redqueen1

This picks up a few years after the end of Fire Study, with Opal as the main character. She's in her final year as a student and she's generally dissatisfied with life as the "One-Trick-Wonder." But things change quickly enough. The Storm Dancers' orbs are shattering and she's called to check them out. There, she meets Kade, the delicious but conflicted head of the Strom Dancers.

There are a lot of weird romance-type things going on in this book. There's Opal and Kade. They have a crazy attraction but he's still unable to commit to anything because of his grieving for his lost sister (a Storm Dancer who died when her orb exploded). Then there's the weird attraction between her and Blue Eyes (later known as Devlan). And lastly, there's Ulrick. Honestly, he's the most annoying of the bunch with his overbearing protectiveness and whiny tendencies.

And Opal gets kidnapped. A lot. It almost presses the realm of believability except for the fact that her "one trick" (making glass messengers that act as communication devices for magicians) is so sought after.

But Opal is amazing. She's a great character and I was rooting for her the entire way. The crap she goes through (kidnapping, torture, more kidnapping) would be enough to make a lesser person break. But not her. She keeps her optimism throughout the entire book.

And, of course, Ms. Snyder's writing is superb. All in all, this book was great and I highly recommend it. 8/10

I have issues. My days are so mixed up right now. I was sure yesterday was Monday. Completely sure. Anywho, this is a bit from Queen of Swords. I am really loving this book but that's a post for another day.

The woman nodded as if she had answered a second question. “Very well. We will help you find a ship.”

Just because she was a Diviner? No, that couldn’t be right. Still, Cook had sent a letter and that was most likely the reason this woman was being so mysteriously helpful. “Thank you.”

One silvered eyebrow rose. “Don’t thank me yet, girl. My name is Edna.”

Another woman tottered into the room. Despite her milky blind eyes, she easily moved around the short table and sofa, coming to stop directly in front of Ophelia. The woman was ancient, not a centimeter of her skin left unwrinkled, and she was completely bald. When she opened her mouth and revealed a set of teeth to rival Jacks, it was everything Ophelia could do not to take a step back.

“This is the one Cook sent?” She asked, her voice rattling about in her chest.

Edna looked at the ceiling as if asking patience from a higher power. “Yes, Louisie.”

Louisie poked Ophelia in the chest, sending her back two steps before she recovered her balance. “Not much meat on her bones, is there?”

Why did people keep saying that? It wasn’t like she was wasting away as they spoke. Before Ophelia could say just that, Edna cut in, “Louisie, leave her be. She and the Abura-Samashi have come a long way and they need to rest before the next step in their journey.”

Abura- Samashi. The last piece of the Yuel puzzle finally fell into place. She knew his features were special, she just hadn’t placed them. Ophelia resisted the urge to turn and stare because she knew it would embarrass him. Still, she couldn’t help the shock that flowed through her. The Abura-Samashi were a notoriously war-like species. Back in the initial colonization process, they had killed the settlers who came to their planet – three separate times. Then they took their newly acquired ships and made a short and bloody war against the Council.

Louisie spoke, saving her from having to answer. “Does this mean we get to go check out the pilots?”

This time Ophelia was sure she was Edna roll her eyes. “Yes, Louisie. But keep your hands to yourself this time.” She motioned to Ophelia and Yuel. “This way please.”

As they walked down the hallway, Louisie’s chuckle followed them. “You can’t blame me, Edna, he had an ass you could bounce a pebble off of.”

“How you would know, you’re blind,” Edna muttered. She pointed to two doors on the right side. “These are your rooms. Stay in them until one of us comes for you.”

Ophelia opened the first door and glanced inside. It was decorated with a blue palette, the floor so light it was nearly white, the walls a beautiful aqua color and the ceiling a royal blue. Paired with the white furniture, the effect was breathtaking. She turned to tell Edna that but the hallway was empty. Ophelia thought about searching the other woman out and saying thank you but exhaustion pulled at her limbs and the promise of being clean was too much. A second door in the room led to a private sans shower and, after making sure the main door was locked, she stripped down and set about scrubbing out a week’s worth of grime.

