Fictionally Yours, Minnie

Bitter End...Comes to Closure

2012-01-09T11:27:00.001-06:00

Bitter End by Jennifer Brown

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lots of spoilers!

Jennifer Brown's Bitter End is a complete success at showcasing the mentality of a young woman who finds herself in an abusive situation without realizing when or how it happened. Alex falls for the new, goodlooking jock transfer from another highschool when he washes her with a zealous amount of boyfriend sweetness. But Cole soon turns into a monster, and it turns out he has been a monster for quite somewhile due to the awesome role model dad he has at home who keeps Cole's mother as an annoying pet he can control. Bitter End shows the ugly truth of an abusive relationship spiraling out of control and going way beyond a "bitter end."

Bitter End is very well written in regards to pacing of events and overall realism, but I found myself getting bored with some the scenes between Alex and her BFF's, Bethany and Zack. By bored I mean skimming through them really quickly because their relationship and behavior did not seem genuine. My opinion though...

I would have liked more realistic dialogue between them, and I would have liked some more intervention from her friends who knew her since childhood. They are too passive for Alex, and I know that sometimes people will not listen to their friends' advice or opinions, but so what? Get angry, shake some sense into her, don't just be all sad for her and all angry against the guy who beats up his girlfriend. If she doesn't listen after trying to repeatedly get her to see and admit the truth, then I guess there comes a time when you have to let her go. This does not happen in the book. I even could have done without Bethany in the picture. Zack would have been enough, as well as Georgia, the mother-figure she finds in one of her co-workers at The Bread Bowl. I also wanted a big emotional scene with her father.

What I do like...Alex is a very believable character. She knows the situation she is in but neither wants to be known as the victim or wants to be the victim. This is true not just for her realtionship with Cole but for her lost relationship with her mother who died in a car accident when Alex was a child. Although nothing pretty to read about, the abuse scenes are spectacular--specific, graphic, realistic. And Alex's reaction to these specific instances of abuse are spot on. Any reader can empathize with Alex, hurt with Alex, and understand why she repeatedly goes back to Cole. Any reader can also grasp her need to search for her mother and for closure in the mountains of Colorado. Cole even threatens to ruin this--he does not even want to share her with her mother's memory because this is a bond threatening his own power and control over her.

Sorry for all the spoilers here. And last, I will add this book to the "Books I Wished I Had Written."

EXCERPT:

“Just like that, my anger was shaken right out of me. Suddenly it didn’t seem like such a huge deal to be called a slut. Suddenly all that mattered was the ringing in my ears and the fact that my eye felt like jelly and my knees wanted to buckled right out from underneath me.

“Okay,” I cried, my voice rasping past his tight grip on my throat. I brought my hand to my face, because I couldn’t think of anything else to say or do other than cover and agree to whatever he said. Whatever it would take to make him stop. “Okay, okay, okay, okay, I’m sorry,” I cried, tears pouring out of my eye in rivers, even though I had it squeezed shut. My stomach lurched, and I had to clench my teeth to keep the vomit back.
He let go of my neck and I crumpled to the floor, holding my face and sobbing. Too afraid to run. Too surprised to stand. Too hurt to be brave or indignant or anything other than broken. “I’m sorry,” I whimpered, curling up over my knees and pressing my forehead into the carpet, willing my eye to stop watering. Willing my face and neck to stop hurting. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry…” (p. 238)

View all my reviews

Happy 2012 With Nicholas Sparks

2012-01-02T21:20:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year! Obviously I missed my annual 12 Days of Christmas book reviews, but...

Ok, I have no excuse, but I do know I actually only got 8 school days off this Christmas vacation! What cruelty! And up until last night (Sunday, Jan 1) I thought I wasn't going back to work until Tuesday.

Well, I went back today...on Monday...talk about a bummer Manic Monday.

On to real blog stuff.

If you love Nicholas Sparks and/or love to write and/or love to get inside writers' minds, then check out the video interview below!

I really like how he differentiates between a romance and a love story, and he is right on when he says Pretty Woman is a romance while Ghost is a love story...the kind that wrings your heart out. Nicholas Sparks is the king of the love story. Think about it. A Walk to Remember? The Notebook? Dear John? All love stories without the Cinderella ending.

The other day my 12 year old daughter told her grandma about how she loves reading romance novels! Doesn't sound right! Makes me think of those formulaic Harlequin novels I used to read as a teen when YA didn't have any sizzle or appeal in my mind. I'm 38 now so you can do the math.

Well, now she can say she loves reading books with a love story. That I'm ok with. No Fabio allowed here. Also, a love story does not have to be about a sweeping, epic, romantic relationship. A love story can be about siblings, friends, family, any people we love in life.

Here is my list of some of the best love stories I have ever read. Though my list could be different tomorrow! You will notice, though, that when it comes to my list, a majority of them are love stories with the romantic kind of love. I can't help it.

In no particular order...but probably Eva Underground as number one today:

Eva Underground (love story set in the midsts of Eastern European political chaos)
The Forest of Hands and Teeth (love story set a couple of centuries after The Zombie Apocolapse)
Dear John (love story spanning over 9/11 and the Iraq War and bittersweet ending and my favorite Sparks novel)
North of Beautiful (love story of self with spectular setting in China)
A Certain Slant of Light (love story between ancient souls in modern time)
The Comeback Season (love story with baseball and bittersweet ending)
After Summer (love story in Australia from a male POV)
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac (love story with family and romance)
The Truth About Forever (first YA love story I really loved)
Delirium (latest YA love story I really love)

I probably have some type of review or post about each one these. Just look over at the sidebar and enjoy! Or try the search box.

Aloposted from Bloggeroid

November Gone

2011-12-05T16:16:00.001-06:00

Happy December!

The last post I made was a pre-Thanksgiving post...wow, where does the time go? I will tell you. It goes on lots of eating, lots of napping, and lots of shopping, and lots of query writing. I sent out a small batch of them out the day before Thanksgiving. I sent another small batch the week right after Thanksgiving. A grand total of 11 or 12, including two I had sent out in late October. And officially, my query has been rejected by about 5 or 6 agents. A few of them were nice enough to respond back with the official rejection and a couple just thought it best to give no response.

You know, if they would just give it a chance...I mean seriously, anybody who actually holds an MFA in writing is not just some chump off the street. The query letters are strong, my writing sample is strong, so what do they want? Is my novel too "literary" (and of course take that with a grain of salt...isn't everything literary?)? Is my novel too "Latina" or too "multi-cultural" (and what about the fact that the largest minority group in the U.S. is Latino and a bunch of Latino teens probably would like more stuff representing them)? Is nobody that much into verse novels (and I don't think this is the case because every time I have recommended one to someone, they end up loving it)?

I know, I am ranting. But this is what consumes my mind...

Other things...

I finished reading Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver! Love it, but not the ending :(! I feel a book review coming soon.

I am hooked on AMC's The Walking Dead, and just feel completely empty now that they aren't showing it again until February.

I am holding on to The X-Factor only as a way to keep me ready for American Idol.

I love The Hunger Games Trailer and really think the Katniss actress looks like a Katniss.

Our Christmas tree is up and decorated, but leaning to the side :(

We got a cold blast way down here in deep South Texas! Yay!

And 1st semester is coming to an end...my kids just doing a project "final" guaranteed to give them a higher average if they will simply come through and do it decently well. They are making time-capsules over civilizations. Lots of library time, and guess what? The library is my all time favorite place on campus!

One more thing, I submitted an application at the local university to teach freshmen writing...keeping my fingers crossed. I am ready for change.

Imagine if all this change came during 2012? A new job focused on teaching writing, an agent who says yes...wow! 2012 would be one of the grandest, but never beating the year I got engaged and married, and the years in which my kids were born.

Till tomorrow! Hopefully, I will start my 12 Days of December YA Books posts!

Epic Wishes and Prayers

2011-11-11T16:23:00.000-06:00

What Susane Colasanti has to say today on her blog:

"If you’ve read any of my books or you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’m all about dreaming big. Simply put, I would not be here today without dreaming big. And by “here” I mean here in the West Village working at home on a blog post for you. None of those things would be reality today if I had given up...
Which is why I’m psyched that today is 11.11.11.

Today is the day for us to make the most epic wish ever.

At 11:11 (both a.m. and p.m. for emphasis), I’m wishing for the three things I want to see the most in 2012."

If you want to read her entire post follow this link: http://susanecolasanti.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/most-epic-wish-ever/#comment-5303

So, here are my 3 wish-prayers...because if you direct your wishes to God and pray that His will come through in your life, then aren't wishes really just prayers for good things to happen?

1. A year of health and prosperity for my little family! Which basically will be a continuation of the last 16 years!

2. A phone call or email by some agent out there in the world who wants to represent my first YA novel.

3. A year of inspired writing ideas.

4. And since I'm in my late 30's, I think I deserve and extra wish. That my children continue to walk the straight and narrow in this second decade of the 2000's. Wow...2012...amazing!

Returning to Goodreads

2011-11-11T11:25:00.001-06:00

Well, I sumbitted another flash piece to a Figment contest. You can read it here: The Outfield

And please, pretty please, can you please "heart" it? Isn't my plea so pathetic? Well, I got to say Figment is turning into a popularity contest and not so great as I thought.

This is for the Junot Diaz contest...all about voice and some guy's dream girl, and baseball. Basically, the contest was give voice and personality to a character withouth giving descriptions, age, or name. Think I did pretty good...

What I like about Figment so far is the fact that it has helped me get back into writing a little better. I've been enjoying the contest writing prompts and they give me a sort of writing goal to fulfill.

Here's what I don't like. So, Junot Diaz is going to be reading the most "hearted" stories. The same is true for Nicholas Sparks and the love story writing contest.

Basically, this means a popularity contest because Figment members with the most friends and followers will get the most hears. Also, depending on when you submit your piece, your story may be hiding like on page 29 of the contest section where no one is going to read it.

It's great that these significant authors are involved with Figment, but what's the point of entering contests if there is no way your work will be read by the significant authors unless you have like 35 hearts because you have about 150 followers on figment. And not to be snobby and such, I've read some of the 35 heart stories, and really, there is nothing special about them. And some of the other ones with only 3 hearts or 0 hearts are really the ones that should be finalists. I'm not talking about my stories, but other stories I have read so far.

Another thing...where are the adults on Figment? Every group I want to join on Figment is moderated by a teenager. I love teens and all, but I want a writing social media site with a balanced number.

So, what is my overall assessment of Figment? Really liked at first, but not so crazy about it now. I like the contest writing prompts and will continue to use them for my own writing goals and development and the fact that Figment is bringing in all these spectacular published writers, but overall Figment dissapoints two weeks after signing up. Think I'll just post my stories here now, and if you want to read them, then read them.

Goodreads is so much better. I'm going use Fiment only for the writing pormpts and occasional featured published writers. I'm going to focus on Goodreads instead and all the author blogs I follow from Goodreads. Goodreads is one of the original book and writing social media sites and they deserve abou 365 hearts.

But I will still take some Figment hearts for Wrist Kiss and The Outfield over at Figment.

Go Vote for Wrist Kiss

2011-11-08T23:14:00.001-06:00

Hey, all! Hear of Figment? It's a social media site all about writing...

Go check it out and join if you love writing or just reading original, fresh stories!

And read my entry for the Nicholas Sparks contest...Wrist Kiss.

Here's the link: http://figment.com/books/168583-Wrist-Kiss

All you have to do is heart it!

Junot Diaz on Creating a Voice

2011-11-04T12:32:00.003-05:00

Junot Diaz on Creating a Voice

How to make authentic characters...like those real life people you know. You know, the one's who speak brutal honesty, the ones who exaggerate everything, the ones you would trust with your own life, those who are unreliable, those with all sorts of issues, and so on...

And then to make them sound real? With realistic dialogue?

What's worked for me is writing in my own natural voice but them blending it with my character's history/story. I then end up with someone that sounds like a real person...its like my character develops into someone unlike me. Like the character is discovered through the writing.

But I really like this other dimension of character and voice that Junot Diaz explains in the link above from Figment. He says you should figure out the relationship your character has to "the telling" of the story. Wow...

Go ahead, and open up the link!

P.S. If you love to write and enter writing contests-you should try FIGMENT.

The Writer's Life

2011-11-02T22:33:00.001-05:00

From Deb Calleti on Facebook: (one of my all time favorite YA authors!)

I am often asked how much research I do for a book. The answer is: more than you'd think. Because, not only do I have to research the larger elements in a book - animal behavior (JADE), the link between genius and madness (WILD ROSES), obsession (STAY) - but also some pretty trivial ones. Today alone, I had to look up "signs of transmission trouble", "concepts of Catholicism", and "plants that bloom in July." Interesting job, this.

So True! Who knows how many books I checked out over Aztec culture! Not to mention the hours spent on Google searches for "Aztec flower songs" , "upscale townhouses in Weslaco", and "plants native to the Valley." And countless of other bizarre things for my novel Awake.

For my new novel, The After, I have raked through all kinds of google searches dealing with Pancho Villa, turn of century Valley environment, and zombie myth. There's also the huge encyclopedia of Gothic Literature I've had all summer.

I hope to say that being a writer is a full time job for me one day. I mean, it is a full time job already, but I mean my only full time job that pays me...

Entering NaNoWriMo Frenzy

2011-11-01T23:45:00.003-05:00

It's NaNoWriMo! And for the first time, yours truly is participating. I figured it's a great way to keep my writing motivation up, and you never know. Maybe after I revise my first 50, 000 words, whatever I write this month will seem like a novel with possible future.

Add caption

Want to join the frenzy? Go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/sign_up to find out more.
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about a month long novel challenge for National Novel Writing Month in November. Word count is the name of the game. That is going to be a challenge because I have to revise as I write. I read once that Ellen Hopkins does heavy revision while writing her verse novels because of the nature of her writing--basically a humongous poem.
All you poets out there understand...there is so much thought given to word choice, form, and voice when writing poetry. It's not like writing a plot driven story where the plot overshadows writing style.

I don't know if I will write a verse novel for NaNoWriMo. I guess I will see where my writing leads me to...I think I can do it, but if I can get away from revision. Maybe I'll write and write and write and then transform my 50,000 words into a verse novel. Maybe I should just consider this a very rough verse novel draft. Hmmm...I wrote my first novel AWAKE after I had written it as full length play.
So, far this is what I have today...

The After

Mi abuelito once spoke of the before time. Before man hated one another, sinking their teeth in greed, a blood lust for consumption, self-gratification. Of course, he did not live in the before time. He only knew from his own great-great uncle’s memoir, a Mexicano who rode in the days of the legendary Pancho Villa. His name was Sixto Pasqual.

Days of freedom coursing through horse veins, merging with man-blood, creating myth, creating minotaurs waving banners of revolution, progress for the mestizoes, the mixed bloods of border towns between Mexico and the US. Mesquite trees twisting as smoke snakes up to sky, blue, clear, good for dreams, for visions of what could be, heaven beyond the clouds. A better day for Sixto's sons, daughters, all future Pascuals outnumbered only be the stars of a quiet brush country night, coyotes singing under a moon, a river holding rhythm.

But my abuelito only lived through the horror. When man turned monster. Turned.

What Would It Look Like as a Verse Novel?

Mi abuelito once spoke of the Before Time.
Before man hated one another, sinking their teeth
in greed, a blood lust for consumption, self-gratification.

Of course, he did not live in the Before Time.

He only knew from his own great-great uncle’s memoir,
a Mexicano who rode in the days of the legendary Pancho Villa.
His name was Sixto Pasqual.

Days of freedom coursing through horse veins, merging
with man-blood, creating myth, creating minotaurs
waving banners of revolution, progress for the mestizoes,
the mixed bloods of border towns between Mexico and the US.

Mesquite trees twisting as smoke snakes up to sky, blue, clear,
good for dreams, for visions of what could be, heaven
beyond the clouds.

A better day for Sixto's sons, daughters, all future Pascuals
outnumbered only be the stars of a quiet brush country night, coyotes
singing under a moon, a river holding rhythm.

But my abuelito only lived through the horror.

When man turned monster.

Turned.

Verse Novel it is then...I completely love Verse Novels! Writing in verse feels like home to me.

Stolen--Never Going Back the Same

2011-10-22T00:15:00.000-05:00

Hello, All!It seems that my blog is turning into a monthly appearance...not so, not so. Today this blog changes, at the very least, into a weekly apperance. I think I can finally get back into the groove of things and put a stronger focus on things I love to do which is read, write, and blog about YA.

Update 1 on my novel AWAKE...well...there is no update. The query is out to a couple of agents, and I still need to send it out to a lot more, but the promblem is time. How to put time into my day to personalize each query, make sure it meets all the criteria, and get it off.

Update 2 on what I have been reading lately...well...there is no update. I put on facebook a couple of weeks ago that I've been in a reading and writing slump for quite a while. I still have not read any of the spectacular books I took home with me over the some from our school library. They are on the shelf. But, I checked out Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for the first time, and I love the first line, so there´s a start.

No update on any new writing...I haven´t been able to really jump into anything I have started because AWAKE seems unfinished. It is finished, but I feel my work with it is unfinished because my work with it includes getting those query letters out and getting someone to pick it up! But, not to worry because NaNoWriMo is on its way!

So, now something of substance...to kick off my new weekly blog appearances, I shall write a YA book review. Way long overdue, but it´s what I gotta do to get out of my rut.

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

*Note...this is at least for the 16+ teen...based on mature subject matter and the type of story some would consider slightly twisted and uncomfortable when you get down to the core of what is happening to Gemma, the girl who has been stolen.
I picked up this book about 6 months ago, and it is one of the best and last YA books I read before summer got started.

I must admit I choose books based on outside appearances, which includes cover art, title, synopsis, and brief cover excerpts. Terrible, I know, but it has worked for me about 95% of the time. What I am saying is the books don't usually disappoint. And what got me about this book was the excerpt on the back of the book...

"You tilted my head and said something. Everything about you was fuzzy, floating on the fumes. Your beautiful mouth was moving like a caterpillar. I reached out and tried to catch it. You took my fingers in yours. Some part of me understood."

I mean, really, if you love romance, first person point of view, and poetic language, well, there you have it. And guess what? This excerpt was even better on the page--longer and more lyrical.

And then you read the summary inside the jacket and what you just read on the back is now completely jarring:

Book Jacket Opener...
You saw me before I saw you.

A girl: Gemma, at the airport, on her way to a family vacation.
You had that look in your eyes.

A guy: Ty, rugged, tan, too old, oddly familiar, eyes blue as ice.

Like you wanted me.

She steps away. For just a second. He pays for her drink. And drugs it.

Wanted me for a long time.

He takes her, before she even knows what's happening. To sand and heat. To emptiness and isolation. To nowhere. And expects her to love him.

Written as a letter to her captor, this is Gemma's desperate story of survival. Ty has stolen her body. Against every instinct screaming inside her, will he also steal Gemma's heart?

What else can I say? Now, don't think he kidnaps her and all of sudden they are in love and know they are soul mates. It is nothing like that. She is a captive--kept isolated in some barren Australian dessert, in a fortress of sorts that he's built especially for his new life with Gemma.

But,oh, the heat of the desert is all over this book! The lack, the need, the desire for rain--it builds up a desert of tension ranging from rage, to attraction, to escape, to complete want for another person to be your all, your savior, but yet the whole time knowing this is wrong, and none of this "could be, would be so magical" romance is in any way right. I mean, he took her after years of stalking her in secret, drugged her, stuffed her in the trunk, held her down, dragged her around, and placed her somewhere no one would ever think to look and a place probably not even on a map. When she wakes, the first thing infiltrating all her senses is the intense heat--dry, dense, hot all up her body into her nostrils.

OK, I really don't want to focus on plot. I just want you to fall in love with the language! This girl, Lucy Christopher, can write, and Gemma's voice in the letter is so intimate, as if she is addressing it to you.

Stolen is quietly seductive with still being on this side of PG-13. The tension is desert hot and when the rain pours, you know it's gonna pour all over the page!

Longer Excerpt...
Your smell of sweat and eucalyptus and dirt filled my nostrils as I put the sweater over my head, the wool scratching at my arms...You took my arm again, grabbing me around the elbow, and led me outside.

The stars were already bright agaisnt the fading gray sky. The moon was a slender fingernail. I let you lead me. We were quiet. The only sounds were my boots, and your bare feet, upon the sand. Far, far away something made a single ghostly howl, like a banshee in the dark.

"Dingo," you whispered.

There were so many thoughts in my head right then, so many emotions. Your hand was close and tight aroung my elbow, guiding me sraight. Some small part of me almost liked it there. I blinked, shaking my head, not wanting to admit it. But it was true, wasn't it? A part of me was starting to accept you. I wondered, if I gave in to that part, if I leaned into you in return, where would it lead?

O Happy Day!

2011-09-09T00:06:00.001-05:00

O Happy Day...

I have sent out the first official query letter to Andrea Brown Literary Agency!

Now I just have to modify the query letter for other agencies and personalize my query for specific agents...but the hardest part (writing pitch and summary) is over. Yes!
Here is part of my query...Let me know what you think...Does it make you want to read it?

Seventeen year old Alex de Luna has always been the “unkissed girl, the unaware girl, the under radar girl” who sketches magic on her jeans and creates word-art infused with beauty, pain, color, escape. But, Alex’s identity is about to take a 180 degree turn when sixteenth century destiny meets up with 2011 reality.

Alex lives in the contemporary, real world of a South Texas city, but her dream-sleep world of an ancient empire collides with her everyday reality when Mayahuel, a girl escaping Aztec gore, crosses borders of time, space, and culture, forever altering Alex’s core of being. Mayahuel’s spirit permeates Alex with vibrancy and new voice, empowering Alex to fight back at life, not just typical high school life built around popularity and getting a boy to notice her, but a life of violence at her upscale townhouse where her mother pretends all is right with the world. Where Alex may soon become another doormat for her father to shove, crack, and hit with brutality of words, of fists. Will Alex save her mother? Better yet, will Alex escape? Leave all behind? Even Ethan, her first love beneath the orange orchards? Only the sun, filtering through rivers known and unknown, whispers truth.

