Blurbs from Terry Brooks and Tamora Pierce!

Eeeeep! Excited to share blurbs from Terry Brooks and Tamora Pierce for my upcoming epic fantasy THE QUEEN OF BLOOD! Double eeeeep!

 

Cover Reveal for THE GIRL WHO COULD NOT DREAM!

Cover art!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*runs in circles, shrieks, and flails arms like a Muppet*

I am extremely excited to share with you the cover art for my upcoming middle grade novel, THE GIRL WHO COULD NOT DREAM, coming in November 2015 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / Clarion Books:

I love it so very much!  Look at Monster!  Seriously, look at him!  He looks exactly the way he's supposed to look -- lemur eyes, tentacles, even the golden tongue -- and the artist (the amazing Andrea Femerstrand) really captured his spirit. 

He's Sophie's loyal best friend who may or may not like to eat small children with ketchup.  I can't wait for you to meet him and Sophie and Ethan, not to mention the ninja bunnies...

THE GIRL WHO COULD NOT DREAM is about a girl whose parents own a secret dream shop.  Here's the description from the jacket flap:

Sophie's favorite place in the world is the hidden shop beneath her parent's bookstore where dreams are bought and sold to select and secretive strangers. Sophie is fascinated by dreams -- weird, scary, or magical -- in part because she has never had a single dream of her own.

When the shop's dreams are stolen and her mother and father go mysteriously missing, Sophie must unravel the truth to save her parents. Together with her best friend -- a wisecracking and fanatically loyal monster named Monster -- she must decide who to trust with her family's carefully-guarded secrets. Who will help them, and who will betray them?

I am also thrilled, honored, and very grateful to be able to share with you these lovely blurbs from two of my all-time favorite authors, the magnificent Bruce Coville and the fabulous Jessica Day George:

"Boy, do readers have a treat in store for them! Funny, scary, and endlessly inventive, this is the kind of book I would have adored as a kid." -- Bruce Coville, author of Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher

"A perfect combination of adventure, humor, and pure imagination!" -- Jessica Day George, New York Times best-selling author of the Tuesdays at the Castle series

Coming November 2015!!!!!
 

Excerpt from CHASING POWER

Two months until CHASING POWER comes out!!!  I can't wait for you all to meet Kayla!  She was so much fun to write.

I just added the first two chapters to my website, so you can get a taste of her story.  Here's how it starts:

Razor blade.

Thread.

Gum.

A ball of tinfoil.

A dull fishing hook.

Kayla checked each pocket in her jean shorts, knotted the straps of her bikini top tighter, and pulled on her favorite black hoodie. She frowned at her bare feet. She'd blend in better with flip-flops, but she could run better in sneakers, if anything went wrong. After a half second, she chose the sneakers. She believed in herself, but she also believed in the supreme idiocy of people and their tendency to interfere in the most inconvenient way possible.

Click here to read more.

If you're a reviewer, librarian, bookseller, or other publishing industry professional, please note that the eGalley (digital advance reader copy) of CHASING POWER is now available.  Click here to request it on NetGalley!

In related news, CHASING POWER received a lovely review from Kirkus:

"Snappy dialogue, snarky teens and explosive exploits. A quick but complex read -- enjoyable on both counts." -- Kirkus
 
As well as two blurbs from two wonderful writers:

"A riveting adventure tale. Action-packed, suspenseful and a lot of fun!" -- Melissa de la Cruz, New York Times bestselling author of the Blue Bloods series

"Chasing Power took me on a magical rollercoaster ride through dusty tombs and ancient catacombs at such breakneck speeds, the only thing I could do was tightly grip the safety bar and hope I made it through to the other side. Part Indiana Jones, part Jumper, the heroes travel faster than the speed of light but even that isn't quick enough for them to escape the treachery, mystery, and danger waiting around every corner." -- Colleen Houck, New York Times bestselling author of the Tiger's Curse series

And I also got word last week that production has started on the CHASING POWER audiobook, which I'm really, really excited about.  I can't wait to hear what Kayla sounds like -- you know, outside of my own head.  (Kind of a freaky thing when the voices in your head start actually talking out loud...)

Anyway, I hope you all have been having a wonderful summer, and I hope you enjoy the excerpt from CHASING POWER!

Cover Art Reveal: CONJURED

Thanks so much to all of you who have been tuning in for my new craft-of-writing posts.  I'm having lots of fun with those and I promise there will be much more to come.  But today, I've got some book news to share!

Look, look, LOOK!!!  Cover art!!!!!

I am very, very excited to share with you the cover art for my next YA novel, CONJURED, coming from Bloomsbury / Walker on September 3, 2013:

Yay!

