Happy Blessed birthday to meeeeee (my 3rd annual #JLBbirthdaybash)

You guys! I turn another year young this month, and am celebrating with my 3rd annual birthday bash!

After searching here and there for the *perfect* things (and a bit of collaboration with some peeps), I've finally come up with what I want to share: a bunch of lovely things I know you will love to have (or even pass along to others)! I'll probably add more items over the next few weeks, so check back often!

The deets:

 * Giveaway is US only (sorry guys, but shipping).

 * Ends Sunday, October 25th at 11:59 p.m. PST

There are MANY ways to enter. Because it IS my birthday and, therefore, about me and how much I love connecting with others, I added more entry options than usual. Feel free to enter all or only one or two, if you like.

And now, a quick breakdown of the winnings:

* Living Wonders Color Art coloring book (this thing has birds, owls, lots of other animals. It totally rocks).

* The Spectacular Now DVD

* a paperback of Elsker by ST Bende

* Live Wondrously pocket journal by Hafsah / IceyDesigns

* Three lovely books/coffee/tea custom-made bookmarks by Katie / Punk Projects (notice she made the mugs as a bird, fox, and owl... I love them so much)

* A Woodland Pals sticker book

* adorable hot air balloon PostIt notes

*various swag

All of which comes to a value of over $55 dollars!!!

Are you excited? I sure am! Go ahead and enter below!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

This week's writerly news: #JLBbirthdaybash winner, Kindle Matchbook, and more

Do you know what this is? It's part of this week's forecast!
It's finally beginning to feel like autumn!

This week's news: 

1) The winner of October's #JLBbirthdaybash is.... Samantha P.! Happy birthday to me, and congratulations! :) Ha ha. I'll be emailing you soon, so keep your eyes peeled! :D

2)  Not sure if I've shared this since BY SUN AND CANDLELIGHT and OPEN THY HEART came out, but FYI, all of my books are enrolled in Amazon's Kindle Matchbook program. Which means, if you purchase the paperbacks, you can get the ebook for free. (Keep one and gift the other, or keep them both for yourself! YAY!) Learn more about it, HERE.

3) Speaking of Kindle Matchbook, I did a post over at Operation Awesome Wednesday about how this concept has actually been around for a while with DVDs.

4) I know I usually share something I'm currently listening to, but this cover photo came out a couple of days ago. I'm so excited for Hillsong Young and Free's NOEL!

5) This week's Waiting on Wednesday was CHALLENGER DEEP by Neal Shusterman. 



6) Another thing about Neal Shusterman: If you've been following me for very long, you know how much I love UNWIND. (Just got UNDIVIDED for my birthday... can't wait to read it!!!) Anyway, the other day, he shared this fan-made trailer, and I *had* to share it on here. IT IS SO AWESOME! 


And... that's it for this week! Make sure to check out the current giveaways in the sidebar, and have a blessed weekend! ;)

2nd annual #JLBbirthdaybash: Enter for a chance to win cool stuffs!

Hiyaz! It's me, Killer, the most hawt, ferocious, mysterious doggie in da world! Jessica turns 36 years young this month, so guess what? We're throwin' a party! 

*does the cha cha*

*waits for treat*

*gobbles it up* 

Now, I wanted to share my favorite Greenies and Lovemuffin's stinkiest socks as prizes for this birthday thing she's got going on, but apparently, you hoomans like super-boring stuff (totes and empty coffee mugs? Yawn).

So. Since she hid the notebooks (lined paper = yum), and fur and tattoos aren't the best combo, I decided to be a nice Killer and share the Rafflecopter, below. Make sure to come back often to enter, because, you know, prizes and stuff!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's my birthday! and this week's writerly news:

So I'm officially 35. And have three amazing teenagers. (Youngest turned 13 yesterday.) And have a book out, another one coming out soon, more in the works, and reader and writerly friends galore thanks to the interwebs. Plus good friends here, you know, where I live. Not to mention a husband who loves me no matter what and brings me coffees all the time -- he's been so supportive the past five years of this whole writing journey and I feel really, really blessed by ALL of these things I mentioned. :D 

Quick update on all the happenings this week:

Tuesday I participated in the Top Ten Tuesday meme -- this week's topic was Top Ten Character Names I Love and it was so fun seeing everyone's choices! Of course I could NOT make up my mind and also had to add random notes! (link)

