Social Networks and the Writer

There is a common stereotype that has come about that authors are the unicorns of the professional world. Moody, easily spooked, and obviously to be treated with extreme caution, writers are all obviously social recluses that are allowed this by their profession. After all they get to sit about in their pjs all day writing.

This is sadly, not a true fact, and is actually quite the opposite. Anyone can write. It takes devoted fans to make a writer and author. To get fans you have to (you guessed it!) socialize with people! (Gasp).

Now, for those of you who are already edging away with a look of horror, don't leave me just yet. There is a way to do this without ever leaving your home, or those comfy jamjams. The saving grace of that ever reclusive writer is, social networking. I'm sure you've heard of it, it's hard not to. Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, blogging. This is how so many authors are getting their start. This is how they are getting out there before their words have ever actually hit print. Social networking.

As an aspiring published author myself, I have dutifully done my part and started to cull what I have fondly started to think of as my perspective minion following. I blog actively through this blog. What I post here I advertise through my own private Facebook, inviting perspective family and friends to become readers and take a look. I do the same on my professional twitter, my two Tumblr blogs, and Goodreads. I reach out through every medium possible and search for my readers. Writing is hardly even the half of it. You need readers for much of anything else. Betas to help you edit, like minded bloggers and writers to give you advice and help you along, and followers to spread your word. With as many social networks as I juggle I do have to give a word to the wise. Pick your favorite and then go with it, give it your all. If you are spread too thin then you won't get much of anything anywhere. I know I know, even to me saying I run three functioning blogs, a Facebook, a Twitter, LinkedIn Pinterest, and a Goodreads account sounds pretty impressive. But it took me awhile to realize that it takes a lot of devotion to really get the results and you just can't do that when you're looking in eight different directions at once. For now I focus primarily on this blog and my twitter for my writing and it has worked much better. By blogging original content here at least a few times a month, and trying to adhere to at least one tweet a day on twitter, my followings (at least on twitter) have gone up substantially. If you get off track as well, no worries! Just do your best to jump back on. Life is crazy and I'm not going to pretend that I always find time to tweet or write a blog post. But I try my best even so.

The online world can be a scary place, and I won't act like it isn't daunting trying to build from nothing. But you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Give it a try and see what happens.

And as always, keep writing!

Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead

Trapped, by her own people, struggling to survive and keep her own sanity: this is what Sydney's life has become. Re-education isn't really as bad as everyone said it would be. It's worse. The only thing she can do is keep fighting and repeat to herself that the center will hold and that Adrian will come for her. But even here, in a place fraught with danger and enemies, Sydney can't help but push the lines in a quest to do what's right.

Outside, Adrian is doing everything he can think of to find and save Sydney, but with no results. How can the center hold when he is helpless? Spirit is rising within him and it feels good, but Aunt Tatiana is growing louder. Not even partying himself senseless can get rid of her, or fill the hole Sydney left behind.

As Adrian teeters closer to the edge than ever before, it's clear that both of them are reaching their darkest hour. Their love is strong, but can it bring them back together and into the light?

This novel is the fifth installment of the action packed Bloodlines series, add on to the already established world created for Mead's Vampire Academy. For those who haven't read these series, go do now! If you want to hear what I had to say about the previous two books in the series, click the titles to find my reviews of The Indigo Spell and The Fiery Heart. Yes, yes I can already hear you Pleeeeeeeaase not another teenage vampire book. However, I can assure this one is worth your time. Witty and fast paced, Mead's writing has the reader holding on from page one, on point from beginning to end.

To say I am a fan of Richelle Mead's writing is, at best, an understatement. I don't think there is a thing I've read by her that I haven't loved. There is just something about her style that just gets me as a reader. She develops characters that are beautifully mutli-faceted and real. Her plot is a roller-coaster half part mystery and full part intense. Best of all, the cadence of her narration, no matter who it is, is unique and interesting. Silver Shadows is no exception. In fact I'd say Mead's writing and story telling only get better with each new book. Sydney has become one of my all-time favorite fictional characters. Strong, intelligent, and kick ass and that's only scraping the surface. I've become so invested in her character that reading each new book in this series is a heart-in-the-mouth experience as I fly through the pages praying everything turns out alright.

I don't want to give too much away about the plot, so I'm just going to say that I was very VERY pleased with how things turned out. I suppose some might not be as enraptured by it all, but that opinion is not mine. I will definitely warn it is emotionally trying. There were tears of pain and joy shed throughout. Yeah, that's a thing I forgot to mention. Read her books, get attached, then prepare to cry. Mead is a great writer. She's also great at torturing her own creations and the readers as a result. It's still worth it, because as Ron Weasley once said, "You're gonna suffer, but you're gonna be happy about it.'

Prepare to go from this:

to this:

and back again.

A note on the end [don't proceed if you don't want to know]

The fact that they made it through what they did could be accused of being convenient at the very least. However, I maintain, IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. ANJSKABFDJASHJ. That is all.

Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed by Michelle Knight with Michelle Buford

On May 6, 2013, it was all over the news: the recovery of three kidnapped women, held in captivity by an Ohio man for over ten years. Michelle Knight, the first of the kidnapped victims, has come forward with the help of writer Michelle Buford to tell her side of the hellish experience she was forced to endure. A tale of darkness, Michelle relates her struggles that started from long before she was kidnapped. 

As so often happens for me when I read memoirs, I always can't help but wonder how much is really true, how much shifts in the telling, what is lost and gained. From what I've come to understand of life and storytelling, even the purest intentions can lead astray because no one view is ever truly objective. Sometimes with a good memoir, I forget these questions, the story well written enough to keep me going, real or not real. This was not one of those stories. 

Though I was pulled through the story in an overall engrossing 'can't turn away from something grossly disturbing' sort of way, there were parts of it that were hard for me to swallow. Not to do with anything factually present or not, but more in relation to the writing of the prose and delivery of the story. The story is written as if it is happening in real time, though thankfully in past tense. Still, throughout much of the writing there is a lot of direct quoting as well as pinpoint detail on things already described earlier on as memories that had all 'blurred together'. For me, this sort of attempt at narration pulls me more out of the story than into it, because I often get caught up arguing in my head about whether or not one could actually remember something in so minute a detail. However, I do believe that what Michelle Knight, Gina DeJesus, and Amanda Berry went through was horrific enough to be imprinted on their minds forever. I'm not in any way trying to silence or disregard the story or this woman's words. My bone to pick is simply with the narrative style. 

