Today I have a very special treat! Back when I was still a fairly new blogger I met this super-awesome blogger named Chantele. She had fabulous taste, and was oh-so nice.

Well, Chantele doesn't book blog anymore. BUT, now SHE'S AN AUTHOR! It's so cool to get to know her both before and after her being published. She's here today to write about:


Thank you so much for having me on your blog today, Enna!

I'm always nervous when people ask me to talk about a certain topic pertaining to my writing. I was happy though, when Enna let me choose between a few different topics to talk about. One of her questions, was how I create real and authentic challenges for my characters.

The truth is ... it just sort of happens! My characters tell their own stories and I just write them down! ;) But truthfully, I love a good story. But a good story has to have believable characters with specific challenges they face throughout the book. In Not Your Average Fairy Tale, one of my main character's, Kendall, loses her father in a car accident. There seems to be a lot of dead parents in YA, so I wanted to make her's a little different. I gave the accident a little twist and had Kendall in the driver's seat when her father died. She has a lot of guilt since she was the one driving, and it was interesting to see how she handled everything. Not well at first, if you can imagine.

When I was writing her story, I kept thinking, how would I ever get over something like that? The truth is, she handled it so much better than I would if something like that happened to me. She's a very strong person, but to make her emotions authentic, (when she showed them) I put my own feelings about death into her character. I've lost a few people during my life and a few of the scenes showing Kendall's grief were really hard for me to write since it brought back so many of my own memories. And for that reason, I think it made the story much better. I believe if you have a hard, emotionally charged scene to write, you have to dig deep into yourself and pull out memories of your own, so the impact and emotion that comes out on the page feels real. I love Kendall's character, not only because she falls in love with a really hot fairy, but because she changes a lot throughout the book. She's very very hard on herself, but there's a point where she realizes how important she is to her loved ones and she has to let go of past things she can't control. Just like in real life. :)

Thank you for having me, Enna!!



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Today I have a great post! Last year I interviewed Marie Lu, you can see that interview here, but I still wanted to feature the book this year! Introducing Nicole from The Reader's Antidote, and her amazing guest post! Read it, then enter to win a signed copy of Legend!


I saw the headline of an article like this somewhere a while ago and thought it was a great idea. I didn't read the article, but I could make guesses about what they were going to say. So here's what I think about why teens love dystopians, and how Legend by Marie Lu fits into all this.

When I read Legend, I felt like I was just getting into dystopians, but all of a sudden people weren't interested in them anymore. I was wrong. So very wrong. Dystopians were starting to all be the same and people were getting annoyed. But Legend kind of threw that out the window. The first thing is the multiple point of views, one from June and one from Day. The way the book is formatted, June's words are in the normal font and the usual black color. But Day's words are in a computer-like font and a gold color. That was one of the first things that originally annoyed me about this book, but I grew to love it. It made it very easy to tell who's head we were in, and I think that really speaks to teens (no pun intended). I know as a teenager that keeping up with one person's thoughts was sometimes hard for me (especially since sometimes I was skimming... *turns away shamefully*), and this really gives the reader two very separate voices. Teens always feel the need to be unique, which is what Legend did for its characters. This was also one of the first dystopians where it was actually in two points of view. And somehow, even with being in Day's head (who's the love interest), he remained somewhat of a mystery, as did June. You never really knew what either of them was going to do next.

A big reason that teens love dystopians is that teens' lives are like soap operas. There's really no getting around that, whether you're one of the popular people, a geek, a jock, or a recluse. Someone is always thinking they're better than someone else or are having self-esteem issues. And the drama! Well, dystopians take drama to the extreme and it literally is the end of the world. Teens like taking things to the extremes, so when they read about this world that has fallen apart, they feel they can relate because at one point or another their own world has felt like it's ended. The romance is also often very real in dystopians, and there was no exception with Day and June. Day is a street rat (AKA a geek, nerd or loner by high school standards) and he has to do everything he can just to feed himself and his friend. He has no family, and believe me, there was many a time where I wish I had no family. June, on the other hand, is in a position of power. She's lost her parents too, but she still has her brother and she's certainly not feeding off scraps. She's like the popular girl that everyone fauns over but secretly sort of hates because she has it all. And when these two are put together by circumstances, it's like Breakfast Club all over again. The characters themselves are relatable, and despite the fact that they're in a post-apocalyptic dystopian world, they're still teens and have the same basic problems and interact socially the same way.

Prodigy, which is the sequel to Legend, brings up even more issues that teens can relate to. There's always something teens think is better, like the iPhone 5 or the next Call of Duty. It's something they don't have, and something they'll do anything to get. Well, anything in a teenager's head never goes as far as death. But it's taken to that level in Prodigy, just as it was in Legend. Again, it's the life-or-death feelings that teenagers align themselves with. The characters are in search of something they once thought never existed, but they know that if it does exist, they will be safe. It's that mixture of danger with the promise of finally being safe that teens connect with. Marie also brings up the issue of sexual orientation, and it involves someone close to her. I'm so glad this issue was faced, because it's not mentioned enough in YA. Dealing with someone close to you being gay is a shock at first. Someone you've known for so long, and you thought you knew them, and then you find out through someone else that they were gay, is hard to digest. It's especially hard on teens because they trust so completely, so this was a really relatable element that was brilliantly added to this already epic tale.

