Collateral by Ellen Hopkins

I rate this novel 3.5 out of 5

Ashley is stuck in a game of waiting. Waiting for news of Cole. Waiting for him to come home. Waiting for him to be taken away again. This is what happens when you decide to fall in love with a marine; it is the path in life you agree to trudge. And Ashley has excepted and embraced this reality, or mostly at least. Now however she is starting to change her mind about some things. Her job, her Master’s program, her future career, and now Cole are all looking a lot less permanent. Can two people stay in love when they are hardly together and growing apart every day? Ashley must face these questions and the consequences of her own choices as the story of collateral unfolds. 

Ellen Hopkins, acclaimed and widely known for her Young Adult books, is and probably always will be one of my favorite writers. Her unique poem novels tell stories in a way I have found irresistible since the moment I picked her up for the first time. Of course I have favorites, or ones that are less intriguing to me than the others. That being said, I have to admit that Collateral has fallen into the latter. 

It was a good novel, the story sucked me in, and I was pretty consistently glued to the pages as the book came to its climax. Hopkins' voice remains an informative and interesting narration. However, I was slightly disappointed in comparing it to her other novels. Perhaps the story was just not my thing, or it had something to do with my dislike of the main character. However my reaction stands: it was a good novel but it wasn't her best.

-Alissa Tsaparikos

Nano Day 27: 50,002 words!!!!!!!!!!

I did it!!!! I met the nano goal a full three days early!

My novel is half done, but I never felt better about things. I will keep writing as much as I can before the days are up and then keep going until the sequel to my first book is finished! I never thought  I could do it and I made so many excuses not to try. But I did it and I know I can do it again. I am so happy right now. I am the biggest fangirl of my own story, and I don't even care how sad that is.

Requiem By Lauren Oliver

I rate this book 3.5 out of 5

Lena is back in the Wilds, safe for the moment, but what was once a place of refuge is now anything but. The Wilds have never been kind to the uncureds who hid in it's wooded depths, but now there is more than weather and animals to fear: cureds are coming and they are determined to wipe the infected out. In their little group it's anything but easy, as Lena tries to stay alive long enough to fight for the right to love. But things would be a lot less complicated if Lena even knew which boy she was fighting for; Julian who followed her into the Wilds with nothing but blind faith and patient affection, or Alex, her first love brought back from the dead who wants nothing to do with her. 

Requiem as the third and final book in the Delirium series is a good one. It took me a little bit for me to get into full swing reading of this book, but once I did I was hooked. Though there is some repetitiveness to the narration, and a few editorial mistakes that I noticed, it wasn't too distracting and I still enjoyed the story over all. The split narration between Lena and Hana was also a very interesting move on Oliver's part. The inside view into a cured's mind was fascinating, and the experience of juggling between the stories really amped up the tension. I found myself glued to the pages as the story ran full tilt towards it's climax, and I do have to say I personally was pleased with the ending. Though this series is not the most arresting one I've ever immersed myself in, the story and the world it concerns is very thought provoking and interesting. It would be well worth any readers’ time to complete this series.

By Alissa Tsaparikos

Nano Day 26: 47,373 words!!!

and yes, it is 1 am but I still count it as day 26 so 

Nano Day 25: 45,003!!!

Only 5,000 more words and I hit nano goal!!! Not long now!

Too bad my novel will only be half done at that point....oooooooh well. Looks like I have some more writing ahead of me, but I've gotten a good start!

Nano Day 24: 42,897 words

Nano Day 23: 41,189 words!!

120 pages exactly!!! It's coming along!

Nano Day 22: 39,484 words

Today was a real struggle to get through, writing wise. I made it to my goal, just barely.

Nano Day 21: 37,777

I made my goal today with three words to spare and a ton of fear. The things I worry about as a writer, is it good enough,  does it sound like crap, am I wasting my time? These questions are plaguing me tonight. I pushed through it anyway. I'm still hoping for the best. No matter how crap it is, 110 pages is worth something

Nano Day 20: 36,072

Made my goal and a little over, but I found it difficult today.

Nano Day 19: 34,293 words!!!

Woooooo!!! I reached 100 pages!!!

Also I brainstormed and finally saw the end, and how to get there, clearly!!! It was a good night for writing!

Nano Day 18: 32,237

Nano day 17: 30,378 words

Woooooo over 30,000!!!! I have almost 90 pages! ^.^  Very happy. Now for some Once Upon A Time!

Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

I rate this book 4.9 out of 5

The summer King is missing, the Dark Court is weakened and unbalanced, Bananach's threat of War looms on the horizon. The future of all the faeries is at stake, but can anything be resolved without killing Bananach, a move that would doom them all? Everything comes to a head in this final end-cap novel for Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series, and it is a finale not to be missed.

Fantasy, especially the ever re-visited fairy tale, is often a hard genre to get a reader to take seriously. Mostly it has a very specific readership. However, I dare anyone not to be sucked in by Marr's Wicked Lovely series. Done out as an urban fantasy that tracks the intrigues and problems of the various fairy courts through a multitude of main characters it makes for a fresh and modernized take on an old topic. With each book the action and adventure outdoes itself, delivered with easy flowing narration and excellent characterization.

As the fifth and final installment, Marr's storytelling technique neither becomes repetitive nor ridiculous, a sad but frequent fate of series that have more than two or three books. Fairy stories are something that seem to be often overlooked or discounted as girly interests, but Melissa Marr gives this stereotype a run for it.

Though this is a review for the most recent book, I highly recommend the entire series. If you like fantasy and adventure this will be just what you are looking for.

*COMMENT ON FINALE ENDING* *SPOILERS AHEAD*

*proceed with caution*

My only critique was, as a final book I was left with two unanswered questions. Does Ash now owe Far Dorcha for the saving of Keenan? When she meets him earlier in the book she lets the Death Fey touch her face, thereby giving her the right to a request of him. However when she makes the request it is for Far Dorcha to help Keenan and Donia, whatever the cost. This insinuates that Ash could become in debt to the Death Fey, which is no small thing. However Far Dorcha merely walks away without saying if this is the case, and though it is all resolved, there is never any reflection on her having a debt or not.

