Category Archives: Other Books

Ready Player One

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A couple of days ago, one of my good friends sent me this list called 65 Books You Need To Read In Your 20′s. She had started reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. When I read the description, it didn’t sound like something she would read at all, but she claimed to absolutely love it so far, so I bought the Kindle sample and started reading too.

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The premise is based on the death of a multi-billionaire software developer who has recently died, but left clues inside of his simulation world (that the entire world is plugged into) so that someone can decode the clues and obtain control of the OASIS (the simulation) and the massive fortune that he left behind. It reminded me immediately of a Willy Wonka sort of competition, because you have to be clever enough to find and decode everything. It’s literally FILLED with 80′s references galore, some of which I got and some I didn’t, but I assume it’s even better if you know them all.

It’s also really cool that Ernest Cline literally put an “easter egg” of sorts into the print editions of the book for readers to find, and the winner won a Delorean that Cline had purchased for the competition. (You can check that out here.)

Overall, it reminded me somewhat of Ender’s Game, but then again not really. There’s not really anything that I could compare it to, so you’ll just have to read it and find out for yourself! It was definitely a change of pace to have a male protagonist instead of female, as are most books that I read these days. Cline definitely knows how to throw you for a loop, because I legitimately had no idea what was going to happen next, even though I thought I had it all figured out.

Also, there are a ton of different covers for this book, which are all really cool, and you understand once you’ve read it. Happy reading!

March Book Haul

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Well, it’s April. And because I’m trying to avoid writing for Camp NaNoWriMo and doing the mountain of homework that I have to do, I’ve decided to do a book haul for the books that I read in March!

I’ll link all of the books to their Goodreads pages through the title so you can check out where to buy them!

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
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I love Maggie Stiefvater. Doesn’t she have the coolest last name? I read the entire Shiver series back in the day, and I haven’t gotten around to reading The Scorpio Races, but that’s on my list. One day over Spring Break, I was in a book mood, so I checked my Goodreads recommendations and found this. It caught me with the tagline: “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.” Obviously, I wanted to find out which one it was, and also because I like stuff like this because sometimes I’m in dark and twisty moods, and this seemed to fit the bill.

I kind of don’t like multiple perspective in books, but the way that Stiefvater does it, it’s okay. It helps with the plot rather than annoying/confusing me, which is what usually happens when it’s told through more than one character. I can’t really say much more about this book without giving things away, but let’s just say that I can’t wait for the next book. Side note: The name Gansey was like a mix of Gatsby and Gendry (Game of Thrones)… and then it was weird because that’s exactly what his character was…. if you read it and feel the same let me know so that I know I’m not insane.
Rating: 4/5

Continue reading →

COVER REVEAL: NICOLE WILLIAMS LOST AND FOUND

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Today is the day! I’m really excited and honored to be chosen to be a part of the cover release for a new book written by one of my favorite Indie authors, Nicole Williams. I’ve read every single one of her books to date, and they never fail to entertain. Sometimes we all just need a break from our daily lives, and her books are absolutely perfect for that! The press release for Lost and Found (with the brand new cover!) is as follows. Enjoy, and pick it up May 7th!

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Title: LOST AND FOUND

Author: Nicole Williams

Expected release date: May 7, 2013

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Age Group: Mature Young Adult, New Adult/Adult crossover

Cover Designer: Okay Creations

Cover reveal organized by: AToMR Tours

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There’s complicated. And there’s Rowen Sterling.

After numbing pain for the past five years with boys, alcohol, and all-around apathy, she finds herself on a Greyhound bus to nowhere Montana the summer after she graduates high school. Her mom agreed to front the bill to Rowen’s dream art school only if Rowen proves she can work hard and stay out of trouble at Willow Springs Ranch. Cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn for a couple dozen ranch hands and mucking out horse stalls are the last things in the world Rowen wants to spend her summer doing.

Until Jesse Walker saunters into her life wearing a pair of painted-on jeans, a cowboy hat, and a grin that makes something in her chest she’d thought was frozen go boom-boom. Jesse’s like no one else, and certainly nothing like her. He’s the bright and shiny to her dark and jaded.

