REVIEW: Free to Fall by Lauren Miller

            What if there was an app that told you what song to listen to, what coffee to order, who to date, even what to do with your life—an app that could ensure your complete and utter happiness?

            What if you never had to fail or make a wrong choice?

            What if you never had to fall?

            Fast-forward to a time when Apple and Google have been replaced by Gnosis, a monolith corporation that has developed the most life-changing technology to ever hit the market: Lux, an app that flawlessly optimizes decision making for the best personal results.

            Just like everyone else, sixteen-year-old Rory Vaughn knows the key to a happy, healthy life is following what Lux recommends. When she’s accepted to the elite boarding school Theden Academy, her future happiness seems all the more assured. But once on campus, something feels wrong beneath the polished surface of her prestigious dream school.

            Then she meets North, a handsome townie who doesn’t use Lux, and begins to fall for him and his outsider way of life. Soon, Rory is going against Lux’s recommendations, listening instead to the inner voice that everyone has been taught to ignore—a choice that leads her to uncover a truth neither she nor the world ever saw coming.

            This review is a little difficult for me to write, because I honestly on the fence about Free to Fall by Lauren Miller. It was good, but it did not enthrall me. There was never really a point when I absolutely could not put the book down. The writing wasn’t bad or boring, and neither was the plot. Yet again and again I found reasons to put the book down. This is one of the reasons why the book did not get a higher rating.

            Another reason was the love story. A young adult book should never end with a couple in a position where they’re basically already in “old-married-couple” status. That’s just not how it works. Love develops in YA because that’s how the real world is: you love and you learn. So it definitely iffed me when they were such a set-in-stone couple but they barely knew each other. On top of that, Rory kept a major secret from North for basically the entirety of the book and somehow it didn’t bother him nearly enough when he found out. I’m not buying it. And then North is a hacker? How convenient is that?

            The next thing was Dr. Tarsus’ allergy to gelatin. It just felt one of those things that got added in to heighten the intensity and elevate the plot. If Dr. Tarsus is allergic to gelatin then she’s allergic to a lot more because you have no idea what animal byproducts you’re getting when you consume gelatin. It was a rushed add-in, and there was not enough research put into it. While the product the gelatin was put into was well researched (all the bio-tech products were well written), I’m mainly speaking of Dr. Tarsus when I throw out the words “not well researched”. Her character was written as a shapeshifter, and she served that purpose well but was not well written I feel.

            I wasn’t a huge fan of Hershey’s character. I’ve read some reviews where she was a lot of peoples’ favorite, but she was a rat to me. She was a rat in the beginning, a rat when Rory found out her secret, and a rat in the end when she was…you guessed it, a rat. Yet everyone quickly forgave her in the end and I almost threw the book out the window. I just wanted to shake Rory till her head fell off.

            The next thing was Miller’s description of the Fibonacci sequence that tied her whole book together. I never ever understood what picture she was trying to paint in my mind. I had no idea what the sequence looked like throughout the entire book. I literally just looked it up because I forgot to every time it came up in the story (which was a lot mind you). Could she not have alluded it to a conch shell or something?

            The last thing that really got me was Rory’s mother’s knowledge of the secret society. It was sort of explained in the book, but I didn’t like how it was just thrown in. How could Rory’s mom know about the layout of the secret society’s lair? The girl must have had an IQ greater than 10 Einsteins combined. I think I would have liked to read her story more.

            I actually had a lot more bad to say than I initially thought I did. I didn’t think I’d end up with such a long review, but here we are. The bad reasons and my lack of a desire to stay invested in the book are really what brought the book down to three stars. What gave it that redeeming half star, you ask? What brought the book from mere mediocrity to decency? The detail.

            While I’m not a huge conspiracy-thriller reader, this book made me appreciate the genre. There are a lot of twists that need to occur, and big reveals that need to happen. That’s something that Miller did incredibly well. The world felt very real. It seems like a completely plausible reality for our very near future. So the detail with the conspiracy and the biotech world really sold the book for me. While I was not a huge fan of the interpersonal relations between all of the characters, the plot and world inevitably sold me the book.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Tithe by Holly Black

            Sixteen-year-old Kaye is modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother’s rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms—a struggle that could very well mean her death.

            First off, Merry Early Christmas everybody! Second, Tithe by Holly Black is hands down one of my all-time favorite books ever. That being said, there are still a few things that could have been better, favorite author/book or not.

