Reviews: Everneath, Girl Meets Boy, When the Sea is Rising Red, Arcania
Survey says that you guys like when I put several reviews together. So I will be trying out this format for a while and seeing how it works traffic wise. I like the idea. I think if you come to read about one book, you may discover more.
Everneath
From Hicklebee’s (buy now) Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.
Everneath is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.
It is hard to put my love for Everneath into words. I am a lover of Greek Mythology and while I always thought I was a purist, Ashton has found a way to shake up the myth and keep me reading page after page with bated breath. The story of Persephone and Hades has long been one of my favorites, Ashton took that myth and gave it a 21st century feel without losing the tang of bittersweet attached to the orignal story.
The characters are beautiful and flawed and dangerous. The MC is strong and vulnerable and in love. I do hope there is a second novel.
Blurb: Persephone and Hades with a chic 21st century vibe. Everneath will delight any lover of myth. Strong debut from Brodie Ashton.
Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story
From Hicklebee’s (buy now) What do guys and girls really think? Twelve of the most dynamic and engaging YA authors writing today team up for this one-of-a-kind collection of he said/she said stories he tells it from the guy s point of view, she tells it from the girl s. These are stories of love and heartbreak. There s the good-looking jock who falls for a dangerous girl, and the flipside, the toxic girl who never learned to be loved; the basketball star and the artistic (and shorter) boy she never knew she wanted; the gay boy looking for love online and the girl who could help make it happen. Each story in this unforgettable collection teaches us that relationships are complicated because there are two sides to every story.
I generally love a collection of stories and this one was absolutely stellar. Male and female authors are pitted against one another to tell one story in two parts, one from the feminine side of things and the other from the male. I think James Howe and Ellen Wittlinger should write their story together in a full length novel *hint hint nudge nudge*.
The stories hint at how misconceptions are formed in relationships especially in the teen years. How one can say one thing and mean something completely different and the other can take it a completely different way than how it was intended. The stories are full of love, arguments and the torture that only first love can be.
Blurb: Fabulous collection from Chronicle Books. The stories while not always perfectly melding together gave an added bonus of miscommunication and misconception. A definite for any short story collector.
When the Sea is Rising Red
From Hicklebee’s (pre-order now) After seventeen-year-old Felicita’s dearest friend Ilven kills herself to escape an arranged marriage, Felicita chooses freedom over privilege. She fakes her own death and leaves her sheltered life as one of Pelimburg’s magical elite behind. Living in the slums, scrubbing dishes for a living, she falls for charismatic Dash while also becoming fascinated with vampire Jannik. Then something shocking washes up on the beach: Ilven’s death has called out of the sea a dangerous wild magic. Felicita must decide whether her loyalties lie with the family she abandoned . . . or with those who would twist this dark power to destroy Pelimburg’s caste system, and the whole city along with it.
I read this book on a five hour flight. I raced through it, there was no way that I was going to land and not have finished it. This is the absolute best story I have read about magic in many years. Not only was the story perfectly plotted, the language and phrases used were so beautiful I could feel my teeth getting cavities. The author’s words had me feeling things along with the characters and desperately wanting their stories to have a happily ever after. I have never felt such despair, or hope.
Weeks later I am still thinking about the characters and their plights. I am still thinking about the writing and the use of language and I am hoping and waiting for something else from this author. I am in instant fan.
Blurb: Set in a magical world on the brink of a new age Cat Hellisen guides the reader through the turmoil with expert hands. You do not want to miss this tantalizing debut.
Arcania: Trial by Fire
From Amazon (buy now on your Kindle eink device) Arcania Trial By Fire is an “Active Fiction” title, a new type of e-book from Coliloquy. In this Active Fiction series, your input influences future books from this author. Specifically, in Arcania Trial By Fire, your input influences what happens to Adia, a young sorceress. Born without arcania in her blood, Adia has lived in the shadow of her magical twin, until the day she inherits her sister’s spellcasting talents. As she leaves for the training academy, there are plenty of people to show her the ropes: Grey, the darkly passionate top shield, Seger, a swashbuckling rogue with a talent for daggers, and Finola, a clever and empathic healer. With a battle heating up, Adia must learn to master her magic and earn a spot on a fighting team before the ancient war between the forces of magic destroys her loved ones on Earth. The author sees the aggregate statistics on what option gets picked the most, so the more you read, the more you influence what she writes!
I really liked Arcania. I don’t have sisters but I can imagine what it is like being a twin and always living in the shadow of the ‘good’ twin. The parents are absent in this book but that seems to be the norm for the magical children in this universe. Arcania deals with magic, and alternate realities and the choose your own path style that Coliloquy provides makes the reading more enjoyable. It feels more high stakes, like what I choose effects the storyline and my reading experience.
There is a love story, a familial drama and a delightful catty relationship with another warrior. Our MC must find new friends, learn to control a power that doesn’t belong to her and solve the mystery of her sister’s death all at once. If you have a Kindle e-ink device you should read it.
Blurb: Arcania: Trial by Fire is a rapid story line with high stakes that will leave the reader breathless with their choices.
On stage fright-
I wiggled my way into the YA Lit Chat charity anthology titled Two and Twenty Dark Tales: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose Rhymes. The cover will be revealed sometime soon on The Story Siren’s site. I picked a rhyme (Ring Around the Rosy) and wrote about 3,000 words on a story that will be between 5,000 to 7,000 words long. I left it and concentrated on Mika and my goal of landing an agent. I was on a self imposed deadline. Just now I went back to my story and read through it. All of a sudden I hate it. I want to print it out and tear it to shreds and have a little cry, but I don’t know why. The story is sound, its a good myth and a good rhyme. I’m beginning to think I have stage fright. This will be my first work that appears with authors that I actually consider myself a fan of their work. What if mine sucks in comparison? What if I turn it in and the editing author takes a look at it and scoffs “Noob” at me? What if they know I am not good enough?