In your agent description for Andrea Brown Literary Agency, you define the type of YA writer you are looking for as one “who is reinventing and re-envisioning the genre,” and I believe my novel Awake provides what you are looking for with a contemporary, multicultural voice such as Sofia in Viola Canales’s The Tequila Worm, Maria in Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Call Me Maria and Kana in Holly Thompson’s Orchards. Awake has served as my thesis for graduate school, and although it is written in free verse, Awake is a blending of writing genres, include lyrical prose, screenwriting, and ekphrasis. Awake re-envisions the YA genre by merging feminism, multicultural identity, spirituality, indigenous history, and fantasy through the voice of a modern day teen of Hispanic ethnicity. Although Awake may be categorized as multicultural or Latina/o literature, my novel fits in with contemporary YA novels featuring strong emotional power, crossover appeal, and narrative risk as written by authors represented by the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, such as Ellen Hopkins, Jay Asher, and Holly Thompson.

I Am Number 4 But Who Will Save You?

2011-07-17T22:49:00.002-05:00

Just saw Beastly...ummm...somebody give me the script and a week and I can revise the whole thing and make it like 27 times better. I mean the whole story of Beauty and the Beast is such a classic but this screenplay didn't really bring out all the magical, fairy-tale potential it could have had. First off...the "beast" not beastly enough. Second, what dad (as scum bag as he may be) will just hand off his daughter to some stranger for her safety? Well, maybe a complete psycho dad would, but nothing really showed her dad was that crazy. And so she's off to rich hideaway with her dad's consent and her "social media" page. Ok...enough.  It was worth the Redbox dollar, though. But what injustice to the novel Beastly by Alex Flinn. Please, screenwriters and movie producers...stop messing up books! The writer knows best so why mess up a story that works? Now, I can see a druggie dad willing to trade his daughter to save his own messed up life as a last ditch effort to see another hit up his vein. That's in the book.

I suppose I really don't have much to write tonight. This is sort of a venting blog. Which brings me to another movie with our "beast." But first the book...I Am Number Four. I'll admit my son wanted to buy it, but I would not let him for writing sake. I read a few paragraphs and that was all I had to read to see somebody with a pretty good plot idea just sat down and wrote it and didn't put much thought into the craft of writing. Just plain, boring, generic stuff in there.  This sci-fi? This is publishable with a pretty sizeable media promotion, movie deal, and all? Disheartening. But on the bright side, the movie did a much better job! I'd rather see the movie any day than endure a few paragraphs of the book.

You know what I need? I need a very well written novel right now and nothing is coming my way and nothing is really grabbing my attention. Of the 20 or so books on my desk (the ones I brought home this summer to read), only about 2 or 3 of them will be "wow." And those 2 or 3 have not been promoted by many book reviewers or YA blogs. Why? 'Cus there's no magical spell or demonic angels or devouring shadows that want a mortal soul. Just go to Target. There is a whole aisle of "dark" YA.

Enough! Give Matt de la Pena a chance!

First chapter of I Will Save You...amazing writing. Real writing.

So, here is a portion of a letter he wrote to all potential readers and posted on his own blog...

Dear Potential Reader:

This past Sunday I was playing ball in Brooklyn. A bunch of guys like me, older now, still trying to get to the rim or drain jumpers from the corner. At one point the ball rolled out of bounds and two dudes disagreed about who touched it last. Others joined in. Fingers were pointed. Things were said about people’s mothers. I stood back and watched the argument build and thought about the absurdity of our lives. All of us dressed up, dressed down, trying to be somebody, hoping they say good things when we’re not in the room. Like me, standing at half court all stressed out, wondering: Will anybody like my new book, I WILL SAVE YOU? It’s sad. Maybe people don’t like sad books. I like sad books, but I like sad everything – though technically I’m not a sad person.

                         YOU CAN READ THE ENTIRE LETTER ON HIS BLOG..Here.

But I will skip to the end  of his letter.

Or maybe the connection is a more personal one. Maybe when you read one of my books you’re coming into my home, drunk on my wine, and sticking a small piece of me in your pocket (so much of these stories are pulled from my past). And maybe when you move me all around – from the table by your bed, to your office desk, to your padded computer bag – you’re giving me a small peek into your world. And maybe after you turn the last page you’ll even lend me to a friend, and I’ll get even farther in my travels. And ultimately you may even come to an epiphany similar to mine, and you’ll sneak up onto my front lawn, months from now, years even, and set that borrowed piece of me back on my welcome mat in the form of a letter, or an email, or a Facebook message, telling me what you think. That’s easily my favorite thing in the world...I would be honored if you gave I WILL SAVE YOU a read. It really is kind of a sad book. But it’s hopeful, too. And it’s my heart.

Your friend,
Matt de la Peña

And here is an EXCERPT from I Will Save You:

I keep picturing it over and over in the pitch black of solitary confinement. With my arms and legs strapped down and my head taped in place so I can't move or barely even breathe.

I see me pushing Devon off the cliff.

Him in the air reaching, ricocheting off the ice plant cliff, hitting the sand, people circling his crooked body.

The grunion coming from the ocean.

Olivia crying in her hands.

And every time I picture it a worse feeling goes in my stomach, like my whole body is unbalanced, or when you drop straight down in your roller-coaster cart and everybody has their hands up, screaming.

Except for me there's no end of the ride where I can get off and just sit on an empty bench with my soda watching people. This kind of roller coaster keeps going.

'Cause what if I was wrong about Devon?

What if the whole time he wasn't trying to hurt her, he just loved her? Same as me. What if that's the reason he was always wandering around alone in the middle of the night like he was depressed?

And what if Olivia actually loved him back, and I got in the way of people's fate?

That doesn't make sense, though. 'Cause he kept telling me she thought she was better and he would use his gun on her.

And Olivia liked me.

She even said it at Torrey Pines Beach while we sat together on her special rock and watched the sunset colors spread over the ocean.

Matt de la Pena

About Matt de la Pena

It’s raining in Brooklyn today, and I’m at a coffee shop, writing.

Man, I always seem to be writing these days. I’m here at a coffee shop, or I’m at the Writers Space, or I’m solo in my room late at night, in the dark, writing inside undecorated white walls, writing under a Brooklyn-style skylight that's more tar than starry sky.

Guess I've traveled a million miles from how I was as a kid. Used to be just me and basketball. Pick up games and talking head with the fellas. But these days hoop is a little smaller in the rearview mirror. The jumper isn't quite so trustworthy. The first step doesn't hurt as many feelings. Instead of hip hop and R&B, it's Sufjan Stevens, M Ward, Iron & Wine. Elliott Smith. These days come a little more literary, a little more solitary.

But early this morning I went back in my head for a sec. Went back to the face of the first girl who told me she loved me. Jen. This was way back in San Diego. We were both 15 and fresh-faced, sitting on my buddy's couch–his parents' couch. We were so awkward, so overwhelmed by having just kissed for the first time. Man, I hadn't seen her face in years. But there she was. In my mind. Every beautiful detail. Her eyes so big and brown and pure, dark hair so straight and long. And the look on her face . . . man, this girl actually dug me!

We were like that for a good 15 minutes. Silent. Unaware of how to act in our brand-new romantic skin. She circled a finger around my right kneecap, cleared her throat and brought her face up to mine. “Guess what,” she said.

“What?”

She took the basketball out of my hands and set it in her lap. She spun it around and pointed at the “I” in “Spalding.” She looked up at me and smiled, then pointed at the “L.” She shifted the ball around to the word “Official,” pointed at the “O.” She searched and pointed, searched and pointed, until she had completely spelled out the phrase “I love you.”

I felt something move in my chest and asked her if she wanted to be my girl. She blushed, nodded. We grabbed a hold of each other and kissed again, this time a little less awkward.

This morning, when I woke up remembering this, it hit me how deeply rooted the game has been in my life. Here I was holding my basketball while I kissed my first girlfriend. She used it to spell out that she loved me.

No matter how far I move away from the game, into this new life as an author, no matter what strange direction my literary interests lead me in next, or where I go, or who I meet, I will always carry the game of basketball in my chest. This game was my best friend growing up. It was my confidant. My passion. My ticket to college, to education, to books and words, the rhythms of poetry.

Soon the day will come when I can no longer dunk, when I can no longer scoot around the skinny kid at the Y with the big head. Eventually my skills will deteriorate to the point that a basketball court stops feeling like a haven and starts feeling more like a prison cell. But I will never forget you, Basketball. You were with me every step of the way. You gave me the confidence to try and be somebody (an author!). You gave me this incredible life.

The Day Before...You Lose All

2011-07-06T22:10:00.001-05:00

Well, folks, if you are my friend on facebook, you know I am far from "the Valley"-my home in South Texas...I am on my way to Disney World with la familia!!!! Ok, so I may not have been too productive with my other blog, the one dedicated to me finding my way as a published YA author, but also the one you will follow once I tell you all is ready to go. Nor, have I sent out my first batch of query letters for my first novel...it's been difficult to write the query in a way that pushes the book really well.

But...I can say I am going to Disney World! We are just celebrating a spectacular year of family!

Right now, I am in Gulfport, Mississippi. Tomorrow we push on through to Orlando and on to the time-of-our-lives. Just think about that oldie by Carly Simon, the one that repeats "these are the good old days..." My query time will come and I will send them off and my publishing time will come and my more-time-to-write will come. For now, it's all about my favorite mouse in the whole world...Minnie!

Of course, I can't let go of YA! One of my gazillion friends is Lisa Schroeder...fellow YA verse novelist. I say "fellow" because this is my thing, and I know one day I will talk to her in person. I will get to tell her that I love her books and that she has been influential in my decision to merge novel and poetry! Well, today she has a link on FB for her latest...The Day Before. I just have to share it here at Athena's! It's got beach, sand-writing, and heartbreaking romance...just fabulous summer reading. Hmmm...maybe I will buy tonight on my Nook!!!!

Enjoy!!!!!!

Summary (from youtube)

Amber's life is spinning out of control. All she wants is to turn up the volume on her iPod until all of the demands of family and friends fade away. So she sneaks off to the beach to spend a day by herself. Then Amber meets Cade. Their attraction is instant, and Amber can tell he's also looking for an escape. Together they decide to share a perfect day: no pasts, no fears, no regrets.

But she's troubled by his darkness. Because Cade's not just living in the now—he's living each moment like it's his last.

The Wrong Path...Maybe "Write" Path

2011-06-26T00:00:00.001-05:00

So yesterday I made a new author contact, and I'm so looking forward to reading her YA romance novel...The Wrong Path. Actually, Vivian Marie Aubin du Paris (don't you just love her name?) found me. She somehow found my blog, even though I only have 99 followers...my hundred is barely getting here. I read a blog post somewhere once that there is a new interest in the world of blogging...quality over quantity. In other words, be happier with a core of people who acually read your blog rather than have a gazillion followers or followers that come to you with a "you follow me, I follow you" mentality. Hmmm...I don't know. I get what this means, but numbers still make me smile.

But back to Vivian's book! I've always said a book with any smidgen of romance is the kind that makes for a better read in my world, but lately, I want the romance, the superb plot, and the superb writing. I haven't read her novel yet since she barely sent me a PDF version, but just based on a brief summary she sent by email, well, I am sold. I want to read it. I guess many would say her novel is the kind of story we've heard before, but it seems to have more to it. Maybe because I really like The Summer I Turned Pretty byJenny Han and Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder...both involving a choice between brothers.

What I like so far about The Wrong Path is how Annabelle's life could be completely altered by choosing one brother over another. So, depending on which brother she follows, then in that choice you find the wrong path. But, the wrong path may end up to be the right path after all the tragedy and mystery clears up. Or maybe it's wrong all the way and stays wrong and you don't get the ending you want but you get the ending that ends with a punch and keeps you thinking about it and weighing out what it all means after you turn the last page.

Author Summary:

The Wrong Path by Vivian Marie Aubin du Paris

They were the ones everyone wanted to be. Except on the inside.

Annabelle's life was finally going according to plan. She had the right group of friends. Her childhood crush had finally started to notice her. She was pretty, popular, and in love.

And then one terrible night at a party Will enters her life and everything changes.
Will is the polar opposite of his older brother Trevor—Annabelle’s new boyfriend—the popular, straight-A, quarterback high school star. He's wild, charismatic, and full of secrets. He's completely different from anyone Annabelle has ever known, and soon their accidental run-in becomes a pattern as Annabelle finds herself seeking him out wherever she goes.

Despite his open hostility with his older brother, Annabelle is drawn to him, wanting to be with him. Will opens a new world for Annabelle, one where she can shed her carefully constructed mask and be herself.

But being with Will comes at a price. And when tragedy strikes, she has to make a choice between the two brothers.

And the wrong one means losing everything forever.

Free Kindle Contest by Lisa Kuehne June 15

2011-06-15T18:47:00.002-05:00

Lisa Kuehne, author of True Intentions (see my recent mini-review), is hosting an awesome contest! She is giving away a free Kindle!!!! And who could not use one of those! All you have to do is go over to her author website and click away. Good luck to all of you and here is the email she sent me for more specific directions.

Hi Minnie,
In case you want to tell your readers, I'm giving away a free kindle.

They would go to http://lisakuehne.com website and click on the "e" in the top (by facebook/twitter/etc)

This is the everybizbook site where my contest tracking is held.

Click to register and it will ask you to describe your first kiss in 500 words or less. It will list all the entries (with only first name and last initial). Your readers/friends/neighbors/etc can go to the same place and vote. Contestants will be able to log in and see how they are doing with votes.

The winner (first kiss with the most votes) takes home the Free, brand new kindle
2nd place gets a FREE True Intentions e-book.

The contest will end July 31st. On Aug 3rd the winners will be announced...

Thanks much,
Lisa

Enjoy and write an amazing flash over her topic...sounds fun. But, I have a Nook...Yay! It was my mother's day and graduation gift all wrapped up in one. There are only two books I have bought since then...The Dark and Hollow Places (spectacular zombie fare) and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (fabulous children's chap book my kids said I had to buy). What's next? Hmmm...it has to be something I really want to read and that I haven't read and that I know will be good. Then again I have 20 books here at home to read and my own stuff to work on...

New Breaking Dawn Movie Trailer

2011-06-05T21:05:00.005-05:00

Ok, so you all know I am not a fan at all of Breaking Dawn...the book...I just read the first few chapters and that was it. I couldn't take the pathetic storyline because isn't part of the Twilight magic the fact that for the entire first three books, Bella and Edward's romance is dragged out all the way until the end? Without all this weird gulping blood stuff and vampire babies that can't logically exist. I say it should have ended with book number 3 and let our minds finish the story. But I've already talked about this at length on some other post a very long time ago. All I can say is that Breaking Dawn ruined Twilight for me...but the movie is another thing. I will see it and I will be glad I saw it! I have really like all three movies so far and hope this fourth movie continues the "really like" flow.

New YA Books in May 2011

2011-05-31T16:00:00.001-05:00

1. First, Between Here and Forever by the fabulous Elizabeth Scott!

I am very excited about this book, since she is one of my favorite authors. Hopefully, I will buy it for my Nook very soon...but I already love the story line and the complications.

Story of a girl who has always found her identity in being everything her sister is not, but now she has to discover who she is without her sister and in the process also discover things about her sister she did not know and might not have ever known.

Of course, the love story...makes it better for me. So, another coming-of-age story, but that's what I love to write.

Isn't a lot of YA all about this is some way or another...the identity story, the growing up story, the remember when story, the coming-of-age story. Luv It!

Enjoy the video...very interesting for all you aspiring authors, including me!

Elizabeth Scott on Between Here and Forever

2. Ok, all you die-hard paranormal romance/Twilight fans, here's one for you by newcomer Lisa Kuehne with her debut YA, True Intentions.

(From author's website)

Ava is unaware she possesses a rare and unique gift, a soul with the ability to influence mankind toward virtue instead of sin. Unfortunately, Satan will stop at nothing to gain control of her special ability.

Ava's faith is seriously shaken when she is the sole survivor of the car accident that kills her twin brother and dad. When she relocates and faces the ultimate temptation in Samuel Perry, her mysterious classmate living on earth as a soldier of Satan since 1798 to tempt and damn mankind; Ava isn’t sure she can do the right thing— resist. Sam must choose if he will lead her straight into the devil’s trap or place his immortal existence on the line in order to keep the girl he is falling for alive.

What ultimate price is Ava willing to pay for love? What if it means giving up her life or turning over her soul straight into Satan’s hands— for the boy of her dreams?

I've only read a brief excerpt of this novel online, but I will say the Prologue gets you into Ava's story right away and her doomed, fated attraction to a someone who can only mean bad. It seems the ultimate conflict will be between the forces of bad and good with love mixed in...reminds me of the frog's lines in the animated film Gnomeo and Juliet..."Your love is doomed, your love is dead" as she rips petals off a flower.

So will Ava turn her boy to good or will Samuel turn Ava to evil?

I would hope somehow Samuel becomes a friendly ghost, gives her an unforgetable kiss, and gives her up to his own blissful eternal sleep as someone who once lived as a human. But this is not likely since True Intentions is the first book in a series.

My favorite line so far? He will remain here, an angel among us.

And the cover? Fabulous look I think.

School's Out 4Ever Blogfest...

2011-05-30T16:06:00.001-05:00

Well, here's my post for Sommer Leigh's Blogfest
Hmmm…May, 1992…

I know I'm not supposed be too serious, but I can't help it...this is where my trip down memory lane takes me!
Well, I am coming up on my 20th year class reunion, but I have no desire to attend any of the festivities. Let high school stay with the hazy high school file in my brain and let me instead spend time with people that now really matter to me like my husband and kids. It just doesn’t seem fun to hang out with people I once knew or that I never really knew.

I can’t say high school has the fondest memories for me, but I will say it was better than junior high! I can totally empathize with all middle schoolers today. It’s that time of your life when everything makes you nervous and scared. Should I wear my bangs raised up and rolled under with a bunch of Aquanet hairspray? Will it cover up my big forehead? That was me back in 1987.

Ok, I guess my real question was Will it cover up the big mole on my forehead? Truth hurts. And truth is several kids made fun of me since like first grade. Actually, a few years ago, my husband worked at my old high school…Mercedes High School…and I can’t remember the situation much, but I believe a former classmate of mine asked my husband to support him in something…it might have been something as small as buying raffle tickets or who knows…but he was one of the ones that ridiculed me all through school. Does he think my husband and I consider him a “friend”? Not in my book. Yeah right. I’m sorry but jerks grow up to be jerks, and I bet 100% that he is still a jerk. Mean kids don’t ever really change unless they have a genuine personality or heart change. I’m sorry but I will not let bygones be bygones, and I will not be friends with people who made my life miserable.

I just saw a picture recently of me in junior high or maybe my freshman year, but I feel like I look lost in this picture…like I was just trying to get through the lunch line, just trying to look pretty with too much make-up, like I’m just a little girl who doesn’t have much confidence.

And then I think what if this girl (me) in the picture were my daughter? What do I want for her? Do I even know her?

Well, let me tell you that I want the world for her! I want to help her find her way and not be so concerned with what everybody thinks. To not be so stupid as to think that having friends and boyfriends will make her feel complete and make up for how little she thinks of herself.

So, I am doing all I can to make this right for the girl I do have at home…my daughter Celeste.

I’ve lost track of most of my good friends from high school since we all went on different paths. I have to admit, I thought we were all very much alike and that we’d be BFF’s forever. The defining moment for me was when I was already in college and I was walking out of the Behavorial Sciences building at UTPA-Pan American and two of my close friends were waiting for me outside smoking. I thought, is this who I want to be? Do I want to identify with smokers and have my hair smell like smoke? You might think this is no big deal, but it was for me because I saw my life going astronomically opposite of smoking.

But I have found new friends on Facebook…new friends I wish I had been better friends with in high school…new friends that were actually like my best friends before high school but that I got away from when I found new friends.

Does any of this make sense?

It’s like who was I in high school? Probably not a very likeable person, a little snobbish, not too friendly. I think I was overcompensating for my lack of self-confidence.

Case in point, I can say that one of my very best friends throughout middle school and the early part of high school was Mary Alice Villarreal. She was great, funny, pretty, smart…Why wasn’t I a better friend to her? I just became friends with her on Facebook and sent her a message saying we could be BFF’s after I checked out her profile information and saw how she is a fan of Lord of the Rings and Twilight. Well, of course she would be a fan of all this because we had a lot in common in the first place! So, if there is anybody I really want to see at a reunion it would be people like her…there’s maybe like 10 or 15 more…like Melissa, Erica, and several others.

And on another topic…

And what about those spiral journal questionnaires some girls made…the kind where you sign in and spill your innermost thoughts on everything? Those were always fun!
And one more…

What about all those awesome 80’s movies? My favorites...Can't Buy Me Love, Pretty in Pink

You know I love the 80’s but when I think back to the best times of my life, the 80’s and the very early 90’s high school days are not a part of it. What I remember fondly is the my college days…the early and mid 90’s of Hootie and the Blowfish, Four Non-Blondes, Gin Blossoms, skipping a few college classes with my boyfriend (now husband), getting married, living in a small apartment, etc. Those were the best days of my youth! The rest before…just a bunch of generic crackers and processed cheese. The rest right now and in the future? Ok, roll out the mini-Ritz crackers, Disney vacations…all the best with my husband and 3 kids!

Folks, I Did It!

2011-05-22T20:55:00.000-05:00

Whew! Talk about some month...but I did it! A successful thesis defense and happy graduation day! Besides all the other crazy stuff in my family...my son's (David) jazz festivals, my daughter's (Celeste) singing performances and super crazy ballet recital, my son's (Jaime) gazillion sports games, and the CD Release concert for RTR (Ready2Rejoice - Celeste's and David's Christian rock band)!

So now what? I am returning to YA big time. First order of business...do one more round of edits on Awake and send out first batch of query letters to specific agents. Second, get back to blogging. I have read several books in the last two months (very exceptional books) and need to say great things about them. Third, revisit all the other novels I started but put on hiatus because of school...I even already have the first page of a new novel and have been building my story with research and plotting notes. Fourth, send more of my stuff off to get published in lit journals. Fifth, (fingers still crossed until like next Wednesday, though I already got the offer...I just have to go do paperwork) do some English/Language Arts planning. Sixth, lots of family stuff all summer long, picture organizing, house organizing, vacation time, a bit of summer school teaching (I hope), shopping, beach, lots of movies, losing 15 pounds (the grad school fifteen), getting my daughter ready for middle school, and lots more singing, RTR, sports, and general Vasquez craziness...

