series

Weekly Writing Update: 2/25

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This last week was a slightly rougher one for my goal of writing 20 minutes per day, though I did manage it for 5 out of 7 days. I did not do any extra to make up for those lost days and have actually decided not to force myself to make up for lost days (unless I miss a lot, maybe). The idea here isn’t to be stressed or risk burning out but to work steadily toward an end goal (get the next book in the series ready to publish).

My work this last week was more working out one arc of the plot for book #4 in the Pithea series (currently titled “Morano”) by means of a character interview with one of the major characters from that arc. It has really shed some light on that plot and motivations for some of the characters.

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon in multiple formats (e-book, paperback, and now in hardcover) as well as Kindle Unlimited.

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Book Review: The Runaway King

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The Runaway King
Ascendance #2
by Jennifer A. Nielsen
read by Charlie McWade

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Middle grade adventure

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the first book in the series, The False Prince.

Jaron’s return and ascension to the throne is precarious, as is the peace of his kingdom. The most pressing threat comes from the very group that tried to kill him years in the past and helped kill his parents—the pirates. Against the advice and wishes of everyone close to him, Jaron sets out on a plan to stop the pirates.

I can’t say I’m surprised that I liked this book less than the first. While the first one had the big surprise going for it by the end, I knew this book couldn’t pull off another similar twist. So what we’re left with is politics and war, which tends to just drag along for me, like most of the previous book did. What seems to be the big selling point for most of the people who like this series is Sage/Jaron himself and his wit, snarkiness, ingenuity, etc. However, while I appreciate the difficulty of his situation, he actually seems ill-suited for his role as king. He makes a lot of bad decisions and basically gets lucky. Plus, while the pirates aren’t exactly friendly, they don’t end up seeming quite as mean and hardened as they were made out to be. Imogen’s involvement is difficult to find realistic, and I don’t understand Amarinda’s role at all (is she good? bad? pointless?).

I did recommend the first book for teens, and I’d imagine that age group would be more interested in the rest of the series that I am. I’m personally calling it quits right here, which is saying something, considering that the book ends on a cliffhanger. It’s just not enough to draw me back. I’m not saying it’s terrible, since I did give it 3 stars. But in the end, it’s just too slow and uninteresting to give me a reason to come back.

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Weekly Writing Update: 2/18

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I’ve mostly stuck to my goal of writing 20 minutes per day, though I did skip Friday. However, I made up for it with an extra 20 minutes on Saturday, so I didn’t get behind.

I’m still working on the character interview with one of the major characters from book #4 in the Pithea series (currently titled “Morano”). in the section of the story I’m most uncertain about. I can’t pretend that it’s not starting to feel like I’m stalling with this interview, dragging it out so I don’t have to figure out what do to next, but I’m still walking through the storyline and getting some great insight, so I’d definitely call it productive. I also use the double session yesterday to do some freewriting (something I haven’t done in a while), which started out rocky but ended up being a peek at the later life of a character in Outcast (book #2) that I really enjoyed getting out.

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon in multiple formats (e-book, paperback, and now in hardcover) as well as Kindle Unlimited.

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Book Review: The Raven

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The Raven
Coffey & Hill #2
by Mike Nappa

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Thriller/suspense, Christian

When a street magician (deception specialist), who calls himself The Raven and tends to pay his rent with what he can steal out of the pockets in his audience, gets in over his head with a local politician and his enforcers, he finds himself in the middle of a mysterious plot code-named “Nevermore.” Private investigator Trudi Coffey and her ex-husband, ex-CIA agent, ex-private investigator, now Atlanta cop, Samuel Hill race to uncover the details of the plot and stop it before it, whatever it even is, can happen.

For as much as I liked the previous book in this series, I liked this one even more. It kept me in suspense all throughout, with high stakes, real danger, and well-developed characters. Nappa made me care about people on both sides—good guys and bad guys alike. Though Coffey and Hill are the overall focus of the series, The Raven was really the protagonist in this story, with his attempts to turn his life around and some backstory that culminated in a couple of very emotional moments. I didn’t care for Raven’s insta-crush on Trudi, but overall, it was downplayed enough to not be a problem. 

Like the previous book, this one also has three perspectives: Trudi Coffey, a woman named Bliss that is connected to Nevermore in some way, and The Raven (whose POV is in 1st-person, present tense, while the other two are 3rd-person, past tense). There is also a lot of jumping around in time, which seems to be one of the biggest issues for other people. Even when a chapter starts in “present time,” it will sometimes jump back and tell something that happened minutes, hours, or days earlier, before getting back to “now.” I didn’t have a problem with that flow; in fact, I think it really added to the suspense.

