Oh, yesss! The Fan Girl in Me Does the Happy Dance*

On the iPod - Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes by Kristin Andreassen

And the winner of Jen Nadol's THE MARK swag pack is: kathleenliz

Please send your mailing instructions to gerb (@) lindagerber (.) com and we'll get that send out to you. Everyone else, please come back on Friday for another freebie with debut author Julie Kagawa and her new book THE IRON KING.

What's up?

My sweet friend and amazing author Kate Coombs nominated me for the Prolific Blogger Award. Thank you, Kate! I'm going to pass along the nominations in a couple of weeks - as soon as I meet my current deadline!

Snowpocalypse has created a winter postcard outside my office window. Very pretty, but not so fun to drive in or shovel. The kids are on their second snow day from school. Have I mentioned how hard it is to get any writing done with the kids home? *grumble, grumble* Oh, um... hi, kids. I love you! : D

Ellen DeGeneres made her American Idol debut last night. I really liked her. Yeah, yeah, I know. But I love that cheesy show. Anyone else watch it? What did you think?

*Huge week for fabulous YA new releases... HAPPY RELEASE WEEK to Lisa McMann (GONE: WAKE), Heather Brewer (ELEVENTH GRADE BURNS: THE CHRONICLES OF VLADIMIR TOD), Ally Carter (HEIST SOCIETY), Kristin Harmel (AFTER), Jillian Cantor (THE LIFE OF GLASS) and Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (TOKEN OF DARKNESS)!

And finally, today's video link: My friend Nikki Stone was on the TODAY SHOW on NBC! Go, Nikki!

LATTE 4 - HEATHER BREWER

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER!!!

Everyone, please give it up for birthday auntie, Heather Brewer, author of the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series, EIGHTH GRADE BITES, NINTH GRADE SLAYS and the upcoming TENTH GRADE BLEEDS and ELEVENTH GRADE BURNS.

Heather, thank you!

My son, Jacob, is a terrible liar. I know it. He knows it. Everyone who knows him knows it. He can't lie, because the moment he tries, the truth is written all over his face. He sputters and his eyes go all wide and guilty, and if I stare at him for a few seconds, he crumbles and confesses immediately. That's why he doesn't do it often—because he just sucks at it. But as I always tell him, the truth will get you further than a lie.

Unfortunately, I am way better at giving great advice than adhering to it.

When I was in high school, my best friend's name was Jen. We were super close, and basically spent every waking moment together. For her 16^th birthday, we formulated a plan of celebration: we'd get pizza, and whip cream-topped hot cocoa at our favorite restaurant on the corner, and spend the night hanging out, maybe watch The Princess Bride. It was all we needed, and all Jen really wanted for her birthday. But her mother had other plans.

As the big day approached, Jen's mom let me in on a little secret: she'd organized a huge surprise sleepover birthday party for Jen and her "friends"—me and a group of roughly fifteen girls that Jen had casually chatted with at one time or another. It was an awful idea, something that Jen absolutely wouldn't have wanted. Her mom swore me to secrecy and made me promise her over and over that I would say nothing to Jen about the party. I swore on my life that I would never say a word.

"What?!"

That was Jen's reaction when I told her about ten minutes after hearing the news.

Yeah. I'm a bad person. But at least Jen was forewarned of the impending unwelcome streamers and balloons. And to this day, I'm still glad I lied.

To be entered to win a copy of Eighth Grade Bites and one of three iTunes cards, be sure to leave Heather a happy birthday message below!!!

MORE BIKINI! #3 Heather Brewer

Strangers Have the Best Candy

I've always been fascinated with mysterious strangers—strangers, after all, have the best candy. So it's not really surprising that my books tend to feature them. And no matter the genre, the mysterious stranger tends to often be there, intriguing us to learn more about who they are, about where they fit in. You never know whether the stranger is the love of the protagonist's life or the end of their life. It's that shadow, that mystery that draws us to them. And mystery, I like to think, is a large part of what makes a story worth reading.

It is no mystery, however, that Linda Gerber's DEATH BY BIKINI is a debut worth celebrating. It looks to be chock full of twists and turns (not to mention a rockstar's strangled girlfriend…strangled with a bikini top, I might add). And it is my absolute honor to raise a sandy glass in celebration. Way to go, Linda!

If you'd like to win a copy of my most recent book, NINTH GRADE SLAYS (the second book in The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series), just leave a comment answering me this: if you were to murder someone on a beach, what would you use as a weapon?

For more on me and Vlad, please stop by my blog, Bleeding Ink! (http://www.heatherbrewer.com/bleedingink)