Want to see me in full-on fan girl mode? This is me getting an ARC of THE INFINITE MOMENT OF US by Lauren Myracle.

Are you checking this out? It’s me getting hugged by Lauren Myracle!!!!

My copy of THE INFINITE MOMENT OF US from BEA had a different cover–you can sort of see it in the pictures. But I think I love the new one even more…

It has all the things I love about the ARC cover but a zillion more things that encompass the heart of this story.

For as long as she can remember, Wren Gray’s goal has been to please her parents. But as high school graduation nears, so does an uncomfortable realization: Pleasing her parents once overlapped with pleasing herself, but now . . . not so much. Wren needs to honor her own desires, but how can she if she doesn’t even know what they are?
Charlie Parker, on the other hand, is painfully aware of his heart’s desire. A gentle boy with a troubled past, Charlie has loved Wren since the day he first saw her. But a girl like Wren would never fall for a guy like Charlie—at least not the sort of guy Charlie believes himself to be.
And yet certain things are written in the stars. And in the summer after high school, Wren and Charlie’s souls will collide. But souls are complicated, as are the bodies that house them . . .
Sexy, romantic, and oh-so-true to life, this is an unforgettable look at first love from one of young adult fiction’s greatest writers.

THE INFINITE MOMENT OF US is available on August 2o, 2013 . You can Pre-order here:

*Amazon

*Barnes & Noble

*Indiebound

*Books-A-Million

*Indigo

*ABRAMS

*iBookstore

Kimberly’s Review of THE INFINITE MOMENT OF US:

There are a million things that I love about this book. First and foremost–it is a gorgeous love story. The kind that’s better than a fairy tale, because it’s sweet and real and very believable. It IS what happens when souls collide. But as the cover flap suggests, souls have bodies. I love how this book talks about sex in a loving, beautiful, responsible and informative way without an ounce of preachiness. It approaches sex bravely–without societal or religious shame–but also without the smutty feel of Hollywood gone wrong. After standing in the storm of the Fifty Shades “phenomenon,” this story feels a little bit like the sun coming out after the rain. With the pendulum of sexuality swinging between promise rings and feathered handcuffs, THE INFINITE MOMENT OF US finds the sweet spot. Why does this resonate with me so much? More than anything, as a mom of three boys, Lauren Myracle illustrates what it means for young men to be kind and respectful of women, whether its their souls or their bodies colliding. Be safe. Be respectful. Be loved. Be someone who reads THE INFINITE MOMENT OF US.

Lauren Myracle is the author of numerous young adult novels. She was born in 1969 in North Carolina. Lauren Myracle holds an MA in English from Colorado State University and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College. she has written many novels, including the famous IM books, ttyl, ttfn, and l8r, g8r.

Her first novel, Kissing Kate, was selected as one of ALA’s “Best Books for Young Adults” for the year 2004. It was named by Booklist as one of the “Top Ten Youth Romances” of the year, as well as one of the “Top Ten Books by New Writers.” Her middle-grade novel, Eleven, came out 2004, followed by its YA sequels (Twelve, Thirteen, Thirteen Plus One) .

Want to see what the other Bookanistas are talking about? Check out our website THE BOOKANISTAS and here are this week’s Bookanista reviews…

Rebecca Behrens leaps over THE MOON AND MORE by Saran Dessen

Elana Johnson has props for THE PLEDGE by Kimberly Derting

Tracey Neithercott croons about CROAK by Gina Damico

Kimberly Sabatini delves into THE INFINITE MOMENT OF US by Lauren Myracle

Corrine Jackson touts TEMPEST

What’s your take on bodies colliding in YA literature? Who does it well? Who over does it? Is it needed? Is it over done? Inquiring minds want to know.

Tags: Book Review, Bookanistas, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Lauren Myracle, The Infinite Moment of Us

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Last year I spent several days at BEA but this year I was only able to go down for the day. A day which started with my 8yo home from school. And if you know anything about me–that makes me crazy. Maybe I do have a little bit of a control freak streak that comes out from time to time. But my sitter (practically a big sister to my boys) was already lined up to hang with the 12 you for the day (he graduated to middle school the day before) so I decided to put on my fancy shoes and go anyway.

I’m so glad I wore those comfy puppies on my feet and stashed my fancy shoes and top in my bag for the Simon & Schuster Pulse/Aladdin happy hour. Because the first thing I had to do when I hit NYC was wait in about a 20 person taxi line in the sweltering heat. OMG! Liked the Wicked Witch of the West–I was melting!

This was when I only had 3 or 4 people in front of me and I was getting excited. LOL!

A sweaty but very happy me in the cab with air conditioning until….

My driver stopped at a red light, pulled out a book and started reading. It was pointed out to me how cool it was that I was going to Book Expo America and my cab driver was reading. NO! Sorry, not cool. Even with air conditioning–not cool! Unless a new Harry Potter book comes out–then I’ll totally let you do it. But that’s it.

Made it to BEA alive and who was waiting for me? Lisa Lueddecke from The Young Adult Connection. <3 We were roomies for BEA last year and this was our 1 year Friendaversary. It was so awesome to see her, but I’m going to straight up say that between her evil, painful shoes, my lunch with my agent and the poor cell phone service, I didn’t see her nearly as much as I wanted to. Such a tease. We are totally going to have to Skype or something. Soon. If I could figure out how to Skype. I seriously have SDD Skype Deficit Disorder. *le sigh*

But just like old times, Lisa and I went ARC hunting and we found OMG!!!! LAUREN MYRACLE!!!!!!! AND I HUGGED HER!!!!!! AND SHE IS MORE AWESOME IN REAL LIFE THAN ALL CAPS CAN REALLY EXPLAIN.

