Book Review: Angelfire

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton - (2011 Debut Author Challenge: 2 of 12)

"First there are nightmares. Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her.

"Then come the memories. When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street corner at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the keys to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream.

"Now she must hunt. Ellie has power that no one else can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember." (Cover blurb on book).

Before I joined the 2011 Debut Author Challenge, I found an interview with the author of this book on a web page. The cover and the cover blurb caught my interest immediately. When I found the 2011DAC a few days later, I knew I had to sign up. What better excuse could I possibly find to buy more books? And once I registered, this book was added to the list without a second thought.

After finishing it, I have to say that I'm glad I read it. From what I've heard, a lot of people are writing angels these days, but this is the first book I've read in a while including that kind of subject matter. It was a nice change from vampires, which are okay, but I've read a lot of those recently. Besides, this book also deals with reapers, which are pretty awesome if you ask me.

The main character was realistic. Her voice had a nice flow to it, and I found myself reading a lot faster than I wanted to... because I like to make my books last at least two days. The side characters all had their own voices and Ellie's friends all sound like teenagers, which was good. Of course, like always, my favorite character was a side character and a villain.

Over all, I found the storyline to be engaging. The overarching plot line was interesting and I found myself wanting to find out more about Ellie's character, as well as the world of the reapers. And while all of this supernatural-big-picture stuff is happening, there's the part of Ellie that is desperately clinging to her old life, which makes it easy for the reader to relate to her.

On the whole, I genuinely liked this book and I'm looking forward to the second book.

This book can be found in stores and online:

Angelfire

Happy reading!

PS: I think I'm doing away with the rating system from here on out. I'm finding that it's really difficult to determine what sort of rating I would give a book, when my opinion tends to change on a day to day basis. If you would like to see the rating system continue for book reviews, let me know! I'm willing to keep it if it's important to you.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

I hope you're all having a wonderful day!

There should be a new post within the next few days,

so keep your eyes open!

K.

The TBR List

You know what we need around here? A TBR list. I don't know about you, but I have a To Be Read pile that's nearly taller than me (Granted, I haven't stacked them all up, so I can't say for sure). Which means... I think I'm going to keep a running list on here.

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
2. The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher 
3. Across the Universe by Beth Revis
4. Plain Kate by Erin Bow
5. Darklight by Lesley Livingston
6. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
7. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
8. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
9. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
10. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer
11. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
12. Mocking Bird by Suzanne Collins
13. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
14. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
15. Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
16. The Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
17. The Seeker by Phil Morimitsu
18. Dracula by Bram Stoker
19. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
20. Daughter of Exile by Isabel Glass
21. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
22. Basilisk by N. M. Browne
23. Choke by Chuck Palahnuik
24. Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink
25. The Book of Dreams by O. R. Melling
26. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
27. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanne Clark
28. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
29. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
30. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
31. Sabriel by Garth Nix
32. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
33. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
34. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
35. The Teachings of Don Juan: a Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda
36. Ulysses by James Joyce
37. Primavera by Francesca Lia Block
38. Ecstasia by Francesca Lia Block
39. The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
40. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation Volume 1: The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson
41. Eldest by Christopher Paolini
42. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
43. The Psychology of Consciousness by Robert. E. Ornstein
44. The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien
45. The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride, Book 1) by James Patterson

(That list is rather longer than I thought it was... considering the fact that those are only the 'for fun' books and only the ones on my shelves. I'm not sure if I ought to be sad or happy about this).

What is on your TBR list?

Book Review: Paranormalcy

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

"Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

"Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

"So much for normal." (Cover blurb on book).




Rating: 4/5

I picked this novel up at a bookstore a couple of days ago (a story I'll tell you later, because it's sort of long and I would rather review this right now), but I only got around to reading it today. Paranormalcy by Kiersten White was recommended to me a couple of weeks ago and, when I saw it on the table, I thought I would add it to the stack of books I was already purchasing. Once I realized how much my books were going to be, I almost put all of them except for the debut novel back, but I really couldn't help myself... and I'm glad I spent the money.

Let me start by saying: This book is a page turner. Seriously. I just read it all in a few hours, only breaking for dinner and coffee. I kept reading even when my beautiful kitty somehow swindled me out of most of my chair. But, page turning does not turn this into a proper review, so onward we go.

First off, I'm a sucker for faerie novels. So the fact that there were faeries in this novel? Automatic plus. But, with or without that aspect, I loved this book.


