Party with Wendy Toliver

Wendy's here to party!

As many of you already know, Wendy is another TFC sister and the author of SECRET LIFE OF A TEENAGE SIREN, MISS MATCH, and LIFTED. I met Wendy way back, while visiting family in Utah. We had undercooked pizza and a lot of laughs. And yes, she's as pretty in person as she looks in her pictures. In fact, she once held a job impersonating Marilyn Monroe (while delivering singing telegrams.) Now she lives and writes in Eden, Utah with her husband, three little boys, one cat, a crab, and the occasional mole.

Her latest book, LIFTED, has been getting great reviews. If you haven't read it yet, you should. Here's the official blurb:

It's not what you steal.
It's getting away with it that's so much fun.

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 ....

And Wendy's reading:

Your compound number values are twenty-one and twenty-eight.

Twenty-one signifies an initiation to a new level of wisdom and stature that appeared impossible before. It is the number of ad­vancement, honors, and general success, though victory generally comes after long initiation and tests of determination.

WT: I think any published author will say she only succeeded after "long initiation and tests of determination." There are so many days I feel like a gopher in that arcade game where you hit them on the head just as they pop up. But then there are other days that I pop my head up and I see the sun shining and feel like I've accomplished something amazing.

Twenty-eight This number is fickle. Great promise and possibilities await a person who is influenced by this number, but she may see it all taken away unless she carefully plans for the future. It indicates the possibility of loss through trust in others, so one should trust in one’s own instincts.
WT: Oh, wow. If this is referring to my college days, I had to learn the hard way not to trust just anybody. And I recently reunited with someone who knew me in high school and he mentioned how much work it was to be my friend b/c I was too trusting and naive. That said, I'm a mom now, which is the ultimate crash course in trusting one's own instincts. As for planning for my future, I'm the type who has to go to the grocery store almost daily because I never know what kind of dinner I'll be in the mood for tomorrow.

Your name number vibration is four.

The number four indicates someone who is practical, loyal, kind and fair. Fours value justice and hard work. The number four represents both emotional and physical strength, although fours seldom show their inside sensitivities to anyone, and at times their dreams are so grand, it seems as if they are unattainable.
WT: Am I practical? Sort of. I have friends who are totally impractical (I'm thinking shopaholics who spend crazy amounts of money on a pair of shoes they'll wear once and then store in their closets) and that's not me. Loyal? Heck yeah. Kind? Hmm, depends. I try, really I do. Fair? Again, I try, but as a mother I'm always telling my boys, "Life isn't fair, so buck up and deal with it."

I'm actually not sure if I show my sensitivities to the world. I am sensitive, though.

Grand dreams? Yep! Sometimes they're so grand, I keep them a secret so no one can make fun of them.

The daily giveaway for today is SWOON AT YOUR OWN RISK, by Sydney Salter.

Winner and Shoplifting Confession

Hola from beautiful Mazatlan. My DH is watching the World Cup so I'm sneaking away quickly to do this post.

The winner of LIFTED by Wendy Toliver is:

elioravespera

Please send your mailing instructions to: gerb (@) lindagerber (.) com and we'll get that sent out to you.

Notice to my last week winners - I apologize, but since I've been on the road, neither book has been sent yet, but they will be as soon as I get back to the States! Also, because I will be in flight on Friday, there will be no Freebie Friday this week, but check back next week for the summer lineup!

Meanwhile, I promised I would tell you my shoplifting story. I was in 7th grade. My friend Kristin and I used to walk home from school each day, and sometimes we would stop at the drugstore in a nearby strip mall on our way. So one day, we were looking at fingernail polish and I found a color I really liked. We grabbed some candy and I got that bottle of fingernail polish and we paid and left the store.

When I got home, I discovered that I had another bottle of fingernail polish in my coat pocket. I must have put it in there when we were choosing our candy and then forgot about it. I was mortified. I called Kristin and we came up with an elaborate plan of how I was going to sneak the fingernail polish back into the store.

The next day after school, we stopped at the drugstore. We wandered up and down the aisles, scoping out where any security mirrors or cameras might be and how we were going to avoid detection. Then Kristin distracted the clerk while I snuck over to the fingernail polish display and slipped my purloined bottle back onto the shelf. I signaled Kristin to let her know the deed was done and we practically ran from the store. I'm sure the clerk suspected something was up. I'm also pretty sure she wouldn't have guessed that I was shoplifting in reverse!

