Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Countdown Begins...




I can’t believe January 2011 is nearly gone. I’m busy writing my second young adult book for Harlequin Teen – On a Dark Wing. And I completely am in love with this book, so I can hardly wait for you to read it. But in the mean time, the countdown for the release of In the Arms of Stone Angels (Mar 22, 2011) has begun. Since that’s right around the corner, I hope you’ll pre-buy now.

If you’re a reviewer and know about NetGalley.com, In the Arms of Stone Angels is available now. Signing up for NetGalley is FREE. And if you want to know more about how to get your advance review copy, go their FAQ page.

Here’s a summary of In the Arms of Stone Angels:



"In the arms of stone angels I am not afraid"
–Brenna Nash

Two years ago I did a terrible thing. I accused my best friend of being a killer after seeing him kneeling over a girl’s body. That moment and that outcast boy still haunt me. Now my mom is forcing me back to Oklahoma and I can’t get White Bird out of my mind. But when I find out he’s not in juvie—that he’s in a mental hospital, locked in his tormented brain at the worst moment of his life—I can’t turn my back on him again.

No one wants me to see him. My mom doesn’t trust me. The town sheriff still thinks I was involved in the murder. And the other kids who knew the dead girl are after me. I’m as trapped as White Bird. And when I touch him, I get sucked into his living hell, a vision quest of horrifying demons and illusions of that night. Everything about him scares me now, but I have to do something. This time I can’t be a coward. This time I have to be his friend.

Even if I get lost, too...


I have more on the book, including excerpts and early reviews and a book trailer, on my YA website. This book was a labor of love to write. And I hope you enjoy it.

Counting down to release day, I will post articles on the many inspirations behind this book. For instance:

• Did you know that the Euchee name of the main boy character, White Bird, comes from a real boy? Find out the real story.

• Stone Angels is set in a town called Shawano, Oklahoma. I’ll share why I chose to make this town up and what the word “Shawano” means in the Euchee language.

• White Bird longs to be part of the Euchee Tribe. And I’ll share more about this Native American community and why they inspired me to write about them.

• One face inspired the book. When I found the face of Brenna Nash online, I had to create a whole book about her. And after the novel was written, her picture was taken down and I lost her. Can you help me locate the real girl who inspired the character of Brenna Nash? Could she be someone you know?

• Brenna suspects that her “gift” to see the dead comes from her estranged father—a man her mother doesn’t talk much about and Brenna has never met. The seed is planted in Stone Angels for Brenna to learn more about him. Want to know more?