I'm sorry, if you're looking for a great book to read, you won't find it in this post! I finished two books this week, Penelope, which you may remember from a recent post, and True Spies by Shana Galen.
I don't really feel like beating each book to its core (though I should)... so let me just say that I'm amazed at what people think is "good" writing.
According to Amazon, Penelope by Anya Wilde got 4.1 out of 5 stars (251 reviewers) and True Spies by Shana Galen got 4.8 out of 5 stars (38 reviewers). What is wrong with the world?!
Penelope was weird (but I was kind of expecting that), but I didn't like two things specifically out of a mountain of issues I had in general.
1. I didn't like the 3-page "conversation" she was having with her mother's portrait in the book, thereby telling us all of the important back story of her life that could have been divulged through a much more creative or meaningful method.
2. There was a 3-page "song" that was performed by the ladies of the house, the staff, etc, with the chorus of "she can stay," ....kind of like how The Little Mermaid had that dance number trying to convince Ariel that life is better under the sea. I'm not sure if you've experienced this, but a note to the writers who are thinking about doing it: don't. If the person doesn't know the tune of the "song" you're trying to insert, it doesn't work... especially not when you're breaking up the action of the story for 3 pages to do something stupid.
True Spies I was really expecting to like, so I'm sorry to say that I didn't. In a sentence, I can tell you what the biggest problem was: I just didn't believe it. I like Elinor, I liked Winn, (and I LOVE Blue), but I felt that the same problem kept being pushed to the forefront and the characters never made progress on it until the last chapter. There just wasn't enough growth and development of the characters or enough emotion-invoking scenes between them. Shana Galen is so much better than this book, and it's a shame that people can't tell the difference. Her trilogy of The Making of a Duchess, The Making of a Gentleman, and The Rogue Pirate's Bride was fantastic, and this book just did not measure up.
In general, I can really focus the problem for you: publishers want books out quicker than ever, so writers have to write quicker than ever to make the deadlines that are set. And it's all because of our generation of GIMMETHATNOW instant gratification, and our books--and therefore our minds--are suffering because of it. As someone who works in the publishing industry, I can tell you without a doubt that this is the case, and--honestly--it's a shame. Writers have to work harder than ever to write quickly and write well. However, there has never been more resources available to writers than there are today; software is being developed at an incredible rate, new blogs spring up everyday, conferences (like the New Jersey Romance Writers "Put Your Heart in a Book" conference this weekend) happen just about every month, and our incredible ability to travel by plane to places older writers could have only imagined bring us anywhere. As many challenges as there are, there are an equal number of advantages.... of course, if you can afford them. However, the writer's life is not a lucrative one, so maybe many are not able to take advantage to the fullest extent that they are able. However, Jane Austen wrote under much worse circumstances than you (most likely) have. Right?
Friday, October 11, 2013
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Poor Penelope
You know what? I feel bad for Penelope. Not just one of them, all of them. For real, being a Penelope in a romance novel just stinks. Why is that?
Julia Quinn, whom I love more than I can say, follows the Bridgertons (8 siblings and they each have a love story). They are friends with the Featheringtons. I've read the first 3 (and the last one, whoops!) and I've got to say, poor Penelope just GETS IT every time in every book... so far. It's so sad, I just can't handle it.
Poor Penelope's mother dresses her in THE WORST outfits and the poor girl can't catch a break. She's smart, she's pretty, but her mother is obnoxious and no one wants to marry her because--in Book 1, she was 2 stone (28 lbs) heavier than she is in book 2,and--turns out-- she's hopelessly in love with someone who does not love her back. Poor girl!
In Sarah MacLean's A Rogue by Any Other Name (which-- for all of you who care about accolades and whatnot--won a RITA AWARD from the Romance Writers of America [HUGE DEAL!]) Penelope was dumped by her fiancé and, after a few years of being "on the shelf," her father nearly tripled her dowry and she was kidnapped for her land by someone she had once considered a friend. He treats her like crap for the first half of the book, but by the end she grows a spine and kicks some butt. But seriously-- the poor girl! The guy she has always been in love with "ruins" her so that he can get her property, not because of any true affection. He doesn't tell her he loves her until the last few pages of the book. Poor Penelope!
