What’s on my iPod: “Paris” by Kanye West and Jay-Z
What I’m reading: Intensity by Dean Koontz
The last person I followed on Twitter: @WearMarcoPolo

1.  AURYN to give away free storybook apps all month to celebrate National Reading Month! 

Auryn, Inc. – creators of apps such as Van Gogh and the Sunflowers, I Trixie Who is Dog  and many more – is celebrating National Reading Month by Offering a Different Free iPad Storybook App to Children around the World Every Day During the Month of March! Such an amazing and wonderful gesture to bring stories to children’s hands, no matter where they are.

Apps that will be available to download for free include:

More details here

2. LA Public Library to launch teen reading program and author Elise Allen confirmed for reading April  26th! 

More great news to encourage teens to read! The Los Angeles Public Library is launching a teen reading program that will regularly feature guest author speakers. Here is a small summary of the program from the LA Times:

“With young adult literature become something of a cultural juggernaut, it’s about time the genre spawned a literary series in Los Angeles. Starting Thursday, the central branch of the Los Angeles Public Library will begin hosting a teen reading series on the fourth Thursday of each month.”

We are happy to announce that one of our most beloved authors Elise Allen – you may recognize her name from her most recent novel POPULAZZI – will be doing a reading April 26th. Keep an eye on our social media channels for a reminder, but surely not something you want to miss!

More on Elise Allen

Elise Allen has among the most random television-writing resumes ever, with credits that run the gamut from Cosby to Dinosaur Train. She recently fulfilled one of her many life’s ambitions by writing for the Muppets. Another ambition, anytime-access to Disneyland’s Club 33, is for the moment still a pipe dream. Elise has a sick penchant for running marathons, and can’t seem to stop even though fifteen really should be enough already. She lives in L.A. with her husband, daughter, and insatiable food-hound of a dog, Riley.

3. GIRL UNMOORED on The Nervous Breakdown

GIRL UNMOORED – by fabulous author Jennifer Gooch Hummer– received a rave review on The Nervous Breakdown. Here is a rundown of what reviewer Robby Auld had to say:

“Apron’s father is cynical and in denial, carrying on a relationship with Marguerite, or M, a woman who once worked as the in-home nurse to his late wife. Because he is a Latin professor, the language has a large role in the book. Each chapter begins with a Latin proverb, foreshadowing the events to come. M is cruel and manipulative, only interested in Apron’s father because she wants to stay in America and avoid being deported back to her native Brazil. Apron’s father, blind to M’s hidden motives, decides to marry her.  Not soon after, she reveals she’s expecting a child.

Feeling abandoned and lonely, lost at sea, Apron begins working at Scent Appeal, the flower shop Mike owns with his boyfriend, Chad.  Chad is HIV-positive in 1985, a time when homosexuals are routinely blamed for the epidemic and seldom accepted for who they are.  An unconventional friendship blooms.”

4. LAST DAY OF MARCO POLO DESIGNS PINTEREST CONTEST! 

 Hey fashionable readers, today is your LAST CHANCE to stop by the Marco Polo Designs Oscar-inspired Pinterest board to re-pin your favorite jewelry and be entered to win it! We’re addicted to this and we don’t want you to miss out. Tonight at midnight is the deadline. More details from Marco Polo below:
“With this year’s nominees setting fashion trends, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to have some fun on Pinterest, a new online “pin board” and social media platform growing in popularity, especially among Facebook users. On Pinterest, you can create themed pin boards and post your favorite images for others to share or “Pin.”

Click on the Pinterest “P” icon from the homepage of our website to see our “Oscar Inspired” board. Or, click here: http://tinyurl.com/8xkqe7h. When you “Pin” our Oscar-inspired jewelry images, you’ll be automatically entered into a drawing to win pieces from one of four fabulous collections: Sparklers, Supernova, Amber Lava or Liquid Light.”

5. Another great GIRL UNMOORED  review on Renaissance of Reading! 

GIRL UNMOORED by Jennifer Gooch Hummer  is creating so much buzz and it’s not even out yet! Another review was featured on Renaissance of Reading. Here is a highlight what the reviewer had to say

“Girl Unmoored is the story of a girl lost in a sea of grief after losing her mother. When she meets Mike, she’s met her mooring. Although Mike and his cantankerous boyfriend, Chad, don’t know what to do with her at first-Apron just seems to keep showing up, usually with a fat lip-they eventually offer her a summer job in their flower store. And then its smooth sailing for Apron–until she uncovers Chad’s secret. He’s sick and there’s nothing anyone can do to save him. It’s also 1985, when no one really knows how AIDS is transmitted, or who might be at risk.

Suddenly Apron is forced to leave behind the safe harbor of childhood and navigate the stormy seas of a young adult. She knows what her real job is now, and it has nothing to do with flowers. Mike needs her to show him how to let Chad go.”

More on GIRL UNMOORED

Apron Bramhall has come unmoored. It’s 1985 and her mom has passed away, her evil stepmother is pregnant, and her best friend has traded her in for a newer model. Fortunately, she’s about to be saved by Jesus. Not that Jesus—the actor who plays him in Jesus Christ, Superstar. Apron is desperate to avoid the look-alike Mike (no one should look that much like Jesus unless they can perform a miracle or two), but suddenly he’s everywhere. Until one day, she’s stuck in church with him—of all places. And then something happens; Apron’s broken teenage heart blinks on for the first time since she’s been adrift.

Mike and his grumpy boyfriend, Chad, offer her a summer job in their flower store, Apron’s world seems to calm. But when she uncovers Chad’s secret, coming of age becomes almost too much bear. She’s forced to see things the adults around her fail to—like what love really means and who is paying too much for it.

Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You, comments, “Love, loss, and the coming of age of one remarkable girl blaze through this haunting debut like a shooting star you’d wish upon. It’s tough and tender, funny and smart, and it frankly took my breath away. I loved it.”

BIG FRIDAY BONUS! GIRL UNMOORED IN PUBILSHER’S WEEKLY

We are so thrilled to share with you another great review for Jennifer Gooch Hummer – in Publisher’s Weekly! Her new novel GIRL UNMOORED is taking off exponentially fast! Here is the whole review for your pleasure:

“Middle school is purgatory for Apron Bramhall. Her mother is dead. Her best friend Rennie has fallen under the spell of the local Queen Bee. Margie (aka “M”), the Brazilian nurse who cared for her late parent, has literally moved in on her depressed Latin professor father, all the while trying to dispose of Apron’s beloved pet guinea pig. It’s a classic case of things can’t get worse, but they do quickly in this fast-paced bildungsroman set in 1980s coastal Maine. When Dad announces his plans to marry the devious M–a prospect that excites no one–the 7th-grader has to grow up quickly. But the ruckus she inadvertently causes at their hastily arranged church wedding propels her literally headlong into the lives of Mike and Chad, a gay couple who run a local flower shop and are coming to terms with their own struggles. The bittersweet story of their friendship and the young adolescent’s gradual understanding and acceptance of their doomed relationship is infused with love and punctuated with wry good humor. The rapid fire dialogue helps along an ambitious first novel that’s best suited to young adults. Less successfully, Hummer tries to evoke coastal Maine, but the local attitudes on display here say more about the era, and less about the place–references to lobsters and a sprinkling of eccentrics aside. Apron may be adrift, but Hummer’s debut is on track. (Mar.)”