So why should you jump on the dystopian bandwagon? Because of books like Legend. It's a world so separate--so different--from our own, and yet the human element is still the same. The problems don't change much. Sometimes they become more deadly, or less important. But teens can relate to dystopians because they feel like they're living one every day. They go through challenges that people out of high school laugh at now, but for them it really does feel like one decision is the difference between living and dying. And that's why teens love dystopians; because they find themselves in a world where your decisions and your choices really do matter, and to more than just you. In dystopians, the teens make the difference, not the adults.


You can win a copy of Legend! Today's giveaway is hosted by The Reader's Antidote. Head on over to win. This giveaway is open TO US ONLY.

Today I have a guest post from our contest host: Pica from Pica Reads! Check out what she has to say about the best birthdays & Harry Potter.



First of all, thank you to Enna Isilee for allowing me to be a part of her birthday bash! I’ve been having a great time reading all the author interviews and being a part of the giveaways. I am super excited to read all the new books she has introduced me to.

Book-related birthdays are the best!

Here are my favorite things about birthdays and books:
1. I always seem to get books for presents on my birthday!
2. Many of the Harry Potters were released just around my birthday, so I have had more than one Potter themed party.
3. One of my friends gave me a book journal for my birthday and I have written down every single book I have read since then in the journal. I’m up to 25 pages, single spaced, which turns out to be a lot of books. [Shout out to SS! Thank you for this great gift.]
4. I once planned to have a Harry Potter Party (see #2) and the night before the party I got really sick. Had to cancel the party which was a bummer. Ended up miserable on my birthday all day. Then, that night my dad came home with the latest Harry Potter which had just been released that day and read it to me for hours and hours. [Shout out to dad! Thank you dad, you are the best!]
5. A friend of mine had a wonderful book-themed birthday, where we wallpapered her room with post-its upon which we wrote the names of our favorite books, and then we had to guess who put up each title.

And most of all ...
6. Books that people give me for my birthday often turn out to be really special to me, just because they gave it to me and it remind me of them.

Also, I recently found the picture I used for a birthday invitation in elementary school. I edited it a bit in Photoshop so that my face looks a little bit different (like Enna Isilee, I don’t like to post pictures of myself online). If I edited it to much for you to recognize the book titles, I’m in my sleeping bag, surrounded by Harry Potter. Yes, I did love HP in elementary school.

[ENNA ISILEE: Gah! Can't get photo to work! Will try to fix it.]

Happy Birthday, Enna Isilee!

Earlier this year there was an event called Fairy Tale Fortnight in which Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing and Book Rat featured some AWESOME fairy tale novels for two weeks. I LOVE fairy tales, so I had to get in on that action. Thus a beautiful friendship was born. Ashley from BfBtBA is one of the most AMAZING bloggers you will ever meet, and I'm SO excited to get to feature her during the bash. She'll be hosting the contest later today, but in the meantime, why don't you check out her guest post?

There is something about birthdays that is special. That has always been special. I don't care if you are turning 5 or 15 or 50, there is an undeniable excitement that comes as your birthday draws near, whether you expect gifts or not. It doesn't matter if this is the first birthday you will remember, or you've passed through so many you'd rather forget. Birthdays are exciting. And honestly, if you tell me otherwise, I'll think you are lying.

One of my nephews is not quite 2 and already he is talking about his birthday. I don't know what it is about birthdays that makes them so exciting, so fun. But I know that it's there. I remember those birthday parties in school, where kids would bring treats or snacks to share with the class. It was always coolest to have homemade treats, because everyone knows they taste better, and Dude, at that age, it's still cool to have your mom do stuff for you. (Sadly, all schools that I know of don't allow this anymore. Now everything has to be store bought and still sealed. Sigh. My how times have changed.)

My birthday falls 2 days after Christmas. And let me tell you, that can be a real buzzkill. My parents were pretty great about it though, never using Christmas wrapping paper on my gifts, never combining them, or making me feel like it was a nuisance having to celebrate me right after celebrating Christmas, (although other people apparently haven't figured out that I'd rather get nothing than a MerryChristams/HappyBirthday gift. Don't put them together...) But one advantage to being born so close to a nationally recognized and beloved holiday? I have never once had to work or go to school on my birthday. Which, is as it should be. Because let's be honest here... I refuse to work on my birthday. Yup. For realz. Because, seriously- it's my birthday.

Even if the build up isn't quite as exciting as it used to be (getting older, hitting one of those big scary numbers [40/50]) there is something innately exciting about the birthday itself. Something about that day where you can say, Yes. This is my day. That is something that I can't imagine ever getting old. Because you deserve to be special on your birthday.

