A Fan Letter to Readers

Dear Readers Everywhere,

I know you probably hear this a lot, but I’m seriously your biggest fan! I’ve wanted to meet you for over a decade, and now that it’s finally happened, I’m totally FREAKING OUT!

You know that one day when you said how much you loved my book? Oh . . . my . . . gosh. My heart was beating a million times a minute. I keep wondering if you’re all secretly related to me, or if maybe my mother has made a hundred or so sock-puppet Goodreads accounts just so she can encourage me to keep writing.

But then you tell me you’re from the Philippines, or Texas, or Canada, or London, or Slovenia, or that gorgeous African island of Mauritius, and I just can’t wrap my head around it! And never in a million years did I think that even one of the 1.2 billion people in India would even know I existed, let alone be excited to read a novel I wrote! Like . . . what?!

You do realize that I grew up in a small town of about 5,000 people, right? That the most outrageous thing I ever dreamed of was going to Hawaii one day? And when that happened at sixteen (my first plane ride), I thought, “Wow. That’s about as good as life can get.”

But then I decided to be a writer. And I hoped people would actually like what I wrote, enough to even pay money for it. But I soon learned that this dream was, as some teenagers today might have told me, totes cray cray.

I had no clue whatsoever how much work would be involved, or how many times I would get my heart broken, or feel like a complete and utter idiot for even thinking I could become a published author.

But you, super-awesome readers, have changed everything. You’ve made me believe that all of the hard work and heartache was not only worth it, but have given me so much HAPPINESS that I’m jumping up and down with jazz hands in the air, wanting to do it all over again!

So sign me up for even more writer’s block, and self-doubt, and pulling my hair out! Go ahead and toss in some of that heartache and rejection! That’s right!

I’m ready.

This time I’m well prepared for the crazy/awful/awesome pathway to publication, because I now know who’s waiting for me at the end of it.

You.

 

All of my fan-girling love and deepest gratitude,

Amy Finnegan, Published author of NOT IN THE SCRIPT, Bloomsbury 2014 (OMG!!!)

Just one of many amazing people I signed a book for in the past month! #Star-Lord

Gabrielle from New Hampshire. The first reader I know of to spy it & buy it in the wild!

_________________________________

Amy Finnegan writes her own stories because she enjoys falling in love over and over again, and thinks everyone deserves a happy ending. She likes to travel the world—usually to locations where her favorite books take place—and owes her unquenchable thirst for reading to Jane Austen and J.K. Rowling. Her debut novel, NOT IN THE SCRIPT, came about after hearing several years of behind-the-scenes stories from her industry veteran brother. She’s also been lucky enough to visit dozens of film sets and sit in on major productions such as Parks and Recreation and Parenthood. You can follow Amy on Twitter @ajfinnegan, Instagram: StrangerThanFictionWriter, or Facebook (Amy Finnegan, Author).

NOT IN THE SCRIPT: From Books Into Movies

In honor of the beautiful and talented Amy Finnegan’s debut novel NOT IN THE SCRIPT, a delightful story about a tender teen romance that blossoms on the set of a TV series, we Emus are sharing our feelings on book-to-movie and book-to-TV adaptations. Which adaptations have succeeded? Which have failed? And which ones that haven’t been made yet do we wish we could stream on Netflix? (Aside from NOT IN THE SCRIPT, of course!)

Rebecca VanSlyke
I know that they already made a movie out of Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted, but I think it could have been SO much better! Although I loved the choice of Anne Hathaway for Ella, they took too many liberties with subplots that weren’t in the book, like Mandy’s boyfriend, Benny (who was turned into a talking book?), the whole character of Char’s cruel Uncle Edgar, and a whole lot of silliness with the battle at the ending. The book was so strong on its own, I thought, that all the additions of the movie just whittled it down to a shadow of what it could have been.

Lindsey Lane

Rick Riordan’s Lightning Thief was a great book. Full of voice, humor, imagination. And it’s kid-centric. What does Hollywood do? They start with Zeus and Poseidon chatting. Wrong. So wrong. Apollo and all of the Muses should have smote a whole studio for that travesty.

