Book Review: THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE by Leila Sales

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was a slow hook for me, but once I was on the hook, I couldn't stop reading all the way to the end. It's like that dance club where the first song you here isn't your jam, and you waffle over sticking around to see if it gets any better, or cut your losses and bounce to the next venue. At the beginning, Elise is struggling to accept who she is, since who she is doesn't line up with the "in" or "cool" crowd at school. For me, this was right on the edge of whiny, which is another way of describing every teen girl who goes to high school ever.

I considered putting down the book and DNFing it. I'm glad I didn't. I mean, I'm glad I read more, because I was hooked by what comes next (things get real, very quickly) and I would have missed out on an amazing story, a journey Elise takes to find her true self and to realize that she's okay, even if she's not popular, that there's more to life than social status. So, I'm telling you, KEEP READING. It's worth it. Trust me. There were so many moments of clarity Elise has that are nearly poetry in musical form. You don't want to miss this. KEEP READING.

I also love the way she found herself, through the vehicle of music. Music can be incredibly therapeutic (my day job is therapy for kids), and for Elise, it proves to be her lifeblood. With her music, she finds a niche for herself from a completely unexpected place: the DJ booth at an underground dance club called Start.

She also finds the beginnings of love in Char, the boy who teaches her to DJ, and the fine art of kissing. Even more, she finds friends in unexpected places, like Mel, the club bouncer, and in Vicky and Pippa, who accept Elise from the start and become true friends.

Elise keeps this part of herself a secret for much of the book, until, of course, she can't, and has to face the fall out of it all. She's also plagued by a "Super Secret Diary" blog made by someone who thinks they've got her pegged, but is a cruel form of bullying. In the social status world of high school, this carries a heavy weight and causes a lot of grief for Elise, whose own friends think she's the one who writes the posts as a desperate cry for attention.

This book isn't about the pettiness of social status pecking order. It's not about what others think of you. It's not about the way people pigeonhole your identity after the first five seconds of meeting you, or worse, from a comment someone makes about you ("Lesbo," for example).

This book is about more. It's about finding and discovering who you really are, and embracing that you, without fear, without looking back, and without caring what others think of you. When Elise is able to do this for herself, she's got all the reason to live true to herself every day of her life, and she finds the surprising truth that she's more than socially popular, she's got the thing everyone scrabbling for status doesn't even know they need or want: she has true IDENTITY. She's found herself, and she's desirable for that simple fact of knowing who she really is.

With that knowledge, Elise can rise above the public judgment she's endured the whole horrible school year, and shrugs off her status persona, replacing it with her secret, underground DJ identity.

Of course, when her parents realize she's been lying to them, keeping secrets, and putting herself in dangerous situations, she's grounded, and not even welcome in her mother's and stepdad's house after something happens that hurts her younger sister, who's alarmingly similar to Elise in so many ways.

This book had surprising turns throughout, and an ending that was both magical and fulfilling and powerful, like the lyrics to your favorite song blasting out of the speakers.

Well worth the read, and highly recommended. This book will make you want to dance.



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Book Review: Darla's Story (Ashfall #0.5) by Mike Mullin

Also see my review of ASHFALL, ASHEN WINTER, and SUNRISE





Darla's Story by Mike Mullin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While shorter than I wished it would have been, this novella from Darla's perspective provided amazing insight into what happened to Darla and her mother Gloria when the Yellowstone Super volcano erupted, during the timeline of ASHFALL, just prior to Alex trekking across country on his skis and stumbling into Darla's barn before passing out from blood loss.

I had hoped it would continue, providing me Darla's POV of Alex when they first met and got to know each other. And, given the contents of the story, it was interesting to see what had caused Darla to be standoffish toward Alex in the first place. Ruth's story makes that abundantly clear.

Now all I have left is SUNRISE to read of this fantastic ASHFALL series. While I'm afraid of the imminent death and destruction, twists and turns that Mike is famous for, and enjoys far to much for his own good, delighting in the torture of his readers, I am a glutton for his kind of punishment. Thanks a lot, Mike.

