Tens List with Gretchen McNeil

Book Nerd Tens List

Gretchen is a former coloratura soprano, the voice of Mary on G4's Code Monkeys and she currently sings with the LA-based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk. She is a founding member of vlog group theYARebels where she can be seen as "Monday," and she is an active member of both The Enchanted Inkpot, a group blog of YA and middle grade fantasy writers, and The Apocalypsies, a group blog of 2012 children's debut authors.

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My TOP TEN GUYS

I'm counting down my favorite male creations – boy characters from my books, that is (not, um, lifelike androids that look like Daniel Craig who may or may not live in my basement…)

*smiles cryptically*

I've tossed in some little-known facts about my boys along the way…

10. Logan Blaine (Get Even) – I know, I know. You haven't met the Get Even cast yet! But you will, and when you do, you'll love surfer dude Logan. Why? He talks like Johnny Utah (look it up…) and looks like Andy Roddick. FACT: He was originally named "Logan McDonough" but in a weird cosmic coincidence, Andrea Portes' Anatomy of a Misfit also has a character named Logan McDonough! So I changed his last name to "Blaine" which is a reference to Blane McDonnagh from Pretty In Pink.

9. Nathan (Ten) – Nathan was the first real a-hole I ever wrote. He's racist, misogynistic, selfish, unfeeling, and a bully. Which means he was so much fun to write. FACT: Nathan is partially based on a cartoon character named Dave from a show I used to work on—Code Monkeys,

8. Shane White (Get Even) – I'm just going to give you Shane's description from the book… " She knew what Shane was like on stage, singing lead vocals in a local indie punk band called Bangers and Mosh. She'd seen him in a tight tank top, skinny jeans, and combat boots, guitar slung low across his waist. She'd seen the full sleeve tattoos on his left arm, and when he peeled off his shirt, drenched in sweat from a performance, she'd seen the tattoos that covered his abs as well." Right? FACT: "Shane White" is a poorly disguised homage to the Flying Tomato Shaun White, who's attitude Shane embodies.

7. T. J. Fletcher (Ten) – I get asked a lot why T. J. is African American. The answer? No reason at all. He just is. And of all my male characters, listed here and otherwise, he's definitely the hottest. FACT: T. J.'s surname "Fletcher" is an homage to the greatest television sleuth of all time – Murder, She Wrote's Jessica Fletcher.

6. Hector Gutierrez (Possess) – Hector is every girl's GBFF (that's "gay best friend forever" for the uninitiated) of which I've had several over the years. I love the scene where he helps Bridget pick out a dress for the Winter Formal. One of my favorites. FACT: I had to cut a whole series of scenes from Possess where Hector and Brad work out their blossoming love affair, but they just didn't fit into the finished book. I was hoping to work that into a sequel, but…

5. Nick Fiorino (3:59) – My favorite thing about track star Nick Fiorino is that I got to write two of him: the Nick in Josie's world (who turns out to be kind of a dick) and the Nick in Jo's world (who starts off sketch, but turns out to be Prince Charming.) FACT: I was originally going to name him Alan, because somehow "Josie and Alan" had a nice ring to it. Then I realized why: Alan is the boyfriend in Josie and the Pussycats. Oops. So he became "Nick."

4. Gunner Shields (Ten) – How does a character who only has like five lines in the entire book end up so high on this list? For gems like this: "I read Lord of the Flies," Gunner said. "It didn’t end well." FACT: Gunner was the first named character I came up with in Ten, even before the main character Meg and her best friend Minnie. I have no idea why, but he popped into my head almost as soon as I came up with the pitch for the book.

3. Matt Quinn (Possess) – Matt Quinn, childhood from of prickly main character and fledgling exorcist Bridget Liu is kind of guy I secretly wanted to date in high school. FACT: I used the last name "Quinn" to honor a recently deceased family friend. In real life, Papa Quinn is a fireman.

2. John Baggott (Get Even) – John plays bass, read comic books, and believes there is a Star Wars quote applicable to every moment in life. He'd probably score the #1 spot on this list if it wasn't for Ed the Head. FACT: Both is name ("John") and his penchant for quoting Star Wars were borrowed from my husband.

1. Ed the Head (Get Even) – Not only is Ed my favorite male character, he might be my favorite character creation in general, not restricted by gender. Since you might not have met Ed yet, he's equal parts Duckie from Pretty in Pink and Anthony Michael Hall's Geek from Sixteen Candles. FACT: I promise I'm not ruining things here, but Ed was originally supposed to die in Get Even, but I loved him so much I needed to bring him back for the second book.

