BLACK HEART, RED RUBY on sale now!
Tag: Books
LOVE IN A TIME OF MONSTERS IS OUT!
This is the post I’ve been waiting to write for years. YEARS! My fantasy novel, LOVE IN A TIME OF MONSTERS, is on sale!
He has a monster problem
Scotland, 1867. When Rob Stevenson’s brother is killed—and eaten—in the forest outside their estate, Rob’s sheltered world is shattered by a monster infestation. Determined to keep his village safe, Rob’s first duty as laird involves hiring a professional hunter.
She kills monsters
The sole survivor of a massacre in the Congo, Catriona Mornay is rumored to have lost her mind in the jungle. In Edinburgh’s gas-lit streets, Cat’s skill as a hunter is unmatched. Her reputation as a killer of unnatural creatures, legendary.
Two worlds collide
Faced with a rising body count, Rob takes a chance on Cat, hoping that somewhere inside this tortured yet charismatic girl is the hero he’s been searching for. But in this shadow realm of secrets, lies, and underworld crime, their lives overlap in more ways than one. And in an age where harpies flock the sky and serpents rule the sea, it’s even possible for a boy and his hunter to fall in love.
But can their love survive in a time of monsters?
You can buy it here:
The ebook is cheaper than the price of popcorn chicken (or Girl Scout cookies for those of you who do not gorge yourself on popcorn chicken) and will net you hours of entertainment. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll feel a little scared and perhaps… a little sexy? I have a dirty mind, and while that’s no secret, aren’t you curious about my dirty mind when applied to a fantasy setting?
As an added bonus, if you buy the paperback version on Amazon, you’ll get the kindle version for $0.99.
I’m thrilled to share this book with you and hope you enjoy it! And once you’ve enjoyed it… please consider leaving a review (I won’t direct you to where, but allow me to point in Amazon’s general direction) to help others find my work and spread my dirty mind around… rather like herpes but in a more pleasant way.
Books Read 2012
Books I Read (Minus the DNF) with random commentary.
JAN 2012
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
Comments: Incest is icky, but this is a heartbreaking love story between siblings. And I say this with absolute seriousness. Remember in V.C. Andrews’ Dawn when Philip Cutler is all ‘It’s not incest if we turn the lights off’? and that was um, gross, but in Forbidden, I was really rooting for Maya and Lochan and hoping they’d run away (but not procreate). I felt so TORMENTED after this read.
FEB 2012
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
Comments: Pretty Cover!
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Comments: Hazel’s quest to meet that Peter Van author dude mirrors my Christopher Pike stalking. I can relate. Unlike Peter Van Mumble Mumble, Christopher Pike is really nice and HE WROTE ON MY FB WALL WISHING ME A HAPPY BIRTHDAY ONE WEEK BEFORE MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY WHICH MEANS HE HAS ME MARKED ON HIS CALENDER. ZOMG I’VE BEEN MARKED BY THE PIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To quote Hazel: What is this life?????
MARCH 2012
Misery by Stephen King
Comments: The book is much freakier than the movie. I learned a new word: man gland. And when Annie Wilkes threatened to cut off Paul Sheldon’s man gland, I was secretly worshipping Stephen King’s sick mind.
APRIL 2012
Cujo by Stephen King
Comments: Rabid dogs are scary. That’s all. Read with some liberal skimming as there were lots of exposition on ad agencies and whatnot. Could use a ‘man-gland’ now and then.
MAY 2012
The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott.
Comments: Stopped page 195. Reason: Library book due. Aspiring dressmaker on Titanic. I liked the pacing and rapid scene breaks, but when my copy went back to the library, I felt like I could live without finishing it. I’d probably pick it back up again when the Titanic mood strikes.
Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
Comments: Derek Craven is one sexy gambling kingpin. And he speaks with a cockney accent, much like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins, except Derek gets it ON with mousy romance novelist. Not that Dick Van Dyke doesn’t get it ON now and again. If you recall his Penguin dance, he is very flexible and… feral.
JULY 2012
Cracked by K.M. Walton
Comments: The bully and the boy he bullied become roommates in a psych ward. This is neither here nor there, but I kept imagining Biff and George McFly as roommates.
