Guest Post from Kody Keplinger

I have the one and only Kody Keplinger. She is the author of The DUFF and is amazing. Here is her most memorable birthday...
The Birthday From Outer Space
When I was a kid, I had a sick obsession with aliens. The green kind with funny shaped heads and three fingers on each hand. I had aliens on my notebooks, my trapper-keeper, my T-shirts. I was an alien for Halloween, I had an alien key chain, and I even had a set of stuff animal aliens. It was a big deal to me. Like I said – obsessed.
So when my eighth birthday rolled around, my mom proposed a plan. We were living in a cabin by the river then, and we had a huge backyard for the first time in my life. She suggested we put that yard to use and have a birthday party – a real one with friends from school instead of just the family. Of course, I was completely on board with this.
I invited twenty of my closest friends and carefully selected my outfit. At eight, not only was I obsessed with aliens, but I was also a fashionista. After finding the perfect outfit, I was ready for my party, which Mom was planning with almost frightening enthusiasm. She made gift bags for the guests and decorated the picnic tables in our backyard with balloons. Then, just before everyone started to arrive, Mom showed me the cake.
It had an alien on it!!! I was so excited. An alien driving a convertible, to be exact.
But let’s back up. My eighth birthday was already my best birthday ever for one reason. Two weeks earlier, my grandmother had surprised me by bringing over her gift to me – a feisty yellow Labrador puppy named Bowser. Getting my first dog already made the year spectacular, but this party was icing on the alien-themed-cake.
Finally, my friends started to arrive. Me and the other third-graders ran around the yard, laughing and popping balloons while Bowser chased us and Mom sat up the bobbing-for-applies game. By the way, I suck at bobbing for apples. You have no idea.
After a few games, it was present time. My friends gathered around as I opened gift after super awesome gift. The big present (aside from my puppy of course) was a brand new bike (which said puppy later chewed the seat off of – sigh). It was amazing and fun, and my eight-year-old crush gave me the TY beanie baby unicorn I’d been wanting, so I was sure that was true love.
And then the moment came. CAKE TIME!!! I waited for my mother’s boyfriend to walk out of the house carrying my birthday cake, but instead . . . an alien walked out the back door.
Gasp!
Okay, not a real alien. Duh. But it looked like an alien! It was really my mom’s boyfriend – we all knew that – but he’d put on my old Halloween mask and dressed in all black and green, looking just like the alien on my birthday cake. My friends laughed and clapped as the alien presented the cake to me, and I felt like the coolest kid ever.
A few hours later, everyone but my best friend, Molly, had gone. Molly’s grandmother lived just down the road from our cabin., so we spent the rest of the evening riding our bikes up and down the gravel road, talking about all the fun things that had happened that day, with Bowser chasing our tires and barking at us when we got too far ahead. It was like a scene from a sweet Disney movie.
I’ve never forgotten that birthday. Tons of other little girls get big backyard parties. Ones bigger than mine with more people and more presents. But my eighth birthday was truly out of this world.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOE AND SARAH!!!!

Guest Vlog from Melissa Walker

Melissa Walker is an amazing author and was nice enough to make a vlog. She also run Before You Were Hot and I Heart Daily, which are fantastic websites. Anyways, I'll let Melissa talk about her sixteenth birthday...

Guest Post with Mindi Scott

Mindi Scott is the author of Freefall, which comes out in October. I am very excited for it. I have met her once and she was very sweet and adorable. Anyways, here is her post of her memorable birthdays...

When Sarah asked if I would write this post, she gave me the prompt of my nineteenth birthday or my most memorable birthday.
Piece of (birthday) cake! I thought. I’ve had 32 birthdays so far. Surely, I can come up with a good one to write about!
So I thought back to my 19th. On that day, my boyfriend and I ended up on the same volleyball team. Every time I’d miss a shot, he’d complain. After one too many of those outbursts, I walked out mid-game and cried in the bathroom about my depressing oldness and my boyfriend’s obnoxiousness while he and my best friend had a heated argument in the hallway.
Clearly, birthday #19 is not worth remembering. And yet . . . I do remember it.
On my 7th birthday, my big party was canceled because my mom had an emergency illness and was hospitalized. Later that week, some of the girls brought in presents for me, but one of them told me that her mom said I didn’t deserve presents because my mom had been rude and canceled the party at the last minute.
Like, wow, right?
My Sweet 16 was the year my sister (who was ten) called out my boyfriend for bringing me just a card. “It’s her sixteenth birthday and you didn’t even get her a present? What kind of boyfriend are you?”
I got to spend a portion of the afternoon sitting on a lawn chair under my great-grandpa’s carport trying to get my boyfriend stop to crying.
Good times.
What else was there? For my 21st birthday, I went out to Seattle nightclubs for the first time ever. But the guy I’d brought wanted to sit just at the table all night. He told me I should dance with my coworkers because he wasn’t in the mood. Naturally, he later got upset with me for doing so.

