Michelle Levy's Blog

Hello and welcome! I’m Michelle Levy and this is my first time participating in the hunt! You’re obviously here because a) you’re awesome, and b) you’re searching for my favorite number so you can win ALL THE BOOKS from the PURPLE TEAM! But I’m going to make you work for it. Bwahahahaha.

Just look at all those amazing books you could win!

So just in case you don’t know how the scavenger hunt works, here’s a little refresher:

Collect the hidden numbers from all the authors on the purple team and then add them up. I know, right? We’re actually making you math. After you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure to fill out the entry form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify. So math carefully.

The hunt is open internationally. If you’re below the age of 18 (psych! this isn’t my favorite number. hehehe.) you should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by Sunday, April 3rd, at noon Pacific Time. Entries without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

There are NINE (not it) contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one (nope) or all! As I said, I am a part of the PURPLE TEAM, but there is also a BLUE TEAM, GOLD TEAM, GREEN TEAM, ORANGE TEAM, PINK TEAM, RED TEAM, SILVER TEAM, & TEAL TEAM! Check out each team for a chance to win 9 (uh, no. how much do you hate me right now?) different sets of signed books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, visit the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

Oh, and after you read the exclusive content I’m hosting and find my favorite number, be sure to enter below to win a copy (signed hardcover if you’re in the US or Canada, signed paperback of the Spanish version if you’re international) of my book, Not After Everything!

On this particular hunt you will get access to exclusive content from each member of the PURPLE TEAM.  Exclusive content, you ask? That’s right! It could be a play list or a sneak preview or a deleted scene. For example, maybe you want to read a deleted scene from Not After Everything. A really steamy kissing scene! You so want to check that out, don’t you? Trust me, you do. But you have to find it first! Oh, and once the contest is over, the exclusive content goes bye-bye. So check everything out before April 3rd!

And now, ladies and gentleman, I’m thrilled to be sharing exclusive content from . . . drum roll please . . . the lovely Jennifer DiGiovanni!

Jennifer DiGiovanni is a freelance writer and YA author currently working on the School Dayz series. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading, working on home design projects, or trying to meet the daily goals on her Fitbit. My Senior Year of Awesome, book 1 (still not my number) in the School Dayz series, is her first novel.

You can find out more about Jennifer at jenniferdigiovanni.com.

And be sure to follow her on Twitter and Instagram!

My Senior Year of Awesome

School days don’t get easier just because you’re a senior!

It’s the final semester of senior year, and everyone at Harmony High can’t wait to find out the results of the Senior Superlative votes! But the balloon bursts in Sadie’s face when she discovers she’s been voted “Most Likely to Get Married” to Andy – a boy she’s never dated or ever thought of as a potential boyfriend. Completely and utter mortification sets in.

To prove high school means something more than a Senior Superlative award, Sadie and her best friend Jana decide to create their own list of awesome non-academic achievements to be completed before graduation.

Yet, the harder Sadie works to show everyone she’s not the least bit attracted to Andy, the more appealing he becomes. Typical for the girl who can’t seem to achieve anything important, even the completion of one lousy college application.

When senioritis kicks in and the school year dwindles down to mere weeks, Sadie decides to risk her good girl reputation to prove that an Awesome Achievement means much more than any Senior Superlative vote. By the time Sadie realizes her epic screw-up, she just might have lost her chance at the prom date of her dreams.

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT TIME!!!

But first, a word from Jennifer.

Hello and thanks to Michelle for hosting me on this portion of the hunt! In my book, best friends Sadie and Jana love to write lists. So, for the hunt content I’ve included a deleted scene from Chapter 1 that includes one of their shorter lists. I’ve also put together an inspiration board based on My Senior Year of Awesome.

My Senior Year of Awesome – Deleted Scene from Chapter 1

My name is Sadie Matthews and I am a listaholic.

My best friend Jana is also a fanatical list-writer.

We’re a pair of uber-organized, left-brained, tireless record keepers. Ever since we learned to write in cursive, we’ve devoted pages of our diaries, journals, blogs, texts, and old school marble copybooks to rating and ranking everyday occurrences according to our own Buzz Feed-worthy metrics. In fact, our latest study results headlined as a listicle in Out of Tune, Harmony High’s student newspaper.

MAKE THAT FIRST DATE SPECIAL!

Best places to go on a First Date with a guy you like:  

1.    The Twin Cinema: The best place for artsy films with subtitles. Dark and usually vacant. Perfect for Dame Judi Dench and Charles Dickens fans.

2.    Crystal Lake. After the gates close at sundown, the park is deserted, no rangers in sight to interfere with your romantic star-gazing.

3.    The Green Lagoon Irish Pub. Classy polished woodwork around the bar, high booths for privacy, great pub food, and the menu is affordable for teenagers.

Best places to go on a First Date with a guy when you’re on the fence (or if you suspect he’s on the fence):

1.    Any Cinema Multiplex. First-run movies and plenty of company, which limits kissing opportunities if you’re not totally on board with that yet.