The first glimpse at the cover art for your new book tends to be a very intense and exciting moment.  It certainly always has been for me.  Cover art is so visual and it makes the book feel so much more real.  Getting the first cover jpeg is a bit like seeing the first ultrasound picture of your new book-baby.  But without all that ultrasound goo.....

Perhaps I've said too much.....  Anyhoo, I really love this cover.  Just the right amount of creepy for a book that is definitely my creepiest to date.
 
From the jacket flap:

Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name -- but no memories of her past. She's been told that she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access -- and there is nothing they won't say -- or do -- to her to get her to remember.

At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things -- things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed -- and she's lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her -- but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.

And did you notice the awesome author blurb on the cover!!!  I'm thrilled and honored to share with you this lovely blurb from the magnificent Laini Taylor:

"A twisted circus of a book, completely freaky and delicious at the same time. It's a thriller, a fairy tale nightmare, and a romance all in one, unlike anything else and impossible to predict. I could not stop reading!" -- Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series

Woohoo!  I can't wait for September!!

Booklist Review of ICE

The first trade review of ICE is in..... And it's good!!! Snoopy Dance of Joy!!!

My husband is enormously relieved about this. This novel is so very close to my heart, and he didn't want to have to pick a Sarah-puddle up off the floor. Sarah-puddles can be quite icky, and a huge pain to clean up, especially once they get in the carpet.....

The review is from Booklist (the book review journal of the American Library Association), and they call ICE an "enchanting tale" and "a page-turner." Yay!!!

Here's the full review:

"In a twist on the fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon, this enchanting tale tells of Cassie, a young woman who grew up studying polar bears in the Arctic. Cassie, raised by her widowed father and her Gram, was told the fanciful tale of her mother’s promise to the Polar Bear King and banishment to the Troll castle. On her eighteenth birthday, Cassie realizes her mom's story was actually true and makes a promise of her own to the Polar Bear King: if he rescues her mother, Cassie will be his bride. But who is the mysterious Bear and what is his role in saving souls and maintaining the circle of life? Although there is some question as to why Cassie cannot split time between her two worlds, the ending is resolved in a satisfying manner. Told in a descriptive style that perfectly captures the changing settings, Durst’s novel is a page-turner that readers who enjoy adventure mixed with fairy-tale romance will find hard to put down." -- Melanie Koss, Booklist

While we're on the topic of things that inspire Snoopy Dances and prevent Sarah-puddles, I'm thrilled to report that ICE has also received blurbs from two authors whose work I absolutely adore: Tamora Pierce (author of the supremely awesome Tortall and Circle books) and Juliet Marillier (author of the fabulous and beautiful Wildwood Dancing). Here's what they said:

"This beautifully drawn tale captured me in a realm of wonders!" -- Tamora Pierce

"I loved this deeply romantic story." -- Juliet Marillier

Just in case you're curious, my Snoopy Dance is a little like this.

BLURBicalifragilisticexpialidocious!!!

What do Holly Black, Tamora Pierce, Charles de Lint, and Michael Buckley have in common?

If you said they're all incredibly amazing authors who I worship unabashedly with fangirly delight... you'd be absolutely right, though that's not really where I was headed with this.

If you said that none of their names start with the letter Q... well, technically, you'd be right too, though you'd be starting to irritate me.

If you said they'd all read Out of the Wild and written wonderful blurbs for the book jacket... I'd probably call you a big fat liar and tell you that it wasn't very nice to tease me like that and that jerks like you should stick to crank-calling authors early on the morning of the ALA awards... But then I'd have to sheepishly come back and apologize profusely for calling you a liar and a jerk because...

OMG! Check out what Madame Editor just sent me... Blurbs for the book jacket of Out of the Wild!

**********
"An enchanting romp full of adventure, humor and cleverness!" -- Holly Black, New York Times bestselling author of The Spiderwick Chronicles and Tithe

"An amazing, wild ride with very high stakes, and the fate of humans and fairytale people alike on the shoulders of one determined girl. This is even better than the first book!" -- Tamora Pierce, New York Times bestselling author of Terrier (Beka Cooper) and The Will of the Empress

"This is one of those rare occasions when the sequel is as good as the first book, if not better. Though, in my estimation, they make two halves of one story, and what a wonderfully entertaining story it is." -- Charles de Lint, author of The Blue Girl and Widdershins

"Head-spinning fun! Any book that mixes fire breathing dragons and Elvis Presley is a rare treat." -- Michael Buckley, New York Times bestselling author of The Sisters Grimm series
**********

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you to Holly, Tammy, Charles, and Michael for taking the time to read Out of the Wild and say such wonderful things. My appreciation exceeds the words I have to express it.