Thursday, June 28, 2012

Ordained by Devon Ashley Blog Tour!!



Yay to my first blog tour! This book blog tour is about Ordained by Devon Ashley. Be sure to visit Devon's page HERE to enter to win a signed book, e-books, or some bookmarks! There is also a list of others who joined the tour and some of them have giveaways as well.


Normally, the school creates the hunters - not the monsters.
Abby Sorrensten likes to play rough. Ripping the horns off the foreheads of demons, manipulating lightning and setting things on fire with the flick of your wrist can give you a serious rush. So she probably wasn’t the best choice for the Order’s experimental training program. Thirteen years of isolation, lack of affection and a bruised and broken body from horrendous training sessions creates more than just an exceptional fighter. It creates an evil within - an evil responsible for several deaths the night she left.
Two hundred years later Abby resurfaces as the very thing the Order trained her to kill: a vampire. A mythical demon has set his sights on the school and only the ordained hunter has the powers to face it. Unbeknownst to the Order, Abby’s their precious ordained one and their only chance for survival. As much as she would love to leave them hanging, she’s not willing to risk the life of Emily, a fellow friend and hunter also fed up with the organization.
But for Abby, locking herself away in a fortress with angry descendents of those she killed causes suspicions and tensions to run high. Abby must learn the demon’s weaknesses for battle before the Order learns hers.

Add it on Goodreads

Ordained is described as an Urban Fantasy novel which is suitable for young adults with the main characters being in their 20s. There is some romance but not much since the couple in the story is already married. Devon assures everyone the romance will be picking up in Catacombs which will be out in 2013. This is also a book of many POV's which I love but many not so you have been warned.

Since I have already read the book, you can find my review HERE, I am doing my first author interview with Devon! Yay!

Out of everything in the world, why writing? I think most people with crazy-active imaginations want to get some of their thoughts down on paper, or I guess nowadays, on a word doc or blog. :) Even as a little girl I knew my dreams were weirder than my friends, and they loved to hear the stories I dreamed about each night. It wasn't until junior high that I started using my dreams for creative writing assignments...and my teachers still use them. Seriously, my 7th grade English teacher showed them to me once, and I cringed when I saw the bubbly handwriting and read the story. I was like, "OMG! You show this? This is horrible!" She laughed at me, and replied, "Not for a thirteen year old, it isn't." Anyways, I dabbled here and there with writing over the years, starting off with screenplays. Ordained placed in one of the screenplay competitions and one of the judges told me she loved my story and suggested I turn it into a novel. Years later I finally did...and now the novel has won a writing competition for Best Fantasy too. :)

Can you describe that first moment when you realized that this is what you wanted to do? I don't think that happened until I completed Ordained...which took me about two years to seriously sit down and complete. It's my first book, so I'll admit it's the weirdest to me. With each book you write, your story, your words, your flow...everything just comes together better. I by no means think Ordained is bad (it did win Best Fantasy in the 2011 Reader Views competetion), but I can tell with each book I write, the next one is always better to me, and there's less work for my betas and editors to tackle. Also, I've learned that I like writing different types of novels. My Immortal Archives are New Adult Urban Fantasy, my Falling novels are Edgy, Mature YA Romance with a Paranormal twist, and my upcoming Dust Trilogy is YA Fantasy about a pixie unlawfully imprisoned by the faeries for slave labor, with a little forbidden romance thrown in. :) And I have a feeling my genres won't stop there, cause now that I've started writing, I find it really hard to focus on anything else! I love it!

How did you come up with Ordained? I'm sure you've heard this before, but I dreamed up the main characters Abby and Noel back in the nineties. I don't know, maybe I watched an episode of Buffy before I went to bed. :) The other characters and the baseline story I created later when I decided to start writing screenplays. I guess the good thing about taking ten years to write these novels, is that I've had a long time for the series to ferment in my head. In order for the big secret to come about the way I want in the final book, I know exactly where and when smaller secrets need to be revealed so the whole series flows. You'll get a hint of what that big secret is in the third book Catacombs, which I'm writing right now. <evil laugh>

How long does it take you to write a complete novel? That first one aside, LOL, usually six to eight weeks for a single point of view first draft, which I typically edit as I go so I can send sections at a time to my beta readers. The Immortal Archives takes about thee months since I've got four main characters, each with a point of view to write. Though I will admit I like the story to ferment in my head for a few months before I start writing. Then it seems to just flow right through me when I sit down to write it.

Any advise for aspiring authors? Always work on your writing and pay attention to the things your betas/editors tell you so you don't keep making the same mistakes. And don't be afraid to self-publish. I know people that have spent years and been given hundreds of rejections trying to obtain an agent. I can't help but think, "Do you really want the agent 265th on your list to represent you? Sounds like you're desperate at this point." If your book is amazing and people love it, but you can't find the right agent to represent you, self-publish, then hit up some publishers once it's released. If it's all that, they're gonna notice the rave reviews and rating status. And once you can get the attention of a publisher, most agents will line up to negotiate your deal (if you want one at that point). And FYI...there are several indies out there that have been able to quit their job and focus on writing because they get enough in royalties each month. This is not an unattainable dream.

