What's Up Wednesday and a Winner!

Happy 9/9/09!

I've been looking forward to this day for months, since I started looking into numerology while researching for TRANCE. (The number nine is significant to one of the characters.) I learned that in the Chaldean Numerology system, nine was held to be holy and sacred. A very powerful number.

It's also considered lucky in the Thai culture. Odd numbers are considered luckier than even, with the number 3 being very lucky. And since 9 = 3x3, it's ultra lucky.

Today is about to be a very lucky day for one lucky reader - the winner of CRAZY BEAUTIFUL. And that winner is...

DeNISe MaDnEsS

Please send me your mailing instructions at gerb@lindagerber.com and we'll get that sent out to you!

Everyone else, come on back on Friday for another super sekrit Freebie!

What else is up today?

Claudia Osmond's SMUDGE'S MARK hits the shelves today!

Rosemary Clement Moore's THE SPLENDOR FALLS hit the shelves yesterday!

Also new this week -Janey Lee Carey's STEALING DEATH and Robin Wasserman's CRASHED!

AND

Glee starts tonight! Woot!

May the rest of your week be faulous! See you on Friday!

FREEBE FRIDAY with Lauren Baratz-Logsted!

Happy Friday! Today I'm excited to bring you a special pre-launch freebie with Lauren Baratz-Logsted, whose book CRAZY BEAUTIFUL hits the shelves on MONDAY! I have wanted this book ever since I heard about the premise and then saw the sensational cover. My copy just arrived on pre-order from Amazon! Yay! (But I can't read it until I get this next round of edits done and to my editor. Boo!)

Here is the blurb for the book:

In an explosion of his own making, Lucius blew his arms off. Now he has hooks. He chose hooks because they were cheaper. He chose hooks because he wouldn’t outgrow them so quickly. He chose hooks so that everyone would know he was different, so he would scare even himself.

Then he meets Aurora. The hooks don’t scare her. They don’t keep her away. In fact, they don’t make any difference at all to her. But to Lucius, they mean everything. They remind him of the beast he is inside. Perhaps Aurora is his Beauty, destined to set his soul free from its suffering.

Or maybe she’s just a girl who needs love just like he does.

Le sigh.

Love it.

For those of you who don't know Lauren yet (or at least know of her,) she is the crazy busy author of over a dozen books, including Angel's Choice, Secrets of My Suburban Life, The Sisters Eight series and four new releases (yes, four) in the upcoming year. Check out the descriptions below. More love! You find out more about Lauren on her website, myspace, facebook, or follow her on twitter!

Now for the interview:

What inspired you to write CRAZY BEAUTIFUL?
I've always liked Beauty & the Beast best of all the Disney-fied fairy tales and, after seeing it on Broadway, concluded the reason it's so successful is that it's the only one where the male lead is more than just mere window dressing to make the female look good; if anything, he's by far the more compelling character. So I decided I wanted to do my own version, focusing on how surface values - Aurora's beauty, distinctive physical features like Lucius's hooks, even rumors - affect how others perceive and treat us, thereby affecting how we perceive and treat the world in return.

Are any of your characters based on real people that you know?
In the interest of not getting sued: no. In the interest of telling the truth: no. I don't know anyone as stunningly perfect as Aurora or as gorgeously flawed as Lucius.

What excites you?
My daughter. Reading. Good TV. Good food. I'm easy to excite. Really, I'm practically stir-happy here.

What turns you off?
Close-minded, judgy people.

If you could invite anyone you wanted - living or dead - to hang out with you at a weekend retreat, who would you invite and why?
It'll change tomorrow, but since Little Women is on my mind today I'll say Louisa May Alcott. I'd like to grill her on a question that's been bothering me and countless others for decades: How can Laurie not end up with Jo??? Then I'll pour Louisa a glass of Prosecco and we can watch the sunset together.

What's one thing most people don't know about you?
That I have a secret desire to be Mayor of Danbury.

What's your favorite quote?
Ack! I did *not* see that one coming! OK, let's see... "Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds..." I'm a closet romantic. Come to think of it, I'm ditching Louisa May Alcott on that weekend retreat. I'm taking Shakespeare with me instead.

What are you working on now?
I've got four new books coming out in 2010. Two more YA: The Education of Bet, due out in April, is set in the Victorian era and is about a 16-year-old girl who impersonates a boy in order to get a proper education; and The Twin's Daughter, due out in the fall and also set in the Victorian era, about a girl whose life is changed forever when she discovers that her gorgeous and wealthy mother has an identical twin who was raised in the poorhouse. (Linda's note: Oooooh!) The other two books are Books 5 and 6 from The Sisters 8 series for young readers which I created with my novelist husband Greg Logsted (www.greglogsted.com) and our nine-year-old daughter Jackie. Phew!

What is an interesting writing quirk of yours?
I use "that" too much and (some people think) I use "and" too little. It's a tone and weight-of-sentence thing. OK, I'm weird.

