Good news!

I've signed a two book deal with Knopf Books.

The Bodies We Wear will be released in the fall of 2014. So far off! But hopefully it'll be worth the wait.

Pitched as Kill Bill meets The Lovely Bones (I love this. Such an interesting combination), The Bodies We Wear is the story of Faye, a girl hellbent on getting revenge against the men who stole her life and murdered the boy she loved.

People say when you take Heam, the body momentarily dies and you catch a glimpse of Heaven.

I was only nine-years-old.

I saw something else.

I saw Hell. 

Set in a world where a drug called Heam causes worldwide addiction and death, 17-year-old Faye is training so she can be strong enough to seek revenge. Eight years ago, Heam was forced on her and her best friend, Christian. She survived. Christian didn't.

But life never goes according to plan. A mysterious young man named Chael has shown up and suddenly her life has become a lot more complicated. He seems to know everything about her, including her terrible past. As she gets drawn into his world, she starts to realise that things aren't as black and white as she first thought. But too many secrets start tearing her world down. Trouble at school, with the police, and the people she thought might be her friends--even Gazer, her guardian, fears she's become too obsessed with destruction.

Love and death. Will Faye overcome her desires or will revenge destroy her?





And my apologies for my crappy blurb. I suck at these things. haha

The Darkest Hour is just before dawn.

I'd like to take a moment and talk about something that's been really bothering me the past few days. 

Bullying. 

As many already know, Amanda Todd took her own life a few days ago. She was a girl who after making a mistake, ended up with years of stalking, bullying, and harassment. She posted a Youtube video a month before her death that spoke of her problems and how they affected her. 

It would be an understatement to say that being a teenager is hard. Being a teenager in today's day is even harder. I was bullied as a teen. But I can honestly say, things are worse now. Back in my day, there were no cell phones, internet, etc.  When a kid wanted to be mean to you, they had to do it to your face.  Today, kids can bully and torment without even having to say who they are. The anonymity of the internet has given them a chance to behave much worse.  They now have a doorway to where there are no actions for their consequences. 

But of course that's not true. 

Amanda showed us that there are consequences. 

What makes a teenage girl believe that there are no other options than death? 

Amanda made a mistake when she was 14. Guess what? I made a mistake too. When I was 17, I drunkenly allowed a boy to take advantage of me at a drive in. I didn't know it, but people saw everything. Now I'm going to say I'm thankful that there were no cell phone cameras in my day and age because I can only imagine how much worse things could have been for me. 

People make mistakes. 

But no one deserves the kind of harassment this girl received for making a bad judgment call.  This girl did not deserve to be a victim. 

I had actually met Amanda. She was in competitive swimming with my second cousin. She was a polite, friendly, intelligent, and pretty teenager.  But as we know, being all those things doesn't mean that they can't have problems. It annoys me now when I see people making comments like 'But she was so beautiful'. There seems to be this misconception that being beautiful means you can't have any problems. Being beautiful should solve everything. Guess what? It doesn't work that way. 

To the teenagers that worked so hard to make her life the living hell it was. You should be ashamed of yourself. You should sit in your bedrooms and think about how lucky you are that it's not you. Read the comments written online.  Understand that life can change in a heartbeat and that you can be bullied yourself. The odds are good that you probably are. 

And to the people who are making comments about how no one cared about Amanda until she was dead. Guess what? People did care for her. She had a mother who loved her (and still does) very much. She had a father. She had a family. 

And don't go blaming the parents either. Sadly, parents only know as much as their teenagers are willing to tell them. They are not mind readers. And sometimes, even the most careful parents still find out the hard way that they didn't have a clue to everything that was going on in their teenagers life. 

And last, to the teens out there who are being bullied. You are not alone. Talk to someone. If you can't talk to your parents, find someone online to talk to. There are chatrooms set up to help teens cope with abuse. Talk to whoever is willing to listen. Talk to your cat or dog. Talk to the wall. Just get the words out of your head. 

And remember, you are not alone. It gets better. 

Character Profiles

A while back Macmillan came to me and asked me if I wanted to do character profiles for Mason, Aries, Clementine, and Michael. They were sent out to four different blogs. 

So here they are. There's a great little story for each character and a good profile. 

I will admit to one error. I said Mason has brown eyes and I was wrong. His eyes are blue. Whoops. 

 Mason

Aries

 Michael

Clementine

And also, the imaginary cast list. Actors I think would be great for Dark Inside--the hopeful, future movie. 

