Today we are very excited to share an interview with Authors Olivia A. Cole and Ashley Woodfolk (QUEERLEADERS)!

Meet the Author: Olivia A. Cole

Olivia A. Cole is the author of Call Your Boyfriend and several other books, including Dear Medusa, Ariel Crashes a Train, and The Truth About White Lies for young adults, and Where the Lockwood Grows and The Empty Place for younger readers. A Los Angeles Times Book Prize nominee, Olivia lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where writing and parenting keep life very interesting. Visit her at OliviaACole.com.

Website * Instagram

Meet the Author: Ashley Woodfolk

Ashley Woodfolk has loved reading and writing for as long as she can remember. She started reading at age five, writing poetry and stories at age seven, and after majoring in English in college, worked in children’s book publishing for over a decade. Now a full-time mom and writer, Ashley lives in a sunny Brooklyn apartment with her cute husband, her cuter dog, and the cutest kids in the world, and she spends her days (and nights) writing. She is the author of Call Your Boyfriend and many other books, including The Beauty that Remains, When You Were Everything, Blackout, Nothing Burns as Bright as You, and the Flyy Girls series. Visit her at AshleyWoodfolk.com.

Website * Instagram

About the Book: QUEERLEADERS

Two cheerleaders find themselves inconveniently tumbling head over heels for each other in this satirical, sapphic teen rom-com that’s Bring It On meets She Drives Me Crazy.

~Author Chat~

YABC:  What came first, the concept, landscape, characters, or something else?

AW: The concept of an all-queer cheer team came first because Olivia knows one in real life! Our Hornets are based on a high school team in Louisville that is 100% queer. When she told me about them we were both immediately like, this is a book, but WHAT HAPPENS. We brainstormed all day and I remembered a few awkward run-ins I’d had with the conservative club at my college, and pitched that as a hook to her. She loved it, and the rest is history.

YABC: If you could only write one genre for the rest of your life, what would it be and why? 

OC: I could live under the speculative umbrella and be just fine. But that’s kind of cheating, isn’t it? So I’ll be more specific: fantasy for sure. I’ll be honest and admit my heart is always with dragons.

YABC:   What can readers expect to find in your books?

 AW: I think the threads that run through all of my novels (even the ones like CALL YOUR BOYFRIEND, BLACKOUT, and QUEERLEADERS that I’ve co-written) are complex characters with a lot of heart, a web of close relationships including found family and friends, and tear-jerker moments with humor to add levity shortly after.

YABC: What is your favorite snack when writing? 

AW: Cheese. God, I love cheese.

YABC: If you could time travel what would you want to see?

OC: I would absolutely go back and see dinosaurs. God, I wanna see some dinosaurs. I want to see the kind of trees that thrived on that pure, pure oxygen. Take me to the mega ferns! Take me to the nest of the Brachiosaurus!

YABC: What other age group would you consider writing for? 

AW: I’ve written a couple of picture books and I’m working on my first middle grade novel, so I think the only people left are the grown-ups! Maybe one day…

YABC:   What do you do when you procrastinate?

OC: I watch World War II movies. Don’t ask – I can’t explain.

YABC: What’s a book you’ve recently read and loved? 

OC: Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova. To have tackled three different perspectives in three different temporalities and about something as complicated as grief! What an accomplishment.

YABC:     Is there an organization or cause that is close to your heart?

OC: Change Today, Change Tomorrow in Louisville, Kentucky. Community first, doing good work quietly and resolutely. 

YABC:   What’s up next for you?

OC: My next YA, Annie Burned the House Down, is out next year! Currently wrapping up an adult fantasy as well. Books on books on books.

Title: QUEERLEADERS

Author: Olivia A. Cole and Ashley Woodfolk

Release Date: May 19, 2026

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Genre: Young Adult

Age Range: 14-up

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Why advertise your book on YABC?
 