The second unanswered bit of intrigue, what does Keenan owe the water fey for their help in the war? He promised them a favor and it seemed to be insinuated that the head of the water fey would like to drown him, good and properly unlike the first time.

Neither of these are very important details, but I still wondered about them. My questions do not however distract from what I consider a fantastic ending. I am still very happy with it and rather hope that the unanswered questions means an opening for another book. 

By Alissa Tsaparikos

Nano Day 16: 28,678 words and a comment on making it past the half way mark

When I went into NanoWriMo this year, I expected it to be hard. I thought that I might get behind in writing, that it would be a struggle to find time to write everyday, or that I would run out of ideas, or suddenly get a block that I just couldn't get by.  There were so many things about writing 50,000 words in a month that seemed tenuous and easily broken. My first novel, which amounted to a little over double the nano month goal, took four years to write and another year of editing to finish properly. I am STILL editing it now. I wasn't sure how writing the sequel, or at least the first 50,000 words, in so little time would go, but I was willing to try. I needed to prove that just because I graduated from school didn't mean I would stop writing. I wasn't going to give up my dreams.

I don't know why but I didn't expect it to go well, and as it turns out I was proved both wrong and right at the same time.

Against all my own odds and expectations, the writing has gone fabulously for setting down such lofty goals for a relatively slow writer. However, life in and of itself completely exceeded any premonition of how much can go wrong in a two week period. It was less a few bad days and more like all of them ganged up on me and mugged me in a dark alley before leaving me for dead.

There is always a lot to be said on "leaving it all at the door" to write. For most of my life I have made a myriad of excuses about why I couldn't write: school, illness, stress, this that and the other thing. There was always something. I have written a lot over the years, and I've been far from idle, but my productivity always depended on a time where there wasn't something else demanding my attention. I've known of Nano for about three years now, and yet never attempted it because I was so sure my college classes were more important. 

Now half way through with my first Nano attempt and I've realized the most important lesson from it I could have. It's the one thing every writer and writing instructor try to tell other writers, and yet for some reason we don't listen. JUST WRITE. It is never that easy, but life never is going to stop. I was an English major with an emphasis in creative writing, what could have been more important than pursuing the passion that led me to that degree in the first place!? 

In these last few weeks I have gone through just as much time consuming stress as I did while at school, but I've still managed to write. I went into Nano determined to win, refusing to allow myself the excuses. I learned that despite it all I could in fact generate large amounts of fiction that, though flawed and in desperate need of eventual editing, is still written out and now there to work with. I have been postponing the sequel to my first book for over a year, and now in two weeks time I have almost 85 pages of a story. 

Life doesn't stop. The tension that permeates my home has not evaporated. My loans from school did not go away. Graduating and getting my diploma was less the easy process it could have been and more a tooth and nail fight to get what I had rightly earned. The stress of having sick animals and taking care of them did not get easier but much much harder. Living across the world from the one I love is as heartbreaking and difficult as you would expect. I am strung out and worn down, sleep deprived, stressed. I miss my best friends and yearn to live on my own. I enjoy being at the library where I am an Assistant Librarian more than I enjoy being home lately. Life is not getting easier. 

But I wrote. Everyday I sat down and wrote and wrote and wrote. Sometimes I worked back to back hours, working until 9pm write my goal and then got up by 7 the next morning to work the day shift the next day. I wrote anyway. I slogged through the shit and I wrote. 

The struggle is still there and is not going away. But now I know. I could lose everything. Life could hit me in every possible way over and over. And I would still always have my writing. Life can't take this story away from me. Even if I lose the words, which with the fickleness of technology is always a possibility, I'd still know I could do it, that I did do it, and if it came down to it I could do it again. 

I am a storyteller, and no matter what I do in life, where I go, what I lose or gain, I have the stories and the words to use them. And that counts for more than I can ever say. 

Keep nano'ing on my friends. I hope the fight to write is going alright for you

Nano Day 15: 26,978

It was a very long and stressful day. I am very surprised I made it to the goal today...

Nano Day 14: 25,278!!!!!!!!

Half way there!!!!!!

Still haven't written my review yet but since I got my word goal before 12am even with working until 9 tonight, I'm excusing myself.

Nano Day 13: 23,578

Reached my word goal and I should keep writing. I should also write a review for Darkest Mercy. I'm going to read fanfiction instead.....no regrets...

Nano Day 12: 21,836

Today was slow and still stressful, but I finished my writing goal and finished the amazing Wicked Lovely series finale Darkest Mercy, which was so great that I am now causally puking rainbows. Review will be up soon ^.^

nano day 11: 20,096

Posted this a bit late, technically in the day 12 area since I didn't log it in until after 12am, but whatever. I haven't gone to bed yet, therefore it is not the next day...because I said so...

Nano Day 10: 18,379

I wrote hardly anything today. It was a long and stressful day. My kitten got a shot that made him have a reaction and I spent three hours in the emergency animal clinic waiting to see if he was okay. I have to monitor him and give him medicine for the next 3 to 4 days, which is even more stress because darn it I love that little bugger like my own child (AND SERIOUSLY HOW DO PARENTS SURVIVE RAISING CHILDREN?).
Because of all the excess emotion and upset I'm also having my own panic attack. Three and counting today...
I don't like today. I think I'll try for another

Nano Day 9: 18,096

Feeling a little better today.
I made my goal for the day and even exceeded a bit.
The world is still filled with hope and I can be brave when things get tough, this I have to believe.

Nano update day 8: 16,252

Hello all

I skipped my update yesterday because there is a very stressful happening in my life at the moment. I did write to my daily goal yesterday, however I didn't even think to blog about it because of all that is on my mind.

I'll probably explain later when it all gets worked out, but for now, I'm just trying not to think about it.

cheers until next time

Nano day 6: 12,800 words

I've apparently hit a writing roll, going way over my word count. I could probably write more because I am not tired nor taxed in the least. But I'm suffering from an incorrigible and abrupt bout of laziness and have therefore decided to watch a movie and eat a pomegranate instead. woops...

