Did you know it’s been 2 whole weeks since The Boy Who Steals Houses came out?!
My son! Already so old and accomplished and honestly bringing me great joy. 😭💛The amazing AUSYA Bloggers team hosted a blitz for me last week and I don’t even know how to say how grateful I am! It went from the 19th-21st and I meant to post about it but…ok here’s the truth: I’m moving house and packing everything, including my brain. So I’m late to my own blitz but HI. Am here finally!!
So the most massive thankyou to everyone who joined in!
The buzz on Instagram and across the blogsophere was so so amazing. And it makes the world of difference for my small author self ajfdklsad can I just say how much I love that the blogging community has supported my blog AND now my books?? My heart😭🎉I looooove you.
I also want to give a super quick note that…I hope this post doesn’t come across as bragging. Look I’m not a bestseller, I’ve actually had a pretty hellish time with a lot of things regarding my publishing journey. But I am lucky and nice things have happened to me and I’m blessed by the community, so this is my thank you. 🤗And I am rooting for all you other writers’ successes too, ok?!
Anyway! Giveaway will be below! But before we get to that…
10 Favourite Moments of The Boy Who Steals Houses Release So Far!
1. I’ve made people cry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Alright! Wait wait! Before you go thinking I’m a monster who thrives on tears (because that is not true at all 😌), I actually take so much heart in this because it means my little paperback novel of ink and printed words — has made people feel things. That’s actual magic.
People have sent me photos of tearstained TBWSH pages. When I announced the book, my editor basically tweeted “IT MADE ME CRY” which tbh is a life goal achieved. I’ve had dozens of “Cait!!!! First of all I CRIED” messages. And I just 😍 am thriving knowing my book has given people emotions.
2. It was put in an #AutismAcceptanceMonth Big display in Waterstones!
Curated by an autistic bookseller so like, I HAVE ASCENDED.
3. Some of my favourite authors have flailed over it!
Tbh my impostor syndrome is real. I know a lot of authors struggle with the whole “yeah but I’m not really much an an author” thing and bleashosrhgs I’m sure it comes from a place of anxiety. But this time round, I’ve chatted with several kind authors who didn’t have to take time away from their days to support me…but they did??? 😭They’re my heroes and I am starry-eyed.
So all the love and thanks to Mia Kuzniar, C.R.R. Hillin, Nadine Brandes, Helene Dunbar, Brigid Kemmerer, Mary Weber (also Laini Taylor said congrats to me on release day!!) and Marissa Kennerson!
4. The instagram buzz was SURREAL!
Release day was amazing! I was actually alone for the day and…ok I admit it. I had a pre-release cry. Overwhelm plus disappointment about some things that had gone wrong. I like to talk about the positives, but my string of disappointments and mishaps surrounding TBWSH was long and hard.
But then the 4th of April came and…bookstagram just gave me this intensely soft hug and whispered, “We’re proud of you,” and I just (!!!!) wanted to cry again, but for happy reasons. Thank you so so much to everyone who posted or messaged or cheered for me! If you think it didn’t matter? Pfshsfhsogh NO. It meant the world to me. Every single one.
5. It reached 39 bestseller on Book Depository!
And like freaking BOOK DEPOSITORY gave it a shout out on their instagram page?! I’m still confused as to why lmaooo. It was the best moment but I didn’t think they did that!
6. I commissioned fanart which turned out the actual best.
You’ll be able to win one of these in the giveaway! But I’ll also be giving away more on instagram eventually and potentially selling some?! Hold on for more news about that.
my heart = belongs to fanart.
7. My parents sent me flowers and I had my first magnum in like…5 or something years.😂
I knoooow. How dare I betray cake and not eat it on release day but can you look at this vegan magnum and tell me you wouldn’t want one. It was delicious.
8. It’s in bookstores!!
This is mostly in the UK and Australia…! But BOOKSTORES. Honestly this was the pinnacle of my life goal: walk into a bookstore and see my book. And no I haven’t seen TBWSH in stores myself yet (there are 3 people and 17 cows in our town…and the local bookstore solely stocks Harry Potter and The Hunger Games because nOTHING ELSE has ever been printed since obviously). But I will find it in a store soon! Moving house remember?! Going to the city. Bring it, civilisation.
