Closed for the Holidays

Free Book Friday will be closed for three weeks and will reopen on January 7, 2012.

Happy New Year!

The Chick Friends Rules - Winners!

3 lucky winners will be receiving a free autographed copy of The Chick Friends Rules!

And here they are...

1) Arely Gomez
2) Violet Clue
3) Peter Halls

If you didn't win, but still want to read The Chick Friends Rules, you can order your own copies on Amazon by clicking here!

Or find it in our Free Book Friday Amazon Store!

The Chick Friends Rules - Freshman Year by Vici Howard

THE CHICK FRIENDS RULES!

FRESHMAN YEAR

by Vici Howard


Young Adult

Randall & Reismann

3 Signed Copies will be given away on Friday, December 16, 2011!


www.TheChickFriendsRules.com

About the Book:

1. Treat her like one of the guys.
2. Never think of her when you're alone.
3. Never fall in love with her.

"The chick friends rules! Freshman year" is the first of a four book series in this edgy coming of age story. Fifteen-year old Grant Lee is a "cool kid" who is popular with the girls and adheres to a strict code of the "chick friends hierarchy". There are girls a guy thinks about when he's in his bedroom alone and there are girls a guy farts around. Grant is friends with Marta, the latter in the chick friends hierarchy. She is an intriguing but slightly overweight Latina with a story of her own. Grant is faced with an embarrassing dilemma; he has a secret crush on Marta but is ashamed to tell his friends because she's the "fat girl". If his secret gets out it could be social suicide for Grant. So he goes out of his way to conceal his feelings for her by making a series of bad choices and by engaging in risky behavior. When he gets the courage to tell her his true feelings, she mysteriously vanishes.

Check out our Exclusive Interview with the Author here:

1) How did you get the idea for the novel?

What really got me writing the Chick friend’s story is; one day my then 13 year old son (he’s now 16 and super cute) comes home from school and tells me about a female friend who shared with him that she was being molested by her stepfather and her mother called her a liar and didn’t believe her. I felt awful for the girl, so I write an anonymous letter to the school and the district explaining the situation and to my surprise she gets taken out of the school and sent to live with relatives in another state. So, I’m feeling pretty good about myself for having done my Christian duty by helping this young girl but three weeks later she’s back at school and back at home with her abuser and I’m like “What the…just happened?” I’ll never know why she was sent back to that house. But she told my son she was vilified by her family for "making trouble" and "breaking up the family" and she was sad that they were mad at her. By now, I’m beside myself and so angry that the system didn’t protect this girl. Out of frustration, I felt a story developing, so I started writing but after reading the first draft, I felt an entire novel on molestation was too heavy. So, I decide to tell the story from the point of view of the platonic male friend and make him the main character instead of the girl. Besides, I believe boys are underrepresented in YA novels so I figured if I can write a book about boys that still appeals to girls; I bridged a gap.

2) What kind of research did you have to do to bring this story to life on the page?

I had to talk to lots of teenagers. I wasn't familiar with today's teen culture so I needed lots of help with the slang, terminology, and the overall mindset of the Millennial teen. So, I'd write a chapter and have my kids and their friends read it and give me feedback. Sometimes they would say, "A teenager would never say that," and they'd write down how a teen would articulate what I was trying to say. My biggest challenge was learning texting language and abbreviations. I would tell my kids what I wanted to say and they would translate it into texting language.

3) Which came first, the title or the novel?

The novel. I had such a hard time coming up with a title. My kids and I all wrote a title on a piece of paper and we pulled it out of a hat. My daughter won.

4) Series like these always fascinate me because I want to know where the author is going and if he/she even knows where they’re going. So do you? Do you have it all plotted out in your head until the end or are you winging it as you go?

I had no idea that this book was going to become a series. After I finished "Freshman year," there was still so much the characters needed to communicate; it just made sense to see them mature to senior year.

5) If your book were to be turned into a movie, would your dream cast be?

Oh, my god I think about this all of the time. This is my "red light" fantasy. When I'm driving and I'm stuck at a red light I think of what actor would play the characters.

Grant,(main character)- Jaden Smith when he turns 17.
Phil,(Grant's stepfather)- Eminem. He's 40 now, he can play someone's daddy.
Malik,(Grant's father)- Common.

About the Author:

Vici Howard loves writing stories that are inspired by real people and real experiences. After a reader is done reading one of her novels she want them to say, "that happened to me too," or "I know someone who went through the same thing." Her favorite author is Dr. Seuss. Read more online at: www.TheChickFriendsRules.com.

