Anna and the French Kiss: New Scene

My German Cover*

Did I write a sexy new scene about Anna, Étienne, and Star Trek?

YOU BET I DID.

Thank you so, so much to Richard Grooms, winner of last May's HelpWriteNow auction. Richard asked for Vulcans, and Vulcans he received. Thanks for giving me such a fun/hilarious topic, Richard! I had a blast writing it.

If you'd like to read the new scene (OF COURSE YOU DO), you'll find it here. And there will be a second bonus scene next month. Yay!


*Gotta love the phallic croissants. Tee hee. Also, the text in the pink circle translates to something along the lines of: "Finally, a love without vampires." "It still exists, love without vampires." Can I please get that printed on ALL of my editions? Ha!

EDITED AGAIN TO ADD: According to Anna (!) in my comments, the title itself translates to Heartbeating in French.

Tomorrow

Every year on the anniversary of 9/11, I read Meg Cabot's post about that day. Please take the time to read it this weekend.

Thinking of my family, friends, and readers in New York City and D.C.

xoxo


P.S. I was in Atlanta, opening the B. Dalton bookstore that I managed, when a coworker arrived and told me to turn on the radio. Where were you?

EDITED TO ADD: Maureen Johnson just posted a good one, too.

Decatur Book Festival! This weekend!

Hi, everyone!

A quick reminder that I'll be at the Decatur Book Festival this weekend. My Sunday panel is at 4:00, and it's called "A Real Girl Conversation About Writing Real Girl Books." (Does that make anyone else think about this movie? Ha!) I'm so excited to meet and talk with the other panelists: Elizabeth Eulberg, Jennifer Jabaley, and Terra McVoy. More information about the event can be found here.

I'm also excited because I lived in Decatur for three years, and it's always fun to revisit those places I've called home. I haven't been there in many years, so I'm happy that I'll get to spend some time with my FIRST critique partner, Amber. Yippee!

Related fun fact: I never outright say this in my novel, but Anna Oliphant is actually from Decatur. People from Atlanta tend to catch this, because of some of the street names and such that I mention. ;)

Anyway, I hope that some of you will be there. If you happen to see me walking around this weekend, please say hello! I promise I'm friendly.

And . . . for EVERYONE reading this . . . next week, I'm posting something special here on my website: a new scene featuring Anna and Étienne!* YAY!!!


*Apologizes to my Twitter followers, who were expecting this scene last week. It didn't happen because of Hurricane Irene. And then it didn't happen this week, because I was working on Isla. I'm sorry. It takes awhile for me to format website pages, and I just didn't have the time. Unfortunately, regular writing-work always has to come first!

My Ten Favorite Films

(1) Trainspotting, 1996, Danny Boyle

(2) Amélie, 2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunet

(3) Pride & Prejudice, 2005, Joe Wright

(4) Rushmore, 1998, Wes Anderson

(5) Moulin Rouge!, 2001, Baz Luhrmann

(6) Heima, 2007, Dean DeBlois

(7) The Big Lebowski, 1998, Joel and Ethan Coen

(8) Y Tu Mamá También, 2001, Alfonso Cuarón

(9) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004, Michel Gondry

(10) Stranger Than Fiction, 2006, Marc Forster

Trainspotting was my first. That is, it was the first film that opened my eyes to the idea of cinema as ART, so I doubt my number one will ever change. (I can't believe that was fifteen years ago!) Despite the grim grim grim subject matter, it's hilarious and beautiful and surreal. I still watch it several times a year.

My top five picks are stable, but the bottom five shift around depending on my mood.

What are your all-time favorites?

Real Men and the Boy Next Door

My first hardcover copy of Lola and the Boy Next Door arrived last week. My hands shook as I removed it from its packaging. It took me a decade to finish writing it.

But . . . I did.

I'm giddy about the pretty pastels. They are very, very San Francisco. And I'm especially happy that these Victorian row houses made the spine. The novel would not exist without the city. Thank you to my publisher for recognizing the heart of my story.

And a different kind of thank you to Nathan, for my favorite Lola-related tweet:

HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! Awesome!

