And Introducing...Kimberly Derting

OMG!  Make way...fangirl coming through!

Last tuesday Kimberly Derting graced us with her presence at Powell's Books in Beaverton Oregon. It was a blast. That is until we lost power and finished up in the dark. Oh who am I kidding? It was still fun. She signed the books by flashlight!

 Kimberly started off with a reading from her recent release, The Last Echo. It was killing me not to go out and buy this until that evening, but I wanted to wait and get a signed copy.

Plus she gave us some really cool swag. I'm never lucky enough to get this stuff. It was really nice of her to give away. I can't wait to put on the nail polish. She told us once we read the book we'll see the significance of it and get really creeped out.

So far I'm sixty pages in and have read a couple of chapters from the killers point of view. All I can say is, whoa. It kind of makes me wonder what our dear Kimberly has going on in that head of hers. Just kidding. But seriously, it's really creepy. I physically got the chills reading from his point of view. I can't wait to read more!

Some fun tidbits she shared with us~
-The flowers on the covers are made from fabric.
-The cover of The Body Finder was also a possible cover for Aprilynne Pike's novel Wings. I'm glad it went to The Body Finder. It fits perfectly, don't you think?
-If the police ever get a hold of her computer and do a search history...they just might haul her off for questioning.

Thank you Kimberly for talking to us giving us these wonderful stories.
                                                 

My Book BFF

My Book BFF was created by The Reading Lark and inspired my the My Book Boyfriend meme created by The Unread Reader. It is where we showcase a character we wished could be one of our bff's. Have a favorite character you wish you hang with? Please share. Anyone can join in.

My book bff is Evie, from Kiersten White's Paranormalcy series.

I have stated this before, but since Evie is my book bff this week I think I'll say it again. If I were able to sit down and eat dinner with all my favorite literary characters I would want Evie at my side. She would be the one you could elbow in the ribs and be like, "I can't believe we're sitting here with Harry Potter!" And she would be like "I know, it's totally bleeping awesome."

There is a lot more to Evie than being an upbeat girl that loves her favorite teen drama Eastin Heights. She is one tough cookie when it comes to bagging and tagging unruly paranormals for the International Paranormal Containment center. (IPC) She's armed with her pink taser, affectionately known as Tasie, and has proven herself to be a highly regarded hunter.

Raised by the IPC and forced to live in the center Evie longs for a normal life and learned to appreciate the little things. Though she can be a little overly spunky at times, when it comes to working you can always count on her.

quotes from Goodreads. I think the show Evie's personalty pretty well.

"...sometimes I get tired. Sometimes I get bored. And sometimes all I want, more than anything else in the world, is to go on a freaking date."


"Oh relax." I waved my hand dismissively. "If he wanted to kill me, he already would have. I brought him all these sharp pencils, ideal for stabbing, and he's been a perfect gentleman." 


"If you fail to report within the next 12 hours. you will be terminated. If you attack any humans, you will be terminated. If you attempt to remove the tracking device, you will be terminated. We look forward to working with you." 


My perfect Evie would be played my Diana Argon.

Just Finished Reading...Delirium

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy. 

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.


My thoughts~ 

At the time I am writing this Delirium has 365 four and five star reviews on Amazon alone. Everybody loves this book. So what can I say that hasn’t been said already? Probably nothing…except this eloquently written book was not for me. *ducks as angry mob throws rotten tomatoes*

I know I say this all the time but Lauren truly is a gifted writer. Her settings are perfectly described, we get all the supporting characters and she gets you right in the head of the main character. So well you know her every thought and feeling. This may sound strange but that is where it lost me.

These characters are extremely likeable and I obviously cared for them enough to finish the book, but it was too wordy for me. I found myself skimming a good portion of the story in efforts to jump to the action. I think I would have liked it more it were about 100 pages shorter. Don’t get me wrong, I love getting to know my characters but this was too much.  Here is an example. This falls in the middle of a pretty important scene.

Instead  I keep my eyes locked on the front door, noticing for the first time that the screen has three large holes in it, near the upper right corner. No wonder the house has been full of insects this summer. Grace brought it to me, cupped in her tiny palm. I helped her carry it downstairs and release outside.

The book is full of these passages. That may be how the human brain works, wandering off like that, but I personally did not need it. It did not forward the plot or have anything to do with what was happening.

If you like character driven books where you learn the ins-and-outs of the characters every waking thought this book is for you. But if you need a more even balance of character and action… be prepared. If you give it a try I say borrow it from a friend or library.

For the Writers...How I Keep a Consistent Timeline

Please excuse to poor penmanship. When I made it I
never thought I would feature it in a blog post. :)

Today is kind of a special day for me. In a way it is my manuscript’s birthday. I have been working on Jaded since November 2010, but did most of my work in fall and winter of 2011. One of my goals was to make sure my story followed an accurate time line.  

