A Book Review of Diviner by Bryan Davis

Buy from Amazon!

For years, tales of DRAGONS from another world kidnapping and enslaving humans have been circulating in Jason Masters' world, while for a slave girl named Koren, the stories of a human world seem pure myth. Together, these two teens will need to bridge two planets in order to overthrow the draconic threat and bring the lost slaves home. The mysteries unfold As a Starlighter, Koren knows her destiny is to save her fellow human slaves from the dragons' bondage---but by following the orders of the smooth-talking dragon king, Taushin, has she in fact doomed her people and herself? As Koren struggles over her choices, Elyssa discovers a new aspect to her Diviner gifts when her pendant begins to unlock mysteries surrounding the stardrops from the Exodus star. Soon Elyssa, along with Jason and his father, also uncovers new truths behind the dragons' prophecy and learns that Randall has teamed with Magnar and Arxad to wage battle against Taushin's followers. With a major war imminent and talk of a new Starlighter in the air, confusion and uncertainty reign--something Taushin might have planned for all along.

Series: Dragons of Starlight (Book 3)
Genre: YA Fantasy

Publisher: Zondervan (September 6, 2011)

Page Count: 432

What I liked: I have read the other books of this series years ago, but that was before I started my blog, and I had a very long hiatus from reading for a few years. I don't recommend it. I think reading is very important to do as a writing, but I digress.

As with all of Mr. Davis's books, this one is very creative. The world is very imaginative and the special abilities of some of the characters are very neat. Plus it has dragons. What's not to like about books with dragons?

This book is well written with vivid descriptions and deep point of views and laced with concepts of freedom and sacrifice looked at with some new approaches. The characters are great with a chilling villain and noble protagonists. I especially love Elyssa and Tybalt. I love Elyssa's sacrificial nature and devotion to Jason and her interior struggle with being hard on herself. Tybalt is hilarious. He kept me laughing throughout the whole book. 

What I didn't like: I felt like this dialogue and interior monologue was a little too flowery at times. It's just people don't normally talk that poetic that often. I like it when it's more sparse, or it's more appropriate in a medieval setting, but sometimes it didn't feel quite natural in this setting. But that's more a personal preference.

Content Cautions: There is some gore in this book so watch out if you're squeamish, but it's nothing too bad. It's more of what they talk about than what's shown, but just a warning.

All and all I enjoyed this book and I give it four stars! :)

About the Author: 

Bryan Davis is the author of the following young adult fantasy series: Dragons in our Midst, Oracles of Fire, Echoes from the Edge, and Dragons of Starlight. He also wrote I Know Why the Angels dance, a contemporary novel for adults.

After laboring as a computer geek for 20 years, Bryan followed a dream to become an author. He began by writing a story to motivate his seven children to gain some excitement about writing, and that story grew into a novel. After spending the next eight years learning the craft and enduring more than 200 rejections from publishers and agents, he broke through with his best-selling series Dragons in our Midst. He is now a full-time author and lives with his wife, Susie, and their children in western Tennessee.

You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and his website! I also have an interview with him I had on the blog!

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)

A Book Review of Precisely Terminated by Amanda L. Davis

Buy on Amazon!

With microchips implanted in their skulls at birth, the slaves of Cantral and Cillineese have labored under the tyrannical rule of the nobles and their computers for centuries. Monica, a noble who avoided the implanting and escaped a death sentence at the age of four, is now sixteen and is in hiding. She lives with the slaves inside the walls of the Cantral palace, pretending to be one of them while the slave council plots a way to use her chip-less state to destroy the all-powerful computers that strike down any hint of rebellion.

The fate of millions rides on Monica's shoulders. As the only chip-less person in the world, she must find a way to destroy the computers and free Cillineese from the nobles' iron fist before they strike with the ultimate punishment--death for everyone inside the city walls.

Series: The Cantral Chronicles (Book 1)
Genre: YA Dystopian
Publisher: Living Ink Books; None edition (September 12, 2011)
Page Count: 464

What I liked: The concept is very intriguing and unique. You're taken to a unique world and culture. You have constant tension in the story about if Monica will get caught or not. The "ticking time bomb" at the end keeps you glued to the pages. You feel very connected with Monica and the writing is well done. I enjoyed the diverse cast though sometimes I felt a little overwhelmed with so many characters. The story focuses a lot on sacrifice and it's neat watching the character grow to learn this.

What I didn't like: I didn't like that the main character got so beat up so much. I felt bad for her. It  would've been nicer if she at one point had a very kind person take care of her, but a lot of the characters are mean. But that may be a personal preference. The story is a dark one and calls for a lot of cruelty.

