Friday Fun: Penguins On A Plane

I don't know about you, but I hope there are penguins on the plane next time I fly. Maybe it could be a movie with Samuel L. Jackson?

Happy Friday!

The Quote, And Guinness

I've never been much of a networker. When I go to a conference, I'd rather have a good conversation with a new friend than try to weasel my way into some Important Person's circle. The good part: I meet cool, interesting people that become friends for a lifetime.

The bad part: I don't know anyone famous. And I've come to that part in the new book release business that I need quotes. Preferable from those very Important People I left alone at the bar, because I didn't want to seem like a suck-up.

I make a great fangirl to authors like Rick Riordan, James Patterson, Chris Grabenstein, Neal Shusterman, Elmore Leonard--I could go on for a while, but you get the picture. But now that it's time to grovel for quotes... I know they're not going to want to read my debut and quote that it's a rollercoaster ride and stuff.

And I'm terrible at asking for help. I once drywalled a whole room by lifting the sheets on my toes--a story for another time. Must be that stubborn Dutchness.

In case you're famous: I'll buy you a Guinness if you'll read my book. Oh, who am I kidding--I'll even buy you a Guinness if you're not famous, because it's all the same to me. And I like a beer and a good conversation with any writer, published or not. We all write one word at a time, right?

How 'bout you, YA Sleutheri? Are you good at asking for help, or are you a stubborn Dutch girl that way too?

Awards--Do You Care?

I'm reading my way through the Edgar nominees, as you regulars to the blog probably know. So far, the caliber of books is impressive. And they're books I might not have picked up otherwise, so this awards mattered to me, I guess.

But there are so many awards! Edgars, Anthonys, DILYS, etc.--and that's just in the mystery department. I'm sure all are deserving, but there are A LOT of awards. And I watched my oldest dismiss a book the other day because there was one of those book award medal emblems on it... It was not a mystery award, at least. But still.

So I wonder: does a book award nomination or win matter to you? For books that you buy for the kids in your life? Or outside books, the Oscars, Grammys whatever? I'm curious.

Book Cover Reveal!

The hardest part so far about this whole publishing thing? Not being able to reveal the cover for DOUBLE VISION when I first saw it a little while ago.

BUT NOW I CAN! Look... Cool, huh?

Here's the jacket description:

One’s a secret agent. One’s not.

Twelve year-old Linc is a trouble-maker with a dilemma. His antics on a recent school field trip went way overboard, landing his already poor family with a serious lawsuit. So when two CIA agents show up at his house, Linc is eager to take them up on their offer to make the lawsuit disappear. They just need one tiny favor.

Turns out Linc looks exactly like one of the CIA’s top kid agents—an agent who’s vanished during a vitally important mission. But no debriefing can prepare Linc for how dangerous the mission really is. It’s too bad he isn’t a black belt, a math genius or a distance runner like his agent counterpart. He’ll need all those skills and more if he hopes to make it out of this mission alive…

Sounds cool, right? It was a blast to write, and I hope you'll all get a chance to read the book when it's out in the fall (or so) of this year.

Of course, I can't take credit for this beautiful cover. Brilliant artist Owen Richardson created the awesome art, and the fabulous people at Harper Children's worked hard to pull everything together, including coming up with that jacket description, all stuff I don't have the talent for.

Happy day!

And while I have your attention: pop by my Facebook page, so I can keep you posted on all things Linc and DOUBLE VISION.

Much more exciting stuff to come, I promise...

YA and MG Indies Choice Nominees

Courtesy of Publishers Lunch, here are the Indies Choice Award nominees for YA and MG:

Young Adult
Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick, by Joe Schreiber (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys (Philomel)
Legend, by Marie Lu (Putnam Juvenile)
A Monster Calls: Inspired by an Idea From Siobhan Dowd, by Patrick Ness, Jim Kay (Illus.) (Candlewick Press)
Shine, by Lauren Myracle (Amulet Books)
Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories, Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant (Eds.) (Candlewick Press)

Middle Reader
The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy, Ian Schoenherr (Illus.) (Putnam Juvenile)
Bluefish, by Pat Schmatz (Candlewick Press)
The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale, by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright, Barry Moser (Illus.) (Peachtree)
The Flint Heart, by Katherine Paterson and John Paterson, John Rocco (Illus.) (Candlewick Press)
Liesl & Po, by Lauren Oliver, Kei Acedera (Illus.) (HarperCollins)
Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, Carson Ellis (Illus.) (Balzer + Bray)

Congrats to the nominees! Winners are announced on April 5.

Buckle up, TBR pile. You're about to grow...

If Books Could Fly

To cheer up your Monday, in case you could use some enchantment.

Edgar Nominee Review: Kill You Last by Todd Strasser

Book two on my Tour des Edgars (doesn't that sound fancy?) is Kill You Last by Todd Strasser. A great cover that promises a snappy mystery/thriller.

And Strasser didn't disappoint. It took me a minute to shift gears from Harlan Coben's male POV to a decidedly more girl-friendly book, but once I got a few pages in, I was hooked. Break-neck pace, solid mystery--the perfect blend of mystery and thriller.

The story follows Shelby, daughter of a small-town but once big-shot photographer. When three missing girls are linked to her father and his questionably photography practices, she quickly gets caught in the media circus that puts her family life in chaos. Meanwhile, she's receiving threatening texts, and is alienated at school.

Shelby has to dig for the truth about her father's involvement in these girls' disappearances, all while trying to figure out who she can trust.

Kill You Last is a great mystery: I was wondering right along with Shelby what everyone's motive really was. Strasser had me staying up late, flipping the pages, so it had that great thriller element as well. I wasn't too crazy about the whole which-boy-do-we-like plotline, but that's more of a personal preference. Some of the dunnit and the title importance was a bit of a stretch, but not implausible.


Mystery quotient: 4 out of 5, mostly because of the thriller pacing. A solid mystery that leaves you guessing, but makes sense once you get to the reveal.


Verdict: Great for the reluctant reader teen, 14 and up. Main characters drive cars, and deal with mature subject matter, so definitely squarely in the YA category. But no questionable content at all. Probably more for a girl, but might stretch to boy territory because of the strong thriller factor.


Side Note: I liked Kill You Last. This Edgar race might just be tough to predict...