Win a copy of Giving up the V by the awesome Serena Robar

Hooray - today the too cool for school, Serena Robar, has come out to play and even better, she has come bearing gifts! Yup, that's right, in order to celebrate her new book, Giving up the V, she is giving up a book (see what she did there? Cute, right). But I get ahead of myself.

I first met Serena after I signed with my agent, Jenny Bent and the minute I read the blurb for her debut book, Braced2Bite, I knew she was going to be my kind of writer. And, it turned out I was sooo right! We're no longer agent sisters since Serena has now signed with the wonderful (and ridiculously young looking) Holly Root!!! But despite that she is still one of my fav writers and I'm dying to read her new book, and here is why:

What's So Wrong With Waiting

Spencer Davis just turned sixteen. But unlike most hormonal teenagers who seem obsessed with sex -- like her entire crew of friends -- Spencer just doesn't get it. She'd rather wait for the right guy and the right moment. But that moment may be arriving sooner than she'd thought.
Enter Benjamin Hopkins, a new transfer student who seems to have his eyes on our V-card-carrying heroine. He's gorgeous, funny, suave, athletic, and capable of making Spencer's knees wobble with a single glance. Spencer has never felt this way about anyone before, but is Ben truly V-worthy?

See, told you it looked amazing! Anyway, Serena has kindly agreed to answer a few make or break questions and at the end, don't forget to leave a comment to go in with the chance to win a copy of Giving up the V. You know you want to!

1 How did you first get the idea for your current book?

The inspiration for the story came when I was sitting in the doctor’s office for my yearly GYN visit. A harried, fifty-something male doctor was talking to the young female receptionist. He asked her what “Giving up the V” meant. It seemed his last patient was a teen girl who was there because her mother wanted her on the Pill, but she told the doctor she wasn’t ready to give up the V yet. I knew instantly I had to tell that story.


2 I often say that everything I know about writing has come from Buffy. Is there any movie/tv show/book/author that you think has helped your writing career?

It’s funny you should mention Buffy because my last books were a humorous vampire series and I watched all 8 seasons of Buffy in 3 weeks. We are talking 6+ episodes a day. It was the first time I watched the show and absolutely loved it. I think Joss Whedon is pure genius. That being said, there are some other great writers out there. I would have to say Jane Espenson who wrote for Buffy is certainly noteworthy, but book authors that really know their craft, I would have to say Scott Westerfeld, Stephenie Meyer, JK Rowling, etc. The list is long but anyone that can keep you flipping pages without wanting to stop is someone you can learn from. See, it's this hardcore committment to watching Buffy that makes me like this girl so much!!!!!


3 What's a normal writing day for you? Depends on how close to deadline I am .

I am one of those odd writers who love deadline mode. I really get a writer’s high from writing for 8-10 hours straight. To be so involved in the storyline and know that you can’t slow down makes me truly connect. It drives my family crazy. Of course, that is very hard to do for any length of time so I would say an average day would consist of writing about 2 hours and then editing for another 2 hours. Plotting takes up a huge amount of time and it’s hard to quantify because it looks like I am doing nothing when I sit on my couch and stare off into space but I am working out conflict, scene structure and dialogue. Only when I have a detailed synopsis do I feel like I truly accomplishing anything on the couch.


4 The best blooper I've ever done as a writer was when I had my heroine hand the hero something. Problem was they were sharing the same body at the time! So to help lessen my embarrasment, I'd love to know what your best writing blooper is and did someone catch it before your book went into print?


Oh, I wrote a novella in Fendi, Ferragamo and Fangs where my heroine jumped on a plane from Seattle to New York and I had her suffer from jet lag because she thought it was three hours later in New York when actually, it was three hours earlier. Sort of a glaring faux paux when she is complaining that its midnight and she is soooo tired because she thinks its 3 am when really it would be 9 pm for her. Not even the copyeditor caught it. Such a silly mistake, but every writer makes them once in a while.



5 And now for the big question. Zombies - love them, hate them, couldn't eat a whole one? Enquiring minds want to know.



You know, before Zombie Queen I would have been in the ‘hate them’ camp. How could anyone love a Zombie? Then you made it so fun and sure, there was that pesky they-are-gonna-eat-everyone possibility but without a good conflict there is no story, right? Now I have to say I kind of dig ‘em. As long as they aren’t hungry, that is.


Awh - I do like that I've converted another living dead fan (though of course if they do rise up and eat Serena, it totally wasn't my fault!). Anyway, don't forget to leave a comment and go in with a chance to win!