And then for my 30th in Las Vegas, I got dressed up all glamorous to go out dancing at a fancy club. As luck would have it, all the clubs we tried to go to were closed for the night. The one that we finally found open decided to close right when we showed up. The city that never sleeps totally SHUT DOWN on my birthday!
As you can see, many of my “memorable” birthdays kind of suck. The other twenty-seven, though? They’re probably tied for my best because they were drama-free and I got to spend time with friends and family just having food, dessert, and presents.
My birthday this coming October happens to be two days before FREEFALL’s release. Which means that it’s going to be memorable no matter what happens. I just hope it ends up being the good kind of memorable!
Happy birthday to you, Sarah and Zoe!

Mega Palooza Giveaway

My Birthday is tomorrow, meaning that I should probably give away some books. That way, I will have more room for new books. There will be 3 winners of 5 books... so enter.
Here are the books in the contest:
1. Virals by Kathy Reichs and Brendan Reichs (ARC)
2. The Deathday Letter by Shaun Hutchinson (ARC)
3. The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff (ARC)
4. Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce (ARC)
5. Dirty Little Secrets by C. J. Omololu (ARC)
6. Darklight by Lesley Livingston (ARC)
7. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork (HB)
8. The Homeschool Liberation League by Lucy Frank (HB)
9. Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff (HB)
10. The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon (HB)
11. Kisses and Lies by Lauren Henderson (ARC)
12. Courage in Patience: A Story of Hope for Those Who Have Endured Abuse by Beth Fehlbaum (PB)
13. Girl Stays in the Picture by Melissa de la Cruz (HB)
14. Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie by Maggie Stiefvater (PB)
15. Heist Society by Ally Carter (HB)
Fill out the form below to enter... Contest ends on the 28th at midnight. Open international.

Guest Post From Victoria Schwab

Victoria Schwab is the author of the Near Witch, which comes out from Hyperion next year. I have wanted it for a while. I find her to be an amazing person to talk to, because she has such a deep grasp of the world and the many amazing things in it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy her guest post about her nineteenth birthday.
It took me a few moments to think of when I was 19. Not because it was long ago (I'm only 22), but because so much has happened.
When I was 22, I sold a book.
When I was 21, I went on sub, didn't sell, and wrote a second book.
When I was 20, I wrote my first book and signed with Agent Awesome (Amy Tipton).
When I turned 19...I hadn't written anything. That's a lie. When I was 19, I'd written poetry (mostly bad, existentialist poetry) and then been nudged into screenwriting by a teacher, but I hadn't yet discovered novel-length fiction. The longest piece I'd written was 5 pages.
When I turned 19, I had no idea what I wanted to write. I knew I wanted to write, I've wanted to write since 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12...etc, but I didn't know what, or how. I was just this little ball of ambition, jumping from Physics, to Stage Design, to Japanese Culture, to Art History. I had no grounding. I felt lost. And at the time all I wanted was a path, just like the kind on airplanes, the ones that light up and tell you you're going the right way. I kept looking around, waiting for my little blinking lights. And there weren't any.
But then, shortly after my birthday, I went to a reading on campus. Kelly Link. And sometime between sitting down in the small reading room, and leaving, I knew what I wanted to do. I didn't even want to go to the reading. I was swamped with work. I almost didn't go.
Little decisions change lives. My 19th birthday, and the subsequent year, wasn't the BIGGEST year of my life if biggest means big things happening, but it was a time of many small decisions that added up. It was my chance to explore, to test and taste and grow. I think too often we feel the need to fill our lives with big decisions, when really the small ones are most often the ones that pave the way. Those paths, like on airplanes, are made up of small, spaced dots. My 19th year was, too.

