White Lines by Jennifer Banash Trailer Premiere!

WHITE LINES was released April 4th.  You may recall my review - I said that it was "was an intense read.  It'll suck you into the 1980's New York club scene and make you feel like you're living it even if, like me, you weren't born until it was over.  I kept my fingers crossed that somehow, someway there would be a happy ending.  Somehow, someway.  And the ending of WHITE LINES was a relief, a release of all the tension of the novel, healing.  Cat had a tough past, lives a rough present, but she's still got a future.  And a future is the essence of Young Adult."

The author, Jennifer Banash, generously shared a little about how WHITE LINES came about.  After all, it is a noticeable departure from her earlier YA novels!

White Lines was a story I wanted to tell for a long, long time. Partially based on my own adolescence as a club kid in Manhattan, I worked on a draft of this novel in what felt like secrecy. At the time of its conception, I was finishing up a three-book series called The Elite that detailed the lives of a group of rich kids on NYC's Upper East Side, and a girl from a small town who infiltrates their circle. Although that world was one that I knew something about, it wasn't the story I wanted to tell anymore. I was restless, the way all writers are when there's a story trapped inside us, yearning to get out. So I worked on White LInes late at night, in the early mornings before I would get up to go to my day job as a high school English teacher, on weekends when the sun shone brightly outside my window. Slowly, over the course of three years, Cat's own story emerged from the seeds of my misguided youth, caught fire, and took over, the intensity of her world burning my hands as I tore the pages from the printer one by one. I didn't know if the book would sell, if it would ever make it out into the world to see the light of day. All I knew was that I was writing something that felt true to me, that felt right. And that, for once, was enough.

Without any further ado, here's the trailer! You might want to come up with something to say about it, because I have two signed hardcovers to giveaway!



To win, just comment below letting me know why you want to read WHITE LINES or what you liked best about the trailer. Make sure to leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. US and Canada only; must be older than 13 to win. Contest ends in two weeks.

Review: White Lines

By Jennifer Banash
Available now from Putnam Juvenile (Penguin)
Review copy
Read my reviews of THE ELITE, IN TOO DEEP, and SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE
Read my interview with Jennifer and her guest blogs

I haven't read a novel this fierce since Stephanie Kuehnert burst onto the scene with I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE.  WHITE LINES will be a revelation to anyone familiar with Jennifer Banash from The Elite series.  The rich kids remain, but all soap opera antics are banished.  WHITE LINES is raw, a real bleeding wound of a story.

Cat lives by herself on the Lower East Side even though she's only seventeen years old.  She could no longer live with her abusive mother - the State agrees - but her father lives with a younger woman who doesn't like her.  So he pays for her to have an apartment.  Few teenagers, given free reign of their lives, would make the best decisions.  Especially not in 1980s New York.  Especially not when working the door to a club to make a little extra money.  Especially not when the drug dealers are willing to offer a rock of cocaine to get in.  Especially not when the music and the dancing and the personalities and the drugs are so much better than being alone in an apartment, remembering.

There are people who care about Cat.  There's her friend Sara, who first convinced her to get a fake ID and go to a club and didn't follow her deeper.  There's Giovanni, fabulous and Puerto Rican, who dresses Cat like a doll and forgets his own problems with her.  There's Julian, the new kid in school, someone she could see herself with if she can stop herself from giving him the cold shoulder.  There's Alexa, the coolest girl in school, who sees something in Cat - although it might just be a way to get herself closer to the top.  But they're all flawed people and some of them are druggies too.  Her interactions with them show what a beautiful person Cat is.  She has trouble reaching out, real panic, but she doesn't give into that internal voice every time.  She struggles against it and makes connections, risking the pain.

Drug addiction isn't pretty.  Some people are functional addicts.  Cat manages to hold down a job and manages to go to school enough not to get kicked out (even if it is a school for "special" kids).  She's sort of in the best case scenario, but there are dangers lurking around the edges of her life.  I was so afraid of the turns WHITE LINES could take, of the awful things that could happen to Cat.  WHITE LINES is gritty in the best way.  It doesn't heap humiliation or degradation upon its heroine to show the evils of her way of life.  Her life is risky, and sometimes unpleasant, but not gratuitously so.

