BOOK REVIEW (20): Royal Blood (Vampire Kisses #6)

BOOK REVIEW:

Royal Blood

Long time no read, Dullsville. I see you're still looking dull and slightly inhabited with new vampires.

Yes. Book 6 of Ellen Schreiber's Vampire Kisses series introduces Alexander's family.

Aptly titled Royal Blood reveals somebody's--I won't say who!--royal lineage. And no it's not Raven, though that would be pretty cool.

But that's hardly the focus of this sixth novel now we're more than 2/3 of the way through the series, our favourite mortal-vampire duo are facing the same old, same old and only after a short respite in their summer vacation.

Raven has to get back to school, and like the most of us, she's none to happy about it. But then again for her it particularly means no more late nights smooching her vampy bf in his coffin or w/e crazy things lovesick teens do nowadays.

And if junior year and college applications looming isn't bad enough, Alexander's parents drop by for a visit--you know, considering they own the Sterling mansion and all. Srsly. I wish my parents left my 17-year-old self in a family-owned mansion.

Rich vampires these days...

Setting aside the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Sterling are hella more irresponsible than Esme and Carlisle, I could not have been more glad for these two as parents. I'm totally paraphrasing, but Raven says something of their being the coolest parents.

In a lot of ways they sounded like pretty cool parents. I think I liked Mrs. Sterling more. Have you ever seen people who whip out their umbrellas on an especially hot, sunny day--well, first off regular umbrellas are useless against the UV rays; you'll need special, UV-protected umbrellas for that--Alexander's mother walks around with an umbrella AT NIGHT. Yeah. And for the cutest reason: the moonlight is too harsh on her skin.

And did I mention the author loves her description? Especially of the gothic wear? For once I actually think I enjoyed reading about Mrs. Sterling's outfits because I usually just grit my teeth and roll my eyes at the excessive detail. (I get it. Is this a frickin ad for Hot Topic?)

Overall the Sterlings reminded me of the Addams' patriarch and matriarch (only with a little more Dracula-like cape and fangs). xD

My compliment doesn't get higher than that.

Yes, of course the drama is centered around Alexander's parents and their approval of Raven and their son's relationship with a mortal, which had its ups and downs as far as suspense and conflict construction goes but I can't stress how Vampire Kisses as a series sucks with its resolutions.

Everything is rushed and wrapped up in a bow and surprised no one slits their finger. I sure as hell turn these pages slowly--way more slowly than I'm supposed to because I have to force myself to read sometimes.

Nothing new, so big surprise what my rating is.

My verdict:

✮✮✮

3 stars

BOOK REVIEW (19): Too Close to Resist (Bluff City #1)

BOOK REVIEW:

Too Close to Resist 

Wow.

So I haven't had a leisure read for the past month. The sacrifices I made for my Canadian lit. class...oh man. Not that I didn't enjoy my forced readings, I mean they weren't Bret Easton Ellis and American Psycho bad.

And seeing as I derailed my CampNaNo plan for rewrites I decided to use this month to reach the 3/4 mark of my reading + reviewing goal for this year.

I need another 4-5 books in order to do this. And I started late but I just polished off two books this past week. :) YAY for being on track.

My Book 1 of a 5-book challenge was "Too Close to Resist" by Nicole Helm, the first in the Bluff City trilogy from Harlequin Superromance.

This is Ms. Helm's debut w/ Harlequin and it's also my first with this longer contemp romance category line. As usual (lol!) I made a super (haha. See what I did there) choice.

"Too Close to Resist" follows Grace McKnight and Kyle Clark and the thematic strand connecting them and their stories is fear and the need to control every evil in their pasts.

See the thing with romances are that, sure, they're love stories, but they're NOT just love stories. As in the protagonists have conflicts outside the main romantic plot--after all before they existed as a couple our hero and heroine existed as individuals.

Mini-rant aside "Too Close to Resist" is a down-to-earth read: realistically gritty yet uplifting. The language is frank, and although there was no knight-in-shining armour I promise there's a HFN/happy for now.

And that's what I LOVE about this novel. Grace and Kyle save themselves from their own monsters. They support each other, but they also come to understand that there's an insurmountable barrier where external heroics are null and void. Kinda like how your parents can't help you with everything even if they want to protect you 24/7 (and my family SO would)...

Anyways lotsa sexual tension builds up to two sexy-sheet times, which to be honest were described more sweetly than the diction suggested leading up to the act, but other than that I recommend this to other first-timers to longer contemporary romances like Superromance.

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮✮

(5 stars)

The Writer's Pyramid (Big Dreams Blog Update #9)

Holy guacamole-eep!

