Mundie Moms

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Saundra Mitchell's The Vespertine Cover Revealed


Saundra Mitchell just revealed the cover of her upcoming book, The Vespertine. It's just so lovely and magical, isn't it??

Here's the synopsis:

The summer of 1889 is the one between childhood and womanhood for Amelia van den Broek-and thankfully, she's not spending it at home in rural Maine. She's been sent to Baltimore to stay with her stylish cousin, Zora, who will show her all the pleasures of city life and help her find a suitable man to marry.

Archery in the park, dazzling balls and hints of forbidden romance-Victorian Baltimore is more exciting than Amelia imagined. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset-visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. Newly dubbed "Maine's Own Mystic", Amelia is suddenly quite in demand.

However, her attraction to Nathaniel, an artist who is decidedly outside of Zora's circle, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own- still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him. And while she has no trouble seeing the futures of others, she cannot predict whether Nathaniel will remain in hers.

When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia's world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she's not the seer of dark portents, but the cause.
Visions. Chaos. Not the seer, but the cause?? Oh, this is going to be a page-turner!!!

Be sure to check out the Saundra's fun extras: printable bookmarks as well as a view into The Vespertine world: the story, the characters, the music and what Baltimore was like in 1889. So are you ready to enter the world of The Vespertine? Pre-order it now at your favorite bookstore. It's release date is March 2011, which is just around the corner.

Austin Texas Teen Book Festival


This past weekend I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Austin Teen Book Festival, and it was such a blast! This is their second year and WOW what an event. It was organized so well and ran smoothly. I was a driver and a panel host. As a driver I picked up James Dashner and Susane Colasanti and took them to the festival, when it was done, I took Sophie Jordan and Kiersten White to their hotel. Both car rides were a lot of fun and way to short. Susanne's excitement of going to the high school where they have filmed Friday Night was awesome. Visit her site here http://tinyurl.com/2ex8ly3 to see her post. As a panel host, I walked with the authors between panels to the back and made sure that they were given room to take their breaks before the next panel. That's the nice for saying that if I needed to, I could use my elbows (just kidding). I wouldn't have done that. It was so neat seeing how many people turned out for the event and were so excited to meet them.

There was such an amazing group of authors there. The keynote speaker was Ellen Hopkins, and she is simply amazing! I wish I could have recorded her keynote speech for everyone to hear. She talked about Censorship. I loved her comment, "if you can ban the President of The United States in classrooms, you can ban books." It was such a great point, as no one has the right to ban either one. You could hear a pin drop while she read emails from her young readers telling her how her books saved their lives. One girl's email had me on the verge of tears. To hear the horrible things this teen has been through would make you cringe to think that there's such horrible adults in the world. Having no one else to turn to, this young girl found help in Ellen's books. I'll quote what Ellen read, "Your books saved my life!" How much more powerful can that get. This is why it's so important NOT to ban books. Just because one person doesn't like a book, doesn't mean it won't be the life preserver that saves the next reader (that rant is for another post).

I was a panel host for the Boundary Breakers, which included Ellen Hopkins, Jon Skovron, Kenneth Oppel, Charles Benoit and Susane Colsanti. Who ever said authors don't have a sense of humor has never met the Boundary Breaker authors.
I had a blast with them. They are hilarious, as they kept everyone laughing through out their panels. They were so great to everyone and answered all their questions. It was great being able to talk to all of them between panels. I was really amazed to hear Ellen say she has 100's of emails she keeps of teens telling her how her books saved their lives. That is just amazing! We talked about censorship a little bit and the power her books have with teens in between panels.

In between breaks, it was a lot of fun hanging out with all the authors. I was so excited to finally meet Sophie Jordan and Kiersten White! Plus, look, we're all the same height! Being short, I love it when I'm around all people who make me feel normal. LOL Thank you Jen B for taking the picture.
I really loved finally meeting all the authors who came, especially Sophie Jordan, Kiersten White, Ally Carter, Melissa de la Cruz, Susane Colasanti, Jon Skovron, Pam Bachorz, Ellen Hopkins, seeing James Dashner again. This is the kind of fun that went on during lunch-
Jon Skovron, Kiersten White, Charles Benoit, Kenneth Oppel, James Dashner, Susane Colasanti, Ally Carter and Melissa de la Cruz. A local middle school's drama class put on a great performance of Thriller for the authors. The entire day was so much fun and flew up way too fast. I'm looking forward to the authors coming to town again.

