And the Winners Are...

I'm back! Special shout out to Trista (who commented on the previous post) and all the super cool people I met today at Blendon!

And now, for the drawing (happening in real time. Kind of.)

Drum roll, please....

I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE - Dominique


NEED - Phoebe Jordan


LOVESTRUCK SUMMER - yabooknerd


MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS - GreenBeanTeenQueen


INVISIBLE TOUCH - Susan Adrian


Skull Purse - Book Spot


ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH - Rainbowrose0


MISS MATCH - memememememeee


OH. MY. GODS. - Susan


THE SECOND VIRGINITY OF SUSIE GREEN - pepsivanilla



A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW - Carlene and Petite



Grand Prize Deadly Denim bag - Dottie

Congratulations, everyone! Thanks so much for coming along to help me celebrate!!!
Winners, please send me your mailing info to gerb (@) lindagerber (.) com so we can get your prizes sent off to you!

Weekend Winners!

Happy Sunday!

The winners of Saturday's daily drawing are:

DEATH BY DENIM - Dottie
Deadly denim gift bag - Melanie

You know the drill - please send your mailing instructions to: gerb (@) lindagerber (.) com.

Remember, you have until Tuesday to comment on the other posts before the drawings for those giveaways, and for the Deadliest Denim Gift Bag of them all.

And don't forget Hope's contest at her blog for another chance to win DEATH BY DENIM. That contest will remain open until Thursday.

KC Dyer is in the House!

KC Dyer is one of my earliest writing buddies and crit partners, so I can't think of anyone better to bring this party home. KC's the author of the EAGLE GLEN TRILOGY, MS. ZEPHYR'S NOTEBOOK and her most recent release, A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW.

Celebrating a new Aphra tale, particularly one featuring denim, is a cause for huge celebration around here. I love Aphra and her adventures!

I grew up in Calgary, Alberta, and as the Stampede capital of the world, blue jeans were just a part of everyday life. As an author, though I didn't really stop to think about it until today, virtually all of my main characters wear jeans at one time or another. In my very first book SEEDS OF TIME, the way the main character discovers she has travelled back more than 600 years in time is when she looks down and sees she is no longer wearing her jeans -- they have been replaced by a long skirt of thick, brown wool.

In my new book -- also a time travel story -- Darby Christopher is wearing her favourite jeans when she walks through a stone window -- except, in this case, because it is mid-summer, they are cut-offs. But when she finds herself suddenly in the dark, kneeling on something cold and crunchy, she knows that something BIG has gone wrong:

With the snow under her knees came a realization. She must have fallen asleep. There’s no way this could be anything except a dream. The kind of dream where you find yourself in a place that you’ve never been before, but is somehow familiar.
That had to be the explanation. There she was, on her hands and knees in some kind of crunchy snow in the middle of the summer, wisps of fog swirling and fading all around. The only thing to do was to head for the beam of sunlight that gleamed like a beacon ahead. The sun grew brighter and the air was suddenly sparkling like prisms – pretty painful on the eyes – but Darby had never been so happy to see daylight in her life.
She crawled as fast as she could toward the source of the light. If there was a record for the fastest crawl through snow in cut-offs, Darby was determined to break it. The strangely glittering ceiling suddenly dropped, but after two head bumps in as many minutes, she just ducked down and beetled straight for the light.
By the time Darby got the nerve up to lift her head again, she realized she had crawled nearly twenty feet past the end of whatever weird tunnel she’d been in. And when she did look up, she wished she hadn’t.
Around her was a world of white...

To celebrate Aphra's return in DEATH BY DENIM, I've got two copies of Darby's story A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW to give away. To win, just leave your name in the comments below. And if you'd like to read Darby's blog, you can find it HERE at Darby Speaks. Maybe I'll see you there!

~kc

Party Girl Sara Hantz is ON!