And, well, drug addiction tends to bring out the worst in people and it would be a shame to lose the best parts of Cat.  There's so much potential in Cat.  She's got a big voice, one that absorbs you in her life.  She can be witty and clever when she's functional.

"Oh my God," I drawl, staring at Giovanni's face in the mirror.  I begin to smile in spite of my annoyance.  "I'm only seventeen!  How old could I possibly look?" - ARC, 36

WHITE LINES was an intense read.  It'll suck you into the 1980's New York club scene and make you feel like you're living it even if, like me, you weren't born until it was over.  I kept my fingers crossed that somehow, someway there would be a happy ending.  Somehow, someway.  And the ending of WHITE LINES was a relief, a release of all the tension of the novel, healing.  Cat had a tough past, lives a rough present, but she's still got a future.  And a future is the essence of Young Adult.

Simply Irresistable Prize Pack Winner!

I know I haven't been around, but I'm working on a million reviews, so expect real content soon. Sorry that the blog has been so lame . . . but real world fun comes first.

And speaking of fun . . . Wanda is the winner! Oddly, she only had one entry in the hat. I love it when the underdog wins. In fact, my next contest (coming in just a week!) will have no bonus entries. (Mostly because I'm tired of numbering contest entries.) So be prepared for everyone to have a single chance!

And though I couldn't get it done before the contest finished, expect an interview with Jennifer Banash.

One Contest Ends, Another Begins!

The winners of the Harry Potter contest are:
Leigh
Reawarded to Crystal Adkins
Beeb
towerofbooks
Already won, reawarded to Katie
Paradox
Already won, reawarded to Kimberley Derting
teenreadersgather (Princess Ashley)



Blurry cell phone pic of Millenium Bridge, destroyed in the opening of the HP6 movie.



Gloomy photo of people waiting to tour Christ Church, where the Great Hall scenes are filmed.

NEW CONTEST!

Some serious loot is up for grabs, including:



Complete ELITE series thus far-
and the second season of Nip Tuck on DVD-
and Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl-
and Audrey Wait! by Robin Benway-
and Don't You Forget About Me (the final Gossip Girl novel)-
and a Jamba Juice gift card!

No lie, that's some serious winnage.

To win, leave a comment here telling me your beverage of choice. For extra entires, comment on my review of SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE, Jennifer's TV appearance, link to the contest, and follow mine or her blog. Capice?

Give away ends August 17th.

Review: Simply Irresistible

By Jennifer Banash

I was apprehensive picking this one up. As far as I know, it's the last book in the Elite series. I enjoyed the first two, and was thus wary of the goodbye. The ending is open, ripe for a fourth book. Some characters do not end the story happily. But others are moving up and moving on. Casey McCloy's arc does come to a kind of conclusion, and I imagine she has a satisfying life, since she has a good personality. I likewise imagine good things for Phoebe and Sophie, and hope Madison one day figures out how to express herself better.

But. oh. my. stars. Drew annoyed me so much in this book. It really is hard to imagine how much distance is between twenty and seventeen, but . . . I know I had a different view of open relationships then. (Still can't imagine one for myself. Just, no.) But there's a much bigger difference between two married adults who know and do nothing about the other having an affair and cheating on your girlfriend. I'm not trying to glorify Drew's father by any means. I'm just trying to point out how much of a douchebox with wings Drew is in SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE.

Of course, this makes me take some issue of the fact Madison and Casey are still girlfighting over him. Both of the girls deserve better. (Luckily, Casey has a totally adorable rocker boy waiting for her to drop Drew.) As for Madison . . . well, she's getting her comeuppance. And ouch. Jennifer Banash has always done a great job of getting in Madison's head and fleshing her out instead of leaving her motivelessly malicious. It makes it painful to see her get hurt even as you know she needs to take a few knocks to facilitate a personality adjustment.