Um, yeah, if you haven't figured it out yet, November is Blog Fail Month for me. I promise to get back on track in December. But I've been writing like crazy, critting an ms and (most fearsome of all) potty training The Son. That crap is not for the weak. *laughs*

So here's some bits of random for your enjoyment:

Here's my current word count according to NaNoWrMo:

50021 / 50000 words. 100% done!

And here's the more accurate percentage:

50021 / 90000 words. 56% done!

And, since I don't really have time to post any reviews (although you can get short ones on my Twitter), I'm going to go a little into the whole writing process. When I was writing BTWW, I wrote my query before I was even halfway through. It didn't STAY like that (much editing was to be had) but I found that it helped me focus the story a bit better. The same went with HotD, which similar results. So I've done the same thing with QoS. It's not done and polished and whatnot (and HOPEFULLY I'll never have to use it) but it's one of those things that have slowly become my process. So here it is: (and remember that this isn't the beautified, polished query it would be if I were submitting this)


Dear Agent X

As a Diviner, Ophelia knows one thing: the cards never lie. So when they tell her to marry the Prince of the planet Hansarda, she reluctantly packs up her life and goes. What they neglect to mention was that he only wants her for her connection to the family gunrunning business. When it becomes increasingly obvious that she won’t give him the access he desires, the Prince takes off … after locking her in her room and setting fire to the place.

Even abandoned on a strange planet, Ophelia’s got a plan: find the Prince, save the girl he took hostage, and kill the bastard for the trouble he’s caused. Nothing will stop her, not hostile planets, space pirates, monsters, crazy old women, or her attraction to the delicious Boone.

What she doesn’t know, however, is that Boone has his own reasons for wanting the Prince dead, the main of which is to reclaim his birthright. When they are thrown together as their missions intertwine, Ophelia’s forced to acknowledge that, sometimes, the cards don’t know the half of it.

Loosely based on the folk tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon, QUEEN OF SWORDS is complete at XX,XXX words.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my novel.

From my current WIP, Queen of Swords.

Ophelia gathered up her cards, wrapping them once again in their silk bag. Feeling eyes on her, she looked up to find Boone leaning against the doorway Gee had just left. “What have you done to Gee?”

She stood up; talking to him while he towered over her was far too subservient for her tastes. “Nothing he didn’t ask for.” When he merely stared at her, she sighed and held up her bag. “I gave him a reading.”

“Hocus pocus and tricks. It’s bullshit.”

Ophelia bristled. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“And if I asked you for a reading? Would you tell me that I had love and a family in my future, that I would have a long life and die in my sleep?” He pushed off the wall and moved towards her, crowding her space even before he crossed to her side of the room. Out of the corner of her eye, Ophelia watched the skinny crewman take one look at them and high-tail it out of the room.

She turned her attention back to Boone, frowning. “I would tell you the truth. The cards never lie.”

“Bullshit.” He was nearly to her now and Ophelia was forced to choose between standing her ground and retreating. She stood her ground.

“It’s not bullshit.” A sudden thought occurred to her. “Have you had your future read, Boone?” When he blanched, she took a step forward, genuinely curious. “If it was by a Diviner, then whatever you were told was true. We don’t lie; we can’t or risk losing or goddess’s favor.” A fate worse than death.

“You’re lying. You give the same smoke and mirrors reading to everyone.” He waved a hand towards the doorway, his anger so thick in the air Ophelia could barely breathe. “You told Gee he would get good and unexpected news. That was sufficiently vague but you had to press your luck and tell him that there was a child.”

Ophelia made an honest effort to rein in her temper and listen to what he was saying. He was concerned about Gee and that was noble … even if he was being an ass about it. “I told him the truth, no more and no less.”

“You have no idea what you’ve done.” For a long moment she wondered if he might try to hit her. He wouldn’t succeed but she’d hate to have to kill the pilot of their ship.

“Then tell me.”

His gray eyes went steely. “The Evarven have trouble conceiving, to the point where it is damn near impossible. And now you’ve gone and given him a false hope. Bravo.” He clapped mockingly.

“I did nothing of the sort.” Even as she said the words, something twisted in Ophelia’s stomach. She hadn’t known. But it didn’t matter because her readings were always true. Always.

