70,989 to Go!

Maybe it’s desperate, but my heart soars every time someone actually pays to read my YA novel. The idea that anyone would give of their time and money to read something that I poured eight months of my chaotic life into is simply thrilling. Well, including the marketing and editing it’s been almost a year. I actually sat on the idea of Filter several months before even beginning the research. All the girls on campus were going gaga over Twilight and it seemed like every time I picked up a new release at the bookstore it had some plot line very similar to Twilight’s…or the Vampire Diaries because really, how can you not see the similarities between those two? So I decided that for the first time in nearly a decade I would begin writing again. It would be a story filled with teen angst and the wicked darkness of the human heart, but no fur and no fangs. There was actual research involved. My husband bought, “Genetics for Dummies” for me (he’s a brave man..but genetics isn’t exactly my forte, so it was appreciated) and I scoured the internet for my historical research and supplements to my scientific research. The beginning of the story formed itself in my mind as I was reading Austrian history but I began at the end and in the middle of the story. The roots you will have to wait for. And it will not be what you expect. It’s fun and difficult not to let on, to not give you too much, but it will make you gasp in the end and you will say, “Take that, stupid vampires!” Because what I write is actually real and could actually have happened. And that is more unsettling than any paranormal tale you could ever spin. Reality is more unsettling than many of us want to realize.

….The title refers to the number of books remaining to sell before I can pay off my student loans, mind you, I don’t get the full cut of the $2.99 it costs! Payments begin in two months…ug. And keep in mind, reviews are Indie Author’s bread and butter!

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Infinity

For the first time ever I had to take a break from reading an LJ Smith novel.
So instead of finishing Shadow Souls I picked up Infinity: The Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon. It looked like something my oldest would be interested in but I wanted to read it first before letting him have a crack at it. The lead character is a high school boy and I was afraid that would lead to material unsuitable for a 9 year old. It did. My son can't read it yet, but I enjoyed it.
The writing wasn't the bestest in the world and, at times, the dialogue suffered horribly. Some of the analogies were a little too feminine for a boy book.
But all that aside, it was entertaining. There are zombies and vampires and creatures I haven't heard of all roaming around in good old New Orleans. It only took me two days to get through it. And it's kind of like watching horrible horror movies. It isn't always going to make rational sense, but it's fun. The characters were vibrant and alive and the story sure made me want to drive down to New Orleans.
With some more practice Sherrilyn Kenyon could become a force to reckon with. I even want to read her previously published books, The Dark Hunters.

Working Around the Less Desirable

It's kind of like being a sports fan.
A true sports fan.
Just because your team is playing like trash you don't start booing them.
You press on through the hard times, through the strikeouts and losing streaks.
I am only page....170 maybe of The Vampire Diaries~The Return: Shadow Souls and there have been so many times I have just wanted to throw it down and abandon it. But if you pick around the gunk and know Ms. Smith's work well enough you can appreciate the few gems still shining in there.
This book has just been stupid so far.
Stupid.
The characters don't sound like themselves and again, it's so dumbed down I can hardly stand it. And there is just way too much going on. It's gotten so far out there, it can't come back.
If they're pushing her to write these, they need to stop.
It's making her look

