We had so much fun reading the first kiss tweets! Some were swoony, some were totally awkward, and some were the best of both worlds. Thanks for sharing!
First, some swoon:
NOW, the randomly-selected winner of the signed copy of LIPS TOUCH by Laini Taylor is… Starbright143! This was her tweet:
“At movie theater, he leaned over and whispered, “Can I kiss you?” Lips barely touched the first time, second time was swoony.”
EVERYONE TOGETHER NOW: AWWWWWWWWWW! We LOVED this one and were a little squealy when it was the winner. Almost nothing is more adorable than a boy asking to give a kiss.
Onto our next giveaway:
An ARC of DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor!
Yes, you read that right!
Christina is currently reading DoS&B and is therefore ignoring the small pretty Girl Person and the Male “Spouse” Person in her house. This book is my (Lo’s) favorite book so far of 2011, and one of the reasons I loved it so much was the world-building in Prague, the fantasy of Karou’s life, and okay okay okay Akiva. But Brimstone, too! And Zuzana! And Akivaaaahhhhhh! So, pretty much everything.
How do you enter to win? Well, all you need to do is leave a comment to this post with your fantasy self in a book. Who are you, what do you do, and where do you live?
For example:
Lo: In my fantasy book, I am a deadly knife-throwing assassin by night, and by day I am a classically-trained flamenco guitarist living in a flat in bustling Barcelona. (Living alone in the flat. As in, without any Legos to break my feet on or needy cats trying to sleep on my face). Where was I? Ah right: I ignore hot swoony boys left and right, but can’t seem to shake the mysterious new boy in town, Alfonse. I’m coming to terms with the fact that I might finally be falling for him when DUN DUN DUNNNN I find out that his father is my next target.
Christina: In my fantasy, I’m a world famous opera star living in Paris. One month before the performance of a lifetime, a goblin steals my voice, and I have to become a tough-as-nails yet of course still-beautiful street fighter to get it back. On the way I meet a rakish gambler from the other side of the proverbial world and invent my own form of sign language. Together, we must battle an evil that threatens to silence the world and just maybe, learn what it means to fight for what you love.
Cliché? We don’t care! It’s our fantasy!
DISCLAIMER: please don’t take this as a reflection of our ability to write summaries and/or stories that are not insanely cheesetastic.
So, click that comment button and join the fun. THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED! Congratulations, Sherry!
Coming up later this week, our take on Sexuality in YA fiction. One of our favorite topics! Duh. Until then…
Mel says
In my fantasy book I am zooming across the galaxy, space and time battling evil with a trusty band of misfits. My closest pal is a shy nerdy fellow who makes me swoon. We think we have a handle on how all works when we find on of ours is may not be what it seems. To make matters worse all signs point to my nerdy friend. I am forced to question everything I believe and care about.
Lauren says
This is SO YOU Mel! I am cracking up. You're adorable.
Lo
Kay says
My fantasy self is often the most hated person in the world, but no one can resist her random dancing. I would be sarcastic and spiteful, but cheesy when I have to be. And only then. I would have a big secret, more than likely a deadly one. I might hurt people who dare cross who I love, even if they don't know I love them. I'd haunt the countryside as a broken soul. A forgotten memory. But I would still be one badarse chello player.
Tasnim says
In my fantasy book i'm an alpha wolf by night, keeping my pack under control, and keeping the rival packs away from our territory in North Carolina. During the day i go to high school just like any other teenager. I also have a part-time job helping my dad with his fishing supplies shop. I don't know who my mum is, just that she ran away when i was a baby. I don't like to bring her up because Dad doesn't like it and he gets upset. He doesn't know that the only reason i help him at the fishing shop is because this cute guy from school also works there, but i'm not supposed to like him because he is a human.
Lo says
I have so much insane love for this comment. ~Lo
Lo says
Gives a whole new meaning to bait and tackle AMIRIGHT?
Jess says
In my fantasy book, I'm an orphan working as an apprentice bookseller. I spend the majority of my time convincing people that books are the perfect entertainment, that they really transport you places. Little did I know that statement was actually true. One day I find that the books have come to life, and I'm carried deep within the spines by tiny paper faeries. I assist them on various quests before falling in love with the paper prince. Much happily-ever-after gushiness follows. 🙂
Lo says
Ma'am, ma'am, I'm gonna need you to write this book now please.
