BETTER OFF FRIENDS by Elizabeth Eulberg – LAUNCH PARTY Blog Tour & Giveaway
Feb 16th, 2014 by
Liza Wiemer
We’re celebrating the launch of
BETTER OFF FRIENDS by Elizabeth Eulberg Publisher: Point (Scholastic)
Pub. Date: February 25, 2014
SIGNED copies can be pre-ordered or purchased after the Better Off Friends Launch Party on February 25, 2014 through Boswell Books by calling (414) 332-1181
For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can’t be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan’s friends. They are platonic and happy that way.
Eventually they realize they’re best friends — which wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep getting in each other’s way. Guys won’t ask Macallan out because they think she’s with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Macallan, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can’t help but wonder . . . are they more than friends or are they better off without making it even more complicated?
From romantic comedy superstar Elizabeth Eulberg comes a fresh, fun examination of a question for the ages: Can guys and girls ever really be just friends? Or are they always one fight away from not speaking again — and one kiss away from true love?
REVIEWS:
“…a pitch-perfect rom com. With a nod to When Harry Met Sally , rising YA romance writer Eulberg situates relatable characters in realistic situations. There’s depth, too… A humorous and cozy story about friendships and relationships, and the oh-so-fine line between them.”– Booklist
“Reminiscent of When Harry Met Sally , Eulberg’s account of an evolving relationship offers witty banter interspersed with pangs of unrequited love. …their roller-coaster relationship provides plenty of entertainment and romantic thrills along the way.”– Publishers Weekly
“Can a guy and a girl ever really be friends, as in ‘friends, but just friends?’ This is the question that animates this delicious, delightful romantic comedy. Readers will devour each chapter, narrated in Macallan’s and Levi’s alternating voices, correct in their confidence that Eulberg is going to deliver on her promise of an enormously satisfying story.”– Children’s Literature
I absolutely loved, loved, loved, loved this novel, and since it’s set in Wisconsin, it made it even better. Levi, as my friends at Swoony Boys Podcast would say, is totally swoon worthy!
Macallan and Levi relationship goes through many roller coaster rides. Sometimes their perspectives and values don’t match up, but ultimately there’s no doubt that they were made for each other. But are they “better off friends?” Readers will cheer them on & you have to read the book to find out what happens.
Told in alternating points of view, BETTER OFF FRIENDS IS contemporary YA novel perfection. <3 <3
FOOD: Cheese Ball
There’s something else that is absolutely delicious about this novel, and that’s the food!!!!!
Wisconsin is known for all sorts of cheese, and Macallan and Levi enjoy plenty of dishes that have cheese it it. Fried string cheese? Cheese curds? – Welcome to Wisconsin. Elizabeth Eulberg included her mom’s cheeseball! I made it and shared the recipe for our WI/IL Author/Blogger/Librarian luncheon back in December, but I’ll share the recipe again here:
BACKSTORY:
Better Off Friends came from a conversation my editor, David Levithan, had with one of his colleagues, Erin Black, who said she was looking for a YA story like When Harry Met Sally … that grapples with that age old question: can a guy and a girl really be just friends? When David mentioned it to me, I called dibs.Over the course of a year (while I was writing Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality ), I thought about how I could tell the story in a fresh way. I went back toWhen Harry Met Sally … and loved that it’s a story that takes place over a long period of time so you can really see the relationship develop between those two characters. So I knew that I wanted Better Off Friends to be over the course of a few years as well as have little moments of the characters bantering throughout the book so the reader can see right from the beginning the kind of friendship they have.I began to slowly develop the characters of Macallan and Levi, and map out their friendship through five years. When I began writing the book, I decided on a whim to have it set in Wisconsin, which ended up becoming a character of its own. As someone who grew up in Wisconsin, it was fun to set a book in a place that I have such affection for. This also provided me with countless ways to insert my love for the Green Bay Packers (from Levi’s last name, Rodgers, to the various teachers names throughout the book). GO PACK!
