Full Moon Extravaganza #5

The full moon is bright in the sky once again, and Egmont USA is celebrating with a new extravaganza. This time you can win a $20 iTunes giftcard. Head over to their Facebook page in order to enter by clicking HERE.

And don't forget about the Dark Divine Fan Talentmania. Submissions are starting to come in and I am so excited! Be sure to check out the contest because there is something for everyone. Even if you don't want to submit fan art or fan fiction, you can still enter to win signed books, jewelry, and nail polish by helping to spread the word about Talentmania. For details, click HERE.

Oh, and look what arrived today: Hardcover copies of THE SAVAGE GRACE! I can't believe this little baby is finally a real book! Isn't she a beauty?



Also, a few events are coming up over the next couple months too. Check them out:

February 9th-11th - I'll be speaking and signing at the Life, The Universe, and Everything conference in Provo, UT. (Utah Valley University)

March 13th - THE SAVAGE GRACE will release in the US! The official launch party will be held that evening at The King's English in Salt Lake City, UT, so save the date.

March 17th - I'll be teaching at the Writing For Charity conference held at the Provo Library. This is a great event that gives all its proceeds to children's charities. Go HERE for more details.

April 11th-15th - I'll be attending the RT Book Lover's Convention in Chicago and participating in the YA Slumber Party, the Teen Day Party, as well as doing a signing in YA Alley. Be sure to stop by if you'll be there, too!

The Silver Lining . . .

So, I have some news that some of you might not like very much . . . but don't worry, it has a big, shiny, silver lining.

I think I'll tell you the kinda bad news before the good stuff. Bad news should always come first. It's like eating your veggies before you get a brownie, right? I mean, nobody wants to eat broccoli after eating a brownie. Crap, now I really want brownies . . .

The Bad News:
The release date of THE SAVAGE GRACE has been rescheduled from December 27th, 2011 to March 13th, 2012.

Unfortunately, this means I have to wait an additional 2.5 months before I can tell you all what happens to Grace, Daniel, Talbot, and Jude. (And I may possibly die from the anticipation.)

The Silver Lining (a.k.a. The Brownies):

1. One of the reasons Egmont decided to push the release date is because they want to send me on tour (which has previously been hard to do during the Holiday season). Hopefully, this means I'll be visiting a town near you soon!

2. We are planning an exciting "Full Moon Campaign" starting this October. During the full moon of each month leading up to the release of TSG, exclusive Dark Divine related content or special offers will be released to readers (which will hopefully help tide us all over until TSG's release in March).

3. With the release of THE LOST SAINT in paperback this November 22nd, the book will include the prologue and first chapter of THE SAVAGE GRACE to also help ease the wait.

4. The extended lead time means that there will now be ARCs (advanced reader copies) of THE SAVAGE GRACE! If you are a book blogger or reviewer and would like to request an ARC, please send your info to readbree (at) gmail (dot) com and I will forward it along to my publicist.

[Please note: All requests will be forwarded to my publicist even if you don't receive a reply from me. I still have to actually finish edits of TSG and I sadly can't respond to all email. Also, my publicist has the final say on who will receive a review copy. Sending a request will not guarantee that you'll get one--but I really hope you do!]

That's all for now. If you know anyone , or have blog readers, who would appreciate knowing that THE SAVAGE GRACE will now be releasing on March 13th, 2012 please share this info with them.

Now off to go find some brownies with silver linings . . . .

Strangely enough, this is what I found when I googled images of "brownies with silver liner":

(David Tennant: Just as yummy as a brownie with a silver lining!)

I'll take it!

TDD3 has a title--and I can share it now!

5/18/2011

So, I guess the cat is essentially out of the bag now. Some of you may have already seen this on Amazon (they apparently beat me to the punch) but I am now finally allowed to share with you all the title for the third and final Dark Divine installment.

Are you ready for this?

Book 3 is titled:

The Savage Grace (to be released December 27th, 2011)

The book cover has also been completed, and it is, of course, gorgeous. However, I am not at liberty to share that yet. I will do so as soon as I get the green light and a final image from my publisher (and hopefully I won't get upstaged by Amazon again... heheh).

I am very excited about this title, and as with THE DARK DIVINE and THE LOST SAINT, the title references more than one thing in the story.