Because We’ve Got the Traffic

YABooksCentral.com is one of the top 3 Google results for both “ya books” and “young adult books,” and we’ve held that spot for years. We currently have an average of 2,000 visitors interacting with our site every hour.

We’re the #1 Community Built Around Teen Readers

Our visitors have posted over 32,000 book reviews on our site. They’ve also added over 15,500 books to our database. We currently have over 6,000 active members in our online book review community, and our Twitter followers (24,000+), Tumblr followers (3600+), and Facebook fans (9600+) keep on growing. We’ve been around for a long time (since 1998!), and we’re here to stay.

Focused Exposure in the Teen Market

YA Books Central places your valuable advertising in front of your specific target audience. Given our unique focus, your targeted teen advertising will be seen by more potential customers–tweens and teens who love to read, as well as educators, parents and librarians.

YA Books Central was founded in 1998 by (now) author Kimberly Pauley. Since that time it has experienced steady growth and is widely recognized as one of the leading teen literature sites on the Internet. Content is added to the site on a daily basis, including book reviews from published authors, teachers, and librarians.

Please note that only targeted advertisements are accepted; that is, you must be advertising something topically relevant to young adults or children. In addition, only a limited number of ads are available per month, so please contact us as soon as possible if you wish to coordinate your ad with a launch date or specific time period.

“Advertising on YABC was a wonderful experience for me. They were flexible, quick to respond and most importantly, incredibly effective. Compared to other high-visibility sites, YABC’s rates were incredibly reasonable, and traffic to my website increased 36% during my ad’s run. I couldn’t be happier!” ~ Saundra Mitchell, author of SHADOWED SUMMER and THE VESPERTINE

“When I want to get my books in front of teen readers, YABC is the place to advertise. With an entire social network built around YA books, how can you go wrong?” ~ Myra McEntire, author of HOURGLASS, TIMEPIECE, and INFINITYGLASS.

Rates and Specifications

We offer several online advertising options that will prominently expose your products directly to teen readers. Contact us for pricing. Rates assume client-furnished ads to the correct specifications ready for insertion, otherwise ad design and production fees may apply. Due to the overwhelming request for ad space on YABC, campaigns must be paid for in advance to reserve space. Campaigns cannot be refunded once the campaign start date has passed.
 

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 Here are the book giveaways we’re hosting this month. Want to enter to win? Just click on the image below to access that book’s entry form. Fill out the form, hit send, and cross your fingers. (International or US/CAN giveaways are marked.) Good luck!

More giveaways will be added throughout each week, so check back often!    

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More coming soon!

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Dear YABCers,

No lie.

You see, blog tours on book blogs or other book-related websites (like YABC) are usually initiated by publishers or publicists to generate buzz for a particular book, but this isn’t that kind of blog tour. We didn’t initiate this tour to just promote Myra McEntire.

We did it to show her how much she means to this community. 

(And we kept it a secret until today! Heeeeee!)

Throughout the day, you’ll see several of us sharing our love for Myra around the Interwebs (you can find links to all the other posts below) but this is where I get gushy-mushy and tell you why Myra means so much to me, personally.

Without Myra in my life, I would not be where I am today.

Plain and simple.

I would not be the leader of YABC. Myra’s the one who told Kimberly Pauley that I’d be perfect for this job. And you know what? She was right.

She was the first industry “insider” who told me my writing was beautiful. Come to think of it, she was the first industry “insider” I met when I first started out. And she actually talked to me. Not once has she snubbed me. Not once has she blown me off. In fact, she has dropped whatever she’s doing to encourage me time and time again. She has been with me day and night, always just a text message away, always encouraging me to take the next step forward and to believe in myself. To stand up for myself. To believe I was good enough.

When it was time to finally send out query letters to literary agents after I finished my first book, she was the mama bird who pushed me out of the safety of my nest. She’s the one who kept my hope alive when the rejections came in. She’s the one who waxed poetic about me to Holly Root, my dream agent, who is now my agent.

