Fellow Apocalypsie Hilary Graham posted today about her subscription to SEVENTEEN magazine. It’s a cute, funny post that had memories of my teenage years flooding back.

I totally remember reading this one after seeing Clueless with my friend in the sixth grade.

In middle school, we’d do this fundraiser where we sold magazine subscriptions. There were of course prizes for hitting certain bench marks, and though no memory of what any of the prizes were, I remember that I just HAD. TO. HAVE. THEM. My mom usually renewed her People Magazine subscription, maybe Ladies Home Journal, and that was about the end of that. I would always beg herto let me subscribe to Seventeen, and she’d always reply with the same answer, “But you’re not seventeen.” True, I was 12, but I didn’t care. “Gosh, mom, you don’t understaaaaaaand!” I’d whine, to no avail. Mom never could come up with as snappy a line for banning a subscription to YM,  but I didn’t get one of those either (R.I.P., YM).

YM, which was a little more fluffy than Seventeen, but also had slightly more, shall we say, graphic content? Yeah, there were more articles about sex.

That’s not to say I wasn’t reading Seventeen. I’d save my pennies to buy a copy every once in a while, or I’d read it at a friend’s house (one whose mother didn’t take the title quite so literally). Everything I know about makeup? Seventeen magazine and one Mary Kay party with my Girl Scout troop. How to style my greasy, fine, boring brown hair for prom? Seventeen magazine. Endless hours spent lusting after Dawson, Pacey, Noel, Lance Bass (hey, we didn’t know then what we know now), and Jonathan Taylor Thomas? Seventeen magazine. It played a role in my teenage years, all of ‘em.

AAAANNNNGGGEEELLLLL!!!!!!

So I gotta say, the teenage Lauren that still lives inside me was freaking giddy to whip out my credit card and purchase my very own subscription (and a year of Teen Vogue for only $10 more!) without even having to ask my mother’s permission (though I’m pretty sure she’d still say no …).

Remember when you’d finally see the September issue, just before summer ended, and you could start planning your rockin’ back to school outfits? I always thought that maybe THIS would be the year that I’d finally be super cool (spoiler alert, that year never actually came). But maybe this is why my mom wasn’t too keen on those subscriptions … they never quite got your actual life right. It was like watching 90210 and thinking your life was ever going to resemble that. Just total fantasy.

Oh Felicity, how I so desperately wanted to be you, with your sweaters and your Noel Crane…

But still, it was something to aspire to, it was escapist and gave me hope, and I imagine that’s still true for teens today. So even though I’m still not seventeen (and haven’t been for more than a decade!), I’m now officially a Seventeen subscriber. See, your teenage dreams DO eventually come true. Publish a book and subscribe to Seventeen … all at the age of 29!

There is one last teenage dream livin’ inside me … I always wanted to write for Seventeen. I’d always enter all their fiction contests, and I even pitched them a story about teen sex when I was a junior (I never heard back). But maybe some day …

The second #YAmazing Race has come to an end, and if you wander over to the Apoclypsies site, you can see if you won one of the big prize packs. BUT WAIT! Before you go, don’t you want to know who won my giveaway of a $25 Amazon giftcard + MEANT TO BE swag?

Well, after 152 comments and 337 individual entries (seriously, I counted), I typed the numbers into a random number generator and came up with our winner.

Congratulations Lisa Lueddecke!

Email me with your address, and I’ll get those things sent out to you asap!

Thanks everyone for playing, and keep your eyes peeled for more giveaways. I’ll be using this space to offer up a real, life, SIGNED hard copy ARC of Meant to Be as we get closer to the release date.

Thanks for playing, everyone!

First of all, a little background. NetGalley is a website/company/service that allows publishers to share e-galleys with reviewers. This can include reporters, bloggers, teachers, librarians, and other professional readers. Each publisher does their own approving of e-galley requests, and each publisher sets their own criteria for who they approve. Some companies are more strict than others. I’m a NetGalley reader, and I’ll tell you right now that I frequently get turned down for not meeting the requirements (as an author/blogger, some companies require a certain number of page views in order to approve you).

And now on to Meant to Be… it’s on NetGalley! YAY! If you’re a professional reader, I encourage you to skip on over and request it. I’ve been getting some awesome tweets from bloggers letting me know they’ve already read (and loved!) my sweet little book. Seeing those tweets is one of the best things in the whole wide world!

