The Thursday Review: Daughter of the Goddess by Rita Webb

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Blurb:

The Heart.
The God of Love seeks a bride who is pure in heart and full of life—full of soul. Instead of a woman, he finds a child with laughter in her heart. Waiting for her to grow up, he befriends her, pretending to be nothing more than a blue-eyed boy with wild, tangled hair.

The Soul.
Left on the temple doorstep, a young girl turns the lives of the priestesses upside down . . . until one summer day before her eighteenth birthday, a traveling oracle tells her she is to marry a stranger in a foreign land.

The Nightmare.
An ancient demon—half-man, half-snake—wants to destroy anything the gods love. When she was a child, he haunted her dreams, but now he stalks her across the countryside. If he catches her, he’ll devour her.

Review:

I’ve been watching this book on the “People who bought Persephone also bought…” list for awhile. When Rita sent me a review request, I was thrilled to have the chance to read this novella. It was adorable. It was like a fairy tale set in Ancient Greece. Peaches is a horrifically neglected girl(Think Matilda levels of parental negligence) who is given to a local temple to be raised as a priestess. Despite her horrific upbringing, Peaches becomes a strong, beautiful woman. Everyone who sees her knows there’s something special about her. She sees a mysterious boy that no one else ever seems to notice and she has also gotten the attention of a less pleasant being. I knew where the book was going the entire time, but it was still a lovely story. Sweet, romantic, uplifting, and wonderful. It’s .99 cents. Read it.

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W…w…w Wednesday

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W….w…w Wednesday is a weekly web meme hosted by “You Should be Reading.” All you have to do to participate is answer these three questions.

1) What did you recently finish reading? I’ve been going through the textbook for my classes, so this is a long list. Beowulf, The Birds, The Hunger Games, And the Cask of Montillado.

2) What are you reading now? Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

3) What will you read next? Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

Top Ten Tuesdays: Settings

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Top ten Tuesdays are posted by The Broke and the Bookish. This weeks top ten list features settings you want to see more often in fiction.

1) Athens, Georgia. I want to see how other authors treat it. Plus it would be cool to recognize places in the book.

2) Cruise ships

3) Oxford, England

4) Paris, France

5) dystopian futures. What, I really like them

6) the moon. I read a book set on the moon once. It was pretty cool

7) the international space station. I think a grown up version of Xenon would be interesting. Like not the actual show, but a society on a space station. More like Battlestar Galactica, but with less cylons.

8) Outside of time. Think Ruby Red. I like time travelers

9) Islands, cause I’m jealous

10) Atlanta, same reason as Athens just lower on the list

Thursday Review: Caller of Light by TJ Shaw

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Blurb:

Carina McKay is an outsider. With one parent of royal blood, she’s not nobility, yet not a servant either. The only comfort in her mundane existence is her love of Critons, the large fire-breathing creatures that protect the border of her homeland. But her destiny changes forever the day she catches the eye of King Marek Duncan.

Marek’s heart is closed to love. After an arranged marriage withers to a bitter end, he dedicates his energy to protecting his kingdom. Yet he’s searching for something more–the Caller of Light, the one who summons Critons.

Carina’s beauty and willfulness intrigue Marek, and he’s determined to have her. When his enemies try to come between them, he discovers just how much he will endure to protect her. Together, they can unlock a love that binds their souls, but only if they find the strength to follow their hearts.

Review:

Cinderella meets Dragonriders of Pern

I don’t know why I don’t read traditional fantasy more often. I always end up loving the books! Always! And Caller of Light was no exception. Shaw builds a completely unique world full of Critons, which are essentially dragons. The Critons bond with their riders but they sometimes need assistance from a caller. Unfortunately the last caller dropped off the face of the earth over a decade ago.

Meanwhile, Carina is our spirited underdog. Abused and treated as a servant in her own house she captures the heart of a King. Her evil half sister is willing to do whatever it takes to sabotageCarina and Duncan’s relationship. Meanwhile there’s political intrigue and looming threats of war in Duncan’s kingdom

The only thing I didn’t like, and yes, I know, this is crazy nitpicky, I didn’t like that Criton was capitalized. I get that their sentient super special cool dragon like creatures, but you don’t capitalize dragon, you capitalize the dragons name. I don’t think I would have noticed at all had I not just had to do a global edit for something very similar. But I did notice, and the word criton was used here about as often as the word horse would be used in a western so it just kept poking at me.

However, I just read a long book and my only complaint whatsoever is the capitalization of one word. I think that speaks volumes for how GOOD this book is.

W…w…w Wednesday

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W…w…w Wednesday is a weekly web meme hosted by You Should Be Reading

All you have to do is answer these three questions:

1) What did you just finish reading? Angelfall by Susan Ee. Thank you for the recommendation, Rachel.

2) What am I reading now? I’m re-reading The Hunger Games because I’m teaching it

3) What will I read next? No idea, any recommendations?

