Book Review: Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong
Strong characters, intriguing interpersonal relationships, and of course the supernatural is what marks Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Other World series as a great read. Frostbitten, is the latest installment for this series and features my personal favorite characters Elena and Clayton–werewolves. This takes place about three years after the last novel featuring Elena and Clay and they are Alaska bound to help a mutt out and to get rid of some other more troublesome mutts.
I don’t want to give too much away, but the plot reminds me Bitten, the first book where the pack is threatened by mutts, only this time the mutts are trained and make me think of the mafia. Also Clay and Elena are married and Jeremy is home with their twins.
It’s a good read and a great addition to the series. Oh and these are more the adult category of books than young adult.
To learn more about the author, check out her site at http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/
Why all the book reviews?
If you follow my blog you know that I do the occasional book review with additional posts on writing and what’s happening in the publishing world. Well, as you’ve noticed I am posting a flurry of book reviews. Well, I’m about 5 weeks from due date (yes that would mean I’m pregnant) and haven’t really had the energy or time to write or stay as up to date as I normally do with things. So, you will be seeing a lot of book reviews for the next couple of months while my husband and I adjust to having a baby and being new parents–this is our first. If you want to suggest a book for me to review, please drop me an email using the contact me link.
~Keep Reading
Book Review: Skin Trade by Laurell K Hamilton
Perhaps you are a fan of the Anita Blake series by Laurell K Hamilton, or maybe you’ve never heard of it. If you are a fan then you understand that the series started with necromancy and police investigations and slowly became convoluted with vampire and were-animal politics as well as Anita becoming a succubus. I am thrilled to say that you will, yes will, enjoy Skin Trade.
Why am I making this declaration? Simple, we have a murder investigation, a warrant for execution, oh and did I mention Edward is back, so is Olaf and Bernardo.
While the Ardeur is still a plot point and vampire politics midly comes into play the main part of the novel is about stopping the bad guy before they kill more people. Which is a nice return to the series roots.
Anita does have some emotional moments where she begins to question her ability to perform her job and I think it might be something we see more of in future books, but it worked well with the plot and actually added another dimension to it.
So, don’t give up on series yet, give Skin Trade a chance. Oh and in case you were wondering, no, these books are not for a young audience, especially the the later part of the series.
To learn more about the author or get the series order check out her website at http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/
Book Review: The Warded Man by Peter V Brett
I read this book in about a day. I have one word to describe it. Intense.
Ok, so I have a lot of words that describe it but that is the first one that comes to mind. I was very impressed with the writing and the story. I can’t wait for the next installment.
Basically you have a world that fears demons, otherwise known as corelings. They come out at night and eat people and the citizens have to ward their homes against them. There are three characters that we meet, come to love, and follow throughout the book, but especially one, Arlen, I feel is the main character. Arlen plays a special role in this book, but I don’t want to give to much away.
If you want a book that will keep you turning the pages, has a unique world, and is well written then pick this up. You will not be sorry. I look forward to future books by Peter V Brett and if this first book is an example, then I believe he will become a strong pressence in the world of fantasy writing. To learn more about the author, check out his website.
http://www.petervbrett.com/creations/
Amazon Breakthrough Novel
In case you have not heard of it, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest due date is quickly approaching. This is a great opportunity to get feedback and possibly get your novel out there and seen. I haven’t decided if I am going enter yet, but wanted to briefly post about the contest so you know that it’s coming up. The deadline is around February 6th. Check out the link for new details.
http://www.amazon.com/Breakthrough-Novel-Award-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=332264011
Bringing Back Old Favorites
I read an interesting article the other day.
The article talks about Scholastic re-releasing certain books to help bring back popularity. One of the series mentioned was The Baby-Sitter’s Club by Ann M Martin. Now, I must admit I was an avid fan of this series when I was in my tweens and even belonged to scholastic book club for it. So I have to say I was happy to hear that they are trying to revive it. Another author mentioned was Christopher Pike, another favorite of mine. They are re-releasing his last vampire series with new covers and titles. The re-release is called Thirst and I believe combines a couple of the books.