However, there seems to be some hope for Penelopes everywhere. Penelope by Anya Wylde looks amazing. It's a "madcap regency romance" that is basically a hell-for-leather romp (aka: purists, keep your panties on). It's supposed to be a lot of fun and funny as anything. I just bought it for $0.99 on Amazon and I can't wait to read it. It got amazing reviews and it's a high-five for all of you Penelopes out there who are feeling a little beaten down by your lot in life. (Honestly, Christina Ricci in the movie Penelope-- the girl with the pig nose-- another example! Poor thing.)
I hope this one changes everyone's outlook on how awesome and cool a Penelope can be. Go get 'em girl!
http://www.amazon.com/Penelope-Regency-Romance-Fairweather-ebook/dp/B00B1XVBI0
Julia Quinn, whom I love more than I can say, follows the Bridgertons (8 siblings and they each have a love story). They are friends with the Featheringtons. I've read the first 3 (and the last one, whoops!) and I've got to say, poor Penelope just GETS IT every time in every book... so far. It's so sad, I just can't handle it.
Poor Penelope's mother dresses her in THE WORST outfits and the poor girl can't catch a break. She's smart, she's pretty, but her mother is obnoxious and no one wants to marry her because--in Book 1, she was 2 stone (28 lbs) heavier than she is in book 2,and--turns out-- she's hopelessly in love with someone who does not love her back. Poor girl!
In Sarah MacLean's A Rogue by Any Other Name (which-- for all of you who care about accolades and whatnot--won a RITA AWARD from the Romance Writers of America [HUGE DEAL!]) Penelope was dumped by her fiancé and, after a few years of being "on the shelf," her father nearly tripled her dowry and she was kidnapped for her land by someone she had once considered a friend. He treats her like crap for the first half of the book, but by the end she grows a spine and kicks some butt. But seriously-- the poor girl! The guy she has always been in love with "ruins" her so that he can get her property, not because of any true affection. He doesn't tell her he loves her until the last few pages of the book. Poor Penelope!
However, there seems to be some hope for Penelopes everywhere. Penelope by Anya Wylde looks amazing. It's a "madcap regency romance" that is basically a hell-for-leather romp (aka: purists, keep your panties on). It's supposed to be a lot of fun and funny as anything. I just bought it for $0.99 on Amazon and I can't wait to read it. It got amazing reviews and it's a high-five for all of you Penelopes out there who are feeling a little beaten down by your lot in life. (Honestly, Christina Ricci in the movie Penelope-- the girl with the pig nose-- another example! Poor thing.)
I hope this one changes everyone's outlook on how awesome and cool a Penelope can be. Go get 'em girl!
http://www.amazon.com/Penelope-Regency-Romance-Fairweather-ebook/dp/B00B1XVBI0
Friday, September 27, 2013
Can't remember a book title!
Ah! How many times has that happened to you guys?
You're sitting there, thinking about this great (book/movie/show) you once experienced, and you remember so many elements of the plot... but the name just won't come to you!! AHH! It's making me crazy!
Let me tell you what I can remember about it, and maybe one of you have read this book. I am pretty sure it's a historical romance, and I'm pretty sure it's not by one of "my girls" (i.e., Jo Beverly, Gaelen Foley, Sarah MacLean, or Christina Dodd). Please help if you can!
There's this woman, she's a governess (of sorts) and someone that she knew for years (a Duke) cajoles her into agreeing to teach --what she thinks--is a younger boy. Turns out, he's a grown man who has recently been paralyzed, and he's having a really hard time adjusting. So, having experience working with difficult people, she tells everyone to stop catering to him and she takes him out in the fresh air for some alone time. She wheels him out there, and he's being a total jerk to her, so she leaves him outside and tells him to find his own way in. He does, struggling the whole time to wheel back to the house, and when he gets there everyone is super nonchalant, acting like it was no big deal.
All right, then, the Duke has this factory? Mill? Some kind of fabric or textile venture? And the women from the lands surrounding the house are working there. Unfortunately, they are having a hard time getting the business up and running because all of these "accidents" are occurring, and the Duke can't figure out why. Also, FYI, the Duke has been having a love affair with the housekeeper and they have a 10-year old daughter together, but the housekeeper refuses to marry him because she doesn't want his title sullied by being with her, so they keep their relationship a secret.