Tara Dairman

A book that needs to be turned into a movie or TV show? Our very own Joshua McCune’s TALKER 25! I mean, it’s got a page-turning plot. It’s got awesome characters, both human and dragon, ready for actors and CGI artists to take them on. And it’s even got its own TV-show-within-a-show–Kissing Dragons–built in. I know I’m not the only reader who feels this way. Hollywood, please take note!

Laurie Thompson
Most recently, Joshua McCune’s TALKER 25 struck me as a book that needs to be made into a movie. I think the visuals would be stunning, and it’s a powerful, impactful story. Of course, I might have to close my eyes during a few of the scenes. You know the ones. WOW.

Before that, the book that I closed and immediately gushed, “This HAS to be a movie!” is Jeanne Ryan’s NERVE. Lucky for us, a movie is in the works (there’s some news here). Squee!

Lastly, I would love to see Laini Taylor’s early novels, the Dreamdark series, made into movies. Laini created such a lush, detailed world and filled it with a cast of unique, fascinating characters on an epic quest of good versus evil. BLACKBRINGER and SILKSINGER are still on my favorite-books-of-all-time list. I can never get enough of them!

Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
I recently finished GREENGLASS HOUSE by Kate Milford and I think it would make a wonderful, wonderful movie. The story is very Clue-esque, for any other fans of that movie out there, and revolves around 5 mysterious people showing up at an inn on a snowy winter night and the mysteries that get unraveled from there. I can imagine fabulous potential for the cinematography between the snowy cliffside setting and the mysterious mood of the story.

Christine Hayes

The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander would make a fantastic movie series, if someone had the money and the vision to do it right. The books had humor, adventure, tragedy, and romance. I wish the sad Disney version of The Black Cauldron had never happened! Taran’s journey from Assistant Pig-Keeper to (spoiler alert) High King was epic, and his romance with Eilonwy is one of my favorites in all of literature, children’s or otherwise.

Megan Morrison
Two of my favorite book-to-screen ventures are Jane Austen adaptations. I love Emma Thompson’s and Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility – a story that may actually shine brighter in their retelling than it does in the book (don’t hurt me, Austen people! I’m one of you). I wish only for one thing: that they’d kept the scene where Willoughby returns and tries to explain his behavior to Elinor. But even without that, this film is a masterpiece. I also have a massive crush on Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy amount of respect for the BBC’s 1995 TV miniseries of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It’s faithful, well acted, and completely worth the 5+ hours it takes to watch. It’s also worth investing in the new blu-ray release, because the costumes and sets are detailed and spectacular, but their beauty can only be fully appreciated in blu-ray. However, near perfect as this miniseries is, I’d still rather read my battered copy of the book.

Penny Parker Klostermann
When I think about a book that should be made into a movie, I would pick a book that has stayed with me in some way. So I would choose Unwind by Neal Shusterman. The reason this book has stayed with me is because the whole idea a being unwound creeps me out. It haunts me. It’s one of those things that you think would never come to be…but what if it did? Shivers! And I love movies that give me the shivers!  I searched the Internet and it seems Unwind will be made into a movie but details are sketchy. When it is a movie…I’ll be there. Creeped out, haunted, and with a major case of the shivers! 

Tamara Ellis Smith
One of my favorite books in the universe is Kathi Appelt’s The Underneath.  I think it would make a fantastic and fantastical movie and I think, specifically, Hayao Miyazaki should come out of retirement to make it!  Can’t you just see it? Ranger, Puck, Grandmother Moccasin and Miyazaki together?  The landscape begs for Miyazaki’s magical perspective and the story is just up his alley.  It would be gorgeous and riveting.  C’mon, just one more movie, Miyazaki, please?!

Remember, comment on any post this week to win a fantastic book+swag package put together by Amy Finnegan! 

NOT IN THE SCRIPT and the Great TV Debate

Amy Finnegan’s debut novel, NOT IN THE SCRIPT, takes readers behind the scenes of the fictional TV series, Coyote Hills.  It got us thinking about the television shows we’ve loved over the years, the ones that kept us coming back week after week. When we asked the EMUs to weigh in with their absolute favorite TV shows of all time, it was all very civilized–no punches were thrown, no cross words exchanged. Although the final picks vary widely across several decades and multiple genres, we hope you’ll agree that our list makes for some dang fine television viewing.

