Publishers Weekly's Starred Review of "Deliciously Creepy" IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS!

I've already been sharing the news at Twitter, Facebook, and BlackbirdsNovel.com, so please forgive me if you already heard my announcement earlier today: Publishers Weekly gave In the Shadow of Blackbirds a starred review!

If you're wondering what a starred review even means—and why authors make such a big deal out of them when only one star appears next to the review—here's a quick answer from a newbie author still working on understanding the full meaning herself:

Major review publications like Kirkus and Publishers Weekly place a single star next to the reviews of the books they particularly liked. Whether a starred review for In the Shadow of Blackbirds will help its sales after its April 2 release date remains to be seen, but I'm thrilled to pieces that the book received such an honor!

Here's a quote from the review:

"Winters’s masterful debut novel is an impressively researched marriage of the tragedies of wartime, the 1918 flu epidemic, the contemporaneous Spiritualism craze, and a chilling love story and mystery...
Deliciously creepy."

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

For the full review, please visit publishersweekly.com.

In other news, the In the Shadow of Blackbirds trailer reveal tour and giveaway is still going strong. Click here for the latest stops. The actual book trailer reveal will take place this Thursday (Valentine's Day) at The Mod Podge Bookshelf.

IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS Mentioned in Publishers Weekly

I found out In the Shadow of Blackbirds was mentioned in the Publishers Weekly Spring 2013 Sneak Previews article. Look for a blurb about the novel in the ABRAMS/AMULET section. Thanks so much to Abrams for including my book in the preview!

Several of my fellow members of The Lucky 13s also had their books spotlighted, and I know of many, many more exciting debuts that will be making their way to shelves next year. Thankfully, 2013 is now less than six months away so we can all start reading these books soon!

Some other places to learn about 2013 YA and middle-grade releases:

YA Novels of 2013
2013 Debut Authors (YA and Middle Grade)
2013 Book Cover Love (one of my own Pinterest boards)