Monthly Archives: November 2016

Book Review of In the Absence of Light, by Adrienne Wilder

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In the Absence of LIghtI borrowed Adrienne Wilder‘s In the Absence of Light through Amazon Prime.

Description from Goodreads:
For years Grant Kessler has smuggled goods from one end of the world to the next. When business turns in a direction Grant isn’t willing to follow he decides to retire and by all appearances he settles down in a nowhere town called Durstrand. But his real plan is to wait a few years and let the FBI lose interest, then move on to the distant coastal life he’s always dreamed of. 

Severely autistic, Morgan cannot look people in the eye, tell left from right, and has uncontrolled tics. Yet he’s beaten every obstacle life has thrown his way. And when Grant Kessler moves into town Morgan isn’t a bit shy in letting the man know how much he wants him. 

While the attraction is mutual, Grant pushes Morgan away. Like the rest of the world he can’t see past Morgan’s odd behaviors. 

Then Morgan shows Grant how light lets you see but it also leaves you blind. And once Grant opens his eyes, he loses his heart to the beautiful enigma of a man who changes the course of his life.

Review:
A short review for this one. I loved it. It wasn’t perfect. It seemed a little long. The editing could use a bit more work. The prose occasionally got a little too purple. It strained credulity at times and the town of Durstrand was like Mayberry on crack. But I adored every minute of reading this book. It made me laugh and it gave me feelz. I appreciated that Grant was a little older, at 36, than the average romance hero and, though I don’t know enough about autism to know if it’s a realistic portrayal or not, I adored Morgan. I REALLY hope there is a sequel about Jeff in Miami. There really wasn’t any reason to tag some of the last chapter on if there isn’t one at least planned.

I’m doing NaNoWriMo again.

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nanowrimo_2016_webbanner_participant

I forgot to write my customary October 31st “I’m doing NaNoWriMo, so don’t bother me” post for 2016. And of course, I should now be banging away at my 1,667 words for the day, but I’m procrastinating by writing this post instead. Isn’t that how it always goes?

Maybe the delay is for the best though, because it has given me time to realize a mistake on my part. I’ve generally always been a pantster, but I’ve been trying to learn to plot and outline. Of course, I know who to write a flipping outline. I went to school, after all.  But I’ve not really mastered imagining a whole novel in outline form and I think my writing process would be vastly improved and streamlined if this was a skill I could pick up. *sigh* It’s hard, yall.

So, leading up to November 1st, I wrote an outline of events and character descriptions and a breakdown of the world’s magics. I pondered the characters’ motivations and decided what they really want and fear. I picked out my themes and committed myself to ensuring a diverse cast. I felt like I’d done a ton of work. Certainly more than I did when I basically accidentally wrote TWE and undoubtedly anything I write now will be better for it.

As a result, in the past three days I wrote over 17,000 words! Now, I always front load during NaNo, because there are all those initial ideas in my head that I’ve just been waiting for the starting pistol to get down on paper. But 17,000 words rocked. I shocked myself.

Unfortunately, this is where the mistake comes in. 17,000 words brought me to the end of what I’d plotted. Now, of course there is a lot of fleshing out to be done between those scenes, but I thought I had plotted enough scenes to carry me through the writing process, but I’m way, way, WAY short. I mean, it’s a learning experience. I now know I need to be more meticulous in how deeply I plot. But it’s disappointing too.

On the up side, I have 26 days to fix it. And I like my plot this year. I’m writing fantasy—shifters, magic, DRAGONS. Oh my. I think I’ll make it. Hitting the word count has never really been the challenge for me. I could rattle off 50,000 words to the barista in an attempt to order coffee. I’m long winded on my most concise days. But I want more than a Nano ‘win.’ I want a finished piece of work and that is where I struggle.

By means of encouragement and accountability (which is a large part of why I always write a blog post when I do Nano) I am allowing myself to buy a Kindle Fire when I submit my word count at the end of the month. I have a Kindle e-reader that I love, but having a tablet would give me access to some things my Voyage doesn’t, like Hoopla through my local library. A reward is something I always give myself after NaNo and I see no reason to change that now. (You know, other than being broke, but I’m ignoring that. Ignore. Ignore. Ignore. See how that works?)

So, here’s to all you crazy, crazy kids out there trying to write a novel in a month. I’m right there with you.

You should be writing

Book Review of The Soldier’s Scoundrel, by Cat Sebastian

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The Soldier's scoundrelI purchased a copy of Cat Sebastian‘s The Soldier’s Scoundrel. It was the buddy read in one of my favorite online groups.

Description from Goodreads:
A scoundrel who lives in the shadows
 
Jack Turner grew up in the darkness of London’s slums, born into a life of crime and willing to do anything to keep his belly full and his siblings safe. Now he uses the tricks and schemes of the underworld to help those who need the kind of assistance only a scoundrel can provide. His distrust of the nobility runs deep and his services do not extend to the gorgeous high-born soldier who personifies everything Jack will never be.  
 
A soldier untarnished by vice 
 
After the chaos of war, Oliver Rivington craves the safe predictability of a gentleman’s life-one that doesn’t include sparring with a ne’er-do-well who flouts the law at every turn. But Jack tempts Oliver like no other man has before. Soon his yearning for the unapologetic criminal is only matched by Jack’s pleasure in watching his genteel polish crumble every time they’re together.  
 
Two men only meant for each other

Review:
Really lovely, I thought. I enjoyed the way Oliver and Jack rubbed each-other the wrong way (when they weren’t rubbing each-other the right way). I enjoyed the way Oliver was almost boyish in his straight forward, goal-oriented pursuit of Jack and the way Jack enjoyed it despite himself. I liked that Jack was a bit older than the average romance hero and I liked the close friendships between the sister and her ‘companion.’

I did think the book a little too long, or at least longer than what seems to be the average for such books. The mystery especially seemed to take forever to come to a head. And, after all Jack’s protests about social position, I thought the ending didn’t adequately address how they were going to make their HEA work. But the writing was lovely. There was humor and feelz. I’m looking forward to reading more of Sebastian’s work.

On a side note: I understand the cover is a mimicry of the het historical romances Avon has published in the past (bodice rippers especially, I think), but I hate it. Do with that what you will.