Writer's Wednesday: Book Review -- Breath Of Angel

Before I get on with the review, I wanted to let you know I'm actually in two other places this morning as well.  The first place is at the Brave New Words blog, which is the blog for the 2012 science fiction YA debuts.  I'm blogging about what other media inspires me to write.  

And I'm at Adventures in Children's Publishing with my awesome agent, talking about my path to publication.   

Please stop by both places and say hi!             

And now onto the review.                                     

Breath of Angel by Karyn Henley

Publisher: Waterbrook Press (June 21, 2011

Paperback: 256 pages

Reading Level: Young Adult

Rating: 4 of 5 feathers

Source: Author’s Publicist

Melaia, a young priestess, witnesses the gruesome murder of an emaciated stranger in the temple courtyard. Just after she discovers wings on the stranger, the murderer enters the temple, and what Melaia has known only through song and story suddenly takes on flesh. Angels and shape-shifters were myths and stories . . . until now.

Melaia finds herself in the middle of a blood feud between two immortal brothers who destroyed the stairway to heaven, stranding angels in the earthly realm.  When the feud turns violent and Melaia becomes a target, she finds refuge with a band of wandering angels attempting to restore the stairway. But the restoration is impossible without the repayment of an ancient debt, the “breath of angel, blood of man,” a payment that involves Melaia’s heart, soul, and destiny. 

*Disclaimer: This book was not something I would have picked for myself.  It’s high fantasy and no matter how hard I’ve tried, I can never get into these types of books.  Therefore, this review is based on the quality of book and whether or not I thought someone who DOES read this genre would enjoy it. 

REVIEW:  This is another angel story in the deluge that’s hitting the market ( : P ), but it’s different as it’s not set in modern times.  It takes place in a high fantasy medieval-type world. And while it’s the typical good vs evil storyline that’s common with angel books, it’s different in the fact that it’s not demons Melaia is “fighting” against.  It’s two brothers who destroyed the stairway to heaven, which caused all the earthbound angels and the souls of people who’ve died to be trapped on Earth.

It starts with a stranger stumbling into a temple where the MC, Melaia, is a priestess training to be high priestess, but is a chantress now.  She’s also a death-prophet, meaning she can see the spirit of someone dying trying to escape.  She has a harp that she uses to help those who are dying to either pass on calmly or to stop them from dying. 

Anyway, the man stumbles into the temple only to be attacked by a giant hawk and killed.

The hawk turns into a man and demands that Melaia tell the story of the two brothers and the stairway to heaven.

I don’t want to go to far into the story, and give too much away, but this was an enjoyable read, even for me, someone who doesn’t like high fantasy. 

I did feel it dragged a bit and I found it hard to get into (this was not due to the story itself, but more to the point that I’ve found all high-fantasy dragging and hard to get into), but, once in the story, I wanted to know what was going to happen next and was driven to keep reading. 

Characters:  Melaia is a very enjoyable and strong heroine.  I loved finding out who she really was and going on her adventures with her.  There were times, however, that I felt she was too naïve for her own good.  Granted, considering she’d been stuck inside a temple the whole of her life, this isn’t very surprising. And while I would have liked to have seen more of her obvious intelligence play a role with who she trusted and/or didn’t trust, I don’t suppose the story would have been the same.  ; )

The other characters are just as well rounded and fascinating as Melaia.  Especially Trevin, who I could never quite figure out.

I think my favorite part of the entire story was actually learning about the angelology.  It was utterly fascinating and I couldn't get enough.

Cover:  I really liked the cover, but I honestly feel a bit deceived by it.  It isn’t the typical cover I’ve come to expect from high fantasy.  However, knowing that, I have to give the marketing department kudos for coming up with a package that made me want to read it, where I probably would have passed.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this story and I’m glad I was able to put my prejudices against high fantasy away long enough to read it.  It makes an excellent addition to my angel book collection.

Find Karyn Henley

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Writer's Wednesday: Book Review-Nightshade

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
Publisher: Philomel (October 19, 2010)
Paperback: 528 pages
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating: 5 of 5 feathers
Source: Purchased

While other teenage girls daydream about boys, Calla Tor imagines ripping out her enemies’ throats. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. Calla was born a warrior and on her eighteenth-birthday she’ll become the alpha female of the next generation of Guardian wolves. But Calla’s predestined path veers off course the moment she saves the life of a wayward hiker, a boy her own age. This human boy’s secret will turn the young pack's world upside down and forever alter the outcome of the centuries-old Witches' War that surrounds them all.