The signing was HUGE! There were so many people there, it was simply awesome. As the signing was winding down Ally Carter, Kiersten White, Sophie Jordan and I had a little fun by hopping into a photo booth they had there. It was a little too much fun. I adore these girls!

It's not only fun meeting all the authors, but it's so much fun seeing so many bloggers. Here is Missie (a fellow blogger), Sophie Jordan and myself.
Pam Bachorz & I and Melissa de la Cruz & I.













Here's some goodies I got and some I have to giveaway. I'm so excited to get all my books signed and I also purchased a book from everyone who was on the Boundary Breaker panel, plus Nancy Werlin's newest release. I also received a teaser for the 1st 5 chapters of The Scorch Trials. It's really good, though James said the 1st chapter in the published book is a little different. I can't wait to read it. I'm very excited to read Pam Bachorz's Drought. I wish I was able to afford ti snag a few books to giveaway. I did get a couples ARC I might be giving away after I read them.

I picked up some signed swag to giveaway. No the bag isn't signed and I can't believe I'm parting with it. LOL Here's what one person will win:

Be sure to ask Jon Skovron why he had Red Hots!!


Thank you to The Austin Teen Book Festival, Book People and all the authors who came out to make this an amazing event! I can't wait for next year!!

Waiting on Wednesday- The Scorch Trials

By James Dashner
Published by Delacorte Books For Young Readers
To Be Released October 12th, 2010

The Maze was only the beginning...

Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more Variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.

In the Maze, life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety... until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago.

Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, much of the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated--and with it, order--and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim... and meal.

The Gladers are far from done running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Thomas can only wonder--does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED? (quoted from Goodreads)

I really like this cover and I'm looking forward to this sequel to The Maze Runner. Last weekend James was in town for the Austin Book Festival (if you haven't met him yet and have the chance to go to one of his signings, be sure you do), it was great visiting with him and talking about his books. I was able to read a teaser from The Scorch Trials, and those first 5 chapters have left me wanting more. Be sure to pick up your copy when it hits stores next Tuesday!!

You can find out more about James and his books here http://www.jamesdashner.com/ and here's James's latest tour dates (quoted from his site):

TOUR EVENTS:
Official Launch Party (Please come and make it big and great!):

Tuesday, October 12th @ 7 p.m.
The King’s English
1511 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84105

Wednesday, October 13th @ 7 p.m.
Tentative
Borders
255 Grossman Dr.
Braintree, MA 02184

Thursday, October 14th @ 7 p.m.
Barnes and Noble
98 Middlesex Turnpike
Burlington, MA 01803

Friday, October 15th @ 7 p.m.
Boswell Book Company
2559 N. Downer Ave.
Milwaukee WI 53211

Saturday, October 16th @ 1:30 p.m.
Sheboygan Children’s Book Festival (sponsored by Next Chapter Bookshop)
Presentation and signing
Sheboygan, WI

Monday, October 18th @ 7 p.m.
Barnes and Noble
Greyhound Plaza
14709 US Hwy 31 North
Carmel, IN 14709

October 19th @ 7 p.m.
Left Bank Books
399 N. Euclid Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63108

Wednesday, October 20th at 7 p.m.
Barnes and Noble
Chesterfield Oaks
1600 Clarkson Rd.
Chesterfield, MO 63017

Thursday, October 21st @ 7 p.m.
Powell’s
2720 NW 29th Ave.
Portland, OR 97210

Friday, October 22nd @ 4 p.m.
A Children’s Place
4807 Northeast Fremont Street
Portland, OR 97213

Monday, October 25th @ 7 p.m.
Kepler’s
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Tuesday, October 26th @ 7 p.m.
Copperfield’s
2316 Montgomery Drive
Santa Rosa, CA 95405-5000

Wednesday, October 27th @ 10 a.m.
Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd.
Corte Madera, CA 94925
(In-store with school groups)

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