Thankful Thursday: Book series

Wow! It's been a LONG time since I posted!  I apologize for that.  It's been crazy and unfortunately I don't think it's going to get better for awhile, so my posting is probably going to be a bit sporadic, but I'll try to be better.  For those that are looking for the winner of the Hoppy Easter Giveaway Hop, I'll post that on Monday, so make sure to stop on back.  

But, in the meantime, I'm participating in the Oasis for YAs Thankful Thursday Meme.

Topic this week: What book series are you most thankful for and why?

When I saw this prompt, I was like, “Oh boy! How do I choose?!”  There wasn’t a way, so I used the ol’ stand-by…eenie, meenie, Minie, Mo. :D  Of course, that didn’t work either. LOL. So, I picked two.  Yes, I’m cheating. Kinda.  ; ) The first is posted at the Oasis blog.

The second one I’m grateful for is the Twilight series.  I know a lot of writer’s opinions on this series, but, honestly, it’s the reason I started writing seriously again.  I wanted to do what she did.  Not necessarily the movies, and the best-seller status(not that I WOULDN’T take all that. LOL.) but how she was able to create something new and fresh and make it her own. And not only do that, but making so many people--young and old alike—to fall in love with the story and the characters.  Almost everywhere you turned people were reading or re-reading this story.  I still don’t really know what it was about this story that made me want to keep reading, but there’s only been a few books since then that has inspired me that much. 

Almost immediately I started writing an awful book about fairies.  LOL. But Twilight gave me the courage to start writing again.  And for that, I’m grateful.

Hoppy Easter Eggstravaganza Blog Hop

Welcome to the Hoppy Easter Eggstravganza Blog Hop!

 

On this hop, I'm giving away a book from the House of Night series--Tempted.  I couldn't help it. Every time I see a bunny, I think Bunnicula, so I HAD to give away a vampire book and I just simply LOVE this series.  

Open Internationally.

So…you’d think after banishing an immortal being and a fallen High Priestess, saving Stark’s life, biting Heath, getting a headache from Erik, and almost dying, Zoey Redbird would catch a break. Sadly, a break is not in the House of Night school forecast for the High Priestess in training and her gang. Juggling three guys is anything but a stress reliever, especially when one of them is a sexy Warrior who is so into protecting Zoey that he can sense her emotions. Speaking of stress, the dark force lurking in the tunnels under the Tulsa Depot is spreading, and Zoey is beginning to believe Stevie Rae could be responsible for a lot more than a group of misfit red fledglings. Aphrodite’s visions warn Zoey to stay away from Kalona and his dark allure, but they also show that it is Zoey who has the power to stop the evil immortal. Soon it becomes obvious that Zoey has no choice: if she doesn’t go to Kalona he will exact a fiery vengeance on those closest to her. Will Zoey have the courage to chance losing her life, her heart, and her soul? Find out in the next spectacular installment in the House of Night series, TEMPTED.

Giveaway Details:

To enter giveaway you must follow this blog, then fill out the form below.

Last Day to Enter is April 25th

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And don't forget to go here to check out all the other blogs participating in this hop or see below for the linky. 

Winner's Lucky Leprachaun Hop

Sorry for the delay in announcing, peeps.  Last week was a bad week for me. I had to put my dog to sleep.  It was obviously a hard decision and I miss her very much.

But onto the news you REALLY want. The winner of the Lucky Leprachaun Hop is:

Valerie!  

Congratulations, Valerie, I've sent you an email with the details.  Just give me a few days to have them mailed out. If you're international, give me a bit longer since I have to go to the post office. 


Thanks to all who participated, I hope you'll join me for the next hop (the Easter one) and for my 500 follower giveaway when I get there.  (Please pass the word, because the sooner I get to 500, the sooner I can hold that contest.)

Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop

This contest is now closed!  Thanks to all who participated and made it a success!  You all rock!  I will draw a random winner and announce by the end of the week!

Since I love giveaways and I TOTALLY forgot to participate in the last hop I signed up for, I figured I'd giveaway TWO prizes to the winner of this hop.

I'm giving away the Hex Hall series by Rachel Hawkins.  That includes the only available books as of this posting, Hex Hall (book #1) and Demonglass (book #2).


To win, all you have to do follow me and then tell me why you want to win these books in the comments.  Easy peasy, rice and cheesy, right?

It is open internationally.

Make sure to look below at the linky for a chance to win even more great prizes.  Also, if you can't see the comment form, please click the title so it brings you to the actual blog post.  You should see the comment form then.

250 blog contest winners announcement.

1st place:  Alexia Chamberlynn

2nd Place:  Kulsuma

3rd place:  Heather McCorkle

Congratulations to all of you!  Give me a few days to mail these out. I hope you enjoy them!

Fantastic Friday: A request

We all have books we don't want, right?  We bought them thinking they'd be great and they weren't.  Or we got duplicates as a gift.  Or even you've switched your entire library to an electronic one and have only ebooks now.  What do you do with all those books you're not reading? 

Well, I have one suggestion. A good friend of mine, Ebyss Writer, is asking for donated books to help with her students.  She can explain it better than I can, so please read below.

I work with lower income and special students who want to expand their knowledge through a college education, but they are struggling with reading and/or mathematical concepts.

I would like to start a book drive. This way these students can improve their reading scores through practicing what we all love to do----read. As we know, the more you read, then the better you get. Plus, I hope to ignite in them a passion for exploring other worlds and other people through the written word.

