Jill's ARC Giveaway

Jill is giving away an ARC of THE LIAR SOCIETY by Lisa and Laura Roecker on her blog!
You have until Thursday to enter!
I can't wait to get my hands on that book. Who doesn't love a heroine with pink hair??? :D

Shopping Spree

I couldn't resist...once again. I think I might be addicted to books. I can't help it. Here's the result of my two latest shopping sprees:

I bought Timeless, Warped and Across the Universe about two weeks ago. Because of my ridiculous to read pile I haven't even found the time to read them yet!

But that didn't stop me from buying even more books!

The Lightning Thief

A Northern Light

Raised by Wolves

Plain Kate

A Certain Slant of Slight

Shadow Hills

Tell me a secret

The Ghost and the Goth

The Tension of Opposites

Perfect Chemistry

and

Crescendo

arrived today. So many great books. And the cover of A Certain Slant of Light is deliciously creepy.

I started XVI by Julia Karr from my to-read pile yesterday but I've got no clue what to read after that.

Did you read any of the books I bought? Any favorites?

When it starts feeling real...

I, like many other writers, tend to doubt myself, my writing and my achievements. I think it would feel strange if there ever was a day when I didn't have a moment of "oh my god, how did I ever think I could write? I suck!".

But then there are moments when I believe that I can write and that the things I write are good. Sometimes we writers need to be reminded though.

Getting my contract from my publisher Usborne was one of those wonderful reminders.

Even doggie was excited and wanted to take a look at my contract!

So now whenever I think: "Maybe I'm just imagining the whole thing. Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and that lovely bookdeal turns out to be a big dream.", I'll just take a look at these pics:

Signing your contract is one of the things on the journey to publication that make it feel real, that convince me that I was lucky enough to not only get an agent but also a bookdeal. And then I allow myself to believe that I'm really living my dream.

Review: Entangled by Cat Clarke

Read as a part of the Debut Author Challenge 2011

Publication Date: January 6th 2011

Publisher: Quercus Publishing

Summary:

The same questions whirl round and round in my head:
What does he want from me?
How could I have let this happen?
AM I GOING TO DIE?

17-year-old Grace wakes up in a white room, with a table, pens and paper - and no clue how she got here.

As Grace pours her tangled life onto the page, she is forced to remember everything she's tried to forget. There's falling hopelessly in love with the gorgeous Nat, and the unravelling of her relationship with her best friend Sal. But there's something missing. As hard as she's trying to remember, is there something she just can't see?

Grace must face the most important question of all. Why is she here?

A story of dark secrets, intense friendship and electrifying attraction.

Review:

I picked up Entangled because of its gorgeous cover. The red of the girl's hair and her white skin and the way she looks at you...Gorgeous. Needless to say that I would have bought Entangled even if the plot hadn't interested me.

But Entangled is more than a beautiful cover. So much more.

I loved it.

It made me cry and I don't cry often and almost never because of a book. But Entangled made my vision all blurry and the only reason I didn't start bawling was my husband who sat beside me on the sofa and who would have gotten a shock if I'd cried over a book.

But back to why I loved Entangled:

Grace.

I was nothing like her when I was a teen and I don't understand her actions and I don't support them, but nothing of that matters.

What matters is:

Grace is a character that feels real. She's got flaws. She does stupid things – lots of stupid things. And sometimes I wanted to shake or maybe slap her. And sometimes I wanted to hug her. And sometimes I wanted to cry with her because her worries and pain and insecurities felt so real.

She's someone who'll stay with me even after I've put down the book. I certainly won't forget her name any time soon.

Cat Clarke did a fabulous job telling Grace's story and I loved the way she did it. I loved how we found out more about Grace's life through her writing, how she wrote down her emotions and experiences and how she learned about herself through it.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot, so I'll stop here.

Just one more thing: Go, buy the book!

New books!

Nothing is better than new books. If you live in Germany and love to read books in English buying books isn't as easy as it sounds. I can't just walk into a bookstore and buy or order all the lovely new books. I have to wait weeks for debuts like Across the Universe, or Warped or Timeless (*glares at bookdepository*)

But sometimes my local bookstore surprises me with a small but nice selection and then I can't resist and simply have to buy every book I might want to read. I'm still waiting for three debut novels that I ordered a few WEEKS ago but bookdepository is taking their time. *sigh*

Right now I'm reading Graceling by Kristin Cashore and A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. Of course I'm already wondering what to read next. On the photo are the books that I bought this week. They are all awesome and I love the cover of Entangled, but I don't know which book to read next.

So what do you think? Have you read some or all of the books?

Apocalypsies interviews!

Something you don't want to miss!

The Apocalypsies (2012 Debut authors) will be interviewing the Elevensies (2011 Debut Authors) all through the year! The first interview with Maurissa Guibord, author of WARPED, is now up on the Apocalypsies blog.

So go read it and leave a comment!

My shiny new Website!

Look! I have a website!
www.susannewinnacker.com

Let me know what you think! :D