Guess the cover copy - and win an ARC!!!

So I have this lovely, delicious ARC of CIRCLE OF SECRETS (October 1, 2011, Scholastic). See how pretty and spooky and intriguing? (Erin McGuire is the artist! Go to her link for *more* of the artwork of Circle of Secrets!)

The ARC has a synopsis and the Scholastic 2011 Catalog has a synopsis - can you guess which one is which???

Here they are:

#1: Shelby Jayne has just moved from the city to the Louisiana bayou to live with her mamma, who left Shelby and her dad one year ago. Harboring so much anger and hurt, Shelby is devastated when she is treated as a total outcast at school and her classmates torment her. After one especially nasty incident, she is chased to a graveyard, where she meets  strange young girl. Instantly, the two become friends. But very soon, strange thing start to happen.

Shelby Jayne begins to find mysterious blue bottles with ancient messages hidden inside--messages written in the same handwriting as her new friend's She wants to ask her mamma for help, but something is stopping her. Suddenly Shelby has to wonder if there's more to the town's secrets than she thought . . .

#2: After her mother walked out on Shelby Jayne and her dad, Shelby thought she'd never speak to her mamma again. But with her dad leaving the country for work, it turns out she doesn't have a choice: Shelby has to move back into her mamma's house, deep in the heart of the Louisiana bayou.

Her new classmates tease and torment her, so Shelby's relieved to finally find a friend in Gwen, a mysterious girl who lives alone on the bayou. But Shelby can't help wondering if Gwen has something to do with the puzzling messages she finds hidden in the blue bottle tree behind her house. The only person who might be able to explain is her mamma--but Shelby's not ready to ask. Not yet. It may take a brush with something from the beyond to help Shelby see that the power to put her own ghosts to rest is within her reach.

Give me your guess in the comments AND tell me which one you like best!

Everyone will be entered to win the ARC!

Winner announced next Wednesday, July 27th! Spread the word for extra entries - blogs/facebook/twitter! This is the very first ARC giveaway for this new book!

Quick, but Wonderful Things!

Well, Amazon just keeps DROPPING PRICES like MAD.

The Healing Spell hardcover book is now only $7.57!!!!!!!!! INSANE.  Reduced from $17.99 retail.

What an inexpensive and beautiful gift!!! Or one of those splurge check-out purchases. :-)

AND Finally I am announcing the giveaway I promised ages ago when I reached 100 followers! In December I jumped from about 70 Followers to 120 Followers in about a week's time due to my book tour.

I am giving away a SIGNED copy of TAKE ME THERE by my very good friend Carolee  Dean. It's an awesome, fabulous and suspenseful book! A must-read.

Just leave a comment. Tweet or Blog or Facebook if you wish for more entries. The contest will run from THIS MOMENT to midnight January 20th!!!

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

FOR THE VERY FIRST ARC GIVEAWAY OF THE HEALING SPELL!!!
Watch the dramatic events unfold . . .

So I printed and cut up all the names plus extras for tweeting, FB-ing and blogging. sputnam had 5 entries - thank you Sharon!


Put them in my nifty jack-o-lantern


Quick - rescue it from Sera before she eats it!


jeniwrites  IS THE WINNER!!!!!!!

Please email me your address!!!!!!!!!   kglittle(at) msn (dot)com

Congratulations!!!

There WILL be MORE and BIGGER *Giveaways* as we get closer to publication date so don't go away!

The Cajun Book Lady is my new BF!

OH. MY. GOSH.  THE CAJUN BOOK LADY just gave me the most AMAZING review!!! Read some WOW here!

I am so touched and honored and excited and just plain THRILLED TO PIECES!

She's a great book blogger, too, and a real sweetheart, so go friend/follow her!


Kristine's review especially means a lot to me because I wanted to get Louisiana *right* and I've spent a decade visiting and researching and loving that state. I'm an adopted Louisiana girl now by some wonderful friends in various small towns there. I'm truly honored and the people I've met have opened their homes and hearts to me in so many different ways. I treasure all of my experiences there and the wonderful memories I will always have -- as well as the continuing experiences and memories because I'm going back. Of course! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. xoxo

Don't forget!!! *****Last day to enter the giveaway of an ARC of THE HEALING SPELL!!! Go here to post your *entry*! Extra entries for spreading the love . . .

ARC Giveaway and an April Fool's Day Joke on Me

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY FOR AN ARC OF THE HEALING SPELL!!! Go to this post from last Thursday! Easy-peasy.

On April 2nd, I got this email from my son who is away at college.