So here's my goodbye to the Elite series. I vote it a member of the "good trash." Yeah, there's brand-dropping and ridiculously rich teens. But there's also a reality: parents, bargain racks, and being too awkward to tell the guy/girl what you're feeling. (Just jumping into SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE might be confusing. I do recommend starting at the beginning, with THE ELITE. Three books won't kill you.)

LINKS:
Jennifer's blog
SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE trailer
Review of THE ELITE
Review of IN TOO DEEP
Interview with Jennifer
Jennifer guest blogs on IBWB about her 20s
Jennifer guest blogs on IBWB about her favorite purse

The Elite Series (and more) Winner!

Book Spot, you are the winner! Please e-mail your address to inbedwithbooks AT yahoo DOT com. Thanks to everyone who entered and shared the link. I hope ya'll enjoyed the trailer and plan to give Jennifer Banash a chance.

THE ELITE and IN TOO DEEP are available now; SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE releases July 7.

Simply Irresistible: Trailer Premiere and Contest

The book isn't available until July 7th, but the trailer for SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE, the third book in Jennifer Banash's Elite series, is hot off the presses.



Did you enjoy it? If you did, here's your chance to win a huge prize pack. One winner will receive:



-the complete Elite series, including THE ELITE, IN TOO DEEP, and SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE
-the eleventh Gossip Girl novel DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME by Cecily von Ziegesar
-the third Luxe novel ENVY by Anna Godbersen
-BONUS! JUST LISTEN by Sarah Dessen (Nice girls represent!)

It's a mean girl bonanza, and all you have to comment with a reason why your life would make a good reality TV show*. Bonus entries will be given to those who repost the trailer (2), make a widget for SI (2), link to the contest (1), subscribe/follow to IBWB (1) or Jennifer's blog (1), and those who say something in reaction to the trailer in their comment (1).



Contest ends in two weeks, on June 28th.

*And it doesn't even have to be something really cool, like your town has been taken over by colorful zombies and you're trying to stay alive by painting yourself to blend in.




For more information about the series, check out my reviews of THE ELITE and IN TOO DEEP, as well as Jennifer's two guest posts and my interview with her.

Coming Soon . . .

The third Elite book - SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE - won't be on shelves until July 7th.

Before that, the book trailer will premiere here on In Bed With Books, to make ya'll want the book even more.

But Jennifer's already put one of the ARCs up for grabs . . . along with an entire prize pack.

Check it out. You can't resist it.

Jennifer Banash's 20s Were a Hot Mess

If you've ever been to my blog before, you'll recognize this guest. Her visit was a little delayed, but here's the fabulous Jennifer Banash. You can read my reviews of THE ELITE and IN TOO DEEP as well as Banash's Fashion Week guest blog and interview. You can find out more at The Elite site, Jennifer's blog or MySpace.

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If I’m being completely honest with myself, I have to admit that my 20’s were mostly a hot mess. I went through every 20’s cliché you can think of—and then some! But in order not to bore you to sobs in listing all of them, along with the inevitable After School Special moment about “what I learned from my experiences,” instead I will offer up a list of the best/worst moments of that amazing, yet massively confusing decade that is your 20’s. See what you have to look forward to? Aren’t you excited LOL?

1. I got engaged at 22. A massive mistake. I cancelled the wedding twice before I went through with it—which really should’ve told me something, right? I was waaaaaay too young to be seriously contemplating the concept of “forever.” My wedding was gorgeous—hundreds of people, out by a lake in June, fabulous wedding cake that I only ended up having one bite of :( Which was followed nine months later by the inevitable

2. Divorce. It was messy, and I was heartbroken. So heartbroken that I would cry at Fed Ex commercials and every time I walked by a baby in a stroller. It was Not. A. Good. Time. But, like much of life, horrendous events are sometimes tempered by fabulosity, and my early 20’s were really when I became

3. A writer. I had always written, but my 20’s were when I made the decision to start taking writing seriously. It was also when I moved from writing poetry to fiction, which was horrendously difficult for me. I was used to thinking in sentences and sometimes only WORDS, and now I had to have an actual NARRATIVE. Good grief. But I loved loved loved it every challenging minute of it.

