All posts in Books

Compliments to the Writer (Part 2)

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments

This is part 2 of a 2 part series about complimenting authors.  Part 1 was published last week.  It deals with sending compliments to lesser-known, struggling authors.

Rock FansI wrote my first two novellas in the junior and senior years of high school.  They were stories about a music group that I liked.  In fact, just about every story of any significant length that I’ve written has been fanfiction of some sort.  The NaNoWriMo story I am planning for this year is historical fanfiction in an AU setting with original characters (okay, it’s original fiction with historical inspiration… maybe I can get over that mental block I have with original fiction if I think of it as fanfiction).  I’m starting to get decently okay at remixing ideas and coming up with new works, I guess.

Which leads me to today’s topic, which is that of fandoms.  I’ve come to the conclusion that there are a lot of struggling authors out there that would love to hear a compliment about their work every now and then, but I wonder about the bigger, more well-known authors.

The other day, I saw a tweet that says you can’t talk about an author’s works enough.  To a degree, I’m skeptical about that.  They had a good argument though.  I don’t actually watch television, but if I did, I’d see commercials about movies, but not about books.  I don’t drive on the freeways much because from where I live, I go nearly everywhere via surface streets, but if I did see billboards, there’s a better chance that they’d be for a movie than a book.

So as I thought about that yesterday, I decided to go ahead and tweet about the book I read yesterday that I think that everybody should get.  Even though I feel like maybe people are sick and tired of me talking about how much I love the same books over and over and over again, we hear about the same movies and television shows all of the time, and nobody  bats an eye over that.

People also don’t bat an eye over people that go crazy over rock bands and television shows.  Teenagers have posters of their favorite bands on their walls, scream and go crazy at rock concerts, and spend hundreds of dollars on shirts and memorabilia (I certainly did).  People have been going to Star Trek conventions for years, dressed up as their favorite characters.  How much time have people devoted to learning Klingon now?  I read about a year ago or so that some people were raising their child to speak Klingon as a native language.

Snow White with Laurana, copyright 2008 Brooke Lorren
So people can spend hundreds of dollars to see their favorite Disney characters, but is it weird to be a book fan?

I can get self-conscious when I talk about my favorite authors, or write reams of fanfiction.  Okay, so maybe it’s a little weird that I spent so much time playing Divergent Trilogy on Quiz Up that I’m the All-Time Worldwide second highest rated player in the world (#1 in America)… but weird can be good, right?  Okay, so maybe I dressed up like Tris when I went to go see Insurgent in the theaters… but people dressed up in Belle costumes when the live action feature of Beauty and the Beast came out, what’s wrong with that?  So what if I’m writing all of this fanfiction in these little fandoms… and I’m the only person that’s published there for a year.  Maybe that makes me different, but that’s okay, right?  This one fanfiction author has written over a million words in one fandom that I read.  What’s the difference in writing a million words of fanfiction in a more popular fandom and 100k words or so in a less popular fandom?

I don’t know if I’ll ever not be self-conscious about being uber-hyped up about books that I love, but people go crazy over the World Cup, or football, or rock bands… so maybe it shouldn’t be that weird to be appreciative of the books that bring a smile to my life… and want to share that happiness with others by telling them about it.

I hope that doesn’t make me creepy…

I Love The Young Elites

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments

Young Elites coverToday I will be reviewing the Young Elites trilogy, so it looks like I will be reviewing all nine of Marie Lu’s books this year.  My review for Wildcard will come out September 18th or 19th, and I’ll probably end up reviewing her Batman: Nightwalker book in September as well.  Like my review of the Legend trilogy last month, I will review all three books at once.

The Young Elites trilogy is comprised of three books:  The Young Elites, The Rose Society, and The Midnight Star.  I like the second two books better than the first book of the trilogy; in fact, I currently have two Young Elites related fanfics in progress, and they are more influenced by the second two books.

The three books follow the story of Adelina Amouteru.  As a child, she caught the blood fever and one of her eyes become infected and had to be burned out, leaving a scar.  She also was marked with silver hair.  Although she was still pretty, her scar left her marked: she was a malfetto.

Many people who caught the blood fever as children survived with marks of various types and lived as malfettos.  People hated and feared them.  Adults who caught the blood fever died.

