“A beautifully-written, unique love story.” Melissa Marr, New York Times best-selling author of the Wicked Lovely series

“A warm, time-bending romance [that] will have readers rooting for the couple that keeps daring fate.” Publishers Weekly

“The story will hold readers with its twists and turns, present and future; its love, sadness, and anger; and especially, its surprising secrets.” Booklist

“Amy Rubinate’s narration keeps Stone’s story lively and she convincingly conveys Anna’s worry and anger as she uncovers the pros and cons of having a time traveling boyfriend.” School Library Journal

“A smart, thoughtful story… for readers who want a romance that leaves them with something to think about when it’s over.” Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Romantic and passionate, Stone’s debut novel is swoon-worthy.” School Library Journal

 

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Time Between Us

by Tamara Ireland Stone

Giveaway ends July 01, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win 

If you haven’t heard Jessica’s song, CLICK HERE first. Then come back so I can tell you more about her!

 ♥

Jessica and I met at the Big Sur Writing Workshop in December 2010 when we were assigned to the same critique group. I was really nervous. I’d never shared my writing with complete strangers before, let alone read it aloud, and I think my hands were shaking the whole time. But Jessica and the rest of the group were so kind and gave me such constructive feedback. When it was Jessica’s turn to read, she didn’t seem nervous at all. Her story was fantastic and I remember being so impressed with her writing.

I had a feeling we’d like the same books, and the more we talked, the more we learned that was true. She told me to read Anna and the French Kiss and, of course, I fell in love with it like everyone else who reads it does.

We stayed in touch on Twitter, and that’s where we discovered that we also had similar taste in music. We’ve bonded over lots of bands, but Silversun Pickups… that sort of sealed our musical kinship.

I love these guys. To me, they sound like a more current Smashing Pumpkins, which makes them feel even more relevant to my stories. Anna would be a Pumpkins fan in 1995 and Bennett would love Silversun in present day, right? Of course.

When I heard THIS SONG off their current album, I loved it instantly. And it perfectly matched a scene I’d written a few weeks earlier that takes place “underneath a million leaves.” It’s a beautiful, swoony, perfect song.

So thank you, Jessica, for your wonderful pick and for kicking off our blog hop. Mostly, thank you for being a book and musical kindred spirit, an amazing writer, and an all around really nice person. I’m so lucky to know you!

– Tamara

• To enter Jessica’s giveaway: CLICK HERE.
• For more information about this blog hop: CLICK HERE.
• To follow Bennett’s playlist on Spotify: CLICK HERE.
• To see Anna & Bennett’s Time Between Us playlists and to watch their Time After Time playlists evolve: CLICK HERE.

•  The title is Time After Time.

•  It’s a sequel (and the conclusion) to Time Between Us.

•  It’s told from Bennett’s point of view.

•  It has a beautiful cover (thank you awesome Hyperion design team!) that looks like this:

•  It’s coming out in the U.S. on Tuesday, October 8!

Things you may not have heard about my next book:

•  It has a playlist.

•  It, in fact, has two playlists.

•  I kind of love them. Actually, I might love them a lot.

I wrote both Time Between Us and Time After Time with a steady stream of music in my ears. And just like I did with the first book, I created Anna & Bennett’s Time After Time playlists to be more like a soundtrack, with songs that match up to key scenes and lyrics that give hints to the story. Anna’s playlist is pure mid-90s while Bennett’s is a broader. Ideally, there’s a little something for everyone!

Now, October 8 feels far away to me. I’m starting to get a little antsy. I figure, I might not be able to share Time After Time with all of you yet, but there’s something I can share: Anna & Bennett’s music!

A Little Help From My Friends.

I’ve had the good fortune to meet a bunch of amazing bloggers over the last year (many of them in person). Occasionally, the conversation turns to music (I love it when that happens). So I thought… who better to unveil Anna & Bennett’s songs than a bunch of music-loving YA book bloggers!

I shared the playlists with NINE of these wonderful people and asked each of them to pick their favorite off either list. I was completely blown away by their enthusiasm for this idea, and loved how each of them had a strong, immediate connection to at least one song. We’ve had so much fun putting this blog hop together over the last few weeks, and I think you’re going to love their choices!

