How does one start these things?
I have never written one! I don’t know what I’m doing! In fact, I have held off on writing an author newsletter for approximately a bagazillion days precisely because this act, right here, that you are reading, is what triggers the greatest imposter syndrome in me.
Embarrassing myself online by trying to understand how the TikTok toktiks? No problem, my aol username was the German word for bathroom. Public nonsense is nothing new.
Knowing strangers are going to be reading my book in less than a year? Also fine, that’s why I wrote it—in the hopes that some of the joy and pain I felt while writing it will be felt by people I’ve never met before.
Talking to people irl about my book? Sure! I’ve talked to them about way more complicated things, like stratigraphy! And my failed attempts at making dim sum because I can’t figure out hot water dough! And the inevitability of death!
But sending something into your email inboxes, something that you told me you’d enjoy having by pressing that wee orange subscribe button…
Can’t do it.
So, expect these to be few and far between unless I figure that out — or unless you give me ideas on what to write about in them, like my lasagna recipe or memories of my guinea pig in second grade, or why that one character in my books refuses to eat chicken tenders despite how fantastically delicious they are. Then I’ll feel obligated, and it’ll be your fault.
THERE IS A POINT. WE ARE AT THE TIME FOR THE POINT NOW, JENNI.
No, no more talking. We ride for Gondor…and war!!
Or eARCs, same thing, same thing.
FIERCEREADS HAS GIVEN ME A SET OF eARCs of BOYS WITH SHARP TEETH TO GIVE AWAY AND I THOUGHT THERE WOULD BE NO BETTER PEOPLE TO ASK FIRST THAN YOU, MY CHAOS CREW! *ahem*
Final Cover for BOYS WITH SHARP TEETH, coming this winter from Roaring Brook Press
What’s an eARC?
eARCs are advance copies of the book, still in the final-final stages of editing, that publishers prepare and send out to a select group of readers. Obviously in the hope that they will suffer greatly love the book and be excited to share with their friends and following as release date comes near, but also just for the wild joy of finally, finally having a book to share.
It’s one of the few chances to peek behind the veil and see what’s happening with a book before it goes on sale. When I get the chance to read an eARC, it feels like magic!
Cool, how do I get this magic free book?
If you’d like to apply for a chance to receive an eARC of BOYS WITH SHARP TEETH from FierceReads & Roaring Brook Press, just click here and fill out the short form. There are limited copies available for this round, though if interest is strong they may release another set—so if you’d like to get your hands on Marin’s story before anyone else, make sure to fill out the form or head to Netgalley and apply there.
WE WERE LIARS meets THE RAVEN BOYS in this mind-bending YA debut about dark revenge, twisted desire, and the sinister secrets lurking behind the walls of an elite boarding school.
Seventeen-year-old Marin James has spent her entire life living in the shadow of the exclusive Huntsworth Academy. And when her cousin’s dead body is found in a creek on school property, Marin knows exactly who’s to blame: Adrian Hargraves and Henry Wu, the enigmatic yet dangerously alluring leaders of the school's social elite.
Swapping her ragged T-shirts for a crisp prep school uniform, Marin infiltrates Huntsworth to seek justice. But her quest is quickly muddied by a confusing attraction to her new life, and to the two dysfunctional and depraved boys who somehow understand her better than anyone ever has.
When Marin uncovers a supernatural secret the boys are hiding within Huntsworth's ivied gates, the lines between right and wrong, love and hate, and nightmare and reality begin to crumble -- and nothing is as it seems.
Welcome to Huntsworth Academy.
That’s all for me! I will now go run and hide under my desk.
Farewell and all that jazz,
<3 j