NaNo Plans 2016

NaNo starts tomorrow!! I'm so excited and yet totally unprepared at the same time lol. I think that's how it always is, though.

NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write 50,000 words for a novel during the month of November. This will be my fifth year participating, and hopefully my fourth win! I've found that NaNo works perfectly with my writing process, so I've been looking forward to this since, like, February.

I flip-flopped with my decision for this NaNo a couple times. I was torn between some new ideas I've had and doing a complete overhaul of Casanova, which was my NaNo last year. One of my new ideas seemed like it would be a lot of fun to tackle, but I also knew that based on my track record so far this year, NaNo would be my only hope to get any revisions done for Casanova. I haven't made nearly as much progress this year as I hoped I would.

So Casanova won the decision.

"But isn't that cheating?" you might ask. To purists, sure. It's not a brand-new-sparkly idea. But I'm not breaking any NaNo core rules -- I've never used old writing or writing for outside projects to count towards my word count goal during the challenge.

My ideas for Casanova have changed a lot since last year, where I was essentially just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if anything was good enough to stick. I've gotten a much better sense of the characters and the plot, and I have a much better understanding of the setting after our trip to Dallas in December. (Which, honestly, I'm still in shock about. If nothing else I felt like I needed to pick Casanova again to honor that lucky break and the jump my parents took on the project.)

This year I'm actually going into NaNo with an outline!! I honestly don't think I've done that before. The past years that I've won have been complete literary abandon, as they say, and in the past three years that I've won I haven't been able to piece together an actual manuscript. I've got a bunch of writing, and a lot of ideas that I've ended up keeping, but nothing that can be read beginning to end.

My hope this year is that I can attack Casanova with a little more purpose this time and get at least one draft of every single scene I know I need to make the story flow from start to finish. I have a feeling I'm going to resort to a lot of bare-bones, uninteresting narration just to make sure I at least state what's happening rather than skip over it completely. I want to have something that I can hand off to someone and not feel like there's a whole bunch of unexplained stuff that I need to mention before they start reading.

My biggest challenge (aside from keeping focused) is going to be managing my time effectively. I've been doing a really poor job of it recently and I know it's going to take a lot of sweet tea and sheer determination to get me through November lol. I also have three final projects that I have to get done during the course of the month ...

Here's to hoping for a successful NaNo!

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

TL;DR Feyre's life gets a little less hell-ish

TBR #1776, added Aug 21, 2016

library hold placed 8/21, #58 in queue; received 9/28 #5

finished 10/6/16

I went into ACOMAF knowing a few spoilers thanks to Pinterest, but wow even those did not ruin the experience of the book. I liked this one even more than I liked ACOTAR.

ACOMAF is just so solid. Like, it's got a good plot, it's got a relatable and flawed main character, and such an amazing extended cast of characters. And Rhys -- I thought Pinterest was over-exaggerating about him and I was wrong. I don't think he could be any more perfect as a love interest.

A lot of the reason that I liked ACOMAF is that there's so much focus on character interactions and character growth. We learn a lot about Feyre, and Rhys, and all of his inner court, and we get to see Feyre open up and start to heal after what happened in ACOTAR. I think that's the most important part -- that they all help her to heal, and they understand where she's coming from and support her as her own independent person.

(Unlike someone else in the book, cough cough.)

I'm also really loving the world they're in. We get to see so much more of it this time and it's definitely one I want to see so much more of. I'm usually not one for high fantasy or anything close to it but this is just so good. (The geography nerd in me has been appeased. Aside from the fact the maps look so tiny on my Kindle app :c )

There are also some ....... really steamy chapters this time. Even more so than ACOTAR. There were a couple times that I felt like I was reading a smut fanfiction -- the beginning and end of the book are definitely not to be read in public lol. And I think there's a chapter or two in the middle of the book that are a little questionable. I'd definitely classify this series as more New Adult than Young Adult.