On your birthday, you are the most important person alive. And I don't think there is anything wrong with using that as an excuse to pamper yourself. To tell your significant other/children that they can clean up the living room today, to decide that being lazy on your birthday and not getting out of your pajamas until 6:00 in the evening is completely alright (and even then, only changing because someone is taking you out to dinner) to ignore your job/homework/housework for 24 hours and just be. Just be special.

Because hey- your birthday only comes once a year, and why wouldn't you want to celebrate you?!

Who's excited for Armchair BEA day three?! I AM! So apparently you were supposed to be assigned someone to interview, but I didn't do that. I went rogue and found my own people to interview (or rather, they found me). This is just the first of THREE ABEA interviews you'll see on Squeaky Books. Today I'm featuring Tara (one of my favorite names) from Taming the Bookshelf.


First, tell the Squeaky readers a little about yourself and your blog.

• Hi Everyone! My name's Tara and I'm 26. I'm a stay at home Mom and I have a super wonderful son who is a year old! I started my blog so I could keep track of what books I read. I had NO IDEA that there was such a wonderful community of book bloggers when I first started! Also, let me apologize for the excessive use of the exclamation point in this interview.

You have a YA book blog, do you just read YA?

• I read mostly YA, but I also read a lot of memoirs and biographies (It's not as boring as it sounds, trust me!). Every once in awhile I'll throw some Chick Lit in the mix too!

• Can I pick two? Divergent just seriously blew my mind. It was amazing. Enclave by Ann Aguirre was really great too! I had read a lot of mixed reviews, so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be really good!

1. - Where She Went by Gayle Forman
2. - Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder
3. - Divergent by Veronica Roth
4. - The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan
5. - Delirium by Lauren Oliver

• Hush, Hush and Crescendo! I MUST read them before Silence comes out. Also, The City of Bones series! I KNOW, I KNOW! How have I NOT read them yet?! I own all of them, but haven't gotten around to reading them!

• My husband got me a color Nook for Christmas! Best Christmas gift EVER (might even top my Barbie dream condo I got when I was 7!) My bookshelves are overflowing, so my eReader is a great way to get new books without adding to the clutter! But, Galley Grab and NetGalley are reason enough to buy an eReader!
• (Mini Rant) I think the price of eBooks are actually a little high. I recently saw an eBook listed at $18.99! Crazy! I'm seeing more and more new releases being listed at $10.99 and ever $14.99! It really frustrates me when I see that an eBook is more expensive than the paperback or even HARDCOVER version of the book! (End Rant).

• Writing a review as soon as I finish the book instead of procrastinating! I'm the world's greatest procrastinator.

• I love finding people that are as excited as I am about a new release. I also LOVE hearing about upcoming books! I adore drooling over the pretty new covers! I actually have a new release calendar (total book nerd move) that I update all the time so I can keep track of what I want to buy!

• I actually subscribe to about 400 (Yes, I just counted! AH!) book blogs. I check my Google Reader obsessively!

• The Princess Bride! Think of how awesome the movie is...now times that by a hundred and that's kinda the picture.

• No, I am definitely not an aspiring writer. I don't have a passion for writing, and ehhh...I'm not very good at it. Strictly a reader!

• My husband works about 60-80 hours a week! I don't have any family in the area that would be able to watch my son for an extended amount of time, so no BEA for me. However, I AM planning on attending the RT Book Lover's Convention next year, and hopefully ALA (It will be in Chicago - my hometown) in 2 years!

Hey y'all! I just finished writing my 5,300+ word paper. Boy! That took forever. Still no brain for blogging, but I did write a guest post for Fairy Tale Fortnight. Y'all should go check it out! It's just me rambling about how I love fairy tales and how they've impacted me. But I had fun writing it.

Today I have the AWESOME author of Angelfire here on Squeaky Books talking about her favorite kind of scenes: the fight scenes! Watch yourself, though. I got a little woozy just reading this post! *wink* Enjoy!

My favorite scenes to write are action scenes and fight sequences, because they are so exciting and fun. I love action movies and I long to see more bigscreen-worthy fight scenes in books, especially young adult. I’ve had a lot of praise for my fight scenes, and even when I turn a manuscript in to my editor, there’s very little she fixes up. Publishers Weekly even described them as having “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon clarity” and are “unimpeachable.” How do I pull them off? I don’t write how I’m told and I break all the rules. I do it my way, Frank Sinatra style. Mafia ties included.

I get a lot of questions on how to write fight scenes as cinematic as mine and here’s all I can say about that.

1. Break the rules. A couple of years ago, I came across an article on writing fight scenes and as I read down the list of “don’ts” all I could think was, “Hmm. I do all of that.” And you know what? It works. That’s the great thing about fiction. Language is your playground. Play with it, mess it up. This isn’t your high school rhetoric class. “They” say don’t describe every action or movement, or just avoid fight scenes altogether because they work well on the bigscreen but not on the page. Screw that. You can definitely make bigscreen-worthy fight scenes work in a book, and I’ll show you how.

