TCWT! February Blog Chain: A Post in which I Review a Self-Published Story

So, I'm participating in the Teens Can Write, Too! February blog chain. This month's topic is:
“Choose one self-published book to read, then briefly review it or talk about your experiences reading it.”

I read Sew, it's a Quest by Kendra E. Ardnek, who is another teen writer, and homeschooled too! I'm pretty sure I downloaded Sew, it's a Quest because it was on sale for free for a day on Amazon. Anyway, I'd forgotten I'd downloaded it and then I found it when I was trying to download another ebook, so I decided to read it for this, since it was self-published.  I am very pleased I did, because I loved it. 

Sew, it's a Quest is a fairytale novella targeted at preteen girls and younger children.  So it's short, and isn't written with sparkling prose, but it's cute.  The main plot centers around Prince Robert and Princess Robin, twin royals whose gifts were switched at birth, and their quest to right their gifts before their 18th birthday, which is only 4 months away.  There are, however, some subplots that do in places take over.

The story itself was pretty good, not fabulous, but typical for a fairytale.  A good portion of the side characters are versions of characters from other fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty, which made for a fun read.

The best part overall was the humor.  There's one character who was gifted with excellent math skills, but whose tongue does not know the difference between "castle" and "tassel." It was hilarious.

....I can't really think of anything else to say.  I think there were a few typos, and the characters could be flat at times, but in case I hadn't made it obvious enough, I loved it anyway. I give it four point five out of five stars. 

Be sure to check out the rest of the blog chain!

February 5^th – http://the-writing-junkie.blogspot.com/

February 6^th – http://miriamjoywrites.wordpress.com/

February 7^th – http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/

February 8^th – http://fida-islaih.blogspot.com/

February 9th – http://sarahhudsonscribbles.blogspot.ca/

February 10^th http://avonsbabbles.wordpress.com/

February 11^th http://notebooksisters.blogspot.com/

February 12^th http://mirrormadeofwords.wordpress.com/

February 13^th http://www.lilyjenness.blogspot.com/ -- You are here.

February 14^th http://www.writerbewildered.blogspot.com/

February 15^th http://realteenreader.wordpress.com/

February 16^th http://epistolarygirl.wordpress.com/

February 17^th http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com/

February 18^th http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ (We’ll announce the topic for next month’s chain)

Review: The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman

Back Cover Blurb:

"Twelve-year-old Alexa Daley is spending another summer in Bridewell with her father. She looks forward to exploring the old lodge where she stays each year, with its cozy library and maze of passages and rooms. She's also eager to finally solve the mystery of what lies beyond the immense walls that were built to keep out and unnamed evil that lurks in the forests and The Dark Hills -- and evil the townspeople are still afraid of.
As Alexa begins to unravel the truth about what lies outside the protective barrier she's lived behind all her life, she discovers a strange and ancient enchantment. Armed with an unexpected new power, Alexa exposes a danger that could destroy everything she holds dear -- and change The Land of Elyon forever." 

The thoughts that came to me whist and after reading:
This was pretty cute. Its target audience is tween girls, and you can tell.  It's by no means riveting or a page turner, but it isn't bad.   The first 100 or so pages are set up, which is kinda slow, but you need it for the end. 
Overall, I give it four stars.

My Auntie S. recommended the series to my sister a few years ago, but Sis didn't get very far,  Then we found the series used at a second-hand book shop for super cheap and bought it. I read this because Sis was in the middle of another book and wanted to know how these were. I told her, but now she is considering not reading them because of something unfortunate that happened to a cat in the story.  Sigh.

I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to read the rest of the series or not yet. I've got other books higher on my list.  Including the one I'm currently reading, Sew, It's a Quest by Kendra E. Ardnek.  I'm reading it for the Teens Can Write, Too! February blog chain, the topic of which is to pick a self-published book and review it. So, I'll have my post for that up on the thirteenth.  Be sure to check out the rest of the blog chain, too.

