Check out this contest

OHHHH! Another book contest! New author Jennifer Brown is celebrating a countdown to her book, Hate List, coming out by having a contest every week

Week 1's contest is HERE


My contest for The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth girl is now closed. Thanks for all that entered! I'll be announcing a winner in the next couple of days.

Be on the look out for future contests!

Go check out this new blogger

JG Sexton is a new author and blogger and is holding a contest to get more readers.
Go here to check it out (and tell him Sandi sent you!)

here are some more book contests- Enter mine too!

Cupcake Witch's spring cleaning contest(ends June 30)

Win The Awakening & The Summoning (ends July 2)

Win Suite Scarlett (ends July 17)

Must & Lust for books is giving away Suite Scarlett also (ends July 6)

A whole bunch of cool prizes here @Cindy's Book & Movie review (ends June 29)

More will be added, so keep checking back.
And make sure you enter mine for a *SIGNED* copy of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl

Book Contest! The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl

I have a *signed* copy of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl by Barry Lyga to give away!

Fanboy is a little on the geeky side. He is a favorite target of bullies at school. His mom is married to a younger guy and is pregnant leaving him to feel left out at home. But he loves graphic novels and is secretly working on one of his own.
And his life begins to change when he meets Kyra- also known as Goth Girl- a girl who hates bullies & jocks and loves graphic novels as much as he does. He starts to have more confidence in himself because of Goth Girl, but is she hiding her own secrets?

Fanboy was the first book by Barry Lyga that I read. I first picked it up because of the cool title and loved it. I got to meet him in NYC this past March and bought a copy of Boy Toy (not connected to Fanboy but also fabulous!) I am eagerly awaiting Goth Girl Rising.

In the meantime, I am giving away not only the signed Fanboy, but also three postcards and a bookmark showcasing the other books.

Here's how to enter-
*You'll get 1 entry just for commenting here telling me that you want to enter(the first comment you make on this post).

*You'll get 2 entries for being a follower of this blog (Just click follow up there -----> to become a follower)

*You'll get 2 entries for reposting about this contest on your site (please post the link here, if you don't mind, so I can see it!)

*You'll also get 1 entry for anyone that you refer to this contest- just tell them to mention your name


What are you waiting for? Enter! The contest will close June 30!!

























*Comments are now closed. Thanks to all that entered. Winner will be announced in the next couple of days!

Prophecy of the Sisters Winner!

Congrats to LISA A for winning the ARC of Prophecy of the Sisters (name was drawn using a name randomizer site). Lisa, I'll be contacting you for your shipping info.

EVERYONE- Be on the look out in the next couple of days for another *BOOK CONTEST*
I'll be giving away a signed copy of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Gothgirl by Barry Lyga, along with a few goodies.

Thanks for entering!

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Valerie's boyfriend, Nick, goes on a shooting rampage at school and kills several people. His targets were people on Valerie's Hate List- a list of people and things they hated. After spending the summer by herself, Valerie decides to go back to school for her senior year. This proves even tougher than she thought as people question just how much Valerie knew about the shooting before hand. She learns a lot about friendships and enemies during this journey.

Jennifer Brown really touches on what it's like to feel like an outcast and gets into Valerie's mind as she deals with the pieces of her shattered life- at home and at school-after the shooting. Valerie realizes that people don't always stand by you when you need them and allies can come from surprising places.

I really enjoyed this book. I could feel Valerie's anxiety. Bullying doesn't just come from shoving someone in a locker. Name calling, especially at the middle school and high school level, seem to affect people for many many years. While I never condone violence, I can see how a person can get to the point where they feel there is no other option. As a teacher, I have to figure out how see the signs before it even gets to that point. We have to give kids other options. We have to teach kids that yes, words can hurt even more and they stay with us much longer than the bruises from sticks and stones.

Hate List is scheduled to be released in September 2009 from Little, Brown


*By the way- there are still a couple days left to enter the Prophecy of the Sisters contests. See the previous post for details.

Win an Advanced copy of Prophecy of the Sisters!!

I have an extra copy of Prophecy of the Sisters, a fabulous book by Michelle Zink that I am giving away.