Rowen knows there’s no happily-ever-after for the golden boy and the rebel girl—happily-right-now is a stretch—so she tries to forget and ignore the boy who makes her feel things she’s not sure she’s ready to feel. But the more she pushes him away, the closer he seems to get. The more she convinces herself she doesn’t care, the harder she falls.

When her dark secrets refuse to stay locked behind the walls she’s kept up for years, Rowen realizes it’s not just everyone else she needs to be honest with. It’s herself.

About the Author
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I’m a wife, a mom, a writer. I started writing because I loved it and I’m still writing because I love it. I write young adult because I still believe in true love, kindred spirits, and happy endings. Here’s to staying young at heart *raises champagne glass* . . . care to join me?

Nicole Williams | Facebook | Twitter

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My Top Five Romantic Reads

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In honor of Valentine’s Day (which I actually, hate, by the way. Not because of anything romantic, but because it never fails that I’m sick on the actual day, which seems like some sort of weird plague) I decided to look through my kindle on my favorites shelf and post my top five favorite romantic books. That way, in case you’re sick like me, you can stay in bed and sip some hot chocolate and get wrapped up in someone else’s love story. I’ll actually be reading Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler and writing a paper on it, so I’m pretty jealous of anyone reading the following books today. I’ll link the titles to their Goodreads pages so you can decide for yourself which one you’d most like to check out!

5. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
Normally, I’m not a huge fan of anything with Harlequin anywhere in the name or on the cover. They’re just far too cheesy for me. I really liked this book because it’s a twist on Greek Mythology and involves two of my favorite Gods, Hades and Persephone. Greek Mythology and romance… does it get better? Because it’s Harlequin, it is a bit cheesy at times, but hey, it’s Valentine’s Day. That’s what it’s all about, right?
Sequels: Goddess Interrupted, Goddess Inheritance (and other half novellas)
Rating: 4/5
Other notes: If you like this one, also check out Destined by Jessie Harrell for a re-telling of Cupid and Psyche!
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4. Angelfall by Susan Ee
I wasn’t very into the whole “fallen angels” trend, and never thought I’d get on that boat until I read this book. It’s very dystopian meets fantasy, and I literally read it all in one sitting (and stayed up all night) because I couldn’t put it down. It’s hard for me to like a book when I really dislike the main character’s name, and Penryn had me concerned from the start, but by page six, it didn’t really matter anymore. There’s more of an undercurrent of romance in this book than outright and expressed, which I actually think works perfectly in the context because it continually leaves you wondering what’s going to happen next.
Sequels: Not published yet, but you can sign up for the release notification of Susan’s website.
Rating: 4/5
Other notes: Apparently a fan designed the cover for her, which is really cool!
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3. Slammed by Colleen Hoover
I have no words for this book. I read the description on Goodreads and Amazon, and read some reviews, and I just wasn’t sure how this book could be as great as everyone said it was. It was better. I read Slammed and Point of Retreat both in one day, which led to me sitting my room in silence for the entire day, barely coming out to eat, which caused my parents and friends to wonder whether I was alive or not. I had been looking for a book like this one for a LONG time, and I think the world has a great shortage of contemporary romance novels that are believable and real, and this one covers all the bases. I know that if I’m crying at the end of the book, it’s earned five stars from me. I also reviewed this book in more detail here.
Sequels: Point of Retreat
Rating: 5/5
Other notes: Will Cooper. Seriously. Be real.
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2. Significance by Shelly Crane
I’m obsessed with this book series. It was something I picked up in the kindle store off of a recommendation from another book I had recently read. It was 99 cents and sounded like a good concept from the description, so I figured I didn’t have anything to lose by trying it out. I would be missing out on so many things had I not clicked “Buy now” that day. The earliest versions for a little bit nitty gritty because Shelly is a self published author who decided to write because her stories are the sort of thing that she wanted to read, but couldn’t find. I am so, so beyond happy that she did. Significance recently got picked up to become a movie! I’m going to have the honor of being an extra in the movie and attending the premiere, and you can too! Read more about that here.
Sequels: Accordance, Defiance, Reverence, Independence 
Rating: 5/5
Other notes: My favorite cover models, Pepe Toth and Sztella Tziotziosz are on the cover! They are legitimately a romance novel all on their own.
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And finally… drum roll please…

1. Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
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I hope that it’s clear that I’m obsessed with Colleen Hoover. She’s an indie author who has skyrocketed (kind of like Amanda Hocking) with Slammed, Hopeless, and some amazing luck and marketing strategies. She’s really someone that I look up to in the publishing/writing world. This book was the first that I read of hers, and because I loved it so much, I decided to read Slammed because I couldn’t get enough of her writing. When I read the description for Hopeless, my reaction was sort of “meh”. It doesn’t do the book justice AT ALL, and I’m glad that I took a chance on it, because it’s now one of my all time favorites. I’m always that person who can guess the ending of a movie or a book and everyone is like “JUST SHUT UP AND LET US FIGURE IT OUT”. On this one, I could NEVER have seen the twists, which made me love it even more.
Sequels: None that are published yet, but you can check Colleen’s website for updates! (And follow her, she has a WordPress! She’s just like us! Yay!)
Rating: 6/5 (I’m cheating, but I don’t care, it deserves it)
Other Notes: Colleen favorited my tweet. My life is complete.
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Well, that’s all I’ve got for this Valentine’s Day. I could go on and on, so here are some honorable mentions that you might want to check out if nothing above struck your fancy:

The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski (4/5)
Delirium by Lauren Oliver (4/5)
Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks (I’m probably a terrible person for not including a Nicholas Sparks book in my favorites, but you can go see the movie for this one because it came out TODAY) (4/5)
Up In Flames by Nicole Williams (4/5)

And if you’re looking for probably the best written romance not in a “romance” novel, try my favorite book of all time:
Sabriel by Garth Nix (10/5)

Happy Reading!

Recent Reads

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For the first few days of this new year, I had some time to finally do what I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Absolutely nothing. Well, not absolutely nothing. I sat in my bed and read books January 1st-3rd. It was paradise. I don’t often get time off from both work and school, so when I finally did, I wanted to take advantage of it. I read one book per day, as I tried not to be a complete lump, but I love to be absorbed into the other worlds that the books create. Without further ado, here are the three fabulous books that I read, and what I think about them! I have NOT been given any of these books for free, or been compensated for anything said about them.

January 1st: Safe Haven, by Nicholas Sparks
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It sort of seems like I only read Nicholas Sparks books before the movies come out. I kept seeing the trailers, and knowing that the book is always better than the movie, I decided to give it a go. Last winter, I read The Lucky One before the movie came out, and enjoyed both, even if only in a very Nicholas Sparks way. I liked that Safe Haven wasn’t your generic, fluffy romance, and enjoyed all of the twists and turns that were in store. I’m extremely picky about books, and I couldn’t put it down. I was up until four in the morning finishing it, it was that good.
January 2nd: Slammed by Colleen Hoover
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I first saw Nicole Williams posting about Hopeless, another book about Colleen Hoover. After I read that and absolutely loved it, I decided to look at some of her other books. I read the description for Slammed and thought “meh.” I almost didn’t read it. (That same day, I bought another Kindle sample of another book, and when, on the first page, someone was described as “über annoying”, I stopped reading immediately. Like I said, I’m picky.) I bought the Kindle sample, and had never been so happy to be wrong about a book in my entire life. It was absolutely amazing. The romance was convincing, and I liked that it wasn’t the entire plot line. I was extremely sad when it was over, but excited to hear that there was a sequel! Which brings me to….
January 3rd: Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover
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Sometimes second books aren’t as good as the first, so sometimes I’m afraid to read them, because all I want to do is remember how much I loved the first book. That wasn’t a problem here. Hoover picked up the plot line perfectly, and filled in all of the gaps that I was missing from the first book. It wasn’t all smiles and rainbows for the characters, but everything was still perfectly believable, and I felt like I was experiencing it right along with them. Colleen Hoover really has a gift, and in a world where unpredictable plots are hard to find, she strikes gold. I honestly can’t wait to see what else she comes up with.