What songs would make the playlist for CRAZY BEAUTIFUL?
I wouldn't normally be able to answer this question quickly but since someone else just asked me... Rob Thomas's "Lonely No More" - I love the moody sound of it - and "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. I'd also add Howie Day's "Collide" and "Listen to Your Heart" by Dht.

Milk Chocolate or Dark?
Vegan.

OK, now for the freebie. Lauren has graciously donated a signed copy of CRAZY BEAUTIFUL for this week's lucky winner. We're going to do it a little differently this week. You can earn one drawing entry each for the following:

*Refer someone to this pre-release celebration blog post. (Just have them say you sent them.)
*Post about the CRAZY BEAUTIFUL release on your blog, facebook or myspace (or whatever.)
*Tweet about CRAZY BEAUTIFUL.
*Send Lauren a Happy Release Day message on Monday.
(Send me the links to the last three.)

This drawing will remain open until Wednesday, September 9.

Winner and What's Up Wednesday

Happy hump day! Half-way to the long weekend!!!

Thanks for all the back-to-school memories. The winner of the gift cards by random drawing are:

lesley and S.o.L.a.R.

Please drop me an email at gerb @ lindagerber . com and I'll send those out to you.

Everyone else, you are going to want to be here on Friday for a special freebie celebrating the release of Lauren Baratz-Logsted's CRAZY BEAUTIFUL. Lauren will drop by for an interview and will be giving away a signed copy of CRAZY BEAUTIFUL. You do not want to miss this one!


What else is up this week?

My friend and crit partner Kate Coomb's fabulously funny book, RUNAWAY DRAGON hit the shelves just yesterday. If you love clever characters and witty dialog, you'll want to grab this sequel to RUNAWAY PRINCESS.


Jennifer Brown's HATE LIST also made its debut yesterday. She's having a blog party to celebrate the launch right here: (CLICK!) And check out the trailer. Wow.

Other waited-for book releases this week include Suzanne Collins' CATCHING FIRE, Mary E. Peterson's THE MILES BETWEEN and Jill Alexander's THE SWEETHEART OF PROSPER COUNTY.


In other news...Jacob Black is front and center in the newest NEW MOON movie trailer.



I heart Quileute Werewolves. : )

Check out Taylor Lautner's spread and interview in Teen Vogue.

That's it for now. See you on Friday for the CRAZY BEAUTIFUL freebie!

What's up Wednesday AND a winner!

Hi, guys! Sorry about not posting the winner yesterday - Blogger has been off and on for me this past week and yesterday was one of the off days. Thanks for sharing your freaky experiences. By random drawing, the winner of THE LOST SISTER is:

Paradox

Please send an email with your mailing instructions to gerb @ lindagerber . com and we'll get that sent out to you. Everyone else, be sure to come back this Friday for a multi-book freebie!

And now for what's up... Friday I had a great author visit with The Learned Owl Book Shop up in Hudson, OH. This event was special because it was arranged due to a request from Chelsea, known online to many of us as The Page Flipper. (Shameless self-promotion - you can read about the event and Chelsea's review of DEATH BY DENIM here.) It was great meeting Chelsea and her friend and hanging out with everyone at Cali Juice (they held the event at a smoothie shop. Loud, but too fun!)
Moral of this story, if you want me to come do a signing in your area, just let me know and I'll see what I can arrange!

Other fun stuff:

* Check out Diana Peterfreund's fabulous new killer unicorns website and the hilarious PSA video from Gordian Pharmaceuticals here. Her book RAMPANT hits the shelves August 25th.

* For all of you waiting for Lauren Baratz-Logsted's CRAZY BEAUTIFUL, Amazon is shipping early!!! Check it out! Order your copy now and you can read it before it even comes out!

*Margaret Peterson Haddix's SENT hits the shelves on Tuesday. I'll be going to her signing at Cover to Cover right here in Columbus, so be watching for that one as part of a Freebie Friday coming up!

*TFC sister Sarah Zarr's upcoming book ONCE WAS LOST just got a starred review from Publisher's Weekly! You can read it here (but you have to scroll way down.) Congratulations, Sarah!

*In other TFC news, fans of Melissa Walker will be happy to hear that she has another book in the works - SMALL TOWN SINNERS with Bloomsbury, described as "the story of a small town girl who is excited to star in Hell House, her church's annual haunted house of sin, until a childhood friend appears and makes her question her faith." Congratulations, Melissa!

*AND! Yet another TFC sister, Amanda Ashby, just sold a new MG series to Puffin about a girl who "accidentally gets turned into a djinn the day before starting sixth grade and has to learn to deal with her new powers without her mom finding out." Congratulations, Amanda!

* You still have time to join the birthday celebration over on Hope's Bookshelf and win a copy of DEATH BY DENIM (and a bunch of other great books!) Here's your chance to tell us grown up types what you wish we would remember about being a teenager (and enter to win!)

And that's about it for today. See you on Friday! Ciao!