Dear Mom,
I finally convinced the hospital staff to lend me a computer. I was driving with Dave and we got in a car accident. Dave is ok, but I managed to break my femur in three places. I'll be in the hospital for a few days. If you could call BYU, and let them know, I'd appreciate it. Thanks,
Love,
Jared

I was like, What?!?

I tried to call him all morning on his cell phone and no answer. I was a bit worried because this actually happened to another one of my sons while away at college two years ago. He was in an accident and shattered his knee cap and still has screws and pins and a horrific scar across his knee. He was out for two months and lost that semester so I'm a bit disconcerted by his email, but suspicious, too . . .

Clues that this *might* be some sort of prank:

1. Why did he email when he has a cell phone? Or did his phone die?
2. Why didn't he tell me the name of the hospital?
3. I'd recently warned him about driving carefully with his friends when they go snow skiing and various places and he knew I was worried . . .  

THEN I LOOKED AT THE DATE OF THE EMAIL! April 1 at 11:17 p.m. He slid in under the wire, that kid!



An April Fool's Joke Gone Very Bad. 

My First Blog Review and an ARC Giveaway!!!

Abby, The Librarian reviewed The Healing Spell here! Gorgeous and thoughtful and just simply lovely.
Thank you so much, Abby! It's really exciting to get a review by someone I've already been *following* for a year!

In other news, my book trailer is pretty much finished and I'm sharing it with my agent and editor and publicist right now. Fingers crossed they will approve it for nationwide release in May! Maybe earlier!

Nationwide = Email, Facebook, Blogger, Live Journal, Goodreads, Amazon, and CONTESTS!!!

Speaking of CONTESTS!!! In honor of submitting my new manuscript to my editor AND my first fantastic blogger review I need to have a contest!!!

I haven't given away anything in ages!!! And I have ARCs of THE HEALING SPELL burning on my shelves!
Please enter here! Or on my Live Journal if you'd like!
Get An Extra Point EACH for Tweeting, Facebooking, Friending, Following, or mentioning/linking the contest on your own blog! Contest will be open from now until midnight (Pacific Time) on April 8th!

***Just for fun, please tell me something you love about Louisiana, or wish you could see/do there if you haven't visited before.

I'll love you forever if you can spread the word! Seriously. I was born on Valentine's Day. See? :-) xoxo, Kimberley

 

I Won a Goodreads Book Contest!

A few weeks ago I discovered that Goodreads runs book contests so I hopped on there and entered a bunch of them.

And I WON a book!!!

NUMBERS by Rachel Ward (Scholastic/Chicken House). Released just last month in February.

I started yesterday and got about 30 pages in before major life stuff interrupted. It's intriguing, although a little more gritty than I was expecting. But I love the premise of a girl who can see people's death dates by looking into their eyes. She hates knowing people's death dates so she avoids eye contact - or much of any kind of contact. Her mother died when she was seven from a drug overdose and so Jem is in foster care and sort of wild and shuts people out of her life emotionally because she thinks it's easier than getting involved with people who are just going to die while she watches the clock tick down.

There has been a lot of interesting reactions to the book, but readers/reviewers say the ending is totally worth it and MUST be read. Which has me completely intrigued. I've only won one other contest *ever* so I was pretty excited when this suddenly arrived in my mail box! The snail mail kind. :-)

So go enter a Goodreads book contest! I'll be adding a couple of ARCS of THE HEALING SPELL on a Goodreads contest in a few weeks and will let you know when it's *live* to sign up and enter!

A FAB new Middle-Grade up for grabs!!!

Hi y'all!!! I'm back from a little vaca with my mom and sisters eating and gabbing and partying and eating and gabbing and eating and swimming and shopping and eating and . . . I have a great new contest that you absolutely must enter!

Go to Barbara O'Connor's blog Greetings from Nowhere to enter the contest she's having for her brand new novel, THE SMALL ADVENTURE OF POPEYE AND ELVIS (FSG) which is coming out September 15th!!!

I ADORE all of Barb's books and I OWN them all and they are ALL autographed! How lucky am I??? Well, pretty darn lucky.

If you haven't read Miss Barbara's books before - now is an excellent time to do so. Her books have been on dozens and dozens of state reader's choice lists, she regularly gets starred reviews, she wins all those Parent Choice Awards, and her books are wonderful and poignant and heartwarming and REAL.

We have a winner!

The winner of THE LAST SNAKE RUNNER is . . . .

Ruby(mouth)!!!

Please email me your name and address at kglittle(at)msn(dot)com and I'll send that to you right away!

Thank you for playing, everyone, and and enjoy a good book today!

Book Giveaways!

Don't forget to enter my book giveaway in the post below for THE LAST SNAKE RUNNER!

And here's another one at http://angiefrazier.blogspot.com/2008/09/contest.html

Enter both!!!