Moving on! Turns out, the guy in the wheelchair is technically not paralyzed, though he doesn't know it. He's been sleepwalking through the house, going outside, etc, and only his valet knows.... or so we think! People think they are seeing the ghost of the old Duke and when he sleepwalks, bad things happen around the manor. We realize that he feels super guilty because he thinks he's the one hurting people, WHEN IT'S REALLY THE PRIEST!! When there's a major accident at the mill, the guy jumps out of the wheelchair and tries to save his brother, who is killed in the wreckage. He's no longer unable to walk, and he takes over the dukedom and tries to get the mill up and running like his brother would have wanted.
Is this ringing any bells for anyone?! Ah, it's making me crazy!!
Thanks for all of your help!
You're sitting there, thinking about this great (book/movie/show) you once experienced, and you remember so many elements of the plot... but the name just won't come to you!! AHH! It's making me crazy!
Let me tell you what I can remember about it, and maybe one of you have read this book. I am pretty sure it's a historical romance, and I'm pretty sure it's not by one of "my girls" (i.e., Jo Beverly, Gaelen Foley, Sarah MacLean, or Christina Dodd). Please help if you can!
There's this woman, she's a governess (of sorts) and someone that she knew for years (a Duke) cajoles her into agreeing to teach --what she thinks--is a younger boy. Turns out, he's a grown man who has recently been paralyzed, and he's having a really hard time adjusting. So, having experience working with difficult people, she tells everyone to stop catering to him and she takes him out in the fresh air for some alone time. She wheels him out there, and he's being a total jerk to her, so she leaves him outside and tells him to find his own way in. He does, struggling the whole time to wheel back to the house, and when he gets there everyone is super nonchalant, acting like it was no big deal.
All right, then, the Duke has this factory? Mill? Some kind of fabric or textile venture? And the women from the lands surrounding the house are working there. Unfortunately, they are having a hard time getting the business up and running because all of these "accidents" are occurring, and the Duke can't figure out why. Also, FYI, the Duke has been having a love affair with the housekeeper and they have a 10-year old daughter together, but the housekeeper refuses to marry him because she doesn't want his title sullied by being with her, so they keep their relationship a secret.
Moving on! Turns out, the guy in the wheelchair is technically not paralyzed, though he doesn't know it. He's been sleepwalking through the house, going outside, etc, and only his valet knows.... or so we think! People think they are seeing the ghost of the old Duke and when he sleepwalks, bad things happen around the manor. We realize that he feels super guilty because he thinks he's the one hurting people, WHEN IT'S REALLY THE PRIEST!! When there's a major accident at the mill, the guy jumps out of the wheelchair and tries to save his brother, who is killed in the wreckage. He's no longer unable to walk, and he takes over the dukedom and tries to get the mill up and running like his brother would have wanted.
Is this ringing any bells for anyone?! Ah, it's making me crazy!!
Thanks for all of your help!
Monday, September 23, 2013
My Graduate School Writing Sample
First and foremost, I would like to thank my husband Mark, my friend Amelia from Little Thoughts About Books (http://littlethoughtsaboutbooks.blogspot.com/), and all who have helped or cheered me on as I agonized over my grad school submission (Mom, Dad, Katie, Karli, Nancy, Aunt Lorrie... the list goes on and on). It really meant a lot to me.
Thanks also to those who wrote letters on my behalf, and to those of you who have been following my blog even though I haven't posted anything new! I have been neglecting to review books and share my glorious knowledge (ha ha) due to all of the exciting things I've done lately-- the BELS exam on September 14 and this submission due tomorrow. I'm so honored that, of all the things you could have been doing online, you've decided to come to my page and spend some time with me.
Thank you.
I've finished my submission and I sent copies to three "readers," four if you could Amelia who saved my sanity when I said, "She's a total bitch-- how can I make her more likeable?!" Well, according to the hubby, I nailed it this time. I can't wait to share it with you. As always, all of my writing is fair game just as any of the other books I've reviewed and have written either positively or negatively about. Please feel free to leave your comments or share your insights. I've got an awesome ending planned for this, so I can't wait to see how it works out. And, of course, SOON I'LL GET TO MEET OUR HEROOO!!! God, I love romance novels, and I'm so excited that I'm going to be applying to a graduate school that understands and celebrates the need for them. Yes, I said need. To be honest, the world could use a little less cynicism and a lot more imagination, love, and fairy tales. Reading books and being able to create one myself is just such an incredible adventure. I am so excited to be able to share one of my visions with you.
