What's New: December Releases & Giveaway!!

It's December!! Wow. I still can't believe it. I need to get my Christmas tree and some various twinkly stuff up asap! The wind here is officially announcing the onset of winter and, baby, it's COLD outside! For whatever reason (its probably the holidays and birthdays and madness all around) but my reading time has been fleeting recently. Hope to remedy that soon!

So if you're new to Stories & Sweeties, here's a little run-down of this feature: at the start of each month, I do a little thing called the "What's New List & Giveaway" where you'll find a full list of the new releases in YA for the month, and entry to the giveaway. At the end of each month, one lucky winner will get to choose any new release as their prize! December is kind of a small list, compared to other months. But the releases that are there are pretty awesome! :D

First off, the winner for November is: Joy D. Congrats, Joy!

December Releases:
Just like last month, I've put a little l♥ve by those books that I am really anticipating!

{5}
Wintertown by Stephen E Mond
Witch and Wizard: The Fire by James Patterson

{6}
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare ♥
Deadly Little Voices by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Fix Me by Rune Michaels
Melody Burning by Whitley Streiber
Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout ♥
Planesrunner by Ian McDonald
Ruthless by Sara Shephard
Shattered Dreams by Ellie James
Surrender by Lee Nichols
Winging It: The Dragon Diaries by Deborah Cooke

{8}
Geek Girl by Cindy C. Bennett
Illuminated by Erica Orloff
The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder ♥
Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey ♥

{13}
Dream School by Blake Nelson

{20}
Bleeding Hearts by Alyxandra Harvey
Flyaway by Helen Landolf
Legacy by Molly Cochran
On a Dark Wing by Jordan Dane ♥
Still Waters by Emma Carlson Berne ♥

{27}
The Amanda Project: Book 3: Shattered by Laurie Faria Stolerz & Amanda Valentino
Emily the Strange: Piece of Mind by Jessica Gruner & Roger Rener
Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes ♥
Kiss Crush Collide by Christina Meredith
Love & Leftovers by Sarah Tregay
Magic of the Moonlight by Ellen Streiber
Replication: The Jason Experiment by Jill Williamson
Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers by Lynn Weingarten ♥
Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler & Maira Kalman

(links go to Goodreads)
Please feel free to email me if you notice any YA titles missing! :)

Giveaway Details: One winner will win a December Release of their choice! *see note below
• Contest ends at 11:59 PM, PST on December 31st, 2011.
• Must be 13 or older
• Open internationally. *International winners will be required to choose a book that is available through BookDepository.com.
• Please enter one time only for each monthly giveaway.
*CONTEST CLOSED*

Waiting on Wednesday - Perception and Probability Edition

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for. For my WoWs, I'll be choosing a Sooner (books released in the next month or so) and a Later (books further out). Here's what I'm eagerly anticipating:

Sooner:

The Probability of Miracles
by Wendy Wunder

hitting shelves December 8th, 2011 from Razorbill

description:
Dry, sarcastic, sixteen-year-old Cam Cooper has spent the last seven years in and out hospitals. The last thing she wants to do in the short life she has left is move 1,500 miles away to Promise, Maine - a place known for the miraculous events that occur there. But it's undeniable that strange things happen in Promise: everlasting sunsets; purple dandelions; flamingoes in the frigid Atlantic; an elusive boy named Asher; and finally, a mysterious envelope containing a list of things for Cam to do before she dies. As Cam checks each item off the list, she finally learns to believe - in love, in herself, and even in miracles.

A debut novel from an immensely talented new writer, The Probability of Miracles crackles with wit, romance and humor and will leave readers laughing and crying with each turn of the page.

My thoughts: After seeing a review of this at Katie's Book Blog, it immediately went on my official run-to-the-bookstore-the-day-it-comes-out list. So I guess I have a date with Barnes in a week. Who says bloggers don't sell books? :)

Later:

Perception
by Kim Harrington

hitting shelves March 1st, 2012 from Scholastic Press

description:
When you can see things others can't, what do you do when someone's watching you?

Everybody knows about Clarity "Clare" Fern. She's the psychic girl in school, the one who can place her hands on something and see hidden visions from the past.

Only Clare would rather not be a celebrity. She prefers hanging back, observing. Her gift is not a game to her.

But then someone starts playing with her head . . . and heart. Messages and gifts from a secret admirer crop up everywhere Clare turns. Could they be from Gabriel, the gorgeous boy who gets Clare's pulse racing? Or from Justin, Clare's hopeful ex-boyfriend who'd do anything to win her back?

One thing is certain. Clare needs to solve this mystery, and soon. Because the messages are becoming sinister, and a girl in town has suddenly disappeared.

My thoughts: Book one, Clarity, really drew me in. Can't wait for more!

Guest Post with Courtney King Walker & On The Fringe Giveaway!

I recently reviewed On The Fringe by Courtney King Walker, which was a fantastic book. I was so taken with the wonderful love story between Claire and Daniel, I asked Courtney to stop by for a guest post on writing love.
Please welcome Courtney King Walker!!


Confessions of a Middle-Aged Romantic

Writing about love seems like it should be easy. Haven’t we all been in love or at least “like” at some point in our lives? That fluttering heart and those sweaty palms are universal experiences, part of a web of emotions that make us human instead of just ‘mammal.’

Still, I was never so lucky as to have a gorgeous guy turn his head and nearly stop breathing at the sight of me (what was wrong with me?) Nor did I discover my one and only true love at the attendance office on my first day of school, secretly checking me out. No, my experience has been somewhat average. So, I can’t say I’m much of an expert at writing about love at first sight, or anything involving swoon-worthy glances or witty, sexy comebacks—unless you count the time I told a construction worker in downtown San Francisco to ‘bite me.’ Which is what makes me so qualified to write about regular, average-boy love.