            The first thing that still jars me a little to this day, even after many a reread, is the awkward continuation of the book after the tithe ceremony. It was just such a good time to end the book but then it weirdly continued on. Sure, there was still more of the story to be told, but it just felt like the end of book one.

            Granted, I totally understand book deals and all that mumbo jumbo so there probably wasn’t a potential two-book deal or anything even though there needed to be one. The rest of the story had to be told, but with it came an uncomfortable hump in the story.

            Another thing that bugged me was the very end of the book. Seriously, Kaye? If you’ve read the story, you’ll understand my frustrations with her.

            Aside from that, there’s only praise from me. However, if this were any other book, that hump in the middle would have docked the book at least one whole star. It’s that awkward.

            Let’s get to the characters: they’re grungy and flawed and totally real. A lot of people will call these urban characters too over the top and unreal, but hellooooo it’s a book and I’m not entirely unconvinced that urban teens aren’t identical to those in the book.

            I think Kaye is an awesome protagonist. She’s lived her whole life on the move and not only has this made her fiercely independent, but also quite sassy. And I love sassy. She straight up commands a faerie knight to kiss her ass. Lovely.

            Corny is also a great character, mainly because he’s such a raw character. He’s homosexual, but not in the overly effeminine sort of way that is way overused. Corny is such a ****ed up character (excuse my wingding), and that’s refreshing. You don’t get to read a lot of characters like Corny, especially not in YA.

            Then there’s Roiben, with whom I am completely in love. Sure, it’s a little unreasonable. I’m a piddly blogger, and he’s a sexy faerie knight in love with a pixie. It could still happen!

            All of the characters were great though, and that definitely helped my eyes glaze over the awkward plot humps and hurries. It’s Black’s first solo book, so there’s obviously going to be a few mistakes. The fact of the matter, however, is that this book is dark and gritty when not so many are in the YA world (at least not back when Tithe was published). It really opened not only my eyes, but also those of the YA readership to the dark potential of faerie tales, and that’s a rather amazing accomplishment.

            There are plenty of people either on the love side of the Tithe fence or the hate side. Not many dare to sit on top of the fence, including myself. I’m clearly living in a condo on the love side, and that’s not likely ever going to change. Tithe is definitely a great book to check out if you love stories involving dark matter and faeries. Happy Holidays and Happy Reading. May your presents be plentiful with books.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

            Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they’re witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave. Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word…especially after she finds her mother’s diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family’s destruction.

            Desperate to find alternative to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra. If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren’t safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.

            I really did not think I was going to like this book, but it just goes to show that my love of witchery reigns true and forevermore. Why didn’t I think I was going to like this book? Two words: historical fiction. Granted, it’s actually a historical alternate universe so I don’t think I’ve conquered my fears and hatred for history just yet. The whole historical alternate universe thing was incredibly abrupt and jarring. I had no idea what I was getting into with this one apparently, and I was not let into the world gently. Once I got through the first few chapters of bad introduction to alternate history, I was rather hooked.

            I’ve never fancied myself a lover of religious tones or of British historical tones. With Born Wicked, it really worked. And well. What tied everything together so perfect weren’t so much the witches but what they represented: feminism. In a book so laden with power solely in the religious sect, there had to be oppression and a sort of historical dystopian feel.

            Interesting? I certainly thought so. Plus, I’m a sucker for a book with a good level of oppression. Everything in the world was perfectly cast under the light of this oppressive religious sect. The more unorthodox places overseas where women wear pants and live with other women, and the fact that being a lesbian or someone against the Brotherhood is almost treasonous. This could have just been a historical alternate world where the women’s suffragette begins before the twentieth century. But then Jessica Spotswood went and threw in one of my all-time favorite tropes: witches.

            Witches are not a bad addition to this world though. They give sense to the story. This is a time when witches were already persecuted in real history, so just buffed up that and added some depth created, literally, a whole world of writing possibilities.

            All in all, I can go ahead and just say that the world of this book is amazingly succinct with the tropes utilized. I really loved the world even though it was difficult to get in to (but I don’t think I particularly enjoyed the first chapter and how the book got started). Another thing I loved were the characters. They were amazing and completely real.

            An important trope in this story is family, or better yet sisters. The conversations and quarrels between the three sisters in the book are so real, I could see it happening between my own sister and I, only with less magic (though I not saying we wouldn’t try). Each sister was incredibly different in her own way, but you could still tell they were related. And not just because they all lived in the same house.

