Support your Local Booksellers!

I took a wondeful trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin last week to meet local booksellers and sign stock in their stores. It was so great to see people out shopping in each of the stores I visited. Despite the bad economy, people need books. As Buzz Blog readers know, books are a great way to escape into a different world for many hours or even days -- all for around the price of a movie ticket and popcorn.

I know it's so convenient to hop online to a big bookstore these days,but the local brick and mortar stores really need business. And isn't it so great to browse all the titles, read the first pages, and get advice from real life humans? There's something about the smell of a bookstore - fresh ink and paper -- that always makes me smile.

I had a particularly fun time visiting Next Chapters Bookstore in Mequon, Wisconsin. It used to be a store owned by a small, independent chain called Harry Schwartz, but they went out of business. Luckily, the store manager bought the store and renamed it Next Chapters and they seemed to be doing well.

I was impressed by how friendly each of the booksellers I met was - from the folks at Barnes and Noble, to Fireside Books in the small town of West Bend. Booksellers love books and they love Young Adult fiction!

Do you have a favorite bookstore? What do you love about the bookstore experience compared to the online one?

Hugs,

Heather

http://www.heatherdavisbooks.com/

The Clearing ~ April 2010 HMH Graphia

Never Cry Werewolf ~ Sept 2009 HarperTeen

The perfect sandwich

I've been on the road quite a bit since mid June. I've been to about 28 states and I've put over 15,000 miles on my new Honda Fit (her name is "Conniption"...or "Nippy" for short - LOL!) And in my travels, I have found that I am in search of the perfect sandwich.

I love turkey. Not just for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but for every day of the week. I could eat a turkey sandwich for every meal quite honestly. But not everyone is as talented at making them as they should be. Sometimes it's the pressed/formed/chopped turkey meat that leaves you with heartburn and wishing you'd driven past the restaurant.

A truly memorable turkey sandwich is one that has you searching out for the store in future towns, setting your GPS to get you there in time for the lunch rush. I have found several in my travels and here they are.

Jimmy John's Club Lulu - otherwise known as the #16 is fresh sliced turkey breast, bacon, lettuce, & mayo. I get it without tomato. The key to Jimmy John's sammiches is the bread. It's amazing. It's not too doughy or over powering. It's the perfect accompanyment to the rich deli meats.



Firehouse Subs - I first found this place near my parents' house in south Alabama and boy, did they win me over. The Club on a Sub consists of smoked turkey breast and Virginia honey ham topped with Monterey Jack Cheese and crispy Bacon, served hot and “Fully Involved” - which means all the fixings. You know me, though, I get it with lettuce and mayo. This is a serious sub that can be halved between two people to save a little cash.


A little find was Geonetti's Specialty Subs in Roanoke, VA. They bake their turkey, ham, and bacon club and layer on some light mayo. Totally nummy and delicious. Sorry...no pic of the sammich...just a pic of the building.



Subway - when in a pinch, I'll go with their Subway Melt. it's made with lean and tender sliced turkey, ham and crispy bacon topped with melted cheese and served hot with your choice of fresh vegetables and condiments on freshly baked bread. Mmm. Not exactly on par with Jimmy John's and the other places, but the most convenient.



As a New Englander, I do truly cherish the after-Thanksgiving day turkey sandwich made with leftovers of turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce and mayo on wheat toast. A lot of restaurants in New England serve it as a "Pilgrim" sandwich. Had one recently on the road at D'Angelo's and they made themselves proud with it...a side of turkey gravy came with it for dipping.



So, there you have it. My obsession with the turkey sandwich. Do you have a sandwich obsession? What's your fav? Who makes it the best? Let us hear what you think!

Hugs,
Marley = )

What's better for Halloween than some ghost hunting?
GHOST HUNTRESS: THE AWAKENING
GHOST HUNTRESS: THE GUIDANCE
- from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Big Thanks and the Winner(s)!

Thanks to all of you who jumped in to help me “Choose My Hottie” last week. I needed to find a celeb who my 15 year-old book heroine could be crushing on--who was unmarried, had a great smile, and thriving career. I got some wonderful comments and suggestions, and carefully considered them all, especially the advice to put my heroine’s personality first in the decision.

I decided to go with Chase Crawford.

(Nothing against the others--especially Twilight’s Robert Pattison, you understand, just that Chase seemed like the best fit.)

And now for the winner of a signed copy of How to Hook a Hottie chosen by my handy-dandy random number generator):

ELNICE!

Elnice, please e-mail me at admin@tinaferraro.com with your contact information.

And thanks again to all of you for your help and support!

Tina

Tina Ferraro
Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress
How to Hook a Hottie
The ABC’s of Kissing Boys
www.tinaferraro.com

You know you're getting old when...

You think the dad or the teacher on a show is actually more attractive than the male lead! A file example of this is the show that I've started watching after a lot of peer-pressure from my friends (I, however, am not to old for peer pressure!). The show is none other than GLEE!