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Book Review: ASHEN WINTER (ASHFALL #2) by Mike Mullin

Also see my review of ASHFALL, Darla's Story, and SUNRISE





Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a rare and wonderful find. I thoroughly enjoyed ASHFALL, and had very high expectations for ASHEN WINTER, which Mike Mullin delivered as easily as Alex traded away his kale seed packets and fiercely loved Darla to the very last page. At nearly 600 pages, this book would appear to be a slow read, with burdened pacing and a snail's pace plot. However, this book turned out to be a breathtaking, fast-paced, agonizing read where every page met with plot twists, cliff hangers, and seriously triggered my asthma more than a few times. I chided Mike Mullins to add a trigger warning for asthmatics, to which he admitted his own struggle.

I have not found a book or series with such well-developed characters, both main and minor, such gripping storytelling, and a second book of a trilogy that delivers everything it promises to and more. I am stunned by the depth of Alex's task, something that would appear at first to be simple to complete, but through the course of the pages, turns into an epic quest that kept me turning pages all the way to the end.

Having read two books with many of these beloved characters, they are now cemented in my mind and very much alive to me as a reader. I loved the strength of both Alex and Darla, and the way Mike Mullin used their story to present what an apocalyptic disaster would do to two young people with the will to survive, seeking to find a durable future together.

With such seemingly effortless detail, Mike uses his exhaustive knowledge and obviously well-researched insights to bring to life how every gun, vehicle, seed, medicine, food, and tool might play into the survival of those trying to find a way to live when the world is covered in ash and snow, ice and devastation. These details paint a vivid backdrop to the otherwise bleak surroundings Alex and Darla trudge through on their journey.

Now I am eager to dive into SUNRISE, the final book of the trilogy, and have determined to add Mike Mullin to my "auto read" shortlist of authors.

Thank you, Tanglewood Press, for finding not just a diamond in Mike Mullin, but a veritable goldmine in this articulate author, who would make Smaug himself take another look in his direction.

What an amazing story of survival, overcoming, and love. Mike, you gutted me near the end, which I won't spoil here, but you did so in a way I had to choke back my tears, and accept the hard truth, and the world left behind in its wake. Your title speaks admirably well to that fact, an ASHEN WINTER both sobering and as gripping as if we were being flensed by your words.

Powerful, powerful read.

I will be ruminating on this one for a long while. Thankfully, I have Darla's Story and SUNRISE to satiate my craving for more. 5/5 stars is a mere nod to this book. 100 stars would be closer. Highly recommended.

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Book Reviews List

Here is a list, updated periodically, of all the book reviews posted here on my blog.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Ashen Winter, by Mike Mullin
Ashfall, by Mike Mullin
Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver
Burn Baby, Burn Baby, by Kevin Craig
Burning Emerald, by Jaime Reed
Cinder, by Marissa Meyer
Cress, by Marissa Meyer
Darla's Story, by Mike Mullin
Divergent, by Veronica Roth
Drowning Instinct, by Ilsa J. Bick
Faking Normal, by Courtney C. Stevens
Fault Line, by Christa Desir
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, by Matthew Quick
The Future of Us, by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
The Gospel of Winter, by Brendan Kiely
Hunted, by Cheryl Rainfield
Ignite Me, by Tahereh Mafi
I Hunt Killers, by Barry Lyga
The Impossible Knife of Memory, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Insurgent, by Veronica Roth
Into the Fire (Birth of the Phoenix) by Ashelyn Drake
The Last Stormdancer, by Jay Kristoff
Living Violet, by Jaime Reed
Mismatched, by Lydia Sharp
OCD Love Story, by Corey Ann Haydu
Parallel Visions, by Cheryl Rainfield
Perfect, by Natasha Friend
The Reasons, by Kevin Craig
Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer
Scars, by Cheryl Rainfield
Sebastian's Poet, by Kevin Craig
Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo
Shatter Me, by Tahereh Mafi
Siege and Storm, by Leigh Bardugo
Slide, by Jill Hathaway
Something Like Normal, by Trish Doller
Stained, by Cheryl Rainfield
The Statistically Probability of Love at First Sight, by Jennifer E. Smith
Stormdancer, by Jay Kristoff
Summer on Fire, by Kevin Craig
Sunrise, by Mike Mullin
A Temptation of Angels, by Michelle Zink
This Song Will Save Your Life, by Leila Sales
Through the Ever Night, by Veronica Rossi
Touching the Surface, by Kimberly Sabatini
Twin Sense, by Lydia Sharp
Under the Never Sky, by Veronica Rossi
Unravel Me, by Tahereh Mafi

Book Review: DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth

Also see my review of Insurgent





Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was such an amazing and powerfully written debut by Veronica Roth. I am thrilled to know this is a trilogy, because I don't want to let go of these characters anytime soon. I may have to reread this just to satisfy my cravings for Tris and Four.