Despite being like an eight-year-old and hating even makeout scenes, I can definitely appreciate the ... detail? that's been included in the relationship. It depicts such a healthy and balanced relationship -- which isn't always something we get in YA / NA. And hey, body positivity! They're more mature than YA couples tend to be, which is so refreshing, but yeah this definitely isn't something I'd readily recommend to someone still in high school.

I'm excited to continue on with this series and I'm kicking myself because now I have to wait for the third book to come out. I'm kind of dreading the wait but I'm sure it's gonna be worth it.

TL:DR this completely exceeded my expectations and I'm officially hooked on this series. It's got some R-rated scenes in it, but other than that this series is really high on my recommendations list so far.

New Music Playlist - October 2016

Hi guys! I'm back with another music playlist to break up all the book reviews \(۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶/ I've done so many recently ...

This was a playlist I put together back in September, but it got pushed aside in favor of posting book reviews. So here it is now! I found all of these songs through Google Play's "Pop Before It Breaks" playlist, though some of them might have made their way to the radio by now.

I've embedded the playlist below, but you can also find it on YouTube here. It's seven songs, so it's not too long. It's all I could fit on my little sticky note lol.

I'll have a post about my NaNo plans coming up on the 31st! It starts soon and I'm so excited but I don't think I'll ever feel prepared enough lol. All of my geography classes have final projects that are due in early December, so I'm going to be working on all of those and slaving away on my writing ... it's gonna be a hard month.

Here's to hoping for a good month to come ♥

The Cage by Megan Shepherd

TL;DR teens kidnapped for a zoo run by aliens

TBR #848, added May 8, 2014

library ebook hold placed 9/17, #1 in queue; received 9/25

finished 10/4/16

This really wasn't my thing and I probably should've just DNFed it to save me the hassle.

It definitely has some good points -- I haven't seen a human zoo used as a YA topic before this -- but I didn't enjoy it. I think I could've kept my opinion at "yeah, it's okay" if I'd DNFed it, but by the time it even occurred to me, I was 85% done and to quit then would be a waste of the effort I'd put in to purposefully read The Cage over other ebooks I had.

The biggest problem for me was that the narration and the characters weren't interesting enough for me. The narration felt dull and I didn't like any of the characters. I can understand a degree of contrived-ness since they were specifically chosen for the program, but they felt inconsistent and their actions benefited the plot (which also felt contrived) much more than it ever did their own character growth. The narration also felt impersonal from being third-person, and despite being multi-POV, it focused so much on Cora that any of the other characters' chapters felt thrown in like Four's did in Allegiant. (Not quite as bad, though.)

The plot didn't quite feel like it had a solid direction, and the revelations at the end of the book were boring. I also did spoil myself by glancing at the sequel at Barnes and Noble and double-checking its synopsis on Goodreads. The ending didn't justify all the events that had lead up to it. I have no interest with what's supposed to happen after the end of The Cage, and I didn't even before I looked up spoilers.

TL;DR there wasn't any point where I really enjoyed reading this, and it's definitely not the kind of book I like, so I'm not going to continue with the series. It's definitely not the worst book I've read but I'm struggling to decide if I would recommend this to anyone.

Entwined by Heather Dixon

TL;DR Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling

TBR #195, added Feb 21, 2013

library ebook (no hold) 9/17/16

finished 10/1/16

I had no idea this was on my TBR when I found it in my thorough search of the library's ebooks. Most likely because it was so high up on the list.

Unfortunately, I did have some struggle with trying to finish it. I think part of it is from reading so many fantasy / sci-fi books lately -- I know I'm starting to burn out with my trend. I've also been marathoning through books like they're going out of style, and I've been feeling worn-out from school, so it's definitely not all the book's fault.

The plot did feel somewhat stagnant, or at least not as action-y as I was thinking it'd be (for whatever reason). The stakes didn't feel all that high until the end of the book. The ending was fun and action-y, at least. I enjoyed the final scenes.

Azalea was a nice enough main character but I don't the narration worked for me. I don't remember what exactly it was, but I think most of my problem was the mindset I was in when I read it. It fit the mood and story but wasn't really what I was wanting to read at the time.

(I owe this book an apology tbh. I was not the best reader.)

