Tag Archives: kelly st clare

Being short’s a good thing, right?

Reading, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cover of Kelly St Clare's The ReprisalWell, this week was another gorgeous reading week. I went straight from Sea and Sand to another new release, The Reprisal, by Kelly St Clare. This is the finale in her The After trilogy, and I’ve been waiting impatiently since I inhaled The Return the day it came out. It’s an utter delight. The relationships between Romy and her knot moved forward in fabulous ways, there was lots of humour, and the uncertain fate of those on earth and the space soldiers was resolved highly satisfactorily. Loved it.

And then I found a new series. I’d seen mention of Sarah K Wilson’s Dragon School on social media and thought it looked good. The premise is that a disabled teenager is determined to take on the highly physical role of a dragon rider – will she manage? It’s also fantasy with (you may have guessed) dragons, so there’s lots to love for fantasy readers.

Cover of Sarah K Wilson's Dragon School: First FlightThe books themselves are being presented slightly differently. Instead of novels, they’re novellas, but as a result of their shortness they’re being released more closely together. I’m finding myself growing more and more fond of novellas as I grow older. I daresay it’s just a perception, but it makes me feel as though I’m getting more new worlds in my life. Another positive is that most of them are available in KU, so I feel like I’m working my subscription hard by reading three books where I might only have managed one before!

The first three stories in the Dragon School series are available now (First Flight, Initiate and The Dark Prince), and I loved them. They’re very episodic, so you could think of TV just as easily as books. Amel is a great character (as is Raolcan the dragon), there’s stacks going on in the background so they rattle along at a terrific pace, and the writing is actually very visual so I found it easy to “see” what was going on. I want to read the rest, and I’m delighted to report I don’t have months to wait for the next episode, since it’ll be out at the start of February.

And then just last night (when I’d run out of Dragon School stories) I discovered that there is a book 4 in CN Crawford’s Fae FBI series. I kind of thought there must be another one coming, because book 3 left so many threads unresolved, but last time I looked on Amazon there was no sign. But it’s out now, so that’s what I’ll be jumping into once I’ve written this blog post. Can’t wait!

November means nano

My books, Reading, Writing, , , , , ,

Another tricky week, this week, readers. The Shattered Worlds Read Along finishes today with Miranda Hardy’s Death Knocks, except that I’d already read that, having got myself a bit out of order (it’s fabulous, btw). So there wasn’t a book from the collection that I felt as though I needed to read.

So, I haven’t read a Shattered Worlds book this week. That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped reading. I hope that will only happen when I’m no longer breathing! But this has been a week where I’ve focused entirely on myself.

As well as busily writing my nano words (I’ve hit 42k – OMG, crack out the choccie brazils, I have never written this consistently fast before in my life!) I was also on deadline to get my final clockwork war book to my editor ready for her to start work on Monday. So that’s what was on my Kindle, having a final read through to make sure that any plot holes big enough for me to see were filled in before it was sent off for a professional assessment. There will, sadly, be other plot holes that hid while I was reading, but that’s why I use an editor.

Being at 42,000 words when I’m aiming for a 50,000 word first draft means I’m actually on the home straight. I want to finish by next weekend, so I can actually slow down a lot and still hit my target. I hope that’s going to give me time to read, because I really want to lose myself in someone else’s worlds.

First off is the new release by one of my favourite writers – Kelly St Clare. Blood Oath (co-written with Raye Wagner) came out this week and I’ve only made it into chapter two so far (it’s great; Kelly’s books always are). With a bit less time writing and more reading going on in my life, I hope that will also be finished by next weekend.

Check back next week to see if I’ve met either or both of my new deadlines!

A bumper book week

Reading, , , , , , , , , ,

Well, I have been a reading machine this week with three books comfortably under my belt and a fourth nearly done!

First up was Rhoda Baxter’s Girl in Trouble. I know Rhoda IRL, and I absolutely love it when I’m properly able to rave about a friend’s book. Girl in Trouble isn’t my usual genre, but I have no problem reading something different if it’s good – and Girl in Trouble is an absolute smasher, a convincing romance with real emotional depth. I zipped through the novel in the space of 8 hours, it’s that good!

After that, I went back to my young adult TBR pile. CJ Archer’s The Medium caught my eye when it was in some promotion newsletter a while back, and it turned out to be a fabulous find. Set in Victorian-era London it’s slightly steampunk, largely supernatural and an utter delight.

