I have 5 free copies of Grave Mercy to give away. It’s first come, first served so you have to be one of the first five people to click on this link to get the book: https://www.libboo.com/freebies/311a2c22-64f0-11e2-ac2f-1231391c65c1

*Full disclosure: to get the book, you’ll have to sign into your Libboo account or create one if you don’t have one, but seriously, Libboo is awesome so you should be on it anyways.

The book is available in mobi, epub, and PDF, so you’ll be able to read it on pretty much any device (Kindle, nook, iPad, Kobo, computer, etc).

Here’s the summary of the book from HMH:

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf? Seventeen year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts - and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others. Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany - where she finds herself woefully under prepared - not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

Get a free book matched to your tastes: https://libboo.com/pocket/katzpe

Hey, guys! My startup, Libboo, is running a promo right now where new users who sign up through this link https://www.libboo.com/pocket/katzpe get a free ebook matched to their tastes just for choosing an ending to our comic strip.

It’s like choose-your-own-adventure, only awesomer cos you get a free book at the end.

Other reasons why you should sign up: 

1) You’d be helping out talented authors (both traditionally published and indie) get the word out about their books, and would earn rewards for your good deeds.

2) It’s free books, what more reasons do you need?!

This is so not the type of book that I normally read, but the subject matter is just too intriguing. 

So I was searching for unicorns (as my job at Libboo often requires I do), and this happened.

You ever start reading a book and know in the first few sentences that you’re absolutely hooked and need to stop doing everything else that you’re doing and read this book RIGHT NOW?

That’s what Daniel Friedland’s Down Aisle Ten is doing to me. This book is hilarious and dark. 

So what’s the problem? I just started reading The Casual Vacancy and I like to finish one book before starting on the next. I’m only 14 pages into it, though, so I’m tempted to switch to Down Aisle Ten and then go back to Casual Vacancy. What is wrong with me? I have some serious book ADD these days. Too many books, too little time.

If you’d like your own copy of Down Aisle Ten, you can download one for free here. If you have any issues downloading the book, feel free to leave me an ask!

I just got back from watching The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I can’t think about this movie objectively, so I can’t tell you if (as a movie) it’s good or not because I was too busy getting punched in the heart.

You see, Perks is my favorite book. I don’t remember how I found it or how it found me, but that book came into my life at exactly the right time. The first time I read it, my grandmother had just passed, and this book helped me get through that. There were also a bunch of things going on in my life, and it felt like this book said everything I couldn’t (I know a lot of people have had this experience, and it’s part of what makes it so amazing). 

The second time I read it, I almost couldn’t get myself to finish it. It was too painful. My best friend had committed suicide, and hadn’t left a note (or if he did, his parents never told anyone). We were in boarding school at the time, and he killed himself in his dorm room. Years have passed, and although I don’t think about him as much, some days the pain and the guilt are as strong as the first day I found out that he was no longer a part of my world. 

The third time I started reading it, I had forgotten how emotionally draining this book is. So I went into it with a light heart, thinking “I’m just going to read this quickly again before seeing the movie.” But my heart grew heavier and heavier, and although at times I felt infinite, I had to stop. And then today I saw the movie. 

It took all of my strength to not have a complete breakdown in the theatre.

My best friend’s mom (his name was Patrick, by the way) left me a comment out of the blue on Facebook yesterday. I had posted a screenshot of the weather in Somerville (35 degrees—it had been freezing), and she said that I should come visit her in Reno because the weather was going to be nice and warm. You don’t know how much I wish I could. 

When Patrick died, it was like he was erased from the world. I’ve gone to so many wakes and funerals that my family used to joke that the funeral home by our house was our second home (and that it had the best hot chocolate). But when Patrick (I can’t bring myself to type the nickname I had for him) died, I got none of the closure that I was used to— there was no note, there was no body on display, there was no funeral I could go to. His parents took his body back to Reno to bury him there, so I never got to see him again.

Since then, I’ve been wanting to go to Reno, to at least visit him at the cemetery. I keep thinking that it will give me some closure, but part of me is afraid that it won’t.  That the ache and the hole and the guilt will just be as big as ever. So part of me doesn’t want to go because at least now I can feel a bit better having the hope that someday I will go to Reno and find some peace there, but if I go, and find there is no comfort for me there, then I will be left with nothing—not even hope.

I’m sorry for the super personal post, but I needed to get it off my chest. I feel so raw right now that I almost want to take a personal day. But, alas, I have both school and work tomorrow.