We never did stop into that drugstore on our way home again.


Quickly before I go... HAPPY RELEASE to Holly Cupala! Her book TELL ME A SECRET just came out this week. I met Holly at the Teen Author Carnival where I learned how to pronounce her name (coo-PAH-la). Not only is she too adorable for words, she's about the nicest person you'd ever want to meet. And I've heard nothing but good things about TELL ME A SECRET. Stop by her Virtual Birthday Party for chances to win swag!

FF - LIFTED by Wendy Toliver

I'm happy today to bring you my friend, TFCer and GCC sister, Wendy Toliver. I was so excited waiting for this book that I wished her a happy release day a month early (and wondered why Amazon hadn't delivered my copy of LIFTED yet.) This book is a departure from than the Simon Pulse comedies she has done. I enjoyed those, but I really loved LIFTED. I know you will, too!

The Author: Born in Texas, raised in Colorado, and now living in Utah, Wendy Toliver has successfully eliminated “y’all” from her vocabulary. However, she still managed to marry a pickup man. They have three young sons and an assortment of furry, scaly, and slimy pets. She is the author of three novels for teens: The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren, Miss Match, and Lifted.

You can find Wendy online on her website, on facebook, on myspace, and follow her on twitter.

The Book:

Being Bad Never Felt So Good.

Poppy Browne had never stolen anything in her life before moving to Pleasant Acres, Texas and meeting Mary Jane and Whitney. But when Poppy walks out of the mall with her two new friends and her first pair of stolen jeans, she’s hooked.

Before long, Poppy is lifting whenever she gets the urge—it’s never about the merchandise, it’s always about the thrill. But when her secret gets out, the girls in Poppy’s clique turn on one another. As she watches her life collapse around her, Poppy must decide where her loyalties lie … and how far she’ll go to protect herself.

The Interview:

What inspired you to write (name of your book)?

I was watching a show on TV about how shoplifting is a huge problem, especially with teens, and thought it would make an interesting topic for a book. Most people have either shoplifted themselves, have been tempted to try it, or know someone who as, so I think it's something we can all relate to.

Have you ever shoplifted?

Ah, I knew that question would come up eventually! I don’t really remember this because I was only 4 or 5, but according to my mom, we were at a department store in Texas (where we lived) and I wanted to get my dad a leather wallet for Father’s Day. Only Mom had something else in mind: a “World’s Greatest Dad” t-shirt. So I slipped the wallet into my britches and proceeded to follow Mom out to the car. Of course, she noticed that there was a suspicious rectangle on my body and made me march back into the store to hand the wallet back to the saleslady. The saleslady didn’t know what to do with me so she called security. It was a pretty big ordeal I guess. (Poor Mom!)

If you could hang out with any literary character, who would you choose?

I’d love to hang out with Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

Are you superstitious?

Back when I used to do some acting (before I became an author), I’d listen to Prince’s “Kiss” before going in for my audition. I like to do a little car dancing to get out the jitters. It’s not a very popular song to hear on the radio these days but believe it or not, after a few times of doing this and landing the parts, it actually came on the radio as I was pulling into the studio's parking lot! I landed that part, too!

What songs would make the playlist for Lifted?

“Just Dance” by Lady Gaga, anything by Evanescense, “Call Out” by Kaskade (featuring Mindy Gledhill), “The Fear” by Lily Allen, and, of course, "Got Caught Stealin'" by Jane's Addiction.

What's one thing most people don't know about you?

The last couple of years, I’ve started coaching boys’ soccer and basketball in our community and I love it!

If Lifted were made into a movie, who would you like to see in the role of Poppy?

I’d love Poppy to be played by AnnaSophia Robb. I loved her in “The Bridge to Terabithia” and think she’d be perfect. (She also goes to my old high school I understand!) As for David Hillcrest, I think Logan Lerman (Percy in “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief”) would be great. He’s the perfect mixture of cute and hot.

What kind of chocolate best describes you?

Almond Joy. Chocolaty and nutty and happy.

The Freebie:

To be entered to win a signed copy of LIFTED, leave a comment below, telling us if you have ever shoplifted... even by accident. (I'll confess that I have. Not on purpose, though. I'll tell you about it when the winner is drawn on Wednesday, June 23.)