Nano Day 5: 10,000 words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10,455 to be exact.

And I'm not going to overachieve this time even. Now I am going to relax.

Nano day 4 Update: 8,696 words

I skipped the day three update because I had a terrible headache and after finishing my word count goal went straight to bed at 9pm.

Today writing went smoothly enough but I was so beat from work today that it was less enjoyable than usual.

My biggest accomplishment came in the form of my best (and only non-writer friend) starting Nano late on day three and managing to write over 7,000 words in two days. Considering this bestie of mine hasn't wrote anything more than a couple pages before I am seriously impressed and proud of her. It seems we are all getting in the Nano spirit!

In other news, if all goes well and I meet my daily goal again I will hit 10,000 words tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

I rate this YA novel 5 out of 5

            Within The City there is the Carnival of Souls. It is a place where pleasure, pain, and money, are     bought and sold and the rule of the daimon Marchosias extends over all it's inhabitants. In this order of cast and protocol Kaleb and Aya, two daimons from very different casts, fight for a chance to change their destinies. However their fights and lives are more entangled than they ever could imagine. And then there is Mallory, a girl who has grown up in the human world, taught by her father that witches like him are to be trusted, while daimons from The City are the sworn enemy. It is all she has known in her life filled with training and running from the daimons that seek what her father stole from them long ago. If only she could find what had been stolen and return it, then maybe their lives could settle down. Maybe they could be a normal family. But the mystery of the stolen object is one with the power to change her whole existence and everything she has come to know. 
            Carnival of Souls is dark, bewitching, and utterly entrancing. In the same way Marr developed an entire world and hierarchy for the fey in her Wicked Lovely series, she does it again with the same fantastic results in this newest series beginning. 
            Told from multiple points of view, the reader watches the story unfold from all sides, no part of the story neglected or left half told. It is a rich and refreshing narration that a reader looks forward to in this novel, the action violence and romantic intrigue balanced perfectly.
I highly recommend this new series, and any of Marr's other books to readers. Though working, participating in NaNoWriMo, and keeping up with a decently active social life, I still managed to finish this book in a matter days. 

by Alissa Tsaparikos

Nano day 2: 5,106 Words and the First Plot-Twist of the Month

I know when a writer uses the term plot-twist they refer to what is happening in their stories. However, sometimes I like to apply it to life. And boy did I have a plot-twist happen to me last night, though admittedly it did have to do with story I am now writing

I was sitting back, feeling pretty happy about my word count, skimming a few paragraphs. And then it hit me. My whole first novel, the one this sequels, was written in 1st person. I had written these first 9 pages in 3rd. OH THE CALAMITY. 

But then I thought about it and I decided to roll with things. As I said in my first update, things were going really well, just kind of rolling out. If it was going so smoothly, and felt so right, maybe it wasn't a mistake. Or maybe I'm just lazy and don't want to go back and change it all. However the case may be, I wondered about whether or not my first part of this story, the finished first novel, was flawed by being done in 1st person. It has always vaguely felt like the story was lacking something and merely chalked it up to the story line or my own writing style being at fault. However maybe the POV was somewhat to blame. I did originally narrate this story (whilst orating it to friends in it's very very beginning) as 3rd person. It was what made sense seeing as it was from the different points of view of four main characters. When I did my first draft attempt at the beginning (about 15 or 20 pages) I did the whole account in 1st person. For a bit I floundered. wondering if it was possible to do a four person narration all in 1st. The conclusion I came to was yes, though characterization was that much harder beings as it had to be that much more unique going from one character to the next. And so I wrote. 

So while I made the attempt and eventually finished, I'm starting to wonder which was the right choice. I have decided to leave it up to my readers. 

Below is a snippet from both the 1st and 3rd POV. Please leave comments and opinions. Any little bit helps.

Both are from the character Lucian's point of view.

From A Servant and Her Princess

• I was halfway done packing a case when Will walked into my room. Turning, I stepped in front of the bag, somehow self-conscious.
  His eyes narrowed. “Going somewhere?” He asked it casually, but there was something dangerous in his voice.
  “Yes.”
  “And where might that be? Not after the servant is it?”
  “And if it is?” I asked, not even trying to vale my wariness.
  Something hung between us and I wasn’t sure what he would do. This was a different person from the boy I had grown up with. This man was hard, bitter. This man did not like me at all. He stood motionless, no visible reaction on his face. He turned to leave and facing away from me spoke slowly. “And if I forbid you to leave – forbid you to choose that woman a second time?”
              His implication of power over me, power he had never threatened or used over me before, made me flush red with fury. No one would keep me from doing as I wished and he knew this better than anyone. Was he aiming to make me become an outlaw? “Are you going to make me stay?” I asked just as calmly, not belying the maelstrom of anger and frustration wreaking havoc within.
              Will seemed to sag then, as if the challenge was too great. He turned to leave but stopped at the doorway. “Think carefully about your next actions Lucian. You have always been my closest friend and confident, but my trust can only be spread so thin. Make you decision now. Leave if that is what you feel you must do, but know this, if you leave you will not be welcomed back here. A friend divided, sly, and tricksome as you are is no friend at all. And before you rush off to go save the love you so desperately want, ask yourself if it really is the right thing. By all means I cannot make up your mind for you, but it seems to me you have hurt that girl enough to last her a lifetime. I imagine yours if the last face she wants to see for as long as she lives. In fact, didn’t she say just that the last time you saw her? A reunion with her will only cause a world of hurt for everyone involved and those left behind,” he paused, looking at me imploringly. “Just think for once Lucian, really think. After all the grief you have caused her, if you really care for her you could give her the greatest gift of all now and let it go. Make it so she never has to see your face again, the face that betrayed her,” and then he was gone. 