This is an easy mistake to avoid. I don’t want my readers getting distracted with inconsistencies, so the first thing I did was pick a start date for my story and marked it on the calendar. My story started on a Friday and I wanted it to be in the spring, and I picked Friday, April 13. It could have been any Friday but I love the creepiness associated with Friday the 13^th. This date never comes up in the story, but I needed to start somewhere.

Starting on the 13^th I wrote the number one to represent the first day of the story. Underneath that I wrote Ch 1 and Ch 2 to represent what chapter we are in on that day. On Saturday the 14^th has day two, Ch 3. Each time my characters went to sleep, or if the story jumped ahead a week, I would make sure to put the correct chapter on the next day. If two weeks went by I would count two weeks out on the calendar and add the corresponding chapter. 

Another thing I did was mark the phases of the moon. I have a spell that can only be cast on a full moon, and if the start date ever comes up for some reason, after publication, I don’t want a clever reader to send me an email pointing out that the spell never would of worked because it was actually a new moon or some other phase. 

I hope I explained this okay. If you have any questions please ask. Do you have a method that works for you. I'd love to hear it.

I'm Totally Freaking Out Over Here!!!

Okay, so I'm starting to see reviews from the lucky souls that have read Destined by Aprilynne Pike and I have to say I'm a little worried.

So the reviews I've read are positive. But I've heard things like the ending is "bitter sweet" and "Laurels decision is justified" and "depending on which side your on you will be either completely delighted or completely devastated".

That says to me that we may not like what Laurel decides but we get enough information to feel okay with it. That scares me. You see, I'm a big fan of Tamani. He has loved Laurel and waited for her his whole life. I know she has no memory of that previous life and she's has a life with David, but darn it, I want her to choose our sweet Tamani. I will just be heart broken if he is, well...heart broken.

I will still buy the book, because I am invested in the series and trust the author not to let us down. But it will be hard not to read the last page first and see which life she picks. College or Avalon? David or Tamani?

I know the book is supposed to be about Laurel and we should want her to get what she wants but I like Tamani more than Laurel and that is who I want to be happy.

What are you hoping for? How do you hope the series ends? I'm hoping that she at least goes to Avalon. Maybe thats because I'm jealous that she gets the opportunity and I don't. Did I just say I'm jealous of a teenage faery that only exists in fiction? Okay, I need help. Does anyone know of a support group? I can see it now, the leader with start with saying, "Kriston...put... the faery dust...down."

Oh and by the way, don't you just love the cover? It's going to look great on my shelf.

Just Finished Reading...Anna Dressed In Blood

Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. 

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay. 

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home. 

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.


My thoughts~ I LOVED THIS BOOK! Go buy it, borrow it or steal it if you have too! (Just kidding, don't steal it) But seriously, this is a super good book. Back when there were real book stores I remember seeing it on the shelf and always thought, "Ya, I'll read that someday." I am so glad I did. 


Anna Dressed In Blood is a super fun read. That may sound crazy for a story about a ghost that has the ability to rip a person to shreds, and she does, but the characters are just so dang likable. Maybe I should reword that and say it is creepy fun because it does delivery in the "this is creeping me out" department. 


Right off the bat Cas is an interesting, entertaining character. He's smart, tough, a ghost hunter and all around cool guy. At times he seems  a bit full of himself but I liked it. He goes along with the flow but always seems to have the upper hand. 


I could gush on and on about the great plot, (it was full of surprises and moved at a good pace) the setting, (very believable and easy to picture) and the seamless way the characters move through the story but I fear I could not do it justice. I will say this though, it was just fun and entertaining like a proper story should be.  There's mystery, action and a romance. We get a bit of a cliff hanger but a very satisfying ending. What else can a reader ask for?


Over all I recommend this read. Part two Girl of Nightmares will be released August 7th. 

In My Kindle

Since I do not have any books to do an In My Mailbox I thought I would do an In My Kindle (and on my shelf)

I am currently reading Delirium. What should I read next?



Yes, I actually have a book that is intended for adults. The Lucky One.

Born Wicked and The Lucky One are on loan from the library. I borrowed Delirium from Victoria at Writ of Whimsy.

Now for what's on my Kindle. And there are some pretty heavy hitters.


The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa Can you believe this. There it is just sitting and waiting. I swear some times I think I can hear it beckoning to me in the night. As much as I love Ash I cannot bring myself to end one of my favorite series.

Finnik of the Rock A fantasy recommended by many bloggers.
Exiled by Rashelle Workman
Entwined by Heather Dixon
Exiled by M.R. Merrick
Legacy by Cayla Kluver
Airel by Aaron Paterson and Chris White
Farsighted by Emlyn Chand
The Soulkeepers
The Brightest Kind of Darkness by P.T. Michelle
Into the Shadows by Karly Kirkpatrick