Kami Garcia rocked the drop! #operationtbd

And there's her book, BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, next to the beautiful creature known as a Starbucks coffee.  To learn more about Kami's adventures in book dropping, check out her blog.

Rgz Shoutout: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl!

Beautiful Creatures fans, take note! Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl recently announced the title of the sequel, which will be out on October 26 (just in time for Halloween, yay!).

Did you hear?

It's. . . BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS!

There's more! TODAY, they're debuting the cover art at the Beautiful Creatures NING.

Before you run off to get your first peek at the cover, check out this shoutout that's just for readergirlz!





I don't know what could match up to the gorgeous Beautiful Creatures cover, but I can't wait to see!

Rgz Street Team: Sarah reviews Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

The rgz Street Team is a group of teens who bring YA reviews to our blog, led by Postergirl Miss Erin. Find out more.

Today, Sarah reviews Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl:

"Ethan Wate, who has been counting down the day until he can escape the small town of Gatlin, is haunted by a dream of a beautiful girl he has never met. Then Lena Duchannes moves into the oldest and most infamous plantation with her reclusive Uncle Macon. Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and is determined to uncover the connection between them.

"Lena is unlike anyone in Gatlin. She is struggling to conceal her powers and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. Even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and the graveyard of the south and the past, a secret cannot be hidden for much longer.

"Ethan and Lena were both amazing characters. Ethan was sweet, swoon-worthy, and protective of Lena. Lena was strong willed and caring. Ethan and Lena were amazing together. Uncle Macon and Amma were both interesting characters. I really enjoyed Ethan's great aunts Mercy, Prudence, and Grace -- also know as "The Sisters." They were hilarious. The plot was fast-paced and gripping. I could not put this book down. There were a few plot holes, but I think that they will be solved more in the next book. Also the pacing was off a few times, but it was still a great plot. Garcia and Stohl are an amazing writing duo. Beautiful Creatures is filled with gorgeous details and a charming setting. I highly recommend it; it will bring you into a world that you will never want to leave." --Sarah

Thanks, Sarah! Check out the Cover Story for this book, and Liz's Host report from a Kami & Margaret reading!

rgz HOST: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl!

Hey, readergirlz!

What a great Sunday! I just got home from Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, where I and rgz Postergirl Jackie Parker got to hear Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl talk about and read from Beautiful Creatures!

Highlights:

Kami and Margaret are long-time friends who came up with the idea for Beautiful Creatures over Mexican food and refill after refill of Diet Coke.

They proceeded to actually write the book based on a dare from Margaret's daughter.

Margaret's daughter and her lucky friends passed the book among themselves as first readers, and helped shape the plot by asking questions Margaret and Kami hadn't thought of.

Both ladies write everything in the book, back and forth, going over and over each others' work. They even lose track of who wrote exactly what.

The movie rights have sold, a script is in the works, and a big-time director is attached.

There will be a sequel! Kami and Margaret will announce more soon, but for now, all they're saying is it'll come out this fall. Watch this blog for more info!

Also, stop by Caster Girls, the official fan site for Beautiful Creatures, to get in on the Beautiful Creatures Unlock the Curse Contest, in which you can win the locket from the book--handmade by the authors! The contest involves answering questions about six books: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, Tithe by Holly Black, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan, and Rampant by Diana Petrefreund. Being a readergirl comes in handy sometimes! Don't worry if you haven't read all six books because you can work in teams (see link for all the details).

I'm sad to say that my camera was being moody, so I got mostly blurry shots (I'm sure you're relieved to see that my traditional Liz with Author pic, below, came out fine), but I wish they'd all turned out well because Jackie and I also ran into Street Team Sarah and soon-to-debut author of The Body Finder Kimberly Derting!

Okay, gotta get back to reading Beautiful Creatures now! It's so much fun!

See you soon!

Cover Stories: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Everyone is buzzing about Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's Beautiful Creatures this week! I haven't read it yet, but I can't wait!

Here's the story behind that gorgeous cover:

MW: Did you have an idea in mind for your cover as you were proposing/writing the book?
Margie: We did. My sister-in-law, who is a graphic designer, even mocked it up. It was a black and white image of an enormous moon, with iridescent green lettering that said Sixteen Moons. I had nearly forgotten about that.
Kami: We had pretty much forgotten about that by the time we got to Little, Brown. We were so overwhelmed that the book was being published, we didn't think much about it.

MW: Did your publisher ask for your input on the cover design before the art dept started working?
Margie: I don't remember if they did, but we were all so excited that Dave Caplan was going to be our designer, because we loved everything he had done, that we had a lot of faith in Little, Brown to get it right. And actually, Amazon has just nominated the Beautiful Creatures cover as one of the six best in Children's and Teen fiction of the year, so we were right to trust him! (Go vote on it at Amazon until December 17th!)
Kami: They told us Dave was the designer, and that he would show us a concept when he came up with something. The "something" was the BC cover. That was his first try.

MW: What did you think the first time you saw your cover? Truly!
Margie: We flipped out. When we saw the image of the tree, with the lettering and the foil, we just freaked. We know how important the cover is for a YA debut novel, and we've felt so lucky Beautiful Creatures turned out to be such a, well, beautiful creature!
Kami: I couldn't believe how dead-on it was. The trees look exactly the way we envisioned the road leading to Ravenwood, and we LOVED the purple. The hand lettering is what we refer to as "the sparkly font."

MW: Did the cover change much from the original version you saw?
Margie: Not that I remember. We saw it once without the wonderful font, and then finally with the font and the color and the foil all mocked up. It was stupendous, even then.
Kami: Dave tweaked the purple a little before printing, but that was it.

MW: Do you know if your cover was from a photo shoot or still life, or if it is a stock photo that the art department found that could capture the feeling of the book?
Margie: I don't know where Dave found the central image of the tree on the front. I'd love to find out.
Kami: I have no idea. I know the tile was hand lettered by Si Scott.

MW: How do you feel about your cover, in the end? Have you found any hidden meaning in it or anything you didn't notice at first glance?
Margie: I still love it. I love the way the road opens to draw the reader into the world of Gatlin. It's perfect for our book.
Kami: It is so amazing -- from the way it captures the feel of the book to its graphic and artistic qualities. As far as I'm concerned, Dave Caplan is the rock star of cover design!

I'm with Kami and Margie. Love this cover. It's almost like the negative of a photograph, no? And that font is like liquid text--lovely! Plus, the reviews are raaaaaving. (Check out Hope's Bookshelf, The Compulsive Reader and The Story Siren.)

What do you guys think of the cover?