YA hardcover giveaway!! THE CROWN'S GAME by Evelyn Skye and OUTRUN THE MOON by Stacey Lee!

UPDATE: Winners announced below (inside the Rafflecopter thingies!)...
Congrats!! =D

Hi, guys! This week is a VERY special week for me. Two of my best friends, Stacey and Evelyn, are releasing their YA books (today and in a week from now). I'm insanely proud of both of them--my friends are so smart and talented.

Evelyn Skye's book, THE CROWN'S GAME releases today. Hey, look what I found when I was searching for "Evelyn pictures"--haha! A silly photo of Evelyn and me when she came to visit me to Chile. :) We had so much fun that day!

Anyway! Her book is a historical fantasy set in imperial Russia about two teens who have to compete for the right to become the Imperial Enchanter--or die in the process. There's romance and magic and the historical deets about Russia are amazing.  I'm so excited about her book! It was an Amazon AND iBooks best book of May, A B&N "most anticipated YA Fantasy of 2016." And wow, on and on and on.

Stacey Lee's book, OUTRUN THE MOON, releases on Tuesday next week. I had a very silly picture with Stacey too, but I can't find it!! Meep! Anyway! Here's a nice pic of us when we met in NY.

The picture was supposed to be just the two of us, but my son REALLY wanted to be in it too. So there you go.
Anyway! Her book is an unforgettable story of determination set against the backdrop of a devastating tragedy. (The San Francisco earthquake in Chinatown, 1906.)

One of the many things I loved about her book is how it shows that tragedies sometimes happen for a reason. It shows how characters change and grow, and it made me think about that in my real life.
Goodreads has it on the highly anticipated books of May and it's been nominated to awards and all. It has a literary feel that I adore. Check it out! :)

So! Now the giveaway! I'm giving away a hardcover copy of each of these two books. It's international! (Because, you know, I live in Chile and I'm always like, boohoo, why almost all giveaways aren't int'l??). Bear in mind that if I ship the books outside the US, though, I'll use Book Depository--which can be a little slow with the deliveries.


I'll choose a winner for each book by the end of May!
GOOD LUCK!
<3
M


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The Writer's Voice Success Story!

Hey, guys! I'm excited to share Jennifer Honeybourn's success story today!! In her own words. =) Have I mentioned how excited I am? I loved how her words showed me how sometimes it's all right to wait, and have patience. What do you think? Anyway, here's her story:

"In 2013, I entered my YA contemporary novel, SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW, in The Writer’s Voice. 

I made it through the raffle and into the contest.  Monica chose me for her team (yay!), and helped me rework my query letter and the first 250 words of my manuscript. It was a great experience, a supportive environment, and ultimately resulted in a few agents expressing their interest.

After sending it out to a handful of agents, and having those agents pass on it, I knew I’d need to do some revisions. I also knew that I needed to take a break from the book in order to gain some clarity.  I was sure I’d get back to it at some point, I just needed a bit of space.

That space turned into three years.

All through that time, I kept writing. I worked on several other novels. I wrote a short story that I published on Young Adult Review Network (YARN). SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW never left me, I still loved the characters and the story. So when I came across Swoon Reads, a young adult and new adult romance publisher, in December 2015, I felt like I might have found the perfect place for it.

Swoon Reads gives readers the opportunity to rate and comment on manuscripts, helping to select the books that will be published. I uploaded my novel and I started to get great feedback from the community of writers and readers on the site. At the very least, I figured I’d get some advice on how to revise.  And I did. But, in the end, I also got more than that. Because SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW was recently selected for publication!

The encouragement I received through The Writers Voice contest definitely helped strengthen my belief that I could do this, that if I kept at it I would eventually get there. So thank you to Monica and all the coaches who organize this contest!"

Find Jennifer on Twitter and Facebook: 

@Honeybourn
https://www.facebook.com/jenniferhoneybourn