If you’re like me, your (average) experience with love started somewhere in elementary school, like with Brian in Mrs. Ristad’s kindergarten class, who offered to let me use the fingerpaints first. He was such a gentleman.

Then there was Scott in fifth grade who broke my heart after moving across
the country to Atlanta, leaving me all alone to face middle school with a tender heart and newfound respect for the opposite sex. Which got me all ready and prepped for the dark haired, dreamy Sy, my crush from third through ninth grade—the epitome of unrequited love…the uber cool, Italian good-looking hottie whom every girl dreamt of, but only a lucky few ever got the chance to hold his hand, much less hear him speak their name out loud (FYI–he did say my name more than once).

Let’s just say my experience has been more like that of a realist, a romantic pragmatist whose adolescent experience with boys typically involved some sort of high-fiving themselves after a witty, chauvinistic remark at my expense, or worse—my having suffered through too many attempts at some dude trying to plant a kiss on me at some terribly awkward moment (for starters, asking me, ‘can I kiss you?’ has always been a romance-killer).

Sure, I’ve had moments where the stars collided and Mr. Right said and did the absolute perfect thing…which is why I am still a romantic at heart, and always will be, but, like regular life, those moments have been far and few between. Which is okay, because guys aren’t gods. They’re just guys…sometimes cute, sometimes annoying, sometimes terribly sweet but mostly just typical, lanky, awkward, and totally worth writing about in all their awkwardness so that regular, average, totally normal girls feel like love at first sight guys aren’t the norm. And that’s okay.


Because I enjoyed this book so much, I want to share the love! I'm giving away a copy of On The Fringe to one lucky winner! Enter below for the chance to fall in love with this book!

~open internationally!
~must be 13 or older to enter
~one entry per person please!
~contest closes December 13, 2011

Fill out the ENTRY FORM HERE!

Winners!

Congrats to these winners of recent contests here at Stories & Sweeties! :D

Winner of a signed copy of Eve:
Chey from The Hollow Cupboards

Winner of the two copies of Beautiful Chaos:
Stephanie & Lilly

More giveaways coming soon. Thanks to everyone who entered! :D

In My Mailbox {94}

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, where we all share what we got during the week!

It turned out to be one of those "happy-dance-diet" kind of weeks, and very timely with all that stuffing and pumpkin cheesecake I ate on Thanksgiving! :) Here's what I got:

For Review:
Mist by Kathryn James
A Witch in Winter by Ruth Warburton
Switched by Amanda Hocking
Huge thanks to Hodder children's for sending the first two all the way from the UK! And thanks to Library Thing Early Reviewers for Switched---ecstatic to read all of these!

Won:
Eternal Starling by Angela Corbett
So excited for this! It was my WoW pick a few weeks back, so I was very happy to win it! Thanks, Jen @ My Life with Books!

Saving June by Hannah Harrington
Have heard wonderful things about this one! Thank you, Bewitched Bookworms!

New on My Nook:
From Netgalley:
New Girl by Paige Harbison
This was plugged as a retelling of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, so I immediately requested it!

So that's all for me! I hope everyone had a great week!

2012 Debut Author Challenge

It's time once again to sign up for the Debut Author Challenge, hosted by The Story Siren! This will be my third year participating, and it's always so much fun. You can get all the details at Kristi's site here, but here's the gist of it:

• Set a goal of at least 12 YA or MG 2012 books by debut authors
• Read and review those books between January 1st, 2012 and January 31st, 2013
  
• Post those reviews on your blog or on goodreads
• Link up your review at The Story Siren each month for a chance at some awesome prizes!

Here is the list I'll be tackling this year. I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of awesome-looking debuts coming out in 2012---I tried to pare it down, I did! But I still ended up with a list of 28 irresistible titles that I'll be picking from! I'm hoping to read at least 20 of them!

(All titles link to goodreads)

• Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswod
• Incarnate by Jodi Meadows (done)
• Above by Leah Bobet
• The Alchemy of Forever by Avery William
• Struck by Jennifer Bosworth
• When the Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellison
• Fracture by Megan Miranda (done)
  
• Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
• The Selection by Kiera Cass
• Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
• The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova
• Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne (done)
• What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang
• Storybound by Marissa Burt (MG)
  
• Touched by Corinne Jackson
• The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats
• Grave Mercy by R.L. LaFevers
• The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze
• The Vanishing Game by Katie Kae Myers
• Auracle by Gina Rosati
• Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock
• The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long
• Survive by Alex Morel
• Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown
• A Witch in Winter by Ruth Warburton
• The Girl with Borrowed Wings by Rinsai Rosetti
  
• Small Medium at Large by Joanne Levy (MG)
  
• Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield
• My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Phew! So are you taking the challenge? What's on your list?

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for...

To all my blog friends celebrating Thanksgiving today, I wish you a safe and happy holiday! I'm thankful for you! I'm thankful for all the yummy food we'll eat to day (especially the stuffing, it's my favorite!). I'm thankful for all the family I'll be surrounded with today and the family that I haven't seen in ages (miss you guys!) I'm thankful for my books, my little space here on the blogosphere and all the people who take the time to visit me here. I'm thankful for the miracles of modern medicine and the extra time it's given me. I'm thankful for my life. :)

There's lots to be thankful for, dear friends! Remember that today and every day! :D