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Ransom My Heart Meg Cabot

I love Meg Cabot and I love romance novels, so I had pretty high expectations of a Meg Cabot romance novel.

Eh.

Finnula's sister Mellana is with child. The father is a troubador and Mellana's spent her entire dowry on dresses, so Finnula needs to get money for a dowry, and fast. The tomboy huntress does what she is loathe to do, take a noble hostage and ransom him.

Little does she know that the noble she's captured is really the Earl of Stephensgate, returned from the Holy Land. Little does he know that she's been married before. (Minor spoiler) To his father.

And of course they fall in love with each other but there are obstacles intermixed with the sexy times.

So here's what surprised me-- Meg Cabot can write a good kiss that makes you go weak at the knees. She's done it a million times. But her sexytimes fell a little flat.

It just didn't have the same spark and wit that I've come to expect from her work. I suspect that it's because this was written at the beginning of career and never published. She's a much better writer now.

There is a tie-in with this book and Princess Diaries. In Forever Princess, Mia writes a romance novel for her senior project (and tells everyone it's a history of Genovian olive pressing so no one will want to read it. Except Michael, because he's Michael and *swoon*) Anyways, supposedly this is the romance novel that Mia wrote. But, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to fans of Princess Diaries. It's not as funny and it is a full-fledged bodice-ripping (well, it would be if Finnula would wear a dress and therefore a bodice) romance novel. It's very different, so be warned. But that wasn't my complaint. I knew what it was. It just wasn't as strong as I wanted it to be.

Book Provided by... my wallet

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In the “Pitching An Agent” feature at mediabistro.com, literary agent Laura Langlie gave aspiring YA writers some hints on how to pitch her agency.

Langlie represents author Meg Cabot, Meg Tilly and others. She founded her own literary agency after years of working in publishing, including six years as an agent at Kidde, Hoyt & Picard. Check it out:

Langlie sees a lot of young adult (YA) and middle-grade fiction writers who talk down to their readers. “People have this misconception that writing for children is easy. A middle-grade or YA novel is simply a novel for that age level. It still has to have great characters and a great story arc. You have to try and remember what you were like when you were that age,” said Langlie, who represents Delia Ray (Here Lies Linc) and others.

continued…

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Teen Idol Meg Cabot

Everyone likes Jen Greeley. She smooths everything over, she's a unassuming and just... nice. She's the mayonnaise that holds the sandwich of her friends and high school together. People like her so much that she's the secret person behind the school's paper super-popular "Ask Annie" advice column. She's also chosen to be student guide for a new transfer student. Only... Lucas isn't any transfer student-- he's a teen actor who's going undercover to learn what high school is like for an upcoming movie.

Classic Meg Cabot. Luke and Jen become friends, which means that Jen's actual crush Scott thinks she's taken. Only, Jen doesn't realize she's in love with Scott. Readers and everyone else does, but Jen doesn't. Either does Scott.

And then, of course, everyone finds out Luke's real identity and it all hits the fan.

I really liked Luke's reactions to high school. He thought the high school he knew from movies and TV was exaggerated-- he didn't realize that it was even worse in real life. His outsiders prospective also goads Jen into taking a stand and making some serious changes-- everyone liking you means you have some social capital to use. I also really liked that none of Jen's drama was overly self-created. I think some of the change she's able to spearhead is a bit far-fetched, but I liked Jen a lot-- she was strong with enough uncertainty to still read as "real."

Classic Cabot. Love.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Overbite Meg Cabot

it's been 6 months since the action at the end of Insatiable. Meena and Alairic are just collegues. Lucien has completely disappeared. Meena's on to a theory that Lucien can still be good but Lucien has found the Minetta stream under Manhattan and is drawing evil power from it. He's been too weak, but he feels it's time to full embrace his title of Prince of Darkness. Meena's can't deal with all of that right now though, because a rising star new priest has arrived from South America and the politics and policies of the Palatine Guard are about to explode in a major way.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as Insatiable-- not as much sexual tension (which Cabot tends to do really well) and not as much of Meena using her gift of death prediction, or as much of the supporting cast. It's also just a lot shorter--it focused mainly on one plot and I missed some of the side stuff that could have been fleshed out more. THAT SAID, I still really did like it. It was a nice end to the story (I don't think there will be anymore) and I liked the working in of the Minetta Stream (a real thing!) and the book of days. It just all seemed a bit... rushed. I almost wish that she would have stretched the story out more, added some more major battles and made it a trilogy.

Book Provided by... my wallet

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Author James Patterson recently released a novel book trailer: promoting his YA novel and his adult thriller in the same television commercial.