But it’s not all daisies and roses! Meant to Be making its way in the world is also pretty scary, because it means there’s not much I can do anymore. Sure, I can encourage you to read it, but when it comes to whether or not you like it? Well, my job there is done. It ended months and months ago with drafts and revisions … and more revisions (because hey, ARCs and e-galleys are uncorrected proofs! There was another round of line edits that came after). I just have to hope I did my job well back then, because no amount of blogging, tweeting, signing, or high fives will make you love Meant to Be.

Now if I can be a little immodest, let me take a moment to say … I think I did a good job. I think Meant to Be is sweet and funny and swoony, and I hope you love Julia and Jason and the rest of the gang as much as I do. And I hope if you get an e-galley or a hard copy ARC and you love it, that  you’ll tell the world about it! Meant to Be hits bookstores in just over six months, and you early readers are uber-important in making sure that it gets into the hands of readers down the road. So THANK YOU to those of you who have already posted reviews or ratings on GoodReads or who have shared tweets or Facebook statuses about my very first novel. You guys are THE. BEST.

Oh, and one last note … e-galleys are awesome. They mean more advanced readers at a lower cost to my publisher. Unfortunately, they also raise the risk of pirated copies of books getting out there. How can you help? Well, first of all, don’t hack the e-galley and share it. That’s wildly illegal, and in the end will cost you waaaaay more than the price of buying the book (pre-orders are less than $11 on Amazon!). And if you see it available somewhere, don’t steal it! As I said on twitter yesterday, stealing books is the same as kicking kittens. If you wouldn’t kick kittens, then don’t steal books!

And don’t forget, even if you’re not a NetGalley reader, you can still enter to win a (signed!) ARC over here!

Welcome to the second edition of the #YAmazing Race, hosted by your fabulous and favorite Apocalypsies! If you’ve stumbled here and are wondering what in the heck I’m talking about, go to the Apocalypsies blog to find out about how you can enter to win some truly amazing prize packages.

Are you ready to play? Let’s go!

We’re starting this leg of the race with my YA contemporary novel, Meant to Be:

About Meant to Be:

Meant to be or not meant to be . . . that is the question.

It’s one thing to fall head over heels into a puddle of hazelnut coffee, and quite another to fall for the—gasp—wrong guy. Straight-A junior Julia may be accident prone, but she’s queen of following rules and being prepared. That’s why she keeps a pencil sharpener in her purse and a pocket Shakespeare in her, well, pocket. And that’s also why she’s chosen Mark Bixford, her childhood crush, as her MTB (“meant to be”).

But this spring break, Julia’s rules are about to get defenestrated (SAT word: to be thrown from a window) when she’s partnered with her personal nemesis, class-clown Jason, on a school trip to London. After one wild party, Julia starts receiving romantic texts . . . from an unknown number! Jason promises to help discover the identity of her mysterious new suitor if she agrees to break a few rules along the way. And thus begins a wild goose chase through London, leading Julia closer and closer to the biggest surprise of all: true love.

Because sometimes the things you least expect are the most meant to be.

Meant to Be releases from Delacorte Press on November 13, 2012, and it’s already getting some great buzz. Check out these blurbs from two of my favorite YA authors!

And now the fun part! First of all, take note of the synopsis of Meant to Be. Notice any big words in there? Those might come in handy as you move through the rest of the race and take the final quiz at the end (hint hint). I’ve contributed some swag and a $15 Amazon giftcard to the final prize pack, but that’s not all (said in my best game show host voice).

I’m also giving away a $25 Amazon giftcard right here, along with some snazzy Meant to Be postcards and bookmarks.

$25 is enough to buy yourself an awesome book, plus pre-order Meant to Be, AND use that awesome super-saver free shipping! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post. You can get extra entries by liking me on Facebook, following me on Twitter, and tweeting about the contest. That’s FOUR entries.

Now, once you’re done entering, scoot on to the next stop on the #YAmazing Race! Lizzie Foley, author of REMARKABLE is waiting for you. Click here to continue!

CONTEST RULES:

• To enter, leave a comment on this post. Include either an email address or a Twitter name so I can reach you
• If you tweet about the contest, be sure to include a link
• Tally up your total number of entries and include it at the end of your comment
• Winners will receive a prize pack including (1) $25 Amazon Giftcard and a pack of Meant to Be postcards and bookmarks
• This contest IS open internationally

And as a bonus for those of you willing to hang around on my blog long enough to get to the end of this massive post, you can enter to win a signed ARC of Meant to Be over here!