Dream Cast

Tour dates

I'm going on tour with Jonathan Maberry. Yep, you heard me. (Insert fan girl scream) I'm very excited. It's one thing to go on an author tour, it's another to go with an author whose books I absolutely adore. 

So here are the dates. Hope to see some of you. 

Tuesday Sept 11th

6:30PM

                Signing and presentation at RJ Julia Booksellers

                768 Boston Post Road

                Madison, CT 06443

                Contact: Karen Rosenthal

                Phone: 203-245-3959

Wednesday, September 12

6:00PM

                Signing and presentation at Barnes & Noble

                470 Universal Drive North

                North Haven, CT 06473

                Phone: 203-234-1805

Thursday, September 13

7:00PM

                Signing and presentation at Barnes & Noble

                3535 US Route 1

                Princeton, NJ 08540

Friday, September 14

7:00PM

                Signing and presentation at Towne Book Center

                220 Plaza Drive, Suite B3

                Collegeville, PA 19426

                Phone: 609-897-9250

Sunday, September 16

7:00PM

                Signing and presentation at Books & Books

                265 Aragon Avenue

                Coral Gables, FL 33134

                Phone: 305-442-4408

Wednesday, September 19

7:00PM

                Signing and presentation at Left Bank Books

                399 North Euclid Avenue

                St. Louis, MO 63108

Thursday, September 20

7:00PM

                Signing and presentation at Joseph-Beth Booksellers

                2785 Dixie Highway

                Crestview Hills, KY 41017

                Phone: 859-912-7860

Happy Book Birthday

It's official. Rage Within is out in North America. 

I can't begin to say how happy I am about this. I'm really pleased with the way Rage Within turned out and I sure hope the readers feel the same way. 

So far the reviews have been quite positive. I want to thank everyone who went out of their way to write such kind words.

Here's hoping for a great year!

Brand new contest!

 

Ok, peeps, here it is.

In celebration of our new forum, YABookClub, we're going to be giving away some really cool goodies.

http://memebee.com/yabookclub/index.php 

Susan Dennard has agreed to give away some signed copies of her new novel, "Something Strange and Deadly." She's also got some "Aim for the Knees" shirts!!!!  

Jill Hathaway is going to be giving away some signed copies of her fantastic novel "Slide". 

I've got some autographed copies of both Dark Inside and Rage Within to give away.

We still have to hear back from a few more authors so there may end up being a lot more goodies to give away too! 

So here are the rules. 

1. Join our community and start posting. Every time you post, you get an entry. But posting has to be reasonable. We will not accept one word posts or spamming the board about nothing. 

2.  Post as often as you like. The more you post, the more entries you get. 

3. Be respectful. This isn't a competition...well...ok, it is. But that doesn't mean you can't have a great time doing it!

Contest ends Sept 15th.  

Friends rock.

So there are going to be some neat new changes to my website in the next little bit. 

I'm going to be adding a forum. A place for YA Readers and Writers to get together and discuss everything they love!

There will be a Share Your Work area where people can get feedback from other friends. A book and movie section to discuss things you love. A place to hang out and even an ask Jeyn area for all things Dark Inside. 

Right now I'm looking for suggestions and ideas to make this forum great. Any feedback or ideas are appreciated!

 

Dark Inside Artwork

I've been very fortunate to come across some really cool Dark Inside artwork over the past little while. I can't begin to tell people how amazing it feels to see others bring my characters to life.

The first two drawings are from Sydney Harrison. The last one is from Avery-Sara Burrows.

If anyone else wants to add their artwork, let me know!

When did it stop being about the books?

I've been watching all the goodreads drama unfold over the past several weeks and all I can say is it makes me sad.

When did it stop being about the books?

Now we've got people being called with threatening messages in the middle of the night, people being outted with pictures and addresses, authors declaring war on bloggers, reviewers declaring war on authors, authors declaring war on other authors...why is any of this happening?

When did it stop being about the books?

I love reading. I love books. I want to read books and enjoy them. This is why I first joined Goodreads, back in the day before I even was an author.

It kills me to see everyone forgetting why they first joined this site. Isn't it about the love of reading?

Who cares about reviews. Really. Is a bad review really going to change everything in your world? Is it going to destroy your career? Good lord, no. I read books with bad reviews all the time. Some of my favorite books have received horrid reviews.

Hell, I've received horrid reviews. So what? I didn't venture into writing thinking that everyone would love everything I write. I'm not a God. I do tend to write shit from time to time. I accept that not everyone is going to love what I do and I'm not going to try and change their minds.

So can't we all just try and return back to a certain center of normalcy and remember why we're here? We love to read. We love to write. We love to share our opinions...good or bad.