NaNoWriMo is Coming! NaNoWriMo is Coming!

Well, here we are, just one more day left before I can officially start writing for NaNoWriMo. I really can't wait for this. My region is having a late-night kick-off party so we can get a boost on our word counts, and we are in a couple different Word Wars with a nearby region, one war for the highest count by the end of day one and the other for the highest overall count for the month of November. I know I thrive on competition and I'm hoping it helps to motivate others as well.

I scheduled a pre-NaNo meet-up for my region a week ago and met a few new faces, which turned out to be completely and utterly amazing because now we have some new locations for write-ins, one of them being an antique shop. I'm really looking forward to that one. Anyway, that led one of my region to create her own unofficial kick-off party since she lives about 40 minutes away from the rest of us. That party was yesterday and I was lucky enough to be off work.

It was great to be able to meet a couple other Wrimos from the region, both of whom are still teenagers in high school, but they have these amazingly interesting and creative sounding novel ideas. Plus, I can honestly say that though we spent most of the time talking, I did manage to get a little more of my #nanoprep done. Here's what's really funny: I have been saying for a couple weeks now that I needed to go back through Souls Unknowing so I could find specific character descriptions. Well, I finally did that yesterday at the meet-up. Of course I only looked at the information for the characters who will show up in Souls Abandoned, but that's all I really needed.

Oh, and speaking of the Souls Trilogy, for those who would like to follow along in a (hopefully) daily updates through the writing process, check out the blog I created especially for the occasion: http://soulstrilogy.blogspot.com/

I will be posting about my writing process, how this book is different from when I wrote the first one, and occasionally I will offer up some snippets of what I'm writing. Sometimes I may even show some small chunks of Souls Unknowing, but I warn you, they came from the mind of a 16-17 year old who knew very little actually when it comes to writing structure and such. When I look back at what I wrote in the beginning it feels more like a script because so much of it is dialogue.

Anyway, I just have to make it through the remainder of today and all of tomorrow before I can really start typing away on this novel. By the way it is currently as cold as I would expect in late November and some friends of mine have reported snow on the ground. I do not approve of this, but I will still enjoy Halloween tomorrow anyway. Nothing shall stop me from going to work in a costume. So, I shall see you all on here again on Friday for the next From the Stacks post. This week I will be reviewing Master of Crows by Grace Draven. And my Daily NaNoWriMo posts will be over on the Souls Trilogy blog starting on Thursday.

From the Stacks: Poison Study

I almost feel like this week's From the Stacks has some similarities to last week's. Okay, yes, last week with Grave Mercy the main character was an assassin and in Poison Study the main character is a food taster who is basically trained by an assassin, but still, it is a similar feel. And strangely enough, I'm reading another book right now, Tangled Web by Crista McHugh, which also deals with an assassin. Now I feel like I should mention that the review for Tangled Web probably won't be for several more weeks, and by several more weeks, I mean November 9th.

Knowing that I was getting ready for NaNoWriMo, I tried to plan out what books to read and review for November so that I might get a little bit of a jump start on them. The plan worked better than I thought because I was also able to plan what books I will review in December as well, so, I should be able to keep going with my From the Stacks posts at least through 2012.

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
ISBN: 978-0-373-80257-9

Summary

"Choose: A quick death... or slow poison...

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. As a food taster, she'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace-and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear..."

My Thoughts

Okay, first thing I should mention is that Poison Study is the first of the Study series which is actually a trilogy, and is then followed by a spin-off trilogy, the Glass series. Several months ago I bought the Glass series on my NOOK and fully intended on reading them, but then I realized that I should probably re-read the Study series. Anyway, long story short, I never got around to it thanks to other books. Then, the Vaginal Fantasy book club picked Poison Study as their main pick for October, so it made things a lot easier for me.

Now, I should probably add a quick disclaimer: Poison Study is NOT smut. In fact any big romantic moment happens "off-screen" and we just skip to the next morning. 