Some children who got the blood fever eventually discovered that they had supernatural powers.  These people became known as The Young Elites.

The blood fever also infected her sister Violetta, who survived and remained unmarked.  Violetta remained pretty, and was the favorite of their father.  Over time, Adelina became resentful and bitter towards her sister.

Until one night, her father decided to sell her to a wealthy merchant… as a mistress.

Adelina wasn’t having that.  She decided to escape instead.  In the process of escaping, she accidentally killed her father — and discovered that she had the power to conjure up illusions.  She was an Elite.

She is taken in by a group of Elites known as The Dagger Society.  They taught her how to use her powers.  She falls in love with the leader of The Dagger Society.  While all this was happening, she discovers that she is trapped into making impossible choices.  She doesn’t know who to trust, and we are led along through all three books.

Themes

Trust and rejection are a huge part of this story.  Adelina feels like she is rejected by everybody in her life.  Society rejects her for being a malfetto.  She’s rejected by her father.  She feels like she is rejected by her sister.  Then, she is rejected some more.  The more she faces rejection, the more bitter and dark her soul becomes.  When she achieves power over others, she takes it out on them.  She becomes one of those wicked people that you read about as the villains in many other stories.  Yet… you don’t wish ill for her.

Another theme in this story seems to be about mental illness.  As Adelina becomes more powerful, she starts seeing hallucinations and has nightmares.  If she existed in the 21st century and not in a fantasy novel, we would say that she had a mental illness.  Her hallucinations only contribute to the darkness in her heart, until it almost seems impossible for her to crawl out of this dark hole that she’s dug for herself.  My theory on this trilogy is… that she would never have been able to crawl out of this hole on her own.

But, never fear, that is not the end of her story.  A third theme of this story is unconditional love.  There are people that love Adelina for who she is and not what she can do for them.  These are the people that finally help her redeem herself in the bittersweet end.

Setting

I love the setting for this book.  The world is a fantasy, medieval-type world (quite unlike Legend, which is a future dystopian setting).  Each part of the world has a different flavor to it.  The world that Adelina is born into seems to have the flavor of Italy, and in particular, Venice.  The northern part of the world reminds me of the Celts.  In the South, where Adelina’s ancestors hail from, the world seems like medieval Persia.

I felt that this was a really clever way to set up the world.  In my Young Elites WIP, Saving Adelinetta, I’ll be extending on the theme of her settings; but I still have about 1/3 of the first draft to do, and it’s going to need a lot of editing, so who knows when I will finish it.

Overall

This is one of my favorite stories.  In order to write fanfiction, I have to spend a lot of time reading the original books, getting into the character’s heads, and studying what the story is trying to say.  I’ve only written for four fandoms, and this is one of them.  The Young Elites trilogy is good enough for me to want to live in these character’s heads and reread the books enough to write fanfics based on it.  I think that’s enough of an endorsement to say that I really like it.

Best Books I’ve Read in 2018 (So Far) – Top Ten Tuesday

By Brookelorren on 25 Comments

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday Topic is Best Books I’ve Read in 2018 (So Far).  Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

I’ve done an annual list of my favorite books, in various places, for about 10 years now, but I’ve never done a semi-annual list.  I’m going to follow the same rules as my normal annual list, which are:

  • Rereads of books I’ve loved previously aren’t eligible
  • Any book I finish in the time period counts, regardless of publication date
  • Translations of books that I previously read in English aren’t eligible
  • If I read multiple books in a series at the same time and they’re all good, they get ranked together

So here’s my list:

City of Bones Cover10. City of Bones – I was looking through Goodreads for some books to read, and Cassandra Clare’s Queen of Air and Darkness looks like it’s going to be highly anticipated this year… only I’ve never read any of the series.  Although this book has been out for a while, it’s the very first of the series, so I decided to start there.  It just barely makes this top 10 list.  It probably won’t make the end of year list, but I liked this one well enough to request the rest of the Mortal Instruments books at the library (I’m still #7 on the waiting list for the second book though).