Well, the hardest part of writing a good query is the novel summary...in a way that will make someone say Yes, I Want More of This! I am going to try and get this done within next few days and when I do I will post my query letter here. The other thing is that some agents want a submission of the first pages, but my novel is in poetry so my pages do not have as much text as a regular novel. Should I just send the amount of pages requested or should I go with word count to match the standard 250 word count per page? Think I'm leaning toward just the number of pages they want and hoping its enough of the story for
them to want a full submission. So, my query better be awesome to make up for a significantly shorter word submission. Let's see how it goes!

Ready to Graduate!

2011-04-27T11:52:00.000-05:00

Folks, I am graduating! My thesis defense for a YA novel is this Friday...yikes! (On same day as my daughter's dance recital practice from 5 PM to who know when...I don't know what's worse...the defense or the practice...)

If you are wondering why I haven't poste anything since April 4, now you know why. And mixed into all this business of finishing (well, at least 91%)my novel manuscript, I've had projects for other classe, grading for the classes I teach, bunch of kid stuff like dance class, jazz band, play performances, baseball, basketball, afterschool stuff, and my son's 13th birthday...but I'm beginning to see the light.

May 14! Here I come!

Which sounds like one of my poem chapters in my novel, AWAKE...

Here it is...

August 22, Gypsy Make-over
This is it! Senior year!
Year I won’t be afraid. Ten months, English IV, bit of physics,
lots of art, gov./eco. Then gone.

Texas State U, here I come! (if I get all my paperwork in gear…)

What do I want to leave behind? I’m not talking legacy.
Just more than yearbook Alex--gray, plain.

Some random guy asking hey you know that girl? Sits in corner
drawing on her jeans, paper?

Yeah, Alex. I think. Into her or what?

Nah, just every time I look up, she’s like looking at me.
Never smiles. Just keeps drawing. Weird.

Yeah, Alex. That’s her. Her friend Lena weird too, but hot.

Yeah, Alex. That’s me--let my hair drape over face, a blanket,
brown, straight, dull. Brown eyes like everybody else.
Prominent nose (to say it nicely)? Not a ten at all.

The unkissed girl. The unaware girl. The under-radar girl.
My whole high school experience, pretzel bag in vending machine.

No.
This is me.
Magic
carnival girl,
gypsy ribbon
hair whipping
under moon air,
spinning life
out of fire,
water,
from core
of earth.
Energy
shooting
through my limbs,
drawing
gypsy boy
to me.

But more. Drawing colors out of me, embracing
my mother in scarves, reconstructing space, time, energy, chaos
theory of the heart, with butterflies in my hair.
Daddy a faded photograph with all bad gone good.

All good
in memory
files labeled
“Once I Knew” or “Better Times.”

Ten more months till I toss my graduation cap up high.
Guess I need to start with gypsy boy and one good kiss.

Where She Went...Just Gotta Know

2011-04-04T08:17:00.002-05:00

I usually do Thursday Trailers, but why not a Monday Trailer? Great way to brighten up a Monday! Here is the follow up to If I Stay by Gayle Forman...Where She Went. I really want to read this becauses first of all If I Stay was great (once it got going) (and once the choice for life or death had to be made). Second...the male POV! Where She Went is from her ex-boyfriend's perspective...yes, the one that helped her make a decision to stay in life, if not for him then for her music. Obviously, she went for the music because otherwise why is the book titled Where She Went? (Plus, I already ready a summary and review of the book over at Forever Young Adult).

Dear YA Book With High Potential,

Please don't disappoint...please be worth reading and make the story be something that needs to be read...I mean is Adam's story that important that we just can't let him die from YA book world with If I Stay? Do we really need to know Where She Went and how that just completely brought him to his knees?

Phantom Universe...in Our Universe

2011-03-29T13:48:00.002-05:00

Last post I made was over Illegal by Bettina Restrepo, YA fiction touching on the controversial issue of illegal immigration. This week it's Phantom Universe...another controversial issue...human trafficking. Although both are works are fiction, they leave readers with a better understanding of the costs involved.

Here is Laura Kreitzer, author of Phantom Universe...

Hello Literary-Folk!

My name is Laura Kreitzer, and I’m the author of the Timeless Series and the Summer Chronicles. This week I would like to alert everyone on a colossal crisis that’s gone unnoticed in the world: human trafficking. That’s why I’ve asked hundreds of blogs to be involved with spreading the word on this issue that’s become close to my heart.

As an author, and someone whose life is put in the spotlight, I keep most people at a distance. Only a handful of my friends know the whole me and the events from my past. But this week I’d like to share with you a part of myself that the outside world doesn’t see (and a part of me I don’t like to share). I was emotionally abused for five years by someone I thought loved me, my mind beaten into submission. Though the turmoil I went through doesn’t penetrate as deep as someone forced into slavery on the worldwide market for human trafficking, I can sadly relate in some ways: imprisoned, my life dictated down to what I wore, ate, where I went, whom I spoke to, where I worked, when I slept, bending to his every whim. He did not sway, even when I cried through some of the more traumatic things he had me do. I was a slave in my own home. In my desperation for freedom, I held out a gun and asked him to just end my suffering. I was desperate.

I can’t even imagine how many women (and men) in the world are in a similar situation. What’s even worse, I had it mild compared to the children that are sold for labor or sex. Surprisingly, the good ol’ U.S.A. is reported to be the host to two million slaves. Did you know this? Because I certainly did not; not until I was preparing to write my newest novel: Phantom Universe. The main character, Summer Waverly, was stolen as a child and sold as a slave to the captain of a modern-day pirate ship. From a loved child who only knew “time-out” as punishment, to being whipped into silence was something I knew nothing about. So I researched deeply into human trafficking and the psychological effects of torture of various types that one would endure in these circumstances. I felt shaken at my findings and knew I had to tell Summer’s story. (Read a sneak peek here.)

A storm began to brew in my mind; transforming, morphing, twisting, and expanding into this massive, black cloud. I had to bring this tragic atrocity to the forefront. My own emotional experiences, mixed with the research I did on human trafficking, made me feel an intense connection with Summer, and to all women who’ve been through this kind of brutality. The cloud ruptured and rained all over my computer one day. It took one month to write Phantom Universe, the first in the Summer Chronicles. I was so consumed by the story that I wrote nearly nonstop, only breaking for necessary tasks like eating, showering, and occasionally—very occasionally—sleeping.

Though the book I’ve written would be classified as Science Fiction, or as I’d like to call it, Dystopian, the emotions and psychological aspects are not Science Fiction—they're real. Reviewers have said many amazing things about Summer, this character who is so real in my mind and who I cried along with as the words poured from my soul onto my screen.

“I admired Summer's strength and ability to adapt,” says CiCi’s Theories. “I felt tied to her emotions,” Jennifer Murgia, author or Angel Star admits. And Tahlia Newland, author of Lethal Inheritance, remarks, “Summer is strong and smart in mind [. . .]”

Through her overwhelmingly horrendous past, Summer goes on more than just a physical journey in Phantom Universe, she goes on a psychological one as well; growing beyond her mute state to persevere and survive in a new world beyond the whip she’s so frightened of.

Now that the release date is here, I’m excited and terrified to share this story with everyone. I’m emotionally tied in every way to the words I’ve written, because they’re more than words. More than just a story on a page. Beyond the fictional aspects, there’s a real issue that needs to be addressed: human trafficking must be stopped. We shouldn’t sit idly by while this continues to plague us. Our world’s children—our nation’s children—are being affected. It’s time we take action!

Earlier this month (February) Phantom Universe hit Barnes and Noble’s top 100 Best Selling list and I donated 10% of my sales from Phantom Universe, until the end of February, to the DNA Foundation.

“DNA hopes to help abolish modern day slavery, deter perpetrators, and free the many innocent and exploited victims. We are committed to forcing sex slavery out of the shadows and into the spotlight.

Freedom is a basic human right and slavery is one of the greatest threats to that freedom. No one has the right to enslave another person.”

—From DNA Foundation’s Website

I ask that you spread the word to everyone you know. Look around on the DNA Foundation website and find a way to get involved in ending human trafficking. Take action today. Everyone has a voice—you have a voice. Will you have the courage to use it?

I hope you have taken Laura's message to heart. God Bless You and Have a Nice Week!

Illegal...Not to Read This!

2011-03-15T21:36:00.001-05:00

A hotbed of controversy today? Illegal Immigration.

This is critical issue for all of us, especially for us living down here on the Tex-Mex border. For this reason, the novel, Illegal, is a worthwhile read... But beyond this there is also the fact that very little YA fiction is written about the Latina/o experience.

So this week I am featuring the YA novel, Illegal by Bettina Restrepo...Just released this March, 2011!

Summary from the author's website:

Nora is on a desperate journey far away from home. When her father leaves their beloved Mexico in search of work, Nora stays behind. She fights to make sense of her loss while living in poverty—in wait of her father’s return and a better day. When the letters and money stop coming, Nora decides that she and her mother must look for him in Texas. After a frightening experience crossing the border, the two are all alone in a strange place. Nora must find the strength to survive while aching for small comforts: friends, a new school, and her quinceañera. This gripping, deeply hopeful debut novel captures the challenges of one girl’s unique, yet universal immigrant experience.

Now here is an interview with Bettina!

ME: How does Illegal fit into the framework of contemporary Latina/Latino literature marketed towards a YA leadership?

BETTINA: I use the Spanish language without direct translation (with a glossary is in the back). In some ways, I know it stops certain readers in their tracks. I want them to think about the context. I intentionally make the reader feel awkward to put them in Nora’s place of what she understands and what she doesn’t. I also feel the language works organically with the setting. Spanglish is commonplace, especially in Texas.

As to where it fits within the Latino market – I have no idea. I wanted to convey one family’s story. I’ve already had a few internationally readers, and they have expressed that the emotions Nora experiences in Illegal could have been their own. It’s deeply satisfying to know that the story is speaking across cultures.

Ethically, I think it’s important to expose the differences that exist in society – but a character is a character, no matter where they come from, their ideals, or the color of their skins.

ME: How does Illegal break away from the conventions of mainstream YA, yet maintain a writing style and storyline accessible and appealing to a general young adult audience?

BETTINA: One, it’s written very sparsely, so it can be accessible at many levels. But, given the topic, its complexity, and some violent scenes, it falls straight into YA. I’m especially giddy when I hear from teachers and librarians about how they plan to use the book in the classroom. I also have a teacher’s guide coming soon on my website written by a very smart English teacher, Greg Coleman.

I don’t write any differently for YA than I would for adult. Teens are saavy. If they feel for a character – they will keep reading.

ME: In what ways does Illegal reflect or connect to various aspects of your life experiences?

BETTINA: Illegal represents many questions I have in life. I have no contact with my father (of my own choosing) – but I used the relationship between Nora and her father to express the longing in my own life for an ideal father.

I also wonder about the voice of God. Does He talk to us directly, or is that inner voice of courage our own?

I worked in the Hispanic community that is the setting of this book. I watched members of this community live their lives, how they spent their money, and observed them surviving day to day. Their stories echoed in my head and there was no way to get them out until I wrote this story.

ME: Can you please share the creative writing process you engaged in while writing Illegal?

BETTINA: I like writing in 1st person. For me, it’s the best way to hear the voice. The first draft came quickly, but I revised and revised for years. I went to critique groups and listened. I almost gave up, but Nora’s voice called to me.

ME: What are some of your upcoming projects in YA literature?

BETTINA: I am writing a telenovela within a book. It’s funny, and filled with many aspects of my life living in two cultures. I’m revising (again and again).

ME: What is the main thing you hope readers will gain from t their reading experience of Illegal?

BETTINA: I want them to come away from the book with compassion – to understand that when people make the desperate choice to cross a border illegally, they do it out of necessity. I also wanted them to look to the unseen part of society that is just under their nose.

ME: What is your personal stance on the issue of illegal immigration and other related issues such as the creation of border wall along the Tex-Mex border?

I believe our system of immigration is laborious and broken. On one hand, American society begs immigrants to come and work menial jobs. On the other, how can they pay (taxes) into a system that won’t let them benefit?

I laugh at the idea of a border wall between the US and Mexico. It’s completely ridiculous. We need to work on a system that de-incentivizes those who cross illegally, those who employ illegally, and those who take advantage of both.

I am a child of immigrants. My father, a Colombian National, joined the US Army and served his country for 25 years. My mother, an East German, married him and naturalized as a US citizen in 1969. I live in the country with its wonderful benefits because they paved the way for me. I want others who dream as my parents did to have a chance, a legal chance, to create their own American dream.

ME: Thank you so much, Bettina! I really enjoyed your thoughtful answers!

64 Pages of Writing! Awake!

2011-03-07T16:16:00.000-06:00

Today, finally, submitted a substantial portion of my verse novel, Awake, to my thesis professor!

Still have a lot of work cut out, though...revision, editting on the novel and revision, editting on my critical introduction to the novel! Yikes! By April 8!

But to celebrate today's milestone, here are the first three poems/chapters...let me know what you think!

October 25, Sunday’s Best

My mother standing at the door, gathering wits. I see her

breathing. My eyes closed. She’s had a long night. Nothing

my brain wants to know.

Bet she’s in Sunday’s best. Sunglasses, of course.

A black slip under her blouse—discreet, long sleeves,

lace, hiding purple arms.

I’ll pretend.

I’m asleep. The bath water is warm, scented with my favorite,

jasmine and lilac oil.

   Alex! Get out right now, her voice demands.

I’m asleep, remember?

Breathe in, breathe out. I’m a water fairy floating on wet sand.

   Alejandra Maria De Luna, I said get out. We can’t get to church late.

Do I dare say it? Say what I think? I only mutter I don’t care

under my breath. Under water. I sink.

   Alex! Right before her manicure flings water at my face.

   Ok, Mom. I get it. But just once, can’t I stay?

   You know your father. Let’s not ruin today.

She bends to the water, lace lingering on the porcelain.

Her skin touching mine. Her palm on my cheek, warm,

jasmine and lilac oil.

   I do what I can everyday, Alex.

She never does anything for me. My eyes water and beg.

Now she begs,

   Don’t look at me that way.

I turn away. Count tiles—cool, violet, gold, wet.

   You better be ready, last thing from her lips, sounding just like Dad.

Under water all is dark. I swim calm in one place,

waves far away. Door slams shut.

August 14, Things Change

Lilac petals line the chain-link fence, crying tears for my mother. I wake

to silence, morning shadows. My father already gone on a Sunday.

Used to be our day of rest and pancakes, spongy, warm, butter

swirled with syrup.

But the silence is loud. My window percolates in clouds, coffee

mugs lay dormant, unused, unmoistened by lips,

warmth.

Only unwashed dishes to clean, rinse. Left undone

by my mother. My mother undone by my father

during dinner the night before.

Me in my room.

Hungry.

When did all change? I remember my brother, our fort-castle of mud

sticks and dandelions, pink cardboard boxes and make-believe

fire-ant dragons.

I was the princess.

My brother the prince. Later my protector

who left when I turned thirteen. Before all got out of hand.

All he left was a note addressed to me.

Take care. Leave when you can. Mom won’t. Will write soon. Joined marines.

Four years later. No note. Antonio, why did you forget me?

I wish I was a normal girl with a hot boyfriend.

He’d make me forget. He’d make me feel special.

Cappuccino and waffles. That’s who we’d be,

warm lips to kiss.

August 17, Church Women

Church-goers. Men of standing. Respectable wives,

acrylic nails, colored hair.

All find him

appealing, charismatic, godly.

Some say attractive.

An upstanding citizen,

serving as church deacon,

greeting, assisting,

ushering to empty seats,

flashing smiles to pretty women.

My mother hallelujahs and amens with the rest.

Once a month she smile-hides behind sunglasses and big hair,

third pew where I sit besides her.

Where I do not listen to a word the minister says.

Other women smile at her, at me, knowing. But not really

knowing the devil lives in our home. And the woman

who maybe does know doesn’t care. He touches her hips.

He only touches my mother with a fist.

The laureles, purple in bloom, cry

                                          behind the fence.

                                                                 They are what I know,

                                                                                        only place I’ve been.

Three Rivers Rising...Formula for Love

2011-02-28T11:48:00.001-06:00

Happy Last Day of February and Last Day of YA Historical Fiction...well, not Last Day as in I will never feature YA Historical Fiction ever again because you know I love it! Plus, I still need to do a full review for Madame Tussaud and announce my winner later this week!

But my last featured YA Historical Fiction for this month will be Three Rivers Rising: A Novel of the Johnstown Flood by Jame Richards.

First of all, I love verse novels and here we have a spectacular addition to the genre and it's the first I've read and known to tackle historical fiction through poetic forms! Yea! At times, the poetry reads like beautiful prose, so it is amazingly accessible to all readers if if you think you don't like free verse.

Second, romance...what else could I ask for?

Third, alternating POV! Love, love, love this. Most of the novel alternates between Celestia and Peter, but it also includes poetic pieces by Celestia's father and other women of local communities. All of these voices collide on the fateful day of reckoning/flooding in the spring of 1889.

Fourth, my novel is a verse novel and incorporates some history (even though it's more like Aztec fantasy/revisionist history), so Three Rivers is pretty close to my heart.

Fifth, Three Rivers gives an authentic and realist account of class and gender differences in the last decade of the 19th century.

Sixth...too many other great things to say about it and my list would never end.

Seventh...Free Verse Rocks! Just had to let that out.

The Not So Good...the book cover...I think something more visual...like rivers as arms intersecting (--just my amateur ideas--please don't take seriously!). I don't have any awesome ideas, but the cover doesn't say you must read me now or forever be unfullfilled.

Summary Posted on Goodreads

Sixteen-Year-Old Celstia spends every summer with her family at the elite resort at Lake Conemaugh, a shimmering Allegheny Mountain reservoir held in place by an earthen dam. Tired of the society crowd, Celestia prefers to swim and fish with Peter, the hotel’s hired boy. It’s a friendship she must keep secret, and when companionship turns to romance, it’s a love that could get Celestia disowned. These affairs of the heart become all the more wrenching on a single, tragic day in May, 1889. After days of heavy rain, the dam fails, unleashing 20 million tons of water onto Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the valley below. The town where Peter lives with his father. The town where Celestia has just arrived to join him. This searing novel in poems explores a cross-class romance—and a tragic event in U. S. history.

Excerpt...A chapter/poem from Celestia's point of view:

Estrella shines--

glossy dark eyelashes
and smooth pink cheeks.
My parents' favorite,
and, at nineteen, my senior by three years.
She starts each day in a steamer chair
with plaid blankets and a book.
She plays the part of the lovesick sweetheart--
her beau, Charles, learns the family business
back home in Pittsburgh--
but her natural buoyancy is not long repressed.
Fun always knows where to find her.
Just now, an errant croquet ball rolls under her chair.
She laughs and runs to the game,
the dappled sunlight,
and the jovial golden boys.
Handsome Frederick
meets her halfway,
extending his arm.
Frederick with his shock of blond hair,
broad shoulders,
and skin glowing with health . . .
Poor old Charles
with his consumptive cough
better arrive soon
if he wants to find his intended still betrothed.
He cannot compete with the gaiety
and romance of our sparkling little lake in the mountains.

Now about me--
if I am not the fun-loving beauty,
then I must be the serious one,
the one who would toss the croquet ball back,
wave and sigh,
but be infinitely more fascinated
with my book
than with the superficial cheer
of the society crowd.
The one who gets the joke
but does not tolerate it.
The one who baits the hook
and guts the fish
with Peter,
the hired boy.

Just absolutely Lovely!

Madame Tussaud...Author Thoughts

2011-02-21T16:35:00.000-06:00

Well, Happy 3rd Week of February! I must announce we only have two more days of the book giveaway contest for Madame Tussaud as sponsore by the author Michelle Moran. Hurry and post a comment about any of her books or writing at the contest link at the top of Fictionally Yours or here after this post.

And now...here is Michelle with her guest post over Madame Tussaud! Yea!

MADAME TUSSAUD: The Woman by Michelle Moran

When most people hear the name Madame Tussaud, the first thing that comes to mind are the eerily lifelike waxworks which crowd her museums throughout the world. But who was the woman behind the name, and what was she like in the flesh?

Madame Tussaud’s story actually began in 18th century Paris. While most people know her from her famous museum in London, it was in France, on the humble Boulevard du Temple, where Marie first got her start as an apprentice in her uncle’s wax museum, the Salon de Cire. At the time, the Boulevard du Temple was crowded with exhibits of every kind. For just a few sous a passerby might attend the opera, watch a puppet show, or visit Henri Charles’ mystifying exhibition The Invisible Girl. The Boulevard was a difficult place to distinguish yourself as an artist, but as Marie’s talent grew for both sculpting and public relations, the Salon de Cire became one of the most popular attractions around. Suddenly, no one could compete with Marie or her uncle for ingenious publicity stunts, and when the royal family supposedly visited their museum, this only solidified what most showmen in Paris already knew — the Salon was an exhibition to watch out for.

But as the Salon’s popularity grew, so did the unusual requests. Noblemen came asking for wax sculptures of their mistresses, women wanted models of their newborn infants, and – most importantly – the king’s sister herself wanted Marie to come to Versailles to be her wax tutor. While this was, in many ways, a dream come true for Marie, it was also a dangerous time to be associated with the royal family. Men like Robespierre, Marat, and Desmoulins were meeting at Marie’s house to discuss the future of the monarchy, and when the Revolution began, Marie found herself in a precarious position. Ultimately, she was given a choice by France’s new leaders: to preserve the famous victims of Madame Guillotine in wax, or be guillotined herself.

Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution is the story of Marie’s life during one of the most tumultuous times in human history. Her survival was nothing less than astonishing, and how she survived makes for what I hope is a compelling read.

Sincerely, Michelle Moran

Thank-you so much Michelle! So glad you could visit Fictionally Yours!

Falling in Love With English Boys...on Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T16:12:00.003-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! If there's one thing I love to read...anything with a smidgen of romance! No doubt Falling in Love With English Boys fits the criteria.

Hmmm...what could this book possibly be about? London, falling in love, romance...yes, that's exactly it! The title and picture basically say it all, so this is the perfect book for Valentine's Day!

