Friday, January 10, 2014

ROOMIES 'Win One for You and Your Reader Campaign' + My Roomie Story + ROOMIES Giveaway!

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers is hosting a wonderfully fun campaign where bloggers and readers share their roomie stories (and there's even a chance to win some fabulous prizes)! But first, let's check out some info on ROOMIES!


Roomies
"It's time to meet your new roomie.

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer -- and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives . . . and each other. Even though they've never met.

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr and acclaimed author Tara Altebrando join forces for a novel about growing up, leaving home, and getting that one fateful e-mail that assigns your college roommate."

MY (VERY BORING) ROOMIE STORY:
Somehow, I've managed to only have one roomie story so far (since I'm staying at my parents place for free while in college, I missed out on the opportunity to have college roomies), and that is rooming with my big brother when we were kids. I cannot remember how old we were, but since he was the oldest, he always took charge of everything - the small TV we shared, the toys, or whatever else it could possibly be, he was in charge. He got the top of the bunk bed, I got the bottom (which might have been a good idea, because I did fall off the top one time). We would argue and fight, as little kids do.

But, for all of our little bickering moments, we also had a lot of fun together as roomies. Whenever we became extremely bored, we'd find all of the big blankets and create a massive, in-room fort that would include our tiny TV, a normal lamp, a lava lamp (because a lava lamp is a priority item, apparently), and whatever else we could fit inside. Our small shared bedroom would transform into another place, and our imaginations made it all the more exciting.

Eventually, we received our own rooms. I even somehow managed to get the bigger one (thank you bookshelf, for taking up so much space and making it a requirement that I get the bigger room). I doubt my brother and I would make decent roomies now, but we are good friends.

To kick off Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando’s tour for ROOMIES, we decided to ask some of our colleagues to share some of their roomie stories. The result: sweet, weird and kind of hilarious. Some of us, quite rightly, asked to be identified by their monikers. Here’s how it went down with my freshman roommate. She went to bed before 10:00pm. I went to bed after midnight. She signed up for 8:00am classes. I slept until noon. She studied with the music on. I did not. She was neat. I was messy. She liked the Red Sox. I rooted for the Yankees. And now…we’re the best of friends!- Pam, Editorial My freshman year roommate taught me how to eat a lobster and all the words to the Rent soundtrack. She’s one of my forever friends. - Julia, Marketing I had a freshman roommate who would wag her finger while she talked and also was constantly saying “zip zip boom” while pulling her jacket zipper up and down.  She had her first boyfriend while we in college that year.  My boyfriend and I bought her a tent that looked like a car which she put up over her bed…. And kept up for the rest of the year.  It was weird.- Dawgs, Marketing I had a college roommate who threw up on the floor of our room and didn’t clean it up for three weeks (and like, I wasn’t going to touch that… Ew). I think she thought it would evaporate or something. Actually, as far as I know, it’s still there, because when I moved out she still hadn’t cleaned it up.- Maggie, Design My roommate and I are from opposite coasts (her: Seattle, me: NYC). We first met four years ago when decided to share a hotel room at Sirens, an annual conference on women in fantasy literature, budget-conscious college students that we were. Each year after that, I nagged at her to move to NYC and be my REAL roommate… and then she did! Now we have many long chats about books, marathon many BBC miniseries and throw many geeky parties.- Faye, Publicity / Marketing I once had a roommate who confessed that she was a recovering kleptomaniac. Which explains why she stole my clothes.- Connie, Editorial My freshman year roommate was a germophobe—amongst other “phobias.” When I came down with the flu that winter, I was lying in bed with my eyes closed. My roommate believed (I hope) that I was asleep and started to spray the room with Lysol spray…she then sprayed my bed—and me—with disinfectant spray. I didn’t have the energy to stop her.  - An editor who believes that germs are part of life The summer after I graduated from high school I lived a block away from the beach with 2 other guys in a Victorian rooming house. We all worked together at an ice cream parlor and usually had later afternoon and night shifts. Since we were splitting the rent, our room was just big enough so that we were able to fit 3 beds in the room side by side with a mini fridge. There was literally no floor space in the room and the common bathroom was down the hall. We made sandwiches in bed, we ate cereal in bed and on rainy beach days we’d hold boxing matches… on our beds. One guy would be the referee and the other two would strap pillows to their chests with belts and we would punch each other until someone gave up. For some reason we felt boxing in our underwear most closely approximated professional boxing garb and our beds were transformed in our minds into a professional ring. In my defense, the internet hadn’t been invented yet, we didn’t have a TV, and we were really bored.  It was not exactly a straight path between those days and becoming a VP but I still think about it and laugh. - The Boxer, our illustrious VP of Sales What’s your roomie story?

SARA AND TARA'S TOUR DATES: 
January 12, 2014 – New York, NY: McNally Jackson
January 15, 2014 – Salt Lake City, UT: The King's English
January 16, 2014 – Provo, UT: Provo Library
February 4, 2014 – San Francisco, CA: Books Inc, Opera Plaza
February 5, 2015 – Petaluma, CA: Copperfield's Books

I may be able to attend the last tour stop, but I'm not sure at the moment. *crosses fingers*

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION:

The Grand Prize: Little, Brown BYR will be giving away a Roomie survival kit/gift pack including earplugs, home spa essentials, a signed copy of the book, a special note from the authors, and other fun things—all packed in a shower caddy (this prize will go to a participating blogger and one of the blogger's readers). Winner announced on January 20th.

Win on YA Book Queen: Thanks to Little, Brown BYR, I am giving away a copy of ROOMIES (US street addresses only). Enter using the rafflecopter below! And trust me, you'll want this book - it's great!


a Rafflecopter giveaway




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4 comments:

  1. UnknownJanuary 10, 2014 at 12:39 PM

    My Roomie Story:

    I started college this past fall and I decided to do the random roommate. I was assigned to my roommate, Hannah, and she is the best roommate I could ask for. We have a lot of the same interests and we have become really good friends. We even plan on rooming together next year.

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  2. Susan LightJanuary 10, 2014 at 2:05 PM

    My husband is the only roommate I've ever had!

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  3. bn100January 10, 2014 at 6:51 PM

    had a horrible one who looked through my stuff when I wasn’t there

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  4. Abby JoyJanuary 10, 2014 at 7:05 PM

    In terms of dorm story I still don't have, but I room with my mom & sister. LOL. There's 2 bed for the three of us, one of us(me & my sister) share the same bed with my mom and then we really don't agree who it's just random arrangement. One night, I was going to sleep on the other bed and we both jumped at the same time on the bed and the bed groaned ALMOST breaking the metal frame. We had a bump on our head because of the collision. Man, that hurts. Okay, this is pretty shallow, but yeah :)

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