We're at the halfway mark of the year, peeps. THE HALFWAY MARK.

I can't believe how fast this year is zipping by, it's one-half crazy, one-quarter confusing, and the other quarter pretty mind blowing. This last part especially because after years of complaining: I finally finished my first full-length (50K+) novel.

So now that it is the end of the month as well, nothing changes and this is the usual Update Day--but with a little twist. A brilliant mastermind *ahem*Misha*ahem* suggested that us crazy dreamers over at Big Dream-slash-Do You Have Goals? blog hop do a six-month special review during this update day's post. 

And, girrrrrls and boys, do I have a lot to review. I'll break it up into two parts for simplicity's sake into two parts: my Reading/Reviewing goal and my Writing goal(s). Cool?

But before I jump in with the review, I just want to let any of you lurkers know that there is more than enough time and room for you to join us and add your crazy BIG dream to the 21 participants in this blog hop fashioned by the amazing duo Beth Fred and Misha Gericke. Sign up here if you want and do a half-year review anyways.

Onto le review:

Reading + Reviewing:

When I posted the very first post of 2014 one of the goals I had for the year was to redeem myself from last year's reading fail. I was aiming for 52 books in 52 weeks for 2013, and I unfortunately barely stepped over the halfway mark. This year, because of school and knowing my gosh-awful procrastination, I set a more reasonable goal of 30 books. And I decided to continue the GoodReads challenge bar thingie to measure my update. AND to further ensure I didn't lazy about with my reading, I added the extra measure of reviewing all 30 books by the end of the year.

Last month I hit the halfway mark for my reading.

This month I added 2 more books to that, one of which I has been on my TBR pile since 2012.

I'm sitting at 19 books, 18 of those reviewed and though I'm busy finishing up the semester in July, I'd like to read book #20 and catch up to my review to that point. :)

One thing I have noticed about reviewing--I've totally hyped it. I really love reading reviews (positive and negative), and I enjoy writing my own--I just now also know I wouldn't ever make this a professional gig. And I've learned to admire professional reviewers even more!

Yay to those who take the time to do this more regularly.

Writing:

Arguably this section will be longer, because I have more to blab about. Blah-blah-blah--you've been warned.

 It starts with an article. This one. I came upon this piece of wonderful two months ago in April-ish, but for the last two Updates I set it aside in lieu of taking the posts in other directions.

I return to it now with a finished novel.

For those of you who are TL;DR the article is written by someone who I assumed to be an editor (not that that really matters) and the gist of the writing is that worry is pointless. Worrying about your novel rather than writing your novel isn't going to do anything for you, particularly if you would like to make this a career.

And instead of another editor/writing biz pro telling you "to just write the damn story", Rachel Scheller is telling you to step back and analyze the bigger picture. Or in this case this pyramid below.

Where do you sit on this pyramid?

At the moment I'm sitting at the Finished stage, but two months ago I was waffling between being a Wanna Be and a Learner.

And let's get something straight here: I'm not delusional.

I never tried to envision that I'd just finish the first draft of my first book and it would be SPESHFUL SNOWFlAKE-goodness and agents would beat each other down to get it and publishers would throw bajillons of dollars at me in a auction and my debut would fly and buy property at the top of the USATODAY and NYT bestseller lists and win multiple literary prizes.

When I did finish my first MS, I kinda knew that there was no way-NO WAY--this was going to be seen my any editor and/or agent.

I'm not about to cart my story off when I know it needs a lot of spit and polish before I give it a chance.

The pyramid is a really great visual tool. Of course it doesn't include the Big Step of Revisions--you know the whole "writing is revising" and vice versa--but it does work to make any fanciful dreamer realize making writing a F/T paying job is hard work.

Right now I'm about to buckle down to revisions. After stepping away for 2 weeks I've been outlining and prepping for rewrites on the first draft and just in time for CampNaNo (July 2014 edition).

It's funny because I wasn't actually expecting to have a novel and it's still a bit surreal.

I just started writing the Monday following Mother's Day and I didn't come up for air until 4 weeks later.

Yeah. You read right.

After all my complaining I finished a novel and...

I finished it in four weeks (or 29 days to be exact).

What should anyone reading this and aspiring to the finish their own novel glean from my story/experience: believe in yourself because you sure as heck can do it.

Find the story that makes your heart beat and in time you'll rush to get your writing in for the day.

Personally where do I stand with revisions... I'm going to be doing A LOT of rewriting. Why? I pantsed the project. Like entirely based off nothing.

I actually still remember wondering who the heck my hero and heroine were by the end of the first week. xD

But I don't regret it.

