Book Review: Beautifully Broken by Sherry Soule

Title: Beautifully Broken
Author: Sherry Soule

Thirteenth daughter. Heritage witch. Demon slayer.  

They say every town has its secrets, but that doesn’t even begin to describe Whispering Pines. The townsfolk are a superstitious lot and the mystical disappearance of a local teen has everyone murmuring about a centuries old witch’s curse. 

Sixteen-year-old Shiloh Ravenwolf is a heritage witch from the Broussard family, a family both destined and cursed. When she takes a summer job at Ravenhurst Manor, she discovers a ghost with an agenda. That’s where she meets the new town hottie, Trent Donovan, and immediately becomes spellbound by his charms. Yet she is determined to discover the connection between them before it’s too late.  

Finally, Shiloh's met someone who is supercute and totally into her, but Trent may be the next victim on the supernatural hit list. And Shiloh is the only person with the power to save him. Complicated much?  

It sucks to have a destiny, especially since Shiloh would rather spend her summer being a normal girl who worries about clothes and boys, not the supernatural. But she’s never been normal and the stranger things become the more her own magical senses awaken. 

With cryptic messages from a pesky wraith, she will begin to understand the mysterious significance of the strange mark branded on her wrist, and decide how much she's willing to sacrifice to protect the other teenagers in town. 
Unfortunately, for Shiloh, not all ghosts want help crossing over. Some want vengeance.

My Review
I went into this book not sure what to think.  I'll have to admit I was very pleasantly surprised.  First let me talk about Shiloh.  She really sold the book for me.  I liked her.  I thought she was very genuine and real.  Her reactions as all these crazy things was great!  I loved that she didn't just give up and run away.  I loved that even though she didn't really know what she was doing and she was winging it a lot, she stepped up to fight what ever was thrown at her.  How could you not like a girl like that??? I'd like have her in my corner if I ever came up against something. And the best part about her? She has no clue how completely brave she is! See! Awesome character.  Now this doesn't mean that I agree with everything Shiloh does! There were times I wanted to pull mom and yell and her to think first.  She makes mistakes along the way as she's trying to figure it all out, but what kind of book would it be if she already knew everything!  It was also neat to see her become more confident and less alone as the story progressed.

Now the plot was pretty decent.  What I really liked was how it jumped right into the scary and creepiness right from the first few pages.  The biggest of bad guys is introduced then, and this pulled me right in! There were times I wish I had more background about exactly what had happened with Shiloh, her scar and mostly her relationship with her mother.  Some of it was almost presented like it was something I should already know, so there was no need to give me the details.  I saw this mostly in the relationship with her mother.  I had a hard time figuring out if her mother had been this way towards her since she was born, or if her behavior had only started recently.  Some of it was explained as the story progressed.  This helped reveal more and more what was happening with Shiloh and the ghosts and I see why it was done - it built up some tension and heightened the mystery, but sometimes I just wanted the full story about their relationship now.  I also felt this with the story behind her scar.  What happened that caused her to get her scar was slowly revealed. I got why, but at times it confused me and I just wanted all the details! Over-all the plot held my attention well and kept me reading. I wondered how all these creatures, shadows and ghosts fit together and what they all really wanted from Shiloh. Were they all evil? How would she overcome them? Could she over come them?? Lots of questions I kept reading to find the answers to.

I liked the budding relationship between Trent and Shiloh.  It was well done.  I felt Shiloh's frustration with Trent as he seemed to be one way one second and then completely switch.  This made their relationship never completely certain.  Did Trent like her and could she trust him? Even now I think those questions are not completely answered, and I'm ok with that.  I don't like perfect little romances. The romance was important in the story, but I liked that it wasn't the only thing that drove the plot.  The shadows and Shiloh's developing powers were really doing that instead.

Final Thought: If you like a ghost story with some nasty bad guy check it out!
Best stick-with-you image: The nasty creature that shows up within the first few pages
Best for readers who: Like a ghost story
Best for ages: 14+ (mostly due to the romance between Shiloh and Trent)

For the Guys? No not really.  I don't think they'd enjoy hearing all Shiloh's thoughts although they might admire her courage too!