Myra’s the one who said, “I knew it all along.”

She’s still saying it. She still believes in me. And when she believes in something, you kinda find yourself starting to believe in it too, even when you thought you’d given up.

I watch her take others under her wing, as she did for me years ago, and sometimes I wonder how any author can take the time to give back as much as she does. She truly loves readers AND authors, and that is just one of the things that makes her so special.

She taught me that there is room for everyone — being an author is not about competition. She taught me to keep my eyes down and focus on my own work. To shut out the negative thoughts and just write. To suck it up and start on the next book, even when you don’t want to. To suck it up and write the next query (when you REALLY don’t want to). To laugh at myself. To not hate on myself. She dared me to believe I had something worth offering this world.

And above all?

She taught me to truly appreciate those who stand beside you. To love them and value them because they’re too rare and precious to treat carelessly.

Thank you, Myra, for being the person you are, for being my friend, and for giving me the privilege to read your work. It has been a genuine pleasure for me over the years to read your drafts and hear your amazing ideas. I always feel honored (and sometimes even weak in the knees) when you tell me stories.

Please never stop telling us stories.

~ mg

If you’d like to show your appreciation for Myra, you can comment on this post, write your own blog post, or tweet her using @MyraMcEntire and hashtag #authorlove

RPattz loves Myra too.

To purchase Myra’s debut book, Hourglass, check out these retailers:

To pre-order the sequel to Hourglass called Timepiece, here are the links to do that too!

What is an Author Appreciation Blog Tour? It’s a way for bloggers to band together and surprise one very deserving author with a day of LOVE. There is bear hugging. Love blitzing. Compliment swirling. We try to show that author how much they mean to the book community with hilarity, mushiness, drawings, videos, and sometimes cleverly photoshopped images made of WIN. (Also cute boys.)

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Today we are thrilled to host the exclusive cover reveal of DEFIANCE by C.J. Redwine.

First, here’s a note from C.J.:

Hi, YABC! I’m thrilled to be here today to reveal my cover. My name is C.J. Redwine, and I wrote a book called DEFIANCE. It wasn’t actually called DEFIANCE at first, because while I can write a good book, I apparently can’t come up with good titles. Thank goodness for editors! Along with my lack of title skills, I lack the ability to draw, paint, or even take a good photograph. My creativity? Strictly words. (As long as those words aren’t TITLE words.) So when my editor told me the design team at Balzer+Bray was working on my cover, I had no idea what to expect. My vague, cover-ish ideas where something along the lines of “everything should be on fire!!!” Which is striking, of course, but not altogether helpful in getting across the heart of the story. Thankfully, the team at Balzer+Bray are experts at this sort of thing. When I first saw my cover? I wanted to lick my computer screen. I will not blame you if you want to do the same.

Are you ready to lick your screen? I know I am!

Introducing DEFIANCE, coming this August!

Isn’t it gorgeous? Here is the official description straight from the jacket flap:

Within the walls of Baalboden, beneath the shadow of the city’s brutal leader, Rachel Adams has a secret. While other girls sew dresses, host dinner parties, and obey their male Protectors, Rachel knows how to survive in the wilderness and deftly wield a sword. When her father, Jared, fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector, her father’s apprentice, Logan—the same boy Rachel declared her love for two years ago, and the same boy who handed her heart right back to her. Left with nothing but fierce belief in her father’s survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself. But treason against the Commander carries a heavy price, and what awaits her in the Wasteland could destroy her.

At nineteen, Logan McEntire is many things. Orphan. Outcast. Inventor. As apprentice to the city’s top courier, Logan is focused on learning his trade so he can escape the tyranny of Baalboden. But his plan never included being responsible for his mentor’s impulsive daughter. Logan is determined to protect her, but when his escape plan goes wrong and Rachel pays the price, he realizes he has more at stake than disappointing Jared.