Mouse says
My fantasy self is a ratty old stuffed Tiger. My eyes are still attached, but my nose was loved off more than 40-years ago. I'm bald in most places and "she" sewed up a fluff-escape hatch when she was eight. It's puckered and uneven, but I love it. It's proof that she loves me. She's grown up now, but I watch over her from the various places I'm kept in her room, just like she watched over me, carrying me to the basement during tornado warnings. We're not as close as we used to be, but in some ways, we're closer than ever. When her boyfriend cheated on her in college, she came to me to cry. When they found cancer at twenty-six, she told me her fears. I stayed with her every day and night in the hospital. I lost my coveted place on her bed when she got married, but she put me on the chair in her room instead. I was introduced to each of her children. I'm too old and brittle to play with them, but I love watching from my chair. They'll have tigers of their own one day. I hope their love is just as fierce as mine.
Lo says
MOUSE YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE ME CRY.
(PS HAPPY TOMORROW BIRTHDAY)
Mouse says
..then you should read the version of this story I wrote when I was 14-yrs old! ::wink:: Love ya, Lo.
Jess says
Lol I thought the same thing as soon as I finished the paragraph. I really wasn't expecting that to come gushing out at all! 🙂
Q says
I am a very cautious lady of the court––just important enough to be taken care of socially and financially, but unimportant enough to be in danger neither from outside forces trying to threaten the king, nor from the king's own paranoia about being threatened. I use my unimportance to watch other members of court and subtly obtain information about them, which I pass on to whoever I feel has the noblest cause. In a fantasy novel, I would either be your best friend or your worst enemy, depending on whether or not your cause is noblest. I look fabulous in the narrow-waisted, bell-skirted fashions of the day. Some day, I will make a very sensible match with the second son of an earl, a kind young man who supports, in a bemused sort of way, my information-obtaining exploits.
Is it glamorous? No. Is it fairly safe and very interesting? Yes––that's why I picked it.
Oh, and I can fly and turn invisible at will, both of which are extremely useful for spying. I'm also a formidable archer. Why not?
Rheana says
My fantasy self is all kinds of brainy, but with an annoying know-it-all streak. Oh, and I'm a vampire, natch. I spend my days trying to satiate my hunger for knowledge and my nights quenching my thirst for blood. The unholy, immoral dregs of the city know of me and fear my wrath; my brand of justice is legend. A chance encounter presents me with a devastatingly handsome human man who will rival my intellect, challenge my ethics, and potentially break my heart.
Angel C says
In my fantasy book, I'm a Broadway actress who sidelines as a book critic. I'm also madly in love with my high school sweetheart who is now a movie star. We have a cozy apartment on the Upper West Side and a house in Philadelphia, where I grew up. When my best friend–his little sister–gets kidnapped by faeries, we have to find a way to get her back before she's turned into one of them.
Christina says
I want to see the words "happily-ever-after gushiness" on the last page of a book now, please.
Christina says
Daaaang, this should be a series on HBO. Someone needs to get on that.
Ang says
In my fantasy, I am a bookish girl (ok, so that's kind of my reality) who seems normal in every way except one: I time travel. I move between eras in a way that is vaguely controlled, but there's always a threat of losing that small semblance of control and what would happen if I were to get "lost in time". Then there's the boy who lives in the present – we'll call him Max – that I want so badly to tell (and snuggle) but can't.
Until he finds out through a series of crazy events that put him in danger for knowing too much.
Cue me, the bookish chick, kicking ass and taking names, all for the boy I adore.
Jess says
On it! 😛 I'm actually starting the outlining process on this story tonight (I love it too much to leave it)!
Anna says
In the book about my fantasy life, I'm brilliant (which can be a source of ego issues that get me into trouble), I have beautiful skin, I can kick ass when necessary, and I'm immortal. I'm independently wealthy (because of my long life, natch) and remain off the radar of the horrible, dangerous immortals who manage the supernatural world and everyone in it with force and fear. I risk it all to help the handsome, quiet, young bookstore owner (who's the reason for my ridiculous book buying budget) when he accidentally reveals powers he didn't know he had to the people who would exploit him and control his existence.