2.    The Mall. Well-lit and crowded, plus if a guy agrees to go shopping, you might have hit the potential long-term boyfriend jackpot.    

3.    Harmony Inn. Formal atmosphere, older clientele (mostly blue-hair), on the pricey side. Recommended for those interested in sizing up their date in formal attire (the only place left on Earth where a jacket is still required.)

Why do we go to the trouble of publishing our findings, you may ask?  Because we hope our thorough, complex analysis will encourage young girls to assess the state of their social lives and identify areas for improvement.  

And yes, Jana and I conduct most of our research in our own free time. In class, we’re supposed to be paying attention to our teachers, even though it’s the middle of senior year, and I figure, if I haven’t learned anything by now, it’s just not happening.  

So, given my keen interest in listograms, infographics, and a basic pie chart or two, you can imagine my excitement when Aunt Tina sent me the latest version of Fill It In. Aunt Tina is also a voracious lister, which is why she knew I would absolutely love this book. I texted a picture of the cover to Jana, who was busy spending her holiday tanning on the beach in St. Bart’s, sipping virgin daiquiris.  

Her response:     

I know what we’re doing next week!!!! Do not even think about starting without me.  

But, I can’t resist. I skim through the 365 empty lists, one for each day of the year, and then stow the book in my backpack for the rest of winter break.

And here’s the inspiration board:

I hope you enjoyed getting to know more about Sadie and Jana! Be sure to check out My Senior Year of Awesome, as well as the rest of the books in the School Dayz series.

You can purchase My Senior Year of Awesome here or here. And don’t forget to add it on Goodreads!

Awesome! Thank you, Jennifer!

Okay, everyone, hands in. “Go team purple” on three! And one . . . two . . . 3! This is not a drill! I repeat: THIS IS NOT A DRILL! (In case that wasn’t clear enough MY FAVORITE NUMBER IS 3)

GO TEAM PURPLE!

To find all 9 numbers from the PURPLE TEAM, be sure to continue on to Kassy Tayler’s blog! 

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The post SPRING 2016 YA SCAVENGER HUNT! appeared first on Michelle Levy.

Well, the official blog tour for Not After Everything is over. How much fun was that?! In case you missed it, I’ve complied a list (with links) of all the stops.

Thank you to all the amazing bloggers who participated!

NOTEWORTHY LINKS:

USA Today featured an excerpt from Not After Everything on their Happy Ever After Blog!!!

Bustle included Not After Everything in their 13 of August 2015’s Best Young Adults Books aka What to Read While your Summer Dwindles Down.

Epic Reads included Not After Everything in their 15 Most Anticipated YA Books to Read in August.

THE OFFICIAL BLOG TOUR:

1st Stop: Page Turners. Check out my interview here.

2nd Stop: GReads! gave Not After Everything a fantastic review!

3rd Stop: Addicted 2 Novels gave Not After Everything another awesome review!

4th Stop: Ex Libris with yet another great review! Seriously, an author can get used to this!

5th Stop: Adventures in YA Publishing. See the interview here.

6th Stop: Me, My Shelf, and I posted 25 things you might not know about me. I reveal all! (Okay, not really.)

7th Stop: The Paperback Princess gave Not After Everything a royal review. (Sorry. I couldn’t resist.)

8th Stop: Girls in the Stacks asked me to do a guest post. And since they’re on Tubmlr, I went a little crazy with all the Dylan O’Brien gifs! (Sorry. Not sorry.)

9th Stop: I did an interview on Rather be Reading. Check it out here.

10th Stop: I played a little game of This or That over on Reading Teen. So. Much. Fun!

11th Stop: A Dream Within a Dream gave Not After Everything a dreamy review. (I’ll stop now.)

12th Stop: I wrote a guest post for The Eater of Books about how I used to be a secret writer.

Lucky (and final) Stop #13: I wrote a guest post for Perpetual Page Turner about how I use empathy to create characters.

NOT OFFICIALLY ON THE BLOG TOUR, BUT KIND OF:

Miss Literatti interview.

Free Book Friday interview.

Reading Lark review.

The Sweet Sixteens: The Debut Club interview.

This is What You Should Be Reading . . . According to the First Novels Club review.

Beatrice Learns To Read interview and excerpt.

Thanks again to all the bloggers and reviewers! Your support means the world!

The post NOT AFTER EVERYTHING BLOG TOUR (et al) appeared first on Michelle Levy.

Not After Everything comes out in two weeks! TWO WEEKS! So I’m giving away two advance copies!

Enter now!

Giveaway ends July 23, 2015.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

The post Goodreads Giveaway! (US and Canada) appeared first on Michelle Levy.

Enter to win an advance copy!

Giveaway ends July 17, 2015.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

The post Goodreads Giveaway! (US and Canada) appeared first on Michelle Levy.

I got an INCREDIBLE blurb from Jennifer Echols!!!

Well, this is one of the best blurbs I’ve ever read. I mean WOW right?