**Please enter to win using the form on the left side bar of our website. Comments left on the post, while appreciated, are not used as entry. Thanks!

Slayers - Winners!

3 lucky winners will be receiving a free autographed copy of Slayers!

And here they are...

1) Kelly Vorhis
2) Patsy Hagen
3) Karlene Browning

If you didn't win, but still want to read Slayers, you can order your own copies on Amazon by clicking here!

Or find it in our Free Book Friday Amazon Store!

Slayers by CJ Hill

SLAYERS

by CJ Hill


Fantasy YA

Macmillan
www.CJHillBooks.com

3 Signed Copies will be given away on Friday, December 9, 2011!

About the Book:

Dragons exist. They’re ferocious. And they’re smart: Before they were killed off by slayer-knights, they rendered a select group of eggs dormant so their offspring would survive. Only a handful of people know about this, let alone believe it – these Slayers are descended from the original knights, and are now a diverse group of teens. When Tori, a socialite senator's daughter, enrolled in Dragon Camp, she had no idea what she signed up for.

Check out our Exclusive Interview with the Author here:

1) You chose to use a pen name for this book, why?

My Janette Rallison books have been romantic comedies and this book is a departure from that genre. Slayers still has its funny moments and a good dose of romance, but it’s an action based fantasy. As you can guess from the cover, the publisher is also hoping to attract guys to the book. I think the pen name was a good call on the publisher’s part, but it makes me nervous too. In some ways it’s like starting all over again in the book publishing world.

2) How did you get the idea for the novel?

Mostly from my own clumsiness. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and notice I have bruises or cuts, and I have no idea where I got them from. My husband gives me a bad time about this, (“How can you not realize it when you hurt yourself?) so I started telling him that while he’s asleep, I secretly fight dragons. Then, because I’m a writer, I began to wonder what that would be like. Voila, a story idea.

3) What kind of research did you have to do to bring this story to life on the page?

Lots. I didn’t know anything about what’s in the forests back east, or shooting rifles, or martial arts, or archery, so I spent hours researching things. Thank goodness for all the people who post random videos on Youtube. I easily found videos of people hiking the Shenandoah, demonstrating martial arts moves, and even found out what it sounds like to do target practice with rifles. (Besides the sound of the shot, the casing makes a tinkling noise when it hits the ground.)

It was a bit harder to find out if a dragon could fit into the Jefferson Memorial. I had to step that off while I was back in the DC area doing school visits. And no, the other tourists at the Jefferson Memorial didn’t think I was odd at all . . .

4) When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer? Have you had other jobs along the way?

I always wanted to be a writer. Some of my only memories of my mother (she died of cancer when I was six) were of her typing her stories on an old manual typewriter. So I grew up thinking that being a writer was a normal career and not just a really time consuming way to torture yourself. Sometimes it’s the latter.

Like most writers, I’ve had lots of jobs along the way—a lot of them horrible. I will forever remember the job I had as a teenager where I worked at Showbiz Pizza. I had to wear the Billy Bob costume and greet little children—some of whom were terrified of a seven foot bear, and other who tried to trip me.

I still think being a mother is the best job in the world though. Not even being an author can beat it.

5) What’s the first thing you do when starting a new book? What’s the first thing you do when finishing a new book?

It’s hard to stare at a blank page. Even after writing 19 novels, starting a new one is always difficult. I usually do a lot of journal writing beforehand to remind myself that I do know how to write.

I’m generally always pushing a deadline, so after I finish writing a new book, I sleep. And clean the bathroom. And run all the errands I’ve put off for two weeks because I was busy writing. Sometimes I also make dinner. It’s a very glamorous life.

About the Author:

CJ Hill is a pen name for a YA author who is best known for writing romantic comedies. She has five children, three of whom like her on any given day depending on who is in trouble. She has lived in Arizona for the last half of her life, but is still in desert denial and hopes that one day her garden will grow silver bells and cockle shells or maybe just tomatoes. Visit the author online at: www.CJHillBooks.com.

**Please enter to win using the form on the left side bar of our website. Comments left on the post, while appreciated, are not used as entry. Thanks!

Dancergirl - Winners!

5 lucky winners will be receiving a free autographed copy of Dancergirl!
And here they are...

1) Wei-Wei Chen
2) Ashley Hurtt
3) Stephanie Jones
4) Delenn Gray
5) Kylie Carlson

If you didn't win, but still want to read Dancergirl, you can order your own copies on Amazon by clicking here!

Or find it in our Free Book Friday Amazon Store!