Content Cautions: There are some gory parts and a lot of death so it's best not for younger readers.

It was a good read though and I'm currently reading the sequel, Noble Impostor. I give it four stars. :)

About the Author: 

Amanda L. Davis is the award-winning teen author of the Cantral Chronicles, a dystopian trilogy. She enjoys reading and writing and comes up with new novel ideas while spinning yarn or running on the roads near her home. She was born and raised a Florida girl and loves the warmth of the South.

You can find her on her website, Facebook and Goodreads!

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)

Interview with Brian (Subsapien Grafting)

Brian (Subsapien)

Me:

Hey, everyone! I'm back with another character interview and this week's is with Brian from the second book of my science-fiction series, Subsapien! *turns in chair to Brian* Hey, Brian. How are you doing?

Brian:

Decently. That portrait is not an accurate likeness to myself. My hair is gray and it spikes up. An exact likeness is displayed in the art galley. *shifts wolf tail*

Me:
Moving on. So, Brian, tell the readers a little bit about yourself.

Brian:
Well, I debut in the second installment of the Subsapien series. I am nine years old, a wolf grafting and part of Matt's group. I am not disclosing too much to avoid spoilers, but I enjoy reading on my Every.

Me:
You like books, so what is your favorite?

Brian:
That is a very difficult decision, but one of my top favorites is certainly The Cosmic Landscape by Leonard Susskinddelve. I enjoy his perspectives of string theory and its role in the universe.

Me:
Cool. So what's something you want to do or experience?

Brian:
I would like to participate in a conversation with one or more physicist or inventors. I want to share my theories with them.

Me: 
Interesting. What's your favorite thing you own?

Brian:
My Every definitely. I have all of my notes and books stored on there. For those of you reading this who are from the early 2000's, it is a kindle or iPad device, but with far more processing power than your primitive devices.

Me:
Be nice, Brian.

Brian:
I am being perfectly polite.

Me:
Hm. Okay. What is your opinion of Rota?

Brian:
*frowns* Well, I--

Emil:
*burst into the room* Hey, everybody! What's going on in here?

Brian:
Emil, leave the premises. You are interrupting my interview.

Emil:
Ah. *waves him off* No one wants to hear about your science stuff.

Me:
*sighs* Emil ...

Emil:
*turns laptop to face him* A interview with me would be much cooler. You know you guys want one. I like sports. Sports are better than stupid science.

Brian:
That is certainly not true!

Emil:
*to laptop* You guys know it is. *turns to me* Seriously, Tori, why haven't done one with me already? *counts on fingers* Matt has one, some blue girl has one, this guy with wings, some girl named Pro and all these other people. They're okay. I'm, like, awesome!

Brian: 
*growls like dog* Leave.

Emil:
*looks at laptop* You guys don't want me to leave right? *whispers* Leave me questions in the comments. Tori has to have a interview with me if you do. I'll answer them all in a cool way. *gives you all a crooked grin*

Me:
*sighs again* Well, I think that's all the time we have for today.

Brian:
I, I did not get to finish!

Emil:
Boo hoo.

Brian: 
If your Incredible Hulk shirt ends up in the trash, you will know why.

Emil:
*points finger at Brian* You better not, pipsqueak!

Me:
Guys, settle down. Emil, I will interview you eventually.

Emil:
Sweet!

Brian:
*grumbles*

Me:
Before we go, I have in the winner of the 100 likes giveaway! Thank you to everyone who participated!
And the winner is ...

*drum roll*

Emily Rachelle Russell

Me:
Congratulations! I will get in contact with you in the next day or two. Leave some questions in the comments for Brian and Emil if would and come back next Saturday for a new post. :) You can check out more about Brian's book in current projects, his book's Pinterest board, pictures I've drawn for the book on deviantART and fan art on my Facebook page.

Emil:
You haven't drawn me yet for the gallery thing!

Me: 
I will get to that. Thanks for reading!

You May Also Like:

Interview with Sting (Subsapien Grafting)

Interview with Matt (Subsapien)

Interview with Able (Subsapien)

Interview with Bryce... Again (Subsapien)

Interview with Pro Jamerson (Subsapien)

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)

100 Likes Giveaway!

This Thursday I decided to try to get 100 likes on my author Facebook page and thanks to all of you who contributed I got over 130! Thank you all so much! This really blessed me. :)

I promised a giveaway and here it is! I'm giving away an ebook copy of Divergent by Veronica Roth! I'm pretty hyped about the movie. Anyone else? I've done a review on of Divergent here if you want to know more about it. If you already have it, maybe you can give it to some one and get them addicted on it lol.