Ace of Shades Cover9. Ace of Shades – This is another book that I enjoyed that probably won’t make the Top 10 Books of the Year list.  I found this on sale for $1.99 so I couldn’t pass it up.  I thought that the story was fun, and the world, which seems to be based on Las Vegas, was interesting.  The situation that the characters get themselves into also seems to be fairly unique, and the magic system that Amanda Foody comes up with is unlike anything else I’ve seen in the past.  The story ends in a cliff hanger and I definitely wanted to read more.  I’ll be on the lookout for the next book, King of Fools, when it is released next year.

8. My Real Name is Hanna – When I saw that this book, about a Jewish Ukrainian girl who survives during World War II, was available in exchange for an honest review, I just had to read it.  It is a beautiful story.  The characters, although fictional, seem so real, that I almost thought of them as such as I finished the story (they are based on an actual family).  With all of the hatred of the “other” going on in this world right now, it has a good message that other people should read.  This book won’t be released until September 18th (that’s going to be a HUGE book release day).

Indianapolis cover7. Indianapolis – I haven’t read a lot of nonfiction this year, and so far Indianapolis is the only book that has made my top 10 list.  I have a few must-read nonfiction books on my TBR for later on in the year though that have a good chance of making the annual list.  Indianapolis was an exciting read, and although it is nonfiction, often reads like a fiction book.  It doesn’t come out until July 10th, but I was honored to have the opportunity to read it before its pub date in exchange for an honest review.

Echoes cover6. Echoes – Echoes is different than any other book that I’ve read in a long time.  I had a hard time putting it down.  The book has a puzzle that isn’t quite solved at the end of the book (which ends in something of a cliffhanger), runs in two different timelines that overlap each other, and features an enemies to lovers trope.  Although a sequel to this book isn’t listed on Goodreads, I would love it if this book ends up having one.  This book will be out August 7th; I was fortunate enough to be allowed to read this book ahead of time in exchange for my honest review.

Flame in the mist cover5. Flame in the Mist (series) – When I read Flame in the Mist, I couldn’t put it down.  I was thinking about the characters while I was at work, which interrupted my reading time.  Fortunately, I read this book only a few weeks before Smoke in the Sun was released, because I anxiously awaited the release of the second book of this duology.  The second book wasn’t quite as good as the first (mainly because it doesn’t feature as much of Mariko and Ōkami, which is what I liked most about the first book), but it’s still good enough to be included in the top 10 list.  I did like how the series ended, however.

The Fates Divide cover4. The Fates Divide – This was a book that I spent counting down the days to for a couple of months before it came out.  I read Carve the Mark three times this year as I waited for this book to come out (once in Spanish).  As soon as I could get it out of my mailbox, I spent the entire day reading it.  I absolutely loved it, and even the ending was excellent.  I guess Veronica Roth was trying to make up for chapter 50 of Allegiant.  I’m glad she didn’t end this beautiful series with the bitter taste of disappointment.

Strange the Dreamer Cover3. Strange the Dreamer – with this strange name, I wasn’t initially interested in reading the book, but then I saw some reviews on it that made me change my mind.  It is a beautiful book.  The prose is amazing.  The characters are likeable; they aren’t your cookie-cutter beautiful people, which is a good thing.  The world building is great.  It also has a really good underlying message.  I couldn’t put it down, even though this is a fairly large book.  I’m looking forward to Muse of Nightmares, which will be coming out soon (but not soon enough).

An Ember in the Ashes Cover2. An Ember in the Ashes (series) – There was a lot of hype surrounding the release of A Reaper at the Gates, and since I had never read the first book in the series, I wasn’t going to read it, but then Ember became available at my local library.  I was halfway through book 1 before I decided that I needed to read the entire series as soon as possible; I immediately went to go look for the other two books.  Fortunately, A Torch in the Night was also available at the library, so I was able to buy Reaper and read all three books in three consecutive days.

Midnight Star cover1. The Midnight Star – This book came out in 2016, concluding the Young Elites series.  If you read my blog for very long, you’ll figure out that I love Marie Lu’s books.  In fact, I’ve read all of her books this year (except the Batman one because I’m not into superheroes, although I suppose I’ll have to get around to reading that one at some point anyway) .  It took me until January of this year to read it because I “won” the book in a sweepstakes, and they never sent it to me.  If I hadn’t won the book, I would have pre-ordered it.

