Authors from A to Z: C

Authors from A to Z is a posting challenge hosted by

Heather at Proud Book Nerd. The challenge is simple: each day for the month of June (except Sundays) share your favorite authors whose last name corresponds to the letter for that day.  
For more info, click the photo.

How I'm participating in the challenge:

This year I am going to try to highlight just one author each day that I am really taken with. If I can't come up with one, it may be a book, a song, or a surprise!

C = Ally Carter

Ally Carter has been and continues to be one of my favorite YA authors ever. Her books, which include the Gallagher Girl series and the Heist Society series, are clean, fun, and smart. I don't know how she comes up with the stories she does (it would hurt my head to figure that stuff out!) but I love them.
Right now I'm looking forward to the third Heist Society book, which will release in 2013, because I don't really want to think about the next Gallagher Girl book, as it will be the last (V_V).

Besides her amazing books (which are responsible for getting me back into reading YA), I love that Carter offers up so much help and information on her website for aspiring authors. If you're interested in becoming an author, especially if you write YA, I recommend the For Writers section of her blog.