Vampires VS Werewolves Blog Hop

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Sorry this didn’t go up yesterday! Scheduling issues on the blog!

* giveaway ends on the 20th. At 11:59pm.

Vampires versus werewolves:

If we’re going by Greek mythology, they both sucked.

Vampires are mentioned here and there in the old Greek myths. There was an entire island of blood drinkers in The Odyssey and birds called strix that drank blood.

Hecate had a daughter named Empusa that would seduce men an drink their blood while they slept.

Lamia was a daughter of Poseidon who had an affair with Zeus. When Hera discovered their affair, she cursed Lamia and forced her to devour her kids. After all her children were killed she continued to drink the blood of normal children. Zeus then blinded her so that… Well I’m not sure exactly how that was supposed to help other than making it more difficult to catch the children.

There is only one instance of werewolves in Greek mythology.

Once upon a time the nymph Callisto and Artemis were lovers. Callisto had no desire to be with anyone else but Zeus decided he had to have her, so he disguise himself as Artemis and the two had sex. They had a child named Arcas.

As punishment for her infidelity, Artemis transformed Callisto into a bear. Meanwhile, in a faraway Kingdom, Lycaon decided that he wanted the power of the gods himself. So he kidnapped the now grown son of Zeus Arcas,(Lycaon was also Arcas’ grandfather on his mothers side but that’s neither here more there) put him on an alter, and shouted a challenge to the sky. If Zeus valued his sons life, he would come down and save him.

Zeus did. And then he turned Lycaon into a wolf, gave his kid hunting gear, and said “have fun!”

Arcas wasted no time hunting down Lycaon. On his way back to what would now be his kingdom, he spotted a bear. The bear was actually his mother, but he didn’t know that. She was so excited to see him that she ran forward to embrace him. He, terrified, notched an arrow. Zeus arrived on the scene just in time to avert tragedy. He whisked them away into the stars where mother and son are reunited forever as Ursa Major and minor.

As far a as my favorites in the modern day go? I prefer vampires. They just have more finesse. However, book wise, my absolute favorite is Bitten, which is a book about werewolves by Kelley Armstrong.

Warning: Bitten is not Young adult, so if you win my contest, do no choose this book if you are under eighteen. I will happily substitute it for a young adult book by the same author that also features a werewolf called “The Awakening.”

My favorite vampire books for the moment are the Vampire Academy series so I’ll give away the first in that series.

Of course the winners are welcome to a copy of either one of my books.

To enter: leave a comment with your preference, vampire or werewolf and your favorite story.

Additional entries:

Follow me anywhere you can think of (blog, Facebook, twitter, tmblr, Pinterest, linked in, anywhere you can find me) and leave a comment for EACH entry.

2 Winners will be chosen at random from the comments, they can have any book they choose as an ebook. Enjoy 🙂

5 Questions with Mera

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This blog was origonally posted on Mera’s blog, YA novel reader here:

Five Questions:
1. Why did you choose to write a book in the Young Adult genre?

I love young adult books. About ninety percent of what I read is YA. I feel like the books require more plot and better character arcs than adult books, because adult books can fall back on sex and drama to up the tension. So when it came to writing my own stories, I knew YA was the way to go. You write what you read. It’s just what’s in my head.

2. Who is your favourite character you have written and why?

That changes just about daily. I love Cassandra and Melissa, because they both have such unique points of view in my story, and it can be a relief to see another perspective. Of course I love Persephone, but right now my favorite character is Hades. As it stands right now, book three is a joint pov between him and Persephone, and after two books of Persephone figuring out her limitations and experimenting with having powers, it’s kind of nice to write as someone who can just blast people away and knows it.

3. Describe a typical writing day for you?

I tend to think over my scenes during the day. Mostly when I’m driving, and then sit down and write it out at night. I write on my ipad because it’s the most portable thing I can actually efficiently write with. Throughout the day if I have a minute I’ll take it out of my purse and read over what I have, making improvements here and there. What really keeps me on the ball is my writers group. I have a weekly submission deadline if I want them to critique what I’ve got.

4. What are you reading at the moment?

Agamemnon by Aeschylus and Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. I’m studying for the GRE English Literature subject test, so I haven’t read anything fun and relaxing in a WHILE.

5. If you turned your ipod on now, what would be the song that is currently playing?

The best poems of all time volume 1 and 2 or Shakespeare’s sonnets. Again, for the GRE. Studying for that has pretty much consumed my reading a listening life. But after October 10th I’ll be able to listen to music again! Right now my favorite singer is Lorena McKennet because I can listen to an actual song and still be studying. Her rendition of The Highwayman is incredible.

Top Ten Tuesday

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Top Ten Tuesdays is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. This weeks topic is the top ten most anticipated releases of 2013. This was the easiest top ten Tuesday yet! There are so many great books coming out in 2013.

1) The Iron Queen, by me. If only because it means I finished it!

2) Aphrodite, by me. Ditto!

