Stealing Jenny had an awesome concept, the story itself was riveting and somewhat scary in a scenario that could actually happen in the real world. However.....the delivery was a nightmare, the transitions were awkward and the story moved way too fast to truly develop any character depth. Dialog was stilted and lacked rhythm, or how do I say that feeling that eases you into a story and guides the reader into the authors world? It could have been an unbelievable book had the writing gone through major editing, sentence and dialog restructure and a reworking presenting the Catholic faith aspects.

Rating

Stealing Jenny is recommended to adult readers and contains: Violence, religious aspects, kidnapping, harsh thoughts and mild sensuality

2/5- Inspy-Thriller

Dante's Girl by Courtney Cole

June 24, 2012 by Lakehouse Press

Ebook (Kindle) 356 Pages

Review Copy

Reece is on her way to London for the summer when she meets Dante, an amazingly nice and handsome guy who strikes up a conversation with her on the plane. When another plane explodes near them chaos ensues and Reece winds up being escorted by Dante's bodyguards to a safe location. She finds out not only is Dante charming and good looking but he's the son of a powerful Prime Minister. Luck would have it that Reece is obliged to remain under the protection of the family and stays for the entire summer. Love, romance and the thrilling excitement of a beautiful city sweep Reece away into a world so unlike her own. Political drama and social affairs interlace with this cute unlikely romance between a regular girl and a well to do guy.

I read this one over the summer and I thought it was fun and perfect for reading in the sun, with my lemonade and sunglasses on. Sometimes you need light and fluffy and this book delivered just that. Its a fairy tale and you need to go into this book knowing that the plot is unrealistic but would make a great chick-flick movie and in the end will make you feel............good.

Rating

Recommended to teen readers 16 and up and contains: Mild violence, language, romance including some kissing and sensuality.

3.5/5- Young Adult- Romance

Thanks to Lakehouse Press for my ebook copy.

CC-Omar/Omar

by Elizabeth Nelson- 2012

When I first learned that human trafficking is in the world’s top three crime industries, behind illegal drugs and arms, I was shocked. It’s $15.5 billion dollar industry. I knew right then and there that I wanted to write a story about this issue. Over the following couple of weeks I began playing out a plot in my head. Soon it developed into a story of love and crime with a political twist. I was worried about what people may say about the topic and how I chose to tell the story. 

When the book was first released the only thing people could talk about was the sex. What about the bigger picture? I wondered. I wish Americans were as outraged by war as they are by sex. Many people think I’m in pornography mainly for the vivid descriptions I write and present to my readers. Let me first say, writing is not pornography. It is imagination of the mind. There are no risks of disease, no testings, no cast calls, none of that. I sit at my computer and write a story. Do adults not have sex in our society? That’s what I write about and intertwine it with much bigger issues that need our attention. I write about experiences that could happen to someone and how they chose to deal with those experiences. Some of those experiences in my stories just happen to be sexual.

It’s funny. Have you ever taken the time to read through the reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey on Amazon. If you haven’t I suggest you do. This book exploded on the American public because the American public wanted it. It was time for the Erotica genre to be mainstream. But just like in politics these days you either really like it or you really hate it. There is very little in-between.

Now my stories have erotica in them, yes. But they are so much more than just sex! They have believable characters. They have a story that could actually happen to someone. This is what makes me an artist. Sex sells, there is no doubt about that. However, that is not why I include it into my stories or why I wanted to write about human trafficking. I write sex scenes because it is a human trait that defines us as humans. Perhaps the folks who criticize my writing should take the time to make love to their companions more often and ask themselves if their own love lives are ugly and inappropriate.

Elizabeth wrote her first romance novel at age fifteen when she discovered writing about boys was way easier than actually talking to them. Since then, her flirting skills and relationship techniques have helped hundreds of others find their mojo. After earning a master’s degree in secondary education from UNC, she worked abroad teaching English, bar-tended at late night clubs in Chicago, and continues various philanthropy projects that focus on empowering women. But she always returned to writing. Though she’ll forever be a free-spirit at heart, she now lives in Los Angeles with her two dogs. If she’s not working on her latest sexy story, you can find her reading, watching reality television, or indulging in her unhealthy addiction to rock concerts.

Friends!! I have joined my first reading challenge for 2013! 

Here's the Scoop!

Runs January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013 (books read prior to 1/1/2013 do not count towards the challenge). 

by Patrick Weekes 

When I decided to write The Palace Job, I knew that I was entering uncharted territory. I'd written my share of fantasy before, developed magic systems, run endless Dungeons & Dragons games, and gotten reasonably proficient with writing fun fight scenes. But for The Palace Job, I had to learn how to write a heist caper. It ended up being incredibly enjoyable as well as head-deskingly frustrating at times.

