How adorable is the Polish cover of Something Like Fate?
I love how the design team used three hearts to represent the lovers’ triangle. And I love the Polish title: Destiny Knocks on the Door.
May destiny knock on your door this summer…and may you fling that door wide open ❤
TGIM, friendly neighbors!
Enjoy the Now of your shiny new week.
Thanks to National Book Store for another gorgeous graphic ❤
Interviews rule. Especially ones you can actually listen to. That’s why I’m stoked about this podcast interview HarperAudio Presents did with me right before City Love came out.
Here’s the interview description:
Hear bestselling author Susane Colasanti talk about her new book City Love, the story of sisterhood in NYC – three girls move in together for a summer of adventure, romantic love, and self-discovery. Susane tells us what a soul mate is – and isn’t, how the hope for a happy life got her through miserable years in high school, and the power of being exactly who you are.
Can your BF be a soul mate even if he doesn’t rinse the dishes? Listen and find out 🙂
You can hear this interview on SoundCloud or iTunes. And you can find my interview archives on the Press page of my website.
TGIM, friendly neighbors! I hope you rocked this first full day of summer. For those of you embarking on a summer of reinvention, your journey starts now.
I have also begun a journey of fun new adventures on Periscope. My username is the same as on Twitter, @susanecolasanti. My third broadcast was today and, although the broadcasts keep going way longer than I mean for them to (sorry about that!), I really like Periscoping. Today I attempted to sneak into Gramercy Park like a ninja. Or Jack Bauer. Or a member of B613 on Scandal. Which, excuse me, could Scandal be any better? It is scary good. I’m Netflixing Season Three right now and keep having to scrape my chin off the floor. And I was bawling over the ep where we find out about Huck’s past. Bawling.
Anyway. My ninja skills weren’t on a black ops level, as you can see from today’s broadcast.
But! I did snap some fresh pics of Gramercy Park this spring, ninja style through the gate:
So pretty, right? I didn’t get in today, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Anything is possible. Keeping the dream alive!
What’s up next on my Periscope? So. many. things. Manhattanhenge was my first broadcast and it was an epic fail due to the wall of clouds where we should have been watching a perfectly framed sunset. But no worries, because I got you for the second Manhattanhenge (there are two every year) on July 12. My second broadcast was from One World Observatory, 101 floors above everything. I’ll be going back around September 11 to broadcast before sunset, sharing daylight views with you and watching the city lights come on from far above New York City. The sunset and night views were tremendous, as you can see from this photo I took of the 9/11 Memorial in the rain:
The Help Wanted feature I started on my YouTube will be moving to Periscope. Now it will be Help Wanted Live! I’ll take a few questions that you guys have been emailing me, plus I will take live questions as well. That will be super fun. I love being able to interact with you in real time. I’m also going to be doing What’s On My Bookshelf?, Show and Tell, and surprise giveaways. And of course more New York City scenes like the High Line, settings from City Love, So Much Closer, and Take Me There, night walks, and my fave West Village streets. So follow me on Twitter for broadcast announcements and find me on Periscope, where I am still Susane Colasanti.
See you again soon ❤
Happy almost summer, friendly neighbors! The summer solstice is this Sunday, June 21. Time for flip-flops, popsicles, and lots of sunlight. I don’t know about you, but I’m already in summer mode. Here are some warm fuzzy updates for you as we say goodbye to spring and get the summer party started.
1. HarperAudio Presents did a podcast interview with me about City Love, dreaming big, and how your BF could still be a soul mate even if he doesn’t rinse the dishes. You can listen to the City Love podcast on SoundCloud or on iTunes.
2. We did a New Jersey road trip last weekend so I could sign books at the Bridgewater, North Brunswick, Springfield, and Livingston Barnes & Noble stores. For those of you in the vicinity of these stores who would like a signed copy of City Love or my backlist, here you go! You can find all of my books in the Teen Romance section with a cute shelf talker: 
Shout-outs to Kara at the Bridgewater Barnes & Noble and Mara at the North Brunswick Barnes & Noble for being the most amazing teen leads ever. They totally put up displays of my books when they heard I was coming. Booksellers and librarians automatically rule, but ones that go the distance to connect readers and authors get gold stars.