I first read this book back in either late December 2006 or early January 2007, and I loved it. You know those books that you read and then you think about almost constantly for several weeks, and then even years down the line you find yourself remembering bits and pieces and you can still remember the lure and excitement that you felt the first time you read it. Yeah, Poison Study does that to me. Yes, compared to a number of the books we read in the VF book club, this is mild, and could actually be classified as YA (though I assure you it is found in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy area in book stores, not in YA), but it is still a great book.

The world is so fascinating to me and this first book just scratches at the surface of what Yelena is capable of and her developing magical ability. This book introduces you to Valek, who I'm sorry, I find to be one of my most crush-worthy men in novel-land. It also introduces you to Ari and Janco, who are two of the most amusing soldiers I have ever met and it would be extremely awesome to have them as friends, not going to lie. 

Yelena has a lot of struggles to overcome and though she does work her way through some of them, you can tell that she will go through a lot more before she truly becomes free. Personally I found the book leaving me wondering what was going to happen next, and so I ended up devouring the next two books: Magic Study and Fire Study. 

And perhaps now that I have re-read Poison Study, I can finish up the Study series and finally dig into the Glass series. Overall, Poison Study gets a 5/5.

Poison Study at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/poison-study-maria-v-snyder/1100344302?ean=9780778327110

Poison Study at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Poison-Study-Maria-V-Snyder/dp/0778327116/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1351267394&sr=1-1&keywords=Poison+Study

Other Readings:

Well, I just picked up The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa on Wednesday, so I'm reading it now, and I'm already about 1/3 finished. I'm also really digging into Tangled Web by Crista McHugh, and Master of Crows by Grace Draven. I'm slowly but surely making more progress with Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey, and I'm really anxious to jump into City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, so I'll have plenty to review over the next weeks.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I have my books picked for my From the Stacks reviews through the end of December, but I'm always open to suggestions for stuff to read. Though I mainly tend to stay in Fantasy and Science Fiction, I also read quite a bit of Paranormal, YA, and of course, the Classics of Literature. However, if the premise draws me in then I really am open to any genre.

An Introduction to the Souls Trilogy

Just as I did in Camp NaNoWriMo with writing up an introduction to Do Not Drink the Holy Water, I am going to do the same for my NaNovel for November, which is Souls Abandoned. However, while my previous novel discussions have been the first novels in trilogies and series, my project for November is actually the second book in the trilogy, so I'm instead going to introduce you all to the entire trilogy.

I did quite a bit of writing back when I was in high school and though my chapters were short and lacking in description of settings, characters, and well, inner monologue, I did manage to write out some rather lengthy works, some of which I have either continued to work on, or have planned to go back and edit at some point. Such is the case with the Souls trilogy.

The first book, Souls Unknowing, was started back in 2004 and I wrote something like 10 chapters (around 12K) before I set it aside for a while. Some of my readers back then kept asking me about the story and what was going to happen so I ended up going back to it, and I finally finished the really rough draft in 2006. From there I actually did just keep on writing, diving into Souls Abandoned, but again, I wrote a few chapters and then set it aside to work on other stories.

Now, my biggest fan for these books has actually never let me forget about them and has asked me if I intend to finish the trilogy and attempt to publish. The short answer is yes, but I know it will be an incredibly long road. When I first started with this trilogy, I was still fairly new to writing and so the details and such are pretty rudimentary. Looking back on the roughly 54,000 words of Souls Unknowing, I can see the potential for a lovely finished product, but it will take a lot of cleaning and polishing to get there.

 

Since coming back to the trilogy, I have made the covers and made the basic back cover blurbs, which may end up changing by the time I am through with the edits. Creating the covers has actually made me want to focus on these stories more. Right now, one of my best friends/the biggest fan of this trilogy has the rough draft of Souls Unknowing and is relentlessly editing and giving her input on it. Once she's finished, I'll take a crack at it as well, and with any luck, it will look like a decent product by then.