The Vampire Diaries~The Return:Nightfall

First off, whoever edited this book.....shame on you.
Was it an intern? Potentially.
I'm talking simple grammatical errors that were not fixed.
Can you find such errors in my blog on occasion? Certainly. But I'm not a New York Times Bestselling Author.
It took 250 pages, but finally LJ Smith started writing like LJ Smith again and I was up until 2 or 3 in the morning, until it started getting silly again.
It's difficult to review this one without giving away story details....
Let's just say it felt like a horribly contrived effort.
There seem to be remnants of other stories Smith has written (The Forbidden Game) tangled up in this and you, know...while I love supernatural thrillers....it can only be so supernatural before it gets ridiculous. This book got ridiculous time and again.
After the two hundred pages of brilliance winked out I started wondering if HarperCollins was going to start up a card game, like Chaotic or Bakugan. "And I meet your Power Flash 3500 with THE WINGS OF REDEMPTION!"
And then it got all Peter Pan, "Just think happy thoughts and they'll lift you off the ground!"
And then it was back and forth and back and forth and let's make this happen to cover over what I had to do back on page 375.
I got tired of it.
My other BIGGEST qualm was all the mindspeak. That wasn't a major component of the original story and it nearly ruined this one.
Fortunately LJ Smith's characters are so strong they could withstand this onslaught of underachievement. It pains me to write about an LJ Smith novel like this, but it's the truth.
I like to think that they twisted her arm into this and demanded that she meet an impossible deadline, because, more than anything, that's what I get from this novel...with the exception of those 200 pages of brilliance. If I can write as she did for those 200 pages, I will be happy indeed.
Now, on to the next one...Shadow Souls, I guess. May it be infinitely better than the last. (I am grateful that The Vampire Diaries~The Return: Midnight doesn't come out until July 1, 2010. It will be nice to spend time meeting some new characters.)

The New Vampire Diaries

I'm only at page 100 of the new book, whatever it's called and it has been extremely difficult to read.
Stefan sounds more like Edward Cullen and I'm trying not to throw up.
The story in the beginning is ridiculous and oozing with overdone sentimentality and feels more like Stephenie Meyer than LJ Smith, you have no idea how much it hurts me to say that.
None of the old pull to Damon exists, granted he's not quite himself, but he doesn't sound like good old Damon either. 
And it's all gotten just a bit too...racey for me. That's why I like teen fiction. It's all the angst and suspense and drama without the sex. And no, there isn't sex, but it's symbolic and I don't appreciate it and if it was my twelve year-old wanting to read it, I would say no. Or I would at least rip out the page with the worst of it.
And yes, I do listen to the Outlander series, it's the one exception where I will tolerate such things, but that's dealing with adults and it isn't written for teens.
And it's really just ridiculous.
The entire opening of the story has been ridiculous and it's inconsistent with the voice of the other books. It seems dumbed down and overly explanatory and just plain silly.
And there are elements of it that are so like the Twilight saga that I checked the copyright date and then the copyright date of Breaking Dawn.
But there seems to be hope.
Maybe.
Now at page 100, it's starting to sound like the old LJ Smith, the one that deserves the title New York Times Bestselling Author. The one that deserves to have her story put onscreen (even if it should be the big screen and not the little one). I just hope it keeps getting better, because if LJ Smith continues to read like Stephenie Meyer, I'm not wasting my time reading the next one. It's one thing for Stephenie Meyer to sound like Stephenie Meyer but it's just wrong for LJ Smith to sound like her and to be so utterly silly.
If Stefan calls Elena, lovely love, one more time, I might wretch.
Romance is NOT sentimentality

Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion

I spoke too quickly about The Fury being my favorite of the Vampire Diaries series.
It's been awhile, forgive me, and I couldn't remember the fourth book.
But the first line of the first page brought it all back; all the memories of being twelve and having nightmares that mirrored Bonnie's because the dreams she had were so disturbing to me. The part with the teeth falling out, that was already a nightmare of mine and reading about someone else having that nightmare only caused me to be plagued by nights spent losing my own teeth. I was twelve and I didn't fall in love with Stefan. I was in love with Damon, dark and brooding and self-controlled Damon who is somehow always late but also always just in time.
It took me, cumulatively, three hours to read Dark Reunion, having been swept up by that first line. LJ Smith knows, unlike some authors, how to write action, how to time it so that it takes just long enough to put you on edge so that you want to read every word even though you're frightened to because you're not exactly certain what she'll allow the characters to do.
And she knows romance, not just the simpering fairy tale cottage and the designer clothes ( you know what I'm talking about), the real romance behind all things. The romance that links lovers and the romance that just is the sweetness and terror of life and love, that connects friends just as much as it connects lovers.
I'm a little leery about reading the new books.
I'm almost afraid they were only written for the sake of the show. If so, I want nothing to do with them. I only want them if their existence is due to the fact that Stefan and Elena and the gang truly weren't through with their escapades. I hope they aren't ridiculous.
Let's find out, shall we?
O and by the way, I saw on a certain website that some schmuck is trying to sell a 2001 edition of The Fury for $35. Whoever it is, they aren't a real fan.
I have the original print edition in like new condition. All four of the series. And sweetie, I ain't selling.