Starting on June 10 and continuing until launch day on October 8, each one of them will reveal a song — Bennett’s on the 8^th of each month and Anna’s on the 22^nd.

They’ll each say a few words about why they love the lyrics, or why they think the song is relevant to the story, or why they love the band… whatever they want to say. That’s totally up to them.

You guys, they picked some incredible songs.

They have LOTS to say about why they chose them.

And, of course, they also have LOTS of signed books and other goodies to give away to YOU!

Does that sound like fun? We hope so, because we’re all pretty excited about this!

The Schedule.

Here’s the schedule so you can play along with us:

• June 10 (Bennett): Jessica at Jessica Love Reads, Writes, Rocks
• June 22 (Anna): Jen at A Book and a Latte
• July 8 (Bennett): Jessica at Just a Book Lover
• July 22 (Anna): Alice, Lauren, and Renee at Alice Marvels
• August 8 (Bennett): Stacee at Too Fond of Books
• August 22 (Anna): Amanda at Appraising Pages
• Sept 8 (Bennett): Molli at Once Upon a Prologue
• Sept 22 (Anna): Christina at Ensconced in YA
• Oct 8 (Bennett): Elena at Novel Sounds

I have no idea what they’re going to say about their songs, and I can’t wait to read their posts!

NEXT MONDAY, Jessica Love — incredibly talented writer, awesome high school teacher, and big-time music freak — will be revealing the first song on Bennett’s playlist. Visit her on MONDAY at Jessica Love Reads, Writes, Rocks to hear her selection!

Watch The Playlists Grow.

And you can watch the playlists evolve HERE on the Time Between Us website and on Spotify HERE and HERE! On launch day, October 8, I’ll release both playlists, and all the songs will be in order so they’ll match up to key scenes in the book.

We hope you enjoy the music and the stories behind each songs! And good luck in the giveaways!

Check out the photo my editor at Random House UK just sent me!

This is what the UK paperback edition of Time Between Us looks like. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to get my grabby hands on one!

It will be on shelves on July 4, but you don’t have to seek it out or anything. You can pre-order it now, right HERE, so it will come right to your doorstep on July 4. You know, if you want to.

Available for pre-order now: 

Congratulations to

Cheyenne of Mansfield, Ohio!

You’re the winner of the signed copy of STAY, Un Amore Fuori Dal Tempo,
the Italian edition of Time Between Us. 

 Thanks to everyone who entered.
U.S. edition giveaway coming next!

Would you like a signed copy of your very own? Enter below!

Note: This is the Italian edition of Time Between Us. Many
people enjoy collecting foreign editions (I know I do),
so I’m opening it up internationally, but it’s in Italian.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Stay

by Tamara Ireland Stone

Giveaway ends May 20, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I arrived to a wonderful gift pack, including this very cool coaster and a TON of chocolate snacks. And guys, check out the back of the official T-shirt!

Our first stop was an author reception at Blue Willow Bookshop. What an incredible store, totally designed with kids and teens in mind. I wish I took photos of us signing the walls, but let me say, we left our mark. And wow… to be up on those walls alongside so many amazing authors was more than a little bit mind-blowing.

Check out this display featuring our books!

The next morning, we headed to Alief Taylor High School for TeenBookCon. What a gorgeous school, and to see it PACKED with teens on a Saturday morning gave all of us chills. Check out this auditorium (yeah, I’m all about the new panorama feature on my iPhone):

After Chris Crutcher’s amazing keynote, we headed off to our panels. Here’s our ADDICTED TO LOVE panel, where I got to chat romance with Justina Chen, Stacey Jay, Mary Lindsey, and Jennifer E. Smith. What kind-hearted, funny, brilliant women. It was such an honor to be up there with them. Huge thanks to our escorts and our moderator!

Here’s a photo of our room, just as it was filling up for the fourth and final panel. There were so many hands shooting up, and everyone asked GREAT questions in every session. On the drive home, one of my author buddies asked me what my favorite question of the day was. My answer: “What question do you get asked the most and how do you reply?” Clever right? She got five answers from five different authors in one shot. Well played, my friend. Well played.