I finished the novel, and along the way I made mental notes on the things I wanted to change.

For anyone interested I'll keep a separate NaNo bar on the side and I'll try to update it every week for the coming month. I don't actually have a particular word count goal for the Camp. I know I'm doing heavy rewrites, but I'm also freeing myself up for whatever really.

But do leave a comment with your NaNo username if you want me to buddy up with you.

Let's wrap this up.

January to June 2014 has been a crazy roller coaster of...taking small steps towards Crazy Big Dreams.

For the coming six months I'd like to see myself continue to read and review regularly (as regular as my schedule will allow, of course) and write. Write. Write.

More specifically finish revising my first draft and I'm eyeing one other project, a fanfic I started last year and abandoned, but I wish to finish up. Why? No particular reason other than I like the fandom and I want to.

Keep dreaming fellow nuts. We'll climb the big pyramid together--even if we take turns stepping on each other's shoulders (consent being key here! :P) along the way.

BOOK REVIEW (18): Falling for the CEO (A Stanton Family #1)

BOOK REVIEW:

Falling for the CEO

After digesting a lot of paranormal reads, Audra North’s Falling for the CEO was a refreshing (and much needed) change! The first in the Stanton Family novella series does what it sets out to do, make me want book 2!

Each novella follows one of the four Stanton children, and although readers only get a mention of one of the siblings in the book 1, our first Stanton hero makes up for the lack of introductions.

So Falling for the CEO tells the story of Andrew Stanton and heroine Meredith Klaus, or the Santa CEO and Klutzy Klaus.

Basically Andrew is a really stand-up guy: anything a heterosexual, human woman would want. Despite coming from a well-to-do family, Andrew still works his butt off for climbing to the position he now holds as CEO. He’s also extremely generous, and during his years as CEO set up a Christmas Bonus Fund for his employees—his way of ensuring an extra something for his staff.

Oh yes! I forgot to mention this is a Christmas-themed story. Yay! I mean I’m like 6 months early, or six months late depending on if you start from this story’s publication back in Nov/Dec 2013…

Then there’s Meredith. Sweet, klutzy Meredith who I wanted to alternate between slapping because she can be so dense and tiresomely insecure and hugging because she so, SO wasn’t ready for the world prior to the start of this story. After a rough childhood, Meredith shares the same sort of passion for her work as Andrew does his. She’s a super brilliant math whiz, and as Andrew’s newest CFO has the biggest task set up for her this very merry Christmas. (I won’t ruin super big task, but hint! It’s the external goal/conflict of the story.) Still Meredith is in pretty bad ways personality-wise, she’s a real mess. Her confidence is just shot and it was one of the things that made me connect with her. I guarantee that a lot of readers will connect with her internal monologue whenever she’s confronted with a particularly harrowing situation, be it embarrassment and/or disappointment.

I should also mention that the story is described as Cinderella-inspired, so if there’s any ash girl-esque feel to this story that’s because yeah…fairy tale fun!

So there was one thing I didn’t like:

1) The insta-love. I know, I know. People have a lot of good/bad things to say about this topic, but for this particular story I think it wasn’t even about whether it was realistic or not, it just felt too hurried. And tbh, it really isn’t the author’s fault. I WAS, after all, reading a romance novella. The insta-love is really a given. Still I thought I’d warn anyone who was really against this: the romance moves very quickly.

Other than that this story is gold. I really enjoyed myself quelle surprise as when I usually think romance + Cinderella. I think “Oh gee. This is probably going to burn to ash really quickly”. I did pick it up for the holiday theme, and it worked out well for me in the end. The one well-described sex scene really twisted it up for me. I love me some hilarity + sexual tension and there is a lot of it in this novella up and to the bow chika wowwow.

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮✮

(5 stars)

BOOK REVIEW (17): Reap and Repent (Reapers #1)

BOOK REVIEW:

Reap and Repent

I’m doing this review out of order as this book is the first on in the box set from Harlequin’s Digital First line of UF/PNR stories. So this review happened before Misty Simon’s Wicked Ink, but I’m now reviewing it late. (Don’t ask why.) Huzzah.

This one is real good, guys! (Though I might be biased… You see I’ve been following Lisa Medley’s writing journey with this book as detailed on her blog and I kinda admire her as an aspiring writer). Lisa Medley’s debut, Reap and Repent, is a treat even for the non-experienced UF reader. The first in her Reaper series follows heroine Ruth who needs to train her fondling reaper powers with the aid of our sexy hero, Deacon, a really strong Reaper himself, Deacon isn’t 100% willing to take Ruth on because he has his own baggage. But he does help eventually, like all good heroes.

