Books Archives - Page 2 of 2

Magnificent Monday, Ally edition

September 8, 2014 by Ally Carter 17 Comments

Hi everybody!

It’s Ally here. On a Monday! I know that’s going to freak you out, and I apologize. Shellie and her family are out-of-pocket for a couple of weeks, so you guys are just going to have to make do with me!

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what you guys might like to hear about today, but I decided to treat you to a little sneak peek at something instead!

As most of you know, I have a short story in the upcoming holiday anthology, MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME.

My story is called “Star of Bethlehem” and here is a little taste!

I hope you like it.

“Well, look at you!” The woman held me at arm’s length. “You changed your hair.”

I thought back to the short blond locks on the girl in the airport. The girl with the accent. The girl from Iceland. The girl these people were evidently waiting for.

I felt myself starting to panic, needing to run . . .

“You look so different from your picture,” the woman said, and I managed to breathe.

The girl these people had evidently only seen in pictures.

Maybe they wouldn’t get suspicious, call security. The police. Maybe I could just bide my time and slip away quietly and . . .

“Well, what am I doing hogging all the hugging? Ethan!” the woman yelled. She looked around, and I followed her gaze to the boy who was walking around the corner.

He wore Wranglers and boots and a plaid shirt heavy with starch. Until then, I’d thought boys like him only existed on the covers of romance novels. He must have been shocked by the looks of me, too, because he stopped short, frozen in the process of sliding a phone back into his pocket. Hulda’s words came back to me:

I don’t love him.

My other boyfriend.

“Ethan!” the woman yelled. “She’s here!”

I started to spin, but I was too late. He was already there. Looking at me. I could see the truth playing across his face, the realization that I was not an Icelandic girl name Hulda. I was not his girlfriend.

“It’s . . .” The boy started, and mentally I filled in the blanks.

An imposter!

A liar!

A fraud.

He moved closer.

“So good to see you!” the boy said.

And then he kissed me.

I hope you guys enjoyed the excerpt! If you did, please check out the full anthology. MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME will be in stores October 14, 2014. And it is available for preorder now!

-Ally

And the title of Embassy Row will be…

August 15, 2014 by Ally Carter 33 Comments

Hi everyone,

I was planning on blogging this week with pictures from my Alaska trip, but I guess those will have to wait because the time has come!

I can finally announce that the official title of Embassy Row 1 will be . . .

ALL FALL DOWN: An Embassy Row Novel

In stores January 27, 2015

A new series of global proportions — from master of intrigue, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Ally Carter.

This exciting new series from NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Ally Carter focuses on Grace, who can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world, and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row.

Now, at age sixteen, she’s come back to stay — in order to solve the mystery of her mother’s death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved.

We will hopefully be sharing the cover, an excerpt, and the official back cover copy very, very soon. (The cover listed on online retailers like BN.com is not final.)

In the meantime, please mark your calendars and get excited to meet Grace, Noah, Rosie, Megan, Alexei and the people who work, live, and die on Embassy Row.

Are you excited? Because, let me tell you, I am SO EXCITED!

-Ally

World’s Cutest Cover!

June 3, 2014 by Ally Carter 30 Comments

Hi everyone,

A very exciting post today! I’m SO HAPPY to share the (absolutely gorgeous) cover for the holiday anthology MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME.

See? I told you it was gorgeous! The cover art is by Jim Tierney, and I think it’s just amazing. (Rumor has it there will be even more original art accompanying each story.)

I’m so honored to be included in this wonderful collection.

EDITED TO ADD:

My story is called STAR OF BETHLEHEM, and it is a 100% original story. Meaning it is about all new people in all new places. (No Zach, Cammie, Kat or Hale, in other words).

Nope. This is about a new couple. And, boy, do I heart them.

Fun fact: each of the skating couples on the cover represents one of the twelve stories.

So which couple do you think is in MY story? (leave your guesses in the comments.)

-Ally

ps: look for the anthology in your local bookstore in October of this year–just in time for the holidays!

Embassy Row Fun Facts

January 29, 2014 by Ally Carter 41 Comments

Hello, everybody! Ally here to tell you a little bit about Embassy Row. (Since I know many of you are dying for any information…even if that information is relatively small.)

So let’s get started, shall we?

I’m confused. What is Embassy Row? Is it the seventh Gallagher Girls book?
Embassy Row is the first book in an entirely new series. No Cammie. No Kat. No Gallagher. No thieves. This will be 100% never-before-seen-material. And I am SUPER excited about it!

So what is Embassy Row about?
When a teenage girl moves in with her grandfather who happens to be the US ambassador to a small (fictional) European country, she sees the man who murdered her mother and gets pulled into an international conspiracy all while trying to 1. adapt to a new home 2. make new friends 3. NOT cause an international incident and 4. prove she isn’t crazy.

I’m crazy excited about it.

Is the title actually Embassy Row?
Well, yes and no. Likely Embassy Row will be the series title (like Gallagher Girls), but there will be another title for the book. So it will be XYZ: An Embassy Row Novel (or something like that).

As soon as we finalize the title you’d better believe I will be shouting it from the rooftops!

So will Embassy Row be set in the same world as Gallagher & Heist? In other words, characters from Gallagher & Heist met in Double-Crossed; any chance some Embassy Row characters might meet the other characters as well?
I guess that is always a possibility! But right now there are no firm plans.