Review: Beautiful Creatures

Back cover blurb (well, actually it's the Amazon blurb):
 There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

.....

Beautiful Creatures was recommended to me by my aunt.  I give it four out of five stars.

The biggest issue I had was that it was a romance.  But it was a pretty clean romance, which is always a plus.   I just like "Let's save the world!" plots more than "I love you and our parents will never keep us apart!" plots.  That being said, this was pretty good. I liked the characters, and there's a chance that the story will develop into a "let's save the world!" story in later books. (Though I'm not sure I'll read the rest of the series soon. I have a really big pile of books on my dresser that give me dirty looks every time I bring something home from the library.)  The writing itself was good, and there are some great plot twist.

Currently I'm reading The Dark Hills Divide, book 1 in the Land of Elyon series, by Patrick Carmen.  I'm over 100 pages in, and I still don't know what the plot is, but other than that it's pretty good. And it's short, so the plot is bound to show it's face soon. 

Review: The New Recruit by Jill Williamson

The New Recruit is a Christian teen spy novel. Yes, you read that correctly.

The backcover blurb is:
Forced to choose between military school and a Christian spy organization, skeptic Spencer Garmond signs on with the Bible geeks. But before he even boards the plane for Moscow, Spencer realizes this is no Bible club. 
These guys mean business.
Stumbling into a case involving a gang of homeless boys a chilling tattoo, and the always beatuiful Anya Vseveloda, Spencer struggles to find the faith needed to save the Mission League from enemy infiltration.

On a scale of one to five, I give this one a five.

The plot was fun, the character development was good, and there's this really great cliffhanger at the end that leaves room for more books in the series. In fact, Mrs. Williamson has self-published a sequel novella called Chokepoint (click here to see it on Amazon), all the proceeds of which go to help a family adopt a little girl from Eastern Europe.

Anyway.

I had feared that, since this was a book about a skeptic being converted, it would be super preachy/gushy.  Don't get me wrong, it's nice to hear people talk about their faith, but one can only take so much.  I did not think there was too much of that in the book. And it balanced out with Spencer's snarky voice.  There is one "force the Bible down your throat until you believe" character, but the rest were very low-key, "you'll believe in your own time" folks. 

All in all, I really enjoyed it.  I won my copy in a giveaway at The Life of a Teenage Writer, run by the lovely Katelyn. Mrs. Williamson actually gave the book away herself, and she even signed the book to me! I meant to post a picture of it, but frankly I'm too lazy to do that. 

Currently I'm reading Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, which my Auntie S recommended.  So far it's pretty good. 

Review: Born to Rule: a Camp Princess novel by Kathryn Lasky

Born to Rule is a lower middle grade modernish fantasy about a summer camp for princesses. 

My sister found this one at our library's book sale, and she begged me to read it. She loved it.

I give it 3.5 out of five stars. 

The story centers around three princesses: Alicia, Kristen, and Gundersnap, all, I'd guess, around the age of 12.  The first half to two thirds of the book was about them doing princessy stuff, like catching song birds to train to sing, embroidery, having makeup lessons, etc., and a long set up for a mystery involving a ghost, a tragic romance, a missing tapestry, and some magic at the end.

My thoughts:
The characters were all really shallow, which, considering they were mostly pampered princesses, wasn't surprising. Most of them, however, had funny character quirks that made them (mostly) fun to read about.
For as short a book as it was, the mystery wasn't bad. The pacing at the beginning was a bit slow.

Up next on my reading list is The New Recruit by Jill Williamson (author of the Blood of Kings trilogy), which is about a Christian spy organization. I won my copy in a giveaway at The Life of a Teenage Writer.  And it's signed! To me! Squee!

Series Review for The Blood of Kings Trilogy by Jill Willamson. Also, I Make a Vow.