To share my excitement over the title, and to get you all a little pumped up for the cover reveal, I've decided to hold another giveaway. There are still a lot of people out there who still don't know that there's a third book planned in the DARK DIVINE trilogy, and I need your help getting it out there so everyone will know. So if you go forth and share the title and release date (December 27th, 2011) of THE SAVAGE GRACE (and the fact that it is the third book in the trilogy) I'll enter you to win a rare signed copy of ENTWINED by Heather Dixon.
(Heather doesn't do signings--so I was extremely lucky to get a copy signed to give away. And believe me, you want it!)

Feel free to share the title and release date however you feel will get the word out, and then tell me about what you did in the comments of this post. Only one entry per contestant, but multiple mediums of dissemination is always appreciated. :)

Giveaway ends at midnight MST on May 24th. Winners will be picked and announced here on the blog the following day.

On a completely different note, have you seen the recap Heidi R. Kling and I did of the season 2 finale of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES? If not, go check it out on Smart Pop Books' Blog and be sure not to miss the puppet show at the bottom of the post ;-). I'm really quite proud of it.

TLS Soundtrack: Song #19 and Upcoming Events

12/12/2010

***Upcoming Events:

1. A couple of good things will be hitting the blog this week, so be sure to check back often so you won't miss them.

2. I will be a guest on David Farland's Authors' Advisory Conference Call along with the rest of my critique group this Thursday, December 16th at 9pm EST. We'll be discussing critique groups and breaking into publishing. You can listen in on the conference call (and even ask questions). Go HERE for details on how to participate. Look for instructions in the right-hand sidebar.

3. TLS Day is almost upon us! Come join the fun at The King's English Bookshop on December 28th at 7:00 pm. I'll do a book talk at the 15th Street Gallery (right next-door to the bookshop--so there will be plenty of room for everyone) read a bit from TLS, answer questions, and then sign books back over in the bookstore. And I am sure that there will be plenty of yummy refreshments, too. Click HERE for more details on the event. Would love to see you there!

4. On January 8th, I will be speaking and signing at the Jordan Landing Barnes & Noble in West Jordan at 2 pm. Sure to be lots of fun.

5. On January 13th (my birthday!) I'll be speaking and signing at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, CA. Come party with me on my b-day, and get signed copies of TDD and TLS while you're at it. For info on this event, click HERE.

6. More events are coming. I'll post info here on the blog and on my website when I have it. Hopefully, I'll be coming to your neck of the woods soon. ***


Okay, now that we have business out of the way, we can get to what we've all be waiting for: The last song in the TLS Soundtrack. Tonight's song is "Orange Sky" by Alexi Murdoch. It is only fitting that the last song on the TLS soundtrack is by Alexi, since the last song on the TDD soundtrack was also one of his.

"Orange Sky" is a beautiful song, and to me, it kind of encapsulates the entire story/theme of THE LOST SAINT. Actually, it kind of encapsulates the entire DARK DIVINE trilogy. Basically, I think Alexi Murdoch has been channeling me in his spare time--or the other way around.

These are my favorite lyrics in the song:

When I am alone
When I've thrown off the weight of this crazy stone
When I've lost all care for the things I own
That's when I miss you, that's when I miss you, that's when I miss you
You who are my home
You who are my home
And here is what I know now
Here is what I know now
Goes like this
In your love, my salvation lies

But really, every line in the song is wonderful, so go ahead and listen:



This is the last TLS Soundtrack post, but remember that the Countdown to THE LOST SAINT Contest is ongoing until December 26th. Come back to the blog often until then for more chances to enter to win. Plus, I may be adding some more more goodies to the prizes soon.

MY HALLOWEEN TREAT FOR YOU ALL + Fantasy Casting THE DARK DIVINE movie: Pator Divine

10/25/2010

****IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

You guys know how much I love Halloween, right? Like love, love, love, love it. And not because I'm into creepy things (really, I'm not--says the paranormal fiction author). I love Halloween because it's an entire day (more like week at our house) devoted to playing dress-ups and eating chocolate. What could be awesomer than that?

Oh wait, I know something that would make it even sweeter!

