Kelly Parra Comes to Party!

Please give a huge party welcome to Kelly Parra, author of the very popular and award-winning Latina novel GRAFFITI GIRL and the more recent, and also popular and award winning INVISIBLE TOUCH! Kelly's a TeenFictionCafe sister and co-founder of YA Fresh.

Many thanks for Linda for inviting me to join her cyber launch party for DEATH BY DENIM!!

So we're talking denim jeans...

There have been many jean styles in my day. Sadly, in grade school there was the peg leg, where you folded your straight legged jean tight against your leg and pinned it with three safety pins up the front to your knee, or folded them at the bottom. heh-heh-heh. In junior high, it was acid wash jeans. I had the acid wash jeans and the jacket to match! I hear acid wash jeans are popular in some foreign countries.

Then in high school, it was the wide leg jeans. Almost like bell bottoms, but more boot cut that they still sell today and I still buy! This is the style of jean I probably will always stick with.

My favorite jeans are from the sales rack from Gap. Wide leg carpenter style pants. Worn out after a 100 washes, fraying at the leg bottoms because they're a little too long and I've stepped on them too many times to count. They are the kind of jeans you can wear to a baseball game, grocery store, and most definitely to sit at the computer to write. Nice and comfy.

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment and enter to win a copy of my latest novel INVISIBLE TOUCH published by MTV Books! :)

FREEBIE FRIDAY - Kelly Parra

Happy Friday! I can't believe the week has gone so quickly!

As promised, today I bring you the GCC tour interview with Kelly Parra, author of INVISIBLE TOUCH. Freebie at the end of the post!

If you've been under a rock the last month and didn't get in on the Secret Fates Extravaganza, let me just tell you, this is one intriguing book. Teens Read Too gave it the gold star of excellence, and the reviews have been fabulous. Check out the book trailer here.

Do you believe in fate?

Kara Martinez has been trying to be "normal" ever since the accident that took her father's life when she was eleven years old. She's buried the caliente side of her Mexican heritage with her father and tried to be the girl her rigid mother wants her to be -- compliant and dressed in pink, and certainly not acting out like her older brother Jason. Not even Danielle, her best friend at Valdez High, has seen the real Kara; only those who read her anonymous blog know the deepest secrets of the Sign Seer.

Because Kara has a gift -- one that often feels like a curse. She sees signs, visions that are clues to a person's fate, if she can put together the pieces of the puzzle in time. So far, she's been able to solve the clues and avert disaster for those she's been warned about -- until she sees the flash of a gun on a fellow classmate, and the stakes are raised higher than ever before. Kara does her best to follow the signs, but it's her heart that wanders into new territory when she falls for a mysterious guy from the wrong side of town, taking her closer to answers she may not be able to handle. Will her forbidden romance help her solve the deadly puzzle before it's too late...or lead her even further into danger?

And now, on to the interview!

What inspired you to write INVISIBLE TOUCH?
I've always believed in intuitive vibes and repetitive signs and thought wouldn't it be cool to have a girl who really saw visions and have to piece the signs together to help others? But the catch was not only would the signs be a gift but also a curse. And from there Kara's story started to enfold as I wrote her story.

Are any of your characters based on real people that you know?
Haha! No. I try not to write about people I know, but characteristics sometimes slip in and I realize it later. :)

What excites you?
Like many authors, weird things like good reviews, book stores, and office supplies. :)

What turns you off?
Negative people.

In DEATH BY LATTE, my character Aphra starts her adventure with a lie. What's the biggest lie you ever told, and what happened as a result of the telling?
Ugh, I can't think of one big one right now because I try not to lie, but I know I give little white ones all the time in order not to hurt feelings.

All stories are built on suspense. What's the most suspenseful thing that's happened to you in real life?
I know I've felt many moments of excitement and suspense in my life. But I'll name some positive suspensful moments: the day of my high school graduation, my wedding day, the birth of my children, my first book sale. All moments built up with suspense!

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 would definitely be my father who passed away in my early twenties. I've never felt I was able to say goodbye. :)

What's one thing most people don't know about you?
That I'm a big procrastinator! haha.

What's your favorite quote?
I have many faves. Here are a couple of good ones:

"We write in order to live life twice."
— Anaïs Nin

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
— Maya Angelou

Milk Chocolate or Dark?
Milk Chocolate.