2. Less is more. If you’ve ever been in a real fight, or an accident of any kind, or performing your favorite sport—basically some kind of intense, high-action situation, you understand that your brain literally shuts off and adrenaline makes your body work on auto-pilot. It’s like tunnel vision where all you can perceive is whatever is happening to you in that moment. I’ve read fight scenes where in the middle of taking hits, the character is thinking about her next move, how much it sucks to have her shirt ripped, who’s watching the fight... No. That sucks. Just make the hit, rip the clothes and quit whining about it, stop staring at everyone who isn’t kicking your butt and kick butt back.

I see a lot of fights that use words, especially verbs, which are a mouthful to say. It’s not that you shouldn’t expect your reader to understand these words, it’s that you don’t want your reader tripping over them and being taken out of the moment. I adore onomatopoeias in fight scenes, words that sound the way they’re said, and words that feel like the action they’re describing. These words are blunt and evoke feeling in your reader. Slap, crack, whip, whirl, spin, slam, crash… When someone slams his fist into someone else, you as the reader feel that slam, feel the weight of it, the caving of soft flesh to hard knuckles. It’s so much more effective than hitting someone. Keep it simple, keep it brutal, and make your reader taste the sharp tang of blood on a split lip.

3. Stop thinking so much. Fight scenes that are especially painful to read have sentences which are 40-something words long and have one actual action in them. Why so much blathering? It takes you completely out of the moment, and that is the last thing you want for your reader to do. For example,

“I stared at her angrily, grinding my teeth. I swung my fist with all my strength, wanting to wipe that smile off her face—”

No. Just stop right there. That sucks.

“I ground my teeth bitterly, reeled my arm back, and pounded my fist into her jaw as hard as I could. Instead of just breaking again, her jaw flung free from her skull and skidded across the pavement in a spray of blood.”

The above gets you straight to the point. No need to whine about wanting to smack your opponent’s smile off her face. Just do it. Punch her jaw off and tada! No more smiling. Combine the sentences; use more compound sentences than simple ones to make the writing flow and not feel so choppy. When Ellie performs the latter example in Angelfire, she gets it DONE. Yeah, she’s mad, yeah she’s done screwing around and she’s ready to end this fight. No whining, no mulling anything over, no wah wah wah. Just DO IT. Describe every action, exactly what “they” tell you not to do. What happens after Ellie pounds her fist into the reaper’s jaw? It goes flying, but it doesn’t just disappear. There’s blood, likely a lot of it, and the jaw bone will probably hit the ground and bounce, or something. If that’s what would happen, write it.

4. Use your environment and your senses. Just because your character doesn’t care about the wall on the other side of the room doesn’t mean someone’s body can’t blast through it. Your characters are fighting in a world, not just a stage. There are trees you can throw someone against, cars you can get thrown on top of—and hey, lots of glass to shatter and metal to dent. And windows. Everyone loves a good window-tossing-through. There’s one scene in Angelfire which takes place in a mansion garden filled with lots of cool statues and topiaries. No, Ellie and Will didn’t sit and admire the pretty. Will punched through a statue and impaled a demonic reaper on another. That’s using your environment creatively. This way your fight scenes, if you have multiples, won’t be repetitive because you have more things to smash up and bleed on. Like the wise Fred Durst once said: Break stuff.


Thanks, Courtney!

I get to be a part of the Teen Book Scene tour of Hilari Bell's newest book Trickster's Girl (Goodreads | Amazon). For this stop I got to ask Hilari anything I wanted. Check it out!

Many people believe that character names can make or break a book. Do you agree? How do you choose your character names? What makes a "good" name for you?

I'm not sure I believe that character names can make or break a book, but they do need to be right for the character. A lot of times the name just comes to me with the character, but sometimes I have to modify that name to fit my world. For instance, Kelsa was originally Kelsey, but someone in my writers group pointed out that I should move that name forward a bit, since I was writing SF. And the heroine of the gypsy steam-punk novel I want to write next was originally Kiev, like the city in Russia. But she exists in another world, where several kinds of magic also exist, and I didn't want to name her after a city in this one, so I just started running down the alphabet. Biev, Ciev, Diev, Eiev... I actually do that a lot with names, start with something that's close and run through the alphabet, just changing one letter. And of course in a novel loosely based on Ancient Persia, most of the names are loosely based on Ancient Persian names--with the spelling changed to make them work better for modern readers. And to differentiate them at least a bit from the characters in the real Persian myths--because I changed the myths too.