Characters: 

One of the most consistent bits of feedback I had gotten on my earlier writing was that people often said that they disliked, or worse, had no strong feelings about, my protagonist... but they almost always loved my minor characters. It was like having thousands of words to devote to character development tripped me up in my early drafts, while having parameters along the lines of, "This guy gets one line per scene, so, you know, get the character out there quickly," actually made me a better writer.

As it turned out, this came in really handy on The Palace Job. The books and movies I was trying to honor -- the Ocean's 11 movies and Westlake's Dortmunder books -- have a large cast of characters, and do a great job of establishing characters for a large team quickly. While the novel still has a protagonist in Loch (and I hope you like her), it ended up letting me play to my strengths of, essentially, goofing around with a lot of fun characters.

Pace:

On the other hand, it turns out that fantasy novels and heist capers have a much different pace. Fantasy is all about setting, and feeling, and the sense of wonder of the unknown. It's about romance and tragedy, and you can't rush it without leaving the reader feeling cheated.

A heist caper, by comparison, needs to move. The first half of the novel has to establish the team and the target firmly and efficiently, and with enough precision that you can essentially spend the second half of the novel at breakneck speed, barely pausing to remind the reader who's who.

When I finished my first draft, I looked at the narrative beats and sadly told my friends that I'd tried to write a fantasy novel by Donald Westlake, and ended up writing a heist caper by Guy Gavriel Kay (both of whom are wonderful). Then I cut about 30,000 words.

Plot:

Finally, it also turns out that plotting heist capers is hard. The attraction of a good caper is the crazy complexity, the multiple steps and sudden twists that keep the team using their unique abilities to overcome an antagonist who should by all means be impossible. After giving myself a headache trying to outline things with bullet points, as I always had before, I ended up going step by step through the entire heist in doodle form, drawing every team member and villain as stick figures and making sure that everyone was doing something that made sense at every moment of the heist. It was humbling to learn that I was trying to use a unicorn in three scenes at the same time while leaving my alchemist hiding behind a hedge for approximately a quarter of the book, and I'm glad that I noticed that before the readers ever had a chance to do so.

I hope that The Palace Job ends up appealing both to fantasy readers and heist-caper fans. Life would probably be easier for me if I stopped mixing up my genres, but I'm having a lot of fun, and I don't see that changing any time soon.

Patrick Weekes grew up in California and attended Stanford University, where he earned his B.A. and M.A. in English Literature. After attempting to be deep and profound, he discovered that he much prefers to write quippy banter, swashbuckling fight scenes, and parody song lyrics. He has sold stories containing the first two elements to several anthologies and magazines.

Patrick currently works at the award-winning video-game company BioWare, on the team that created the critically acclaimed Mass Effect trilogy. He is constantly amazed at being surrounded by such incredibly talented people, and also at having gotten the chance to write the aforementioned parody song lyrics for space aliens as part of his day job. Currently, Patrick shares his home in Edmonton with his wife Karin, his two Lego-focused sons, and seven rescue-adopted pets. In his spare time, he practices Kenpo Karate, paddles in dragon boat races, and puts way too much thought into analyzing the fights scenes of bad martial arts movies.

If you could work with any other author, who would it be and why?

Wow, that’s a tough one. The Southern Steel Magnolia in me would love to write with Harper Lee or Fannie Flagg. But if we’re talking romance, it would have to be either SC Stephens or Olivia Cunning. Both authors bring very different strengths to the table, and for a romance/erotic writer, I think you can learn a lot from both of them. They’re also two writers who got me back in the adult writing world. I am very blessed to have great critique partners in the business as well. Kelli Maine has been invaluable to me as a friend and writing buddy for the last three years.

I agree, S.C Stephens is great...her book Thoughtless provoked many a thought down under....(LOL)

What would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you write?

A typical day has me working full-time educating the Youth of America aka teaching 11th grade American Literature to high school juniors. Most of my writing time comes after work. I have an upstairs office that fits the “writer” profile, but alas, most of the time, it’s me and my laptop on the couch or the chair!!

Yay, for being a teacher. I think you all deserve raises!

What is the hardest part of the writing for you?

I think rejection has been the hardest part. When I set out on the journey four years ago, I was so very naïve. I had no idea about agents, publishing houses, query letters, etc. All it was for me was the beauty of the story and the amazing high of creating something. Sadly, all that got spit and trampled upon when I tried publication!! This was also before self-pubbing became more mainstream.

Even now though, rejection hurts. No matter how many times you go through it, the sting is still there. Whether it’s having a book go to the editorial board of a publishing house and not get support, or it’s someone hating your book or ripping apart the characters you love and adore.

When and why did you first start writing?