I loved this book.  It has some really beautiful scenes in it, and the ending was fitting, if not overly joyful.  It was slightly open-ended, which is why I’m currently working on a fanfic at this point (I’ve currently written 245 pages and I’m about 2/3 of the way through, but it’s going to take a lot of revising and I have 4 works in progress at this point).

It was really hard to pick a favorite among the top books on my list.  They were all so good.  I expect that there will be some stiff competition for the top ten list for the year.

My Real Name is Hanna is Really Good

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments

My Real Name is Hanna is a really good book.  Last year I read quite a lot of 20th century books, including Defying Hitler; I also regularly attend a Russian meetup group.  When I had the opportunity to read a book about a Jewish Ukrainian girl during World War II in exchange for an honest review, I figured that I had to read it.  I was not disappointed.

At the beginning of the book, we meet Hanna and her family.  They are a observant Jewish family who won’t even light a fire on the Sabbath: they pay for their neighbor to light the fire for them.  She has a normal family, attends school with her best friend Leon, and lives a typical Ukrainian life.  Even through they sometimes have to pledge their loyalty to one government or another (first Stalin and the Soviet Union, then Germany), they still live decently.

Hanna and her family begin to hear rumors about things happening to other Jews in faraway places.  At first, they are insulated from these problems because they live in a rural area.  Eventually, Hanna’s family is affected by Hitler’s rules for Jews.  First, her family is asked to wear armbands marking them as Jews (her family rebels against this order).  Then, they are given fewer food rations than their non-Jewish neighbors.  They start hiding fleeing Jews in their barn.  Eventually, things get so bad that Hanna’s family, as well as Leon’s family, have to flee their homes and hide.

Throughout the remainder of this book, they struggle to survive while in hiding.  Their circumstances get progressively worse, and when it looks like the family won’t be able to make it, the Russians finally take over their town and they are able to return to society.

My Real Name is Hanna is a book that you won’t want to put down.  I wanted to know what would happen to their family next.  How would they find food?  Will Hanna and Leon become more than friends?  You grow to care about Hanna and her family as they go through these struggles.  Hanna is a likeable girl, and even though you know she is going to survive (Hanna is telling this story as an adult), you still want to root for her.

With everything that is going on in the world, books like My Real Name is Hanna are more important than ever.  If you read the news, there is a growing hatred for “otherness” in both the United States and in Europe.  This is not only a good book; it is also a reminder that tragedies like this could happen again if we don’t remain vigilant.

This book will be available on September 15th, but you can pre-order it now.

Compliments to the Writer! (Part 1)

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments

This is part 1 of a two-part series discussing complimenting authors of books that you like.

LibraryI used to think that published authors were these mysterious, god-like people who were just amazing, and, of course, they knew it.  Because they were published authors and all.  I knew that most of them weren’t rolling in the dough like Stephen King or anything (which I’m sure is what I thought when I was a kid), but I thought that they all knew how magnificent their works were.  If not, they wouldn’t have gotten published, right?

I thought that sending them a compliment to tell them how I loved their book would be rude.  I mean, I’m a nobody.  Why would these wonderful authors want their day interrupted by some nobody telling them about how they liked their book?

I’ve recently come to the realization that most authors are more like me.  With the main difference being… they’re published.  But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have similar thoughts as me.

Following a few authors on Twitter, I’ve seen that some of them have doubts about their abilities.  Many are trying to get publicity so they can sell books and make a living.  Incredibly, I noticed, a rare few have fewer Twitter followers than I do (in fact, one author that I’m publishing a review on later this month does… and I loved her book).

A couple of days ago, one author tweeted that compliments can make an author’s day, especially when they were in a writing slump.

I realized that that was the truth.  Sending a compliment to a writer can make their day.  It can even get them writing again.  I know that from personal experience.  Seeing that tweet made me realize that I need to compliment more authors.  If I like their work, I need to tell them.

A few comments this year have truly stood out to me and have made me want to write more.

Back in 2016, my husband had to go to the hospital for the night.  I had just finished reading the Legend series for the second time, and I thought to myself “wouldn’t it be nice if someone wrote a short story where Day and June actually ended up together?  I could throw something like that together this evening while dh is not here.”

