THE A-WORD IS HERE!!

It’s here! It’s here!

Tuesday, May 13^th, 2014—the birthday of THE A-WORD, the sequel to THE SWEET DEAD LIFE, both from Soho Teen/Soho Press.

Let’s let the publisher’s blurb do some of the speaking. (I got to write it, so I think I trust it to tell you what to expect!)

It's been almost a year since Jenna Samuel’s stoner brother, Casey, bit the dust and returned as her guardian angel. A year since Casey and his “angel boss,” Amber Velasco, saved Jenna’s life and helped her foil the bad guys— more or less. A year in which Jenna has solved the true mystery of the universe: how to get one Ryan Sloboda to ask her out.  

Jenna’s feeling mighty cheery about life and love. But Casey, whose doomed relationship with Lanie Phelps (who has no idea her boyfriend is, well, dead) isn’t doing much to distract him, has his own big question: Why is he still hanging around?  


Bo Shivers, a heavenly head honcho Jenna and Casey didn't even know existed, might have the answers. Bo knows something big is coming. Something that might just change everything for Jenna Samuels, who once again finds herself up to her non-winged shoulders in heavenly secrets of global proportions—just as she’s finally found the perfect Homecoming Dance dress.

First dates and first kisses. Football games. Global-sized mysteries. Earthbound angels who aren’t happy about it and the loves and losses they’ve left behind. A sibling story. And the big questions of the universe. All told by sassy, smart-mouthed Jenna Samuels, one of my favorite characters I've ever written. As Kirkus observed, "wherever Jenna goes, trouble seems to follow."*

That’s THE A-WORD.

Welcome to the world, my pretty book.

And huge thanks to my lovely publisher, Soho Press, and my ever patient editor Daniel Ehrenhaft for allowing Jenna Samuels to kick up her cowboy boots once again!

Your job, dear reader? Buy a copy today. Give another copy for a gift tomorrow.  Spread the A-WORD! Because we all still want that SWEET DEAD LIFE movie, right?

Official blog tour start Wednesday. 

And some giveaways from me are in the works as well!

Stay tuned.

*Btw, in case you don't know, I do believe this quote is the reviewer's thinly-veiled reference to one of my favorite old time movies, Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows -- a story about two irrepressible best friends (one played by Hailey Mills, who also starred in a zillion Disney movies and the original Parent Trap) in a Catholic boarding school who get into all sorts of crazy hijinks, much to the chagrin of the Reverend Mother, played by Rosalind Russell. 

HAPPY PAPERBACK RELEASE DAY, SWEET DEAD LIFE!!

The paperbacks of THE SWEET DEAD LIFE hit the stores today!!
My first hard back to paperback release! Serious excitement around here!

If you see one in the wild, post a picture and let me know.
If you haven't read yet, today's the day. Buy one for a friend, too...

Texas setting, guardian angels, snarky with a huge heart narrator Jenna and her sometimes celestial brother Casey. A huge global mystery. And some doomed romance… at least until the second book. It's what an angel book should be.  Really. Plus kolaches.

If you don't believe me, believe author Michael Northrop, who just offered up this lovely blurb for THE A-WORD, the sequel that's coming in May from Soho Press/Soho Teen:

“The earthbound angels are as authentic as the down-to-earth people in The A-Word, but where the book really spreads its wings is in the interaction between the two. Resourceful teens and heavenly beings team up to get to the roots of a very modern mystery, and the big questions of the universe share space with first dates and football games. The result: a smart, original (and slightly celestial) mystery with a distinctly Texan flavor.”
—Michael Northrop, author of Trapped and Surrounded by Sharks

THE A WORD galleys are HERE!!

Few things are more thrilling than the physical evidence that a book you've been working on is almost a real thing! So when I opened the mailbox yesterday and found a fat white mailing envelope from my editor at Soho Press containing three gorgeous ARCs of THE A WORD (May 2014, Soho Teen), I did the dance of joy! (When your name is Joy this is pretty easy, but you know what I mean!)

The sequel to this year's THE SWEET DEAD LIFE is looking like a lovely almost book! Contest coming soon to win one and find out before everyone else what Jenna and Casey and Amber and a new guardian angel named Bo are up to. Plus Jenna gets her first boyfriend! I am so excited for you to read. 

More soon, but for now, here they are! Feel free to pet the picture! :)

SWEET DEAD EARLY READER PRIZE PACK GIVEAWAY!

THE SWEET DEAD LIFE arrives from Soho Press on May 14th, but I have decided that's still far away! Cause everyone is dying (pun intended) to read this Texas twist on the angel genre. Find out about Jenna Samuels and Casey, her less than saintly brother and guardian angel. There's mystery and poison and breakfast tacos in this irreverent novel of family, love, and the healing power of kolaches. None less than Kirkus declares: "Hallelujah! A paranormal tale of angels that's not a romance. A novel that breaks the mold."

This is the book that begins: "I found out two things today: One, I think I'm dying. And two, my brother is a perv."

