Buy this book NOW! (Happy release day, SHADE!)

This past week I have practically been too busy to breathe between events and not meeting my (fortunately soft because she knows I overschedule myself) deadline on the partial I wanted to get to my agent. Since I currently don't want to do *anything* but write, it means a lot that I am taking out the time to blog. I'm doing it before bed instead of hanging out with my husband, which means I'm gonna make this quick. But I absolutely had to do it.

Today is a book release day that is practically as exciting as my own book release days. Today SHADE by Jeri Smith-Ready comes out and you need to buy it.

You can read the summary and info on it at Jeri's site and find my babbling attempt at a review here. It has all the elements I love most: music, a strong female main character who is the kind of girl I always wanted to read about as a teenager but rarely found and most importantly DAMN good writing and storytelling. Irish punk... Irish punk in a book. That is freakin' sweet. And it's a whole new take on ghosts, as Publisher's Weekly said in a starred review this week "Perhaps even more impressive is the understatement of the paranormal premise--Smith-Ready changes the world completely by simply changing our ability to see."

Jeri and I met because we had the same editor. I completely fell in love with her WVMP series (rock n roll + vampires--a Kurt Cobain type vampire no less and another kick-ass heroine= surefire hit for me). We became friends and she has really been a mentor to me. She listened to me babble the idea for the book my agent is currently shopping and helped me find direction for it. She consoled me as the rejections roll in and if (no, when, let's be positive), it does sell, I'm sure we'll celebrate together. She's also listened to my numerous cat woes.

Basically what I'm saying is this woman is amazing. She's become a damn good friend to me and she is a really fucking awesome writer. She's kinda like my idol and SHADE is a brilliant book. Since it is not my book, I can tell you GO TO THE STORE/ORDER IT ONLINE NOW!!!! You won't regret it. This book deserves to land on all the bestseller lists. Because punk girls who have their own personality, make their own decisions and are truly inspiring characters deserve to be on the bestseller lists.

Okay, I'll be "interviewing" Aura, the book's main character later this week. Now back to my writing cocoon (except I have to go get my hair cut, usually a pleasure, but this week an unwelcome distraction). I don't feel bad for abandoning you because you shouldn't be online anyway. You should be reading SHADE!