Mini Reviews: The Second Novella Edition

Bad Yeti

by Carrie Harris

Kate Grable series

 

Jonah Grable hasn’t minded living in the shadow of his older, zombie fighting sister Kate, but this weekend he’s definitely raising his profile. A weekend of epic epicness—waving swords and flirting with girls in elf ears at his LARP club event—is totally up Jonah’s alley. But when his alter ego, Sir Talatien Maguirier, Nightdark Clanlord, comes face to face with a real, live Yeti, Jonah—or, rather, Tal—has to take matters into his own hands. So he sets off with gamer goddess Lady Amethyst, brown-eyed Europa, and Calamity, a braid-wearing barbarian in fur into the great unknown on a search for yeti-related awesomeness. . . . (description from Amazon.com)

 

SUPER FUN. I love this series hardcore and to have this little glimpse into that world from Jonah's perspective? So much awesomesauce.  I love the geekiness and the bravery and the general paranormalness of this series.

 

 

The Grimm Diaries Prequels Volumes 1 - 6

by Cameron Jace

 

The Grimm Diaries are pages written in a Book of Sand, where each fairy tale character confessed the true stories once altered by the Brothers Grimm two centuries ago. To keep the truth about fairy tales hidden, the Brothers Grimm buried the characters in their dreams to never wake up again. But the curse is broken now, and the characters are allowed to wake up every one hundred years. They intend to tell the truth about really happened, and about an untold cosmic conflict between fairy tale characters. (description from Amazon.com)

 

While the premise for this series is very intriguing and each short story had a compelling set of characters and circumstnaces, I was SO distracted by the poor writing technique in these stories that it was all I could do to finish them.

 

Tortured

by Caragh O'Brien

Birthmarked series

 

"But what about Leon?" Now, in this new story that bridges the gap between Birthmarked and Prized, Caragh M. O'Brien answers her readers' most common question with a tale of suffering and determination from Leon's perspective. (description from Amazon.com)

 

I really wish I had read this one before I read Prized, but you don't have to... it was so good to delve back into Gaia's world.  It was very interesting to see things from Leon's more privledged perspective, too. I can't wait to read Promised and find out how their story finally ends.

 

The Witch of Duva

by Leigh Bardugo

The Grisha Trilogy

 

There was a time when the woods near Duva ate girls…or so the story goes. But it’s just possible that the danger may be a little bit closer to home. This story is a companion folk tale to Leigh Bardugo’s debut novel, Shadow and Bone. (description from Amazon.com)

 

I loved this the same way I loved Sarah Maas' novellas. While they do not actually progress the story already written in the first book in each series, they are wonderful for fleshing out the fantasy world that each is set in.  Here, this is a folk tale, similar to Hansel and Gretel, that exists within Alina's world.  It really helped to flesh out the darkly Eastern European feel of the world she lives in. 





 

Full disclosure: All enovellas purchased for either my Nook or my Kindle App

What's On My Hold List?

 

Welcome to the February 2013 edition

 

of

 

"What's on My Hold List?"

 

One of the most beautiful things about working in a Library is that I have the ability to put lots of things on hold and read them *before* I buy!! These are some of the books that I'm currently waiting for, though I may buy one or two of them after reading, as well.

 

The Egypt Game

by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

 

 

Scarlet

by Marissa Meyer

The Lunar Chronicles, book two

 

 

Under the Never Sky

by Veronica Rossi

 

 

You can click on each title to go to their Amazon page for a description...

 

So, these are the books I'm waiting anxiously to get my hands on...what are you waiting for??



Author Interview - Jena Leigh

Today I'd like to welcome author, Jena Leigh, to the blog!!

 

Author bio:

Born and raised in Tampa, Florida, Jena Leigh spent ten years in the mountains of North Carolina before returning home to the lightning capital of North America.

A shameless geek, she loves bad sci-fi movies, Skittles, writing cracktastic e-mails to friends and taking shenanigan-filled road trips to faraway concerts. She has a degree in English from Appalachian State University.

Revival is her first novel.

 

Yesterday, I posted my review for Revival, so I'm very excited to welcome the author herself to answer a few quick, fun questions... here goes!

1. How long did it take you, from first spark of idea to final proofs, to write Revival?

From start to finish, the book took a little over two years to complete. Many afternoons in between my graduate school classes and late nights after work were spent writing the first half of Revival. Not long after that, my health took a nosedive and I found myself with plenty of free time to write. I guess it’s true what they say… For me at least, everything really did happen for a reason. Eventually, my health improved and I had a finished novel to show for my unexpected downtime.

 

 

2. How did you originally decide to self-publish? What was the process like for you?

My journey in self-publishing started out like most do—I had a book nobody wanted to publish. After the pile of rejection letters rolled in from the sea of agents politely declining my book, I was pretty heartbroken. Okay, more than that… Devastated might be a better word.

 

So I went back to the manuscript. Put it through yet another round of edits. Polished it to the point that I was certain that—although it still wasn’t perfect—it was as good as I could possibly make it... And during that time, I did my homework. I researched the process. I tried to absorb every pointer and every helpful recommendation that I could. I designed a cover. I planned. I created every social media account I could think of, to help promote the series and myself as an author.

 

And then I published.

 

And then the work began. Honestly, that’s one thing nobody tells you…Self-publishing is more than just a hard road. If you want to succeed, it’s a full-time job! But I’ll tell you a secret… This gig might just be the best job around. I’m living my dreams and loving every minute of it!

 

3. If you could write a book under a pseudonym that no one would ever connect to you, are there any genres you would love to secretly explore?

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at writing something in the humor genre. It would definitely need a fake name attached to it, though. I’m ninety-nine percent certain that I’m not nearly as funny as I think I am…
 

4. If you could cross one thing off your bucket list tomorrow, what would it be?

Go on a cruise! I’ve been lucky enough to fly (and drive) to all sorts of fantastic and interesting places, but I’ve yet to take a cruise. And I’m sure the Bahamas are nice this time of year…
 

5. Quick Picks List:

Favorite vacation destination?

London, England
 

Favorite childhood book?

One of the first books that I read and absolutely fell in love with was And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss. A few years later, it was replaced by Francine Pascal’s young adult novel, Sweet Valley Twins and Friends, Super Chiller: The Ghost in the Bell Tower. Although it’s safe to say I read both of them many times over in my younger years!
 

Favorite writing snack food?

Skittles! Any time I’m stuck on a scene, I break open one of those mini-candy bags and chow down… They help me think! *Oooh! I love skittles, too. They're actually my favorite candy. :)
 

Favorite clothing item?

My black, worn-out Chuck Taylor’s, probably. Do those count as an article of “clothing”? If not, I’d have to say my lucky pair of jeans that are made up more of holes than they are of cloth at this point. I loved them—quite literally—to pieces, and now I just can’t bring myself to toss them.

 

 

Jena, thank you so much for stopping by my blog today! It was great having you and I really can't wait to read the next book in the Variants series...

 

To check out more info on Jena and Revival, you can go to her blog/website HERE!