From An Adviser and His King

• Anger started to mingle with his initial shock and Lucian pushed up off the ground and placed himself directly in front of his friend’s path, giving him no choice but to look Lucian in the eye. “And what of my defending the honor of you and your wife.”
              Will sighed heavily and looked away from him. “The honor of your King and Queen doesn’t seem to have been the first priority in your life up to this point.”
              Lucian tensed at the jab, felt his fists ball reflexively. But it had been years since they were children who could settle an argument with a playful brawl and if Lucian was honest with himself he wasn’t quite sure that he and Will were even a shadow of their former selves. What had happened to those children he wondered.
              Forcing himself to relax his pose Lucian backed away a step or two and tried for a soft expression. “True my mind mighten always have been on Kings and Queens, or Princess and Princesses. But you know I could never stand by and listen to someone abuse my friend.”
              He wasn’t sure if there was any hope of his friend forgiving him, but if anything could remind Will of their closeness it would be through a memory of every time Lucian had come home bloodied and bruised but with a smirk on his face. Will would always ask who had done it, but Lucian would never tell. Sly and vindictive he could be, but he wouldn’t boast about beating ruffians to a pulp who spoke unkindly about the, at the time, young and bumbling Prince. Lucian always thought Will might have known, but until that moment he hadn’t acknowledged it before.
              Will did not smile or joke but his posture softened and he let out a breath that sounded quite a lot like defeat. Lucian bit back a smile. Will had remembered. There was still hope for their friendship left. Honesty seemed to be the key to at the moment so Lucian decided to take a chance.
              “I’ve missed my friend,” Lucian said, his voice low.

It's November First

And just about every writer knows what that means....NaNoWriMo!!

I am participating this year for the first time :). I spent just about every November since I found out what NaNoWriMo was making up excuses about why I didn't have time and other yadda yadda , but no more! I have joined the fast foray of scurrying fingers on keyboards for the next month to produce a first draft of my next novel.

My first NaNoWriMo will be spent constructing the sequel to my first finished novel A Servant and Her Princess. I've spent a lot of my time wondering whether that novel was a waste of four years writing. I have only had two dedicated readers. One of these was a professor at my Uni who helped me work through and do the biggest editing job of my life. I used that novel as a Senior Writer At Work project, the final creative writing class credit I needed for my major. However after that, no readers I asked were really biting, so I wondered if I should give up on it. The novel itself needed a sequel to end properly, a sequel I had not written. I went back and forth on whether the endeavor was futile and if I shouldn't even bother finishing it. Why finish something if it was going no where to begin with? As the first approached I decided to use a more recent project as the one to be written this month. I had made my decision, even posting the title, summery and snippet of the story to come on my NaNoWriMo page. And then 15 minutes before November 1st I knew I wasn't choosing the right path. I logged back onto the page I had created 40 minutes ago and edited my new novel info. The story to be written would be the sequel to my first novel. And then I went to bed.

Now why would I write a finish for an already possibly dead end novel? Well, the easy answer is that I'm not going to give up, not ever. I do a fair amount of down talking on my own writing, but I have to admit, no matter all the flaws of my first novel, I love it. I love the characters with their juvenile behavior and the plot with all it's holes, I love it all. It is a flawed thing, but I worked very hard on it and it is the first finished novel generated by me and only me. I learned a whole heck of a lot and both me and it came a long way from the seventeen-year-old who started to write a story she had told her friends for fun.

Yes I want to get published some day. Yes I want my stories to be read and shared by more than me and my friends. But I don't think it is the most important thing anymore. Sure it is a very big life goal, but it isn't everything. The story, my creativity, THAT  is everything to me. As long as I have those things I will always be fine and always carry on. Being published would be great but as I've iterated many times before, there are many authors I have read that are unpublished and absolutely amazing and their writing brilliant. Not being published doesn't mean a damn in the face of the greatness that is their story. So sure, maybe this story and it's sequel won't be published, maybe it will be written and finished just for me, and that is absolutely fine by me. Because I learned so much writing the first, and I think I will learn even more finishing the second.

I have no regrets about my decision. I wrote my first 1751 words (84 over my daily goal!) in less than two hours. Everything just flowed out. I hadn't even really made a concrete plan on where I wanted to go with things, but like the first time, the story just began to happen. I am absolutely sure it is going to get harder every day and I will have many points where I want to give up, but I am still happy with this choice because I feel like this story wants to be written.

I would go on even more on the subject, but it is November 1st and it's time to write!

Smoke by Ellen Hopkins

I give this YA novel 5 out of 5 

Pattyn Von Stratten is still breathing, even though her heart is still with the love of her life and their unborn child, ripped from life by a car crash. Living a life far from home under an assumed name Pattyn tries to move on, but remains weighed down by the guilt of what she now considers ill sought revenge. Back in their Mormon home, Pattyn’s sister Jackie reveals the struggle of a family trying to knit itself back together, but can something that was never really whole be fixed? Can either of these sisters ever find peace and move forward?

Raw and arresting, Smoke is the Burned sequel every Ellen Hopkins fan has been waiting for. Hopkins picks right up from where the story last ended in its devastation and weaves a tale of hope and renewal. Still filled with twists and unexpected turns, Smoke is not short on excitement or drama. It is a careful line to be drawn, but somehow Hopkins always manages to hit it just right, delivering narration and story that seems so real and human that a reader can’t help but connect to it.

Though her eleventh book written and a sequel to boot, this poem novel is equal to her best writing. It seems with Hopkins’ writing it only gets better. And in the case of Burned, Smoke gives Pattyn and her family the resolution they always deserved.

A forever fan of Hopkins’ books and style of writing, I’ve always recommended Burned as a great read, only warning that its end is harsh and can really take it out of a reader emotionally. However, with an end-cap like Smoke to depend on, the story is even more worth the read.