3) Ever After, by Kim Harrison. Love her series, can’t wait to see where it goes

4) With All My Soul, by Rachel Vincent. I LOVE this series and this book will conclude it. Each book gets better and better.

5) Clockwork Princess, by Cassandra Clare, I think I like this series better than the Immortal Instruments

7) The Rising, by Kelley Armstrong, excited to see where this series is going

8) Omens, by Kelley Armstrong. I’m excited to see what this ones about.

9) The House of Hades, by Rick Riordan. This series just gets better and better as the kids in it grow up.

10) The Doors of Stone, by Patrick Rothfus. I’m nervous about this book. It’s going to have to be pretty awesome to wrap up right.

Brittany interviews me about Persephone

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This interview was originally posted on Brittany’s blog here:

Do you have a favorite character? Why is she your favorite?

Melissa. I’ve read books about characters with fantastic abilities my entire life. I’ve wished magic was real with every fiber of my being, and you know what I eventually figured out? If all the stuff I read about was real, I’d probably still just be a regular human. That’s why I love Melissa. She has to deal with the knowledge that everything is real, just not for her, and she manages to deal with that crushing disappointment while still being a good friend. I admire her for that, it can’t be easy having a goddess for a best friend.

What do you hope readers will get from your book?

I just hope that people enjoy reading it. I don’t have an agenda and I’m not trying to pass on any pearls of wisdom, I just like good stories. I did a ton of research so if you’re familiar with the myths there’s all kinds of fun references in there, but I’m not trying to teach anyone anything. I just want people to have fun reading my book.

About the Author:
What/Who inspires you?

It’s completely random. Sometimes it’s movies or shows or trailers that get me thinking along a completely different path and start a story. Sometimes it’s bad dreams. Sometimes it’s other books or things that happen in real life. Most of the time is a combination of so many different things I can’t really pinpoint it. Other times it’s a name. Right now I’ve got a half formed idea floating around because I really want to name a character Chance. I think Chance probably has an attitude problem and might be a thief. Who knows what will come of that.

Hardest aspect of writing? Best/Easiest?

The hardest part to me is writing the query letter, synopsis, blurb, or anything to shorten this idea that I’ve spent every single bit of my energy into pouring MORE detail in, and expanding into a novel. The easiest part is writing the dialogue. I probably let my characters talk too much, but their dialogue is so fun to write.

Who is your writing hero?

Peter Beagle. I love his novels. He manages to write really good novels. His novels are good literature yet still manage to tell a great story without getting dragged down in craft. And to top it off, most of his stories are for children, so it does it in a very concise space. He’s amazing. My favorite novel by him is Tamsin, but The Last Unicorn is a close second.

About the Future:
What’s next for you?

Finishing the trilogy. My sequel is done, and waiting on edits. So now I’m working on the third book. The third books a lot of fun because it’s a dual narrative between Persephone and Hades, and it’s fun to be in Hades’ head.

One outrageous goal for the future?

I want to go on the Supernatural Summer tour with all my favorite authors. It’s through their publisher so it’s not going to happen for a very long time, but it’s my goal. Mostly just so I can meet all my favorite authors!

Do you have any advice you’d like to share with other aspiring writers?

Join a writers group and listen to what they say. I see so many writers complain that they tried writers groups but the people just “didn’t get” their story, or their advice was just too off the wall. Here’s the thing about people in the writers group. They are your best gauge of what your reviews are going to look like should you ever get published. If they, avid readers and writers, don’t understand your work, I guarantee they are not the problem. My books would not be a fraction as good if I didn’t have them to bounce ideas off of or to say “wow, your character is being really bitchy right now, do you want us to hate her?” If you can’t handle constructive criticism you’re never going to be able to handle your edits, much less your readers!

Randomness:
Sweet or salty?

Sweet. My favorite candy is the Reeses cups shaped like eggs. Yum.

Beach, plains or mountains?

The Beach. I got married on the beach. I love it, it’s so beautiful. I’m not a huge fan of the ocean though. I have a short story called Siren Song published (if there’s a way to link to it I’d appreciate it) that goes into all the creepiness of the ocean. I mean think about it. It’s huge. An entire ecosystem lives in it. It’s this entire other realm and we go swimming in it? It’s a little crazy.

Online, letters or in person?

In person. I know this is weird for a writer to say but I tend to get in trouble if people can’t see/hear me. I use happy sarcasm. When people hear me in real life, they say I’m nice and sometimes a little tiny bit funny (not often) but somehow that doesn’t translate well to email or text or letters. I just come off condescending and mean. I read other people all wrong too. Talking in person prevents any misunderstandings.

Ebook or print?

EBook. When you’ve moved as often as I have the novelty of print becomes a bit of an encumbrance. Plus I like having my entire library on me at all times. Stuck waiting in the doctors office? No problem, I have a book. Can’t remember something I’ve read, I can pull it up. I’m never going back to print!