4. I worked tons of crappy, menial jobs in order to support myself as a writer while finishing my degree at Arizona State. The phrase “Do you want that to go?” should’ve been tattooed on my forehead. I wrote at night when I got home—sometimes until 2 or 3 AM. I sleptwalked through my days, and those precious evening hours were the only time I really felt alive.

5. After graduating I realized that I was umm . . . qualified to do absolutely nothing, and that all I really wanted to do was to read and write anyway. The thought of a corporate job made me want to climb out of my own skin. So I did what every unemployable 20-something eventually does—I applied to

6. Graduate school. In the middle of Iowa. It will be fantastic, I told myself, there will be nothing to distract me from writing! There’s NOTHING there TO distract me! There are COWS there! I will be one with nature! I will plant a vegetable garden, adopt a dog, and become as serene as Buddha! The only problem was that upon arriving in Iowa I managed to

7. Crash my car and subsequently broke my back in the accident. Welcome to Iowa! It sucked majorly, and I spent the next 9 months in a back brace, healing. I had to put off school for a year, and I was going out of my tiny little mind with boredom—I lived on a farm outside of town with NO phone, and NO TV reception (I know, I know—you are wondering how I survived. I still wonder myself). All that time string at the ceiling, alone with my thoughts led to

8. The writing of my first novel! I was so bored that I pounded it out in nine months. It got me my first agent, and although it's never been published, I hold it close to my heart as the process of writing it taught me how to construct a narrative. I would not be the writer I am today if I had not written it. When I finally entered the Ph.D. program the following year my life was reduced to

9. Teaching, partying, and writing. I managed to do all three simultaneously, and found out that I LOVED teaching literature. While the doctoral program was spirit-crushing and heartless, I lived for those precious moments in the classroom with my students. Now that I teach 9th and 12th grade at a private school in sunny California, I still do. :) Teaching is as much a part of me as writing, and I doubt I’ll ever give it up entirely.

10. I wrote my first published novel, HOLLYWOODLAND, which led to a call from a major publisher who’d read my novel, asking if I’d ever written YA. Might I be interested in ghostwriting a bestselling YA series? Without even thinking twice, I immediately said yes! Two years later, I was holding THE ELITE in my hands, and I couldn’t have been prouder. It was a long, sometimes torturous road, but my 20’s taught me something valuable in that in order to really succeed in my writing, I really had to go off of the beaten path and not worry so much about what was “normal” for my age. Writers need pant loads of time to dream, to be idle and unproductive, and although I wasn’t financially solvent for most of the decade, my 20’s gave me that.

--



Jennifer has agreed to giveaway a set of THE ELITE and IN TOO DEEP! Follow the rules and you could get lucky! (And judging by some of these stories, we need some luck.)

Valentine's Contest: In Too Deep ARC or a Giftcard!

Guess what? Jennifer Banash lurves me. It could be my scintillating interview with her or the fact I invited her to guest blog for Fashion Week. Or maybe it's the fact that I find her books pretty groovy?



When I reviewed THE ELITE, I said:

From Normal, Illinois to the Upper East Side – Casey’s made quite a move and she’s not sure how to adjust. She’s armed with Abercrombie and American Apparel, but soon realizes she’s out of her depth. She feels how much she doesn’t fit in the first time she meets Madison Macallister, Phoebe Reynaud, and Sophie St. John. But Sophie and Phoebe kind of like her and talk Madison into a makeover. However, Casey is attracting attention from Drew Van Allen, Madison’s on-again, off-again boyfriend. . . . One of THE ELITE’s strong points is the fact that it possesses more realism than most of the mean girl/clique books currently on the market. . . . Some of THE ELITE’s twists are easy to see coming, but it’s still a fun ride. I enjoyed Banash’s first foray in YA literature and I’ll be back for IN TOO DEEP.

