Winners Announced!

Congratulations to the following Books Boys Buzz commenters for winning a signed copy of my brand-spankin' new book, LIFTED:

Steph & Bookaholic
There was a bit of confusion (sorry!) so here are the specific comments that my son pulled out of the hat:
Steph: I met one of my best friends in Girl Scouts. I always thought she was weird so we never talked to each other ...
Bookaholic: A true friend holds you tight, even if you've had the worst fight.

If you wrote either of those comments, please contact me via my web-site, http://www.wendytoliver.com/, with your full name and U.S. mailing address as well as who you'd like the book signed to, and I'll get them mailed off when I'm home next week!

Thank you to everybody for stopping by this week and thanks so much for participating in the contest! I hope you had as much fun as I did! :)

P.S. If you didn't win, you might be interested in another contest I'm running the entire month of June. It's easy! Just contact me via my website with the word "Contest," your name and US mailing address and you'll be entered to win a signed copies of LIFTED, gift cards to Border's, bookmarks, and other fun prizes I've been picking up on my road trips!

Best Friends Week!

It’s Release week for Buzz Girl Wendy Toliver’s LIFTED.

Yay, Wendy! Ever since I heard the premise, I've been excited to read this book.

To celebrate the release in proper Buzz Girl style, we’re talking about best friends on the blog this week -- since the book deals with best friends -- and running a contest for two signed copies of LIFTED, too. You can comment each day to try to score a copy.

So, do you remember your first best friend? My very best friend in grade school had the exact same birthday as me – well, off by one year, but the same day.

I loved going to her house. It was quiet there since she only had one sister (compared to my big family) and there was junk food in her kitchen – always chips, always ice cream. That was so much better than the hippie fare at my house like zucchini sticks, carob chips, and fruit leather.

We’d listen to her record collection and play with her oodles of Barbies in their perfect dream house. She had every stuffed Snoopy doll there was, even Dr. Snoopy. We made hours of fake radio shows on her tape recorder. We played pool and pachinko and stayed up late.

But our friendship was based on… I’m not sure. Who knows why you bond to someone and love them for years? Maybe it was the fact that we were both semi-outsiders – she was a little dorky and had trouble reading, I was a little dorky and wore head-gear for my overbite.

We met early in school, maybe 2nd grade. Even if I don’t recall how we got to be friends, I remember spending many hours enjoying her company. Sadly, I lost touch with her when my family moved to the other side of town after seventh grade – I only remember visiting her once after that and it wasn’t the same.

Have you ever lost touch with a childhood friend like that? I have the feeling you can never go back to the way it was. The world you once created together exists in its own place and time.

CONTEST:

In comments, tell me about how you got to be best friends with your bff and you’ll be entered to win Wendy Toliver’s LIFTED. Winners will be announced this weekend.

Hugs,

Heather

www.heatherdavisbooks.com

The Clearing -- HMH April 2010

Wherever You Go – Harcourt Fall 2011

Never Cry Werewolf – Harperteen 09/09 - Paperback 09/10

Symbols of Friendship

What an awesome week we've got here celebrating Wendy's new book, LIFTED. I'm so proud of her and this book and everything she put into it. It really gives a good look at friendship and how important it is in our lives.



Through the years, when people have formed best friendedness, as I like to call it -- and I'm known for making up words -- they often choose some sort of symbol to show their connection to their best friend. I know that when I was growing up, we'd sometimes buy the same stuffed animal or the same outfit so we could be besties and twins almost.

Friendship has been symbolized with embroidery thread (gimp) bracelets...



Safety pins with beads on them...



Even friendship rings...



Or a necklace that breaks in two so each friend can wear a piece...



And more recently, the trading of Silly Bandz, which I'm completely fascinated by. You'll see people with seven or eight of these bands in different colors and shapes around their wrist...



So, in celebration of the release of Wendy's LIFTED and to be entered to win a copy of the book, leave your comment about the symbols of friendship you've seen over the years. As a special bonus, I'll have Wendy's son draw an extra name for the winners and you'll get two packs of Silly Bandz sent to you. How's that?