Wednesday I was over at Operation Awesome talking about writers being mascots (link)... Here's a photo of my (now) 13 year-old a few days ago being a mascot on Tuesday:


My #JLBBirthdayBash ends tomorrow... if you haven't checked it out, it really is worth it (even if you do the free entries, that's one *click* for quite a few great things). Also, it's not up there, but both US and International winners will ALSO receive an eARC of my forthcoming IF I SPEAK TRUE (when it's ready in a couple of weeks)!!! (link)

Hafsah's Unbreathable (featured on both of the giveaways -- she's also my designer for like, everything) is now officially out... so even if you don't win either giveaway, her "race for earth" premise really is intriguing and I suggest you check it out (plus the whole good guy, bad guy thing... I tend to always go for the meanie *cough* ROWAN *cough* for some reason). You can find it HERE.

Thursday I had the pleasure of conducting my first "reader" interview with the lovely Kate Tilton, and the first part of it is featured HERE.

And today, well, today I am the big 3-5 and I am celebrating. So here's to another blessed year, to lots of virtual cookies and coffee being shared, and to many productive things and meeting even more friends. Happy Friday, guys! 

Be blessed!

The #JLBBirthdayBash is ON!!!

Hi all! It's officially my birthday week! Woot! As you know, I've been adding things for the past couple of weeks, and am doing two separate giveaways. The first one is US only (because, you know, shipping costs). The second, though, is an international giveaway for *everyone* to enter! Yay! 

The #JLBBirthdayBash will run this week only and ends Saturday at midnight, PST. I've incorporated as much as I can into the photos to give you a breakdown of each giveaway, below (my cell camera stinks, so sorry they're not the best photos). Also, the Rafflecopter form is beneath each breakdown. (There are quite a few ways to enter -- two you can do daily!) 

  US Giveaway:

* Hardcover of Elizabeth Wein's ROSE UNDER FIRE (due to certain situations and language, this young adult book is definitely high-end YA -- link)
* Paperback of PITY ISN'T AN OPTION (and/or audiobook) + bookmarks (link)
* UNBREATHABLE bookmarks + button (by Hafsah Lazaif -- link -- you can also enter to win a paperback at that link)
* ask me about my favorite books t-shirt
* One Rafflecopter t-shirt (actual t-shirt design may vary)
* 2 Go Away I'm Reading buttons
* not pictured: The Dusk Gate Chronicles bookmarks (by Breeana Puttroff -- link) 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
***

International Giveaway:

* One free business month from Rafflecopter (link)
* UNBREATHABLE ebook + bookmarks + 2 buttons (link)
* PITY ISN'T AN OPTION ebook OR audiobook + bookmarks
* ROOTS OF INSIGHT ebook (book 2 of The Dusk Gate Chronicles by Breeana Puttroff -- book 1 is free on Amazon [link] or, readers choice if winner prefers a book other than book 2) + bookmarks (link)
* Book Nerd bumper sticker 
* 2 Go Away I'm Reading buttons
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I can't wait to see who wins! Thanks for celebrating my birthday with me!

#JLBBirthdayBash update and writerly news

Happy Friday! 

So I received edits back for IF I SPEAK TRUE (whew!) and aside from the #JLBBirthdayBash next week, I'll probably be lying low so I can get that done. Also, I'm running a bit behind today so I'm just going to update things by saying if you haven't seen the awesome button Hafsah made for the giveaway, here it is:

I'm adding that AND another design (she made two) to the giveaway, and one or two more items will be added next week! This is big, ya'll! (I'm so excited!) Plus, I had an ask me about my favorite books t-shirt made just for me too, and I can't wait to wear it! (And potentially gush until people want to run away and hide from me for the next decade!)

If you're new to the blog or have had your nose buried in a book the past couple weeks and have no idea what I'm talking about, go HERE.

In the meantime, what are you reading? What are you writing? And what scent is that you're wearing? You smell nice!!! *nods approvingly*

Have a blessed weekend, guys! See you Monday with a fun interview (I asked Kate Tilton a whole bunch of readerly questions!!!) and the breakdown of the awesome #JLBBirthdayBash giveaway items!

P.S. I use a lot of exclamation points!!!
P.P.S. Had a cool idea I'm starting up November 1st on my Tumblr so let's connect if we haven't already!