I HOPE YOU LIKE IT!!!!!!!
SYNOPSIS
When Sara Mayberry, an airline executive out of Los Angeles, comes home to find that her father died under suspicious circumstances while undergoing heart surgery, she is determined to find out how such a thing could have happened. Estranged from her family for the last five years, Sara is completely out-of-touch with her father’s unsettling medical history and the imminent bankruptcy of the family furniture business. Resolved to mend her broken relationships with her mother and sister, Sara decides to stay in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania, and overhaul the family business to once again make it a profitable and thriving venture. Sara soon realizes that there is more to her father’s death than first meets the eye, and as she works to rebuild the business—and by association, the town of Parkesburg —strange things begin happening to destroy her progress. With the broken pieces of Sara’s life finally beginning to come together in a career she loves and a romance she’s been waiting her whole life for, she will fight for the business and for the town that she ran away from years ago, and learn that nothing is ever truly what it seems.
Chapter 1
“Sara, I need the files sent to United; they should have been there hours ago. What is the problem?” Dave Miles, head of Securities and Sara’s boss, asked as soon as she answered her phone.
Sara Mayberry slammed the door of her rental car and walked through the high-rise parking garage to the line of elevators, juggling the phone to her ear as she fumbled with the large bouquet of flowers. She hated it when Linda called out, which felt like every time they had an important project, and Alyssa from Purchasing filled in. Sara had left the files with detailed instructions on Linda’s desk, and then sent a longer email to Alyssa explaining everything while she had waited for her plane to taxi in. Apparently, Alyssa must have dropped the ball and now Sara was getting reamed for it. Again.
“I don’t know why they weren’t sent, Dave—I am in Pennsylvania for the rest of the week. I asked Linda to take care of it before I left; she’s out so Alyssa was supposed to be working on it.”
She shook her head at Dave’s next question, her long dark hair flicking over her shoulder as she jammed the button for the elevator three times, hard.
“I sent you an email detailing our role in the conflict with American. Legal will be sending letters out this week to the passengers involved,” Sara said. Dave asked another question, one that Sara had already answered in the email. Clearly he didn’t read it. She rolled her eyes but answered anyway. “No, I didn’t talk to Sunny personally. I’ll have to make the call when I’m back in town.” After a few more questions, Sara disconnected and tossed the phone in her new Gucci handbag, a present to herself for her thirtieth birthday. She took a deep, cleansing breath and pressed the elevator button once again, more gently this time.
She just needed to get through the weekend, and then she would be back in L.A. and able to put everything back together at work. Just three days. She could do this.
The thought prompted her to reach into the side compartment of her purse and dig out the roll of Tums that she bought specifically for this trip.
At first, Sara thought that working as the Director of Securities for Los Angeles World Airports was an incredible opportunity and one that couldn’t have come at a better time. She was a graduate of Cornell with thousands of dollars in student loans for a business degree that she hadn’t wanted. Now that she had it, though, where better than L.A.—which was as far as she could possibly be from anyone who knew her or her family—to begin a new career and earn her own way?
Sara’s phone beeped with a new message as the elevator in front of her nosily slid open. She gave the elevator a dubious glance before cautiously stepping in and pressing her floor. The message was from her little sister Cate, who had been in the hospital overnight.
Room 5386. Cardiology. Fourth door on your right past the nurses’ station.
Sara ignored the sinking feeling in her stomach as she memorized the room number and once again put her phone away.
As the elevator brought her down, Sara tried to decide what she would say to her father when she saw him again. It was hard to pinpoint the exact time they decided to stop speaking to one another; it had happened so gradually over the past five years that it was difficult to say. Phone calls both ways had become briefer and less frequent than they had ever before, most notably over the last two years. Her cross-country move had been a devastating blow to her family who had lived in Pennsylvania for generations and couldn’t understand why she wanted to move. Only her father knew the real reason why, though they had never discussed it again.
She only hoped that he had kept his promise and didn’t tell her mother.
Sara rubbed the palm of her hand over her breastbone in an attempt to calm her escalating nerves. She had grown apart from everyone, especially Cate, who for so long had been the one constant ray of sunshine in Sara’s life and the only one whom Sara really missed. It had been a long time since they had spent any time together. But Sara wanted to change that, and there was no better time to start than this weekend, now that her father was doing well and she had a few days off to spend with her family and long-lost friends.