That’s just not possible.  I did start the story though, and 14 chapters and 85 pages later, the story was still unfinished.  But I had to move into my new house.  I published the 14 chapters of Like Normal People, the resulting story, so other people could read it.  In the process of moving (I also was intimidated because I had to write about mountain climbing and had no clue how to do it), I forgot about the story.  For two years.

On February 3rd, I got this note:

I have just seen this now and it is amazing ughhhhh I hope u go on and update this sometime in the near future

Eduemoni - Own work
Wow!

I had already started to write again.  I was working on Saving Adelinetta (still an unfinished project).  That nice note got me thinking about Like Normal People again.  Although it’s still unfinished, I have made progress on the story now.  All from one nice compliment.

In May, I had the idea for another Legend fanfic.  The idea just came to me one day, and I had to write Republican Phenoms.  It only took two weeks to write this little novella, and another two weeks to revise and publish it.  The only thing was, I was a little nervous about it.  I had gone beyond my comfort zone with a couple of the scenes.  The book had practically written itself; I was just writing down what the characters were doing in my head, and they did a couple of things that I might not have chosen for them.  I didn’t know how people would react to it.  Then I got a nice compliment on this story after I had published it.

It’ll be interesting to see the dynamic between June and Day since Day’s the first to get the perfect score and revelled in its benefits in contrast to how it happens in canon. Great June POV btw! 😀

He left a couple of other nice comments in my fic.  The comments were so thoughtful that it just made me happy all day.  He stopped commenting before the parts that I was nervous about though, so I was still wondering whether I completely screwed up the fic at the end (he did give me kudos on the story though).

Earlier this week, I got this comment on Republican Phenoms:

*pterodactyl screech* OHMYGOD I’M SO HAPPY SOMEONE WROTE AN AU LIKE THIS IT’S SO AMAZING I’M CRYING AAAAAAAA. June’s such a cutie, her transition from no-I-definitely-don’t-like-him to okay-so-maybe-I-was-wrong is so well done and cute, and Daniel is just – a cutie but also an asshole??? But also really sweet? Goddamn it I want to hug those two so badlyyyyy. This is so amazing thank you so much for writing it TT-TT!!!

I don’t think I’ve ever made someone so happy from a story I wrote.  How could you not be happy after someone writes a note like that to you?

So, rather than feeling like this nobody who shouldn’t dare interrupt a writer’s day by telling them how great their work was, I’ve decided that when I read a book that I love, that I need to send a quick tweet to the writer to tell them how much I liked their story.  I might still be a nobody, but if nice comments can make my day, then rather than being annoyances, nice comments might make some other author’s day as well.

In part 2, which I hope to publish next week, I’ll be talking about more popular authors with fandoms.  Is it creepy to really like an author’s work?  Do authors think you’re creepy if you dream about the characters they create?  I actually don’t know the answers, but I’ll be discussing fandoms next week.

I Loved Ace of Shades

By Brookelorren on 6 Comments

I recently finished reading Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody.  It’s not a cookbook.  When I was in the Navy I worked with a person named Army; our last names don’t always match our job title.  At any rate, it was a very enjoyable book, and I look forward to the sequel whenever it comes out.  I got this when it was on sale for $1.99 the other day.  I figured I couldn’t pass it up.

Our story takes place in a place called New Reynes, which is also known as the City of Sin.  Our first protagonist, Enne, is supposed to be a debutante in about a year, and she knows how to behave like a proper lady.  Her (adoptive) mother, however, is missing, and she is entering this den of iniquity in an attempt to find her.  Almost immediately after stepping off the boat, she loses her luggage, is chased by the cops, and ends up running into a gang lord (which is the person her adoptive mother wants her to seek out).

Levi, our other protagonist, is the gang lord.  He is in desperate need of getting his hands on 10,000 volts (volts are their form of currency).  Enne just happens to promise him that amount of money if he will help her find her mother.  Our story follows the two protagonists as they get themselves into trouble and change the city forever.  Along the way, Enne finds out some dangerous family secrets, and discovers that she might not be cut out to be a proper lady after all: she might be much more instead.

