Books Read in 2012

This year I challenged myself to read 80 books and I won! In the end I managed to read 82 books; that's 10 books more than last year!
And here are my 2012 books:

The Elements of Style - William Strunk (non-fic)
Whispers of the Dead - Simon Beckett ( Adult Thriller)
Jacob - Simon Beckett (Adult Thriller)
Cinder - Marissa Meyer (YA sci-fi)
Written in Bone - Simon Beckett (Adult Thriller)
The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown ( Adult Thriller)
Truth - Julia Karr (YA dystopian)
Krabat - Ottfried Preußler ( MG)
Born Wicked - Jessica Spotswood ( YA historical fantasy)
Rodrick Rules - Jeff Kinney ( MG)
After the Snow - S.D. Crockett ( YA dystopian)
I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you - Ally Carter (YA mystery)
The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett (Adult Historical)
The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater (YA fantasy)
Insurgent - Veronica Roth (YA dystopian)
Catching Jordan - Miranda Kenneally (YA contemporary)
Chopsticks - Jessica Anthony ( YA contemporary/Graphic novel)
Garou - Leonie Swann (Adult mystery)
Masque of the Red Death - Bethany Griffin (YA dystopian)
The Space Between - Brenna Yovanoff (YA fantasy)
Crossed - Ally Condie (YA dystopian)
Leaving Paradise - Simone Elkeles (YA contemporary)
Return to Paradise - Simone Elkeles (YA contemporary)
Skellig - David Almond ( MG)
Plain Kate - Erin Bow (MG)
Nightshade - Andrea Cremer (YA paranormal)
Wolfsbane - Andrea Cremer (YA paranormal)
The Last Straw - Jeff Kinney (MG)
Spells - Aprilynne Pike (YA paranormal)
Dog Days - Jeff Kinney (MG)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie (YA contemporary)
I Am Number Four - Pittacus Lore (YA sci-fi)
Surrender - Elana Johnson ( YA dystopian)
Glitch - Heather Anastasiu (YA dystopian)
The Future of Us - Jay Asher ( YA contemporary)
The Girl of Fire and Thorns - Rae Carson ( YA fantasy)
Fateful - Claudia Gray ( YA historical)
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern (Adult Fantasy)
Prophecy of the Sisters - Michelle Zink (YA fantasy)
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer - Michelle Hodkin (YA mystery)
The Body at the Tower - Y.S. Lee  (YA historical mystery)
Fracture - Megan Miranda (YA Thriller)
Ghostgirl - Tonya Hurley (YA paranormal)
Ashes - Ilsa J. Bick (YA dystopian)
Dead Time - Anne Cassidy (YA mystery)
Slated - Teri Terry (YA dystopian)
The Fury - Alexander Gordon Smith (YA post-apoc)
Paper Valentine - Brenna Yovanoff (YA mystery)
The Innocents - Lili Peloquin (YA contemporary)
Origin - Jessica Khoury ( YA sci-fi)
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner - Stephenie Meyer (YA paranormal)
Saubande - Arne Blum (Adult mystery)
Beat the Reaper - Josh Bazell (Adult mystery)
Wild Thing - Josh Bazell ( Adult mystery)
The Ruining - Anna Collomore ( YA mystery)
Crewel - Genn Albin (YA dystopian)
Rampensau - Arne Blum (Adult mystery)
Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo (YA fantasy)
Blood Red Road - Moira Young (YA post-apoc)
The Calling of the Grave - Simon Beckett ( Adult Thriller)
15 Days without a Head - Dave Cousins (YA contemporary)
Schändung - Jussi Adler Olsen ( Adult Thriller)
Starters - Lissa Price (YA sci-fi)
Under the Never Sky - Veronica Rossi (YA dystopian)
A Million Suns - Beth Revis ( YA sci-fi)
Whispering to Witches - Anna Dale ( MG)
Until I Die - Amy Plum (YA paranormal)
Mortlock - Jon Mayhew (MG)
The Red Pyramid - Rick Riordan (MG)
A Certain Slant of Light - Laura Whitcomb (Adult fantasy)
Wildwood - Colin Meloy (MG)
Zoe Letting Go - Nora Price (YA contemporary)
Pink - Lili Wilkinson ( YA contemporary)
Feed - Mira Grant (Adult post-apoc)
Everneath - Brodi Ashton (YA paranormal)
Glow - Amy Kathleen Ryan (YA sci-fi)
Nevermore - Kelly Creagh (Ya gothic)
Lucid - Adrienne Stoltz (YA)
The Scorch Trials - James Dashner (YA dystopian)
Room - Emma Donoghue (Adult contemporary)
Tiger's Curse - Colleen Houck (YA paranormal)
The Tension of Opposite - Kristina McBride (YA contemporary)
(my favorites are in bold)

16 Adult Books
1 Non-fic
10 Middle Grade
55 YA (11 contemporary)

Happy New Year!

Giveaway winner!