Here's the rough summary of Souls Unknowing:

For Tru Bauer life has been extremely complicated since her mother's death. Hiding behind her popularity she simply tried to be normal. But it is difficult to be normal when her father decides to move both her and her brother Luke across the country and drops them off at a boarding school.

At Rolling Hills Boarding School, Tru starts to face all the things she has pushed down over the years. And as the spirits at school get restless, it is up to Tru and her new friends to solve a 50 year old mystery and save the lives of everyone around them.

So, I can see that I can do some improving and tweaking on it, but that will wait until after I have gone through the editing process.

Now, for NaNoWriMo 2012, I am re-dedicating myself to working on Souls Abandoned. For those of you who are sitting there and saying, "But...you have to start a new novel for NaNoWriMo. Those are the rules," I just have to explain my situation. The roughly 11,000 words I wrote for this novel back in 2006 are not the best and I know basically all of it will change with this reboot of the story. However, I am not including any of the previously written words, so that is how I justify what I am doing. In November I will add at least 50,000 words to Souls Abandoned.

Speaking of, here is the cover and then the rough summary:

For Tru Bauer, things have only grown more complicated since the events at Rolling Hills Boarding School. Though home with her family, she finds that the spirit world is changing and it will take every mediator available to solve the problem.

Spirits are crossing over before they are ready and some spirits who have crossed over are being returned. The only solution may be to trust a mediator who has spent years believing he is crazy, and even then fixing the problems may require a great sacrifice.

I'm actually really looking forward to jumping into this story again and I've been working on writing down some different ideas and trying to figure out exactly where I was planning on these books heading when I worked on them six years ago. Of course, sometimes my ideas now mean completely changing or eliminating previous ideas. I'm hoping this means that Souls Abandoned will end up being better than it would have been back then.

And though I don't know exactly when I'll get to work on the final book in the trilogy, I feel as if I still have to share it with you guys, even if for no reason other than the fact that I think this cover is my favorite. I love the colors and everything; it is so fitting for what I'm thinking will happen in the story.

So, here it is, the cover and rough summary for Souls Crossing, the final book in the Souls Trilogy:

Repairing the scars between the world and the realm where spirits go after crossing over was not easy and there are still a number of spirits who need to be crossed over again, but for Tru and the others, now is a time to rest and to mourn.

After so many trials and so many sacrifices, sometimes the easiest thing to do is to take a break and ignore everything, but the spirits will not be ignored and this time, crossing the spirits over is the only chance these mediators have at getting some peace.

All right, guys, well there you have it...a brief little introduction to the Souls Trilogy. On Friday I will have the next From the Stacks for you, and then I'll be back next Tuesday for my final writing update before NaNoWriMo officially starts. I'm ready and I'm excited, and most of all, I hope you guys like the stories I am telling you about because I am really hoping to start publishing soon.

From the Stacks: Grave Mercy

All right guys, this has been an interesting week when it comes to getting this blog review up. I've been drawn into a TV series that just started its fourth season, but I had only seen a few episodes of season one, so I had to go back and watch them all, even when I knew I had 549 pages to read in Grave Mercy. Last night I buckled down, turned off my TV and my laptop, and read 490 pages in only three hours. So, without further ado, let's sink into the world of assassins who are daughters of Death.

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
ISBN: 978-0-547-62834-9

Summary:

"Escaping from the brutality of an arranged marriage, seventeen-year-old Ismae finds sanctuary at the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts-and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must be willing to take the lives of others.

Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany, where she must pose as mistress to the darkly mysterious Gavriel Duval, who has fallen under a cloud of suspicion. Once there, she finds herself woefully unprepared-not only for the deadly games of love and intrigue, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death's vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?"

My Thoughts:

Okay, so first things first, though I found this book to be rather good, I'm only giving it a 4/5. There were a couple characters who were 10 and 13 years old but acted and spoke as if they were about a decade older. Yes, I get that this was a historical YA fiction story and so times and mannerisms were different there, but it just felt off to me.