The Characters

Ace of Shades is told in the third person point of view from the perspective of our two main protagonists.  I enjoyed the characters.  Levi was a gang lord, but he was still fairly young.  He’s also, for the most part, not an evil guy.  He might cheat at cards, but he’s not a murderer, for example.  Enne begins her journey to New Reynes as a very naïve lady, but she is quickly changed by the city.  While I do like the characters, the rapid transformation of Enne stretches reality a little.  It doesn’t keep me from enjoying the book, but it may bother some people.  The same holds true for Levi and Enne’s relationship.  They start to develop an attraction to each other almost immediately (although they don’t act on it).  Levi and Enne are so completely different that it’s difficult at first to see themselves falling for each other.

The World

The World of Ace of Shades seems to be pretty unique.  It seems to have a basis in Las Vegas, but there is a magic system in place that obviously doesn’t exist in the real world.  Everybody has talents that they are born with; your two last names tell other people what your talents are.  People bind themselves to each other with oaths.  There are more magical forces in this world as well, but I won’t mention them in order to not give out spoilers.

The city is also a city of dirty politics.  It has faced war in the past.  It is crawling with street gangs, although that doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t associate with one another.  Some of the police are also corrupt.  The world is well done and enjoyable.

Overall, Ace of Shades was enjoyable and well worth the time I spent reading it.  It may not be the best book I read this year, but I liked it nonetheless.

Far Forest Scrolls was… Okay

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments

I recently had the opportunity to review Far Forest Scrolls Na Cearcaill.  It sounded really great.  What’s not to like about a fantasy story with dragons and adventure?  It looked like it might have a little Celtic influence as well (I’ve done a little bit of studying Irish and there are a few words in Irish in this book).  It turned out, the book was just okay.  The book has a lot of potential; I just didn’t think that it was where it should have been for a published novel.  Especially not for a book that is scheduled to cost $24.95.

Plot

Far forest scrolls happens in a medieval fantasy setting.  There is a “squad” of squires that the story revolves around, mostly Bellae, who is a pre-tween who discovers that she has a gift for talking to animals.  The squires (and their knights) go through many adventures.  Bellae (or her friend) has been foretold to be the chosen one in the upcoming Na Caercaill, which I think means some sort of cataclysm or world-shaking event.  There is also war on the horizon, which the squires and knights must prepare for.

What I Liked

While overall, I wasn’t a fan of this book, it wasn’t without its merits.  The story was imaginative, and I thought Bellae was a cute character, and she had some nice friendships with some of her squadmates.  You could tell how she loved animals, which was quite endearing.  There were parts that were pretty exciting.  The story was written with a good vocabulary, with colorful words.  Some of the illustrations were good.

What I Didn’t Like So Much

The book felt a little amateurish.  For example, sometimes the characters would explain concepts of the world that the other characters probably already knew, but the reader didn’t.  It made the dialogue sound a little off.  There were a lot of characters in this book, and in the beginning, they were introduced a little too quickly — I had trouble keeping everything straight.  The same holds true for the places in this world.  The book also had several illustrations.  While a smattering of the illustrations looked like they were professionally done, some of the illustrations looked like they came out of someone’s sketch book.  You could even see the outline of the page where it had been scanned.  The sketches and illustrations broke up the text on my Kindle, although if you read this in the hardback version, that wouldn’t be a problem.

The book seemed to have an abrupt ending.  There really was no climax to the story; no great battle that they win and then they have to go fight an even bigger battle, like many other trilogies/duologies/tetralogies etc. have.  They were in the middle of a fight, some reinforcements show up, and then… that’s all folks.  The web site describes this as part of a pentology, so there must be more to this story coming.

This book was categorized as a Young Adult novel, but I would probably put it in the Middle Grade category.  The main characters are Middle Grade age, and there is some banter that I think would be better appreciated by a Middle Grade audience.  Some of the vocabulary might be advanced for Middle Grades, but the storyline itself I think has more Middle Grade appeal.

After I agreed to review this book, it was taken off Goodreads.  It is also no longer on NetGalley (where I received my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review).  Perhaps the author withdrew the book so they could make further revisions (it was supposed to be released August 3rd).  I hope that they do that, because while I didn’t particularly think the story was great, it does have the potential to be a good story.

June Monthly Wrap-Up

By Brookelorren on 12 Comments

I wasn’t planning on doing one of these, but I decided that I would do one anyway, which is why this is late.  Here is what happened in the month of June:

Books Read:

I read 15 books and wrote reviews on all of them.  They’re not all published yet though.