One point I would like to make about names--there's a school of thought in SF that everyone should be named Bob. Or if not Bob, some sensible, English language name that readers can easily read and pronounce, and not trip over. To all those people I say, phoodreckia on you! Back when I was a teen reader, I read a couple of historical novels by Allen Drury, set in Ancient Egypt. He started his story with an author's note stating that many of his historical characters were real people, so he pretty much had to use their real, Ancient Egyptian names--no matter how polysyllabic. He said that those names were actually beautiful and fun, but you had to take a few minutes to break them into syllables, and then learn to say them. Take Ankhesenpaaten. Looks impossible, right. But just give this a try. Ankh e sen pa aten. Anything there you can't say? Repeat it three times. Ankh e sen pa aten. Now put it the two parts together. Ankhesen paaten. Ankhesen paaten. Now the whole thing Ankhesenpaaten. You can learn to say this name in less than a minute, and it's fun to rattle it off! And how many people know that Nefertiti's full name is Neferneferuaten. Nefer neferu aten. Say it three times, and you can rattle it off and impress people at parties. That wasn't so hard, was it? And if you're writing fantasy or SF an inscetoid alien named Joe, instead of Jssshot, or a dolphinish creature named Kip instead of K'ket just doesn't work.

(Footnote--when the Ancient Egyptians went back to worshiping Amun instead of Aten, those names changed to Neferneferuamun. And Ankhesenpaamun Nothing simple for the Ancient Egyptians.)

It's just laziness that stops people from attempting an unfamiliar looking name in a book--and sometimes shyness that keeps them from trying an unfamiliar name in real life--because we're afraid of offending people when we get it wrong. When I worked in the library, I ended up requesting books for people with names in languages I knew I couldn't pronounce correctly. Tai in particular, and some of the Indian/Pakistani names. Most of the librarians just asked, "And how do you spell that, and the clients spelled it, and the librarians never tried to say their names. After a while, I began to find that kind of rude, so I'd look at this strange, probably tonal pile of syllables, and I'd say, "Mr. ... Djerti? Is that how you say it?" And watched the faces of these immigrants light up with delight that one of those crazy Americans was actually trying to say their name. And they'd correct my pronunciation, and I'd try a couple of times, and probably never really get it right. But in several decades of doing this, I never found anyone who was upset that I pronounced their name wrong, and most of them were clearly pleased that I was willing to try.

So I make no apologies for the fact that the Navaho Shaman who put together the medicine bag in Trickster's Girl is Atahalne, and not Bill. At a hal ne. At a hal ne. Ata halne. Ata halne. Atahalne. It's not that hard.


Thanks, Hilari!

Y'all saw my review of Threads and Flames yesterday, but since that was part of a Teen Book Scene tour, I get to do something else too! I got to ask Esther Friesner ANYTHING I wanted. Squee! I was really proud of my question, and I really like her answer.

My question:

It is widely acknowledged that history is a very important subject in school. "Learn from the past" and all that. My question is: why is historical fiction important? Especially in the young adult genre.

You already know it’s important to learn from the past so that we don’t make the same mistakes all over again. It’s also important so that we can recognize the repeated rise of harmful trends in our society and in our world and do something about them before they’re too big to be stopped easily. Search for “First they came for the Communists” written by Pastor Martin Niemöller about the rise of Naziism and remember that he wrote this even though he was anti-Communist. Just because something atrocious happened once does not mean it’s over forever, although the people who perpetrate such atrocities would like you to believe that just long enough for them to gain the power to do it again.

Smell smoke? You can say, “Well, yes, we had a little flare-up around here yesterday, but we got it under control and I’m sure it hasn’t been smoldering. Besides, I’m busy. Somebody else will take care of it.” Or you can reach for the fire extinguisher and start looking for the fire before you’re facing a towering wall of flame.

However, it’s one thing to learn your history lessons and another thing to remember them. You can memorize important dates and events, but will you retain that knowledge? That’s where historical fiction comes in.

By telling the story of a person who lived through certain times and events, you bring life and immediacy to the facts. A history book tells you what happened and when. A historical novel shows you thepeople to whom it happened, takes you along to live through their experiences and emotions, and lets you share the impact of what happened to them. If the author’s done her job right, you will come to care about the characters caught up in historical events, and when you care about someone—even someone who never existed in reality—it’s hard to forget their sufferings and triumphs.

It’s the difference between saying “246 people died on the planes that went down on September 11, 2001” and—as happened to me—working next to a woman who was friends with one of the flight attendants on one of those planes.

Authors of historical fiction like to turn cold numbers into living human beings.

I think you already know the sort of person who likes to turn living human beings into cold, disposable numbers.


Thank you SO much, Esther! Your answer gave me chills. Wonderful.

As y'all know, this year I read Holly Cupala's debut Tell Me a Secret and LOVED it. Plus I lurv Holly, too. Many of you saw her guest post back in September for my birthday, but she's back again as part of Teen Book Scene's tour for Tell Me a Secret. She's gonna tell us how her AWESOME trailer came to be. Enjoy!


Thank you, Ennalee, for inviting me to Squeaky Books! I’m very pleased to be here and thankful for all of your support of Tell Me a Secret (and of the book trailer!).

Before Tell Me a Secret hit the shelves, my husband and I started playing around with the idea of making a book trailer. Originally were thinking live action, and we put together this elaborate script.