3. Speaking of amazing booksellers, I was at Chelsea Market the other day hunting down a Cookie Monster cupcake and was devastated to discover that the bakery had closed. These Cookie Monster cupcakes were my fave. Yes, even more than Sprinkles and Crumbs. Why? Not only were they freaking adorable, but they had that old-school frosting I haven’t been able to find anywhere else for years. Now where will I go for that rush of sweet nostalgia? Moving on (or trying to), I went into Posman Books and found this: 
This manifesto speaks for itself. Well played, Posman.
4. My refrigerator might be telling me it’s already summer. 
There were two ginormous watermelons in my kitchen when this week began. Aaaand my grocery shopping was done for the week. Because what else do I want to eat in the summer besides summer fruit? Not a whole lot. You know it’s summer when your refrigerator is dominated by watermelon. I also enjoy living vicariously through Bubby’s foraging journal. When it comes to summer fresh produce, this girl can’t get enough.
5. Hardcore stamp collector teen me still fangirls when I see cute new stamps. Back when I collected stamps regularly in high school, I would go to the post office every month and see what new stamps they had. Things have changed a lot since then. It’s not easy being a philatelist in 2015. So when I was at the post office the other day, I was stoked to see these: 
Awww! Not only are these stamps totally adorbs, they come with matching stickers to put on your envelope and letter. I would love to see a resurgence of kids writing actual letters, summer camp style. Stamps like these offer some fun motivation. Yay for letter writing. Yay for stamps. Yay for books made of paper. Yay for popsicles and old-school frosting and watermelon. Yay for each and every little thing that brings a rush of nostalgia. There’s so much more to appreciate when you’re all about the little things.
I can’t wait to see what this summer brings. Wishing you a summer that is your best one ever ❤
Ginormous congrats to the 11 winners of my 8th Annual Ginormous Contest! And thanks to everyone who spread the city love on Twitter. You guys freaking rule.
Here are the winners:
Bluedog649|Emily – @Bluedog649
Jennifer Y. – @2many2read
iHeartBigBooks – @iHeartBigBooks
Mariella Hunt – @mariellahunt
Roousy Camacho – @Simply_Roousy
Becoming Bookish – @BecomingBookish
Elise – @NerdgirlAZ
Erica Hubbard – @mimi_hubbard
Teen Book Hoarder – @teenbookhoarder
Lindsey Brown – @lindseyb423
Mackenzie – @ImMyOwnHipster
I also have to give a shout-out to Renee C., who rocks her dazzling artistic flair for every contest. How cute are these City Love earrings she made?
Some other winning things have been going down this week. Like fresh watermelon juice is finally in season! You know my addiction to summer fruit is fierce and unwavering. All winter I crave berries and melon and peaches and plums and nectarines and cherries so hard I don’t even know what to do with myself. The struggle is real, people. I’m so addicted to watermelon juice that I had to make Rosanna from City Love addicted to watermelon juice, too. When I was at Chelsea Market with my friend Paula and she saw this sign, I freaked out:
See, this is why it’s good to put your dreams out into the universe. Paula and I were having lunch at Bubby’s (which I adore so much I featured Bubby’s in book one and book two of the City Love series) right before and I was telling her how excited I was about watermelon. Especially the ginormous ones you can get for like $3.99 at Wegmans. If I hadn’t been telling her how stoked I was for my summer of watermelon juice, she wouldn’t have said anything about that sign. Want to know what I look like spazzing out over the first watermelon juice of the season?
Oh yeah. Summer is ON.
In other good news, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has awarded me with RAKtivist status! The definition of RAKtivist:
You are a kindness rockstar. A random acts of kindness activist. You truly believe that kindness can change the world and you exemplify that in your day-to-day life.
We participate in virtual kindness raids in our own communities and on social. I am feeling some serious warm fuzzy action coming on! Want to join the kindness party? You can find out about becoming a RAKtivist here.
I will leave you with this warm fuzzy, spotted from the High Line. Three more of my favorite things…all together. If you believe that love is the answer, you are totally winning.
Spread the city love, friendly neighbors ❤
What I am about to tell you is news so huge I really should have rented a billboard about it. But I am on deadline and telling you here instead.
My friend (and fave playwright) Neil LaBute put a copy of City Love on the set of his phenomenal new play, The Way We Get By.
