2016's Good Things

Y'all, we made it. 2016 was rough for a lot of people for a lot of reasons, but we stuck together and survived.

For just a few minutes, I want to ignore all of the nonsense that happened and focus on some of the good things. Because no matter how bad the year, there are still people who make you smile, events that make you cheer, and books that make you cry.

The good things from my 2016?

• I published two books! Mark this one down in history, because I'm not sure it will ever happen again. It was a lot of work, but I'm so proud of Pieces of You and Me and All Laced Up, and so thrilled that I get to continue making my dream of being an author come true!

• I got a new job! Same company, different position. It merges my love of writing with my teaching experience, and I love it!
• I went to NYC again! The 2016 Writer's Digest Conference was a blast. I learned a lot, hung out with some awesome people, and solidified my love for the city.

• I indulged my inner theater junkie. The theater is one of my favorite places, and I spent as much time there as possible! Some of the shows I saw include Curious Incident, The Lion King, Kinky Boots, Fun Home, Newsies, RENT, A Christmas Carol, and The Grinch. (AND I'M SEEING HAMILTON IN 2017 OMG.)

• I also read some amazing books. It was impossible to choose just one "best book of 2016," so I cheated and choose several in different categories. (It's my blog; I get to make the rules, right?)

Best Overall

Phantom Limbs by Paula Garner -- This book made me laugh, made me cry, and made me think about it long after I finished reading.

Best Audiobook

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline -- This was a book that made me want to do nothing but go for long drives and walks so I had a reason to keep listening.

Best Contemporary YA

Written in the Stars by Aisha Saaed -- Unique, beautifully written, un-put-down-able.

Best SciFi YA

Purge by Kat Ellis -- This book was incredibly creatively plotted and well-executed. I adored spending time with these characters in this intense world.

There are so many other books I loved...Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown, The Bad Boy Bargain by Kendra Highley, This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp, Gena/Finn by Hannah Moskowitz and Kat Helgeson...let's just say 2017 has a lot to live up to in terms of good books, but I'm both hopeful for and optimistic about another good book year!

Are we ready for 2017? Maybe. Maybe not. But will there be good things next year? Absolutely. Let's go out and find them. Make them. We got this, y'all. See you in 2017.

Giveaway: Signed Copy of All Three of My Books!

This time next week, my third novel will be out in the world! (For the record, that's not a sentence I ever thought I would type. Publishing one book was a dream so big I wasn't sure it would ever happen. Publishing three? I. Am. Lucky. And excited!)

My newest book is a figure skating/hockey contemporary YA romance titled All Laced Up:

Everyone loves hockey superstar Pierce Miller. Everyone except Lia Bailey.

When the two are forced to teach a skating class to save the rink, Lia’s not sure she’ll survive the pressure of Nationals and Pierce’s ego. Not only can’t he remember her name, he signed her bottle of water like she was one of his groupies. Ugh.

But if there’s one thing Lia knows better than figure skating, it’s hockey. Hoping to take his ego down a notch—or seven—she logs into his team website under an anonymous name to give him pointers on his less-than-stellar playing.

Turns out, Pierce isn’t arrogant at all. And they have a lot in common. Too bad he’s falling for the anonymous girl online. No matter how much fun they’re starting to have in real life, she’s afraid he’s going to choose fake-Lia over the real one...

Disclaimer: This book contains a swoony hockey player (and his equally swoony friends!), one-too-many social media accounts, kisses that’ll melt ice, and a secret identity that might not be so secret after all...

As a former figure skater (who definitely crushed on a hockey player or two or seven), I had a blast writing this one!

To celebrate the release, I'm giving one person a signed copy of all three of my books: Where You'll Find Me, Pieces of You and Me, and All Laced Up!

This giveaway is US only and ends 10/9/16. Here's the Rafflecopter to enter...

Update: This giveaway is now over! Congratulations to Brookie C!

Good luck!

5 Reasons Why I Love Writing Contemporary YA Romance

Contemporary YA romance. I love reading it, and I adore writing it. Second chance romance, boy next door, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers...bring all of it on!

To celebrate Entangled Teen Crush's epic $0.99 sale, here are five reasons why I love writing contemporary YA romance!

The boys are swoony. Let's be real. You can't get away with using the word "swoony" to describe anyone much older than 21. But contemporary YA romance boys? SWOONY. And so much fun to write.

You can forget adulting (but nothing is "too adult"). I've never written an adult book, but if I did, I imagine it would be pretty boring. Taxes, blah blah blah. Paying bills, blah blah blah. Doing laundry, blah blah blah.

Teens have so many more exciting things to write about! First loves! College choices! Prom!

But I also love that no "adult" topics are off-limits. Romance, sex, heartbreak, drinking, mental health issues, etc. are all things teens deal with. Therefore, they can and should be included, just from a uniquely teenage perspective.

First kisses. Need I say more?

Teenagers. Are. Awesome. And I don't just mean characters. I mean the teens I meet when I'm speaking or doing a signing or hanging out on Twitter. They are sweet and real and make me laugh and sometimes make me cry and always give the best book recommendations. They're infinitely cooler than the grown-ups I hang out with.

The highs are really high (and the lows are really low). There's a quote from the move 17 Again that I absolutely love:

The first part of that quote is so true. Every breakup, every snub from your crush, every time he picks the other girl...it all feels like the end of the world. But while those lows are low, the highs are also high. Every kiss, every sweet text, every touch is euphoric.

Those extremes are the biggest reason why I write YA, and specifically why I write contemporary YA romance. I can't imagine writing anything else.

Looking for a new contemporary YA romance read? Check out PIECES OF YOU AND ME, on sale for $0.99 through 10/2/16!

February Wrap-up!

What happens when you take the shortest month of the year and cram 2,981,569 things into it? March. March happens. Because March is suddenly here! And so is my end-of-month wrap-up!

What I Wrote

February was devoted exclusively to final edits and proofreading of PIECES OF YOU AND ME, coming April 2016 from Entangled Teen Crush! All of the last minute stuff like proofreading the galley and working on the back cover copy and writing acknowledgments takes a lot of time, but it's done! Woohoo! Can't wait for y'all to meet Chase and Rylee in April!

What I Read

I read a lot this month! The combination of audiobooks on car trips and regular books on airplanes added up to six books read in February:

• Four by Veronica Roth
• An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes by Randy Ribay
• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Aimee and the Heartthrob by Ophelia London
• Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally
• Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

My favorite of the month had to be Symptoms of Being Human. I learned so much about people who are gender fluid and absolutely loved Garvin's choices and style in this sometimes painful but always beautiful book. Highly recommend. 

I also adored listening to Breathe, Annie, Breathe. The romance storyline was like eating candy, but it had all this depth and layers hiding underneath. Also in the "like candy" category? Aimee and the Heartthrob. It took me back to my boy band fangirl days, and I loved every minute of it. Can't wait to read the rest of the Backstage Pass series!

Other February Life Stuff

For the day job, I had six business trips in three weeks, so that took up most of my month. When I was home, I finally got to see The Lion King musical!

Also, I shopped at Trader Joes for the first time. Pro tip: never tell the employees at Trader Joes it's your first time there. There's bell ringing and some kind of loud chant involved. Also, red velvet Oreos were back, which are far superior to any other flavor of Oreos.

Hope you had a great February and have a fantastic March!