Christine Hayes

I watched a lot of TV in the 80s. I mean, like, a lot. To this day, any time I stumble upon an episode of The Love Boat, Charlie’s Angels, CHiPs, or The Dukes of Hazzard, I will sit down and watch. I can’t help it. My gleeful nostalgia meter spikes up into the stratosphere. But my very favorite show of all time was Simon and Simon. Two cute brothers, solving crimes, cracking jokes and watching each other’s backs? I was hooked! Ever since, my taste in TV has followed a similar pattern. Case in point: Psych is probably my second very favorite show, because: Humor! Action! Buddies getting into trouble! I could cite many other examples, but since we were supposed to pick just our favorites, I will merely say that I am predictable but consistent.

Lindsey Lane

Favorite TV Show of all time?!? I never missed an episode of Gilligan’s Island when I was a kid. Never. I think I played island castaway for years in my backyard. My best friend and I would switch off being MaryAnne or Ginger. But really, I think we both wanted to be the goofy, goodhearted Gilligan. I don’t think it had any influence on my writing except maybe, well, the show did play around with multiple perspectives.

Tamara Ellis Smith

So my favorite TV show as a twenty-something was, hands-down, ThirtySomething.  I was obsessed.  Maybe because I felt like it was showing me what my own life could be like in ten years.  Maybe because it was showing me what I WANTED my life to be like in ten years.  I loved following the multiple storylines, I loved thinking about what I might do in the characters’ situations, I loved the dialogue. In fact, at the time, I was both writing and acting, and a friend and I used to memorize monologues from the show because we thought they were excellent audition monologues.

Rebecca Van Slyke

From childhood: Anything with a family who had unusual animals, like Gentle Ben, Lassie, Flipper, and Daktari. I used to long for a family who was cool enough to have a pet bear, dolphin or lion. Heck, I’d even settle for a dog who could understand people, like Lassie. Sadly, the Army frowned on having a pet lion living in base housing, or so my father told me.

From high school: Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley. These shows could make everyone in the family laugh.

All-time favorite: The Bugs Bunny Show taught me most of what I know about the classics: music, literature, great films, and classic movie stars. It was funny as a child, and got funnier as I grew up and got more of the “adult” humor. As a writer, I aim for this kind of humor–something to make kids laugh, and a little something to make the adults reading to them laugh, too.

Jennifer Bertman

Oh man, this is a harder question to answer than I thought it would be. I didn’t realize how many TV shows had been an influential part of my life until I tried to narrow them down to “favorite of all time.” But two are without a doubt at the top: The Muppet Show and Gilmore Girls.

I have so much fond nostalgia for watching The Muppet Show every Sunday night with my parents and older brother. It sparked my lifelong admiration for Jim Henson. The Muppets gave the show the pretense of being for kids, but the humor and celebrity guests spanned all ages, and as a kid I loved that my parents and brother genuinely enjoyed the show as much as I did.

I discovered Gilmore Girls on my honeymoon, oddly enough. I came to the show late–I’d heard people gush over it but never took the time to watch it. But as soon as I caught part of an episode and heard the witty banter, saw the wonderful chemistry between the actors, and realized how smart and full of heart the show was, I was hooked. It’s become my #1 comfort show. Forget chicken soup–if I’m sick or feeling blue, you’ll find me on the couch visiting my old friends Lorelai and Rory.

Donna Janell Bowman (Bratton)

I didn’t think I watched much television until this question came up. I mentioned previously that Bionic Woman was my go-to TV choice as a child. So was Gilligan’s Island. These days I’m a big fan of BBC shows. I adore period dramas like Downtown Abbey, Mr. Selfridge, and The Paradise. I suppose it’s not surprising since I love to read and write historical fiction and nonfiction. I love the visual details and historic portrayals. As for laughs, I’m a fan of Big Bang Theory. And, in the reality-show department, I prefer to geek out on ancestry shows like Who Do You Think You Are and Finding Your Roots. Once a research junkie, always a research junkie.

