Here it is. 

The previous, dot point-like blurb which can be found on Goodreads (have you added it to your TBR list yet?) was written BEFORE the book.
So it was essentially my plan for what was to come.

Now, behold, the real deal, what the book IS actually about!

Warning: Sexual References, occasional coarse language.

Teen Youtube song writing sensation Poppy Douglas's lead singer boyfriend Ty's been criss-crossing the country and living it up on tour for months while Poppy has been stuck in the boring suburbs, finishing out the school year.

But it's Summer now, and the best thing just happened: Poppy's royalties for writing the hit song The Kiss Off just came in. She's minted, and she knows just what she's going to blow it on.

Ty's band Academy of Lies are headlining a summer music festival, and Poppy is taking her girlfriends along for the best weekend of their lives. It's all organized: the weekend is going to be full of camping under the stars, backstage passes, VIP rooms and partying like rock stars, not to mention some long awaited one-on-one time with America's favorite front man.

Except, when someone drops out of the trip and Poppy takes the opportunity to mend a broken friendship, it doesn't quite go according to plan. And when she meets her boyfriend's BFF from another band, the paparazzi form their own totally wrong conclusions. There's also the matter of Ty's 'super fan' stalker, but the less said about her the better.

The biggest test of all comes in the form of an opportunity too good to pass up. But will insecurities and jealousy stand in Poppy's way? Can Poppy and Ty's relationship even survive it?

Life is about to get much more complicated for Poppy Douglas, but what can you expect when your boyfriend is a rock star?

Do you have any ideas? Guesses as to what's going to happen?
Have a guess in the comments!

As stated earlier, this blog is moving to www.sarahbillington.weebly.com/blog. There are just double up posts at the moment but make sure to point your browser THERE in future, 'kay?

The Kiss Off 2 TITLE REVEAL!

As the book cover reveal on April 1 draws closer (it's not too late to sign up!), I have a couple of other things to reveal.

Like the new title!

I have been calling the sequel to The Kiss Off "The Kiss Off 2" since I started writing it late last year, and I'm well aware of what a lame name that is.

Sounds like a movie sequel, not a BOOK, sequel, right?

So it had a new name for awhile there. It WAS called: The Kiss Off 2: Fame, Blame and Full of Shame.
Which was kinda catchy.,, but long. And still sounds like a movie.

So I thought about it some more.
The Kiss Off is the name of the song that Poppy writes, the catalyst that sets the plot into motion.

So it only makes sense that future books in the series should be named after songs she writes in that book as well, don't you think?

So The Kiss Off 2 has a new name. Are you ready for this?

It's name is...

Over It

Clean. Simple. What do you think? It's kind of indicative that there will be drama inside. But this is Poppy we're talking about. Drama was a given.

Stay tuned, in the next day or so will be the official blurb reveal! Much more detail than the original blurb, which I actually wrote BEFORE writing the novel.

This blog is moving!

It's about time I streamlined my website and blog together. And I'm finally doing it!

This blog is moving to www.sarahbillington.weebly.com/blog

Easy.

I'll double post a bit for a few weeks as the big Kiss Off 2 cover reveal is happening, but soon the doors will close and you'll find me primarily at the new, shiny blog. And Facebook. And Twitter.

I'll be around, but not here.

Did I make that unnecessarily confusing? You bet!

Speaking of the cover reveal (which I did a couple of sentences up there) last minute sign ups are taking place! http://www.xpressobooktours.com/2013/03/cover-re-reveal-sign-up-kiss-off-book-1.html

Cover Reveal Sign Up: The Kiss-Off (Book 1 & 2)

It's that time! 
If you have a blog and want to participate in the cover reveal for The Kiss Off 2 and the re-release of The Kiss Off then sign up below!

It's all going down April 1!

Xpresso Book Tours: Cover Re-Reveal Sign Up: The Kiss-Off (Book 1 & 2) by Sarah Billington:

Love Sair

'via Blog this'

Get your eBook Autographed!

Hi you guys!

Happy Labour Day, Aussies! Enjoy the long, hot weekend. I am outdoors all weekend at markets and this heat wave can sure sap your energy, can't it? 

I'm knackered. I came home and have been lying under the ceiling fan watching Lost in Austen, the British miniseries.

Have you seen that? If you like Jane Austen books/movies then you totally should. Jane marries Mr Collins! Mr Bingley turns into a depressed drunk and runs away with Lydia. What? WHAT?
It's lots of fun. Check it out.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about.

If you like my books and have them on your ereader of choice, you don't need a paperback to get a book signed. I can sign your EBOOK. YES I CAN.

Say hello to Authorgraph.

Just request and you shall receive!

That is all,

Life Was Cool Until You Got Popular paperback giveaway!

This week's giveaway - a paperback copy of my upper-middle grade novel Life Was Cool Until You Got Popular!

AND if the winner is an aussie, it will not just be a book but a SIGNED book. So good luck to you all!