Characterization, in my opinion, was definitely one of the stronger points in this novel. The main character, Evie, was light and relatively cheerful, despite the rather dark situation. She was well developed and she moved the story along with ease. She made everything interesting, even simply traveling down the hallway (in a rolling chair). And I really appreciated the fact that she wasn't just a lay-down-and-take-it character, even though she had been fairly sheltered up until things started going wrong.

And Raquel - a woman who was, in many ways, Evie's parental figure - was exceptionally expressive, as well as being a very private individual. Even the smallest characters in this book had their share of personality, which was wonderful to see.

The only thing that kept me from giving this a five out of five was that, at times, I really didn't feel the relationship between Evie and some of the other characters. While all of the characters had personality, I was only told how Evie felt about them. And, to sell me completely on a book, showing versus telling really is key. Still, I thought it was excellent and I expect some of that will even out later.

Some of the plots remain unresolved by the end of the novel, but I suspect that has rather more to do with the coming sequels than a lack of attention paid to each point. I'm really looking forward to those, in case you couldn't tell already.

This book can be found in bookstores or online:


Paranormalcy

Happy readings!

Music Recommendation: L'Ultima Notte

Hello, everyone!

College maimed my free time and I fell off the blogging train. But I'm sorry and I'm back now and, best yet, I come bearing new blog posts. Forgive me? Anyway, now that I officially feel like I'm talking to myself, I'm going to move on...

I have a music recommendation for you today! Last Thursday I woke up with this song in my head and, once upon a time (a few months ago), I listened to this almost everyday. So without further ado, check this out:

L'Ultima Notte - Josh Groban

The link goes to a live performance on youtube. I'm usually not into live music, but I think I'll make an exception here. Hope you enjoy and I'll see you in a few days with another post!

PS: Totally forgot about the holiday, so Happy (belated) Valentine's day!

Book Review: XVI

XVI by Julia Karr - (2011 Debut Author Challenge: 1 of 12)

 "Every girl gets one. An XVI tattoo on the wrist -- sixteen. They say they're there for protection. 

"Some girls can't wait to be sixteen, to be legal. Nina is not one of them. Even though she has no choice in the matter, she knows that so long as her life continues as normal, everything will be okay. 

"Then, with one brutal strike, Nina's normal life is shattered; and she discovers that nothing that she believed about her life is true. But there's one boy who can help -- and he may just hold the key to her past.

"But with the line between attraction and danger as thin as a whisper, one thing is for sure... for Nina, turning sixteen promises to be anything but sweet." (Cover blurb on book).

Rating: 4/5

I went shopping yesterday or, perhaps, I went wandering and just so happened upon a bookstore. The point is, I ended up spending and hour and a half trying to decide on the perfect book instead of drinking coffee and writing as I had originally planned. I came home with one... this one (I know, an hour and a half to find one book is a little bit sad, but I might have just been enjoying the new book smell and absorbing the atmosphere).

When I saw this on the shelf, I recognized the title from the list of novels debuting this month and I thought I would give it a go. I started reading at 5:30 yesterday and I read for an hour or so. Then I picked it up again after school today and finished just a little bit ago... kind of watching movies in between chapters. I think I should clarify something right now. I did receive the book that was in the mail and I have started reading that, but this one just caught me.

XVI is a dystopian novel and an addicting read. Set in the year 2150, things have changed. Everything is ruled by the Governing Council and people literally fight to survive in a world that is supposed to be perfect. But that's just the thing, no one thinks anything is wrong. Media is pounded into their heads day after day and there's never enough silence to think for themselves, which is where Nina's journey begins.

I really enjoyed this novel. For a debut, I think it's impressive. The characters were engaging - even the ones I didn't like - and the plot kept me turning pages more rapidly than usual. Nina was a strong lead and her point of view offered the perfect mindset for this story. The only thing that really caught me off guard was the pacing. It seemed to be going along at a nice rate until I got toward the end and I realized there were ten pages left to wrap up everything. I became doubtful, but it turns out that I didn't need to be.

The ending didn't quite feel finished to me at first and the pacing still seemed off, but after looking it up, that's because it isn't finished and some of this is carrying on into the next book. According to the author website, there's supposed to be a sequel coming out at some point (wish I knew when), and this is news that I'm genuinely glad to hear. I'm not done with this world or these characters just yet.

So why the four out of five?
Well, I really was expecting a bit more action regarding the tattoo. I felt there was a lot of build up for what little came of that, but that plot wasn't necessarily the main one - as it seemed in the beginning - and perhaps it'll show up in the sequel.