So to thank Jennifer for that superlative blurb, I’ve giving away her SUPERLATIVES SERIES, which includes BIGGEST FLIRTS, PERFECT COUPLE, and MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED! Three books, guys! Signed by the author herself!

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The post Enter to win the SUPERLATIVES SERIES by Jennifer Echols! (US only) appeared first on Michelle Levy.

Guys, I got a seriously impressive blurb for NOT AFTER EVERYTHING from Jessica Brody!!!

So to thank Jessica for those amazing words I’ll be giving away a signed copy of her book 52 REASONS TO HATE MY FATHER! It’s such a fun read. One of my favorites. And it would make an awesome movie. Let me tell you, I’ve got some casting ideas for this book in my head! If it’s ever made into a movie, I better get to cast it.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stay tuned for more exciting giveaways!

Not After Everything got a starred review from Kirkus!!! You can read it here.

It’s here! You can finally see the cover of Not After Everything and read my thoughts on how it turned out over at YA Highway.

The super-awesome Sabaa Tahir was nice enough to tag me in the Writing Process Blog Tour (you can read her post here. ). For those of you who don’t know, Sabaa’s book, AN EMBER IN THE ASHES, has already been acquired by Paramount in a major deal! And the book doesn’t even come out until next year! Plus, she’s, like, really funny and stuff—don’t believe me? Check out her bio. You should all definitely be keeping an eye on her! And following her on Twitter @sabaatahir!

Now for the blog tour questions:

1. What am I working on?

I’m currently working on edits for NOT AFTER EVERYTHING (FKA The End of the Beginning), which will be out next year. And I’m revising another YA contemporary book.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

There are so many things that could be considered contemporary these days. So I’m just going to go with contemporary romance. NOT AFTER EVERYTHING is different from other contemporary romances because it’s a love story from a guy’s point of view. I mean, I don’t know of too many other books told from the perspective of a seventeen-year-old former football player falling in love, do you?

3. Why do I write what I do?

I write what write, whether it’s contemporary/speculative/romance/whatever, because I’ll hear* bits and pieces of a particular character’s dialogue in the back of my mind, and they won’t shut up until I give in and tell their story. For NOT AFTER EVERYTHING I was actually in the shower when I heard Tyler. He was really pissed off and needed me to help him figure out why. I ignored him, obv. Because A) I was in the shower hearing the voice* of a teenage boy, which was disconcerting to say the least. And B) I wasn’t sure how I was going to write a story from the POV of a seventeen-year-old former running back. But he wouldn’t give up. And I’m glad he didn’t.

*I don’t mean that I literally hear voices. No need to call for a straightjacket. Yet.

4. What’s my writing process like?

Before I begin drafting I usually have a brief general outline, which includes all the things I want to have happen in the story as well as the ending. Plotting is my favorite thing in the world. It’s like dating the character—they tell me all the important things without going into too much detail because they don’t want to scare me off. It’s not until the drafting stage where, after the dating has evolved into a full-blown relationship, they really start to open up and I discover that they’re totally nuts. But by that time I’m too invested and it’s too late to bail so I might as well see it through. After that comes revisions, aka couples counseling, where all the actions and feelings are defined and understood, and the relationship has been picked apart and put back together until we both feel that we’re being heard. Wow do I sound crazy.

Here’s the non-cray version: Basically, I plot/outline for as long as it takes, draft really fast so I can’t overthink it—NOT AFTER EVERYTHING took me five weeks—and then I revise the hell out of it.

On the next episode of The Writing Process Blog Tour…

Andrea Hannah and N.K. Traver you’re it!

Andrea Hannah is one of my brilliant critique partners and all-around awesome person. Plus she has a pug that can open the refrigerator. I know, right?! Her debut, OF SCARS AND STARDUST, comes out October 8th. I got to read an earlier version of this and I absolutely loved it. Andrea told me it’s changed quite a bit from when I read it so now it’ll be like I get to read it for the first time all over again! I can’t wait! OF SCARS AND STARDUST is a psychological mystery that will keep you thinking about it long after you finish reading it. I can’t say enough good things! Her Writing Process post will be up May 26th. And you should definitely follow her on Twitter @andeehannah!

N.K. Traver (Nat) is a fellow Fearless Fifteener and Coloradan! Only she obviously doesn’t hate driving in the snow as much as I do, because she still lives there. Her debut, DUPLICITY, was pitched as BREAKING BAD meets THE MATRIX for teens. Enough said. I’m sold. This intriguing Cyberthriller comes out next winter. Her Writing Process post will be up May 26th. And you should totally be following her on Twitter @NKTraver!

In case that last post was too subtle:

I HAVE A FREAKING BOOK DEAL!!!

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*

*Nancy Conescu at Dial has acquired The End of the Beginning, a debut YA novel by casting agent Michelle Levy. The novel, pitched as a darkerEleanor & Park, tells of two broken people who help each other survive and ultimately find love. Publication is planned for summer 2015; Laura Bradford of Bradford Literary Agency negotiated the deal for world English-language rights.

**Dial is an imprint of The Penguin Group.