Everyone She Loved by Sheila Curran

Today I'm touring a Girlfriend Cyber Circuit alumni, the lovely Sheila Curran whose new book Everyone She Loved has just hit the shelves and has one of those gorgeous covers that always make me want to pick up the book and read the back cover - at which point I would realize that 1) I need to read the entire book and 2) there might be a chance that I'll need some tissues handy while I do read the entire book because it's such a sad premise (and I'm not going to lie to you all - I'm a crier).

Don't believe me? Then find out for yourself:

Everyone She Loved

Penelope Cameron, loving mother, devoted wife and generous philanthropist, has convinced her husband and four closest friends to sign an outlandish pact. If Penelope should die before her two daughters are eighteen, her husband will not remarry without the permission of Penelope’s sister and three college roommates. For years, this contract gathers dust until the unthinkable happens. Suddenly, everyone she loved must find their way in a world without Penelope.

For Lucy Vargas, Penelope’s best friend, and a second mother to her daughters, nothing seems more natural than to welcome them into a home that had once belonged to their family, a lovely, sprawling, bed and breakfast on the beach. This bequest was only one of the many ways in which Penelope had supported Lucy’s career as a painter, declaring her talent too important to squander. But now, in the wake of a disaster that only lovable, worrisome Penelope could have predicted, Lucy has put her work on hold as she and Penelope’s husband, Joey, blindly grasp at anything that will keep the girls from sinking under the weight of their grief.

With the help of family and friends, the children slowly rebuild new lives. But just when things start to come together, the fragile serenity they have gained is suddenly threatened from within and the unbreakable bonds they share seem likely to dissolve after all.

In this moving and uplifting novel, Sheila Curran explores the faith one woman placed in her dearest friends, the care she took to protect her family, and the many ways in which romantic entanglements will confound and confuse even the most determined of planners. A story about growing up and moving on, about the sacrifices people make for one another, about the timeless legacy of love, Everyone She Loved is, above all, about the abiding strength of friendship.

See what I'm saying about the tissues? Anyway, here is Sheila to tell us more about the book (and obviously her thoughts on zombies!)


How did you first get the idea for your current book?

For the full story, readers should go to my website and click on Backstory. But the short version is this: in some states, if a parent hasn’t named a guardian in an official will, their children can be taken into foster care if the parents die. I was talking to a friend about how difficult it is to make the choice of who, among my siblings and friends would be the best replacements for my husband and I.

Suddenly, I said, “Oooh. You know what would be worse? What if I died and John fell in love with someone who was just awful?” I thought for a minute more and said, “I know. What if he couldn’t remarry unless my sisters and best friends approved?” I knew, deep down, that whatever happened, as long as my friends and family approved of the new wife, then she’d be good for my kids.

So I began to imagine a character like me, except she’s really rich, has had even more reasons in her life to become a bit of a control freak than have I and she is so charming in her ridiculous catastrophizing that her husband and friends finally say, “Enough, already! You’re not going anywhere, but if it makes you feel better, we’ll sign the damn thing.” So begins the premise for my novel, the plot of which is set into action by my character’s codicil. It’s about motherhood, wifehood, childhood, and most of all, the sisterhood of great friends who’ve come of age together.
2 I often say that everything I know about writing has come from Buffy. Is there any movie/tv show/book/author that you think has helped your writing career?

Oh gosh, so many. I can’t even think…let’s see…Sex in the City, Entourage, Weeds, The Wire, Californication, 30 Rock, Will and Grace, In Treatment, Knot’s Landing!

3 What's a normal writing day for you?


Get up, make lunches for my family, say goodbye, drink coffee, head up to my room, try not to go on the internet, try to get directly into my work-in-progress, try not to answer the phone, try not to get up and walk around the house straightening things up, try not to go on the internet. The procrastination progress is lengthy and most days I fail to resist one of the temptations. I work until about noon, then I work out, then eat lunch, then try to go back to my work. By 3 I go to pick up my daughter from school, tend to whatever needs to be done around the house, answer emails, get dinner started and have a cocktail with my husband when he returns from the office. I almost never work at night, because my brain is fried.


4 The best blooper I've ever done as a writer was when I had my heroine hand the hero something. Problem was they were sharing the same body at the time! So to help lessen my embarrasment, I'd love to know what your best writing blooper is and did someone catch it before your book went into print?