And what an incredible library! Check out these walls, displaying our bios and all our books!

At the signing, I got to add a bunch of Post-it’s to my collection! Thanks to everyone to picked up a copy of Time Between Us or just dropped by to say hi! I loved meeting all of you!

After the signing, things got a little goofy.

Left to right: me, A.G. Howard, Tera Lynn Childs, Sophie Jordan, Lenore Appelhans, Dan Krokos (photobomb attempt), Stacey Kade, and Shannon Messenger.

With the awesome Lauren Morrill and Lenore Appelhans.

One of the highlights was getting to hang out with my fellow Hyperion Teens buddies, Stacey Kade, Cinda Williams Chima, Dan Krokos, and Bethany Frenette. Yeah, lots of laughing. Thank you, Disney-Hyperion!

TeenBookCon was incredible, and it wouldn’t happen without Cathy from Blue Willow Bookshop and her hard-working team. Thanks to all of you for a non-stop, unforgettable weekend!

Want to see more photos from the event? Check out the TeenBookCon Facebook Page!

Did we take a picture together? If so, I’d love to see it! You can post it HERE!

There’s more fun on the way! Next week I’m heading to the St. Louis County Library for Teen Sci-Fi/Fantasy Night with Antony John, Lauren Oliver, and Lenore Appelhans!

And then I’ll be at RT in Kansas City for the rest of the week. If you’re there, come catch our “What’s Hot” panel on Wednesday, May 1 at 3:45. 

I’ll be talking about what’s hot in YA with Leigh Barduga (SHADOW & BONE), Lenore Applehans (LEVEL 2/The Memory of After), Gennifer Albin (CREWEL), and Kiera Cass (THE SELECTION).

You’re about to meet Whitney and Lisa, Madison and Max, and a whole team of incredibly talented people who worked together to bring “Anna & Bennett” to life for these two gorgeous covers.

STARTING WITH A CONCEPT FOR TIME BETWEEN US

Cover designer, Whitney Manger, and my editor, Lisa Yoskowitz, knew from the beginning that they wanted to create a cover that was beautiful, but also presented some mystery.

Whitney: Travel is a passion of Anna’s, so we wanted to show her in a beautiful, faraway place. For Book One, we felt a beach scene was perfect—it could feel serene and romantic yet also haunting and quiet.

When I was reading the manuscript for Time Between Us, I was always fearful that Bennett would disappear, that he would slip between Anna’s fingers just when she began to open her heart to him. I wanted to capture that tension on the cover—and I wanted Bennett to feel connected to Anna yet far away at the same time.

Lisa: I love covers that work on multiple levels and leave questions for the reader to answer. Is Bennett walking into Anna’s life or out of it? There’s this literal distance between the characters—are they on the same plane or is an image of Anna superimposed over Bennett’s scene? That spatial distance could indicate that Anna is standing in the foreground on the same beach as Bennett or that her feet are planted in an entirely different time and place, so the “time” between them could be literal or metaphorical.

CARRYING IT ACROSS TIME AFTER TIME

Whitney and Lisa loved this concept — literal and metaphorical “time” between two people – and had a vision for carrying it across both covers.

Whitney: We wanted Bennett to be an important component of the covers for Books One and Two, but I didn’t necessarily want readers to notice him right away. We wanted him to feel far away from Anna—not just physically far away, but also metaphorically distant.

Lisa: Even though there is this distance and the characters aren’t touching on either cover, or even necessarily in the same scene, the cover conveys the promise that they have been and/or will be together.

FINDING OUR “ANNA & BENNETT”

When they shared the design with the larger team, everyone unanimously agreed that this was the perfect cover concept for these two books. The next step: Finding the perfect Anna.

Lisa: Casting a cover model can be one of the most fun and most challenging parts of shooting a cover. You want someone who is able to convey emotion and personality in a still shot, someone who matches the look you’re going for, and someone up for the challenge of shooting many different photos in many different ways.

Madison fit that bill perfectly, as well as being the perfect Anna. We saw a lot of models, and we knew Madison was “the one” right away. The stars aligned so that she could grace both covers.