I think the concept of re-releasing with new covers and possibly new titles has been happening for awhile and is becoming more popular in order to bring in new readership. Let’s face it if you are starring at two books and one has a snazzy recent cover compared to cover art from the 80’s chances are you will pick up the snazzy new one. Even though they do say don’t judge a book by its cover.
I think it’s a smart idea and we will see what other books and authors turn up as re-released and what happens to their books as a result.
In the meantime I encourage you to go pick up a favorite book of yours from your childhood or youth and give it a re-read, chances are it will be worth your time.
Mind Maps
If you’ve read my blog then you know that I like to use mind maps to help me brainstorm and organize my plot. I generally use www.wisemapping.com which is a free, Internet based program. It works really well and the one big plus is that I can log into my maps from any Internet connection.
However, there is another program that I really like. It’s called Inspiration. It is software that you have to buy and runs around $70.00 for a single license. You can also download a free trial to see how it works. The one big plus of this program is that you can visually create a mind map and the software automatically creates a typed outline, based on your mind map. When you edit your mind map, the outline gets edited, and visa versa. The outline format also has drag and drop capability for easy reorganization. So if you have the extra money, it is worth looking into. To download a free trial for Inspiration 8, go here:
Organic Writing
Sometimes as writers we get bogged down in trying to pace a sentence correctly or finding the perfect punctuation, but sometimes we have to let it go. Often when I’m stuck I just have to write. Who cares if there are fragments or if the phrasing is awkward. It’s first draft, it’s about capturing the basics of that scene, well for me at least. We were discussing in my critique group that this concept of just writing is classified as organic writing. I guess you say it’s writing in it’s raw form. Yes, you have to go back and clean it up and pay attention to those fragments and punctuation but often, that first spark and those first words are where the magic happens. So don’t be afraid to let go and just write.
Everyone Needs A Little Help
One particular member of my writer’s critique group is blessed with the incredible ability of strong word choice, verbs in particular. I envy him. Sometimes I feel like I fight for every verb I choose, and I finally decided it was time to invest in some help. So, I bought The Synonym Finder by J. I. Rodale. Basically it is a large book that is like a thesaurus on steroids. I’m impressed with it thus far and I feel it was worth the money.
No, just using the Microsoft word thesaurus is not enough and so far this book beats out thesaurus.com too. I haven’t actually found a website that is organized in the same manner and has the same results as the book I just purchased. If I ever do find a website that matches or rivals this book, I’ll be sure and let you all know.
The What If Game
As you might already know, I am writing a YA series. The first book is called Pelegra and the Son of Merek. Writing this book has been an ongoing process that has taken about two years. One year of writing, and another year of re-writing.
For this particular book the hardest chapter for me was chapter one. It wasn’t the issue of getting started but of figuring out my main character’s background and how I wanted to introduce him as well as how to hook the reader all in the first chapter. It’s hard to find that balance between enough back story and too much back story.
My point is that I did complete a first draft and did several rewrites with the helpful feedback of the critique group that I belong too. But, the first chapter still just wasn’t working as well as the central plot conflict. So I made a drastic decision.
Start Over.
Now I haven’t really started over, most of what I’ve written is usable, I just have some specific edits to do and a few chapters to add to the overall manuscript. But I was willing to start over and the first step I took was to play the what if game.
I opened a fresh mind map ( I use www.wisemapping.com) and typed what if. Then I let go of everything but my most basic plot line and started typing out fresh ideas.
That brain storming session completely changed the first chapter into something I’m happy with, added two characters to the novels, and added an entirely new dimension to the central conflict making it more engaging for the reader.
So if you are stuck and have been for awhile, throw away all your preconceived notions about your plot and characters and play the what if game. Who knows what will happen.