REVIEW:   This is another book I bought simply because of the cover. Honestly, I was over werewolves at this point, and I was pretty sure the only werewolf stories I wanted to read were the sequels to books I’d already read.  However, I couldn’t resist having such a beautiful cover on my bookshelf (yes, I know. I’m shallow.  J )  Anyway, since I bought it, I decided to give it a go.  And I couldn’t put it down.  I actually read it in one sitting, pretty much.  Minus the obligatory self-care times.  ; ) 

It started off with a bang and didn’t let up until it was over and had me begging for the next book!  Every one knows, I love me a good love triangle and Andrea did a great job with this one.  I’d compare it to the one in Personal Demons, except I know their crit. Partners so that’s probably why. LOL.  While I do know I prefer Shay over Ren, it was a close call.  They were just so hard to choose between.  Especially toward the end when Ren started showing his true feelings and not that of what was expected of him.

It starts off with the suspense of Calla (the MC) running into a hiker in the woods who is badly injured.  She’s in wolf form, so we aren’t sure what she’s going to do.  Kill the hiker boy?  Or save him.  Since it’s already stated in the blurb what happens, I’ll say she saves him, and, in turn, shows him what she really is.  She thinks it’ll end there, until he shows up at her school the next school day and is determined to get to know her better.

There was a great romantical element of the book and the characters couldn’t keep their hands off each other.  While I do like those kinds of things, they have to be done well to be enjoyable.  Most YA books steer clear of this, but not here and Andrea does an excellent job of showing it without overkilling it. 

The only negative I saw was that Calla was supposed to be the alpha female, completely in control of her pack, but she didn’t seem that alpha until the end.  She doesn’t know certain things about her brother and her best friend that I was sure she should have, being their alpha and all.  And while she does stand up to Ren a few times, it felt like it was only for show.  I understand that she was filled with indecision about certain things, but I felt I should see the alpha in other parts of her life and I didn’t really see it as much as I wanted (this is just a personal pref. BTW, others probably feel differently).

Otherwise, this is def. a must read for anyone, even those who don’t normally read the paranormal genre, but love a good romance.  Though I will say, that if you don’t normally like romances, this probably isn’t the read for you.  There is a LOT of it in here.  And while I don’t think it took away from the book, I love me a good romance.

Characters: All of the characters were strongly developed and I enjoyed them very much.  We’ll start with Calla, since she’s the MC.  She had a lot of great qualities.  She was strong, sweet, relatable and had a heart of gold. Shay was just awesome.  Honestly I couldn’t find a single fault in him, though if I re-read it a few time, I probably could if I looked hard enough. LOL.  And Ren?  He was the perfect flawed alpha male.  Loved every bit of him, too, even if I wanted to strangle him a few times.  Like in the dance club.  WTH was that Ren?  :D

Cover: As I mentioned before this was the reason I purchased this book. It’s perfect and beautiful. Stunning really.  With the frosted purple look and the girl that fits Calla perfectly. Plus the obviousness of the Calla lilies (my favorite flower, in case you were interested.), and the blood drops in them.  Absolutely perfect!

Honestly, this was probably in my top ten books I read in 2010.  I cannot rave about this book enough.  So just go out and buy it, will ya?  LOL. You won’t be disappointed.

Find Andrea Cremer

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Writer's Wednesday: Results and guest post

First, I wanted to let you know that I'm guest posting over at Adventures in Children's Publishing about what it's like after you have an agent and it doesn't happen like Stephenie Meyer.   I hope you read and comment over there. 

No book review today, I'm afraid.  I'll get one out for next week, but due to the holidays and revisions for my agent, I'm slacking.  :)

And now, as promised, the result of last week's contest.  The winner of The Preacher's Pride by Jody Hedlund is Sheri Larsen!  Congrats, Sheri!  I'll get that book right out to you.  I hope you enjoy it. 

Writer's Wednesday: Book Review Preacher's Bride

The Preacher’s Bride by Jody Hedlund
Publisher: Bethany House (October 1, 2010)
Paperback: 379 pages
Reading Level: Adult
Rating: 5 of 5 feathers
Source: Publisher

In 1650s England, a young Puritan maiden is on a mission to save the baby of her newly widowed preacher—whether her assistance is wanted or not.
Always ready to help those in need, Elizabeth ignores John’s protests of her aid. She’s even willing to risk her lone marriage prospect to help the little family.
Yet Elizabeth’s new role as housekeeper takes a dangerous turn when John’s boldness from the pulpit makes him a target of political and religious leaders. As the preacher’s enemies become desperate to silence him, they draw Elizabeth into a deadly web of deception. Finding herself in more danger than she ever bargained for, she’s more determined than ever to save the child—and man—she’s come to love.

