B-O-O-K-S! June in Review and NYR Update!

Hello, July!

June flew by in a whirlwind of manuscript rewrites, writer-friend crits, sweltering temperatures, and of course, BOOKS. The New Year's Resolutions haven't been lost in the shuffle, though this whole quarter has been a food wreck. Carbs, snacks, casual dining. OH MY! I'll kick the discipline up a notch in July.

But for now, let's get to the good stuff! Here are my June reads.

6/4/11 - City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
Do you ever have those moments when you're reading along, la-dee-da, then a plot twists smashes you in the gut like you've been kicked by an angry leprechan wearing steel-toed boots? Yep. That's the long and short of City of Bones for me. Good book. The flow felt more middle grade than YA, but that didn't detract from the story at all. Clare builds a world existing alongside our own that feels believable, even attractive, to the mundanest of mundanes. Shadowhunters, Mortal Instruments, vampires, werewolves, and a dreamy love interest with emotional baggage. What more could a girl want? ;)

6/5/11 - Writing the Breakout Novel - Donald Maass
This book is amazing. A-MAZ-ING! I dare you to read it and tell me it didn't make you reevaluate your entire manuscript. Meeting Don Maass put his words in perspective, and going through his eight hour workshop...well, I just want to dive down on my WIP like an enraged hawk and tear it to shreds. :) Buy this book and add tension to every page of yours!

6/10/11 - Please Ignore Vera Dietz - A.S. King
I met A.S. King at Backspace, and what a nice gal. So supportive of fellow authors addressing the sometimes frowned-upon themes in YA. In Vera, she hits on parental abuse, teenage alcoholism, and a slew of other subjects that, yes, happen in the real world. It's a heartbreaker, though, with the occasional hilarious moments (brief lectures from inanimate objects, flowcharts from Vera's Zen master Dad). The book made me ask myself if we all turn out like our parents, especially if we work really, really hard to be someone completely different. My answer? I don't know. I haven't exactly figured out who I am yet. I'll get back to you when I know. :)

Only three, but I also shared The Hunger Games with a friend at work who gobbled the series up in a week. So cool that I can 'loan' most of my Kindle books. Great idea, Amazon!


Plans for July:

Books: I've started rereading A Tale of Two Cities (LOVE Sydney Carton), and Timothy and the Dragon's Gate by Adrienne Kress is in my reading/snack drawer at work. Plus, if you remember my Princess Bride post from last week, you know that story's on my Kindle impatiently waiting to be devoured. And Lisa Desrochers's Original Sin, the second in the Personal Demons trilogy, came out July 5th!

Must. Read.

Movies: Do I need to say it? Really? How about a picture instead (courtesy of Google images). ;)

Writing: I will finish my manuscript in July and send it to my wonderful, very honest writer-friends for a good mauling. I will tie together all the plotlines, develop the characters arcs, solve the mysteries, and I swear I'll win and break every heart on the planet by the end. Well, that's the goal. hehe.

I'll also finish critting Laura Stanford's Girl in the Mirror. Check out her blog and comment on her query for GiTM, the story of one seventeen-year-old's race to escape a human trafficking operation.

I love you, my follower darlings. You give the Cheetah her wings!

-Marie