I am asking for you to help me by donating books for this cause. Any MG or YA books would be greatly appreciated.

New or used--doesn’t matter. Fiction or non-fiction—doesn’t matter. The only thing I would like to do is keep the reading lvl at MG and YA.

What I plan to do when I get with these students is let them choose a book for them to keep. A lot of these students don’t read—at least by choice—and I’m hoping to expose them to great novels.

If you would like to help, please leave a comment, message me on twitter or leave me a message on facebook. Also, if you could plz retweet this or like on facebook with a link to spread the word would be appreciated.

Thanks so much.

Thanks everyone who can help or pass along the word.  If you leave a comment on here for her, I will pass it along.  I'm already going through my books to see what I can give her.

Monday Musings: Writer's Block

When I first started writing seriously I had an endless flow of ideas and I wrote them all down as quickly as possible, scoffing at writer’s block.  But now I’ve noticed with the more I’ve learned the harder it is to actually write.   I’ve still got the ideas, but it’s more difficult to get them down on paper. 

I’m pretty sure it’s because I’m constantly trying to outdo myself.  Not to mention I’m finding it more and more laborious to turn off that internal editor, to just “write the damn story” and fix it in subsequent drafts.

I’ve found that the harder I struggle, the worse it gets, so I’ve to just let the muse take me where it wants to go, when it wants me to go, instead of striving to wrestle it into a bottle to sprinkle it out over the course of the year.

It may mean frantic days and nights of dirty dishes and laundry piling up as I write feverishly, but my best stuff seems to come from those frenzied hours.

However, it doesn’t stop the worried thoughts of never writing again, so I want to know…what do you do to counteract writer’s block?

Tip Thursday: Tips from the Masters

 

Writing Tips

1. Cut the boring parts

I try to leave out the parts that people skip. ~Elmore Leonard

In other words, write what your readers want to read. If it's boring, cut it.  That's why beta readers and CP are so important.  They'll let you know if it's boring.  If enough of them concur, then you might want to cut it.  

2. Eliminate unnecessary words

Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very;” your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark Twain

Very, really, et cetera are qualifiers that don't make your writing stronger, they make them weaker.  More often than not, you don't need them.

3. Write with passion

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth

This is actually one of my favorite quotes and I don't think needs any more explanation.  

4. Paint a picture

Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton Chekhov

A perfect example of show vs tell. And also a great imagery tool. 

5. Keep it simple

Vigorous writing is concise. ~William Strunk Jr.

This goes back to point one.  If it's concise, it's probably not boring, since it's not probably not long and drawn out.

6. Do it for love

Write without pay until somebody offers to pay. ~Mark Twain

Another favorite quote of mine.  Most writers couldn't stop writing if we wanted to, so I don't even think we should have this on the list.  ;)

7. Learn to thrive on criticism

You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance. ~Ray Bradbury

Writing feels like part of our soul by the time we're finished with it. So rejection can be hard and acceptance can sometimes be even harder. We just have to remember that our writing is not ourselves.

8. Write all the time

Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you’re doomed. ~Ray Bradbury

The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn’t behave that way you would never do anything. ~John Irving

Need I say more?

9. Write what you know … or what you want to know

If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Learn as much by writing as by reading. ~Lord Acton

When a reader starts a book they want to be able to trust the author to tell a good story.  If they can't trust you, they won't read.  So make sure to get the simple things correct.  :D


10. Be unique and unpredictable

I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. ~G.K. Chesterton

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. ~Oscar Wilde

Zest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer’s make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road to where he wants to go, I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto. ~Ray Bradbury

List assembled by pickthebrain.com

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

Andrea Cremer   /   Blog   /   Twitter 

Purchase Bad Girls Don't Die

Amazon  /   Barnes & Noble   /   The Book Depository

Teaser Tuesday:

Just like before, here's an excerpt from one of my newest favorite books.  Since it's Valentine week, I've picked a section that is a little hot and heavy, and most def. swoon worthy.  At least, in my opinion. So I don't give away which book this is from, I've gotten rid of all names and replaced them with pronouns.  It won't detract from the scene.  Promise. ; )

The kiss started slowly, a sweet, tentative searching.  The soft touch of his mouth mesmerized me.  I parted my lips for his, letting desire draw me down. 

[His] kiss deepened; his hand ran along my back, tracing the length of my braid, sliding beneath my shirt to stroke my skin.  I felt like I was drinking sunlight.  My fingers moved from his chest to his neck and stroked the line of his jaw.  I pressed into him, wanting to know more of the mysteries he pulled so easily from my body.  More of this freedom, this wildness.

[He] grabbed my hips and in a swift motion turned us, pinning me to the floor.  His hands moved beneath my shirt, his body pressing hard against mine.  I could smell his rising desire mixing with my own, our feverish need infusing the air like lightning about to strike.  Instead of being pulled down into him, I was rising up, legs wrapping around him.  His fingers moved carefully, tracing my curves, lingering in places tht stole my breath, binding me to him and yet setting me free.  My own gasp of pleasure against his mouth brought the world hurtling back. 

The room spun as I pulled out of his embrace, stumbling toward the table.  My heart rammed against my ribs, insistent and painful. 

I can't do this, I can't.  But I wanted to.  More than anything.

So...what did you think?  :D  Also, can you guess what book this is from?  Stay tuned tomorrow for the answer. Along with a review of the book.