A 31 party that is!
Thirty One has fabulous bags, purses and accessories. There is so much cute stuff.
Check out the catalog and shop at this link
If I get 10 orders, then I will do a giveaway here on the blog, and those who order gets to pick--an amazon gift card or a 31 product (we'll decide together). I get free stuff when you order, so we all win.
If you order, leave a comment with your email address for the giveaway! Remember, use this link so I can host the giveaway.
Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating
This week, I'm featuring:
Seventeen-year-old Violet McKenna is back for her senior year at Winterhaven, and thrilled to be with Aidan after a long summer apart. But when a violent and disturbing vision begins to haunt her, Violet suddenly feels unsure of everything: who to trust, if she is in danger, and—worst of all—whether she and Aidan are really meant to be together.
“My name is Justine and I have a story to tell. I have a story the way everyone has one, and it’s not a new story the way no one’s story is new. You’ve heard this one before. You hear it everyday.”
So begins the story of the peculiarly pretty misfit Justine with the persistent need to recount her misadventures—even if it’s nothing you haven’t heard before. Sparked by a break-up with her married boyfriend, Justine trades in university for the underbelly of international cities, and descends into a destructive reinvention.
Acutely aware that she’s not the first girl to experience these formative misadventures, Justine hijacks the vocal chords of archetypal characters from myths, fairy tales, literature, and pop culture. She employs the stories that echo her story—the violent exit from girlhood via a botched love life—better than her own.
She doesn’t have to profess another mistress’s manifesto: Kalypso, one of the paramour goddesses from Homer’s Odyssey, has that one covered. She was never overtly vicious without provocation, that’s the job of a sadomasochistic Wicked Witch of fairy tale infamy. She doesn’t have a penchant for picking the wrong guy over her soul mate, Catherine of Wuthering Heights does.
PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES is a dark and stylized examination of the vicious things we do in the name of self-preservation, and questions the frantic necessity to tell our stories to establish human connection—however ugly they may be.
At the height of the recession, Nicole Trilivas was the creative director of a cool, young advertising agency in New York City. It was here, chock full of job security and stability, where she made the unlikely decision to finally silence the persistent nagging that comes built into the heart of a writer who is not writing. And so eyes were rolled, eyebrows raised, two-cents given, and a consensus drawn: it was officially “a bad idea.”
Trilivas is currently scheming away on her next writing project, and being terribly bohemian by living off canned soup, wearing a beret, choosing lifestyle over money, and indulging in delusions of grandeur.
--The Twitter version: tell us about your book in 140 characters or less.
College runaway, Justine, recounts her misadventures abroad though the voices of archetypal characters from myths, and fairy tales.
--How did you get the idea for the story?
As a writer I was threatened by unoriginality: instead of running from the fear I embraced it with the character of Justine. Justine is self-aware enough to know that she isn’t the first girl to go through these treacherous rites of passages, and she’s also too timid to tell her tale forthright so she retreats into these archetypal characters like Medusa from Greek mythology or Rapunzel from fairy tale fame to tell the story for her--when they have parallel experiences.
--Which character would you most/least like to have dinner with?
Justine not only hijacks the vocal chords of characters from myths and fairy tales, but also literature and pop culture: basically any archetypal character. At one point, when she seems to make one bad decision after another, and begins to be unapologetic about it, she takes on the character of a tragic, domed Hollywood starlet in the vein of a Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan. Dinner with her would be action packed to say the least, and she would be the character I’d most and least like to talk to!
--What are some of your favorite books? Do you still have much time to read?
I love coming of age stories, from the classics like The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, to the more modern, like The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan. I try to read as much as possible, and on a good week, I get through about two books. (And I still use libraries!)
--Do you have any other works in progress? Any teasers or release dates?
Not yet, but I hope to start something soon.
--If a fairy godmother told you your life could be like a favorite book for 24 hours, which book would you pick and why?
I would love to run around Europe being a tragically cool ex-pat in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. I’m jealous that I wasn’t alive during that period, and Ernest Hemingway captured it perfectly.
--Do you need anything to write (music, coffee, etc)? Are there any songs on your playlist- songs that inspired you or that were playing while you wrote?
Early on, a friend in the theatre encouraged me to write a character study of Justine. In the end I had an elaborate file on what Justine looked like, what she ate, drank, listened to, her fears, motivations etc. With her baby doll dresses, schoolgirl skirts, vintage jewelry, and punk blond bob, I thought she needed a soundtrack of 90s riot grrl music—and those playlists were eventually used in the book as section headers to set the tone.
--If you could have any superpower what would you choose?
To change into any animal at any time.
--Besides writing, what do you like to do in your free time?
I love to travel and explore—even in my own my backyard (I learned that one from Dorothy—though I’d much prefer to have a peek around Oz). I’ve been to over 30 countries and to every continent except Antarctica (which I will get to one day!). I do a lot of physical activities like yoga and snowboarding. And eating: I love finding and experiencing amazing food—whether it’s piping-hot street food or a gourmet feast by a celebrity chef.
Two thousand years before Dez Harkly developed her secret powers, Kythan
Astarte vowed to free the Kythans from the binds that enslaved them to the
Egyptian pharaohs and sorcerers. Discover the prophecy that originated from a
very different time, and spans generations to link two very different
girls...This is the beginning.
Set against the backdrop of the Battle of Actium, in the city of Alexandria,
Star struggles with her guardian duties as her feelings for the newly named
pharaoh of Egypt grow deeper. Not only is Caesarian her duty, he’s the son of
Cleopatra, and he’s…human. All of which makes their love forbidden.
But when a conspiracy linked to Caesar, Caesarian’s own father, creeps its ways
into Alexandria, Star must choose between helping her fellow Kythans free
themselves of their servitude, or protecting her charge—the last pharaoh—while
Egypt burns around her.
Whenever the sky bleeds, covering
the once-blue pallet with crimson, and the bright ball of fire burns through
billowy puffs of white, staining them and the earth in hues of red-orange and
amber…and ash floats on a non-existent breeze, I know the Narcolym Guardians
are waging a battle.
Shuttering my window, I unloose the hemp thread, and a sheer curtain veils the
sand-covered horizon from my vision. My fingers trail the cream fabric, the
tips tracing the darkening clouds against the light material as my other hand
curls into a fist by my thigh, dousing the swirling vortex rising up at the
charge in the air.
“Star…?”
Astarte, I correct inwardly, but
pinch my lips closed. “Yes, Habi?”
Habi’s footsteps echo throughout the mud-brick room as he approaches. “It’s
time…”
IMMB was started by Kristi at The Story Siren. I use it to showcase books I receive and as a social aspect for the blog. To sign up and find out more here
Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating
At the height of the recession, Nicole Trilivas was the creative director of a cool, young advertising agency in New York City. It was here, chock full of job security and stability, where she made the unlikely decision to finally silence the persistent nagging that comes built into the heart of a writer who is not writing. And so eyes were rolled, eyebrows raised, two-cents given, and a consensus drawn: it was officially “a bad idea.”
IMMB was started by Kristi at The Story Siren. I use it to showcase books I receive and as a social aspect for the blog. To sign up and find out more here