Anyway, I really have to say that I love the main character's name, Ismae. That is really awesome and unique and I haven't exactly seen it in a story before. I liked the mythology brought in by having the gods of old in it, though in the story, they call them saints so as not to anger those who follow God. It's nice, even though this story mostly focuses on Mortain, the old god of Death. There is some mention of the others but considering this trilogy focuses on the handmaidens of Death, it is clear that Mortain is our focus.

The relationship between Ismae and Duval is a nice one and I think it does develop naturally. There is an interesting dynamic between Duval and his mother, which is completely opposite of Duval's relationship with his sisters. And I honestly think that even though Ismae had to pose as Duval's mistress, she really did develop an honest bond with Anne and Isabeau as well.

Oh, and I guess I should mention that last last line in the summary, because it doesn't feel as if it rings true to me. Yes, Ismae is dedicated to the service of Death, but I don't feel that the target she receives towards the end is a person who has stolen her heart against her will, because as the novel progresses, Ismae begins to question if her convent truly understands exactly what Mortain's will is.

Grave Mercy at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/grave-mercy-robin-lafevers/1104512967?ean=9780547628349

Grave Mercy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Grave-Mercy-Fair-Assassin-Trilogy/dp/054762834X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350662050&sr=1-1&keywords=Grave+Mercy

The second book in the His Fair Assassin trilogy is Dark Triumph and is set to be released April 2, 2013.

Other Readings:

Next week's review is Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder, and it was the main pick for the Vaginal Fantasy book club on Goodreads and the monthly meet-ups are hosted on the Geek and Sundry page on YouTube. Right now I'm finishing up on Master of Crows by Grace Draven, which will be my review on Nov. 2. Master of Crows is the Vaginal Fantasy alternate pick for October. After that I'll be neck deep in NaNoWriMo, but I'm hoping to still be able to finish up on the other books I'm reading: Tangled Web by Crista McHugh, The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines, Alchemystic by Anton Stroud, and hopefully I'll finally be able to finish Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey.

Plotting, Pantsing, Percolating

Typically in NaNoWriMo, there are two different camps: Plotters and Pantsers. Plotters are the people who make extensive outlines, character descriptions, and who know exactly what will happen in their story from beginning to end. Pantsers, as the name suggests, are the people who fly by the seat of their pants. If they are lucky then they might have the title, basic character information, and maybe a plot idea.

A short time ago, Grant Faulkner, suggested a third camp, that of the Percolator. You can read more about it at the OLL blog here: http://blog.lettersandlight.org/post/33164071079/pantser-planner-percolator

The post really resonated with me, because while I am an occasional Plotter, most of the time to others it seems as if I am a complete Pantser. With the creation of the Percolator I have really found my home. Because though I may not write everything down, I do think about my ideas and my characters most of the time. But, I just feel like if I write down all my ideas, my plot points, then I won't want to write out that actual point in the story because technically I've already written it down.

So, most of the time, when I do somewhat fall in the Plotter camp, it is incredibly vague so I can still write out those scenes and chapters. It works decently well but still I sometimes worry about even writing down those little vague details. I'm fine writing up extensive character profiles and I do spend a lot of time thinking about their personalities and how they would react to certain situations. It all completely adds up to me being a Percolator.

Needless to say, my NaNovel for this year is one I have been percolating on for a long long time. I started the first book in the trilogy back in 2004 and finished it in 2006. At that time I felt so inspired that I jumped straight into the second book, wrote a few chapters and then started working on other stories. I have been thinking about the second book ever since but haven't really had the time to sit down and focus on it because of the numerous other ideas that kept popping up.

I have been stewing over this story for six years now. Though I have lost a lot of my original character information due to computer crashes and USB failures, I still have a hard copy of book one and I can get most of what I need from there.

The Percolating shall continue and I will write down as much as I can today for #nanoprep. On Friday I'll have my next From the Stacks review and next Tuesday I will introduce you all to my NaNovel for the year, which technically means I'm going to introduce you to the whole trilogy. Enjoy your #nanoprep day everyone.

It's Time for NaNoWriMo Prep!

