Lenore Appelhans' Thankgiving Recipe + LEVEL 2 Giveaway

Welcome to Day Three of our Debut Authors Celebration!

We're tremendously grateful that publishers take the time to nurture new talent, so this week we're featuring a mini celebration of 2013 debuts. We're very excited to welcome Lenore Appelhans to the blog today! Not only does she have a sci-fi thriller coming out in January, but she's also been an active YA blogger for some time; many GoodReaders are probably familiar with her reviews.

Level 2 is the story of Felicia Ward, who died right before her 18th birthday and has been trapped in a strange, otherworldly afterlife ever since. As Felicia uncovers the secrets behind her confinement, she is pulled towards both romance and rebellion...and it might just be up to her to save the lives of countless others.

This sounds like such a fun book, and I know that I'm not alone in my eagerness to read it. In the meantime, please say hello to Lenore as she shares a tasty recipe for Thanksgiving leftovers below, along with a fantastic Level 2 prize pack!

~ Wendy

Lenore Appelhans' Thanksgiving Memory

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays but because I live abroad, it’s the one I miss the most often. The traditional US Thanksgiving – with turkey, football and the Macy’s parade – is not available in the rest of the world. This year, I’ll be with my family in the US to celebrate, but there have been many years when I’ve had to come up with an alternate Thanksgiving meal due to limited local availability of ingredients. In Denmark (a country just to the north of Germany where I currently live) smørrebrød is an open-faced sandwich piled high with delicious toppings (often fish). I invented this Thanksgiving smørrebrød and I love it so much I even eat it throughout the year. It’s especially good for the day after Thanksgiving, when you have tons of leftover turkey and can’t bear any more cranberry sauce or stuffing.

Download Lenore's recipe for Thanksgiving smørrebrød!

Of course Thanksgiving is more than just food, and this year – with my debut novel coming out in less than two months – I have a ton to be thankful for. I am so appreciative of the amazing support I’ve gotten from friends, family, everyone at my literary agency and publishers (US and foreign), booksellers, librarians, fellow authors (debut and otherwise), the book blogging community and readers who have written me about their experience reading LEVEL 2. THANK YOU!

~ Lenore Appelhans

About the Author

Lenore Appelhans moved frequently growing up due to her dad’s US Air Force career. To date, she’s lived in six countries and visited nearly sixty. She currently resides in Frankfurt, Germany, with her illustrator husband Daniel Jennewein. Level 2 is her first novel.

Visit her on her blog, where she has been blogging about YA lit since 2008, or online on her website and Twitter. Level 2 will be released on January 15, 2012. Preorder the book or add it to GoodReads! You can also watch the trailer online or read the first four chapters.

Win a Level 2 Prize Pack!

Lenore is generously offering our readers an awesome Level 2 prize pack, consisting of one autographed hardcover + postcards + magnet. All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form and leave a comment below!

Open to U.S. and Canadian residents aged 18 and older, or 13 and older with parental permission. 


 a Rafflecopter giveaway  

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Debut Author Celebration  

We hope you've enjoyed our mini-celebration of upcoming 2013 debuts!   

Big thanks to all the authors who participated in this feature, as well as to the publishers who spot the talent that we love.

Day One: A.G. Howard, SPLINTERED
Day Two: Elsie Chapman, DUALED
Day Three: Lenore Appelhans, Level 2 

And if you enjoy a debut author's work, please take the time to support them however you can, whether it's purchasing the book, writing a review, or simply letting him/her know. It's so important to express our appreciation for good writing, and the success of a first book is certainly encouraging for future endeavors.