AUGUST 2012
Phantom by Susan Kay
Comments: This is one big mother of a book, but I am obsessed with The Phantom of the Opera and sort of want to marry the man behind the mask. This book is about his life and is so scrumptiously written that I actually looked up from the text to mouth “Wow.” Oh Phantom, you are like the most perfect man EVER. Master architect, magician, composer, tortured genius—who cares about your face? Christine doesn’t deserve you…Please take me to your secret lair and let me play with your mechanical monkey (oh how wrong this sounds).
SEPTEMBER 2012
The Aviary by Kathleen O’Dell
Comments: Gothic-y middle grade involving a tumbledown mansion and an aviary filled with creepy birds. Birds freak me out. Feathers. Beaks. Scaly feet. Nasty avian scum! I once saw a man at the beach with two parrots on his arm and nearly tossed my cookies. Do not EVER ask me to pet your pigeon.
God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie Debartolo
Comments: This book is like a love letter to LA from characters who hate LA. This book is hilarious and the voice, my God the voice…Since this is blurbed as “This generation’s Love Story” on the cover, I already knew what was coming and yet, the end felt like a million daggers into my heart all the same. And when I finished picking up the shattered pieces of my heart off the floor, I thought about all the tragic endings I encountered this year. The Phantom. This book. A Fault in Our Stars. Forbidden. It’s the year of tempestuous love and untimely deaths. P.S. I pictured Jacob and Trixie as Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke circa Reality Bites.
2011 Books Read
Better late than never. Remember how I used to blog and make OCD-worthy lists and collages of all I’d read? I still make lists, but collages these days, while never extinct, are few and far between.
2011 was a slim yet memorable reading year. I discovered Lisa Kleypas and dedicated the entire spring to reading her backlists. And new author crush: Stephanie Perkins! I plan to write an entire blog post on how much I swooned during the reading of Lola and the Boy Next Door.
The Wild Rose, the final installment of Jennifer Donnelly’s Rose Trilogy came out in August covered in awesome sauce. There were Lawrence of Arabia and motorcar chases, dude.
In between, there were many ‘Did Not Finished’ books. I’m a notorious abandon-er of books (known to abandon on the last few pages!), so I don’t count something as ‘Read’ unless I read or liberally skimmed every. single. word.
Oh, and I read The Witch of Blackbird Pond again. It’s a sickness. This is re-read #12.
Jan. 2011
Room by Emma Donoghue
Feb 2011
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (re-read)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (re-read)
March 2011
Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Re-read).
Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas
Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas
April 2011
Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas
It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas
After the Night by Linda Howard
Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas
May 2011
Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas
Seduce Me At Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas
Tempt Me At Twilight by Lisa Kleypas
Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas
June 2009
Intensity by Dean Koontz
The Lost City of Z by David Grann (liberal skimming)
July 2011
A Shore Thing by Snooki
Jane by April Lindner
August 2011
The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (liberal skimming)
September 2011
Fury by Elizabeth Miles
October 2011
Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur
If Tomorrow Comes by Sidney Sheldon
Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Dec 2011
Legend by Marie Lu
You thought you’ve seen the last of me…
and you would be WRONG. Ho ho, guess who’s blogging again.
Okay, so here’s the deal. I’ve been tugging my hair out tinkering with the dreaded query letter and giving myself an ulcer that no amount of Junior Mints could cure. So in my rare, vulnerable moments on ye ole blog in which I express that I have a soul, I’d like to say: if I don’t get published…I will cry. Deep, heart-wrenching, sobs. Heathcliffian head-banging on tree, howling on the moors type of weeping.
For you see, unless I am high on caffeine or the prospect of watching Michael Fassbender’s Shame on a High Definition big screen TV, I am a reticent girl in person. But if I am doing my job right, my novel and query letter will have an authorial voice that BOOMS. Much like how I like to type in ALL CAPs here.
Oh dear. I am having a melodramatic freak-out in which only a picture of Michael Fassbender’s abs could cure.
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby I planned to re-read The Great Gatsby upon hearing the news that it’s going to be made into a movie and for the sole reason that I don’t remember a darn thing about it. Plus, I’ve entered a phase in which I think I’ve experience enough of life that I could go back and re-read classic novels and finally understand what they mean. That’s not to suggest I wasn’t a deep reader as a teen, but now, in the case of Jay Gatsby, I totally know what its like to harbor a dream and have life shatter said dream into a million jagged little pieces. To quote Fantine from Les Miserable the musical: “Life has killed the dream I dreamed…” The bitter examination of the American Dream, folks. Doesn’t get more depressing than that.
