TV I Love: 'North & South' and 'The Forsyte Saga'

For some reason, my Netflix "Suggestions For You" list is consistently chock-full of period British miniseries. Apparently its recommendation algorithm is so good, that it can simply divine that I would enjoy them. Skynet, man.

How does it know?!?!

Anyway, this magical technology led me to two new (to me) and wonderful discoveries in the world of melodrama in hoop skirts and posh accents. North & South and The Forsyte Saga.

I admit, North & South had been on my radar for some time and everything I had heard about it led me to suspect that it would be up my alley. Don't ask me why it took me so long to finally sit down and watch it. But about 40 minutes into the first episode, probably around the time when new girl in town Margaret Hale is giving a piece of her mind to factory owner John Thornton, I was hooked. Hooked as in even though I started the show on a Sunday night at 9 PM and there were four one-hour episodes to get through, I watched them all. That night. Whoops.

Was I bleary-eyed the next day at work? Yup. Was the swoony, dramatic final episode soooo worth it? You can bet your bonnet.

The show was beautifully shot and acted, had Downton's Mr. Bates acting very Mr. Bates-like,  and even gave me a new Brit to get moony-eyed over (hello, Richard Armitage). It's based on a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell--who I have to admit I've never read. I might need to remedy that situation!

Trust me on this one...

The Forsyte Saga is a 10-part series made around the same time as North & South (early 2000s). It follows three generations of a wealthy family over the course of 50 years (1870 through 1920). And, believe me, this family sees its share of scandal, tragedy, and dramatic levels of stalking.

Its production value is a bit lower than North & South and I think some of the storylines can veer a tiny bit too far into soap territory. That being said, it was still thoroughly enjoyable. And, ultimately, I really got into the character arc of Soames Forsyte (played by Damian Lewis) who, besides having a last name as a first name, spends a lot of the show desperately looking like he really needs a mustache to twirl and yet somehow manages to redeem himself in the end.

Somebody give this man some facial hair to grab onto.

The Forsyte Saga is based on a series of books by John Galsworthy--who won a Nobel Prize in Literature for it. (I've also now added them to my to-be-read list.)

So if your "recently watched" list looks anything like mine and you haven't checked these two out yet, I highly recommend them. And if you and/or Netflix have some other hatted and corseted Brits to recommend to me, I am all (delicate) ears.

Read the First Excerpt from 'Three Day Summer!'

This week, my editor shared with me the small excerpt that will be going on the back cover of Three Day Summer... and I thought I would share it with all of you!

This is the first bit of this book that I've posted but since we are almost exactly six months out from publication, and since it's Friday, and since it's cold and I've been daydreaming about summer, here it is!

It begins to rain again, gently at first and then a bit harder. All around us, the water plops as it’s hit with itself, the line between lake and sky becoming hazy. It’s like being in a bath and a shower at the same time. Cora laughs, holding her hand out to catch some raindrops and then letting them fall through her fingers into the water. Plop. 

A piece of her hair has come undone from its braid and it trails behind her in the lake, like a silky eel.

I reach over and lift it, watching the wet, dark strands make patterns on my palm. 

“It’s so beautiful,” I say. Then I look right at her and drink her in: her deep, brown eyes and small nose; her wide lips; the slope of her shoulders which only draws my eye downward to take in the rest of her curves which she has, unfortunately, kept shrouded beneath the water. The red Hog Farm fabric is still around her wrist, sodden and trailing in the water like a red flag, a claim.

“You are so beautiful,” I say, a little choked up at how true it is. Especially here, surrounded by water and music. I think that this has to be the most romantic moment of my life.

Halloween Book Trail

Hello intrepid and ghoulish explorers,

Welcome to my stop on the Halloween Book Trail! I'm the author of the MG novel, The Mapmaker and the Ghost--which, as you might have guessed, has a ghost in it--and the upcoming Woodstock YA, Three Day Summer--which will be presented ghost-free. (Probably...though I can't really predict future hauntings, so proceed at your own risk!)


And, of course, since The Mapmaker and the Ghost is filled with a very spirited spirit (see what I did there?), I am part of the Cemetery Trail.