Many supernatural hijinks and much badassery ensue. 😀
christina says
Challenge your ethics? My mind is all twisty with the possibilities.
Q says
Thank you!
I'm pretty sure it just means I've been watching too much Merlin…oh, how I love British TV.
Daniela says
In my fantasy life, human's eyes can not see the presence of angels and demons walking on the face of earth, facing an underground war. I'm the seventeen year old daughter of a pastor, whose mother passed away a long time ago, leaving behind an overprotective father that tends to keep his teenaged girl on a tight leash. Meanwhile, the very own son of the Devil leads an army of demons on a hunt for the souls of innocent people, leaving a path of destruction along the way. I may be unaware of the presence of the supernaturals beings on earth and the battles they face, I can't, however, ignore the dark-hairedl boy with cat eyes whose top priority is now to seduce me and get my soul on the process. I may fall in love with him on the process. I may, somehow, get him to love me back and, just like that, hold the keys to stop the apocalypse.
Toni says
In my fantasy novel I am a Mazer. Give me any Maze and I can solve it before I even begin it. All I have to do is see where it starts and the length of the entire Maze appears in my mind. Any road, walkway, or path, I can map it. Including your life. One look at you and I see your entire life's map unfold in front of me. And why shouldn't I be able to see that map? After all, I created it. I am Fate.
Christina says
In my notsoPG13friendly fantasies, I'd be the star of some majorly smutty erotica with a ridiculously good-looking, British badboy fawning all over my ass, but… yeah, not even a remotely plausible scenario in my wildest of dreams, lol.
So, instead I chose to be Christina, the gatekeeper to the supernatural realm. In this novel, it's the eve of my eighteenth birthday (I'm really 25, but 18 sounds better here) when my mother reveals that I'm a descendant from a long line of Gatekeepers. We guard the Southern portal found in Mississippi, near the Gulf of Mexico- just think of it as a passport checkpoint along an interstate that connects every supernatural world to our human one. At midnight, I gain the "sight" that finally allows me to see what's been hidden from view all along. My mother and I travel to the portal entrance, where we file a record of all those seeking entry into our world, allowing the good in and rejecting those that have done harm to mankind in the past. Forgetting something back at the house, my mother reluctantly lets me keep watch because she'll only be gone for a little bit. Before she leaves, she reminds me, "Don't allow anyone admission until I return."
She hasn't been gone from the station for more than a few seconds when the most ridiculously attractive man I've ever seen emerges from the portal. Since I can't allow him to pass, he offers me the privileged opportunity to see the Fae Realm. He promises we'll only be gone a moment. Since he's a smooth talker and I'm a sucker for pretty boys, I take his hand and go, even though there's a tickling in my brain that says this is a horrible idea.
Yeah, I should have listened to my instincts because as it turns out, he's not just any pretty boy, he's the Prince of the Unseelie Court. As if that weren't bad enough, to prove he's worthy of his father's crown, he had to find a way for the Unseelie to gain access to Earth, and I just helped him accomplish this feat. Swept up in the vibrant colors and shiny, sparkly awesomeness of the land of the Fae people, five faery minutes becomes hours in normal time, and when I return, I find Earth ransacked by destruction. Now it's time for me to fix my mistakes, kick Unseelie ass and make that pretty fucker pay. Even though I'm super kickass at kicking ass, pretty fuckers are still pretty and I'll probably end up falling for him. Complicated much?
Thanks for the amazing giveaway!
~Christina
Mary Hubbell says
In my fantasy world, I'm a tough, clinical physician in an upscale private rehab facility. My new patient is comatose after a tragic car accident in which his wife was killed. Expecting the typical "vacant and vegetative" when I walk into his well-appointed room (financed by his family's vast fortune), I am literally stunned by the beauty of the lifeless man before me.
Shifting nervously at the foot of his bed, I pretend to look through his chart, but can barely tear my eyes from the masculine cut of his jaw, the almost feminine arch of his upper lip and his delicate dark lashes, so long they nearly fall across his cheekbones.
I gingerly peel back the sheets with full expectation that I'll find a fragile body, withering from months of immobility. Instead, I audibly gasp when I note that draped in fine silk pajamas, he has the lithe, toned body of a man who's in training for a marathon. And his hands….my God, his hands. Perfectly manicured and resting on his thighs with long fingers, arched as if poised above piano keys.