By Alissa Tsaparikos

Etiquette and Espionage: Finishing School Book 1 by Gail Carriger

I rate this book a 4 out of 5

Equipped with the most atrocious curtsy and a propensity for breaking all the rules, Sophronia Temminnick is the exact opposite of the proper lady her frazzled mother wishes her to be. At wits end, her mother does what any troubled mother of a wayward daughter must, send her to finishing school.  But what first seems to Sophronia as the worst fate of all, soon reveals itself as a blessing in disguise, because Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality is not at all what it seems. With instruction on the proper way to flutter one’s eyes and curtsey followed by knife throwing and the correct way to poison, Sophronia learns quickly there might be many other ways to “finish” than she first thought.

Taking place in the same Victorian Steampunk alternate universe as Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate adult novel series, Etiquette and Espionage is the young adult precursor to those novels events.

Written with the same wit and dashing adventure as her previous books, Sophronia’s shenanigans are quite a bit of fun to read. Though the character names are a bit of a mouthful, the Victorian semantics laid on a little thick, and the plot somewhat predictable, the novel is overall very well done and well worth the read. Not done with as much diligence to the time as her previous series, Carriger still brings out a great amount of historical reference, making the novel educational and fun, much like the finishing school within the story.

As I read there was a distinct feeling of YA about the narration, one that almost seemed over emphasized at times. However it wasn’t too distracting from the story, and though the Parasol Protectorate remains my favorite of her writing, I still very much recommend this book and look forward to reading the next ones in the series.  

By Alissa Tsaparikos

The House of Chimes

So I know that I've been in the middle of far too many writing projects to even try starting a new one. But I don't think I'd even know how to do things if I wasn't in the middle of 500 things at once. I just can't let go of good ideas when I am lucky enough to get them.

Though I have been writing other things and working on a few big baddies in the novel-esque department, this one fell into my lap and I am very excited about it.

This will be to date the first children's novel I have ever attempted. YA, adult fiction, and adult non-fiction are all familiar genre's for me. I have not, however, attempted anything of substantial size that was specifically aimed at children. This character just feels twelve years old. There is no getting around it. So I'm not fighting and just seeing what happens.

So far I have fifteen or so pages, some large plot points laid out, and some major character back story and development. It's a lot more than I can say for some of my projects so I am pretty happy.

Story line so far includes a house that runs on an inner clockwork all it's own and is inexplicably alive, a young girl who doesn't listen and refuses to accept the transparent excuses given to her and the other children who live in the house, and a mystery that once discovered can't be forgotten or turned away from.

It's definitely in it's begging stages, but I can't wait to see what happens.

A Modern Re-vamp Re-vamped: My Take on Pride and Prejudice in the 21st Century

                       So as most every one has noticed, the modern day reinterpretation story is very in at this point in time. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries web series modeled as a blog took this by storm, gaining thousands of subscribers and viewers and much notice and acclaim while they were at it. I myself was an avid fan and viewer, watching all 100 of the videos of the series and then following the cast and writers' progress all the way to the Emmy's where they won for the amazing job they all did. Now the team is back at it again with Emma Approved, their next vlog type series based off Jane Austen's Emma.
                     
                        But what exactly is it that they are doing? They are doing what has been done so many times before, but with a twist refreshing and engaging enough that still pulls everyone in and keeps them coming back for more. The LBD project was a definite success. There are of course many similar attempts that don't quite hit the mark.

                       A next big project I've started to work on and want to aim towards is to do as they and many other have before them have done. I want to to take the bare essentials of Austen's Pride and Prejudice and make it a new story, one that works in today's world. I have no idea if I will hit that mark or get anywhere near it. My initial reaction is to say I won't, but I'm trying to just write and not think about that quite yet. If it never makes it any further than the internet, I'm not sure I will even be upset. As I have already mentioned here and here, I believe that writing and the sharing of a story should not be confined merely to the whims of the publishing industry. Nor do I believe that a person should be barred from writing on a story or in a specific world just because another author came up with the original idea. If it worked for Shakespeare, I think that it can work okay for me too. So I'm going to try writing this story my way and see where it leads me.

Tell me what you think of this idea. :)

Beautiful Darkness and the dreaded reading slump

                 True to my word I did indeed go from reading Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl to the next book in the series Beautiful Darkness. I had high hopes that the story would start giving some of the answers that left me wondering as a reader at the end of the last book. However to my disappointment the befuddlement and over-mysterious cloud that Ethan constantly wanders through during these books only becomes more dense and aggravating. Then to my dismay I found myself in the reading slump. Nothing about this book could hold my attention. I have renewed it and renewed it on my card at the library over and over, and still I seem to make barely any head way with the story.

                 Now as reading funks go, it can be hard to tell if it is the particular book you are reading that has caused it, or if it is just one of those times that reading just isn't on the menu, no matter how good the story (at least that's how it goes for me). However, with this book, I'm starting to wonder if it is really the culprit. I am a little over 100 pages into the book and practically nothing has happened, and the communication between characters has become, if anything, even worse. I've become fed up with how little the authors are giving the reader as far as information and the story goes. Until I finish the book I'd have no way of knowing if these problems resolve themselves, but already discouraged the forecast for finishing doesn't look good.  As well as this, the reading slump isn't be so slumpish either. I have been reading. Perhaps not conventional published book reading, but reading nonetheless.

                  All this being said, I've decided to give it a rest. This book is not to be read at this moment. Perhaps I will get back to it later. Perhaps not. We shall see.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

I rate this YA novel 3.5 out of 5

This is a semi-spoiler review. Nothing hugely important is given away, but proceed with caution.

            I approached this novel with a sense of intrigue. Like most book lovers, I enjoy watching (and judging) adaptations of books when they are set to film. However, I also love watching a film and then pursuing it further to the book it is based off. To me it is an excellent way to further delve into a world I am already interested in due to the films presentation. This is how I found myself in the case of this novel. I had heard much upset from fans of the book when it came to the movie, so I was not in the least surprised when I found the book to be vastly different to that of its film counterpart. If this is one of those books you wish to hurriedly read so you can watch the movie, stop now. Watch the movie, enjoy it (or not) for what it is and then read the book and enjoy it (or not) for what it is. They are definitely two different entities. The stories, though similar, hardly coincide.