Another thing to do with the writing that I still don't know how I feel about is the amateur style of the narrative. It is obvious that this story might not have become a best seller were it not for the nature of the memoir and the news blast that came from it. It at once bugged me, and yet also made me feel like the story was more authentic. After all, Knight states over and over that she barely got through a few years of high school. It would stand to reason that she would still be incredibly behind on grammar and other writing techniques once she began to try and write down her experience.

All in all the book is poignant and hard to read. Given the nature of her descriptions, coupled with the style, I don't think I'd recommend it, but I will say that it has continued to stick with me long after I finished.

An employee, a student, a writer, and an engaged woman walk into a bar...

This is kind of what my life has been lately. I know that there are many others who juggle this kind of crazy and more, so I'm not going to complain. Okay...maybe a little bit. Maybe a lot. I'm not saying my life is a joke either, but in the quiet moments left to myself I might be laughing slightly hysterically.

I guess it's no news that a full-time job, a master's class, and a fiance can take up a lot of a persons time. My blogging, and even worse, my writing has fallen to the wayside. It's a bad feeling, one I knew all too well during my time earning my Bachelors. I had to put aside what I loved doing in favor of earning a degree. It's not exactly the same situation, but it might as well be.

Okay, complaining segment done, on to the promises I may or may not keep! I am going to update more, a lot more. I'm behind two book reviews, something I plan to change in the next few moments, and I am about two weeks behind on editing my novel.

I can do this! Probably. By giving up sleep...

Who needs sleep right?

Anyway, to all you out there wearing twenty hats and teetering on the edge of crazy, you're awesome. Anyone have special ways of handling the pandemonium?

Comic-Con for the Writing Nerd: A Midwest Writers Workshop Experience

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It's that time of year again, where everyone who is any one gathers in force in San Diego for the Comic-Con to beat all Cons. There are panels and celebrities and interviews and cosplay, a play ground landscape that could fuel even the nerdiest wet dream. Now dial this back a bit, swap tenth doctor and deadpool cosplays for business casual slacks and dress shirts, instead of celebrities there are authors and agents, and everywhere you look are writers. This, my writer comrades, is the beauty of a writers conference.

Last weekend, I was part of an intense three day writing conference at the Midwest Writers Workshop in Muncie Indiana. This was my first writers conference experience, and going in I really didn't know what to expect. From 8 in the morning to past 8 at night, myself and a little over two hundred other writers got together and experienced something that was for writers, by writers, about writing and it was exhilarating, inspiring, and exhausting. Last year when I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time, I said that it made me really feel like a writer for the first time, despite going for a four year degree in creative writing. Suddenly I was generating fiction and it was amazing. When I walked out of the MWW14, I didn't just feel like a writer, but like a professional writer. It was no longer a question of if I would get published, but when. To quote Kyle Newbridge, a friend who also attended MWW14, “I actually feel like a writer now, instead of just a kid trying to throw words at paper in a pretty way”.

So what is it about this writers conference, or any other, that caused this reaction? 

Conferences give you the opportunity to meet people. Agents and publishers get hundreds and hundreds of queries and manuscripts every month, sometimes every week. Most of the beginning stages of publishing are completely played out through paper. Conferences give you the chance to make connections face to face with authors and agents alike. Networking, networking, networking. Learn to love it and know it and understand it, because a key part of becoming a published author is to not only have a following but to be part of a community of writers. Often this community of writers are the reason you find your way climbing up the publishing ladder in the first place. Where might you find the beginnings of this intimate writing community that you are supposed to be a part of? Well, a writers conference is a good place to start. I met so many amazing people and amazing writers this weekend. I've reached out through blogs and email and twitter to them since and already my writing circles have expanded. Sometimes all it takes is sitting in the right seat or standing in the right line. Exchange a card, have some brief conversation, and you've made a connection. These types of connections are so important because these are the kinds of people that will be with you, helping you through your career as a writer.

This is a place to learn. The people who set these up, guest speak, and work tirelessly to make the conference the best it can, they want you to succeed. I never considered myself someone who was ignorant in the ways of writing, but I can't even put into words all that I learned during those three days. It was almost overwhelming, seeing this whole side to the writing community I really had been ignorant of, and could have remained ignorant of had I not pushed myself to experience it. In the fast-paced media driven world we live in, the stereotype of the reclusive writer doesn't cut it anymore. To sell yourself and your work before you even get picked up by an agent or a publishing company you have to stay open to information and learning everyday. Otherwise you will miss out. At MWW14 there were panels with agents, specific presentations on everything from '7 steps to writing a novel' to the ins and outs of social networking as a professional writer. Just one example of something invaluable that I learned of that weekend was Pitch Wars, a writing competition built to help debuting writers cull their novels and get their name out there. Until MWW I never had a clue this existed. From the moment I got there until the moment I left, I will grew as a writer.

Did I mention opportunity? I'm sure it varies from conference to conference, but some of the insanely cool opportunities that are available to you at MWW for instance include: agent pitch sessions (5 minutes to pitch your novel to an agent and try your hand at getting representation), manuscript evaluations (published professionals critiquing your work to help make you better), query critiques, and more. These are one-on-one set ups where you interact with professionals who will give you the best feedback they can. Each person will get something different from a conference. Myself? In tandem with  the earlier quote, I walked in feeling like an amateur who had written "a long story" of questionable publishability, and came out with a referral to an agent, a request for the first 10 pgs of my mss from yet another agent, and more confidence in my novel than I ever believed I would have. 

So the next time you're planning a trip to meet your favorite celebrity with hopes of winning the best cosplay contest, remember to check out all the different writing conferences across the nation, and the world and nourish the other nerdy side of your brain. Your stories are amazing, so give yourself the extra push so they end up on my bookshelf too. 

- Many thanks to the Midwest Writers for giving me an amazing first experience with writing conferences. I will be back!

I Just Couldn't Get Through It – July

When I was younger I used to think I had to read every book I picked up from beginning to end. Even now I have this urge to push through a novel, no matter how much I dislike it or not. But with a “to read list” that reaches into the hundreds, I had to admit, if I didn't like it I should just stop. However, since I don't review books that I don't finish, that left me with the conundrum. How could I let my readers know? This monthly post is going to be my answer to that question. I will list any books I Just Couldn't Finish and tell why this was. It isn't exactly a review, but it's better than giving a book a 0/5 when I didn't actually finish it.

Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris

I really had high hopes for this novel. I loved her Sookie Stackhouse series and I really wanted to find enjoyment in this series too. However, it was just not the same. The narration, third person omniscient, was hard to get into. The story line and plot start out slow...and stay slow. Nothing really happens. I was almost 60 pages into the book and still I felt like there was no plot. Okay, yes there was a little beginning of something beginning to creep into realization, but it was just kind of uninteresting, enough where I didn't mind not following it to fruition. I'm sure there will be fans who actually do like this book, but I won't be one of them.

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

When I first started this series, I came into it with high expectations, which is always a bad move. I had heard a lot about it, from readers and authors I respected. However, it was overall a disappointment. I found that with Divergent I was taken initially with the world building, but not much else. My interest declined from there. The plot of the second felt sloppy and by the end I was annoyed with the built up tension of a plot reveal that really wasn't that interesting or groundbreaking. (Comments on the first two can be found here and here). When I started Alligeant the first thing I noticed was the plot didn't get any better and the main character was driving me nuts with deluge of negative thoughts about killing her best friend (a misguided plot point if I ever saw one. I mean she made a clear conscious choice to not shoot her enemies to death but then she just shoots her friend in the head? What?) That would have been enough to turn me off of the story, but I began to hear about a general consensus of disappointment for this third installment, and that decided me. I didn't find it worth my time to try and slog through it anymore.

In the After by Demitria Lunetta

Initially I was interested in this story from reading the inside cover: cool post-apocalyptic type story with a government conspiracy type tinge, what's not to love? A lot as it so happens. I got about 40 pages into this book and I was still stuck in exaggerated exposition and flash back. It wasn't even very good exposition either. Rule of thumb, flash backs are bad. Figure out where you want to start the story and then start it there, none of this 'I'm gonna be in the middle of something and then think about something in excruciating detail from start to finish'. The other major problem I had with this story was that it had major plot holes already. Specifically, the creatures that attack the world are described as mindless zombie like things that eat people savagely, but are expected to be smart enough to man a ship that comes to earth? It all felt a little farfetched. If this wasn't enough, it seemed like the author was trying a little too hard to sound YA. In other words, the character sounded young and dumb, and not in a good way. It all added up to me realizing really quickly that this wasn't a book I wanted to read.

Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody

Elspeth Gordie wishes nothing more than to fit in. But that is hard to do when she harbors a secret that would surely mean her death. She is a Misfit, born with special mental abilities. To be found so is to be hated and feared by the Herders and Councilmen who rule. She has already lived through the burning of her parents, the only thing she can do is hide the best she can. But in one careless moment all of her carefulness is dashed to nothing. She is spotted for what she is and exiled to the dreaded Obernewtyn, a mountain manor where Misfits are brought to and never seen again. Even with her abilities Elspeth finds herself out of her depth. All is not as it seems on Obernewtyn. Someone is keeping secrets and it suddenly seems like it may be her destiny to find out what they are.

Taking place in a post-apocalyptic world, Obernewtyn illustrates humanity on the edge of survival after the unspeakable has happened. It is the first book in The Obernewtyn Chronicles. Carmody does a pretty decent job of world-building for this novel, and I have to say it was honestly what kept me reading and interested. I am not a fan overall of her style. It is way too much telling and not enough showing. This made places of action seem more boring. I found the history at the beginning interesting, but I feel like it would have been better suited sprinkled about throughout the story rather than info dumped on us in the beginning. By the time I finished, I look back and feel confident that as a reader, I could have figured everything out just by reading the story. I didn't need to have it spoon fed to me in the beginning to make sure I kept up. 

I think going with more showing rather than telling could have helped my feelings on the budding romance in the story. I didn't feel like the characters involved had interacted enough to really begin feeling anything for each other. I did enjoy the added intrigue, but it could have been set up a bit more. 

This being said I genuinely liked the story line and the characters. The world is a very interesting one and I continue to want to follow the story and know more about it. I don't know that I would recommend it to other readers, but I am going to keep reading the series myself.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Park likes to blend in. He's weird enough without anything else adding to it. So of course it couldn't get any worse when the weird new girl sits next to him on the bus. She's loud, in appearance if not in words. Between her bright red impossibly curly hair, her eclectic clothing, and abundant curves, it's hard not to notice her. Park doesn't want any of this. Not the notice he gets from her sitting next to him, or the feelings he gets when he can't stop thinking about her.

Eleanor only wants to lay low, to make it through the hell they call high school and the even worse hell she calls home. She didn't think that the weird angry Asian kid she sat next to on the bus would become the one thing that would get her through each day.

Can something hold together that seemed impossible from the start? Neither of them know, but they have to try.

Eleanor & Park is the third novel I have read by Rowell, the independent stories of Fangirl and Attachments preceding it. As with my other experiences reading Rowell, I was blown away by this novel. I almost feel like the experience was even more profound because for whatever reason I didn't want to give this novel credit. From the outside it looked like just your typical love story, but of course it was so much more than that. It only took the first few pages to know that there was no way I could put this novel down. If it weren't for “responsibilities” (I mean who really needs to work right?), I would have read it in one sitting. There is something about Rowell's storytelling that speaks volumes about humanity, life, and the human heart. She takes stories and characters that could be utterly mundane and makes them so real and interesting that the reader can't help but be swept away. As I've so poetically put it before, she could write about dirt and I'd be hanging onto every word while proclaiming it art.

This novel firmly falls under the genre of Literary YA and it lives up to the name. It is the beauty of first love mixed with the gritty heartbreaking circumstances surrounding a life of neglect and abuse. Of all the books Rowell has done, this so far has been the darkest in theme and content. It really makes the reader think. The story is rife with stereotypes that Rowell then turns on their head. The characters are not all good or all bad. The main protagonists are clearly flawed, many faceted. It makes all of it so much more real and beautiful. It makes it all that much more sad. It very much brought to mind the style of John Hughes films such as The Breakfast Club, especially considering that this story is set in the 80s.