Azalea's sisters were all interesting and I was able to tell most of them apart, but that did rely a lot on simple characteristics (like Kale chewing on everything). They did have a surprising amount of variety for a set of 12 siblings. I had trouble telling apart the two main guys that weren't Mr. Keeper, the clock guy and the funny one. For some reason I couldn't keep their names straight in my head.

This is a standalone (as far as I can tell), so I definitely recommend this as a contrast to the YA trend of "series galore!! even though we don't need 5 books!!" I'm also trying to think if I've read any other Twelve Dancing Princesses retellings, and off the top of my head, the answer is only Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. (Also, my only other knowledge of the original fairy tale comes from the Barbie movie, which ....... is probably not good to admit. This seems to be a trend of mine, only knowing fairy tales through children's movies.)

I do hope at some point there's another book set in the same universe as Entwined, because it's kind of a shame we didn't get to see much of it outside of the castle. I think there's a lot of promise to the glimpses of history that we got to see and I'd love to go back and revisit it.

TL;DR I wasn't in the right kind of mood to read Entwined when I did, unfortunately, but I'd still recommend it. It's a good standalone fairy-tale retelling that retains a childhood story aspect rather than being "gritty". Hopefully one day I'll be able to give it another go.

As a final note, I recommend checking out the author's website. She's got some super cute art.

The House of the Stone by Amy Ewing

TL;DR Raven is a better heroine, tbh, but this is all we get of her

TBR #1794, added Sept 17, 2016

library ebook (no hold) 9/22/16

read 9/23/16

I decided to check out the novella for The Jewel because I hoped that Raven's story would be more dynamic and more ~gritty~ than Violet's.

Yeah, I should've known better.

I mean, if you liked The Jewel, then I think it's pretty standard. It definitely is a little darker, but not in the way I wanted. It was just a little crueler without any true reasoning behind it than the Countess being masochistic.

The unfortunate thing was that it was so short. There wasn't any actual story to it -- it's just the first few days from Raven's point of view. It passes faster than Violet's narration does (which is unfortunate, because I enjoyed Raven's voice) and abruptly ends without any resolution.

So, like the novella, I have very little to say (lol).

The sad thing is, I think I would've enjoyed The Jewel a lot more if it had been about Raven instead of Violet. She was a lot braver and her situation was so much more dystopian. Raven's experience was what I was expecting from the story, not Violet's pampering. Raven has so much more to fight for and even in the 89 pages (supposedly) that I got to read about her, I cared for her more than I did Violet.

And unfortunately, because the main series is about Violet, I think it's pretty unlikely that I'll continue it. I even considered it if The Black Key looked promising ... but it really doesn't. Maybe it's just me being a heartless only child LOL. I don't care enough about Violet, and I certainly don't care about her siblings from the chapter or so that we got to see them in person.

I'll probably still recommend The Jewel to people who are just getting into YA or as a "read The Selection? Need more? Read this!" kind of thing. It's not absolutely terrible, but I found it a letdown.

TL;DR Raven's story would've made The Lone City series more interesting to me, but alas, we only got a novella I breezed through in an hour even though I was dead-tired. I'm calling it a loss and moving on.

CWs: torture, injuries, loss of autonomy / forced submission (... I really don't know how to describe this. This review -- the one that made me decide to read The House of the Stone, ironically* -- described it as "bordering to BDSM". Except it's missing the whole consent is key concept.) (*The review got my attention because it didn't really match all the others on Goodreads, and based on The Jewel, I was wondering how they were defining BDSM. Torture and BDSM are two different concepts.)

Soundless by Richelle Mead

TL;DR turning a village upside down in a period of, like, four days

TBR #1179, added Apr 15, 2015

library ebook hold placed 9/17/16, #12; received 9/18/16 at #11

finished 9/23/16

I actually finished two Richelle Mead books in about a week lol. I was actually a little uncertain about it, because Vampire Academy is such a veteran to the YA genre (meaning it's that pre-2012 group I still haven't blogged about), and because Soundless didn't have as strong reviews as I was hoping for since the concept sounded so unique.

