Why Hello There

I'm no longer regularly updating this blog, but you can find me at Barnes & Noble!

My recent posts there include...

• The Baddest Boyfriends and Girlfriends of YA Lit

• Gabi, a Girl in Pieces and 9 More Diary-Style YAs we Love

• 5 True Crime YAs We Love

For all other updates, please head over to my website.

Mwah!

Launch Week Links

L.A. Times Festival of Books

• HIGH & DRY came out on Tuesday. Thanks to all my friends and family for their support, and of course to my agent and Abrams/Amulet Books!

• Slinging Slang: The Case for Made-up Words (Guest Post for Janice Hardy's Fiction University)

• Top Secret Easter Eggs from HIGH & DRY

• Shae Has Left the Room's review of HIGH & DRY

• Books, Bones & Buffy: "High School is Not For Wimps": HIGH & DRY by Sarah Skilton

• YA Author Kate Ormand's review of HIGH & DRY

• Pasadena Teen Book Festival: Spotlight on Sarah Skilton

• The paperback for BRUISED (with a fresh cover) also hit bookstores:

COVER REVEAL: HIGH AND DRY

My contemporary YA mystery, HIGH AND DRY, comes out April 15th, 2014 from Amulet Books! I love the gritty cover:

What's HIGH AND DRY about?

Framed for a stranger's near-fatal overdose at a party, blackmailed into finding a mysterious flash drive everyone in school seems anxious to suppress, and pressured by his shady best friend to throw an upcoming game, high school soccer player Charlie Dixon spends a frantic week trying to clear his name, win back the girl of his dreams, and escape a past that may be responsible for all his current problems.

• Enter my giveaway at Goodreads to win one of two ARCs (advance reader copies) this fall

• Pre-order HIGH AND DRY at Barnes & Noble.

"Get Real" Panel & Signing at the West Hollywood Book Fair

Hi all,

This Sunday, 9/29, I'll be at the West Hollywood Book Fair on a panel called "Get Real!" at 3-4pm, with a signing afterward. We'll be chatting about all things young adult contemporary.

With me will be...

 Moderator/author Amy Spalding (THE REECE MALCOLM LIST)








Ann Stampler (WHERE IT BEGAN)

 Carol Tanzman (CIRCLE OF SILENCE)

 Stephanie Kuehn (CHARM & STRANGE)

Hope to see you there!

BRUISED Trivia

Have you read BRUISED?

Wanna test your knowledge of the book's content?

Some kind soul wrote BRUISED trivia questions over at Goodreads. See how you stack up!

(Embarrassing confession: I wasn't 100% positive about the answer to one of the questions, though my guess turned out to be correct.

I swear I wrote this book, though.)

Four Places to Win a Free Copy of BRUISED

1. The Nocturnal Library (six more days to win!)

2. Books, Bones & Buffy (two more days to win!)

3. A Thousand Wrongs (one more day to win!)

4. And coming tomorrow... a chance from YA Fresh

Thanks to Maja, Tammy, Laurisa, and Tina for hosting these giveaways.

And if you strike out this time, check back here in April for at least two more chances!

Happy reading.

Cruisin' for a Bruisin' (Sorry. Really.) BRUISED Links

Here's my latest book news:

1. BRUISED received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

2. The book comes out in 1 month! You can pre-order it all sorts of ways.

3. I have one last ARC (advance readers copy) and I'm giving it away on GoodReads.

4. Read an exclusive excerpt from the book at Alice Marvel's site.

5. "Readers in Wonderland" blog reviewed BRUISED as part of their Debut Author Challenge series.

6. If you take a picture of BRUISED out in the wild (aka at a library or a bookstore) and send it to me, I'll mail you a limited edition signed bookmark. (Limited edition because I ran out of money.) (But they look really cool.)

To get a bookmark, just tweet me the photo, post it on my Facebook Page, or email it to me: bruisedbook [at] gmail [dot] com

I'm a Mom Now.

I can't be my crappy old self anymore.

I must become a crappy new self!

I have a beautiful, healthy, vital son. Baby boy Elliot is wonderful, and his father has been endlessly amazing. We don't know what we're doing. We're spinning plates. (Cue Radiohead song, or something equally poignant.)

Elliot was extremely considerate and didn't go into labor until the day after I turned in a manuscript to my agent. I think that earns him a dedication slot, yes? Not to be all Suri Cruise by keeping him under wraps -- he's utterly adorable -- but I've decided not to post pictures of him publicly yet. Not sure he needs an Internet presence this early in his young life. This will likely change in the future but for now I'm Cautious!Weird!Luddite!Mom. If you're jonesing for baby pics, check out these images of my niece when she was 9 months old.

Also: Remember how I railed against "too much information" and women who feel compelled to share allllll the details of their nightmare labors? I get it, now. I get the compulsion to blurt this stuff out.

My labor was a 30-hour disaster, a checklist from childbirth class of "everything that might go wrong, plus things you've never heard of." Don't worry, I won't post details, and I certainly won't inflict the tale on any unsuspecting pregnant women. But I get it, now.

Perhaps needless to say, posts will be sporadic for the immediate future. Elliot and I have lots of ground to cover.

This blog entry was brought to you by real caffeine.