Then my author friend Molly Blaisdell hooked us up with her screenwriting partner, indie filmmaker Paul Michael Gordon (http://www.paulmichaelgordon.com/), who does this amazing motion work. Paul came up with a completely original concept based on our script, which was totally unexpected and breathtaking.

We were especially excited to feature the gorgeous and haunting “Ironspy” song from our friends at Splashdown. (In fact, two of the Splashdown members created the music that is featured on the Tell Me a Secret audiobook and website, http://www.tellmeasecretnovel.com/). I even did the voiceover!

We were thrilled and grateful that bloggers and readers have loved it so much. We had a few thousand hits within a few days, and later we released a high definition version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqzUuoAmTJs

I hope you all enjoy, and thank you again, Ennalee and Teen Book Scene tours!





Thanks, Holly!

Hey there Squeaky Readers! I'm Gabrielle Carolina! Ennalee invited me to guest post, and so I just wanted to stop by and share an observation that my blog, The Mod Podge Bookshelf, takes into great consideration:


Character’s names.

Have you ever noticed that the most popular books bear the coolest monikers? I know that I’ve picked up many of my personal favorite books over the years all because of a great name. Why do you think that is?

I have a theory, and even though it’s not scientifically proven I think it holds it’s own. My theory is that authors who take the time to write amazing books name their characters with the same devotion as one would (hopefully) give a child.

At the end of every review I will write a small blurb called Notes on the Names in which I will discuss the highs and the lows of the authors choices. The factors I usually consider (when applicable) are historical accuracy, name meaning, trend consistency and the X-factor. I find that my theory is proven more true than false with every positive, or negative review.

So, I want to know, what are your favorite books and what names really make the book sparkle? Please comment here on Enna’s blog and then head over to The Mod Podge Bookshelf so we can keep talking!

Blessings,

Gabrielle Carolina <3

I want to thank Enna Isilee very much for letting me do this guest post and I can’t wait to hear everyone’s thoughts.

I'm overjoyed to be participating in the fabulous Nicole's (from Word For Teens) Book Spooks!


I get to feature Inara Scott. Her debut book The Candidates came out just in August. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I'm dying to!

Check out what Inara said her favorite part of Halloween is.

"Here's my personal favorite part of Halloween: Watching all the little girls dress up like faeries and princesses. Because really, in my heart I still want to be a faerie. And a princess. Besides, what other time of year do you get to wear a fancy dress, sparkly make-up, and wings?"

Check out the rest of the book spooks events if you get a chance!

Today, as our very last guest post, Squeaky Books welcomes Morgan from The Paperback Princess. She writes about her best birthday.

Hi! I am Morgan from The Paperback Princess! I am guest-posting for Squeaky Books Birthday Extravaganza! (Happy birthday Enna!)

Let's see here... I've had a good amount of birthdays in my life. But right out of the top of my head, I would have to say my 12th birthday [November 28th] was the best. Maybe it was just because I got to see Taylor Lautner (in New Moon, not face-to-face, *sigh*) and with my best friend.

But, the party had just begun. At a bowling alley, no less. The bowling alley in my town is pretty spectacular. It's the hot-spot for tweens. There is these huge flat screens where you can request your favorite music videos, and the pizza is top-notch. My friends and I basically suck at bowling, but when you are eating Baskin Robbins ice-cream cake and listening to Lady Gaga, it's hard to focus on stuff like that.
The ending to my perfect birthday was (drum roll please) THE PRESENTS!
To not bore you, I will be brief. Books, books, books, and a pair of fuzzy slippers! I was pretty stoked.

So, thanks for reading, and a very happy birthday to Enna! :)

~Happy reading!

Today Squeaky Books welcomes Chantele from There is Always Something to Read. She talks about her very... interesting 16th birthday. Chantele hosted the Janette Rallison contest, and now she is giving away a SIGNED ARC of Jessica Day George's Princess of Glass, so be sure to visit her blog!

I just love birthday's and contests, and I think Enna Isilee is awesome! I have loved all of my birthdays, but the one birthday party I can remember the most, happened when I was 16. 10+ years ago if you were curious. ;) I'm not over 30 yet! Ha ha.

So, my birthday is in the summer, and I had just finished celebrating with my family. My parents had to run to the grocery store for something, and I joined them. We walked through the doors, and all of a sudden a blanket was thrown over my head and someone was picking me up and putting me over their shoulder. It was rather terrifying when that person started running across the parking lot with me. I knew it was a friend, but I wasn't in the mood to be dropped on my head!

Anyway, I was stuffed into the backseat of a car, with someone sitting next to me not letting the blanket off of my head. After driving around forever, in dead silence, we finally stopped and I was pulled out of the car. I was led into a house, down some stairs and when I reached the bottom, the blanket was pulled off and all of my friends were shouting Happy Birthday at me. It was an interesting way to kidnap me, but I had so much fun!

