WEDNESDAYS on a Sunday

News, news, news!  (Also, more news!)

I haven't blogged much lately, so there is lots to cover!  Strap yourselves in!

First of all, WEDNESDAYS IN THE TOWER will be out on May 7th!  Mark your calendars, kids!  And how much do you love this cover?  Because, personally, I love it a LOT!  I will be going on a book tour to celebrate the release, which is super exciting!  There are no firm dates/locations yet, but places being bandied about include: Chicago, Florida, Philadelphia, Houston, and Washington DC.  That's in addition to places around Utah, of course.  As soon as we get fixed dates and details, I will post them.  Please remember that if you are in a place where I will NOT be signing, you can always order a signed and personalized copy of any of my books through The King's English in Salt Lake City.  They are wonderful, and they will be happy to help you!

Second: Lots of people have been telling me how much they loved PRINCESS OF THE SILVER WOODS, and I thank them for their very kind words!  It's a great book, if I do say so myself!  So please remember to show it some love!  But then they want to know when the next princess book is coming out . . . and, um . . . there isn't one.  They all live happily ever after!  The end.  (Sorry!  But a twelve book series just isn't my style.)

Third: TUESDAYS IN THE CASTLE is nominated for a Beehive Book Award.  HOORAY!  So all you Utah peeps, head over to the library and vote for Celie and Castle Glower!

Fourth: This fall SUN AND MOON, ICE AND SNOW will be released with a brand new cover!  I have seen this cover, and behold, it is beautiful!  It's by the same artist who did the Princess covers, and I screamed and jumped up and down when I saw it.  As soon as it gets finalized with titles and pretty shiny things, I will be sure to post it.  It will only be available as a paperback, both beautiful AND affordable!

Fifth: In February of 2014, the DRAGON SLIPPERS trilogy will be released with new covers as well!  The new covers are by David Hohn, the fantastic talent behind the Castle Glower covers.  I've seen some of the sketches, and I actually burst into tears.  Tears.  Burst.  Into.  No shame.  The new DRAGON SLIPPERS cover, even as a pencil sketch, is . . . is . . . Okay, I love Peter Ferguson's original painting for the DS hardcover.  I bought it, it's hanging in my house, I love it.  He also does the Sisters Grimm books, and he's wonderful.  But seeing the sketch for the new cover reminded me of what it was like to be writing that book, eight years ago, and I wept.  I can't wait to show you these covers, guys.  Shardas lives!

Sixth: I am planning not one, but several giveaways in the next few months, so be warned.  The best, easiest way for me to do a giveaway is through Facebook.  Make sure that you have liked my author page, please!  I usually ask for likes or comments as entries into the contests.  If you don't have a FB account, get someone you love to check my page for you!

Seventh: If you want to see my crazypants to-read shelf (currently clocking in at 321 books) and my reading challenge over on Goodreads, make sure and friend me over there!  I love Goodreads, because I'm one of those nuts who loves lists anyway.  I am trying to read 160 books this year, and I've currently read 26!  I'm about to finish the awesomely twisty thriller MIND GAMES by Kiersten White, and next up will be TIMELESS by Gail Carriger!  Love me some good books!

And now, to eat some chocolate!  Farewell!

Best Movies of 2012

I like movies.  Almost as much as books.  This year has been delightful in that both Boy and Baby Girl are old enough to sit through movies in the theater, and Baby Roo was tiny enough to just lie there as well, so I was able to catch almost every movie I wanted to see.  No, I did not take my children to see The Dark Knight Rises.  That's what babysitters are for.  But I was able to take the kids to see things Mirror Mirror, and The Lorax and Brave.  (We ended up going to Brave three times, actually.)

The Oscars are next week, and as usual I haven't seen most of the main Oscar nominees, and also as usual . . . I don't really care.  I'm going to the movies for personal enjoyment, not so I can watch Helen Hunt try to score more awards.  (Not that she isn't a fine actress.  But I have no interest in the movie she's nominated for.)  I would like to see Lincoln, and The Impossible, though.  And The Queen of Versailles.  I'm going to be catching them on DVD soon, I'm sure.

And allow me to also recommend (for the PG-13 eligible crowd) Warm Bodies, which was a fantastic riff on Romeo and Juliet.  I really loved that movie!  So much fun!

But now, without further ado, here are my top ten grown up film favorites that I saw in 2012:

    1.     The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

    2.     Skyfall

    3.     Silver Linings Playbook

    4.     The Dark Knight Rises

    5.     Argo 

    6.     The Avengers

    7.     Les Miserables

    8.     The Hunger Games

    9.     John Carter

   10.  The Amazing Spider-Man

  

    And the movies for the younger set:

   1.     Brave

   2.     Wreck-It Ralph

   3.     Rise of the Guardians

   4.     Hotel Transylvania

   5.     The Lorax

   6.     Mirror Mirror

   7.     Finding Nemo in 3D

   8.     Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

   9.     ParaNorman

Now before anyone gets upset: I love Finding Nemo.  I really, really do.  But I've also seen Finding Nemo roughly 4,000 times.  So seeing it in the theater had less of an impact on me than seeing say, The Lorax for the first time, where I laughed so hard my face hurt during the "river rescue" scene.  And please also remember: some of Auntie Jessica's favorite grown up films are rated R.  Please view responsibly.