Here we are, back for another writing update, and I can honestly say that October is a month where my writing gets a little erratic. I spend some time working on random stories I have and then I also try to work on doing some outlining and such for my NaNoWriMo novel. Next week my writing update will introduce you to the world I am immersing myself in for the month of November, but for now I'm going to talk about the other stuff I'm working on.

I'm still doing some editing on Project Death: Resurrection and it still isn't going fast enough for me but I'm still going to keep working on it, because I set a goal and I plan to stick to it. I think I've added another 800 words or so to my total, taking it up to 70,000 words.

Something I know I shouldn't have done but I couldn't help myself was start working on another new novel, but the idea came to me a few weeks back while talking with a friend of mine who is planning on going to grad school to become a librarian. Anyway, it led to me thinking of how I think of librarians as real superheroes, and wouldn't it be cool if there was a group of librarians who actually were superheroes with abilities and such. So the House of Librarians was born. I've done basic character sketches and I've written 100 words so far on the story. This will be a side project, not one I'm really going to really focus on for quite some time, but if the muse strikes I might as well write down a few hundred words here and there.

Now, to the main portion of this post, where I tie everything into the title. Tomorrow, October 17th, is the first ever official NaNo Prep Day. They are asking Wrimos to hop on Twitter and Tweet about how you are planning for NaNoWriMo using the hashtag #NaNoPrep. I'm planning on doing it, and I hope you other Wrimos out there will join in. It should be pretty fun.

Oh, for those who want to, you can find me on Twitter: @DanielleThamasa.

And in other news, I received another Goodreads First Reads book yesterday. It is called Tangled Web by Crista McHugh, and the copy I received was autographed and came with two autographed bookmarks as well. It looks like a really interesting book so it may very well end up being a From the Stacks pick in November. That is the other thing I am trying to do in preparation for NaNoWriMo, to get ahead on my book reading so I don't have to panic as much about getting my From the Stacks reviews ready.

Well, I think that just about wraps up my post for today. I'll see you all either tomorrow on Twitter for #NaNoPrep or on Friday for the next From the Stacks.

From the Stacks: Crusade

Finally, I'm back on track with my blog schedule. From now on I'm back to writing updates on Tuesdays and From the Stacks reviews on Fridays. The big challenge will be keeping up with FtS during November (aka NaNoWriMo) since most of my time will be spent writing on my own novel. On the plus side for those of you who follow this blog, there should be more content in my writing update posts.

Anyway, today I'm reviewing a YA novel I picked up from my library, and yes, sorry, it is about vampires. The book is Crusade by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie.

Summary:

"The ultimate battle. The ultimate love. For the past two years, Jenn has lived and trained at Spain's Sacred Heart Academy Against the Cursed Ones. She is among the few who have pledged to defend humanity or die trying. But the vampires are gaining power, and the battle has only just begun.

Forced to return home after death takes a member of her family, Jenn discovers that San Francisco is now a vampire strong-hold. As a lone hunter apart from her team, Jenn is isolated--and at risk. She craves the company of her fighting partner, Antonio: his protection, his reassurance, his touch. But a relationship with Antonio comes with its own dangers, and the more they share of themselves, the more Jenn stands to lose.

Then Jenn is betrayed by one who was once bound to protect her, causing her to doubt all she has held as true. To survive, Jenn must find the courage to trust herself--and her heart."

My Thoughts:

This was an interesting book. Jenn starts off as being just an okay character, believing herself to not be as good as the other members of her team and throughout the book she seems to be trying to figure out her place because she sort of sees herself as expendable. By the end, I think she is honestly starting to realize that she is an important addition to the group.

I think probably the most interesting character/part of the story is Antonio, Jenn's romantic interest as well as fighting partner. Antonio is a vampire, a Cursed One, but he is wildly different from the other vamps in the book. While a "vegetarian" vampire is nothing new to books, TV, and movies (hello, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Vampire Diaries, Twilight, etc.), Antonio really is unique in this universe. Vampires don't like crosses or symbols of faith, and holy water is another weapon to be used against them. However, those things don't bother Antonio. I don't really feel that it is a huge SPOILER since it is mentioned fairly early on in the book, but before he was turned, Antonio was actually studying to become a priest. It is because of his deep faith that none of these things bother them. He still prays a lot, helps to lead services, has no problem using holy water, and he even wears a cross on his necklace.