Please welcome Sara Hantz, another Teen Fiction Cafe sister and Kiwi! Sara is the author of THE SECOND VIRGINITY OF SUSIE GREEN and, among other things, keeps us organized and going on over at Teen Fiction Cafe.

I'm so thrilled to be taking part in Linda's launch party for Death by Denim.

If it's anything like Linda's other books, I know it's going to be a fabulous read.

As it's all about denim, I thought I'd share an experience of mine from years and years (and years and years... gulp) ago.

Levi's used to make jeans that shrink to fit. And the best way to shrink them so that they fit perfectly was to sit in a hot bath with them on. Imagine me sitting in the bath in a pair of jeans. Fine while I was in the bath but when I got out they were so heavy it knocked me off balance and I went flying. I didn't sustain any serious injury - not counting my pride. And if that wasn't bad enough, dye in jeans runs and when I took them off my legs were a delicate shade of blue!!!

A copy of the Second Virginity of Suzy Green is up for grabs so leave a comment for a chance to win it!

Tera Lynn Childs comes to the party!

Yay! Tera Lynn Childs is here to party with us! Tera Lyn is the author of OH. MY. GODS. and the upcoming GODDESS BOOT CAMP. This week she's celebrating the release of the paperback edition of OH. MY. GODS. (I love the PB cover!)

When I was in junior high, torn jeans were all the rage. Everyone from Jon Bon Jovi to the most popular girl in school had jeans if various stages of shred—from one big slash below the back pocket to dozens of holes up and down the legs. Everyone wore holey jeans ... except for me. Maybe it was my mom's background as a costumer, but she just could not fathom the appeal of ripping a hole into a pair of perfectly good jeans.

One day, I got home from school while my parents were still at work, and I discovered that the knee of my favorite jeans had a tiny little hole worn through. This was the opportunity I'd been waiting for! I called my mom at work, told her about the tear, and asked her if I could go ahead and cut across the whole knee from that little hole. Minutes later, I'd snipped the knee and started pulling at the edges to give it that frayed, authentically-worn-through look.

When my mom got home she flipped! Apparently, in my excitement I'd neglected to listen to her answer to my question—which had been, quite obviously, “No.” Score one for selective hearing. I got in a little trouble, but every time I played with the frayed edges of that hole when I got bored in class (aka frequently) I knew my accidental rebellion had been worth it. To this day, those were my favorite (and most memorable) pair of jeans.

So let's have a little hot-or-not poll. Are torn jeans awesome ... or appalling?

To be entered to win a copy of the new paperback OH. MY. GODS., leave a reply answering Tera Lynn's question.

DEATH BY DENIM Party Day #3

Wow! What a day! I'm back finally and ready to party!

First things first, because I know some of you are anxious about this. The winners of Friday's drawings are:

DEATH BY BIKINI - Brooke Reviews

Deadly Denim gift bag - Sarah Christine

I had a great time last night at the signing, hanging out with my friend Jenny, getting to know the awesome CRM Linda, and meeting a bunch of you from Lakota West (hi, guys!) I have to show you this couple that came into the store. This has got to be my favorite prom date idea ever - go to a bookstore! Prom couple FTW!

When I was driving home, Jenny called to tell me there was a tornado warning in the area and wondered if maybe I should come back to Cincinnati (I live about two hours away). I called my husband and had him check the weather radar online and see where the storm was, and he said, "You're in the middle of it." Huh. It wasn't raining, there was no lightning, it didn't even seem that windy. So I decided to go for it. I only got maybe 20 minutes down the road when they closed the Interstate! It was a parking lot for miles. And by then I couldn't turn around because I wasn't anywhere near an exit and I was hemmed in by other cars. We sat there for over an hour before the road was open again. Weird. So I got home about one in the morning, and then had to meet for the Undokai at 7:30.

An Undokai is a Japanese sports day. They have relays and tugs of war and other team games. Luckily, the rain held off until we were done.

So now, let's get back to partying!