  • Indianapolis – Lynn Vincent
  • The Wrath and the Dawn – Renée Ahdieh
  • Smoke in the Sun – Renée Ahdieh
  • Use of Force – Brad Thor
  • Never Stop Walking – Christina Rickardsson
  • An Ember in the Ashes – Sabaa Tahir
  • A Torch Against the Night – Sabaa Tahir
  •  A Reaper at the Gates – Sabaa Tahir
  • Far Forest Scrolls Na Cearcaill – AAAAA (that was what was listed as the author)
  • Ace of Shades – Amanda Foody
  • My Real Name is Hanna – Tara Lynn Masih
  • Friction – Jeff Rosenblum and Jordan Berg
  • The Kiss Quotient – Helen Hoang
  • Echoes – Alice Reeds
  • Strange the Dreamer – Laini Taylor

Blog Stats

  • So in June I passed 1500 Twitter followers :-).  I gained 50 followers.
  • I didn’t set up Google Analytics until halfway through the month, but I’ve seen an increase in blog traffic.
  • Pinterest monthly views rose from about 2.3k views per month to 6k views per month.
  • I finally figured out how to add my blog to Bloglovin’.

Writing

  • I finally finished the first draft for Chapter 22 to Like Normal People (a Legend fanfic)!  I’ve had writer’s block on that thing for a couple of months now.  It needs quite a bit of work, but now that I have gotten past that little hurdle, I can finally finish the book.  The fact that I started this story in early 2016 with the intention of “throwing this thing together in an evening”, and it didn’t quite turn out that way, is why I’m no longer publishing any part of my WIPs on AO3 until at least the first draft is done.  I hate to make people wait while I have writer’s block.
  • I started a new work in progress, Gamers, which is a Young Elites modern day AU.  I wrote 38 pages.  I have a glimmer of an idea of what I want to do with the story, but I don’t know everything at this point.
  • The first draft of Saving Adelinetta (a Young Elites fanfic) is at 249 pages, and is now about 2/3 of the way done.
  • The AO3 Writers group on Facebook is having a challenge for July called fandom roulette: they want me to write a gen fusion fanfic.  I wrote 21 pages on July 1st, and it’s going to be a Legend/Divergent fusion.  I’ve never written anything like this before.  I already know the end… the story is going to stay gen (no romantic relationships) until the last page, LOL.  Don’t know how long it’s going to be, but I have to finish it this month for the challenge.

Life

I took a leave of absence from work for the entire month of June, which is why I got so much done.  Unfortunately, the LOA was due to family issues which are still ongoing, but I had to go back to work.  One good thing about going back to work is that my job really only takes about half of my brainpower, so I can dream up scenes while I work.  Today I mused over the last scene in my Legend/Divergent fusion, and while I will probably tweak what was in my brain today when I finally get there, I really like how it’s going to end.

Not much else is going on… other than my car’s starter stopped wanting to start, and I have to take it in to get fixed tomorrow.

Nine Reads for Independence Day (Top Ten Tuesday)

By Brookelorren on 16 Comments

Today’s Top 10 Tuesday list is books with Red, White, and Blue covers, but since I don’t really care about the color of the covers, I thought I’d write about Books to Read on Independence Day instead.  These books make me feel blessed to live in the United States or make me feel patriotic for one reason or another.  They’re in no particular order.  Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

I read A Patriot’s History of the United States, by Larry Schweiker, a long time ago.  I do remember that it was really good, and I still have it.  Someday, I might read it again.

It’s a fairly large book (1000 pages, I think), so you’re not going to read it in one day, but if you’re looking for a pretty good history book of the United States, this is one that I recommend. It covers the time period from Columbus’s discovery of the Americas to the recent present.