Set in the fictional city of Meridian (props to Ms. Medley for the clever title) Reap and Repent offers a plethora of action, sexual tension, magic and, as of right now, the grimiest visuals of wounds. Seriously! There were so many times I put my phone down to keep steady my head because I was getting queasy. So fair warning of advance, ye fellow weaklings and wimps…

Besides the blood I would have liked to see more of the bad guy downstairs, in this case an actual prince of hell who turns out to be a very passive antagonistic force in this book. But this is a series (a trilogy at the moment), so I expect this bad guy will actually get his hands dirty in the other 2 books.

The majority of the upside runs like this:

1)      The relationship between Ruth and Deacon is sexy and realistic given the story’s environment and context. So they were pawing each other very early and there wasn’t much chemistry between Deacon, Ruth and I—but they grew on me.

2)    The world building is Brill! I wasn’t sold on the aura thing (I’ve seen it before), but I loved how the Reapers world, and the possibilities for anyone who wants to write fanfiction is abundant. Listen up UF/fantasy writers, the best stories offer endless scenarios of building on canon world maps).

And 3) there’s an irredeemable best friend and a male witch. Both steal the spotlight several times and are, thankfully, the heroes of Books 2 and 3 respectively. (Squee. –inner fan girl dies-)

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮.5

(4.5 stars)

The End?

So as this is not an Update Day post or a review, I'll keep it short.

At 7:51 p.m. EST today, I finished my WIP.

And, AND--it's a 50K+ novel. An actual novel.

(does yet another silent dance of joy for, like, the hundredth time)

I'm so paranoid though I'm not really sure how to react. I hit 'the end' only 20 minutes ago, but I'm already doubting its new completed status.

Internal dialogue (kinda accurate):

ME: Yay! I'm done.

(2 secs later)

ME: Wait! Maybe you're not really done. -frantically scrolling through word doc-

Will talk more on this development.

Stayed tuned.

TBC.

BOOK REVIEW (16): The Fate of a Marlowe Girl (Marlowe Girls #1)

Book Review:

The Fate of a Marlowe Girl

Such haunting eyes... But don't let them fool you! Tiffany is tough.

Although only a novella, this prequel/beginning of author Beth Fred’s Marlowe Girls duology is a short but sweet read! (And if you couldn’t tell, I’m biased because I love novellas!)

The Fate of a Marlowe Girl reads quickly, but that’s because I zoomed through the pages. For a couple hours I was glued to my phone hanging off the bed in all sorts of bone-aching positions wondering how Lucas and Tiffany could ever be together. (I even kept checking to see if this wasn’t part of a serial set, because the tension was just that great! And that’s a warning to you nail-biters.)

To be honest though, at first it took a while for me to warm to Tiffany’s personality—or thought process. She’s sarcastic, but totally a doormat when it came to her stupid little sister. I mean, I have a little sister and I can get how frustrating it can be when they don’t listen to you—but man, I wanted to hug and kiss my sister after this read because Tiffany had it WAY worse. Just imagine the most selfish brat out there and now picture you sharing blood with them. For reals! Tiffany really butt-lucked out when it came to the stork’s delivery of her sister, Kammy.

The whole opening made me cringe. Are there really such bad siblings out there in the world?

So poor Tiffany allowed herself to get pushed around for a bit... At least until the sexy and very no-nonsense Lucas enters her life. He embodied what I’d been raging about: her complicity to her sister and challenge her to see the error in indulging such shitty sibling relations. “I’m sorry. Just because we’re siblings doesn’t mean I get to wipe your arse every time you crap yourself.”

With Kammy’s responsibility temporary divested from her hands, Tiffany allows Lucas to show her Cancun. But after three nights in his apartment and company Tiffany realizes he’s shown her much, much more. Most especially how to value herself and particularly making sure that she learned to put herself first timing taken into consideration.

Then there’s a twist end which I won’t share—thank me after reading this book, because you won’t want it spoiled. (And if you do, go find some other spoilery review.)

My only gripe was anytime Kammy was mentioned.

But BUT--there is a second book. A longer second book I might add, and using my supa-dupa detective skills I’m guessing Book 2 of the Marlowe Girls stars the much-hated Kammy.

Does this mean I’ll be boycotting Book 2? No. Actually oddly enough—and it makes me question my level of sadism—I want to read Kammy’s story. I would love to see how she’ll redeem herself as at the end of this first story she is very irredeemable IMHO. 

My verdict:

✮✮✮✮.5

(4.5 stars)