Scattered Links by M. Weidenbenner

Scattered Links

Author:  M. Weidenbenner
Publisher:  Createspace
Pages: 256

Release Date: January 20th, 2014

Source: Received from the author in exchange for
an honest review

Scattered Links is a novel that pulls its characters from the gutters and, in the end, celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit. 

Thirteen-year-old Oksana lives on the streets of Russia with her pregnant mama and abusive aunt—both prostitutes. When Mama swells into labor, Oksana makes a decision to save herself from abandonment, a decision that torments her forever. But her plan fails when her aunt dumps her in an orphanage before she has the chance to say goodbye to her mama or tell her the secret that haunts her.

Scattered Links is a story of family and the consequences that come from never learning how to love, of a girl’s inability to bond with her adopted family and the frustrations that follow. 

How can a child understand the mechanics of forming a healthy relationship when she never had a mother who answered her cries, held her when she was frightened, fed her when she was hungry, or loved her unconditionally?

Only when the child meets a rescued abused horse, and recognizes the pain in his eyes, does she begin to trust again.

Scattered Links is a story that tackles some tough issues, and manages to bring a level of warmth and hope into the mix even if things don't turn out perfectly. The story follows Oksana, and her struggles through poverty until she finds her new home in America. 

The story is really touching, but it is also very "real". You can tell the author really understands these kids and the trials they go through changing cultures and finding new homes. There are small details that really shows the author has experience with adoptions like this and has done her research, from the culture shocks to the small things like saving food after a meal. 

The writing can be a little different, and it takes some patience in some areas. Since Oksana isn't from America, the words and language can feel clipped and the sentence structure is stylized to fit Oksana's voice. There were a few times the idioms and gradual adaptation to an American way of speaking felt distracting to me, but I think it showed her growing process in the end and at least had a good purpose. 

I liked the twists in the story, and I felt Oksana developed well as a character. I did feel it was hard to gauge the growth of the other characters though because of the very personal first perspective. Sometimes I wanted to know more of what they were thinking or feeling, but that's just a personal preference. 

Altogether this was a very well done book with a touching story line.

Travel Glasses by Chess Desalls

Travel Glasses

Author:  Chess Desalls
Publisher:  Czidor Lore, LLC
Pages: 214

Release Date: May 7th, 2014

Source: Received from the author in exchange for
an honest review

When an ethereal being knocks Calla to the ground near her family’s lakeside cottage, Valcas helps her to escape by traveling to another place and time. At first, Calla is as intrigued by the otherworldly Valcas as she is by his method of time travel: an altered pair of sunglasses that enable the wearer to search for anyone or anywhere in the past, present or future. That is until she suspects that his search for her was no mere coincidence.

With her trust broken, Calla sets off on her own, taking the Travel Glasses with her. Torn between searching for her estranged father and reuniting with the rest of her family, she tracks down the inventor of the Travel Glasses in hopes of discovering more about Valcas’ past and motivations. With Valcas hot on her trail, Calla hopes to find what she’s looking for before he catches up.

Time travel, a little romance, some mystery and adventure, Travel Glasses has the elements to be a good start to a series. There were some disappointments for me as a reader, but I feel like there is potential in perhaps following books in this series. 

To be honest, I had some trouble reading Travel Glasses. While the premise was interesting, one of my big tests with any sci-fi novel is believability, and there were many areas where the story really didn’t pass that test. I mean, after being back-stabbed by an online friend, Calla abandons all technology from the betrayal. Yet some random guy knocks her over, asks her to dinner and she says yes? It didn't add up to me, and continued to bother me as the story continued. If she had her trust broken that badly, she should be suspicious of strangers more than ever. Plus, her captivation with Valcas really felt shallow and unwarranted to me. It just felt like this random hot guy drops from the sky, and Calla turns into a zombie letting him take her away with his time traveling glasses. I really had trouble rooting for Calla when she seemed like she was making terrible judgment calls from the start.