There was one scene that really kind of threw me off too, but I won't go into that since I don't want to spoil anything for you.

Also, I caught a few typos, which was kind of weird. I've never seen those get through before, but maybe I'm just not usually paying attention.


But, overall and those things aside, I would have to say that I loved this book. I'm interested to see more from this author, and not just the sequel to XVI. For the moment, though, I offer my congratulations to Ms. Karr on a great debut and I recommend this book to any of you interested in YA dystopians.

This book can be found in stores and online:

XVI

Happy reading!


PS: This book is probably best for ages 14 and up.

Music Recommendation: Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking

So I'm pretty sure I just made a post, but in case I didn't *insert horribly awkward cough here*, I have a music recommendation for you!

Voila:

Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking - Snow Patrol

PS: It might not be too far of a stretch if you were to assume that I am partially in love with this song.

PPS: That link takes you to Youtube, but there's no video, just a CD cover image.

Independent Study: Preface

It is January 5th and Winter semester is ever so quickly approaching. Within a few days, I'll be watching my Winter break disappear into a cloud of drifting snow while I fight against the desire to sleep on a desk, which shouldn't be too difficult. That desire is only easy to fight because I know they don't clean the desks properly. A small, sticky ring of soda that remained on one of the tables for two weeks during my first semester of college attests to the truthfulness of that statement. Yuck. But desk cleanliness aside, I thought it was time to look back on the first post I wrote here.

In Ink Is Gold: A Blogging Adventure, I mentioned that I would be making posts on my Independent Study course. Since that class starts on Monday morning, I think it is time for the first of several posts revolving around this class.

What is this Independent Study class you speak of?
 
This semester, I get to take a class on novel writing... alone.

In 2009, I took an intro to creative writing course composed of two units: poetry and short story. I walked away with a great deal of knowledge. When the class was over, I tried to find a class that taught intro to novel writing, but the college (being a small campus) doesn't have a class like that.

After asking around a bit more, I found out that I could take an Independent Study course - something I had never heard of before - if I could find a professor willing to teach me. So I went back and talked to my wonderful creative writing professor, Carrie, and she said that she would be willing to work with me. Long story short: a lot of planning and paper work happened, the dean is currently looking everything over, and I'm in a class that may or may not be quite similar to a top secret operation.

What are you going to be studying?

• Plot
• Subplot
• Novel Beginnings
• Character
• Writing Voice & Style
• Details
• Editing, Revising, and Rewriting
  

What can we expect to see on here as a result of this class?

Well, for one thing, you'll be seeing more posts in the Writing Tips section.

But, as I will be writing bits and pieces of various novels during this semester, you will also be seeing posts about my writing progress, the class itself and the learning process, and maybe even a couple of excerpts. Plus - even though this is mostly just for me because it is motivating to watch progress like that - those little bars on the side of my blog detailing writing progress will start moving and possibly changing.


Anyway, that's about it for now. I don't know much more than that at this point, but if you have questions, feel free to ask and I'll try to get answers for you.

End Preface.

Springing Into 2011

It's 2011!

And this is completely irrelevant to my post, but I haven't written the wrong date on any of the papers I've signed thus far (which is a surprisingly large amount, consider we're only three - technically four - days into the new year). Pretty impressive, considering it's me and I was writing 2009 until June of 2010.

Anyway. Since it is the new year, that means I have a new list of resolutions to be completed by the end of the year. A lot of bloggers are posting their New Year's Resolutions for everyone to read, so I thought I would follow the trend... sort of, and posting my writing and reading related resolutions on here.

New Year's Resolutions: The 2011 List

1. Write every day, even if only for a few minutes. Hit 2,500 words per week.
2. Finish the 2011 Debut Authors Challenge.
3. Write for the current WIP.
4. Update blog more frequently (Also Known As: We will be getting an almost schedule, I think).
5. Rediscover curiosity and find inspiration in everything.
6. Read more, because there never seems to be enough time for books.

Well, there's my list. Some of that stuff will even be benefiting you, so that's cool.
What are your New Year's Resolutions? Do you make any?


On another note, I've got some exciting news. The first book I plan to read for the 2011 Debut Authors Challenge is currently en route to my house. The shipping was delayed a few days, or I would already be reading it, but I think it is safe to say you will be seeing a book review on here for a debut author fairly soon. Especially considering the last resolution listed here.


PS: Expect the first post on my Independent Study course soon! It starts next week!