REVIEW: I’m a little late on getting this review out. Unfortunately. I originally read it when it first came out, but never got around to reviewing it.

I feel like I'm repeating myself over and over again. This was another book that I loved. I read it for 4 hours straight today. I'm not generally a reader of Christian fiction, but this blew away every thought I had about the genre and I really can't wait to own my next Jody Hedlund. And to find out that the story was based on a true one, made it even better.

It starts with the main character, Elizabeth, hearing a baby cry as the town, including the child’s father, tried to help the mother of the babe as she died. It bothers Elizabeth and she tries repeadetly to care for it, but an elder woman (an important figure head of the town) refuses to let her. Elizabeth decides to take things into her own hands and goes to the poor section to go get a nursemaid for him, even though she knows she’ll get in trouble for it, which of course makes the other woman incredibly angry and will come back to haunt Elizabeth later.

Because of this she ends up becoming the housekeeper for the now widowed, John—a radical but highly regarded preacher in this town--and cares for his house and his three other children, including the eldest, a blind child named Mary.

Almost right away we’re tossed into a political and religious war when an enemy of John’s threatens to spread lies about John and Elizabeth, which quickly escalates into brutal beatings and vicious murders.



CHARACTERS: Ms. Hedlund's characterizations were superb and I truly felt I was apart of the story and felt for the characters, especially for poor Elizabeth and everything she endures during the course of this story. Elizabeth is an extremely likeable character with her quiet strength, confidence, and ability to adapt to any situation. Even when she made choices I wouldn’t have, I couldn’t help but see why she chose that path. John, was another good character. Even if there were times he wasn’t very likeable, it was always very obvious why he made those choices.

COVER: I think it’s perfect for this book. It gives the perfect hint that it’s historical and shows that quiet strength that Elizabeth embodies for the entire story.

This is truly a book you can't put down once you start reading it and I will be suggesting this book to every one I know.

Find Jody Hedlund
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Purchase Preacher’s Bride
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Since this is Christmas Week, I'm giving away a copy of The Preacher's Bride.  What do you have to do?  Just fill out the form below and then comment (not necessarily required, but helpful.  :) )and tell me your Christmas Wish (well, your wish for what you want to see more of on my blog in the next year.  :)  )  Open Internationally.

Writer's Wednesday: Winner of Personal Demons

Okay, guys, just a short post today.  I was going to do another review and a giveaway, but life got the best of me.  I'll do it next week instead.

So, the part you've all been waiting for. The winner of PERSONAL DEMONS is Heather M.!  Congrats, Heather!! Email me at j.souders (at) jasouders (dot) com to give me your address.  And I'll mail out your copy as soon as I get to the post office, which tends to take a bit for me, so give me a little time.

As far as everyone else, thank you for helping me with this contest.  I hope you'll join me next week for another book review and giveaway.

Also, if you have any ideas of things you'd like to see me talk about or do, or whatever, feel free to email me or comment below.

Writer's Wednesday: Personal Demons Book Review and Contest

Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers

Publisher: Tor Teen (September 14, 2010)

Paperback: 365 pages

Reading Level: Young Adult

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Source: Author’s Publicist

Frannie Cavanaugh has always been a bit of a loner. She's spent years keeping everyone at a distance, even her closest friends. That is, until Luc Cain enrolls in her school. He's hot, sarcastic, and dangerous—and Frannie can't seem to stay away.

What she doesn't know is that Luc is on a mission. Because Frannie isn't exactly ordinary. She possesses a skill so unique that the king of Hell himself has taken notice, and he's sent Luc to claim Frannie's soul. It should be easy: All he has to do is get her to sin, and Luc is as tempting as they come.

Unfortunately for Luc, Heaven has other plans, and he's just started making progress when the angel Gabriel shows up. Gabe will do anything to keep Luc from getting what he came for, and his angelic charm might just be enough to keep Frannie on the right path.

It isn't long before Luc and Gabe find themselves fighting for more than just Frannie's soul. But if Luc fails to win her over, there will be Hell to pay . . . for all of them.

REVIEW:  Okay, I’ve read a LOT of angel/demon stories lately.  For obvious reasons. So when the publicist contacted me, I was excited to read this, but worried, as well.  None of the other stories ever lived up to my expectations.  Which are—to say the least—someone’s soul hanging in the balance, a fight to the death (it is a book about Heaven and Hell after all), and a clearly defined romance, maybe a triangle.