Boone pointed a finger at her. “No more readings, not while you’re on my ship. Do you understand?”

She lifted her chin. “I can’t refuse someone if they ask for one.”

“Then they won’t ask.” He turned and stormed out of the room.

Ophelia waited until he was out of sight before sinking bonelessly into the chair. What had a Diviner said to him that made him so angry? She shook her head. It didn’t matter what he was told, all that mattered was his apparent hatred for her mother’s species. She sighed and ran her finger along the cloth covering her cards; at least she’d only be on this ship for a short period of time. Then Boone would be gone from her life and she’d never have to see his surly face again.

Phoebe is a long distance runner and she's carted off to Greece when her mom meets (and marries) and new man. The thing is, this island they live on isn't a normal one. It's home to an academy populated solely by descendants of the Greek gods.

Now, this book had SO MUCH potential. On a couple levels, it lived up to that. I loved that Phoebe was a long distance runner. There aren't enough books out there with protags who are into sports. And Ms. Lynn Childs handled this great. Reading about Phoebe's love of running actually made me want to go out and run (which is a feat in and of itself).

The way the school was set up with the cliques according to what god you were descended from was interesting. I feel like it could have been taken a lot further, though.

Actually, there was a lot in this book that could have been taken further. The world building offered up so much material to check out and I feel like Ms. Lynn Childs only skimmed the surface (there are other books in the series so maybe these things were intentionally left out).

But the thing that really annoyed me was the relationships between Phoebe and basically everyone else in the book. I felt like most of the other characters were cardboard. You had the Beautiful Mean Step-Sister, the Mean Girl, the Hot Bad Boy, the Outcast Chick Friend and the Outcast Boy Friend Who Wants More. There was little more to these characters than their tropes and it left me feeling cheated. And I felt EXTRA cheated about the way the "relationship" between Griffin (Hot Bad Boy) and Phoebe was rounded up. It just left me kind of disgusted.

All in all, this book had SO MUCH potential and, for me at least, it failed to live up to it. 5/10

I agree - WHY HASN'T ANYONE THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE?

***




Okay, this video could be so much better. It's really choppy and I have no idea what the overall plot is but I DID see Medusa. And the giant scorpions sort of freak me out. I don't know why it appeals to me, but it does. :P

***



I played this game back in the day (PS2, I think) and really enjoyed it. Haven't played the ones since and obviously this movie isn't following THAT game plot (not that I can blame them, really). The trailer only gives a taste of the Prince's sweet moves but I really hope they show more since that's one of the trademarks of the games. And LOVE how the did the whole going back in time thing.

***



Not sure how I feel about them combining Through the Looking Glass and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland since they're so totally different but I like Tim Burton and I LOVE how stylized this appears.

Wow, maybe I should be doing "Teaser Wednesday" instead. Ah well. Here's a bit from Beyond the Wishing Well.

“Why are you here, Mr. Luther?”

            “I told you before - call me Jake.” He leaned back and stretched his arms across the back of the couch.

            “Fine. Why are you here, Jake?” Saying his name sent shivers through her, but she did her best not to show it.

            “You didn’t come to gym today.”

            She waited but he didn’t say anything else. “Am I missing something? Since when does a student missing class make their teacher – excuse me, student teacher – hunt them down?”

            His disconcerting blue eyes never left her face. “I think you know there’s more to it. Yesterday we kiss and you avoid me today.”

            “We didn’t kiss. You kissed me.”

            “I don’t think so.”

            She dropped her eyes to where her hands were laced in her lap, unable to meet his gaze any longer. “So what? Kisses mean less than nothing. That still doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

            “Devon, look at me.”

            Reluctantly, she did as he asked – no, not asked. Commanded. The sheer frustration on his face was so similar to what she felt only today that her guard dropped a little bit. A mistake, to be sure.

            “I don’t think you understand what the kiss means. There’s something between us, something special. I’ve risked a lot more than you know by letting you get this close.”

            She wanted to cry. Yeah, technically she’d asked for this, but that didn’t mean she really wanted it. Maybe she had wanted someone to love her at the moment she made the wish, but this was too complicated – especially since she finally had her chance to get back with Cooper.