Here's my Halloween treat for you all: Starting today until November 22nd, the e-book version of THE DARK DIVINE will be available for only $2.99 from most major e-book retailers (Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-a-million, Amazon etc.) and many indie bookstores.

UPDATE: B&N and Amazon are both now offering the e-book for only $2.39!!

Please share this promotion with your friends and followers. Tweet about it, blog about it, facefook it. The more people we can get to read TDD, the better things will be for THE LOST SAINT out of the gate. And who can deny such a fabulous price? I'm going to buy an e-book copy of TDD for the kindle app on my phone just to have a portable version of it with me at all times--and at $2.99, why the heck not?!

But wait, it gets even better. If you help spread the word about this special promotional TDD e-book price--I'll enter you to win 1 of 5 bottles of TLS nailpolish. (That's 5 bottles in addition to the 10 I'm giving away in the fantasy casting contest.) Just be sure to share link to where you announced the promotion in the comments of this blog post.



Also, to kick off the TDD ebook promotion, the ROMANTIC TIMES posted an essay I wrote about "The story behind the story of THE DARK DIVINE." So if you want to know the real life inspiration for the book. Be sure to check out the essay HERE.****

Okay, on to the fantasy casting for THE DARK DIVINE movie!

So Adam Gregory slammed the competition to play Jude in our fantasy cast of THE DARK DIVINE. He pulled in 54 votes out of 109 (that's a whopping 49%)! But seriously, with those eyes, who could compete? Nolan Gerard Funk came in 2nd with 24 votes (22%) but Logan Lerman was nipping at his heels with 22 votes (20%).







Now on to our next character:

PASTOR DIVINE

Physical description: Half Scandinavian, half Russian-ish ancestry. Fair. Wears glasses. In his early forties.

Colin Firth (Is it okay to have a crush on the actor playing Grace's dad?)


Nathan Fillion (Ditto on the crush thing. I LOVE Nathan Fillion!)


Tim Daly (Has a good fatherly look)


Mathew Settle (Possibly a little too rock & roll to play a pastor?)


Now be sure to vote for your fave choice up over in the SIDEBAR and LEAVE A COMMENT to get another entry to possibly win 1 of 10 bottles of TLS nail-polish. The poll will be open until 2:30 pm (MST) on 11/27/10.

And be sure to spread the word about the ebook promo price--and tell me what you did in the comments to be entered into a seperate drawing for 1 of 5 additional bottles of TLS nail-polish.

The Big Awesome News!!! (a.k.a. THE DARK DIVINE, the movie?!)

Hey awesome friends-

Sorry for the blog silence but I've been waiting until I was allowed to share this with you:

Producers embrace 'The Dark Divine'

Winter, Botwick set adaptation of Despain novel

By DAVE MCNARY

Ralph Winter ("X-Men") and Terry Botwick are turning to "The Dark Divine," acquiring rights through their 1019 Entertainment banner to Bree Despain's three-book young adult series.

Whitney Thomas, an exec at 1019, will also produce.

First tome, titled "The Dark Divine" and published last December by Egmont USA, centers on a 16-year-old pastor's daughter who falls in love with a boy who reveals he's a werewolf. Second title, "The Lost Saint," is scheduled to be released on Dec. 28; the third, untitled book is skedded for publication in late 2011.

Deal comes seven months after Winter and Botwick snagged feature rights to Dean Koontz's "Frankenstein," his bestselling tale of a socially prominent and successful businessman and his superhuman original creation in modern-day New Orleans (Daily Variety, Feb. 16).

"The project has strong romantic appeal to the young 'Twilight' audience," Winter and Botwick said. "Bree Despain is a talented voice with a loyal following."

1019 Entertainment recently premiered the docu "Cool It," centered on the Danish climate change skeptic Bjorn Lomborg, at the Toronto film fest. Roadside Attractions is releasing "Cool It" this fall.

The banner has more than two dozen projects in development, including Paul Verhoeven's "The Surrogate," starring Halle Berry, and the action thriller "Man and Wire" in conjunction with Peter Chernin and with Akiva Goldsman directing.

(You can see the article actually in Variety by clicking HERE.)

SQUUUEEEEEE and Eeep and Woo Hoo and HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP and pretty much every other way of typing out my excitement!!!!! (Words are failing me this morning. Isn't that ironic? but I'm just too darn happy at the moment.)