Vampire Diaries: The Fury

OMG.
As a rule, crying during teen romance novels is unacceptable behavior.
It almost happened though, almost but not quite.
Maybe it's because I got up so early. We'll blame it on that.

Thus far, The Fury is my favorite of the Vampire Diaries, which really should have all been one book...but what Stephenie Meyer can get away with today might not have flown so hot nearly twenty years ago (wow, let's not put it in those terms again!). The Fury is filled with awakenings and realizations and I was nervous for Elena and the gang, scared for them at times and then suddenly....my tiredness nearly allowed me to cry.
LJ Smith accomplishes what Meyer never did for me...she made me nervous. Yes, I've read the books time and again but every time that concern wells back up. I know these characters, they're old friends of mine and I want things to go well for them....but sometimes things just don't. And that is something else. LJ Smith is willing to allow her characters to go down paths that might be less than favorable. She is willing to shock and to let go.
It still makes me angry that these books were made into a television series (atrocious as it is).
They're making Outlander into a movie and The Vampire Diaries into a series. How backward is that?

At the end of the They Fury I ran back to my room, to my favorite shelf filled with old-school reads (which, I realized to my horror...I am missing a TON of my Christopher Pike books. Where did they go? Where is Chain Letter? And the Final Friends, hmmm? Ich weiss nicht.) and snatched Dark Reunion. Unfortunately, mommyhood duties called and it was time to feed the children. They are in bed now and I'm done talking to you, so now FINALLY I can get back to the gang.

Rooting for the Bad Brother

I am always shocked at myself when reading a book where the girl must choose between two boys. My choice would probably shock most people who know me.

I was on team Jacob. Edward was boring and stagnant.
And now, having just finished The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle for the umpteenth time....I must admit, I'm still on team Damon.
This concerns me...is there something wrong with my own character? Am I suffering some deprivation? As Damon menacingly took Elena in his embrace, I questioned myself.
.....the problem in books is that the good boys are soooo boring.
Like with Edward and Bella, I never felt the connection they had. Ooo, so he swooped out of nowhere and saved her a couple times. Big deal. For all of that he still came across as a wuss.
But Jacob was all fire and arrogance and recklessness.
Like Damon.
And neither Jacob nor Damon ever wallowed in self-pity. And if they did, they did it like a man, with gruffness and a bit like jerks.
How boring would the story be if the girl decided to stick with the good guy and didn't instinctively gravitate toward the boy seething with danger?
I don't think it's the danger that draws us in though.
It's the cockiness, it's the competency.
Women want men who act like men, not like metrosexuals.
Think of Indiana Jones, he isn't a nice boy... and he's so alluring because of it.
Clint Eastwood, think back to Three Mules for Sister Sarah. Or Sam Elliot in The Quick and the Dead. Unflappable, self-controlled men.
I hafta say, accept my apologies, but this is why I love my husband. He's a bit of a jerk when need be and that's so appealing. He's a gentleman and a wonderful father, but....with a look and a certain tone, he can put me in my place. Not many men can do that. 
I love Stefan, I do.....but without his brother to antagonize him, he would make for a very boring romance novel. And then we, being the silly emotional females we are, wouldn't feel the delectable guilt over wanting her to accept Damon's embrace, and then what fun would it be? Yes I feel horrible for Stefan...ah the angst! This is why I love teen romance thrillers. There's fear. There's guilt. There's the discovery of character flaws they didn't know they had (and we didn't know we have). Such fun. Now, I must away. Book III, The Fury is waiting for me.