And I was. The second time around, I said,

I love how much more grounded THE ELITE series seems than some of the other series of this type I've read. In so many there may be parents present, but they'll have no control over their children. IN TOO DEEP explores many of the characters' relationships with their families as well as the relationship drama. . . . In the finale Jennifer Banash really ups the ante for SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE. I can't wait to pick up the third book and see how some of the snarls come undone. Banash is fabulous at creating relatable characters in over-the-top situations. Her characters act like real teenagers and really captures that sense of being almost ready to be an adult but not quite and the out of control emotions.

Jennifer and I both couldn't believe the response to the contest I held for IN TOO DEEP, so she came back for another round. This time there will be three winners. To giveaway, I have:
(2) In Too Deep ARCs - even if you have the book, these make cool collector's items
(1) $20 Amazon giftcard - you could buy yourself both books, or something else if you already own them

How do you enter? How else would you enter - by showing the love. But here's the catch: you have to show it to me and to Jennifer. For Jennifer, you need to follow her blog Elite-isms. She's suffering from post concussive syndrome right now, so she really needs the love! As for me, I'm riding a romance high from watching The Lady Eve and A Very Long Engagement with my friends. Therefore, I want you to leave me a comment telling me about a romantic scene, fact or fiction.



As always, I'm offering bonus entries. Linking to the contest, following me, and/or sending proof you bought THE ELITE (or IN TOO DEEP) will each get you an extra entry. Or you could just show the love in a particularly cool way.

Contest ends February 14th. And don't forget my contest for RANGER'S APPRENTICE: THE SIEGE OF MACINDAW by John Flanagan, which ends February 15th. Don't forget to stop by then - I'll have a new contest starting the 16th, followed by my birthday celebration.

The Elite Winner!

Congratulations to number 116, Nicole! Please e-mail your address to inbedwithbooks AT yahoo DOT com.

There were 197 entries once I weeded out the cheaters - truly incredible. I did not expect such a turnout! In other news, Jennifer Banash now has a wordpress you can check out.

Here's the awaited cover to SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE:



For those who did not win, you can purchase IN TOO DEEP here or at your local bookstore.

Interview with Jennifer Banash

Jennifer Banash wrote THE ELITE series. THE ELITE is currently available, IN TOO DEEP releases the sixth (so some stores might have it on shelves now), and SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE will be out in several months. And if IN TOO DEEP sells well enough, the series could be extended. I know I would be happy if that happened!

You can read my review of IN TOO DEEP (and enter the contest), my review of THE ELITE, and an earlier guest blog by Jennifer.



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As you attended high school in the Upper East Side, how much of your own experience did you use to write THE ELITE series?

I put in a fair amount of my own experience--but in ways that wouldn't be obvious to the casual reader. For instance, I felt much like Casey in high school--never really sure if I was doing or saying the right thing, and very much wanting to fit in. Basically, I was an awkward, nervous, hot mess!

IN TOO DEEP focuses some on the characters' relationship with their parents - most of them rocky. What is your relationship with your parents like? How did they react when you first told them you wanted to be a writer?

My relationship with my parents is pretty estranged at the moment. We were never really close to begin with, and our relationship has just gotten more intense and more difficult to negotiate as I've gotten older, unfortunately. My mother was a real perfectionist when I was growing up, and not particularly forgiving of mistakes of any kind. She's actually pretty similar to Phoebe's mom in a many ways . . . When I told my parents that I wanted to be a writer they were horrified. I think my mother's biggest hope for me was that I'd grow up, marry a wealthy man, and basically spend my life as a rich, idle housewife, which wasn't exactly the route I was interested in taking.

How did you decide on the characters' names? I particularly love the ring of Drew Van Allen.