This doesn't guarantee that a TDD movie(s) will actually get made, but it is the first exciting step in a very long process. I will keep you all posted as things develop.

Huge thanks go out to Whitney Thomas, Ralph Winter, and Terry Botwick for loving TDD enough to want to try to make it into a movie. And also much gratitude and love to Stephanie Fitch Groff who got the ball rolling on this, and to my agents who saw it through. And of course, many thanks to my "loyal following." Seriously, nothing this cool would ever happen without you guys!

(Have I mentioned how super happy I am this morning??? Chocolate for breakfast, you suggest? Why yes, I think that's a fabulous idea.)

Be sure to come back here on September 28th for my monthly Countdown To THE LOST SAINT Contest that will feature a TDD Movie theme. (Hint: Start think of who you'd think would make the perfect TDD cast--for fun and games purposes only of course, I have no power in picking the real cast.)

Housekeeping

Hi Friends-

Sorry for the blog silence. A lot has been going on lately.

Today I was planning on writing about my awesome experiences at BEA, and also telling you all about how I got hopelessly, hopelessly lost in NYC (but luckily not kidnapped by slave traffickers) and how my wonderful editor Jimmy Olsen came to my rescue . . . However, my beloved grandmother passed away last night. I am extremely happy that I had the chance to go say goodbye to her just hours before she passed, and I am glad that she is finally our of pain, but I'm still shaken up and sad about losing her. So I guess I till save my insanely funny/pathetic stories about getting lost for another day.

However, I do have a few matters of business that I need to take care of before we travel to California for the funeral:

1. This Friday I will be participating in a big "School's Out!" event at the Sugarhouse Barnes & Noble at 5:00 pm. Me, Mette Ivie Harrison, Kristen Chandler, and Frank Cole will be discussing our books and signing. It should be an awesome event, so if you're in the area, come on by.

2. Who's excited for the ECLIPSE premiere? I know I am! Number one, because ECLIPSE is my favotire of all the Twilight novels (that tent scene gets me every time). And number two, because we're going to be doing some awesome stuff for TDD that premiere weekend!!

First off, we are in the process of making a TDD teaser trailer that will play in the top 2 grossing theatres for the Twilight movies during premiere week. I am so excited about this ad, and I've had way too much fun picking out the models to play Daniel and Grace. I'm hoping we come out with a fantastic end product. If you're going to be seeing ECLIPSE during premiere week at The Megaplex Theatres at Jordan Commons or the District, be sure to keep an eye out for the TDD ad before the movie.

Secondly, I am going to be participating in the ECLIPSE Premiere Party at the Megaplex at Jordan Commons. We'll have out very own TDD booth where I'll be signing books and handing out tons of TDD nail polish and bookmarks. I'll be there from 4:00 pm until Midnight, so if you're going to the party, be sure to stop by the booth.

(Note: If you're planning an ECLIPSE party in your area and would like to have some TDD goodies for your swag bags, email me details about your party at readbree (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll see if I can get some TDD goods sent your way.)

3. I need to announce winners from the Egmont USA debut week giveaways.

The winner of the TCS glass slipper bookmark is: Ally

The winner of the RENEGADE X bookmark is: Renae

And the winner of the SCONES AND SENSIBILITY lace handkerchief is: Kaylie

Winners, please email me at readbree (at) gmail (dot) come with your address.


Have a wonderful day! I'm off to have lunch with a friend in hopes to lift my spirits. I promise a much better BEA post in the near future . . . and also a "behind the scenes" post on the making of the trailer!

BIG NEWS and the winner of the Amazon gift card.

Hey all-

Sorry for the blog silence, I've been holed in my writing cave working on revisions for THE LOST SAINT (due in less than a week--ACK!) But I wanted to pop my head out of the cave in order to share some BIG NEWS (to me anyway--but hopefully, some of you will be excited, too) and of course thank everyone for helping out with my paranormal romance questions and award the $25 Amazon gift card I promised.

So gratitude first: THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all your help with PNR presentation! It was a packed house and all your insights helped me decide what to talk about. Everyone who contributed had wonderful things to say, but since there can only be one winner I used Random.org to select:

Stella (Ex Libris) as our winner.