As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can’t be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.

Doesn’t that sound amazing? You’ll defintely want to put this one on your to-read list. Better yet, head to these retailers to pre-order your copy:

Barnes & Noble
Amazon.com

If you’d like to post this cover on your blog, please provide a link back to this page in your post. 

And there’s more! Enter to win a signed finished copy of DEFIANCE and an exclusive piece of DEFIANCE swag over at C.J.’s blog. Head there now to enter!

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First of all, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Yes, you.

Thank you for making YA Books Central what it is today. After 14 years, we’re still alive and kicking. And it’s all because of you.

Only after a few months, over 1,000 of you have joined our new YABC Community and are actively writing reviews. We love reading your thoughts on books. We love that you share them with us and our readers. We love that you share our passion for books and authors. Thank you.

Over 1,000 of you are followers of our blog. That is incredible. Thank you for stopping by each week and checking out our posts. It means so much to us. Thank you.

Over 2,000 of you have liked us on Facebook. Thank you for staying connected through our pages: YA Books Central and the new Kids Books Central. We love sharing new releases with you and seeing your enthusiasm for new reviews and giveaways. We’re proud to be a part of your Facebook experience. Thank you.

Over 4,000 of you stay connected to our reviews and giveaways on Twitter, and we’re so glad to have your support. We hope our tweets are a welcome sight in your Twitter feed. Thank you for your conversation and opinions on bookish topics. Hanging out with you on Twitter is definitely a highlight of each day for me, both at @yabookscentral and @yabckids. Thank you. 

Thank you to all those who enter our monthly giveaways. I’m always excited to show you what we have up for grabs each month. Your participation in YABC is what keeps us going. Thank you.

For the past few months, I’ve been humbled by our growing numbers in the YABC Community, on Twitter, and on Facebook. I wanted to show you my appreciation. I mentioned to a few of my author friends how I’d like to do a Mega Giveaway of EPIC Proportions to express my gratitude. And then you know what happened?

They wanted to donate items to the giveaway. Books, bookmarks, stickers, t-shirts — anything they had on hand.

Of course, I welcomed their donations with open arms. And then things got out of hand in a very EPIC way.

They told their friends about my Mega Giveaway. Then they told their friends. And on and on it went until I had an office full to the BRIM with swag. And not just any swag. EPIC swag. 

Swag I’m going to give you RIGHT NOW. Just to show you how unbelievably thankful I am that you’re a part of YA Books Central.

So….

Do you want a peek at the SWAG OF EPIC PROPORTIONS?

Check this out:

And that’s nowhere near everything. That’s just what I could fit in the photograph! We’ve got t-shirts, lanyards, temporary tattoos, SIGNED books, SIGNED bookmarks and bookplates, magnets, felt coffee sleeves, shuriken hair clips, a USB flash drive, bracelets, pens, notepads, keychains, and more. A whole lot more.

Now check this out: 

This is a huge gift pack from ADR3NALIN3, a new blog co-founded by a group of authors who write the dark side of middle grade and teen fiction. Full details on what’s in this gift pack below.

So how do you win the EPIC SWAG or this awesome gift pack? Here are the deets:

#1) All you have to do is fill out the entry form below to enter. That’s it!

#2) There will be FIVE winners. One winner will win the ADR3NALIN3 gift pack and four winners will win a swag pack of assorted goodies from all the donations we got in from the list of participating authors below. Each swag pack contains at least 5 books (most of them signed, and most of them coming out this year!), tons of bookmarks and stickers (some signed), and an assortment of other goodies. Believe me, these swag packs are made of AWESOME.

#3) Winners will be chosen at random using Random.org. This giveaway is open for entries from now until midnight, March 1st. Winners will be announced on Friday, March 2nd. Entrants must have a US mailing address.

#4) Thank you again for making YABooksCentral.com a part of your world. We appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.