Lola has also received her first two professional reviews. They both contain spoilers, so here are the non-spoiler highlights:

"Perkins avoids the second-novel curse with a delectable companion to her debut hit . . . she embeds a tour of San Francisco culture throughout the snappy storyline. And steamy kisses and tingly touches? There are still plenty of those, too."

—KIRKUS REVIEWS


"snappy dialogue and sexy love interests . . . [Lola's] self-deprecating sense of humor and Perkins's skill at capturing Lola's seesawing emotions make for a lively romance . . ."

—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Snappy! They both called it "snappy"! I love that. Do you think I can bribe other reviewers to use that word, too? I'd for love this to be on my paperback:

Four out of five reviewers think this book is snappy!

Hee hee.

Today, pre-ordering Lola on Amazon is only $9.99. Just . . . throwing that out there. Thank you for your support and friendship.

Ma-ruuuuu

Should I be embarrassed that I'm really looking forward to this book?

Nah. ;)


LINKAGE:

• Maru's blog and YouTube channel.
• My favorite cat book and its sequel.
• My favorite cat book for children.
• My own kitty, Mr. Tumnus.
• Mr. T's favorite scratching post.

The New Harry

Isn't that the sweetest? I re-stumbled across this moment from Chamber of Secrets this morning while doing some research.

Oh, how I love it!

Speaking of Harry, have you seen the creepy-beautiful trailer for The Woman in Black yet?

HOLY SMOKES. Can I please watch that NOW?

Tomorrow — as long as it doesn't get overly terrible reviews — Jarrod and I are going to see the new Fright Night. I'm not generally a fan of remakes, buuuuuuut . . .

DAVID TENNANT!

It also stars Andrew Anton Yelchin (I swear I knew that), a seriously underrated actor. I thought he was fan-taaastic in Charlie Bartlett.

Plus, his hair can do this:

Love me some messy boy hair!

Any films you're looking forward to these days? And, to quote one of my favorites, do you like scary movies?*


*A few of those favorites: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Let the Right One In, 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, An American Werewolf in London, Session 9, The Silence of the Lambs, Halloween, The Thing, and, of course, Scream.

Recommended Read: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

It's been too long since I've posted about a book that I've enjoyed, and there have been several this year. Here's one that I'd especially like to bring to your attention. Tabitha Suzuma's Forbidden is originally a U.K. release that debuted here in America this summer. (YAY! More imports, American publishers? Pretty please?) It's the first novel that I've blurbed (I'm picky!), and I also did an exclusive review of it for Amazon:

Tabitha Suzuma has crafted a harrowing, sexy, heart wrenching, and heartbreaking masterwork about one of our last remaining taboos. Lochan and Maya are the oldest children of an alcoholic, absentee mother. The burden of raising their three younger siblings has fallen upon them, and they have been forced to mature into parents. As their friendship is strengthened, and as they become dependent upon one another for survival, their parental relationship develops into a new stage: romantic love.

An alternating first-person narration immerses the reader deep inside the hearts of the characters. Suzuma takes great care to help us understand how such a situation could arise and allows us to be sympathetic for it—even root for it—though we know, just as Lochan and Maya know, that the future of a Happily Ever After is unlikely.

This is a powerful novel about love in all of its forms. About teenagers forced to become adults, and about children forced to acknowledge new parents. Particularly stressful is the second oldest boy, Kit, whose every appearance carries an impending sense of disaster.

Forbidden never let me set it down. It never let me stop worrying. And it never let me stop hoping for the best.

Now. An addendum for my own readers:

If you're the type of person who reads that and thinks, "Brother and sister intimacy? GAHHHHHHHHH." Hello, you already know this book is not for you.

BUT . . .

If you're the type of person who reads that and thinks "Hmm," I sincerely hope you'll pick it up. It blew me away.


P.S. Tabitha has written several more novels which have yet to be published in America. After finishing Forbidden, I ordered A Note of Madness from The Book Depository, the best website for ordering overseas books. Can't wait to dig in!

And My Heart Squeezes With Happiness!

From my husband. Tee hee.

Connie and Mimi and the Panthéon

Drawn by Natalie Whipple

Marie and Elodie's Annas at Point Zéro

Elodie and Notre-Dame

Elodie and Marie and Shakespeare & Company

Marie inside Shakespeare & Company

Neruda and Anna inside Shakespeare & Company

Drawn by Liza Riitters

Alwyn Hamilton's Anna and la Tour Eiffel

And . . . one for Lola!