Don’t get me wrong though, the book itself wasn’t bad. Travel Glasses is easy to read, and it seems like it would be appealing to the YA market. But there was something missing in the character motivation for me. She doesn't develop caution and question her actions until much later in the story. Some of the elements of this story were interesting, like how people in the past react to a time traveler, but it wasn't my favorite take on time traveling because there were still unanswered questions. There were also too many cases where things felt really coincidental. If it's hard for you to suspend your disbelief, this may be a tough read.

I think I would read the sequel, just to see how some of the plot lines work out, but I don't think it was for everyone. The story gets more engaging near the end, but it didn't quite captivate me like I was hoping. 

Blue Fire by Janice Hardy

Blue Fire

Author:  Janice Hardy
Publisher:  Baltzer + Bray
Pages: 336

Release Date: October 1st, 2010

Source: Oyster Book Subscription Service

Part fugitive, part hero, fifteen-year-old Nya is barely staying ahead of the Duke of Baseer’s trackers. Wanted for a crime she didn’t mean to commit, she risks capture to protect every Taker she can find, determined to prevent the Duke from using them in his fiendish experiments. But resolve isn’t enough to protect any of them, and Nya soon realizes that the only way to keep them all out of the Duke’s clutches is to flee Geveg. Unfortunately, the Duke’s best tracker has other ideas.

Nya finds herself trapped in the last place she ever wanted to be, forced to trust the last people she ever thought she could. More is at stake than just the people of Geveg, and the closer she gets to uncovering the Duke’s plan, the more she discovers how critical she is to his victory. To save Geveg, she just might have to save Baseer— if she doesn’t destroy it first.

Blue Fire is the second installment in the Healing Wars books. While I really enjoyed the first book, The Shifter, I will admit Blue Fire left a little to be desired. 

Nya's powers have continued to develop since book one, and she is struggling as she tries to use her new abilities in the right way. But things don't really go as planned with the Duke and his people continually hunting her and other Takers. 

What I had trouble with in this book was the distance I felt with the minor characters in this story. I hoped we would get to know the supporting cast a bit better, but the world really felt like it revolved around Nya. I didn't feel like anyone really developed between book one and book two, and it made it hard to really engage at times in the story. Run away, get captured, fight back, save people. Somehow some of these elements felt a little robotic, rather than exciting like the first book. Maybe I was just expecting something a little different. I just didn't feel as captivated as I did readingThe Shifter

Regardless, I enjoy Janice Hardy's writing, and I felt like there was enough new material to make a exciting conclusion in the final book. I don't feel like the book was bad, I just know it didn't quite meet the expectations I had. I still like Nya and her friends, and eagerly wait the conclusion.

Minutes Before Sunset by Shannon A. Thompson

Minutes Before Sunset

Author:  Shannon A. Thompson
Publisher:  AEC Stellar Publishing
Pages: 247

Release Date: May 1st, 2014

Source: Received from the author in exchange for an 
honest review.

She was undoubtedly a shade, but I didn’t know her.

Eric Welborn isn’t completely human, but he isn’t the only shade in the small Midwest town of Hayworth. With one year left before his eighteenth birthday, Eric is destined to win a long-raging war for his kind. But then she happens. In the middle of the night, Eric meets a nameless shade, and she’s powerful—too powerful—and his beliefs are altered. The Dark has lied to him, and he’s determined to figure out exactly what lies were told, even if the secrets protect his survival.

…

He had gotten so close to me—and I couldn’t move—I couldn’t get away.

Jessica Taylor moves to Hayworth, and her only goal is to find more information on her deceased biological family. Her adoptive parents agree to help on one condition: perfect grades. And Jessica is distraught when she’s assigned as Eric’s class partner. He won’t help, let alone talk to her, but she’s determined to change him—even if it means revealing everything he’s strived to hide.

Minutes Before Sunset is a captivating book that follows two characters: Eric and Jessica, and a world that has a conflict between the Light and the Dark. Eric is the First Descendant, sided with the dark, and destined to fight the Second Descendant, who is sided with the light. Jessica is new in town, and quickly becomes caught in the middle. 