(Stella: Email me at Readbree@gmail.com to claim your prize.)

Okay on to the BIG NEWS...

It's officially official: THE DARK DIVINE is officially going to have a THIRD BOOK!!!!

Yep, TDD is going to be a Trilogy!!!

Like I said, I've been holed up in my revisions cave, completely oblivious to the outside world, so when my agent called to tell me that Egmont wanted to buy 2 more books from me (yes, I said 2--more on that in a minute) I was kind of shocked--but elated. I am so happy that Grace and Daniel's story gets a third installment!! And believe me, some of you would not be happy with me if their adventures ended in THE LOST SAINT.

Also, not only did Egmont buy and Third TDD book, they bought a fourth book from me. However, this fourth book is "unspecified" at the moment. As in, it's NOT a fourth installment of TDD. But I do have plenty of ideas for what that unspecified book will be about--and I can't wait to dive into it.

The third TDD book will most likely come out a year after TLS (so in December 2011) and the all new book will probably debut a year after that (December 2012) but only time will tell for sure.

And to top it all off, I can't tell you how excited I am to continue working with Editor Greg (aka Jimmy Olsen) and the rest of the Egmont crew. They are the best!

Anyway, here's the official Publisher's Marketplace announcement that makes it feel all shiny and real:

Anyway, I'm off to SQUEE!!! a bit more and then get back to work on TLS.

Do any of you have some good news to share?

Lots O' Stuff Happening

Hey all-

Sorry for the blog silence. I turned in TLS and pretty much ran out of words for a couple of weeks. And now my wonderful, glorious, revision letter is here from Editor Greg, so I'm psyching myself up for a few more weeks of crazy busy writing and Thai take-out. If you want to know how most authors feel about revision letters, CLICK HERE.

In the meantime, I'm going to be up to all sorts of shenanigans during the next little while. And I think you guys should join me!! Here's the rundown so you'll know when and where:

1. I'm participating in the YAlitchat Made from Awesome Mega Chat that will be taking place today (April 14th) and Thursday (April 15th) on Twitter. There will be some super awesome YA authors participating in the chat both nights, so all you have to do is go onto twitter and search for #YAlitchat. You can ask authors questions, or just follow along. And there's even an after-party over at the MundieMoms site.

Schedule and authors participating:

Night I April 14 @ 9-11PM EST
Melissa Marr, A.S. King, Becca Fitzpatrick, Lisa McMann, Ellen Hopkins, Margaret Stohl, Carrie Ryan, Alyson Noel

Night II April 15 @ 9-11PM EST
Holly Black, Michelle Zink, Scott Westerfeld, Kami Garcia, Cassandra Clare, Bree Despain, James Dashner, Sarah Rees Brennan

Sounds awesome, right? I'm totally fangirling over some of those names myself.

2. Utah peeps: I will be at the WHAT A WOMAN WANTS SHOW this Friday and Saturday (April 16th &17th). If you are going to be there, be sure to stop by a say hello. I'll be handing out free TDD nail polish and bookmarks, and will be signing and selling books. I'll be there periodically on Friday, but I will for sure be signing from 11:00am to 1:00pm on Saturday. I'll be at booth 229 with the Little Stinker crew.
(Want free tickets to the show? Email me and I'll send you some.)

3. I'm teaching at the LDStorymakers Conference in Provo, Utah on April 24th! If you haven't registered for the conference yet, you can do so up through April 15th. (Um, I guess that's tomorrow.)

4. I'm going to be at BEA in May and ALA in June!! If you're going to be at either event, be sure to come say hello to me.

5. I'll be at the Writing For Young Readers Conference in June. This is honestly one of the best conferences in the country. This will be my 8th year in attendance!! It used to be held at BYU, but this year it's at a new venue in Sandy, Utah. For more info, CLICK HERE. (Note: I am not teaching at this conference, but I will be participating as a student.)

6. I'll be at my friend Sarah DeFord Williams' book launch party this Saturday at The King's English at 2:00 for her debut MG novel, PALACE BEAUTIFUL. Can't wait!

7. Not an event, but just wanted to say that good things are happening for TDD. Sales are steady and strong, and according to this press release from Egmont, THE DARK DIVINE is in its 3RD PRINTING!!!

