And then there was one...

...one winner, that is. Without further adieu, the winner of the Grasshopper Jungle ARC is...


Congratulations, Danielle! I'll be sending your book out later today. I hope you enjoy reading it! And if anyone is looking for some more good reading, Lucy Silag from Book Country interviewed me on their blog today. This Penguin community for writers is a great place to meet critique partners and get your work read in a public forum. WISH YOU WEREN'T is an Editor's Pick this month (yay!) and I was thrilled that they wanted to profile me.

If you'd like a chance to win your very own copy of WISH YOU WEREN'T, don't forget about the other two blogs I mentioned yesterday. Sheri Larsen at Writer's Alley interviewed me and she's giving away a print book and an e-book. And the delightful Rosi Hollinbeck, a reviewer for the San Francisco Book Review, posted her review of WISH YOU WEREN'T on her blog, The Write Stuff, and she's giving away a print copy.

Oh, and one more thing! If you live in Santa Barbara County and want to learn more about writing for middle grade readers, I'm leading a workshop at the Solvang Library with three other authors: Valerie Hobbs (Sheep), Gwen Dandridge (The Stone Lions) and Kimberley Troutte (Saving Miner's Gulch). The workshop is on Saturday from 1 to 3:30 and we'll be doing a book signing from 12 to 1pm. To find out more, you can visit the library's website. I'd love to see you there!

All About the Win

You were probably expecting a post today announcing the winner of GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE. But since I entered the wrong date on the Rafflecopter, there's still a few hours left to enter the contest. If you haven't already signed up to win, do it now. I'll be back tomorrow to let you know who won.

In the meantime, if you've been wanting to read a copy of WISH YOU WEREN'T, there are three copies up for grabs on two different websites. Somehow I lucked out and two different bloggers featured my book for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday! Sweet!

Sheri Larsen at Writer's Alley interviewed me and she's giving away a print book and an e-book. And the delightful Rosi Hollinbeck, a reviewer for the San Francisco Book Review, posted her review of WISH YOU WEREN'T on her blog, The Write Stuff, and she's giving away a print copy.

Thanks to both of them for their generous giveaways. Now it's all up to you. Go forth and win!

E-books for the Win

A big thanks goes out to Renee from Mother Daughter Book Reviews and Katie from Youth Literature Reviews for organizing last week's blog hop. I found a lot of blogs I'd never read before and discovered some new books as well. It was nice to meet so many new people who are interested in books for kids – the perfect way to celebrate Children's Book Week!

If you didn't win a copy of Wish You Weren't (names are on the image below), don't worry. I'm also doing an interview and giveaway over on Dianne Salerni's blog, In High Spirits. You can enter the Rafflecopter there for a chance to win one of two copies up for grabs.

Next week I'll have a book review for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday. Until then, have a great week!

Children's Book Week Kid Lit Giveaway Hop

I'm so excited to be part of the Children's Book Week Kid Lit Giveaway Hop. Reading books with my kids has always been a special part of our time spent together. I hope WISH YOU WEREN'T will become one of those books that parents and kids enjoy reading together, that kids enjoy reading under the covers and that people enjoy enough to share with each other. Want to check it out for yourself? You can enter to win a copy below!

Marten doesn't believe in the power of wishes. None of his have ever come true. His parents ignore him, his little brother is a pain and his family is talking about moving to Texas. Not cool. So when he makes an impulsive wish during a meteor shower, he doesn't expect it to make any difference.

Until his annoying brother disappears.

With the present uncertain and his brother’s future in limbo, Marten finds himself stuck in his past. And if he runs out of time, even wishes might not be enough to save the ones he loves.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

KID LIT GIVEAWAY HOP EVENT DETAILS
More than 100 bloggers, authors, publishers, and publicists are sharing copies of fabulous books through this blog hop put together by Mother Daughter Book Reviews and Youth Literature Reviews. The Children's Book Week Giveaway Hop 2014 features links to giveaways for fabulous children/teen's books, gift cards, cash, or other prizes.  What better way to celebrate Children's Book Week?

Enter to win more great stuff from the people below!

Eyes on the Stars

You may have guessed, based on the topic of WISH YOU WEREN'T: I'm a fan of meteor showers. And as luck would have it, there's a good one tonight!

The Lyrid meteor shower is a bright one, which is good since the moon is still pretty big. The comets will look like they're coming from Vega (part of the Lyra constellation), but really, they're coming from the tail of the Comet Thatcher. (But Lyrid meteor shower sounds so much better than Thatcher meteor shower, don't you think?)