Book Review: We Are Not Eaten By Yaks +KINDLE Giveaway Details

Title: We Are Not Eaten by Yaks (An Accidental Adventure #1)
Author: C. Alexander London
Publisher: Philomel

Eleven-year-old twins Oliver and Celia Navel live on the 4-1/2th floor of the Explorers Club with their father, Dr. Navel. Their mother, Dr. Navel, has been missing for years. So when an explorer shows up with a clue as to where his wife could be, Dr. Navel drags Oliver and Celia to Tibet to find her. Once there, the twins fall out of airplanes, encounter Yetis, travel through waterfalls, and end up in the Demon Fortress of the Warrior King where they - just possibly - might find their mother and save their father from the Poison Witches. Thing is, they would much rather be watching television. And if their trip doesn't work out as planned, the twins could end up as slaves to Sir Edmund Thitheltorpe III, an evil explorer with breath that smells like boiled carrots, who has it in for the whole Navel family.

Review

Loved this book! Just loved it.  It was fun mixed with tension mixed with mystery mix with more fun. I tore through it because there was so much going on that I couldn't stop - the pace was fantastic.  It was like a wild roller coaster ride that included yaks, monks, scary airplanes and a whole lot of need of TV.  I do have you tell you that with a mix like that the book risked going over the top - being to crazy that I could not in anyway buy into it and enjoy.  That just didn't happen.  Even though a lot of  what happened was so crazy that we all know it wasn't possible but I believed it.  I believed every wild rump of it!

Ok let me talk about why I believed it.  That would be the two main character Oliver and Celia.  They were fantastic. I completely loved their dry sense of humor, and their obsession with TV. The love they have for TV is amazing! And they way they described their shows and how much they knew them was so over the top it couldn't be anything but funny! I also loved that from these two explorer who raised their children around explorers came twins that only wanted to explore what the next TV show would be!  It was a fun contrast.  But what was even more fun was that their parents still made them go on all these adventures even though they hated them.  And the kids had great complaints about why they were so awful.  The funny thing was I understood why they'd hate them! They lived the danger first hand.  They just wanted to stare at the tv where dramas gave them dramas etc.  I guess that once you've been bitten by a poisonous snake you'd just rather stay home and watch it happen to someone else! The funny part is, you catch glimpses of the maybe just a tiny tiny bit liking to explore, but of course they'd never ever admit that! Admitting might mean they miss their favorite shows even more.  But as the adventure they accidentally find themselves in develops it becomes clear that all the adventures they've gone on with their parents has stuck whether they admit it or not.

The twins do have one other topic besides tv that they think about - their mother who disappeared while searching for the Lost Library of Alexandria.  She has been gone for several years, and the twins do wonder what has happened to her. The mother's disapparnce does play a role in the adventure they find themselves in.  Her disappearance and a cast of shady characters and the mystery that also keeps the reader reading.  Where is their mother? What happened? Is she helping them now?  Loved looking for all the answers to these questions! Just another aspect that kept me reading.

Final Thought:  Fun! Fun! Fun! with lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing.
Best stick-with-you image: Falling from the plane
Best for readers: Who like a fun fast mystery filled read
Best for ages: 9+


For the Guys? YES! Great adventure (duh!) and a pace that never lets up.

Now I want to share a giveaway that C. Alexander London is hosting! Here are the details:

Hey Friends!

I wanted to let you guys know about a contest I've launched to celebrate the release of my new book, We Dine With Cannibals

With the help the help of SMITH Magazine's Six-Word Memoirs project, I'm asking readers to share their own most accidental adventure in Six Words. One randomly selected winner will get a Kindle!

My Six Word Accidental Adventure ("Surprise revolution took away my cartoons") tells the story about how I got the idea for The Accidental Adventures series. 

