Bookstore Love: Austin's BookPeople

NEW FEATURE! Today begins a new series on my blog: Bookstore Love! 

Do you recognize these shelves?

I was looking through my photographs recently and realized how many pictures I have taken in bookstores. My travel photos ALWAYS include scenes of at least one or two YA bookshelves. (Am I the only one who does this? Please confess in the comments if you do it, too!) 

So, why not share all that bookstore love on my blog? It is infinitely more interesting than talking about myself! 

I am particularly fond of tiny little stores that cram books into every possible nook and cranny, and rambling bookstores in oddly-shaped buildings. But what I love most are bookstores that hang review cards and staff recommendations from the shelves. Nobody does that better than BookPeople in Austin, Texas.

It's the lovely Teen Lit section at BookPeople! See all the little review tags
placed at eye level? (They were on a lower shelf in the middle grade section!) 

Yes, yes… I'll give you an up-close look at some of the tags! These photos were taken two years ago when my daughter and I went to Texas for spring break. Flipping through these photos now is like a walk down memory lane of my favorite books from 2013. Look at all the pretties!

Don't you just love the little mask on the Smoke & Bone review,
and the heart for Paper Valentine?

Oooh… three favorites in a row. 

And here's a close-up of the review for Amy McNamara's
gorgeous novel, LOVELY, DARK & DEEP. 

Spot any favorites? I could spend hours in this store, reading all the beautifully illustrated (and laminated!) reviews. I'm just looking for reasons to travel to Austin again so I can see what's on the shelves there now. Maybe someone will send me a photo? (Hint, hint.) 

I'll be posting more of my own bookstore love in the weeks ahead, and inviting some author friends to share theirs, too. But now, I must dash to my local indie to pick up a stack of books I ordered. (And take photos, of course. They're next up on Bookstore Love!)

Praise for BETWEEN THE NOTES

"Absolutely charming. Perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, this story will leave you cheering." 

— Tahereh Mafi, New York Times bestselling

author of the Shatter Me series

"Once I started this book, I dropped everything and read it in one fell swoop. I love how Sharon Huss Roat allows Ivy and her other teenaged characters to be fully human, capable of petty snobbery and meanness, yes, but also of courage, humor, and startling kindness. I rooted, with all my heart, for every one of them." 

— Marisa de los Santos, New York Times 

bestselling author of LOVE WALKED IN and BELONG TO ME

"BETWEEN THE NOTES is a tender, funny, and heartfelt tale about what happens when privileged Ivy Emerson loses her house and her grand piano—and discovers that sometimes, the most beautiful music comes from the most unexpected places.This pitch-perfect debut will leave fans of Sarah Dessen and Gayle Foreman cheering for more." 

— Hilary T. Smith, author of WILD AWAKE 

and A SENSE OF THE INFINITE

"Beautifully poignant and heartbreakingly real, Roat's debut is impossible to put down.  I was rooting for Ivy every step of the way!" 

— Lucy Connors, author of The Lonesome Young

"Romance takes the front seat in Sharon Roat's pitch-perfect debut novel, BETWEEN THE NOTES, about a privileged girl forced to adjust to life on the wrong side of the tracks - funny, real, and highly recommended." 

— Lauren Baratz-Logsted, author of Little Women and Me

"A wonderful debut, Between the Notes hits all the right notes." 

— Lisa Schroeder, author of ALL WE HAVE IS NOW 

and I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME

"A big-hearted, relatable debut! You’ll root for Ivy as she learns that owning who you really are is infinitely better than pretending to be someone else." 

— Amy McNamara, author of LOVELY, DARK AND DEEP

Four days left to win the best Valentine's gift ever: 16 contemporary YA debut novels!

Aren't they pretty? Don't you want to pet them, er… I mean, read them all? One lucky winner of the #WeHEARTContemporary giveaway will get to do just that. So, head on over to Cake Literary and enter by February 14th! Winner takes all! 

We HEART Contemporary! Giveaway! 16 books! Winner take all! Can you tell that I am excited?!?

The most awesome ladies over at Cake Literary are hosting a massive giveaway of YA contemporary novels for Valentine's Day! The winner will get signed ARC (advanced reader copy) of BETWEEN THE NOTES and 15 others! Check it out here.  

Under the Tree in 2014: My True Love Gave to Me, A Thousand Pieces of You, and a whole bunch more

There's always a long list of books on my holiday wish list, and this year my true love obliged… with a glorious stack of YA novels from my ever-growing wish list! Here's wrap-up of the holiday book haul at our house this year:

I adore all things Stephanie Perkins (author of ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR, and ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER), so I was delighted when I learned she had edited a collection of 12 holiday stories by many of my favorite YA authors. Just look at them all:

Any hopes of getting some writing done over the holidays are officially dashed. As soon as I finish this post, I'm digging in.

Where to start? I'm looking forward to getting my hands on some of the books my kids (ages 15 and almost-11) got this year as well:

Happy reading to all and to all a good year!

Cover Reveal and Giveaway on YA Highway!

I'm having my very own case of stage fright as the cover of my YA debut, BETWEEN THE NOTES is being revealed on the YA Highway blog today! Or perhaps I'm just channeling the main character of my book, a musician who suffers from a paralyzing stage fright… 

Either way, I hope you will check it out and enter to win the giveaway for a signed ARC (advance reader copy)! Right here.

BETWEEN THE NOTES gets a birthdate

The publication date for my debut YA novel, BETWEEN THE NOTES (HarperTeen), has been "Summer 2015" for so long, it almost didn't feel real. It existed in that hazy, sometime-between-April-and-September space that publishers call summer. But now? It has a real, actual, one-square-on-the-calendar release date:

JUNE 16, 2015

That's a little more than nine months away, and I must admit, it does feel a bit like anticipating the birth of a baby. We'll all get a first glimpse (the cover reveal, that is) next month over at YA Highway. And I sometimes feel a little queasy preparing for the big day. I do know it's a girl. Oh, and a boy. And another boy! 

Here's a description:

When Ivy Emerson’s family loses their house—complete with her beloved piano—the fear of what’s to come seizes her like a bad case of stage fright. Only this isn’t one of her single, terrifying performances. It’s her life.

And it isn’t pretty.

Ivy is forced to move with her family out of their affluent neighborhood to Lakeside, also known as “the wrong side of the tracks.” Hiding the truth from her friends—and the cute new guy in school, who may have secrets of his own—seems like a good idea at first. But when a bad boy next door threatens to ruin everything, Ivy’s carefully crafted lies begin to unravel . . . and there is no way to stop them.

As things get to the breaking point, Ivy turns to her music, some unlikely new friends, and the trusting heart of her disabled little brother. She may be surprised that not everyone is who she thought they were . . . including herself.

Debut author Sharon Huss Roat crafts a charming and timely story of what happens when life as you know it flips completely upside down.

More soon!