Writing this book was a lot of fun, but it also made me cry in a few places. I’m really proud of Better Off Friends and hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.
GREAT LINKS: Blog Tour: (Check out each link for a separate post and giveaway of a signed copy of BETTER OFF FRIENDS!)Feb 22 Rachel – As told by Rachel – Pictures of places mentioned in the book from Wisconsin and giveaway of a signed book
http://tigerlilyrachel.com
THE NOVEL CUISINE LUNCHEON ’13 & Giveaway!
Dec 18th, 2013 by
Liza Wiemer
The table is set with all the books that inspired the menu for the luncheon.
THE 3rd ANNUAL NOVEL CUISINE LUNCHEON ’13
All the recipes were inspired by a book. Just One Day, by Gayle Forman, Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller (2 recipes), What the Moon Said by Gayle Rosengren, The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler, Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg, The Distance Between Us by Kasie West, Reclaimed by Sarah Guillory, Wait for You, Trust in Me by Jennifer Armentrout, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black.
Heidi prepping for the party.
The awesome Heidi from YA Bibliophile came over on Saturday. After we spent several hours in the living room reading, we headed out to see THE HOBBIT II, and then we spent the rest of the night and into the early morning laughing and cooking and talking. We discovered that we’re cooking soul mates and dubbed “Modified Marthas.” Many of the things we made, were a first for us. Empanadas, Bubble Tea, Pastitsio, Galaktoboureko. All the recipes except for two were found on the Internet. The exceptions were Elizabeth Eulberg’s mom’s Cheese Ball from BETTER OFF FRIENDS – YUMMMMMMMM!!!!! and chocolate walnut cookies from WAIT FOR YOU and TRUST IN ME by Jennifer Armentrout. That’s a recipe I ended up creating based on several different recipes that I found on the net. Since Cam said that these cookies were better than sex, Heidi and I brainstormed names and came up with Cam’s Better Than Sex Chocolate Walnut Cookies.
Wisconsin born and raised author Elizabeth Eulberg : Twitter , Blog , Goodreads for supporting this event. Her publisher, Scholastic, provided ARCs of latest YA novel BETTER OFF FRIENDS. Her Wisconsin event for BETTER OFF FRIENDS will be held at Boswell Books on February 25th!
Wisconsin author Gayle Rosengren : Twitter , Blog , Goodreads for attending the event. Her publisher G. P. Putnam’s Sons provided ARCs of her MG novel, WHAT THE MOON SAID!
One lucky winner will receive an ARC of each of these novels.
(See Rafflecopter below.)
RECIPES:
Elizabeth Eulberg’s mom’s Cheese Ball recipe as found in BETTER OFF FRIENDS
Cheese Ball
Cam’s Better Than Sex Chocolate Walnut Cookies, inspired from WAIT FOR YOU by Jennifer Armentrout
Cam’s Better Than Sex Chocolate Walnut Cookies inspired from Wait for You by Jennifer Armentrout:
I adapted one recipe to create this one:
5 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate – I used Scharffen Berger Brand
1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup 100% cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips
30 whole walnuts, lightly toasted in the oven at 300 degrees – approximately 5 minutes.
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave safe container at 1/2 power. Stir until smooth. Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Beat together eggs and sugar, then add melted chocolate/butter mix and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips, stir in with a spoon. Put the dough in the refrigerator for an hour. It will firm up! Take a tablespoon of dough and flatten in a circle in the palm of your hand. Add toasted whole walnut and fold over chocolate dough. Roll into a ball, completely covering the whole walnut. Cover the entire ball in powdered sugar. Place dough on greased cookie pan. Bake cookies at 350 for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes gently use a fork to flatten the dough to a 1/2 inch thick. Bake for another 2 minutes, then cool cookies on a cooling rack.
