Interview with Sarah Pekkanen and book giveaway!

I recently got to meet Sarah Pekkanen in person. She is as delightful as her book, "The Opposite of Me." We met up at a Starbucks and then moved over to Einstein Bagels, thinking it would be quieter there to film the interview. We were mistaken, as we had to compete with people working at the counter and the song "Waiting for a Star to Fall," but I put together a transcript for our video-taped interview.

Sarah brought along a copy of "The Opposite of Me" (reviewed here), which she signed right in front of me so that I could give it away to one lucky winner! In addition, Crystal Patriarche from BookSparks PR sent an advanced reader copy and another lucky winner will receive that.

Before I present the interview, I wanted to point out a few things:
* Her last name is pronounced "Peck-a-nin." I thought it was "Pih-can-in" until I asked.
* I learned something interesting about the cover art. It was originally going to be two girls with their hair braided together. Then another author did something similar for their book, so the designers had to scrap it and start over again. I love what they came up with! I also learned that no models were actually used for the photograph.
*I am not meant to be on film. (I don't like how I look or sound in that format and I tend to blink a lot. My wedding video wasn't spared either!) However, I encourage you to watch the taped interview because Sarah is a great speaker and I think you'll enjoy seeing her personality come through on each answer. She even made my husband laugh at one point.

I want to thank Sarah for taking the time to meet with me and for the book for the giveaway.

I want to thank Crystal for the ARC she contributed to the giveaway.

I also want to thank my husband for filming the interview.

Without any further ado, I present our interview (from June 25, 2010):



It sounds fine if you turn the volume up high. If that doesn't work for you, here's the transcript.

How to win these books:
Please comment below with your e-mail address.

For additional entries (each as a separate comment including your e-mail address, as well):
1. Please tell us: What is your favorite Michael Jackson song?
2. Follow this blog and post a comment saying you are a follower (if you already follow, that's fine too).
3. Post this contest on Facebook or Twitter or in your blog, and leave a comment saying where you've posted it.

Winner will be picked at random on Monday, July 12th.