This book had a little more Christian content in it than the previous, which only took the form of Trudi recently becoming a Christian and trying to filter her life through that newish lens. The Raven brings more of that into the story, struggling with an upbringing as a pastor’s son and his guilt over some particularly bad things he’s done in his life. That and the lessened violence and gore (compared to the previous) are probably the biggest contributors to my higher rating of this book. Needless to say, I loved this book and recommend it to fans of suspense and thriller novels, especially with a Christian leaning.

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Book Review: Storm Warning

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Storm Warning
The 39 Clues #9
by Linda Sue Park

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s mystery, adventure

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with The Maze of Bones.

On the trail of pirates, someone else is on the trail of Amy and Dan Cahill, but then, what else is new? But now they’re learning that the threat may have been closer than they knew all along.

We’re nearing the end of the main series now, and the story is ramping up appropriately; this book dives right in with Amy and Dan confronting Nellie about her deception. Personally, I’ve figured Nellie was more involved than she claimed from the beginning, when her snake nose ring was described, but that seemed to be a red herring, since it wasn’t brought up again in 9 books. The real truth about what Nellie has been keeping from Amy and Dan isn’t exactly earth-shattering or completely unexpected, but it’s nice to start getting things out into the open. The Madrigal involvement in the clue hunt is close to what I suspected partway through the book, but there are still some surprises.

In this book, Amy is awkward and stumbles over words when she’s with her family, but later, she doesn’t seem to struggle at all talking to people she doesn’t know, even in stressful situations. This might not have been something I’d have pointed out, except that it seems likely it’s due to this book being written by an author who’s new to the series. Though overall, I’ve really enjoyed the journey, I do sometimes feel that the one-off authors could have had more of an understanding of the characters before writing their contribution. Or that there should have been an editor who read all of stories with an eye toward fixing any characterization issues. Though the final book in the main series is written by yet another new author, I’m still looking forward to seeing how all of this ends. I’ve already strongly recommend this series to my 13-year-old daughter who has just recently gotten into reading more heavily, and I think kids as young as 10 would enjoy this series as well.

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Book Review: Hatchet

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Hatchet
Brian’s Saga #1
by Gary Paulsen

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Classic middle grade adventure

I remember reading the story of teenage Brian stuck alone in the wilderness for several weeks when I was a kid, though the only parts of it I could recall were that the plane went down into water and that at some point he dove into the water to try to salvage supplies from the plane. When I read it again recently because my daughter read it for school, I remembered a lot more of the challenges Brian faces. The reader easily roots for Brian to solve the next problem, to overcome the next hurdle. He has setbacks and moments where he contemplates giving up, which make the story all the more realistic. On top of it all, he’s reeling from a divorce caused by a horrible Secret that he’s kept buried, and while his dangerous situation tends to overtake that trauma, it’s always there, waiting to creep in during his weakest moments. Overall, the story is engaging, and when a potential major issue happens near the end of the book, I found myself groaning and shaking my head for poor Brian.

My only gripe with the book is the author’s style, which involves a lot of repetition within sentences and paragraphs. Though some might be seen as showing Brian’s mental state, it started before the plane even went down, so I think it’s purely a style choice, and one that I don’t personally care for. Otherwise, though, I think this book is still great for pre-teens and teens to read, maybe with parents for pre-teens.

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Weekly Writing Update: 2/11

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While I wait for my beta-reading sisters to read “Power,” book #3 in the Pithea series, I’m starting to work on book #4. I wrote the first draft during NaNoWriMo in 2020 and haven’t touched it since then, so first I have to figure out what major changes need to be made and how to go about making them. I spent all of this week doing a character interview with one of the major characters in the section of the story I’m most uncertain about. It has been very helpful so far, and I’ll continue it this week.

I’ve stuck to my goal of writing 20 minutes per day, even with a few days this last week where I didn’t feel much like doing any work. It’s easier to push myself when the work ahead of me is a character interview, though, because it really doesn’t feel much like work.

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon in multiple formats (e-book, paperback, and now in hardcover) as well as Kindle Unlimited.

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Book Review: Good Girl, Bad Blood

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Good Girl, Bad Blood
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #2
by Holly Jackson

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: YA mystery, suspense

After solving the mystery of Andie Bell’s and Sal Singh’s deaths, Pip and Ravi create a limited-run podcast to share their discoveries. Due to the podcast’s success, when Jamie Reynolds, the brother of one of Pip’s close friends, goes missing, his family asks her to use her audience to try to find him. Pip is resistant at first, not wanting to get caught up in another investigation, given how damaging the last one had been for her and those around her, but since the police don’t consider the disappearance a priority, Pip knows she can’t leave her friend and his family without answers.

