Cover Reveal: Cold Day in the Sun by Sara Biren

I am so excited & feel very honored to be hosting the cover reveal for Sara Biren's next novel, Cold Day in the Sun. Her debut novel, The Last Thing You Said, was one of my favorite reads of 2017 & I absolutely LOVE how these two different book covers compliment each other. Cold Day in the Sun will be published on March 12, 2019, and you can see the beautiful cover right here!

About the book:
Holland Delviss wants to be known for her talent as a hockey player, not a hockey player who happens to be a girl. But when her school team is selected to be featured and televised as part of HockeyFest, her status as the only girl on the boys’ team makes her the lead story. Not everyone is thrilled with Holland’s new fame, but there’s one person who fiercely supports her, and it’s the last person she expects (and definitely the last person she should be falling for): her bossy team captain, Wes.

Add it to your goodreads || Pre-order from Amazon, B&N, IndieBound, Book Depository

Author Sara Biren is here to answer a few questions about the novel and her writing (fun fact: Sara and I are both Foo Fighter fans!!).

1. What inspired you to write this book?

COLD DAY began as a very different book, a book inspired by a spring break trip I took to the Florida Keys during college. I had wanted to write something light-hearted and fun after the heaviness of THE LAST THING YOU SAID, but it turned out to be pretty heavy in its own way. That book, working title KEYS, has been completely rewritten (twice) and looks nothing like the original version except for the two main characters.

The new story was inspired by my love for hockey and my years as the JV hockey team’s manager in high school. This was before the days of girls’ hockey, so managing was the closest I could get to the ice. I loved my time on the bench and made lifelong friends. I also wanted to write a story about a strong, talented girl playing on the boys’ team, the challenges she faces, and her journey to find her place in the world.

2. Name five things that you love about the book:

• The music: Holland loves grunge and glam metal. I had so much fun putting together the playlists in the book.
• The setting: COLD DAY takes place in Halcyon Lake, the same Minnesota resort town as THE LAST THING YOU SAID. This one is set during the winter, of course – hockey season.
• The title, which came to me in a moment of inspiration during a Foo Fighters concert on August 22, 2015, as Taylor sang “Cold Day in the Sun.” I heard those lyrics and knew. (Yes, I’ve been working on this book a very long time – I think I started it the summer of 2012 or 2013. It’s all a bit of a blur.) Like Holland, I love Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters so much, and, like Holland, Wasting Light is my favorite of their albums.
• Holland’s hockey playing brothers. They give her crap but are always supportive.
• The hockey scenes – the perfect excuse to go to local high school games and watch UMD Bulldogs and NHL games on TV. Our high school team went to the state tournament this year for the first time in school history – very exciting! Go Knights!

3. Who is your favorite hockey player?

Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings. I had his rookie card taped up in my locker in junior high. My brother gave me a signed, framed Yzerman jersey for my wedding.

4. What are you working on now?

My next YA is called IF YOU WERE HERE, my Minnesota autumn story: A rock star's son and the caretaker's daughter, a comeback and a scandal, facing the secrets of the past and learning to live in the present. I’m also working on a side project, an adult romance called I SAW YOU FIRST, which takes place in the mid-90s at an electronics store similar to the Best Buy of old (where I worked for many year).

5. What are you currently reading?

I’m officially on vacation for a week and a half. We’re headed first to northern Minnesota and then northern Wisconsin for some serious lake time, so I’ll have lots of reading time as well. I’m currently reading STARRY EYES by Jenn Bennett, which will be followed up with THE OTHER SIDE OF LOST by Jessi Kirby, THE KISS QUOTIENT by Helen Hoang, and YOU ARE A BADASS by Jen Sincero.

6. Five fast facts about you:

Aries, ENFP, Assistant Scoutmaster (Boy Scouts), Troop Leader (Girl Scouts), content & social media manager (day job).