Also, I’m more than a bit excited about this lovely email that I received after I tweeted Colleen Hoover about her books:
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I’ve quit reading for the past few days in order to watch the entirety of Revenge! Happy reading!

 

P.S. – I’m going to be doing regular e-book giveaways starting next week, so subscribe so you won’t miss out!

YA Genres: Trending or Tired?

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I remember the first “dystopian” novel that I ever read. It was called Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix. It was different than the girly books I was used to reading about American Girls (the books that went along with the dolls) or princesses. I’d read it because I was such a fan of Sabriel, and wanted to read more of his work. This book actually really reminds me of The Hunger Games, mostly in that age is a huge factor in what happens, and that when the kids are no longer necessary, there are dog or machine-like entities that resemble them.

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A year or so later, I had to read Z For Zachariah, by Robert C. O’Brien, as a school assignment. This one also stayed with me, and was incredibly haunting. The title is supposed to be a reference to the end of man, because Adam was the first man on earth, and Zachariah will be the last. The next year, we read 1984 by George Orwell. I’m sure almost everyone has read that one, so I won’t go into detail. I remember hating it at first – absolutely abhorring it. Then we read about The Panopticon and The Lottery, which made it infinitely more interesting. It was after I’d read The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, Ender’s Game, 1984, The Giver and Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry, Shade’s Children, Z for Zachariah, Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth, and Matched and Crossed by Ally Condie, along with MANY other dystopian novels that I realized they ALL revolve around the concept of the Panopticon, and many also include elements of The Lottery (hello Hunger Games reaping…). In essence, they’re all sort of the same. (Side note: sometimes I wonder if my knowledge of revolutions, both fictional and real will ever come in handy… all of the books I’ve read recently involve individuals rising up against society to rebel, and/or my unusual knowledge of Russian history, among other historical revolutions…)

Right now, dystopian books are what vampire books were when Twilight was at the height of popularity. That’s probably a result of The Hunger Games, so it makes me wonder what’s next. It seems like the trends all circle back around and pretend like they’re new. With the vampire novels, Anne Rice published Interview with the Vampire (yes, the one that the Brad Pitt/Tom Cruise movie is based off of) in 1976, yet our generation seemed to think that Twilight was the first big vampire craze.

The same holds true with dystopian novels. Half of the titles I listed above were published before I was even born, and many of them (along with many others) came from around the same time period. However, it also seems that when people think they can make money off of a certain type of book, the quality can also decline along with the trend. For instance, Divergent by Veronica Roth, and Matched by Ally Condie, were, in my opinion, excellent takes on dystopian fiction. They weren’t Hunger Games great to me, but they were well written, good concepts, given the fact that it’s very difficult to be even somewhat original when it comes to jumping onto trends. However, the second books in both of those series, Insurgent and Crossed respectively, failed to impress me.

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I think that when wild success hits with the first book (for example, it might be that an author has an idea for a dystopian novel, but no one wants to even take a look at it until it’s a hot topic at the moment) then the second book is written so fast that it lacks in quality and doesn’t carry on what we all liked so much in the first book. Therefore, it makes me not want to read the third book whenever it comes out, because I’ve lost interest. Usually I do want to know what happens to the characters, but I’m not the fan that I was after the first book. It’s in those cases that I really WISH I’d decided to only read the first book.

I notoriously hate second books, though. Recently I wrote about how I found Underworld by Meg Cabot to be somewhat of a let down, and my dislike for New Moon as well. The only second books that I’ve actually loved more than the originals are Lirael by Garth Nix, and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. I LOVE Catching FIre, and I love it far more than The Hunger Games or Mockingjay. (If they’re going to split one of the films in half, they should probably split that one, not Mockingjay….)