My friends also had a tradition of drinking a raw egg on our 16th birthday. I'm not sure why we did it, since it was disgusting, but I can honestly say I drank a raw egg that night. I don't recommend it, since it was sick! :)

I hope you have a fantastic birthday Enna! Have fun celebrating, and stay away from raw eggs! ;)

Thank you so much for having me and Happy Birthday!

Today my guest poster is Misty from Misty's Book Mess. She did a guest review of Dr. Suess' Happy Birthday to You. Check it out!

Author: Dr. Seuss
Novel: Happy Birthday To You
Release date: 1957
Category: Young children’s fantasy
Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books
Five Stars!

Blurb: With a special handshake and a Birthday Pal-alace the Birthday Bird from Katroo reminds us all just how special we are!

Review: This is a great book for people of all ages. The blend of ‘rhyme, rhythm and repetition’ are fun and crazy, capturing perfectly the birthday excitement. However it was the pictures that really made me laugh! The Great Birthday Bird with his scruffy feathers and long toes, bright colours and delightful facial expressions really hit my funny bone. Dr. Seuss will always have a special place in my heart, and other of my sister, my parents and my grandparents. It’s definitely a family book, one that deserves to be shared, just like your birthday.

So Enna a HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU love and...

“Open your mouth and sound off at the sky!
Shout loud at the top of your voice, “I AM I! ME!
I AM I!”
Three cheers for it’s my day!

Today Squeaky Books welcomes my good friend Q! Q recently stopped blogging, but she's still freaking awesome! Check out the birthday story she wrote:

Given that the last time Castor Sparks had seen his brother, he had set him on fire, pantsed him, and pushed him into a muddy river, the candid observer cannot help but expect that even five years later, sparks (if you'll pardon the pun) were about to fly.

Fortunately, Pollux had no idea that Castor was coming to his parents' house for his birthday celebration. That's how he thought of it--his birthday celebration--never mind that Castor was his twin and by all accounts shared both his parents and his birthday. As far as Pollux knew, his parents had disowned Castor the instant rescue teams had fished the half-drowned Pollux out of the river and he was able to explain the flaming-pantsing-drowning incident that had caused him to end up bald in the river with no pants, looking like a purple plucked chicken.

Castor, for his part, believed his parents were absolute lunatics for even suggesting that he should come within fifty miles of Pollux. Though perhaps because he had been telling them they were lunatics for years for being professors of Ancient Greek Philosophy (Mother) and Pottery (Father), they just ignored him and said that if he didn't come on his own they'd fetch him themselves.

"We want the family together, Castor," his mother said on the phone the day before his birthday.

"Mother, as far as Pollux is concerned, I died five years ago. Are you sure you want to resurrect the dead?"

His father chuckled. "Castor, even Greek gods can't resurrect the dead. And besides, in your case, there's no resurrection required."

(An aside: being the children of Greekaholics landed them with unusual names, and it had always been a sore spot for Pollux that he had been given the really unfortunate one.)

Castor rolled his eyes, though his parents couldn't see. "There may be after this party is over." He hung up without saying good bye and turned off his phone so they couldn't reach him until the party. He then called his insurance agent (also his coworker) and asked to take out a life insurance policy on himself. The insurance agent (also a coworker) had a good laugh about that, and Castor pretended to join him.

Pollux arrived at the party first. Balloons clustered in every corner of his parents' dining room, streamers swayed in the breeze from the window, candles waited in the two cakes on the table. For any other newly twenty-four-year-old young man, it would have been an insult to his maturity. But Pollux just shook his head and thought something gentle about nostalgic parents.

Then he did a double take. Two cakes. One of which was chocolate frosted and covered in crushed-up Heath bar. His eyes narrowed. "Mother--"

"Wow, where's the clown and donkey ride?" Castor interrupted, strolling into the dining room with far more bravado than he felt.

Pollux looked at him with unmitigated hatred. "You."

Castor looked over his shoulder. "I don't see anyone else."

Pollux cocked his fist and threw a punch at his twin, which Castor neatly sidestepped as he approached his mother to give her a kiss. As Castor said, "It looks beautiful, Mother," Pollux's unwontedly high expectations of his own punching ability allotted him too much momentum. He fell, fist-first, into the mahogany doorframe.

"Careful, son," Mr. Sparks said as he helped Pollux off the floor.

Pollux was so spitting mad he didn't even thank him or apologize for the dent his class ring made in the wood. "Father, I must--"

"And you'll be here, Pollux, dear," Mrs. Sparks said, practically shoving Pollux down into the chair at the table across from Castor. Pollux glowered at no one in particular.

The Sparks family lowered their heads to say grace, but Pollux had a better idea. While his mother was expressing her gratitude that her family could all meet in harmony, Pollux had silently lifted Castor's Heath-bar cake from the table. When she extolled God's grace for allowing them such a bounteous fest, he hefted the cake behind his shoulder. And when she closed with a shared "Amen," Pollux heaved. Castor opened his eyes and had just enough time to process what was about to happen before the cake smashed into his startled face.