You KNOW you want to read on. Casey and Jenna want you to read on!

Best of all, one of you is going to get to read before everyone else!!!

Here's what you could win: A hardback copy of THE SWEET DEAD LIFE! SWEET DEAD LIFE postcards! AND.... A cowboy boot can coozie!  Your SWEET DEAD EARLY READER PRIZE PACK looks like this:

All you have to do is comment here on the blog and tell me your favorite angel book or movie or TV show and why. (of course, after you read TSDL, you will discover what you've been missing and it will be your favorite!)

Contest is open through Saturday. I'll announce the winner on Monday 4/29.
Make sure that you check back or that I can easily contact you when you win! Otherwise the prize will go to someone else!

SWEET!!!

In Which Kirkus Says "Hallelujah!" for THE SWEET DEAD LIFE

One of the scariest/exciting/vomit-inducing moments in publishing a new book is when the pre-pub reviews roll out. And Kirkus--well, they're known for being tough. The toughest, some say. Even nice sentences followed by 'but.' That kind of thing.

And in general, you just never know. You write this book. You love this book. You think it's awesome. Your editor edits. He thinks it's awesome. And then you send in out in the world to strangers who haven't invested hours discussing the main character's emotional arc and discussing how yes, there are a lot of angel books out there but this one is different! And it's set in Texas! And on like that.

So let me say that last Friday while I was still in NYC the day after fabulous Soho Teen Night at Books of Wonder as part of David Levithan's Teen Author Festival week, I was over the moon to get an email from Soho Press publicist Meredith with the following review of THE SWEET DEAD LIFE. To paint the full picture for you, I was standing in the subway at 50th street, waiting for the 1 train and casually glanced at my phone and then casually glanced at the email and then I got so nervous and thrilled and overwhelmed that I actually couldn't read it until I got to my room. Seriously -- this is how I roll. Such good news that I couldn't look at it. Also the signal died. But whatever.

The word Hallelujah is my favorite!! And the short version: They loved it!!!

Here is what Kirkus says about THE SWEET DEAD LIFE:

For 13-year-old Jenna Samuels, things have been going really badly: She’s pretty sure she’s dying, her father has mysteriously abandoned the family, her mother is nearly catatonic with depression, and then her brother dies and becomes an “A-word.”

Her life—and health—rapidly disintegrating, Jenna is convinced that she is dying. Through her journal entries, she recounts what she knows for sure as she tries to piece together a month’s worth of her life turning upside down. Jenna and her anything-but-cherubic brother Casey work together with the help of another angel, Amber, to determine what exactly has happened to the Samuels family and why. Soon they discover a sinister plot and realize they must save their family before it’s too late. Jenna’s sarcastic and sassy tone will easily resonate with readers, and her keen observations are derisive and laugh-out-loud funny. While the refreshing lack of romance is a welcome change from the usual angel fare, some conventions of the trope remain (will we ever get away from paranormal beings who sparkle?). Certain plot aspects, however, seem not entirely fleshed out: Amber’s character has a shadowy past that’s never addressed; it’s never really clear how humans can see and interact with angels and never guess that they’re otherworldly; and then the book abruptly ends—perhaps a sequel waits in the wings?

Hallelujah! A paranormal tale of angels that’s not a romance, making it a novel that breaks the mold. (Paranormal fiction. 13 & up)

THE SWEET DEAD LIFE ARC CONTEST!!!

This is what is coming out from SOHO PRESS on May 14th! 
Guardian angels with a Texas twist. Mystery. Bad habits. Aggie football philosophy. Bad guys. Breakfast tacos. Kissing. And a feisty narrator named Jenna Samuels.
Fallen meets Veronica Mars meets Pineapple Express.
I LOVE this book. And there will be a sequel next year!

"I found out two things today: One, I think I'm dying. And two, my brother is a perv."

So begins the diary of 14-year-old Jenna Samuels, who is having a very bad eighth-grade year. Her single mother spends all day in bed. Dad vanished when she was eight. Her sixteen-year-old brother, Casey, tries to hold together what's left of the family by working two after-school jobs—difficult, as he's stoned all the time. To make matters worse, Jenna is sick. When she collapses one day, Casey tries to race her to the hospital in their beat-up Prius and crashes instead.

Jenna wakes up in the ER to find Casey beside her. Beatified. Literally. The flab and zits? Gone. Before long, Jenna figures out that Casey didn't survive the accident at all. He's an "A-word." (She can't bring herself to utter the truth.) Soon they discover that Jenna isn't just dying; she's being poisoned. And Casey has been sent back to help solve the mystery that not only holds the key to her survival, but also to their mother's mysterious depression and father's disappearance.


And I have ONE ARC to give away!! Just one. Plus a Sweet Dead Life postcard, also signed.

If you would like to win the Advanced Reading Copy of THE SWEET DEAD LIFE and read it before everyone else -- and hopefully love it as much as I do-- please enter in the Comments section. I will keep this contest open until Monday 1/21 and announce the winner on Tuesday 1/22.