Tag Archives: book blogger

The End of the Beginning

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The End of the Beginning

When my editor finished highlighting the oversights I’d missed in Book One, I found myself renewed in my task of telling this story in its best possible way.

So, I set to refining those last details of my piece.

It was the first time I really felt like an artist.

 

I’d been told this craft of writing is art. I consider other writers artists, but I never brought the title to bear on myself. Through the time of turning a slew of crappy words thrown together into a coherent story, I’d never thought I was making art. But in these final steps, there were fleeting moments that I was.

In these moments, I was proud of what I was doing 🙂 Proud of what I’d done.

Chiseling away to bring forth the final details that would make this piece better than it was, I was a sculptor of words. I saw the art. I saw that art wasn’t some mystical ambrosia that spawned inside some and not others. It was blood and hurt and patience and perseverance. It was showing up every day. It was practicing a craft until I was good at it. It was practicing more until I was better.

Like a giant hurdle has been vaulted, I’m even more committed and excited to continue this journey. I feel like the beginning has ended. I’m confident to move into the sophomoric stage of this journey, where I hope to learn and grow by leaps and bounds.

  • Tell me about the learning curve in your art
  • What eureka moments have you had that kept you moving forward?

 

Fate of the Ashers, The Petros Chronicles Book 3, by Diana Tyler

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Fate of the Ashers: The Petros Chronicles Book 3

By Diana Tyler

Young Adult. Fantasy. Mythology.

3 Stars

Seriously, the best ending EvEr

They thought the war was over, but it was only just beginning…

One month after Chloe’s victory over Mania, everything seems back to normal. Actually, it’s better than normal. For one thing, her parents are alive, tensions between she and her brother Damian have eased, more Ashers exist, and she and Ethan are more than fellow former fugitives –they’re a couple.

But things take a downward spiral when Mount Aetna, a volcano thought to be extinct, erupts in Petros’s capital. Soon, what initially seemed like nothing more than a a natural disaster proves to be a sign of an imminent supernatural threat. The Olympian gods of old, heretofore chained in Tartarus, have been freed by the sea nymph Eione, and will do everything in their limitless power to bring the Ashers down.

Chloe and Damian’s cousin Hector is a dejected high school student who, as an only child, is hopeful his eighteenth birthday will bring him a life-changing doma. When he outruns the track team’s fastest sprinter, he’s certain his days as a benchwarmer are over. Little does he know that Ares, one of the most merciless and bloodthirsty gods, has taken notice of his power, a power Hector has barely tapped into.

Kidnapped and whisked off to Mount Olympus, Hector soon finds that being an Asher isn’t so great after all. Compelled by threats from the entire pantheon, he’s forced to embark upon a mission that will destroy every Asher and ensure the gods regain their former glory.

When Athena, goddess of wisdom, informs Chloe and the others of Zeus’s plan, they plan a daring counterattack: time travel back to heaven, before Petros was created, and thwart the rebels’ revolt against the All-Powerful. It’s two Ashers against an army of ruthless, power-hungry immortals who together possess an endless arsenal of deadly superpowers. How hard can it be?

Full of twists and turns and thrilling surprises, this final book in The Petros Chronicles is a riveting fantasy adventure for lovers of Greek mythology.

As a huge fan of the first two books in this series by Diana Tyler, I was excited to receive an ARC of book three, Fate of the Ashers.

I was so curious to see what was next in store for the world of Petros and Chloe, Damien and Ethan after the “conclusion” of their previous journey. Delightedly, the Greek pantheon was back for more shenanigans, including names and faces rarely talked about like this.

I started out enjoying the difficulty Chloe was having adjusting to her new timeline, fate coverthough I quickly found her issues confusing. She’d come so far with her faith, I was curious by her struggles, especially her struggle with forgiveness. This made the bulk of the book a bit tedious for me.

I found myself wanting more of Damien. His story was the farthest traveled. From his bona-fide boneheadedness in Book One, that he continues to harbor guilt over in this book, I just wanted more of his point-of-view. I wanted to feel his story arc as I did Chloe, and even Hector. As one-half of the Vessel, I was surprised not to get it.

For all my “complaints,” I loved this ending! The best ending ever! This twist was so clever–I was like —Oh! Whoa! This is spectacular!— It made the entire series more real and the book so worth reading!

I’m excited to start reading this series to my niece and nephews.

Happy Reading 🙂

Check out more of my reviews HERE.

Shadows of McComb, by Sarah Squires

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Book Review: Shadows of McComb

By Sarah Squires

5 Stars

Literary Fiction. Suspense. Novella.

So Real, I don’t believe it’s not biographical.

How far would you go to save your mother’s life?

Haunted by her father’s suicide, Bern Baylor vowed to keep her mother alive at all costs. When her mother is brutally beaten by the vicious drug dealer Shooter Jennings, Bern offers to work off her mother’s debt.

As she is dragged deeper into Shoot’s dangerous trade, Bern adopts his skill at cunning manipulation and his questionable moral code. If she makes it out alive, will Bern be able to live with the steep cost of saving her mother?

This literary suspense novella with a strong female protagonist will have you holding your breath until the end.