Who is Embassy Row about?
In short, Embassy Row is about Grace. And Grace is…my favorite character I’ve ever written.

*cue gasps!*
*cue cries!*
*cue outrage!*

Yes, I know you guys are loyal to your favorites, and I LOVE YOU FOR THAT, but I have been hard on Grace; I mean so, so, so, so hard. She has been through sooooooo much. And she needs me. She really does. So she has to be my favorite.

And I hope she will be your new favorite too.

In addition to Grace, we have a really fun supporting cast–including Noah, Grace’s new best friend; Alexei, the boy next door (who is Russian. Because when you live on Embassy Row the boy next door is likely from a country who is at risk of going to war with your country); and two female characters who might get new names in the new draft so I don’t want to say anything that might confuse you here. Just know that they are super smart and incredibly fierce, and they have been a lot of fun to write.

How many Embassy Row books will you write?
There are three under contract right now. We will have to wait and see how it goes before we know anything beyond that.

Will you go on tour for Embassy Row?
Maybe! Probably? I’m not entirely sure. You see, this will be my very first book with Scholastic, so I don’t know exactly what their plan is to roll out book one and the rest of the series. At the end of the day, my job is to write books. So write books I shall!

So where does Embassy Row stand RIGHT NOW?!
Right now, a number of things are happening:

1. My editor David is going through the entire book, line-by-line, doing what we call a “line edit.”

2. I am coming up with potential titles and sharing them with David who, in turn, shares them with the Scholastic marketing, sales, editorial teams and anyone else who should have a say on these things.

3. The Scholastic marketing/sales/editorial/art teams are working on covers.

4. I’m trying to finalize some of the world-building issues (like what is the name of this fictional country, exactly where is it located, who founded it? etc.)

Then as soon as I get the line edit from David I will do another draft. After that draft the book will go into copyediting (where we focus on things like spelling and typos and punctuation and making sure a character who has green eyes on page 140 doesn’t have blue eyes on page 243).

And then I will likely start on Embassy Row 2.

Will you be doing Advanced Reading Copies for Embassy Row (for bloggers, reviewers, librarians, etc.), and when/where will those be available?
Again, I’ll have to defer to Scholastic on that one. I am honestly not sure what their plan is, but I have faith that their plan is awesome!

When will we be able to buy Embassy Row?
Well, the honest answer is (as always) “it will vary”.

In the US and Canada, it should be out sometime in about a year. When exactly (day and month) I do not know yet, but I do know it will be “early 2015”.

For international readers, I know that we have publishing deals already in place for the UK and Australia! When will it pub in those countries? Still not sure on that either, I’m afraid.

For the rest of the world, rest assured I WANT to sell the rights to a publisher who will publish the book where you live. This is a slow process, though, and out of my hands. All I can do is urge patience. Thank you!

So what does this mean for future Gallagher Girls and Heist Society books?
Gallagher Girls (as we have known it) is over. Cammie’s story is a wrap. And while I know you guys would like to see where Cam and Zach and the gang end up and what is going on with them, I have to let them grow up now. They have earned that right.

I have always said that I see Heist Society as a more open-ended series; so I AM open to the idea of more Heist Society books. And I would love to write them. Just as soon as I find the time.

And that’s that, gang. Embassy Row in a (fairly large) nutshell.

Take care!

Ally

My True Love Gave to Me!

January 15, 2014 by Ally Carter 23 Comments

Hi everybody!

Ally here with what I hope will be some exciting news!

You know how I wasn’t going to have anything new come out in 2014 (because EMBASSY ROW is scheduled for early 2015…)? Well, now that is no longer the case!

I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of a very new, very exciting holiday anthology edited by the super fabulous Stephanie Perkins (author of ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR, etc).

I will be one of 12 authors contributing a story to the collection called MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME. It will be in stores in OCTOBER. I’ve never done an anthology before, and I’m honored to be in one with these amazing authors:

Read more about what Stephanie had to say on the subject right here.

My story doesn’t have a title yet, but I can tell you that I am SUPER excited to write it, and I hope you guys will love it as much as I do.

Stay tuned for details!

-Ally

Embassy Row!

June 24, 2013 by Ally Carter 166 Comments

Hello, everybody!

Ally here with a very exciting announcement:

I’VE SOLD A NEW BOOK SERIES!

Yes. It’s true. Here is the official announcement:

NYT bestselling author Ally Carter’s new series EMBASSY ROW, about the granddaughter of a powerful ambassador who returns to her home on Embassy Row and uncovers an international conspiracy while solving the mystery of her mother’s death, in a three-book major deal, at auction, moving to David Levithan at Scholastic, by Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency (NA).

UK & Translation: [email protected]
Asia: [email protected]
Film: [email protected]

But don’t take my word for it, here is what my brand new publisher, Scholastic, had to say:

This exciting new series focuses on Grace, who can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world, and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row. Now, at age sixteen, she’s come back to stay— in order to solve the mystery of her mother’s death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved.

To read even more about it, check out the official press release.

I have been wanting to write this series since 2007, and I’m absolutely THRILLED that I’m going to finally get to explore this incredibly rich and interesting world that can’t help but be filled with amazing characters.

I’m equally thrilled to be working with the tremendously talented David Levithan, a good friend whom I have admired for years and with whom anyone in this industry would be lucky to work.

The first book will be published in 2015 (because, seriously, I’ve still got to write it).

And now I’ve got to go do exactly that!

Ally

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