SUCKS TO BE ME by Kimberly Pauley

REVIEW, Q&A and CONTEST

Sucks To Be Me
Author: Kimberly Pauley

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Mirrorstone; Reprint edition (August 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786952563
• ISBN-13: 978-0786952564

SYNOPSIS:

Mina Hamilton's parents want her dead. (Or undead to be precise.) They're vampires, and like it or not, Mina must decide whether to become a vampire herself. But Mina's more interested in hanging out with best friend Serena and trying to catch the eye of the too-hot-for-high-school Nathan Able than in the vampire training classes she's being forced to take. How's a girl supposed to find the perfect prom date and pass third-year French when her mom and dad are breathing down her neck--literally?

MY TAKE:

I have not laughed so much reading a book in a long time. This book had me laughing out loud so many times that I lost count. Warning: You will get sucked into this book from page one! Near the end of Mina's last year, her parents inform her that she has to make an important decision of whether or not she has to become a vampire. She has to attend vampire classes on top of regular schooling, decide which guy she wants to take to prom, and keep this big secret from her best friends. What is a girl to do? With Mina, she rolls with the punches with her witty attitude typical of a teenager. At the end of the book, we get to see what Mina decides. This book flowed wonderfully and kept up a fast pace. I was so sad to get to the end. I wanted it to keep going. Thank goodness the author is writing a follow up book to this one! Anyone looking for a witty and LOL read should read this!

MY RATING:

Outstanding Book That Will Stay On My Bookshelf
For Rereading!

Kimberly was nice enough to do a quick Q&A session with me to share with everyone. Here is the Q&A:

Welcome to My Overstuffed Bookshelf! To start off can you tell the readers a little about yourself?

Hi! Thanks for having me! My shelves are pretty overstuffed themselves. :-) Let's see...a little about myself. Well, I'm little. Like 4' 11" (literally little). So when I do school visits, I usually wind up being the shortest person in the room. But my husband? He's pretty tall. He's 6', which means that hopefully our son (little Max) has a fighting chance. He's only one and a half right now, so it's hard to tell. He's also really, really cute. We also have a cat who is slowly driving us insane (she likes to meow. A lot.) and a dog (we just got her this year from a local rescue shelter). We live in a really cool neighborhood north of Chicago. It's a conservation neighborhood with a farm and lots of trails and a lake and almost no fences and lots of playgrounds. Very nice people, too.

Can you tell us a little about your new or current releases?

The next book I have coming out is STILL SUCKS TO BE ME, the sequel to Sucks to Be Me. And I'm working on two books right now, one of them with a writer friend of mine. I'm excited about both of those, though neither one have a publisher at the moment (though, hey, you guys, buy my books and that'll help get these new ones sold! :-) ). Neither of the new ones have vampires, but both have fantasy-ish elements and will be funny. In the one I'm working on with my friend, I'm actually the GUY. Which is weird, but kind of fun. So I'm trying to channel 17 year old boy but without the stinky gym shoes.

When you're not writing, what kind of books do you like to read? Do you have any favorite authors that are must reads?

I read mostly YA, but that's also because I started YA & Kid's Book Central (www.yabookscentral.com) back in 1998. I actually have a staff of reviewers now, but I still review some books. I read a bit of everything, but my favorites are probably fantasy and science fiction. I have waaaaaay too many authors that are must reads! It's even harder now that I know a lot of them personally.

What are 3 things that are "must haves" for you when you sit down to write a new book?

My laptop (though I'm dying to get a new one), some quiet time, and paper & pen. I still scribble a lot of notes down, especially in the middle of the night -- which is always when ideas seem to strike. Well, there and in the shower! But paper and pen don't work out so well there. One weird thing -- I hate wide-ruled paper. Always have. So it has to be college rule.

What are your favorite things to do in your downtime?

I wish I had some! LOL Well, really, we love to travel. Little Max has already been to 11 states and flown quite a few times. I also love to make stuff. I paint, knit, draw...the list of hobbies goes on and on.

Do you have a blog or website that your readers can keep up with you and your books?

Yep. Actually, more than one, really. My main website/blog is http://www.kimberlypauley.com but I also have the YA Books Central site at http://www.yabookscentral.com and the associated blog: http://yabookscentral.blogspot.com. Then I'm on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/kimberly.pauley and also have a fan page there at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kimberly-Pauley/81688255502 Hmmmm, then I'm also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KimberlyRPauley ...not to mention, I also Twitter for YA Books Central at http://twitter.com/yabookscentral And then I have a family blog (that I don't update nearly enough) at http://go2chicago.wordpress.com and a personal blog that I mostly just post silly poems on (I don't advertise that one, but people could probably find it easily enough if they wanted to for some reason). Whew. Too many sites! Oh, ha, I forgot, there's also a MySpace page. But I hardly ever go there (the status updates just get fed from Twitter). But, it's at http://www.myspace.com/yabooksgoddess if you wanted to find it. Okay, seriously, that really is too many! But it's something you gotta do these days.

Favorite 5:

Food- Anything wrapped in puff pastry.
Color- Probably Red. Though it used to be green.
Alcoholic Drink- Red wine. Or eggnog (during the holidays)
Ice Cream- Oh, wow. Um, I really like ones that have toffee bits and caramel in them, but really, any ice cream is good. I mean, it's ice cream.
TV Show and movie- I don't watch too many shows anymore, but I'd have to say my favorites (can't pick just one) are Eureka, Burn Notice, Bones, and House. Movie? I'll say The Princess Bride. There are other movies that I love, but I've been indecisive enough already!

If you weren't an author, what do you think you would be doing?

Well, I used to be a web development manager. But I hated it, so I definitely wouldn't be doing that if I could help it (the corporate thing is very soul-sucking). So I think I'd be doing something creative. Honestly, I'm not sure what. Thanks again for having me on your blog!

And now for the contest!

Kimberly was also nice enough to send me some goodies for 4 lucky followers!
( She is such the sweetest author people!)
4 people will each receive the following:
4 bookmarks ( 2 styles )
1 Sucks To Be Me Sticker
1 Sucks To Be Me Reading Guide

All you have to do is this:
1. Follow my blog!
2. Leave a comment with your email address!
and
3. Spread the word on your blog! That's it!

This contest will run until Friday, November 13th, 2009
(OMG! Friday the 13th! Perfect for a paranormal read!)
Winner will be announced on Saturday the 14th!
Thank you for joining me today and thank you Kimberly for everything!