After Reading

White Cat by Holly Black

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers -- people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail -- he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

Sooo, I'll admit that I didn't particularly like Black's other books. I read the first few chapters of Tithe and couldn't do it. I'm not someone who particularly likes fae. But this book was very, very different, and I adored the world she created around the curse workers. It was quite intricate and detailed--major pluses in my book. Anyhow, this was a fun read, and a quick one at that. It took a while for Cassel to grow on me, as he's not the most friendly of characters, but that's just who he is. Quite the ultimate "bad boy" really--one that's bad, even if he longs to be good, but can never seem to reach it :)

Something else that I thought about while reading is the rules the magic has in this book. There are quite a few blogs and articles out there discussing that magic must have "rules" or not come for free in books, or at least that's what most people seem to think. Harry Potter kind of gets around this by needing to go to school to learn how to do things correctly, but has also gotten flack for not having the magic of his world have consequences. Black's take on things is the exact opposite, where all magic has "blowback" or repercussions for the worker. I'm not sure how I feel about this. While it works in her setting, I'm not one to necessarily think this is a hard and fast rule regarding how world building must work. I mean, if you're going so far as to allow for the magic to occur in the first place, must it also be bound so tightly? Does that lend it some kind of added authenticity? I'm not really sure. For me, I'd be just as willing to believe it worked without the repercussions, as sometimes they seem to be added just to make things more complicated. My thoughts at least... 

After Reading

As You Wish by Jackson Pearce

Ever since Viola's boyfriend broke up with her, she has spent her days silently wishing—to have someone love her again and, more importantly, to belong again—until one day she inadvertently summons a young genie out of his world and into her own. He will remain until she makes three wishes.

Jinn is anxious to return home, but Viola is terrified of wishing, afraid she will not wish for the right thing, the thing that will make her truly happy. As the two spend time together, the lines between master and servant begin to blur, and soon Jinn can't deny that he's falling for Viola. But it's only after Viola makes her first wish that she realizes she's in love with Jinn as well . . . and that if she wishes twice more, he will disappear from her life—and her world—forever.

Jackson Pearce spins a magical tale about star-crossed lovers, what it means to belong . . . and how important it is to be careful what you wish for.

I really am not in the mood to post reviews, but I figured I should at least note this to keep record of what I've been reading. Honestly, this was a really fun read, though I'm not sure I liked the ending all that much. I could see it working better if the characters were older, but at 16 I wasn't buying it so much. Maybe I'm just becoming an old lady. Anyhow, I also had some issues with the world building of the jinn, as I don't think it made much sense. And randomly, I hated the type-set on the pages themselves. I don't like double-spaced in text documents (it reminds me too much of all the papers I've had to grade over the years), so that bothered me. All of these, however, certainly didn't keep me from thinking about this book, and rushing home to finish it yesterday afternoon. It was certainly a fun read, light and enjoyable for summer :)

After Reading

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

The words have sent chills down Tally's spine since her days as a repellent, rebellious ugly. Back then Specials were a sinister rumor — frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong, breathtakingly fast. Ordinary pretties might live their whole lives without meeting a Special. But Tally's never been ordinary.

And now she's been turned into one of them: a superamped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid.

The strength, the speed, and the clarity and focus of her thinking feel better than anything Tally can remember. Most of the time. One tiny corner of her heart still remembers something more.

Still, it's easy to tune that out — until Tally's offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke permanently. It all comes down to one last choice: listen to that tiny, faint heartbeat, or carry out the mission she's programmed to complete. Either way, Tally's world will never be the same.
 

I've been waiting to read this one because I knew I couldn't put it down. Yesterday I needed a little break so I ripped through this book, and it was so worth it! A very satisfying ending to Tally's tale :) I was rather sad to put it down, really. The ending was a tad bit on the anticlimactic side, but the rest of the book really delved into Tally's character more, which I have been wanting from the other books and was pleased to find here. The Special's skills were awesome and decidedly made me wish I were in better shape, haha! I'll be picking up Extras, the last book in the series, when I can, but it doesn't have the same characters, so I don't feel quite as invested in reading it. I will, no doubt, but I'm probably not making a trip to Borders today. Well, we'll see how class goes today. I may need another break....