Roth did an amazing job of pulling back the curtain as the reader progresses through this book. With a full cast of characters, the five factions, and an eerily conceived, futuristic Chicago, this story is immediately captivating and a crazy roller coaster ride from the first jump off the top of a building (I'm NOT kidding!) to the heart-thumping leaps from MOVING trains! In DIVERGENT, you get a closer look at Abnegation and Dauntless, two of the five factions present in this futuristic dystopia struggling to appear as the Utopia it means to be.

I love this book, and can't wait for the next installment, INSURGENT.

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Book Review: SIEGE AND STORM by Leigh Bardugo

Also see my review for Shadow and Bone




Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

That was the definition of epic. Wow. I can't even. Words are useless. This was unfathomable and gut wrenching and the deft twist of a heart shard. Leigh Bardugo has raised the bar for a second book in a series and has earned every bit that makes both books NYT bestsellers.

I am rent by the light and the darkness. The beauty and the horror. The sibling rivalry. The love that is palpable and yet so far from discovery. My eyes gleam with the small science, the magic of the words laid across each page and chapter and line after line.

This was a magical read, a rare and raw and special feat.

Alina and Mal are back but now they're in a new land, hiding from the Darkling and his search to find and control her once again. This time, the Darkling has a new power, and it's toothsome and painful and grips Alina with a new terror as she realizes that she may be the Sun Summoner, but she may not be a match for all the power the Darkling has, or isn't afraid to unleash into the world.

Alina is conflicted between protecting those she loves and cares about, and in desiring the allure and power she could know if she were to add an amplifier to her current one. In fact, she learns there are potentially two more such artifacts to those who seek the small sciences.

Added to the playing field, Sturmhond, a privateer as notorious as he sails the seas. There is some playful flirtation between Alina and Sturmhond, and it appears at times to cross beyond the scope of casual or friendly interest.

Given Alina is being touted and even worshiped as a saint, her celebrity status does begin to encroach upon her ability to maintain her sanity and make sense of where her alliances lie.

This was a magical read, gripping all the way through, and right up to the very end, which only leaves you wanting more, just as Alina seeks more power, and feels the pull of the Darkling and the dark arts. Will she be able to maintain her sainthood in RUIN AND RISING? Or will she realize she was a sinner all along? Will she embrace the light and find happiness with Mal, or will she succumb to the darkness, the Darkling, and all that power? Only time will tell.

I love this series! Cannot wait to read the conclusion. Fantastic read.

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#J2BA: One Writer's Journey to Become an Author

 

Three years ago, I began the journey to write my very first novel and join the ranks of published authors I've admired for years. I began in April of 2011, and two and a half months later, I completed the first draft of my first novel at 76,000 words, 3 sections/acts, 45 chapters, and 12 poems.

Three years later, I have finished more than 20 cover to cover revisions, with thousands of minor tweaks and edits woven in. I've been rejected, and rejected, and rejected. I don't really keep a count of rejections, but each one has spurred me on to revise, revise, revise. I am grateful for EVERY SINGLE ONE. And I have, believe me, revised. Just ask my wife and my critique partners. They've sharpened their pitchforks more than once if I dare bring them one more revision to read and provide feedback. In regards to submissions, I've received 5 partial requests, 4 full requests, and one offer to publish directly with a small press (which I turned down). I am not counting those submissions where a partial is part of the submission package. If so, I could count a dozen partials, or more.