In the book trailer embedded above, Patterson shares the spotlight with an animated version of Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life‘s protagonist . As the video explains, Middle School was written for a YA audience while Now You See Her is an adult thriller.

Many authors write for both young readers and adults. Melissa de la Cruz‘s first adult novel, The Witches of East End, included appearances from characters her Blue Bloods YA series. Meg Cabot recently released Overbite, a sequel to her adult vampire story Insatiable. Last April, she also published the first book in her YA trilogy, Abandon. Who else can follow Patterson’s example?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Best trailer for a book…ever! Meg Cabot‘s OVERBITE (funny the way that sentence can be misleading) comes out this week. It is book two in the INSATIABLE series and continues to follow the adventures of Meena Harper.

OVERBITE SUMMARY:

Meena Harper has never rebuffed the love of a god (unless you count the prince of darkness). But she’s always felt as though her gift was a curse, because no one’s ever believed her when she’s told them they were going to die . . . .

Until now.

Meena’s been asked to work for the Palatine, a powerful secret military unit of the Vatican mandated to guard human beings from demon possession, and to obliterate all demon life forms from the planet. The Guard has recently opened their first division in lower Manhattan, and Meena Harper is their new secret weapon. With her ability to predict how-and sometimes when-the living are going to die, the Palatine finally have an advantage over their undead enemy.

Reporting to Abraham Holtzman, head of Manhattan operations, and partnered with Alaric Wulf, the most accomplished of all demon slayers (who happens to greatly appreciate how Meena looks in a short, black dress), Meena is taking her new job seriously. There’s just one small problem: None of the guards in the Palatine’s Manhattan unit seems to like-or trust-her.

Meena can’t understand it. Sure, her ex-boyfriend is the biggest baddie of them all, Lucien Antonescu, son of Dracula, the prince of darkness. But their affair ended the night he destroyed St. George’s Cathedral-and, everyone believes, himself.

With the prince and his minions gone, the need for Meena’s predictions has never been greater. An even more vicious enemy has arisen, one that never dared cross the equator from their South American stronghold while the Dracul was in charge. They are the Lamia, the most feared clan of all vampire kind.

The Vatican has done its part-for once-by transferring to Manhattan Father Henrique, its youngest, most modern (and, thankfully, bilingual), Brazilian monsignor. He’s secretly dealt with more Lamia than anyone in the Palatine. But the press draws unwanted attention to him by dubbing him Padre Caliente (because of his sizzling hot good looks). Of course his appointment as pastor of one of New York City’s proudest accomplishments, the completely restored, soon-to-be consecrated cathedral, St. George’s, is a ruse. But is it a ruse on the Lamir, the public . . . or the Palatine?

As the date of the ceremony approaches, attacks by Lamir in North America begin to mount, and danger closes in. Meena’s best friend Leisha, whose baby’s arrival coincided with the destruction of the church, is powerfully drawn to the site. Meena’s fellow guards are increasingly vulnerable in the field, and only her daily predictions can save them from death. She’s won her colleagues’ respect-and maybe even the heart of one co-worker in particular-but not without drawing, for mysterious reasons, the attentions of Padre Caliente.

Yet no face will ever be more attractive to Meena than Lucien’s. As she begins to unravel the truth about his identity-and the fateful night the two of them last met-Meena’s loyalties will be tested, her true feelings laid bare.

Meena has always been everyone’s guardian. But this time, who will guard her?

Heather Wells Mysteries Meg Cabot

I thought I'd review all three books with one review. The books in question are Size 12 Is Not Fat, Size 14 Is Not Fat Either, and Big Boned.

Basic backstory-- Heather Wells was a mid-list teen idol who was engaged to Jordan, one of the biggest teen stars (whose father also happened to own the record label.) When Heather wanted to start recording and singing her own music, the label and her fiance dropped her. Her mother then took all of her money and moved to Argentina. Heather is now living with Cooper, rent-free (well, she has to do the filing for his PI business). Cooper is the black sheep of his family and Jordan's older brother. Heather totally has the hots for him. She's also working as the assistant dorm-director to a private dorm of New York College because she will be able to take free classes so she can earn her college degree. She's also no longer teen pop-star thin. She's a size 12.

In Size 12 is Not Fat the dorm has a problem with elevator surfing (where guys break into the elevator shaft and ride the elevators and jump to other elevators...) When a student shows up dead at the bottom of the shaft, everyone rights it off as an elevator surfing accident. Except... Heather knows her students. Girls like the deceased don't elevator surf (in fact girls in general don't elevator surf.) More and more students are dying in "accidental" ways. Heather smells something fishy and if no one else is going to try to discover what's going on, she will.