Summary (from book)

Sixteen-year-old Catherine Vernon has been stranded in London for the summer - no friends, no ex-boyfriend Adam the Scum (good riddance!), and absolutely nothing to do but blog about her misery to her friends back home. Desperate for something - anything - to do in London while her (s)mother's off researching boring historical things, Cat starts reading the 1815 diary of Katherine Percival her mom gives her - and finds the similarities between their lives to be oddly close. But where Katherine has the whirls of the society, the parties and the gossip over who is engaged to who, Cat's only got some really excellent English chocolate. Then she meets William Percival - the uber-hot descendant of Katherine - and things start looking up.

Here's my Minnie/mini-review

The Good...personal blog vs. personal diary--the entire narrative is in this format, providing something quite different than other novels. But the first person POV keeps it familiar to other YA's you've read.

The Better...Katherine's 19th century diary entry--there's just more depth to her entries or maybe I just perceive it that way because her entries give insight to an unfamiliar society so unlike ours. I mean, the waltz is considered quite a scandalous dance in Kat's world.

The Not So Bad...there's just not a big enough sweep-me-off-my-feet factor. Maybe because all entries are first person blog and diary entries. It's difficult to bring out fantasticly romantic conversation because then it's no longer such a personal account...it starts turning into a regular novel narrative. But Kat's diary does a better job of bringing the emotional punch, not to mention the scenes where Kat just wants to slap the man she doesn't yet know she loves.

The Not So Ugly...N/A! Just look at the cover! Absolutely gorgeous! The only criticism I have is that it doesn't match either Cat or Kat. Cat from the 21st century is not a fashionista and Kat from the 19th century could never show an ounce of ankle--ever.

Of course Cat falls for the tall, dark, and handsome, blue-eyed Brit...not Simon Cowell at all. He also happens to be devastatingly rich and wel-travelled. Of course there's the modelesque girfriend, too. And she is one of the central problems between them. The other problems...all boil down to basic facts--He is British and rich and mature and she is American--typical high school girl who cares about shopping and cute boys and being like by others.

I guess I can say Kat is very similiar to Cat any many teenage girls out there...BUT...society demands Kat be this way. The right match has to be made to secure her future. She has to be the best dressed and has to end up with someone at least equal to her status. Luckily, she has a mother to help her stand up for herself and not take the first man her father finds for her.

Of the two, I liked 19th century Kat better. I only wished her story would have continued...that the big love scene would've been way bigger. But this is Cat's story, so more of the focus has to go to Cat and her quest for love.

Revolution...Then and Now

2011-02-07T16:19:00.001-06:00

Since February is officially Madame Tussaude month (YA novel by Michelle Moran) at Simply Yours, I figured I might as well include a few other YA historical titles for this month with the first one being Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. It appears to be quite a hefty read, the kind that would be perfect for those snowed in frozen days of February. Can you believe even deep South Texas, over here by Mexico, got hit by freezing conditions? And mind you that people down here already drive like maniacs, so you can imagine how many of us would do out-and-about without even having any driving experience whatsoever with ice on small little bridges that really aren't bridges. And school was closed on Friday throughout the Valley (as we call it down here)!

Well, I took this home with me last Wednesday and did a pretty good read of it, but will admit I read through some parts really fast because although the storyline is intriguing and I adore historical fiction, the book has to get me here...at the core of my heart...for me to devour every line and re-read lines and passages or just give it a very thorough reading. Ok, so this book didn't get me there but nonetheless, it is a book I recommend for anyone who loves to read. I just don't have time to devour all books.

Summary from Publishers Weekly: Donnelly (A Northern Light) melds contemporary teen drama with well-researched historical fiction and a dollop of time travel for a hefty read that mostly succeeds. Andi Alpers is popping antidepressants and flunking out of her Brooklyn prep school, grieving over her younger brother's death. She finds solace only when playing guitar. When the school notifies her mostly absent scientist father that she's flirting with expulsion, he takes Andi to Paris for Christmas break, where he's testing DNA to see if a preserved heart really belonged to the doomed son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Andi is ordered to work on her senior thesis about a (fictional) French composer. Bunking at the home of a renowned historian, Andi finds a diary that relates the last days of Alexandrine, companion to (you guessed it) the doomed prince. The story then alternates between Andi's suicidal urges and Alexandrine's efforts to save the prince. Donnelly's story goes on too long, but packs in worthy stuff. Musicians, especially, will appreciate the thread about the debt rock owes to the classics.

First, I applaud Jennifer for tying in the French Revolution with a contemporary story. This, folks, is not easy to do at all. If you write or read historical fiction, you know that most of it takes place in the past. If the past merges with the present, does that then bring in fantasy elements? Is there such a thing as Fantasy Historical Fiction or Fantasy Historical Revisionist Fantasy? Hmmm...but I think this is what Revolution is, and I think what I'm writing for Awake falls under this, as well.

Overall, the book is an enjoyable read and about the one thing I'm not crazy about is the portrayal of upper-class, super rich teenagers as people with major snob "disappeal" (the opposite for appeal). Do all the upper-crust teens drink alcohol before school and go through daily living with the apathy, drugs, and plain old debauchery? That turned me off little bit, and with this, the book began the path away from the core of my heart.

I do feel empathy for Andi (the main character) and her inabilty to cope with the loss of her brother. This is a very realistic portrayal of a teen, or any other person, and helps to explain her downward descent into extreme teenage wasteland. What I like better is that there was no quick fix for the relationship between Andi and her father and Andi and her mother. Not all can be fixed between father and daughter just by a few weeks of living in Paris.

But I could have used a lot more of Andi and Virgil, a Parisian outsider and cab-driver and major love iterest. We romance lovers want more of this stuff all over the place, especially if we are reading historical fiction. Plus this is the French revolution, this is Paris...I mean the possibility for a lot of swoon action is endless! That's just me of course...there is still plenty of romance and this is not promoted as a Romance Historical Fiction.

Well, I suppose my review did not end being so "mini" afterall, but it still counts since this is like a 500 page book. This is as "mini" as I could make it.

The Good: The plot is engaging with the old and the contemporary merging together (but at times it seems too forced); Andi (the main character) is a young lady with depth and realistic family and relationship issues beyond what's implied in the numerous skull rings she wears on her fingers; Alexandrine's diary from the French Revolution (she is a young girl during the French Revolutio and Andi finds herself caught up in Alexandrine's words) is an old/fresh technique providing a story-within-a-story framework which hasn't really been part of contemporary writing for a while . Very unique! Enjoy!

The Bad: nothing! Hey, you try writing this stuff! It's hard!

The Ugly: nothing! Paris? Absolutely not. Maybe the portrayal of the upper class, rich kids...they are portrayed as ugly...but Revolution itself has no "ugly" parts...

P.S. I love the book cover and the title, but I think it promises a little more than what I actually from cover to cover. I can see how Andi is having her own significant conflict, but I want more revolution to take place and more connection between past and present.

Next time,

Minnie

New Contest@Fictionally Yours! Madame Tussaud!

2011-02-04T20:17:00.001-06:00

FEBRUARY CONTEST

As I mentioned in my last post I declare February as the month for Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran! Who doesn't love historical fiction with a bit of romance mixed in....I mean think about it...art, the French Revolution, death by guillotine, and love. The perfect mix for a great film, and in this case, a great book which is sometimes better than a movie. In celebration of Madame Tussaud's release date on February 15, Michelle is hosting a contest here at Fictionally Yours!

CONTEST DETAILS...From Feb. 4 -Feb. 22.

WHAT TO DO...make a comment on this post about one of your favorite lines in any of Michelle Moran's books (Nefertiti, The Heretic Queen, Cleopatra's Daughter, Madame Tussaud). Also leave your mailing address.

PRIZE...One lucky winner will receive a pair of Marie Antoinette cupcake earings and a signed hard-cover copy of Madame Tussaud! Straight from Michelle!

(also, I'd really like for you to become a follower if you like what you see on my blog...)

Madame Tussaud and Michelle Moran info coming later this month!

Cupcakes, New YA Historical Fiction, and Thursday Trailer!

2011-02-02T22:12:00.004-06:00

February...the month of love, cupcakes, and historical fiction! Well, at least here at Fictionally Yours!

One of the authors I really love is Michelle Moran. If you haven't read any of her historical fiction, you are missing out! I recently went looking for her books at a local Barnes an Nobles and as you would know it there is a whole wall devoted to paranormal titles and not one single space reserved for Michelle in the rest of the YA section. But...you can find her at Target! Of course, you can always order online, as well. But I've read so much paranormal stuff that is totally unappealing and unsophisticated in writing style. Us readers are smart. We want quality. We want sweeping romance. We want characters with depth--not just some girl named Calliope with a flaming mane of hair who is entranced by a druid lord with a plan to snatch her soul, but nonetheless, she follows him to the spirit world where vampires reign and dictate the whims of all soulless creatures.

We want good writing with well-written characters that can provide a lasting "ahhh" effect after we put the book down for the night. Well, that's Michelle Moran, and I'm excited to say I just recieved a galley for her latest--Madame Tussaud

Madame Tussaud has an official release date of Feb. 15 and you can definitely find it Target on that day!

In celebration I am declaring February as Michelle Moran and Madame Tussaud month!

More good news! I am hosting a contest and the winner will recieve a cute pair of Marie Antoinette cupcake earings and a signed book straight from Michelle! Without me as the "middlewoman" to mess up all the shipping details.

So what is this contest? Hmmm... write a comment either on this post or my official upcoming contest post. The comment should be about your favorite passage in one of Michelle's books. Never read any of her books? Get yourself to Target or your local library and track her books down...The Heretic Queen, Nefertiti, Cleopatra's Daughter, or Madame Tussaud (available Feb. 15). The contest will run from now up through the week after the book's release.

Good luck.

And here...for your visual pleasure is a Thursday book trailer for Madame Tussaud. It's not the usual book-trailer-as-a-movie experience, but rather a very interesting presentation by Michelle.

Awake...Part I and Part II Summary

2011-01-26T15:56:00.003-06:00

I want to start posting portions of the 2nd half of my novel in progress, so here is a synopsis for Part 1 and Part II

Awake by Minnie Vasquez

Part I: Alejandra de Luna has a disturbing home situation. Her father serves as a church leader, but in Alejandra's eyes he is a hypocrite prone to drunken rages against her mother. She is the typical Latina teenager who does not have any understanding of her cultural background even though she lives a few miles away from the Mexico border. Her relationship with her mother is strained as she wants protection from her mother but instead has to help her mother endure the abuse. She would love to fall in love but feels it is impossible since her father does not allow her any room to breathe. She misses her brother who left years earlier as an escape. Her only solace is art. Her new solace is dreaming...dreams of an ancient forgotten culture.

Part II: Alejandra's dreams intensify and come more rapidly and readily. She doesn't fully understand the dreams but does know they play out as a story and her identity is connected to them. She has been following the story of how an Aztec lord refuses a prophesy from his own daughter who came back from the dead. His daughter warns him of the conquest of his people, but he dismisses her. His daughter also provides opportunity for a young Aztec servant to escape a society of abuse and enter a new world...the world of 21st century America. The world of Alejandra. Their spirits merge in Alejandra's body.

Excerpt from Part I...I believe this is the second poem.

*Note...it is a verse novel...obviously ; )

August 14, The Same Thing At Home

Lilac petals line the chain-link fence, crying tears

for my mother, and I wake up to silence and morning

shadows. My father already gone on a Sunday, our day

of rest and pancakes, spongy, warm, butter swirled with syrup.

But the silence is loud. My window percolates in clouds

while coffee mugs lay dormant, unused, unmoistened by

lips in need of warmth.

Only unwashed dishes to clean and rinse, left undone

by my mother. My mother undone by my father

during dinner the night before.

Me in my room.

Hungry.

When did it all change?

Maybe it’s always been the same.

But I was the Princess.

My brother the Prince

who left when I turned thirteen

before it got out of hand

in front of me.

All he left was a note

addressed to me.

Take care. Leave when you can. Mom won’t. Will write when I can. Joined marines.

Four years later. No note since then. Antonio, why did you forget about me?

I wish I was a normal girl with a hot boyfriend.

He’d make me forget.

He’d make me feel special.

Cappuccino and waffles. That’s who we’d be.

Warm lips to kiss.

Always, Minnie

My last semester!

2011-01-19T22:17:00.002-06:00

I'm in for a few stressful months...I'm graduating! Gonna wear my black and cap and represent the MFA's. But first I have a full plate to start eating. Composition Techniques, Form and Theory of Poetry, and Thesis...I suppose the cushion class will be the poetry. Not that poetry is easier (although it comes easier to me than to other folks), but it goes well with my thesis work, and I'm sure it will only aid the development of my poetry in my novel--which is my thesis project also. I have that class tomorrow night from 7 to 10...Yikes!

I just got off from my Wednesday class for composition about 3 hours ago, and I have about 30+ pages of reading for next week. Major time management! But I love how my professor uses a blog format for all out of class assignments--she even has links to all the class readings through google documents. I already posted my first comments for tonight's homework...dry stuff you don't want to read. All about the purpose of a 1st year writing course for college students and how writing is connected to learning...now I just have the reading and more questions to answer through the blog by next Wednesday.

I also sent out a draft of part 1 and 2 of my novel to a member of my thesis committee and a draft of my critical introduction paper to another member. Next week I'm meeting with my thesis chair...I think you're getting a sense of how hectic my life is going to be or get or already is.

My novel is titled Awake for now. I will start posting novel excerpts here ASAP. I want feedback--I want to start sharing what I'm writing and see what real readers think (not just my professors). As my 3 kids say..she wants to impress her professors...from Phineus and Ferb cartoon song.

Lord, help me! I want A's, I want to graduate! I want to focus on the next step--publishing!

Actually, I need to graduate. This is my 3rd year and I'm not getting youger and my kids are just getting older...12, 11, 9. Wow.

As always,
minnie

Debut Authors 2011

2011-01-18T22:19:00.002-06:00

What about my debut year?

As you've figured it out, I have a whole new set up here at Athena's YA Books and Musings.

It's now Fictionally Yours, Minnie...more of a journal as I find my place in the YA writing world.

I want to make separate pages on my blog for specific novels I'm writing. I want to use this blog as a platform for my journey (hopeful journey) to published YA author.

And I'll still do YA promotion and book reviews.

Read my review on Jane somewhere below this post...or any other review on my labels at right...

For today, I'm posting the 2011 Debut Authors' trailer. Enjoy! Hope you get to read some of these great books! Hope I'm a 2012 or 2013 debut author!

YA Wire...The Age of the YA Movie! And Zombies!

2011-01-11T08:00:00.001-06:00

What is your #1 YA book on your own personal "Made-Into-Movie" dream list?

Hands down for me...The Forest of Hands and Teeth! Without question. My favorite show right now is A&E's "The Walking Dead" (which if you haven't seen one single episode, just go down to Best Buy and buy Season 1)...spectacular series of the zombie apocalpse. But I was a fan of Forest since like day 1 of its release. It's a complete 10 on my scale of suspense, shocking character development and plot twists, and swoon-worthy passion...all mixed in with crazed, ravenous zombies on the other side of the fence! If you want an awesome novel of love and loss and more loss and surival and more love and more loss and complete loss...then it starts all over again with The Dead Tossed Waves! The second book is connected to the first, but with a whole new set of characters and it's like Part 2 but a whole generation later with the whole love, loss, survial, loss thing going on again....I'm getting goosebumps just thinking of Carrie Ryan's third book!

The Dark and Hollow Places--Coming March 2011! I was never even this crazy about Twilight and I was pretty crazy for a 30-somenthing mom and teacher! You know reading Midnight Sun all in one sitting...I miss those Twilight chats with my former students! I wish my new students would talk books with me...think I've been to busy with work and my own homework for grad school to really get carried away with book talks or really share any of my writing with them as I did last year or the year before...

Summary of Book Three--The Dark and Hollow Places--March 2011
(from Carrie's website)

There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister's face when she and Elias left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the horde as they found their way to the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.

Annah's world stopped that day and she's been waiting for him to come home ever since. Without him, her life doesn't feel much different from that of the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Then she meets Catcher and everything feels alive again.

Except, Catcher has his own secrets—dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah's longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it's up to Annah—can she continue to live in a world drenched in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return's destruction?

Back to YA books turning into movies...

So, what's yours? What would be your dream book-to-movie adaptation! Post comments...let me know...maybe I haven't read some of those spectacular books out there!

Also check out the following link to the reelzchannel website...awesome for latest movie info.

http://www.reelzchannel.com/article/1083/the-next-harry-potter-or-twilight

Check out their top 10 list of YA series with high concept film potential...and they have all actually been optioned for movies...mine made the list! Join their discussion!

Their list includes...The Hunger Games, Maximum Ride, City of Bone...just to name a few.

Think I'll dream up some more good novel ideas tonight...so completely inspired by Carrie Ryan right now and City of Bones and Sweethearts. Sweethearts--that would make for a very sweet movie...

Thursday Trailer! Jane Eyre Revived!!! She's now just Jane...with a Cell Phone!

2011-01-06T18:58:00.013-06:00

Jane Eyre...that classic from high school lit class...I remember it so fondly... actually, I don't. All those Austen and Brontë books seem like one big blur of reading. I guess I'm really only familiar with Pride and Prejudice, followed by a plot knowledge of Sense and Sensibility and Wuthering Heights, and a shakier knoweledge of Jane Eyre.

But now that I've read a contemporary retelling of Jane Eyre, it's all coming back...the dark and mysterious Mr. Rochester, the plain Jane who served in his house, and his downright crazy ghost of a wife who plummets to her death. I remember the big details and the torture of reading Jane Eyre in high school.

On to Jane by April Lindner! Like I said, it's a modern day retelling of the classic novel but with a rock star Mr. Rochester and a nanny Jane. No...she is not his nanny! That would be "icky" for the lack of a better word. Isn't a major age difference bad enough?

Well, he's got a kindergarten daughter (a.k.a Spoiled Princess) and Jane ends up with the job since she has nowhere else to go. "He" is Mr. Rathburn as Jane calls him, but the whole world knows him as Nico Rathburn, one of the gods of rock glittering with a rocker past of fast cars, leather pants, drugs, and women. Apparently, Jane has lived under a rock for the past 18 years or she doesn't watch the E! channel because she knows virtually nothing about all his womanizing escapades and drug frenzies. She spends an entire evening with the Internet version of Mr. Rathburn via the gazillion paparazzi photos and celebrity articles of past debauchery, failed marriages, and rise to rock god status.

Of course, there's more to him than what E! reports. He's getting ready for a more adult/subdued come-back and doesn't really know how to be a father. Either way, he is never really home. Oh, but when he gets home...high swoon factor for us girls because immediately you know this will be a story of "opposites attract." Demure, quiet, little plain Jane is going to do some serious big girl stuff with Mr. Rathburn (described in PG-13 standard since this is YA). And I don't think it's anything the original Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester did in their quiet chats in front of the fireplace...this is 2010 woman stuff with a thirtyish rock star.

Well, if you've read Jane Eyre, then you know what happens. But what I really enjoy about this book is that you forget about the old Jane Eyre. This is like a whole new story with a fresh take on what it means to have nothing and then be swept of your feet to a whole different society...only to be left like a deflated balloon without any direction. This is Jane at the beginning after the recent loss of her parents, this is Jane after the whole affair with Nico goes down, this is Jane when she leaves new friends and a possible safe relationship with another good-looking guy. Hmmm...she must not be that plain because Jane describes this other guy as Greek god.

There's only one thing I question about this book...does the Jane Eyre ending we know really work for readers in our contemporary society? I know they say age doesn't matter and that you can't help who you fall in love with, but we already have the perception that rich, famous men marry or simply carry on with young, skinny women. Mr. Rathburn has live liked 7 lifetimes and kept a crazy wife in the attic. Why does he deserve Jane?

Nico Rathburn is a sympathetic character at times, but that's not enough. This Jane is smart, responsible, beautiful, resourceful...she's a survivor, and I want to see her with someone her own age who can live 7 lifetimes with her. This is not the 1800's where the best available men are rich, aging men who will provide a sound home and safe economic situation. He's been the "mad, bad and dangerous to know" Byronic hero and now he's ready to settle down with someone about 15 to 20 years younger who can still eat as much pizza as she wants? I don't know. This is like the one non-YA aspect of the book. I often found myself imagining he was just like in his mid-20's...but he's not.

Nonetheless, you will get caught up in their romance and be rooting for them to get together...up to the moment where all the craziness starts and Mr. Greek god comes into the picture (but this is just personally me).

Still...this book has the "keep you up half the night" factor, and you will not want to put it down...especially if you know nothing or practically nothing about the real Jane Eyre.

April has a background in literature, and I really respect how she tackled one of her favorite novels and brought it back to life for today's YA audience. And if I hadn't read Jane, I might never, ever, ever have remembered Jane Eyre or reviewed the term Byronic hero and qualities of Gothic literature. Hmmm....I might just read Jane Eyre soon.

Don't let the cover keep you from reading it. I know it still looks like it takes place in the 1800s, but it doesn't. This Jane gets a cell phone from Mr. Rathburn.

Technically speaking, this is still the Christmas season...the rest of 12 Days' List!

2010-12-29T21:11:00.006-06:00

Wow...Christmas was last Saturday! I actually took my tree and Christmas decorations down a few hours ago...but now...on to more yummy, festive times.

Making buenelos for New Year's Eve is a traditional Tex-Mex/ Mexican thing down here in the Valley so I need to go buy some "partially" cooked tortillas and plenty of sugar and cinnammon tomorrow so I can get started early on Friday. Basically, for all you non-Mexicans out there...buenelos (with the funny symbol on top of the "n" that I don't know how to type) are fried flour tortilla dough (what we call masa) covered in a sugar-cinnamon mix. Buenelos and Mexican chocolate are essential during the Christmas season! The ultimate sweet Christmas comfort food I grew up with! Just thinking about it makes me want to curl up with a few good books!

Here are the rest of my 12 Days of Christmas book recommendations:

5. The Lives of Girls and Women...the classical book by Alice Munro. Everybody out there...you have got to read this book. This is what stuffy shirts call "literary" but really, this is just good ol' grown up YA before YA existed. First person POV, strong female protagonist, coming-of-age, love story all mixed in with spectacular writing, wit, and humor. You will laugh, cry, and just wish every single YA book was written like this. Don't let the turn of the century copyright date get you...you can't tell. I love contemporary YA more than any other genre, and this book is as contemporary as it gets even though the time setting is not our own, but yet giving you insight to the way the female mind works...and you know that never changes...I seriously give this book a gazillion stars as a rating! But for the older YA crowd!