How can you enter? It's very simple, and I'll even give you extra ways to get your name in there.

*You'll get 1 entry just for commenting here (the first comment you make on the the post).

*You'll get 2 entries for being a follower of this blog (Just click follow up there -----> to become a follower)

*You'll get 2 entries for reposting about this contest on your site (please post the link here, if you don't mind)

*You'll also get 1 entry for anyone that you refer to this contest- just tell them to mention your name


You can still enter a contest over at Michelle's blog to win her book plus a lot of other cool things.

Other contests are in the works, so help me spread the word!

This contest will end June 20.

Book Trailer contest

Calling all creative types- Author Barry Lyga is having a contest on his site where you can win a copy of his upcoming book Goth Girl Rising (which I am extremely anxious to get my hands on)

You can find details here.

If you don't know Barry Lyga's work you are missing out. I have two of his books- The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl and Boy Toy, both of which are fabulous but Boy Toy is one of my favorites. I also got to meet him when I was in NY in March and he was super nice.

SO, check out the contest and read his books.

Dead is the New Black

Dead is the New Black follows Daisy, a teen who come from a family of psychics. Except she doesn't seem to have any powers. She wants to help out when a series of attacks on cheerleaders at her high school begin, so she joins the squad to find clues and she finds out more about her town than she bargained for.
The book has an interesting story but lacks interesting character development. Mom comes home and sits in a chair, oldest sister Rose studies all the time, & middle sister Poppy is h...more

Dead is the New Black follows Daisy, a teen who come from a family of psychics. Except she doesn't seem to have any powers. She wants to help out when a series of attacks on cheerleaders at her high school begin, so she joins the squad to find clues and she finds out more about her town than she bargained for.

The book has an interesting story but lacks interesting character development. Mom comes home and sits in a chair, oldest sister Rose studies all the time, & middle sister Poppy is hard to peg because her character seems to jump all over the place.
I liked the book, but didn't love it. I think it might have suffered from over-editing because it seemed rushed. There are two more books in the series out and I do plan to read them. There is a lot of potential here.

lessons in spray tanning

I went to Florida last week and it was fabulous. A well deserved and much needed vacation. The weather was beautiful, the water was not too cold (and there was no icky slime in the ocean, just spots where some of that grass stuff was floating)

I've *almost* gotten to a place where I am comfortable in public in a bathing suit. I have a cute turquoise and brown tankini (which is much better than the wholesome wear suits . Guess I'm not too wholesome) We spent several days on the beach and in the ocean which meant I had to walk to and from my ocean side chair without my coverup. I say *almost* bc I am still not ready to be seen by someone I know.

Anyway, vanity got the better of me before we went and I decided that instead of subjecting the other beach goers to my vampire-white legs I'd get a spray tan. I had never done this before so it was quite.......interesting. She told me that the ocean and pool would make the tan either fade or strip it completely so I was prepared. The first couple of days were fine. Then it started happening........the streaks. I wasn't like it was tan-looking one day then..... POOF.....all white.

no.

My legs looked like I was losing pigment. I am in no way making fun of people who have to deal with vitiligo but that's exactly what my legs looked like (the spray tan was darker there). We were in walking distance of Pier Park, a shopping and dining area, so I went looking for an exfoliant. The lady from Merle Norman was really helpful bc instead of selling me the $40 per drop stuff they had in there she told me about another place that had some cheaper stuff. I found a Bath & Body works instead. I got some of this and let me tell ya- while it didnt strip the tan off, it smelled wonderful and made my skin silky smooth.

It's been a week and a half since the spray tan and there are places around my feet and ankles that look rusty. Lesson learned.


So, what goofy thing have you done in the name of vanity?

Prophecy of the Sisters contest!

One of my new online author friends, Michelle Zink, has a book coming out and is having a contest.
Go here to see how you can enter to win a copy of the book plus a whole lot more stuff. (If you go from my blog, please say Sandi referred you!)

The book is Prophecy of the Sisters. It is the story of newly orphaned twin sisters who discover they are part of an ancient prophecy that turns sisters against each other. I hope this will be the first in a successful series.

I recommend it!