If you're an international winner...sorry guys. Shipping is CRAZY expensive, so it won't be signed, but it will still be a book.

This is what you'll win!

Thirteen year old Kaley’s best friend Jules is an alien clone. That has to be it. Because Jules wouldn’t dress like that or act like that…and she definitely wouldn’t be friends with Meg-a-bitch.

Kaley can't wait to start at her new school with her best friend Jules. Jules was away in Europe all summer (worst summer of Kaley's life!) But it's cool, now school is starting and everything is going to be awesome. However as the school bus pulls up on that first day, Kaley barely recognizes the silky hair and glossy lips as Jules gets off with the cool kids and with their arch-nemesis Meg, the popular girl (God only knows why) who made Kaley and Jules's lives miserable in elementary school. In Europe, Meg had somehow won over Kaley's best friend and Kaley finds herself frozen out.

LIFE WAS COOL UNTIL YOU GOT POPULAR is a first person middle grade novel told through Kaley’s eyes, chronicling the initial pain and incomprehension of what happened to destroy their friendship. But that doesn't last long. Kaley decides that underneath the bleached blond clone with the personality transplant, Jules is still in there. Somewhere. And she is going to get her best friend back!

And this is how you win!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Life Was Cool Until You Got Popular

by Sarah Billington

Giveaway ends May 15, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

 
Too easy! Good luuuuuck!

Cover Love: Space Edition

Good evening book cover lovers!

Today's edition is a bit of a celebration for me. I'm all proud and chuffed, like. Not only are we looking at some kick ass young adult book covers, but I am so happy for the authors, too!

Let's start with this one:

 These Broken Stars by Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman.

I was lucky enough to be on retreat with Amie a couple of months ago and she may have read out the first chapter of These Broken Stars over the dinner table. Needless to say, I am thoroughly looking forward to this book. I have personally witnessed Amie working with Meg (via the interweb) on this and its sequels and they are super hard workers. They are going to make this series AMAZING.

And check out that cover! Props to Disney-Hyperion, don't you think? They sure delivered. The stars in the background are so beautiful and LOOK AT THAT DRESS!

Awesome.

Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil

I attended the launch of this book this evening and it was a great night with a big turn out and fun speeches. And super yummy cup cakes!

For those of you who have followed this blog for a long time, you may remember that I interned with Black Dog Books a couple of years ago (before the Melbourne office was moved to Sydney) and Melissa just happens to have been the senior editor there at the time!

I was really excited to snag this book and check out what her writing style is like - and it's awesome. I'm in the middle of reading Life if Outer Space and am really loving it and Sam's voice. And it's a contemporary YA with a male protagonist! I love these! You should pick it up. And when Broken Stars comes out in November, you should pick that one up too, just like I will.

I'm just sayin'.

Ba(n)d Romance Winner Announced!

Congratulations Pernille!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Pernille won the ebook of Ba(n)d Romance by tweeting about the giveaway, and what an awesome job you did!

I hope you enjoy it.

New giveaway tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Weekly Giveaway! Ba(n)d Romance

Do you like giveaways? I do. And there are so many awesome and easy ways to win AWESOME stuff!

For the next 14 weeks (as long as I remember to) I will be giving away one of my ebooks each week! 

This week, it's Ba(n)d Romance!

Jordan thought she and Paul were forever. Then she found out about Missy: Paul’s other forever.
Now it’s the night of the sophomore dance. Jordan’s on stage with her band, Paul’s text bombing her and Missy’s in the audience with murder on her mind. Unfortunately, it’s not Paul in Missy’s sights.

Another short and sassy story from Sarah Billington

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Did you enter? Good luck!

There are a heap of other comps to enter so make sure you go hopping and check out the others!

Cover Love #8!

How was your weekend, you guys? I hear it was a long weekend in the US of A. Did you make the most of it? Read anything awesome? DO anything awesome?

I have been collecting covers that I love for ages now and haven't been posting the awesome here. So stupid of me.

Here are some of my faves lately. What do you think? Do you love or hate? And why?

I love the title so big and taking up the whole cover, here. I don't really have any feel for what the book would be about, but I think it's well designed.

The colouring is so complementary, don't you think? All those shades of blue, the jetty over the lake. I think this looks like a really sweet story.

I love the simplicity of this cover. Rapunzel's long blond hair in a plait, it's exactly what you think of when you think of Rapunzel. The font on Rapunzel and the sparkles beside "a novel" make it look a little magical, a little fairy tale-esque. Fab.













Speaking of covers... I was TOTALLY going to release the cover of The Kiss Off 2 in February, and with it, the brand-spanking new (and AWESOME) cover for The Kiss Off. But the release has had to be a bit delayed as I need to get it signed off by someone.

Which is a hint at some exciting news to come.

I was aiming for a July release but MAY need to push it back for the same reason. But it may still stand. I'm not sure. Everything's all a bit up in the air at the moment.