I like the idea of Gatsby more than I like the character. This has got to be said and the literary purist might burn me in effigy, but it was super hard for me to get involved in this book. It was descriptive, sometimes beautifully so (“The exhilaration of her laughter was like a wild tonic in the rain” anyone?) yet why do I not care? Why do I care more about the cast of characters in a romance novel than the Great American novel? Is there something wrong with me? Anyway, empathy…I have none. But the idea of Gatsby, the rich yet lonely man staring at the green dock lights across the bay is oh so romantic. He bought a mansion across from Daisy’s mansion just so he could watch her, which is kind of an expensive way to stalk somebody when the ole bushes n’ binoculars method would suffice.
My parting random thought:
“He dispensed starlight….” What does this mean? I was quite perplexed and this sentence found its way into conversation at work. Combined with all the twinkling that goes on when Gatsby’s around, we likened Gatsby to Edward Cullen and Daisy to Bella. Ha! How do I dare make such a blasphemous analogy! I bet F. Scott Fitzgerald is rolling over in his grave.
I begin 2011 freezing in my whale hunter jacket
As I’m writing this, I am wearing two pairs of pants, one turtleneck, a fleecy sweater, and a big puffy whale hunter jacket, fur lined hood pulled up. God I feel cool, no pun intended. Actually, I feel like I could join forces with Ernest Shackleton on Elephant Island and maybe nibble on cubes of Walrus fat for sustenance. I must stop typing every few seconds and blow hot pockets of air into my frozen palms. I am also thinking of adding an extra pair of socks over the socks I already have on. This is the perfect time to pick a fight; my extra padding is the ultimate body armor. If you punch me I doubt I’ll feel it.
What does this have to do with books? Either I need to read a book set in warmer climes (any recs?) or I’m about to tear up the pages of a few Horrible Dare Novels and start a bonfire OR stuff them down my Whale Hunter jacket or dare I say it? down my pants. More padding is always appreciated.
Anyway, to fulfill my New Year’s Resolution to blog more, I just wanted to wow you with two totally random things.
A collage of My Wardrobe Remix of Spring-Fall of 2010. They remind me of warmer days when I looked normal and not like I’m about to spear a polar bear. In case you’re wondering if I’m a secret mother: I have not yet produced offspring (and probably won’t if I keep referring to children as ‘offspring.’) The little girl is my cousin, I call her Mini Me, and I borrowed her for picture purposes because she likes to ladypose more than I do.
And I’ve always wanted to do a Teaser Tuesday, except I’m going to be a maverick and do it on Monday. Since I’m not reading anything at this moment, I will grab the closest book and flip to a random page.
This book is Monster by Christopher Pike.
Teaser sentence: “We ate together. In a restaurant. We didn’t eat anybody.”
2010 Reading Round Up
My reading stats this year won’t break any records. The reading slump months, i.e. the months I read only one book, are especially conspicuous. The thing is, I’ve changed. Whereas in the past years my focus was on quantity (I wanted to read X amount of books and beat some invisible record), this year I find myself slowing down and savoring the story. I guess after two years of speeding I finally realized that reading shouldn’t be rushed. It’s not like I have a stagecoach to catch of anything.
December is conspicuously, shamefully missing. I was lead astray by all these holiday shenanigans and have not managed to finish a single book, though, it should be noted that I am currently reading Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King and enjoying every gruesome moment of it.
Trends:
My moods seemed to swing from the big sweeping epics at the beginning of the year and whittle down to a slew of retro Christopher Pikes, a result of scavenging my local dollar bookstore in search of those sentimental ’90’s reading days.
The Best of 2010 (in no particular order). Prepare thyself for a lot of nonsensical gushing and uncontrollably sobbing:
The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough: Oh sweet Jesus, I love this book so much I could fall on my knees and say a thousand ‘Hail Marys’ to the author and even that wouldn’t be enough to express my pure devotion to the awesomeness of this book. Reading this tome took the entire month of January and carting it around was like tucking an especially heavy brick under my arm. I’ve never been to Australia but when I finished I felt like I could claim citizenship. This is the epic star-crossed love story between a Catholic priest and the spunky young woman he sort of helped raised. Gross, right? Oh but it is so romantic, not in the slushy way, but a surprisingly esoteric way that makes absolutely no sense unless you’ve read the book and fawned over the prose. Okay, I totally dogearred a few parts of this book for future re-reads. My favorite part: when Father Ralph was all “Tonight there is only Meggie. I have wanted her. She too is a sacrament.” *Descends into uncontrollably sobbing because the simile is so on the nose.* WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!!! *Sobs like the Double Rainbow guy on YouTube* What does it mean????????????????