Nail-Biting

I'll admit it. I'm totally checking my email thirty times a day. If not more. It's driving me crazy. But, I can't help it. It's part of the fun world of querying. And no amount of other stress (teaching summer school anyone? Remind me why I signed up to do this?) is detracting from the gut-squeezing fun that accompanies every time I pop open my inbox. All of this because I sent off my revisions to the agent who requested them. Ack! I really must find some other way to detract from the all-consuming stress of worrying that I didn't actually manage to get them right... Looks like I should get back to work on another manuscript, or you know, actually write some lectures :)

After Reading

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

All 16-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school—and life in general—with a minimum of effort. It’s not a lot to ask. But that’s before he’s given some bad news: he’s sick and he’s going to die. Which totally sucks. Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there is a cure—if he’s willing to go in search of it. With the help of a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf and a yard gnome, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America into the heart of what matters most.

This was quite possibly the most random book I've ever read. I don't mean this in a bad way, but, wow. Random. And hilarious. I found myself cracking up every couple of pages. It's also one of the few books I've read that's written by a female with a male MC that didn't make me seriously wonder what the author was thinking :) Anyhow, I have lots of love for Bray, and I've really enjoyed her other books, and I definitely think this one was great. I wish I hadn't figured out the "twist" at the end quite so early on, but hey, it was fun, the character arc was spot-on, and I had fun reading it. I really didn't think it was all that "deep" but maybe I'm just callused. At any rate, Cameron's character was a jerk at the start, but I could understand that, too, and it really solidified his character for me. At any rate, if you're looking for an amusing, random, but fun read, check it out! (Oh, and it has a lot of physics theory in it--points for that, even if my hubby thinking a bunch of the theories are crap. String theory? Really? Okay, yeah, that's a blog for another time....or not.)

Friday Five

This week has gone too quickly! I need a longer vacation, if only so that I can actually get caught up on stuff...

1. Summer school starts on Monday. This both delights and scares the crap out of me. I have a million lectures to work on, which have been totally gathering dust on my hard-drive. Somewhere I got it into my head that I can use my lectures from last year and not worry so much about it. I know this is wrong on an intrinsic level, but it hasn't motivated me to get to work. Yeah, it's going to be a long weekend...
2. My nose is peeling. Thank you Angel Island and the awesome (not) time we had there last Monday. I now look like I have some kind of leprosy.
3. I cut off all my HAIR. I still am not used to it. But I donated my (much longer than I thought) hair to locks of love. Kinda cool to think about, and yet it also kinda grosses me out. I don't know why.
4. I'm nearly to the point in my revisions where I honestly just want to send it off to agent-extraordinaire and be like "look, I like what I've done here, but I kinda don't want to put any more effort into it until I have some idea that you like it." Too bad that sounds whiny as all get-out. But, yeah, there's a point in every manuscript I write that I start to analyze the cost-benefit ratios, like either I'm going to dump more time into this, but there's a point where it's just not going to do any good. Have I hit this point? I have no idea....
5. Is it just me, or do you wish for something like a half-check-mark. Like, my to-do list is two pages long, and I've worked on just about everything on it (go me!) but about half the things are stuck in the limbo of not being completed due to having to deal with other people. This bothers me. Because I feel like I've put in all the effort I can, but there's nothing else I can do, so therefore I should be able to check the dang thing off. But I can't, because it's not done yet. So, a half-check-mark would be a good thing.

And, I'm rambling. Off to go scrub the hell out of CLM some more...

The Beta's have spoken

There's a good reason for my blog silence of late. I swear. I've been busy. Like seriously busy. The end of the quarter is always nuts, and I'm also gearing up for the teaching-marathon that is summer school. Plus, there was a nice vacation to San Francisco hubby and I squeezed in there. Add to that the normal fun of grad school, and trying to re-write my novel, and well, some things get left out. I will be better about this though!