 The meteor shower will peak between midnight and sunrise and if you're in a remote area away from city lights, you should be able to see as many as 20 comets per hour. But if you miss it tonight, don't worry. They should be visible through the 25th of April. NASA also plans to do a livestream for people who are unable to see it where they live.

So will I be dragging my kids out to see the shooting stars tonight? Making wishes? What do you think ;-)

Total Eclipse of the Moon

Tax day approaches – everyone's favorite day of the year. Tonight I plan to stay up past midnight and watch the day arrive. Not because I waited until the last minute to do my taxes (although there's that) but because tonight there will be a total lunar eclipse.

Most of North America will be able to see the eclipse and since the moon is close to full it should be pretty dramatic. Because of the timing of the eclipse, sunsets and sunrises in other parts of the world will make the moon look blood red. Kinda cool! If you have cloudy skies or too many city lights to see it, The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles will broadcast the eclipse live starting at 9:45 p.m. PST.

This is also the last week of the blog tour for WISH YOU WEREN'T. Here are the planned stops.  

MONDAY
The Book Cellar: Erica posts an interview about my reading and writing habits.  
Books and Needlepoint: Kristi will post her review of Wish You Weren't.  
Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile: Jessica adds her review of Wish You Weren't.  

WEDNESDAY  
Book Loving Mom: Amy will post her review of Wish You Weren't.

I want to thank all of the bloggers who hosted me during this tour. Book bloggers are seriously the coolest people. They don't make money from this. They do it because they love books and I'm totally honored to have been part of so many awesome blogs.

Review: The Eighth Day

It's a long drive from where I live in California to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, twenty-two hours to be exact. But I made good use of my time. During the trip I was able to start and finish an ARC that I won of THE EIGHTH DAY by Dianne K. Salerni. Five pages in and I was lost to the world. Stopping for dinner was a huge inconvenience. And did my family really need to interrupt to point out the snow / lake / mountains / wild animals we were passing? I think not. In fact, I was so engrossed in the book that I failed in my role as navigator and we ended up more than twenty miles off course before I looked up and realized what had happened. Needless to say, hubby might not be as big a fan of Dianne as I am :P

So what did I love about this book? For starters, the concept is cool: an extra day stuck in the middle of the week that only a few people know about. The problem lies with what certain people decide to do with all that extra time on their hands. By blending modern day situations with Arthurian legends and throwing in a few Dr. Who and Ancient Aliens references, Dianne has created something completely original. Filled with heart-pounding action and wonderful characters–people who grow on you even when you start out thinking you won't like them–this is the type of book that I finish reading and hand off immediately to my kids. If you have a chance to get an ARC, jump on it. Otherwise, look for it when it releases next month. You'll definitely want to add this to your TBR list.

As for the WISH YOU WEREN'T blog tour, there's plenty of fun stuff happening this week. Reviews, deleted scenes, 25 things you might not know about me, and of course, plenty of give aways. Here's where you'll find me around the blogs this week:


Read This Instead: Wednesday, Kathy will share a deleted scene from Wish You Weren't.
Me, My Shelf & I: Thursday, 25 Things you may or may not know about me :)
Book Dreaming: Also Thursday, Shannon O'Donnell reviews Wish You Weren't.


All of these sites will be giving away prize packs as well (printed copy of Wish You Weren't, astronaut ice cream and a wish token), so stop by and enter your name to win!

Of course, you can always get your very own copy of WISH YOU WEREN'T from these magnificent retailers. And when you buy the print version from Amazon, you get a free e-book download, too -- bonus!

Amazon   |  Kobo  |  B&N  |   Smashwords  |   Solvang Book Loft

Celebrating Around the Web

We woke up to rain today – hooray! When you're living through a California drought, every drop is celebrated :) I'm also celebrating the release of WISH YOU WEREN'T with friends around the internet. Here's where you'll find me this week:

• Laurel's Leaves: I'm sharing some of my favorite research tips and giving away a WISH YOU WEREN'T prize pack.  
• K. Troutte: I'm chatting with my friend and critique partner about my writing process.  
• Geo Librarian: MG librarian Heidi Grange will be reviewing WISH YOU WEREN'T and giving away a prize pack. 

And that's just today!

On Wednesday, Tonja Drecker at Bookworm for Kids will be reviewing WISH YOU WEREN'T and giving away a prize pack. (Her blog recently received a Best of the Blogs award from Middle Shelf Magazine -- cool stuff!!) On Thursday, Melanie at Mel's Shelves will post her review and give away a prize pack. And on Friday, I'll be stopping by for an interview with Inspired Kathy at I am a Reader where she'll be giving away a prize pack as well. So many chances to win!