I actually started writing seriously for publication four years ago—although my late mother claimed I wrote my first story at four! After writing a Southern Literary Fiction, I read Twilight and went down the Young Adult path. Two novels, two agents, and two almost publishing deals later, I decided to go back to my roots in the adult world. I’m not giving up on Young Adult entirely. However, it has been a complete 180 joining the Romance community. I have never met such amazing, supportive, and caring people in all my life!! Every time I get on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter, I have a goofy grin on my face from the fangirling or support. It has really built back the shattered writing self-esteem I had after my experiences in the traditional publishing world.

That is great! Im loving the Indie authors as of late, you guys give us such great stories and they are easy on the pocket book...:)

How did you come up with the idea for the book your book?

First, I’m a huge fan of the June and Johnny Cash type love stories—the love of a good woman turns the life of a bad boy around. So, I knew I wanted to pursue a story like that. When I started out in literary fiction many years ago, my novel, while not totally a romance, dealt with those themes.

Then I’ll openly admit that there is a bit of Emma that is a Mary Sue!! For many years now, I’ve been saying that I would take the plunge and have a child on my own if the perfect man—scratch that and say ANY DECENT MAN—didn’t come along. I love, love, love children--I guess I would have to love them to have been teaching MS and HS for 12 yrs, right? LOL A lot of Emma’s pain of wanting and needing a family of her own comes from my own life experiences.

Are you a big reader? If so, what are you reading now?

Yes, I am a huge reader. I usually average 100 books or more a year, and that’s not counting the books I critique or beta read for writer buddies. I just finished the AMAZING On Dublin Street. Probably one of my Top Five FAVS of the year. I'm blessed to be part of an amazing group of critique partners, The Naughty Mafia, which includes Kelli Maine, Emily Snow, Michelle Valentine, Kristen Proby, and our newest edition Ava Black!!

You are like the 8th person who has raved about Dublin Street, so I think I may need to break down and grab this one.

Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?

Keep with it. No matter how hard it gets, how bleak it looks, how many rejections you get, don’t give up. It’s hard because it happens so easy for some people. Others have to struggle and struggle to make it. It hasn’t been an easy journey for me—often it’s been a step forward and three steps back. But the true reward comes when someone loves your characters and story as much as you do.

I’d also give Stephen King’s advice from On Writing—read, read, read. Whatever genre you’re wanting to write, you need to be very, very familiar with it.

**Thanks Katie again for stopping by, your book looks delicious!!!**


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by C.A Lang-2012

Some of the blurbage for Blightcross refers to oil dependent cultures and greed. In today's climate, that's a loaded statement. But while it's true to a certain extent, it's also not the whole picture. 

Back up to the idea of writing to save the world. It's easy to fall into the trap of making this your motivation for writing. I'd say that was my mode for most of my writing years. Robert Heinlein realized this, and he wrote about it in one of his essays about writing. Basically, most of the time writing to save the world results in crappy stories. This doesn't mean you can't be critical and confrontational. That's the zone I had to navigate with this novel. Yes, it's critical and confrontational, but by no means is it a case of "tar sands bad, David Suzuki good." Part of the diesel punk idea is to align us back to the idea of progress, which has been lost thanks to this little "end of history" predicament we're in. Fossil fuels were/are, regardless of anyone’s axe-grinding on either side, an important contributor to progress. 

The attraction of technology like this, and probably nuclear science as well, is that despite how we've focused on how it goes wrong lately, it’s still crucial to our world. I know this exploration of technology has been done to death with cyberpunk, but again the hook with these "retro" genres is that we can actually relate to what's going on. These are powerful technologies that we can touch and use, rather than airy philosophical ideas that exist in some 90s concept of virtual reality and in bizarre transhumanist manifestos.

So is oil bad? Of course not. In my novel, it's fueling an entire nation that's gone insane. Are they insane because of the oil? I doubt it. The historical conditions are affecting them. The oil is just another factor. There's no denying that it's facilitating that world's progress out of a dark age ruled by which family you belonged to. There's a certain wistfulness some of the characters might show at this, and of course there are things about pre-industrial society that are things we ought to miss. That doesn't mean that moving forward is bad though. Often my favorite writers tend to show different sides and opinions. Like I mentioned, Heinlein's writing is meaningful and provocative, but it's hard to peg him in a specific political party purely by looking at his fiction. Just when you think he’s one political shade, you can read something that seems the opposite. Moorcock's Eternal Champion switches allegiances frequently as well.