In Size 14 Is Not Fat Either, Christmas (and winter in general) has caused Heather to go up a size. Then a cheerleader's head shows up

Abandon Meg Cabot

Two years ago, Pierce died. She hit her head, fell into a pool, and was dead for over an hour before the doctors could bring her back. Since then though, things haven't been the same. The adults in her life think she's slightly mentally unbalanced, and after what happened at her last school, dangerous. But Pierce knows the truth-- there's evil in the world and she can see it. She has to stop it.

After her mother moves her back to her hometown on the Isla Huesos (Island of Bones-- very much based on Cabot's current home of Key West) Pierce starts to discover more and more clues about what happened, and why.

So... this is based on Persephone. Basic premise is Pierce meets John (Death Deity) in a graveyard when she's young. When she dies, she sees him again. He gives her a pretty necklace. Pierce can't accept she's dead, runs away, and ends up back in the world of the living. John keeps showing up to save her from bad guys trying to kill her. And now Pierce has moved right on the gateway of it all (so... like Sunnydale's Hellmouth, but it's the mouth of all dead stuff, good and bad.)

So this is Cabot doing something a bit darker than most of what she does. It's not too twisted or dark or depressing and if you like Cabot, you'll probably like this, but just be warned, it's not funny (and it's not trying to be).

BUT! TOTAL CLIFFHANGER ENDING! Gah! That's how the 2nd book in a trilogy is supposed to end!* Not the first!!!!

I like how this takes a well-known myth and doesn't retell it, but uses it to go in a completely different direction.

I like the world Cabot has built and can't wait to explore it more. I really want to see what's going on with the A-wingers and why Pierce's cousin hates them so much.

I also like Pierce a lot. She's nice and strong, but has believable weak moments, so she seems more real. The tension between her and John doesn't overtake the novel (in fact, there could have been more). I like that she's dealing with some serious other stuff besides boys and her problems aren't of her own invention. She's troubled, but not annoyingly neurotic.

Also, I love that Pierce and her friends who are obviously the good guys are all in the New Pathways program, which is for troubled youth. Yay for a book that paints troubled kids as real kids with yes, problems, but they aren't the bad guys, even if the rest of town sees them that way.

Overall, I really liked it and can't wait to read more.

*This is a rule I learned when Boba Fett carted off Han's carbonite encased body at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. It's not a rule I like, but it's one I have come to accept. Luckily for me, when

Last Friday I was privileged to be included in a luncheon hosted by Scholastic Books and the New England Booksellers Association for YA writing sensations and all around awesome-women Libba Bray, Meg Cabot, and Maggie Stiefvater. The ladies were in town to visit the Wellesley Booksmith and to promote This is Teen, Scholastic's integrated teen community initiative, which works to unite teen

Abandon by Meg Cabot

Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera knows what happens to us when we die. That’s how she met John Hayden, the mysterious stranger who’s made returning to normal life—or at least life as Pierce knew it before the accident—next to impossible. Though she thought she escaped him—starting a new school in a whole new place—it turns out she was wrong. He finds her. What does John want from her? Pierce thinks she knows… just like she knows he’s no guardian angel, and his dark world isn’t exactly heaven. But she can’t stay away from him, either, especially since he’s always there when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most. But if she let’s herself fall any further, she might find herself back in the place she fears most. And when Pierce discovers the shocking truth, that’s exactly where John sweeps her: The Underworld.

Release Date: April 26, 2011
Publisher: Scholastic
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: Advance Reader Copy
Source: Publisher

A team of authors have joined Book Wish Foundation‘s What You Wish For: A Book For Darfur project. Book sale profits will be donated to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), an organization building libraries in Darfur refugee camps in Chad.

Penguin Group’s G.P. Putnam’s Sons imprint will release the collection in September. If you make a donation of $20 or more before April 30th and your name (and your child’s) will be included in the book’s acknowledgment section.

Actress Mia Farrow, who serves as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, has written the forward. The participating authors include: Cornelia Funke, Meg Cabot, R. L. Stine, John Green, Ann M. Martin, Alexander McCall Smith, Cynthia Voigt, Karen Hesse, Joyce Carol Oates, Nikki Giovanni, Jane Yolen, Nate Powell, Gary Soto, Jeanne DuPrau, Francisco X. Stork, Marilyn Nelson, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Sofia Quintero.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Scholastic has partnered with SCVNGR, a location-based mobile gaming application platform, to create this is teen, a smartphone and Facebook-focused program to connect teens with some of their favorite teen fiction writers and books.