I don’t typically read this type of fiction, and novellas aren’t my thing either, but as the author is a friend of my sisters, I had to give this a shot.

This book was great! On every level, it delivered. Superb dialogue, real characters and a setting that was easily envisioned, I found myself wondering if this wasn’t actually a story told from first-hand accounts.

Love a well paced and perfectly crafted story? This one is for you!

 

Happy Reading 🙂

More of my Reviews HERE.

Burn the Dark: The Elwood Legacy, Book 2, by Nicola Rose

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Burn the Dark: The Elwood Legacy, Book 2, by Nicola Rose

Paranormal Romance.

4 Stars

A Darker, Grittier Continuation of a Dark and Gritty Romance.

One reckless girl and two vampire brothers – battling forces of love over lust, and light over dark.

Jess

All the years of therapy and labels, and it turned out the real reason for the chaos in my life was something none of us could have dreamed up.

Destiny and fate have grand plans for me. Apparently I’m supposed to play along, but what if I don’t want to? What if the lines got so blurred that I can no longer tell which way I’m supposed to turn? Whose arms I should fall into? And what if that question doesn’t even seem to matter anymore?

I’ve spent my life chasing down adrenalin-highs, but I didn’t see this coming. Something dark is brewing inside me… and maybe I like it.

Alex

She was only supposed to be part of the game.

Yes, I wanted her from the moment I saw her, but not for the right reasons. Not for love. Not for passion. I wanted her for my own agenda – bringing down Zachariah’s carefully erected walls. And maybe, just a little bit, because of the way her presence called out to me like a glimpse of something big, glowing on the horizon.

I should never have let that light grow. I should have squashed it when I had the chance. Now she’s under my skin and it’s all twisted. But this time, I won’t lose focus. I won’t lose her.

This time… I win.

Burn the Dark is a full-length paranormal romance/urban fantasy, intended for adult audiences. It contains coarse language and explicit scenes.

Book Two in the Elwood Legacy series. Book One – Taste the Dark – should be read first.

After a bit of a slow start, this book really delivers!

Jess’ strange talents and what they meant for the path of her life are explained in the beginning pages, and I especially enjoyed the addition of new characters that boost the supernatural world Nicola Rose has built. Along with the new, we get to know characters briefly introduced in book one which only adds to the excitement.

Throughout book one, I wanted to kill Jess. I hated Jess (see my review), but in Book 2, her temperament is easier to swallow which made the ride all the more fun. Verbal repartees with those BTD Coverwho would have others paralyzed in fear had me laughing while the suspense over how it would all play out got me turning pages without stop. And this was all in the first twenty percent of the book.

I love Alex. From Taste the Dark, this love only grew as Burn the Dark continued. His blunt, no-nonsense, I-don’t-give-a-crap attitude, added to his newfound angst made me love this story. Jess continues to fight her attraction which made for the perfect dynamic.

The way Nicola Rose weaves conversations and arguments from Book One into ammunition for Zac and Jess’ drama is superb. Reason that seemed sound for Jess’ actions are suddenly thrown into new light, and we all wonder whether she really is just some crazy bitch with a death wish. Jess’ struggle that finally is figured out when she accepts some things, discards others, and finds that everyone has a place to belong is one of my favorite points about this book.

Did I mention I love Alex? There’s so much more of him in this second book, its reason enough to read it.

I was pleasantly surprised by how everything comes together at the end. All my heart-strings were pulled, as well as getting the perfect dose of blood and carnage.

Book Three is sure to be a wild ride!

Happy Reading 🙂

Check out more of my reviews HERE.

 

Hell is Figuring Out Chapter One

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How Should it Begin

Beginning’s are everything. Sometimes all we have is a sentence to capture a reader. I get it. There are so many books to read, how do we decide which ones are worth our time? The reader need to know their time won’t be wasted…

Five days from my deadline, I’m still working the first ten pages. This isn’t a deadline, like “oh- just give me another day and we’ll squeeze the timeline to make it work.” No. This is a hard “there is no more updates allowed” deadline set by Amazon. Yesterday, I was finished and this wasn’t a problem. Today, I’m freaking out.

See, I had cut these pages.

Since draft one, I’d struggled with the opening of Stumbling. Unable to find a solution (at the time), I scrapped it to start in the middle of the opening sequence. Jumping right into action is always fun, right?

This Really Isn’t Working Out

Then, I was getting feedback of confusion.

So, I put the beginning back in. It made sense to do this. I understood the complaint. After reading my own book eleventy-billion times, I couldn’t recognize there were details the reader needed to have taken away in these deleted pages.

But, these pages hadn’t been polished like the others and it showed. I think I went through twelve edits before I handed the book off to an editor to look at. Twelve edits these first pages were ignored.

Does this look like an edit-free proof?

So, these ten pages were not as ready as the rest. These ten pages were making me re-think this whole idea to let the world have access to my work. These ten pages were making me second-guess if I really was ready… even though I’d already committed to being ready.

Did I mention I was freaking out?

Rinse, repeat then again… and again

I still worry about those first sentences, even after having hit publish. But, this is a process of learning and growing and I know that putting my work out there can only help this process.

Thanks for reading!

  • What’s the best opening line of book like to you? Quote it in the comments 🙂