            I hated whom I was supposed to hate, and loved who I was supposed to love, which is really what good stories are supposed to do. Now to the love triangle. I know, love triangles really need to stop already. They are the most overused trope ever, but we keep reading them. While this story did have a love triangle, it never really felt like one.

            There was Paul, the boy from Cate’s childhood who understood her past and has recently come home from school in New England. I just want to throw in that I hated him right when he mentioned he courted others girls before her. Rude! But he came back to Chatham to ask Cate to marry him. He didn’t even have the gall to come home after Cate’s mother died. If anyone was unsuitable for Cate, it was Paul.

            Finn, on the other hand, is there for her. He’s rather like the Darcy to her Elizabeth in a way. Sure, they don’t seem to get along when first introduced together to us readers, but love and feelings still develop. Here’s why there’s not really a love triangle and Cate belongs with Finn:

            When Cate and Paul were together, Cate was young and spirited. She was wild and adventurous. Once her mother died, Cate had to step into her mother’s shoes in you will. She became less of an out-spoken spirited and more mentally spirited. Paul wanted to marry the girl who used to do dares and climb trees recklessly. Cate is no longer that girl and she knows it even though Paul is too dull. Stepping into her mothers’ shoes, Cate has become a reserved spirited, or rather just incredibly similar to her mother. Stepping into someone’s shoes has a funny way of turning you into that person as we’ve learned from Adam Sandler The Cobbler.

            Cate’s mother was the spirited and reckless type, and was a pawn for the Sisterhood. She had to become more reserved and married a quietly reckless man who fought the Brotherhood secretly. When Cate stepped into her mother’s shoes, she too needed to follow in her mothers’ footsteps and fall for a man that was a quiet fighter and that was not Paul. It was Finn Belastra, the boy whose mother owned a bookstore (outrageous!) with banned books hidden inside!

            So to me, there was never a love triangle. It was always clear to me at least that Paul was never a contender, but books will be books and triangles will always be drawn in the sand.

            In the end, this book was great. The feminism, the oppression, the witchcraft, the secrecy, the tea parties, the forbidden love. It was all for me, and I loved it all. The only issue I had was the beginning of the book. The first few chapters almost turned this book into a DF, but I trudged through and thank goodness I did! I was seriously really worried I was going to hate this one, but the feminism and witches won me over.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco

            I am where dead children go.
            Okiku is a lonely soul. She has wandered the world for centuries, freeing the spirits of the murdered dead. Once a victim herself, she now takes the lives of killers with the vengeance they’re due. But releasing innocent ghosts from their ethereal tethers does not bring Okiku peace. Still she drifts on.
            Such is her existence, until she meets Tark. Evil writhes beneath the moody teen’s skin, trapped by a series of intricate tattoos. While the neighbors fear him, Okiku knows the boy is not a monster. Tark needs to be freed from the malevolence that clings to him. There’s just one problem: if the demon dies, so does its host.

            There aren’t a lot of books that come around with fresh writing in the young adult world. The young adult world is largely controlled by trends. Rin Chupeco’s The Girl from the Well brings a lot of things into the genre that had not previously been there.
            The Girl from the Well reads like a horror film, which is reasonable since the legend Okiku belongs to be the same legend from which the film The Ring was born. I knew from the first chapter, when I was introduced to Okiku and her spine-tingling profession that I was going to love the book. Girl who hangs upside down and kills murderers? Sign me up! But not only are there a lot of really spooky scares, but the writing is superb. Plus, the Japanese lore shined through beautifully, as did all of the characters.
            There weren’t a lot of things I thought could have been done better, honestly. The only thing that stuck out to me as annoying was the lack of emphasis on the fact that if the demon inside Tarquin dies, he dies too. This wasn’t really showcased well; only in tiny little actions do we see it. I definitely think the ending could have used a little more build up in this department to make the ending pop better. Then there was the awkward shift between the U.S. and Japan that was obvious. There was just too much of a lapse in time between leaving the U.S. and finally going to Yagen Valley, and it was awkward.
            But that’s pretty much it for the cons. The characters were all amazingly well rounded, and the method of making Okiku the narrator/protagonist/omniscient POV was perfect. There were so many places that we as the readers needed to be, and Okiku being the main character provided for that.
            This might be my shortest review because the book was just brilliant. The lore, the horror, the characters, the plot. I loved it all. Plus, it’s still NaNoWriMo while I’m writing up this review, and that means I’m a little busy. But at least I’m not neglecting my other duties. Seriously, though, check out this book if you love horror even slightly as much as I do. I think this book could bring some great new ideas and stories to the young adult genre.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Doll Bones by Holly Black

