We haven’t had a general update here in a while, and there’s a reason for that–I’ve been insanely busy of late. I’m currently in the throes of sequel revision, am moving house this weekend, and have had a couple of extended family visits recently. Bottom line: not much time for blogging.

But, exciting things have still been happening. All Four Stars is now less than four months from publication (!!!), so if you’ve been following that journey, here are a few milestones that have happened recently.

Reviews
All Four Stars got its first book blogger review from the terrific Eli Madison at Tweens Read Too! Here’s the review, and here’s an interview I did at the same blog shortly after.

Giveaway
If you are on Twitter and would like to enter to win an ARC (advance copy) of All Four Stars, Eli is giving one away. All you have to do is follow Eli’s account and retweet this tweet about the giveaway: https://twitter.com/elimadison2019/status/447423264160088064. I think that there are currently very few entries, so your chances of winning are excellent. Go enter now!

Swag
Thanks to the design stylings of Amber at Me, My Shelf, & I and the printing prowess of GotPrint and Tattoo Sales, I am now proudly in possession of approximately one million billion All Four Stars-themed bookmarks, postcards, and temporary tattoos! If you would like some to pass out at your local library, school, bookstore, cocktail party, etc., please just give me a holler and I’ll be happy to pop some in the mail to you.

Preordering
All Four Stars is now available for preorder just about anywhere where you can buy books. Preorders are wonderfully helpful to authors (especially debut authors!), and I heartily thank all of you who have already ordered copies from your local bookstores or your favorite online retailers! And if you haven’t preordered yet but would like to, you can find links to booksellers here.

Over at Emu’s Debuts
I’ve recently published two new posts over at my group blog, Emu’s Debuts.

In “The Second Time Around,” I talk about how writing and publishing a second book is a little less exciting–but also a little less stressful–than it has been for my debut book.

And in “Strange Sweet Song Launch: When Cats (and Other Dangerous Animals) Attack!” I amassed tales of the Emus’ crazy animal encounters as part of our launch week celebration of Adi Rule’s YA debut, Strange Sweet Song. This book is one of the most incredible reads I’ve had in the past year, and I hope that everyone who reads this will go request a copy for their library and/or buy their own! If you’re a fan of dark, Gothic, romantic books like Jane Eyre, I think you’ll love this book. Here’s my own GoodReads review.

Strange Sweet Song by Adi Rule

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was lucky enough to read an advance copy of this book, and let me tell you, it was incredible. I am someone who has no musical skills and definitely no interest in opera, and still I found myself COMPLETELY sucked in to the world Adi Rule has created–a remote conservatory with a touch of magical stuff going on.

The writing is impeccable on the sentence level–the author really uses all of the senses to make the reader experience the wintry setting and hear the beautiful music being played and sung. And she is just as comfortable writing about everyday teenage backbiting and boyfriend-stealing as she is executing the more gothic and paranormal aspects of the story, bringing all of those elements together seamlessly.

This was hands-down one of my favorite reads of 2013, and I imagine it will top many people’s lists when it hits the shelves in 2014.

View all my reviews

I think that that’s all my news at the moment. Once I’m settled into my new place, I plan to start sharing All Four Stars-related recipes here, working on a discussion guide for the book, and launching an e-mail newsletter. Stay tuned!