Where to find Sara Biren:
Website: sarabiren.com
Instagram: @sarabiren
Twitter: @sbiren
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sbirenauthor/
Newsletter sign-up: https://www.sarabiren.com/p/contact.html

Want to win Sara's debut novel THE LAST THING YOU SAID + a pre-order of COLD DAY IN THE SUN? Well, here's your chance! Enter the rafflecopter below. This contest is open to U.S. residents only. Please see my policies page for further contest rules.

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Celebrating 7 Years of GReads with Tiffany Schmidt

All month long I'm celebrating my 7th year of book blogging with the help of my bookish friends. To learn more about the event, please visit my introduction post I've linked just below. There, you can also enter to win a book by one of the fabulous authors who will be joining me this month to celebrate, as well.

*~* Click Here for Intro Post & GIVEAWAY *~*

It's an honor to have one of MY favorite authors on the blog today to celebrate my own blogoversary. Tiffany Schmidt has written some fabulous books (my personal fave: BRIGHT BEFORE SUNRISE) and a 2018 release that I am so eager to read (BOOKISH BOYFRIENDS). She's been so kind to always support me and my love for reading. I adore the way she took the theme of "reading inspirations" for this celebration and shared some of her own personal reading influences. Please welcome Tiffany to the blog (& don't forget to enter the giveaway to win one of her books!!)...

***

The best present my parents ever gave me was an older sister. Or, since she came first, maybe I was the world’s best gift to her? (I say with complete humbleness).

Heather is two years, two weeks older than me, but because our birthdays straddle the August/ September divide, there were three grades between us. Growing up she was the person who taught me how to blow bubbles with soap and chewing gum. How to wrangle Barbie, Ken, and Skipper in and out of tiny outfits (though I never actually got be Skipper, that was always her job). She helped me find lost earring backings, showed me how to scale the countertops to get to the candy cabinet over the stove. How to hook my first training bra. After our parents separated us into different bedrooms we developed a secret code comprised of knocks on the wall. We were always shocked when we got caught—it never occurred us that those knocks could also be heard down the hall. When her bedtime got changed to later than mine, Heather would stop in my room on the way to bed and recount the plots of Full House or Family Matters in whispers. On one memorable trip to the drive-in (when we were totally supposed to be sleeping in the back seat) she explained to me that Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman was someone who got paid to love people. I may have told my grandparents the next day that I wanted to be a hooker when I grew up. Her fault, but I got the time out.

Another thing that Heather passed down to me was books. Sometimes by choice, other times by stealth. I used to smuggle Christopher Pike books off her bookshelf—then, when I couldn’t sleep after reading them—I’d ask if I could spend the night on her floor. There was the time she left her copy of Lord of the Flies next to our computer while writing a paper—I returned it the next morning, high traumatized, and wanted to talk about Piggy over bowls of Kix. The gilt-paged copy of Little Women that currently sits on my bookshelf is one I commandeered way back when. I’m fairly certain the same is true for my Anne of Green Gables. And no one tell her, but I lost her Jane Austen anthology somewhere at college.

Little did she know—little did I know, that when I was being that pesty little sister who wouldn’t stay out of her room, I was preparing for my future career. My next series is a little bit Austen. A little bit Shakespeare. A little bit Green Gables. A little bit Little Women.

Bookish Boyfriends comes out May 1, 2018 and it is chock full of all the stories I stole from her bookshelves. (I still haven’t figured out way to work Christopher Pike or Lord of the Flies into a series about girls dating modern versions of classic romance heroes—but give me some time).

And, hey, Heather, it could’ve been worse. It could’ve been your favorite clothes or earrings I stole and kept? Oh, wait... I did that too.

Add Bookish Boyfriends to goodreads

Preorder Bookish Boyfriends on Amazon

My Top Ten Authors I Really Want To Meet

I have been lucky to live in the great state of Texas, where a lot of fabulous authors visit.  However, there are a few (10 I guess I should say) that I have yet to meet and REALLY want to.  Hopefully one day soon this will happen.  In the meantime, I'll continue to read their books and be inspired by their work.

Let me know in the comments if you've met any of these fab writers, or who's at the top of your list to meet!  As always, be sure to check out The Broke and the Bookish for more details on this awesome weekly feature.