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday so I am delighted to participate in this tour and answer some Hallow's Eve related questions. And as far as giveaways go: you should know that the grand prize for the trail includes a signed paperback of The Mapmaker and the Ghost. Also, I am running a separate giveaway right at the bottom of this blog for a brand, spankin' new signed ARC of Three Day Summer (which is so exclusive, I don't even have one yet...). So read on.

1. If your MC went trick or treating, what would they dress up as and why?

Funny you should ask, because a couple of years ago, I actually did make my MC dress up for Halloween! Her name is Goldenrod Moram, and she is an explorer and budding mapmaker who idolizes Lewis & Clark. So who would she dress up as? Ta-da:



Yup, that's her as the ghost of Meriwether Lewis. She has it on good authority that her outfit is historically accurate too.


2. Please share a photo of your favorite Halloween costume you’ve worn.

This is a tough one because, as I said, Halloween is my favorite! But, also, my birthday happens to be exactly a week before Halloween and for the past several years, I've always thrown a costumed theme party for it. So, for this question, I will share an actual Halloween costume, and one that was for my birthday.

May I present: Maverick and Goose from Top Gun.



Yup, that's me and my husband. Hilariously, this is the photo Facebook randomly chose to display when we got engaged. And by hilariously, I mean awesomely. Because it pretty accurately sums up our relationship.

And, for the record, this might also be the most comfortable Halloween outfit I've ever worn. Flightsuit onesies FTW!

And as for my favorite birthday theme party outfit:



Me as Hermione after she took Polyjuice Potion with the wrong ingredient in it. This was for my Tridecade Tournament when I turned the big 3-0. (It was also was my favorite birthday theme party. There was a Sorting Hat. And house points. And Tridecade tasks to complete....)

3. What scares the pants out of you?

So. Many. Things. Truly, I startle really easily. As in, if I'm walking down the street and lost in my own thoughts (which is about 100% of the time), and you say "hello" to me, I will jump. As in, even if I know my husband is home but he's in a different room than I expected and I catch him out of the corner of my eye, I will jump.

In conclusion: I do not go to haunted houses. I do not watch scary movies. I can't deal with that build-up of suspense at all.

4. What magical/supernatural creature do you secretly want to be?

A phoenix, I think. Flying + healing powers + immortality + wisdom? It basically sounds like Wolverine + Superman.

5. What is your favorite sentence/paragraph from your novel?

You're making me pick favorites?! I will take the PC route and say that here is one of my favorite passages:

"But there are no such things as ghosts," Goldenrod muttered.
"Who told you that?" the spirit of Meriwether Lewis asked.
"My parents, mainly," Goldenrod confessed.
"And they are grown-ups, I assume?" the man asked.
Goldenrod nodded.
"Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that the modern world is sorely lacking in imagination. And grown-ups are the biggest culprits of all. Regardless, the simple fact is, here I am. And seeing how I was born in 1774, I can't very well not be a ghost, now can I?"

So now it's time to go here, to author MG Buehrlen's blog, for the next stop on the Halloween Book Trail!

And, if you want to enter to win a signed advanced copy of Three Day Summer (which I will send out as soon as I get one--probably in the next few weeks!), simply check out the Rafflecopter form below.

Boy meets Girl…at the most amazing concert the world has ever seen.

It’s the summer of 1969, and Michael is a directionless 18-year-old music fan struggling with an uncertain future in a time of cultural and military upheaval. Cora is the obedient candy-striper daughter of an ultra-conservative father who likes her ex-boyfriend, Ned, so much he still shows up for Sunday dinners despite their break-up months earlier. When Michael and Cora meet at the medical tent at the Woodstock Music Festival, their lives will never quite be the same. 

Coming May 19, 2015. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Happiest Happenstance

Do you ever feel that some things are just mean to be?

I was delighted to come across this quote today. I'd actually never read it before:

"I almost wish we were butterflies and lived but three summer days--three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain." ~ John Keats

I honestly wish I could tell you I was clever enough to have picked the title of Three Day Summer from that quote because it is just so perfect for the book. But the title really came as a collaboration between my editor and me and was picked from pages and pages of options. And this...well, this is just one of those wonderful serendipitous things. Because it encapsulates so much of what I think the book is about...