After receiving feedback from a professional editor friend (who wouldn't have read and offered notes if it wasn't worth his time), I have decided to set the manuscript aside, and begin again from scratch. This was not easy for me. I have published critique partners who think I should still submit TPH and work with an editor. Still, I set that aside and took the plunge. That's right, I opened a blank document and started over. I am doing this for several reasons:

1. In its current form, my MS is not the book I want it to be.
2. I have likely over-edited my book.
3. Divorcing myself from all of the problems and failures of this manuscript is virtually impossible, even with expert help.
4. Beginning again allows me to make global changes before I begin, and breathe new life into a project currently on revision life-support.
5. Writing isn't easy. If it were, everyone would be published.
6. Writing a book is one thing, writing to the level required to receive an offer of representation from a legitimate literary agent, and have that agent find a publisher who wants to offer a contract to publish that manuscript is something else entirely.

I could go on and on from this point, but you get the idea. By starting fresh, I can begin with the third act in mind, drop the majority of acts 1 and 2, and get to the heart of the story. Plus, instead of having one MC, I'll have two. That's right, I'm going to use alternating first person POV with my two main characters, Joel and Amber, and fill in all of Amber's untold story to tell a better story.

I have come thisclose to trunking this book and giving up completely. Fortunately, I have very supportive writer friends who have talked me off that ledge more than once. They know I have a story to tell, and I am determined more than ever to find a way to tell it.

This is the story of one writer, and his experience along the path toward traditional publication. It's not the get-rich-quick story you've heard hyped about online. That's just a terrible, terrible rumor. It's also categorically untrue. Don't fall for it.

If you're an "aspiring author" like me, I hope you'll join me on this journey and maybe together we can endure what it takes to find ourselves an agent, and a manuscript worthy of publication. I can't promise you this journey will end with success, but I can promise you the truth of what it actually takes to write and publish a book in 2014, and beyond.

Does that mean the last three years have been for nothing? Absolutely not!

I have learned much of the craft of writing and have improved from the words I used to count on Twitter hashtags. Some of my favorites are: #amwriting #amrevising #amediting #wordmongering #editmongering, and others.

By using Twitter hashtags, I wrote my first book. Writing can easily isolate, and without accountability, it's easy to give up. I posted my word counts, cheered for others, and made friends among fellow writers all striving to do the same.

I have had crit partners come and go. Some have been helpful, others not so much. I have received an incredible amount of feedback from fellow writers, some who have gone on to find agents, receive offers of representation, and get published.

I am okay with the waiting process. I see it as an investment in my future. Sure, I could have self-published, or gone with that small press, but would I have published the book I envision with this project? Doubtful. And, I'm not scrapping self-publishing for all, or even for myself. Given the right project, I could see that happening down the line.

Just not now, and not for this project.

Let's talk about my approach. I've drilled the same MS, draft after draft, and revision after revision for the right mix of story, character, tension, and dialogue. I could have trunked it after a few rounds, and just started another project, and I have dabbled with a pile of projects I've got files started on, but I keep returning to this one. For me, I feel the process of learning how to write works best by applying new skills to the MS I know better than any other. For you, it might be better to write something new, and return to this MS when you are better at your craft.

So, why am I laying this all out there?

I've seen writers over these past few years come and go, and some give up because they think that writing is supposed to be easy, and when it doesn't happen according to some magical plan or timeline, they give up or self-publish. I want writers to know that this is a slow and arduous process. It's not supposed to be easy. But, if you commit yourself to the pursuit of writing and show up every day and write and read and revise, eventually, you will get published. Most estimates I've seen suggest a 10 year commitment to this process. Am I willing to put in the time? Sure. Yes. Because my writing continues to get better. I'd rather not cringe at what I've written and wish I'd waited.

If you'd like to see where this leads, join me. Follow along with the process and share your own writing journey in the comments below. You might be surprised that you're not as alone as you think. Writing can feel like an island at times. It's easy to get isolated from others when you can't share what you're doing for fear of losing your ideas to someone else.

If writing is your dream, then stick with it. Don't give up. Believe in yourself.

Happy writing!

I will be taking down my excerpt from THE PACKING HOUSE, the prelude, and the query letter at the above tabs, since the book is going through a complete rewrite. It already has a new title, and I will share a sample once it's been written and revised. Thank you to those who have read and commented. Your support is immeasurable.