And of course I had lunch and hung out with the agent of awesome…MICHELLE WOLFSON!!!! One of my favorite things in the whole world. <3 I also got to finally meet my Wolf Pack Sistah, Jennifer Iacopelli, debut author of GAME. SET. MATCH. Which I started reading on the train ride home and LOVE!!!!! And I also ran into my local book buddy and friend Emily.

There was more, a hazy hot blur of more. I actually ran into a lot more friends and met a bunch of amazing new people between BEA and the Pulse/Aladdin Happy Hour, but my phone battery!!!! The Javits Center eats battery bars for snacks, but on the bright side I met old and new friends while hanging at the charging station. LOL!

So, what have I decided about BEA? I need less than three and a half days and just a little bit more than one. And on the bucket list…I plan on signing there at some point. And on that note–it’s back to work.

PS I’d just like to add that I REALLY REALLY WANTED an ARC of FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell. And I may have threatened to mug a young book blogger at the charging station, when she whipped out her copy. But I didn’t. So–there was that. What book from BEA would you have almost mugged a book blogger for?

Tags: BEA, Book Expo America, Fangirl, Game. Set. Match., Jennifer Iacopelli, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Lauren Myracle, Lisa Lueddecke, Michelle Wolfson, NYC, Rainbow Rowell, Taxi

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In my last post, I talked a little bit about Marketing Your Unborn Book.  Today I wanted to follow up with a similar topic.  Word of mouth.  This is very closely related to what I previously talked about.  When you make genuine connections with people, there is a good chance that those people will support you.  That’s what friends do.  It’s also what smart people do–they don’t bite the hand that feeds them.  And if you’ve been doing a good job marketing your unborn book, it means that you have invested a lot of time and energy into supporting your peers the way you would like to be cared for when it is your turn to sell a book.  The cool thing about the kid lit community is that this is a group of people who was born with the “do-for-others gene.”  They are writing to help kids for goodness sake.

So, how do we really sell our books?  I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the best way is by word of mouth.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are lots of things that you can do to stack the deck in your favor.  I’m doing things like compiling lists of school librarians so that I can send them out a post card with my information on it.  It never hurts to put the effort in.  Sending out a post card is a lot more personal than hoping, wishing and praying that a librarian or a bookseller accidentally stumble upon TOUCHING THE SURFACE.  But, at the end of the day, think about who you listen to when you want a book recommendation.

I can tell you what I do…

*I watch what people I trust tweet about on twitter.  If my agent or editor recommends a book, I’m sold.  If Kiersten White, my agency sister is singing the praises of an author, I believe her.  If the kid lit community rallies around someone like Lauren Myracle, I will read that book and hand sell that puppy until someone puts a restraining order out on me.

*I ask my friends and family what they’re reading.  I trust them.

*I check out the staff recommendations at the bookstore.  These folks may or may not be my “friends” but they are talking up a book that they feel passionately about.  Yes, they are selling books, but they’re selling ALL the books in the store.  So it means something when they talk about a book that resonates with them.

I HAVE NEVER READ A BOOK THAT SOMEONE HAS SPAMMED ME WITH–EVEN IF YOU HAVE OFFERED IT FOR FREE.

That’s the truth.

I’ll leave you with a little story that shows you the true power of word of mouth…

The other day my boys and I were talking about graphic novel/cartoon characters.  Who we liked and what super powers we’d like to have.  If you have boys, you’ve probably had this conversation many times LOL!  I happened to reveal to my kids that when I was their age, I had a secret super hero identity.  I put on my dark and powerful cartoon narrator’s voice and told them…

Out of the dark regions of the universe,  comes a super crime fighting hero…Captain Apple!

They thought that this was hysterical.  They wanted to know all about Captain Apple.  I can’t remember much about how it started.  I may have been apple picking with the girl scouts or something, but for some reason I have always remembered Captain Apple.  I forgot all about our talk until a few days later, when my middle son got my attention at dinner.

Him: “Do you remember that day we were talking about Captain Apple?”

Me: “Uh huh.”  Nods in his direction while making dinner and pulling back packs apart.

Him:  “Yeah, well it’s kind of cool because all my friends are playing Captain Apple in school.”

Me: Drops stuff and gives middle child my full attention.  “What do you mean?”

Him: “I though Captain Apple was cool so I told my friends about it.  They thought it was cool too.  So we’ve been playing Captain Apple on the playground and making up our own comics.”

Me: Stands up straight and smooths hair.  “They really liked it?”

Him:  “Yeah, mom–he’s pretty cool.”

Me:  “Think you can finish dinner by yourselves boys?  I’ve got a new idea for a book that I’d like to fiddle with…”

Okay–maybe that last line wasn’t exactly true.  And yes, I will sue you if you steal my Captain Apple book idea.  You won’t though–that would make you rotten to the core.  *scribbles notes that that would make a great line in the book*  But you get the picture.  Word of mouth can sell things that aren’t even for sale…yet.  My best advice for selling your book or your future book is to go out and sell someone else’s book.  How cool is that?

And one final warning…negative news travels by mouth a gazillion times faster than good news.  It’s the pits *jots down more notes* but its a law of the universe.  So, my final recommendation for you is to remember to use your words wisely.  And get a cool cape.

Tags: Captain Apple, Kiersten White, Kimberly Sabatini, Lauren Myracle, Librarians

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