If you've just heard about me, I'm Victoria Grace Howell. I'm a young Christian and I have a passion for writing fiction especially science fiction. I also love music, drawing my characters and all things nerdy (especially Hunger Games, Divergent, Lord of the Rings, and the Avengers). :) I'm currently working on publishing my YA science fiction novel, Subsapien Biomech.

A brief pitch about my book: A futuristic prosthetics experiment saved the lives of two teen boys. Now they must work together to escape becoming tools of an anti-religious government.

On the blog, I post book reviews, writing advice, interviews with my characters, updates on my journey as a writer and more every Saturday around noon EST. On the Facebook page, I post quotes, nerdy stuff and progress on my book. Wednesdays, I post a new vocabulary word, Sundays an instrumental soundtrack and on Saturday my blog posts.

Building a possible readership before publication will help me get published! Thanks so much for your support! Stay shiny! (Yes, I watch Firefly.)

Enjoy this image from the Divergent movie coming in March!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)

A Book Review of Halflings by Heather Burch

Buy from Amazon!

After being inexplicably targeted by an evil intent on harming her at any cost, seventeen-year-old Nikki finds herself under the watchful guardianship of three mysterious young men who call themselves halflings. Sworn to defend her, misfits Mace, Raven, and Vine battle to keep Nikki safe while hiding their deepest secret---and the wings that come with. A growing attraction between Nikki and two of her protectors presents a whole other danger. While she risks a broken heart, Mace and Raven could lose everything, including their souls. As the mysteries behind the boys' powers, as well as her role in a scientist's dark plan, unfold, Nikki is faced with choices that will affect the future of an entire race of heavenly beings, as well as the precarious equilibrium of the earthly world.

Series: Halflings
Genre: YA Paranormal

Publisher: Blink (January 24, 2012)

Page Count: 288

What I liked: To be honest, I was skeptical about reading this book firstly because of the title being "Halflings" which I immediately related to the halfings in the Lord of the Rings. Being a devout Tolkien fan, that bothered me, but this truly is a good book. It has similarities to Twilight, but way better. In a sentence: it's Twilight with angels. Let's get this out right now: I'm not a Twilight fan. I don't like vampires and I didn't like the main characters, but this a healing for me from that archetypal paranormal. The characters are very in depth. There is a love triangle and it's very hard to decide who you like best. 

The main character, Nikki, is a really cool girl. She has a personality and ambitions unlike--sorry Twilight fans-- Bella who to me was very dull. Her two love interests are starkly different, but both very attractive in their own ways, plus being a Christian I enjoyed the religious themes threaded in realistically. The author's writing is beautiful. I enjoy her style and I definitely learned some tricks from it for my own. I felt very connected to the characters and I loved the imagery she painted in my mind.

What I didn't like: This one character that died made me really sad and a little irritated. I'm avoiding spoilers, but I think you'll know it when you read it. It's not normally done in media for reasons and I kind of wish it stayed that way. 

Content Cautions: There is some gore concerning the hell hounds. I think the author did it tastefully, but if you're squeamish then watch out for that. Some people may have some religious qualms with the fact that they are half angels, but I think it was done well and didn't do anything sacrilegious. 

I give this book five stars and I'm looking forward to the sequels. Christmas list! Yes, I still have a Christmas list. No judging!

About the Author: 

Heather Burch writes paranormal young adult novels. Her YA novel Halflings released in hardcover in January and is the first book in the Halflings Series.
"I'd always known Halflings would open with Nikki being chased through the woods by hell-hounds. I couldn't get the image out of my head, so I wrote that scene." An X-Men fan and a hopeless romantic, Heather wanted to someday tell a story of extraordinary young people and the struggles that accompany saving the world.
Someday became now when half-angel teens started holding conversations in her head. "But it all began with Nikki and those hell-hounds and the Halflings watching from above. Once that scene was written, the adventure began. And I never want it to end."
Heather lives in Florida where she writes full time and has conversations with fictional teenagers. Every. Single. Day.
Find her on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and her website!

If you liked this post, come back every Saturday for more writing advice, character interviews, book reviews and more! On Sundays I have Soundtrack Sundays where I post a new score piece, Tuesdays are Tea Tuesdays with tea reviews, Wednesdays I have Wonderful Word Wednesdays where I post a new vocabulary word, and Fridays are Fan Fridays where I post tags and other goodies. To help support my dream to be an author follow this blog, like me on Facebook, watch me on deviantART, and follow me on Pinterest and Twitter. If you want to know more about my books check out them out here. Thank you! :)

Nine Ways to Meet Writer Friends: A Guest Post by Lauren Claire

Hey everyone! Lauren Claire, a young writer friend, of mine is back with another blog post! Here she is!