            Zach, Poppy and Alice have been friend for ever. They love playing with their action figure toys, imagining a magical world of adventure and heroism. But disaster strikes when, without warning, Zach’s father throws out all his toys, declaring he’s too old for them. Zach is furious, confused and embarrassed, deciding that the only way to cope is to stop playing…and stop being friends with Poppy and Alice. But one night the girls pay Zach a visit, and tell him about a series of mysterious occurrences. Poppy swears that she is now being haunted by a china doll—who claims that it is made from the ground-up bones of a murdered girl. They must return the doll to where the girl lived, and bury it. Otherwise the three children will be cursed for eternity…

            Now I won’t lie. This review might just be a little bit of a love letter to Holly Black, so be forewarned. Ever since I first read Tithe, I fell in love with Black’s style of writing.  She’s always able to turn the most mundane, non-special of settings into something completely magical. With Tithe there was the industrial-ness of the setting that made it deadly for the fae, but then there was still the magical undertones and secret world. Doll Bones really brought me back to that enchanting feeling, but in a new way.

            The setting in Doll Bones is really anything but magical. All the magic occurs in the minds of the three main characters—Zach, Poppy and Alice. I really connected with these three because I was absolutely one of those kids that played make-believe with dolls for “too long,” but I never really stopped. I just moved mediums and became a writer! But it was amazing to get to see this ordinary world through the eyes of a group of friends with extraordinary imaginations.

            Since the world was ordinary, there wasn’t a lot of apparent magic, just whatever the kids came up with. There was, however, that little pinch of creepiness that Black likes to sow in all of her book. Most all of the adults, when looking at the friends, saw four kids instead of just three because of Eleanor the haunted bone china doll. It was the perfect amount of eerie to take the book to the next spooky level.

            The book was really a perfect look at childhood and growing up (and how much it sucks). This quest to lay the china doll to rest is sort of these kids’ last chance to be together and go on adventures like they’ve done so often throughout their lives so far. This is the last quest before they have to grow up, and that makes the book almost even more terrifying.

            What I would have really loved to see in this book is a more omniscient POV. The majority of the story is told through Zach’s eyes and that made him immediately a dynamic character. Poppy and Alice, however, were not so dynamic. I found myself getting confused as to which girl was which, and I think getting to see a little more about them would have been great. Of course, at the same time I loved the mystery of being in one, singular person’s POV.

            I honestly didn’t find much else to be wrong with the story. I think everything worked really well and I absolutely adored it. Holly Black has yet to let me down.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

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

            So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

            Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

            Yet she spares Cas’s life.

            So I’ve been meaning to read this book forever now, and honestly it didn’t live up to my expectations. The excitement level and romance level were not as high as I was anticipating. Sure, I loved the book because hello, homicidal, cursed ghost and a cute hunter boy? It was like a love letter to Supernatural and Ghostbusters and I’m totally okay with that.

            The big thing that spoke to me was the characters. They were so well developed and dynamic. Cas and his mom were a great family duo, and their relationship was so great. It’s lovely to see such a strong, open relationship between a YA protagonist and his family.  Speaking of family, I loved Thomas and his grandfather! They were so eclectic and interesting. I could have read a whole series of books from them! Thomas was definitely my favorite character. I loved that he was a male witch with obvious wants (the girl) and a strong loyalty streak (which I adore in characters).The characters I wasn’t overly in love with were Anna and anyone else at Cas’s school.

            I know. Shoot me in the face, how could I not love Anna? I liked her well enough, she just wasn’t as strong of a character as I thought she was going to be. And I think certain plot points weakened her character for me. Like how easy it was to sap her power and release her from that house? The fact that there wasn’t a lot of love development between Cas and Anna, they just liked each other out of the blue? I get that Anna is the only one Cas could really talk to, but it just seemed like they had one long conversation and they liked each other. Don’t get me wrong, I love a forbidden romance but it was just a little to sudden for me.