Okay, that's all for now. Sorry to be one of those authors who only blogs about announcements (Don't you hate those authors?!) but I promise I'll get back to more interesting posts once things calm down with TLS a bit. I have all sorts of pictures and fun tidbits to share with y'all.

B-day and book signing highlights

Announcements first:

1. The Wonderful folks over at Eve's Fan Garden have been very kindly promoting TDD. They even posted about a new TDD inspired make-up collection created by Mixology Makeup. Holy crap, TDD make-up?! That's just so darn cool.

2. Lots of good things are brewing for me and TDD right now. Wish I could share, but I've been told it's a no-no for now. But stay tuned for announcements coming soon.

3. I'm not making any promises, but if you are outside of Utah and would like to have me sign books in your hometown, be sure to let the folks at Egmont USA know.

4. I will be signing at the Sandy Barnes & Noble on February 6th from 1-4 pm. This event is an Authorpalooza, so there will be over 30 other authors signing there at the same time. You really should come. I mean, 30+ authors in the same room, who wouldn't have a great time at that? I don't know exactly who all will be there, but I do know my friends Emily Wing Smith, Bobbie Pyron, and James Dashner will be part of the party.

5. I will be speaking and signing at the Orem Barnes & Noble on February 13th from 1-4 pm. This is a great chance for Utah County peeps to get a signed book. Plus, TDD makes the perfect V-day gift!! If you're going to the LTUE conference that day, it would be easy to take a few minutes to pop over to the signing . . . just saying.

Okay, on to the real post:

As promised, I am finally posting about my birthday and my latest book signing. Let's just say it was all awesome--and I'll share with you some of the highlights:

1. I got some awesome presents for my B-day. Including a beautiful purple charm bracelet that says "The Dark Divine, 12-22-09" on a silver heart from my friend Rachel, other beautiful jewelry, a sweater and a scarf, a chair massager with packaging that can't be shared in mixed company, a Marc Jacobs tote bag (squee!), some awesome books I've been wanting to read, and these shoes


from Sara Bolton (one of The SIX, and co-owner of My Shoe Shoppe) who finally started her own blog.

Not to be outdone by my friends, Hubby gave me this:

Aw, he knows me so well!

(Yes, that is a tiny cow. I have named him: Tiny Cow.)

Hubby also promised to make dinner and do homework with Kid Z every night for the next 3 weeks while I finish up TDD2. Isn't that just the sweetest? Hey, wait a second, isn't Kid Z out of school for the next 2 weeks . . . ?

2. Hubby also took me out to dinner to one of our favorite restaurants and then we went to see the play THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. Which led me to the realization that Oscar Wilde plays were pretty much the GOSSIP GIRL of the late 1800s. No wonder I <3 href="http://rowijo.void-star.net/index.php/2010/01/bree-despain-signing/">Robbie from Boy With Books who drove 5 HOURS from Grand Junction to be there.
4. Not only did a ton of friends, family and fans show up for the event, there was also a very special visitor who came along with Debbie from my street team and her pals. He even wore a purple shirt, a black and purple boa, and a sign proclaiming his love for Team Daniel. (Which originally said Team David on accident, until everyone in the audience started asking, "Um, who's David?") Anyway, I can now die happy.




Final Note: I'm in CRUNCH time with deadline for TDD2 right now, so if you've emailed, facebook messaged, or tweeted to me lately and I haven't responded to you yet . . . please forgive me. I can tell you right now that I am going to continue to be slow for the next few weeks. I'll try not to fall off the face of the planet . . . and hopefully you'll all still love me when I get to come back to the real world. (Is that mixed metaphor? I don't even know anymore.)

Oh, one more final note: If you come to one of my signings, please introduce and tell me you are a follower of the blog. It is so hard to recognize people by their tiny blog icons.

Launch Party Pictures (Part 2)

Latest Announcements:

1. Being on Blog Talk Radio last night was awesome. We even got into my vivid dreams about cheese, and my brief "perfectly-pressed grunge" phase as a teen. You can listen to the interview HERE.

2. Late Bloomer Online is hosting a chat tonight (1/6) for TDD at 7pm MST/9pm EST. http://l8bloomeronline.blogspot.com/ Come chat with me!

