I've got a dilemma. My pile of weekend must reads is very large. My weekend reading time? Slim for the next couple of months. But on writing breaks, I've got what sound like fantastic reads.

My choices?

THE SCHOOL FOR COOL (The Social Experiments of Dorie Dilts) by PG Kain
THE HOST--the second weekend in a row...
HOME by Julie Andrews (I could just break into song right now)
PRINCE CASPIAN (I haven't seen the movie yet)

and

RIDING LESSONS by Sara Gruen (I read this book once and had a rare WOW reaction, so I want to read it again.

That's my weekend book pile that I'll be shuffling around and trying to read as much as I can before next week's pile pops up.

What's on your weekend reading list?

Happy Sex and the City Day!! (I wanted pink, but alas, there is none.)

Chasing Harry Winston and holiday

The holiday weekend was great! I got a lot of little things done such as updating my Website that I’m building and writing an essay. We were hoping to go to the beach, but our beach was closed when 40 people got caught in rip tides and one guy died. Scary.

Instead, I tore through my TBR pile and finished an outline. I'm STILL working my way through THE HOST. I put it down for a couple of days and hope to resume reading it today. I started rereading Twilight for the first time yesterday. It's fun now that I know what to expect!

We also finished painting, yay! I would insert pics here except, well, I accidentally deleted them when I was taking video for a new Diary of a Debut Author Segment for next month. Urg.

I’m also verrrry excited because Lauren Weisberger’s new book CHASING HARRY WINSTON comes out today. Eee! Lauren did a video for S&S and you can check it out here: http://www.bookvideos.tv/videoid/1145.

Note to self: try to look as chic on camera as Lauren in my next Diary of a Debut Author vid…and damn, the Tallahassee skyline won’t look near as cool at the NYC shot in this video. :)

How was everyone's holiday weekend?

Waiting for the VIQ response

Veerry busy today. I'm working an outline (and cooking up evil mean girl tricks for a book...) and writing an article for Children's Writer. Yep, that big batch of queries I sent out at the end of April is starting to come back. Trickling, thankfully, but still coming. I've got a few windows open on my protesting laptop and am switching back and forth between the article, my outline and Dreamweaver for the new Website I'm designing for fall launch.

I got the SCBWI LA summer conference brochure yesterday. The line up looks fantastic! Wow. It's neat to "know" so many people on the speaking list and it sounds like it'll be a blast. Is anyone going? The date doesn't look as if it'll work for me, but I'll be reading lots of attendees' blogs to get the scoop.

I started blogging today as a distraction to keep myself from chasing down the mailman. I sent a VIQ (very important query) to a big, glossy teen mag about a month ago and I'm trying not to check the mail the second it is put into the box. The mailman prob thinks I'm a stalker because yesterday I almost took the mail from his hands to see if my VIQ had a response.

*dashes off to mailbox*

Miley Cyrus to pen memoir

OMG, it's Hannah Montana!

Yahoo! has a headline from yesterday that Miley Cyrus is writing a memoir. Okay, okay, she's only 15 but she probably has quite a lot to tell. Maybe. I'm guessing.

Disney-Hyperion is publishing the book and it will release in spring 2009.

I'm neutral on the topic, I guess. It'll be interesting to see if she's an even bigger star in 2009 or if she has faded like many of the young stars. (Um, Hillary Duff, where are you?)

I haven't read many memoirs. After the James Frey debacle, I did start to look at them in a different way. But I also don't want to skip a genre just because one guy screwed up.

Would you ever write a memoir? I'd love to years from now. I've published lots of personal experience essays and I'm glad I've logged the big moments from my life in print. I'll always have that and it's almost like a public diary of sorts. Over the summer and fall, when I'm in between books, I'll be working on querying more magazines with personal experience pieces and hope I can keep sharing bits and pieces of the different things I've been through with others. :)

So, would you read the Miley memoir? Or would the wondering if it's mostly ghost-written bother you? Read the article here.

Books you've written meme

Good guesses from yesterday! It was fun to read them and I promise to reveal very soon! :)

There's a meme floating around and I read it on Melissa Marr and Sarah Prineas's blogs. You're supposed to list every book you've ever written and when. I'll give it a shot.

Freshman 15 (November 2006) This was a YA novel that I wrote in 30 days during NaNoWriMo. It became High Jumps at Collins Academy which later turned into Take the Reins. With this novel, I snagged Agent A in January 2007, it went on submission in May 2007 and sold in May 2007. This was the first book I'd ever written and boy, it showed! :)

Untitled YA (started May 2007 and abandoned it until December 2007) I started this YA while waiting to hear back from editors when Take the Reins was on submission. It's a fun, sexy YA set in Wyoming. During Christmas break while I was in between edits for Canterwood Crest, I finished this book.

Chasing Blue (December 2007-January 2008). This is the second MG book in the Canterwood Crest series. I was worried about how I'd know how much back story to put into the second book, but I think I got it. :)

Untitled YA (started February 2008). This YA is completely different than my other books. Not a horse in sight. Anywhere. I'm working on this when I'm not working on Canterwood and it's fun to switch back and forth from YA to MG.

So, those are the books I've finished or am currently working on. If you want to do this meme, consider yourself tagged!

Books and TV Randomness

Book Bit

Last weekend, I started reading The Other Boleyn Girl since I thought the movie trailers looked so good. The film hasn't done incredibly well at the box office, but I like the actors. I haven't seen the film yet, but the book... W-O-W.

For the past year, I've been reading mostly YA with some MG thrown in. I haven't read many adult novels and if I did, I read that and a YA at the same time. I hadn't read an adult novel that gripped me recently. Until TOBG.

I also haven't read many historicals. But I should. Especially if there are other historicals as sizzling as this.

TV Time

Anyone else watching Dancing with the Stars? If so, you probably correctly predicted, as did I, that Penn and Monica would leave. No big shocker there! Penn's attitude bugged me. A lot. But Monica really tried hard! I thought Adam Corolla had a shot at leaving last night, but he's sticking around.

On the guys, I love Steve G. for purely sentimental reasons. I watched him a lot as a kid.

Marissa Jaret Winokur makes me smile for the girls as does Kristy Y. If the winner was solely declared on dance talent, Kristy could win right now.

What are you watching and/or reading?

* Thanks to everyone who commented on my new movie! I appreciate it! :)

Whatcha reading now?

Just a reminder--Kat, I need your name and address by tomorrow morning for the SA Harazin giveaway! E-mail it to me. Thanks!

What is everyone reading right now? I just finished FRENEMIES (ARC) by Alexa Young. Such a fun, good book! Before that, I read Sara Zarr's SWEETHEARTS. If Sara published a book a month, I'd get each one. :)

I'm getting ready to read THE FICTION CLASS, an adult novel, and then I have to see what's next in my pile.

Share your current read!