Along the same lines, Park and Eleanore are perfectly imperfect as main characters. They are young and flawed. They do stupid things and make bad decisions. They are also beautifully kind and wonderfully loving. This exists in both of them, not at odds, but harmoniously. They are as atypical as characters get, right down to their physical descriptions. Everyone in the book, including Park, considers Eleanor at least chubby, if not downright fat. Yet from his eyes she is beautiful, the only girl ever to make him feel anything. Eleanor can't begin to see herself they way he sees her. And it goes the same for him. Too effeminate, too Korean, Park never feels like he is enough. But he is more than enough for Eleanor, even if she is afraid to say it out loud. I cannot say how refreshing it was to read a book where the main characters are in turn overweight and of ethnicity. This is so important in giving voice to a minority, for making guys who are slight and sensitive get the girl of their dreams, for showing girls who aren't a size 0-2 that they are capable of being the main protagonist of a story. In today's society this message is one that can't be said enough. The fact that when you look for fan art for this book most of it downplays if not completely negates Eleanor's weight is direct proof of how bad it actually is. We need more characters like Eleanor and Park.

Another part of this book that was done brilliantly was the fashion of narration. Rowell has the point of view bounce back and forth between Park and Eleanor, sometimes every other paragraph or line. In doing so it is almost like reading two stories at once. Every scene is doubled. The reader gets to see and feel every side. Narration like that would have to be very delicately put together, but Rowell does it beautifully, each part flowing effortlessly back and forth but still remaining distinctive to the individual characterization.

*SPOILERS*

One of the only things from this book I wasn't wholly impressed with was the ending. It was too open ended for my tastes. I know some people like that, but not me. I'm a lazy reader and mostly I like having the ending given to me. I'm too much of a cynic to let myself wholly imagine that it all worked out, even if that is the insinuation. This however wasn't enough for me to change my mind about how awesome this book was so only .1 off for the dreaded “open end”. I recommend it to any and all, as well as anything else Rowell writes. I myself am particularly looking forward to reading her newest novel Landline that was published earlier this month.

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

If there is one thing the Shadowhunters have always depended on, it was knowing who was the enemy. But as Sebastian Morgenstern wields the infernal cup, swelling his ranks with Endarkened warriors, the Nephilim must face their own in a war that is threatening to drag them under. Darkness is falling and Clary and her friends might have to go to hell and back to make things right. 

City of Heavenly Fire is the sixth and final book in the Mortal Instruments series and the ninth book that takes place in the Shadow world. 

This book was something of a roller-coaster, wrapped in evil, twirled in darkness. I don't think it can be said of any of these books that they were exceptionally light in theme and tone, but I would venture that this is the darkest and possibly the most mature of the books Clare has produced thus far. It can also be agreed that Clare has never been afraid to push the boundaries of the socially acceptable, especially concerning that wonderfully controversial topic of incest. This book takes that idea to a whole new level of creepy. 

I will say that there was still the trademark wit and humor that is usual and expected in Clare's writing. However, there really wasn't a lot to laugh about in this novel. This is a story of a people at war. Not about to go to war, not on the cusp of war, or at the beginning of it. At war. I wouldn't say this is Game of Thrones, with every character in the book being slaughtered left and right, but it was realistic to war. It is a Shadowhunter's life, and if we've gone this far in the series without seeing THAT much death, it's made up for in this last book. 

I gave it as high a rating as I did because I love Clare's writing and I love this series. I read it fast despite it being a honking big book and I liked the way it ended. I really did like this book a lot.

I did not give it a 5/5 because there were a few things that bothered me. 

*SPOILERS AHEAD* *DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU HAVE NOT READ COHF*

The first, and lesser, of these issues was plain and simple "the love scene". I'm sorry, but when I'm quite literally in hell and about to die a probably horribly death at the hands of a psychopathic incest loving demon boy, sex is not the first thing on my mind. However, I can understand the approach. After all it is the age old cry of "we must experience this before we die!". I also get that Jace and Clary couldn't touch for most of this novel because of the heavenly fire, and that when this obstacle was removed there was obviously going to be some hanky panky between the unsupervised teenagers who are on a suicide mission. What I couldn't get over was that damn condom.

There are a few reasons why a detail as harmless and insignificant as a condom has got my panties in a twist, reasons I will probably elaborate far too much on, but here they are nonetheless.

1.     I don't believe that Shadowhunters would be in the know about them enough to have one on them during such a dire circumstance. As has been elaborated throughout this series, Shadowhunters are a rather old race with many archaic politics and practices. They don't have computers, they don't use modern electricity (using witchlight instead), none of them know anything about popular culture, and when we visit Alicante we "go back in time". If Jace doesn't know what facebook is, I have my doubts that he would be totally on board with safe sex practices. However, if it were the case that the Shadowhunters had caught up with the times in this one department, then I bring forward my next point.

2.     How was it that a condom made it onto the list of necessary items to go to the demon realm? I mean how did that go? Gear? Check. Stele? Check. Witchlight? Check. Food? Check. Weapons? Check. Condoms? Check??? NO. Just No. When traveling to dimensions of hell, condoms just aren't going to make the list.(Where would he even put it? Does the gear have pockets? Was it in the packs next to the food?) My fiancé has informed me it's an unwritten guy code to always have some on you. However, other than referring to #1, this brings me to my final point.

3.     When they entered the demon realm, Jace was under the impression he might never be able to fully touch Clary again. Sure, they had the occasional holding of hands or gentle kiss. But much more than that and they would be facing some holy incineration. Jace says straight out that Clary had changed him for the better. She is the girl for him. He isn't looking elsewhere. So reason stands, that if he couldn't have it with Clary, he wouldn't really be preparing for it in any way. It would be a pretty callous thought process anyway, "Hmm, so we're going to hell to save my girlfriend's parents and my parabatai's  love, who have all been kidnapped and might be dead. And in the meantime our world is facing Armageddon. Sounds like a great time to make some moves and do the do with my girl!'......Again, may I say....no...

Now, don't get me wrong. I very much was interested in seeing Jace and Clary complete their love. At this point I had become almost annoyed at Cassy Clare for cockblocking one too many times. I could get where she was coming from. She didn't want to promote teenage sex. But let's be real. Teenagers have sex. Especially if they are head over heels in love. So the fact that the plot literally barred this from happening over and over seemed very much by design. However, it was the setting and timing that just rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know if I just dislike Clare's approach to romantic scenes in general, or if it was just in the few books where she has one that bother me. I didn't like how it happened in Clockwork Princess, and I didn't like how it happened in this one. They always seem awkward and ill set, rushed in during times of high danger.

