Yesterday I got two new presents in the mail–copies of the final, hardbound SUN-KISSED, and galley copies of MISTLETOE.

I love the cover of SUN-KISSED, I like to think of the girl on the cover is Jacqui and one of the hot new boys she meets this summer. (I think the one on the cover is Duffy, who is blond.) I had SUCH a fun time writing the book, and when I re-read it last night (which I do with all my books that I get final copies of), I was transported back to…no, not the Hamptons, but all the nights I spent right in front of my computer, conjuring up all that fun. And reading bits aloud to my husband–he helped a lot with the three new guys, and all their goofy jokes. And a huge debt to the guys at CollegeHumor.com, who inspired them.

Last night I also TORE through MISTLETOE, which has four holiday romance stories from four fab YA writers (moi included). I absolutely LOVED each story–Aimee Friedman’s is soo cute–about finding love in an unexpected place, as is Hailey Abbot’s (which is also about how college changes friends–very right-on, I thought) and Nina Malkin’s story is so hot and sexy! The book comes out in October and I like to think that the kids on the cover are Brenden and Kelsey from my own story, The Christmas Choos.

I also made a great deal of progess on the first 30 pgs I’m showing my editor on Blue Bloods 2: Masquerade. I always try to do a major polish before I show any of my work to anyone, but I’m really pleased with how it’s looking right now. (Ah, brave last words!) One of the things I was struggling with writing the sequel was that I felt I had put SO MUCH effort into making the first book great, I was really, really worried I had nothing left for Book Two. Like my brain was drained. But it’s been almost a year since I turned in Book 1, and in that year, my brain has thankfully come back to life (at least for Blue Bloods purposes!) and I’m so into the story again. PHEW!

When the writing is going well, everything else seems to fall into place. I notice I’ve been sleeping better since feeling better about the book. There are so many nights I just toss and turn because I was so worried about how I couldn’t get the story going. But now I’m so energized and sleep like a baby. Thank God!!

For those going to the book party–see you next week! And for everyone else, I’ll have the full recap when I return!

xoxo
Mel