He just walked right onto the stage before opening night and put it on the bookshelf. Which is the kind of thing you can do when you wrote the play. And then. He gave me and my friend Anton tickets to the play so I could go and see my book on the shelf in action. We are the most hardcore Neil LaBute fangirls alive.
You know Neil. He wrote my faves In the Company of Men, Your Friends & Neighbors, Some Girl(s), and my all-time fave, The Shape of Things. Neil LaBute is the epitome of dark and twisty in the most magnificent way possible. Can I just tell you how much I love love LOVE The Way We Get By? Every line of dialogue is perfection. Neil seems to be doing this thing now where he’s more hilarious than ever. I noticed this when we went to see his last play, The Money Shot. Neil has always been really funny, but I’m liking this even funnier version. Of course he’s still dark and twisty. You’re just laughing a lot more instead of scraping your chin off the floor every five seconds.
I am fangirling so hard right now I can’t even.
Thanks for showing your city love, Neil LaBute. You are a shining star ❤
TGIM, friendly neighbors! And welcome to June! Now that summer is pretty much here, I thought this would be an excellent time to get our summer reading on and bust out my Eighth Annual Ginormous Contest. For those of you joining the ginormous party for the first time, every year after a new book release I give away a ton of my author copies to contest winners. But this year is by far the most ginormous.
This year I’m giving away 30 BOOKS.
Oh, you heard me. You have the chance to win a total of 30 books. There are 20 eBooks and 10 hardcover books up for grabs. All City Love.
That’s not the only difference. This time around I’ve decided to shake things up a bit. I’m going for 10K followers on Twitter. If 10K followers are reached by June 10, I will send all 30 books to 30 winners. The hardcovers will all be signed and personalized. The eBooks will all include signed and personalized bookplates. If fewer than 10K followers are reached but you guys managed to seriously up my Twitter game with a decent amount of new followers, a portion of the 30 books will be released as prizes. Not sure about those exact numbers yet. Let’s see what you can do!
Notice I said that you are in charge here? When I was brainstorming ways to reach my 10K goal, I realized that you guys are the ones with the power. You are the most intelligent, creative, passionate, unique, kindest people out there. You come up with way better ideas than I do. And since you are my people, your people are my people by extension. This is a however-many-degrees of YOU contest.
Here’s how it works. To enter the contest, tweet this: Follow @susanecolasanti and RT to enter to win one of 30 copies of #CityLove! Contest info: https://susanecolasanti.wordpress.com. That’s the only thing you have to do to officially enter the contest. Then to help me reach that 10K goal, reach out to your people in fun ways. Photos, artwork, warm fuzzies, videos, music, writing, cupcakes…however you are encouraging your people to get in on the group contest action. Tweet what you’re doing to me with #CityLove and I will RT and post.
Why do I have this 10K goal? Because more people following me on Twitter means more opportunities to connect with them. More people seeing warm fuzzies and TGIM inspiration and gorgeous New York City pics. More people in the loop about book news and events. And more people I can connect with every day, share positive energy with, and share the city love. It might sound crazy, this goal of reaching 10K followers in 10 days, but I don’t care. I’m going for it anyway. We are. This is a community thing. It’s a city love thing. And that’s how I know anything is possible.
So let’s do this.
How to enter the contest:
1. Follow me on Twitter.
2. Tweet this:
Follow @susanecolasanti and RT to enter to win one of 30 copies of #CityLove! Contest info: https://susanecolasanti.wordpress.com
Contest rules:
1. All entries must be tweeted by June 10, 2015, at 11:11pm EST.
2. Winners will be announced on my blog and individually tweeted on June 11, 2015. If 10K Twitter followers have been reached, all 30 books will be sent out. If fewer than 10K Twitter followers have been reached, a percentage of the books reflecting the final followers number will be sent out. A minimum of 10 winners will be selected.
3. Each winner will have until 11:11pm EST on June 12, 2015 to email me their full name and mailing address. My email is susanecolasanti at gmail.
4. This contest is open to US addresses only. If you live abroad but have a contact in the States who can receive the prize for you, you may enter the contest and have your book mailed to their US address.
5. You may enter as many times as you’d like. And you may dazzle with the power of your reach as fantastically as you can imagine.
Can’t wait to see your power in action, friendly neighbors! Show me your city love ❤
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