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

THOUGHTS: The Dos and Don'ts of Writing YA

 

            The amazing thing about writing YA is that it is a genre that is really blossoming as of late. There are so many new subgenres, styles, and motifs of writing that were not in this genre even 15 years ago. Times have certainly changed, and YA has become a genre for experimentation in a way. Similar to how teens are constantly experimenting with who they are, the genre has been experimenting with who it is. The genre is always changing just like it’s readership, but there are certain things that should and should not be found in YA books. Everyone is different, but I think this list is a good, comprehensive look at the dos and don’ts of writing YA.

THE DOS

1.     Have a strong, clear main character for the reader to follow through the story’s journey. Even in multiple POV stories where there are two or more main characters, they still need to be strong and clear.

2.     Make sure that at the end of every chapter there’s a slight cliffhanger, peak in the plot, question, new discovery, or something that won’t be cleared up until the next chapter. This keeps readers reading even though it’s five in the morning on a Monday, and they still haven’t done their math homework.

THE DON’TS

1.     I don’t care how amazing the world you have created is, or that you did detailed character charts for your main character’s whole family lineage. Don’t put all that in your writing. Story details have a time and a place, and if you have an awesome detail that doesn’t then you should nix it. Just because you know everything, doesn’t mean the reader needs to or even wants to.

2.     Long chapters are a big no-no. Young adults have busy lives. They’re constantly doing something, and nobody wants to stop reading if they’re not at the start of a new chapter. Plus, short chapters means readers feel more accomplished when they’ve read 15 out of 70 chapters more so than 2 out of 10 chapters.

3.     Please don’t start your book in anybody’s POV other than your main character’s. It’s confusing and a little jarring to be experiencing something exciting in one person’s POV and then find out that person is a secondary character and now the rest of the story will be in this other person’s POV. This, of course, is a little different for multiple POV stories.

Like my list of favorite tropes, this is one of those posts that will probably get updated when I come across more atrocious don’ts in my reading.

XOXO Tia