Guest Post from the author Sarah Ockler...

I have an amazing guest post from my name twin, Sarah Ockler. She is the author of Twenty Boy Summer and Fixing Deliliah Hannaford. I also got to have dinner with her and Khy, while I was in New York. So, here is a sweet birthday story from her...
Birthdays are usually a time of celebration, especially when you're a teen and birthdays are still associated with milestones like getting a driver's license and buying your own tickets for an R-rated movie. :-) But some birthdays don't come with cake and confetti. Sometimes, turning another year older brings a day marked with reflection, worry, and maybe even loneliness.
For me, turning eighteen was like that. I was excited that I could finally vote and be considered an "adult" (because back then I thought being an adult was much cooler than it actually is), but the truth is, my life was a red hot mess. After a series of unfortunate incidents during the summer after high school graduation, I was on extremely fragile terms with my mother, and I wasn't even speaking to my father. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I'd just shipped off to college into a dorm room with three other girls who were 1) sophomores, 2) complete strangers, and 3) already best friends with one another. My own best friend was still in high school, and she and I were currently on the "hating each other" side of our regularly scheduled "hating each other / being inseparable soul mates" cycle. My other friends were spread out all over the place. And my non-boyfriend was pretty much... well, just what you'd expect from a non-boyfriend. I didn't know my assigned roommates at all, and though they seemed nice enough, I was just too shy and scared to be sociable. In the week since we'd all squeezed our lives into a dorm room the approximate size of a minivan, I'd done everything I could to avoid being home.
So there I was on my eighteenth birthday, finally out of high school and into college, my whole academic career ahead of me, my whole future wide open... and I'd never felt so lonely in all my life.
My parents lived less than an hour away, so my family decided to get together at my uncle's place to celebrate my birthday. I was already dreading the whole thing because I was kind of too old for birthday parties -- I mean, I knew there wouldn't be a Care Bear cake or a clown making balloon animals or hot dogs on the grill or anything else I loved about previous parties. To further complicated things, I was still struggling to figure out where I belonged after leaving home, and my dad and I were each still busy pretending the other didn't exist. The last thing I wanted to do was pass the hours of my first grown-up birthday with some forced family fun where everyone put on party hats and pretended like everything was just dandy when it soooo wasn't. It was like the anti-dandy, actually.
I also didn't want to hole up in my dorm room all day, and I didn't have anywhere else to go. So I accepted the family invite and struggled through the dandy-less birthday party at my uncle's, which went down pretty much as expected. I don't even remember whether we had cake, and if there was singing, it was certainly flat. The whole thing made me sadder than I already was. I remember leaving, walking out to my car and thinking, who *are* these people, and where do I fit in? Do I fit in anywhere? Does it get any better than this? What is the POINT?
I dragged myself back home to the dorms, which I'd taken to calling "home" even though it didn't really feel that way. As I climbed the stairs to my floor, carrying a few sad birthday cards and hastily-bought presents under my arm, I tried to think of a way I could sneak in unnoticed. I didn't want to tell my roommates where I was, or that my family seemed to be falling apart, or even that it was my birthday in the first place. I just wanted to stash the cards under my bed and crawl into the blankets and wish the whole day away.
When I got into my room, I set my stuff down and headed for my desk, thinking I could lose myself in a mountain of homework. But there, on top of all my books, was a cake. "Happy Birthday, Sarah!" it said, bright pink letters on white frosting. There were helium balloons tied to my chair. And from the other end of the room, my three total stranger roommates smiled and wished me a happy day.
I never asked how they found out about my birthday. It didn't matter. It only mattered that with that one simple gesture, they made me feel at home on a day when I thought I had no place to call home anymore. Soon after, things got better with my family. Dad and I started talking again. I found my groove at school. Ditched the non-boyfriend. Got a job. Started figuring things out. I won't say that the cake changed my life, but it definitely changed my eighteenth birthday. And it gave me a second chance -- a new perspective on things. Sometimes, that's all we need.
A little extra cake never hurts, either. :-)
To Zoe and Sarah, my hair twin and my name twin, whether this birthday is a loud and happy celebration or a time of quiet reflection, I hope it's a special day for each of you. Happy birthday, my friends.
XOXO
Sarah

Palooza Music for June 19th

This song was picked Devyn Burton. It is very catchy and has Brits!