Mr. and Mrs. Sparks were aghast. Castor had a chocolate-smeared candle stuck to his chocolate-smeared eyebrow. Pollux was triumphant.

"That'll teach you to push me into a river, you devious, flame-throwing, pantsing--"

"Pollux!" Mrs. Sparks interrupted his obviously premeditated speech.

He stormed out of the dining room. The front door slammed. A car peeled out of the driveway.

Castor removed the candle from his eyebrow and stared at the mess that had landed on his lap. He reached a hand down, picked up a bite of cake, and put it in his mouth. He said, cheerfully, "That went well."

Okay. I currently have the rest of the guest posts scheduled. Here's who you have to look forward to for the next week: 

• Q
• Misty
• Chantele
• Morgan

IF YOU SENT ME A GUEST POST and I haven't posted it yet, and you don't see your name here that means I don't have it scheduled. Please shoot me an e-mail (SqueakyBooks@yahoo.com) so that I can get you up and scheduled!

Today Squeaky Books welcomes Heather from Grab Shell Dude. She writes about why she loves birthdays.

Why I Love Birthdays

A blog post that is not as clichéd sounding as the title makes it out to be. Though, on second though, maybe it is clichéd. Oh well. What can you do?

When someone asks me what my favorite holiday is, I want to say birthdays. Not necessarily my birthday. Just birthdays in general. So my favorite holiday occurs 365 days of the year and sometimes 366. Hah. Beat that.

My last birthday, I ended up being home alone in my apartment. Things happen: your husband has to work; your family is busy and live two hours away; none of your friends that live nearby know it is your birthday or if they do, have no clue you are home alone. Not that I mind being home alone. But that isn't what birthdays are all about.

Birthdays are about spending time with people. Birthdays are about giving. Birthdays are about celebration. Birthdays are pleasantly non-commercialized. And since birthdays are about the individual, and all individuals are different, every birthday is unique.

My husband and I have a goal to call all my brother, sisters, parents, in-laws, nieces and nephews on their birthday. We sing to them. And most of all, we tell them happy birthday.

Because, when it comes down to it, that is what I love most about birthdays: just saying those words. Happy Birthday. Those words mean: I care about you. You are special. You are awesome. I wish you the most in life. I am so glad I know you. And so much more.Those words celebrate the individual and let them know they mean something in this great big world.

Conclusion: Birthdays rock hard core.

Today Squeaky Books is featuring Kathy from I am a Reader, not a Writer. Kathy has donated a copy of Pittacus Lore's new book I am Number Four. This one is on my wishlist. And let me tell you, it has been SO HARD for me to resist reading it while it's been sitting in the giveaway pile. Ah!

Anyway. Even though Kathy INSISTED she was not a writer, I got her to write a guest post. And I think it's pretty good. Check it out, and then check out the giveaway!

Although I love browsing our local Barnes and Noble, I would definitely pick an indie bookstore.

For your birthday you are given a bookstore. This could be an indie bookstore, or an entire chain like Borders/Barnes and Noble. Who do you choose and why?

There is something so charming about the feel of a small town store. I am always nostalgic for my childhood when I enter an indie bookstore. Given the option, I would choose to have a small independent children’s bookstore.

Today I am featuring Jeremy from Novel Thoughts blog. Jeremy offers something rare to the book-blogging community: a male perspective! I've really enjoyed his blog, and maybe you will too.

Jeremy hosted yesterday's contest, and today he wrote a guest post on a topic I gave him. Check it out!

You've been granted the birthday wish that you can spend your birthday inside any novel of your choice. What factors go into your decision making process? Which book do you choose? What do you do while you're there?

I love reading so much and choosing one book to be inside of is tough but I decided. If there was one book I could spend my birthday in it would have to be Harry Potter. I know it's not a specific book but just the series by itself has such an amazing setting to experience! Harry Potter is based in England and more specifically London and the surrounding Burrows. I have always wanted to visit England but to experience Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, The Forbidden Forest, and everything else would just be amazing! While there I would start my day off by having breakfast at Hog's Head before going into Diagon Alley to go shopping. I would go buy a wand at Ollivander's Wand Shop, get a robe, maybe swing by the bookstore and pick up one of Gilderoy Lockhart's biographies too. Then I would head over to Platform 9 3/4 and hop on a train to Hogwarts. I would have lunch at the Three Broomsticks and roam around Hogsmeade for the afternoon. After getting drunk on Butterbeer (even though it's non-alcoholic), I would head up to Hogwarts to hang out with Harry, Ron, and Hermione for the night. I would also probably also take Hagrid's Hippogriff for a spin and fly across the lake and through The Forbidden Forest like Harry did in Prisoner of Azkeban! While I'm there I might also help Harry kill Voldemort once or twice. At the end of the day, I know if I could spend my birthday in Harry Potter, it would be the best birthday ever!

Big thanks to Enna and Squeaky Books for having this Birthday Month full of events! I want to say a big happy birthday to you too! Thanks for allowing my to take over your blog for the day!