Monster Month of Giveaways!

Halloween is kind of like my Christmas.

I'm known to send cards, bake creepy cookies, give strange gifts.

& what better way to celebrate a month of Vampires, Ghosts, Zombies, Faeries & the Paranormal than with a MONSTER MONTH OF GIVEAWAYS?!?!

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What:EVERY Thursday I will be holding a contest for awesome Halloween gift baskets loaded with cool YA books and themed gifts!

Where: Brooke Taylor's Blog, Brooke Taylor Books MySpace, Brooke's Books Live Journal

When:

October 2-9th: Vampires! Two winner to be drawn for Vampire gift packs--one to include the first two House of Night Books - (Marked and Betrayed) and a Dark Daughters necklace & another with the next two House of Night Books (Chosen & Untamed) with a crescent moon necklace.(plus more fun goodies)

October 9-16th: Ghosts! ARC of Saundra Mitchell's Shadowed Summer! Must Love Black/Project 17/A Certain Slant of Light/Ghostgirl + lots of ghostly goodies!!!

October 16-23rd: Zombies! ARC STacey Jay's You're So Undead To Me, Zombie Blondes, Generation Dead, Zombies Calling

October 23rd-30th: Faeries! ARC Fairy Lust by Cyn Balog!! AND MORE TBA!

October 31st: Paranormal Power Ball! TBA! (Winner drawn from entries to all previous contests)

ARC of EVERMORE by Alyson Noel!!!

plus:
LILY DALE: AWAKENING by Wendy Corsi Staub
Sleepless by Terri Clark
Invisible Touch by Kelly Parra
Unleashed by Kristopher Reisz
The Summoning (Darkest Powers, Book 1) - Kelley Armstrong
Old Magic by Marianne Curley
Girl Goddess #9 by Francesca Lia Block
Red Handed (Teen Alien Huntress) by Gena Showalter
and
Stake That! (The Blood Coven) by Mari Mancusi

all in a "WISH ME MONSTERS" tote bag!

How:

Leave a comment on any Thursday Contest Post-only one comment per each blog allowed (so max 3 entries per Thursday)

*BONUS* 5 extra entries: Post this announcement on your blog and comment with link!
*BONUS* 1 extra entry/per week: Post reminder on your blog
*BONUS BONUS* 5 extra entries if you start "following my blog" (if you already are you get 6! and a big Thank you!!)

Thursday Morning Book Club Giveaway!

Thursday Morning Book Club

Banned Book Edition!

Comment 2 Win books and stuff!

Forever by Judy Blume

"Sybil Davison has a genius I.Q. and has been laid by at least six different guys..."

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

"I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn't try to sleep with that person at that party even though..."

WIN!

Leave a comment about something positive you've taken from a book you've read that has been challenged or banned &/OR tell me what banned book you would like to read.

What you could win: A Banned Book bracelet from ALA & the banned YA (or YA crossover) book of your choice!

Next Thrusday (10/02/08) I'll draw two winners randomly from comments made from this post on blogger, live journal, and MySpace or comment on all three to increase your chances :-)

Banned Adult Books Bracelet: Designed by Carolyn Forsman, the bracelet features The Color Purple, Howl, Go Ask Alice, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Annie on My Mind.

Banned Kid's Books Bracelet: Designed by Carolyn Forsman, the bracelet features The Adventures of Captain Underpants, King & King, Annie on My Mind, To Kill A Mockingbird, In the Night Kitchen, Athletic Shorts, and Blubber.

Forks or Bust!

"For many fans, the line where reality ends and imagination begins is starting to blur, says Michael Gurling, who caught inspiration from the tourism boom and started his own Twilight Tours.

After enlisting a few locals, he asked for help in picking out houses that could serve as stand-ins for the book's famous Forks' stops: Bella and Edward's houses, a field where vampires play baseball. Other locations, such as the police station, where Bella's father works, and the hospital, where Edward's father is a doctor, play their own parts. They chipped in, providing cruisers near which fans may take pictures and reserving a spot for "Dr. Cullen" in the parking lot.

"The most popular spot is probably the beach, in LaPush, where Bella finds out the truth about Edward," says Gurling.

On a recent Friday, Gurling's van headed out of the visitor's center parking lot — packed, as it is most every weekend, with teenage girls. Outside the stand-in for Edward's house, a sign on the door says "Cullens" are volunteering a blood drive."

I wish I lived close enough to do this--I love campy fun. I think it is so cool that the town is having a revival and enjoying the books and the tourism and some of their about Twilight fans are pretty funny. And a side of vampire fangs with your Bella Burger order is pretty clever--But what is too far? The Bella engagement ring maybe?

And more from the town of Forks, WA

Fashion Police--Alive and Well

"Baggy Pants Bill" House Bill 1626, also known as the “Baggy Pants Bill” states: “It shall be unlawful for any person to appear in public wearing his pants below his waist and thereby exposing his skin or intimate clothing.”

Seriously?

I assume our fine lawmakers are okay with this, though:

I also came across this situation where a teacher is allowed a nose-stud but a a kid gets expelled for snake-bite piercing:

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/09/19/6812871-sun.html

When I was in high school the girls wore boy's boxer shorts, I'm pretty sure that was as exposed as anyone ever got. Of course high-waisted jeans were popular (think Saved by the Bell) --I cringe, but yes it is true. I can't bring myself to even show you a picture of the girl's jeans, so I give you this:

See, guys? You can look hot without showing the junk in your trunk.

For more fun than anyone can stand: http://www.thefashionpolice.net/

Now there should be a law outlawing this! (and no, I don't know where you can buy one).

Friday...I'm in Love!

Okay--maybe not love--but certainly curious...

No...not in the guy, but in his desk. It's a treadmill desk!

What do you think authors? No more "secretary spread"

And just look at her smile! That could be you writing your next best seller! Pacing will never be an issue for you!

No more evil kitty editors sitting on your lap, reading your manuscript and looking at you with disdain! You won't even have a lap! They will be powerless!!

Crap. There's just no stopping Evil Kitty Editors.

The Carrie Diaries!

How cool is this? Candace Bushnell is going to be writing about Carrie's teen years--life before Sex and the City!

Author Candace Bushnell is writing two books looking at the Sex and the City heroine's adolescence



The first book will come out in 2010. Bushnell, in a statement issued by her publisher, said, "Carrie in high school did not follow the crowd _ she led it. It was there that she began observing and commenting on the social scene."



Sarah Jessica Parker as a teen

3... YA Books You Should Read

...before they hit the bigscreen this fall!

Paranoid Park by Blake Nelson

Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Twilight by Stephenie Meyers