Thank you for reading! Don't forget to check out the other blogs!
post signature

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Wilde's Fire by Krystal Wade

Wilde's Fire (Darkness Falls #1) by Krystal Wade
YA Fantasy/Romance
Rating: 5 Stars

"There is no pain in this death, only peace, knowing I am going to die with the one I love the most." - Katriona Wilde. Katriona Wilde has never wondered what it would feel like to have everything she's ever known and loved ripped away, but she is about to find out. When she inadvertently leads her sister and best friend through a portal into a world she's dreamed of for six years, she finds herself faced with more than just the frightening creatures in front of her. Kate's forced to accept a new truth: her entire life has been a lie, and those closest to her have betrayed her. What's worse, she has no control over her new future, and it's full of magic and horrors from which nightmares are made. Will Kate discover and learn to control who she really is in time to save the ones she loves, or will all be lost?

My Thoughts: This book was awesome! The plot and the story of Kate and Arland really intrigued me. I knew this was a romance novel from the beginning. But the romance didn't stifle the energy and the drama of fighting evil. Because it was such a part of the danger is what got me I guess. It's a different kind of love and it was explained well enough that I don't feel any ill feelings toward the fact that it was like "Oh, I love you!" from the first moment because I understood what was happening.

Kate is a very sypathetic character. She has a lot of issues and doesn't see people clearly but really having faith in people isn't a bad thing. It just sucks when you have faith in the wrong ones, in this case her best friend. Who knew, right? I have a love hate relationship with Arland though. I hate it when people say that she is this powerful being and is very important to their cause yet won't inform her of everything. He did that a lot, the "I will tell you later" thing annoys me. I think by the point where they realized they belong together he should have just stop hiding things.

I am pretty interested into what will happen to Brad and especially Perth. I know something big is coming that refers to him and I find myself a little anxious. Well, it's a good thing I have the next one on my Nook. Time to start reading!

Cover: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 4/5

Overall Score:
post signature

What I Didn't Say by Keary Taylor

What I Didn't Say by Keary Taylor
YA Realistic Fiction/Romance
Rating: 4 Stars


Getting drunk homecoming night your senior year is never a good idea, but Jake Hayes never expected it all to end with a car crash and a t-post embedded in his throat.
His biggest regret about it all? What he never said to Samantha Shay. He's been in love with her for years and never had the guts to tell her. Now it's too late. Because after that night, Jake will never be able to talk again.
When Jake returns to his small island home, population 5,000, he'll have to learn how to deal with being mute. He also finds that his family isn't limited to his six brothers and sisters, that sometimes an entire island is watching out for you. And when he gets the chance to spend more time with Samantha, she'll help him learn that not being able to talk isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Maybe, if she'll let him, Jake will finally tell her what he didn't say before, even if he can't actually say it.


My Thoughts: I loved this book. I literally just had a bad moment in my life pertaining to guys so I was not excited to read a romance novel but when I started reading I couldn't stop. I got trapped in this book. I cannot imagine having something like that happen to me or anyone I know. You do everything with your voice. Personally I would hate the fact I couldn't sing anymore. Now Jake, he couldn't say "I love you" to the girl he loved. That must have killed. Sam was a very interesting character. Strong but at the same time weak. She built up these walls to protect herself and she needed Jake to help bring them down. Sucks that it takes an accident like that to make them all see that.
I think what I loved most about this book was the feeling. Keary was so good with the words and made me feel everything. I literally fell into this book without even trying. Usually when you are broken hearted you don't want to read things like this but it actually made me feel better. It gives me hope.
Amazing book. A definite must read.

Cover: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5

Overall Score:



post signature

Monday, June 11, 2012

Invincible by Sherrilyn Kenyon


Invincible (Chronicles of Nick #2) by Sherrilyn Kenyon
YA Fantasy
Rating 5 Stars



Nick Gautier’s day just keeps getting better and better. Yeah, he survived the zombie attacks, only to wake up and find himself enslaved to a world of shapeshifters and demons out to claim his soul.
His new principal thinks he’s even more of a hoodlum than the last one, his coach is trying to recruit him to things he can’t even mention and the girl he’s not seeing, but is, has secrets that terrify him.
                                   
But more than that, he’s being groomed by the darkest of powers and if he doesn’t learn how to raise the dead by the end of the week, he will become one of them...


My Thoughts: Another fantastic book! The twists and turns make it one great roller coaster. I especially loved how it ended. Kody seems to be getting more and more interesting and their relationship is a lot different than the relationships you see today in paranormal romance books. It's more up my alley of romance. Not the desperate, "Oh, I can't live without you" stuff you have been seeing lately. The action is just as intense as the first. I love the who can you trust thing. Nick was thrown into this world and he is being pulled from all directions but he really doesn't know who he can trust. Makes for a pretty interesting read. Ooh, and I can't forget Simi! I love her. She's just the kind of crazy this book needs.

Cover: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5

Overall Score:




post signature