Cover Art Imitates Life

Over at The Novel Girls this week, it's my turn to give something away for our month-long blogoversary celebration, and I'll be giving away an ARC of THE LIFE OF GLASS! It's really easy to enter -- all you have to do is comment on a post over there this week and/or do any of the other things listed on our sidebar. Plus, if you enter, you'll also be put into a drawing to win $100 to Amazon at the end of the month. Click here to head on over to The Novel Girls and enter.

And since I'm talking about THE LIFE OF GLASS (which I seem to be doing a lot lately. . .), I wanted to share something with you about the cover. First let me say that I absolutely LOVE the cover -- I think the design team at HarperCollins did a fabulous job. But the first time I saw it, I was struck by this strange sense of it being familiar. It took me a few days, but then I figured out what it was. The girl's profile on the cover, looks almost exactly like my mom did when she was younger. I remembered seeing some similar looking pictures of her in an old photo album, and I finally got her to scan some in and send them to me. So here, you can see for yourself.

Here's THE LIFE OF GLASS cover (Look closely at the girl's profile shot):

This is my mom in the late 1970s (And that baby in the picture is me!):

And here are two pictures of her a bit earlier, circa 1973:

What do you think? Can you see the resemblence? To me it kind of seems like this cover was meant to be!

Reality TV: My Summer Fun

Head on over to The Novel Girls to check out my thoughts on Ellen DeGeneres replacing Paula on Idol. We're having a month-long blogoversary extravaganza, so while you're there you can comment on my post or become a follower to enter to win this week's prize (a signed copy of A BUMP IN THE ROAD by Maureen Lipinski) AND the grand prize, a $100 giftcard to Amazon.

And I'm also going to post my take on reality TV here. This is what I was about to post at The Novel Girls until I heard the AI news. So here you have it, my fascination with celebrity reality TV:

In the fall, winter, and spring, when “real” TV shows are in season, I limit my reality show consumption. In the summer, though, I am admittedly, a reality TV junkie. And since there’s nothing else on, I actually let myself believe that these shows are good! This summer I relished Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, Denise Richards: So Complicated, and Guiliana & Bill.

I guess there’s something about watching celebrity lives that fascinates me, because, yes, I got joy out of watching Tori Spelling deal with her toddler’s tantrums and thinking about how similar our lives are. (Of course, I don’t have my own live-in baby nurse, but you get the point.) There’s also something about living vicariously through a celebrity’s life. Kathy Griffin may think she’s D-List, but she got to do some pretty fabulous things and hang out with some fabulous people this past season. And she’s funny, so what’s not to like about a reality show that makes me laugh? I set my DVR to watch as many reality/celebrity shows as I could find this summer, and I may have actually even procrastinated writing to watch them.

But I have to admit, I’m excited it’s September now and actual scripted shows are coming back with new episodes. There’s no contest for me between Merideth Grey and McDreamy and Tori and Dean. MerDer wins hands down! And by the end of this month, I’ll happily worm myself back into my favorite fictional characters’ lives, and will all but leave reality TV behind until next May. Of course, if a really good new celebrity show comes on, I’m sure I’ll still record it. It’ll just have to get in line in the DVR queue behind all my real favorite shows.

Contest Winner and THE LIFE OF GLASS news!

First, thank you so much to everyone who entered my The Life of Glass ARC giveaway! It's so great to see so many people excited about the book, and I wish I had an ARC to send to each and every one of you. . . but I had to pick a winner, so I used random.org and it picked. . . Kristen. Kristen, I'm sending you an e-mail -- but please send me your address to jill(at)jilliancantor.com and I'll get the ARC out to you!

If you didn't win, I'll be having more giveaways this fall. Check back here in October for another ARC giveaway. And this month, over at my group blog, The Novel Girls, we're celebrating our one year blogoversary with a giveaway extravaganza. Each week one of us will give away a prize (five total) for the whole month of September -- and then everyone who enters for the entire month will be entered into a drawing to win a $100 giftcard to Amazon!! I'll be up the week of September 14th, and I'll be giving away an ARC of The Life of Glass & a copy of The September Sisters to the winner!

I'm also really excited to share a blurb for The Life of Glass from the fabulous Cecilia Galante. Her book, The Patron Saint of Butterflies, is one of my all-time favorites! Here's what she had to say about The Life of Glass: "The Life of Glass is a beautifully rendered novel. Cantor is pitch-perfect, capturing the thoughts and mind-set of her characters with a precise familiarity that will have teenagers nodding their head in recognition and adults wistfully looking back. A must read."