Wings UK Giveaway!

Good Morning!

With only eight days before Wings comes out, I figured I'd better have the giveaway of the UK copy pretty quickly so that the winner can still get the book early. So without delay, here's the contest!

You have twenty-four hours to send me an @aprilynnepike twitter with some kind of "enter me" message. That's it! Anyone may enter unless you are immediately related to me (sorry Mom and Dad!;)) and this contest closes at 8:00 AM MST tomorrow. I'll announce the winner and as soon as they email me their address, I'll pop this baby in the mail so you can get an early look!

Start Twittering!

Ciao!

Kenny the Superstar!!!

It's over!!! It's done!!!

My husband graduated from Law school yesterday. It was awesome and amazing and incredible! He has worked so, so hard for this. And even during the summers when he had off, did he sit around and enjoy some well-deserved time off? No. He did research for two professors his first summer and an externship for the Utah Supreme Court his second summer and on top of that, when those were over, he watched kids for most of the day so that *I* could write! My husband is amazing.

And now he has his Juris Doctorate! Go Kenny!

On of the things I really enjoyed about the graduation process was the regalia. When you get a law degree you wear robes like in any other graduation, but you also have a hood. A long hood. The hood symbolizes the doctoral degree, the purple lining indicates that it is a law doctorate, and the blue and white represent his school colors. Then, during the ceremony, each student is hooded before going to receive their diploma. I am a huge fan of symbolic ritual, so I really enjoyed this part of the graduation ceremony.

So congratulations Kenny! Kenny has spent five and a half years of our seven and a half years of marriage in school and this has definitely been the most rigorous degree yet. So although I admit, I am really glad it's over, I am also so proud of Kenny for not only finishing law school, but being an incredible husband and father while doing so. LOVE YOU HON!!!


In book news, I got UK copies of Wings in the mail yesterday! This is the most copies of my books I've had all at once, so I had to put them into a huge stack and take a picture.

Why yes, I AM easily amused!;) I really love the treatment they gave this cover. It is embossed and shiny! I loved the image anyway, but the treatment they gave it is so, so, gorgeous!! (It looks like the oily rainbows you see in puddles on the street when it rains!!)


I will be doing a giveaway of a UK copy next week, so stay tuned!!

Ciao!

Twitter, UK Book, and Graduation-ness!

Hello again! Okay, so my support request to Twitter resulted in a return email that basically said that since whoever is impersonating my on Twitter is not actually actively tweeting, they are low priority. So, yeah, whatever! I am going to start Twittering anyway!!! So here are five reasons you should follow "Aprilynne" on Twitter! (ETA, I WIN!!!!! You can now follow me on Twitter at Aprilynne Pike!!!!! *Also, if you already started following me on Aprilynne, don't worry, Twitter switched you over automatically.* Hooray!!!)

5.) Tour. There is never internet access in any kind of convenient location. But I can Twitter from my phone! So avoid the tour crickets and follow my adventures on Twitter!

4.) Get tidbits of news first! I blog every couple of days, but my intention is to Twitter quite regularly. So you'll get news first!

3.) Twitter Exclusives. Yeah, um, not actually on purpose but because my brain is a freakin' sieve and I will forget things . . .

2.) Really, who doesn't want to know what I'm thinking at three o'clock in the morning??

And the number one reason for following me on Twitter?

1.) Because I will probably--at least occasionally--get excited and accidentally Twitter about something I'm not supposed to share. *duck*

So yeah! Come follow me!!

I got an email from my UK publisher yesterday letting me know that the finished copies of my book are ready and they are couriering one to me!! Also, WINGS will actually be out in the UK on April 30. *whispers* That's only nine days away!!!!! Whoa!

My husband is taking his last final tomorrow. Like, last, last, last. The last final of law school!!! It had been a long and arduous journey for him but he has done SO well and will be graduating with honors on Friday. /me is proud!!

And lastly, today is exactly two weeks till WINGS is released. And I am SO excited. No, excited really isn't even the word. I getting frenetic. I am noticing a lot of CAPS and exclamation points (!!!!!!) sneaking into my posts and emails. I kind of bounce from place to place, and despite not eating much sugar, I seem to always be on a sugar buzz. If I am this way already I am a little concerned about how big a spaz I am going to turn into in another week! Ten days! Day before it's out!!! *big smile* I hope you guys are half as excited as I am!!! (Actually, perhaps even half is too much; that's a LOT of excitement!;))

Ciao!

