The Friday Five

The Friday Five

I haven't posted a Friday Five in a really long time. I think I stopped after starting my Love My Indie feature, but guest posts for that are sporadic, so I think I will alternate in The Friday Five every once and again. My initial inspiration for this came from Sarah Dessen's posts when I read her blog like most people read the daily paper. Here is what I want to share with you from this week:

1. Megan McCafferty's sequel to Bumped, Thumped is coming out April 24th. This may not be new news or even big news. But guess what is? She has released the FIRST FORTY PAGES on her site. GO HERE to get a sneak peak.

2. I've officially started my countdown to Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready. Maybe you noticed the countdown widget to the right. It will be out May 1, 2012 and like many other readers who are dying to find out what happens with Aura and Zachary and their mysterious connection, I have already pre-ordered it. And get this, it's going to be signed by Jeri!! She is offering signed copies of Shine when it is pre-ordered from Constellation Books - her local independent bookstore.

3. Speaking of independent bookstores, I am looking for a few bloggers to write a guest post for Love My Indie. I want to know about your favorite independent bookstores. I visited Quail Ridge Books a few weeks ago for Lauren Oliver's book tour for Pandemonium. I learned of the bookstore because of a Love My Indie guest post. It was a great store - well worth the 3 and half hour drive. Of course Lauren Oliver had something to do with it too! So if you are interested in participating in Love My Indie, just fill out this form.

4. I've signed up for some events in the coming weeks and months. First is the Forgiving Trinity Blog Tour hosted by Letters Inside Out. The tour begins March 26 and there will be over 35 stops featuring reviews, author guest posts and giveaways. Forgiving Trinity author Liz Reinhardt will be stopping by here in April 6th.

I'm also participating in the Spring Blog Carnival hosted by Lori at Pure Imagination, Candace from Candace's Book Blog and Angela from Reading Angel. The Spring Blog Carnival is May 7th-13th.I hosted the Karaoke Booth last year (check it out) and will again this year. I'm planning to giveaway some music themed books and I need some suggestions/requests. Please provide some of your favorite young adult music themed books in the comments below. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist,  I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, and The Disenchantments are just a few examples.

5. I recently reviewed Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin. If you missed it, you can read it here. Meredith Zeitlin is funny and so are her cats. Watch this!