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Anyway, my point about trends is that I wonder what will come back around the block next. Greek Mythology? Ghosts? Dragons? (I could go on and on about the Magic trend too, but I digress)

Greek Mythology concerns me a little bit, because I can’t decide whether I want to include it in my novel or not. It’s just so overdone – but then again, so is everything. It’s difficult to be original, but if you do it right and pull a Suzanne Collins, things will go really, really well for you. That’s what I can’t decide about. I think that the way I’m doing it is fresh and as original as it can be, but who knows? It’s not like I’ve read every book with a Greek Mythology theme out there. My biggest fear is that it will ruin the flow I have going now and that it will simply be too much or that it’ll be like every other book out there and it will fail to stand out.

I guess I have no choice but to write it and find out if I like it once it’s more complete!

Review: Underworld by Meg Cabot

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  Let’s face it, I’m in love with Meg Cabot.

For as long as I can remember, she’s been my literary idol. I spent my early teenage years on her message boards, chatting with her other fans, waiting for new books, and trying to be just like Meg. I think I’ve had this post bookmarked for an obscene amount of time, because somehow I was convinced that reading it would automatically help me write a book.

I think I first found out about her because of the Princess Diaries movies. You know, the first one with Anne Hathaway and that guy from Rooney. (Except that no one knew he was from Rooney then, but that’s beside the point. He was also replaced with a hotter, less hipster version in the next movie, a.k.a. Chris “You Will Always Be Fine” Pine, but that’s also not the point…) Then I started reading the Mediator series, fell in love with my first fictional character, Jesse, and I was a goner.

So naturally, since I’ve been a Meg Cabot fan for oh… over 10 years, I was thrilled when the sequel to Abandon (Meg’s series inspired by Persephone and Hades), Underworld, came out May 8th. I finished my finals that day and had pre-purchased it on amazon to read on my kindle because I was so excited. (Except that I kind of forgot that I needed to move this week too, so that got delayed…) and I just finished it once I finally got the time to actually sit down and read it.

Here’s the kicker: I think I may have outgrown Meg.

It breaks my heart, it truly does.

But lately, I’ve been reading so many other books that are written so differently, including the Fifty Shades trilogy, so maybe my brain just isn’t in the right mode to be reading Meg Cabot books.

***(Spoilers about this book below, stop reading now if you don’t want to know! If you have read it, keep reading and please let me know if you agree/disagree, I’d love to hear your opinion!)***

Things I’m not sure I liked/Things I found questionable:

1. I found the characterization to be a little bit lacking. I think I’m used to more complex characters. Although John’s back story was elaborated upon more in this book, I still thought there was something wrong with it.

2. I’ve read a lot of books where the characters just “fall” for each other without a whole lot of reason. With this one, they also did that, but I couldn’t quite place my finger on what I didn’t like, but I think it had something to do with the fact that they didn’t really show any emotion towards each other when they weren’t full on macking on each other… which only happened like three times in the entire book, all un prompted. It was almost as if Meg had been like “oh whoops I need to make sure I have them be sort of intimate here” and put it in. I mean, the intent that they do love each other is clear and it’s nice that they’re not quite as creepy as say, Bella and Edward (gag me for even referencing them, I’m sorry, but it’s what first came to mind) but all the connection we get is like “John was protective of her” and “I wanted to stay with John despite the fact that I had an entire family not in the underworld… and my dad has set a million dollar reward for finding me but I don’t really care because I’m just so excited to hang out with John and his dead crew of miscreants… wait, Pirates of the Caribbean, anyone?)

3. Meg’s signature wasn’t there. She always has such a biting wit that really gives her characters a kick, but for some reason, I found it a little bit dry in comparison with her previous work.

4. I was in shock that the characters had (non-explicit) sex. No, I am not twelve, but for some reason I feel like Meg has always skirted the topic SO much in books like this. Yes, the characters have chemistry. But all of the sudden we’re talking about demon baby possibilities and then having underworld sex after they basically miscommunicate the entire book? It was confusing. I literally had to read the passage and surrounding chapters twice to grasp that yes, the sex happened. (Update: Someone commented on my Amazon review of this book about this part, and how if I’ve read Fifty Shades, the sex wouldn’t be shocking. Let me re-state: these books are COMPLETELY different. It was the situation, the characters, and the author that shocked me. Not the sex.)

