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Sophie Kinsella is the bestselling author of The Shopaholic Series. Her hilarious style of writing will entrance readers of any age.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain.

An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, but when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming teammate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to do with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.

JEN CALONITA has interviewed everyone from Reese Witherspoon to Justin Timberlake, but the only person she's ever wanted to trade places with is Disney's Cinderella. She's the award-winning author of the My Secrets of My Hollywood Life series.

Writer Sophie Kinsella decided to give an early holiday gift to her fans. She announced on Facebook that she has written a new short story called “Shopaholic on Honeymoon.”

The title was released today as a free eBook in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India. Readers in the United States and Canada will be able access this digital book on December 16th.

Follow this link to read the full piece online. Back in October, Dial Press released the seventh installment of the main series which is called Shopaholic to the Stars.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Penguin Random House Audio team has developed a new discovery app called “Volumes.”

With this free app, readers can listen to clips from works by Jodi Picoult, Sophie Kinsella, and Jim Gaffigan. Sometimes, full-length audiobooks will be made available at no charge. At the moment, users can download a free digital copy of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which features the voice acting talents of Jim Dale.

Her’s more from the press release: “As part of the app’s launch, and to encourage users to give listening a try, Penguin Random House Audio is working with Literacy Partners to donate one audiobook (up to 25,000 audiobooks) for every person that downloads the app and pledges to listen. Listeners can take the pledge on Random House Audio’s Facebook page.” What are your favorite audiobooks?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Shopaholic series author Sophie Kinsella (pictured, via) has landed a deal for her first young adult novel. Finding Audrey will  be released in Summer 2015 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Annie Eaton, the fiction publisher at Random House Children’s Publishers, negotiated with Philippa Milnes-Smith and Araminta Whitley at the LAW literary agency. Eaton secured acquired United Kingdom and Commonwealth rights.

Here’s more from The Bookseller: “Finding Audrey, described as a mix of ‘family comedy, romance and personal discovery,’ is about a teenage girl recovering from social anxiety. Along the way she is helped, and sometimes hindered, by her chaotic family.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Buoyed by the news of my first book being released in e-format, in November of 2007, I bought a Kindle. I soon learned I’d been “lucky” to get one for the holiday season, that they’d sold out much faster than Amazon expected.


But once I got it opened and downloaded a couple of books, whether I was lucky or not was up for interpretation. I found myself more focused on the e-reader than the books, which seemed to be defeating the entire purpose.

Three years have passed. I’ve downloaded the occasional book, particularly those available only in e-format. I’ve figured out the basics: how to move around, change the font, convert .pdfs, etc. But still, the Kindle would sit quietly for weeks and sometimes months on a shelf. Did I like it? Not really. But I didn’t exactly dislike it, either.

Now, I need to add that I’m a big Sophie Kinsella fan, and her book, Remember Me? was the test-case I had used on my Kindle. But as time has passed, I realized that I barely remembered the story at all, and last month, I decided to power the Kindle up and give that book another go. And was I glad I did. Without focusing on the nuts and bolts of the e-reader, I found the book absolutely charming!

So when I got a call last week that my son had been in a snowboarding accident, in my rush to get to the hospital--and knowing there’d likely be a lot of downtime in my immediate future--I’d had the wherewithal to grab my Kindle.

And right from the first night, while he slept and I tried to stay calm and focused, that Kindle kept me company. I used the internet function to deliver a virtual bookstore to the hospital room. I looked over Top 100 lists, then at different authors’ books, occasionally pushing the “download the first chapter” button.

Over the next week in the hospital, as he grew stronger and my concentration improved, that Kindle stayed with me. During down periods, I read through those first chapters and purchased and read a humorous memoir by Nora Ephron (perhaps best known for penning “When Harry Met Sally” and “You’ve Got Mail”). I texted friends for more recommendations, and checked those out, as well. I re-read a Stephen King novella I’d downloaded early on (which I didn’t remember very well, either.)

The short of it being, when I needed it, the Kindle was there for me. Offering me the best of all distractions: a world of books.

Now we’re home and my son is doing great. While I am threatening to take an ax to his snowboard, I am also thinking of upgrading to the newest Kindle. Because while I know my love will never lessen for paperbound books, having a virtual bookstore at my fingertips in a time of great stress was “just what the doctor” ordered for me!

How about you? Have you "made friends" with your e-reader?

What I’m Reading: My Soul to Take, Rachel Vincent

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

Shopaholic fans rejoice! It seems that Becky Bloomwood (now Becky Brandon) will be back in a brand new Shopaholic book this fall, Mini-Shopaholic. The most recent Shopaholic book, Shopaholic and Baby, came out in 2007 and went straight to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. There are more than thirteen million copies of Kinsella’s books in print in the United States. This is certainly one powerhouse “chick lit” writer.  Here’s the publisher’s description of this highly anticipated release.

The first new Shopaholic in three years, Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) is back, this time hilariously challenged by the mini-terror who is her two-year-old.