I, LILY J, ALSO KNOWN AS GWEN C, HEREBY VOW TO READ A NEW BOOK EVERY WEEK UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR, AND THEN TO REVIEW EACH BOOK ON THIS BLOG.  SHOULD I FAIL TO DO SO, I CHARGE THE READERS OF THIS TEXT TO SEE THAT I RECEIVE JUST PUNISHMENT, BE THAT BY DEPRIVATION OF CHOCOLATE, HAVING TO WRITE A SHORT STORY ABOUT ZOMBIES, OR ANOTHER SUCH PUNISHMENT, AS THE READER SEES FIT, WITHIN REASON.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

Okay, now that's over.

I just finished the last book in the Blood of Kings trilogy (or as I call them, the Preposition Darkness Verb books) by Jill Williamson. Oh. My. Gosh. I loved these books.  They get six out of five stars.

Back Cover Blurb for By Darkness Hid (book 1) from Ms. Williamson's website:

Half of Er’Rets is locked beneath an impenetrable shroud. On the side that still sees the sun, two young people struggle to understand the mind-communication abilities thrust upon them. It’s called bloodvoicing. Some say it’s a gift. One of the newly “gifted” wish it had never come.
Achan has been a slave all his life. He is consigned to the kitchens of a lord and forced to swallow a foul potion every day. When an enigmatic knight offers to train Achan for the Kingsguard, he readily accepts. But his new skills with the sword do not prepare him for the battle raging between the voices in his head.
Vrell Sparrow is not who she seems. She masquerades as a boy to avoid capture by the powerful forces that seek to exploit her. But Vrell feels called to help a young squire who recently discovered his bloodvoicing gift, even if doing so requires her to work with those who could destroy her.
While Achan learns to use his new ability, Vrell struggles to shut hers down. All the voices strive to learn Achan and Vrell’s true identities—and a different kind of voice is calling them both.

I won't go too far past that, 'cause there's a really big spoiler at the end of this book that I don't want to reveal.  The two things I will say are that Vrell and Achan wind up going on a quest together, all the while he thinking she's a boy, and that most of the key characters practiced a fantasy form of Christianity, which plays a huge part in the story, especially in Achan's character development. 

These books had it all. Okay, they didn't have dragons, but they had epic battles, deceit, great plot twists, complicated love polygons (yes, I like those), the characters were all delightfully flawed, and there was some good humor. Vrell and Achan's banter back and forth was hilarious.

 Cleanliness wise, these were pretty good. There was no swearing, though there were some insinuations made to "advanced snogging", as one blogger put it. Mentions of men having mistresses, and the like. 

After finishing the last book, instead of feeling that sadness that the story had ended, I felt giddy, 'cause the end was so good. I don't know what that says about the book, but I thought I'd mention it. 

Well, I think that's all I have to say, coherently and without giving out more spoilers anyway. Hopefully I'll be better at reviews by the end of the year.

Next on my reading list is Born To Rule: a Camp Princess novel by Kathryn Lasky.  It's one my sister bought at our library's book sale, and she begged me to read it. So, that's next.  I'll have a review next week.

Top Ten Movie Soundracks

Happy New Year, Chaps!

A couple of the blogs I follow have compiled lists of their ten favorite bits of movie soundtracks. It sounds like fun, so I will join them.

You will notice that I like period dramas. 


Note: The tracks are not listed in order of preference.

1. The theme from the 2008 version of Sense and Sensibility. It's the first 35 seconds of this video.  Then there's the kinda sad piano bit, and then another good theme after that. 

2. The theme from the 2009 version of Emma.  I happen to know that Liam, Head Phil's sisters like this piece, and now nearly every time I hear it, I think of them.

3. I've Seen Hell from the 2004 version of North and South. The best part is toward the end.

4 and 5. Test Drive and Forbidden Friendship from How to Train Your Dragon.

6. The theme from Little Dorrit.

7. The theme from the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice. 
Here's the link to the video, since I cannot seem to find it on the silly Blogger YouTube search thingy.