Things I did like:

1. The Setting: Isla de Huesos is based off of Key West, or so Meg said in an interview about the book. I really like the back story on how the island is “cursed” and “full of sin” so therefore John is needed to sort out the dead.

2. The Greek Mythology references. I’m a sucker for this. I mean, I’m a history major. Well, that’s one of my majors. I know that’s really more classics, but I’ve taken the Greek Mythology class. In college. I feel like that says something for my love of Greek Myths.

3. John. Who wouldn’t like John? He also sort of reminds me of my character, Olivia, but in male form because he’s so connected with death, and what comes after life.

4. Pierce. I loved and hated Pierce at the same time. I still can’t decide if I like her name, or if it irritates me. I think I like it? I’m not sure. Sometimes she has such strength that I really like in a lead female character, because I hate when they just whine and follow the guy around all day. Not interesting to read. The concept of her character is really intriguing I think. Also, I’d like to know who Meg based her father off of.

5. John and Pierce’s past. If their present relationship was anything like their past, it would be electrifying. WHY does it seem to not be continuing in the way that it was explained in Abandon!? I don’t understand. I just really hope it gets back to that in Awaken. Clearly, I’m a sucker for characters who have a past together. (CoughCharlieAndOliviaCough)

Despite my complaints, I did really like the book. It’s published, which is far more than anything I’ve ever achieved thus far, clearly, and it was written by Meg. So therefore, even though I was a little bit confused about why this wasn’t what I was expecting, it was still a very decent book, FAR better than tons of books on the market. It continued the story, and left me hanging and wanting to know what happened with John and Pierce. Even though I don’t think it was her absolute best, I will still be reading Awaken when it comes out. Happy reading!

“New Moon Syndrome”

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Yes, I’m talking about Twilight. No, please don’t immediately leave, let me explain myself.

Today a friend mentioned to me that she absolutely can’t stand it in books when the two main characters are apart for an entire novel. For example, in Twilight, Edward is there throughout most of the book. Then suddenly in New Moon, readers are forced to adapt to a new companion for the protagonist. This results in obsessive skimming of the book, simply trying to find out when Edward reappears. Or, conveniently, if you have a Kindle or some other E-Reader, instead of skimming manually you can just search the name. Except this sort of backfires when they’re just talking about said character, and he doesn’t actually show up.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a sucker for cheap Kindle books. Well, I found myself tracking my books on Goodreads, and then found myself reading Delirium by Lauren Oliver. I’m a huge fan of the Hunger Games books (and let me say that I read them when they first came out, I literally remember waiting to read Catching Fire, so I’m a fan of the dystopian, futuristic genre. (I also really love Shade’s Children by Garth Nix, and Z for Zachariah.) So, in Delirium, love is a disease that everyone is cured of at the age of 18. The protagonist, Lena, can’t wait to be “cured” until she meets Alex. Okay, so girl meets boy, boy complicates plot. Readers get attached to boy. Readers get excited for second book. Readers anxiously get the second book (Pandemonium) and boy is nowhere to be found. Wait… what? I’ve left out key parts so the plot isn’t spoiled, and I still really recommend Delirium, it was absolutely fantastic, but I can’t say that I loved the second book as much, just because I’m a sucker for loyalty when it comes to boy #1. I read some spoilers for the third book that’s coming out next year, and supposedly he makes an appearance then, but my point here is that I’ve kind of been lost along with boy #1. Yes, it builds suspense. And sure, I don’t expect them to be glued to each other’s sides for the entire series, but it does slightly bother me when this happens.

Does it bother you? Have you experienced “Middle Book Syndrome”? Or as my friend likes to call it, “New Moon Syndrome”?

I just spent the past hour reading this blog instead of writing my own book…

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And now I’m writing this. Avoidance much?