What’s in the ADR3NALIN3 Gift Pack? Which authors donated to it?

– Jordan Dane: ON A DARK WING autographed paperback and a snack pack inspired by her main character.

– Ilsa J. Bick: DROWNING INSTINCT and ASHES autographed hardbacks

– Wendy Corsi Staub: LILY DALE: AWAKENING autographed hardback

– Jennifer Archer: THROUGH HER EYES authographed hardback

– Chris Grabenstein: CURIOSITY CAT autographed paperback and assorted bookmarks

– Dan Haring: OLDSOUL autographed ARC

– Carol M. Tanzman: DANCERGIRL autographed paperback

– Brett Battles: HERE COMES MR. TROUBLE autographed paperback

– A.G. Howard: A creepy Alice in Wonderland themed journal, ribbon bookmark, and a signed bookplate, in homage to SPLINTERED, her upcoming YA Alice in Wonderland spinoff

Which authors donated items to the Swag Packs?

Ellie James, author of SHATTERED DREAMS

Jay Kristoff, author of STORMDANCER

Sara Wilson Etienne, author of HARBINGER

E.C. Myers, author of FAIR COIN

Kami Kinard, author of THE BOY PROJECT

Eileen Cook, author of UNRAVELING ISOBEL, GETTING REVENGE ON LAUREN WOOD and THE EDUCATION OF HAILEY KENDRICK

Lara Chapman, author of FLAWLESS

Sara Bennett-Wealer, author of RIVAL

Hilary Weisman Graham, author of REUNITED

K.M. Walton, author of CRACKED

Kathleen Peacock, author of HEMLOCK

Laurisa Reyes, author of THE ROCK OF IVANORE

Cole Gibsen, author of KATANA and BREATHLESS

Tracy Bilen, author of WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND

Gina Damico, author of CROAK

Niki Burnham, author of ROYALLY CRUSHED

Kiera Stewart, author of FETCHING

AC Gaughen, author of SCARLET

Jodi Meadows, author of INCARNATE

J.A. Templeton, author of THE DEEPEST CUT

Maureen Lipinski, author of SHADOW’S EDGE

Erin Cashman, author of THE EXCEPTIONALS

Elisa Ludwig, author of PRETTY CROOKED

P.T. Michelle, author of BRIGHTEST KIND OF DARKNESS

Eve Marie Mont, author of THE BREATH OF EYRE

Diana Renn, author of TOKYO HEIST

Victoria Schwab, author of THE NEAR WITCH

Jaime Reed, author of LIVING VIOLET

To enter, fill out the entry form below. Enter with confidence. We never sell your information or add you to a mailing list. We only use your information to contact you if you win. We delete all entries after winners have been chosen.

Please include your full name and full address. We will contact you via email if you are a winner. Good luck!

**** This contest is now closed ****

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YABC Badges and Buttons

Want to add a YABC badge to your website? Take your pick! 

Simply right click on any of the below images to save it to your computer. Link the images to your profile page, a specific book listing page, the YABooksCentral.com homepage — whatever you like.

Thank you for spreading the word about YABC!

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2011 Reader’s Choice Awards Results

We received twice as many votes this year for our 2nd annual YABC Reader’s Choice Awards. Thank you, readers, for nominating and voting. There were a few clear winners and several close calls, but the final tally is in!

Without further ado, here are YOUR favorites for 2011! 

(Click on the cover images to see book reviews.)

Favorite Young Adult Novel of 2011

Divergent by Veronica Roth

~ RUNNERS UP ~

 

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Favorite Middle Grade Novel 2011

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

 

~ RUNNERS UP ~

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

Favorite Children’s/Picture Book 2011

 

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

~ RUNNERS UP ~

 

I Broke My Trunk! by Mo Willems

Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt

Favorite Young Adult Author 2011

 

Cassandra Clare

 

~ RUNNERS UP ~

Veronica Roth

Stephanie Perkins

Myra McEntire

Favorite Middle Grade Author 2011

 

Rick Riordan

 

~ RUNNERS UP ~

 

Lauren Oliver

Lisa McMann

Favorite Children’s/Picture Book Author 2011

 

Mo Willems

 

~ RUNNERS UP ~

Melanie Watt

Kevin Henkes

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Why should you write reviews on YABooksCentral.com and KidsBooksCentral.com?