Legend coverI actually didn’t throw in Legend because I think it’s a wonderful book series (although I do think it’s wonderful); there’s actually a reason why I picked this. It’s the one completely fictional book on this list (I thought about Divergent, but that one is set so far into the future that it loses most of its ties to the United States as it is now). The book is set in California in the year 2131. The United States government is no more, and the government that has come to replace it is corrupt. Reading this book makes me thankful for our own government, even though it has it’s own share of problems. It also reminds me of what Benjamin Franklin said when someone asked him what kind of government the people at the Constitutional Convention came up with: “A republic, if you can keep it.” Even though the government in Legend is called The Republic, it’s nothing like a republic should be. If the people of the United States continue to bicker and can’t get along, we might end up with a government like this. ::shudder::

Never Stop Walking CoverIf Never Stop Walking doesn’t make you thankful to be living in the United States (if that’s where you live) or in a safe country where you don’t fear for your life, I don’t know what will.  As a child, this lady literally watched her good friend get shot by corrupt police because her friend was a poor street child.  There are probably still places where this is going on to this day.  Last month, there was an uproar about how the United States is separating children from their parents (which is terrible) but as far as I know, they’re not shooting them.  The US does have its problems, but things aren’t this bad, yet (again, a Republic, if you can keep it).

The American Miracle: Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic, by Michael Medved, tells of all the amazing “coincidences” that took place in the shaping of the American Republic.  The book contains several stories about miracles that occurred in the history of the United States.  There were miracles in play that led to the pilgrims survival, the survival of George Washington’s army, the freeing of the slaves, and more.  Even if you’re fairly well-versed in American history, there may be something in this book that you’re not familiar with.

Heavenly Man CoverThe Heavenly Man, by Brother Yun, is a book that makes me happy to live in the United States today.  Brother Yun was thrown into prison because of his beliefs, and didn’t even have access to a Bible as a kid (he prayed for a Bible and one miraculously came).  Freedom to believe in whatever way you want can sometimes cause strife in this country, but I do hope that we can allow people to follow their conscience, even if we disagree.  If we live by the attitude of “I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it” maybe we would be better off.  Whether that quote was originally made by Voltaire, Patrick Henry, or someone else, doesn’t matter, the sentiment is good.  I would think that the sentiment should also apply to freedom to live according to your dictates (as long as they’re not hurting anybody).

It’s a shame that The Five Thousand Year Leap isn’t available in print any more (it’s still available in ebook form though).  The founding fathers didn’t just pull their ideas out of their butts… the ideas behind the United States republic had been fomenting in civilization for thousands of years before they were put into practice.  The ideas that were put into the Constitution changed the world.  I recommend this book if you are interested in finding out how revolutionary and amazing the concepts behind the founding of the US really are.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy is one of the three books on this list that center on Nazi Germany during World War II.  World War II was such a traumatic period in our world’s recent history, and its lessons should not be forgotten.  Bonhoeffer could have saved himself; he was living in the United States after he knew about the dangers that Hitler presented, but he went back to Germany anyway.  His courage is inspirational even today.  We could use more people that will see evil for what it is and still have the courage to speak out against it.

I believe that In the Garden of Beasts is slightly fictional, but it’s based on real events.  This is the second book of the three set in Nazi Germany.  It’s important to know what the world was like as Adolph Hitler came into power, because it’s not something that we want to see again.  This book is about an American ambassador and his family that were living in Nazi Germany as Hitler rose to power.  It’s amazing to see how the transformation took place.  I read it once, but I’ll probably read this one again someday.

Defying Hitler, a memoir by Sebastian Haffner, is the third Nazi Germany book on this list.  This book is powerful because it is a first-hand account of someone that lived through the Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler.  It is unfinished, because Haffner moved out of Germany before things got too bad and never managed to finish the book, but his recollections of what happened to his friends and even his time in a Nazi propaganda camp are worth reading.  It’s a shame that he didn’t end up writing more.

So here are nine books to read if you want to feel a little glad to be living in the United States today (and several of these are good reads if you don’t live in the US but live in modern society).

Enter to Win a New Book This July!

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment

A new month means that there are new books to win, as well as a new book of brand new book releases.  Yay!  In the July of Books Giveaway Hop, you have several chances to win a new book.  I don’t have any sweepstakes to offer, but I want to let everybody know about these great sweepstakes anyway.  Most of the sweepstakes end on July 31st, but you’ll want to get your entries in as soon as possible so you don’t forget.  This giveaway hop is sponsored by It All Starts at Midnight and FLYLēF.

Those are the ones that are available now, but any one of the above links will take you to a post with a linky that will list all of the others.  Good luck!