This one, however, lived up to them ALL.  It has the soul hanging, the fight to the death, the romance, and even a triangle.  I couldn’t have asked for more, but Ms. Desrochers delivered all that and more.

It starts in Luc’s view, which, I think, was genius, especially when Gabriel comes in and you don’t know who you want to root for.  I’ve never been so conflicted with who I wanted Frannie to be with.  *NOTE:  I’m still confused. *   

Anyway, it starts in Luc’s view and he works for Hell’s Acquisitions department.  His job description is usually starting people on the path to Hell, but something is different with his latest mission.  He needs to “tag” someone for Hell.  Someone who’s been hard to find.  So hard, in fact, that the last two demons sent to find this person have failed.  Now he’s the new student at a school nicknamed Hades—i.e. Hell—High and he meets Frannie. Who just happens to be his essay partner.

This is where we go into Frannie’s POV—which let me just say, I’m usually not a fan of the alternating 1^st person POV, but Ms. Desrochers makes it work.  I wasn’t at all pulled out any time the author switched views.

Anyway, when they meet, Frannie is immediately interested.  There’s just some about him.  He’s tall, dark, dangerous and… completely not her type, according to one of Frannie’s friends who wants to stake her own claim on Luc—which let me tell you was a twist I was NOT expecting, but was perfect for this book.

This book was simply amazing.  I seriously couldn’t put it down.  The characterization was excellent; I completely felt all the emotions from both Frannie and Luc.  And even when I wanted to strangle Frannie several times for being stupid, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her and root for good things to happen to her.  And let’s not forget Luc. I was constantly switching my thoughts on him.  I liked him.  I didn’t like him.  I was all over the emotional scale.

And the conflict arcs in this are unbelievable, just when you don’t think it can get more complicated, it did.  But in a good way.  The characters reactions were believable, as were their interactions.  Though, I think I would have liked to see more of Gabriel.  Just because of who he is.

Characters:  Frannie is a tough, kick-ass girl with plenty of emotional baggage to make her lovable.  Not to mention you immediately feel for her when she’s worried about going after the boy she has a crush on, because she knows her friend is going to want him for herself.  Luc is exactly what you’d expect from a demon.  Tall, dark, dramatic and hot as Hell.  Literally.  Gabriel is cool, calm, collected, light where Luc was dark and it was easy to tell why Frannie would have a hard time choosing between them.

Cover:  While the layout of the cover was great and expresses the gist of the story well, I was actually disappointed with it.  The models, in my opinion, don’t really look teenaged.   Maybe the model portraying Gabriel does, but definitely not Frannie.  And that’s exactly why I hadn’t picked the book up myself, though I’d seen it around on different pages.  I thought it was an adult book.  Not a teen read.

If you’re looking for a great paranormal read and an angel/demon book that is unique, you’ll love this book.

It’s going on my favorite shelf immediately and I already can’t wait to read it again, or the other two books in the series. 

Original Sin (Book #2) will be coming July 2011

CONTEST:

And as promised, because I've reached 200 followers, I'm also giving away a copy of PERSONAL DEMONS.  However, this contest is going to be a bit different than my usual.  All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what your own personal demon is.  I'll pick a random winner next Wednesday. This contest is open internationally.

Find Lisa Desrochers 

Lisa Desrochers 

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Purchase Personal Demons

Books—A—Million 

Powells

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Writer's Wednesday: Why I was jealous of my vacuum cleaner.

So I had no clue what I was going to write today.  In fact, I received a tiny bit of bad news yesterday and was doing my whole overly melodramatic “I suck!  I suck so badly the vacuum cleaner is laughing at me.” thing that I tend to do every once in a while.  (I don’t do it too often because…well who wants to listen to a whiney, insecure person who’s jealous of a vacuum?! )  Well, anyway, I was doing my rant and felt I should probably just give up on writing anything that made sense and went to read.

BIG MISTAKE!! NEVER and I repeat NEVER let your friends read when they’re feeling sorry for themselves!  (It’s like the writer’s equivalent of drinking and driving.  Well, okay, it’s not THAT bad, but…you’ll see what I mean.  It’s a TRAIN WRECK waiting to happen.)  Then you get this:

“Oh, GOD!  Look at this.  This writer is the most awesome of awesome writers everywhere.  Look how she says this in like ONE SENTENCE!  I could NEVER write that in ONE SENTENCE. It would take me like a hundred fajillion sentences for me to pull that off.  And look!  No ADVERBS.  She’s like the GODDESS of writers, because I can see this perfectly without adverbs.  I suck I would need at least 10 adverbs lined up one after the other to make that work.   There’s not a single typo.  Look at my ROUGH DRAFT it freakin’ SUCKS.  I have SOO many typos. And my beta said this doesn’t make sense.  But this totally cool writer has everything that makes sense. “

I’m sure you’ve seen the flaw in my logic.  If you haven’t then you must be where I was yesterday.  I was comparing a ROUGH DRAFT to a FINISHED book that has had more people going over it to make sure it’s perfect, than a movie star at her plastic surgeon’s office.