The elevator doors slid open into the waiting room of Southern Pennsylvania Medical Center, and as Sara passed through the nearly empty room with its sickly potted trees, she became instantly on alert. Southern Pennsylvania Medical Center had been the only hospital close enough to send an ambulance when her father felt the telltale pressure in his chest, and although Sara was thankful that they had managed to save her father’s life, she decided that as soon as he was capable of moving she was getting him transferred to a real city hospital like the University of Pennsylvania. Somewhere they at least bothered to water the plants, she thought, pausing to collect her visitor’s pass.
The click of her heels echoed in the deserted hallway of the cardiac wing, and for a moment she wondered if she had made a wrong turn. She felt her heart start to pick up speed as she passed the first door, then the second, both dark and empty. Where is everyone? she thought, resisting the urge to recheck her phone. Ahead she saw a nurse dressed in scrubs featuring Woodstock, Snoopy’s sidekick from the Peanuts comic strip. Cartoon scrubs in a hospital? Sara thought, watching the nurse walk to a room across the hall with a pile of blankets in her arms. Wait. Was that the fourth door?
Sara turned her head to be sure she had only passed two rooms. She finally heard the low murmur of voices as she passed the nurses’ station and came up to the third room, which was also empty. She heard a muffled sob and, dropping the flowers, she raced to the next open doorway.
Two nurses and a doctor were in her father’s room, leaning over his bed, hands moving quickly as they frantically worked on him. An alarm was ringing, the shrill noise loud in the quiet wing. Her mother was sitting in a chair by the window facing the bed, holding her sister tightly as she sobbed. Silent tears ran down Cate’s cheeks when she saw Sara standing in the doorway. Another nurse came in, moving Sara out of the way to check the computer set up by her father’s bed. She looked up at the screens and realized belatedly that she hadn’t heard the heartbeat monitor. Where it was supposed to be was nothing but a flat blue line. A minute later, the doctor left the room without a word, leaving them with the nurses who went to console her mother and sister.
Her father was dead.
Sara marched through the doors of the administrative offices on the first floor and, without a second glance for the gray-haired secretary, flung open the door with Susan L. White, MD, written on the plaque outside.
“I’m calling my lawyer and suing this hospital for malpractice,” Sara said, slamming the office door closed behind her. The woman started at her entrance, and slowly removed the glasses she had been wearing as she turned to her.
“Excuse me? I’m not sure I heard you correctly.”
Dr. White was older than Sara, and she could see the intelligence in the eyes of her round face. She turned her chair to face Sara and clasped her hands loosely on the desk, obscuring the view of a bulging belly protruding from underneath the white coat that was now hanging open. For some reason the sight of a woman older than her, pregnant, threw her off the edge. Her father would never see her pregnant, would never hold his grandchild. She fought the tears and stepped up to Dr. White’s desk.
“My father just flatlined in your cardiac department due to malpractice, and I intend to sue this hospital for negligence. He was alive, the surgery went well. They won’t give us more information so I’m going to get a subpoena for you to turn over his files.”
“And you are?”
“Sara Mayberry.”
“Ah, of course,” she said, turning back to her computer. “Dr. Patel called and asked for me to review your father’s case. It’s a very unusual situation, Ms. Mayberry. Please, sit down.”
Sara sat in one of the matching leather arm chairs facing her desk and, for the first time, noticed the sparse décor and piles of papers arranged around the desk and on the bookcases. It felt more like the office of a crusty, old detective, not a mother-to-be, and certainly not like anything she had been expecting after watching House and Grey’s Anatomy.
Dr. White worked on her computer while Sara sat in silence, the multiple shocks from the day still playing in the back of her mind. She pushed it out—the tears, the questions, Dr. Patel’s cagey look as he excused himself from the room, leaving Sara, Cate, and their mother with her father’s body. She closed her eyes and practiced the exercise her therapist had taught her: She saw herself walk to her special closet and dust off a plain white shoe box from the top shelf. She opened the lid and emptied all of her negative thoughts, emotions, and stress. She put the lid back on, replaced the box, and turned out the light. With her emotions safely locked away, she opened her eyes to face the doctor once again.
Dr. White was staring intently at the computer, clicking the mouse, and then placed a call to her secretary Phyllis—whom Sara could only assume was the woman she blew past—and asked her to bring in the files she had just printed.