Bubble Tea
Bubble Tea inspired by THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN by Drinks Mixer
Potato Pancakes with Raspberry Jam (use any quality brand) inspired by WHAT THE MOON SAID by Gayle Rosengren
4 cups shredded potatoes
Fondue, cornbread, crepes, and potato pancakes
2 eggs
1/8 cup flour
1 diced small onion (I didn’t use it for this meal, but I do recommend including it for flavor)
Mix all ingredients together. Spray a cookie pan with vegetable oil. Spoon out a 1/4 cup of potato mixture. Flatten to about 1/4 inch thick. Bake at 425 degrees until the top is brown – about 10 minutes. Flip over with a spatula and brown the other side.
Crepes au Citron inspired by JUST ONE DAY by Gayle Forman
Recipe used: Martha Stewart
Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Empanadas
Vegetarian Pastitsio inspired by WHERE THE STARS STILL
Pastitsio
Recipe used: Food.com
Creamy Custard Pie (Galaktompoureko) inspired by WHERE THE STARS STILL SHINE by Trish Doller
Recipe used: Greek Recipes.TV
Hot chocolate inspired by THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US by Kasie West – I used Omanhene Brand
Cornbread inspired by RECLAIMED by Sarah Guillory
Cheese Fondue as found in Ann Mah’s MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH EATING: Check out Ann Mah’s Blog . Here’s the recipe straight from Ann’s book:
Giving Back:
One of the suggestions that Heidi had was for us to collect books and donate them to a school in need. I found about Hmong American Peace Academy, a school in Milwaukee desperate for books and in the middle of a library campaign. The school services over 1200 students in K-4 through 12th grade. Over seventy-five books are already in the hands of students.
More photos:
Lining up for the buffet.
Our table!
Leftover Galaktompoureko from WHERE THE STARS STILL SHINE
Cornbread from RECLAIMED
Crepes from JUST ONE DAY by Gayle Forman
Some of the books donated to the Hmong American Peace Academy
Gayle Rosengren and Amanda Coppedge Bosky
Book Talk:
We utilized
Click here: Jamie’s 2013 End of Year Book Survey
Q: Best book you read in 2013:
Daughter of Smoke & Bone, In Darkness, The One and Only Ivan, The Testing, The Burning Sky, Sea of Tranquility, Reclaimed, Second Chance Summer, Crown of Midnight, This Song Will Save Your Life, Defy, Things I Can’t Forget, If I Find Me, Tell The Wolves I’m Home, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Where the Stars Still Shine, The Winner’s Curse, Covet, Hopeless, Goodbye Rebel Blue, This Journal Belongs to Ratchet, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Q: Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2013:
Etiquette & Espionnage, Easy, Dear Cassie, Strands of Bronze and Gold, Six Months Later, Reclaimed, The Absolute True Diary of a Part-time Indian, Tangled, Alice in Zombieland, Uninvited, Unearthly, Stir Me Up, Ruby Red, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Q: Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2013:
Code Name Verity, The Book Thief, Allegiant, Champion, If He Had Been With Me, Second Chance Summer, This Song Will Save Your Life, Things I Can’t Forget, Sea of Tranquility, The Fault in Our Stars, Me Before You, If I Stay
Q: Books you are most anticipating in 2014, non-debut:
The Worlds We Make, No Surrender Soldier, Dreams of Gods and Monsters, Landline, Ruin & Rising, Panic, Isla and the Happily Ever After, On the Fence, Ignite Me, Split Second, Into the Still Blue, Dissonance
GIVEAWAY: (US & Canada ONLY)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Ann Mah ,
Better off Friends ,
Elizabeth Eulberg ,
Gayle Forman ,
Gayle Rosengren ,
Holly Black ,
Jennifer Armentrout ,
Jennifer L. Armentrout ,
Just One Day ,
Kasie West ,
Mastering the Art of French Eating ,
Novel Cuisine ,
Reclaimed ,
Sarah Guillory ,
Sarah Ockler ,
The Book of Broken Hearts ,
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown ,
The Distance Between Us ,
Trish Doller ,
Trust in Me ,
Wait for You ,
What the Moon Said ,
Where the Stars Still Shine
