Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff that Made Me Famous

A couple of weeks ago I attended a webinar that provides authors with tips on writing query letters, and came with a critique from an agent that I'm excited to hear back about. I'm beginning to feel like I'm almost ready to send Desiderium out to agents again. As always, it's a lot better, but who knows if it's getting close to where it needs to be. Wish me luck!

In other news, I'm working on outlining an idea for a stand-alone novel that I'm really excited about. It's a story I'm itching to tell, and I'm hoping that moving on to another book will bring me more luck with Desiderium. Only time will tell though. Onto the review...

Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff that made me Famous Summary:
Can a spot on a teen reality show really lead to a scholarship at an elite cooking school AND a summer romance?

Sixteen-year-old Sophie Nicolaides was practically raised in the kitchen of her family’s Italian-Greek restaurant, Taverna Ristorante. When her best friend, Alex, tries to convince her to audition for a new reality show, Teen Test Kitchen, Sophie is reluctant. But the prize includes a full scholarship to one of America's finest culinary schools and a summer in Napa, California, not to mention fame.

Once on-set, Sophie immediately finds herself in the thick of the drama—including a secret burn book, cutthroat celebrity judges, and a very cute French chef. Sophie must figure out a way to survive all the heat and still stay true to herself. A terrific YA offering--fresh, fun, and sprinkled with romance.

Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff that made me Famous Review:
First of all, let me start off by saying that the title is indeed a mouthful, but charming no less. At first I was reluctant to pick this book up because it was only 230 pages, which is rather short, but I was sold on it after reading the first couple of pages. This author's voice was incredibly engaging and fun.

I have a couple of protests about the ending, but I have to say that I loved this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a fun read.

Something Strange and Deadly

Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to writing this post. I've been busy with revisions, and I'm polishing my query letter, and trying to spiff up my logline to enter a contest later this year. A logline is supposed to be a one or two sentence pitch to let readers know what the book is about and hook them in. You may be thinking, it's just one or two sentences...piece of cake! Oh contrare. It's some of the hardest one to two sentences I've ever written. When I'm happier with it, I'll post it here. Anyway...

I recently finished reading Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard, which is a change from the types of books that I normally read.

Something Strange and Deadly Summary:
The year is 1876, and there’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

Something Strange and Deadly Review:
Let me just start off by saying that zombies usually aren't my cup of tea, but I thought I'd give this book a try. After reading 100 pages or so, I was hooked. It wasn't super scary or gory, and I liked the plot. It was engaging, too, which is always a good quality to have. But then it all went downhill from there. It was as if the author stopped trying halfway through the book. The writing and the character got cheesey, and the plot became rather stale.

Not to mention that the ending was such a downer. I get that it's a zombie book, and lots of people are going to die, but not only did everyone die, the guy she was falling in love with throughout the whole book told her he didn't love her at the end and went off to go to Chicago, never to see her again. Sorry for anyone who was going to read this book, but I had to get that off my chest. Overall, I probably wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. Sorry Susan Dennard.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Not much new to report on Desiderium. Revisions are still under way, but I have to say that I feel like I might be getting close. I hope I didn't just jinx it by saying that. Depending on how much time I'm able to devote to my revisions, I might be able to send it off in a month or so to test the waters. Cross your fingers for me! Now, onto the review...

I just finished reading Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. I actually purchased this book because  with my discount at B&N I was able to get it for $3.70, and I really liked the Unearthly series so I decided to buy it. Here's a summary of it.

Hush, Hush Summary:
A SACRED OATH
A FALLEN ANGEL
A FORBIDDEN LOVE

Romance was not part of Nora Grey's plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora to him against her better judgment.

But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is and seems to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For she is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost Nora her life.

Hush, Hush Review:
This book felt a lot like Twilight. Except with angels. Girl meets dark, mysterious boy at school who is clearly dangerous. Boy stalks girl. Girl doesn't think anything of it. Girl starts to wonder if boy may not be human after all. Girl does Google search on a hunch and is able to figure out what he is. Girl's life is in danger. Boy saves girl. Boy and girl enter into blissful relationship which will undoubtedly be put to the test in the sequel.

That being said, I thought that Becca Fitzpatrick had a great writing style and did a gread job of keeping the readers hooked. We gave this book away at the library to teens who read 20 hours over the summer, and quite a few of them are hooked. I made the comparison to Twilight to one of the boys who loved Hush, Hush, and he freaked out and refused to see the similarities. Aside from the unoriginal plot, the writing was enough to carry me through to the end and make me consider picking up the sequel. Happy reading!