You can read the back-story on SMITH's site: http://www.smithmag.net/mylifesofar/story.php?did=279266

All the Accidental Adventures Kindle Contest (AAKC!-I love a good acronym) details are here: http://www.calexanderlondon.com/blog/2011/10/your-accidental-adventure-six-words-win-kindle

Readers can enter on Twitter or on SMITH Magazine's Website http://www.smithmag.net/questions/story.php?did=279698

Plus there's a Bonus Prize! Signed books for a lucky winner who helps share the contest on twitter with the #AccidentalAdventures hashtag

What are you waiting for???? Go!!! Enter!!!!

Guest Post: C. Alexander London and Turning Idea Into Plot

Today I have the honor of welcoming C. Alexander London author of the Accidental Adventure series. The first book, We are Not Eaten By Yaks,  and being published this week, We Dine With Cannibals.  I'll be reviewing We Are Not Eaten later today.  It was fantastic! 

Today he is sharing with us something I always want to know and something I'm always emphasizing to my students - how to structure and idea into a plot!

If you've ever wondered how authors work you must read on!!

Welcome C. Alexander London!

The Plot Thickens!

When I was young, I loved the movie The Secret of NIMH (an adaption of the Robert C O’Brien book, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM). I was terrified of one particular scene where Mrs. Brisby goes to see the great Owl, whose eyes are aglow and whose voice crackles with danger. The image of that owl is forever burned into my brain. Needless to say, I hope this visit to The O.W.L. won’t be so terrifying. I’m glad to be here in fact!

My name is C. Alexander London (the C stands for Charles…shhh), and I’m the writer of the Accidental Adventures series. This week, the 2^nd book in the series, We Dine With Cannibals, is being published and I’m excited to share it with you.

I promise not to include any spoilers, but in this adventure, Oliver and Celia Navel—the TV obsessed heroes of We Are Not Eaten By Yaks—are back and this time they are forced to trek through the Amazon Jungle for a reality TV show, survive deadly booby traps, angry fire ants, vicious thugs, raging river rapids and the worst thing I could possibly imagine: 6^th Grade Dodgeball. I had a lot of fun writing it and I hope you’ll like reading it.

I’m often asked how I go from a bunch of random ideas, like deadly booby traps, angry fire ants, vicious thugs, raging river rapids and 6^th Grade Dodgeball into complete books that keep readers wanting to turn the pages. I thought I’d tell you how I do it.

The first and most important thing is that I write. I know that sounds a little silly, but writers write. Every day, I sit down in my chair write at least 1,000 words (okay, I confess, I give myself weekends off, usually). I write my thousand words whether I feel like it or not, whether I think what I’m writing is good or whether it’s terrible, I get those words down on the page.

I know writers who make 500 words a day their goal and writers who make 3,000 words a day their goal. The point is that when you write a bit every day, it adds up and before you know it, you have a first draft. It won’t be perfect and you’ll need to rewrite it and fix it and revise it in further drafts, but it’s there and you did it by sitting down and doing the work every day. This also helps, because then I don’t have to write a whole book at once. I just write my daily word goals. It is much less intimidating that way!

The other key to turning my ideas into a complete story is structure. Structure is the spine of storytelling; it is how plots are built. From the earliest tales we hear (Once upon a time…) to mind-bending epics with dozens of characters and countless plots and subplots, structure organizes the ideas and builds suspense. There are as many ways of structuring a story as there are stories to tell, but there are some basic elements that work for me. I’m going to let you in on how I make my outlines and design the structure of my plots to keep them fast-paced and exciting.

The structure I use is based on something that was taught to me by James V Hart, a screenwriter and novelist who has written some great movies (Hook and Dracula are two of my personal favorites, and his book, Capt. Hook, Adventures of a Notorious Youth is a riot).^[1]

Before I write anything, I make notes on each of the “signposts” he taught me. That way, as I’m writing, if I get lost or don’t know how to move the action along, I can look at my notes and see where I want to go. Every novel I write has these elements as the backbone of their structure.

So here you go, check out these signposts and see if they work for you!

Set The World: What are your characters doing the day the story starts? What’s their world like? This is a chance to get to know the people we’ll be following throughout the story.