I’m so grateful for people who send me photos of it in the wild! Better believe I SAVE ‘EM ALL.
9. I’ve had a lot of absolutely heartfelt and touching messages about it.
Like 10/10 I love the ones screaming at me. But I’ve also had people saying how much the autism rep meant to them, how they connected with the big messy De Lainey family, how the book has nestled into a very safe and special place in their hearts and they can’t stop thinking about it.💛I live for this.
Like there are simply thousands of books you could choose to read. But you chose mine. And I’m grateful.
10. So so many asks of “will there be a sequel?!”
Which as of right now: sorry, but it’s a standalone! Like I would want to write sequels, yes yes, but so much depends on sales and a few other things. Honestly at this point it doesn’t seem likely. But just knowing you WANT a sequel has me freaking out with happiness!! Look I miss the De Laineys too. But do you really think I should be allowed near Sam again? Do you reeeeeally. 😂 PART 2 OF RUINING HIS LIFE…ajdkfslad maybe we should all think about what we’re asking.
And no, my writing career has been far from rainbows — but I enjoy talking about the parts I’ve LOVED!!
So I hope you don’t mind this gushy post!! I’m so thankful for everyone’s support and like??? I probably don’t deserve you all but AHHH. Ilysm.😘 And while I don’t have any more books under contract now (I’m trying but setbacks have been really devastating) I’ve decided to just enjoy TBWSH being out in the world to maximum 10000%. Look at my SON GO. So proud.
OPEN INTERNATIONAL
thank you everyone who joined in the blitz!! 😘
and i am moving house so I’m sorry for being The World’s Worst Blogger right now. I will get my life back together in May I promise. (or, lol, I will at least pretend)
I would like to note that I AM FINALLY getting email notifcations for your posts and am very happy! 😀 I am so happy so many people are reading The Boy Who Steals Houses – it’s such an amazing book and i’m still not over it tbh. I hope you like sign a new book deal soon because i would die knowing that i’m missing out on cait books. but also i know that it’s totally not up to you and publishing is full of struggles!! I haven’t been to a bookstore in a while but if i go to waterstones soon i’ll be sure to take a pic!!
Ahhh, reading this made me feel so proud and happy for you! I definitely will enter the giveaway and I need to get my hands on a copy of TBWSH to have my heart broken, sooner or later. 🙂
I finished your second son this morning and .y heart is absolutely bursting with pride. I loved A Thousand Perfect Notes fiercely but those Lou boys stole.my heart. The humour, the banter, the stress and anguish, the loneliness and feeling of belonging, it was perfection. It was John Green mixed with Huntly Fitzpatrick and dashes of Jandy Nelson’s beautiful lyricism. What you’ve created is absolutely beautiful and I feel almost like a proud mother. I can see so much of yourself in The Boy Who Steals Houses, even snippets of Jem in there. It’s amazing, YOU’RE amazing and I couldn’t be prouder of the accomplished author you’ve become.
Omg, I’m even more excited to read this book now! It looks and sounds amazing and I loved this peek into the authors’ thoughts and reactions about its release. I’m so happy this giveaway is international–I’ve just entered and I’m so stoked!
So coool!!! Congrats cait 🤗
Congratulations on the book success! I hope the move goes smoothly! (If moves ever go smoothly . . . .)
I’M SO PROUD OF YOU CAIT! I love your books and TBWSH definitely made me cry. It was an honor to read your book in advance and promote it under the light of the blood moon. DEFINITELY HAPPY FOR YOU AND SAM. I miss the De Laineys already. PETITION FOR MORE DELETED SCENES EXPOSURE. I live for deleted scenes 😭
Keep spreading bookdragon fire, Cait! 💖
CONGRATS! I CAN ONLY IMAGINE HOW HAPPY YOU ARE. WOW.