When Phyllis walked in holding a pile of papers, Dr. White motioned toward her.
“Ms. Mayberry, this is everything we have about your father’s case; I’m giving it to you so that there is no need to subpoena the hospital or engage in a lawsuit. Please accept the hospital’s heartfelt sympathy for your loss.” She paused, and Sara looked up from the pile in her lap.
“Ms. Mayberry, do you know what meloxicam is?”
“No.”
“Meloxicam is a type of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory that can cause a fatal reaction in heart patients. Your father had been ill for some time, but refused testing or additional treatment until this most recent episode. What’s strange is that neither he nor your mother has any medications listed in our database. He had been admitted twice this year for incidents that occurred, and meloxicam was not prescribed nor listed as a current medication either time.”
Sara tried to hide the fact that the floor had just dropped out from under her feet. Why hadn’t anyone told her this wasn’t the first time he had been admitted? Dr. White appeared oblivious to her reaction as she continued.
“I don’t have the autopsy yet to confirm, but I suspect that your father has been ingesting meloxicam for several months now, which ultimately caused this reaction. Such a substance in the bloodstream while undergoing major surgery would be fatal.”
Sara finally found her voice.
“This substance you’re talking about—I know it’s not over-the-counter. How could he have been ingesting it for months without you knowing?”
Dr. White shook her head. “Your father’s primary physician or a specialist could have written him a prescription—it’s common for patients who present with pain or arthritis.”
“That’s impossible,” Sara replied, standing up to pace. “My father doesn’t have a primary care physician. Until this last year he has never been sick. I’m sure you would have been notified if in fact he was taking something like that—my mother has an excellent memory and I know she would have told you. I don’t understand how this could have happened.”
Dr. White glanced back down at the papers on her desk. “I’m sorry, Ms. Mayberry, but that’s all the information I have at this time. As I’m sure you can understand, the hospital is not liable because the medication was not claimed; if we had known he was on meloxicam other measures would have been taken.” She opened a drawer and handed her a business card. “In case you need to reach me. But I will be sure to contact you as soon as we know more. And again, I’m sorry for your loss.”
Clearly dismissed, Sara nodded and left the hospital without waiting for her mother or Cate. As she climbed in her rental car, she focused on the one thing that she could do: she had to find that medication. It was impossible that her father was taking medication—any medication—willingly. Bill Mayberry was as stubborn as they got, and no matter what had been wrong with him, he never took a single pill. If her father had been taking a medication for a long period of time, he either didn’t know it or he was being forced to do it. And Sara was going to find out which it was.
---
A cell phone rang and was quickly answered by a man reading a newspaper in the waiting room at Southern Pennsylvania Medical Center. The caller relayed a brief message, to which the man responded in the affirmative. The next thing the caller said caused the man to fold his paper in half and pace to the far window where he couldn’t be overheard. He asked a few questions, and when he was satisfied with the responses, he pocketed his phone and left the hospital without a backward glance.
---
Sara slammed the front door behind her and raced up the familiar stairs to her parents’ bedroom. It felt as if it had been empty for years, the way the pristine coverlet lay folded, the pillows carefully arranged on top. Her mother stayed at the hospital during her father’s surgery, and her father…
Sara cut off the thought, and instead moved toward the bedside table where she knew her father’s things were kept. She went through both drawers, not finding anything that mentioned the word meloxicam or looked as if it could have been the culprit. Her father, even at 60 years old, was the healthiest man she had ever known; the only medication in the drawer was a daily vitamin.
Knowing that her mother kept medications in a few other places, Sara didn’t linger over the mess she made in the bedroom, but went straight into the master bathroom. There were pills in the top drawer of the vanity, but there was nothing—no prescriptions, no pill bottles—nothing that could have caused what the doctor had described.
Sara let out a defeated sigh and looked up at her face in the mirror. Her mascara had run down her face, leaving black tearstains that ran down to her chin. She gasped and flicked on the hot water. When had she cried? Did anyone actually see her like this? She quickly washed her face and then grabbed her bag out of the bedroom. Medications forgotten, Sara carefully reapplied her makeup and smoothed her hair as a car pulled into the driveway. The front door opened, and she heard Cate call out her name.