This is a book review however, and so on to the review! I did enjoy this book. It was well written and very interesting. The story is intriguing and the narrative choice of Ethan really made a difference in the normal supernatural teen romance adventure types. The advantage of this, the main character and reader being out of the loop and questing for information, makes for great reading incentive. However there were some parts of the story that just didn’t seem fully explained. I wanted more and even at the end of the book there were important pieces of the plot that I didn’t understand. These included things such as: why Macon was what he was and not a Castor like everyone else, why exactly Lena was so special when she turned sixteen unlike all the other Castor’s, and what the heck was up with her connection with Ethan in the first place. I understand that Lena being a Natural made a big difference with the whole claiming herself part of the plot, but if that was the long and the short of things being so different I wish that there could have been more questioning about their extreme measures over her in comparison to say Ridley, who just ran off into the night and that was the end of that. I know that all these questions and maybe more might be discussed in future books, therefore I am willing to let them go, for now.

All in all it was a pretty good book. It wasn’t the most amazing thing I have ever come across, but it had good plot and great characters. I fully plan to read on through the rest of the series. 

By Alissa Tsaparikos

Dead Ever After: The Final Sookie Stackhouse Novel by Charlaine Harris

I rate this Adult Fiction piece 4.5 out of 5

Thirteen books later and I must admit, I am definitely still a fan. I had always been a bit worried about this series. Though interesting, a series so long can many times jump the shark before it finally comes to an end. By this I mean that the writing becomes less immaculate and the characters are forced to do more and more unrealistic and ridiculous things in worn out plot devices simply because the author is grabbing at straws to keep it going. Bad writing, going against characterization, and the inevitable loss of readership is the usual outcomes of such a fate. However, I am happy to report that this last installment of this long supernatural mystery series, is still just about as fresh, fun and intense as the last twelve.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and finished it in only a few days, I am happy the series came to an end. Amazing writing or no, even the best story world and plot devices can become worn out. I believe Sookie got a good final ending and it should stay that way. For any more crazy happenings to occur for her, it might take on the ‘been there, done that’ feel. As it is, what with running through every enemy, both in every variety of supe, vamp, fairy and human, Sookie might have to outrage some aliens next to mix up the story line (I am kidding…please don’t do this Charlaine!).

All in all it was a really great read and I recommend any fans to devour this last book posthaste.

Note on the end – Spoilers to follow –

I am so very happy that Sookie ending up with Sam came to a natural conclusion. As a reader the believability of the situation was really great. It didn’t feel forced or as if the author was making the characters do something they didn’t want to. It came at a natural progression and worked very well.

I also very much appreciated the final note from Sookie, being that she will always strive forward and live her life, man or no man. Sure it is really nice that she probably will end up with her best bud Sam. However, Sookie’s life isn’t hinged on that working out. She has always been presented as a strong independent woman throughout the many dangerous adventures and misadventures she gets into during the novels. Though she takes her fair share of lovers throughout the book, it was never about Sookie needing to be with a man. It was more like the flowery decoration of the novel: a nice steamy scene here and there to break up the violence and intrigue. The idea at the end however is less of romance, but more of good reliable friendship as well as the permanence of Sookie’s presence in her home that has belonged to the Stackhouse’s since her grandparents. It gave the novel a nicely open ending that was not only pleasing but also realistic.

By Alissa Tsaparikos

A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard

This review is a little different from my usual pieces because I rarely read non-fiction. However this gripping book was too good to put down or pass up.

I rate this memoir 4.5 out of 5.

A Stolen Life details Jacyee Dugard’s harrowing experience as a kidnap victim who is forced to live in the backyard of her abductor for the next eighteen years of her life, suffering horrible neglect and sexual and mental abuse.  In those years she bears two daughters to her rapist, and grows from an eleven year old child into an adult, always striving to look for hope and a future for herself and then her children. Years of her life are taken away, but this is a novel about a woman who refuses to give up.

Written in first person present tense the narration is bare and revealing. Little to nothing is left out in the revelations of what she goes through.  Besides the passages detailing her imprisonment there are frequent reflections done in the point of view of the present day woman. In these moments she talks about the experience with some critical distance and goes on to explain parts of the story that might not be immediately presented by her younger self. Part of the novel also includes diary entries that she made as a young woman, a heartbreaking collection of entries that show a beautiful soul becoming more and more desperate with each new day.

This novel is not for the faint of heart or easily upset. The descriptions of her sexual abuse as a child are graphic, pornographic, and unapologetic. Jaycee is sharing her life with the world if the people are willing to read, but she had to live through such distress and she refuses to hide or protect the man and woman who stole her childhood and so much more.  It is a life story that is deeply sad and disturbing with a surprising amount of healing in the resolution. The bravery it took to write of such an experience with such openness and then go on to live a life after, well it is something to be admired.  

As a reader I have to admit I was greatly disturbed by what I read, but I couldn’t stop reading. I finished the book in a few days and almost felt bad about reading something such as this so avidly. But it wasn’t the abuse that grips you tight and keeps you glued to the page. It is Jaycee. It is her amazing mind and her endless hopes and dreams. Through the whole thing I was rooting for her, feeling for her, and waiting for her to be saved.

Almost everyone has heard about her story when she was saved and her face and life were plastered all over the news for weeks. Even now a google search will come up with so many hits on her name and story. However, to really see things, to know what she went through and to fully understand the unflagging perseverance of the human spirit, one must read her book.

Jacyee Lee Dugard, you are an inspiration to us all.

By, Alissa Tsaparikos

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones – Book to Movie Review

I am going to start this up front with a disclaimer. There has been a lot of hate floating around, and a lot of fans becoming very defensive of the movie and books because of this hate. I am a huge fan of the books, and I did not dislike the movie. I am not here to hate or crush people’s happiness. I am simply going to explain what I liked and disliked about the movie,  as a fan of the book series and book world, as a reader, as a movie lover, and as a writer myself. These are my opinions, and may be very different from other peoples. Anyone and everyone can feel free not to like them. I am certainly not going to be the one to say that I am the queen of all and know more than anyone else about films and books. Please feel free to disagree, though I elect to ignore senseless hate. However I will again iterate, what is to follow is not hate. I do not hate the movie. I am merely going to explain likes and dislikes. I usually don’t have to explain this kind of thing up front, but with trolls rampant and fans getting more than a little upset, I wanted the record to be straight.