Then a friend recommended Donna Augustine’s A Step into the Dark. This was a lesson in why you should give a book more than two paragraphs of a chance. If I’d just stumbled across it I know I’d have tossed it aside (metaphorically; it’s not really wise to throw your Kindle around). But because someone whose opinion I value (I’m looking at you, Kelly St Clare) said it was worth reading I gave it a bit longer, and I was pleased I did. More supernatural shenanigans abounded and Ollie, our heroine, was an absolute delight. I’m definitely going to read more of her adventures.

I am aware that none of this week’s reads feature in Shattered Worlds. I have strayed from my challenge, readers, I’m sorry to say. I wish I could tell you I’m most of the way through a Shattered Worlds book right now, but I’m not (I’m closing in on the end of the also-excellent Infernal Magic by CN Crawford – clearly I’m having a supernatural splurge this week). But I promise, once that’s done, I will get back on the straight and narrow next week, come what may!

Y is for … why aren’t there more hours in the day?

Reading, , , , , , ,

I’m sorry, I feel like I’m full of excuses lately. My alphabet challenge went so well for so long I think I thought I was home safe, but it seems to have derailed in the home straight.

I should have been reading a book whose title started with Y, but I don’t even have a Y book on my kindle, let alone read or partly so.

What I have been doing is reading my own book what feels like 37 times through as I complete proof-reading and formatting. I, frankly, ran out of time in the day to do any reading that wasn’t getting The Clockwork War ready for publication. However, I’m delighted to report that’s now done and the book’s uploaded and off my desk (it goes live on 8th August, so I’m nicely ahead of myself for once), so I should have more time to read (except that I’m straight on with the next book, plus a tie-in story. Some people just don’t seem to like a quiet life).

Cover of Kelly St Clare's The Return

And I have been reading! I could blame it on Kelly St Clare if I want to claim I’ve been led astray. If her The Return weren’t so utterly excellent perhaps I’d have found time to read a Y book. Instead, I was completely gripped by Romy and her friends’ ongoing adventures.

Oh my, reader, this series really is spectacularly good. Check it out for yourself.

Now, I swear I’m back on track. With this blog hanging over me I did another search on Amazon and asked for recs in one of my Facebook groups. I now have Saving Yesterday on my kindle, and when I’m in town tomorrow I’ll see about a paperback of The Young Elites either at the library or Waterstones. I’ll WILL get there, I promise!

My free reading challenge: Peaks and Troughs

Reading, , , , , , ,

Down in the dumps

I missed posting last week, but you didn’t miss much, I promise: “I did some reading” makes for a less than riveting post, so I spared you all.

I also didn’t blog because I was at a bit of a low point, reading-wise. I spent much of the week mildly disgruntled (well, I am British) by the quality of reading matter I managed to unearth. There are, apparently, 166,051 books available for free in the UK Amazon store (that number seems lower than I expected, but even so – it’s more than I can get through between now and Christmas), so why couldn’t I find anything good to read?

A relative term

Now, good is of course the key word in that statement because ‘good’ is a value judgement, not an objective assessment. I’m a really fussy reader and I was just in a bit of a reading trough because I couldn’t find anything that suited me. I turned down numerous review requests after reading the preview and going, “Meh” (sometimes after about 3 sentences… Impatient? Possibly, but I don’t feel I have time to waste when it comes to reading).

Editing, schmediting

Overall, I do worry that editing is getting much more hit and miss. The number of books I’ve read recently that are thick with telling rather than showing has surprised and slightly horrified me (again: British). Isn’t that the first thing most books on writing will tell aspiring writers? And isn’t that something an editor should work with you to absolutely nail? But, it seems that some editors don’t mention it and lots of readers don’t mind being told a story rather than shown it, so I guess I have to put it down to taste and continue with my search for something that IS to my taste.

Go with quality

Cover of Kelly St Clare's Fantasy of Flight
Click for preview

So, I caved. I don’t see it as a cave-in, really, but I wasn’t as strict with myself as I might have been. I got Kelly St Clare’s Fantasy of Frost for free in a giveaway, read it and loved it. It’s a series of 4 and I then grabbed book 3 when it was on a free day on Amazon. So I was well within my own free reading challenge rules to buy book 2 and fill the gap. So that’s what I’ve done. I galloped through Fantasy of Flight in two days. And it was such a relief to settle down with a book where I felt like I was in safe hands with a writer who knows what they’re doing.