Palooza Contest #2

Adios Nirvana by Conrad Wesselhoeft
Crazy by Han Nolan
Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler
The Education of Bet by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

This contest is open internationally till Midnight on June 28th

Just fill out the form below.

Palooza Music for June 18th

This was my favorite band when I was 14. My music taste has changed a bit since then.

Guest Post from Kristi of The Story Siren

I have the pleasure of hosting a guest post from the amazing Kristi. She is a blogging idol and is a totally awesome person. I rarely talk to people that have such a great hear and spirit. Anyways, I will let her talk, because she has a list and I like lists...
I’m so excited to be guesting at Sarah’s blog today for her awesometastic birthday bash! I can’t believe you are 19! That makes me feel incredibly old. I absolutely love celebrating birthdays. I still get excited for my birthday every year, even though I 'should' have grown out of it years ago. But birthdays are special days, and I hope, Sarah, that yours is more special than most.
I wish I had a birthday story to tell that would be semi-entertaining, but sadly most of my birthdays were rather big duds. Except for maybe my 21st birthday, but this isn’t really the time or place to talk about that one. It’s also a little embarrassing, so we’ll just forget I even mentioned that.... okay moving on....
Sarah’s birthday! Exciting stuff! You know, Sarah is a truly an awesome person. Not only does she have the superhero power of speed-reading (I am not even kidding, have you ever seen how many books this girl reads, like three a day, I kid you not!) but she has one of the most optimistic and passionate attitudes! When she has more reason that most people to complain about life in general. It’s contagious..... SHE’s contagious . I cannot help but laugh and smile when I talk to this girl.
So Sarah, for your 19th birthday I wish for you:
1. More books that you can ever read.
2. A long fulfilling life of happiness and love.
3. An unlimited supply of Doctor Who episodes.
4. An invitation of admission from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry.
5. An iPod full of all your favorite songs
6. A get out of ‘writer’s block’ free card. (reusable!)
7. For all your dreams to come true
Blow out the candles and make a wish!
Thanks so much for being you. The world is a much better place with you in it! I hope you have a wonderful birthday. I wish I could be there with you to celebrate it!

Guest Post from Holly Cupala, author of Tell Me A Secret

Today, I have the amazing Holly Cupala. Holly's birthday is on the 2oth and her Book Birthday for Tell Me A Secret is on the 22th. I am excited to have another June girl and also that her book is finally coming out. I have met Holly several times and she is always sweet. Anyways I let her tell you a story of romance in France.
First of all, Happy Birthday to Sarah and Zoe, and thank you for inviting me to celebrate in Birthday Palooza! My birthday (and my book’s) are next week!
Sarah asked for my most memorable birthday…so I’ll tell you about one that sticks in my mind to this day. Summer Solstice, the south of France, amazing boy…but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.
I saved up my entire senior year of high school for my French teacher’s biannual trip to France—and there we were, in Nice, on my eighteenth birthday. It was the night of the Solstice Festival, where a crazy mélange of people from all over the world who had come to party and celebrate summer.
I was a bit nerdy and shy back then, but my friends on the trip had dressed me up and taken me to a club—red-lit and smoky and completely packed because of the festival. My friends paired off, and I ended up in the bathroom line.
That’s when a French girl leaned over to me and said, in English, “My brother thinks you’re cute.”
I looked over and there was this…well, he was…brown eyes, very nice smile…I was completely blushing. (And maybe a little of this memory played into a certain scene in TELL ME A SECRET…?)
I said, “I think he’s cute, too.”
And for some goofy reason, I thought he wouldn’t understand me (maybe because it was his sister who had talked to me). But then…he said, “Thank you.” Whoa.
I’ll spare you some of the details of attraction here, but they invited me to sit down with them. Here’s how our conversation went:
Him: Tell me something in French. Me: No, no. My French is not good.Him: Something. Anything.Me: No, I'm embarrassed. I only know a little French.Him: Please? (Probably with some flirtatious blinking in there.) Me: What do you want me to say?Him: Say…say ‘I love you.’Me: Okay. Je t’aime. He was quiet for a moment, and said, "Je t’aime aussi.” (Sheesh! French guys!) Then he leaned across the table and kissed me.
So we ended up going for a walk on the beach and looking at the stars. By this time my friends were trashed, but I was in the midst of something entirely magical. I was not American, he was not French. We were not yet in France, and the Cote d'Azur and Nice. We were in our own world. Kisses followed.
He and his friends drove me back to the hotel—he gave me his coat because I was cold. We hugged goodbye. I forgot to get his address and he forgot to get mine, but I’ll pretty much never forget Guilliame. So…yes, it was a memorable birthday.
Sarah and Zoe, I hope yours are memorable as well!