I hope you had wonderful holidays! I can't believe 2012 is almost over, but I'm very excited about 2013!
But that's not the reason for this post! You want to know who won the very first IMPOSTOR ARC that I'm giving away, right?
And the lucky winner is:
Bailey (IB Book Blogging)!
Could you please email me (books@susannewinnacker.com)?

To all those who didn't win: don't worry, you'll get another chance in the new year!

IMPOSTOR ARC giveaway + news!

Impostor has a new - an earlier pub date! Razorbill will publish it on May 23, 2013! Less than 6 months to go!
This is wonderful and exciting and terrifying news! (and there's more news I can't talk about yet!)

To celebrate my new pub date, I'm having a Christmas giveaway and you can win a signed ARC of IMPOSTOR (and some swag like stickers and postcards!)!

CAN TESSA POSE AS MADISON . . . AND STOP A KILLER BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE?

Tessa is a Variant, able to absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance. Shunned by her family, she’s spent the last two years training with the Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, a secret branch of the FBI.

When a serial killer rocks a small town in Oregon, Tessa is given a mission: she must impersonate Madison, a local teen, to find the killer before he strikes again.

Tessa hates everything about being an impostor—the stress, the danger, the deceit—but loves playing the role of a normal girl. As Madison, she finds friends, romance, and the kind of loving family she’d do anything to keep.

Amid action, suspense, and a ticking clock, this super-human comes to a very human conclusion: even a girl who can look like anyone struggles the most with being herself.

(X-men meets The Silence of the Lambs)
- May 23, 2013 from Razorbill/Penguin!

This is the very first ARC I'm giving away on my blog! 
The giveaway is international and ends on December 27th. I'll announce the winner on the 28th. All you have to do to win is post a comment! 
But you can earn extra entries:
Spread the word about the contest (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Blog) + 2 entries (each - so if you post about the contest everywhere, you'll get 10 extra entries)
Add Impostor on goodreads + 1 entry
Follow me on twitter + 1 entry

The Next Big Thing

Fellow Apocalypsie Hilary Weisman Graham, author of REUNITED, tagged me to be part of The Next Big Thing bloghop! Here's her post about her current WIP!

And now I'll be talking about my own work-in-progress!

What is your working title of your book?

My current WIP is the sequel to my YA thriller Impostor. Sadly I don't have a title yet. If the book proves as stubborn as Impostor, it'll probably take forever to find a great title. Right now, I just call it Impostor 2...Creative, I know. ;)

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Well, the idea for this book came to me after I was done with Impostor. I had other plans for its sequel but then I had new inspiration and decided to take Impostor 2 in a slightly different direction.

What genre does your book fall under?

It's a thriller with supernatural elements. 

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It'll be represented by my agent Jill Grinberg!

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

It took me about 8 weeks to write the first draft. A bit longer than it took me to write Impostor (6 weeks). I'm a fast drafter!

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

That's tough. Maybe Mind Games from Kiersten White or Starters from Lissa Price? 

Now it's my turn to tag other writers. Here they are:

Shari Arnold

Kathy Bradey

CRUSHED by Dawn Rae Miller - Cover Reveal

Today I'm one of the blogs hosting the cover reveal of CRUSHED by my friend Dawn Rae Miller. It's upper YA and here is the pretty:

For seventeen-year-old serial womanizer Fletch Colson, life is a game and if he plays by the rules, he’ll win it all: his dream college, his parents’ money, and a hot (if a little vapid) girl on his arm. Really, it couldn’t be easier. All he has to do is get good grades, live a privileged boarding school life, and try not to mess up too much.

However, when he accepts the seemingly impossible bet to change his ways and be “just friends” with smart, beautiful, tempting Ellie Jacobs – a girl who seems hell bent on confusing him - Fletch’s whole world is turned upside down.

Suddenly, what seemed simple and clear, no longer feels right and Fletch must decide if winning it all is worth losing a piece of himself.

Pub date: December 11th, 2012! Only two weeks to go! 

And I'm having an exclusive sneak peek from CRUSHED for you. The scene is called "The Key Chain" and here it is:

The nurse, satisfied with my progress, releases me the next morning, but only after I swear to drink plenty of fluids and continue to rest.

But rest isn’t an option. I have finals. I have to study, especially after missing most of last week.  In the pile of books Calista brought over earlier, I found review guides from each of my teachers.

Since Harker has a reading week before finals, I have no classes. Just endless hours to sleep, eat, and make sure I know my classes inside and out.

In the middle of reviewing the Calc guide, someone knocks softly on my door – like they’re worried I might be asleep.
            “Come in,” I yell hoarsely.

Ellie peaks around the corner. “Hey, how are you feeling?”

My stomach flutters as she takes up residence on my desk chair. For once, I’m the one on the bed.

“Better.”

She tilts her head, like she doesn’t believe me. “You look pale.”

I close my eyes and re-open them lazily, positive this makes me look sicker. “I’m fine. Just a little weak. Food services is delivering my meals for the next two days, so I don’t have to exert myself.”

She laughs. “Well, aren’t you spoiled?”

This isn’t how I wanted to see Ellie. Not curled up on my bed looking like an invalid. And if my memory’s right, Sarah told me she’d heard about Lilah.