Summary: (From Penguin.Ca)

Lives of Girls and Women is a coming-of-age story told through the eyes of Del Jordan. As Del moves from childhood through a nervous adolescence and into young adulthood she introduces us to such memorable characters as her vibrant and unorthodox mother, the sad and dangerous men from her small town and the school kids who make fun of her and her family.

6. The Flowers by Dagoberto Gilb. So this is also the type of book classified as "literary" by not necessarily by the stuffy shirt people. This is "literary" by contemporary creative writing standards. You want progressive? You want "now"? You want experimental forms? This is it! This is unadulturated, at times stream-of-consciousness writing with significant male testorone as the driving force and no chapters...here we have a very unique, edgy male voice with a lyrical, passionate, in-your-face tone who sees the world in colors (metaphorically) and grows up to be a better young man than the boy he is at the beginning. By the way...one of the few Latino novels out there accessible to a the older YA crowd.

Excerpt:

How would I be if I lived here? I’d let that come into me, I’d let my mind go to the show it liked. Maybe you could say I would go off to my own world. To me it wasn’t mine, nothing like mine, because it would go to black. I loved that color. It was like when the eyes aren’t open but try to see. What would finally come were colors and lines busting through, flying out and off and cutting in, crazy fires and sparks, and it’d come out speeding, and I’d be like a doggie out the window, those lane dividers whiffing by on the freeway straight below an open car window. I’d start to see shapes floating and straightening and wiggling and see it like it was a music that didn’t make sound but was making a story. Not a regular story and I don’t mean one you would hear some loco nut tell you, one that didn’t have nothing to do with people or places you’ve ever seen. It’s that I can’t describe it better. Just, I have to watch, I have to listen.

I guess I'm out of time...will have to just list the rest...and make these my first set of minni-reviews for 2011! Happy New Year's Eve folks!

7. Sophie Mendoza's Guide for Getting Lost in Mexico by Malin Alegria

8. Incantation by Alice Hoffman

9. Sea by Heidi Kling

10. Circle the Soul Softly by Davida Wills Hurwin

11. ummm...The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan! I will never stop promoting this book!

12. ummm...The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan! Ditto!

I want to thank my professor (Jean) for Form and Theory of the Novel this past semester for putting Munro and Gilb on the reading list for class! Two of the best books I have ever read in or out of school. She is not a stuffy shirt (even though I did have to read BORING Middlemarch...don't read it all you YA book lovers)!

3rd, 4th, 5th...? Day of Christmas? Catch up Day...My Heartbeat and If I Stay

2010-12-20T20:35:00.008-06:00

Yea...my semester at grad school over! And out of work for two weeks! I have done absolutely nothing for an entire weekend (except for minor cleaning...)!

Now it is time to play catch up with my 12 days of Christmas book reviews...will I make it? I don't know, but I'll sure try!

On the 3rd day of Christmas...My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr.

So this book is pretty obscure in comparison to some of her other novels such as Stay With Me, and it's also on the shorter side, but the writing is non-par. Now the cover shows a love triangle, but it is not the typical triangle. Link and James are best friends, but in between there is Ellen who is Link's sister. She has always been crazy about Link but there have always been rumors that Link is not interested in girls the way he is interested in James...

I do not read this kind of book...as I have ranted about before. But this book tells you, in the book jacket, what's at the core of the plot without hiding it. Also, the protagonist is Ellen and her point of view in the matter. Another thing I like is the fact that what you think can't happen does happen and I for one am happy with the ending...which I won't say other than Ellen wins. What happens to Ellen is not what happens to other girls in other books with best friends they can only love from afar. And I just absolutely love this author and her writing style and her characters, especially her female characters and their level of maturity and ability to be introspective in a way that is authentic and truthful.

Above all it has romance and isn't that like one of the highlights of reading something? If you follow my blog then you know I only read books with boy-girl romance and this book is no exception.

Excerpt:

Now I know what's different: I've outgrown the question. I am not attached to James solely through Link. And while he can no longer make me blush, I am old enought for James to break my heart. Breaking his when I outgrow him is no longer the only option.

On the 4th day of Christmas...If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Summary: (from Bordersmedia.com)

Seventeen-year-old Mia is a talented cellist headed for Julliard in the fall. Her life changes in an instant when she and her family get into a car accident one snowy February morning. Suddenly Mia is forced to make the ultimate choice, and it's the only choice that truly matters. If you liked The Lovely Bones, you'll want to read the heartbreakingly beautiful If I Stay.
My thoughts...ok...I wouldn't go so far as to make a comparison with The Lovely Bones because that book gets you from page 1. This one could have a quicker start and the dialogue seems a bit artificial among family members. Oh, but the end...

that's the best and, yes, get those tissues out! Amazingly, you start thinking like Mia and when it seems her soul has just about made the final decision to leave or stay, her soul takes a different direction. Who knows what your soul, heart, and mind are feeling, thinking, seeing until you are actually in that state bordering between life of death and the silver horizon of aliveness?

Here's brief, yet completely effective book trailer to get you going...to go out and buy or check out...or reread!

On the 2nd Day of Christmas...How to Say Goodbye in Robot

2010-12-10T07:36:00.005-06:00

On the 2nd day of Christmas...well, you know the tune.

My pick for today is How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford. This is one of those obscure books (like Eva Underground) many don't get around to reading. It just can't compete with all those paranormal and fantasy and series books out there. I mean who is Natalie Standiford and why does it have a weird title ...that's not my thinking, but possibly that of typical teen or any other reader.

But the title pretty much tells you this is going to be one of those books without the necessarily pretty ending...but ohhhhh...the ending is satisfying...it kind of makes your heart feel heavy and tight but hopeful.

Here's a little bit to get you going. There is a quiet, loner guy but he's not all James Dean or anything. Classmates call him Ghost Boy though Bea also knows him as Jonah. And Bea is Robot Girl. Ghost? Robot? Obviously, with names like that, they are what some people may judge as being emotionally distant.

How to Say Goodbye in Robot features an unconventional romance based on human connection rather than physicality. Ghost Boy and Robot Girl have a long way to go, but if they can have one truly human relationship with each other, even if it seems impossible, wouldn't it be worth it in the large scheme of things?

Quote...to show you how it's different from other YA.

(This is Bea thinking)

I turned a corner and came to a small church. There was a head-stone near the path leading to the church's wooden doors. I stepped closer to read the headstone. It said FOR THE UNICORN CHILD.

That is so cool, I thought. What a funky town this was. I imagined a neighborhood Legend of the Unicorn Child, about a one-horned little boy who'd died tragically, hit by a car or shot by a mugger or maybe poisoned by lawn pesticides. The story of the Unicorn Child was so real to these people they'd erected a stone in his memory.

Then I read it again. The stone didn't say FOR THE UNICORN CHILD. It said FOR THE UNBORN CHILD.

Summary From Booklist:

The hot pink cover featuring a telephone dangling by the cord fairly screams teen romance! but might give the wrong impression of this quirky novel. Bea, the new girl in a school where most of the kids have known each other since kindergarten, befriends Jonah, an outcast deemed Ghost Boy after a cruel middle-school prank. She finds herself torn between normal highschool activities and spending time with Jonah, listening to the bizarre but engaging Night Light, a radio show haunted by some of Baltimore’s loneliest weirdos. Theirs is not a budding romance, but a tumultuous, hot-and-cold friendship; they love each other, but should never even think about a relationship. Credit is due to Standiford for the delicate portrayal of Jonah’s home life, which could have veered into soap-opera territory, especially with the reappearance of his long-thought-dead, mentally disabled twin brother. The heart of this novel is neither cold and metallic nor full of romance and delusion. Instead, it’s very human. Grades 9-12.

On the first day of Christmas...

2010-12-07T09:03:00.005-06:00

On the first day of Christmas, my true love (Reading) gave to me...Eva Underground by Dandi Daley Mackall

If you follow my blog, you know historical fiction...with romance...holds a special place in my heart. And what better than historical YA fiction set in 1970's Communist Poland? Down with medieval, renaissance, 19th century heroines!

I picked up this back about a year ago...of course the book jacket had everything to do with it! A train, old architecture, and a passion filled goodbye kiss...ahhhhh. Just my kind of reading.

But Eva Underground is not the flimsy YA novel of girl meets boy and boy is a dangerous rebel who rides motorcycles. Well, the boy is a rebel of sorts but the politcal sort and he's beyond boyhood. He lives for a greater cause and Eva slowly falls for the cause as she lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps the cause in the tiny, rebel-crowded apartment she shares with her father and members of the underground movement. Cultural shock doesn't even begin to give her experience justice, and at the end, the one place she never considers home is more home than her old high school life in Chicago.

The politcal atmosphere of change, fear, hunger are taken from straight from the author's own experiences as a college graduate in communist Poland, so besides suspense and romance this novel provides realism and a historical lesson without my boring class lectures (I'm a history teacher right now...)

Plus...absolutely love the cover!

Brief Summary from Booklist

Gr. 8-11. In 1978 high-school-senior Eva Lott leaves her comfortable life in the Chicago suburbs for Communist Poland, where her father is teaching in the underground education movement. Coping with the recent death of her mother from cancer, Eva now has to contend with the boredom and loneliness of living in a foreign country. After a botched attempt to run away and make her way back to Chicago, Eva develops a friendship with Tomek, a young underground leader, and a romance blossoms, giving her a desire to stay. This otherwise standard coming-of-age love story is made more unusual by a strong sense of time and place. Mackall effectively conveys the harsh realities of living under a Communist regime and the sense of hope for a better future among Poles that came with the rise of Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Movement and the election of the first Polish pope.

O, How I Miss Thee, Ye Blog of My Heart...

2010-12-01T19:50:00.003-06:00

What happened to November? Guys, it's all been swept under the rug...

Dear December and the Blog of My Heart,

I promise not to neglect
you as I did November
nor allow beetles to eclipse our water--
clear, cold, silvered by the moon.

Here is another section of my verse novel...remember the one I'm writing for creative writing degree? This was part of the 2nd batch of poems/chapters I turned in mid-November. I'm up to about 40 pages now and I'm gonna turn in a 3rd batch next week which I have yet to write because I've had this major paper for a novel theory class I am also taking just nagging at my back!

Here it is...it's a poetic journal entry giving insight to Alejandra's life at home:

August 14, The Same Thing At Home

Lilac petals line the chain-link fence, crying tears
for my mother, and I wake up to silence and morning
shadows. My father already gone on a Sunday, our day
of rest and pancakes, spongy, warm, butter swirled with syrup.

But the silence is loud. My window percolates in clouds
while coffee mugs lay dormant, unused, unmoistened by
lips in need of warmth.

Only unwashed dishes to clean and rinse, left undone
by my mother. My mother undone by my father
during dinner the night before.
Me in my room.
Hungry.

When did it all change?
Maybe it’s always been the same.
But I was the Princess.
My brother the Prince
who left when I turned thirteen
before it got out of hand
in front of me.

All he left was a note
addressed to me.

Take care. Leave when you can. Mom won’t. Will write when I can. Joined marines.

Four years later. No note since then. Antonio, why did you forget about me?

I wish I was a normal girl with a hot boyfriend.
He’d make me forget.
He’d make me feel special.
Cappuccino and waffles. That’s who we’d be.
Warm lips to kiss.

New This Month at Athena's!

Also...I'll be doing the 12 Days of Christmas again like I did last year! Starting Sunday, December 5! Come back for Minnie-Reviews (get it? Minnie-Reviews as in mini-reviews?)of YA books and maybe not so YA books I love!

Totally YA...Getting off Topic!

2010-10-19T15:42:00.011-05:00

Wow...it's already mid-October!

First, Happy Teen Reading Week! A week to celebrate YA writing and to read new and exciting YA!

What have I been reading lately? Boring, boring stuff from the 18th century. A gigantic book of very tiny font that I could not get into called Middlemarch by George Eliott (a female writer). But I pretended to be into it and read a good chunk of the beginning, the middle, and the end and read the extra supplementary material at the end of the novel and semi-participated in class discussion.

Now on to James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. This one is from the turn of the century in the very early 1900's. I am enjoying this one much more, especially the point of view. He uses a close and limited 3rd person point of view which means having an outside narrator who is telling us a story, but everything in the story is filtered through the main character's perspective. The narrator basically intrudes into the brain of the main character and really makes it see like the main character is telling their own story.

Ok, so I've been reading the literary classical of literature. All I can say is they are classics for a reason. I'm not a Middlemarch fan, but I can appreciate the completely omniscient and intrusive point of view and a narrator who tells us all we want to know and more about each person. The narrator even addresses the reader directly, making the narrator seem like a character. Also, it's full of historical events, and these events shape the time period for all the characters in the story. But, essentially, the historical events, although pressing and significant for 18th century England, are not as important as the everyday human events of relationship, family, and marriage found in the novel.

What do I have to say about YA today?

Still love it, but just no time to read it. Actually, last week I received an ARC for a Contagion by Joanne Dahme. Really enjoyed i,t and when I get to writing a real review, this book will be one of the first ones--if not the first one. Hmm...I did start the latest novel by Francisco X. Stork. Did any of you read his novel Marcelo in the Real World? Absolutely love it! So I figure I'll love The Last Summer of the Death Warriors. I started it about a month ago and haven't been able to savor it. Other than that, no YA reading.

But I submitted the first 10 pages of my poetic novel to my thesis director at graduate school! Yea! She said just keep going and that my writing is lovely! She thinks the completed manuscript will have a good chance to be picked up by an agent and published by a bigger press! She is so awesome. She makes me feel like a real writer who will go places.

Also...Gary Soto. He is one of the most prolific writers of the Hispanic community. He is actually the first Hispanic to receive a creative writing MFA in the 1970s. Well, my son and I got to meet him! We attended a reading by Gary Soto at a local community college, and he spoke to us while signing our book Too Many Tamales. He had me write down the name of his publisher to make contact when I finish my manuscript...

Which leads me to this...I will be changing the focus of my blog a bit from YA book reviews and info to more of a writing journal of my own ups and downs on the road to becoming a published YA author. I will still do Totally YA Tuesdays and Manic Monday Mini-Reviews, and YA Wire and all that stuff I came up with this past year, but not as often. Also, I might not blog as often, but I think I can manage about 3 or 4 posts a months.

So here is one of my poems...let me explain some things. Aztlan is the mythical homeland of the indigineous Aztec culture. It is also the "ideal" homeland of Hispanic culture as introduced in the 2oth century Chicano civil rights movement. Tenochtitlan is the acutal Aztec capital. Hmm...what else...the gods and goddesses mentioned are Aztec deities, and don't worry too much about trying to say them--just read through them. And remember this poem is more about setting the tone. The 2nd poem goes into contemporary times, but I will put that one up next week. Also, this is going to be a more "literary" YA novel since it is part of my MFA program.

Aztlan

I.

Sometimes
when the evening
winds turn red,
violet,
indigo.

I remember
temples
ancient and un-ruined.

I remember
myths of Aztlan,
birthplace
of great men,
tortoise
shells,
agave.

Spoken to me
Once in sleep and dream
by elders
serving
the Great Temple.

They are the gate--
keepers of flame
and mist.

Keepers of myths.

Aztlan in sleep and dream.

II.

These same elders,
priest-men
never speak
of Coaticue,
Aztec
mother of life,
or Xochiquetzal,
flower
goddess of passion.

Without
first burning
incense
at the temple
of blood.

Without
first speaking
of Huitziopchtli
and Quetzalcoatl,
gods of war,
wind,
and brilliant
feathers
on walls.

The goddesses
only honored,
and the women
beyond
the temple
dismissed.

Thursday Trailer Back! Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

2010-09-15T19:44:00.005-05:00

Wow...so hard to keep up with a blog. As you know I have my more active weeks and my more down weeks when it comes to reviewing books and putting up posts on YA literature. This has definitely been a down period for me, but I'm still moving forward. I just have to tell myself that I love this blog more than anyone out there and I'm its number one fan. If I do it for me and for others who actually care to read what I have to say, then that is spectacular. Plus, I do know I have some loyal readers who have crazy lives like me. I can't blog all day, everyday just as you can't read all the blogs you follow all day, everyday.

On to this weeks Thursday Trailer:

Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

Don't you just love this author? She is not afraid to "go there" as my thesis director for graduate school says. Where is "there"? It's where you don't want to go. But the more you "go there" then the more provocative, the more edgy, the more relevant your writing. I don't mean provocative as is sultry and sensuous, but provocative in the sense that what you write gets people thinking about things they otherwise wouldn't think about or would rather not think about.

My favorite Hopkin's book though is Burned, and it is actually a book I am using as a reference for some of the work I have to do this year to finish my thesis writing project for graduation.

But as for Fallout, it is the end to a series many teens really enjoy--Crank and Glass.

From Simon and Schuster website:

Hunter, Autumn, and Summer—three of Kristina Snow's five children—live in different homes, with different guardians and different last names. They share only a predisposition for addiction and a host of troubled feelings toward the mother who barely knows them, a mother who has been riding with the monster, crank, for twenty years.

Told in three voices and punctuated by news articles chronicling the family's story, FALLOUT is the stunning conclusion to the trilogy begun by CRANK and GLASS, and a testament to the harsh reality that addiction is never just one person's problem.

FALLOUT is the stunning conclusion to the trilogy begun by CRANK and GLASS. Learn more about this author here: http://www.ellenhopkins.com/
Learn more about this book here: http://tinyurl.com/y2wuxuw YA

YA Wire...The Help Coming Soon

2010-09-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

THE HELP – OFFICIAL MOVIE SYNOPSIS

Based on the novel by: Kathryn Stockett (The Help--Adult/YA crossover novel)

by DREAMWORKS STUDIOS
Website and Mobile site: DreamWorksStudios.comLike us on Facebook: Facebook.com/TheHelpCommunity
Follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/HelpCommunity
Genre: Drama

U.S. Release date: 2011

Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, “The Help” stars Emma Stone (star of the breakout hit, “Zombieland”) as Skeeter, a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends’ lives—and a small Mississippi town—upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families.

Academy Award® nominee Viola Davis (“Eat Pray Love”) stars as Aibileen, Skeeter’s best friend’s housekeeper, who is the first to open up—to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community.

Despite Skeeter’s life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories—and as it turns out, they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges, but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly—and unwillingly—caught up in the changing times.

Based on one of the most talked about books in years and a #1 New York Times best-selling novel, “The Help” is a provocative and inspiring look at what happens when a southern town’s unspoken code of rules and behavior is shattered by three courageous women who strike up an unlikely friendship.

YA Wire...Back to School Reading

2010-08-27T21:23:00.001-05:00

So it's back to school and there's a whole library waiting for the first books of the year to be checked...a dream come true because everything you wanted to check out last and couldn't (they always seemed to be checked out) are actually on the shelves! Get out there and start depleting the shelves of great books you have to read!

Well, at the top of your list should be Mockinjay by Suzanne Collins. Hopefully your library is up-to-date enough with this definite best seller.

But here some spectacular books dealing with school in one way or another:

Looking for Alaska and Jellico Road are both built around a boarding school...

Looking for Alaska by John GreenMiles Halter is fascinated by famous last words–and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps. (from author's website)

Jellico Road by Melina Marchetta

"What do you want from me?" he asks. What I want from every person in my life, I want to tell him. More.

Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham, now seventeen, is finally being confronted with her past. But as the reluctant leader of her boarding school dorm, there isn't a lot of time for introspection. And while Hannah, the closest adult Taylor has to family, has disappeared, Jonah Griggs is back in town, moody stares and all.(from Harper Teen website)

Of course, there are those books that deal with typical high school experience as well.

Books like Geek Magnet by Kieren ScottEveryone loves KJ Miller, especially the geeks. She's pretty, smart, and super nice to everyone, which has made her the geek pied piper of Washington High. If only Cameron, the star of the basketball team, would follow her around and worship her the way her dorky entourage does.
As the stage manager of the spring musical, Grease, KJ has to deal with a few geeks, but she also gets to hang out with Tama, queen of the popular crowd and star of the play. Tama has the solution to all of KJ's problems: get cruel. After all, the nice girl never gets the guy. Can KJ actually pull off a transformation into a mean girl?(from Fantastic Fiction website)
My Mini-Review on Geek Magnet RIGHT HERE!!!!

When it Happens by Susane ColasantiAt the start of senior year, Sara wants two things: to get into her first-choice college and to find true love. Tobey also wants two things: to win Battle of the Bands and to make Sara fall in love with him.

Dave, the boy Sara was hoping would realize she exists, moves in on Sara first. But Tobey is impossible for Sara to ignore. He gets the little things that matter to her and, most importantly, he feels like something real. Can a slacker rock star wannabe win the heart of a pretty class brain like Sara? (from author's website)
ENJOY SOME READING THIS WEEKEND!!!!!

My Thoughts on the Blank Page Zone...and My Illusive Novels

2010-08-18T19:27:00.011-05:00

This morning at about 5: 45 AM I was laying in bed trying to get back to sleep while my husband was out taking a early run. I figured I had another good hour of possible sleep before I really, really had to get moving for work. But my mind was on writing, and I promise I had like the entire opening paragraph to one of the many, many novel ideas I have...yes, I know...the illusive novels I always say I'm gonna write.

Anyways...it starts like this:
Some say I destroyed an entire civilization.And it ends with:I've loved two. One for politics. One for desire. Both betrayed for the same reasons, and now neither rules my heart.

The northern gate to my homeland is closed. I live in death. Not the physical, but the one where the spirit sleeps and no one knows me.
And the middle?
It's somewhere in the abyss of my half awake-half asleep brain. Ugh! For the life of me I can't remember all the eloquent prose Sofia spoke to me.

Who is Sofia anyway...for those of you actually read my posts, you may remember some mother-long historical epic screenplay I wrote once for a graduate class. That's where she's from, but after about a year break from Sofia and her two men (Masinissa and Safix) and the ruin of Carthage at the hands of Rome, I think I am ready to revisit the whole thing. But I want to get the whole re-hashing of actual history (because Sofia/Sophonisba and Masinissa and Safix are real people dating back to ancient Carthage) out of the, and create some other world with other names and make this whole thing a fantasy/ maybe steam-punk novel. At least I have all the dialogue...I just have to make paragraphs now...

Anyways, back to the topic.

Why do brilliant ideas come to you when you don't have a paper and pen? And why is that when I have paper and pen or a laptop that my brain is sometimes zapped into the dreaded blank page zone? What's the solution to zapped brain? Well, I know the answer is writing and it really does work.

