Greetings from Laguna!

So I finally made it to myspace and Blog Spot- whew! Thought I'd never finish that profile page. But since Laguna is currently socked in with a major case of June gloom, it's not like I missed a great day at the beach or anything!

My third novel, LAGUNA COVE, will be in stores next month. And so I'm pretty much spending all of my time obsessing over that fact, but then also refusing to think about it. Seriously. The encroaching pub date always sends me into a frenzy of excitement and nauseau (okay, mostly excitement, but still), and since I've already finished two other books since I handed in LAGUNA COVE, I'm no longer sure how it goes. Something about the beach. . .and three friends. . .and then there's that new girl. . .and oh yeah, that really hot guy. . .but then she also kind of likes that other guy . . .

ART GEEKS AND PROM QUEENS continues to bring good news! It recently won the New Yok Public Library's Book of Winter 2006 award, and was also included in their prestigious Books for the Teenage 2006 catalog. Also, it's been nominated for the American Library Associations Teens Top 10 Award- voting takes place in October, and let me just say it's included among so many other great titles, that just being nominated is an honor! Truly! So thanks to all of you who read it, liked it, and told a friend!!

But what really left me gobsmacked and speechless and stunned was Niki Burnham's blog last week where she wrote such nice things about ART GEEKS I barely knew how to respond! (And for those of you who know me, you also know how very rare that is!) And if I wasn't so tech challenged you'd be able to click on her name right now and land on her page, but since technology is one of my biggest challenges (really, I'll be amazed if this blog even gets posted) I urge you to look her up, and then go out and get her novel, ROYALLY JACKED. And then when you're done with that go get the sequel, SPIN CONTROL- they are funny, compassionate, and completely endearing- and you'll see why she left me so flattered.

FAKING 19 was also nomintated for the New York Public Libary's Book of Summer 2005 award- but John Green's LOOKING FOR ALASKA won. So I went out and bought it, sat down to read it, and could not put it down til I'd reached the end- it was AWESOME.
Happy summer everyone!
Alyson