And the concept definitely was refreshing in being so new. It definitely kept me on my toes, and the progression of the story took different directions than I was expecting from it. (Which is good!)

... but I do have to agree with a lot of people on Goodreads that it wasn't dynamic (read: kind of boring) and that I did a lot of the mental picture-building myself. I was never as interested in the book as I wanted to be and I had to purposefully sit down and decide to read Soundless as opposed to the other ebooks I had checked out. (I got through Vampire Academy, Dearest, and The House of the Stone since I started Soundless.)

There also wasn't any cultural worldbuilding to it. They had Chinese-sounding names, and apparently all looked Asian, and wrote with characters. That's really all I got from it. Maybe there's something to be said about their social dynamics that makes them different from a Western society, but I think that was superficial and stereotypical. This wasn't really something I noticed while I was reading but it definitely stands out now that people on Goodreads have brought it up.

I also don't really agree with Fei miraculously getting her hearing back. I was a little apprehensive about that even before starting the book, and while it was explained better than I was expecting, I was also hoping that she would be the only exception. I don't think it's a good narrative to have deafness be something that can be magically cured.

I think some of the problem with Soundless was that the whole plot was shoved into the course of a single book, which made everything happen too quickly to feel realistic, and didn't give any time for worldbuilding. (Well, we actually did have some good chances for it, and we didn't get it.) I think it could've been more interesting if it didn't feel artificially rushed.

TL;DR it was pretty dull, but I don't feel right rating it just one star. I think the fact that I never felt like throttling any of the characters (or other aspects of the book) earns it that second star.

CWs: violence, death, injuries. These aren't terrible but the book is a little violent towards the end.

Dearest by Alethea Kontis

TL;DR v cute The Wild Swans retelling

TBR #1001, added Sept 15, 2014

library ebook (no hold) 9/17/16

finished 9/22/16

This was surprisingly hard to write a review for, so this is going to be really short. I apologize. (I worked more hours than normal the week I wrote this and I'm still trying to adjust to having evening classes. I've felt pretty zombie-like the past month.)

This is part of a series, which up until now I thought was a trilogy, but is actually bigger. I'm really excited that I have the chance to continue with the series and continue with more of the characters we haven't seen much of.

I think Dearest could be read without reading the two books that come before it, but it definitely helps to understand the story. I've read those them and still I had a few moments where I had to search my memory for what was being referenced. (I also have a pretty bad memory. All of them were vaguely recognizable, but I was trying to look for more specific details, and I suck with those.)

Friday was an enjoyable main character and heroine and she was so pure, like, she's practically like a saint. She spent almost the entire story helping other people out (instead of the story being about herself) and she worked so hard for them and never complained and like ... I could never do that lol. I liked her flock of children and her flock of boys (lol) a lot even though there were too many to get a good sense of all of them.

I think the pacing of the story might've been a little slow at times. (I think I read the book pretty quick overall, so I don't remember exactly.) There isn't really much action but there's definitely a lot of anticipation and working towards their goal. I don't think any specific scenes dragged out all that much. The story did wrap up well within the course of the book and had a satisfying ending. The ending surprised me a lot, actually. I was :OOOO the whole time. (Though I think an argument could be made that it was a little out of left field compared to the rest of the book.)

The romance was pretty cute even for being insta-love. I guess I'm willing to forgive that since there was actual framework in their worldbuilding for it to be legitimately fate and not just "oh, ~swoon~". They respected each other as people and sacrificed a lot for each other, which also gave it a lot of points in my opinion. And I mean, it's based on a fairy tale, so I'm willing to accept some suspension of disbelief since it was a pretty close retelling.

The series is interesting in that it seems to adapt the fairy tales closely (at least to how I know them), but there are so many being put together that there are a lot of interesting crossovers in them. It's a little bit like The Lunar Chronicles to me, but TLC takes a lot of liberty in terms of worldbuilding and interpretation of the story. The Woodcutter books exist within a fairy tale-like world and keep a lot of that magic to them, but they add to the story by including threads of other fairy tales going on at about the same time.