The thing is, I am not normally self conscious. I walk into any situation and own it. I am confident and I know I can do things, so why does this bug me so much? I think I am going to take a week and think about my story and finish the rewrites on chapter two of Mika. I think this anthology story can be stronger. I may even use an outline *Le Gasp*.
Here is a list of the contributors. So you can undersand my woe is me fatalistic pity party.
Contributors include:
Cyn Balog
Nina Berry
Sarwat Chadda
Leah Cypess
Shannon Delany
Debra Driza
Leigh Fallon
Angie Frazier
Heidi R. Kling
Nancy Holder
Suzanne Lazear
Karen Mahoney
Lisa Mantchev
C. Lee McKenzie
Georgia McBride
Gretchen McNeil
Pamela van Hylckama Vlieg
KM Walton
Suzanne Young
Michelle Zink
Jessie Harrell
UNPUBLISHED winner of contest to be announced May 2012!
Cinder Audio Giveaway
Macmillan Audio is giving away a copy of Cinder here on the blog. We all know how much I loved this book, so I am already jealous of the winner! I have a clip you can listen to and judge your interest in the title. Just use the Rafflecopter form below to enter.
The story of how Pam became a writer…
Wallace from Unputdownables asked me the other day if I had ever explored how I went from Blogger to writer and then to agent. I haven’t even thought about doing that. Especially because everything I have done has been very untraditional.
It all started in third grade when Mr. Helms told me that my use of the word ‘kindred’ in my poem was beyond grade level. I’m guessing that is not the story you want to hear though…
I had been blogging here for about two years and I was reading queries for another literary agency. I could see early on that they were not going to allow me to learn anything beyond how to add a form rejection and send. So I left.
There aren’t many publishing jobs in Northern California and I always had a love for writing and I have an immense love for young adult and a love for science fiction. I wasn’t seeing much in the way of science fiction on the shelves of my local bookstore. Beth Revis was the shining star and freaking James Frey was the not so bright bulb. I started to write my own.
I got invited to a fabulous critique group from Heather W. Petty and that was a complete life saver. My work was rough and so many of my partners helped me sort it out. I finished the first draft but it was no where near where it needed to be for me to query.
Julie Kagawa had a launch for her latest Iron Fey book on Twitter. I helped out with that and met Julie’s agent there whilst writing dirty poetry about fairy boys on Twitter. She lived local and we decided to have lunch. At this lunch we discussed my desire to work in the field of YA books. I told her about my draft and she gave me two months to soup it up.
In those two months I worked with my critique group, I worked with Laurie on other things like how to train to be an agent and some backlist ebook stuff. I gave my draft to Laurie in January. It wasn’t good enough. The story was there but my technique was/is not good enough.
Instead of saying no to me, or telling me to focus on the agenting stuff (where my abilities are far greater) she suggested some changes to the book and also suggested I rewrite it. And instead of leaving me to my own devices to do it wrong again she is going through the process with me chapter by chapter. We have chapter one complete (yay!) and I am almost done rewriting chapter two.
My book is stronger, my skill is increasing with her education on the things I do that aren’t up to snuff and I am incredibly excited about all of this. About finishing my book and it being possible that someday you guys will read about my sad boy and his robot girlfriend. It also excites me that I will be an advocate for others books, what has Bookalicious been about all these years? Advocation of good books!
So while I came at this untraditionally (dirty rhymes FTW!) I did work hard for years on this blog, on learning as much as I can about writing and by being a beacon in my community for literature.
So there is my story so far, and there is so much left to come!
Edit:
I forgot to add in here that along the way I scored three anthologies. One is unCONventional from Spencer Hill Press that just came out and it was a lovely launch at Arisia in Boston. The second (I should really finish writing) is Two and Twenty Dark Tales: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose which is a YA Lit Chat charity anthology with some super big and cool names. That comes out around October. The third also coming out in October is a witch anthology from Ambush :)
No one takes a chance on debut authors anymore…
I keep seeing this in articles lately. I saw that phrase or something like it at least three times yesterday. That’s not entirely true, or even a fair statement. Absolutely it is harder than ever to get an agent to look seriously at your work. Absolutely it is harder than ever go get your book sold right now. The economy is crap, things are changing at a rapid pace and everything is crazy and new and cool and scary right now. That doesn’t mean that you won’t get a shot.
In my experience everything is awesome. I got an agent in a non-traditional way. My writing is raw and by raw I mean incredibly flawed. The point of me putting my flaws out here for all to see is that my agent is developing what raw talent I have. She is working incredibly close with me on a rewrite. She is explaining to me every technical thing I do wrong and she is making me a better writer.
Maybe this book won’t sell. And while that will be disappointing to me, because I love my world so much I know that I have gotten something so valuable out of this experience of working with Laurie McLean and learning so much about writing.
What I am getting at is, I can’t be the only one having an amazing experience. I am sure plenty of you have an awesome editor or agent who are helping you succeed. So why is it we only hear the horror stories? The Story Siren has a very successful debut author reading challenge every year. I read tons of debut books every year and a lot of those debut books get very special treatment from publishers.
There are people who will believe in you. They are out there. You just have to work hard to find them. So don’t read those fatalistic articles and give up, giving up is for pansies.