Anyhow, I'm posting today about the awesomeness that is Beta readers. Or critique groups, but I've come to find that having some good second readers (beta-testers in a way) are a bit better for me than a regularly submitting group that just gets a chapter at a time. Anyhow, I have two lovely ladies who I share stuff with, and I adore them. They both write amazing work, and know how to rip my stuff to shreds, which is just what I want them to do. So, I sent them my re-worked draft of CLM last week, and now I've got a bunch of awesome, shiny comments back to work with. This, my dears, is why it's good to have someone else to read your stuff. Because occasionally (er, okay, a lot of the time for me!) there will be places where you repeat words like five times in a page and for some reason it's impossible to catch this no matter how many times I read it. Or, a scene just falls totally flat. As in "what were you thinking?" flat. And I'd rather have the chance to fix that sucker before I send it back to any agents.

So, now I get to sit down, open a couple of word files and get to work. I am pathetically excited about this. If only I could get as stoked about finishing my effing dissertation...

After Reading

Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon

On the day of her first betrothal meeting--and rejection--Ai Ling discovers a power welling deep within her. She can reach into other people’s spirits, hear their thoughts, see their dreams…and that’s just the beginning.

Ai Ling has been marked by the immortals; her destiny lies in the emperor’s palace, where a terrible evil has lived, stealing souls, for centuries. She must conquer this enemy and rescue her captive father, while mythical demons track her every step. And then she meets Chen Yong, a young man with a quest of his own, whose fate is intertwined with hers. Here is a heart-stopping, breathtaking tale for fans of action, fantasy, and romance--of anything with the making of legend.

I've wanted to read this since I saw the blurb ages ago. I finally snagged it from the library and read it this past weekend, and well, I'll be real honest here, I didn't enjoy it much. I mean, I was really looking forward to the Chinese culture and mythology, always a fav of mine, and the characters sounded interesting and very much like what I'd generally enjoy. But, the whole thing just fell flat for me after the first few chapters. This may have something to do with the fact that I do not like 3rd person, especially 3rd limited, as in this case it was just that--limited. I didn't get to really see into the character much, and the setting just didn't come alive. I couldn't see what everything really looked like, other than the food (seriously don't read this book hungry--you'll crave Chinese food like nobodies business!). So, yeah, I wasn't a fan. I kept reading, hoping that the ending would make up for things, but that just left me hanging, too. So, this one wasn't for me. Better writing might have made it more appealing, but it's garnered lots of attention elsewhere, so it could be just me. I do think that I'll be layering in a lot more detail in my own work though--if only because I want people to fly right along with my characters, not just follow along with the letters on the page.

Finish Line

It's Friday. I am incredibly happy about this. I will spend my weekend grading papers and doing laundry, but at least I will sleep in without feeling bad about it :) (Okay, okay, I slept in today, too, but I'm feeling the guilt. It's the only perk to being a grad student though.)

But, I have news. I finished a draft. Like, I even numbered the chapters. CLM, in its most recent incarnation, now awaits the eager eyes of my beta readers. I am most decidedly stoked about this. I have no idea if the draft works, if I've kept the right amount of tension and not made it over the top, if my characters are even still likable, but right now I'm basking in the glory of being able to say 'I did it!'

Now, what should I do to celebrate? What do YOU do to celebrate the minor victories in life?

After Reading

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie’s grandmother’s abandoned home near Salem, she can’t refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest—to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge.

I finished this a couple of days ago and have been thinking about it ever since. I know I say I've loved a lot of books, but this one pretty much made me want to curl up inside of it and live there. I adored it. I'll admit, the opening chapter made me almost throw up and put the book down--her description of oral/qualifying exams was just a little too real. It made me remember all the horrible fun of my own exams, and I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to keep reading about something that's making me so crazy in real life. But I kept at it, and I am so glad I did. I had no idea there would be a magical element to this story, and it was just the icing on the cake. (Witches, um, yes please!) The characters were vivid and the setting came alive. It became fun to read about someone else in grad school, and funny to see that I'm not the only one struggling through this hell they call a PhD. But, that's not the only thing that drew me in--the plot moved slowly but kept me interested, and the writing was rich and full. It made me think about adding so many fun details to my own work. Plus, it's nice to read something historical, knowing it's accurate. Nothing peeves me more than thinking something might be wrong in a historical novel!

Anyhow, favorite line: "Academia, in many respects, forms the last bastion of medieval apprenticeship....The master takes the student in, educates her in his craft, shares with her the esoteric secrets of his field. The apprentice is a kind of initiate, admitted by gradual degrees into ever higher fields of mysticism." LOL--loved this!!

Seriously, go read this book!