            I just had so many hopes and wants for this book and while I really enjoyed it, some things definitely could have been better. I really think there could have been a better link or transition between saving Anna and killing the voodoo demon that killed Cas’s father. It was an abrupt shift and I just wish there’d been a little more lead in or more of a link between the killer and Anna’s past. Like maybe the voodoo man and Anna’s mother were more similar or linked in a way. Or maybe if Anna’s mother was someone Cas’s father killed way back when. It just needed something. But none of these “issues” (if you can even call it that) hindered my complete enjoyment of the book.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Empire of Night by Kelley Armstrong

            Sisters Moria and Ashyn are the Keeper and Seeker of Edgewood. Or at least, they were.

            Their village is gone. Their friends have betrayed them. And now, the emperor has sent them on a mission to rescue the children of Edgewood—accompanied by Prince Tyrus and a small band of imperial warriors. But the journey proves more perilous than they could have imagined. With treachery and unrest mounting in the empire, Moria and Ashyn will have to draw on all their influence and power to overcome deadly enemies—not all of them human—and then avert an all-out war.

            Sadly I must first mention that this book did not, in any way whatsoever, live up to it’s predecessor. While I still enjoyed Empire of Night, I can honestly say it was not as good as Sea of Shadows. The problem with this book was that it read like a filler book. It felt like the first book happened and then this one was only written to move the characters to their final positions for the big finale. It felt like Kelley Armstrong wrote the first book, then the third book, and finally the second book. Clearly there were characters in the third book that weren’t in the first so she had to jam all of that into this second “filler” book. Of course, I’m not sure if this is true, it is just how it felt.

            One of my main questions is where did Tyrus even come from? He wasn’t in the first book, and then suddenly he’s Moria’s love interest and BFF in the second? Did I miss a chapter? While I loved Tyrus, I just didn’t see the point of introducing him so out of the blue. His and Moria’s friendship and relationship could have developing throughout this book instead of just existing on page one. Oh my gosh, a plotline that could have been used? Well I never. Besides, Moria and Gavriel belong together (no matter how perfect Tyrus and Moria seem!).

            Some of the things I really loved about Sea of Shadows just didn’t happen in Empire of Night. I loved the apparent personalities of Tova and DAIKO (???), but they were lost in this book. Then there was Moria’s likening to a bard what with her wide knowledge of lore and stories. I didn’t get that too much in this book. Sure there were the hellhounds, but those are nothing new and exciting like Thunderhawks and Shadow Stalkers! It was just a disappointment. All the things I wanted to see again didn’t happen. I get that due to the events of the last book the main characters have changed, but they shouldn’t be that different.

            One thing I actually hated was the fact that I had to wait for Ashyn’s POV in chapter seven to get even an inkling of a recap for the first book. It was so confusing jumping into Moria’s character with all these new people and no recap. I seriously thought I was missing chapters. And then when Ashyn ended up with her birth tribe of sorts, I was all who are these people? I couldn’t remember anything other that her living in Edgewood, so there really needed to be more of a lead in for the introduction of that tribe. The last thing I hated was how annoying Moria was with her sexual escapading. She was all “Oh it’s fine, we can just have sex because that’s normal for me and I can have as many sex partners as I want”. It was so weird and awkward to read about.

            As for what I loved…there’s of course Ronan and Ashyn. I was so sad to see them not together but of course the plot must go on. I really enjoyed learning more about Ronan’s background and the fact that he’s casteless. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Emperor and his slight deviousness. I even relished finally getting to truly meet Gavriel’s father! So good! The way this book played out just makes me want a lot of things for the final book.

            Now that Ashyn is with her birth tribe of sorts, I want to become a fighter. While Moria is stuck in enemy’s territory, I want her to become reserved. I want what their roles have been so far in the series to just swap completely. Ashyn becomes a fighter, and Moria becomes engrossed in politics and has to use her head more. I think their strengths work brilliantly but they need to become more well rounded if they’re going to save the empire and I think they’re in the perfect positions to do so.

XOXO Tia

THOUGHTS: Deadlines & Duties

Deadlines & duties; or better known as my adventurous commitment to writing 1,667 words per day for 30 days while dealing with a lot of other life commitments. How do I manage my time? What is more and less important during this month?

Let me go ahead and mention that as of right now I am 10,000 words behind on my word count. Does that make me any less of a NaNoWriMo-er? I don’t think so, because let’s get on thing straight: NaNoWriMo is hard!

Where have I gone wrong so far? Well, while 1,667 is totally a doable word count, sometimes life messes that up. I should go ahead and mention that time management is not a strength that I mention during interviews for jobs.