(I'd live in their world, tbh.)

That was more than I expected to be able to write lol ;; Overall I'm really enjoying this series so far, and I'm considering re-reading the beginning books if I get a chance. I don't know if any other books are out in the series just yet but I'm definitely going to continue with it.

TL;DR I read through the book pretty quickly and it was a nice read, and it's been a nice series. It's definitely worth checking out if you like fairy tale retellings that are closer to the source than recent trends have been and aren't all dark and depressing.

So far this is only the second retelling I've found of The Wild Swans, so if you'd like another, Spinning Starlight is a sci-fi one that focuses more on the sister of the family and her journey.

Halloween Book Recs

In compiling this list into a shelf on Goodreads, I realized I own copies of the majority of the books. Usually I'm not one for the scarier side of Halloween, so this is a little surprising.

(Though I'll admit, none of these are jump-scare books. They're just along the lines of creepy or unsettling.)

The Archived by Victoria Schwab

This book is about ghosts and has a very cold aesthetic -- almost like wandering through underground passages or cellars with dirt walls. It's definitely a fall book, and I think the association with ghosts / the dead places it perfectly as a Halloween book.

There's a sequel titled The Unbound that I haven't read yet, and Victoria Schwab has started work on the third book, but so far there aren't any details about when it could be published.

Nameless by Lili St. Crow

This is about vampires and also felt pretty cold, but it also takes place towards the winter, so that might be part of it. It's definitely an unsettling world overall. There's a lot of mystery and secrecy that continue past the end of the book.

This is part of a series, though those books focus on Camille's friends. I've added the next book to my TBR but I'm not sure if or when I can get my hands on it.

Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink  and Jeffrey Cranor

The Welcome to Night Vale podcast series definitely is a very Halloween aesthetic, with what all goes down in their town. The book isn't quite as creepy, since there isn't the added benefit of sound effects or Cecil's voice, but it still effectively captures the series. The series in general also reminds me of cold weather and fog due to listening to the beginning podcasts during our Alaska trip.

This is part of a multi-media series with a large and ongoing podcast series, and I think there are other books being released, but I don't know much about those.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

This is all about ghosts and the metaphorical skeletons in the closet, and I'm pretty sure it takes place around Halloween as well. It's got a very cold and creepy feel to it but I found myself still enjoying it a lot. The characters are all very endearing.

This is part of a series, which I think is four books and just wrapped up recently. I have the next book on my ebook TBR and hopefully I'll get to it sooner rather than later.

Need by Carrie Jones

This one is rare for YA in that it focuses on pixies, rather than faeries and the Courts. It takes place in the middle of winter, but I think it's also fitting for Halloween with all the mystery. (I think it might also come off as juvenile to some people, though.)

This is part of a series (trilogy?) that I read back in middle school, and I'm trying to make my way through it again. I enjoyed it back then and so far I've still found it enjoyable.

Dark Star by Bethany Frenette

This takes place around Halloween and deals with demons, so it's perfect, right? I listened to most of the audiobook when we were in Alaska, so I associate it a lot with fog and chilly weather. The audio book narrator's voice was totally fitting for it.

This is part of a series, but I know my library doesn't have any of the books, so I'm restricted to when I can find good deals on the books on Amazon [cries].

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge (Also: Cruel Beauty)

Crimson Bound is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, and Cruel Beauty one of Beauty and the Beast. Both are darker retellings, and they take their own directions with the stories. They can also be a little morbid, which makes them feel like perfect Halloween books.

The books aren't related to each other (despite how similar their covers look). They both have the same vibe going, though.


So there we go! I was surprised that I had this many books to add to the list. I own all of them but Nameless and Rosamund Hodge's books. I think a lot of these books could also stand in for rainy day reading during the fall (which it feels like we've gotten a lot of lately).

I think the rest of the posts this month are book reviews, with one or two NaNo-related posts. I'm already gearing up for NaNo with my friend, so I'm already looking past Halloween lol. Here's to a good October!