Crusade is basically what you would expect from a YA novel with vampires. Jenn wants to be with Antonio and he wants to be with her, but there's the chance that he could bite her and suck her dry anytime they are alone together, so naturally he struggles against that urge. I think this book would appeal to fans of Buffy and Angel, and Jenn is certainly a more kick-ass heroine than Bella in Twilight.

Anyway, because I have read a great deal of YA vampire fiction, I feel I can probably give this book a 4.5/5 overall. The story line moves quite well and there's plenty of action. Plus the rest of the hunter team makes things interesting and I really am curious to learn more about them. So, I can say that I will probably pick up the next book in this series.

Crusade at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/crusade-nancy-holder/1100059789?ean=9781416998020

Crusade at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Crusade-Nancy-Holder/dp/1416998039/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350178191&sr=1-1&keywords=Crusade

Other Readings:

All right, so again, not much change in my reading status from yesterday but I'm planning on reading some more on Master of Crows tonight. I'm also planning on really focusing on Grave Mercy since it is due back to the library in another four or five days. So, most likely my post for next Friday will be on Grave Mercy. Looking further into the future, October 26 will be a review of Poison Study, which was the main pick in my Vaginal Fantasy Hangout book club (and I can say that Poison Study is more YA in the smut level so don't worry). 

So, I guess I will see you all on Tuesday for my writing and life in general update.

From the Stacks: Wake

Yet another posting for From the Stacks. Tomorrow I'll be back to my normal schedule so there will be writing updates on Tuesdays and From the Stacks posts on Fridays. So, for today's review, I'm going to talk about Wake by Amanda Hocking.

Summary:

"Fall under the spell of Wake--the first book in an achingly beautiful new series by celebrated author Amanda Hocking--and lose yourself to the Watersong.

Gorgeous. Fearless. Dangerous. They're the kind of girls you envy, the kind of girls you want to hate. Strangers in town for the summer, Penn, Lexi, and Thea have caught everyone's attention--but it's Gemma who's attracted theirs. She's the one they've chosen to be part of their group.

Gemma Fisher seems to have it all--she's carefree, pretty, and falling in love with Alex, the boy next door. He's always been just a friend, but this summer they've taken their relationship to the next level.

Then one night, Gemma's ordinary life changes forever. Penn, Lexi, and Thea invite her to party with them at the cove, and the next morning she wakes up on the beach feeling groggy and sick, knowing something is different.

Suddenly Gemma is stronger, faster, and more beautiful than ever. But her new powers come with a terrifying price. And as she uncovers the truth, she's forced to choose between staying with those she loves--or entering a new world brimming with dark hungers and unimaginable secrets."

My Thoughts:

I first came across Amanda Hocking when her Trylle trilogy was about to be published in paperback. I bought the first book, devoured it in no time, and then got on my NOOK and bought all of the My Blood Approves series, as well as her standalone novel Virtue. With each of them it was the same thing, a really nice and quick read. 

Wake is no exception. It was easy to get into and I finished it in at max two hours. The Trylle trilogy covers trolls and changelings, My Blood Approves is all about vampires, and then Virtue is an interesting take on the seven deadly sins and seven virtues. With this newest novel, Hocking has taken on sirens. Somewhat similar to mermaids, but not quite. These sirens are very much in tune with the ones you would find in classic Greek literature (I'm referring to the mythology, like you could find in Homer's Illiad or Odyssey). 