The book has action, a little suspense and some romance, and felt like it gave a promising introduction to future stories. The premise is interesting, although I will admit I found some of the facts a bit muddy throughout the book, but we'll get to that in a few minutes. The characters themselves were easy to connect with. While Eric/Shoman is somewhat distant and aloof after the loss he's faced in life, Jessica strikes me as being hopeful, full of life and searching for herself as much as her birth parents. I didn't feel like Eric was overly mopey, which can happen in stories like these, and I didn't feel like Jessica and him connected too quickly, which is also a plus. The story was easy to read, the dialog and settings felt natural. Overall I was quite taken with the book and the way it was pieced together.

While I enjoy learning more as series progress, I felt this story had some areas where a little world building would have helped me. This is probably the biggest flaw about this book in my eyes. I never really felt like I understood what the Light and Dark really were, and why it existed. Near the end we started to get some answers, but I didn't really feel it was clear. I just felt like something was missing and unclear, and I wanted a better grounding in the world the author had created.

Writing Process Blog Tour

Hi everyone! Today I had the lovely opportunity to participate in a writing process blog tour. I was invited by the lovely Jesikah Sundin.

Jesikah is a sci-fi/fantasy author. Many of you may recognize her first novel, Legacy, which I reviewed earlier in the year. [link] She is currently working on the next installment of The Biodome Chronicles, which I was thrilled to hear. I hope you guys keep an eye out for it just like I am!

When I read Jesikah's work, it was hard not to fangirl a little when I came across mentions to one of my favorite television shows. While the mention was subtle, it eventually came a point of conversation that let us share our experiences as writers. It's always fun to share what you're working on and how you tackle things, which is why I thought this blog tour was so great. Hopefully you enjoy the break from book reviews for a moment, and enjoy hearing a little about writing as well.

The Questions and Answers

1. What am I working on?

I am currently working on two novels, actually, but those are really just the 'active' projects. I have a little graveyard of half-started novels that gets picked through from time to time, depending on my motivation. There is a werewolf story in there I tucked away when the market got crazy, and another fantasy work that I started turning into a graphic novel instead. I never get rid of old ideas, but I sometimes wait until the right time to tackle them. 

The two big projects I have are a steampunk nove,l and the sequel to my urban fantasy, Archipelago. Confluence is book two of The Lantern Project, and I am about 30,000 words in, gunning for a release between December and February. My steampunk novel, Silverline City, manages to cut ahead of other projects from time to time, and it's about halfway done. While Confluence is due for release first, Silverline City is hot on it's heels. I try to keep them in that order, but sometimes motivation changes best laid plans.

2. How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I think my work differs because I love dynamic characters. I really try to know every character in my book. It's one thing to know their name or their powers, but I really love getting to know my characters histories and motivations. I could probably write a mini-novel for every character in my story if I wanted to, and that appeals to me. I used to tell myself that "every person is the main character in their own story". What that means is in real life, no one is a minor character, and I wanted to feel like my characters always had a chance to grow and adapt, even if it wasn't in the pages of my book.

I spend a lot of time building the worlds I write in. Since I'm an artist and an author, I make all my own blueprints, character art, book covers and I even made my own website. It is time consuming to do everything myself, but I know nothing ever strays from my vision. Hopefully, people get a sense of that.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I'm a sucker for superpowers, for one, so almost every book I write has superhuman elements to them. And I love dystopians because there is an element of 'what if' to them. I don't write much pure fantasy because it eleminates a lot of the 'rules' that comes with fiction grounded in our world. It's easy to hand wave unknowns as magic or a similar force, but urban fantasy or similar novels make you question how. I want things to feel possible and I writes stories that seem to embrace that.

I write the genres I do because they question problems but the solutions feel within our reach. Themes are unlikely, but it gives you the hope to dream a bit. I write to fuel those sparks of hope. 

4. How does my writing process work?

I sit, I write. 

Okay, maybe not that simple. 

I usually smash out a good three chapters of any-book I write before I actively do any planning about where it could go. Often, this takes place during NaNoWriMo, when I can just toss out a rough draft and not feel embarrassed by it. After I reach a certain point, I start asking the questions, and that's when the documents and the papers come out. I fill up files and folders on my computers with reference pictures, character biographies, and random thoughts I jot down. Gradually, I start letting the book show me the world it exists in. I write much like I do art, starting with a splot of detail, then letting the canvas fill in around that. Some areas are sketchier than others, some aren't filled it, but I like to get the vivid details down first. Most people outline, but I don't think I ever wrote an outline for a book. I just write and let it happen, and deal with revision later.