As a book to movie interpretation I give this one a 4 out of 5. Granted, there are a lot of things changed, especially in how the movie handled the end of the story. However, as a reader I cannot say they messed anything up. There was a lot of the same amazing wit from the book, something I loved about the writing.  Many lines were given verbatim, and that is just something great to see when analyzing book adaptations. It really brings the story to life. Also, the things they did change helped move the story along in the film version. There is no way to make an exact replica of a book’s story when transitioning it to film, but the story was, I have to say, very intact. The ending, though different in the setting and the way it was approached (including with some minor changes in scene and happening) stuck with the original story, and there wasn’t really anything important that was left out, torn apart, messed up, deluded, or any of the other numerous horrors that book fans fear when their beloved reads hit theaters. Lovers of the books breathe a sigh of relief, the story was intact!

Also, another sigh of relief, the characterization was spot on and amazing. In my opinion, just about all the characters hit me in just the right way. I was very happy to see that the actors and actresses were their characters. The only character I was massively disappointed in was Magnus. Now, I will say Godfrey Gao looked the part perfectly and he was not a bad actor, especially considering English is his second language. However, I was not sold on his performance of the infamously snarky and flamboyant warlock that the Mortal Instruments readers have come to know and love. There was just something in his lines that lacked that emotion and personality that is Magnus. I hated to say it, but the moments with him felt, to me, very wooden and rehearsed. I do hope that it has something to do with how little screen time he had in this film, and I am hoping it will become better with more in the future films. If I had not read these books, he would have been a pretty forgettable character to me, and Magnus written is anything but forgettable.

On a lesser note, Valentine was another character that I didn’t quite expect to come across as he did. He certainly was the perfect psychopath. However, I’d always seen his character as a cool and collected socio-path, ready to screw maliciously with your mind until you want to die. His truly crazy snap doesn’t really come out until much later story plot in the books, and not until the very last moment. I’m willing to blame this on the actual actor’s diva like performance, than the writing of the script.

And now further into the film:

For this second part I wanted to give a little input on the film itself and how it came across as a narrative. I personally give it a 3.5 out of 5 simply as a film. It was not a bad movie, nor was it amazing. I felt in the middle about it, though I did come away pretty happy.

One of the issues I had with it was that many of the scenes came off as so dramatic, almost to a degree that was unneeded. The fact that I wasn’t a big fan of the music selections for said dramatic parts might not have helped. On the other hand, the Mortal Instruments middle name is drama, and perhaps coming to film emphasized that in a way I noticed much more than when I read the books.

Another major issue that I noticed even more was the “convenience” of exposition and happenings. Exposition is such a hard thing to work out in this kind of situation. It can be the biggest challenge of a book to movie adaptation to give the exposition so that non- readers and newbies to the story world can keep up, but without becoming bored. This film did a pretty good job of explaining things (a fact I can back-up after speaking with a non-reader of the books after he saw the movie). There is enough that the watcher can keep up with the story-line of this film, understand what is going on, and be engaged. However, my problem was less with the content of the exposition and more with delivering of it. The way it came out just didn’t seem natural to some of the characters who were giving it, and even seemed to answer the questions before the “mundane” characters of the story even thought to ask further. I do understand what with a strict time setting and other film concerns, characters have a limited amount of time to deliver story in-between the action, especially in this film. I don’t think this film did a bad job per say. I just walked away feeling that it felt convenient the way it came across, and couldn’t get it out of my head. This especially came across for me in the scene where Isabelle is speaking with Simon, and again when Clary is with Magnus. Neither Isabelle nor Magnus would have naturally given up so much information, Isabelle not to a strange Mundane, and Magnus at least not without being coy, tight lipped, and slightly irritated at the Shadowhunter intrusion.

These nitpicks and critiques are just on the whims I felt personally as I watched the film. Overall I was pleased and I definitely urge fans to see the movie. Certainly it had some critique, but I still liked it, found it immensely entertaining, and was able to be emotionally attached to the film characters. I am also glad I can very safely say, they didn’t mess it up!

-Special love to all the Mortal Instruments fans.

By: Alissa Tsaparikos

The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

 

I would like to start this review by saying that I am a huge fan of Richelle Mead’s writing, reading both the entirety of her Vampire Academy series, its spin off the Bloodlines series, as well as her adult fiction with the Succubus series. Unsurprisingly, my expectation for this third Bloodlines book was rather high.

Happily, with a rating of 5 out of 5, I can affirm it stood that test. True to Mead’s usual narration style, the story was gripping and easy to get into, every chapter leading into the next with a cliffhanger-esque feel at each stop. With three active plots intertwining, The Indigo Spell was possibly one of the more complex of her novels, the plots interweaving well and with precision. At no time was my belief at a circumstance suspended or was I wearied by the story.

I also applaud Mead at her ability to continue to introduce complicated ‘forbidden love’ stories that are still fresh and convincing, using the hierarchy she has constructed in this version of the vampire and human world to work against the characters. It’s something that is hard to do in modern fictional stories today without sounding archaic or unrealistic. However, with the strict rules and social customs of each of the three groups introduced in this world (vampire, alchemist, and standard human) she still has a lot to work with.

Of her novels, possibly the only critique was that it took a little longer to hit the point of no stopping. Usually with her books this catch is delivered within the first few chapters of the novel, if not the first few pages. I am reduced to carry the book around wherever and whatever I am doing, unable to tear myself away. However, though still engrossing, this time around it took a few days of reading to get there. Of course once I did hit that catch I was up until 3 am finishing it in one sit in.