Megan Morrison

Man, this is a big question. I really, really like good TV, so I’m just going to go with the first things that come into my head. Childhood – The Price Is Right. I think Bob Barker should probably get retroactively paid for babysitting me for like four summers in a row. First big TV obsession: The X-Files. Mulder and Scully. I was hooked on the unresolved tension between them, and I would go to great lengths to justify any and all plot holes to myself in order to keep on enjoying it. Finally, recently, I’ve loved Arrested Development.  I can’t think of any other show with more jokes per square inch. Amazing writing. Pure concentrated irreverence. I stand in awe.

Laurie Ann Thompson

My all-time favorite TV show is Firefly, because what could be better than a western… in space? Oh, yeah, Nathan Fillion as a space cowboy. Everything about the show itself was perfect, from the opening theme music to the characters and their relationships to the futuristic interpretations to the moral quandaries. The only disappointment was that it was cancelled way too soon.

Mylisa Larsen

I’ve had a kind of odd relationship with TV since I was born during the period of time where my parents had decided to throw the TV out of the house. My grandmother lived next door and she would sometimes invite my sisters and I over to watch The Lawrence Welk Show with her. I remember sitting there thinking, “This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.” But my grandma was so sweet and enthusiastic and my grandpa was so generous with his Brach’s Pick-a-mix during the show that we’d settle right into that big flowered couch between them and happily watch the weirdness.

Some years, my parents would import a television during the Olympics and we would lie on the floor of the family room for two weeks, wide-eyed, watching. I still have a strange, binge-watching relationship with the Olympics.

But if you ask me about my favorite shows, I’d have to admit that they were shows that I didn’t really watch but, rather, listened to. When my kids were young, they would watch cartoons while I was in the next room getting dinner ready. So I’d only hear the voice track. My favorite TV show to “watch” in that way was probably Recess. My kids can still walk by and say something in a Spinelli voice and I’m right back there.

Tara Dairman

My favorite TV show when I was a kid was I Love Lucy. No, I’m not quite old enough to have seen the show when it first aired, but there were marathon showings of it every year, and my parents would tape them (I am old enough to have grown up on VHS). Lucy showcased farce and slapstick comedy at its finest, and I like to think that a little bit of the comic timing rubbed off on me as I became a writer. I still love to write funny scenes that are slightly over the top–though thankfully, Gladys Gatsby’s kitchen disasters have not yet reached the epic level of Lucy’s!

Penny Parker Klostermann

I really like TV and there are so many shows I have followed over the years. But my favorite TV show of all time is one from my childhood, The Carol Burnett Show. Carol Burnett is a genius when it comes to comedy and the entire cast was hilarious. My favorite ever skit was Tim Conway as a new dentist and Harvey Korman as a patient needing a tooth pulled. Tim Conway accidentally sticks himself with the Novocain syringe and it goes downhill from there. One of the things that cracks me up about this skit is that Harvey Korman can’t keep a straight face. You should take a few minutes and enjoy this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CSJw96SAeM

 

So…what’s your favorite TV show of all time? Tell us in the comments for a chance to win a signed copy of NOT IN THE SCRIPT, plus bonus swag!

You can also order a copy of your very own from:

• The King’s English (signed copies)
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-a-Million
• Amazon.com
• Indiebound (find a local independent bookstore near you!)

And don’t forget to add it to Goodreads here!

NOT IN THE SCRIPT Launch Party and Favorite TV Couples

Today is Amy Finnegan’s Book Birthday! Her novel, NOT IN THE SCRIPT, is now available everywhere! We will be celebrating all week at EMU’s Debuts and we are delighted that you are here celebrating with us 🙂

I’ve read Amy’s book and I loved it! One reason I loved it is because I found Emma Taylor and Jake Elliott realistic and appealing as a couple. And isn’t “realistic and appealing” what makes a couple special? Especially a TV couple that we’re going to watch week after week! Isn’t “realistic and appealing” what keeps us watching? What TV couples keep or kept you watching a series? That is the question for the EMUs today. And that is the question for you!

