New Releases

Happy Book Birthday to Elizabeth Briggs: MORE THAN MUSIC

A HUGE congratulations to Elizabeth Briggs who is celebrating her book birthday today, with her release of MORE THAN MUSIC!

Not only have I gotten to know Elizabeth through the YA Buccaneers Spring Writing Bootcamp -- GO TEAM RAINIER!!! -- but she and I share a very funny story back in my querying days for WHERE THE WATER FALLS that I'll save for another time...because today? It's all about MORE THAN MUSIC!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Music major Maddie Taylor seems to have her life all figured out. She’s just finished her junior year of college, has a summer internship lined up with the LA Philharmonic, and plans to go to grad school to write movie scores. Only her roommates know she practices guitar every night and secretly dreams of a louder life. But geeky girls like her don’t get to be rock stars.

Tattooed singer Jared Cross has a new girl every week, but when he catches Maddie playing one of his songs, she attracts his attention in an unexpected way. His band needs a fourth member for The Sound, a reality TV show competition—and he wants her. Though Maddie refuses to be another notch on Jared’s bedpost, she agrees to risk everything for the chance to be a rock star.

Once on the show, Maddie discovers there’s more to Jared behind his flirty smile, and with each performance their attraction becomes impossible to ignore. When the show pressures Jared to flaunt his player image, they’re forced to keep their relationship secret, but Maddie can’t help but want something real.

As the competition heats up, Jared will do whatever it takes for his band to win, and Maddie must decide if following her dream is worth losing her heart.

Add to Goodreads Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Smashwords All Romance

If you buy the paperback on Amazon, you'll get the Kindle version for free, too. You can also order a signed paperback copy from Elizabeth!

Read the first chapter and check out bonus goodies like teaser images, playlists, and more. And scroll down to enter her giveaway of a signed paperback copy of More Than Music, plus a paperback of Fifty First Times: A New Adult Anthology, edited by Julie Cross (who was kind enough to blurb her book)!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

LizAuthor

Elizabeth Briggs is a Young Adult and New Adult author who lives in Los Angeles with her British husband and a bunch of fluffy white rescue dogs. She's a guitar-playing geek who loves books, rock music, and video games, goes to Comic Con every year, and is still hoping to be a Jedi when she grows up.

Elizabeth currently works with WriteGirl to mentor at-risk or pregnant teen girls in writing, to help them get through high school and into college. She also volunteers with Bichon FurKids to help rescued dogs find a new, loving home. She previously worked as an intern for literary agent Jill Corcoran of Jill Corcoran Literary Agency, an intern for Entangled Publishing, and an editor for Curiosity Quills Press.

Elizabeth is represented by Kate Schafer Testerman of KT Literary and is a member of SCBWI and RWA.

Check out these interviews:
By Stephanie Garber, on More Than Music
By Rachel Searles, on random fun stuff
By Aimee Salter, on interning with Jill Corcoran
By Cupid's Literary Connection, on writing

Website   |   Facebook   |   Twitter   |  Goodreads


ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY

To celebrate her book launch, Elizabeth is giving away the following (open internationally):

1) paperback copy of FIFTY FIRST TIMES: A New Adult Anthology
1) signed paperback of MORE THAN MUSIC + bookmarks

To enter, go here!

Congratulations, Elizabeth -- I'm so happy for you and can't wait to read MORE THAN MUSIC!

So head on over to Elizabeth's blog, enter her giveaway, and without fail - GO AND BUY MORE THAN MUSIC!!!

YA Bookshelf: What's New?

What's new to the bookshelves in Young Adult? I'll be posting new releases in the YA genre - as well as a glimpse of what's to come!

NEW TO THE BOOKSHELF:

SUMMER AND THE CITY: A Carrie Diaries Novel by Candace Bushnell

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Release Date: April 26, 2011
ISBN13: 9780061728938
Page Count: 416 

"Summer and the City" is the highly anticipated second book in the Carrie Diaries series, a teen prequel to "Sex and the City" which follows a young Carrie Bradshaw.

Summer is a magical time in New York City and Carrie is in love with all of it—the crazy characters in her neighborhood, the vintage-clothing boutiques, the wild parties, and the glamorous man who has swept her off her feet. Best of all, she's finally in a real writing class, taking her first steps toward fulfilling her dream.

This sequel to The Carrie Diaries brings surprising revelations as Carrie learns to navigate her way around the Big Apple, going from being a country "sparrow"—as Samantha Jones dubs her— to the person she always wanted to be. But as it becomes increasingly difficult to reconcile her past with her future, Carrie realizes that making it in New York is much more complicated than she ever imagined.

With her signature wit and sparkling humor, Candace Bushnell reveals the irresistible story of how Carrie met Samantha and Miranda, and what turned a small-town girl into one of New York City's most unforgettable icons, Carrie Bradshaw.

See the TeenReads review for more details. I just ordered this one and will be reading this next - check back again, for my review.