Hugs,
Marley = )

Ghosts don't hang up their sheets November 1st...
GHOST HUNTRESS: THE REASON - available now!

Friendship Week

Congratulations to Buzz girl Wendy on the release of her third book, LIFTED! (This is Wendy's first release week as a Buzz girl, so let's make it a good one!) In honor of her book, we're talking friendship all week long.

For my part, I want to talk about one of my favorite romantic plots of all time: the best friends who realize they love each other. I am such a sucker for this storyline. It might all date back to kindergarten when my best friend was an adorable blond Dutch boy named Wauter. Secretly, I still wonder whether we're still meant to be....

Anyway, I adore books and movies about best friends (or childhood friends) who all of a sudden wake up to the fact that the perfect person has been right next to them all along. I think it's all about getting to that moment, that instant where one of them realizes the truth of their feelings. The duality of being thrilled to find love and terrified that the other friend won't feel the same way and that confessing might end the friendship all together. How will it all work out?

One of the first complete stories I ever wrote was about a pair of best friends/roomies who realize they're meant to be together after an April Fool's joke forces them to start thinking about each other differently. Hmmm, might have to go dig that story out....

This theme is one of the reasons I love The Hunger Games. There's obviously something under the surface between Gale and Katniss, I mean he almost said he loved her in Catching Fire, right? And when Mockingjay comes out in two months (TWO MONTHS!!!) I fully expect a little best friends romance.

I'm a sucker for best friends turning into lovers in the movies, too. One of my all-time favorite movies is Drive Me Crazy, starring Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier. The pair were best friends in elementary school, but had drifted apart by the time high school rolled around. But a basketball mishap and a breach of dance date protocol brings them back together as pretend boyfriend-girlfriend. It's only a matter of time before the pretend part disappears.

Now I'm looking for recommendations. To be entered to win a copy of LIFTED, tell me about your favorite best-friends-fall-in-love book or movie. And if the boy has secretly loved the girl all along, then all the better!

Hugs,
TLC

Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp (Greek gods are more than myth.)
FORGIVE MY FINS (What happens when a mermaid kisses a human?)

Celebrity Besties!

We’ve got a fun week happening as we’re discussing the qualities that make a good friend in celebration of the release of Wendy Toliver’s newest book,
Lifted.

Here is my favorite quote about friends:

“Good friends are like stars.... You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.”

For me, the mark of a wonderful friendship is one that feels close and personal no matter how much time has passed. That it’s not the amount of energy you put in on a day-to-day basis as much as the capacity you have to give when needed or when the circumstances present themselves. For this reason, I rarely let old friendships go...try to stay in touch via the internet and/or vacation visits.

Here are two sets of celebrity besties whose friendships have proven the test of time, Matt Damon & Ben Affleck and Courteney Cox & Jennifer Aniston:



And here is one brand new one, Lea Michele & Dianna Argon from GLEE:


To be entered in our contest to win a copy of LIFTED, simply name another set of best friends, either from public life, literature, movies, songs...

And check back next Sunday, when Wendy will announce the winners!

Tina

Tina Ferraro
The ABC’s of Kissing Boys, 2010 Rita® Finalist
How to Hook a Hottie, 2009 Rita® Finalist
Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress
www.tinaferraro.com

It's LIFTED's Book Birthday Week!

Dear Books Boys Buzz readers,

This week marks the release of my YA novel, LIFTED, and I am so honored and excited to celebrate it with you all. When people ask me what this book is about, I usually say it's about a teenage girl named Poppy who becomes addicted to shoplifting. But really, it's about so much more. This book took me about two years to write because I did so much research and the story itself went through so many versions. I wanted to write Poppy's story because it was so different from the books I'd already written and I welcomed the challenge. And now that it's (almost) officially into the hands of readers, I'm beyond excited.

To get a more official idea about what this book is about, as well as watch its trailer and see what some awesome authors and reviewers have said about it, click here.

And now I'm going to tell you all about The Contest that will be running this week right here at the fabulous Books, Boys, Buzz blog.

The prize is a signed copy of LIFTED!!!

