What’s on my iPod: “Boyfriend” by Justin Bieber
What I’m reading: The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
The last person I followed on Twitter: @villagevoice
1. LAST DAY TO ENTER JENNIFER GOOCH HUMMER’S TOTALLY AMAZING CONTEST – WIN KINDLE FIRE AND MORE!
How time flies! It’s the last day of Jennifer Gooch Hummer‘s GIRL UNMOORED contest – and so far it has made so much buzz! Between the contest and official launch, the novel is on fire! Her contest open for everyone is a hit among Hummer and BookSparks fans – don’t miss out!
Here’s the Totally Awesome Deal:
Now through April 6th, when you comment about Girl Unmoored on my blog you’ll be automatically entered into a drawing to win a tote bag stuffed with gifts that blend the hottest 2012 e-reader with totally rad ’80s memorabilia and more! And if you purchase the book (print or e-book) and forward your receipt confirmation to contests@sparkpointstudio.com, your name will be entered to win 10 TIMES! That’s 11 chances to win the following awesome prizes:
- A Kindle Fire, just in time for spring break lounging!
- DVDs of Best Of 80s movies to celebrate the year of Girl Unmoored, 1985
- Copies of my Top 5 YA books: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie; She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb; Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson; The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty; and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
- A gift card to 1-800 Flowers in honor of Apron’s summer job at Mike and Chad’s flower shop, Scent Appeal
The winner will be notified and announced the week of April 23rd. Bonus Fortuna!
Want to know what GIRL UNMOORED is totally about? Here are some more deets on the novel:
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.”
2. Allison Winn Scotch on SheKnows!
Allison Winn Scotch – author of THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME – stopped by SheKnows to talk about her new novel. Here is a highlight:
SheKnows: The Song Remains the Same has a big music theme. What’s on your iPod right now?
Allison Winn Scotch: I’ve been listening to a lot of old school stuff recently: Tracy Chapman, Pearl Jam, Don Henley, Bruce Springsteen, even Cyndi Lauper. I don’t know why, but I’ve been drawn to music from my past as of late. I’m also listening to a lot of singer/songwriter/indie-ish pop-rock stuff like The Decemberists, Mat Kearney, and Brendan James. Also, my kids don’t stop listening to Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber, so… I listen to a lot of that. 🙂
SheKnows: On that note, are you watching American Idol? Or The Voice? Any thoughts on who you’d like to see make it all the way?
Allison Winn Scotch: I gave up on Idol this year, but I am in love with The Voice! In fact, my adoration of it is what finally freed me from Idol — I don’t need more than one singing competition on my TV-rotation! Hmmm, I think there are a lot of really great voices on the show (a few of whom have already been cut — booooo), but I’d say that right now, I might be pulling for Tony Lucca. I’ve been a fan of his long before his Voice appearance. He has a great song called “Devil Town” on the Friday Night Lightssoundtrack, and I’ve been obsessed with that song (and show) for years. So for that fact alone, he might have my vote.
SheKnows: You’re a mom of two young children, an author, and a freelance writer to name just a few of the many hats you wear. What does balance mean for you and how you juggle it all?
Allison Winn Scotch: What does balance mean to me? Great question! Hmmmm… well… *whistles… I don’t really know. I think what it means to me — or maybe the way that I know that I have things in check — is when I’m in a consistently good mood. The best gauge for this is at about 6 p.m. through bedtime, when I’m hanging out with my kids, and even if they’re not listening or getting into an argument, I’m not at all ruffled by it. That’s when I know that things are all clicking into place. When I snap at them for what is pretty reasonable kid behavior, then I know that I’m letting the stress of my day creep in. How do I balance it all? I try to focus on work when I’m working and parenthood when I’m parenting. This means sitting down, setting my phone aside and having focused conversations with the kids (and my husband) and turning that off button on. It’s too easy these days to always be on-call, and after a while, I inevitably resent it. The truth is that there are very few urgent matters (in my line of work anyway) that can’t be dealt with an hour after an email comes in. So I give myself permission to take an hour or so off and find joy elsewhere. Sometimes that’s with my kids, sometimes that at the gym, sometimes, that’s at the very bottom of US Weekly magazine.
Coming April 2012
From the New York Times-bestselling author comes a novel that asks the question, who are we without our memories? And how much of our future is defined by our past?
One of only two survivors of a plane crash, Nell Slattery wakes in the hospital with no memory of the crash – or who she is, or was. Now she must piece together both body and mind — with the help of family and friends who have their own agendas. She filters through photos, art, music and stories, hoping something will jog her memory, and soon – in tiny bits and pieces –Nell starts remembering…It isn’t long before she learns to question the stories presented by her mother, her sister and business partner, and her husband. In the end she will learn that forgiving betrayals small and large will be the only true path to healing herself — and to finding happiness.
3. GIRL UNMOORED on Buried With Books
The buzz of Jennifer‘s novel just doesn’t stop. GIRL UNMOORED received a fab review from Buried With Books – here is a highlight:
“Mike and his grumpy boyfriend, Chad, offer her a summer job in their flower store and 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.
This novel is by Jennifer Gooch Hummer, the same author that wrote the Milk Face blog post. But if you’re expecting something like that in this book, don’t be. This is a very serious book. Apron is in 7th grade and has lost everything. Her mother died six months ago, her best friend dumped her for a girl that hates Apron and she’s lost her father to her pregnant stepmother, a woman whose name she won’t say, she just calls her “M”.
4. Jon Reiner on NPR Radiolab Jon Reiner – author of the highly acclaimed novel THE MAN WHO COULDN’T EAT – stopped by NPR Radiolab. Here is a link to the clip and the fun starts at 35:32.
About THE MAN WHO COULDN’T EAT
Imagine not being able to eat or drink a single thing. No lobster roll on the beach in Maine; no hot dog at the ballpark; no cool drink on a hot summer day; no birthday cake; nothing. In The Man Who Couldn’t Eat (S&S/Gallery Books: September 6, 2011), Jon Reiner – a James Beard Foundation Award-winning writer –chronicles his three-month struggle to live without food. Based on Reiner’s acclaimed 2009 Esquire magazine article by the same name, the book reinvents the foodoir, telling what happens when a man obsessed with food is denied the taste of it. A beautifully written chronicle of one man’s journey from plenty to deprivation and back again,The Man Who Couldn’t Eat will change the way you think about more than just your next meal.
5. THESE GIRLS review on Bless Their Hearts Mom We at BookSparksPR have been anxiously awaiting THESE GIRLS by one of our favorite Chick-Lit aurthors Sarah Pekkanen, and we’re not the only ones. Bless Their Hearts Mom had something great to say about the new novel:
Review: This was a very quick read, and to me it read like a classic ‘Chick-Lit’ book. It was funny, light and very enjoyable. In fact, I read it in one sitting, when I had my foot up, after I broke it! To me, it was the perfect book to satire and expose the fashion underside of magazine publishing, and the quest to be a size 0, to fit in. Like all of Sarah’s books, there’s alot of honesty and realistic dialogue, that keeps you involved in the characters. It’s perfect for a Spring day and reading on a picnic!
More about THESE GIRLS
Sarah’s third novel, THESE GIRLS, will be published on April 10. “Sarah Pekkanen’s latest celebrates the healing power of female friendship for three very different young women sharing a New York City apartment. By turns bittersweet, laugh-out-loud funny, and painfully real, you’ll want
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