The basic story is that a high school Spanish teacher wants to relive his glory days and decides to resurrect the school Glee Club with a cool team of so-called misfit teenagers who sing, dance, rumble and terrorize each other into our hearts on Wednesday nights. The musical numbers are just awesome, those kids are so very talented. The cast also represents today's youth: Latinas, black women who are more than just that, gay kids, punk Asian kids, disabled kids, a great mix of characters who all share a passion for the stage.

The male lead of Glee Club is Finn, a jock who wants to be more, and he will be...he's going to be the daddy of his girlfriend's baby....or is he?

This is Finn with the "other" woman in his life, the female lead of Glee Club, Rachel who is in love with him.

My favorite is of course the teacher. 30 year old Will Shuster played beautifully by Matthew Morrison. Will is the leader of this rag-tag little group and has problems of his own. His wife of 5 years is expecting their first child....or is she?

I love this man's voice and dance skills! I completely feel that he steals this show from the younger kids and always love "Will and Emma" focused forbidden love episodes. I hear Matthew is making his own album...can't wait for that!

Now, who is Emma? Watch the show to find out!

I'm off to continue my NaNo goals...I am 8K in and very behind!

-----------------------------------

Dona Sarkar-Mishra

These guys suck, but I still love them.

I decided to go with my favorite vampire hotties today. Even if the thought of a guy sucking your blood completely turns you off, you still have to admit these guys are hot (I guess they are actually cold, but you know what I mean).
If you aren't watching the CW's The Vampire Diaries, you are really missing out. This is turning into a really great show. My favorite character is Stefan Salvatore played by Paul Wesley. Stefan isn't your typical bloodsucker. He only feeds off animal blood and spends all of his time running around trying to keep Elena safe and clean up his brother Damon's messes.

Damon Salvatore is your typical vampire bad boy. I didn't give Ian Somerhalder a second glance when he played Boone on LOST, but he cannot be ignored as Damon. As vampires go, Damon is probably one of the worst. He is constantly killing or turning someone. He's kind of awesome. Just ask Tera, she'll tell you!

Eric Northman, yummy. I hated Eric in the first season of True Blood. I thought his character was just way too obnoxious. Then he got a hair cut. I'm serious, that's all it took for him to quickly become one of my favorite characters. Yeah, I'm kind of superficial like that. I'm looking forward to more of a relationship between Eric and Sookie.

And last but not least, Bill Compton. Who doesn't love a Southern gentleman? Bill can be pretty fierce but he's a pretty good guy for the most part. He is always so sweet with Sookie, even when she is being super annoying and I would have smacked her. I just hoped that whoever kidnapped him is taking very good care of him until the next season starts.

Who is your favorite bloodsucker?

Happy weekend,

Steph

www.stephaniehale.com

Books, Boys, and Boooooos!

How was everyone's Halloween? Hope it was great!

First off, the winner of my Halloween contest (both GHOST HUNTRESS books and a copy of THE OTHER SIDE: A TEEN'S GUIDE TO GHOST HUNTING AND THE PARANORMAL) is........

Lucile aka Book Sp(l)ot

Please contact me with your snail mail address at marley_gibson AT yahoo DOT com.

Since we've got a boys theme going this week, I'll sign off with a report from my school visit to Boston College High School. It's an all-boys private school here in Boston and it's very prestigious. I spoke to two groups: one was the middle school book club where we talked about the GHOST HUNTRESS series and the paranormal and the second was the senior AP writing class where we talked about the publishing world. Great kids and a fabulous time with them. Here I am with a few students and the amazing librarian, Tia Esposito, who brought me in. I just loved visiting!



So, Halloween night, my sweetie and I went to see PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, which I think was very well done. So funny, all last week leading up to Halloween, I had a ton of radio interviews and every single one of them asked me what I thought of the movie. I guess as a ghost huntress myself, I have some credibility when it comes to things like that, eh? Well, I thought the movie was brilliant. Filmed for $11,000, no crew, a cast of a handful, very suspenseful and accurate towards some of the tools actual investigators use. I thought the special effects were realistic and well done, but I wanted to smack Micah. He never listened to Katie. He kept dabbling in something he had no business dabbling in. And he brought in a Ouija board into the house...uh-uh...no way.



Well, I won't spoil the plot if you haven't seen it. I highly recommend the movie.

Have you seen it yet? What did you think? Did it scare the patookie out of you? LOL!!

Hugs,
Marley = )

Deadline Girl

I am currently racing toward a December 1st dealine, so no time for a real blog post. Instead, I give you a snapshot of what I'm staring at for hours each day while writing my first draft.




While I'm not admitting my current page count (editors are watching, you know) I will say that I hope to have my draft done in two to three weeks. Yeehah!

Hugs,
TLC

OH. MY. GODS. and GODDESS BOOT CAMP (out now!)
FORGIVE MY FINS (coming June 1, 2010)
http://www.teralynnchilds.com