Good question! Drew's name really just came out of nowhere! There was a Van Allen Hall in the town I lived in when I was writing the series, but I wasn't thinking about it when I constructed his character--maybe it seeped in through my subconscious! Madison was named after Darryl Hannah in Splash--I always loved the movie, and the name--I thought Madison was the coolest name when I was growing up, and it has that icy diva-bitch quality I was going for with her character. I wanted Casey to have a name that was a bit unisex--not too girly or feminine--and it just felt right once I wrote it down on paper. Sophie was actually named Jenny when I completed the first draft of THE ELITE, but my editor wanted me to change it because GOSSIP GIRL had just premiered on the CW and was a huge hit, and, of course Jenny is one of the main characters in that series. I didn't think it made a difference--it's not like GG has exclusive rights to the name Jenny or anything--but it was an easy change to Sophie, which I like better now anyway as it doesn't sound as generic. I named Phoebe after Holden Caulfield's little sister in The Catcher in the Rye--one of my favorite books of all time.

Why should people read THE ELITE and IN TOO DEEP? What do you think makes them a good story? (No cheating and using the back blurb!)


I think people should read THE ELITE series because not only is it a glamorous and drama-packed ride that will (hopefully!) keep you up all night turning pages, but because the series also deals with "real" issues that don't get resolved at each chapter's end such as divorce, infidelity, cutting, and peer pressure.

You've been blessed with two eye-catching covers. Which do you like better? (Or should we wait for the cover of SIMPLY IRRESISTABLE to be unveiled?)

Actually, I am currently in LOVE with the cover of the third book in the series SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE! But if I had to choose between the covers of THE ELITE or IN TOO DEEP, I would have to say I prefer the cover for THE ELITE--I'm just sentimental that way since it was my first baby LOL! Most people, however, tell me that they really prefer the cover for IN TOO DEEP--which I absolutely love as well. The cover for THE ELITE also has a special place in my heart because it was such a struggle to get a good design for that book--I was very lucky that I have a great editor who made it a priority, and asked for a complete redesign after I broke down sobbing and threatening to stick my head in the oven after I saw the mock up of the first cover design. It was truly horrific.

In addition to writing THE ELITE series, you're the co-founder and co-publisher of Impetus Press. What's it like to run a small press?

Unfortunately, Impetus Press has closed due to the current financial landscape of publishing-which has become absolutely dire as of late. We were clobbered so hard and fast by returns that there was no way we could recover financially and continue to put out books. We had four amazing years though, and I'm eternally grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such talented authors. It's a very sad situation though, and one that doesn't give me much hope about the book business as a whole at the present time.

What did you do before you got involved with publishing? How do those skills help you now?

Before I was a publisher, I taught Literature at a large university while I was getting my Ph.D in English--I just graduated in September. Teaching definitely has had a huge impact on my career as a writer--basically I read, wrote, and talked about books all day long! What could be better for a writer? Before that, I held a variety of jobs from waitress to bartender, to camera operator for ABC-TV. I even had a job selling gravestones, which was quite possibly the worst job I've ever had the misfortune to acquire. Right now I teach English at a small private school in Palos Verdes, California.

Finally, in your July guest blog, you wrote about your acquisition of both a blue and a white Marc Jacobs Pan-Am bag. If your home were on fire and you could only save one, which would it be?

Neither! I'm about to be horribly unfaithful to Marc, but one of my students bought me a brand new, absolutely GORGEOUS Fendi bag as a Christmas gift, so I'd definitely grab the Fendi! Sorry Marc!

xxoxx JB

Fashion Week Day Four: Jennifer Banash

Fashion Week's second guest is Jennifer Banash, author of the ELITE series. In addition to writing, she's the co-founder of Impetus Press. She confesses her greatest fashion weakness, one which many girls can probably relate to!

Read my review of THE ELITE here and comment to win a copy.



