libba bray

Win-It Wednesday: Contemporary YA!

Over at The Contemps, we've declared June Contemporary YA month (it also happens to be the birthday month of Sarah Dessen and Gayle Forman and yours truly--yay!), and other bloggers are joining in to create a whole summer of real-life reading. I'm so into it. So to make up for this blog's long absence, and to celebrate June Contemps, I'm giving away these four books:

That's Sarah Dessen's What Happened to Goodbye (advanced reader copy), Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why (new paperback!), Nova Ren Suma's Imaginary Girls (hardcover) and Libba Bray's Beauty Queens (advanced reader copy).

I have read them, I heart them, and you will too. (And okay, I know a couple of these skirt contemp lines, but all are rooted in contemp spirit, which basically means that they're realistic fiction--as opposed to otherworldly stuff.)

To win this set of awesome, answer this question in the comments: What's the best Contemporary YA novel you've read in the past year? If you're a strictly paranormal/dystopian/fantasy reader, name a Contemp you'd like to read soon (and then go get it!). You can get some ideas from The Contemps list of members' books.

I'll post a randomly chosen winner next Wednesday. Happy June!

PS-Every Thursday this month, Claire June is giving away a Contemp novel too, so check her out.

PPS-I forgot to announce a winner for the last Win-It Wednesday, pre-blog outage! The randomly chosen winner of Morgan Matson's fabulous Amy & Roger's Epic Detour is... Jessica! Send me your address, J.

Photo Friday: Teen Author Festival

Just a few photos for fun. I missed taking them at Books of Wonder on Sunday (oops!) but here are a few--sorry they're blurry. My blog just does that sometimes.Me with Coe Booth, who's working on Tyrell II (not the official title, but yay! Tyrell is soooo good): IMG_1071.jpg The panel that needs no introduction, but what the heck? John Green, David Levithan, Libba Bray and E. Lockhart rocked their performances of each other's work and then readings from upcoming books. IMG_1076.jpg And my group reading at the Grand Army branch of the Brooklyn Public Library was super great, with an awesome rotating audience of students (L to R we are: Melissa Kantor, Siobhan Vivian, me, Robin Wasserman, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Emily Horner, Adrienne Maria Vrettos and Matthue Roth)! IMG_1077.jpg Ashley, whom I met on Friday during my panel on "The Boy You Can't Have," taped a ton of video that day, so if you want to see some reading clips, check out her youtube channel. She also sent me this lovely photo of the panel. That's David Levithan, me, Elizabeth Scott, Susane Colasanti, Robin Palmer and Maryrose Wood (we just missed Elizabeth Eulberg on the far right!): boypanel.jpg 'Twas a fun week! Y'all come next year, y'hear? More pics (and clearer version of these) up on readergirlz. PS-I also filmed a writing update vlog for Adele from Persnickety Snark -- her new feature asks authors what they're working on, so I talked about Small Town Sinners, my next book, and the one after that! I can't wait to see this feature evolve and hear from other writers. Great idea, Adele!