Anyhoo, if you want to be one of the VERY FIRST to find out the exciting news (there's even more!) sign up for the mailing list - you can find it at the top of this page.

Ciao for now!

Happy (...um...VERY BELATED) New Year!

Hello you dashing creatures, you!

It's been awhile, right? Sorry about that. Stuff has been happening. And then more stuff. And some stuff I can't really talk about just yet but will as SOON as it's all finalised because I'm dying to tell you.

How have you been? How was your Christmas? How was your New Year? Have you kept any of your resolutions?

Me, I resolved to take a break from writing over the summer. And I did. And for once in my life I got to enjoy doing things and not feel guilty. One part of being an author is that it feels like you have homework every day for the rest of your life. :) I'm working on this one.

Here is some other stuff I've been doing:

READING

Ghost Huntress

I enjoyed this book, it goes into the more technical aspects of ghost hunting and what it’s like to be psychic, which has always been a bit of a mystery to me. And did you know Marley Gibson is an ACTUAL paranormal investigator herself? I saw her on the show Ghost Adventures and everything. I love paranormal investigation shows, and I have been known to go on ghost tours on more than one occasion. Should I be visiting a different city or country I will find a ghost tour to go on, don’t you worry. This may be why I was pretty much convinced the house I lived in all of last year was haunted. I don’t live there anymore (you win, ghosts!)

Ashfall

I’m about halfway through this one at the moment and really enjoying it. Mike Mullin has clearly done his homework and I totally believe the world he’s built, in the aftermath of a volcano eruption 900 miles away. All. That. Ash. It’s destructive. Plus Mike has the habit of ending chapters like “Aaah. Everything’s going to be okay now oh wait no it’s not” which is definitely keeping me turning pages.

Starkissed 

This was such a light, cute read. Easy reading which is exactly what I was looking for. Like if a cupcake was a book, this is what it would read like.

Skylark

Hats off to Meagan Spooner, she has such a way with words, it’s really beautifully done. I plowed through the beginning, got a little bogged down in the middle but the ending was fantastic and I’m so glad I continued. If you like dystopian fantasy, then give this one a crack for sure.

Obsidian

When I finish Ashfall, I’m going to start Obsidian. You have no idea how many people are telling me what a treat I’m in for. I have to read it now because I need to know how a book can be THAT good! I’ll keep you posted. Or I might forget, which is more likely. But when I DO finish it I’ll be saying so on Goodreads. Make sure you friend me so we can compare notes on books, okay?

WATCHING

The Mindy Project

Come on. How cute is this show. I love Mindy. I just do.

Elementary

I wasn’t sure what this was going to be like when I started. I’ve never been a HUGE fan of Johnny Lee Miller (though it’s not like I hate him or anything) and Watson as a woman? And in New York? I thought this was going to be a watered down version of the universally acknowledged brilliant British show, Sherlock. But it’s not. It’s way different, I think Johnny does a stellar job as (a very different depiction of) Sherlock, and though the character of Watson is completely different, she’s a positively capital fit. Jolly good.

Bunheads

When I watched the first episode of this show I was like “this is SO familiar.” And then I figured out what it was. On the same set as Gilmore Girls, with a bunch of the same cast as Gilmore Girls and the same super speed dialogue as Gilmore Girls, by the same show creator. Though it’s a different story, it’s also kind of the same. Definitely feels the same. I wasn’t sure what I thought of that to begin with, Gilmore Girls 2.0, but hell, it’s grown on me.

The Walking Dead

Who ISN’T watching The Walking Dead, am I right? Though you may have to hide your enjoyment of this show from your elders as they may look at you funny and be somewhat concerned at your enjoyment of a show with THAT MUCH gore. Can you tell I’m talking from personal experience? I haven't seen the new episode yet, so don't spoil me, okay?

DOING

Penguin Parade

I worked over the summer period at the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island, Victoria in the gift shop, talking with visitors from all over Australia and abroad, sometimes in English and sometimes in hand gestures and lots of pointing. Before you ask – no – alas, I didn’t steal a Penguin. I really should have.

Editing

I've been editing some fantastic up-coming books which I really hope either get picked up by publishers or the authors self-publish themselves.

CJ's Boys of Summer is one of those fantastic books I worked on late last year. I'm looking forward to the next one!

If you're looking for an editor, you can totally shoot me an email.

Harriet & Ray Accessories

I’ve stated selling jewellery at markets! It’s been really fun sourcing quirky pieces that you can’t find in stores and selling them at my table. My favourites are the pocket watches. I love getting to meet so many people (and their dogs) as they peruse weekend markets, which is quite frankly one of the best ways to spend your weekend, don’t you think? You can check out some of my stock (I have new stock ALL the time) on the Harriet & Ray facebook page!

Writer’s Retreat!

Since the Penguin Parade is over for me for the year, and school has gone back, I decided my writing break was over! I am just back (today, in fact!) from two weeks by the beach, churning out words. Lots and lots of words. The first draft of The Kiss Off 2 is complete!

And has a new name!