Casanova Progress: Jul - Sept 2016

It's time for another update post on Casanova! (A very pitiful one OTL.) I started this post series so I would keep track of my progress on the story over the course of the year. This will be my last post in 2016 -- the final one will be in January.

This is the same picture that I posted in my July Camp NaNo reflection. I did really well during this Camp NaNo, too, and that momentum got me some better ideas of the story (and my license lol).

August wasn't as great in terms of Casanova progress ... I went to Otakon over my birthday weekend and spent a lot more time stressing about school than I probably needed to. (Ironically, that part should've generated a lot of ideas for Casanova, and I think I did channel that anxiety into a couple days' worth of writing.)

..... aaaaand September was even worse ;;; I don't think I ever updated my post about school -- I changed my schedule to drop my TV production class and add three geography classes, all of which meet once a week in the evening. I've been having some trouble getting used to that schedule and I've felt pretty exhausted this whole month. 

Despite this seemingly slow progress I've made, I did finally start working on the first chapter, even if it took me past the first day of school and isn't quite done yet. I've still been doing a lot of thinking about Casanova, even if I'm not writing for it as much. 

I'm still a little torn on my NaNo plans. I would love to re-write Casanova from the bottom-up and see if I can get a more coherent draft this year, but I'm also afraid that I won't have enough motivation or ideas to propel me through the entire month. I've managed to win NaNo the past three years and I don't want to break that streak. 

That said, I'm more partial to doing Casanova again than trying my sci-fi Nutcracker retelling or another idea that's come about entirely from Pinterest. I do really want to get this story touched up and presentable to other people. Based on my track record from this year, NaNo is probably going to be the only way I'll have enough structure and motivation to get my re-write done ... One of my close friends is doing NaNo this year, so hopefully we can get each other through the challenge.

I still have the rest of October to decide. I'm definitely going to let myself rest and stockpile ideas so I can attack November with lots of ideas, Casanova or not. I'll probably have to put in a lot of extra work for my geography classes so I can have most of the difficult work of my final projects out of the way by the time the 1st rolls around.

[sigh] 

Hopefully these next few months will go well!

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

TL;DR ... it's a school for vampires

not on TBR

library ebook (no hold) 9/17/16

finished 9/20/16

That's probably my most eloquent TL;DR yet B) lol

I found Vampire Academy in my library's ebook catalog when I sat down and went through the entire thing to find every available book I could read. (I'm not kidding. It took me like two hours.) I figured since there weren't any holds on it, and it was almost a classic of sorts, I had no reason to try it out. 

I knew VA was on the older end of the YA genre, or at least what the genre has been during my time. I'm not sure if it's from before the Twilight fad or was caught up in that whole thing, but if I'd known about VA back then, I totally would've sided with it instead. 

VA was pretty easy to get through. The narration kept the story moving, and the non-action-y parts of their school lives was pretty glazed over. (Although I think that could be a little detrimental, depending on how you feel about the speed of the plot.) Rose was an interesting main character and despite my initial predictions, I would actually read more about her. 

The distinctions between the different types of vampirism was cool, but a little hard to keep track of at first, and I still feel like I don't have enough history to their world to understand how they got where they were. I'm pretty sure this is a big series, though, so I have a feeling that might get resolved by the end of it.

The rest of the characters were interesting as well, but I didn't feel like I got to know them quite well enough. All of the interactions we saw advanced the plot -- which, I mean, is good to have -- but it also didn't give much room to know them as people outside of the story surrounding Lissa. We didn't get to see much detail that made them feel human. 

(Though, I guess they aren't.) 

I was reading this concurrently (ish) with Soundless, which is a much newer book by Richelle Mead. (I didn't like that as much, unfortunately. I'll have a review up next month.) The first Vampire Academy book was promising enough that I'm willing to continue with the series, but I haven't added the next book to my TBR yet. 

TL;DR it was a solid three-star book for me and I think it's worth the try for most people, especially in the aftermath of the Twilight trend. 

On a related note, I'm wondering if it's worth it to try and track down this movie adaption the cover was talking about. I had no idea until I saw the little sticker on it.