I don't know why something so menial as one sentence mentioning a condom has my panties in a twist, but there it is. 

The one other part of the book that made me subtract another .1 from my rating was the end of Sebastian. It was just so...happily ever after everyone is good after all!.....I really appreciated the villainy of Sebastian. He was a mentally and emotionally unstable young man who killed without thought or remorse and harbored incestuous fantasies about his sister. He was one sick puppy and he needed to be stopped. To go and make him good, after all that....it didn't make much sense to me and I felt like it cheated his character. I know in real life you have to acknowledge that nothing is black and white. No one is all good or all bad. This is very much addressed in the comments made of Shadowhunter politics. However Sebastian is not fully human. He is demon spawn, literally. I think some things in this world are supposed to represent pure evil and he was one of them. I always admired Cassy Clare with his characterization. She made him unstable, creepy, and downright scary without becoming unrealistic. Possibly I could understand seeing a flash of humanness in his eyes near the end, similar to what we saw from Amatis. But for that whole drawn out episode with him becoming “Jonathan” and apologizing and etc....it just felt empty and weird after everything. I didn’t buy it It really didn't even make sense after everything that was gone over about what demon blood and demonizing does to a person. He was literally infused with demon blood before birth. How could there be any remnant of what should have been, left inside him? If that was the case, why was it that there was no helping the Endarkened? I mean, I guess it could be explained away as another miracle of the heavenly fire, but it didn't really seem right to me. 

And that about sums that up for me. Overall I really liked how the series ended and I would recommend the series to any and everyone. I also very much look forward to reading more about the Shadowhunter world in future books. 

So..Just finished City of Heavenly Fire...

and may I just say

HOT DAMN THAT WAS WILD AND HEARTBREAKING AND JUST ASDFGBHNMFNEKJWJF

A probably very verbose review will follow shortly

Never Trust a Pirate by Anne Stuart

Madeleine Rose Russell has never been one to sit back and let fate do it's work. If her sister Bryony can go undercover as the hired help in order to reveal the person responsible for the fall of House Russel and the murder of their father, then so can Maddie. And anyway, all the help Bryony had been absconding off with one of the suspects on an illicit elopement and leaving behind only a cryptic note not much more informative than their father's own last few words. Maddie can definitely do better than that. So what if her new employer happens to be a devilishly handsome half-gypsy pirate who she can't seem to keep herself away from. It's nothing she can't handle. Or at least that's what she keeps telling herself. 

*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD* *DO NOT proceed if you have not read Never Kiss a Rake* 

*Minor spoilers for Never Trust a Pirate* *TRIGGER WARNING: contains discussion of physical abuse, assault, rape, and other sexual themes* 

Never Trust a Pirate is the second book in the Scandal at the House Russell series and sequel to Never Kiss a Rake, a book I enjoyed so thoroughly that my enthusiasm for the next book in the series was very high. However I have to say that overall I was sadly disappointed. This novel, though not necessarily a bad read (I read it very quickly), rubbed me the wrong way.

Firstly, I had a pretty big problem with the repetition of this story. The entire plot was basically a recycled from first book, down to the masquerade as a servant in the house of a domineering, rich, and amazingly beautiful man who is already attached to another woman by rules of society but not by the heart. Of course there were differences in setting, characterization, and plot variations to at least keep some things fresh, but overall it was still a cooky-cutter version of the same story. Another repeat issue was in the dailouge and inner thoughts of the characters. Their thoughts were rehashed over and over, sometime word for word until I was frankly tired of reading the same montage again and again. A little rehash of something is pretty normal throughout a story. It shows characterization and how the mind holds on to certain thoughts, especially when a character is in denial. But when it become noticeably cumbersome, and I as a reader feel like I'm being told something I clearly already know, then there is a problem.

Minorly, I would also like to point out that there was a lot of inconsistency in Luca's character. I thought that Maddie, and her denial, were pulled off very well. I understood the pathways of her back and forth feelings and didn't find them farfetched. With Luca's character however it gave me something like whiplash and didn't seem realistic. One moment he was admitting so much, being so tender, the next he was acting like Maddie was some dockside whore he needed to drop off. It seemed as if Stuart was trying too hard to demonstrate his denial.

Putting aside the writing issues however, I think one of the biggest problems I had with the story was the nature of the romance within it. I am not going to even pretend that there weren't parts of Never Kiss a Rake that weren't problematic in the consensual romance area. In both books there was a lot of the 'domineering male' bending the will of the woman to meet his needs. I let it go in the first book because 1) It wasn't that pervasive, in that Kilmartyn was a little less pushy and callous, and 2) Bryony was a lot more receptive of it all. Also, neither of them were physically harmful to each other. I really enjoyed the shenanigans of that book, enough to not be bothered by morality quibbles. 

In Never Trust a Pirate though, I kept getting so bombarded with the abusive undertones of the relationship that I could hardly enjoy the romance. Not only does Luca never remotely understand the word "no" and pushes the boundaries of consent constantly, but he takes it a step further in being physically violent for supposedly "good reasons"... Like, in what way is knocking someone out, kidnapping them, and tying them up for hours something protective and romantic? It isn't!! It is creepy and rapey and stalkerish!!!! Also, news flash, if a girl tries to hit, kick, slap, or knee you in the groin, chances are you shouldn't be pushing sex on her because she actually doesn't want it! I know from the narration that Maddie did very much want it. However it was in that exact set up that lies the detrimental message: the girl is saying no, but what she really means is yes. This is exactly the kind of thing that not only encourages young men to think they are entitled to a woman sexually and that the woman should like it, but it shows women that assault is romantic. 

I know the whole point was the idea that the woman is having her sexual awakening and she is afraid of the feelings that are opening up inside her. But I just can't agree with how Luca reacted. In that situation a lover should be patient and caring and give the person time to want what their getting, not forced into sex. 

