As much as I love Christmas, New Year's gets some serious love on my holiday list as well. It's even more perfect when we're getting socked with snow like we were this season in Michigan. It's true that driving isn't the most fun in it, but the fresh, cleanness of new snow is the perfect setting to think about how I want to improve in the new year.

This past summer, I bought a planner from INK + VOLT and I love it. Love. It. It's really helping me break down goals, always important in writing and even more so when I'm balancing family, writing, librarian-ing, and skating. Another thing I love about it is that I have the version that starts in the summer. Starting a shiny new planner in summer was like New Year's in July. Because of that, I've been having a pretty productive year, and now the new year is adding an extra kick of motivation. The only place where this planner isn't really working for me is for reading. Reading isn't something I need to pencil into my schedule - my schedule is all the times when I have to put a book DOWN to do other things. So I wouldn't say it's a fault design of the planner, but I do like to set reading goals. 

I'll be doing the Reading Challenge on Goodreads this year, but I'm looking for something more than a number. Several friends are doing Book Riot's Read Harder challenge, and honestly I'll probably end up doing it along with them just because we talk about what we're reading and I know I'll be getting lots of recommendations from them about books they picked up to fulfill the challenge list. Therefore, I'm thinking that for my own personal challenge, I'm going to try to read enough books from my Goodreads Want to Read list to get it down to under 200 books. Since my local library cooperative has increased patron hold limits, I'm usually able to just put books that sound interesting on hold. Thus, books on my Want to Read list have fallen aside, since I've stayed busy with a steady stream of holds. Time to rectify that.

​Wishing you all a wonderful new year filled with reading!

I love ice skating, but my next favorite thing is summers at the beach. This summer, I’m teaming up with fellow authors Melanie Hooyenga and Jennifer Comeaux to combine those favorites. We’re having a giveaway of YA winter sports romance novels to give you some awesome beach reading.

Beginning TODAY, you can enter to win a paperback copy of each of our books — THE BOY NEXT DOOR, THE SLOPE RULES, and GOLD RUSH — by sharing a picture online of how you enjoy winter in summer.

The Rules:

—> Post a picture on Instagram, Twitter, AND/OR Facebook with the hashtag "CoolReadsHotNights" by Sunday, July 23rd.
—> You must live in the US.

It's that easy!

A few more details:
—> You can enter more than once
—> Get creative! Ice and ice cream are easy, but drag your snowshoes from the basement and take a hike in the dunes!
—> We'd love it if you tag us: @melaniehoo, @kvanark (twitter), @LadyWave4 (twitter)

Now what are you waiting for? Share your winter in summer pics!

The most recent Swoon Reads cover contest has me craving swoony book covers and I love this one! Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of presenting at the Rochester Writers spring conference along with several other YA authors. Melanie Hooyenga and I met for the first time, and the cover of her YA skiing novel, The Slope Rules, caught my eye right away. If you loved the winter sports and romance mash-up of The Boy Next Door, you should definitely check out The Slope Rules. Here's what Melanie has to say about what inspired her to write The Slope Rules and her own skiing experiences:

Being a Michigander, I’m no stranger to snow, so writing a skiing book isn’t that far-fetched. I first came up with the idea in the winter of 2014 while watching the winter Olympics. West Michigan was buried under 100 inches of snow and I spent a lot of time snuggled on the couch thinking about snow and watching amazing athletes do incredible things with their bodies. I’ve always skied and thought it’d be fun to write about a skier—but not just any skier, a girl who isn’t afraid of anything and can hurl herself through the air like the best of them.

I borrowed the idea of two kids meeting on vacation and cliques with silly names from the movie Grease, then I tossed in a few Mean Girls and added a brewery because my husband and I love craft beer and brew beer at home.

As for skiing, my grampa worked at a small ski place on the east side of Michigan so I first learned when I was five-years old. In junior high I joined the ski club—which means they set 200 7th and 8th graders loose on a hill once a week—but I didn’t get over my fear of going fast until I took a ski class in college. I’ve always been more about precision—the Snow Bunnies’ style is based on how I ski—but being graded forced me to get over myself. Now my husband and I regularly race down the slopes—but I’ll never do spectacular stunts like Cally.

Despite my familiarity with the sport, I did a lot of research for the terminology in THE SLOPE RULES. I spent a day riding up the chairlift on the terrain park to watch how the kids interacted on the jumps and tricks, and I critiqued my own skiing. When you’ve done something your whole life you don’t think about the technique, you just do it, so I paid attention to little things like which leg you lean on to turn and what the snow sounds like when you catch an edge.

So far the response from readers has been great, and I especially love the people who say they’ve never skied but my book made them feel like they could. That’s why I do this. To unleash readers’ imaginations and make them imagine things they never thought possible. Even if it’s just pulling a reverse 360 on snow.

You can find out more about Melanie Hooyenga and her other YA novels on her website and social media accounts:
http://www.melaniehoo.com
https://www.facebook.com/MelanieHooyenga
https://twitter.com/MelanieHoo
https://instagram.com/melaniehoo/

Here's where you can get your own copy of The Slope Rules:
Print: https://www.amazon.com/Slope-Rules-Melanie-Hooyenga/dp/1542620309
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Slope-Rules-Melanie-Hooyenga-ebook/dp/B01MUBSOLO
BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-slope-rules-melanie-hooyenga/1125532935
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-slope-rules
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/698287
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/author/melanie-hooyenga/id714226093

This is one of those novels that makes me wish that Goodreads let you rate books at six stars. The kind of novel that makes me wish I had a book group. The kind I want on every end aisle of every bookstore everywhere.

