Marissa Meyer was at the King’s English last night to sign her debut novel, Cinder. It hit the New York Times Bestseller list yesterday and Marissa got to announce it at the signing!

I’ve already read Cinder and I loved it! Read my review of Cinder here.

Here’s the recap.

Marissa started writing Sailor Moon fan-fiction when she was 14 years old and thought maybe she would write a book someday.  One day, she entered a writing contest that had certain requirements you could choose from and she chose “fairy tale” and “set in the future.”  There were two entries in the contest and she didn’t win, but it planted the seed of Cinder which is the story of Cinderella set in a sci-fi world.

The idea of Cinder combined with other fairy tales in her head until they all started to  interconnect into a series.  There are four books in this series.  Here are the fairy tales each book will be based on and where the setting will be.

1. Cinder – Based on Cinderella and set in Asia.

2. Scarlett – Based on Little Red Riding Hood and set in France.

3. Cress – Based on Rapunzel and set in the Sahara Desert.

4. Winter – Based on Snow White and set on Luna.

All four books are one story line with Cinder as the main character, but you get to meet other heroines on the way and they all have a mutual enemy in the evil Lunar Queen. (It sounds like it’s going to be a kick-butt heroine team and I can’t wait to read all of them!)

Cinder was set in Asia for two reasons.

1. The Serious, Scholarly Reason – Cinderella can be traced back to 9th century China.
2. Sailor Moon.

Marissa was such a fun and sweet person and it was fabulous to meet her!

I bought Cinder as an ebook, but I like having authors sign real books because I feel like a dork having them sign the sticker on my kindle. SO. I have a book to giveaway to you! Plus a cool postcard! YAY!

The Giveaway

Please read the following carefully for entering the giveaway. I’m using Rafflecopter for this giveaway (so if you are reading this in a reader or email, click on the post to see the giveaway).

• If you’ve never used Rafflecopter before, create an account in the widget or login with Facebook. You only have to do this once, EVER :D
• Following my blog is never a requirement for giveaways, but it is appreciated and will get you extra entries in the giveaway.
• Don’t leave your email address in the comments. It’s not necessary. Thanks :)
• Giveaway is for US/Canada only. I’m mailing this book out at my own expense and I can’t afford to ship it far away. I’m sorry.
• The winner will have 48 hours to respond with their full name and mailing address or a new winner will be chosen.
• Must be over 13 to enter.

Giveaway ended February 2012