I know, I know. If you have a sense of humor, you’re probably thinking this: Lauren, the online hermit that is almost never seen outside her little circle of websites, actually has friends? Well of course I have friends! Do you know how many friends I have in characters alone?

All joking aside, today I’m going to share nine ways that YOU can make friends with not one writer, but many. Yes, I have made writer friends through almost all of these methods. Let’s start with the hardest category to conquer: the in-person friends.

In Person Method - Before I begin, there is one key thing you need to keep in mind with this method. Any contacts made are useless unless you exchange some kind of information to stay in contact. This may mean phone numbers, it might be emails. It might even be a plan to meet up semi-regularly for an informal writers’ group support session.

1. Talking – The majority of my writing friends have NOT been made by any of the other methods listed below. Instead, some of my best writing friendships have occurred because I was open about being a writer. People, writing is important to you. It’s okay to talk about how you’re struggling with writing a chapter in groups of people. You never know…another writer might be in the group with you!

2. Local College Classes – If you haven’t already, check your local community college to see if they offer creative writing classes. Most colleges will allow community members to take the class at a higher tuition rate. But hey–it’s sixteen weeks of in-depth lectures with not just writers, but LOCAL writers. Say hello to easy accountability and coffee writing dates!

3. Writers’ Conferences – I cannot advocate this enough. Go to a writers’ conference. You will make FRIENDS. Find one now. End of conversation.

4. Coffee Shops – Writers, as a stereotype, love coffee. It only makes sense that they also love coffee shops. Make a habit of spending time in your local coffee shop (even if it’s only a monthly reward for meeting your writing goal). It’s inevitable that you’ll eventually meet writer friends…especially if you’re brave enough to do one of the following: a) be brave enough to shout, “Are there any other writers here? or b) ask the hostess if she knows of any frequent writers.

5. Library Events – This is one of those things I haven’t tried, mainly because I’m too lazy. Keep an eye on your nearest library though. It might surprise you how many authors live in your area (yes, even rural farming areas), and local authors LOVE to give back to their community. If you have one, they might host a book-signing there.

Online Methods - When using these methods, you need to realize that you’ll never truly become writer friends with somebody without contacting them via email or Facebook message. You need to stay in contact with them, and be every bit their cheerleader as you want them to be for you.

1. Stalk Your Favorite Authors – Yes, I said STALK. Like their Facebook page, follow them on Twitter, sign up for email on their blog. Visit everything every single day. You get the benefit of picking up their personal writing secrets, and you’ll get the benefit of meeting other writers who also stalk your favorite author.

2. Facebook/Linked-in Groups – This is a great way to get quick responses to your questions, to get sympathy for your writer woes, and to help develop plots. It’s also a good way to make friends with writers who have similar tastes and interests.

3. Forums – Just like the groups, finding a writing-based forum is one of the easiest ways to make writer friends. For one thing, private message systems allows you to keep some anonymity compared to the other methods I’ve mentioned before while still becoming close to other writers. You may also find (through option #1) that there is a sub-forum for writing in an author-based message forum.

4. Blogs – Honestly, this is not my favorite method, but I have made a couple of good friends through this. The real trick to this is NOT to just follow the blog, it’s not just to comment on the blog, it’s to EMAIL the author. It doesn’t hurt to follow their Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, either. Anyways, if you take the time to actually have a conversation via email with a blog writer, chances are you’ll have a great friend and buddy.

How have you made writer friends? Have any of these methods worked for you? Do you have any questions about making writer friends?

Lauren Claire is a young writer with a passion for God, life, and her young friends. She knows that there are many kids in the world that have nobody to talk to about the problems they face, so she strives to write real stories they can identify with. When she's not writing, Lauren is busy with College, Camp ministries, and going on adventures.

Check out her blog!

Help support her writing dream on Facebook and Twitter!

Tori here. I hope you all enjoyed this post! As always, thanks for reading! :)

You may also like:

Twelve Rookie Writer Mistakes and How to Mend Them

Harnessing Pain for Your Writing

Do You Lack Passion in Your Writing? A Guest Post by Lauren Claire

How to Make Your Fantasy World Feel Real

Reeling In Your Reader: A Guest Post by Lauren Claire