Amazeballs.

Have y'all seen Karen Hooper's cover for Tangled Tides???

Seriously, how gorgeous is it? All I want right now is to be a mermaid.

Click here: AND GO TELL HER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE IT!!!

Everyday I'm Shufflin'

1. I spent the first two weeks of August with my family in the Outer Banks. The beach. One of my most favorite places in the world.

2. I've never been on a two-week vacay before.

3. It was freaking amazeballs.

4. When we got there, my parents took one look at all my suitcases and told me it looked like I was MOVING to the beach (I wish) and teased me about overpacking.

5. I told them I had exactly enough to wear and that they'd be the ones who wished they packed more.* And, seriously, what did they mean "excess?" Who doesn't bring three pairs of shades to the beach? (And pick up another pair while there?)

6. I spent half my time dancing around--because, how can you not dance around at the beach?

7. And half my time watching the water, thinking. About life. And my WIP. And, you know, deep things. (Pun totally unintended and only discovered after rereading this post . . . )

8. My husband did not spend half the time thinking about deep things.

9. I read a LOT of books. And yes, they're kind of an eclectic mix. But y'all. The Passage? I mean, I don't read a lot of non-YA lit (which you'd never know based on the picture, ha) but o.m.g. The Passage was AWESOME.

AND I read even more on my Kindle . . .

10. We ate TONS of fresh seafood. And never got sick of it. Fresh grilled tuna steaks, turned into tunafish salad the next day. Grilled swordfish. Mahi Mahi sandwiches. Shrimp and grits. I even tried steamers for the first time. OMG YUM. That's all I have to say about that.

11. The title of this post is literal, not just a reference to LMFAO. Seriously, we played cards for hours each day. Sevens, Oh Hell, Mi Mi . . . Ten points to anyone who's ever head of any of those games. They're superb. But so so so little known.

12. The title of this post IS also an LMFAO reference. Because I saw them in concert with Kesha last Sunday. Superb time. Blog post to come with pics!

So tell me: Have you been on vacay this summer? How have your Augusts been? Have you ever played any of the card games I mentioned?

xoxo


*I was wrong. They were right.

Moar ARC winners!

Congrats to everyone! And, again, don't worry if you didn't win! Lots more coming your way soon. Promise.

WINNERS:


Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

LISA POTTS!!!

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

MUNAZZA A!!!

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

DANIELA QUIROZ!!!

After Obsession by Carrie Jones and Steve Wadel

BOOKISH IN A BOX!!!

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch

JADE HANKES!!! 

Congratulations!! Please send me an email with your mailing address.

And PLEASE please spread the word about how awesome these books are after you've read and loved them!

xoxox

"A Beautiful Lie"

Okay, so... today's post ISN'T about lies, or liars. Shocking, I know. (Well, maybe not shocking for those of you who also heart one of my favorite bands.)

(I mean, I have a few thoughts on liars. You guys probably have the same ones. I think they suuuuuuuuck. But today's not about that.)

Today? Let's chat music.

And let's chat Jared Leto.

*swoon*

*and again*

He, for serious, was probably the first love of my life. (Well, besides a boy named Carter in my first grade class . . . ) But still. Back in the days of My So Called Life.

Remember? This?

source

And, dude. He grew up into this:

source

source

And his band, 30 Seconds to Mars, has more than a few songs on my WIP playlist. The song I'm sharing with you today is "A Beautiful Lie." Um, hence the title of my post. 

(Also, this isn't the official music video for it, but I like the lyrics and this one shows them.)

Enjoy!

I happen to know for a fact that I'm not the only writer out there who hearts 30STM. *cough*Carolina Valdez Miller*cough*

But what about you? What song are YOU swooning over today? 
Or, yanno, which mid-90s TV star? 

PS For more songs from my playlist, click here!

MOAR ARCs!!

Let's get it started in here.

And the bass giveaways keep running, running

And running, running . . . *

(In case you haven't noticed, I like to give my giveaways theme songs. Today is all about the Black Eyed Peas, obvi.)

See? I told you not to be disappointed if you didn't win anything in my last giveaway. Because I have SO MANY MOAR goodies for you guys :)

This giveaway features some pretty, pretty, lovely ARCs:

ARC: Shut Out, by Kody Keplinger
ARC: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin
ARC: Ashes, by Ilsa Bick (SIGNED)
ARC: After Obsession, by Carrie Jones & Steven Wedel
ARC: The Eleventh Plague, by Jeff Hirsch

Told ya!

(All the titles link to their Goodreads descriptions.)

Some of these I've read (The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Ashes . . . and holy guac they are freaking AWESOME. My reviews are forthcoming.) And some of these I'll be reading at the beach. (Winners may find some sand in the cracks.)

So, basically, it's the same deal as usual.

The contest

• is open internationally
• is easy to enter
• all you have to do is leave your name / email / location / book choice (in the form)
• has lots of ways to earn extra entries (see the form)
• closes August 19th

All I ask, is that if you win you find a way to spread the word about anything and everything you liked about the ARC. 

Deal?

Deal.

*nods*

Good luck!!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER

ARC Winners!!

I'm at the beach, and y'all have been SO patiently waiting for my giveaway to end--so I'll make this quick!


But one note: If you didn't win? Don't worry! I have another huge ARC giveaway opening TOMORROW! So sit tight, friends. Sit tight.

WINNERS

SIGNED ARC of Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Lisa Richards!! 

SIGNED ARC of Every You, Every Me

Raíla Soares!!

ARC of Girl of Fire and Thorns

Shannon O'Donnell!!

ARC of Lola and the Boy Next Door

Ishita Singh!!

SIGNED ARC of The Name of the Star

Rachel Brown!!

Congratulations to all the winners!! You should have an email from me sometime today, asking for your mailing address. I'll get the ARCs mailed out to you as soon as I'm home from the beach. 

xoxo

PS. Sorry if the formatting is all wonky on this post. Not sure what happened. #Bloggerfail. #Sarafail

Friday Funny: Damn You Autocorrect (part 2)

Happy friday, lovies!

I've done this once before, but I swear this stuff NEVER gets old.

WARNING: Some most of these are not PG. Or even PG-13.

Also, I got all of these from damnyouautocorrect.com. Obviously.

For other damnyouautocorrect post, click here.

For other Friday Funnies, click here.

So. What are you up to this weekend? 

"You hit me once, I hit you back."

Dudes. You probs thought this post was gonna be all gangster. Like, I was gonna fight or something. 

But NOPE.

I'm just doing like I promised and sharing a song from my WIP. 

"Kiss with a Fist" is a freaking awesome song. 

Florence + The Machine is a freaking awesome group. 

Seriously. I heart every. single. song. of theirs. My WIP playlist has sooooo many.

So. Enjoy! 

Oh, and happy Monday, y'all! I'm off somewhere enjoying warm sand and salty water.

And pina coladas.

What are you up to this week? What songs are YOU listening to today??