For the entire month of February, the print versions of the award-winning Misfit McCabe series will be available for 25% off the cover price through my website. Use coupon code NDD0Z8Z79YRD at time of checkout. That’s right, you can purchase Misfit McCabe, Nowhere Feels Like Home, AND the brand-new Tattered through the Griffie World store and receive 25%, or more than $2 per book off.

And for those of you who have entered the eReader world, I’m not leaving you out!! For the entire month of February you’ll be able to purchase Misfit McCabe and Nowhere Feels Like Home in the digital format of your choice for 50% off the regular ebook price. For Misfit McCabe use coupon code TX74G and for Nowhere Feels Like Home use coupon code YG82K.

Wait a second!!! I can’t leave Tattered out of the discounted book love. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you already can download Tattered for free (which will be the case for a limited time), BUT for anyone who’d like a copy of Tattered, it will be available for FREE as a Kindle download from 2/14/12 — 2/16/12. Don’t have a Kindle? No problem, did you know that there is a free Kindle PC app as well as Kindle apps for other devices?

So thank you to my current readers (I love you all) and welcome to my world for all my new readers. I truly appreciate sharing my stories with you.

About the Books:

Book 1 – Misfit McCabe
When Katie McCabe accidentally burns down a neighbor’s shed, she thinks it’s the worst thing that could happen. Boy is she ever wrong. Hustled off to live with her Uncle Charley, Katie struggles with the changes in her life. The only bright spot is making a friend who wants to be more. But the first person she meets is an enemy with ties to her past who believes in dangerous retribution. How far is he willing to go? Katie wonders if she has the strength to survive.

Book 2 – Nowhere Feels Like Home
Stuck in bed with a broken ankle and reeling from the loss of her father, her home, and life as she knew it, Katie McCabe must deal with her anger toward the town bully and a world that’s fallen apart. Being cooped up in the house with Uncle Charley and three overprotective cousins isn’t helping. Despite her new family’s good intentions, Katie feels like a lonely outsider. Will she ever be happy again?

Book 3 – Tattered
What do Sunday afternoon court proceedings, cheerleader tryouts, and a book burning have in common? Katie McCabe is back in action.

After her nemesis Harvey is found guilty and sentenced to community service, Katie wants to believe her troubles are over, but Harvey won’t rest until he gets revenge. When blackmail rears its ugly head, she’s caught in between friends and enemies putting her growing relationship with Tom at stake. Books go up in flames and Katie’s world rains down in tatters.

Everyone is a winner! I’m so happy about the release of Tattered, I’m giving away copies of the first book in the series, Misfit McCabe and everyone can get the ebook version FREE! Here’s how to win:

1. For the daily prizes on each stop on the tour comment on the post of the day to be entered for the daily prize
2. To get a free ebook copy of Misfit McCabe:
• Put together the puzzle and write down the code. Each day will give another part of the coupon code. Please note at the top whether it is for eBook or Print.
• Once you have collected the entire code, go to Smashwords and purchase Misfit McCabe input the code and download whichever ebook version you need for free.
3. To get 50% off the print version of Misfit McCabe:
• Put together the puzzle and write down the code. Each day will give another part of the coupon code. Please note at the top whether it is for eBook or Print.
• Once you have collected the entire code, go to Griffie World Store and purchase Misfit McCabe input the code and receive 50% off the purchase price.
4. To win the KINDLE FIRE
• Support this tour by commenting on each of the daily stops — It’s only 11 days, not even as long as the 12 days of Christmas.
• And since each of the hosts was nice enough to help me promote my new book, honor their request on their post to follow, subscribe, tweet, etc.
• And if you’re under 18 and would like to enter, but don’t have Facebook or Twitter, etc. if you have a friend comment on the posts saying that you sent them, we’ll consider that your entry for the Grand Prize. One friend for each stop (and they can enter too and bring all of their friends to the party).

But enough of that… let’s get down to what this post is about — Tattered!

What do Sunday afternoon court proceedings, cheerleader tryouts, and a book burning have in common? Katie McCabe is back in action.

After her nemesis Harvey is found guilty and sentenced to community service, Katie wants to believe her troubles are over, but Harvey won’t rest until he gets revenge. When blackmail rears its ugly head, she’s caught between friends and enemies putting her growing relationship with Tom at stake. Books go up in flames and Katie’s world rains down in tatters.

Each of the stops along the way will introduce you to the characters you will find in Tattered and Katie is very excited because she will get to do most of the commentary about the people you will meet within the pages. Speaking of which, since today’s puzzle is a picture of Katie, I’d better say a little something about her. Katie is at bottom, a good girl, but she tends to get in a lot of trouble… sometimes through no fault of her own, but usually, she has a hand in it. She is impulsive, has a good sense of humor, is loyal to her friends, and has a good heart. Her main goal? To figure out this thing called life. But you’ll get to know a lot more about her during the tour. Now for the stops:

**Note** All winners must have a US or Canada mailing address — but comments from all countries are welcome.

Tour Stops

• December 1st – You found it… here is where it all starts. Today’s swag: A paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Can’t Catch Me and Other Twice-Told Tales by Michael Cadnum. For Kindle entry, please Like my Misfit McCabe page on Facebook (link in the sidebar to the right)
• December 2nd – The Global Citizen – home on the web to Juliette Terzieff The daily winner will receive a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Prince of Wolves by Dave Gross
• December 3rd – We’ll unravel secrets with Heather McCorkle The daily winner will receive a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with The Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle
• December 4th – Fly on over to Eisley Jacobs’ site where the daily winner will receive a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Born to Be a Dragon by Eisley Jacobs
• December 5th – We’ll open the door to a new world with Christine Fonseca and the winner will take away a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans
• December 6th – We’ll be hanging out with Julia Swank, the YA Book Diva and giving away a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with a copy of her mama’s book Here by Denise Grover Swank
• December 7th – Get ready for the snark with the Snarktastic Ramblings of Rhonda Cowsert and you might walk away with a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with The Hammer by K. J. Parker AND an ARC of Tattered.
• December 8th -Head out for the party that is Katelyn Torrey’s blog. Put on your dancing shoes, comment and waltz away with a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with The Stoneholding by James G. Anderson and Mark Sebanc AND an ARC of Tattered.
• December 9th – Find out if Molly Hacker is Too Picky! with Lisette Brodey and pick up a chance to win a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Squalor, New Mexico by Lisette Brodey AND an ARC of Tattered.
• December 10th – Check out a review or two on the LL Book Review. Comment to win a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with Mayan December by Brenda Cooper AND an ARC of Tattered.
• December 11th – Make a difference with Carolina Valdez Miller and get your chance to win a paperback copy of Misfit McCabe along with The Prophecy of Zephyrus by G. A. Hesse AND an ARC of Tattered.

If the puzzle does not load correctly, please refresh your browser and it should display correctly.

A second-hand book shop in Wellington, New Zealand wound up with a copy of Bloody Mama by Robert Thom, a book published in 1970 about Ma Barker and her sons. According to Radio New Zealand News, it was removed from the book shop by the Department of Internal Affairs.

What???!!!

To say I am appalled is an understatement. As a teenager, I’m used to (sad to say) books being challenged by parents and removed for review by the schools. And I’ve even heard of a book being banned in a town before (although not recently), but that today, in 2011, a book can be banned for an ENTIRE COUNTRY is beyond belief. The book was confiscated from a second-hand bookstore by an arm of the government… not taken off the shelves of a school, which means that the government has decreed that the book should not be read — even by adults. Really New Zealand??? That people think that teenagers cannot make an appropriate decision, is maddening to say the least, but that the government has decided that ALL of the people in an entire country are incapable of handling the contents between the covers of a book is absurd. Maybe the most disturbing of all is that the Department of Internal Affairs arrived at the second-hand bookstore after an anonymous tip.

So, what is sooooo bad about Bloody Mama that a country is not allowed to read it? I couldn’t find a book blurb, but the movie, also made in 1970, had a write up:

A psychological gangster film based on fact. Machine gun totin’ Ma Barker lead her family gang (her sons) on a crime spree in the Depression era. Her loyal brood have every perversion imaginable. The sadistic Herman sleeps with his Ma. When Fred Barker is released from prison, he brings home his cell mate/lover Kevin Dirkman, who also sleeps with Ma, much to Fred’s chagrin. Lloyd Barker is a spaced-out drug addict who sniffs glue if nothing better is around. Ma kidnaps happy-go-lucky millionaire Sam Adams Pendlebury and holds him for ransom. Arthur Barker – Ma’s wallflower son – and Herman’s hooker lady friend Mona Gibson also figure in the story. The bloody finale is virtually choreographed and a visual stunner. Filmed in the Ozarks.

Apparently, the suggestion of incestuous relationships is what caused this book to be banned. Again, really??? The book has now been passed by the Department of Internal Affairs to the Office of Film and Literature Classification to see whether they feel it can be removed from the list. On this whole thing, I have to agree with Mr. Hollander, the bookstore owner, “…people should be free to read any book.”

The contest runs from Black Friday (11/25/11) through December 1st 11:59 EST. Coincidentally, December 1st is the launch date for Tattered the third book in the Misfit McCabe series. So that’s another book you could throw on the fire… #justsayin What do you have to do to enter for a chance to win? Follow the below authors on Twitter and Like them on Facebook for chances to win the Fire and lots of cool books. Easy Peasey. Well, what are you waiting for?

From the back cover: What do Sunday afternoon court proceedings, cheerleader tryouts, and a book burning have in common? Katie McCabe is back in action.

After her nemesis Harvey is found guilty and sentenced to community service, Katie wants to believe her troubles are over, but Harvey won’t rest until he gets revenge. When blackmail rears its ugly head, she’s caught between friends and enemies putting her growing relationship with Tom at stake. Books go up in flames and Katie’s world rains down in tatters.

And now….. *drumroll please* …. the cover!!!!

Basically what the article boils down to is that teens who consume five or more sodas per week are more likely to exhibit violent behavior and carry guns and/or knives and significantly more likely to have consumed alcohol or smoked. Unfortunately, they didn’t put a number around the potential for alcohol consumption likelihood, or the smoking, so we’re left to wonder what “significantly” works out to in real-world terms. They did however put a number against the potential for a teen to carry either a knife or a gun. If a teen consumes 14 or more sodas of the sugary variety per week (two per day or more for those who do not like to do the math), then they are 20% more likely to carry a knife or a gun. Actually, the alarming fact in the article to me was not that carrying weapons increases by 20% when someone is a high soda consumer, but that 23% of those polled carry either a knife or a gun on a regular basis. 23%!!!!! I see that I am going to have to rethink some of my characters and start including more who carry weapons.

It is also mentioned in the article that the high consumption of soda (more than five per week) has the same impact on the behavior in teens as alcohol, when it comes to an increase in violent behavior raising the potential from 9%-15% over those who do not consume sodas. Sara J. Solnick and David Hemenway of The University of Vermont and Harvard School of Public Health respectively, concluded that, “The influence of soft drink consumption on violence appears to be a ‘dose-response’ relationship, with effects visible at low levels of consumption and increasing with greater consumption.” Will this lead to pleas in court of “…it wasn’t my fault, Your Honor, I drank soda and couldn’t help myself.”?

Actually, the first thing that came to mind after reading the article was how interesting a study of soda consumption among authors and whether there is a correlation to the amount of suffering they inflict on their characters would be. Followed by the thought that we may need to start including soda consumption as a character trait prior to violent episodes.

Photo: Credit KCSPresse / Splash News

When someone uses their celebrity to help address one of my pet issues, it makes me feel good. That they use their pull and tap into their fanbase to raise awareness about the issue, such as bullying, it gives me hope that something positive will come out of it. Lady Gaga made a point of meeting with President Obama after the suicide of Jamey Rodemeyer to discuss the bullying epidemic, which made me believe she was serious about making a difference. And sure enough, she is launching the Born This Way Foundation in conjunction with her mother, the MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment, and Berkman.

While there is not much to see yet about the Born This Way Foundation, you can sign up on the landing page. The tag line is Empowering Youth — Inspiring Bravery — both lofty goals. And the meat of the page:

THIS WAY, TOWARDS BRAVERY
WHERE YOUTH ARE EMPOWERED.
THIS WAY, TOWARDS ACCEPTANCE
WHERE HUMANITY IS EMBRACED.
THIS WAY, TOWARDS LOVE
WHERE INDIVIDUALITY IS ENCOURAGED.

Lady Gaga my hat is off to you. Keep up the good work.

From the back cover: What do Sunday afternoon court proceedings, cheerleader tryouts, and a book burning have in common? Katie McCabe is back in action.

After her nemesis Harvey is found guilty and sentenced to community service, Katie wants to believe her troubles are over, but Harvey won’t rest until he gets revenge. When blackmail rears its ugly head, she’s caught between friends and enemies putting her growing relationship with Tom at stake. Books go up in flames and Katie’s world rains down in tatters.

* * * * *

There will definitely be more to come for this book, I will have a preview widget and all the rest. So, stay tuned….

Misfit McCabe sucks the reader into young Katie McCabe’s life as she transitions from her normal, everyday life into a new town full of new people. The pace is quick, but I was never left behind for a moment wondering what was happening. Truly a fast, satisfying read. LK Gardner-Griffe writes fluid prose with very few hiccups along the way. The characters in the story are so real, though the mundane actions they take carry weight.

I had trouble settling into the story and noticed a few awkward phrases, but after the first few pages, I was hooked. Katie McCabe is a troublemaker, and she knows it. What sets her apart though, is that she doesn’t mean to make a mess of things: it just happens. The story starts fast, like a jump into a cool lake. Katie is smoking and drinking with her best friend Timmy out in a shed.

Gardner-Griffe shows us Katie at her weakest and strongest. Katie does not get away with anything she does, and yet I cheered on almost all of her decisions, though as bad as some were, it felt good to see her stand up to a bully—and in this case the bully isn’t some low brow jock, an interesting twist. Katie McCabe, not living up to the traditions of her family name, doesn’t know what she’s in for when she starts a ripple through the town with her arrival.

Katie is faced with tough choices, and she has to mature rapidly in her ever-changing world. She is dumped from the hands of her frustrated, loving (and sick) father, to her unsuspecting Uncle Charley. Throughout the book Katie zips from one emotion to the next. One minute I was jubilant, the next, I wanted to cry, and right after, I wanted to punch someone: I felt like a teenager again.

This story isn’t for those who want to read fluff. Misfit McCabe deals with real problems that teens (and adults) can learn from. Katie makes mistakes, and she pays for them, and importantly she learns. Her father and her uncle make mistakes as well: as does her cousin Sarah. Gardner-Griffe lets them make their mistakes, and we, as the reader, benefit from the choices they make and how they right their wrongs; when they make a good choice after learning, I let go of a breath I didn’t know I was holding!

What I enjoyed most from Misfit McCabe is a peek into what it is like to be a teen again—what the problems feel like, the emotional quicksilver—and the desire to read more. I love a book that pulls me through, and Misfit McCabe does exactly that; I was never dragged too fast, nor waiting for something else to happen.

Would I recommend this book: yes. Wholeheartedly. I will be ordering Nowhere Feels Like Home, and anxiously awaiting the rest of the series. LK Gardner-Griffe is an excellent writer who knows her audience: teens who want real substance, real characters, accessible language, and above all, a darn good story.

Lawrence "Larry" King

Bullying is a hot topic these days. As a nation, we’re grappling with how best to stop bullying and yet more cases are jumping into the public eye. Recently the case of Jamey Rodemeyer has been making headlines, because bullying drove this fourteen-year-old boy to take his own life. At the same time, the case of the Lawrence King shooting by then fourteen-year-old Brandon McInerney may be re-tried because the first trial ended in mistrial.

While I am not a member of the jury, nor did I sit in the courtroom to hear all of the testimony, I’m a little flummoxed by the results of this trial. There is no question as to whether Brandon McInerney shot Larry King. None. There was a roomful of witnesses. My understanding of the situation is that the defense pressed the point that King’s behavior pushed McInerney to the breaking point by wearing feminine attire and via means of sexual harassment with words such as “Love you baby!”. In other words, vilifying the victim.

Brandon McInerney

Wait! We’re leaning toward manslaughter on a charge where the perpetrator had enough forethought to bring the gun to school and shoot the victim execution style twice in the back of the head? It wasn’t his fault because the victim wore high heel boots and make-up to school? I hear echoes of “It wasn’t my fault, your honor. She was asking for it.” in rape cases. Or in this case… it’s not a hate crime because the victim was asking for it. We, as a nation, are running an extreme risk with this type of thought process. While Larry may not have handled the bullying by Brandon in the most appropriate manner, are we really saying that the alleged words “What’s up, baby?” are enough to incite murder?

Middle School and High School are tumultuous times at best. The campus is populated with kids trying to figure out who they are and how they want to express themselves. Larry chose to express himself by wearing make-up and high-heeled boots. This cannot be used as an excuse for deliberately taking his life. Larry dressed that way as an expression of who he was, and that Brandon didn’t like it was… tough — or should have been.

I currently have pink highlights in my hair. There are a few reasons I have done this… most of them personal, but the biggest reason is that it is fun. It is an expression of who I am. I’m sure that there are people who think that it is ridiculous or even worse, it is an expression of underlying deviancy which could lead to horrible things. Should someone be allowed to state as an excuse for shooting me that the pink in my hair incited them to do it? That somehow the pink was taunting them in some way? While this may seem an superfluous example, in my mind it is no different than saying the fact that Larry wore make-up and boots incited Brandon to take action, and therefore we must be lenient toward Brandon.

I do believe that Brandon perpetrated a hate crime. But I also believe that at fourteen-years-old, while he should have known better, there are some extenuating factors in his background which need to be kept in mind. This does not mean I believe the degree of murder should be mitigated down, but I don’t necessarily believe spending the rest of his life in prison is the right answer either. I would like to see Brandon receive intense therapy to help him overcome his past and if determined that he would be able to re-enter the “outside world” as a productive, contributing member of society, then I would like to see that happen. And I would like to see those who abused him dealt with as well.

We have to stop they bullying cycle!