            “I didn’t ask you to risk anything for me!”

            He sighed and leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. “I know. But what I feel for you is too strong to ignore. I love you.”

            “No, you don’t!”

Devon jumped to her feet and ran towards the door but he got there before her. Jake grabbed her shoulders in a curiously gentle grip and held her immobile in front of him.

“Do you think I want this? That I want to risk everything I’ve worked years for?  I don’t. But we’ve already passed the point of no return.”

Devon shook her head frantically. “No, we didn’t. We can just pretend the stupid kiss never happened. It was only quick after all, so it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t mean anything.” A lie and an obvious one; even standing there with his hands on her bare arms was enough that she had to forcibly remind herself she did not want to kiss him again.

“Devon,” he said quietly and waited until she’d stopped speaking before he continued. “You don’t believe that any more than I do.”

Desperate tears leaked from the edges of her eyes. “Yes I do, I really do.”

He pulled her against his chest and kissed her. As soon as their lips touched, she couldn’t remember why she’d been arguing. Of course this was right, how could something that felt so good be wrong?

Okay, I'm going to review these as a whole just to avoid spoilers as much as possible.



Now, I reviewed Ms. Peterfreund's Rampant a bit ago and LOVED it. So, when I got the opportunity, I immediately bought her earlier series. Now, I have to admit, I had a slight obsession with the movie The Skulls back in the day and these books brought me that feeling all over again - except a hundred times betters.

Meet Amy. She's a junior in Eli, an Ivy League college who is known for their secret societies. She figures she'll be tapped by Quill & Ink since it's somewhat of a tradition of the position she holds (editor for a literary magazine). However, when tap night comes, it's not Quill & Ink who comes calling. It's Rose & Grave, the oldest and best known (and feared) society on campus.

She accepts but, of course, things aren't that simply. See, Rose & Grave has a history of being exclusively male. It's only this generation that they've decided to bring in girls. So a lot of the drama in the first two books is directly linked to this. The patriarchs of the society are in an uproar and Amy has to think quickly on her feet to keep her class (the fifteen tapped juniors)from being thrown out completely.

I have to say, I liked this a lot. Ms. Peterfreund has a gift for bringing together unlikely groups of people and making them a cohesive whole without losing the individualities of the characters. Amy was a great character. She thought she knew what she wanted and had her whole life planned out but Rose & Grave makes her really question herself and look deeper. It also forces her to take the initiative when the class is falling apart. It is her words in the first novel and her actions in the second novel that get things done.

And, I have to admit, I really liked George Harrison Prescott. He's the ultimate playboy (and I would definitely lock up my daughter before letting her near him if she was that age) but he's got this fun-loving nature that makes you want to forgive him anything (and I just bet he has a great sh*t-eating smile). When he and Amy hook up, it was interesting for me. I liked how she had no guilt or conflict over it being just that - an series of hookups between them.

In the third book, the class goes on spring break to an island owned by Rose & Grave and, basically, all hell breaks loose. A character that initially I disliked intensely (sexist much?) and eventually warmed to over time showed some true colors and Amy fell for him hard (it was mutual). And the shower scene??? Oh lordy. But there were some very real stakes in this book and Amy got hurt pretty badly all around because of it.

In the final book, it's tap season again and all the drama and stress that goes along with it. There's also a lot of drama because Amy is still struggling to figure out what she wants to do after graduating. Add to that a dash of relationship drama and you have a very explosive book. It was great! And I really enjoyed how Amy and that certain someone waited quite awhile before jumping into bed together. They had genuine feelings going on and it made me do a happy dance. Of course there were issues with tap night and I laughed out loud to see how the incoming class dealt with it better than the graduating one did.

Really, the only thing that bugged me (and it's so small, it's nearly nitpicking) is that the only time contraception was mentioned was in the final book. Now, Amy's a smart girl so I just figured she was using something, but, if it was mentioned, I missed it. See, not a huge thing, but still.

All in all, amazing books. I would recommend them to anyone who likes books with strong female protags, good friendships, hawt romance bits and a nice dose of drama. 9/10

I'm WAY behind my reviews. Sorry guys! As it is, I've just finished the third book in Diana Peterfreund's Ivy League series. And HOLY CRAP where have I been the last few years while they were published? Great, great books. Love the whole secret society stuff.