Some of you may have heard of the teensforjeans program that collects gently-used jeans for homeless teens. Even David Archuleta has been getting into the action. Here's an article about some of the teens near Cincinnati collecting jeans for the project. Check out the link above to get involved with the project this year. New information will be going up in the fall and you can get involved. Meanwhile, you could be collecting those jeans!

For today's daily drawing to win a copy of a signed DEATH BY DENIM, leave a reply telling me what you could do to help someone in need.

Wendy Toliver Gets the Party Started!

Happy Saturday, everyone! This morning I woke up late and I have to run out the door to an undokai. I'll explain that one when I get back! And give you a report on my night at B&N and thereafter. Let's just say it has something to do with being caught in a tornado and not getting home till one a.m. (Which is why I'm up late.) I'll post about it - and announce Friday's daily drawing winners - this afternoon.

Meanwhile, I'm going to let my friend and Teen Fiction Cafe sister Wendy Toliver get the party started. Wendy is the author of THE SECRET LIFE OF A TEENAGE SIREN and MISS MATCH. She will be signing with me in Utah, along with Sidney Salter and Aprilynne Pike (whose book WINGS just debuted at #6 on the NYT bestseller list! Yay, Aprilynne!) Anyway, if you're in Utah, we'd love to see you. I'll post details as it gets closer.

Take it away, Wendy!

I'm so excited to be a part of Linda Gerber's book launch party. Since her latest release is Death by Denim, she asked that we blog about our favorite pair of jeans. So here goes ...

You know how some people have a hard time finding shoes or bathing suits that fit right? Well, I'm one of those people who has a terrible time finding the perfect pair of jeans. A few years ago, I tried on a pair of Sevens at an outlet mall. They were a kind of weird bluish-green color but they fit amazingly well and the more I wore them, the more the color grew on me. However, they were stylishly distressed and in a few months, holes wore into the knees and bum. Which wasn't a good look for me, so I had to retire them. I went another year without a favorite pair of jeans.

Then, one day, I found some great jeans at Express. They were extra dark, extra long, stretchy (read: comfy) and a teensy-tiny size (I'm not delusional; I think they just try to make people feel good about themselves). So I bought 2 pair of those size 2s and I still have them. They're kinda dressy as far as jeans go, though, and I didn't have a pair to wear on weekends, so to speak.

As luck would have it, I was waiting for my friend to pick me up from a book signing at a Barnes & Noble a couple of weeks ago, and I wandered into an Aeropostle store and found the perfect pair of casual jeans on the clearance rack. Faded in all the right places, a fun straw-like stitching, stretchy, and long. AND they cost $15. If there had been more, I would've bought a whole rack of them.

Do you want to know the best part of having the perfect jeans? That gleam in my husband's eye when I wear them. :) Now, tell us something about your perfect pair of jeans. Are they like a second skin? Comfy as sweats? Head-turning sexy? Leave a comment for a chance to win an autographed copy of my latest book, MISS MATCH.

The Party Continues with Amanda Ashby

Amanda Ashby's going to keep the party going for me as I run down to the signing in West Chester. Hope to see some of you there! You may remember Amanda from the zombie blog party recently - she's the author of ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH and YOU HAD ME AT HALO. Amanda's partying long distance since she lives in New Zealand!

Denim through the ages

When Linda asked me to write about my favorite pair of jeans I instantly refused since really, that's like asking me to pick my favorite child (though with the way my son has been behaving lately, perhaps that's not actually as hard as it seems - I joke, I joke). But the truth is that I love jeans. Like really love them and I pretty much wear them everyday of the year apart from when it's too hot. In fact I can't remember a time when I wasn't obsessed with denim.

In the eighties I was forever sewing my jeans in to make them tighter, not to mention patching them, My favorite pair was light denim, ripped at the knees and quite literally required me to lie on the bed and use a coat hanger to help me zip them up. Fun times.