3. I'll be reading and signing at the West Jordan B&N on Jan 16th at 2pm.

4. And I'll be reading and signing at the Orem B&N on February 13th at 1:00. Great place to get V-day presents!

Okay, time for more pictures from the launch party. There were just too many good ones to limit to one post.

Oh, and a funny story: I took my cell phone up to the podium with me while I was speaking so I could keep track of the time . . . but totally forgot to put it on silent. I was about 15 minutes into my speech when it started ringing! At first I was like, "Who didn't turn off their cell phone?" And then I was like, "Oh wait, it's me." I picked up my phone, and not recognizing the number, I said to the audience, "This person obviously doesn't know me very well." Turns out it was one of my neighbors calling to apologize that she couldn't make it out to the launch--but she thought she was calling my home phone.

Again huge thank yous go to Michelle Sallay for these beautiful pictures:

Hubby. Ain't he cute?

Valynne Maetani sporting the official TDD nail polish

KidA insisted on sitting next to me almost the whole time and passed out free nail polish

As you can see, he was very helpful

Me and my sister Brooke. People used to ask if we were twins. I have no idea why.

Good friend Matt Kirby,
soon to be famous author when his MG book THE CLOCKWORK THREE debuts with Scholastic Fall 2010

TDD featured on the Indie Next list!!

And a couple of non-Michelle taken pictures:

Sara Bolton, Sarah Williams, and Kimberly Webb Reid

That's Emily Wing Smith sporting our new "The SIX" t-shirts we had made for the event.
And she's with readers Alana and Mary who are sporting copies of Emily fabulous YA novel
The Way He Lived.

Huge Frakkin' Giveaway winners + more.

So THE DARK DIVINE releases one week from today. Woohoo! (Holy crap, holy crap holy crap... *rushes to find a brown paper bag to stop the hyperventalation*).

Ok. All better now. So one week left, and that means we have some business to take care of and winners to announce.

First, don't forget about the Romantic Times preview of THE DARK DIVINE. Chapter 5 was posted yesterday on their blog. If you go over there and read the chapter, leave a comment on the RT blog, and then come back here and tell me about it, I'll enter you in the weekly random grab-bag prize giveaway.

Our random winner from last week is: Jessy

Congrats! Email me at readbree(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll send you the list of prizes to choose from.

Second, I'm excited to announce that Mundie Moms has launched a THE DARK DIVINE forum to discuss the characters, plot, and other fun stuff. For those that have already read the book, its a great way to discuss the details without worrying about spoilers for those who have not. But if you haven't read the book, you should still check it out (just avoid the topics that have *spoiler alert* in them). Head on over there and join the conversation by clicking here. You can also visit the Mundie Moms blog here.

Okay, now on to the winners of the Huge Frakking Giveaway. I want to thank all of you who entered and especially those that went above and beyond with artwork, book trailers, and other fun ideas like passing out flyers or tying book info to balloons.

All the names of those that entered were given a number. If you earned extra points for doing something extra, you were given additional numbers. I then used Random.org's interger generator to pick the top three winners. So here we go.

The winner of the Grand Prize including a signed hard copy of THE DARK DIVINE, a TDD T-shirt of her choice, a bottle of TDD nail polish, a copy of the TDD soundtrack, and a personalized 8GB iPod nano is:

Kim Heldman

The winner of Prize #2 - The Egmont Prize Pack including a hard copy of CALLIE'S RULES by Naomi Zucker, hardcover copy of VIOLET WINGS by Victoria Hanley, hardcover copy of LITTLE BLACK LIES by Tish Cohen, and an ARC of BRIGHTLY WOVEN by Alexandra Bracken is:

KatieDoll

And lastly, the winner for Prize #3 - The Utah Author Prize Pack including a signed copy of THE RING by Bobbie Pyron, a signed Copy of THE HOURGLASS DOOR by Lisa Mangum, and a signed copy of THE WAY HE LIVED by Emily Wing Smith is:

ronna15

Congratulations guys and thanks again to everyone who entered! All winners should email me at readbree(at)gmail(dot)com with their mailing address and I will get the prizes in the mail as soon as possible. Prizes must be claimed in one week.

Well, that's it for now. Leave your comments here for this week's Romantic Times commenting contest, and stay tuned for another fun contest either later today or tomorrow.