Overall my faith in Mead hasn’t waivered, especially in her continued ability to get the reader to love very flawed characters. I really wasn’t sure this time around when starting Bloodlines that Sydney as a narrator would do it for me but it only took a few hours of reading that first book to know I was hooked just as fast as I was with Rose’s narration.

Of the ending I will only say that it was A+ and gives the next book a great start off to pick up on. 

-Alissa Tsaparikos 

Falling onto old analogies, can writing be like a plant?

This has probably been thought of and talked about way too much, and the analogy is definitely worn out, but it still remains: can writing and the writing process be beautiful like unkempt nature?

If a writer, probably an avid reader, with natural talent but no teaching on the subject decided to write, obviously their writing might differ from the strict and confined writing methods of published and academic writing. Does this make it any more right or wrong? 

Can the wild roses of writing still smell as sweet as the perfectly arranged ones on the publishers table? Putting aside the thousands of pieces with bad grammar, flat characters, and horrible plot, among other problems, let's talk about writing that has nothing wrong with it save a deviation from the norm. In the creative writing educational field, it has been my experience that any kind of creative expression that remotely pushes away from tradition is looked down upon and not taken seriously. There is always an overall push for stories to look exactly the same, the same style and put together, the same "genre" *cough* literary fiction *cough*. Anything that doesn't go into these categories is left on the wayside as juvenile or simply not acceptable as pieces to present at college level or beyond. From the very get go one of the first things a writer learns is that if one wants to publish, one conforms to the expectations of the publisher, or one does not get published. 

There are of course those few that make the great break from the rut of today's writing and get something completely new and refreshing out there, but their acceptance into the literary world is few and far between. As most writers are taught, there are countless rules for writing, but you can do anything and write any way you want, as long as you do it well. 

But who decides what is and is not done well other than the self same publishers that demand conformity from the masses of writers who send in their work?

Now I do know that there has to be some way to comb through the slush pile, and editors have to deal with a lot when it comes to the buckets of writing they need to go through to find what works for their magazine or paper or yearly book publication. Sometimes abiding by the "rules" for sending a piece of work in helps you get published simply because it makes it easier on the editor when they come to the five hundredth poem they have been through that day.

Self-publishing on the internet, through ebooks, blogging, and other venues has provided a much needed medium for the writing that would otherwise be disregarded and snubbed in the writing industry. But sometimes I look back on another repeated piece of advice my professors never failed to bring up: to write well you must look to the classics, or even just  your favorites, the people who did it well. I think that this is advice of insurmountable importance. However, if writers look back, those who did it right very rarely seemed to listen to what publishers and the media of their day wanted. Try explaining the delicacies of comma splices and the convoluted sentence to Faulkner, or the nuances of fluency and linear thought process of story telling to Virginia Woolf and other post-modernist or feminist writers. Try explaining copy-write laws to Shakespeare. If writers look back on the greats, we often are confronted with a slew of people who broke all the rules and didn't give a fig if anyone cared. They wrote because it felt right and they needed to, because they had a story to tell, something to say. They also conveniently did it right, or at least someone of their time or after deemed that they did. 

I am in no way bashing the publishing industry or the published writing that fills our bookstores today. The industry of writing serves it's purpose, and there is still many an amazing piece of work that make it through the tough system to the other side. I am however questioning the right of literary critics, teachers, college professors, and even the average literary elitists, who somehow think that nothing is good if it isn't published. And I especially look down on those who even go so far as to condemn published genre fiction. Yes literary fiction is good fiction, no it is not the only good fiction out there. Just because a book is labeled for young adult, or a children's book, or dare I say it fantasy, science fiction, or romance,  does not mean it is unworthy trashy fiction for the masses. Yes, some of it can fall into that category, but that certainly does not mean that all of it does. As far as I am concerned, people who act like this are reading snobs, using literature as just another way to feel superior of others. All I have to say to them is that the door is that way, and they can take their negativity with them. 

I guess in conclusion to this random thought quest I have to say that I have read so much great literature, published and unpublished, genre and literary, classic and modern, fanfiction or otherwise. If someone has a story to tell, they shouldn't let anyone get in the way of telling it. Not the publishing companies, not the readership, and especially not themselves. 

- Alissa Tsaparikos

writing for funsies vs. writing for cereal

So recently I read an amazing fanfiction, Personally, I'd Rather Lick Sand. And when I say fanfiction, I mean a novel length piece of ficition that is a modern day reinterpretation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice but is otherwise completely original an holds its own in the literary  world in my opinion. My immediate reaction was that something this good should be published if possible. It seemed too good to molder away on a fanfiction site when it could reach so many more people if it were really pushed out there. As far as re-vamps of classic literature goes, they are seemingly at the peak of popularity, with the vlog The Lizzie Bennet Diaries sparking this off as of late into an even more irresistible frenzy. This being considered, in the book market of today, a fiction such as this one could make it in the published world if applied properly. However, is it important? Does it really have to be published or is it simply enough for it to be share with the world?

I think it is so very important for people to keep writing, no matter how they do it. Whether it be for fun or for work, based off a T.V. show, or another book, or a movie, as long as they keep doing it and keep sharing it. The publishing industry and copywriters should not own ideas and stories completely. Anyone who argues can take a look at Shakespeare and then see how far he would have gotten without more than a little inspiration. That being said, I guess it is up to the author to decide if they want to write as a career or just because they have to get it out. I really don't know if there is a right or a wrong answer to this. I know if I saw this fiction out on the shelf in a book store I would buy it and read it and love it being on my bookshelf. However, as an idea and piece of writing that is free fanfiction on the internet I still love and respect it, the same as I love AU fanfiction written for Doctor Who, Teen Wolf, or Merlin. And the same as I love the real Pride and Prejudice, or Harry Potter, or any of the other published work out there. They both give me genuine pleasure in reading them, as does anything that is done well. 

Are there any writers out there with thoughts or opinions on the matter? I'm interested. In the meantime, here is a link to the fic: totally worth reading at the way through if you like this kind of story  - http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4656343/1/Personally-I-d-Rather-Lick-Sand