With Bryony and Kilmartyn, the situation felt so different because she actually wanted to be with him. She didn't care about being "ruined" because she never thought she would get married anyway. And at one point Kilmartyn actually walks away from her because he is unwilling to have sex because she is inebriated (granted they get pretty far before he does stop, but he still does stop). For all the times Luca insists, aloud and in his own mind, that he doesn't rape and that forcing "isn't fun", the novel was fraught with dubious consent and situations bordering on non-con. Though Maddie is portrayed as a fiery spirit and a woman who takes charge of her own life, the fighting that goes on between her and Luca only seems to undermine her agency rather than enforce it. 

In fear of ranting still more, I'm going to stop myself here and end with saying that between the constant bouts of dubious consent and the abusive overtones, I couldn't properly enjoy this story and it even gave me pause in my pleasant memories of the first novel. I would not recommend this book. 

The dreaded lull

So I was plodding along and I realized that I haven't done much in almost a month! Calamity! Haven't read anything besides fanfiction, haven't written anything but more fanfiction and an unfinished beginning of what has promise to be a pretty epic story.

I'm giving myself a pass on responsibility for the moment, due to life being pretty demanding. Newish job ahead (promotion), more hours, more stress. Plus, I FINISHED MY SECOND NOVEL in April and got engaged in May!!! So I think the rest has been pretty deserved.

What's ahead: some pretty fun and terrifying stuff. Myself and a few writing friends from school are embarking on the epic adventure that is the Midwest Writers Conference. There I will be pitching my novel to agents, sitting through a ton of awesome panels with authors and agents alike, and even submitting my novel for a contest. To say that this is a great opportunity to get myself out there is an understatement, and I am both excited and a little cowed by the whole thing. After the conference I plan to start sending my novel out to agents and publishing houses and seeing if I get any bites. Networking as a new author is so important, and the next step for me is going to tell a lot. No pressure or anything....

My sequel sits in my computer unedited for the time being and I fear that's where it will stay for awhile. I think I need some critical distance from it before I can get back into making it something better than it is.

In the fall I plan to participate in my second attempt at NaNoWriMo and start the next book series I've had in my head, planning and re-planning, for the last 10 years. This is a fun one, another YA, that involves different worlds, people with some insane abilities, and of course a whole lot of misadventure. That's all you guys get for now, but I will probably update more in my novel peeks later ;)

Until next time guys.

Never Kiss a Rake by Anne Stuart

Bryony Russel's life has come crashing down around her ears. Her family is disgraced and her father is dead. She and her three sisters have no money and everything looks bleak. That is until Bryony comes across a secret note, written by her father just before he died. Suddenly his accidental death doesn't seem like so much an accident. In light of this new knowledge Byrony is convinced her father was not guilty of the crimes he was accused of and that the man who was, would be behind her father's death. Armed with only her own wits and intelligence Byrony decides to go undercover as a housekeeper in order to infiltrate the house of the man who called himself her father's business partner, Lord Kilmartyn, a devilish Irish-born rake who has been left suspiciously unscathed in her father's financial downfall. She is determined to prove the guilt of Kilmartyn, though whether for her father's murder and her family downfall, or another dark secret entirely, she isn't sure. But something is going on in the Kilmartyn house, and Bryony is determined to find it all out, and soon before the strange emotions that she feels whenever she sees Lord Kilmartyn overwhelm her. 

This novel can be considered a historical romance as well as wickedly fun and entertaining. When I first read the title I was definitely intrigued. There's nothing I like better than a good romp with the old-school bad-boy trope of the rake. And let me just say, I was not disappointed. This story had all the makings of what pluck a romance out of the myriad of typical, overdone, and cliched bad writing and sets it apart as something truly worth reading. 

Romance so often has a bad rap for not being quality writing; the indulgence of desperate housewives and sexually frustrated virgins. And it's true, there are many a romance that live up to that expectation with bad plot and even worse writing style. I think so much of the problem comes with the idea that a good story can't have some good sex and romance thrown in without the quality dropping. Good stories, like life, absolutely can and will contain some sexy bits which add rather than detract, in my opinion. My cardinal rule of good romantical (yes, this is a word...I just made it up) story telling is: if you can remove the sex and some of the romance and still have a working plot and story then you are doing something right. If I'm searching for the plot while wading through badly written sex scenes and dubiously corny romantic love then chances are I'm going to say a romance isn't up to snuff as a good story. Perhaps my expectations are high, but it is what it is. The story, first and foremost, is what is important to me.

That being said, Never Kiss a Rake was a good story AND it contained a good romance. 

Don't get me wrong. I still caught a few mistakes here and there and some of the romance parts were played up a little bit more than I think the character's initial feelings would have warranted. However it was something I could overlook, especially considering my interest in the suspenseful mystery plot that kept me going as well as the delicious encounters between the main character and the rake himself. Another part of the story that totally made up for any misgivings I might have had was the narration hopping to Kilmartyn occasionally and a few other characters. It made things really interesting and I very much enjoyed seeing and hearing the different point's of view. 

All in all, if you're looking to have a little fun and relax with a book that doesn't take a lot of effort but still delivers the goods, this is the story for you. I thoroughly enjoyed myself from start to finish and despite all stereotypes reading romance comes with, still give it a high recommend. 

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Lincoln hates his job. Working nights at the newspaper as "internet security" isn't a hard job, and it pays very well. But the principle of the thing doesn't change. Lincoln is paid to snoop. He is the one that must read flagged intra-office emails to find the offenders who email things not appropriate and not pertaining to work. Some people might like going through other people's things, but it leaves Lincoln feeling off. He should quit this job, find a job in the sunlight, working with other people, instead of reading their emails. But then Beth and Jennifer get flagged, again, and again. Lincoln has never met them, never seen them, or heard them actually speak, but he can't help but feel like he knows them through their tell all narrations. They either can't take the policy seriously or don't care, and Lincoln should really send them a warning, get them to stop. But how could he give up Beth's wit or Jennifer's quips and stories? By the time he understands how deep in he is it's got to be too late to do anything about it. How can you become friends with someone when you've already read all of their very private emails?

In this funny and heartwarming story the reader follows around Lincoln O'Neill as he desperately toes the line between curiosity and the socially unacceptable. I absolutely loved this book. It was fun and interesting, and though it isn't a book filled with action it still manages to keep the reader sucked in page to page until it's done. 