Soulmates and Young Love and Asthma, Oh My!

Welcome to the next stop on our DebsTour!!! Please welcome Cheryl Herbsman and her novel Breathing! Now, I haven't managed to get a hold of this one yet (it just hit bookstores this week!), but I want to read it so badly! Here's a little bit about Breathing:

What if the guy who took your breath away was the only one who could help you breathe?

Savannah would be happy to spend the summer in her coastal Carolina town lying in a hammock reading her beloved romance novels and working at the library. But then she meets Jackson. Once they lock eyes, she’s convinced he’s the one—her true love, her soul mate, a boy different from all the rest. And at first it looks like Savannah is right. Jackson abides by her mama’s strict rules, and stays by her side during a hospitalization for severe asthma, which Savannah becomes convinced is only improving because Jackson is there. But when he’s called away to help his family—and seems uncertain about returning—Savannah has to learn to breathe on her own, both literally and figuratively.

I LOVE this concept. I seriously cannot wait to get my hands on this book! But one of the reasons why is Cheryl's own story. Cheryl Renée Herbsman lives in Northern California with her husband and two children, but she grew up in North Carolina and often spent summer vacations at the Carolina coast. Like Savannah (her main character), she fell in love as a teenager, and like Savannah and Jackson, she and her boyfriend carried on a long-distance relationship. They are now celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary.

As someone who fell in love as a teenager (just barely;)) and married young, I love the idea of young love lasting forever. (And seven and a half years is almost forever, right?;)) (Also, it's very strange to think of my husband and I as being teenagers when we met. We were eighteen and nineteen . . . but that's still a teenager. I guess I felt a lot more grown up.:D)

Also, this woman does not look like she should be celebrating a twentieth anniversary of anything that happened after her tenth birthday!! I'm twenty seven and I don't think I look as young as she does! No fair!!

But jealousy aside, this sounds like such a winner of a book and I can't wait to read it. But first, I have to put Cheryl through the Feasty Five!

AP:What kind of soda does (would) your MC drink?

CRH: Coke

AP: Fair enough. What is your MC's favorite kind of flower? How about yours?

CRH: Daisies for Savannah. Sunflowers for me

AP: That's really interesting to me as I've always thought of daisies and sunflowers as inverses of each other. Perhaps you and Savannah are just as different as you are alike.;) Does your MC believe in magic? Do you?

CRH: Yes. Yes.

AP: Can we add a yes, yes, yes, yes, yes?? Seriously though, I'm not surprised. No one who has experienced love at first sight can deny that there is magic in the world. I know I can't! And the most serious question of all, Superman or Batman?

CRH: Superman -- he can fly.

AP: Wow . . . I hope you don't judge all book characters by those parameters. *looks at blog readers* I mean . . . oh dear, I think I've said too much.:) Okay Cheryl, give us one line from your book. You don't even have to give it context.

CRH: "I know it's only dreaming. But I reckon if you go on and act like something is real, sometimes it just believes you."

AP: Awwww, I love that! Seriously, this is a book to watch for. I know I'm picking it up on my next bookstore trip . . . along with about ten others. *whistles* (I know, I know! I have a problem!)

Okay, if you want to visit Chery's WAY fun website, you can find it here! Thanks so much for joining us today, Cheryl!!

Ciao!

Swag and Brazil!

I have fun stuff!!! WINGS has sold Portuguese rights in the Brazilian territories!!! My book's going to be in Portuguese!!! Yay!! It was a nice lift at the end of a rather long week. :D

Also, I ordered a bunch of swag a while back from 2 Day Designs and they came delivered it to me last night! The decals I was expecting, the buttons with my US cover on them I was expecting, but they also surprised me with buttons with my UK cover on them and a T-shirt!!! Check it out!



I was so excited I put a decal onto my laptop immediately! I'll be handing decals out at all my signings this summer . . . I'm just sayin'.;)

Ciao!