Mistwood by Leah Cypess

Sorry for the delay in posting. I've been working diligently on my first two chapters. I think I'm finally starting to get them right where I want them, so now I just have to play the waiting game to see what some of my beta readers think. For anyone interested,  you can find a very recent version of my first five pages here. I get one more round of feedback from the creators of the blog and guest author Leah Cypess. I also have my first five pages out in the YALITCHAT community now, so I'll hopefully receive more feedback soon.

But on to the review. I recently finished reading Mistwood by Leah Cypess. Many of you may remember that she did an interview for the blog a couple of months ago, and that she is also the guest author for the workshop I'm doing. Coincidence? No, not really. I had met Leah Cypess a  year or two ago, and loved Nightspell. I never got around to reading Mistwood though until recently.

Mistwood Summary:
The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats to the Mistwod.

But when she is needed she always comes.

Isabel remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she is supposed to have.

Prince Rokan needs Isabel to be his Shifter. He needs her ability to shift to animal form, to wind, to mist. He needs her lethal speed and superhuman strength. And he needs her loyalty—because without it, she may be his greatest threat.

Isabel knows that her prince is lying to her, but she can't help wanting to protect him from the dangers and intrigues of the court . . . until a deadly truth shatters the bond between them.

Now Isabel faces a choice that threatens her loyalty, her heart . . . and everything she thought she knew.


Mistwood Review:
Let me start off by saying that this book was excellent. Leah is a phenomenal writer, and she always does an excellent job with surprise twists. I have to say that I think I liked Nightspell better than Mistwood, but I definitely liked Mistwood. I won't spoil it, but I will say that there is definitely a surprise twist there that I have to say I didn't see coming. She kept hinting at something, but I was unable to put the pieces together until she revealed them.

The idea for this book was definitely original. My only complaint is that for reasons that are revealed later in the book, the Shifter can't shift and she doesn't know why. It would have been cool to see the shifter get to shift into anything that she wanted, but that would have ruined the storyline. Overall a great read.

Shadow and Bone & Other News

I just submitted my revision for the First Five Pages workshop, so it should be posted here on Monday. As always, I feel like Desiderium is getting better, and I long for the day when someone says it's good, not just better. If it ever gets here.

I just finished reading Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. A co-worker of mine recommended it to me, and although I was a little skeptical based on reviews, I have to say that I liked it a lot. I definitely give the author props for coming up with an origianl concept.

Shadow and Bone Summary:
Alina Starkov doesn’t expect much from life. Orphaned by the Border Wars, the one thing she could rely on was her best friend and fellow refugee, Mal. And lately not even that seems certain. Drafted into the army of their war-torn homeland, they’re sent on a dangerous mission into the Fold, a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh.

When their convoy is attacked, all seems lost until Alina reveals a dormant power that not even she knew existed. Ripped from everything she knows, she is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. He believes she is the answer the people have been waiting for: the one person with the power to destroy the Fold.

Swept up in a world of luxury and illusion, envied as the Darkling’s favorite, Alina struggles to fit into her new life without Mal by her side. But as the threat to the kingdom mounts, Alina uncovers a secret that sets her on a collision course with the most powerful forces in the kingdom. Now only her past can save her . . . and only she can save the future.

Shadow and Bone Review:
Alina, although weak at times was an excellent main character. The concept behind the Grisha and the Darkling and the Shadow Fold was well crafted and original. The author even did an excellent job of making the reader sympathize with Alina all throughout the journey, and did an even better job of hiding the book's secret from the reader. All too often the reader knows it's coming, but I thought this revelation had a nice element of surprise to it.

The one thing that irked me about this book was that her best friend Mal would hook up with all these women, but the first time she kisses someone else, he makes her out to be the worst person in the world. It was very annoying, but at least the main character called him out on it. The ending of the book was a little bit of a let down, but I have high hopes for the two sequels. I would definitely recommend this book without reservation.

You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis

Today's blog is going to be about You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis, but before we get to that, I entered Desiderium into a First Five Pages Workshop, in which a couple of authors and anyone reading the blog can provide constructive feedback. If you have any interest in following along, you can read all about it here. I've been focusing on the revisions for the first five pages via a different YA publishing community, so I'm hoping this workshop will be just what it needs to grab the attention of an agent. Cross your fingers for me. Now, down to business...

You Have Seven Messages Summary:
It's been a year since Luna's mother, the fashion-model wife of a successful film director, was hit and killed by a taxi in New York's East Village. Luna, her father, and her little brother, Tile, are still struggling with grief.

When Luna goes to clean out her mother's old studio, she's stunned to find her mom's cell phone there—charged and holding seven unheard messages. As Luna begins to listen to them, she learns more about her mother's life than she ever wanted to know . . . and she comes to realize that the tidy tale she's been told about her mother's death may not be the whole truth.