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The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars in Gretchen McNeil’s witty and suspenseful novel about four disparate girls who join forces to take revenge on high school bullies and create dangerous enemies for themselves in the process.
Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot have nothing in common—at least that’s what they’d like the students and administrators of their elite private school to think. The girls have different goals, different friends, and different lives, but they share one very big secret: They’re all members of Don’t Get Mad, a secret society that anonymously takes revenge on the school’s bullies, mean girls, and tyrannical teachers.
When their latest target ends up dead with a blood-soaked “DGM” card in his hands, the girls realize that they’re not as anonymous as they thought—and that someone now wants revenge on them. Soon the clues are piling up, the police are closing in . . . and everyone has something to lose.

You can purchase Get Even at the following Retailers:

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And now, The Giveaways.

Thank you Gretchen for making this giveaway possible.

3 Winners will each get a signed, finished copy of GET EVEN and a booklet of bonus material from book two in the Don't Get Mad series, GET DIRTY. Including the first chapters of GET DIRTY!

*JBN is not responsible for Lost or Damaged Books in your Nerdy Mail Box*

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Vlog Post with Tim Shoemaker

Photo Content from Tim Shoemaker

THE QUICK BIO
Happily married for more than thirty years to Cheryl, the love of my life.
Dad to three grown sons and two daughter-in-laws
Elder Chairman in my church and high school small group leader
Full time speaker and author since 2004
Living in the greater Chicago area
Grateful for God’s incredible grace and mercy to me in countless ways

MY PASSIONS
To be a man of integrity, who loves God and others with all my heart.
To be an extraordinary husband to Cheryl, the wife of my youth.
To love my sons, daughters-in-law, grandkids and extended family with everything in me.
To impact kids and youth in ways that cause them to become true men and women of God.
To help parents teach their kids about God and the principles He’s given us to live by.
To help couples experience the richness that comes from a marriage guided by God.
To help men see what a Christian man should be in all the various facets of life.

      

Print Length: 406 pages

Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0310735017

Publisher: Zonderkidz (March 25, 2014)

Publication Date: March 25, 2014

Sold by: HarperCollins Publishing

Praise for the CODE OF SILENCE Series

Some will find Shoemaker’s covering of every angle too exhaustive, but it is just this meticulousness that makes this novel stand apart. Rarely are kids in thrillers portrayed this realistically: sick with worry, horrified by injury, and smart but not preternaturally so. Mentions of multiple characters’ Christianity feel shoehorned in, but that doesn’t take away from this deliberate, plausible, and gritty whodunit.' ―Daniel Kraus, Booklist Review

THINGS YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT YOUR HIGH SCHOOL YEARS IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME.
―I’d keep a journal. Capturing those emotions from high school years? Wow, would that come in handy now.
―I’d do a better job of reaching out to kids who were picked on by others.
―I’d have stayed home from work the day I totaled my first car… the 1966 Chevy Malibu.
―I’d change how I dressed. There is no way I’d wear those 70’s fashions again!
―I’d answer Mr. Burmeister’s question instead of laughing it off and walking away.



―I wouldn’t have believed my friends who told me the house on Ela Road was abandoned. And I definitely wouldn’t have gone in to see if all the things they said about the place were true.
―I wouldn’t have pulled some of the pranks I did… then again, I probably would. But I’d be smarter this time.
―I didn’t date many girls… but going back, I’d date less of them. I actually started dating my wife in high school. Knowing how well that turned out, if I could go back I’d start dating her a lot sooner.
―I’d talk more about the deeper issues of life with my friends. My faith.
―I’d do more to encourage my friends to avoid the self-destructive paths in life they ended up choosing.

Something is wrong with Cooper. He’s plagued by a fear he doesn’t understand and can’t control. Cooper just wants to escape, and a summer vacation aboard the restored cabin cruiser, The Getaway, with best friends Gordy, Hiro, and Lunk seems like the perfect way to do it. Two weeks of fun—with no mysteries or life-and-death danger. That’s the plan. But their plans are shattered the very first night when they witness a murder. Or did they? Despite their intentions of leaving the investigation to the police, narrow misses and creepy encounters lure them in. Is there really a body floating in the underwater currents of the lake? The closer they get to the truth, the deeper into danger they get. Too late they see the trap. Now each of them must face their own buried fears . . . just below the surface.