Here is an article I found on the Genreality website talking about the exact same thing. You can read most of it here, but I did cut out some parts for length:

From Genreality websiteBlank Pages and Open Roads
I always think of ideas in the shower...

But I also get ideas while driving my car...

I really think it comes down to this: In the shower and in the car are two places where I don’t have a pencil and paper.

Yeah, it’s Murphy’s Law. But I also think that there’s no pressure in the shower or the car. No performance anxiety, because you don’t have a pen or a computer. You just have your brain and time on your hands.

Sometimes when I sit at the computer, confronted with a blank screen, my mind goes blank. Whatever idea I had in the car on the way home from Starbucks vanishes. Or the whole scene I envisioned dwindles to two uninspired sentences...

The best response to this is not to go open a bag of Doritos and watch a couple of episodes of Supernatural for “inspiration.” It’s to do what I always told my acting students when we’d be doing an improvisation class, and, confronted with a blank stage and no script (and an audience of their peers), they would lament: “But I don’t know what to say!”

Just start talking. Or in the case of writing, just start typing. Anything. Nonsense, a laundry list, what you had for breakfast...

Sometimes, you just have to fill the space so you’re not looking at a blank page. Momentum helps, too.

And it’s all a lot safer than bringing your laptop into the shower.Back to me:

Sometime this past May, I was on a writing roll. I journaled everyday for two weeks on a legal pad during my teaching conference hour at work. Everything was not brilliant or even good, but after writing for ten minutes straight I'd get into a pretty good writing high and then dish out some very nice paragraphs on whatever fiction piece I was working on for school or for my illusive novels. It's kind of ironic that when your brain and pencil don't connect to write anything decent, that just writing about anything and getting your hand moving and possible writing crappy stuff will get you to write better stuff.

Now do the ideas and sentences that you had in the shower or car or middle of the night come back to you after a blank-page zone? In my experience no. But you will get something and it might even be better than what you had before. That's how I came up with the very last lines I wrote above from Sofia's point of view: The northern gate to my homeland is closed. I live in death. Not the physical, but the one where the spirit sleeps and no one knows me.

But I don't have the middle yet...

And maybe all that Sofia says makes for a better ending to her novel rather than a beginning as my sleepy brain told me early this morning.

Thursday Trailer...So Punk Rock (And Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother)

2010-08-12T08:00:00.002-05:00

It's comics, it's story...it's graphic novel! I love a good graphic novel every once in a while as I've mentioned before. Took a graduate course in the graphic novel and wrote a 20+ page research paper on one too. But I'm peculiar about the type of graphic novel I like to read. I enjoy one that is smart and funny--that makes a serious point without being serious--and that is character driven, meaning somebody drives the narrative and goes through some kind of journey. Something like So Punk Rock (And Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother) by Micol Ostow. Just the title itself is great.

Watch the book trailer below, and I know you'll want to read it. The Jewish high school setting is unique since we don't see it often in YA literature, and the illustrations by David Ostow enhance the pacing and character relationships.

Summary (from Micol Ostow website)

Despite his dreams of hipster rock glory, Ari Abramson's first-ever band, the Tribe, is more white bread than indie-cred. Comprised of four suburban teens from a wealthy Jewish day school, their Mötley Crüe is about as hardcore as SAT prep and scripture studies. But after a one-song gig at a friend's Bar Mitzvah -- a ska cover of Hava Nagila -- the Tribe's popularity erupts overnight. Now, Ari is forced to navigate a minefield of inflated egos, overbearing parents, misplaced romance, and the shallowness of indie-rock elitism. It's a hard lesson in the complex art of playing it cool. Loaded with sarcasm and delicious pop culture condescension (not to mention David Ostow's too-cool-for-school cartooning work), So Punk Rock is the VH1 Behind the Music story of an epic Jewish band that never was. If it got any more kosher, it'd be totally traif.

Manic Monday Mini-Review...Sleepless...in Texas

2010-08-09T16:34:00.003-05:00

Sleepless by Cyn Balog

This book seems right up my alley...intriguing premise, romance, and the idea of sleep as a sort of seduction. I think I know what that means because sometimes the best feeling in the world (and worst at the same time) is the moment right when you can't stay awake any longer and all your brain wants to do is shut off. Happens to me everytime after watching mindless television for a couple of hours late at night or right at about 2:30 in the afternoon if I happen to be at home and in bed. Hmmm...maybe I should be writing instead of sleeping? Not to worry, my final year of grad school is starting up and I'm gonna have too much writing to do.

As for the sleep seduction...interesting concept, even more so though, is the idea of humanizing Mr. Sandman. I don't think there has been any other story where the metaphorical Sandman is an an actual character. Maybe I should do the same to the Man on the Moon.

I just really, really hope the writing is up to par. I've never read anything by this author, but based on an excerpt I found online...so far the narrative delivers way better than some books I have read lately. I've been bored with all I've bean reading and my laptop is out of commission...all this means less time spent on my blog. But getting back in the game today!

Summary (from authors website)

De Marchelle isn’t supposed to feel a connection. He is a Sandman, a supernatural being whose purpose is to seduce human charges to sleep. While he can communicate with his charges in their dreams, he isn’t encouraged to–after all, getting too involved in one human’s life would prevent him helping his other charges get their needed rest.

But he can’t deny that he feels something for Julia. Julia, with her fiery red hair and her sad dreams. Just weeks ago, her boyfriend died in a car accident, and Eron can tell that she feels more alone than ever. Eron was human once too, many years ago, and he remembers how it felt to lose the one he loved. Eron has always felt protective of Julia . . . but now, when she seems to need him more than ever, he can’t seem to reach her . . .

Sandmen are forbidden from communicating with humans outside their dreams. But will Eron be willing to risk everything for a chance to be with the person he loves?

Totally YA Tuesday...Guest Author Post by Carmen Ferreiro-Estaban

2010-07-27T19:24:00.008-05:00

Wanted: Strong Female Protagonist
A few weeks ago I posted a lengthy review on Two Moon Princess...you can read it Here. Today I'd like to share the author's thoughts on the importance of strong female leads. Carmen Ferriero-Esteban identifies in some ways with Andrea, the heroine of her novel, and has made sure that Andrea is not the stereotypical girl waiting for her prince. In Two Moon Princess, Andrea is a princess living in a patriarchal society of kings and queens, but she is able to find a much greater degree of independence when she sets foot in a modern day California. But wherever she is, Andrea stays true to her non-lady like ways and still manages to find love.

A Spanish Princess.
An American Boy.
A King set on revenge.

An unrequited love
and a disturbing family secret
bring a World to the brink of War. (from Goodreads)

Here is Carmen:

Spunky heroines that speak their mind and get the boy while staying true to themselves--so common today in YA books and they did not exist when I was growing up.

Women back in the sixties and early seventies were encouraged to be meek and subservient to men, both in books and real life. Think the unnamed narrator in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca who lives only for her man.

The roles were clearly defined. Women did not speak up, have careers, or drive cars, while men did not shop, ,or do the dishes. Although repeatedly told this was how things were supposed to be, I refused to accept it. Yet, it was not easy to fight these assumptions since neither the culture, nor the books I turned to for advice offered an alternative. (See the 2009 Oscar nominee movie An Education for an accurate take on women's scarce choices in 1961 England).
The books I read in my early teens supported this bizarre status quo. In these books, men had adventures, while women were secondary characters at their service. Think Tom Sawyer where Becky Thatcher has a minor role as his crush, or, even worse, Peter Pan for whom Wendy was not even a girlfriend but a surrogate mother to the lost boys. Mary Poppins is sweet in the Disney movie, but in the books, she was as grumpy and short of mean to her charges. And the children's mother was portrayed as a terrible mother because instead of being home with them, she spent her time campaigning for womens' right to vote. Imagine that!

In the eighties, women entered the work force and the print world, and they found a men's world. In books, especially in fantasy settings, girls were often set to compete with men by hiding their identity and behaving like them. Tamora Pierces's The Lioness Quartet comes to mind. Although I prefer these characters to the meek girls of before, I cannot identify with them. Alana's magic gave her an edge, but in the real world a woman behaving like a man is bound either to fail or give up who she really is. In both cases she will lose. As Albert Einstein said: "If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

Women are not men. That doesn't mean they are inferior or less intelligent, as they told me as a child. Anybody that has ever spent an hour in a kindergarten class knows this. But the Ophelia syndrome is real (read synopsis here: Reviving Ophelia) and some girls hitting puberty still sabotage themselves in a misguided attempt to win their last crush's attention.

I think books with strong female protagonists help girls navigate these difficult years by giving them a role model they can imitate while remaining true to themselves.

Among my favorite YA novels that fit this premise are Lene Kaaberbol's The Shamer Chronicles and Cynthia Voigt's Novels of The Kingdom.

And, of course Two Moon Princess, the story of a strong willed Spanish girl who comes to California from her medieval world and likes the freedom she finds there. And that part is true to my life--the adventure/romantic story that follows, I made it up.

Guest Blogger...Sean McCartney, YA Author of The Treasure Hunters Club

2010-07-13T10:37:00.006-05:00

Author Sean McCartney on becoming a published author...

Athena's Two Cents:

Although I have not yet read this book, I am completely sure the entire series will be very appealing to middle school students. I know my 12 year old son will love this book since he is a huge fan of history and mystery and action--all things which Sean McCartney has put into this first book, The Secrets of the Magical Medallion. Of course, there is also the whole evil vs. good theme and how can anyone go wrong with that? Check out his website and book trailer HERE.

Brief Summary: (from author's website)

A Treasure Hunting Legend...

Four Ordinary Kids...

Two Magical Medallions...

Pursued By An Ancient Evil...

In One Extraordinary Adventure.

Join the Treasure Hunters Clubas they unlockThe Secrets of the Magical Medallions.

...Some Secrets Are Better Left Alone

The Road to Publication...Sean McCartney

My name is Sean McCartney and I am the author of the new young adult action adventure series entitled THE TREASURE HUNTERS CLUB: SECRETS OF THE MAGICAL MEDALLIONS which comes out July 6th and is available for preorder on my website www.treasurehuntersclubbook.com and Amazon.

My road to publication is probably like many others. I started getting serious about writing novels in 2001. I wrote my first, THE 65th TEAM in the summer of 2001 and sent it out waiting for all the offers to come in. The only thing that came through the mail was…

REJECTION! And lots of it.

I was stunned. Didn’t these publishers know that every word I put down was gold? That every thought must be perfect because I took the time? So I wrote another novel and another and the same thing kept happening.

REJECTION! What I didn’t understand at the time and after years of working on novels I I see now was that I did not respect the words, the sentences or the paragraphs. I left storylines hanging. I assumed the reader would get it. The truth was I didn’t get it.

A friend of mine pointed out something that Mark Twain said and I have used as my guideline for the rest of my novels. “The difference between the right word and the wrong word is like the difference between lightening and a lightening bug.”

With that idea in mind I wrote a fantasy novel called BLACK KNIGHT CHRONICLES: RISE OF EVIL and sent it out. I was able to land an agent with that book and we embarked on looking for a publisher.

My agent sent the manuscript to all the big time publishers and some took a look but nothing came of it. They seemed to like the idea but I was told the market was saturated with fantasy books about knights and dragons and another wasn’t needed.

This was frustrating because during this time I mapped out a five book series and even wrote the second book to BLAC KNIGHT CHRONICLES called SHADOW WARS.

Finally after eight years I decided to write something I would have found myself reading as a kid. I went back to my youth and remembered all the friends I had and what we liked to do and thus THE TREASURE HUNTERS CLUB was born.

I really liked it. Of course I liked the other ones too but I decided to take a new approach with sending the book out for publication. I only queried small publishers. No agent this time, just me.

The rejections still came but there was a different tone to what came back. The publishers liked the ideas and read some of the story but with the economy tanking at the time they didn’t feel they could do TREASURE HUNTERS CLUB justice.

They say when you win the lottery it only takes one time to play. When I received the email from Mountianland Publishing wanting to publish my book I felt like I’d won the lottery.

It happened on July 17th, 2009 and for the next year I went through the ups and downs of working with a small, relatively new publisher to get to this point: My book’s release on July 6th, 2010.

Now the story turns to promotion and getting the word out, but that is for another time.

I would encourage, because begging is undignified, to get yourself a copy of THE TREASURE HUNTERS CLUB: SECRETS OF THE MAGICAL MEDALLIONS and kick back and enjoy a fun, fast paced and exciting adventure.

Thanks again for the opportunity and I hope to hear from all of you.

Sean

Thursday Trailer...Dreaming Anastasia

2010-07-08T08:30:00.003-05:00

Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Can't wait until I get my hands on this! It seems to have it all...suspense, intrigue, weird and unknown stuff, possible and impossible love story, and a re-imagining of Anastasia's story.

Don't you think the book cover is just so mesmerizing and beautiful.? I am a sucker for judging and choosing books by their cover. This one does it for me. (By the way, I've only been dissappointed a handful of times when I choose books based merely on cover art and the summary within the jacket flap.)

Summary:

What really happened to Anastasia Romanov?

Anastasia Romanov thought she would never feel more alone than when the gunfire started and her family began to fall around her. Surely the bullets would come for her next. But they didn't. Instead, two gnarled old hands reached for her. When she wakes up she discovers that she is in the ancient hut of the witch Baba Yaga, and that some things are worse than being dead.

In modern-day Chicago, Anne doesn't know much about Russian history. She is more concerned about getting into a good college—until the dreams start. She is somewhere else. She is someone else. And she is sharing a small room with a very old woman. The vivid dreams startle her, but not until a handsome stranger offers to explain them does she realize her life is going to change forever. She is the only one who can save Anastasia. But, Anastasia is having her own dreams… (http://www.sourcebooks.com/)

Manic Monday Mini-Review...Flash Burnout

2010-07-05T12:17:00.006-05:00

Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan

I read this a couple weeks ago along with about 4 other titles. I've heard it said you really need to read the kind of stuff you want to write and you need to read a lot of it. I qualilfy. I've lost track, but I think I have read about 300 YA books since I began this writing quest of mine two and a half years ago. Would I like to write something like Flash Burnout? You bet.

What is the number one thing I like about this book? The male point of view. I am just drawn to the male voice in any novel. I read in the author's website that Blake, the main character of her story, would not leave her alone. She had his voice inside of her and at times felt as if she was transcribing his story. Yes, the author is a she. And her Blake is so real. I hope my male characters are that real. I will have to give you all a sample of Cass soon (Cass is my main character in one of the novels I am writing.)

Summary

Fifteen-year-old Blake has a girlfriend and a friend who’s a girl. One of them loves him, the other one needs him.

When he snapped a picture of a street person for his photography homework, Blake never dreamed that the woman in the photo was his friend Marissa’s long-lost meth addicted mom. Blake’s participation in the ensuing drama opens up a world of trouble, both for him and for Marissa. He spends the next few months trying to reconcile the conflicting roles of Boyfriend and Friend. His experiences range from the comic (surviving his dad’s birth control talk) to the tragic (a harrowing after-hours visit to the morgue).

In a tangle of life and death, love and loyalty, Blake will emerge with a more sharply defined snapshot of himself.

Another Summary

Telephoto lens. Zoom. In a shutter release millisecond, Blake's world turns upside down.

The nameless woman with the snake tattoo is not just another assignment. "That's my mom!" gasps Marissa.

Saturated self-portrait: Blake, nice guy, class clown, always trying to get a laugh, not sure where to focus.

Contrast. Shannon, Blake's GF. Total. Babe.

Marissa, just a friend and fellow photographer.

Shannon loves him; Marissa needs him. How is he supposed to frame them both in one shot?

YA Wire...Two Moon Princess...in a Parallel Universe

2010-06-25T15:00:00.004-05:00

Out new this month in paperback is Two Moon Princess by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban. A hardcover version of the book was graciously sent to me by the author this past spring, and I promised a review of her novel for the same month as the release of the paperback.

One of the things I really enjoy about the book is the fact that the world of Xaren-Ra is a reverse set-up of the parallel universe readers are used to seeing. What I'm saying is that most fantasy books dealing with an alternate world have characters who live on Earth and who find themselves in another realm different than the one they know in their everyday life. But to Andrea, the heroine of Two Moon Princess, her world is her own world--the one she knows, breathes, and lives consciously everyday. But along the sea, along the Cove of the Dead, an arch stands as a portal to another world. When she passes through the arch, a contemporary California is a parallel universe to Xaren-Ra . Hence, the title Two Moon Princess. Of course, the two moons are also in reference to the copper moon, Lua, and the golden moon, Athos, of her home world. The portal only opens at full moon in both worlds, so leaving and going occurs in cycles, matching the different periods and changes in Andrea's life.

Xaren-Ra is a medievel world ruled by kingdoms, swords, and chivalry. It's a place of queens, princesses, and fair maidens. But just as is most medieval societies, the more important places in society are reserved for the kings, knights, and men in general. The only role Andrea has in her future is of princess-to-be-married. She is to be a lady in full gowns who sews and does "a lot of curtseying and smiling" while under the authority of men. It seems all women in Xaren-Ra fulfill these roles and know their place as women. I understand that if you are raised in a culture of patriarchy where gender roles are well-defined, then as a woman you will probably be accepting of the situation and probably also be happy and fulfilled in your given station in life. But, I can't understand why Andrea's mother, who came to Xaren-Ra from California is willing to live in this type of society. To Andrea, she seems distant as a mother and only concerned with upholding all of her daughters' lady-like behavior. However, her mother does show strength and calm reserve in several scenes and her love for Andrea is apparent in some of her actions.

As for Andrea, her desire is to be a knight with a bow and arrow as extensions of her forearms, hands, and fingers. She is not interested in romance or flowers or long-winded speeches of love, but rather in winning the Golden Arrow at the Games and standing by her father's side with the same strength and courage as the men who serve him and his kingdom. To Andrea's dismay, ladyship is the only thing she can aspire to. Unless she makes her life in California.

California has UC Davis where she enrolls for the fall semester with the help of her uncle who is a professor and who splits his life between Xaren-Ra and California. Her uncle teaches her what she needs to know to blend in and allows her the independence she has always craved. And then there is John, a good-looking graduate student that makes her heart skip a beat. Andrea knows she can't stay at Davis forever, but it feels like home to her already, especially since she knows what her life will be like in Xaren-Ra. Her uncle warns her no one must know of Xaren-Ra because history has shown men to be ruthless when it comes to taking over new worlds. He explains how Xaren-Ra came to be after a king from Spain fled from Arabian invaders and then escaped through a portal leading to Xaren-Ra. The Arabian invaders then ruled in Spain for several centuries until the Spanish reclaimed their land. Her uncle then takes Andrea to visit the remaining Californian missions built by the Spaniards. He gives Andrea a brief history lesson of the Spanish drive for conquest, resulting in the destruction of Aztec culture in present day Mexico and the destruction of missions and Native Americans in California by the sword and disease. That was my little history lesson from the day...thanks to Two Moon Princess.

As you know, my reading heart loves any sort of romance in a novel. I've already told you about John--he becomes Don Juan when he finds himself in Xaren-Ra (which is funny if you know that the name Don Juan implies someone who is quite free with his emotions towards women.) But there is also Don Alfonso de Alvar, brother to King Don Julian de Alvar. Both of these are from an enemy kingdom and both of them seem pretty arrogant. For instance Don Alfonso refers to himself as a "master in all the intricacies of courtship." But he may or may not be her guy.
The same is true for Don Julian and Don Juan. Andrea makes a funny comment after bringing John/Don Juan to Xaren-Ra--at this point she is still heavily crushing on him, and he has yet to make a move: "What was wrong with him? Mount Pindo was as magical a place as you could find in my world. And I, well, I was a princess. What more did he want?" Hmmm...now she's not so adamant about not being a princess, is she? What's funnier is that Don Juan is just like the stereotypical guy who can't take a hint or fall in love with a girl when the girl and everything around him couldn't be any better.

So, who is Andrea's guy? She doesn't know and we won't know until the end, which is another thing I like about Two Moon Princess. The author does an excellent job of throwing in lines that seem to indicate any of these young men might have romanitic inclinations for Andrea. She also throws in all of Andrea's beautiful sisters into the mix. Each sister is fully able to easily attract any young man, including all the Don's I just mentioned.
Shall I be honest? Here is the truth--I liked this book more than--do I dare say it? More than Graceling by Kristen Cashore. Once Katsa got her guy like halfway through the 400+ page novel, the magic was gone for me. Why keep reading?
Two Moon Princess has fatansy, action, romance, a strong-willed girl who kicks butt with her bow and arrow, and an arrogant and equally strong-willed boy who manages to open his heart to Andrea. Who does not want to read this? And if you go to the author's blog, you will definitely want to read it even more.
I visited the author's blog, espressolattemocha, and I love everything on there. She has a post about how many adults wish her great success with her novel, but are unwilling to read Two Moon Princess because it is marketed as a YA book. Well, I'm 36 and I like this book. Her words really resonate with me when she writes,

"There are several reasons that determine whether a book is considered young adult or adult reading. The age of the protagonist, the theme of the book, a requirement for, if not a happy ending, at least some hope at the end are some of these reasons. The quality of the writing and/or strength of the story is not."
I totally agree with her, and I have seen the same kind of snobbery toward YA books from some adults.
On another post, she writes how she was unhappy with the hardcover bookjacket for Two Moon Princess because it looked too middle-schoolish. Totally agree there! The book jacket made me not want to read it, but I just took it off and looked instead at the paperback cover image sent to me with the book. The new image completely speaks...MUST READ!
Excerpt:
“The arrow knows the way. Just let it free.”
Burnt into my memory by endless repetition, the words
came to my mind unbidden, with the soothing rhythm of a
familiar song. But somehow this time, they were not just
words: A tingling feeling ran through my fingers, and the bow
became an extension of myself. I could feel the trembling of
the string and the cold of the metal at the tip of the arrow as I
felt the tension in my muscles and the pounding of my heart.
Then the arrow took flight. Like a falcon aiming at its
prey, it went straight to the target drawn on the trunk of the
distant oak. In the complete silence of the wait, I heard the
vibration in the air and the thump of the tree hurting as it was
hit in the center of the bull’s eye.

