Write Stuff: September 2010

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

After Reading

Give Up The Ghost by Megan Crewe

Cass McKenna much prefers the company of ghosts over "breathers." Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable, and they know the dirt on everybody... and Cass loves dirt. She's on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in her school.

But when the vice president of the student council discovers her secret, Cass's whole scheme hangs in the balance. Tim wants her to help him contact his recently deceased mother, and Cass reluctantly agrees.

As Cass becomes increasingly entwined in Tim's life, she's surprised to realize he's not so bad--and he needs help more desperately than anyone else suspects. Maybe it's time to give the living another chance...

Okay, I've got to stop being lazy and post covers of the books I've read. One of these days, when I actually have a spare moment, I'll do that :) Anyhow, this was a fun book. I heard about it ages ago and loved the premise--seeing ghosts, and not in a frightening way. And using the dirt they can dish to rat out the annoying people in high school? Sounds like loads of fun! And this book really was good. I loved the characters and set-up, and I got choked up quite a few times. Tim was really quite likable, despite his many problems dealing with his grief. My only problem with the book was that something felt like, well, like it was missing. I've been trying to put my finger on what was just a touch "off" about the book, and I'm still not sure what it is. It may be as simple as I wasn't as drawn in by the voice of the book as others might be, but I'm not sure. I think what it is is the details that were missing--I had a hard time really picturing the world. Not for any lack on the author's part, as she did a good job really trying to paint this world in all its colors (and smells--lots of smells!) but I just couldn't really see what was happening. Kind of strange, really, but something that crossed my mind while reading. Anyhow, good book, I'd recommend it!

Torment came in the mail yesterday and I'm DYING to start it. Today, sometime...after work, gym, tutoring, studying...I hate being this busy!!!

After Reading

By: Meradeth Houston on 5:31 AM

Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong…

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri’s birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s—and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives beyond the Academy’s iron gates to begin. But Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri, and he's out there, somewhere.

She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and she knows in her heart that he is hunting her. And if Rose won't join him, he won't rest until he's silenced her...forever.

I've really loved this series. It's main character, Rose, is someone I really find hilarious, and I love her temper and attitude. It makes for a run read, always. This book was no exception, and the pages turned easily. My only complaint, which is something that I noticed with the last book, Blood Promise, is that there doesn't seem to be much of an overarching theme for this series. This is fine, but with this many books strung together, I wish there were more of a point to all of them. Perhaps something will come to light with the last book, Last Sacrifice, which comes out December 7th (yay!). Anyhow, this was a fun read, nonetheless, although I'm going to be stepping back from vampire books for a while. I think I've OD'ed on them :)

Theoretical Thursday

By: Meradeth Houston on 2:05 AM

Thursdays are like a teaser--it's one day til Friday and freedom, but you still have to slog through two more days of work. And to make matters worse, today is the first day of classes on campus. Translation: there are slews of freshman wandering around, lost, and otherwise tangling up roadways and bikepaths. One of my lab's favorite occupations this time of year is to go to one of the many bike roundabouts on campus and see how many kids fall on their bikes during the lunch hour. Personally, while I find this amusing, I generally just want to tell people to get out of my way. And while, in theory, I like to see the starry-eyed freshman wandering around, so full of hope, so full of promise, I also have this incredible urge to yell at them to escape while there's still time.

Well, that was a random stream of consciousness for ya. Eeesh. Okay, so here's why I'm writing this little bit: there's another nifty contest going down at the Guide to Literary Agents, and seeing as how I've had much success there before, I feel like I should spread the word :) Okay, well, since like no one reads this blog, not really spread the word, but at least put it out there in the universe. Anyhoot, click here to check it out. It looks to be a fun one!

Okay, I'm off to work and to ensure that no lovely first year grad students have managed to steal my desk in my office. I shall be much pissed if that's the case...

After Reading

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:50 AM

Betrayed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Zoey has managed to settle in at the House of Night and come to terms with the vast powers the Goddess Nyx has given her. Just as she finally feels she belongs, the unthinkable happens: human teenagers are being killed, and all evidence points to the House of Night. While danger stalks the humans from Zoey’s old life, she begins to realize that the very powers that make her so unique might also threaten those she loves.

I've been enjoying this series. Lots of fun! And, quite frankly, light reads that allow me to just chill and enjoy the story. Something else that I've enjoyed? The fact that they pay attention to the little details. Like, she remembers to check in about the horse during the story, or remembers that she promised to do something for someone. I hate when there are things that happen in a story, and you worry about them, but they aren't ever mentioned again. Lame, I know, but I hate that! Anyhow, other things that I find interesting is that this is a mother-daughter writing team. HOW DO THEY DO THAT? I would love to know! I mean, the thought of trying to write a book with my mom makes me kind of want to run screaming through campus naked. (Okay, probably not, but you get the idea--crazy.) Anyhow, yeah, I do think it's cool. And they balance the writing with the current references well. It's just a fun thing to think about!

After Reading

By: Meradeth Houston on 3:08 PM

Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast

After she is Marked, 16-year-old Zoey Redbird enters the House of Night and learns that she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx. But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers. When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite club, is mis-using her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny— with a little help from her new vampyre friends.

I finally managed to get around to starting this series and I really enjoyed the first book. It was a light read, but the characters and setting were fun. There are certainly some things I can't get enough of, and boarding houses, giant changes in the MC (due to strange supernatural reason) are always fun. And I also liked the Native American nod the book had. I was kind of annoyed that I can already see a twist being set up for future books, but it's not terrible. Basically, this was a fun, easy read that I particularly enjoyed!

