Home Run Blog Tour+Giveaway

Today I have the honor of hosting an author who appeared on the scene last year, and now has two books out.  Miranda Kenneally burst into the YA world with her debut novel Catching Jordan which I read and reviewed.  It's one of those books that has a great mix of romance and semi-manly things (in Jordan's case it's football) in it, so it's not all just mush.  Her newest novel, Sealing Parker has to do with baseball, which is something I can totally get on board with (because I'm a baseball girl myself) and has characters that were in Jordan but weren't main characters!  Her next novel will be titled Things I Can't Forget and is scheduled to come out next year!  Now, you want to see the covers right? Cause the covers are awesome.

Aren't those covers just great!? I love them so much, They're just SO fun!

Now, Miranda has answered one question for us (you'll have to go find the other blog tour stops for more questions) and Sourcebooks has provided a copy of Stealing Parker for me to give away!  So, here's the interview question.

Peanut Gallery:  Where does Miranda get her inspiration?  Find out as Miranda speaks about her idea origins. As a bonus, Miranda shares the best advice that she ever got about being a writer.

Geez, this is a pretty hard question. I get my inspiration from all over the place. From conversations I have with friends and people at work. From inside jokes with my husband. I read lots of books, and see how my favorite authors write plot arcs and characterization, and then I set out to do that too, but with my own edge. I often look through my junior and high school yearbooks to remind myself of how I felt when I was younger. I also like to read my old diaries. One time I got a book idea from a true fact under a Snapple lid. Another time I got a book idea because somebody had broken into my car!

I got the idea for the “Jerry Rice fake baby home ec” project in Catching Jordan because I remembered this time I was out on the football field in junior high, and a football player was pushing another player around in a stroller.

The best advice I ever got as a writer?

- An editor told me my strongest skill as an author is writing groups of teens goofing off and talking about nothing, so now I try to have my characters bantering while doing lots of wild and wacky things while trying to move the plot forward. And I have a great time doing it! I try to write silly scenes that I hope people will enjoy reading.

Now that we've gotten a little look into Miranda's mind I'm sure you'll all want to get a peek into her BOOK, so I have a copy of Catching Jordan from way back when, and the publisher has said they will give away a copy of Stealing Parker.  So, seeing as the publisher's giveaway is US/Canada only I'll give my copy of Catching Jordan to ANYONE (international).  I am really bad at using rafflecopter and actually picking a winner, so to make this easy for me just email me (peachandblue2@aol.com) with your name and FULL MAILING ADDRESS. In the subject line put "Miranda Kenneally Giveaway" and state if you want to be entered for only one giveaway, or both.  And just so you know Stealing Parker is a COMPANION to Catching Jordan so you can read it without having read the first one.  And please do note that if you win the copy of Stealing Parker I will be sharing your mailing address with the publisher so they can send you your book.

That's it! Thanks Miranda for taking the time to answer that question, and good luck to all of you in the giveaway!