Coming Soon from Our New Bee...

By now we all know that the lovely Wendy Toliver is our new Buzz Girl Bee! (Yay, Wendy!)

Here is a rather silly photo is of Wendy and me, taken Thanksgiving weekend 2009, when we were finally able to meet up--after narrowly missing each other for years at writing conferences! It was so much fun to chat and catch up with her over salads at Applebee's. And among the things we talked about was her next release, Lifted, which will release on June 8th.

Here’s the official blurb:

Poppy Browne is none too thrilled to be the new girl in Pleasant Acres, Texas--especially after her mother enrolls her in a private Baptist school. But to her delight, Poppy is pulled into the cool clique on her first day at Calvary High, and her new friends, Mary Jane and Whitney, are as genuinely nice as they are gorgeous and rich. The catch? Her new pals have a nasty shoplifting habit, and before long Poppy is also a theft enthusiast. But when the girls' addictions get out of hand and friendships are threatened, it's up to Poppy to set things right....


Wendy tells me that she’s been working on Lifted for over two years, in many different forms. She wanted to write a book that dealt with shoplifting because everyone has either done it or knows someone who has.

She set it in East Texas, deeply rooted in the Bible belt, so there's a built-in conflict of good vs. bad, right vs. wrong, holy vs. sinful, etc. It's her edgiest book so far, and she touches on topics that might raise a few eyebrows, but she’s excited to see what kind of conversations it provokes.

And here's what three stellar authors had to say about Lifted:

“Lifted is the story of an imperfect heroine seeking her place not only in school, but in life. Its exploration of the amount of truth behind social and religious stereotypes escalates into a double-dog dare to believe them. A haunting morality tale that will leave you questioning just what it means to be "good." --Aprilynne Pike, author of the #1 New York Times Best-Selling novel Wings

"Lifted by Wendy Toliver is an amazing, compelling read, filled with all the realness of being in high school, from humor to love to angst. I haven't met a character so well developed as Poppy since reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. At times heartbreaking, at others uplifting, Lifted is a book that I absolutely loved." James Dashner, best selling author of The Maze Runner

“Smart, deftly written, and extremely well-observed, Wendy Toliver’s Lifted is so realistic and moving I felt like I was transported right inside Poppy’s world, watching as she struggled to navigate her way through a school where appearances are deceiving and no one is quite what they seem. A hard to put down, compelling read!”—Alyson Noel, #1 New York Times Best Selling author of The Immortals series

Wow! All I can say is hurry, June 8th!

And now, the announcement of the WINNER of My Favorite Things contest:

HALF-BAKED CHRISTIAN

H-BC, Please contact me at admin@tinaferraro.com and I will get a copy of A Mango Shaped Space on its way to you!

And a reminder to all readers that Wendy is running a contest all week long for a $10 Borders gift certificate, and you can enter once per day by commenting on our blogs. So please, go to our comments to enter. And in light of the fun and interesting lunch that Wendy and I shared, mention a special meal or get together you've had lately!

Tina

Tina Ferraro
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