City of Bones and My Own YA Writing

2010-06-16T09:00:00.004-05:00

Hello, folks...I'm back after a week of no posts. You would think I'd have more time since it's summer and all, but I've been super busy getting my on-line summer school course going for my students. And in between that, I've been doing family things like going to the movies and little league games. I've already seen The Karate Kid and Shrek Forever. Next, it'll be Marmaduke and Toy Story. Hmmm...see a pattern? After that, it'll be Eclipse for sure. Want to see Avatar-Next Airbender also. At home it's all about True Blood (which is definetly not for young people)and Pretty Little Liars which I just got into. Then there's all the movies I watch on HBO, STARZ, Showtime...I'm a Moving Picture Junkie.

But what have I read? Only one thing since summer started...City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I know, I know...you're probably thinking "Where have you been, Girl?" Well, it's always checked out at my school library. Finally got a hold of it and I read it like a maniac. Very intriguing plot. I was all like "Why didn't I think of all that?" Why? Because the whole premise of demons and underworlders and shadowhunters and angelic powers...about forces of evil and good living among the oridinary human world is what's been in my head since this past Decemeber! So, after reading the first few chapters of City of Bones, I can truly say my heart hurt. It was one of those down days for me as a writer. I put the book down because I didn't want it to influence the world of my novel. Yes, it's another one of my illusive novels...but I do have about 5,000 words. One day, it will be finished. Then I decided I should just keep reading it since I am at a writing standstill anyway. Well, I'm glad I did.

For you guys living under a rock like me...here is the basic summary...

This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . . (from Simon and Shuster Site)

As for my novel, one of the reasons I'm at a standstill is because I don't know where I want to go with my novel. I have spectacular main characters with internal confllict and a great story premise, but I am missing what I call plotting. See, I write character driven pieces and in doing that I sometimes overlook those things that label books or movies as "high-concept," meaning polish and gloss and intrigue (I like that word...intrigue...) that goes into keeping the audience hooked...usually called the rising action...usually comes to a close at the climax.

I know what my emotional climax is and what is going to happen and what my main character Cassiel will choose, but I am missing that crucial situation underneath...what I call the physical climax...to serve as the basis for this big thing Cassiel is dealing with internally that will have eternal consequences for him. I am missing the ultimate battle where Cassiel does what needs to do! That's what City of Bones showed me. That's what I already knew somewhere in my head but creative writing courses that focus on literary writing with character driven stories just zapped it out of me for a while.

Ok...so this summer I am finishing Honey Brown Chicas. It's more of a pre-teen chapter book. I've written the beginning and have a complete outline for the rest which is something I don't have for any other novel I have begun writing.

Next...I will finish Eternal Dance (that's just my working title for now). It's my creative writing thesis project for school (a novel in verse/poetry) and must be done and finished by about next February.

Then...I will finally have time to get to this one that I'm talking about going with my guy, Cassiel. My working title is Shadow of Light (for now).

Excerpt (this is a sort of diary entry/love letter written by my other main character who we will call Zaida for now...written to Cassiel)

You told me yesterday I can’t have you. You are Mercury and I am Venus. Two bodies who can’t meet though we have a similar orbit. Your wings fly faster and to places I can't go. You’re red. I’m aquamarine. The stars call you further away from me. But, I see your voice speaking in silver, firing sparks of…love? Desire? Longing? All mixed together with no separators. Though you say we are worlds apart, I don’t see it. The same celestial bodies hang overhead, shining a thousand beams. I will not let you go. I will only pretend.

I think I’ll put this in your locker tomorrow. Slip it in before the end of 2nd period when everybody is still focused enough to be in class instead of out on restroom break and water break and just plain hallway break, all waiting for lunch break and warm backpack sandwiches with friends under a cool sun in November.

Oh, but I forgot. You are out saving the world.

I’ll tape it to your wings while you sleep.

I am the stealth girl in the onxy turtleneck, eyelids purple and smoke with shadow and mascara.

After Twilight...Carrie Ryan

2010-06-07T13:15:00.006-05:00

Ok, I know there's a bunch of you out there going Twilight crazy right now with the latest blockbuster, Eclipse, coming out at the end of the month.

Did you guys know the Twilight series is one of the reason I started this long journey in writing? I had been away from books so long for several reasons...I'm the kind of reader who can't put a book down, and therefore, ruining my time for everything else. Also, whatever adult fiction I read (because I figured I had to read adult stuff) just seemed too R-rated. But then...

my Island of Misfits (weird, goth-like, crazy for vampire and come-back-from-the-dead book loving girls/students who sat away from all my other students) introduced me to lots of vampire reads, many of which I did not read because it wasn't my cup of Sprite. But, they told me Twilight was the one book I should read and they guaranteed I would love it because it wasn't hard core scary and perverse. Twilight was like the one commonality between these weird, smart girls with cat ear headbands and the typical female students wearing regular clothe. I mean I heard vampires and I thought Anne Rice. Then I read the back cover of Twilight...I was hooked...

About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was part of him — and I didn’t know how potent that part might be — that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

After that, I went Twilight crazy, well, maybe not as crazy as those Twilight Moms. Stephenie Meyer has been an inspiration because she did not consider herself a writer and then just had this phenomenal dream with characters to match and the rest is history. She was just a 30-something mom like me.

But I'm not so Twilight crazy anymore...don't get me wrong because these books will always remain on my top 10 list of books. But i am YA crazy.

So what else is out there that I now think is better than Twilight? Number 1 is The Forrest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead Tossed Waves. They are spectacular and so well written. It's like everything you don't want happening to characters mixed in with high suspense, zombies, and romance. And no, there is no love story with the zombies...zombies can never compare wiht the suave beauty of vampires. Though zombies are at the core of each story, the stories are really a love stories. Love stories of relationships that might have been, of passion, of love in life and after death, and connections between humanity. I give Carrie Ryan's books 5 stars and Stephenie Meyer's 4. Sorry, all you Twilighters. Just know I acknowledge that if it had not been for Twilight, Carry Ryan may never have written her books and become so successful.

So what do I recommend after Twilight?

-luv Midnight Sun...basically Twilight, but from Edwards point of view...a very yummy book.
-luv The Host...basically the Twilight love triange, but with a sci-fi edge...some people dislike the slow start, but after you get past the first 1/3 of it, all I can say is wow.
-luv A Certain Slant of Light...souls falling in love
-luv Chasing Brooklyn...falling in love with your dead boyfriend's brother and all in poetry
-luv If I Stay...beginning is sort of generic dialogue, but the rest is great with a girl on the edge of death
-luv Breathe...the sea and magic and a maybe love affair and spectacular writing
-luv The Forest of Hands and Teeth!
-luv The Dead Tossed Waves!

If I had to recommend only one to start your Twilight detachment process, I would say Midnight Sun just to get it all out of your system. If you already ready did that (as you probably have if you are a Twilight fan), then just go straigth to The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Plus, movie rights have already been sold.

READ THE FORREST OF HANDS AND TEETH...IT WILL NOT DISAPPOINT!

Great news...The Dark and Hollow Places coming in Spring 2011!

Here is another great book trailer for The Forrest of Hands and Teeth (I've already posted one before.

Thursday Trailer...The Iron King

2010-06-03T09:00:00.001-05:00

The Iron Fey Series by Julie Kagawa

The Iron King

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny—one she could never have imagined...

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school... or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth—that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Browse this book

Add to your site

Buy this book

Next in the series?

The Iron Daughter

and

The Iron Queen

Totally YA Tuesday...American Born Chinese...Finds His Place

2010-06-01T09:00:00.001-05:00

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

From the author:

I started American Born Chinese about five years into my comics career. (Though at the time, it was really more of a vocation since I wasn't making any money at it.) Up 'til then, I'd done a couple of stories with Asian-American protagonists, but I never dealt with the Asian-American experience head-on. Since my own ethnic heritage is such an important part of how I understand myself, I knew I wanted to. I came up with three ideas and couldn't decide which one was the best. American Born Chinese is me doing all three at once.

What are these 3 stories? The first is about how Jin, an ABC (American-born Chinese), faces bullying and ridicule when he moves to a mostly white, suburban elementary school. The only friend he has is another kid from Taiwan who is fresh-off-the-boat and confirms what Jin believes other people think about anybody like him and his friend. Jin even admits there was something about his friend Wei-Chen that made him want to beat him up. What finally binds them together is their mutual affection for Transformers. As a teenagar, Jin faces identity issues and tries to be more like a white kid in order to win the heart of Amelia, a blond girl he seriously likes.

The second story is the myth of the Monkey King who is ridculed at a heavenly dinner for a lack of shoes, but really he is not accepted among the other gods since he is merely a monkey. He then makes it his goal to be rid of his monkey smell and identity.

The third story is about a popular kid named Dannt who looks white but who has some Chinese ethnicity. This truth comes out when his cousin, Chin Kee, visits. Chin Kee is a complete stereotype of everything Chinese bringing complete embarrassment to Danny. Interstingly, Danny represents a part of Jin while Chin Kee is a manifestation of the Monkey King. Even Wei-Chen has ties to the Monkey King.

What I love the most about American Born Chinese is how the author, Gene Luen Yang combines all these characters and stories to create one graphic novel. Everything blends together to create a story of self-acceptance.

Look, I've been there...the whole low self-esteem and peer ridicule thing, and I can say I was like Jin in that I just shyed away from people and tried to keep a low profile. I didn't fight back. I know other kids who did the opposite and used aggression just like the Monkey King who slaughtered everybody at the dinner party. Still others dealt with it by overcompensating or masking their insecurities and others tried to fit in with their outer appearance. I don't know that any of them work to make you feel better because I did some form of all those options at some point in my life (well, except the fighting). But what does work? Self-acceptance. And that's a long, hard road. But as this graphic novel shows, we are prisoners to our own perception of our selves. There this theory in Sociology called the-looking-glass-self. Basically, it states we create a perception of ourselves based on the perception we believe other people have about us...ok...read this statement again and process.

Get it? The way people react to us, the words they say--they all leave an imprint on us, and if what we see and hear from others is negative, then we start seeing and hearing negativity from everybody even when they aren't dishing it out. We see ourselves as we think others see us. We're talking deep stuff here and it's the kind of stuff kids and teens deal with on a daily basis.

Ok enough with the sociological anaylsis...

Self-acceptance is the key. Jin learns this, Danny learns this, and the Monkey King learns this.

And the novel is hilarious! For instance, remember Wei-Chen? Jin's nerdy Taiwanese friend? He transforms into an ultra-cool gangster type, the kind you see on that movie--Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift.

And the last picture of the entire graphic novel? Both friends wearing Yao Ming basketball jersies. Awesome!

Manic Monday Mini-Review

2010-05-31T15:12:00.005-05:00

Romeo: [They kiss] Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.

Juliet: Then have my lips the sin that they have took?

Romeo: Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.

Juliet: [they kiss again] You kiss by the book.

Ok...I'm an English teacher at heart and these are some of my favorite lines from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Aren't they so romantic and sensual?

And who does not love the words of the Great Bard and the romantic story-line of Romeo and Juliet. Notice I left out the whole tragedy thing...

The Juliet Club by Suzane Harper

This book goes great with all the Juliet hype of the last year from Taylor Swift's song, Love Story, to the movie that's out right now, Letters to Juliet, which also includes a sub-plot reference to the real Juliet Club.

The Juliet Club--Book Summary

Italy . . . Shakespeare . . . but no romance?

Kate Sanderson inherited her good sense from her mother, a disciplined law professor, and her admiration for the Bard from her father, a passionate Shakespeare scholar. When she gets dumped, out of the blue, for the Practically Perfect Ashley Lawson, she vows never to fall in love again. From now on she will control her own destiny, and every decision she makes will be highly reasoned and rational. She thinks Shakespeare would have approved.
So when she is accepted to a summer Shakespeare symposium in Verona, Italy, Kate sees it as the ideal way to get over her heartbreak once and for all. She'll lose herself in her studies, explore ancient architecture, and eat plenty of pasta and gelato. (Plus, she'll be getting college credit for it—another goal accomplished!) But can even completely logical Kate resist the romance of living in a beautiful villa in the city where those star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet met and died for each other? Especially when the other Shakespeare Scholars—in particular Giacomo, with his tousled brown hair, expressive dark eyes, and charming ways—try hard to break her protective shell?

"In fair Verona, where we lay our scene . . . "

Fortunately, Kate and Giacomo do not fall prey to the twisted, dark end of Romeo and Juliet..."These violent delights have violent ends/ And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,/ Which as they kiss consume."

All in all, it was a fun, entertaining read. Not too deep, but what I really respect about the novel is how the whole thing is in 3rd person point of view. This, folks, is difficult to do. This means giving the perspective of every single character in the book without narrating in their voices. Much easier said than done...I give props to Suzanne Harper because if it were me, I would have just used first person point of view and told it all from only one character's perspective.

Thursday Trailer...Get Ready for SEA

2010-05-27T09:00:00.002-05:00

Have I already posted this trailer? I'm not sure, but I love it and this trailer is perfect for getting summer ready! I can't wait to actually read it, especially since Heidi is one of my friends on facebook! Can't wait until people have friend requests for me just because I'm a writer...

Summary (from Goodreads)

Haunted by recurring nightmares since her mother’s disappearance over the Indian ocean three years before, fifteen-year old California girl Sienna Jones reluctantly travels with her psychiatrist father’s volunteer team to six-months post-tsunami Indonesia where she meets the scarred and soulful orphaned boy, Deni, who is more like Sea than anyone she has ever met.

She knows they can’t be together, so why can’t she stay away from him? And what about her old best friend-turned-suddenly-hot Spider who may or may not be waiting for her back home? And why won’t her dad tell her the truth about her mother’s plane crash? The farther she gets from home, the closer she comes to finding answers.

And Sea’s real adventure begins.

Mid-Week Reads...Throwing Like a Girl

2010-05-26T08:09:00.003-05:00

Ever been told you play like a girl? Usually it serves as an insult unless you are a girl and play ball like a real girl who holds her own just fine on a field...maybe even better than the rest.

Throwing Like A Girl by Weezie Kerr Mackey follows the story a girl who moves from Chicago to Dallas and realizes there is more to Texas than cowboys. There is softball, new softball friends, a bedroom to herself, and a marriage project in her behavioral science class...she is lucky enough to be paired up with a really cute senior.

But like any ball game, life has its UPS and DOWNS. I love this about the book. Ella's got days when she's soaring on a softball high and days when she cries in her pillow from stress, from missing Chicago, from mean girls, from not knowing what to make of the very nice and very popular Nate. Ella is a good girl with a good head on her shoulders...she acts very mature for a 15 year old and manages to have a successful new year at a new school.

I also love how the book is divided into preseason, regular season, and championship and that the author is a sports girl herself. She even grew up in Chicago and coached in Dallas.

Best line:

Losing sucks.

Can't say it any better. And the best feeling has to be winning...

Summary:

No one asks Ella how she feels about moving halfway across the country in the middle of her sophomore year. But she ends up in Texas anyway, without plans for the weekend or friends to guide her through the campus of her new private school. So she decides to try out for the softball team—and she makes it! Now if only she knew how to throw, hit, and field the ball.

Ella wants to throw like a girl—a real girl.

This is the part you can’t read in a book. You just have to do it.

Ella has a lot to learn—on and off the field. Softball changes Ella’s life, for better and for worse. She discovers a confidence she never knew she had and makes new friends—and enemies. When Ella falls for her snotty teammate’s gorgeous brother, suddenly she isn’t just fielding balls, she’s also dodging evil glares from girls in class and on the team.

When life throws you a curve ball—learn how to hit it!

I love being on this bus with all these girls who play sports, even if Sally Fontineau, who

wants to ruin my life, is half a bus in front of me. It’s not like every girl is my best friend.

It’s just a thing I feel a part of. It makes everything different. -Ella

If Ella’s going to survive this year, she’ll have to set some ground rules and learn to stand up for herself—in the game and in her life.

Manic Monday Mini-Review...Mercy Thompson--Homecoming

2010-05-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

I kinda have a thing for graphic novels. I don't read them often, but I truly appreciate the form and I have loved most graphic novels I have read. And the art work...spectacular.

Here's one you might want to check out from Patricia Briggs, a New York Times bestselling author. Mercy Thompson-Homecoming is the graphic novel pre-quel to her urban fantasy book series of the shapeshifting, wolf-packing, Mercy Thompson. Novels in the series include Moon Called, Blood Bound, and Iron Kissed, and Bone Crossed.

Illustrated by Francis Tsai, whose clients have included Marvel Comics and Warner Brothers.

Summary (from Amazon)

Mercy Thompson is a walker, a magical being with the power to transform into a coyote. She lives on the fine line dividing the everyday world from a darker dimension, observing the supernatural community while standing apart.

When Mercy travels to the Tri-Cities of Washington for a job interview, she quickly finds herself smack-dab in the middle of a gang war between rival packs of werewolves. And as if fangs and fur weren't bad enough, Mercy must deal with the scariest creature of all: her mother, who is convinced that Mercy is making a mess of her life and determined to set her daughter on the right course.

The thrilling adventures of Mercy Thompson-Moon Called, Blood Bound, and Iron Kissed-have topped the New York Times bestseller list. Now Mercy makes her comics debut in an exclusive new story created by Patricia Briggs. Mercy Thompson: Homecoming is sure to please longtime fans and capture new ones with its mix of unforgettable characters and thrilling supernatural intrigue.

So, why does she have a wrench...cus she's a welder! Talk about Girl Power!

Sundays are for Blogging

2010-05-23T08:00:00.002-05:00

Hello folks...I haven't done one of these in a long time. There's one thing on my mind today and that is poetry. I adore poetry.

My mind works in poetry
in words of stream, water clovers, and Texas dragonflies under rocks flying above ground.

My mind works in symmetry of line, beautiful geometry, of art and poet speak.

My mind works in teal mixed with brown on sand dunes broken by plastic cups, red, spilling unknown words from the last page of a thesarus.

Zephr on a
Zone of palm trees in
Zion with Latinos
on the beach.

Took me about 30 minutes to write this.

But...What does it all mean? I don't know because poetry is more about image and feeling than meaning. Go against all that poetry analyis you do or used to do in boring English classes. Get to the soul of a poem. That is true poetry dissection. Ask any poet.

Here is a poem I love...just read it recently.

From Gary Soto's poetry collection--Partly Cloudy: Poems of Love and Longing.

Getting to Know You

It was rude of me to bend down
And read what it said on your ankle,

But it was unkind
Of you to walk away.

I had to follow like a duck,
Until you stopped--you placed

Your shoe on my thigh.
I retied your loose shoelaces,

And got to read the name
On your ankle bracelet--Jenny.

That was the first time we touched--
Your shoe on my thigh,

And your little toes,
Wiggling behind the cloth

Of worn tennis shoes.
It was so cute--the little toe

Was peeking out,
Peeking at me.

Your turn...tell me your favorite line, word, or idea from any poem here or any poem you just absolutely love or secretly crush on...

YA Wire...Elizabeth Scott on Goodreads

2010-05-20T08:00:00.003-05:00

Any of you a member of Goodreads...virtual library for organizing all the books you read and post reviews and read what others have to say about books?

I absolutely love it...before I found Goodreads, I was using an ExCel spreadsheet to keep track. But no more!

Anyways, I one of the authors I follow through Goodreads is Elizabeth Scott, author of books such as Living Dead Girl and The Unwritten Rule. I found an interview on her Goodreads page that you might have missed. And, even if you have read it (like me), it's just nice to see the very everyday personality of an author you love. By the way SS stands for Simon & Schuster and the interview dates back to December 2009. Enjoy.

Quick Start

SS: How would you describe your life in only 8 words?

ES: Lucky. Very, very lucky

SS: What is your motto or maxim?

ES: Life is too short to not follow your heart.

Questions About Books and Writing

SS: Who are your favorite authors?

ES: Too many to list!

SS: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

ES: Only five??? I can't pick just five.

SS: Is there a book you love to reread?

ES: There are many books I've read over and over (and over!) again.

SS: Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?

ES: Read.

SS: What comment do you hear most often from your readers?

ES: I get a lot of requests for sequels, and I always say that I've learned to never say never...

General Questions

SS: What were your previous occupations?

ES: I've done a little bit of everything--I've worked in a hardware store, I've sold pantyhose, I even spent three days at a dot.com where my only task was to burn CDs. (You can guess how exciting *that* job was!)

SS: What was/is your favorite job?

ES: Writing.

What Readers want to know...

SS: How would you describe perfect happiness?

ES: Spending the day with my husband, a dog, and a good book. It simply doesn't get better than that!

SS: What’s your greatest fear?

ES: Squirrels. (You laugh, but it's true!)

SS: If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?

ES: Wales. Or Ireland. Although I have to say, right now I'm pretty happy where I am.

SS: With whom in history do you most identify?

ES: Mata Hari. Just kidding! I actually have no idea.

SS: If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?

ES: Time travel. Imagine the possibilities!

SS: What’s your greatest flaw?

ES: Worry.

SS: What’s your best quality?

ES: Stubborness.

SS: What trait is most noticeable about you?

ES: My crazy hair.

SS: What is your biggest pet peeve?

ES: Toilet paper hung the wrong way. (Yes, for real!)

SS: What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?

ES: Reading.

SS: What’s your fantasy profession?

ES: Being paid to read.

SS: What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?

ES: A true soul, a sense of humor, and the ability to love fully.

SS: If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?

ES: Fritos!

SS: What do you regret most?

ES: That I can't eat chocolate!

By the way, I love the bookcover for The Unwritten Rule. -Minnie

End of the semester celebration...

2010-05-19T08:03:00.001-05:00

Got 3 A's! Still got my 4.0...and only 2 more semesters to go and graduate in the Spring of 2011!

Now I can concentrate on a summer of novel writing...

Totally YA Tuesday...Forbidden...From the Normal

2010-05-18T14:43:00.008-05:00

Elinor is lucky.
So lucky.
She's been chosen.
She's waited for this moment all her life. She will give herself to the man she loves. Willingly sacrifice her innocence for him.
People on the outside don't understand. They can't feel love like the Followers do.
And the end is coming. It's so close now.
But a chance meeting in the woods could alter the course of Elinor's destiny.
She must resist … she must.

(from author's website)

Just finished reading Forbidden by Judy Waite. At only 249 pages, it is a pretty quick read (well, at least with people like me who devour books) with an intriguing plot of cult brainwashing and cult rescue.