Recently I read the My Blood Approves series by Amanda Hocking. I’m a sucker for $.99 Kindle books on Amazon. Really, I am. I even have a word document (pages, actually, because I was too cheap to actually buy word for my macbook when I bought it, but not like that matters… #regrets) full of the names of characters in certain books, along with the title of the book, and the author, so that I can keep it all straight in my head. Because it’s sort of difficult to look through your Kindle Fire and be like “What on earth was this book? Was this the one with the vampires or angels or immortals?” Because I’ve read so many $.99 Kindle books. I blame my somewhat supernatural ability to read books quickly. The night I finally caved and read the Hunger Games books shortly after Mockingjay actually came out, I read all three books in one sitting, start to finish, beginning at about 8pm one Friday night and ending at about 3am the next Saturday morning. Personally I think that was pretty fast. There are probably people who can read faster than that, but I’ll digress before I sound stupid.

Anyway, I read these books by Amanda Hocking because they were in the little “You might also like” box thing on Amazon for a few of my favorite books for Kindle. By favorite, I mean as good as it gets for $.99. To be fair, I actually have found some decent books on there. Or if they aren’t all that decent they were at least entertaining and made me want to know what would happen to the characters. Except I’ve noticed that in all of the second books of the series, the hero and heroine are always split up. THIS IRRITATES ME TO NO END. One complaint I’ve heard from people who have read bits and pieces of my manuscript have been things like “Why are they always together?” or “Why are they not interacting with other people?” and I want to say two things to that:

1. I’ve noticed that most people are like me, and that if the two are not together, you tend to skim and skip until you see his/her name back, and then you miss out on whatever happened in their absence, and:

2. The only good parts so far involve the two of them, and nothing is going to make sense at this point to someone who doesn’t understand what’s going on. (I desperately want to just explain my entire book to my best friend so that she can scream with me while we revel in how fantastic it’s going to be, but then I realize I can’t because she’s the only person I can genuinely count on to read it right now, and I want to be able to judge her reaction and know what other people will think when they read it, so alas, I’m alone with my characters…)

But anyway, Amanda Hocking wrote these books about vampires, which is terribly original these days (my book is not about vampires, yay) and everything, but I decided to read anyway. And I got sucked in. And I got my previously mentioned best friend sucked into them too. Last night we learned that she somehow became a multimillionaire due to fortunate self-publishing circumstances through the Kindle Store. For someone who has spent the past two years creeping all over the internet looking up publishing houses and agents and writing query drafts (I do all of that to sort of avoid writing my book because somehow, it makes me feel like I’m doing something to promote its’ future existence..) that’s comforting to know that if no one wants your book straightaway, that isn’t the end. You can find her blog here and read all about how she did it.

I was actually only interested in how she became famous, because most of her current posts are about her other book series which I haven’t read, so I didn’t understand. So I went to her very first entry and read backwards so I could understand how she managed it. She started out much like this, and although I feel somewhat silly writing this now, maybe someday someone will be reading this like I read hers (if I manage to get this book published and have some success, I really can’t hope for a multimillion dollar situation, but hey, I can try and reach for the stars) and it might give them hope. So, here’s hoping for that.

Amanda’s blog really saved her in my eyes. I started out thinking “These books are sort of a mediocre, Twilight/Vampire Diaries/Interview with a Vampire knockoff…” not to mention I’d be reading and have to text my best friend errors that I caught, like how they managed to spell “lightning” as “lightening” and I thought I could definitely write something of better quality. After reading her blog, I kind of fell in love with her. She likes the same weird things I like, and has a strange obsession with Panic! at the Disco, as do I… (in fact, they’re playing on my itunes as I type this) and the fact that I somehow missed that all of her books (the titles) in the My Blood Approves series came from an e.e. Cummings poem that I was actually obsessed with made me feel incredibly stupid. It also made me like her more, though. So I think the moral to this story is: don’t judge an author by their book.

On another note: I seem to be nocturnal. And my hair smells like sesame oil because I watched too many youtube reviews on how to make your hair softer, so now I’m stuck like this even though I washed it out. NEVER DO IT.