Cupid's Arrow: Thank you for the music

Happy June, Val Pals! Jen here, ready to profess my Gif-filled love of music, thanks to an arrow shot by Kierra.  Challenge accepted!

We've had a musical few Cupid's Arrows lately (y'all saw Sara's awesome post last week, right?) No, I'm not even going to try to top that, but I will let my nerd flag fly and let y'all into my super secret world of bizarre musical tastes.

Ahem.

First, a little background: I'm a child of the 80s, but you wouldn't know it based on my favorite music. I was an only child for 9 years, and my mom and I have always been super close; that matters because I see HER favorite musicians dominating the list of MY favorites, plus a few strange boy bands thrown in for good measure. So, without further ado, here are a few of the singers and groups who make me swoon.

Billy Joel

Via http://rollingstone.tumblr.com/post/85031038476/watch-billy-joel-crowdsurf

He's always at the top of my list, because come on, the Piano Man can crowd surf! I actually got to hear him in concert recently, which was beyond a dream come true. And yes, I have The Stranger...on vinyl.

Queen

Via http://avantgardeaclue.tumblr.com/tagged/freddie-mercury

Freddie Mercury for the win!! Whenever I need to rock out, head bang, and sing myself hoarse, I turn to Queen. <3

The Mamas and the Papas

Via http://spaghetti.co.vu/post/59931753816/the-mamas-the-papas-performing-dancing-in-the

Totally blame Mom for this one. And yes, I will blast the heck out of "Make Your Own Kind of Music" on a regular basis. It was my anthem in high school.

Barenaked Ladies

NO WAY am I doing a GIF search for them! You'll just have to be content with my newest earworm from this group.

 



Frank Sinatra (with Gene Kelly for good measure)

I grew up on musicals (and in them), so I have a total addiction to all the old school performers, but Old Blue Eyes takes the cake. Sigh...that smile!

Via http://itwasbeauty-killedthebeast.tumblr.com/post/87004262892/anchors-aweigh-1945

 
Yup. Totally random music nerd over here. Thanks for shooting us this arrow, Kierra; I had a blast divulging all my strange secret loves! Want your chance to make the Vals confess deep, embarrassing secrets? Shoot us a Cupid's Arrow!

Jen, over and out. Have a great weekend, y'all! <3

The Valentines Throw a Winter Formal!

Hi gang!

Next week, four of us Valentines will be in the wild celebrating the launch (and upcoming launches) of our books!

On February 10, see Lynne Matson over at Fiction Freak!
On February 11, see Bethany Hagen at Book Haven Extraordinaire!
On February 12, see Sara B. Larson at Eater of Books!
On February 13, see Jen McConnel at YA Reads!

To cap it all off, we'll be holding a twitter party on Wednesday, February 12th at 6:30 PM EST.  We will be chatting about books, embarrassing Valentine moments and other fun things!  There will be prizes from the authors!  Virtual snacks!  The hashtag is #YAValsFormal and we hope to see you all there!

Cupid's Arrow: Favorite Books to Grow Up With

Happy Friday, everyone!  Jen here, answering the Cupid's Arrow submitted by Rachel.  You asked for a rhyming poem about my favorite YA book growing up, but you should have known it would be impossible to pick just one.  Here are THREE of my favorite books from childhood, for the price of one rather bad poem! :)

When I was ten

I fell in love with

The Secret Garden.

A spot of earth

to tend like Mary

seemed totally worth

the dirty hours

(if it meant Dicken

might hand me flowers).

At twelve, I swooned

for Just as Long as We’re Together

by the great Judy Blume.

I had two best friends,

and this book guided us

to middle school’s end.

Another Blume book

caught my eye around sixteen;

Forever didn’t look

filled with sex and scandal,

but my dog eared copy

helped many of us girls get a handle

on losing it, before my

mom hid the book somewhere—

I let it go with a sigh.

Too many books? No such thing.

I’ll read them all whenever I can

and let my heart take wing.

So now, dear friend, the time has come before we part

for you to share your tales;

which books live inside your heart?

DAUGHTER OF CHAOS Cover Reveal + GIVEAWAY!!!

And the insane cover revealage for Team Valentines continues for yet another week...

What's up, blog-reader-people? Paula here. Today I am privileged to reveal the cover for Jen McConnel's DAUGHTER OF CHAOS. Here's more about the book from Goodreads:

Witches must choose the path they will follow, and Darlena Agara is no exception. She’s been putting it off long enough, and in her case, ignoring it has not made it go away. In a moment of frustration, Darlena chooses to follow Red Magic, figuring she had outsmarted the powers that be, since there’s no such thing as Red Magic. But alas, Darlena’s wrong (again) and she becomes a newly declared Red Witch.

Her friends are shocked and her parents horrified by the choice Darlena has made. As a Red Witch, she now governs one third of the world’s chaos. She is the walking personification of pandemonium, turmoil, and bedlam, just as the patrons of Red Magic would have it to be.

But Darlena believes there must be more to Red Magic than chaos and destruction, and she sets out on a journey to achieve balance. Only doing so puts her at odds with the dark goddess Hecate, who simply will not allow Darlena to quit. She encourages Darlena to embrace who and what she is and to leave good magic to the good witches. If only Darlena could, life would be simple, and she would not be the Daughter of Chaos.

DAUGHTER OF CHAOS is the first in a YA paranormal trilogy.

Awesome title, and synopsis, right? You know, if you saw my workspace you might think that I am also the walking personification of pandemonium, turmoil, and bedlam. Sadly, I do not have any cool powers. Even more sadly, I have not read this book yet. But after awesome cover reveals comes awesome ARCs, so maybe someday soon I will get to pet it and tell it how pretty it is.

Just how pretty is it, you ask?

Well...

d
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THIS PRETTY!!!!

Yeah, this girl is hot and she looks like she means business. Also of note: look how HUGE Jen Mcconnel's name is on this book. It's like her publisher has already decided she's going to be a major literary rock star. GO JEN!

Jen McConnel first began writing poetry as a child. Since then, her words have appeared in a variety of magazines and journals, including Sagewoman, PanGaia, and The Storyteller (where she won the people’s choice 3rd place award for her poem, “Luna”).

She is also a former reviewer for Voices of Youth Advocates (VOYA), and proud member of SCBWI, NCWN, and SCWW.

A Michigander by birth, she now lives and writes in the beautiful state of North Carolina. When she isn't crafting worlds of fiction, she teaches writing composition at a community college. Once upon a time, she was a middle school teacher, a librarian, and a bookseller, but those are stories for another time.

Get more Jen and more DAUGHTER OF CHAOS:

Website

Twitter

Goodreads

Facebook

GIVEAWAY!! In honor of her cover reveal, Jen is giving away Embrace by Jessica Shirvington and Half-Blood by Jennifer L Armentrout. She sent me a document full of strange symbols that looked like her computer barfed up a hairball, but she swears if I post them right here they will make a Rafflecopter. Hold your breath, peeps:

a Rafflecopter giveaway (Embrace by Jessica Shirvington and Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout)

OMG, I think it worked! Ah, you never forget your first Rafflecopter, do you? :) Good luck in the contest and sound off below about exactly how awesome this cover is!!