I've been blurbed!

Today has been a really surreal day. I wish I could tell you everything that is going on in ReadBree land . . .but, Agent Ted would kill me . . .and I don't want to jinx anything. (Random fact about me: I'm really superstitious. I knock on wood at least once a day . . .if not multiple times. In fact, I've said too much already. *Commences knocking on wood.*) Let's just say that in between changing poopy diapers and microwaving chicken nuggets, I got to write and respond to a few exciting emails that felt really trippy when compared to the poop wiping and nugget nuking that is my regular schedule.

Anyway, I am allowed to share one little tidbit with you all. While it's not the cover art for my book (which looks like it's still a while out :-( ), it is something that will go on the cover: My very first book blurb!!

Now for those who are wondering what a book blurb is, go pick up any novel and scan the jacket until you find a little quote about the book by another author, or a reviewer. Publishers send out advanced copies of a new book to well-known authors and reviewers in hopes of getting a little nugget of praise to adorn the cover (and entice buyers). I don't have advanced copies of my book yet--but they should be ready by the first of next month (watch for giveaways!)--so I had no idea that my publisher had sent out my book in manuscript form to get blurbs. Therefore, I was very, very, very, over-the-moon, excited to find a wonderful surprise in my in-box from my publisher this morning.




The following is my first ever book blurb. It's from Lesley Livingston, author of the novel WONDROUS STRANGE (which is a modern, paranormal, A Midsummer Night's Dream set in NYC):




“Reading THE DARK DIVINE feels almost like following a trail of moonlight into the heart of a forest at midnight--at once spooky and compelling. Bree Despain takes familiar myths and legends and wraps them elegantly around a haunting story of love, loss, family and forgiveness. Beautiful.”

"Squeee!!!!!" is seriously the only word I can use to describe how happy this blurb has made me. It is so lovely and well-worded . . .and complimentary!! Seriously, if I had to write a blurb on someone's book it would probably just say, "This book is cool. I loved it." Wow, just serious WOWNESS! I am in love with this blurb. I may just have to take it out for dinner and a movie.

Many thanks to Lesley Livingston (who I've never met, btw) for her kind and beautiful words. I'm off to go reread that email a few hundred more times. Have a great (and surreal) day!

P.S. We are getting ready to post a sneak peak of THE DARK DIVINE on the website. Stay tuned for the first chapter! It's coming really, really soon. I promise.

The trouble with sequels . . .and a giveaway (of course)

Book Status: Revisions: check. Line edits: check. 1st round of copyedits: check. And for those who haven't heard, I have a release date. THE DARK DIVINE will hit the shelves on December, 22, 2009. Yep, that's not a typo. My book is coming out this December. Squeeee!!!

THE DARK DIVINE is considered a Valentine's 2010 title, but it needs to get to bookstores by the 22nd of December so they can put it in their Valentine's promotions that go up right after Christmas. How cool is that? THE DARK DIVINE = Awesome last minute Christmas gift . . .or . . .THE DARK DIVINE = Perfect V-day gift. Double squeeee!!

Mother's Day status: It all started when the boys came busting into my room around 7:00 am so they could present me with their gifts.
KidZ gave me a beautiful bouquet of Popsicle-stick flowers.


And KidA gave me, well, um, this:

And yes, that is a decapitated lego head on a post. That kid knows me so well.

Sequel Status: I'm 12 pages (15 if I put it in Courier font, hehe) into my sequel, and I'm determined to make sure that my new novel doesn't turn out to be one of those "ho-hum, not as good as the first book" kind of sequels. So that's where I need your help, dear readers. I want to know what you guys look for in a sequel:

What do you like/dislike about sequels?
In your opinion, what makes a great sequel, well, great?
What makes a stinky sequel a stinker?
What's the best sequel you've ever read?

And what do you get for helping me out? Leave a comment about what you think about sequels (the good, the bad, or the ugly), and I'll enter you in a drawing to win a YA sequel of your choice (or any other YA book, if you wish). I want to hear from as many people as possible, even you lurkers. Yes, I'm talking to you . . . go leave a comment. I promise I don't bite (most of the time) and you may even win a free book. Neat.

Thanks in advance!!