This doesn't mean the author can't take a dogmatic position. But for the purposes of writing fiction, it's pretty hard to pull off giving your story a job, especially one as Sisyphean as trying to sway others politically. Very few can inject their own bitterness into their writing and still end up with a decent piece of writing. Ayn Rand comes to mind here as an example where personal dogmatic attitudes work as a selling point, but it's still a difficult read and a rare thing. It's not the easiest concept for a lot of writers to put into practice. A lot of us write because we have stuff to say. But the key is that it should be us doing the talking when we have something to say. Our characters may end up with facets of our personalities, but for myself, I know my characters do not speak for me.

C. A. Lang is a product of Nelson, British Columbia, and it shows. Growing up around Victorian architecture likely had something to do with his appreciation of steampunk, although we’re not quite sure why he felt the need to ditch the steam engines and go all internal-combustion on the genre. He has settled in Kelowna, B.C., where sometimes he can be found abusing a gigantic jazz guitar in public, hanging around certain wineries, and running obscene distances.

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Drowning in her sorrows, Maggie finally agrees to go on a date with a guy who has been bugging her for months, figuring it can only cheer her up, what Maggie doesn't realize is that her decision will change everything, and not only for the course of her life, but her mind, her body and heart forever. On her way to meet the lucky guy, she stumbles upon Caleb, a random stranger waiting to cross the street, but also a member of a family clan who are not just human, but super humans with talents and gifts ranging from healing to mind reading. As they wait, Caleb crosses the road distracted and when he is almost hit by a truck, Maggie saves his life and the two wind up piled together on the sidewalk. One touch is all it takes to set a chain of events in motion that launch these strangers into a surprising journey of love, suspense and action. 

Tradition in Caleb's family legacy always involved imprinting, two people who would become soul mates binding together in order to ascend and receive special powers, but an imprint hasn't happened in many years, so long that much of the younger generation believes it to be myths. So when Caleb imprints on Maggie (think: Twilight's Jacob) its a miracle and joyous time for the family, ones who are supportive, talented themselves and of course rich. Maggie, understandably is overwhelmed because she herself changes and becomes physically, emotionally and supernaturally connected to Caleb, their lives are twined as one heartbeat and as they get closer the fire between them burns into a tangible electricity that no one can come between. Although one group, a rival clan (and only other superhumans) when learning of Caleb's imprint, become freaked out for Caleb and Maggie to receive powers, angered that it will make them weaker and hell bent on preventing it from happening they plot a scheme to go after Maggie and break the couple up, either by death or a prevention of ascending, because without each other they each die. Darn you evil plotters!! Can Caleb save Maggie? Can Maggie save Caleb? Only time will tell as they race against the clock to ascension.

The insta-love in this story was about as bad as a blast of Axe body spray hitting your face, Maggie and Caleb's mega-second meeting of the minds rushes them and us into a scenario of supernatural elements that connect them body and soul, so what normally takes couples years to achieve in trust, closeness and intimacy happens overnight for Maggie and Caleb. This of course intensifies the story and works to push the overnight love into a believable sometimes annoying plot device, because while the two feel physical pain apart and physical pleasure together they each still struggle to deal with the intense feelings, bringing the annoying aspect (insta-love) into perspective.

I dig the story line Crane created with Significance it was clever and certainly an entertaining concept, where I had a hard time with this was in its pacing and overall presentation. The dialog, actions and scenes had major repetition problems, and where the plot was desperately in need of flushing out, the reader is led down bunny trails that never get resolved or we see missed opportunities for character development. Sometimes there would be pages of build up with no outcome, it was frustrating because I knew what I wanted to read, yet it never played out that way. So I'm on the fence with this one, where Crane's presentation came up short, her characters and writing show great potential, however lack of depth, fluidity and its novice structure makes me hesitate to finish the series.

Rating

Significance is suitable for mature teen readers (16&up) and contains: Violence, kidnapping, mild language and mild sexuality, including a few intense make-out scenes.

2.5/5- Mature Ya- Paranormal-Thriller (Think action-hero's)

by Christine Nolfi

Three books and many 5-star reviews later, I can’t help but wonder, How did I arrive here?

For years I thought “here” involved a literary agent and a contract with a New York publisher. And, believe me, I followed every rule listed for succeeding as a novelist. 

GIVEAWAY

Today Christine is giving away two copies (one paperback and one eBook) of her fun new novel Second Chance Grill. To enter please fill in the Copter. Winner will be drawn Nov 13, 2012. 

Dr. Mary Chance needs a sabbatical from medicine to grieve the loss of her closest friend. But when she inherits a struggling restaurant in Liberty, Ohio she isn’t prepared for Blossom Perini. Mary can’t resist falling for the precocious preteen—or the girl’s father. The bond they forge will transform all their lives and set in motion an outpouring of love that spreads across America.

Welcome back to Liberty, where the women surrounding the town’s only restaurant are as charming as they are eccentric.

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