The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard: When I mini-reviewed this book earlier this year, I gave it a B. As time progressed and the story had like time to age like a bottle of fine wine in the cellar of my mind (don’t puke, I’m listening to Phantom of the Opera on a continuous loop as I’m writing this), it dawned on me that I might have been too hasty in my grading. I claimed this book was sad, bordering on depressing. Now it is sad, bordering on bittersweet. This YA is about the secret affair between a boy from the wrong side of the tracks and a country club princess. Then she dies and her brother hands him her diary which he reads and weeps over because SOB!!!!!!! she really loves him but never officially told him and now she’s dead and he has to DEAL! This isn’t some paranormal romance where dead means zombie. This is real life where dead means dead and the survivors take long meaningful walks in the snow DEALING.
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: This is another historical epic that monopolized a month out of my year. As a loyal fan of the movie, I’ve always been meaning to tackle the book but never got around to it. Boy am I glad I did. Upon finishing, I slammed the book down and sort of had a religious experience. I even managed to squeeze out a few tears. “Wow,” I said. Just wow. I am also extremely jealous of Margaret Mitchell’s novel writing prowness. From a technical perspective, GWTW has the perfect balance between beautiful prose, compelling storytelling, and deep characterization. Also, Scarlett O’Hara is my hero. In the league of resourceful heroines, I think she’s even cooler than Claire from Outlander. It’s a close race, but Scarlett has that extra ounce of bitchness that speaks to the Melrose Place (circa ’90’s) fan in me.
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls: This is the surprise of 2010. I checked this out from the library for lack of anything better to read. I’m not a big memoir reader and I approached Glass Castle with low expectations. Then the story, which reminded me of a more intense, modern day version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, blew me away. I am such a sucker for coming-of-age!
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: While I did not find this book as exhilarating as Hunger Games and Catching Fire, the end (minus the epilogue) was so perfect that it almost made me change teams. I remember reading the last paragraph over and over again and sighing.
I Capture the Castle by Doddie Smith: This book has that jolly ole tone that Americans like me find so hilarious. Oh the Brits and their understated witticisms! No seriously, this book, it done warmed my heart and challenged my mind. Plus, it lends itself to quotes.
Books Read in 2010
Jan.2010
The Thornbirds—Colleen McCullough
Feb 2010
1. The Secret Year—Jennifer R. Hubbard
2. Thirst No. 2—Christopher Pike
3. A Woman of Substance—Barbara Taylor Bradford
4. The Sartorialist—Scott Schuman
5. Blankets—Craig Thompson
March 2010
1. Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut interview
2. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
3. The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
April 2010
1. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
May 2010
- Die Softly by Christopher Pike
- Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
- Road to Nowhere by Christopher Pike
June 2010
- Story by Robert McKnee
- Monster by Christopher Pike
- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
- L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad
- Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
July 2010
1. The Stand by Stephen King (not finished)
2. Remember Me by Christopher Pike (Reissued trilogy includes Remember Me, The Return, The Last Story)
August 2010
1. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
September 2010
1. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
2. See You Later by Christopher Pike
3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
4. The Secret of Ka by Christopher Pike
5. The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass
6. How to Write a Damn Good Thriller by James N. Frey
October 2010
1. Bury Me Deep by Christopher Pike
2. Spellbound by Christopher Pike
3. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
4. Witch by Christopher Pike
November 2010
1. Dream Man by Linda Howard
2. Thirst No. 3 by Christopher Pike
3. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
4. I Capture the Castle by Doddie Smith
5. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
The Thief and Mini Flavors of the Week
The Thief is a book I wished I read when I was twelve. I would have harbored a MAJOR literary crush on the narrator Gen. He is like a darker, more cunning version of Nat Eaton from The Witch of Blackbird Pond.