#JLBBirthdayBash update

Happy Friday! I am so excited about my upcoming #JLBBirthdayBash! Like I said, more items are being added to both giveaways all the time (the good folks at Rafflecopter have offered to throw in a few things, too!). Here's the latest update (and remember, there's more to come!!!):

Here's a breakdown:

US Giveaway:

* Hardcover of Elizabeth Wein's ROSE UNDER FIRE (link)
* Paperback of my debut, PITY ISN'T AN OPTION + bookmarks (link)
* UNBREATHABLE bookmarks & buttons (by Hafsah Lazaif -- link)
* The Dusk Gate Chronicles bookmarks (by Breeana Puttroff -- link) 
* ask me about my favorite books t-shirt
* Rafflecopter t-shirt
* and more!!!
**just added: Go Away I'm Reading button

International Giveaway:

* One free business month from Rafflecopter 
* UNBREATHABLE ebook + bookmarks & button
* PITY ISN'T AN OPTION ebook OR audiobook + bookmarks
* reader's choice ebook from The Dusk Gate Chronicles by Breeana Puttroff + bookmarks
*Book Nerd bumper sticker 
* and more!!!
** just added: Go Away I'm Reading button

So keep checking back because I asked Hafsah to make some special things and I can't wait to show you what they are!!! (Plus... more STUFF!)

Also: The PITY ISN'T AN OPTION audiobook giveaway on my Facebook page is almost over... I'm giving three audiobooks away and there's only a few entries so your chances of winning one are pretty high! :) (I believe it's required to like the Facebook page to enter, but you can always like it and then unlike it later!) Click HERE to enter.

Have a blessed weekend! 

#JLBBirthdayBash giveaway stuffs!!!

Announcing...my #JLBBirthdayBash (also known as, "It's my birthday month so let's have lots of prizes")! Later this month, I'm turning the young THREE-FIVE. Plus, my birthday this year will mark the beginning the 5th year since I started writing. (So cool.) I love the number five, love to write, but more importantly, I LOVE GIVEAWAYS!

So. As an excuse to celebrate my birthday with all ya'll, I've decided to have two separate giveaways going throughout the actual week of my birthday. The first one will be a pretty darn good-sized YA package available to US residents only. But, never fear, my international lovelies! Just because shipping costs are insane doesn't mean you can't enter the swag pack giveaway!* ;D (See! I share the international love!)

Just so you know, what you see is not necessarily what you're going to get. I will be adding more items to the giveaway throughout the month, like eARCs (that's eAdvanced Readers Copies, for those of you who don't know--think ebooks you get to read before it's technically "published"), and MORE. Can we say PAR-TAY?

There will be a few different ways to enter the giveaways, but rest assured that there will *always* be free entries as well! Because I love you guys!

And now, without further ado, here are some of the items I will be giving away so far:

So we've got a t-shirt that says, "ask me about my favorite books" (because of course we always love to talk about our favorite books--not that we actually *need* to be asked--ha ha), Rose Under Fire, Pity Isn't An Option, a Book Nerd bumper sticker, Unbreathable swag, an Unbreathable ebook, Pity Isn't An Option audiobook and/or ebook, and more to come! 

Whew! Are you exited yet? I bet you're thinking, When will this giveaway take place, Jessica? WHEN????? (right?)

Well, it starts Sunday, October 20th at 12:00 a.m. (PST) and ends Saturday, October 26th at 11:59 p.m. (PST). So every day for a whole week you can enter to win! Woohoo!

In the meantime, check back with me over the next week or so to see what else I add!  And thanks in advance for helping me celebrate the big (young) THREE-FIVE! 

Be blessed!

*actual international giveaway contents will be specified the week of the #JLBBirthdayBash

I'm on Tumblr!

I just wanted to share that. Because I'm excited. (I know Jennifer's face isn't exactly an excited one, but it made me laugh.) 

I am hoping to get my amazing designer (Hafsah) in on the Tumblr deal soon so it'll look more like this blog (and perhaps a little Flora-ish, too), but for now, it's going to be simple. And of course it's listed under coffeelvnmom (which pretty much everything is) so it's easy to find. ;) So. If you're on there, hit me up! :D 

Click HERE to connect on Tumblr! 

P.S. News about my #JLBBirthdayBash is coming TOMORROW!