You Have Seven Messages Review:
From the very first page of this book I fell in love with the author's voice. The male author did an excellent job of portraying the 15-year-old female character, and gave her a very unique, authentic voice. I'm not usually drawn to books about loss, but the original spin on the premise caught my attention. I thought Lewis did an excellent job of creating very real characters and did an excellent job transitioning Luna into adulthood despite the fact that she was only 15.

My only complaint about the book is the love interest. All of a sudden Oliver stops talking to Luna and starts going out with her old best friend, who coincidentally is just trying to get his attention to prove a point. And then all of a sudden he realizes the friend was a fake and wants to get back together with Luna. I liked the forgiveness aspect of the situation, but I thought Luna was too quick to jump back into things with Oliver. I would definitely recommend this book, and it definitely doesn't hurt that it's such a quick read.

Review: Fire by Kristin Cashore

Fire is the second book Kristin Cashore wrote. It's a companion book to Graceling. I recently read both Graceling and Bitterblue, and loved the former so I decided to come back to this book. Once again, Cashore does a great job of painting a wonderful world to get lost in for a few hours.

Fire Summary:
It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. The young King Nash clings to his throne while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. The mountains and forests are filled with spies and thieves and lawless men.

This is where Fire lives. With a wild, irresistible appearance and hair the color of flame, Fire is the last remaining human monster. Equally hated and adored, she had the unique ability to control minds, but she guards her power, unwilling to steal the secrets of innocent people. Especially when she has so many of her own.

Then Prince Brigan comes to bring her to King City, The royal family needs her help to uncover the plot against the king. Far away from home, Fire begins to realize there's more to her power than she ever dreamed. Her power could save the kingdom.

If only she weren't afraid of becoming the monster her father was.

Fire Review:
Overall I would say that this book was pretty great. It was roughly 460 pages, which was about 100 pages less than Bitterblue. It didn't feel nearly so long though. At the same time though it wasn't nearly as quick of a read as Graceling, and I would probably rank it as my second favorite of her three novels so far. I thought that Fire's character was very likeable and interesting, and each of the characters were unique in their own ways.

I really liked Prince Brigan, the romantic interest, but the two of them finally getting together was very anti-climatic. Cashore didn't even mention their first kiss. Usually authors will describe it and it's considered to be one of the more significant points in the book, but she glossed over it. Nevertheless I was rooting from them. The one thing I didn't like about the book was that at some points Fire was really strong (although nothing compared to Katsa from Graceling), and at other times she was completely helpless. I guess we all have our strong and weak moments, but this seemed to be taken to an extreme. Regardless, don't let that deter you from reading this book.

As far as Desiderium goes, I've been taking a little bit of a break from it. There are some revisions that have to be made to it, but as of yet I haven't figured out exactly how to address them. I'm still mulling them over, but I'm hoping I'll work up the gumption to take a stab at it this weekend. I don't think most people understand the amount of revision that goes into writing a book. You don't just write it and then poof it gets published. I finished my first draft almost a year ago and spent 8 months revising it on my own. Now I'm revising it with the help of some online writing groups. I guess the good news is it's always getting better. Although to be honest, I'm beginning to hate the word better. I can't wait for the day when my book is good and not just better. Cross your fingers for me.

Review: Spark by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Last year, I read Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan and thought it was so-so. There were things I didn't like about the book, but overall I liked the plot and the characters. At least enough to read the sequel that just came out. Overall, I would say that Spark was pretty good, and definitely much better than Glow.

In Glow, the Empyrean, the space station that Waverly, Kieran, and Seth live on with their family and friends, gets attacked by their sister ship, the New Horizon, and all of the girls are kidnapped and taken to the New Horizon. Through an unfortunate series of events, many of the adults end up being held captive on the New Horizon, and the girls end up escaping, unable to take the adults with them. When they return the Empyrean, they find that almost all of the adults have died, and those that did survive are in intensive care, leaving the boys to run the ship. As the book ends, the kids and teens set out to try to rescue their parents.

Spark Summary:
Waverly and Kieran are finally reunited on the Empyrean. Kieran has led the boys safely up to this point, and now that the girls are back, their mission seems slightly less impossible: to chase down the New Horizon, and save their parents from the enemy ship. But nothing is truly as it seems…Kieran’s leadership methods have raised Seth’s hackles— and Waverly’s suspicions. Is this really her fiancé? The handsome, loving boy she was torn from just a short time before? More and more, she finds her thoughts aligned with Seth’s. But if Seth is Kieran’s Enemy No. 1, what does that make her?