Because one of the themes of LIFTED is friendship, the Buzz Girls will be blogging about friendship. For every day you leave a comment, you will earn one entry into my hat (so you can get up to 7 entries). Then my youngest son will draw 2 winners and we will announce the winners early next week.

I'll go first: A true friend loves me when I'm a mess just as much as when I'm at my very best.

Authorly Ramblings

I thought I'd write about some authorly stuff because it seems like this part of my life has been very active this month. (This is a picture of Lifted's page in the summer 2010 Simon & Schuster catalog. Looks great, huh?)

About a week and a half ago, I was invited to participate in an editor's retreat at a professor's home in Orem, Utah. What was different about this gathering was you had to be a nationally published children's book author or illustrator to attend. Ruth Katcher from Egmont USA came from NYC to talk about the children's book publishing industry and after mini-presentations by Utah authors Mette Ivie Harrison, Kristyn Crow, and Carol Lynch Williams, Ruth let us know what she thought about the first few pages of our works in progress. It was really exciting to get a sneak peek at the manuscripts such talented authors were working on, and everybody's feedback--whether from an experienced editor or an experienced writer--on the pages I shared was priceless.

Soon after, I heard back from my literary agent on the 3 book proposal ideas I'd sent her earlier in March. She thought my paranormal romance (YA) was most promising and had some great ideas for it. So, as you can imagine, I'm busy reworking the synopsis and writing those first couple of make it or break it chapters.

I've also been busy presenting lately. My sons' elementary school invited me to present an inspirational and humorous talk I call "Imagine the Possibilities!" Shortly after, I was invited to participate in a Salt Lake City charter school's literacy night, which was especially fun because I bumped into a couple of old friends who now have children who go to that school. Then I was supposed to present "The Path to Publication" at a university's writers' conference, but due to some strange conflicts, they canceled. Oh well, now I have a great presentation just waiting to be delivered elsewhere! Next I had another unexpected phone call. Each year, the sixth graders at Valley Elementary put on a Serve to Save dinner, where they raise an average of $6,000 for local, national, and international charities. Their keynote speaker canceled last minute, so they wondered if I could step in. So I did. On Thursday night, I spoke about the importance of service, and I have no idea how it went, but I was honored to have been asked. Then, yesterday I also had a speaking engagement, this time at the League of Utah Writer's spring conference. I did a workshop on pitches and since people were taking notes and participating, I think it went pretty well.

In addition to going to a retreat, working hard on a proposal, and having various speaking engagements, one of the first interviews for my upcoming YA novel, LIFTED, was just posted by Bee (from India) on her wonderful Dreamcatcher's Lair blog. Check it out here.

Book Trailers

I don't know about you guys, but I LOVE watching book trailers. This one is amazing, don't you think? The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. (I just barely started reading this book, by the way.) Or check this one out: Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. It's like a mini-movie! And so is The Karma Club by Jessica Brody's book trailer.

Yesterday my husband and I headed to Hastings (which I have to say is always so supportive of its local authors) to film what will eventually become the book trailer for my June 8th release, Lifted. While I adore the trailers for The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren and Miss Match (thank you Air Productions Co!) I thought it would be fun to do something a little less traditional, a little crazy, and maybe even a little illegal when it came to Lifted. So, with the help of my husband and my brother (who is putting it all together for me), I'm hoping it will be awesome!

What's YOUR favorite book trailer?

Our New Bee Wendy's High School Memories!

Happy Thursday!

A little housekeeping before we get into our daily celebration of Wendy Tolliver, our new bee – the winner of last week’s Favorite Things giveaway – is HEATHER M. Please email me at heather(at)heatherdavisbooks.com with your mailing address so I can send you delicious chocolate-orange fondue, gummy bears, and a signed copy of my book, Never Cry Werewolf.

And now – without further ado, I’m so very lucky to get to interview our brand-spanking-new Bee, Wendy Toliver! Since most of us YA authors relive the high school years on a daily basis in our writing, I thought it would be fun to dig into Wendy’s memory of her formative years.

Q: Hey, Wendy! Welcome to the Buzz Girls. To start, please tell us what kind of kid were you in HS?

A: Hmm, good question. I played basketball and soccer, sang in concert choir and school musicals, played piano, took Honors and AP classes (though art class was my favorite), and was active in my church's youth group. I had a best friend who I did everything with and was completely boy crazy. I drove a humongous and totally unglamorous Ford LTD we called the Banana Boat, and my wardrobe was pretty Gap-ish. My favorite lunch was Cheetos, a poppy seed muffin, and a raspberry New York Seltzer. I loved The Simpsons, Depeche Mode, and going to dance clubs and Nuggets basketball games.

Q: Whew—my stomach is hurting for Teenage Wendy! Tell us, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A: A news anchor or a psychiatrist.


Q: As a YA author, have you used any incidents or memories from HS in your novels?

A: Not directly, but definitely as far as feelings and the daily in-and-outs of high school.


Q: Inquiring minds want to know -- did you have a secret HS crush?

A: Oh yes, many many, many crushes. And they changed almost daily, ha ha! I tended to like guys who were athletic, funny, handsome, and taller than me (I'm 5'9"). I went to a school with about 2,000 students and worked at a grocery store with a lot of other teenagers, so guys were plentiful in my life. Unfortunately, I didn't really have much reciprocation, so whenever I wanted to do something couple-ish, I resorted to having people fix me up with guys who went to different schools. I think the biggest secret crush I had was a guy named Shane who worked at the grocery store with me. He had a girlfriend, though, so I never told him.


Q: Did you have a nickname in HS?

A: Yes I did! Fergie (My last name was Ferguson before I got married) and Prancer amonst basketball team-mates (I don't know if this came from my tiny feet that looked like hooves in my basketball high-tops, or if it's because of the way I ran. Either way, kind of funny.)

Q: Who were your best friends in HS?

A: Amy Uppinghouse (in picture with Wendy at right) and Tonya Monson. I met them both in junior high and we're still close even though we went to different colleges and live in different states. Another of my best friends was Emily Bateman, who went to a different high school but we became friends way back in second grade!


Q: Do you have any regrets about your HS experience?

A: Of course I do! I don't think I was terrible to anyone, but I do remember being less than nice to a few people and I feel bad about that. Let's see, one of the major dances was a total bummer because I asked a guy-friend and he ended up being a total jerk, not even dancing with me, so I had to hang out with my friend and her boyfriend the whole night. I regret volunteering to play the piano for the school's big choir concert because the instructor yelled at me which only made my hands shake and I messed up even more. I was literally praying the entire song, just wanting to get through it. But overall, I LOVED my high school years and am so thankful to have gone to such a great one.


Q: Have you gone back to visit your HS now that you are a YA author?

A: I went there for my 10 year reunion but that was before I became an author. However, I did go back and do an author visit at my old junior high which was cool. Only a few of the teachers I had were still there and they look the same!


Q: What advice would you give kids in HS now?

A: I hate it when a teenager gets so wrapped up in her boy- or girlfriend that he/she ends up losing a part of him/herself. Think of the relationship as fun and exciting, but make sure you still make time for your friends and family.


Q: Any funny story you want to tell about HS that we haven’t already covered?

A: Once my friend Amy and I went to watch "Fiddler on the Roof" at another high school because some people we knew were in it. We brought a bag of Cheetos to munch on. Of course, food wasn't allowed in the theater but we thought we might get hungry. Then one of us dropped the bag, and it slid all the way down the sloped floor, bright orange chips scattering loudly en route to the base of the stage. I'd say we were mortified, but all I can remember is laughing and not being able to stop, yet another live-production no-no.

Thanks, Wendy! Be sure to check out Wendy’s awesome books -- The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren and Miss Match – on shelves now. And her super-cool sounding next book, Lifted will be a summer 2010 release from Simon Pulse – so keep your eyes peeled for that, too. You can read more about Wendy at http://www.wendytoliver.com/

So Buzz Blog readers -- do you have any more questions about high school for Wendy? Post your question or comment on your own HS experience and you’ll be entered to win a $10 Borders gift certificate all week long!

Hugs,


Heather
http://www.heatherdavisbooks.com/
The Clearing – April 2010 - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Never Cry Werewolf –2009 - HarperTeen

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