Friday Fun!

A wonderful thing has happened to one of my bestest friends. After much labor and re-writing, Kelsey Sutton has scored a book deal for her novel Some Quiet Place with Flux publishers!! *cue my squeals* She posted about it (here) a few days ago. Kelsey even quoted me in her post. I'm so excited for her!! I've seen this book develop and I feel like a proud aunt.  It's on Goodreads now, too! EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Kelsey's agent, Beth Miller of Writer's House, has done a great job throughout this entire thing and I'm so glad that both of their hard work has finally paid off. If you could only see me now, I'm doing my excited face, which is exactly what I sent to Kelsey when I found out the good news.

Here ya go.

Lovely. There's just too much joy and not enough space in my tiny body to contain it. Hence the face: squinty eyes, wrinkled nose, bared teeth. The photo doesn't capture the bouncing up and down in my seat well though. The fact that I'm a little blurry around the edges is only a minor indicator. 

Anyway, now that I've gotten that out of my system, I can tell y'all of the book reviews that are upcoming here on the bloggy blog. I've got a few things to say about The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab, which I have read courtesy of @BookReverie. And then after that I will be moving on to discuss Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. Both are great reads and I can't wait to delve deeper into What I Thought About Them. Dun dun dun. 

A Trip Through DRAGONSWOOD

Dragonswood

by Janet Lee Carey

goodreads.com

Published January 5th 2012 by Dial

Goodreads summary:

Wilde Island is not at peace. The kingdom mourns the dead Pendragon king and awaits the return of his heir; the uneasy pact between dragons, fairies, and humans is strained; and the regent is funding a bloodthirsty witch hunt, hoping to rid the island of half-fey maidens. 

Tess, daughter of a blacksmith, has visions of the future, but she still doesn't expect to be accused of witchcraft, forced to flee with her two best friends, or offered shelter by the handsome and enigmatic Garth Huntsman, a warden for Dragonswood. But Garth is the younger prince in disguise and Tess soon learns that her true father was fey, making them the center of an exciting, romantic adventure, and an ancient prophecy that will bring about peace between all three races - dragon, human, and fairy.

 So...based upon that summary, one would assume that Dragonswood would be full of adventure, preferably the "exciting, romantic" kind. Is it? Not really. It pains me to say that because I was fervently hoping that it would suddenly wow me. However, each page failed to bring that spark that I've come to expect from anything I read. You know the feeling. It's a quickness of breath, an irresistible need to read more and more, a fanatic search in the shelves of your local bookstore for the next in a series.

True book lovers know what I'm trying to say. We all have this addiction to literature in our veins and we're always looking for our next fix.

Dragonswood failed to satisfy my craving. I'm not saying that it's a bad book. It has its moments and I think that Janet Lee Carey is a good writer. But...

It could have been so much more. Personally, I feel that Dragonswood would have been much better suited as a series so that Carey could really explore the vastness of the world she crammed into only 407 pages. When you throw fairies, dragons, witches, and the historical Pendragons into a story, you need to have a LOT of room to allow those separate entities to breath and move about.

Take Saberhagen's The First Swords series for example. (Actually, there are tons of examples I could list.)

The entire novel was rushed. From the very beginning, I didn't feel like I got a good grasp of the pace. Things happen boom, boom, boom, putting Tess in situations that don't feel real. I actually said at one point, "This doesn't feel real." Out loud.

That's about the point that I stopped reading and didn't pick the book up again until a few days later. I was close to giving up entirely. And that doesn't happen very often guys. I like to give all books a chance. So I kept reading.

I'm not going to say this book is one of the best I've read this year. But I can't say it's the worst. It has its moments (is it sad that I can't think of one to mention?) and a lot of potential. But that's about it.

If you're feeling like you want to give Dragonswood a chance despite my review, then I say more power to you. Who knows? Maybe it's just me and the book is really awesome. I certainly hope that's the case.

Until next time...

A Confusion of Princes

I'm struggling folks. Not with life, but with reading Dragonswood. I don't know why it's taking me so long to read it but perhaps it has something to do with the fact that it isn't that great. Admitting that to myself made me really sad. I hate when books fail to live up to my expectations.

BUT I will finish it and provide y'all with a full review. I just can't promise it will be a timely review. Until then, I can write a little piece about A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix. I recently lost control of my credit card and bought myself a Nook Tablet and since that time I've been blowing up the download book option like it's going out of style. 

A Confusion of Princes was one of the first ebooks I read on it and it completely blew me away. As you all may know, or not if you don't know me, I adore Garth Nix's Abhorsen series. I've seriously read Sabriel about 30 times and it's only the first book. I keep that (--->) on my bedside table just in case I feel like reading before I go to bed. Yes. I'm that in love with those books. 

However, when I found out that Nix was writing a book based in space, I reached a whole new level of fandom. It was quite amusing. The first few sentences is where Nix always manages to get me. (For some reason my autocorrect wanted to make manages into mangoes. How odd.)

Just take a read for yourselves. 

I have died three times, and three times been reborn, though I am not yet twenty in the old Earth years by which it is still the fashion to measure time.  

This is the story of my three deaths, and my life between.  

My name is Khemri, though this is not the name my parents gave me. I do not know who my parents are, and never will, for I was taken from them as a baby.

                                        -A Confusion of Princes (Chapter 1, page 5) by Garth Nix



See what I mean? How can you not want to learn how Khemri died three times and still lives?

Nix does what I've rarely seen other authors do, at least not as well as he does: he combines a feeling of history with fantasy. I'm not sure of any other way to explain it than that. Even though his books are filled with magic or in this case, advanced science and alien technology, it still feels like it could be real. Nothing is too outlandish to exist. Everything feels plausible. And that distinction marks true fiction.

The worlds of Sabriel and Khemri have history. They have weight. The backgrounds aren't just filler, they are actual characters in the story, without which the main characters would be lost.

And I love every minute I spend reading about them.

Anyway, I feel like I've sufficiently sung the praises of Garth Nix today. Mission accomplished. I hope y'all follow the link to check out Goodreads' summary of A Confusion of Princes. It's a great book.

Until next time...

RTW: Best of May

Welcome to our 133rd Road Trip Wednesday! 

 Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. 


We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic: What was the best book you read in May?

Well, I've done quite a bit of reading since classes officially went kaput, so I actually have non-class related choices this time. That's always fun.

Let's see...best book of May...has to be Cinder by Marissa Meyer. I already blogged about it and all (Burnt to Cinders), but I'm perfectly content with mentioning it again. Since it is such a great book. I also have to give a shout out to Lamplighter and Factotum by D.M. Cornish.

Also, to give you a taste of Cinder (if you haven't already partaken of that wonderful fairytale/alien concoction), here is the book trailer that I made for it a few weeks ago. I've already posted it once, but hey, where's the harm, right? Right.

Well, that's all I have for today. I've been working on a new WIP (it's super top secret, even I don't know what it's about to be honest) and I'm all worded out. (And yes, I realize May was like 6 days ago. It's summer.)





Until next time...

THE COLLECTOR

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. 

His job is simple, weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag. 

Stealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal opportunity collector and doesn’t want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment: 

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within 10 days. 

Dante doesn’t know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care.  

This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky, Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect—he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector, and uncover emotions deeply buried.

And here is the cover!