My head swam as I unbuttoned his shirt.
I warmed my stethescope with my breath and then placed it on his chest, just above his heart. Immediately, what had been a normal resting heart rate, jumped wildly as if he'd received a shot of epinephrine. Startled, I pulled back and watched as it returned to normal. Surely, I'd only imagined that.
Again, I tried to listen to his heart, and again, it went from peacefully rhythmic, to thudding erractically in his chest. Only this time, I kept listening.
"Well, well. Looks like we've found the perfect Doctor to bring our son back to life."
Startled, I recoil, red-faced into the curtains behind me to find a stunning couple standing in the doorway.
The man approached me with sparkling eyes and extended his equally perfect hand.
"It's very nice to meet you Dr. Hubbell. My wife and I have heard nothing but good things. I see you've already met our son."
I could swear, I saw him smirk.
Tricia says
My fantasy self thrives in a war ravaged future. Cities have been flown apart, breaking up families in the process. I was out of town when the initial attacks occured, and I want nothing more than to reuinite with my family. All lines of transportation are now controlled by the attackers. In m attempt to return on foot, I stumble across a rebel base-. Out of a farm in the middle of nowhere a counter-revolution is born. And I become a badass.
None of us were prepared. We have minimal electricity, only using our generator for crucial attempts to make contact with other rebels throughout the nation. I become a spy, sneaking into a nearby city to work in an office where I steal information to help the counter-attack. I risk my life to return home–not knowing whether "home" still exists. But it's hard not to get sucked into the rebellion and to one particular fellow farm resident, a man who might make me forget my whole purpose.
Baggins says
If this giveaway is open internationally, please enter me! Either way, my fantasy is…
I'm a powerful witch and bit of an outspoken know it all, who completed school at an incredibly familiar wizarding boarding school years after that boy with the lightning scar graduated (yeah, him, you know the one? ;-P) I'm trying to make my way in the world on my own terms but deep down I'm unhappy and lonely. One day I wake to find myself transported back to the regency era. I have no idea how I got there or how I'll get home. Bumbling about completely out of my time and determined to find answers my manners and behaviour cause quite the scandal. One utterly gorgeous and rakish Duke attempts to help – and put me in my place. Y'all know how this goes right? Bickering, tension, rough kisses, rendevouz, the works. All while a mysterious someone – the same someone who tried to get rid of me by sending me back in time – tries to kill me. The mystery is solved, good wins out, and I find myself back in my time – completely in love but Duke-less. I'm pining, out and about one day, when I look up…and somehow, there he is. Cue happily ever after forever and ever.
I've read this book – in a way – as I'm sure you may have!! 😀 A girl can dream. *sigh*
Thanks so much!
Sherry says
Seriously, you must have known that it would be impossible for me to use few words…LOL.
In my fantasy, I am ageless and my power is to bring clarity, peace, and happiness to those in my presence. Many would not consider that a useful power, but I have learned that giving someone clarity of mind, the calmness of peace, and the joy of happiness can make the most unruly man become kind caregiver, move men to drop their swords of war and compromise in order to spare lives, or give a battered woman the courage to leave and start over.
I don't know where I came from, who I am, or where I was born. I just was. I woke up on 1/1/1111 in the arms of a lover, and on that day he ended a five year battle with the neighboring village. I move across the earth from city to city, because I do not age and people become suspicious. I have been the confidant and/or lover to many kings, prime ministers, and presidents in hopes that my power will give them the power to make this world a better place. The rich and famous have showered me with their luxuries and I’ve shown them the joy in finding a meaningful way to celebrate their good fortune. I've lived amongst the abandoned, the criminals, and the poor rebuilding lives one at a time.
Lately this world seems too big for me to make a difference. I cannot be everywhere all of the time. I’m finding it harder to penetrate the selfish and cold-hearted, and I feel more of these people around me. So, I'm left to wonder, if I can't make things better, then, why am I here? What use is this power if it can't fix everyone? Am I alone in my quest to bring happiness to the world?