Cover of Melle Amade's Sanctuary
Click for preview

I followed that up with Sanctuary, Melle Amade’s debut shifter novel and it’s such a cracking good read I zipped through it in a day. Two fabulous books back to back and I’m much more myself, thankfully.

Treasures ahead

I’ve also responded with big fat “yes”s to a couple of review requests that looked absolutely fabulous from the previews, so hopefully I’m firmly out of my reading slump and will soon be reporting on what a welter of brilliant books I’ve been reading.

Cover of Kate Johnson's Max Seventeen
Kick-ass characters in a space opera setting. Fabulous.

Also, Max Seventeen is out on Monday and will appear on my Kindle as if by magic. Now that IS one I’m looking forward to – Kate Johnson is one of the best writers I know (and I’m not saying that just because she’s a Kate, although Kates, Katys and Katies are, natch, the best). It’s a little more – er – earthy than my usual YA fayre is able to be, but if you like a cracking read with characters who will wrench your heart, give it a try. It’ll be my Monday very well spent.

My free reading challenge: I bought a book

Reading, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

When I started my free reading challenge, I knew it was going to be difficult, so I gave myself some let-outs.

This week I used my joker to buy a book from an author I’ve read a free book from in order to help with their launch.

Like one – Love the next

A couple of weeks ago I read Kelly St Clare’s Fantasy of Frost (free in a giveaway). A high fantasy YA novel, I thoroughly enjoyed it. So when I discovered she had a sci-fi/dystopian novel due out 30th August, The Retreat, I wanted to support her launch. I asked for and got a review copy and loved The Retreat even more than I had Fantasy of Frost.

Cover of Kelly St Clare's The Retreat
Click for the preview

Pay with a review

So, all’s well so far, and I could just have stuck to my free reading challenge and “paid” with a review (which I have, check it out on the Paisley Piranha site).

Amazon are at it again

But I’ve also seen a lot this week about Amazon doing yet another purge of anything they consider less-than-ethical reviews, which always seems to mean removing reviews from legitimate independent authors, while leaving them to help spam-bot rip-off merchants.

Now, I know we authors get very exercised about vanishing reviews (they are – fortunately or unfortunately – very important), but as a reader I’m pretty cross about it, too. If I take the time to read a book, then further time and effort to arrange my thoughts about that book into a review, I don’t think it’s acceptable for Amazon to arbitrarily decide my review isn’t valid (especially since it’s evaluated by software, not a human being: way to wind up a human – make a machine more important than them!)

The value of ‘verified’

So, I bought a copy on the basis that a review from a “Verified Purchase” would be less liable to interference from the ‘Zon (and because I really wanted to support this 5-star read).

And now I’m scratching my head, wondering how come a dislike of Amazon’s practices means I’ve made an additional purchase with them…

My free reading challenge: giveaways

Reading, Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,

My endeavour to spend no money on books for myself until Christmas continues…

Cover of Michelle Madow's Elementals

This week I found another fabulous source of free books: giveaways. I entered a contest run by several YA authors I’ve heard of but haven’t yet read, and as well as being in the draw to win a kindle (I think that’s it – I never win anything so didn’t pay much attention – I was far more interested in the free books offer), I also grabbed the chance to download YA books by 10 new-to-me authors, and my Kindle is now bursting at the seams.

Cover of Kelly St Clare's Fantasy of Frost

This seems a great way to try some new authors. I haven’t committed myself by specifically asking for a review copy, so if I don’t like their book no one’s any the wiser, but as I kind-of know several of these authors on Facebook I really hope I will like them – and if I do I can ‘pay’ for the book by writing a review. Authors LOVE reviews – don’t ever underestimate how thrilled you can make an author by writing a few words on Amazon or Goodreads!

Cover of Melissa Craven's Emerge

But back to free books. If you like cracking YA books (and who doesn’t?), give it a go. Click on the link or any of the covers to find the details and enter if you’re interested.

Be quick, though: the contest (and download offer) ends 31st August.

And now I need to follow my own advice and post some reviews from the free books I’ve read recently!