New Opportunity: This is it! Something comes into the story that sets everything in motion. Anything goes here, a mystery, a monster, even a little brother.  What your character(s) do with this new thing in their lives will drive the story forward.

The Goal: The New Opportunity has set events in motion and your characters are going to have a goal in mind because it. Solve the mystery, beat the monster, keep the little brother from getting their room…ask yourself: What does my character want?

Progress and Setbacks: As your characters strive for their goal, they make some progress, but they also face obstacles. Things get in the way. This is the drama, this is the action, this is where they grow. If you were drawing a picture of this part of your story it would like the mountains rising and falling.

The top of the Mountain: This is the big moment, their highest point, the closest your characters have gotten to their goal. The view is pretty great from up here. They feel good about getting what they want, but nothing can last, otherwise, the story would be over…

The Plan Falls Apart:  Suddenly, things change. They slide down the mountain. Everything goes wrong. The clues were tricks, the monster’s still alive, little brother is smarter than he looks! All is lost. Or is it?

The Aha! Moment: Your characters have hope! The situation seems impossible, the bullies are too big, the monsters too monstrous, your little brother has already stolen your room, but there’s a new idea and it just might save the day!

The Showdown: This is where it’s all been leading. Will your character get what they want? How? Will they get something else instead? Win or lose? What will they learn? What won’t they learn?  This is where they face their biggest obstacle and (hopefully) beat it for good (or maybe they don’t? Maybe there’s a sequel…)

The Aftermath: After the showdown, what happens? How does your character react? Did they win? Did they lose? And what does that mean for the world they started in? How have they changed?

That’s it! By making notes on each of those, I know I can sit down and write a story that will have action and conflict and that will move forward with a strong beginning, middle and end. Even if the final story is different from the notes I made, these signposts help me make sure I never get too lost.

I wish I could say the same for my main characters, but I write these stories so that Oliver and Celia get very lost. I put them in grave danger to see if they can get out of it. I put obstacles in their way to see how they react. The more trouble I can throw at them, the more fun the books become. I hope you enjoy reading their adventures as much as I enjoy writing them!

Thank you so much for sharing all this with us! I'm not looking at the stories I've written to see if I've followed any of this. 

Stick around for my review of We Are Not Eaten by Yaks! 

And pssssst I'll be sharing a Kindle giveaway if you're willing to share your accidental adventure!

---

^[1] This structure is copyright James V Hart. It cannot be published without his permission.

For the Guys: N.E.R.D.S. by Michael Buckley

On Fridays I like step back and make sure that I am addressing boy readers.  It's so easy to review and highlight books for girls, but I also teach boys, so I need to make sure to find books for them! 

Today I'm featuring a series boys  might enjoy.

N.E.R.D.S.

by Michael Buckley

Why Do I Think Boys Would Like?

It's about spies and kids being spied and has gadgets - fun gadgets.  How could boys not like it!

And it has pictures - fun pictures.  Now I'm not saying boys can't read books without pictures or that they need them, but I know boys and they tend to gravitate towards that kind of book! And the concept of this book is great - the nerds actually being the "cool" kids.  How many boys (all kids actually!) could relate to that!  

I have the audio book of this, so we're going to listen to it.  I think my son will really enjoy it.  Maybe enough to actually read the second book!

N.E.R.D.S #1

Michael Buckley is at his comic best in this madcap new series sure to appeal to kids looking for a quick, exciting read.
 
Combining all the excitement of international espionage and all the awkwardness of elementary school, NERDS, featuring a group of unpopular students who run a spy network from inside their school, hits the mark. With the help of cutting-edge science, their nerdy qualities are enhanced and transformed into incredible abilities! They battle the Hyena, a former junior beauty pageant contestant turned assassin, and an array of James Bond–style villains, each with an evil plan more diabolical and more ridiculous than the last.

N.E.R.D.S. #2

In this second outing for the 5th grade super spies, Duncan Dewey, codename "Gluestick", is the point of view character. This time the group must fight a very unlikely villain - he still lives with his Mum. In other words, it's the NERDS against a nerd.