CRAZY comes out SO SOON! The June 12 release date is less than a month away, and I can’t wait for you to meet Connor and Isabel. I love these characters so much, and I hope you will too.

EVENTS

If you live in the SF Bay Area, don’t forget about my Release Day Event at Diesel Books in Oakland (Tuesday, June 12 at 7:00 pm; 5433 College Avenue). I’ll read a little from CRAZY, do a little Q&A, then sign some books and hang out with you wonderful people.

Did I mention that CLEAN is now available in paperback? So cheap! So lightweight! Speaking of CLEAN, it was just nominated for the 2012 Northern California Book Award in Children’s Literature-YA, along with Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) and Instructions for a Broken Heart by Kim Culbertson. The awards ceremony is on Sunday, June 10 and is free and open the public: 1:00-4:00 pm, Koret Auditorium, SF Public Library.

Another fun event is on Wednesday, June 20 where I’ll be reading at The Business Comedy Show, which has been called “the best alternative comedy show in San Francisco” by the SF Weekly. Not sure I qualify as an alternative comedian, but my pal Bucky Sinister had enough faith to invite me so I’m trusting his judgment. Show starts at 8:00 pm @ The Dark Room Theater: 2263 Mission Street, San Francisco. It’s only $5!

BLOG TOUR

Monday, June 4: Character Interview with Isabel at Good Choice Reading blog
Tuesday, June 5: Crazy review at Blkosiner’s Book Blog
Wednesday, June 6: Top Tens List guest post at  Shut Up! I’m Reading blog
Thursday, June 7: Crazy review at Tangled Up In Words blog
Friday, June 8: Connor This or That guest post at My Reading Room blog

Monday, June 11: “Turning Points” guest post on Nova Ren Suma’s writing blog, Distraction no. 99 (author of Imaginary Girls)
Monday, June 11: Interview at A Good Addiction blog
Tuesday, June 12: Character Tweets guest post at Paperback Treasures blog
Wednesday, June 13: Crazy review at Good Choice Reading blog
Thursday, June 14: This or That guest post at Ivy Reads blog
Friday, June 15:  Word Associations guest post at Tangled Up In Words blog

Monday, June 18: Interview at Blkosiner’s Book Blog
Tuesday, June 19: Crazy review at My Reading Room blog
Wednesday, June 20: Top Tens List guest post at Rex Robot Reviews blog
Thursday, June 21: Crazy review at Shut Up! I’m Reading blog
Friday, June 22: Character This or That guest post at Zoe’s Book Reviews blog

Whew! June is going to be an exhausting but awesome month. There’s all this CRAZY stuff, plus I’m in the middle of edits for BOOK #4 and training for a half-marathon. Please bring ice cream.
Love,

Amy

A big box of CLEAN paperbacks! Hot of the presses!

The paperback officially comes out May 8 in fine stores everywhere, but you can pre-order it now. Only $7.99 on the Simon & Schuster site. What a deal!

There are a lot of books in that box, and I’d love to do something good with them. I donated a bunch of my hardcover copies to the Association of Recovery Schools, and I recently donated a huge chunk of my YA library to the Sacramento Youth Detention Facility. I really want to find some more juvenile halls or adolescent rehab facilities to send copies of CLEAN. If you know of any places like this that have libraries, please send me the info!

Love,

Amy

with Amy Reed

Tuesday, June 12th at 7:00 pm

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland

To celebrate, I am posting a SNEAK PEEK of the first 24 pages. Click HERE to read it now!

You can also pre-order CRAZY HERE!

I am also giving away a SIGNED ARC OF CRAZY to one lucky winner! All you have to do is comment on this post, and I will pick one person at random. In your comment, answer the following question:

When in your life have you felt the most CRAZY?

Winner will be announced April 1. I’m looking forward to reading your answers!

xoxo,

Amy

UPDATE: Congratulations, Sarah R.! You are the winner of the giveaway!

Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful, brave answers. It’s inspiring to hear about your surviving difficult times. Life gets crazy, sometimes we get crazy, but if we hang in there, we’ll come out on the other side so much stronger.

Guess what else! I’m going to post an EXCERPT of CRAZY here exactly three months before the release date, on MARCH 12. Sorry to keep you waiting, but I’m a strong believer in delayed gratification. (Either that, or I am following my publicist’s advice.)

Also! The paperback of CLEAN comes out MAY 8. Pre-order it HERE

Also also! If we’re friends on Facebook or you follow me on Twitter, you probably already know this, but I just signed a contract for TWO MORE BOOKS WITH SIMON PULSE! I can’t tell you how much I love working with them, especially my brilliant editor Anica Mrose Rissi. I am so, so, so excited to write more books for you.

That’s all for now!

Love,

Amy

I haven’t decided exactly what I’ll do yet, but it could be a combination of any of these: read a little from Beautiful and/or Clean, talk about my own experiences as a teen, talk about my road to publication and life as a writer, talk about how I got the ideas for Beautiful and/or Clean, talk about my next book Crazy, answer questions, talk about my dog, stand on my head. Maybe I’ll do none of these things. Maybe I’ll do all of them. You’ll have to be there to find out!

Here’s the info:

First Thursday: Amy Reed, author of Clean
February 2nd, 2011

Mill Valley Public Library

375 Throckmorton Ave.
Mill Valley, California 94941
Creekside Room – 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Cost: Free

The critically acclaimed author of Beautiful and Clean will talk about her long, eventful road to becoming a writer, answer questions and maybe, just maybe drop a few hints about her next book.

For more info about this event, contact the Young Adult Librarian at kmacbride@cityofmillvalley.org

*For High School Students Only

I know, it’s been a very long time since I updated my site. Sorry about that! I’ve been too busy writing Book #4,  which is still untitled at this point. Titles are hard. How am I supposed to find a word or two to describe an entire world?

Thanks to everyone who has read CLEAN and BEAUTIFUL so far. If you haven’t already, what are you waiting for?! If you’re waiting for the paperback of CLEAN, I have good news for you: the official release date is MAY 8, and you can pre-order now from lots of different booksellers HERE.

I can’t wait to share my next book CRAZY with you! I absolutely adore this book, and I had so much fun writing it.  I fell  head-over-heels in love with the characters, and I hope you will too. The hardcover comes out JUNE 12. You can pre-order it HERE!

Special Note about CRAZY eGalleys:

Many bloggers, librarians, reviewers and other industry types have already gotten a sneak peak of CRAZY through Simon & Schuster’s Galley Grab program. I’ve heard from a couple of you about possible problems with the file. Don’t worry! Pages 310-316 and 325-330 are supposed to be blank. It’s part of the design, which makes sense in the book but doesn’t quite translate to the eGalleys. (If you are a bookseller, librarian, teacher, journalist, blogger, producer or other publishing professional and you’d like to request a review copy, you can use THIS LINK)

To everyone: My heartfelt thanks for your continued support. May your holidays be full of love and your New Year full of hope.

Amy

If you like books and live in the Bay Area, you should probably already know about Litquake, San Francisco’s big literary festival this week. It all culminates with the Litcrawl this Saturday night, when literary revelers wander the Mission district, weaving in and out of the bars, bookstores, restaurants, coffeeshops, and  galleries that host the night’s many readings, lectures, and other bookish activities. I am sooooooooo honored to be a part of it this year, sharing a panel with awesome women at the KQED Writers’ Block event “Some Girls from the Block.“

Come see me read an excerpt from CLEAN this Saturday night, October 15, at Bruno’s (2389 Mission Street, SF), at 7:15 pm (sadly for my teen fans, this event is 21 and over).

FYI: Writer’s Block is KQED’s weekly reading series featuring writers and performers of fiction, poetry, theater and whatnot. You can subscribe to their podcast via NPR or iTunes. Check out my archived readings from BEAUTIFUL and my short story HOW YOU REMEMBER HER.

In other exciting news, CLEAN was just nominated as a 2012 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

xoxo,

Amy

I hope those of who who have already read CLEAN like it (and thanks to your support, it’s already going into its second printing!) I’ve received amazing messages from teens who relate to the characters and have found hope to carry them through their own struggles. Thank you for sharing your stories with me; you inspire me with your courage and resilience. Getting letters like yours reminds me why I write what I do.

And now, with no further ado, here’s  CRAZY:

Connor knows that Izzy will never fall in love with him the way he’s fallen for her. But somehow he’s been let into her crazy, exhilarating world and become her closest confidante. But the closer they get, the more Connor realizes that Izzy’s highs are too high and her lows are too low.  And the frenetic energy that makes her shine is starting to push her into a much darker  place.  As Izzy’s behavior gets increasingly erratic and self-destructive, Connor gets increasingly desperate to stop her from plummeting. He knows he can’t save her from her pain…but what if no one else can?

Saturday, September 24

Sonoma County Book Festival

Santa Rosa, CA

11:30 a.m.

“Save the Drama for Your Mama: Contemporary YA Fiction” 

(including my pal Nina LaCour, author of the amazing Hold Still)

Saturday, October 1

Northwest Bookfest

Kirkland, WA

5:00 p.m.

“Drugs, Sex and Reading: Talking to Teens about Tough Issues”

Saturday, October 15

LitQuake Lit Crawl

San Francisco, CA

7:15 pm, Bruno’s (2389 Mission Street, San Francisco)

KQED Writer’s Block event: “Some Girls from the Block”