You can purchase Below the Surface at the following Retailers:

        

And now, The Giveaways.

Thank you TIM SHOEMAKER for making this giveaway possible.

3 Winners will receive a Copy of Below the Surface by Tim Shoemaker.

1 Winner will receive a Complete Set of The Code of Silence Series by Tim Shoemaker.

PART ONE

MAY 19th MONDAY JeanBookNerd VLOG & TENS LIST
MAY 20th TUESDAY Crossroad Reviews REVIEW
MAY 21st WEDNESDAY Book Suburbia GUEST POST
MAY 22nd THURSDAY The Cover Contessa INTERVIEW
MAY 23rd FRIDAY MHZ Book Reviews and Giveaways REVIEW

PART TWO
MAY 24th SATURDAY Bookie-Monster REVIEW & 5 RANDOM THINGS
MAY 25th MONDAY Deal Sharing Aunt REVIEW & THIS OR THAT
MAY 26th MONDAY Bookwyrming Thoughts MUSIC PLAYLIST & FAVORITE BOOKS
MAY 27th TUESDAY Spiced Latte Reads REVIEW
MAY 28th WEDNESDAY CBY Book Club DREAM CAST

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Fiona Paul Author Interview

Photo Content from Fiona Paul

Fiona Paul lives in the Midwest but travels a lot since she can't breathe if she spends too much time away from the ocean. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a major in psychology and spent a year teaching English in Seoul, Korea while she was deciding what she wanted to be when she grew up. Answer: everything. In addition to being a teacher and writer, she's also worked as a saute cook, sporting goods manager, veterinary assistant, and registered nurse. When she's not working, you can usually find her kayaking, reading, or helping turtles cross the road. Her future goals include diving with great white sharks and writing more books, not necessarily in that order. Venom is her first novel.

        

Series: Secrets of the Eternal Rose (Book 3)
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Philomel Books (March 20, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399257276
ISBN-13: 978-0399257278

Praise for STARLING

"Readers will not want to miss a single exciting chapter of this Italian Renaissance trilogy." ―Booklist  

Was there a defining moment during your youth when you realized you wanted to be a writer?
Honestly, I never thought I could pursue writing as a career. I thought of authors like musicians or actresses, and I didn’t grow up in a world where those careers felt possible to me. I always wrote—poems, stories, plays, etc—because it was fun for me. When I graduated from college I applied to writing graduate school, but I didn’t get accepted. After that, I gave up on writing for a few years until I started doing book reviews for a website. I gravitated toward YA books and the more I read the more I wanted to write my own stories.

Beyond your own work (of course), what is your all-time favorite book and why? And what is your favorite book outside of your genre?
My fave book is Going Bovine by Libba Bray. She is a total master of teen voice and even though MC Cameron isn’t exactly likable, I found myself falling right into his story and cheering him along. Going Bovine is kind of a genre-bending book, but I also like most of Dean Koontz’s adult suspense novels—particularly Watchers, Lightning, and Odd Thomas.

What do you feel is the most significant change since Venom?
When I started working with Paper Lantern Lit I was kind of starstruck and awed by the whole process of working with an NYT bestseller and a professional editor. For the most part, I ran with the outline I was given and didn’t make a ton of changes to the Venom storyline. Throughout the writing of the trilogy, I became more attached to the plot and characters and had strong feelings about how the story should resolve. Basically each progressive book feels more like me because I fought for the plot points I believed worked best for the narrative. Of course my own stories (writing as Paula Stokes) feel even more like me. I guess my biggest change is moving away from the literary studio or book packager model to a place where I can have ultimate control over my books.

Which character have you enjoyed getting to know the most over the course of writing the The Secrets of the Eternal Rose?
I would have to say Luca. Cass, Luca, and Falco all grow and change throughout the trilogy, but while Cass and Falco’s evolution went where I expected, Luca really ends up being much more complex than I ever envisioned.

When asked, what’s the one question you always answer with a lie?
I have very little patience for liars and tend to be honest to a fault, so I can’t think of anything I would lie about, but I do tend to avoid discussing things like politics or religion because I’m a live-and-let-live girl. I know where I stand on the issues and I’m okay with it. I’m not interested in spending hours arguing with people in an attempt to change their minds. People should do what they feel is right. If that’s different than what I do, so be it.