Sequels and companion novels are hard to pull off well. There’s all the expectations of the first book, and after Openly Straight, I had high ones. Here's just one of my favorite passages.

“I'm glad we did this,” I said, looking over at Ben. “I'm glad you came.”
            “You wish I came,” he said.
            My face flushed pink, or pinker. The silence felt like it could fill the resort for hours. “Did you just make a sex joke?” I finally managed to say.
            He grinned.
            “You're such a dick,” I said, laughing.
            “Are you trying to make me another one?” (247-248)
 
The relationship between Rafe and Ben was heartbreakingly real. I also loved the premise of Openly Straight, which made me feel so deeply about the way we label people.

As you may have guessed from my first paragraph, though, Honestly Ben did not disappoint. It went beyond the questions of labels and boxes to “are you in or out?” and “what have you bought into that maybe you shouldn’t have?” These weren’t just about sexuality, either, but about life. Are you really in life, engaged with those around you? Are you buying into “truths” that you haven’t really considered, about the way you only think things have to be?

I don’t want to give spoilers, but I’ll say this much. For my fellow romance lovers yearning for happily-ever-after, this realistic ending is satisfying. And on a completely unrelated note, the subplot about Ben’s speech is plotting genius. Go get this book, now.

WARNING: Book porn below! All those with bookstore fetishes may want to skip this post.

I spend a good chunk of each day either working on my own books or helping my critique group members with theirs. The rest of the time, I work at a library, where I frequently wrap up shifts by visiting my public library on the way home - even if I already have a bag of books from work with me in the car. You, my fellow bibliophiles, get it - even if we had forty-eight hours in each day we couldn't spend enough time with books.

My family just got back from our yearly visit to my sister's Massachusetts farm. Of course, as much as I love books, spending time with my little sis and her awesome husband (I couldn't have written her a better match!) was the best part of the trip. As far as attractions, though? Visiting the Book Barn in nearby Niantic, Connecticut was definitely the highlight. This used bookstore is so huge, they have several overflow buildings. (All the pics are just from their main store and you're not even seeing a quarter of that!) Plus, there are cats!

iSo sometimes you read a book, and you just want to gush to someone about it. You’ve been there, right? Tweeting your delight isn’t enough. Goodreads isn’t enough. Insta just isn’t. Today’s one of those days where I think I’d like to be a reviewer at Kirkus just so I could proclaim the fabuliciousness of this book. (Yes, I made that word up, but fabulous just wasn’t up to this job.)

Gail Nall’s BREAKING THE ICE is a middle grade book, so not my usual reading choice. Apart from Harry Potter, I usually only read middle grade with my daughter. But any book with a skater on the cover I have to at least look at. It’s a compulsion. And this one? I couldn’t stop looking. Page after page. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down. Nall captures the skating world so well, I could smell the hockey player spit on the floor mats. Club relationships, the many shades of skater moms, it was all there.

Every skater has his or her personal struggles with the sport – either with jumps, or spinning, or artistry – and Kaitlin’s battle with artistry was so real and perfectly incorporated into her overall character growth. Any skater will love this book, but Kaitlin is also questioning so many things that all kids deal with: What does it really mean to be a friend? What do you do when other people are mean to you? What if you’re trying your best at something and it still isn’t enough? I especially loved Kaitlin’s mixed feelings toward cute-but-bad boy Braedon: can she be friends with someone whose fun has a tendency to go too far?

Highly recommended. Starred review. (Okay, I’ll stop pretending I’m from Kirkus now. But seriously, go read this. I’m going back to writing. That is, after I re-read my favorite scene. Page 140 – I’m going to re-read this one every time I think I’ve made one of my own scenes as embarrassing as possible!)

I went to the library today to quickly pick up "just one thing." If my one thing is on the hold shelf, I can - usually - grab it and escape. Today, though, I had to go into the stacks and, for me, those have a beyond gravitational force. At least my library "impulse buys" don't drain my pocketbook!

The book that pulled me in today was a children's book on writing with the standard chapter about how ideas are everywhere. It went on, however, to suggest that when you want to write a story you think of a setting first. The character versus plot debate is never-ending, but starting with setting? I had itchy Twitter fingers over that one. I'd never started a story with a setting - had I? Had I?

Well... Maddy and Gabe's story in The Boy Next Door started with the seed of a girl who would have to risk her passion for the ice for love. Sure, a girl is a character (although girl as setting could get interesting - and possibly R rated - fast) but the ice...is a setting. My fantasy project for VCFA is a story about an elf alone...in a world where elves are supposed to be only legends. And while "world as character" could be another wacky story seed...yeah.

It's true that I didn't think just of the setting, but the setting was important to my story seeds. Character versus plot versus setting - another candidate for the debate. Of course, no matter how you like to start, great stories need to grow until they're strong in all of these areas. Swoon Reads editor Holly West wrote a great post about this on the Swoon Reads blog: Ask an Editor: Story Seeds. Check it out, and add some more fuel to your writing energy today.