After Reading

By: Meradeth Houston on 9:23 AM

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns...

Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. Fortunately, they've been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.

Or not.

Astrid had always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to the prom—Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.

However, at the cloisters all is not what it seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from the crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to—perhaps most dangerously of all—her growing attraction to a handsome art student ... an attraction that could jeopardize everything.

This was a fun read, and I enjoyed it, but I really, really wish there were a few things that got more attention. Like, I actually thought the fight scenes were somewhat lame--except for a few instances, the fights were bloody and epic, but I honestly couldn't see them happening. I wanted to have some good old-fashioned butt kicking (a-la Buffy) that allowed me to cheer Astrid on. Anyhow, that was my main gripe. Other than that, the book does have a kind of goofy premise, but it was also fun. I loved the descriptions of Rome, which is one of my favorite places. Some of the plot twists were obvious, and I really had a hard time believing that a lot of the parents in the book would be so willing to put their daughters into danger, but, eh, it was a fun read. Ascendant comes out later this month, and I'll definitely be checking it out!

Friday Five

By: Meradeth Houston on 10:37 AM

Somehow it's Friday at 5pm and I'm still sitting here, waiting for the centrifuge to finish. Grrr. I want to go home. And sleep. Anyhoot, today's five, in their general randomness:

I'm chick-sitting. As in, I have a very cute baby chick here at work with me and over the weekend. She's adorable. And nameless. I'm not sure what to call her though. So far Popeyes, Kung-Pao, and KFC have been suggested. I'm not sure those work for her :)
I'm going on week #3 or so of not writing. I'm not sure I should admit this, but it's true. I just haven't been feeling creative. I have another post planned about this, but we'll see if I get to it.
My dissertation research is going well, however, despite the little chicken who is pecking at my keyboard at the moment. (I think that's a verifiably excuse, and I'm sure my adviser will think so, too!) If she poops on my keyboard, however, I shall be pissed.
With the start of September, everything in publishing is back to full-speed, including my querying. Ugh. Can I say that I hate querying? It's like a game, with the chances of winning that are worse than the lotto.
It's time for the weekend! I wish I were doing something more interesting than playing with the chick all weekend, but alas, I'm not.

Okay, lab work's done, and I'm OFF!!!

After Reading

By: Meradeth Houston on 3:38 AM

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

Lenah Beaudonte is, in many ways, your average teen: the new girl at Wickham Boarding School, she struggles to fit in enough to survive and stand out enough to catch the eye of the golden-boy lacrosse captain. But Lenah also just happens to be a recovering five-hundred-year-old vampire queen. After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah is able to realize the dream all vampires have -- to be human again. After performing a dangerous ritual to restore her humanity, Lenah entered a century-long hibernation, leaving behind the wicked coven she ruled over and the eternal love who has helped grant her deep-seated wish.

Until, that is, Lenah draws her first natural breath in centuries at Wickham and rediscovers a human life that bears little resemblance to the one she had known. As if suddenly becoming a teenager weren’t stressful enough, each passing hour brings Lenah closer to the moment when her abandoned coven will open the crypt where she should be sleeping and find her gone. As her borrowed days slip by, Lenah resolves to live her newfound life as fully as she can. But, to do so, she must answer ominous questions: Can an ex-vampire survive in an alien time and place? What can Lenah do to protect her new friends from the bloodthirsty menace about to descend upon them? And how is she ever going to pass her biology midterm?

Yikes, it's been a while since I've posted. Maybe because I've been doing a lot of re-reading of comfort books... It's been a pretty lousy couple of weeks around here, so I'm going to just say that :)

On to the book: I'm torn between loving this book, and the fact that it made me want to tear my hair out on more than one occasion. Actually, I nearly had to get out my red pen and start making comments in the margins. It it hadn't been a library book, I probably would have. Seriously, this book was lacking in the editing department, and I NEVER say that. But there were so many instances of: the same word being used twice (or more) in the same paragraph/sentence/page where it was uber distracting; no sense of placement (such as her shaking hands with someone while sitting on top of a tall wall that should have made it impossible to shake with the dude on the ground--just one example, there were many); references to things that have already been noted that she didn't know what they were ("scratch the needle moment" when she'd already said she didn't know what recorded music was); and then explanations of things multiple times, often within the same page--or other things that needed to be explained earlier, but weren't. UGH. Not to sound all hoity-toity, but I've had early drafts of my own work that were a lot cleaner than this.

I don't know if it's because I spend a lot of time in my character's heads, and they're all older (around the same age as Lenah, actually) so I tend to pick up on the inconsistencies more, but it really, really got to me. BUT, the flashbacks were awesome. They were what kept me reading. I think if this book had been a historical--and honestly, there was no reason why it had to be set today--it would have sold me more. The writing there was tight and awesome, and I hated coming back to the modern scenes. Also, um, Justin? What it up with the main character and having like three lovers (or four, depending on how you count it) in one book? Why did that annoy me? And could someone please tell Lenah to get her emotions to stop bouncing around all over the place? In the course of five minutes she swings from elated to depressed and back again--it was giving me whiplash.

Okay, rant over. It was a good book. I may pick up the next two, but if things keep dragging me out of the story and making me sit there and try (unsuccessfully) to find a way to make them work, well, I just can't do it. (Dang, I sound bitchy in this post. I don't mean to. There were parts of this book I adored. I just can't help sitting here going "this book has some problems--like BIG problems--and it got picked up. Mine isn't. And Won't. And that makes me want to cry. And hide under my desk. And swear obscenities under my breath.)