And speaking of the book, I am in the middle of copyedits as we speak. This is one of my favorite, albeit most nerve-wracking parts of the publishing process. Nerve-wracking because this is pretty much my last chance to change things before the book goes out into the world and in the hands of readers (there are also first pass pages but, at that point, I'm pretty limited to what I can change). And exciting because...well, really for the same reason! This story will be in the hands of readers soon...

For what it's worth, I'm personally really proud of this book. I feel so much of my heart is on the page. And I'm grateful that I will get to share that soon.

Colored pencils + decoder = copyedits!

The One About the 'Three Day Summer' Cover

The cover for Three Day Summer has just been exclusively revealed on Hypable! I'm going to link out to it here and then ask you to come back because I want to share some feelings about it.

....

....

Did you feast your eyes on it? What do you think?

I will tell you my thoughts: it is the cover of my psychedelic dreams! Quite honestly, when my editor told me the concept behind it (it's based on '60s concert art), I may have given out an inadvertent, not entirely ladylike, squeal. Why? I've been enamored of the art on those posters for almost as long as I can remember. I had quite a few of them plastered on one wall of my teenaged bedroom.

And when my husband and I got married last year, we based our Save the Dates on two specific '60s posters (the proof is here).

And when I was writing the book and daydreaming about possible cover art, that is exactly the concept I most wished it would be. But I didn't share this with the Simon & Schuster team. They just read my mind.

So, quite simply, I love it. I love that it so thoughtfully pays homage to the era without being clichéd. I love the joy that seems to emanate from it. I love that it looks so modern and fresh and still tips its hat to the '60s. And I love how very colorful it is. I can't wait to see it on a bookshelf.

So HUGE props (and my gratitude) to designer Krista Vossen for rocking out this whole cover thing so very much.

'Three Day Summer' Is Now on Goodreads!

I've been a Goodreads user for a long time. You might even say that I'm a hipster Goodreads user, because I was totally on there before it was cool.

Those glasses are not even prescription.

In all seriousness though, I love being able to keep track of books I want to read, what I've read, and even how I felt about them. So it was extra special to me when my first book popped up on there and it's just as special to have my new book up there too! (It says "2 distinct works" underneath my author profile now. That sounds all kinds of official. Possibly a little pompous, but, hey, that all works with my new hipster persona.)

So Three Day Summer is now available on Goodreads! Shelve it on your to-be-read list and Goodreads will actually even alert you on its release date (May 19, 2015). Which is a feature I've found to be extra helpful when I'm waiting on a book to be released.

Just click the button below and it'll take you directly to Three Day Summer's shiny new Goodreads page.

'Three Day Summer' Peace, Love & Music Giveaway!

Tomorrow marks the 45th anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival! Now, do you want to take a gander as to where my upcoming book, Three Day Summer, takes place? If you said "Woodstock Music Festival," virtual love beads to you, my friend!

IN FACT...take a look at the very first page of Three Day Summer:

Does that date look familiar?!

Although my book won't be out until next year, I couldn't let this momentous anniversary pass by without doing something to mark the groovy occasion. So I present to you: the Three Day Summer Peace, Love, & Music Giveaway!

The Prizes:

Peace: This lovely sterling silver dove necklace, on a 16" chain, represents peace and the iconic emblem of the festival.

Love: Not just love, but summer love, courtesy of the wonderful The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy by Jenny Han published by none other than Three Day Summer publishers Simon & Schuster BFYR. This is the paperback boxed set of all three books.

Music: $25 iTunes Gift Card. For purchasing whatever music makes you feel young, free, and happy (whether that's Hendrix, Creedence, 5 Seconds of Summer...)

How to Enter:

Everyone gets one free entry (because how else would you celebrate the mother of all free concerts?). Other entries can be gained by following me on Twitter, Facebook, or this blog; leaving a comment on this blog telling me which three bands (past or present) you'd most like to see in a live festival; or tweeting out a link to the giveaway from the Rafflecopter form below (2 entries per day for that one).

Check out the form below for all the details! The giveaway runs from today through to Monday, August 18th (the last day of the festival).

Good luck! And, can I just say, I'm pretty excited to see what sort of amazing virtual festivals you come up with.

*U.S. entries only please.

a Rafflecopter giveaway