Welcome YA RITA Finalists!

The Fictionistas’ Fabulous Fiction Giveaway has arrived!

In honor of the upcoming Romance Writers of America® national conference, the Fictionistas have interviewed all five RITA® finalists with Young Adult novels. For those not familiar, the 2008 RITA honors the top romance fiction published in 2007, and over 1000 novels and novellas were judged in 12 categories.

Winners of the awards will be announced August 2 at the RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony to be held at RWA’s 28th Annual Conference in San Francisco, California.

Why should you read these interviews? Other than the fact that you’ll learn some fun new facts about your favorite YA authors, the Fictionistas are giving away a bag of YA books from the RWA conference to one lucky commenter. To enter, just comment on any of the interviews this week. The more times you comment, the more chances you have to win!

We’ll begin the interviews tomorrow, Tuesday, July 29, but for now, meet our finalists!

Melissa Marr
Prior to writing, Melissa taught college lit. After a decade of teaching, she applied her fascination with folklore to writing. Wicked Lovely, the first novel, was simultaneously released in the US and the UK by HarperCollins in 2007 (with translation rights also sold in seven countries). It debuted as a NY Times Bestseller. Critical responses both here and abroad have been positive. Ink Exchange, the second novel, released in Summer 2008 to similar responses. Currently, Melissa lives in the DC area with her family and writes full time.


Kelly Parra
Kelly is the author of the novel Graffiti Girl. She lives in a diverse agricultural town in Central California with her husband and two beautiful children. Visit her website: www.KellyParra.com, and follow the Secret Fates blog at SecretFates.blogspot.com.


Rosemary Clement-Moore
Author of Prom Dates From Hell, Rosemary has been writing stories all her life, even when she should have been doing other things, like studying Algebra. Her first paying job was as Chuck E. Cheese. She worked in theatre for years, and now she writes full time, which is her dream job, because she gets to work in her pajamas and take a break every afternoon to play Guitar Hero.




Maureen Johnson
Maureen is the author of six novels, including Girl at Sea. She’s a graduate of the University of Delaware, home of the Fighting Blue Hens, where she was a writing major, but spent most of her time working on shows. After college, she became the literary manager of a wonderful (but now defunct) Philadelphia theater company. Soon after that, she moved to New York to study theatrical dramaturgy and writing at Columbia University School of the Arts. Her first novel was released in 2004.


Simone Elkeles
Simone was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. Her funny way of looking at life and the world around her has an affect on the people she hangs out with. If you hear people laughing, you’ll probably fine Simone not far away. She writes about teens because she was a teen in the 80s (when spiked hair and blue eye shadow were “rad”) and she loves writing about those exciting teen relationships and romances. She’s the author of three books, including Leaving Paradise.

Okay, you know the rules…leave a comment during this week and you’re entered the win the bag o’ books! Enter as many times as you like. Check us out all week!