8. I am the Doctor from the 5th season of Doctor Who. Not a movie, I know, but I love this piece.

9. The theme from Pirates of the Caribbean.

10. Septimus from Stardust

Bonus bit:
11. Fairground from Penelope.

There's a really good chance that I've left out some great pieces.  The soundtrack from the new Star Trek movie is great, but I don't know of a specific track that I like. 
Check out Liam's list and Erin's list too.

What are some of your favorites? 

Various Anniversaries and a NaNoWriMo Update

Today, December 23, 2012, marks to important occasions:  The 1 year anniversary of this blog, and my 17th birthday.  

If you've stuck around with me for the entire year, I thank you. If this is the first post you've ever read, I thank you too.

Some of are no doubt wondering if I won NaNoWriMo. Well, yes, I did. I made it to the 50k mark for the first time. Oh, yeah.   The story isn't finished yet, I estimate that I have about 30k or so words left to finish the story, so by the time I'm done, I'll have a story that's actually novel sized. 

I can't think of anything else to say, other than "Merry Christmas", and "I'll try to blog some more in the future, though I can't promise anything.  If you want me to post, please feel free to threaten or bribe me."

With that, I'll leave you with three of my favorite pieces of music, all from the How To Train Your Dragon soundtrack, composed by John Powell. Enjoy.

Forbidden Friendship:

Test Drive:

See You Tomorrow:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey all, I hope you're having a great day on this day of thanks, whether you're visiting family or just hanging out. 

Here's one of my favorite Thanksgiving bits from TV, from the show WKRP in Cincinnati. (Bonus points if you just sang "In Cincinnaa-aati" in your head.)  It's kinda dumb, but soooo funny.

So, what are some things you are thankful for? Here's my list:
- mashed potatoes
- pie
- more mashed potatoes
- glitter
- did I mention mashed potatoes?
- NaNoWriMo
- friends and family
- mashed potatoes
- books 

Have a wonderful day!

Thus Far in Noxumbra Manor...

Hello bloggy friends!

I would apologize for not posting in a while, but I'm in the middle of National Novel Writing Month, and honestly it comes before food and sleep on my priorities list.

If you want to follow my word count progress, I've got a neat little widget over there --> that has my word count on it.  It's at 20k something right now.  You can find my NaNo profiles here (adult site) and here (young writers program).

This NaNoWriMo has challenged me in new ways.  It's been a test of endurance, patience, and not-giving-up-ness. (There has to be a better word for that...)  Last November was incredibly slow, life wise, and this November has so far been the complete opposite (though it could be worse).  This month my family is digging giant pits of despair (bonus points if you get the reference) on two sides of our house so we can pour a new foundation, my grandma is moving, and we have two fiber/art shows as well.  Also my sister's birthday is on Thursday, and she has strictly forbidden me from writing anything on that day.  It would have been really easy to give up before now, and just help dig and move and sell stuff, but I've kept going, and I will continue to do so. It's hard, because sometimes I feel guilty for writing and not helping, but I gave the world 335 days notice that I would be doing NaNo this year, and I am holding myself to that. I will persevere to the end of this thing no matter what life throws at me.

There are a few things I am hoping to practice and get better at with this NaNo:
- description
- internal narritive
- not using humongous blocks of dialogue
- humor
- character development

I've had my good moments with all, but I'd like to be better. And, like, um, not forget to describe things like all the characters and places this year. Cross your fingers.

That's pretty much all I have to say for now.  I may not post again until December first. Until then, please enjoy this parody on the Christmas song "It's the most wonderful time of the year," I wrote for NaNo.  Feel free to comment and add a stanza or twelve.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year,
With the keyboards a-clicking
And writers all saying “it’s finally here”
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

It’s the happiest season of all,
With those insulting greetings and secretive meetings,
When foes come to call
It’s the happiest season of all.

There’ll be parties for hosting
And strange meat for roasting
And battling out in the snow
There’ll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Victories long, long ago.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year,
There’ll be dragons for riding
And orphans a-hiding when villains are near.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.