Anywho, NaNoWriMo is going well, really well. As it stands now:

16582 / 50000 words. 33% done!

In reality, this book should be somewhere closer to 75k but I'll keep the scale at 50k until I get past it. LOVING this book, by the way. It's nice not to have to do crazy research (like I did the first time around) so things are proceeding a lot smoother. I also finally got a few character motivations down and the worldbuilding stuff ... *happy sigh* In other book news, I'm not sure if this book will stand as Queen of Swords. I think it might end up being Queen of one of the other suits or another card altogether, depending on how Ophelia (my mc) goes.

But I will make an effort to drop by here more often this month. Really.
(Are you convinced yet?)

 So I've gone and done it. I now have a twitter account. I know, I know, I'm a million years behind the rest of the world. But check it out - @katee_robert. 

Now if I could just figure out how everything works ... *laughs*

This is from the NaNoWriMo WIP - Queen of Swords. As always, keep in mind that this is a first draft.

“The Prince of Hansarda has asked your hand in marriage.”

Ophelia choked on her eggs, finally spewing them all over the table. “You’re joking,” she wheezed.

“You know better, daughter.” A smiled pulled up the edges of Marianna’s lips. She got up and grabbed a hand towel before returning to the table to clean the mess Ophelia made.

“But … why the hell would he want me?” Even as she asked, a suspicious thought squirmed its way into her mind. When her mother just watched her expectantly, Ophelia gave it voice. “Because of the guns. He thinks that marrying my will give him an in to the family business.”

Marianna smiled and dropped the dirty towel into the laundry shoot. “Perhaps. Or perhaps he has heard tell of you.”

“Unlikely.” Ophelia made it a point to keep a low profile. The only exception was her nighttime activities but Keiluna was a party planet, after all, and it would have been odd if she spent so much time her and didn’t drink herself stupid with some regularity. But whenever she was off-planet, she was the very figure of discretion.

Ophelia steepled her hands and tapped her fingertips to her lips. “Obviously you didn’t call me so early in the morning to tell me this. And Papa wouldn’t be in a twist over something that was so obviously a ploy. So what else has happened?”

Marianna motioned to Ophelia’s bag, which she’d set on the floor near her feet. “Do a reading.”

“Now?” Even as she asked, a sick feeling started in her stomach and radiated outwards. There was only one reason her mother would insist on a reading and Ophelia had the nasty feeling she wouldn’t like what it said.

Still, she did as her mother commanded and reached down, pulling her bag into her lap. Her cards were stored in an engraved box made from the wood of Beshmai. The planet wasn’t even on interstellar maps; it had been found by Ophelia’s great-grandfather and he’d kept his promise to the natives and told no one.

Shaking off her thoughts, she pressed her fingers on the dual switches and the lid popped open. Ophelia set the box on the table and lifted out the silken bag that contained her cards. When she upended it, her cards poured into her hands like long-lost friends. She set the bag carefully in the box before pushing it aside.

Her next movements were borne with the ease of long-practice. Ophelia shuffled the deck and cut it three times. When she looked up in askance, Marianna said, “Just a three-card reading will do, I think.”

Ophelia flipped over three cards in quick succession. It was only years of training that kept her from jumping from her seat and fleeing the room. She closed her eyes and took a few cleansing breaths before she opened them again and faced what those three little cards said.

Her hand moved almost of its own will and she touched the first card. “The Fool.” A journey begun. She moved on to the second card. “The Wheel of Fortune.” A turning point, whether for the good or bad. And the final card. “The Ten of Cups.” A fortunate marriage, contentment of the heat, and perfection of human love and friendship.

It couldn’t have been clearer than if the cards spelled out "Marry the Prince." 

I have some serious mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it was marvelous. I love Riley. She's strong and badass without giving up her femininity and she's got a wicked sense of humor. I like how she's not ashamed of her sexuality (this could be chalked up to being a werewolf but it stands).

Hell, in this book, I actually kind of liked Quinn. And Ms. Arthur has created a large group of characters that I care very deeply about.