The nineties saw me on a never ending search to find the perfect pair of secondhand Levis 501s. Of course it was easy to go into a vintage shop and pay lots of money for a pair but I much prefered the challenge of trying to find a five buck version at a thrift shop. Of course added to the challenge they had to be the right amount of faded with the right width leg (and trust me, there was nothing sadder than finding the perfect pair of Levis only to look down at the leg and see it was tapered. I'm shuddering at the very thought). Anyway, I ended up having about three pairs of the perfect 501s and each time they died I would cut them into shorts and wear them with black tights and Doc Martins (hey, it was the nineties which meant it was totally allowed!).

As for the noughties my favorite jeans came from England and looked like the bottom half of a pair of overalls. Man, I loved those ones but they literally disintegrated on me and had to be retired to that special jean heaven in the sky. Thankfully, I went on a jeans shopping mission the other day and after trying on about 20 pairs all over town that were all equally horrible, I walked into one store that had two gorgeous pairs and since it's not everyday a girl finds two gorgeous pairs of jeans, I grabbed them both. Anyway, I'll keep you posted on how the new love affair goes!

To be entered to win a signed copy of ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH (or YOU HAD ME AT HALO if you prefer) get nostalgic on us and leave a post below, telling us about the... ahem... most interesting jeans you have ever owned.

Party Over Here with Lucienne Diver!

Next, please welcome party gal Lucienne Diver, author of the brand-spanking new YA novel, VAMPED. You should check out her livejournal where VAMPED's main character Gina is known to make guest appearances!

When I was a young teen, maybe even a pre-teen, I had a favorite pair of jeans…you know, the kind you had to lay down on the bed and suck in your gut to zip up. I don’t know what it was about those jeans... I guess I thought they made me look hot. Probably, they made me look like I was slipping out of a sausage casing, but I thought they were tres chic. Don’t remember what ever happened to those jeans. I suspect my mother disappeared them on me.

Sadly, I don't have a pic. : D

Confession time - have you ever worn too-tight jeans? Since we just barely gave away a copy of VAMPED her on the blog, this time leave a comment below to be entered to win this way cute Sourpuss Skull Bag.

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! :)

Partying with Sydney Salter

I'm very happy to welcome Sydney Salter to the party! I met Sydney through my friend and fabulous YA author Wendy Toliver and we will get to do some signing events together in Utah next month! Sydney is the author of My Big Nose And Other Natural Disasters, and the upcoming books Jungle Crossing and Swoon At Your Own Risk.

Distressed Denim by Sydney Salter

I stole my favorite jeans from my little brother: a pair of Levi 501s distressed to perfection, 5^th grade boy style. For six months during my sophomore year in high school, my younger brother and I shared the same size (he soon grew a foot taller than me). Unfortunately, he marred most of his jeans with grass stains—but I caught this pair early. I loved these Levis, faded to bluey softness. I wore them to parties, skiing, and happily swayed my curvy hips down the halls of Reno High. By the time I packed them off to college, sexy rips crossed both knees.

I’m pretty sure that I was wearing these jeans when a cute guy in my biology class nudged his lab partner and said, “I’m going to date her.” He married me. (Levis do show off my best assets.) But my favorite memory of these jeans comes from Thanksgiving that year.

I’d flown to Palm Springs to visit my dad and step-mom. My dad, a physiology professor at a nursing school, took me to visit his campus—I wore my favorite jeans, of course. For the rest of the week, my dad and step-mom kept giving me money. And they took me to the mall (Dad is not a shopper). Great, right? Turns out that my dad thought I was completely impoverished and starving to death at college because my clothes were literally falling apart. (I guess his students only wore shorts living in the desert and all—or maybe he just didn’t pay attention?!?) A few checks and care packages later, my step-mom finally asked about my financial situation (mentioning the jeans). I laughed so hard, trying to explain how my torn jeans had actually reached a true state of denim perfection.

To be entered to win a signed copy od MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS, leave a comment below, telling us your funniest story starring you and your favorite jeans.