I very much admired the way Rowell went about telling this story. All things accounted for, it was a delicate endeavor to tell a story about someone reading other people's emails and not make it creepy. But I have to say I didn't find Lincoln creepy at all. I actually kind of identified with him. He's just trying his best, and he doesn't mean to get as far as he goes. But do any of us really? I found it very realistic at how easily it is for him to get caught up in the web he finds himself. One thing leads to another until your standing at a chasm you didn't know you were toeing. But that's life. 

Another thing about Lincoln and his story that just really appealed to me was his age group and the place that he was stuck. He is firmly wedged in that area of time that no one wants to talk about: the "graduated but not left the house" person, who doesn't really have the job they want and just doesn't know how to get unstuck from the life they are now leading. I've heard the high school stories, the college stories, the midlife stories and beyond. But no one likes to talk about that transition period in between college and finding the life you want. I know not everyone finds themselves in it, but it is a very real and growing phenomena today and it was refreshing to find a story that addresses it without become slow and boring. 

I have found in reading Rowell (my first experiencing of her writing being with the YA novel Fangirl) is that she excels in writing about what no one wants to talk about. She takes these topics that everyone marks off either because they want to ignore them or everyone deems them too boring to support an actual novel, and she turns them into very real and wonderful stories. her books are all rather long, but they read like they short. you start them and before you know it you're done.

I was left with the best feeling of contentment when I finished this book, and the first words that left my mouth as I closed it at the end was, "That was beautiful". If you like something fun and quirky with just a little bit of divine intervention thrown in, you will love this novel. 

Control by Lydia Kang

All her life Zel has let her father make decisions for her. It's been easy that way and anyway, he's always known her better than she knew herself. But when a horrible accident rips her life apart and throws her into a world she doesn't know or understand, Zel comes to see how much her father wasn't telling and that she must either take the reigns on her own life or lose what she most holds dear. Suddenly she is living in a world where her sister is illegal, Zel herself is stuck in a house/ freak-show, and there's absolutely no one she can trust. Zel must choose between love and sacrifice, all the while hoping that it's worth it in the end.  

Taking place in the intense futuristic world of 2150, Control is the first book in what looks to be a YA series by Kang, the second book due out winter 2015. This is a fast paced thrilling science fiction adventure that will keep the reader on their toes. It also doesn't hurt that it's got just enough romantic intrigue to flavor the story without over sweetening. I was completely taken with this novel. The characters were interesting and many faceted, the setting was richly described and almost entrancing without becoming over-complicated, and the plot has a way of taking hold of your eyes and dragging them along for the ride. In a word, the book was a great balance of all things that make a great story and I loved it.

Another part of the story that I got the biggest kick out of was the numerous nods to Pride and Prejudice (as well as a few other Austen and other classic novels, in my opinion). It was lovely and refreshing to wade through the story picking out the little references. And the best part about it was that Control was running it's own show completely separate from the classic novel. Don't get me wrong, I love a good P&P reinterpretation or re-vamp story. They are great fun and have their own place in Austen's world. Control however wasn't really that. It was it's own animal with a little bit of a P&P treasure hunt tossed in. I'm not going to give away any more clues about what the references were, but for any P&P or Austen fan, it should be obvious right away. 

All in all this was a really great story and I recommend this to any and all readers. I don't think someone has to just like sci-fi to read this book. 

*WARNING* *SPOILERS AHEAD* *PROCEED WITH CAUTION*

A note on the ending

I was very tempted to give the book a 4/5 because of the ending. I love love loved the book, but I wasn't a huge fan of how it came to a finish. Initially I wanted to be annoyed that our love birds were torn apart. However, from a storytelling point of view, there would have to be a remaining conflict if the series was to progress, otherwise there wouldn't be any more story. Happily ever after is nice, but it is also synonymous with 'the end'. So yeah, I get that they had to be torn asunder to feed the flames for more story to come. However, I didn't like how easy it was for Zel to come to peace with Cy's sacrifice. I really loved Zel's character. She was a lot of fun to read and even though she was super into science (a subject I have little interest in unless I'm dealing with fictional stories), Kang did an amazing job making her identifiable. As readers we get to watch Zel grow into a new person. I love watching character development in stories because it makes the characters so much more real. In life people change. When crazy/ amazing/ horrific/ heartbreaking things happen to people, they can't stay the same as they were before it happened. So Zel forming into the badass rebellion lover that she becomes is really fun to watch. This new self she finds to be lying dormant inside her all along is forced out when she must save her sister. This is what builds the story, Zel's commitment and love for her sister Dyl. The whole book she agonizes about all the horrible things that are happening to her sister, unsure of the exact truth of the matter but terrified all the more because of this. I know that the bond between siblings can be a strong one, but romantic love can be just as strong if not more at times, especially in it's first bloom. I guess for me it was hard to understand how Zel could just let him go with so little fight. I know it was his choice to make the sacrifice, and that he is a strong man who can take care of himself in comparison to the delicate Dyl. But Zel cuts her losses so easily and just let's him go. I think it had to end the way it did, but I think she could have at least tried a little harder near the end. It all made things feel a bit rushed. Also, in the epilogue, everyone seems to forget about Cy too and just bask in general happiness. Eventually it's hinted at through her conversation with Marka that things are bothering both of them. This is followed by Zel professing that she will never give up and she will find Cy. However it is all done with this general air of calm. I guess I just expected a lot more feeling to be running through her, a lot more angst. It was still a good book, and still a good ending, but I wish there had been more pain to the separation. Otherwise it just makes it seem like she doesn't really care as much, slightly cheapening the effect of their love presented earlier in the story. It isn't a big bone, but I guess in the face of how good everything else was it just bothered me a bit.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Tris and Tobias stopped the simulation. But in the aftermath of it's destruction it becomes very clear that it was only the tip of the iceberg. Dauntless is split down the middle, Abnegation is almost gone, the Euridite are far from finished with their experiments, and it's only getting worse. In a society tearing at the seams Tris struggles to find the truth when she can hardly face the facts herself. She doesn't know who to trust, and now Tobias isn't trusting her instincts either. Will they be able to save themselves before it's too late, or will the truth behind everything destroy them all?

Insurgent is book two in the Divergent trilogy by Roth that revolves around a futuristic society set in Chicago. 