I really enjoyed this and loved the interactions between Gemma and her older somewhat-stick-in-the-mud sister Harper. The romantic interests for both girls--Alex and Daniel, respectively--were great guys and I found myself almost screaming for Harper to stop being so resistant and realize that Daniel likes her and everything through most of the book. From the moment that Penn, Lexi, and Thea came into the book, I didn't like them, but guess what, I don't think you are supposed to like them. They completely turn both Gemma and Harper's worlds upside down without asking at all. They think that they can do whatever they want and it's okay, which you kind of expect from ancient mythological creatures.

All in all a great book, a quick read, and I can't wait for the next book, which I believe is supposed to be out sometime next month. I give it a 5/5.

Other Readings:

I've read the first few chapters of Master of Crows and so far I'm liking it. I'm still waiting to dig into the meat of the story but the first couple of chapters are trying to introduce the reader to the main two characters and to this world, so, it'll take some time to delve into everything. Anyway, I'll be back again tomorrow with a final From the Stacks for this week.

From the Stacks: Turning Pages

As promised, I'm back again for another From the Stacks review. Continuing on from yesterday's post on Jim C. Hines' Libriomancer, today's pick is also about a librarian. It's also a book I probably wouldn't have known about if it wasn't for Goodreads. I should probably preface this post by saying that I have been slammed with student loan bills these past few months and so I haven't been able to buy as many books. However, as any good bibliophile would do, I've searched for other ways to obtain books. Goodreads has a giveaways section called First Reads and I've already won a few books. Turning Pages by Tristi Pinkston is one of the books I've won.

Turning Pages by Tristi Pinkston
ISBN: 978-0-9838293-6-2

Summary:

"With his pride and her prejudice, what could possibly go wrong?

When the arrogant Blake Hansen steals Addie Preston's promotion at the library, he pretty much rubs her nose in it. But Addie, who dreams of being a full-fledged librarian, decides to stick it out. She loves surrounding herself with books and keeping her father's memory alive in the building where they spent so much time together.

Soon, Addie learns that her beloved library will be torn down to make room for a larger facility, and she has to make a choice. Fight, or let go?

To complicate things, she finds herself attracted to Blake, who is engaged to someone else. Will Blake and Addie ever resolve their differences?"

My thoughts:

I loved the concept behind this story...a modern day Pride & Prejudice set in a library with the main characters being librarians. With most of the Goodreads First Reads giveaways they only have one copy for several hundred applicants. I don't remember how many copies there were for this one, but I kept hoping that I would get picked, and lo and behold, I was.

Turning Pages was a really quick read, but it was cute and I really enjoyed it. Addie is in school to become a librarian and is hoping for a promotion when it is given to Blake, a young man who has a Business degree and no librarian experience. I have seen this happen in real life, where library experience is overlooked for someone else with a different area of expertise. However, I found myself falling for Blake along with Addie, and I won't try to hide that one of the many reasons why was because he rode a motorcycle. 

The plots, both romantic and dealing with the library, were quite realistic and I loved it. Actually, I kind of really want to re-read Pride & Prejudice again.

I give it a 4.5/5, mostly because it was a great re-telling of a classic, but still, it was a re-telling. Still, I do recommend it for fans of libraries as well as fans of Jane Austen and Pride & Prejudice.

Turning Pages at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/turning-pages-trisit-pinkston/1112694700?ean=2940015178562

Turning Pages at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Turning-Pages-Tristi-Pinkston/dp/0983829365/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349913769&sr=1-2&keywords=Turning+Pages

Other Readings:

Okay, so obviously I don't have much of an update from yesterday but I have made some more progress with The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines. I'm probably going to dig into Master of Crows by Grace Draven tonight.

Yet another From the Stacks will be up tomorrow. I will see you all then.

Countdown to NaNoWriMo

I love NaNoWriMo. For those who don't know anything about it, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, a program put on by the OLL (Office of Letters and Light). It occurs every November and participants attempt to write 50,000 words on a new novel in just 30 days. 2012 marks the 13th year of NaNoWriMo, and I am proud to say that this year is my seventh go round.