I liked this book a tad more than the previous, I think because it felt a little more focused than the first one, with so many paths Pip went down to get to the real truth. I liked the merger of the updates from the previous investigation with the new case at hand. I have to admit that I pegged the main bad guy really early in the book, which is not normal to me, but I honestly don’t know if it was majorly telegraphed or if I just took a guess based on tropes of the genre. I think there was at least one thing that happened that wasn’t explained, which I wish had been. And the reader is definitely not given a chance to figure out the motive in advance, but then again, this isn’t exactly a cozy mystery, so I think that’s okay.

I still get serious Veronica Mars vibes from this series (in a good way). I take issue with some of the ethical and legal lines Pip is willing to cross in this book, with no consequences, though they may come about in the next book. For those who want to know about content, there is some language and references to drug use and rape, though nothing explicit. If you’re concerned, I’d definitely recommend reading it before your teen does (especially a younger teen). I’ve enjoyed this series thus far and look forward to the conclusion.

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Book Review: First Degree

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First Degree
Andy Carpenter #2
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

Defense attorney Andy Carpenter is reluctantly brought into a case when a man confesses to murder under the protection of attorney-client privilege. The case takes a turn when Andy’s girlfriend ends up being accused of the murder, and it’s up to him to unravel a conspiracy and prove her innocence.

Frame-ups and high-reaching conspiracies are the common ground in this series so far. I like that these stories look at both the investigation and the trial, because even when Andy knows his client isn’t guilty, he still has to be able to prove it. And that’s when discovering the real culprit(s) comes in. I’m not remotely an expert in what goes on in a courtroom, but Rosenfelt makes those scenes seem much more real that what I normally see on TV. Maybe it’s just because he includes so many details that others leave out. I also really liked the bits of the previous book that continued into this one, especially Andy helping his previous client with a lawsuit against those who caused him to be incarcerated for years. The question of whether or not Andy will win the trial is probably not as suspenseful as it could be, since solving the mystery is pretty tied up in proving his client innocent, and I suspect that will be the case throughout the series, but it doesn’t make the mystery less interesting.

Only two audiobooks in, Gardner is already the definitive voice of Andy Carpenter for me. Gardner really brings Andy’s wit and sarcasm to life. I’m definitely sticking with the audiobooks for this series as much as possible. Fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas should consider reading this book.

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Weekly Writing Update: 2/4

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For three years, I have posted book reviews almost exclusively on this blog, which started as a place to keep myself accountable while working on my writing. I used to post every single day that I did writing work, lowering that amount to weekly when I didn’t need the daily accountability anymore. Then I stopped writing consistently for a while. Though nothing new (I’ve had gaps in my daily writing before, both long and short), when I did get back to writing again, I didn’t get back to posting. It’s time to remedy that. So I’ll dive back in with a brief update of what I’ve recently accomplished in my writing.

I finished draft 6 of “Power,” book #3 in the Pithea series only a few days ago, the last draft that I will work on alone. I have asked my 3 sisters, who helped me immensely with the revision of book #1, to read it and give me feedback—as vague or as detailed as they want to or have time to give. I’m not putting a deadline on them, though, since they’re all busy and it’s important enough for me to get their feedback before I publish it. I figure it’s been long enough since book #2 was published, what’s a little longer?

In the meantime, I’ve turned my attention to book #4. I wrote the first draft during NaNoWriMo in 2020 and haven’t touched it since then, so I’ve been taking it slow getting used to the story again while I start to work out where the first major changes need to be made and how to go about making them. Right now, it’s mostly reading and brainstorming. And I plan to do some freewriting this week, since after so much revision for so long, I really want to do some actual writing, which still isn’t needed with the first draft done of the next book.

I’ve done a pretty decent job of sticking to my goal of writing 20 minutes 20 days out of the month. This month, I’m pushing it to 20 minutes every single day (and if I miss a day, I’ll make it up). This is how I’ve maintained a pretty steady habit for several months now. Plus, I often write with my daughter (working on different projects, but at the same time, usually sitting at the same table), so we kind of spur each other on to write most days.

While I work on continuing the series, if you’re interested in reading where it all starts, Pithea is available on Amazon as both an e-book and paperback (it’s also on Kindle Unlimited).

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