So, I tossed down the totally, freakin’ cool book that made me feel like the bubble gum I had stuck to my shoe the other day, and decided to get some archery practice in. 

ANOTHER big mistake.  I lost a tip.  Hit the already swollen and bruised arm at least a hundred times (I only shot 6 arrows—see I can count), I missed the bulls-eye EVERY TIME, the list just goes on and on and on. 

Of course, this was just another reminder of my suckitude.  I was certain that instead of Midas’ touch, I had what my husband has dubbed “Jessie’s touch.”  Where everything I touch will break or not go as planned.

I spent the rest of the day sulking.  I refused to do ANYTHING.  I just KNEW that if I did something the whole house would spontaneously implode, killing absolutely everything around me, EXCEPT me who would be standing in the middle of the rubble, completely unscathed, holding a part of the thing that exploded.

Yep.  Wasn’t I a piece of work?! 

I ended the day with going to bed early.

This morning I woke and the birds were singing, the sun was shining.  My WIP was calling to me, and so was this blog post.  And I knew that, today, my vacuum cleaner was going to be jealous of ME.

Happy Wednesday, peeps!

Writer's Wednesday: 11 Senses Excercise

This past weekend I went to a writer's group and had a wonderful workshop on the eleven senses.  Marilyn Kelly--a historical romance writer gave this workshop and I thought it was something we should all keep in mind.

Generally we only think of our five senses:  sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell, but according to Marilyn we actually have eleven! On top of the ones already listed we have: Time, Temperature, Pain, balance, motion, and Direction.

And in order to have a sensual (meaning senses, not sexual) scenes we should try to incorporate most if not all of these senses if we can.

In order to put an example to what I mean: I have an excercise I'd like you to do with me.  We're going to take an object.  Say a feather.  Now write down a few things about that object:  Write down a sensory description, what emotions they evoke and what body language you think when you see it.  Then when you're done with that, I want you to write a sentence or two about it using those things you just wrote down.

For example (this is what I did at the workshop.):

Embarrassment burned her cheeks and she froze, afraid to move even an inch, as he glided the soft, wispy feather down the delicate skin of her forearm as she teetered on her tiptoes still frozen in the spot she'd had as she reached for her favorite book on the high shelf in front of her. Her breath hitched and her stomach fluttered as she caught the minty scent of his breath when he murmured in her ear.

Obviously, this isn't the best, since it was thought of on the fly, but it should give you a jumping off point.  So, go ahead, try it out.  I'd love to see your sentences in the comments.

Writer's Wednesday: Characterization

I'm blogging over at the Oasis about characterization.  Please join me over there.  Thanks.

Writer's Wednesday: How to fix a blank page.

So you're staring at a blank page and you don't know what to write, here's some tips:

1)Stop editing. Just let the words flow.

2) Follow the emotions:  If you feel yourself getting emotional with a scene, let it flow!  That's great and it means you're probably headed in the right direction.

3) Type with your eyes closed:  If you find yourself getting caught up in editing, go ahead and close those eyes.  You'll be able to picture that scene better and you won't get distracted by errors.

4) Listen to music:  Not only will it inspire the Muse, it'll distract the part of your brain that wants to edit.

5) Freewrite and brainstorm.  Just start typing something to see where it takes you.  Sometimes the best brainstorming sessions are the ones we freewrite.

6) Do research:  You never know what will strike your fancy and become the catalyst for a novel.

Writer's Wednesday

Today I'm posting for a good friend of mine, Larissa Hardesty, for a very good cause.  The Florida Writer's Association is having a silent auction.  The organization was " specifically formed to promote literacy, as well as enhancing the writing skills of children, youth, and adults."  She is still in need of items for the auction.  It can be almost anything.  From critiques to giftcards.  

Please, if you can donate an item or two, it would be much appreciated.  Please see the below letter for more details.  Also, if you can't donate, but would still like to help out, some of the items will be placed on the Auction's website and you can bid on the items there. 

Also, as an added benefit, if you donate and pass along the word, comment below and I'll enter you into a drawing to win either a full manuscript critique by yours truly or a few books.  Winner's choice.  I will verify the winner  has donated so please don't fib.  Thanks for all your help.