In one night, a strange explosion rocks the Empyrean—shooting them off course and delaying their pursuit of the New Horizon—and Seth is mysteriously released from the brig. Seth is the most obvious suspect for the explosion, and Waverly the most obvious suspect for releasing him. As the tension reaches a boiling point, will Seth be able to find the true culprit before Kieran locks them both away—or worse? Will Waverly follow her heart, even if it puts lives at risk? With the balance of power precarious and the clock ticking, every decision counts… every step brings them closer to a new beginning, or a sudden end...

Spark Review:
The action in this book was pretty good, although there were times when I found myself counting pages as I went through it. The book is told from the point of view of three different people. I don't know if he was supposed to be, but I found Kieran to be a completely unlikeable character. The book made a number of valid points about what power and the struggle to attain it can do to you, but I felt as if many of the characters' decisions were irrational. At one point, Seth, who is imprisoned by Kieran and disliked by everyone but Waverly, begs Kieran to talk to him so he can warn him that the ship will blow up, and Kieran doesn't even give him the chance to speak. He just walks away. Big mistake. I felt when I was reading it like there would be no reason for Kieran to ignore him, but to each his own I guess.

The description focuses a lot on the love triangle between Waverly, Kieran, and Seth, but the book didn't really have a lot of this. We know Seth likes Waverly, and in this book Kieran and Waverly hate each other, but throughout the entire book, we receive no mention of how Waverly feels about Seth. Kind of weird.

Then there's the end. I'll try not to spoil it, but one of the characters makes a mysterious decision at the end that I'm not too sure about. I think I know what he's planning to do, but it was purposely left open to keep readers guessing until the next book comes out next year. I guess it worked since I'll be reading the third one when it comes out. Happy reading!

Review: There is No Dog by Meg Rosoff

This blog will be short. I'm 60 pages away from being done with my current revision, so I haven't had a lot of time to read. I did, however, make the mistake of picking up the book There is No Dog by Meg Rosoff. I absolutely hated it. All too often I pick up books and stop reading them partway through because I don't care for them, so I resolved to not do that very much anymore. Needless to say I picked a bad time to start.

There is No Dog Summary:
Meet your unforgettable protagonist: God, who, as it turns out, is a 19-year-old boy living in the present-day and sharing an apartment with his long-suffering fifty-something personal assistant. Unfortunately for the planet, God is lazy and, frankly, hopeless. He created all of the world's species in six days because he couldn't summon the energy to work for longer. He gets Africa and America mixed up. And his beleagured assistant has his work cut out for him when God creates a near-apolcalyptic flood, having fallen asleep without turning the bath off. There is No Dog is a darkly funny novel from one of our most delightfully unpredictable writers.

There is No Dog Review:
I absolutely did not like one thing about this book. The main character is 19-years old, and since he's God, he's supposedly been around for millions of years, and yet he's completely selfish, self-absorbed, and lacks any sort of maturity what-so-ever. Completely unbelievable. After millions of years, wouldn't you tend to mature at least a little? Needless to say every single one of the characters was unlikeable, the writing was vulgar and just plain terrible. And the boy spends the entire book trying to woo this attractive girl he saw, and once he does he doesn't even recognize her when he sees her. Then he makes fish fly and he leaves Earth, leaving his 50-year-old immortal assistant in charge of Earth. This book has no redeeming qualities, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Review: Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

So, after finishing Unearthly, I might or might not have stayed up until 4:00 a.m. finishing the sequel a couple of days ago, so I haven't made much progress in the way of my own book, but I do intend to devote my free time tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday to editing my own book. Ideally.

Alright, without further ado, let's get down to the summary of Hallowed:

For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation that her purpose—the task she was put on earth to accomplish—is not as straightforward as she thought.

Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and the growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.

Hallowed Review:
I think the fact that I was up until 4:00 in the morning says a lot about what I think about the book. It's very gripping and kept me on the edge of my seat, but I would definitely read Unearthly before reading this sequel. I thoroughly enjoyed Clara's character, and she did have a legitimate love triangle decision to make. Oftentimes when a girl has two choices, one choice is either a jerk or posessive, so the decision isn't really all that hard, but at times I found myself torn between the two. I'm personally rooting for Tucker in the next installment, but I could see why she would choose Christian.

Overall I would say that this book had two big secrets, and both were fairly transparant. One of them I was able to guess halfway through Unearthly, even though it wasn't revealed until the end of this book, and the other secret started seeming obvious about 60 pages in. So in that respect it was fairly predictable, but at the same time I enjoyed the ride. This book brought tears to my eyes for completely different reasons than the first book. It had more of a sad undertone, but I'm hopeful for the third book coming out next year.

Hopefully it'll be at least another week or two until I review another book, but I'll try to keep you guys posted on my editing process. Happy Fourth!