Thus comes my dilemma. You see, the ending of this book left me emotionally bereft and traumatized. Really, really traumatized. See, I can understand, from an author's point of view, that Ms. Arthur was completely true to the story and I greatly respect her for it ... but that doesn't change the fact that I cried like a baby through the last twenty pages.

I suppose that her only fault was making me care too deeply about her characters and their happiness. I wanted Riley to get her HEA ending with her werewolf soul mate. I want all the characters I love to live. But sometimes that's not realistic and, in this case, it wasn't. But I don't see how the book could have ended any differently than it did and still have been true to itself. So, bravo Ms. Arthur for not taking the easy way out or shying away from the darkness. 8/10

After much deliberation, I have decided to set aside CofDG for now and do NaNoWriMo. Did you really expect anything different? I'm going to write Queen of Swords, which is a science fiction take on the fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon. I'm really excited to get into it (convenient since today's Halloween).

Anywho, whoever's interested can be my buddy (my user name is krobert1).

***

In other news, I'll have Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder, Bound to Shadows by Keri Arthur and Fire by Kristin Cashore.

So I finished the last of my edits for HUNTER OF THE DEAD and now I'm looking for people to critique it. It's YA so, despite being a zombie novel, the voice isn't military in the least. It's 64k words, which translates to roughly 235 pages. Here's the summary:

Eighteen-year-old Eden Rosenberg knows how to kills and she's damn good at it. Until recently, her life was pretty easy - get a call from her team's mysterious employer, jet off to a new location, kill some zombies.

But the most recent call is different from the others. Instead of being an isolated incident in the middle of nowhere, it's an entire village at risk. By the time the team shows up, the village is empty, leaving only a handful of infected wandering the streets. Or so it seems until they're ambushed by far too many zombies for their five-person team to deal with.

On the run and trapped within the valley, Eden is separated from her team when she tries to save a little girl from the inevitable fate of the bitten. To make matters worse, she's forced to rely on Alejandro, the one man she swore never to trust again, to watch her back.

As Eden races to reunite with her team, she'll have to deal with a homicidal priest who's more than what he seems and a group of survivors she's pretty sure are too stupid to live. But things are more complicated than she realized and soon Eden's forced to confront the truth about the infection. It isn't an accident and those responsible will do anything to ensure no one gets out of the valley alive.

30098 / 70000 words. 43% done!

Not a whole lot to say. My two favorite tricksters have made an appearance and things are moving along smoothly.

***



So far, Escape from Wonderland is MORE than living up to my high expectations. Calie is back and badder than ever. Gone is the scared teenager who just wanted to survive, replaced by one pissed off momma. She's there to get her daughter and she'll kill anyone that gets into her way.

In the first issue, she confronts the Red Queen and King of Hearts and they send her on her way, telling her the path to take to get her daughter back. Apparently it isn't the fastest path but it's the "safest" and they figure she won't succeed.

So Calie starts retracing the same steps she took when she first got into Wonderland (including the beach with the dead animals, the mushroom forest, and the carpenter and the walrus) but it's all out of order and confused.

In the second issue, she deals with the mysterious figure (as seen on the cover). Really, I have some serious suspicions about WHO this person is (or, rather, was) but I'll keep that to myself for now. Anyways, things start to go down the crapper in a pretty fantastic way.

Yeah, if you haven't picked up Return to Wonderland and Beyond Wonderland, go do it now. And then catch up on this third in the series because it is AMAZING. Definitely one of my favorite comics and I'm elated that it's SO much better than BW. And aren't the covers fantastic? 10/10

***


I recently went scouting for some different comics to pick up and Ana and Thea over at Book Smugglers both raved about this series. So I grabbed the first one and decided to take a look.

Honestly, it didn't do a whole lot for me. Part of this is probably because I'm not a huge mystery fan and I don't particularly like detective stories. So obviously I'm not going to love the volume that is centered around one big detective story.