Lisa Aldin (and hubby?*) in San Francisco

Thank you, everyone. These are a dream come true.

xoxo,
your very humbled author


*confirmed! :)

Oceanside with Kiersten & Andrea

I'd planned on returning to my LeakyCon adventures today, but yesterday I received some exciting news:

Kiersten White and Andrea Cremer hit the New York Times bestseller list! Again! Congratulations, ladies!!!

I was fortunate enough to join them both for a reading and signing last Tuesday in Oceanside, CA. They were each promoting their second books in trilogies, Supernaturally and Wolfsbane.

Like on all my July adventures, I only had my phone with me.

*head hits desk*

Here are my ONLY TWO pictures from the event:

Kiersten displaying a pink-wrapped Dr. Pepper gifted from one of her readers, Andrea displaying a STUNNING dress.

This is a HIGH QUALITY photograph.

That's me with Shelley the Storyqueen. Many of you know her from her wonderful easy-reader series Good Night, Good Knight, but I suspect several of you also know her from her hilarious and supportive blog comments. (Shelley recently joined Twitter, did you know? You can find her here.)

I was so, so happy she came to our signing! And I'm bummed that you can't see her necklace, because it was freaking gorgeous.

Here's a picture stolen from Kiersten's blog:

Blurry was the name of the game.

I love how Kiersten is standing on a chair so that the audience can see her. Hee hee! Andrea declined, because she was afraid of falling, and I declined because I was afraid of being TOO tall, and then everyone being able to see up my skirt.

Not that I speak from experience. No. Of course not.

Ahhh, but . . . WHAT IS THIS? A clear picture of us! Thank you, Shannon Messenger!

Our smiles were twitching by this point, but they're genuine.

By the way, if you'd like to win signed hardcovers of Supernaturally, Wolfsbane, AND Anna and the French Kiss (and you do, right?) visit Shannon's blog before this Saturday and enter to win her giveaway. Woo hoo!

Also, because I cannot resist, HOW CUTE WAS SHANNON AT COMIC-CON?

More about this in my future Comic-Con post. Obviously.

I'd like to give a huuuuuuuuge thank you to the Oceanside Barnes and Noble staff for being amazing. We had a blast, and the crowd they assembled was, um, LARGE. Large as in we signed for two-and-a-half hours large!

(We totally had to take a bathroom break.)

And I'd also like to give a humble and gracious and ohmygod thank you to Racquel, who won an oversize chocolate bar for reading Anna and the French Kiss ten times (TEN!!!), and Paranormalcy and Nightshade five or six times each. You wowed us, Racquel.

Finally, thanks to Kiersten and Andrea, two of the smartest and funniest women of my acquaintance. Thank you for inviting me to your double-release party. We mustmustmust do this again!

In other release-party news . . .

Today is the official release of the Anna and the French Kiss paperback. For the cherry-on-top, it contains the first chapter of Lola and the Boy Next Door. It's available at bookstores everywhere and . . . TARGET.

TARGET!!!!!!!!!

I am so serious when I say that this is one of the most exciting things that's happened to me all year. Being in Target is a BIG DEAL. It gives authors an incredible opportunity to reach readers that otherwise might not find them. Readers! I love readers!

Enormous bear hugs and thanks to Cristin and Julie for making this happen.

And merci to my paperback editor Ashley, who did a beaaaaauuutiful job adding fancy new blurbs and deckle-edge pages and French flaps with pretty scalloped edges. Seriously, my paperback is gorgeous. And I'm saying that as a former bookseller and librarian, not as the author. I am hyper-aware that it got the deluxe treatment. WOW. Thank you for putting such faith in my paperback, Penguin.

One last related note:

Malaprop's Bookstore & Cafe (by kleindigital)

Tonight, I'm participating in the From Asheville to Nashville book tour. I'll be at Malaprop's here in Asheville at 7 p.m. doing a panel about YA literature/publishing followed by a signing with three lovely ladies: Myra McEntire (Hourglass), Beth Revis (Across the Universe), and Victoria Schwab (The Near Witch).

I hope some of you local blog readers can come see us!