I'm just going to jump right in today and say that there was a lot I didn't like about this book. I can say I got a better grasp of the characters in this one than the previous book (I almost had a semi emotional moment at one point, almost). However I still never quite understood what it was that kept Tris and Tobias together. The love they talk about having between them in the first book doesn't seem strong enough to fit the descriptions in this novel, and to make matters worse both of them travel through the story in a permanent state of non-communication. There is a lot of emphasis on Tris and Tobias not really knowing each other. To which I'm thinking, 'No you don't! There was no real mental development in your relationship to begin with!". I'm not going to say that having flawed characters is bad. Quite the contrary, it's good for the characters to be many faceted and realistic. Though I'm not going to say that it is a horrible flaw to have two of the main characters be annoying as heck, I wouldn't say it is the greatest asset either. I had a hard time getting into the book and getting through it because of this.

I would say the same thing I said about the first one. I really liked the setting, the tone, the world that was created. That was all done very well. Plot was interesting and kept me pulled in once it got going, however I feel like the big reveal at the end was puffed up more than was actually warranted. From a storytelling point of view, it might have been wiser to spend less time building it up and rather just take us by surprise at the end. Leaving clues is good. It's never wise to trick a reader. But it isn't good to get expectations high only to disappoint. 

Perhaps I'm being too harsh on it because there has been so much hype about the stories that I just expected more from it. I do intend to finish the series, but I feel I will remain one of the few with the unpopular opinion that the series wasn't the most amazing thing I've ever read, though neither was it the worst.

a moment

There are so many things I’ve always taken for granted. The million little moments in between the action of life is when you really live I think. These moments are so small, we forget them almost instantly. But they stay with us. They come back again and again in the inhalation of a breath. Newly clipped grass, the whir of a fan in the heat of summer darkness, they way it mixes with the sounds of insects calling and the way their little bodies beat against the lights on lampposts. It’s in the silence of that moment, when the wind whispers a breath along your skin, and you can feel the rain coming soon. You listen lying in a tangle of covers to the pit pat drop splash of the first beginnings of rain and you never forget. You think you do, but it is always there. And when you hear it again it comes back like the very first time.

Little silent moments making up our lives and we don’t even know it. The inhalation of cut wood, the way spring crept out of the ground and thawed the earth and your heart until wet dirt was more than aromatherapy, the feeling of your skin against his, the way it sounds when he runs a hand up your side, the delicious tingle. All these little things are locked in your mind waiting to spring forward when we stop a moment and take it all in. Anyone can scoff about the figure of speech to stop and smell the roses or the coffee or what you will. But it’s all about what you remember. And you might have the best pictures of your trip to the coast or the college years you lived so well. But you will always remember rain in summer, the sound of a fan in the dark, and your skin rubbing next to his in the silken heavy silence.

Camp NaNoWriMo here I come!

Hey look!

It's April and I have posted far too little about my writing!

So here it is. I've decided to do Camp NaNoWriMo. What's that you say? Well, it's something I only recently came into the know about (and by recently I mean 11pm March 31st). Camp NaNoWriMo is a mini, less intense, version of what all goes on in November. It takes place during the months of April and July. During these months you set your own goal, rather than the pre-set 50,000 words for November. During camp you can work on what you want whether it be a new novel, short pieces of work, drabbles, or what have you. Also, even more fun, other than the usual forums and online writing camaraderie, you get put in cabins for duration of your stay. These metaphorical cabins are groups you are put in based on what type of writing you are doing. For example mine is probably all people doing YA novels, because that's what I put down for my camp project. In this little group you have even more community and you can message the group, asks questions and make new writing friends. Want to know more? Just click here to find out more. Even better, want to try it for yourself? Click here to find the sign up page (you can do so with your NaNoWriMo account or make up a new one).

Come on, you know you want to join us...jooooiiin us, JOIN US!

...Okay we're gonna ignore that little bit there...MOVING FORWARD.

I wasn't sure at first that I was going to participate in the Camp. I already had the goal of finishing by May my novel (the one started this past Nov) and I have been plodding along with that. But there is just something about having a writing community at your back, and being able to see your stats and word count rise before your eyes that just can really motivate. Plus the community feel really adds excitement and happiness to what can usually be a very solitary and often lonely creative calling.

So in the end I decided to give it a go, and so far so good! Day 2 and I've reached 1,175 words of a goal of 15,000 for the month. I have no idea if it will take more or less than 15,000 words to reach the end of this novel. I completely took a stab in the dark and guessed. Seeing as I am solidly on the rising action still and just oh so loooove to get wordy, I think it might be a pretty good guess too. So in all, my goal is to finish this baby by the end of April, officially finishing the first draft of my second novel in six months! Considering that the first draft of my first novel took a little over three years I think I'm pretty good.

So far I'm at a total of 111,595 words, bringing me to 324 pages. I have officially passed up the word count of the first one, and some. Let's see where this month leads me.

Hope all my readers the best, and as always I wish you crazy happiness and lots of writing!

The Book of the Maidservant by Rebecca Barnhouse

Johanna is just a maidservant living in the house of Dame Margery Kemp, a woman who loudly proclaims her faith and pious nature to any and all. Beside her Johanna is nothing save someone to order around. But her life get's turned upside down when Dame Margery decides she wants to go on a pilgrimage to Rome, and that Johanna must accompany her. Suddenly Johanna is faced with foreign lands, a man with a devil inside him for a traveling companion, and a mistress who might not be as good as she likes to think. Johanna starts to wonder if she will survive this journey, and if she does, how in the world will she ever get home?

Based on The Book of Margrey Kemp,the first autobiographical English text written in the 15th century, Barnhouse takes what was once just the story of a very high and mighty pilgrim and turns it into the story of her maidservant that is often mentioned throughout the journey. Barnhouse gives Johanna life, taking historical fact and filling in the blanks.

I have to say I quite liked this little book. It was interesting, and though it was a novel, it still had quite a bit of reality to the description of the life and times of someone traveling by foot all that way. Johanna as a character was a little bit mousy and timid, but she finds her own in the end and I liked the development of her character. 

Barnhouse states in the back of the book that there is no real way to ever know exactly what happened to Johanna, but I think this story is a nice way to give that maidservant more than she probably ever imagined. True this Johanna is a fictional character, but sometime, somewhere a girl like her was traveling over mountains and trying to survive and I find that very interesting.

I recommend this book as a good read for any interested in historical fiction or medieval times.