To win awesome books, that’s why! (And to voice your opinion on your favorite — and not so favorite — books. But that goes without saying, right?)

Back to the winning. There are THREE super easy ways to win books from YABC, and here they are, in no particular order:

#1 – Write reviews!

That’s right. All you have to do is write a review and you’re automatically entered into our monthly Bag O’ Books Giveaway! The more reviews you write, the better your odds!

What do you win? First, you get this awesome YABC totebag! Which, you have to admit, is totes cool. Then you get to pick THREE books from the coveted YABC Shelf to fill your bag! If you win, I’ll send you photos of the current YABC Shelf for you to peruse. Pick out the three books you want and they’re yours. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. (See how excited I am that you won?)

+      =  B O’ B!

#2 – Earn Points!

As a YABC Community Member, you earn points each time you interact with the site. Write a review? Earn 20 points! Enter a book into our database? Earn 15 points! Comment on someone’s review? 5 points! Add someone as a friend? 5 points! Post a status update? POINTS!!

Each month, the Community Member with the most points gets to pick a book from the YABC Shelf. Yes, the same shelf behind me in that ridiculous photo above, which is always stacked to the BRIM with the latest young adult and middle grade books from your favorite publishers. 

You can check on your current points total on your profile page at any time. Here’s what your points bar will look like:

If you enter a book into our database and your points don’t show up immediately, don’t worry! Your points will appear once the book has been approved by our staff. To speed things up, make sure you fill out the book listing form correctly and include a cover image of the book. (Missing info like release dates, ISBN numbers, or cover images will slow down the process.) Make sure to do a search for the book first! If you enter a book that is already in our system, you will not earn points for that listing entry. We don’t want to take up your valuable time entering a book if it’s already in our database. 

You can watch your progress on the Points Leaderboard, which is located at the bottom right of every page. It looks like this —>

If you’re just starting out on YABC, don’t feel discouraged if you are behind in points. If you don’t win this month, there’s always next month!

BONUS!

The Top YABC Community Member can reign supreme for an unlimited number of months. That means if you’re #1 for two, five, ten months in a row, you win a book EVERY MONTH!  

That also means other members might be gunning for your spot. So come back often, write reviews, and win books!

#3 – Enter our Monthly Giveaways!

Every month we host amazing giveaways with prizes from your favorite publishers and authors. Make sure you come back each month and enter! Just fill out the entry form and you’re done. We’ll contact you if you win.

The fine print:

• Remember, YABC is a fun-loving community with a positive vibe. If you don’t win this month, there’s always next month. Everyone has an equal opportunity to win, so no complaining if it isn’t your lucky day.
• You are always welcome to write a negative review if you don’t like a certain book, but flaming reviews that attack authors or give away too many spoilers may be deleted at our discretion.
• Reviews must have some merit to be eligible for our giveaways. Simply saying, “I liked it!” isn’t enough.
• Every giveaway is 100% legit. Winners are chosen randomly using Random.org.
• Your privacy is very important to us — we will NEVER sell your info. It will only be used to contact you in the event of winning. We will not add you to a mailing list or newsletter without your consent. Your address will only be used to mail prizes to you.
• Winning the Bag O’ Books and Top Community Member spot are open to international readers. Monthly giveaways hosted by publishers and authors are US only unless otherwise specified. 
• If you win a book from YABC, we’d love it if you wrote a review of it, tweeted about it, or posted about it on Facebook. That would be BOSS. 🙂

Good luck! 

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