Palooza Music for June 17th

Just for Zoe!

Palooza Music for June 16th

Today is from a musical. My favorite musical ever, which is Spring Awakening.
Here is Those You've Known with Jonathan Groff, John Gallagher Jr, and Lea Michelle. *stares at Jonathon Groff*

And the other is All That's Known. This one mixes with Across the Universe, which I love.

Guest Post from Kimberly Derting, author of The Body Finder

Today, I have the pleasure of presenting a guest post from the Kimberly Derting. Her book, The Body Finder is one of my favorite books ever. She is also a local author which makes her more awesome, because I randomly run into her at signings and such. She is also very sweet and awesome. Anyways, here is her favorite Birthday memory. I hope you enjoy.
MY FAVORITE BIRTHDAY MEMORY
Okay, so this was a lot harder than it sounds! It would have been SO easy for me to just describe my 13th or my 16th, or maybe even my 21st birthday to keep my true age somewhat a mystery, but if I’m being honest, my favorite birthday memory was my 40th birthday party! In my defense, though, it was very, very, very recent! Did I mention very???
So, why was my 40th birthday so great you ask? You’re probably thinking that I went on some exotic vacation where I was served umbrella drinks, or that I got something really sparkly that can cut glass. Nope! Although, now that I think about it, what the heck?!?!
The reason this party was so great was because, not only was I turning 40, but my daughter was turning 21! Yeah, that’s right I got to be there the first time she ever tasted alcohol…HAHA! And because the stars so perfectly aligned for this once in a lifetime moment, we decided to celebrate our birthdays together!
And even though it wasn’t an actual surprise party, there were several surprises in store for me: Like this:


And this:

But the highlight of the night, with the exception of having my friends and family there to celebrate my special day (blah blah blah), was the main event!!!
Today, I have the amazing K
Mother V. Daughter Guitar Hero Showdown!
My husband had it all setup, with 1st and 2nd (aka. Last) place trophies even! After all of the smack-talk leading up to the duel, we would finally crown the true and undisputed Guitar Hero Queen! I practiced and practiced (*cue the Eye of the Tiger song*) until my fingers bled…well maybe not bled, but at least until I got bored or had other things to do. My daughter DIDN’T PRACTICE AT ALL! So you probably know where this story is going, right? Wrong!!!
She kicked my ass…and she probably would have with her eyes closed. My husband even made her play on the hard level, while I played on medium…but it didn’t matter. It. Was. A. Massacre! So now, when anyone asks how I got my trophy, I just tell them that I took 2nd place in a Guitar Hero contest! My party, my story!!!
Thanks for the post, Kim!
Enter a comment below with your email and I will send you a swag pack, including awesome stickers for The Body Finder.

Palooza Music for June 15th

I bring you a video from one of my favorite band, The Hush Sound. I hope you enjoy Red Wine...

and their other song You are the Moon. This is not their video, but everyone love Neville, right? Plus I love the piano.

Palooza Music for June 14th

Zoe and I decided that every Palooza needs music... so we will be posting a music video a day. Today I present Secret and Three Wishes by The Pierces. I found this song, becaue my mom's madien name is Pierce and I tend to google werid things.The Pierces are a New York based band. The principle members are sisters, Katherine and Alison Pierce. I hope you enjoy.

An Introduction of Sorts...

Zoe for Zoe's Book Review and I both have Birthdays that are a little over a week apart. My Birthday is on June 25th and Zoe's birthday is on the 17th. We will both be having contest, lots of guest post, and a few reviews for our Birthday Palooza, and there will be post everyday. The Palooza will be going on from today to June 28th.
I hope that you are all ready for some fun and enjoy our Birthday Palooza.