Which means Ellie knows too.

An uncomfortable lump forms in my throat.

I swallow hard. “Guess so.” I push myself upright, an effort that leaves me gasping.

“Are you okay?”

I wave her off and gasp for breath. “I’m fine. What are you up to?”

“Study break.” She swings side-to-side in the chair. “Brady told me you were back. I thought I’d come by.” She sticks her hand in her pocket and pulls out a tiny wrapped package. “Your Christmas present.”

She walks toward the bed. “It’s nothing fancy, but I thought you’d like it.”

Panic nibbles at me. Am I supposed to give her a present? I never buy gifts for my friends. I hold out my hand and she places it down softly without touching me. “I didn’t get you anything.”

She shrugs. “I didn’t expect you to.” Ellie curls and uncurls her fingers. “C’mon. Open it.”

I tear at the red wrapping paper. It’s a plain white box about two-inches long. I have no idea what it is.

“Fletch, the present is in the box, you know.”

“Right.” I tug off the top.

Inside, a giant red ‘s’ – Stanford’s logo – rests on a tuff of cotton. I hold the keychain in my hand, the weight suddenly more than I can bear and my shoulders sag. Even though I’ve never told her, she knows it’s my dream school.

“Do you like it?”

More than you know. “It’s perfect.”

Want to keep reading? You can read four more scenes on the following blogs:
Getting Dirty at the Pool - http://hayleyvornholt.com
The Bet - http://rachaelallenwrites.blogspot.com
Who Am I?  http://kathybradey.blogspot.com/
The Music Room http://waltzwithwords.blogspot.com/

Cover Celebration Contest

I know this seems a little late since I revealed my Impostor cover almost two weeks ago. But I'm in the revision cave right now. So today I'll finally celebrate my cover by giving away ARCs! Better late than never, right?
Here is the pretty again:

July 11, 2013. Add it on goodreads.

But sadly it's not an Impostor ARC I'll be giving away today (but soon). Instead I have two shiny ARCs of other Razorbill books for you. 

One winner will get: Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff (January 8th, 2013)

The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness.

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

Paper Valentine is a hauntingly poetic tale of love and death by the New York Times bestselling author of The Replacement and The Space Between.

And the second winner will get: The Ruining by Anna Collomore (February 7th, 2013)

Annie Phillips is thrilled to leave her past behind and begin a shiny new life on Belvedere Island, as a nanny for the picture-perfect Cohen family. In no time at all, she falls in love with the Cohens, especially with Libby, the beautiful young matriarch of the family. Life is better than she ever imagined. She even finds romance with the boy next door.

All too soon cracks appear in Annie's seemingly perfect world. She's blamed for mistakes she doesn't remember making. Her bedroom door comes unhinged, and she feels like she's always being watched. Libby, who once felt like a big sister, is suddenly cold and unforgiving. As she struggles to keep up with the demands of her new life, Annie's fear gives way to frightening hallucinations. Is she tumbling into madness, or is something sinister at play?

The Ruining is a complex ride through first love, chilling manipulation, and the terrifying depths of insanity.

I devoured both books. So good. Believe me, you'll want to read them!

And I'll add IMPOSTOR and THE LIFE BEYOND stickers and signed IMPOSTOR postcards!

The giveaway is open internationally and ends next Friday, November 23rd at noon EST. 

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment (preferably with your email address so I can contact you, but I'll figure out another way to do that, if you don't want to make it public).

You can get extra entries:

Spread the word about the contest on twitter, Facebook or your blog. + 2

Pin the Impostor cover on Pinterest or post it on your blog or Facebook + 2

Follow my twitter or blog + 1 each

Good luck!

Announcement + Winners

On Friday I got ARCs of my YA thriller IMPOSTOR in the mail! I can't tell you how surprised I was when I opened the package and found my ARCs inside. I couldn't stop staring at the pretty.
Here are the spines:

And then yesterday I officially revealed the cover on YA highway.
Here it is:

CAN TESSA POSE AS MADISON . . . AND STOP A KILLER BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE?

Tessa is a Variant, able to absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance. Shunned by her family, she’s spent the last two years training with the Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, a secret branch of the FBI.

When a serial killer rocks a small town in Oregon, Tessa is given a mission: she must impersonate Madison, a local teen, to find the killer before he strikes again.

Tessa hates everything about being an impostor—the stress, the danger, the deceit—but loves playing the role of a normal girl. As Madison, she finds friends, romance, and the kind of loving family she’d do anything to keep.

Amid action, suspense, and a ticking clock, this super-human comes to a very human conclusion: even a girl who can look like anyone struggles the most with being herself.


I love it so much, and it perfectly reflects the book! 
IMPOSTOR  has an official pub date: July 11th, 2013 from Razorbill/Penguin. And you can even pre-order it on Amazon!
Since I have ARCs now, I'll have my very first IMPOSTOR ARC giveaway very very soon!

But now it's time to announce the winners of my YAmazing Race bonus contest! 

Bwyatt

and

Molly.Frenzel

Please email me your address to this email: books@susannewinnacker.com

Thanks to everyone who participated!