Becky Brandon thought motherhood would be a breeze – but it’s trickier than she thought. Two-year-old Minnie is a little tearaway who created havoc everywhere from Harrods to her own christening. She hires taxis at random, her favorite word is “mine,” and she already has a penchant for Balenciaga bags. Becky is at her wits’ end. On top of this, she and Luke are still living with her mom and dad, there’s a big financial crisis so everyone’s having to cut back – including all her personal shopping clients – and her husband Luke is feeling low after the death of his beloved stepmother. To cheer him up, Becky decides to throw Luke a surprise birthday party – on a budget – and that’s when things become really complicated. As Becky tries to keep the arrangements secret, misunderstandings and excuses sprout everywhere, and soon she’s told so many fibs she can’t keep track of them. Will Becky pull off the surprise? Will Minnie give everything away? Will Minnie’ godparents ever stop arguing? Who will end up in a time out and who will get a gold star? And what will happen when Becky discovers Luke is keeping a big secret, too?

Mini-Shopaholic has a release date of September 7, 2010 from The Dial Press.

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi from The Story Siren. Here's what I found in my mailbox, at the bookstore, and at the library these last two weeks. Summaries are taken from Amazon, B&N, and GoodReads.

I seem to be having an issue uploading photos on Blogger, so no pictures this week. Sorry!

My Name is Will by Jess Winfield (won in a contest by A Journey of Books) - A Tale of two Shakespeares... Struggling UC Santa Cruz grad student Willie Shakespeare Greenberg is trying to write his thesis about the Bard. Kind of... Cut off by his father for laziness, and desperate for dough, Willie agrees to deliver a single giant, psychedelic mushroom to a mysterious collector, making himself an unwitting target in Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs. Meanwhile, would-be playwright (and oppressed Catholic) William Shakespeare is eighteen years old and stuck teaching Latin in the boondocks of Stratford-upon-Avon. The future Bard's life is turned upside down when a stranger entrusts him with a sacred relic from Rome... This, at a time when adherents of the "Old Faith" are being hanged, drawn, and quartered as traitors. Seemingly separated in time and place, the lives of Willie and William begin to intersect in curious ways, from harrowing encounters with the law (and a few ex-girlfriends) to dubious experiments with mind-altering substances. Their misadventures could be dismissed as youthful folly. But wise or foolish, the bold choices they make will shape not only the 'Shakespeare' each is destined to come... but the very course of history itself.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (ARC from 1 ARC Tours) - For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (ARC for review) - For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment. But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel. For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr (ARC for review) - Samara Taylor used to believe in miracles. She used to believe in a lot of things. As a pastor's kid, it's hard not to buy in to the idea of the perfect family, a loving God, and amazing grace. But lately, Sam has a lot of reason to doubt. Her mother lands in rehab after a DUI and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. When a young girl in her small town is kidnapped, the local tragedy overlaps with Sam's personal one, and the already-worn thread of faith holding her together begins to unravel.

Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon (ARC) - Lil is an old woman who spends her days shelving rare books in a tiny Manhattan bookstore and lonely nights at home in her apartment. But Lil has an intriguing secret. Tucked and bound behind her back are white feathery wings–the only key to who she once was: the fairy godmother responsible for getting Cinderella to the ball to unite with her Prince Charming. But on that fateful night, something went terribly and beautifully wrong. Lil allowed herself the unthinkable: to feel the emotions of human beings and fall in love with the prince herself, going to the ball in place of Cinderella in her exquisitely gorgeous human guise. For her unforgivable mistake, she was banished to live among humans, far from her fairy sisters and their magical underwater world. But then one day she meets Veronica–a young, fair-skinned, flame-haired East Village beauty with a love of all things vintage and a penchant for falling in love with the wrong men–and suddenly it becomes clear to Lil that she’s been given a chance at redemption. If she can find a soul mate for Veronica, she may right her wrong and return to the fairy world she so deeply longs for. . . .

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella - Lara Lington has always had an overactive imagination, but suddenly that imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal professional twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they? When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie–a feisty, demanding girl with firm ideas about fashion, love, and the right way to dance–mysteriously appears, she has one last request: Lara must find a missing necklace that had been in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years, and Sadie cannot rest without it. Lara, on the other hand, has a number of ongoing distractions. Her best friend and business partner has run off to Goa, her start-up company is floundering, and she’s just been dumped by the “perfect” man. Sadie, however, could care less. Lara and Sadie make a hilarious sparring duo, and at first it seems as though they have nothing in common. But as the mission to find Sadie’s necklace leads to intrigue and a new romance for Lara, these very different “twenties” girls learn some surprising truths from each other along the way.


That's my mailbox! What did you find in your's this week?

Early Word has some great information on books-to-film projects that are currently in production or have been announced.

For example, did you know that Sophie Kinsella’s THE UNDOMESTIC GODDESS is “in development” or that there are rumors that Meryl Streep is set to star in DEWEY?