After you read about the couples that keep/kept EMUs watching, we would like for you to join us by voting in a poll. There are way too many “favorite” couples to list so I’m keeping the poll limited to the ones that the EMUs chose. If none of them suit your fancy, mention a couple when you comment. And don’t forget to comment because if you comment on any post this week, you will have a chance to win a copy of NOT IN THE SCRIPT along with some awesome swag!

EMUs Favorite TV Couples

Lindsey Lane

I gotta go with Bones & Booth…aka Dr. Temperance Brennan and Seeley Booth of BONES. I love the Sherlockian, literal mind of Brennan in contrast to the instinctual and emotional Booth. I love that they are playing against gender and the angsty period of ‘should we be a couple?’ didn’t go on and on. Speaking of Sherlock, I love the new BBC version with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. But that’s not really television, is it?

Megan Morrison

I adore Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt from Parks and Recreation. I love that they really love each other – they’re into each other, they’re geeks together, they laugh at each other’s jokes, and they admire each other.  Each of them has put the other ahead of their own career, too.  But my favorite thing about their relationship is that it’s never cynical. Their love is never threatened by the usual plot twists that threaten TV relationships. Leslie and Ben are just too solid for that kind of drama.

Rebecca VanSlyke

1) Penny and Leonard from “The Big Bang Theory.” A great case for opposites not only attracting but strengthening each other. I like to think that my husband and I do this for each other. Usually. When we’re not baffled by how the other one thinks.
2) Paul and Jaime Buchman from “Mad About You.” I swear NBC owes us some BIG money for bugging our apartment early in our marriage. We had some of the same conversations, disagreements, and situations that they did. They were two very different personalities, but they stuck together because they were, you know, mad about each other.
3) Cliff and Clair Huxtable from “The Cosby Show.” They were hilariously funny, but not at the expense of the other person. They had a great sense of humor, but they always treated each other and their kids with respect.

Tara Dairman

Favorite TV couples…oh, this is a tough one. I’m tempted to go with Ross & Rachel from “Friends”–THE couple of my teenage TV-watching years–or Starbuck and Apollo from “Battlestar Galactica,” who had pretty much the best tension (though maybe the least functional relationship!) in all of space and time. But if I just have to choose one, I think I have to pick Cam and Mitchell from “Modern Family.” They provide plenty of hilarity, shrieking, and hysterics…but also know how to pull together when they need to for the good of their family. And for me, comedy + closeness seems like the perfect formula for a great TV couple.

Christine Hayes

I loved rooting for Jim and Pam from The Office to get together. They were both just so nice! Pam gained confidence with every season and really figured out who she was and what she wanted out of life. Jim had such a good heart and a wicked sense of humor–he reminded me of my own sweetie in many ways. I felt every twist and turn in their relationship keenly, because they felt like real people to me.

Mylisa Larsen

My favorite TV couple is actually a movie couple—Carl and Ellie from Pixar’s Up. It’s a great opposites attract kind of romance where the whole is so much greater than either of the parts would have been alone. Plus, I have a deep affection for couples who figure out how to make love work in the long game. The story of that romance only takes up five or ten minutes of that movie but the rest of the movie would be nothing without it.

Laurie Ann Thompson

I was going to go with Castle and Beckett on CASTLE, but I’m sure someone has already beaten me to that punch. I mean, we’re writers. We gotta love CASTLE, right? (No one beat you, Laurie, so you get Castle and Beckett along with Chuck and Sarah!) So, another one of my all-time favorite TV couples has to be Chuck Bartowski and Sarah Walker on the long-running series CHUCK. I love how fundamentally different they were and how that made them perfect for each other. And, of course, there’s a chance that I may just be partial to geeky yet good-hearted guys. 😉

Donna Bowman Brattan

It’s about to be very obvious that I don’t watch much television and I am woefully ill-prepared to conjure pop-culture characters. Maybe because, in my house, the cat and I are the only females. And Mittens limits her screen time to cat videos on YouTube. I do catch Big Bang Theory sometimes and I kinda giggle at the pairing of Sheldon and Amy because they are both socially awkward in hilarious ways. But my first thought about TV couples was a blast to my childhood. I loved watching The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. Mostly, they were separate shows, of course, but I remember looking forward to any episodes when they crossed into each other’s television world. Steve What’s-his-name (aka Lee Majors) was a major hunk who could bend cities in half while he eyeballed straight through Mt. Everest. And Jamie What’s-her-name (Lindsey Wagner) was beautiful, strong, sweet, and she could hear a seahorse burp on the moon. Or so it seemed. Imagine the genetic lottery their children would inherit! Oh, oh, what if the children of the bionic couple (let’s pretend their bionicness was genetic) married Sheldon and Amy and had their own TV show. Ha! Now THAT would be a show I’d watch.

Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Three couples immediately come to mind:

1) Luke and Lorelai from “Gilmore Girls.” I mean, he built her an ice skating rink, for Pete’s sake!!

2) Cliff and Claire Huxtable from “The Cosby Show”. The affection they showed each other felt so genuine, and they made each other laugh even when they were exasperated with one another. Maybe especially when they were exasperated with one another.

3) Coach and Tami Taylor from “Friday Night Lights.” The Taylors had such respect for each other, through all their ups and downs. Both were good people, and they worked so well together as a team.

Penny Parker Klostermann

I know Chris already picked them, but I didn’t know that when I chose them. So, I’m going with Jim and Pam from “The Office”, too. (Chris, we should hang out and watch TV!)  The reason they’re my favorite couple is that it was so sweet that Jim hung in there even though Pam was engaged to another guy And we all knew Jim and Pam belonged together way before they got together. Also, I loved the office-romance aspect and how they handled it. For me, they added a bit of “normal” in the most dysfunctional office EVER! They did it with a sense of humor and, to me, that’s a necessary element for “couple success” on or off the screen.Thanks for hanging around. And just for fun, vote for your favorite couple!

Comment for a chance to win this super swagalicious giveaway.
Comment on any of the posts this week (Oct. 6-10). 

Of course, you can order hardcovers, paperbacks, and ebooks from:

• The King’s English (signed copies)
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-a-Million
• Amazon.com
• Indiebound (find a local independent bookstore near you!)

And don’t forget to add it to Goodreads here!

It’s the NOT IN THE SCRIPT launch party kickoff and giveaway!

You may think we Emus have been doing an awful lot of partying lately, but we’re not done yet. This coming Tuesday is the official release date of Amy Finnegan’s wonderful debut, NOT IN THE SCRIPT! So, toot your horns and throw that confetti, because we’ve got more celebrating to do, and we hope you’ll join us!

Doesn’t that cover look fun? Check out this description:

The best kinds of love stories don’t follow a script.

Millions of people witnessed Emma Taylor’s first kiss—a kiss that needed twelve takes and four camera angles to get right. After spending nearly all of her teen years performing on cue, Emma wonders if any part of her life is real anymore . . . particularly her relationships.

Jake Elliott’s face is on magazine ads around the world, but his lucrative modeling deals were a poor substitute for what he had to leave behind. Now acting is offering Jake everything he wants: close proximity to home; an opportunity to finally start school; and plenty of time with the smart and irresistible Emma Taylor . . . if she would just give him a chance.

When Jake takes Emma behind the scenes of his real life, she begins to see how genuine he is, but on-set relationships always end badly. Don’t they? Toss in Hollywood’s most notorious heartthrob and a resident diva who may or may not be as evil as she seems, and the production of Coyote Hills heats up in unexpected—and romantic—ways.

– See more at: http://bloomsbury.com/us/not-in-the-script-9781619633988/#sthash.f08cASwU.dpuf

One of my favorite things about the book is how it immerses you in the lives of the young actors, both on set and off. How was Amy able to bring the entertainment world to life so vividly? She’s heard years of behind-the-scenes stories from her industry veteran brother, plus she’s been lucky enough to visit dozens of film sets and sit in on major productions such as Parks and Recreation and Parenthood, so you can be pretty sure the fictional experiences are authentic. Want to know more? You can follow Amy on Twitter: @ajfinnegan, Instagram: StrangerThanFictionWriter, Facebook: Amy Finnegan, Author, or visit her at AmyFinnegan.com.

