Shelf-Love Is So Important

So, the rockstar blogger Sharon of Sharon Loves Books and Cats (you should go check out the awesome Before I Fall purchase contest she is hosting on her blog!) sent me this photo via twitter yesterday, apparently taken at her local Barnes and Noble:

And yes...that is my book sitting next to Gone, by Lisa McMann (!!). What can I say? Before I Fall only keeps company with the best.

Unfortunately, this now means I have to spend the rest of my day stalking copies of my book in bookstores around this fair city of mine... Score 1 for self--or shelf--love, score 0 for productivity.

Tour Info--

Hey--hey you! Want to come visit me when I am on the road?? That sounds fun, doesn't it?

If you are in the neighborhood on any of the dates below, please--come say hi!

Tuesday, March 2^nd

CARLE PLACE, NY

Barnes & Noble – 91 Country Place – 7:00 pm

Thursday, March 4^th

MADISON, CT

RJ Julia – 786 Boston Post Road – 4:30 pm

Friday, March 5^th

MT. KISCO, NY

Borders – 162 E. Main Street – 7:00 pm

Saturday, March 6^th

KINGSTON, NY

Barnes & Noble – 1177 Ulster Avenue Mall – 2:00 pm

Sunday, March 7^th

ANN ARBOR, MI

Borders – 3140 Lohr Road – 2:00 pm

Monday, March 8^th

NAPERVILLE, IL

Anderson’s Bookshop – 123 West Jefferson – 7:00 pm

Tuesday, March 9^th

SKOKIE, IL

Barnes & Noble – 55 Old Orchard Center – 7:00 pm

Wednesday, March 10^th

PETALUMA, CA

Copperfield’s Books – 140 Kentucky Street – 7:00 pm

Annnnd The Winner Is...

Thanks to everyone who entered my GO CRAZY FOR DELIRIUM AND WIN BEFORE I FALL! contest! If I could, I would give you ALL prizes. :) (But so far I only have one finished copy of BIF, so that probably wouldn't work--you'd have to cut it into lots of little pieces!)

The results were totaled, tallied, split, and separated, and the winner is: Katie, of Sophistikatied Reviews!

I'll be sending that signed copy out to you soon, Katie.

And everyone else, don't forget to check back in March. I'll have more contests around the time of my release--two weeks from now! Eek!

--Lauren

On Valentine's Day, I Am In Love With...

...Many things. But I'm just going to focus on two.

The first is THE FINISHED COPY OF MY BOOK! I arrived home from California and found it waiting on my doorstep...or rather, on my kitchen counter, thanks to the incredible delivery skills of my good friend Emily Heddleson (thanks, Em--see you tonight at Romanticide!).

The second thing (or rather, person) I am in love with: SHARON, of Sharon Loves Books and Cats. You know why? Because she busted out this incredibly awesome contest today, and I am totally in awe of her for it. Sharon, you had me at hello...or at "pre-order or buy Before I Fall". ;)

And people, if you enter to win, I'll be in love with YOU, too!

So happy Valentine's Day to you all! I hope your day is full of love or--at the very least--chocolate.

xo

Lauren

President's Day, Shmesident's Day--It's Before I Fall Day!

So, today is a VERY SPECIAL DAY.

Before I Fall, my debut novel (which comes out in 18 days--eek!) takes place on Friday, February 12th. And TODAY is Friday, February 12th. Which makes today...Before I Fall Day! (I can only hope that my day does not end with a fatal car crash, the way that my main character's does. Yikes.)

In honor of this newly christened holiday, I thought I would post a little teaser from my book, chosen completely at random. (Seriously, I flipped to a random page and chose the first two complete sentences.) Enjoy!

"I'm angry at Rob for not caring about how upset I am, and I'm angry at Kent for caring. I'm angry at everyone and everything, and in that second I fantasize about the cigarette Lindsay's waving catching on the curtains, about fire racing through the room and consuming everyone."

Okay...that's kind of an intense teaser but them's the rules, folks!

Authorlicious

Hey all--

The past two weeks have been full of writerly goodness. First, my friend Suzanne Young came to stay with me in BK. (That's Brooklyn, people.) We went out on the town to celebrate the release of her amazing debut novel, THE NAUGHTY LIST. (Buy a copy here or regret it forever!)

And it even snowed!

Then she wished me bon voyage:

.... and I headed out to California, where I met up with some incredible independent booksellers at the Winter Institute in San Jose, and even signed books next to REAL LIVE AUTHORS like Ally Carter (of I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have To Kill You fame) and the incredible Newberry-award winner Laura Amy Schlitz. Both of them signed books for me!

Then it was off to LA, where I had breakfast with Jay Asher, amazing author of the NYTimes bestseller Thirteen Reasons Why.

He helpfully gave me advice on school visits (he's an amazing public speaker) and even taught me how to use PowerPoint!

A very good week, in other words...

BEFORE I FALL, the Illustrated Edition

Way back in the fall, after a bunch of people (bloggers, primarily) wrote to me and requested a review copy of Before I Fall and I realized I did not have enough ARCs to go around, I remembered an all-important lesson from kindergarten: sharing is caring.

So I decided to send my book on something of a 1-ARC tour. Actually, it was a 2-ARC tour: one copy went to England and Spain, the other copy made its way across the US. I asked participating bloggers to write me notes in the book, if they were so inclined.

I am still waiting for the US copy to return to me, but a few weeks ago I got my little ARC back from Europe. It was a little worse for the wear, but infinitely improved: the notes inside moved me to tears, and this book has now become one of my most prized possessions. So thank you to Carla of The Crooked Shelf, Jenny of Wondrous Reads, and Lauren at I Was a Teenage Book Geek--your words truly touched me, as I hope my words have touched you!

One blogger, however, did not just write a note. Nope. The amazingly, incredibly talented Ana (Librojoven Blog), who is based in Spain, actually illustrated the book. Her drawings are stunning and, I believe, speak for themselves; I am not able to post all of the exquisite illustrations she left for me in the book's pages, but I would love to share a sampling of them.

AREN'T THEY UNBELIEVABLE?? And for those of you who have read it, the illustration below is actually the drawing that Kent gives to Sam on Cupid Day--Ana has envisioned it exactly the way I'd imagined it in my head!

So thank you, thank you, thank you! READERS ROCK.

xo

Lauren

Get crazy for DELIRIUM and WIN!

Alright, people, it's contest time!

The title of my second book has been officially selected: DELIRIUM, a dystopian Romeo-and-Juliet story, will be hitting the stores in 2011, and I want to know what you think of the title--so I'm turning it into a contest!

The winner will receive a signed finished copy of BEFORE I FALL, my debut novel, which will be released on March 2, 2010!

Here's how to enter:

Comment back (with email address)-- 1 point

Twitter retweet -- 2 points

Blog about the contest (in sidebar) --3 points

Blog about the contest (in regular blogpost) -- 4 points

Are you a follower? Then you get 5 whole points!

(BTW, "points" in this instance translates to "entries," meaning that if someone comments back, retweets on twitter, and is a follower, he/she will have his or her name entered eight times in the contest, and therefore a much greater chance of winning!)

Hurry, hurry! I am only running this contest now until 2/14. On Valentine's Day I pick a winner. You know why? Because I love you!

Good luck!

xo

Lauren