I picked up The Thief over a year ago. It came highly recommended by Mems, one of my regular readers who was also Witch of Blackbird Pond obsessed. She commented that Gen was like Nat Eaton and she couldn’t choose which one is better. In other words, Team Nat vs. Team Gen! So I promptly checked out The Thief from my library, read the first 50 pages, and abandoned it. The beginning was slow, crawling along at a snail’s pace. And while Gen was clever, cunning, and nimble (all enticing and crush-worthy character traits), I must admit I was bored by everything else…particularly the long and arduous quest through what seemed like an endless grove of olive trees in search of Hamiathes’ Gift.
Last week I stumbled upon this Book Smuggler’s glowing review of the entire series, which sparked a renewed interest in the book. In fact, every review I’ve read of The Thief praises the ‘TWIST at the end that will make you re-examine the entire book with new eyes.’
I picked up where I left off (yes, I know it’s freaky how I could remember precisely at what point I abandoned a book). On the whole, I have a new appreciation for this book. It does get more exciting toward the middle and the twist was rather clever. But I am riddled with guilt because I’ve convinced myself I should love the book yet, sadly, I am just mildly fond of it. I am flogging myself for not being more excited or wowed by this twist. Is it because I spend my every waking thought constructing shocking twists that I saw this twist coming? I connected the dots and picked up on the clues long ago! Damn my Ghostwriter watching days! I am now too good of a sleuth to be allowed to read mysteries and middle grade novels with blow-your-mind endings.
Mini Flavors of the Week
I usually twitter my mini flavors of the week, i.e. random crap I’m interested in. But Twitter is a flighty medium for chronicling your life. Sometimes I want to chronicle this random crap so that five years from now I’ll scroll through my archives and say “Hmm. I wanted to dress like Willy Wonka. What was I thinking?”
1. Classic movie kick: I recently watched Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and then watched an entire documentary on Bette Davis. I wish I can be half the alpha female she was. I also wish my eyes were half as big as B.D.’s. That being said, I’ve got Bette Davis Eyes stuck in my head.
2. Speaking of songs from movies: I’ve been singing Peggy Gordon from The Proposition for the past two years. Okay, you may think this is really weird: I’ve watched this montage repeatedly, mostly for the song but also for the ‘meaningful looks.’ These ‘meaningful looks’ break my heart! I find them very existential, like “maybe the meaning of life exists in the lyrics of Peggy Gordon.”
3. I’ve watched the Plastic Jesus banjo playing part of Cool Hand Luke more times than I can count! Paul Newman sings a requiem for his dead mother and a single solitary tear falls down his cheek. It’s a lot deeper than I’ve made it sound. SOB! This movie is the reason I want to learn to play the banjo!
4. Night of the Hunter anyone? It came to me while I reading Monsters of Men that if Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking Trilogy were a movie, I’d fantasy cast Robert Mitchum as Mayor Prentiss. Of course, Robert Mitchum is dead, hence the term ‘fantasy casting.’ But this clip perfectly explains my reasoning. Sometimes I sing ‘Leaning’ when I want to be creepy and scare little children on Halloween.
Dollar Bookstore Loot
1. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. I remember reading this about two years ago and not finishing it for some cloudy reason that usually has to do with “I’m not in the mood. I have Dracula to read.” Or, more specifically: “These characters are too eccentric to be real.” Now I have the urge to pick up where I left off. I’m a big champ of second chances. Once abandoned is never forever forgotten. This also goes to show that 99% of my enjoyable reading experience is based my mood at the time.
2. Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman This book is not perfect, in fact, the middle and end took a kamikaze dive into suck-a-tude. After Alice Hoffman went all Alice Hoffman on her book critic, her appeal diminished for me. However, I do admit to liking parts of Here on Earth: the surreal New England setting is th
e perfect place for a modern retelling of Wuthering Heights. Above all things, I’m a sucker for tortured love and brooding men. Heathcliff! Why can’t I quit you? Here’s my past review. Read it if you dare and remember this: I’m not daring you! It makes my cringe.
3. I Capture the Castle by Doddie Smith This is a mint condition hardcover! The gem of this week’s loot. I read this a few years ago and did not finish either. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I suspect the answer is too many library books at once and not enough concentration. On my more fruitful library expeditions, I’m like a kid in a candy store checking out more books that I could possibly read and reading a bit of everything only to finish nothing. I have issues. Gluttonous book grabbing issues!
Notice that all these books are in mint to quasi-mint conditions. No creased spines! No dogeared pages! Oh ho ho!
The Lit Connection 