Getting To Know You Blog Hop And Giveaway!

Hi All!

Today I'm participating in Cuddlebuggery's Getting to Know You bloghop, where a bunch of fabulous writers can learn a little more about one another, and give away some awesome prizes while they're at it!

So here are some random facts about me, both authorly and otherwise:

- My name is Gina Ciocca, and no one knows how to pronounce my last name. For the record, it's See-OH-ka :)

- I'm seriously grossed out by feet and potato buds.

- I'm the worst Italian ever. I speak maybe 3 words of the language, hate coffee, rarely drink wine, have never been to Italy, and can not make homemade pasta sauce without the assistance of my mother or grandmother.

- I write YA contemporary romance, and have a soft spot for paranormal of the I-see-dead-people variety. Which is why I write that too. (PARANORMAL IS NOT A 4-LETTER WORD! POWER TO THE DEAD PEOPLE! *steps off soapbox*)

- The first book I ever fell in love with was Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, and the first literary couple I ever fell in love with was Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe from the Anne of Green Gables series.

CLASSIC.

But....

- I totally credit Smallville and the romance between Lana and Clark as the inspiration for keeping my romance-obsessed brain fueled with teen angst.

SWOOOOON

Speaking of which...

My YA debut, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE, releases June 9th, 2015 from Simon Pulse, and is available for pre-order on Amazon now! It has a pretty atypical pub story, which you can read here.

Is there anything that electric chemistry can’t overcome? The past may be gone, but love has a way of holding on in this romantic debut novel told in alternating Before and After chapters.


The summer before freshman year, Kelsey and David became inseparable best friends—until the night a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke and everything around her crumbled, including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey’s parents decide to move away, she can’t wait to start over and leave the past behind. But David’s not quite ready to be left.

Now it’s senior year and Kelsey has a new group of friends, genuine popularity, and a hot boyfriend. Her life is perfect. That is, until David’s family moves to town. Old feelings bubble to the surface and threaten to destroy Kelsey’s second chance at happiness. The more time she spends with David, the more she realizes she never let him go. And maybe she never wants to…

For my giveaway, I chose books that are near and dear to my heart.

The first combines my love of paranormal and romance - UNEARTHLY by Cynthia Hand (paperback). It's one of my absolute favorites, and therefore my go-to anytime I'm asked to give away a book that's special to me. 

AND - to represent the straight up contemp in me, I will also giveaway one copy of BEHIND THE SCENES by my fabulous CP, Dahlia Adler, AND a pre-order of my own book, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE! (And if you don't win, there's still time to enter my very first ARC giveaway here!)

One random commenter will win all three. Looking forward to getting to know YOU!