(I’d love a sequel if only to see the delaineys again cause I have a slight crush on all of them)
AHHHHHH i know i don’t comment much on here, but i literally do read all of your posts. i’m just afraid i’ll leave super long comments and bloggers have short attention spans, hence me not commenting. anyway i just want to say how absolutely proud i am to have been following along your journey even i think before atpn came out last year. (: and OH my goodness, this book has been on my tbr for ages and this is the absolute perfect opportunity for me to get my hands on it. i’ve heard about so much tears and joy and sweet families and agh everything i want in a book.
sending so much love and i can’t wait to see who wins the giveaway!! x syd
AHHHHHH i know i don’t comment much on here, but i literally do read all of your posts lol. i’m just afraid i’ll leave super long comments and bloggers have short attention spans, hence me not commenting. 😂 anyway i just want to say how absolutely proud i am to have been following along your journey even i think before atpn came out last year. (: and OH my goodness, this book has been on my tbr for ages and this is the absolute perfect opportunity for me to get my hands on it. i’ve heard about so much tears and joy and sweet families and asdfghjk that’s literally everything i would want in a ya book.
sending so much love and i can’t wait to see who wins the giveaway!! x syd
woah i had no idea i commented twice… weird… so sorry! feel free to delete the first one if you want (:
I’m so happy with the success your novel has had and thank you for allowing us the opportunity to have your novel in a giveaway!
I actually looked for it in Canada at the bookstore but it wasn’t there … YET! I’m determined it will be!
This was so lovely to read!!! Making your readers cry would be an amazing feeling because you have been able to transport your emotions across the page!!
And it is wonderful that your book was put on an autistism acceptance display— that is amazing ❤
I sadly haven’t been to a bookshop in these past 2 weeks but I hope to see your book when I next go!! 😊
Congratulations on your journey and your success!! It is wonderful to see!!! ❤
I have my copy and can’t wait to read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At top of my TBR list 😉
OMG I can’t imagine having to move so many books!
So sorry you had issues with publishing but hopefully you feel it was all worth it in the end. I would be interested to know what happens so maybe a blog post about that journey?
I can’t believe your local bookstore doesn’t stock your book. One of those 17 cows might want a copy!
I am so excited for you!! And I need this book in my LIFEEEE. Good luck with moving though; that does not sound fun, but yay for being in the city and hopefully you can walk into all the bookstores and find your books! I actually keep meaning to email you about a couple things: could you let me know the best email? Or send one my way?
Thanks!!
Lauren
Congratulations on your release, Cait! I’m so happy to see how you’ve grown as a blogger and an author and I look forward to seeing what else you publish in the future!
I utterly adored this book! Like genuinely one of my all time favourite reads and I’m already tempted to read it again because I FELL IN LOVE!!! It hurt my heart so much and I cried a freaking river but I had so much love for it
Yay congratulations on your success!! I just recently started following your blog so I’m pretty sure you have no clue who I am. Anyway! Ooh interesting giveaway. What art print will you be giving away? Perhaps I can ask my mum if I can enter (because it’s giving away a book which I want to read and she encourages reading) So yeah I’ll come back soon!
AOHWEFOOIJOIJFLSDJFLSKJFLSKJ I want this book so bad 😭 Also I’m super proud of you for making it here! Great job!! 🎉 I’ll be crossing my fingers that you get another book deal (and hopefully one where the books get sold in bookstores here in Canada… I want your books on my shelf 😂)
Do I want an ANNOTATED version of this book?!
YES YES YES.
I loved it so much, Cait. Thank you for this gem.
And while I loved these characters so, so much, I am glad you aren’t doing a sequel. Not because I don’t want more time with them (I do!), but because you honestly ended it SO WELL. And that’s freaking hard to do. Really freaking hard.
I loved it. THANK YOU.
I’M SO PROUD OF YOU, CAIT! I know that I don’t, like, personally know you. BUT. You have been the blogger that I’ve looked up to for years (tbh, you’re why I started book blogging in the first place), and I love love love seeing that you’re accomplishing your dreams!
