MFT Guest: Cara Lynn Shultz and Giveaway! *ENDED*

Today we have the lovely Cara Lynn Shultz on for My Favorite Things.  She's going to share some of her favorite things with us and there's an awesome giveaway at the end!

About Spellbound:  goodreads

What’s a girl to do when meeting The One means she’s cursed to die a horrible death?

Life hasn’t been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Conner, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much. Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she’s irresistibly drawn to—Brendan Salinger, the guy with the rock-star good looks and the richest kid in school, who might just be her very own white knight.

But even when Brendan inexplicably turns cold, Emma can’t stop staring. Ever since she laid eyes on him, strange things have been happening. Streetlamps go out wherever she walks, and Emma’s been having the oddest dreams. Visions of herself in past lives—visions that warn her to stay away from Brendan. Or else.

Thanks so much for giving me the chance to share some of my favorite things with you! Apart from the usual girlie stuff (shopping, hanging with friends) here are a few of my favorite things: Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…wait a minute. Sorry, those are Fraulein Maria’s favorite things. Although, when they are whiskers on this kitten:

I have to agree with her. So, first Favorite Thing:
My cat, Kc. He’s an adorable rescue tuxedo cat whom a friend found crying in the hallway of her apartment building. As soon as I saw his little face, I had to adopt him. He turned out to be the sweetest, most affectionate cat in the world. Also, he’s the dumbest. Seriously, I came home one night to hear him crying. Upset, I tracked the sound, thinking he’s hurt. He wasn’t hurt (thank God) but he was stuck—in between the duvet and the comforter. Yep, my cat somehow got in between the duvet and the comforter. He also manages to open drawers, climb inside, and then shut the drawer. No idea how he does it. Still, he is adorable. Kc is also short for Kurt Cobain, since I ended up adopting him on the tenth anniversary of Kurt’s death and there was a Nirvana video marathon on TV. Which leads me to…

Favorite Thing: Music.
I’m lost without my iPod—and on it, you’ll find everything from Nirvana to the Notorious B.I.G. to Neil Diamond to Nine Inch Nails to No Doubt to a bunch of other artists that don’t begin with the letter N. I was fortunate enough to be an entertainment journalist for several years, focusing on music. In fact, music is a big part of how I write—I wrote this list listening to Gaslight Anthem. I also love going to concerts (recently showed up at 5:30 a.m. to see Lady Gaga perform in Central Park). Which is also…

Favorite Thing: Central Park
Oh, how I love Central Park. My grandparents used to take me to Heckscher Playground when I was a little kid. But in general, there are so many little secret parts, so many little nooks and crannies where you have no clue that you’re smack-dab in the middle of a city of 8 million. Then you look up, see the tips of skyscrapers peeking through the trees and realize, “Oh, wow. Look where I am.” A big chunk of Spellbound takes place in Central Park, in one of my favorite spots: Belvedere Castle. It’s an absolutely stunning gothic-looking “castle”—it’s actually an observatory—perched high above Turtle Pond.

Favorite Thing: Halloween
I adore all things connected with Halloween. I love dressing up (last year, my husband and I were Pee-wee Herman and Miss Yvonne, year before, I was Keyboard Cat). I love seeing some of the incredibly creative costumes people come up with. And I LOVE spooky things, haunted houses—in fact, for my bachelorette party in late October of 2008, my bridesmaids and I spent a night at Universal Halloween Horror Nights in Florida. It. Was. Awesome. The haunted houses, the insanely creepy costumes, the special effects (we were at Universal Studios, after all—imagine applying a healthy dose of movie magic to the attractions). A particularly beloved scary thing of mine: Zombies. I’m a little obsessed.

Favorite Thing: Ireland
I love, love, love to travel. I definitely have my bucket list of places I want to go, but Ireland is my favorite place that I’ve visited. I have Irish heritage, and I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Ireland twice—both times, my mom was on the trip. And my mom rules. I actually got a tattoo on my last trip—it’s a Celtic knot with a heart in it. I’ve never been there with my husband, though—I’d love to go there with him someday.

Those are a few of my favorite things! Thanks so much for reading!

About Cara Lynn Shultz:

 Find her on her website, Facebook, Twitter  / also you can find Brendan on twitter and facebook (he's hilarious and cute) 

Cara Lynn Shultz’s love of supernatural writing began when she was 7 and wrote a play about ghosts, which she and her friends acted out on her grandparents’ porch. Since then, her work has appeared in Teen People, Alternative Press, Stuff, InStyle, Us Weekly, The Guardian UK and countless posts on Facebook and Twitter. She is a proud graduate of Fordham University and is currently a senior editor at PEOPLE.com. Cara lives in her native New York City with her husband, tuxedo cat and 8 million other people. Spellbound is her first novel.

The Giveaways: Giveaways have ended- Winner of book is Mare/Tommy Girl
You can win an ipod Nano with the Spellbound skin and loaded with the Spellbound playlist.  You can also win a copy of Spellbound.  To win the ipod Nano you must follow the directions below.  To win the copy of Spellbound just leave a comment on this post!
Open to US/Canada only.
Spellbound giveaway ends July 5th, 2011

Contest rules for the iPod give-away 

• In order to enter to win a iPod nano  including the Spellbound Playlist and covered in a GelaSkin of Spellbound's cover art, you must collect the pink highlighted words the text messages between Brendan and Emma that are provided each day at the individual tour stops.  The daily words can be joined together in sequential order to create the winning secret message.  Once you've constructed the winning secret message, you will need to enter that message on Spellbound's tour home page .
• No purchase, affiliation, status as follower to a certain blog or any other association is required to enter.
• Full rules for the contest can be found at the Spellbound tour home page 
• Winner of the iPod give-away will be announced on Cara's homepage  on Tuesday, July 5th.

The Text message from my tour stop:

The rest of the tour stops:

Monday  June, 13th - Stacy, The Page Turners / Character Interview , Brendan
Tuesday,  June 14th - Candace , Candace’s Book Blog / Guest Post
Wednesday, June 15th - Lisa, Baffled Books
Thursday, June 16th - Michelle, Hooked To Books /Guest Post, Playlist
Friday, June 17th - Truly Bookish

Monday June, 20th - Tishia, Paranormal Opinion 
Tuesday, June 21st  - Rie, Mission to Read /Interview with Cara
Wednesday, June 22nd - Angela, Reading Angel / Character Interview, Emma
Thursday, June 23rd -  Sarah, Miss Page Turners
Friday, June 24th -  Jenn, Books At Midnight

Monday  June, 27th - Lorie, Pure Imagination
Tuesday, June 28th - (Spellbound Book Birthday!) - Missie, The Unread Reader /Guest Post 
Wednesday, June 29th - Divya, Bookish Delights 
Thursday, June 30th - Jenny, Mimosa Stimulus / Guest post
Friday, July 1st - Jamie, writers write, right? /special Guest post

Tuesday, July 5th: Announcement of the big prize winner on Cara’s Site!

Huge thank you to the ladies at Kismet Book Touring for arranging this fabulous tour!

For the schedule and list of Giveaway for The Favorite Things event check out the schedule post.  And make sure you head over to My Bookish Ways to see what she has going on today as well!