NaNoWriMo site: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/dashboard

NaNoWriMo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo also does word sprints, where you might write for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 45 minutes and is a quick little way to boost your word count each day. The word sprints are run on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NaNoWordSprints

They also have a blog: http://blog.lettersandlight.org/

Okay, so there's a lot of different places to get information about NaNoWriMo and I can tell you that it is a completely wonderful program. The OLL is a non-profit organization and they have done a lot of good around the world, between helping to raise money to build libraries around the world, to helping inspire hundreds of thousands of people to follow a dream to write a novel or at least attempt to write one.

Now, for those of you who do participate in NaNoWriMo and you'd like to be my writing buddy, unfortunately I have been participating under my own name, not my pen name. About the only way I could change my name on the site would be to send an e-mail and hope that it could be done, but I don't really plan on doing that. There is less pressure to write during a NaNo event if I only have friends and fellow Wrimos from my region follow my progress.

There are 22 days until the start of NaNoWriMo and so it is likely that my next few posts will be focused on my novel preparation for the event. More to come on that later, and there will be more From the Stacks posts over the next few days. I feel badly about disappearing for the past few weeks so I want to make it up to you all by writing more posts. So I'll be back with another From the Stacks tomorrow.

From the Stacks: Libriomancer

Okay, so things got a little hectic with home and work and as usually happens I stop writing blogs and such. For that I really have to apologize. I can say that in the past few weeks I have been able to read a number of books and they have been quite enjoyable, so today I'm going to post up about one that so far has been my favorite read of 2012. 

I love Librarians and libraries and books and magical abilities...and so Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines is perfect. It is the first book in the Magic Ex Libris series. Also, you can tell by looking at "my" copy, I borrowed this from the library. After devouring the book in only a couple hours, I sincerely wish that I had enough money to purchase this book, preferably in hardcover so I could pass it along to all my friends because it is an amazing read.

Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris Book One) by Jim C. Hines
ISBN: 9780756407391

Summary:

"Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg.  Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and draw forth objects. When Isaac is attacked by vampires that leaked from the pages of books into our world, he barely manages to escape. To his horror he discovers that vampires have been attacking other magic-users as well, and Gutenberg has been kidnapped.

With the help of a motorcycle-riding dryad who packs a pair of oak cudgels, Isaac finds himself hunting the unknown dark power that has been manipulating humans and vampires alike. And his search will uncover dangerous secrets about Libriomancy, Gutenberg, and the history of magic. . . ."

My Thoughts:

This book most definitely receives a 5/5 for me. I felt so drawn into the story and the world. Though I don't know a lot about the Michigan area and such, I have friends who have lived there so I know how accurate it all is. Plus, considering that I do have a degree in Library and Information Science, I do love when I find a librarian as a main character. Then, let's not forget what I find to be the coolest power out there. What bibliophile has not wished they could reach into a book and pull out a sword or a communicator or just anything. I really like that there are limits to what can be pulled from the book, only objects that are small enough to come out the pages. So, you could reach into a Doctor Who novel and pull out a vortex manipulator, but you could not pull out the TARDIS.

The relationships between the characters are really interesting and I loved all the novels, real and created, mentioned in the book. One of the really awesome characters was Smudge, a spider. And of course I loved Lena, the motorcycle-riding dryad mentioned in the summary.

Seriously, I thought this book was so amazing that it is actually difficult to talk about it because I can't find the precise words to describe the sheer awesomeness of all of this.

Oh, and Jim C. Hines has written up a blog post where he reveals the cover for Codex Born (Magic Ex Libris Book Two), so here's a link to that: http://www.jimchines.com/2012/09/codex-born-cover/

Libriomancer at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/libriomancer-jim-c-hines/1104880003?ean=9780756407391

Libriomancer at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Libriomancer-Magic-Ex-Libris-Book/dp/0756407397/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349801891&sr=8-1&keywords=Libriomancer

Other Readings:

In other readings I have finished a couple of other books and hope to have reviews up here soon, and am reading a few others. Currently I am reading The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines (he's a really good author), Grave Mercy by Robin LeFevers, and Master of Crows by Grace Draven.