Whitney: Anna has a strong, independent spirit but also has a side to her that is vulnerable, especially when she starts falling for Bennett. When I met Madison, our model, I thought she embodied those two sides of Anna’s personality. There is a strength to her beauty and to her presence, but there’s also a sense of fragility.

Of course, when it came time to shoot the cover of Time After Time, they needed to find the perfect Bennett to complement the perfect Anna.

Whitney: When we cast Bennett, we knew it was likely that he would be out of focus on the final cover, but we still of course wanted someone as handsome and as hot as we envisioned Bennett when we read the manuscript! Max fit the bill perfectly, and he and Madison had great chemistry.

BRINGING EVERYTHING TOGETHER

Readers really seem to connect with both covers. We heard such amazing feedback when we first revealed the cover of Time Between Us, and last week’s cover reveal for Time After Time was met with even more enthusiasm! People are clearly excited about how well these covers work together.

Lisa: Whitney did such a masterful job bringing the cover concept to life. Each has a sense of romance, but not sappiness; of longing and seeking, but not of depression; there’s mood, but the covers aren’t moody. And it doesn’t hurt that they’re stunning to look at!

Whitney: The covers for Time Between Us and Time After Time were a labor of love. I was totally swept away in Anna and Bennett’s haunting romance, and I wanted the covers to be beautiful yet at the same time haunting and stirring. But I also wanted the covers and their palettes to be distinct from each other and to be able to stand on their own. My wish is for readers to want to dive into both covers and be Anna—either on a beautiful faraway beach or a golden-hued park in the autumn—with Bennett waiting for her in the distance.

BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE TIME AFTER TIME PHOTO SHOOT

For the cover of Time After Time, the design team wanted to complement the beachy feeling of Time Between Us with a more woodsy setting and the warmer reds and golds of fall. Whitney and the team wanted to stay true to the original concept — showing that physical distance between Anna & Bennett — but this time, closing the gap between them a lot more.

For Time After Time, the perfect Anna…  Needed an equally perfect Bennett.

Meet Madison and Max!

I’ve already gone on and on about how amazing they are, but I’ll say it again: Madison & Max bring Anna & Bennett to life so beautifully! Can’t. Stop. Staring.

 (click on images to open larger)

Michael Frost is the incredibly talented photographer who shot the beautiful cover for Time Between Us (among many other gorgeous covers). The team was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with him again on Time After Time.

He shot both covers using nothing but natural light. The effect is gorgeous.

Here’s Madison with the stylist, Agata. She’s fanning her with this big disc to create a natural breeze and give Madison’s hair some movement for the photographer to capture. The first picture shows it low and the second one high, so you can see the action.

Finally, Whitney does her magic, bringing her initial concept to life with THIS:

I’m completely in awe of these talented people. I can’t seem to stop thanking Whitney, Lisa, and the rest of the team at Disney*Hyperion for creating these two beautiful covers. My stories are so lucky to be wrapped in this loveliness!

AND NOW… THE WINNER!

The last week has been pretty incredible. I’ve loved hearing your comments on the cover and the story, and now I’m even more excited to get this book in your hands and hear what you think about Anna & Bennett’s next daring adventure. Thank you for your kind words!

The winner is:

EMILY!

Congratulations, Emily! I’ll be sending you a signed audiobook of Time Between Us and a coffee mug (complete with biscotti, in case you have any “big talks” planned). In October, you’ll get one of the very first copies of Time After Time!

YOUR TURN!

Wasn’t that fun?!?

What did you like most? The photos? The backstory? All of it?

Will you take a moment to leave you comments and share your thoughts with the team? None of us ever get tired of hearing from you lovely readers!

First, a huge THANK YOU to Young Adult Books Central for hosting today’s cover reveal! If you haven’t seen it yet, CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COVER of TIME AFTER TIME. Then come back because I have a giveaway and more fun stuff to tell you about.

Congratulations to the two winners of the
Time Between Us audiobooks!

Mafalda from Lisbon, Portugal 

&

Marios from Athens, Greece!

Congratulations! Your prizes are on the way!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Time Between Us

by Tamara Ireland Stone

Two copies of the Time Between Us audiobook.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads