Friday, December 18, 2009

FREEBIE FRIDAY with Rhonda Stapleton

Happy Friday! Only one week until Christmas! Anyone else not ready?

Today I'm very pleased to welcome Rhonda Stapleton to the blog. Her book, STUPID CUPID hits the shelves on Tuesday - just in time for gift giving!

I met Rhonda in person just last Saturday at an event Chelsea (The Page Flipper) organized for authors and book bloggers. Fun event - with cupcakes!- and Rhonda is about the funniest person I've met.

Rhonda says she started writing appease the voices in her head. (Pretty strong voices, I'd guess - she has a Master's degree in English and a Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing.) She shares my love for chocolate, Chinese and Japanese food, and reading! If you ever invite Rhonda to your house, don't serve her blue food and what ever you do, don't hang the toilet paper roll so that it unwinds along the wall. You've been warned...

Meanwhile, I can't wait to get my hands on her book, STUPID CUPID. Chapter one is available to read online, and it left me wanting more! Here's the official blurb:

Felicity Walker believes in true love. That's why she applies for a gig at the matchmaking company Cupid's Hollow. But when Felicity gets the job, she learns that she isn't just a matchmaker...she's a cupid! (There's more than one of them, you know.) Armed with a hot pink, tricked-out PDA infused with the latest in cupid magic (love arrows shot through email), Felicity works to meet her quota of successful matches. But when she bends the rules of cupidity by matching her best friend Maya with three different boys at once, disaster strikes. Felicity needs to come up with a plan to set it all right, pronto, before she gets fired...and before Maya ends up with her heart split in three.

Reviewers call it "charming", "fast-paced", "real life" and "fabulously funny."

If that's not enough to get you excited, how about this - two more books will quickly follow STUPID CUPID - FLIRTING WITH DISASTER and PUCKER UP.

For this week's Freebie, we're going to do something a little different. To celebrate the release, Rhonda and her release date triplets, Bree Despain and Lindsay Eland are hosting three scavenger hunts on their blogs, giving away their books, STUPID CUPID, SCONES AND SENSIBILITY and THE DARK DIVINE. Hurry on over to enter. I'll wait. (But don't forget to come back for another chance to win!)

You're back? Okay. We're going to conduct our own little scavenger hunt - and it's super simple. To be entered to win a signed copy of STUPID CUPID and a seriously adorable STUPID CUPID bookmark, leave a comment below, wishing Rhonda a happy release day and search Rhonda's website to find the correct answers to my mini scavenger hunt questions. (They're way easy.) Choose one of the three to answer and send the answer to me at gerb (@) lindagerber (.) com. (Important: please write STUPID CUPID in the subject line of your email so that it will not get lost in my overflowing inbox.) This contest will remain open until Wednesday, December 23 - one day after the release date!

1. Why does Rhonda write YA stories?
2. What color heart is featured on PUCKER UP?
3. When does Rhonda blog over at Fictionistas?

That's it! I told you it was easy. Have a fabulous weekend!


(To my friends in the Northeast - get out those shovels and bundle up. Stay safe and warm!)