I loved ATPN (look – it made me cry because all the feels), but TBWSH tore me apart … while feeling like I was meeting up with a friend after years. It just made me so so happy and I’ve recommended it to, like, the four people that I actually talk to.
Congratulations, Cait!!!! 💖😍
I can’t tell you how happy it made me to see this post. I used to follow you and read your blog religiously circa 2015 when I had a meager little book blog myself. I’ve been playing with ideas for different blogs lately and thought I’d come see if you had got published… not once, but twice!! I am so excited for you! Congratulations on your newest book baby, I will definitely order a copy of each.
This post makes me so, SO happy and I’m thrilled to see all of the love that The Boy Who Steals Houses is getting from everyone <3 <3 I spotted a copy of your book in TWO bookshops in London when I was there a couple of days ago, this made me so, SO happy (and also so sad and mad for not having unlimited luggage weight for my trip) <3 CONGRATULATIONS again on everything, I can't wait to be able to buy a copy and read it, it sounds INCREDIBLE and I can't waitttttttt. Thank you for hosting this INTL giveaway, just as well! <3
And sending you all the love and positive vibes for the upcoming move, and for all of your next stories waiting to be published that we all can't wait to discover next <3
CONGRATULATIONS, CAIT, YOU HAVE DONE SO WELL. I completely love Sam and Avery and the De Laineys and the florist and that is all your fault, my friend. Your characters are a blessing. I love how you played with the formatting! It felt like a perfect blend of prose and poetry and it was beautiful. The characters were real and capable of breaking my heart, which is cool, and I absolutely cannot tell you enough how much I appreciate the SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS in this book. I love them.
I definitely relate to wanting a sequel, but I also think the ending was so, so good as a standalone. I love how it left me wanting more but also feeling satisfied enough that I could see Sam being okay. It’s a delicate balance and you nailed it!
Just keep doing what you are doing, and thank you so much for sharing your stories with us!!!
I AM GENUINELY SO HAPPY FOR YOU AND THE FACT THAT THIS LIL BAD BOY IS OUT IN THE WORLD. It is such a freaking highlight seeing what you’ve accomplished and I’m so excited to get my hands on it (hopefully soon, fingers crossed my dad finds a job soon so I don’t have to cover their expenses much longer) because I already know it will be brilliant!!!!! LITERALLY THOUGH, this is definitely one of the best parts of 2019 and I SWEAR I’M NOT MAKING GRABBY HANDS AT MY SCREEN RN.
This is the part where if I was a cake decorated (and, er, had any sense of ART and talent when it comes to said artsy fartsy stuffs) I’d have made a cake in celebration of this book!!!
giveaways are my new favorite thing.
I’m so glad you had so many awesome experiences connected to The Boy Who Steals Houses! I think flowers, ice cream, and people flailing and fawning over your book sounds like a pretty awesome release day! I just finished TBWSH a few days ago! I sped through it, I was so hooked! AND THAT ENDING WAS NOT OKAY, CAIT! (Also, I just read the deleted potato scene and my thoughts on it are 😍)
ahhahhh! i’m so, so happy for you cait! i have a copy of your second son literally sitting right next to me atm and i’m about to dive in. my irl book club – the ya circle – picked it for our april botm and i nearly BURSTED with excitement because a) i’m so excited to read it but b) being able to gush about it with so many other people is going to be amazing. i just- asdfgjkl. i really have all my fingers and toes and limbs crossed for you to be able to keep writing because you’re doing an amazing job and you deserve all the contracts in the world…. if only it worked like that, i know but i’m so hopeful for you 💛✨
p.s. looooove the new blog design! and i’m getting emails! hurrah!
Ugh okay, where do I start??
I read your book A Thousand Perfect Notes just last month and I haven’t been able to get over it. It was PERFECT. It was everything I have EVER wanted in a book. I can’t tell you how much it meant to me, so instead let me thank you.
I finished your book in a few hours, staying up for goodness knows how long and your work has made the world a little brighter for me.
Also, where will you announce the winner??? (I’ve been avoiding Instagram until I watch Endgame so if its on there, I wouldn’t know)
Thanks for hosting it!!!