Yes, I have seen this movie too many times.

MY FIRST THOUGHTS UPON WAKING:

I wish I had a cool name, like Ransom Riggs or Kaleb Nation. Kaleb's name rocks, because it means his readers and YouTube fans can be called Nationeers.

Yeah. Nation is a cool last name.

Welcome to the Stephanie Nation!

Like Novalee Nation in Where the Heart Is. Except then she named her daughter Americus, which is the WORST name. Americus Nation. What the heck was she thinking? Just because her daughter was born inside of a Wal-Mart didn't mean she had to get all patriotic on us. Maybe if she had given birth at the Washington Monument that would be okay.

But she didn't.

That story had all kinds of weird names. Like Forney. I feel sorry for the actor. He's really talented, but because of that role, I can never remember his real name. I'm always like, "Hey, Forney is playing Cromwell in The Tudors! Hey, Forney is playing a vampire in True Blood!"

Poor Forney.

It sounds like a nickname, but the only possible thing it could stand for is "Fornication." Snort. He seems like the kinda guy who'd take Novalee's last name when they got married. So that would mean his name is now . . . FORNICATION NATION.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

FORNICATION NATION!

*rolls over*

*grins*

*falls back asleep*

August Break + LeakyCon, Pt. 1

I learned from my friend Lilie (she of one very lovely blog) that it's August Break — an opportunity for bloggers to express themselves in photography for a month. It's ultra low pressure, and it produced a lot of wonderful images on Lilie's website last year. If you're interested, you should check it out!

I'm using it as inspiration to increase my blogging this month. I have so many things I want to share with you and . . . so little time. Isla and the Happily Ever After MUST be written, and APPARENTLY I signed some papers awhile back that said *I* am the one who is supposed to do it.

Who knew?

So here's my first batch . . . LeakyCon! I forgot to take my REAL camera (durr), so it's a mixture of grainy cell phone pictures and better pictures stolen from other people.

Somehow, all of this PLUS another suitcase PLUS more musical equipment had to fit in our car.


And, somehow, it did!

The conference was at the Royal Pacific Resort next to Universal Studios in Orlando, FL.

Cars like this . . .

. . . and this, showed that we were among friends. Three thousand and four hundred of them, to be exact!

The first day was Lit Day. This picture from Bibliomantics proves that I actually sat on a panel with Scott Westerfeld, David Levithan, Robin Wasserman, John Green, and Libba Bray. I KNOW, RIGHT? It was called "I Was a Teenage Author," and it was the most fun I had all day. Tears of laughter streamed down my face! Here I am about to read from my senior-year journal, in which I meet my future husband (for real) and became mildly obsessed about him (understatement).

With Megan, who posted this picture on my Facebook page. Huzzah!

[THIS IS WHERE THE PICTURE OF ME WITH MY AGENT KATE AND MY EDITOR JULIE IS SUPPOSED TO GO. I DID NOT GET ONE. WE TOTALLY HAD A PANEL TOGETHER! I LOATHE MYSELF FOR NOT COMMEMORATING IT. IF YOU HAVE A PICTURE OF THIS MOMENTOUS OCCASION AND SEND IT TO ME, I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER.]

The next day, Snape tried to avada kedavra me . . .

. . . but I escaped and made it to the IMAX premiere of the new film. (I'm not actually in this picture, which I stole from Oh My Rowling. I am to the left of this. You'll have to trust me.) I can't imagine a more incredible movie-going experience than seeing the last Harry Potter with the people who care about it the most. The theater sobbed and laughed and cheered as one.


At the theater, Jarrod and I sat beside my writer-friend Jade and her husband. They were visiting all the way from Australia! They'd stopped by our home in Asheville the week before, and I was puppy-dog happy to see them again. We walked around afterward and bought loads of disgusting candy and frozen yogurt. And then we couldn't bear to say goodbye, so we made breakfast plans for the next morning! PLEASE COME BACK JADE I MISS YOU COME BACK COME BACK COME BACK.

Next post = Wizard Rock + a trip to the most magical place on Earth. Which, despite popular belief, is not Disneyland.


UPDATE: Molly has sent me pictures of my panel with Agent Kate and Editor Julie! I'll post them next time. YIPPEE!!!