Every once in a while a story will run in various media outlets about some cult out there somewhere with a charismatic leader promoting a strange lifestyle tinged with religious fanaticism, and often, the cults who make it to the media are those whose members' lives end in tragedy. Two that come to mind are the Branch Davidians stationed in Waco, Texas back in the early 90's and Heaven's Gate from California in the late 1990's. Those two happened in the decade I most identify with when I think of my younger days. I graduate from high shcool in 1992, got married in 1995, recieved my university diploma in 1996, began teaching in 1997, and had my first kid in 1998. Wow...I lived all that life, while others wasted away their sanity and individualism in cult activity. And, those are just two cults that made the headlines in that one decade, but probably countless others were and still are in existence.

You would think it would take something remarkable to get people to join some group whose views are so extreme and so unlike the mainstream. How is it that parents would join the Branch Davidians and then allow their teenage daughters to be offered up as brides for their leader, David Koresh? How is it normal, regular people would agree to mass suicide in order to join the supposed spaceship following after the Hale Bop comet? There is no way to explain it other than the techniques of mind control and brainwashing. But, then again maybe not. I used to teach psychology and sociology, and one of the last chapters I would cover was all about group behavior and thinking. My students were pretty shocked when I explained the results of a very famous psychological experiment conducted by Solomon Asch back in the 1950's. Basically, participants were shown a diagram with one vertical line on the left side and several vertical lines of various lengths on the right side. They were then asked to select the line from the right side that matched the one on the left side. There was only one obvious answer, but several of the participants were actually enlisted to give incorrect answers. Amazingly, a majority of the true participants also agreed with the wrong answers and were willing to exchange what they knew to be true just to conform with other group members who were working for Solomon Asch!

In Forbidden, the cult is fictional, but the lifestyle and beliefs described in the novel seem very real. It is apparent the author researched the topic pretty well and the details she chose to include match up with extreme cults that make the top news reports. What makes the story so compelling, beyond the story premise, is the character development of a 15 year old girl named Elinor. Elinor does not know how to live outside of the cult since the cult is all she knows of the world. Everything out of the cult belongs to the Outsiders whose material greed and animal consumption will lead to corruption and death. But, as a member of True Cause, Elinor is one of the lucky. She is a part of the Chosen ones--one of the many beautiful, young girls to be bonded with the cult leader named Howard. Howard and his brides are to populate the world after Endtimes, but he does not wait until Endtimes to take advantage of their bodies. As for Elinor's pre-cult life, well, it's basically an empty void. Elinor doesn't remember any of her former life or if she ever even had one. It is an honor to be one of the Chosen and her bonding ceremony is something she wishes would happen sooner than normal. Until...

Jamie.

"I realize I am staring at the Outsider. There is something in the set of his face, the shape of his mouth, the line of his cheek, that is unsettling me. I cannot explain it, but it hurts. I suddenly have the sense of losing something that I have never even found."

"Memories scratch at me. I said goodbye in the Drinking Den, refusing to let him walk with me. On the journey back the van rattled from a loose exhaust, and everyone joined hands and sang. I was separate. Watching them as if I had never watched them before. And remembering Jamie. I knew he was a Bad Thought, but the memory had a sweetness to it. Sweet as a stolen strawberry."

What happens to Elinor is a terrible and beautiful. The terrible is being part of True Cause and the fact that her mother brought her into it. Along with that, Elinor lost her mother and can't reconcile the only thing she has ever known to something better and different beyond the fenced woods...something she may remember somewhere in her subconscious. The beautiful is what she experiences with Jamie and what Jamie is willing to do to help her. Ultimately, Elinor is the only one who can really, truly pull herself away from True Cause. But, will it be too late? And, if she leaves True Cause can she really escape all the damage of cult brainwashing? Will she be able to reclaim her true past?

My favorite line...

"What seems real is this more private truth. My mother. My own beginnings."

"The book is essentially a love story – a story of forbidden love – but it's also about cults and mind control and belief systems, and fear. ' - Judy Waite

Thursday YA Thoughts...Writing Ups and Downs

2010-05-06T13:37:00.006-05:00

When will I be a published author? I don't know, guys. I don't know. And, today I feel like giving up on my dream. Sad, right? But, not to worry...this summer...this is the summer I'm going to finish a first draft of something and then I'm sending it out. The more I read YA and the more I read about published YA authors, the more I want it. Then again--the more impossible it seems.

I found this quote today:

“In essence, storytelling is the same,” said Almond, but added that when writing books for younger audiences—like his most recent, The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon (Candlewick, Apr.)—“I do think that it’s almost like stripping away some of the excesses of narrative. It feels a bit like writing poetry.”

Read the whole article HERE! A great article about culture, identity, and influence with insight from YA and children's authors.

Love it! I have decided most, if not all of my YA novels, will be novels in verse, such as Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder and Burned by Ellen Hopkins. My writing style is poetic and any long pieces I have written for graduate school read almost like prose poetry.

Narrative, dialogue, detail...it is all excessive. Poetry is about the core, it's about the overall image, it's about the emotion, it's all about the raw.

Here is a snippet to a part of a future novel--this takes place a day after my main character is beat by her father

San Antonio, October 28

Next day pain on my
back is unbearable. Welts,
fuschia, blue, purple,
the color of wildflowers

between Robstown and San
Antonio, that city of river
heralding my brother’s name,
where I want to be.

The cold mud banks
on the shallow parts will
soothe the burn,

and I will
breathe the up-grown
roots along the concrete
edge

under restaurant
umbrellas--red, turquoise,
green--shooting therapeutic
roots through my flesh.

I will float on
my back with Mexican
violins at my ear
and my markings
now covered in water.

Hmmm...does this work for you? Do you want more? Watch out YA world...I'm just about out of my pity party.

Manic Monday Mini Review...Geek Magnet

2010-04-26T15:07:00.003-05:00

Geek Magnet, a Novel in 5 Acts...by Kieran Scott

Hmmm...so you're afraid you may be a geek magnet? I think many of us had that feeling at one time or another way back when we were teenagers. Oh, wait...many of you guys reading my blog probably are teenagers. I forget I need to write my blogs for guys, too, and not just other crazy people adults like me who love YA.

So, ever felt like a geek magnet, meaning all you get is the guy you dont' want? Well, I don't think anybody can have it any worse than KJ with several geeks fawning all over and who just don't get that she doesn't want to get them. Of course, KJ may be a little bit of a geek herself, except that she has a ginormous chest. Will KJ find love in the world of the high school drama production of Grease?

Just so you'll know, I don't think the book summary I found really gets what the book is about right on. My little summary up above is more accurate.

SUMMARY

Mean Girls meets High School Musical from the author of I Was a Non-Blonde Cheerleader!Everyone loves KJ Miller, especially the geeks. She's pretty, smart, and super nice to everyone, which has made her the geek pied piper of Washington High. If only Cameron, the star of the basketball team, would follow her around and worship her the way her dorky entourage does.As the stage manager of the spring musical, Grease, KJ has to deal with a few geeks, but she also gets to hang out with Tama, queen of the popular crowd and star of the play. Tama has the solution to all of KJ's problems: get cruel. After all, the nice girl never gets the guy. Can KJ actually pull off a transformation into a mean girl?

EXCERPT

Okay, so I was dizzy with power. Can you blame me? It was the first day of rehearsals for the spring musical, Grease, at Washington High and I, KJ Miller, was the stage manager. The woman in charge. The first junior ever to be granted this most prestigious position.

My First Published Poem!

2010-04-22T21:42:00.005-05:00

No Thursday Trailer today...but I've got some awesome news I have to brag about! Ready? Well, today, in the mail I got 2 copies of Touchstone...a literary publication...and my poem Zapatos de Hule (Shoes Made from Plastic) is published on page 27! Woot!Woot! It's a more edited version of one of those Tex-Mex poems I have towards the bottom of my blog's right side.

Guys, this is my first published peace of writing ever! Yeah, I know, it's 1 poem, but you don't understand how hard it is to get anything accepted anywhere. There are like hundreds, thousands of excellent writers in all genres out there with MFA's and without, and with published works, and without, and we all want to be published in some literary e-zine or print journals. And this is only 1 of about 7 poems I have submitted to several different publications on several different occasions over the last year. Wow! What a feeling! Gotta keep submitting the rest until more of them get published...

Totally YA Tuesday....Virginia...Falls For an Angel

2010-04-20T11:56:00.011-05:00

Virginia by Susan Hughes

A suspenseful, thought-provoking and sometimes shocking novel about faith and family secrets.

I truly enjoyed reading this book for it's unique perspective on angels, love, cult violence, faith, doubt, life, death...and all this through the alternating lens of two teen girls. The summary on the book indicates the main character, Ivy, has a friend named Virginia with a huge secret that many will find hard to believe, and this secret is tied to Virginia's brother, Paul, and the beliefs and actions of his religious cult. Mixed in to all this is Gabriel, yes, the archangel, the one who visited Mary and announed the birth of Jesus to her. And then there is Joe, Virginia's other brother, the sane one, and the one Ivy likes.

I know what you are thinking. You don't feel like reading anything based on faith and the Jesus message, but this novel is nothing what you would expect. It is not a Christian novel, though it has Christian themes and deals with faith and personal convictions and mentions the names of Biblical characters you may have heard of. Afterall, the archangel Gabriel is a main character, but you've never seen him like this, and you will not believe the two missions he has in store for Virginia. Gabriel is all powerful and Godly and yet human, at least to Virginia (and to Mary during Biblical times). She can not imagine how his skin and breath would feel. She cannot fathom what she will promise for him, but she does and she falls. Not once, but twice. And the second one is described beautifully with his whispers on her neck.

Virginia's story is so intriguing and portions of it are just simpy beautiful and lyrical ,and Iwould love to hear more of her and Gabriel. But this is not Virginia's novel...it is Ivy. Ivy is so caught up in everybody else's problems and issues that she doesn't have time to truly grasp the typical high school experience or make sense of her growing feelings for Joe. The only time she really has for herself to escape everything happening around her is when she is out running and racing with her team. From her alcoholic mom, to her sister's unexpected return, and then Virginia's weird family with mysterious and questionable beliefs. Her head is swimming with the irrationality of Virginia's visit by an angel and all the bizarre events happening at the hands of Paul and the church he has built behind the backyard. Ivy could have been an innocent bystander, but she is at the center of this whole story since she is Virginia's only friend and is determined to help her and any help potenitial unknown victim of Paul's fanatical beliefs...with Joe's help.

It all culminates on the evening of her own sister's wedding...her dance with Joe, her near first kiss, the angel wings behind Virginia, the sirens, the truth at the end. Whose end and whose truth? Well, Virgina has her truth, while Paul's version of the truth is shattered, and still Joe and Ivy's truth is what the rest of the specatators saw. But their truth is also different because of what they know and have heard from Virginia. As for Ivy's truth, I think she has grown in faith...faith in that what you seem to understand the most is the most unexplicable and what you know little about or cannot understand is explainable or to some extent believable. It's a matter of perspective. What the world saw happen to Virginia was a tragedy, but to Virginia...well, only she truly knows.

Ivy realizes she is only a piece of the bigger picture and she is "moving toward something good and complete" with the final form undecided. Whatever and wherever her place is, sacrifice is inevitable. That may mean suspending your particual view points, giving up a moment you have been dreaming and waiting for, and putting yourself second in order to be a better friend and be there when the moment counts. Does Ivy get her first kiss? I hope so. And, I hope it feels heaven for her.

By the way...get it? Virginia...Virgin...pretty clever. It's like my character in the play I'm writing...Luke Fir...Lucifer. Well, it's close enough. It's that play I told you about before based on an urban legend.

Summary

I took hold of her hands, their bones tiny and birdlike, squeezed them gently. I felt like shaking them, shaking her into the panic I was feeling." Virginia, I don't understand."

Fourteen-year-old Ivy is flabbergasted when her childhood friend Virginia claims that she has been visited by an angel who has asked her to bear the child of God. As Ivy struggles to understand and help her friend, she uncovers more secrets, including an apocalyptic plot being devised by Virginia's weird brother, Paul. Ivy suspects Paul's activities must connect in some way to Virginia's claim but she's uncertain how. Soon Ivy finds herself caught up in a chain of events she has no control over.

Ch. 1 Excerpt

I had known my neighbor Virginia Donato since she and I were seven. We used to play together a lot when we were kids. But I was stunned to hear her voice. We hadn’t really talked in ages. We’d gone to different elementary schools, but we had been at the same middle school together for two years, and although we’d said hi to each other in the school hallways once in a while, she hadn’t called me in a long time, not for a few years at least.
“Fine,” Virginia replied. “I’m fine.” But she didn’t sound fine. She sounded distracted, as if I’d just interrupted her. As if she’d been in the middle of a conversation with someone else. I waited, uncertainly, slightly uneasy to be hearing from her. There was a silence. I felt a drop of sweat starting to trickle down my back. Still Virginia didn’t speak.
“Virginia? So, what’s up?” I asked lightly.
“Um, Ivy, I wonder if you could come over and talk to me.” Her voice sounded odd, thin and breathy. I didn’t remember it being that way. “It’s important,” she added. I hesitated. This was even more strange, that she’d choose to talk to me about something important. We’d been … well, friends, I guess … but never really the best of friends. But I felt I owed her that much, and anyway, I was sort of curious about what had become of her. I hardly ever saw her on the street anymore. Her older brothers and sisters seemed to drive her everywhere she had to go. She kept to herself at school. And she seemed to have few friends, fewer
even than me, maybe none.
“Well, okay. When?”
“Could you come now?”
“Now?”
“Yes, now would be good,” she said.
It was weird. Hearing her ask for something so directly, it struck me that Virginia had never asked me for anything before. When Virginia and I used to play together, she
had always wanted to do whatever I wanted. She had sort of flitted around the edges of my ideas, my little bits of organizing, my imagination. It wasn’t like her to be
demanding. This must be pretty serious after all.
“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll come over in a few minutes, Gin.”
“Thanks,” she said.
And so it began. (Ivy's point of view)
***
“What are you doing here?” she asked. She knew she should be afraid, and she was, a little. He was a stranger, after all. A stranger here, in her own bedroom. Part of her knew she should scream and run, that she should call for help. She was alone, and he had come in somehow.
He was here, in her bedroom. (Virginia's point of view)

Favorite Lines:

What was she talking about? "Paul says Jesus will be here soon"? That didn't seem so bad. Unbelievable, but not bad.

He was leaving, and she didn't know how she would breathe, how her heart would continue to beat, how heer bones would support her, for she had fallen.

She shivered. It had not been simple or pure or dull. It was extraordinary. No one realized. No one knew how it had been. No one could imagine

The air felt delicious aginst my bare skin, like the brush of thousands of feather tips.

I was hardly breathing, stunned. Joe was panting, sitting behind me, his one arm still tight around my waist, gathering me in, still saving me.

I saw it, high above us, a black figure with wide wings against the star-lit sky, poised for a moment, like sorrow itself.

Manic Monday Mini-Review...Daughter of the Flames

2010-04-12T13:59:00.003-05:00

I'm currently reading Daughter of the Flames by Zoe Marriott (well, whenever I have the chance). So far, Zira has kicked butt with a weapon, considered why she looks the way she looks, and bumped into a strong, manly figure in the enemy territory. And so far, I like it and so will anybody else who likes warrior/ancient rites/weapon wielding fantasy worlds that seem like historical fiction. But, it's not historical fiction since this is Marriott's own made up world. Calling all Lord of the Rings movie fans like me who don't actually want to read Lord of the Rings unless it was under 300 pages and more accessible. Ok, now don't expect some larger than life epic, but Daughter of the Flames includes a rivalry set in anciet times, a warrior priestess/princess, and insurmountable tasks without a 1500 page trilogy.

SUMMARY

Inside an ancient temple in the mountains, fifteen-year-old Zira trains in the martial arts to become a warrior priestess who can defend the faith of the Ruan people. Bearing a scar on her face from the fire that killed her parents, the orphaned Zira is taught to distrust the occupying Sedornes. Terror strikes when the forces of the tyrannical Sedorne king destroy the only home she knows. To survive, Zira must unravel the secrets of her identity, decide her people’s fate — and accept her growing feelings for a man who should be her enemy.

CHAPTER ONE EXCERPT

I never knew my mother's name. I knew she was a hero. The first story Surya ever told me was of my mother and her death. How, gravely injured herself, she dragged me from the fire that consumed our home and carried me all the way from Aroha to the House of God in the mountains. How she refused any treatment for herself and died of her injuries, peacefully, only when she knew that I would live. But she never told anyone her name. Only mine. Zira. The story was all I had of my family. Surya said that after the Sedorne came, slaughtering and burning their way across Ruan, so many families were scattered, so many homes destroyed, so many people murdered and abandoned to rot by the roadside, there was no way to trace my identity. I was alone in the world from that day - the day my mother died to save me. I was lucky. Incredibly lucky. I always knew that. I could have been one of the poor orphan children dying of starvation or disease on the streets of Aroha. I could have been dead myself. Or I could have been living as a slave - in all but name - under some bloated Sedorne lord.

ANOTHER QUOTE

"How did you get that scar?" he asked quietly. I was surprised--especially after the stares I had been forced to endure this morning--to find taht I didn't resent the blunt question. There was no pity in it. I answered evenly, "In the fire that killed my family." "The Great Fire?" "If you mean the Invasion Fire, then yes, it was.
"I'm sorry."
"Are you?" I met his eyes, expecting them to fall. He looked back steadily, and it was I who had to look away.

2010-04-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

Well, it seems I haven't been too active lately, it's because I've been a writing zombie for about 2 weeks...I turned in about 90 pages of a full length play for a graduate class this past Wednesday! Now all I have left is about 15 to 20 more pages to finish it completely. It's based on an urban legend of South Texas (the girl who danced with the devil) mixed in with some Aztec folklore and issues of blurred identites and gendered violence. I will give a way better summary later when I'm completely finished.

But, speaking of zombie...one of my favorite students lent me her The Dead Tossed Waves novel! Woohoo! And I somehow managed to slip in the reading of it. All I have to say is "spectacular" just like The Forest of Hands and Teeth, but I still have to say The Forest of Hands and Teeth is my favorite of the two...why? Maybe because the style just blew me away and the worst possible things happened (which is hard to do as a writer because you love any main character you create and "don't want to go there" with him or her...which means you don't want to hit them with worst case scenarios) and I absolutely loved the ending. I will do a full review at some point.

Happy Weekend!

Thursday Trailer...Perfect Chemistry

2010-04-08T15:50:00.004-05:00

So, here is a very fun book trailer for one of the many books I've been reading lately--Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. I haven't gotten very far yet, but so far I enjoy the alternating points of view in the chapters and I like the Spanish phrases and lingo. It's about time Mexican-American culture is part of a mainstream book.

I especially love the book cover...don't you?

Summary:

Get ready for a whole new take onstar-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, bad boy meets good girl...

At Fairfield High, everyone knows that south siders and north siders aren’t exactly compatible elements. So when cheerleader Brittany Ellis and gang member Alex Fuentes are forced to be lab partners, the results are bound to be explosive.
Neither teen is prepared for the most surprising chemical reaction of all – love. Can they break through the stereotypes and misconceptions that threaten to keep them apart?

Fictionally Yours, Minnie

Bitter End...Comes to Closure

Happy 2012 With Nicholas Sparks

November Gone

Epic Wishes and Prayers

Returning to Goodreads

Go Vote for Wrist Kiss

Junot Diaz on Creating a Voice

The Writer's Life

Entering NaNoWriMo Frenzy

Stolen--Never Going Back the Same

O Happy Day!

I Am Number 4 But Who Will Save You?

About Matt de la Pena

Teacher's Guide

The Day Before...You Lose All

The Wrong Path...Maybe "Write" Path

Free Kindle Contest by Lisa Kuehne June 15

New Breaking Dawn Movie Trailer

New YA Books in May 2011

School's Out 4Ever Blogfest...

Folks, I Did It!

Ready to Graduate!

Where She Went...Just Gotta Know

Phantom Universe...in Our Universe

Illegal...Not to Read This!

64 Pages of Writing! Awake!

Three Rivers Rising...Formula for Love

Madame Tussaud...Author Thoughts

Falling in Love With English Boys...on Valentine's Day

Revolution...Then and Now

New Contest@Fictionally Yours! Madame Tussaud!

Cupcakes, New YA Historical Fiction, and Thursday Trailer!

Awake...Part I and Part II Summary

My last semester!

Debut Authors 2011

YA Wire...The Age of the YA Movie! And Zombies!

Thursday Trailer! Jane Eyre Revived!!! She's now just Jane...with a Cell Phone!

Technically speaking, this is still the Christmas season...the rest of 12 Days' List!

3rd, 4th, 5th...? Day of Christmas? Catch up Day...My Heartbeat and If I Stay

On the 2nd Day of Christmas...How to Say Goodbye in Robot

On the first day of Christmas...

O, How I Miss Thee, Ye Blog of My Heart...

Totally YA...Getting off Topic!

Thursday Trailer Back! Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

YA Wire...The Help Coming Soon

YA Wire...Back to School Reading

My Thoughts on the Blank Page Zone...and My Illusive Novels

Thursday Trailer...So Punk Rock (And Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother)

Manic Monday Mini-Review...Sleepless...in Texas

Totally YA Tuesday...Guest Author Post by Carmen Ferreiro-Estaban

Guest Blogger...Sean McCartney, YA Author of The Treasure Hunters Club

Thursday Trailer...Dreaming Anastasia

Manic Monday Mini-Review...Flash Burnout

YA Wire...Two Moon Princess...in a Parallel Universe

City of Bones and My Own YA Writing

After Twilight...Carrie Ryan

Thursday Trailer...The Iron King

Totally YA Tuesday...American Born Chinese...Finds His Place

Manic Monday Mini-Review

Thursday Trailer...Get Ready for SEA

Mid-Week Reads...Throwing Like a Girl

Manic Monday Mini-Review...Mercy Thompson--Homecoming

Sundays are for Blogging

YA Wire...Elizabeth Scott on Goodreads

End of the semester celebration...

Totally YA Tuesday...Forbidden...From the Normal

Thursday YA Thoughts...Writing Ups and Downs

Manic Monday Mini Review...Geek Magnet

My First Published Poem!

Totally YA Tuesday....Virginia...Falls For an Angel

Manic Monday Mini-Review...Daughter of the Flames

Thursday Trailer...Perfect Chemistry