So this post is here to serve the purpose of helping others during this month as well as myself in all time management heavy endeavors I shall make thus forth in my life. My deadline is midnight, November 30^th, and my current duties are many. But is NaNoWriMo really just a goal, or is it more of a process to learn and to grow as writers?

November is a big month for me. It’s my first full month of a brand new job that has me working Monday through Friday 8-6, which is incredibly adult of me and I don’t usually do adult. It is also the one-year anniversary of my girlfriend and I becoming a couple, and it’s honestly the first time I’ve really had money in about a month or two.

It has been a crazy year, and the first month where this year isn’t innately crazy, I decide to go and make it a little crazy. This is the first year that I’m completely committed to completely NaNoWriMo. I’ve made commitments to myself these last couple of years, but this is the year. I had my story idea and very detailed outline prepped and ready for November 1^st. I may be behind, but I’m determined. Plus, I’m taking this first official year as more of a process trial run, so that I don’t feel completely overwhelmed. I get overwhelmed easily.

So what is this post all about? It’s my written commitment to finally be a NaNoWriMo winner for one. For two, it’s a tip to others and to myself on how to succeed during this crazy month of November.

Deadlines are important and should not be feared. They should be welcomed and loved like baby animals. While it’s great to have a schedule and maintain your time management, it’s also important to have deadlines and not to neglect your other duties during NaNoWriMo. This is so easy to do in the heat of writer’s frenzy.

I’m vegan (which involves a lot of cooking food for my meals), three beautiful dogs, a full-time job, bills, an amazing girlfriend, and a lot of TV shows to keep up with. I was bound to get behind on my word count this month. I had just hoped it wouldn’t happen till later on, or in less of an amount. But things happen. That’s the joy of a deadline. It holds you accountable even when life messes up your daily word count.

Sure, there’s a point when some people get so far behind that they simply cannot come back, but I am. The goal is to keep swimming even when you’re drowning. Writer’s block happens to everyone, and they still eventually recover. I’ve been through college, so deadlines definitely make me accountable.

And honestly, that’s what this post is all about. Different things work for different people, but we as writers and reading have to have something to hold ourselves accountable to both our paying and our recreational duties. No duty is more important that the other, but they have to be managed and taken care of in a certain order that only the owner of said duties knows.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

            Aza Ray is drowning in thin air.

            Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live.

            So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn’t think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.

            Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia.

            Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming, Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And is Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?

            I am actually astonished by how much I ended up enjoying Magonia. When the book initially began, I thought it was going to be one of those stories that have way too much extra fluff. A few chapters in, however, and I realized it was fluff but rather voice. Maria Dahvana Headley created such a unique and raw voice in this story that roped me in and didn’t let me go. The premise was gorgeous and ne: a girl drowning on Earth from the air because she belongs in the sky with a race of birdlike creatures straight out of Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal. It was beautiful and poignant and I’m gasping for breath waiting for the next book.

            While the voice and imagery was brilliant, the story did go off on some tangents a little too much. While I loved Aza and Jason (actually just all of the characters and creatures), I thought there could have been a little less randomness and a little more plot. I think more could have been done with the development of Aza’s life in Magonia. It just felt like she accepted the world too quickly. I would have liked for her to try and escape or plot her return to Jason somehow.

            While I loved the addition of Aza’s Magonian love interest, there was nothing there. It felt like there should have been a little more chemistry between them or just something. I felt him change, but I didn’t feel anything from Aza. Also, Aza welcomed her birth mother back into her heart way too easily. For a smart girl, Aza was not nearly suspicious enough about Magonia and this war brewing between it and Earth. While the synopsis told me of a war in Aza’s heart over which side of this war to be on, the book didn’t give me any of that tension.

            The last thing that saddened me was the lack of emphasis and beautiful writing on Aza’s ability to finally breathe again. I expected that moment to be lush and vivid considering the beauty of the rest of the book, but I was a little let down. She’s down on Earth, drowning, and then she’s in Magonia, breathing. There was not excitement and that’s what I wanted for our previously dying protagonist.

            Yes, I can go on and on like so many other reviewers about the amazingly fresh history and mythology of this book, but I won’t. Anybody who has read this can tell you it was an amazing book (me being one of them), but you’ll just have to read it for yourself. Now excuse me while I go find my heart, because some bird just gobbled it up and flew away.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You by Ally Carter

            Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls-school-that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it’s really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in sever different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real “pavement artist”—but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?

            Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she’s on her most dangerous mission—falling in love.

            You know when you read a book and you know that only a total teeny-bopper-hopeless-romantic-uber-girl should like such a book? And then you realize that you’re 23 and apparently fall under that category because of how much you adore said book? Well I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You is one such book for me. I won’t lie. I’ve kind of avoided the Gallagher Girls series solely because it seemed a little too girly-chick-flick-ish for me and because of my fear that I’d love it despite such reasoning. I read Ally Carter’s Heist Society and then I read her All Fall Down and they were both really good, so I decided to finally give this one a chance. And here I am, giving this book five stars because I absolutely loved everything about it.

            All the details that were overkill for The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, were on-point and just enough for this book. No detail was out of place or unnecessary, and that’s what I love about Carter’s work. She’s gives a lot of background detail and lingo like it’s everyday small-talk, but in such a way that there’s no overkill! It was perfect and I fell head over heels for the school, the world, and the characters.

            I wish I could have gotten to know Cammie’s classmates better because of the final exam. These were her sisters in a mission and I wish I’d known them like sisters. The stakes throughout the book could have also been higher, especially since the book is a part of a series. While I loved Cammie’s desires to be a normal girl, I still think there should have been more fear for the consequences. I was never worried that, assuming Cammie got caught, that she’d ever be expelled or given memory-erasing tea. I feared it more for her best friends, but not so much for the headmasters’ daughter. You feel me? There could have been a stronger motive behind Cammie’s desire to be normal of course, and there really could have been some sort of minute plot to carry on through this book and into all the others. These were all nit-picky things though because I though the book was solid. A little bit too stand-alone, but super solid.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Jack the Ripper is back, and he’s coming for Rory next…

            Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London to start a new life at boarding school just as a series of brutal murders mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper killing spree of more than a century ago has broken out across the city. The police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man believed to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him—the only one who can see him. And now Rory has become his next target…unless she can tap her previously unknown abilities to turn the tables.

            The Name of the Star is so much British boarding school love, so little time. Maureen Johnson put a lot of time and beauty into the details of the boarding school that Rory moves into in London. Did she spend a little too much time on the school details and not enough on the actual plot? That’s up for debate.

            While I really enjoyed this book, I definitely think the amount of detail that went into everything about the boarding school was overkill. I get it! Rory is living the dream. She’s moved to London and is living and going to school at a boarding school! I wish there’d been more exciting detail about London in general instead of so much focus on the school. Don’t get me wrong: I loved the school. Sign me up! But it was a bit much.

            As for other aspects of the story I enjoyed, there are the characters. While Rory’s classmates were kind of drab (other than the Hockey-loving Claudia and Rory’s roommate), I really adored the “Ghostbuster” squad. They didn’t get nearly enough time, detail, and characterization (because that all went to the school) and they were still way better than most of the people at the school. Give me Stephen over Jerome any day, because I feel like Jerome was an awful character and there was clearly no chemistry between him and Rory. I assume he’s not her forever love interest, and I really wish the Ripper would have just killed him because there was less than nothing between him and Rory and it was awful to read them get forced together. Boo (and her best friend, of course), Jazza, and Callum were all fine characters, but Jerome was the epitome of awful.

            Before I type out the words Jerome and awful together in any more sentences, I’ll digress. My favorite part of the book was the plot point of using people who’ve had a near-death experience and have been locked away in an insane asylum to hunt down ghosts. That’s not a bad idea at all! Either way, I really liked that part but overall the book was kind of a disappointment. I wanted to like it more than I actually did, and there were just a lot of things wrong.

            Firstly, there was way too much set up (too many details!). I seriously waited half of the book for something to actually happen, and when Rory finally became aware of her abilities she didn’t actually do anything with them. Then there were those extra chapters in different POVs that did absolutely nothing for the story. Plus, just because it’s an episodic sort of series does not mean that there shouldn’t be some overarching plot for the whole series (and so far there’s nothing). And finally, there was the fact that Rory expletive gave up at the end. Things were rough with the Ripper and she said, “Oh, just kill me!”. What a weak and disappointing character! I want a strong character that’s willing to do something, anything, to stop evil, but I guess that just wasn’t a part of Rory’s character chart. I honestly don’t think I can give this series another chance after the main character gave up, and that’s the biggest disappointment of all.

XOXO Tia