My biggest blooper, which I still laugh at myself for, was in Diana Lively, where the male protagonist is a former ammunitions dealer. He meets Diana, whose backstory includes the fact that her first husband and true love, Johnny, was shot and killed by some German industrialists who’d crossed his father’s land while hunting. The only problem is that I described the party as being on a foxhunt. It wasn’t until the second draft that I realized that in a fox hunt, there are no guns! Dogs are used to snare the prey. So I was very glad to have discovered that before I submitted it. Hahaha - this is wonderful and exactly the sort of blooper I would do as well. We need to form a club!!!

5 And now for the big question. Zombies - love them, hate them, couldn't eat a whole one? Enquiring minds want to know.

Amanda, which answer is more likely to have them leave me alone? I’m a big fraidy cat.

M.I.A.

Since I've been missing in action lately I thought it was appropriate to play my favorite MIA song (well it's my favorite one this week anyway!). Revisions are getting revisioned and I've got some blog tours coming up this week. Woot!

Some thoughts...

-Chuck and Blair should be together forever because even evil geniuses deserve to be happy. XOXO

-Extreme Kissing by Luisa Plaja is an amazing book that everyone needs to read (especially for the dance scene which is too cool for school)

-I still have a lot of work to do to hit my deadline. Sorry kids that means fish fingers and baked beans for tea. Again.

-Guy Ritchie is a God. If you haven't seen RocknRolla then you must, not least because it has Gerard Butler in it. Le Sigh.

-I just watched the first two Terminator movies again. They still rock.

-I told my son he wouldn't get in trouble for telling me what really happened to my broken headband. He took this amnesty to mean he could tell me about everything he's broken in the last three months. Even my daughter got in on the act. I think I liked it better when I was ignorant.

-tell me what you've all been up to in three bullet points or less.

Let's hear it for Christina!

As some of you know I have three very wonderful critique partners who are more commonly known as the long suffering witches (long suffering because the have to read my first drafts and it's never a pretty sight). Anyway, I'm so completely thrilled because one of the witches, Christina Phillips has just signed with a wonderful agent for a book that we all love dearly. If you want to find out more or just give Christina a big 'hoorah', then head over to her blog and join the party!

I just finished reading The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. I'm speechless. It really is that good and now I'm feeling a bit bereft because I have to wait until next year for the sequel. Boo on waiting but yay on knowing that there will be another book!

I've got another crazy writing week ahead of me but the end is most definitely in the sight (er, sort of) so wish me luck people!!

I can't wait for...

Mr Darcy, Vampyre which is coming out in August and is written by my good friend Amanda Grange. Anyway, closer to the time you will be hearing a lot more about this book (because trust me, I'm super excited about it) but in the meantime you can head over to the new blog that Amanda has just set up to give you a little taste of what is to come (geddit, taste/vampyre? Oh, I'm funny!!!)

In other news I've still been writing like crazy in order to meet my deadline before I head off on holiday to Australia. So far I'm on track, but of course that is always subject to change!

And finally I just received an arc for Michelle Rowen's young adult book, Demon Princess - Reign or Shine, which I'm very happy about it since as most of you know Michelle is one of my fav authors and if she wasn't younger than me then I would definitely want to grow up to be just like her!!!!

What's everyone else been up to??

Whoops...how did that happen?

Okay, so one minute it's May and suddenly it's June - what's that about? Anyway, sorry my continued absence but rest assured I really have been doing loads of writing. Okay, I've also been spending a far bit of time on youtube watching my new obsession, Diversity who won Britian's Got Talent. They are a London Dance Troupe who are far too cool for school. Anyway, if you want to see what all the fuss is about you can go and check them out here.

Anyway, today I'm over with Book Chic, helping to celebrate his two year blogiversary and there is a copy of Zombie Queen up for grabs for one lucky winner - so head over to his myspace page and leave a comment!

In other news, Serena Robar who is the author of the must read Braced To Bite books is having a MASSIVE month long celebration to celebrate the release of her new ya novel Giving up the V. I'll be talking to Serena more about it later in the month but in the meantime Serena has decided that she simply must give away a zillion, trillion book - okay, perhaps not that many but she is giving away a book a day for the entire month of Jun and all you need to do is race on over to her website and sign up for her newsletter. Easy Mcpeasy if I do say so myself.

In other news, Zombie got a new review from School Library Journal where they said:



"Zombie Queen is light, fast-paced, and not particularly scary. Vaguely reminiscent of Men in Black, this book will quench the thirst of the Christopher Pike and R. L. Stine set."



Strangely enough this is the second Men in Black reference I've had lately which is totally fine by me since it's a movie that I love!!!!



Okay and now I'm off to the writing cave again but I promise to resurface again soon!!