For this week's Freebie Friday, I'm giving away a $10 Borders gift card. For your chance to win, either comment on Kelly's book, Kelly's answers, or answer one of the interview questions above as yourself.

This contest will remain open until Monday, so be sure to check back! Have a great weekend!!!

Secret Fates and Celebrities

Happy Wednesday! It's hump day for the week, right? Half-way to the weekend!!! Big news in my neighborhood... David Archuleta is coming to the DCHS football game Friday night. He's going to sing the National Anthem. I know several girls at the school who are all kinds of excited. Why he has chosen to drop by our high school, I haven't the slightest clue, but we'll take it.

This is the second celebrity visit to DCHS in as many months - Barack Obama held a rally at Coffman just after the DNC. Yes, the Rocks rock!

ANYWAY, as promised, today you have two chances to win. It's my turn to post at Kelly Parra's Secret Fates Extravaganza, celebrating the release of her new book, INVISIBLE TOUCH. Leave a comment on that post and you'll be entered to win a copy of DEATH BY LATTE.

To be entered to win the final pair of tabi socks and some Japanese goodies from this blog, leave a comment below telling me about your most recent celebrity sighting. If you've never had one, that's OK. Make one up!

Happy hump day!

LATTE 1 - KELLY PARRA

Check it out! Kelly Parra is in the house! Kelly is the author of Graffiti Girl and the MTV Books October 2008 release Invisible Touch. Now listen to this... Kelly will be hosting the Secret Fates Extravaganza in just a few weeks to celebrate the launch, so be sure to watch the Secret Fates blog secretfates.blogspot.com. The Extravaganza will run throughout the entire month of October.

Thanks to Linda for letting me be apart of her latest cyber launch for Death by Latte! Please leave a comment below to win a copy of my October release, Invisible Touch. :)

In the acknowledgments in my latest novel INVISIBLE TOUCH, you might read a small note at the end that goes something like...

"I'm sorry for the dent in the Chevelle. It was accident, I swear."

Some readers might wander what the heck I'm talking about and many won't care, but it all started with a lie...a with holding of the truth so to speak.

It’s high school and I’m 16. I’m one of those girls who has more guy friends than girl friends. I grew up with a brother and a bunch of boy cousins and this is the way it worked for me. One of my friends drives this really cool 1976 Chevelle. Black paint, black interior, and a big block engine. Being the cool guy that he is, he picks us up from school, takes us to lunch, and just hangs out.

One thing you should know is that this Chevelle is his prize possession. He's even been known to street race a time or two and win. (shhhh.) One day at a friend's house, I have to get something out of my backpack that’s in the backseat. I lean in over the open passenger window and my little knee pushes into the passenger door and dents it. Seriously dents it right smack in the middle!

I gasp.

My gut clenches.

I'm totally speechless.

He's going to kill me! Okay, not literally, but yikes, I'm scared big time. He LOVES this car! Oh man. What do I do?

I walk back into the house, nervous, wondering how I'm going to break the news. I really don't know what to do. I always have to think things through before I make a decision. So I don't say anything, but time passes and a group of us heads back outside.

One of the guys says, "Look at your car, man!" And EVERYONE rushes over to see this huge dent in the passenger door! Holy crap! I'm too scared to speak. He is so ticked off! Right away they start asking questions and making comments:

Was it there earlier? Who could of done it? We're gonna kick his *ss.

*gulp*

The next day, he gets it fixed. He has to take the inside panel off and pop it back out, but no damage. *whew*

Still, this guy isn’t exactly sweet and I'm still too scared to tell him. Time passes and it’s never brought up. Forgotten even. Not by me, of course, and he lays low for a while.

Years pass—yes, years!—and after graduation, I start hanging out with the Chevelle guy again. The Chevelle is history. He's got a sporty Camaro now, and things start to spark between us. I start dating him. Soon we're together, and I guess I decide I trust him and I confess the lie.

I tell him, I was the one who dented the Chevelle a few years ago.

He is shocked and I'm laughing with embarrassment, but my conscience is finally clear. The secret is revealed.

Years later, we’re married and he still holds it over my head. Who could blame him really?

So I did the ultimate. I wrote his prized Chevelle into Invisible Touch as my character Anthony Garcia's ride. And I apologized one final time in the acknowledgments so the world would know just how sorry I am for keeping that secret for so long. *sigh*

Do you think he finally forgave me? :)

To learn more about Kelly and her secrets visit www.KellyParra.com and the Secret Fates blog secretfates.blogspot.com.