--

Everyone who knows me knows I’m a total clothes horse. But as much as I love my wardrobe, I hold a special place in my heart for two things: Bags and shoes. Oh, give me a new pair of stilettos as a present and I’ll probably do your laundry for you and cook you dinner. I’ve been known to take out the trash wearing 4 inch heels, and don’t hesitate to bring out my Donald J. Pliner or Rafe NY bags for a trip to the grocery store to buy fabric softener. As a result I have too many pairs of shoes to count, and some really nice purses!

As some of you may know, I wrote the third ELITE book SIMPLY IRRESISTABLE in Paris, which was a real challenge to my work ethic. Paris is, hands-down, my favorite place in the world, and when I’m lucky enough to be there, all I want to do is indulge the senses. There’s something about the city that demands it: The street markets overflowing with produce so brightly colored that it makes tomatoes seem like rubies, the smell of fresh coffee everywhere, soft, ripe cheeses shining whitely under a gray sky, and the sight of impeccably turned out French women hurrying home with long baguettes underneath one arm makes my heart sing, and, above all can cause me to take very long lunches and ignore my writing for days on end while I people watch at sidewalk cafes, and drink copious amounts of red wine –usually while admiring the new, Parisian acquisitions south of my ankles :)

And on one of those days, I paid a visit to the ultra-modern Marc Jacobs store in the Palais Royal, hoping to get my hands on a bag that I knew had been sold out in my neck of the woods for some time—the Pan Am bag. Usually when I’m in France, I like to shop in little boutiques like Colette, on the Rue Saint-Honore, where I can find designers and styles not readily available in the Midwest, but that day I was on a mission. I walked into the hushed, cool quiet of the store, hoping that it would be there—a simple vinyl bag in blue with Marc Jacobs written in flowing script in white on one side, and the long-defunct Pan Am logo on the other, calling up images of a time when air travel was still a luxury, when it was—dare I say it—still a bit glamorous. I gasped when I saw that not only did they have the blue, but ALSO the white version with black writing! So retro. So chic. And like everything Marc Jacobs does, so hip it almost hurt.

Of course I bought both :) They are the perfect weeked/gym/evetything bags—big enough for your laptop, some books, and a change of clothes, it’s rare that I leave the house these days without carrying on of them over my shoulder. To wear them reminds me of those blissful three weeks in the city I adore, when all I needed to do was write my chapters for the day, then knock off and enjoy a leisurely lunch, a stroll in a gorgeous park, window shopping, or club hopping with my friend Manu, who manages one of the biggest nightclubs in the city where you can dance until dawn, then order up some fabulous breakfast in the club’s adjoining restaurant . . .

So, what accessories do YOU love? Do you have a pair of shoes, a bag, or maybe a piece of jewelry that has special meaning to you?

P.S. I also bought the white Pan Am messenger bag for my boyfriend’s sister. It just seemed like the right thing to do, no? :)

xo
JB

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Don't forget to leave a comment on this guest blog to receive an extra entry to win THE ELITE.

Fashion Week is here!

Welcome to In Bed With Books Fashion Week! For this event, there are going to be three authors guesting on the blog.

JULY 29: Maryrose Wood

JULY 31: Jennifer Banash

AUGUST 2: Melissa Walker

All of them wrote wonderful pieces, so be sure to stop by for all three!

In addition to these special guests, there is going to be a giveaway. Three people will win either HOW I FOUND THE PERFECT DRESS, THE ELITE, or VIOLET IN PRIVATE. These giveaway copies were graciously provided by the Penguin imprint Berkley Jam.

The rules for the giveaway are:

1. To enter, leave a comment on the review of the book.
Closed: HOW I FOUND THE PERFECT DRESS, THE ELITE, and VIOLET IN PRIVATE
2. To receive another entry, leave a comment on the author's guest blog (posted the next day).
Closed: Maryrose Wood, Jennifer Banash, and Melissa Walker
3. One extra entry can be received by posting about the contest. To receive this entry, link to your post here and tell me which book you want to put the third entry towards. If you don't tell me I'll choose for you.

All three contests close midnight Sunday, August 3rd. Winners will be announced on the 4th.