U is for Under My Skin by Judith Graves

I'm one of more than 1500 bloggers taking part in the A-Z Blogging challenge this year. The goal is to blog everyday in April - except Sundays. You don't need a theme...but I've got one.

It's called watchYAreading. Each day, I'll blog about a  young adult book I have read - and loved (or at least really liked). 

To say I loved Under My Skin would be one of the biggest understatements of my life. While there is much to admire about her technical skill, Judith Graves digs deep into her seemingly endless talent pool and fills every page of this book with romance, adventure, and creeptastic, paranormal fun. 

Of course, it would be easy for me to be biased. Though it's been just over a year since Judith and I met one fated WordsWorth evening, I can't imagine a time when we weren't scheming, plotting and writing together. In the short time we've become writing partners - and friends - Judith has taught me the importance of outlines, modelled professionalism and discipline (she writes at 5-freaking-am), brainstormed brilliant marketing plans, and truthfully, she's taught me to believe in myself. When Judith cracks her whip, I write...because it would kill me to let her down. Few people - husband included - have even a fraction of that much influence over my productivity.

Under my Skin is Judith's debut novel, but trust me, she's just getting started. Last week she launched the sequel book Second Skin, AND SPIRITED, where her short story Strangeways vs the Blood Brothers is causing quite a buzz. So much so, Leap Books is publishing her first steampunk novel based on the character Amelia Strangeways. 

I am honored and proud to not only know Judith, but to spend even a little time sucking up some of her crazy talent. Haven't read Under my Skin? Do it! Now. You're going to be hearing a LOT more about Judith, my friends.

I doubt you know a better "U" title, so let's talk Under my Skin. Isn't Eryn just kick-ass? Let me know what you think in the comments below and at the end of the month I'll choose three readers to win a copy of SPIRITED, an anthology of haunting YA fiction.

Now, go check out the rest of the blogs in the A-Z Challenge, including my Dawn Ius site where I blog about songs and artists who have inspired me, and at the Most-Wanted Monsters blog where the awesome Judith Graves and I are waxing poetic about 26 creeptastic beasties.

- Dawn