SCVNGR will develop book-related challenges at participating bookstores for this is teen users to solve with their smartphones; users will win points  and also enter prize sweepstakes. The Facebook page will launch on April 26th along with Meg Cabot‘s new paranormal trilogy, Abandon. The ‘this is teen Live‘ tour will hit New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and Miami with authors Meg Cabot, Libba Bray, and Maggie Stiefvater starting May 24th.

Vice president of marketing Stacy Lellos had explained: “Our goal with ‘this is teen‘ is to create a destination and a community for readers—a virtual book club experience where the conversation starts with books. ‘this is teen‘ is about going where teens are and harnessing the connectivity of Facebook, the in-world exploration of SCVNGR, and the intensity that exists between readers and their favorite authors in order to create a fully interactive, reader-driven experience.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It was so awesome hanging out with the Buzz Girls in Los Angeles at the RT Convention. As others have said Teen Day rocked the house. We had a fabulous booksigning, then a party where teens, their friends and parents, joined over twenty YA authors for free books, pictures, and signatures. It was amazing to see the smiles on the girls' faces when they delved into their goodie bags of books to see favorite authors and new ones to enjoy.



(Heather, me, Simone, Dona, and Tina in front)

It was also fun to hang with former Buzz Girl, Simone Elkeles, who is now a big time USA Today and New York Times bestseller. But she's still Simone...and her fans love her. She's a blast to hang out with and we miss her smiling typeface around here.



(Tina and me with Simone)

Tina and I had a fabulous dinner with her. Here's a pic of my filet and shrimp....mmm....you know me and my foodie-ness!



I, too, got a huge stash of books. Even accidentally packed "The Teachings of Budha" book that was in the hotel room. Oopsies! There were so many books around...who knew? There are just so many cool reads coming out this year (including GHOST HUNTRESS: THE DISCOVERY in 18 days!) that it's hard to keep up with everything.



(My fur baby, Boo, modeling my stash.)

So, I'm going to give away my copy of Meg Cabot's graphic novel, AVALON HIGH-CORONATION. Just leave a comment in the trail here about books you're looking forward to this year and I'll pick a winner and announce next week.

Hugs,
Marley = )

http://www.marleygibson.com/
http://www.ghosthuntress.com/

Ghosts don't hang up their sheets after Halloween
GHOST HUNTRESS series - The Awakening, The Guidance,
The Reason, The Counseling - available now!

Last Thursday, Heather posted pictures and an update on the fun that the five of us Buzz Girls were having at the Romantic Times Booksellers Convention!

Here's one more picture, of our Marley Gibson with Knight Agency super-agent, Elaine Spencer (who just happens to represent both Dona Sarkar and me):


Saturday was TEEN DAY! Hundreds of teens and their adult companions joined the 1,000 or so readers already in attendance in a mega-signing that featured a football sized room full of romance authors. The Young Adult authors got their own row, making it fun for the readers and authors alike. (For instance, the alphabet being what it is, I got to sit between Simone Elkeles and Marley Gibson!)

Later came talks from YA authors, book readings, face-to-face chats, and finally, a teen party with a mega book giveaway. Great fun!

The one thing I felt I missed was something called Mr. Romance, where male cover models vied for that coveted title, because it conflicted with my author schedule. However, never one to let things totally pass me by, I did get to spend time with this hottie:


And on that silly note, please tell us in the comments the name of the super-hero that you'd like to meet, and be entered to win a copy of RANSOM MY HEART by Meg Cabot! The winner will be announced next Monday!

Good luck!

Tina

Tina Ferraro
Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress
How to Hook a Hottie
The ABC's of Kissing Boys
www.tinaferraro.com

Thanks to Stephanie Hale for opening our discussion yesterday about the Romance Writers of America conference in Orlando, Florida, attended by five of the seven Buzz Girls. (Next year we're hoping for a full house!)

Here are Steph and Tera flanking me in a picture Tera somehow managed to be in AND take (I am always inspired by multi-taskers):



Here stands me, Marley, Wendy and Tera, in a photo perhaps worthy of one of Marley's Ghost Huntress books:


And now replace Wendy with Steph, and add in the middle...oh...um...what's her name...(choke, sputter, gasp)... MEG CABOT.


Yes, *the* Meg Cabot. Looking every bit as warm, friendly--and gorgeous--as she is in real life. It was a thrill and delight for us to meet her!

That's it from me. Maybe some of the other Buzz Girls have pictures to share?

Tina

Tina Ferraro
The ABC’s of Kissing Boys, 2010 Rita® Finalist
How to Hook a Hottie, 2009 Rita® Finalist
Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress
www.tinaferraro.com