DEATH BY DENIM Party Day #2

Today's a big day for me. It's my son's birthday. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CLARK!) And it's the release party/signing at the West Chester B&N. If you're in the Cincinnati area, come on by tonight! I'd love to see you! The address is:

Barnes & Noble
The Streets of Westchester
9455 Civic Centre Blvd
West Chester, OH 45069

Daily Drawing winners from Day one:

Signed DEATH BY DENIM - Korianne

Deadly Denim Gift Bag - nightdweller20

Please drop me a note with your mailing instructions at gerb (@) lindagerber (.) com and I'll get those sent out to you!

Everyone else, comment below for another chance to win - and keep checking back for more prizes throughout the day from more amazing authors! (And don't forget that you can still comment until Tuesday on the posts from yesterday.)

AND - you might want to check out my interview on Hope's Bookshelf, for another chance to win a signed copy of DEATH BY DENIM.

Meanwhile, let's talk denim!

While I was researching for this book, I learned that there are two main countries that manufacture most of the denim used in high-end designer styles. One of those countries is Japan, and the other is Italy. The second location came in very handy since I had placed Aphra in Europe in book three. In fact, it provided a new plot direction.

I also learned that the word denim is actually French in origin. When Levi Strauss first started making his signature sturdy work clothing, the canvas type fabric he used wore great, but it wasn't comfortable. He substituted a twilled cotton serge cloth from France that was called "serge de Nimes." De Nimes was shortened to Denim.

And there you have it! Denims are international - just like DEATH BY DENIM!

To be entered to win a signed copy of DEATH BY DENIM, leave a comment below telling me anything with an international flair - featuring you and your favorite denims.

Melissa Walker Joins the Party!

Our next party guest is the beautiful Melissa Walker, author of the VIOLET series and the newly-released LOVESTRUCK SUMMER. Melissa does the great cover series that I love so much on her blog, and she also blogs with Readergirlz and co-founded the fabulous I Heart Daily. AND, in case you didn't already enter, she's running a release celebration contest of her own with Susanne Colasanti thru the end of May. Check it out!
My Perfects Jeans

I have a favorite pair of jeans. They're Levi's 505s, and I found them at a thrift store in North Carolina when I was 22. When I tried them on, my friend Ruthie said, "Oh yeah, those are winners." My legs looked long, my butt looked tight. Score.

Through the years, these jeans have been worn to the point of, well, being really worn. Holes started to crop up, and my roommate's mom sewed patches all over these things. But yes, I still wear them. I can't give them up--though they look kind of crazy now--and they stopped making this style. I've never found a pair like them since!

So, do you have a pair of unequaled jeans? I hope so. Do tell.
To be entered to win a copy of LOVESTRUCK SUMMER, leave a comment before telling about your unequaled jeans, real or fantasy!

Carrie Jones Comes to Party

Welcome party gal Carrie Jones, author of GIRL, HERO, LOVE (AND OTHER USES FOR DUCT TAPE), TIPS ON HAVING A GAY (EX)BOYFRIEND and NEED - which has the coolest gold lipstick on the cover photo! Carrie and her denims have a special kind of bond...

Jeans and I have a love-hate relationship. We’ve gone to couples therapy about it.

Therapist: Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?

Jeans (flopping back on the couch): Carrie ignores me.

Me: I don’t ignore you. I just don’t wear you.

Jeans: Same thing.

Me: Is not.

Therapist: One at a time. Carrie, do you understand where your jeans are coming from?

Me: Yes, but it’s not that I’m ignoring Jeans –

Jeans (wailing): She NEVER wears me. She doesn’t love me. I just sit folded on top of these cruddy, navy blue sweatpants that she had in fifth grade, waiting, waiting, waiting for something to happen, but no… NO!
Me: May I talk now?

Therapist: Yes.

Jeans: No. Time for talk is over. Now is the time for action. PUT ME ON!