Check out this awesome book+swag package put together by Amy herself:

For a chance to win this super swagalicious giveaway, just comment on any of the launch party posts today through Friday. We’ve got all kinds of fun things planned to celebrate, so be sure to check in every day this week!

Of course, if you just can’t wait to see if you win (trust me–you don’t want to wait!) or you need more than one (trust me–you’ll want extras to give as gifts!), you can order hardcovers, paperbacks, and ebooks from:

• The King’s English (signed copies)
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-a-Million
• Amazon.com
• Indiebound (find a local independent bookstore near you!)

And don’t forget to add it to Goodreads here!

Cut! And that’s a wrap. (We’ll pick up again with scene 2 tomorrow!)

Cover Reveal: NOT IN THE SCRIPT

Friends!! It’s here!! My cover!!

And this isn’t just a cover reveal. Oh no. Read to the very end of this post and I’ll give you a link to where you could win an advanced copy of the novel that goes with it. NOT IN THE SCRIPT won’t officially be on shelves until October, but if you win this giveaway, you’ll get to read it within the next few weeks.

Some of you are probably wondering why an author would get this excited about revealing the cover of her upcoming novel to the entire world (or at least to the U.S., my family and friends in the UK, my three friends in Canada, the two bloggers I love in the Philippines and Australia, and my buddy Matt in Hong Kong), but THIS IS A PRETTY BIG DEAL FOR ME!

I started writing with the hope of getting published twelve years ago. NOT IN THE SCRIPT is the fifth novel-length manuscript I started—the fourth that I finished. But it’s the only novel I’ve ever felt brave enough to submit to publishers.

These long years of learning, writing, and revising have been really rough at times. I’ve had a lot of close calls, a lot of heartache. There were plenty of times when I wanted to give up. But whenever I’d see awesome new books on the shelves, with fancy covers and an author’s name printed on it in big block letters, instead of stomping my foot and saying “WHY isn’t that me?!” I’ve tried really hard to tell myself, “One day that will be me.”

That “one day” is today.

I finally have a fancy cover and it has my name on it. Here it is!

Click on the cover to make it bigger!

Yay! I hope you love it as much as I do.

But even more so, I hope you’ll love what happens after you turn that cover over and start reading the pages. So here is my very first ARC (advanced reading copy) giveaway, and it’s sponsored by one of my favorite book review blogs, IceyBooks.com. Instructions on how to enter the giveaway will be there!

Another one of my favorite blogs is PopGoesTheReader.com (the reviews are fantastic!), and the host is revealing her own thoughts about my cover today.

This is way too much excitement for just one girl to handle, so thank you for sharing it with me! And a very big shout out to the fantastic art department at Bloomsbury! You guys rock!!

Want to know more about NOT IN THE SCRIPT? Read this: Millions of people witnessed Emma Taylor’s first kiss—a kiss that needed twelve takes and four camera angles to get right. After spending nearly all of her teen years performing on cue, Emma can’t help but wonder if any part of her life is real anymore . . . particularly her relationships. But her new costar, Jake Elliott, couldn’t care less about how many scenes he has to fake his way through; he needs the money. Toss in a reckless heartthrob, desperate for a comeback, and a resident diva who may or may not be as evil as she seems, and the production of Coyote Hills heats up in unexpected—and romantic—ways. Along with offering front row seats to the real life drama that often unfolds within the entertainment industry, NOT IN THE SCRIPT is a story about two not-so-typical teens who are searching for themselves, and just happen to find each other.

You can add it to your Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf here.

NOT IN THE SCRIPT will be released October 7^th,  and is now available for pre-order (with discounted prices!) from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Books-a-Million.

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Amy Finnegan writes her own stories because she enjoys falling in love over and over again, and thinks everyone deserves a happy ending. She likes to travel the world—usually to locations where her favorite books take place—and owes her unquenchable thirst for reading to Jane Austen and J.K. Rowling. Her debut novel, NOT IN THE SCRIPT, came about after hearing several years of behind-the-scenes stories from her industry veteran brother. She’s also been lucky enough to visit dozens of film sets and sit in on major productions such as Parks and Recreation and Parenthood. You can follow Amy on Twitter @ajfinnegan, or Facebook (Amy Finnegan, Author).