Tell me about your first kiss.
Hah. I was 14. His name was Chris. He played guitar for my brother’s band. The only time I ever skipped school was to hang out with him—he was a total bad influence :)

When was the last time you cried?
I cried in February on my vacation when the shuttle van that drove me from Los Cabos to La Paz hit a dog that was crossing the street :/ Our driver wouldn’t stop to see if it was still alive and I felt a ton of guilt at the thought of leaving a scared, injured animal helpless in the middle of the road.

Which would you choose, true love with a guarantee of a heartbreak or have never loved before?
I will always choose an epic high and crushing low over an even but uneventful life, so I would go with guaranteed heartbreak. Not all relationships are meant to be forever and although I am single now I feel lucky to have found true love twice.

What decade during the last century would you have chosen to be a teenager?
Well, I would kind of like to be a teenager now because I could shave 20 years off my life J But if you mean what decade in the sense of music or fashion or similar, I think I was a teenager in the perfect decade for me—the nineties. I am still obsessed with nineties music and TV shows and style.

TEN THINGS YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT YOUR HIGH SCHOOL YEARS IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME.

10. I would take gym, even when I didn’t have to anymore, because exercise is good for the soul.

9. I would try out for a play. I loved acting class but shied away from actual productions due to stage fright.

8. I would be nicer to that weird kid that no one was nice to.

7. I would be less weight-obsessed. Starvation isn’t healthy, or sexy, or productive. Being thin isn’t everything. Really, it isn’t anything when you start realizing what actually matters to you.

6. I would sign up to be a foreign exchange student. Traveling has changed me more than anything else I’ve ever done. I wish I had started exploring the world earlier.

5. I would take Spanish instead of French. Or maybe take both and opt out of Calculus. There have been plenty of times where speaking Spanish would have come in handy, but never once have I had to figure the surface area of a kidney-shaped swimming pool.

4. I would work harder on my college entrance essays. Despite 99th percentile test scores, a perfect GPA, and a whole list of athletic and honors activities, my first choice university, waitlisted me. This is partially why I ended up staying in St. Louis for college, and that was the wrong choice for me.

3. I would date the slightly goofy guy who I knew liked me, even though my friends thought he wasn’t cool. That guy turned out to be amazing—kind, smart, funny, successful, handsome. I messed up bigtime by not giving him a chance.

2. I would tell the guy I dated instead—older, controlling, possessive—to get lost a lot earlier. That guy made me feel bad about who I was. Never stay with anyone who makes you feel that way, regardless of how perfect he is on paper.

1. I would recognize what I had going for me and be more confident in everything I did. I remember feeling awkward, ungainly, and unattractive—thinking that I was smart, cool, and kind but that it wasn’t enough for me to be desirable to anyone. Newsflash—smart, cool, and kind equals desirable to people who matter. Don’t be like me. Don’t waste years of your life feeling not good enough. Make the best of what you’ve got and realize that you are awesome.

The dark, seductive conclusion to the thrilling Secrets of the Eternal Rose trilogy!

In the final book in the trilogy, Cass and Luca are back in Venice trying to find the Book of the Eternal Rose to clear Luca’s name and keep them both out of prison. But the hunters become the hunted when the Order of the Eternal Rose figures out their plan. Filled with twists and turns, danger and torrid romances, this novel brings the Secrets of the Eternal Rose novels to a thrilling, heart-pounding, sexy conclusion.

You can purchase Starling at the following Retailers:

    

And now, The Giveaways.

Thank you FIONA PAUL for making this giveaway possible.

2 Winners will receive a Copy of Starling by Fiona Paul.

1 Winner will receive a signed Copy of the entire trilogy 

(PB Venom and Belladonna and hardcover STARLING).

WEEK ONE

MARCH 10th MONDAY JeanBookNerd INTERVIEW & TENS LIST
MARCH  11th TUESDAY Chapter by Chapter MUSIC PLAYLIST
MARCH  12th WEDNESDAY Book Haven Extraordinaire REVIEW
MARCH  13th THURSDAY  The Reader’s Antidote INTERVIEW
MARCH  14th FRIDAY Candace’s Book Blog REVIEW

WEEK TWO
MARCH  15th SATURDAY A Dream Within a Dream RANDOM THINGS
MARCH  16th SUNDAY Book Soulmates REVIEW
MARCH  17th MONDAY Rainy Day Ramblings GUEST POST
MARCH  18th TUESDAY Emilie’s Book World CHARACTER INTERVIEW
MARCH  19th WEDNESDAY Sassy Book Lovers DREAM CAST

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