Once I have a complete novel, then I do several rounds of editing. Sometimes I toss out giant chunks of writing for one reason or another. Refining can take almost as much time as writing, because I have to whittle down to the core story that emerged. Once I think I've found that, I send it to my editor and we start doing some more precise editing work. However my writing doesn't just stay within a word document or a set project.

I do literature roleplay on the sides , and I find this is also helpful in addition to my professional writing. Working with other authors and writers to construct the same story lets you relinquish some of the control you typically find in writing, and challenges you to write better. Working on side-stories in role-play is an important part of my process to me, because it lets me bounce my writing off others. You don't have to be social to be a social writer. I think every author really just needs an outlet to share with other writers, otherwise their voice becomes static and it's hard to keep an upward trajectory.

Anyway, that's sort of my process, Thanks for swinging by to take a look at it. Since all the authors I wanted to tag already did this tour early on, I don't have anyone new to send you to. But I hoped you enjoyed taking a peak at my writing process anyway!

Guest Post: Kayti Nika Raet

Hi guys! Today we have a guest post from author Kayti Nika Raet. Kayti is the author of Niko, a YA dystopian novel I will be reviewing later this month. To find out more about her book, follow this fancy little link to Goodreads: Fancy Link!.

Otherwise, keep reading for her post!

Guest Post: What If?
Recently, I was reading What If? Which is an exercise book for fiction writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter. One of the exercises in there is called Three by Three and has a premise that I think is really useful (not to mention fun).

It requires you to break a story down into three sentences, three words long. It can be any story.

A fairy tale,

Queen hates girl

Queen gives apple

Girl falls asleep

A favorite story,

Demon loves angel

War comes between

Does love survive?

Or one of your own,

Girl kills monsters

City wants power

Girl brings revolution

Of course such simplistic summaries can't tell the complete story and some books are way too complicated to even be broken down into a three by three format but whether you are a writer or a reader it is a really helpful way of getting to the bare bones of a story and revealing some of its most important aspects. Try it with some of your favorite books and see what you come up with, you may be surprised ( I would try it with Game of Thrones but someone is bound to die and mess up my careful structure).

Unsung Melody by Jasmine Bowen

Unsung Melody

Author:  Jasmine Bowen
Publisher:  Rascal Hearts
Pages: 150

Release Date: January 23rd, 2014 

Source: Kindle

Bard's Tale is the most successful musical theater company around, complete with paparazzi and world tours. Benedict, the younger male lead, is on top of the world, with girls in his bed every night, and all the best roles. His best friend, Jana, is Bard's Tale only regular female lead, and they have played opposite each other for 10 years, particularly close since tragedy struck the company and Ben's heart. But now, Jana is leaving, and the company has turned to reality TV to find a new lead. Ben is confident he will hate every choice, until he hears her sing. 

Melody is a community theater actress with big dreams, and a special place in her heart for Bard's Tale and Benedict. She has idolized both of them since she was young, and can't believe she is selected to audition for the show. But as the episodes go on, she finds herself at the center of Ben's unnecessary harsh judgement. Some-days, he's wonderful to her and some-days, he's cold as ice. What is it causing this change of heart, and can she turn it around, before it's too late?

Unsung Melody was one of the books I have picked up for free during an Amazon promotion, and I was really pleased with the find. The story follows Melody, a hopeful performer who entered the competition to become a member of Bard's Tale, and I found the story just the right mix of romance, drama, and fun. 

I may not be a performer, but I probably watch more musicals than is healthy for me. It was really fun picking up this novel and being able to laugh at some of the jokes and smile at some of the plays mentioned. While it initially sounded like pure romance, which may disappoint some people, I like that this story felt like a little "slice-of-life" as well. Part of the story was just about an actress trying to find her way. I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much if it was just about the hunky co-performer you are already guessing she'll end up with.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and may pick up the sequel just to see what happens next. Came for the romance, stayed for the great story in the end.