Me (trying to get away from Jeans, which are attempting to slink on my legs despite the fact that I’m already wearing leggings): Wait! Wait! Don’t!

Therapist: Jeans! Stop it! Let Carrie speak.

Me: I am not wearing you Jeans because I am afraid of ruining you. Look at you, baby. I’ve used you up. You’re worn and barely even blue any more. You’re ripped at the knees. Your cuffs are frayed. You’re about to rip in the bottomy-bottom place too, and baby, I just don’t want you to – to – you know…

Therapist (giving me a tissue): You don’t want to lose Jeans, do you? You love Jeans.

Me: I do! I do! I love you.

Jeans (sniffing): Well, you could patch me up. They have iron on patches.

Me: Those are tacky, baby. You deserve better than that.

Jeans: Yeah. I do.

To be entered to win a signed copy of NEED, leave a comment below telling us about your emotional connection to your jeans.

Party on with Stephanie Kuehnert

Please welcome Stephanie Kuehnert to the party. Stephanie's the author of
I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE and the upcoming BALLADS OF SUBURBIA... and she rocks on so many levels, it's crazy!

I found true love of the denim variety at Ragstock the summer before freshman year. Ragstock was a big thrift store in a neighborhood of Chicago that my friends and I simply referred to as "Clark and Belmont" after the intersection. It was an alternative mecca at the time. The corner Dunkin' Donuts was better known as Punk 'n Donuts because the street punks sat outside of it spare changing. Now I call the area by it's proper name, Lakeview, and it's exactly as yuppie as it sounds. Everything went downhill when they put in that Starbucks across from Punk 'n Donuts sometime near the end of high school. But at the beginning of high school "Clark and Belmont" was my favorite place to shop and I felt I'd pulled off quite a feat by convincing my mom to give me the back to school shopping money she planned to spend on me at the mall and letting me shop on my own. I didn't want "new," boring mall clothing. I wanted clothes that were already broken in, not to mention totally unique.

It was on that excursion that I found the jeans. They were men's jeans, a little bit baggy on me, and had been worn and washed enough times that the fabric was soft and it had faded from medium blue to nearly white in some spots. They were perfect except for one thing: they lacked holes in the knees. But that was easily fixed. I grabbed some sandpaper from my dad's toolbox, put the jeans on and rubbed. It wouldn't have worked so well if the jeans were new. The fabric would have torn instead of frayed. But it worked just fine on these and after I tossed them in the dryer to create more of those little white strings around the holes that I loved to play with, they looked exactly how I wanted them too, like I'd been breaking them in for years.

I went on to wear those jeans for years. The holes stretched bigger and bigger, providing a fine source of "air conditioning" as I liked to call it in the summer, and in the winter, I wore long underwear beneath them and it looked pretty bad-ass. It was the grunge era and they were the perfect grunge jeans. I retired them around the time I finished high school. Not because they'd stopped fitting but because I was going through a goth phase and wearing only black. When my fashion sense balanced out again in my early 20s, I brought them back, thrilled that they still fit. Well mostly. I guess my butt had gotten bigger and since the jeans were pretty worn, a hole formed under my left butt cheek. It was okay at first. I could still wear them with thermals when it was cold or even boxer shorts when it was warm-- that was a grade school trend I'd always wanted to try but had feared my mom's wrath, holes in the knees were bad enough, but holes in the butt? Sadly, eventually the hole widened... like to the point where I would accidentally put my leg through it instead of the leg of my jeans. And that was the end. The jeans were buried in the back of my closet where they might still be, but I have a bad feeling I went through a purge and convinced myself to let go completely. Sigh. There's never been as good of a pair of jeans since. I mean my black skinny jeans that look amazing with my engineer boots and even seem to fit when I'm feeling fat are a close second, but I guess you never forget your first love... of the denim variety.

What memories do you associate with your first love... of the denim variety? Leave a comment below and you will be entered to win a signed copy of I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE!