3 S.R. Johannes: Bookanistas: Over the Moon for Across the Universe

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Bookanistas: Over the Moon for Across the Universe

The winner of the Little Brown arcs are:

feeling fiction

Congrads and email me your address at sjohannes@bilaninc.com

Next - check out fellow Bookanista's Myra McEntire's Cover reveal for Hourglass! It's GORGE!!

All of the arcs from that have been won will be sent out next week.

Today I'm giving a shout out to Beth Revis and Across the Universe. I am so happy for Beth.

First - she debuted on the NYT bestsellers list!! woot woot! She - more than anyone - so deserves this success. I know all about Beth's long journey to publication. Not only have we been blogger buddies for about 3 years but we're also in the Bookanistas together. She is also one of my critique partners and let me tell you - she is an amazing critiquer!!! Like takes the time to give comments on anything and everything that could be helpful. Can you tell I'm a huge fan :)

ATU was like her 10th or 11th book. I actually remember a couple she tried to get agents for. Beth was a teacher, making ends meet while busting her tush at night to write. I even happen to know she got agent rejections for ATU. I also happen to know that she was on the verge (which I don't think would have happened b/c she loves writing too much) of giving up if this book didn't fly.

Guess we all know now what she was destined to do because Beth took off and is still flying - just like Godspeed. :)

My point in even revealing some of this (which she will tell you and has blogged about) is don't think this can't happen to you! Don't give up! You are only one person away from yes. One day you can get 10 rejections and the next get the one. The good thing about this publishing business is one day you can be ages away from ever seeing your book on the shelf but the next it could all happen in the blink of an eye. It's exciting.

Why I love ATU -
  • Its different! what? no paranormal.....I think Beth was brilliant in taking Star trek and making it for teens is BRILLIANT.
  • Her character, Amy, is spunky.
  • It's pacy and she's a great writer. (hence, teacher!)
  • I love the idea of being stuck in universe and having no future
  • The first chapter - was - so - GRIPPING. Seriously, I literally felt the angst of being frozen. drowning. losing my parents.
  • Elder is not your typical YA boy.
  • I'm in love with the cover. Seriously - I have 2 books, one with the Elder cover and one with the Amy cover. ;)
  • I loved the dual-perspective.
and finally....because I adore Beth :)

Go get it and you can fly high too.

Check out the other Bookanista reviews:

11 comments:

Shannon O'Donnell said...

I saw her book last night at my Montana Wal Mart!!!! She's in a freaking Wal mart in Montana!!! Soooooo cool! :-)

Jess said...

This is a wonderful review/post(I love hearing specific reasons why someone likes a book). It was so nice to read the paragraphs about your relationship with Beth as well. How wonderful that she kept going (and hit the NYT Bestseller list with her debut--SO awesome!).

Very inspiring :)

Unknown said...

What a wonderful achievement!

JenWriter said...

Space, space, space! I'm so glad sci-fi is making its mark in YA now.

lotusgirl said...

I can't even begin to say how happy I am for Beth in this little comment. She's such a great person on top of her wonderful writing. This is one of my favorites from last year. (I read it in Dec.) An absolutely amazing debut.

Natalie Aguirre said...

I just got this in the mail. My daughter claimed it first but I can't wait to read it.

Carrie Harris said...

SO SO GLAD she didn't quit. :)

Mrs. DeRaps said...

Thank goodness Ms. Revis persevered. Love this book!

Melissa Gill said...

Thank you so much for sharing this. I don't know how I didn't know all that stuff about Beth, but I'm reading ATU right now, and LOVING IT. It makes me feel so hopeful to know that she succeeded in such a big way after so much perserverence. It also lets me know that I have a long way to go before I even think about giving up. Thanks so much Shelli!

Susan R. Mills said...

She's great inspiration for us all. Her book is next on my list. I should be getting to it tomorrow. I can't wait!

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

Beth is such an inspiration! I'm so glad she didn't give up!! Across the Universe is an amazing book!