More importantly, it’s about time I find the answers to my own life, and I think I know who might hold the key, if only I could get near him. A man is has been following me for centuries. He tries to hide his identity, much like I do. Sometimes his hair is as golden as the sun, and sometimes as black as the night. His masculine stature is a god-like perfection and my body instinctively senses his arrival. But it’s his eyes that betray him, because when he stares at me, they penetrate my soul. And yet, after 900 years of being the desire of every man I come in contact with, when I try to approach him, his eyes darken, his brows furl, and he’s gone in a flash. Sometimes, I could even swear I hear a snarl. If he hates me so much, why is he following me? Or am I following him? Who is he, why am I so drawn to him, does he know who or what I am? I have to find a way to talk to him.
This was kind of fun, I must say I have never really thought of this before. I'm dying to read that book too btw….so fingers & toes crossed.
Mo is Me says
In my fantasy I have a human mutation that allows me to regenerate organs that are removed, like a starfish growing back a lost arm. I find people who need a transplant and tell them they are getting a second chance through an anonymous donor. Every six months I donate a kidney, lung, liver, eye and bone marrow. I have changed the lives of 50 people in 5 years. Once you get my organs, you have the same mutation. I've been able to convince about 15 people to start doing the same as me. I hope to eliminate the waiting list for organ donation within two to three decades. By day I hide behind an eyepatch and dress as a pirate. I work in a seafood restaurant and sometimes find my next recipient when listening to conversations. This is how I am a super hero.
KiyaRaven says
Hopefully I'm not too late for this competition, because I'm DYING to read this book.
Anyway, in my fantasy novel, we're living in a bleak, mind-numbing future in which most of the entertainment on our television screens consists of 'reality' shows involving members of the Kardashian family, or loud, embarrassingly-clueless Italian-Americans with off-putting orange tans. (In a horrible twist, someone actually comes up with brain-melting idea of combining these two concepts. Millions die when their brains explode from extreme banality.)
In this future, real talent has been relegated to the ranks of petty criminals, and so rag-tag bands of rebel actors, directors, and writers are forced to take their craft underground, satisfying their creative urges in basements and condemned buildings. Performing because they need to. Creating in a world full of mindless destruction (and terribly contrived conflict.)
I call it – Drama Club.
The first rule of Drama Club? We ONLY talk about drama club. Loudly. With lots of hand gestures and gratuitous self-congratulation.
The second rule of Drama Club? NO ONE gets a better dressing room than me. Seriously. I have developed super-human hissy-fits. Don't fuck with me.
I'm pretty sure this book/potential movie will change the world. You'll see. YOU'LL ALL SEEEEE!
Love to you both,
Kiya x
Ella says
I'm a beautiful boy whose soul has been ripped out of my body by a vindictive, cruel witch, and the remaining painful threads of my humanity are the only thing preventing my transformation into a psychopath. But as time goes on I can feel them unraveling, and I fear the monster I will become.
I travel the world in search of the witch who wears my soul around her neck like some tawdry bauble. On the journey I find that if I touch people, their memories flood into me, allowing me to feel again. I've learned to steal the ones I want, making them my own to stave off the monster, but clinging to each memory is a shimmering fragile thread of their soul. Although not the monster I believed I'd become, I am a monster nonetheless.
To alleviate the guilt, I propose a deal to the unsuspecting. I take one bad memory with all of its emotions paired with one good one. What's two small memories in a lifetime of memories? Surely they won't be missed. People are so willing to compromise themselves to feel better as they plod along through life.
But I meet one swoony girl that is filled with sadness, but she decides to keep it all. No deal. She'll not sacrifice even the tiniest bit of herself for relief. The more she refuses, the more I want her memories, her emotions, her soul. Rather than treating the symptom, she sets her sights on my cure, and insists on helping me in my search to find the witch and get my soul back.
Together we find where the witch keeps her jewelry of souls, but I am recognized and the witch does all kinds of Voldemort things to me. My muggle perseveres and is able to distinguish my soul from so many because…she has come to know and love me from the small, tattered remnants of my soul that remain. I am saved! Until the witch realizes what my muggle has done…
Ella says
Aww, it's closed! Wish I'd seen that before I embarrassed myself! Grats to the winner!
studio flamenco says
Hello there, just changed into alert to your blog thru Google, and located that it is really informative. I am gonna be careful for brussels. I’ll appreciate for those who proceed this in future. Many people can be benefited out of your writing. Cheers!