Crows, crows, crows! Is what I call out when I’m setting out their morning food. Not terribly original, I know. But they’re hard to name. They all look the same only slightly different sizes. In my head I call them Cro-heme, Cro-tein Shake, and Theodore Cro-sevelt, because I hate that stupid Geico weightlifter commercial.

They are out of the nest now, and eating our offerings on the regular. We have good luck with unsalted peanuts in shell and goldfish crackers my mom bought but didn’t eat. Oh no, she said, I want the regular goldfish, not the flavor-blasted. Well, I bought both, and she proceeded to scarf down the flavor-blasted and left me with bland, plain goldfish crackers! But I digress. The crows also enjoy tater tots, and certain lunch meat. They are picky about cheese. I’m eager to try giving them eggs, but if they ignore them then I have to go clean the yard before the dogs get to it and that sounds gross.

On to bookish stuff: THREE DARK CROWNS has received three positive trade reviews. Two with stars. That’s nuts! Plus many excellent blurbs.  I’ll get the Three Dark Crowns page updated soon, and Harper has already gotten them up on the Amazon page. Well, not the Booklist one, yet.

Three positive trade reviews. I feel very lucky. And like I paid someone off and just don’t remember doing it. But, there will be many bad reviews as well. Bad reviews that I hope sound like this: This book is not even a book! I couldn’t stand a single page and after I closed it I pooped on it! NO STARS!

That’s right. I want to get a no stars review from the Brita Water guy.

For those of you who don’t know, I read reviews of my own books. This is something that many writers manage to not do, as it can be quite unhealthy, like constantly refreshing your Amazon ranking (which I also do). Buuut, I can’t stop. Reviews are the Ennis to my Jack: I can’t quit them. Even if it is true that the right bad review on the wrong day can leave me shuffling around my house in mismatched socks asking the cat if he’s seen the last half of my sandwich. It’s all part of the process.

In two weeks, I’m off to GeekyCon, then back home until late September. My full schedule is up on the events page. I am having a launch gathering at University Bookstore in Seattle on 9/22. There will be cupcakes. Three flavors, one for each queen, and also just because I want to eat three different cupcakes. If you can’t be there but would like a book signed, call the store and they will make sure I sign and doodle. If you aren’t local, they will ship. All of the stores on the tour will ship, I imagine.

Thank you to anyone who comes out and sees us on tour. And as ever, a huge thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered Three Dark Crowns already. I thank you, my publisher thanks you, and Obi-dog thanks you, too, because he has to be involved in everything the little nose-beast. We are all very, very grateful.