The story was good and the writing was also good. I enjoyed the different takes on the fairy tales that I love so much. But, really, this just wasn't for me. 4/10

***


The Tarot Cafe is also a Book Smugglers recommendation. I went specifically looking for manga and, again, both Thea and Ana raved about this seven volume series. They said that you should pick up at least the first two volumes to get a taste of the overall arching storyline so I grabbed three (Amazon's 4-for-3 book deal). And, HOLY CRAP, I am seriously kicking myself for not buying all seven.

First, a bit of background. Pamela is the owner of The Tarot Cafe. She does readings and quite a few of her customers are of the supernatural persuasion (werewolves, vampires, fairies, etc). I already hold a fascination for tarot cards and readings and I was pulled in immediately by Pamela and Belus (the dude who randomly shows up in the first book and is mysteriously linked to Pamela and her unnaturally long life). Pamela sometimes gets glimpses of the future and she shares these with her customers.

Now, what really got me was the second and third volumes. We start to get a bit of Pamela's history and a peek at the mysterious players and events circling around her. All of them have tragedy in their (very long) pasts and quite a bit of this centers around Pamela herself. I'm still not sure why she's trying to get the whole necklace and I'm not sure the nature of her "curse."

So, yeah, this is definitely a series to check out. I'll report, of course, on my thoughts of the next four volumes but if they're anything like the first three, they'll be amazing. 10/10

So I'm an epic failure at knowing what day it is. I just looked up at my calendar and ... HOLY CRAP, it's Wednesday. The most pathetic part is that I POSTED yesterday. *headdesk*

***

Without further delay, here's a bit from my WIP, Captive of the Desert God:

Pan stopped so suddenly that Wren ran into his back. She bit back a groan and stepped away as quickly as she could. It was only then that she noticed how quiet the forest had gone; almost silent except for the sound of panting directly ahead of them.

            Oh no. Please God, no.

            Apparently God wasn’t listening because Pan sprang. Wren lost sight of him for a long moment but she fought through the underbrush and into a clearing; she had to see. Up ahead, a stray beam of moonlight illuminated a scene from a nightmare. Pan crouched over the fallen body of one of the men. As Wren took another step into the clearing, she saw his shoulders move. Before she could begin to guess what he was doing, he lifted a strip of what could only be skin and set it on a growing pile next to him. The man on the ground moaned and Wren’s entire world stopped.

            He was alive. Pan was skinning him alive.

            Her terror ripped through the careful cage she’d crafted for it, taking her ability to reason in the first flood. Wren stood frozen, unable to tear her eyes from Pan and the not-dead man. Then Pan ripped a chunk of something thicker than skin from the man and she lost her mind. Her flight or fight instincts kicked into overdrive. Fighting Pan would be suicide so Wren did the only thing she could do.

            She ran.

             There was nothing pretty about her flight through the forest. Branches whipped her face and body, roots rose up from the earth to snag her feet. Her breath tore from her lungs in sobs and she couldn’t think beyond her need to get as far away from the monster that was Pan as she could.

            The night tore open with a roar unlike any she’d heard before. Pan. And he was coming for her.

            Wren shrieked and found a reserve of strength she hadn’t known she possessed. She poured on the speed, going so fast her feet barely touched the ground. Behind her, she heard the crashing of a large something coming through the forest. If he caught her now, he’d kill her for sure.

            The feeling of something hateful and hungry at her back was too much. Wren swore she could feel his breath on the back of her neck, could feel him reaching for her. She dove forward, desperate to avoid that touch. Instead of landing on the ground, she kept falling.

            The cliffs, Wren thought hysterically. I’ve escaped Pan only to die from the cliffs.

            She seemed to fall forever. It gave her time to think, too much time. Her life didn’t flash before her eyes. And, really, it hadn’t been much of a life. No, instead it was the face of her mother, the traitor, who appeared before her. Her last sight would be of the bitch who was so selfish she killed herself on her only daughter’s birthday.

            Hell no.

            Wren wasn’t going to die here. She fought the air, fought to turn her feet downwards. Below her, far too close, she saw the moonlight cresting off of waves. Wren forced herself to inhale deeply as she wrapped her arms around her chest and held her legs tightly together.

            She hit the water and everything went black.

24944 / 70000 words. 36% done!