If you don't want to wait, you can always get your very own copy of WISH YOU WEREN'T from these magnificent retailers. And when you buy the print version from Amazon, you get a free e-book download, too -- bonus!

Amazon   |  Kobo  |  B&N  |   Smashwords  |   Solvang Book Loft


Thanks for celebrating with me!

It Begins!

Today starts the blog tour of awesome around the internet. Twelve stops, twelve chance to win a copy of WISH YOU WEREN'T and astronaut ice cream – yum!

Here's where you'll find me this week:

Monday: Mundie Kids (I'm guest posting about -- you guessed it -- wishing on stars!)
Wednesday: Cover2Cover (This time I'm talking about other ways to wish)
Wednesday: The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl will be posting a review Friday: Sher A. Hart reviewer Ken Rahmoeller shares his thoughts on WYW

In addition to the tour, I'm thrilled that the esteemed Middle Grade Ninja will be featuring me this week on his amazing blog. Tuesday he'll do his Book of the Week review of WISH YOU WEREN'T and on Thursday, I'll be answering his famous 7 Questions Interview. If you're a writer and you've never visited the Middle Grade Ninja, do yourself a favor and go now. He's got interviews with agents, editors and writers like Sara Crowe, Tina Wexler, Kendra Levin, Lynne Reid Banks and Ingrid Law. Seriously cool interviews I'll be rubbing shoulders with!

If you're looking for more chances to win, the contest is still open over at Literary Rambles. You can win a copy of the book, a wish token and a pocket watch just like the one Tör uses to manipulate time in WISH YOU WEREN'T. (Although I don't guarantee that this watch will have the same magical properties as Tör's!)

Whew! It's going to be a busy week! I hope I'll see you around the web!

And just in case you forgot, you can always get your very own copy of WISH YOU WEREN'T from these magnificent retailers :)
Amazon   |  Kobo  |  B&N  |   Smashwords  |   Solvang Book Loft

It's Finally Here!!

Pardon me for shouting but I'm SO EXCITED!!!

IT'S FINALLY HERE!!

And yes, I may be a bit biased, but isn't it beautiful?!

Here's what a few AWESOME people have said about WISH YOU WEREN'T:

“If you’re looking for the same old formula middle grade fantasy, this isn’t it. Wish You Weren’t is magically real. You wouldn’t be surprised if you met Marten in “real” life, but what he encounters in this story is pure magic.” ~VALERIE HOBBS, award-winning author of Wolf, Sheep and Minnie McClary Speaks Her Mind

“Wish You Weren’t is a sweet story about the blessings of family contained within the rip-roaring roller coaster of time travel. It is a page turner that kids are going to love!” ~KATIE D. ANDERSON, bestselling author of Kiss & Makeup

“I love all the science details mixed with fantasy in Wish You Weren’t — just the kinds of flights-of-science-fancy I wish I had as child!” ~SUSAN KAYE QUINN, bestselling author of the Mindjack Trilogy, Faery Swap and Third Daughter

“Fun and accessible, rich with realism and heart, this magical adventure reminds us of the things truly worth wishing for.” ~CASEY McCORMICK, literary agent intern and blogger at Literary Rambles


And where's where you can get your own fantabulous new copies!

Amazon    Kobo    B&N    Smashwords    Solvang Book Loft

Thursday I'll be guest posting at Susan Quinn's incredible blog.
Friday I'll be guest posting over at Literary Rambles.

There will be prizes of awesome at both sites, including free books! So be sure to visit their blogs. 

And now I'm going back to what I was doing before: caressing the glossy covers and grinning like a fool :D

The Big Reveal

So, I have some news that I've been sitting on for a while.

Since I've been thinking about it so long, you'd think I'd have a fantastically creative way to announce it. But you'd be wrong. The combination of late nights working on edits and standing in line in the sun in the Magic Kingdom have left me brain dead this week. So instead of talking about it. I'll just show you...

Yep, that's my name on the cover. I can't tell you how excited I am about this! It releases in a month, on March 17, which is coming up much faster than I thought it would! Eeeek!

This is a middle grade novel that is close to my heart, one that has had a long journey from concept to print. If you'd like to read the first chapter, you can find it on the new website I set up at sherriepetersenbooks.com, and since I'm back on Facebook now, I'd also love to have you like my spankin' new Author Page at facebook.com/AuthorSherriePetersen. In a few days a Goodreads giveaway will be opening up and you'll be able to register to win one of five copies. The widget for that is omewhere in the left column of this blog. You'll also find the link to it on my Facebook Author Page and new website.

It's been hard not to talk about it, but now that it's out there, I also promise not to drive everyone crazy by talking about nothing else :) At least not until March!