The YA Superlatives of 2013: Best in Show

It's time for the 3rd annual YA Superlative Blogfest, hosted by Jessica Love, Katy Upperman, Tracey Neithercott, and Alison Miller! I'm so excited to join in and help celebrate some of my favorite YA releases of 2013.

Here's my final group of winners:

*drumroll*

...

Best in Show:

Favorite Cover - These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Cutest Couple AND Most Likely to Succeed - Eleanor and Park, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Most Likely to Make You Miss Your Bedtime (Book you just couldn’t put down!) - Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Best Repeat Performance (Your favorite sequel or follow-up.) - Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Favorite Finale or End of Series Novel - Champion by Marie Lu

Romance Most Worthy of an Ice Bath - Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Breakout Novel (Your favorite book by a debut author.) AND Most Creative Use of a Love Triangle  - Pivot Point by Kasie West

Best Old-Timer (Your favorite read of the year, published BEFORE 2013.) - Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

Book Most Likely to Make a Grown Man Cry - Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Sleeper Hit (Book you found so awesome you wish it had been hyped more.) - This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Favorite Outlier (Your favorite middle grade or adult 2012 book) - Vicious by V.E. Schwab

And now for my category...

2014 Debut(s) I'm Most Looking Forward To (Besides my own :P) - The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings, Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell, Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy, Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas, and (these don't have covers) Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis and Falling into Place by Amy Zhang. (among others!)

  

That's it for my list of winners! Thanks for tuning in.

Did I miss any of your favorites? Let me know in the comments!

The YA Superlatives of 2013: Elements of Fiction

It's time for the 3rd annual YA Superlative Blogfest, hosted by Jessica Love, Katy Upperman, Tracey Neithercott, and Alison Miller! I'm so excited to join in and help celebrate some of my favorite YA releases of 2013.

Here are today's categories:

...

Elements of Fiction:

Most Formidable World (Or, the setting you definitely would NOT want to visit.) - The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey

Wanderlust-Inducing (Or, the setting you’d happily travel to.) - Just One Year by Gayle Forman

Loveliest Prose AND Most Envy-Inducing Plot - These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meghan Spooner

Best First Line AND Most Jaw-Dropping Ending - Not A Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

Most Dynamic Main Character - Elise, This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Best Performance in a Supporting Role - Sturmhond, Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Best Use of Theme - The Archived by Victoria Schwab

Tune in tomorrow for the final round of categories and favorites!

The YA Superlatives of 2013: Popularity Contest

It's time for the 3rd annual YA Superlative Blogfest, hosted by Jessica Love, Katy Upperman, Tracey Neithercott, and Alison Miller! I'm so excited to join in and help celebrate some of my favorite YA releases of 2013.

Here are today's categories and winners:

Popularity Contest

Class Clown - Sturmhond, Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Most Likely to Become a Rock Star - Vicky, This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Mostly Likely to Start a Riot - Day, Champion by Marie Lu

Biggest Flirt - Char, This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Girl You’d Most Want For Your BFF - Cath, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Boy You Wish You’d Dated in High School - Trevor, Pivot Point by Kasie West

Villain You Love to Hate - The Darkling, Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Coolest Nerd AND Quirkiest Character - Cath, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Tune in tomorrow for more categories and favorites!

The YA Superlatives of 2013: Head of Class

It's time for the 3rd annual YA Superlative Blogfest, hosted by Jessica Love, Katy Upperman, Tracey Neithercott, and Alison Miller! I'm so excited to join in and help celebrate some of my favorite YA releases of 2013.

Let's get started...

*drumroll*

...

Head of the Class:

Favorite Dystopian - Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Favorite Science Fiction - These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Favorite Fantasy - Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Favorite Contemporary - Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Favorite Action/Adventure - The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Favorite Historical Fiction - Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Favorite Mystery - Prep School Confidential by Kara Taylor

Favorite Romance - Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Favorite Paranormal - The Archived by Victoria Schwab

Tune in tomorrow for more categories and more favorites!

BLOGFEST: Class of 2k14 is Thankful For...

To celebrate Thanksgiving, the members of The Class of 2k14 decided to have a mini-blogfest. You can find out what the rest of my classmates are thankful for this year at the class website! (<--clickety click)

This year hasn't been the easiest, not gonna lie. But there've been plenty of good things mixed in with the not-so-good stuff, and I'm super grateful for them.

I'm thankful for:

1. The friends and CPs who've stuck with me and kept me sane, especially during the months when I was struggling to write the Extraction sequel. (Thanks to the cast and crew of Supernatural, as well, for providing a plethora of fabulous episodes for me to enjoy as a writing reward.)
2. The YA community. I've met so many wonderful people this year, both in person and online, and you all continue to encourage me and make my days more interesting. (And occasionally make me jealous of your drafting skills. I'm looking at you, Taryn.)
3. My agent, Alison, and my editor, Kathy, who continue to help make my dreams of being an author come true.Last week marked the one year anniversary of the sale of my Extraction trilogy to St. Martin's Press, which makes me all sappy and cheerful.

Last week marked the one year anniversary of the sale of my Extraction trilogy to St. Martin's Press, which makes me all sappy and cheerful. And what should arrive but these beautiful pages:

Yup, first pass pages for Extraction are here!! (This is actually the last time I'll get to read through the book and catch errors. The term "first pass pages" makes no sense, I know.)

I can't wait for you guys to be able to read this book. It's very dear to my heart. We've still got a ways to go before it hits shelves (on July 22, 2014, if you haven't heard), but we're getting there!

Fall Updates

It's been SO LONG since I posted 'round these parts. This past summer got away from me. Some interesting things happened in The Land of Not Writing, not gonna lie. Also, in the Land of Writing. But I'll mostly update you guys on the latter.

Before I get to the updates, I wanted to direct you all to a fun interview I did for The Madeleine Project. Kristina Perez asked me to answer some not-so-common questions like what my idea of happiness is and why I lie. I also share my madeleine. (A "madeleine" is a trigger which provokes a particularly strong sense of nostalgia or inspiration.) Here's the link:

The Madeleine Project

Now! Onto some fun things that have happened recently:

1. Copyedits for Extraction showed up on my doorstep! And were returned within a few days. It was a bit surreal knowing that was one of the last times I'd be able to read the book and still make changes. Thankfully, I still found it enjoyable. We'll see if that lasts...

2. I finished the first draft of Extraction book 2!!

This book was tough. It was one of those drafts where I couldn't bring myself to just write all the way to the end. Nope, after almost every single chapter, I'd start to move onto the next one and my brain would promptly yell "STOP. SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT." and force me to return to the previous one and re-write it. It was a long battle, but I did make it to the end. Of draft 1.7 (as I like to call it) at least.

3. I started watching Supernatural, as you can probably tell from my choice of gifs for this blog post. But really, HOW COULD I NOT? Look at these beautiful faces.

This show was my reward for working on book 2 most days, and sometimes my reward for doing nothing at all. And I've almost caught up! Which is good because I keep seeing spoilers for season 9 episodes. *sigh*

I think those are the most important updates. Other fun things are in the works, and I will share those with you when I'm able.


P.S. I finished Allegiant yesterday. Did anyone else finish it yet??

That is all.