A bit frustrated on this front. Alpha has made several legit comments about Wren's character and now I'm afraid I'm going to have to go back and fix a lot of her reactions to Mikhail and Barge. On one hand, this is good because something wasn't jibbing right when I wrote it, on the other it's just annoying. And then I hit my app.100 page wall today. I really, really wanted to ignore the story (Queen of Swords has been calling my name for awhile) but I fought through 8 pages today and I really hope that I won't have too many difficulties as I go on.

***


So, in reading the summary on the back, I was prepared to really not like Taro.

Here's a bit of background. This is a world where pairs of Shields and Sources are needed to control natural disasters. The Source funnels the energy of the planet and dissipates whatever natural disaster is threatening (earthquake, tidal wave, etc.) and the Shield does exactly that - they shield the Source. They protect the Source from burning out and control their body's reactions. The thing is, this pairing is involuntary. They look into each other's eyes and simply KNOW.

So when Lee (Dunleavy) is paired with Taro (Shintaro), she immediately has some issues. For one, he's got a reputation (and is nicknames "the Stallion"). For two, he's insanely talented. All she wanted was a quiet life with a quiet Source and she gets the exact opposite.

Now, back to Taro. I was charmed immediately. I actually had a harder time warming up to Lee (the fact that her sarcastic comments were aimed at herself as well as others helped tremendously). It was really frustrating for me to watch Taro try to talk to her or form a relationship and have her shoot him down every time.

I was also moderately appalled by the whole Sheild and Source thing. Well, not the relationship itself, but how it was abused by so many. But Ms. Moore's world-building was phenomenal. Both the Sources and Shields have serious weaknesses and are forced to rely on each other (for better or worse) to protect them. We've already discussed the Source's issues but the Shields are sensitive to music. Lee, in particular, is crazy sensitive. Hearing music can, in turns, make her fall into bed with people she wouldn't have, do stupid things, and turn into a raging psychopath.

But my reservations about Lee fell away as the book went on. By the end of it, I was cheering her on. I've already bought the next three books and I really look forward to seeing where Ms. Moore takes their relationship and what obstacles she throws at them next. 8/10

21305 / 70000 words. 30% done!

Making some serious progress with CofDG (which might not end up being the title after all). What to say about it? Wren and Mikhail's relationship (such as it is) is proceeding interestingly. Absolutely everything is different than I thought it would be but that's totally fine with me.

I drew up a map of the world (because, as you have probably figured out, I'm a very visual person) and that's helped me measure out where in the plot I am.

And I finally figured out what I'm writing. For some reason I kept thinking it's UF ... but it's not. Actually, it's straight-out fantasy. And realizing this had made me face the striking similarities between CofDG and MM (my first ill-fated novel). Actually, the world of MM was originally going to be what it IS in CofDG. And both my mcs come from Earth to another realm. That's actually where the similarities end. MM was horrible, filled to the brim with cliches and bad writing. But I'd like to think I've learned something since then. :P

And seeing Zombieland has made my mind circle back to Project Zed. I hope to finish CofDG early enough in November that I can go back to it and do a quick run through before I send it off to the betas.

And speaking of betas ... I am critiquing the most FANTASTIC book right now. I had thought I was burnt out over UF but this book proves me wrong. It's actually kind of funny because the Husband is VERY annoyed with me over it. Every time he's on the computer I'm pestering him to print off a few more pages so I can keep reading. Nice!

was AWESOME!! Seriously, it was great. I went last night with the husband and saw it and I was laughing and cringing and shaking my head throughout. I have to say that going to a theme park is probably the worst zombie plan I've ever seen (okay, the crap that happens in Project Zed kind of top that ... but not by much). While they were turning on the lights I was shaking the Husbands arm and going "No! Stop! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!"

And, HOLY CRAP, these zombies could climb. Jeez. As if they didn't have enough going for them.

Columbus's rules were freaking hilarious and I love how they worked them into the movie (Rule #1: Cardio). The Double Tap? Priceless. And the Bill Murphy thing ... OMG so randomly great. And Woody Harrelson? Words cannot describe his level of badassness. Watching him face off with Little Rock (the younger girl, I can never remember her name) was vastly amusing.

This movie was filled with awesome. Go forth and watch it immediately!

- In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out the trailer below.