“I’ll be right there,” she replied. Sara tossed the makeup back into her purse and started to clean up the mess she made of her mother’s vanity during her search. How strange it all was. The numerous hospital visits, her father supposedly taking medication, and—most of all—her mother clearly having no knowledge of it. Or, did she? Sara’s hand paused in midair at the thought. Could it be possible that her mother withheld that information from the hospital deliberately?
Sara laughed at herself and continued to clean up. Too many CSI Miami re-runs. There was no way that would ever happen. Her mother and father had been joined at the hip for the last forty years; she didn’t know a single couple who was happier or more devoted to one another than her parents were. It was absolutely inconceivable that her mother would be responsible or would have done anything to hurt her father in any way. Sara moved into the bedroom and started to straighten the contents of the top drawer when a note written in her father’s block handwriting caught her eye.
R. Tolson, 10/16 at 6:15- DiNardo’s.
Sara nearly dropped the scrap of paper when she realized what it was. Ryan Toulson. It couldn’t be possible. Could it? If this actually happened, that meant that her father met with Ryan only three days ago for dinner at the nicest restaurant in Coatesville. Cate called her name again, so Sara pocketed the note and grabbed her things. Sara needed answers, and if anyone would know what the hell was going on around here, it would be her mother.
Sara came down the stairs to see Cate in the kitchen wearing baggy sweatpants, the same long dark hair as Sara’s pulled into a ponytail as she stirred noodles into a pot of boiling water. The kitchen radio was tuned in to a country radio station, and Sara cringed at the hokey lyrics.
“Hey, where’s Mom?” Sara asked, pouring herself a glass of water from the jug in the refrigerator.
Cate didn’t answer. Sara walked over and stood beside her at the stove, and for the first time noticed Cate’s red-rimmed eyes and the tears that were still silently coursing down her cheeks. She put her arm around her little sister’s waist but, instead of returning her hug, Cate jerked away.
“Just stop it.”
“What?” Sara asked, turning to face her. “What’s your problem?”
“Where were you? We waited at the hospital for you so that you could say goodbye to Dad but you just left! If Mrs. Redmond hadn’t called to tell us a strange car pulled into the driveway and someone ran into the house we would never have known that you came back here!”
Fresh tears rolled down Cate’s cheeks, but instead of brushing them away she let them fall. Sara took her water and sat at the kitchen table, knowing better than anyone that Cate was inconsolable in a mood like this. So instead she answered her question with a question of her own.
“Do you know if Dad was on anything for arthritis or pain? Did he ever mention that he was taking something?”
Cate leveled her with a glare.
“You can’t seriously be asking that.”
“I know, I tried to tell the doctor but they’re convinced he was on something that caused the reaction.”
“When did you talk to the doctor?” Cate asked, turning to get a jar of pasta sauce out of one of the cabinets. Sara didn’t know how much she should tell Cate; at this point the only fact was that her father was dead and, as far as his daughters knew, they hadn’t been aware he was taking something that would have caused it.
She shrugged, then took another drink of water. “I went to talk to the Chief of Staff about the doctor—she told me that there was no reason to suspect malpractice.”
Sara held her breath, waiting for the next question, but Cate just nodded and spooned pasta into her bowl. She sat at the table with Sara and just stared at her bowl, her fork forgotten in her hand.
“Mom told me to drop her off at Uncle Richard’s. She said she had to call the church and make funeral arrangements, and Aunt Patty had gone through this so she would know what to do.”
Sara nodded, remembering the phone call she had gotten last year saying that her cousin Richie had been killed while on active duty in Somalia. She hadn’t been able to make it home for the funeral because of work, and Aunt Pat still wouldn’t forgive her for missing the service. She couldn’t even remember now what was so important that Dave wouldn’t give her the time off.
Cate started twirling the long strands of spaghetti on her fork and dropping the perfect circles, untouched, back into the bowl in front of her. Sara cleared her throat and shoved her water away.
“Is there any vodka in this house?” she asked, pushing up from the kitchen table.
Cate got up and dumped her spaghetti in the trash. “Follow me.”
Thanks also to those who wrote letters on my behalf, and to those of you who have been following my blog even though I haven't posted anything new! I have been neglecting to review books and share my glorious knowledge (ha ha) due to all of the exciting things I've done lately-- the BELS exam on September 14 and this submission due tomorrow. I'm so honored that, of all the things you could have been doing online, you've decided to come to my page and spend some time with me.
Thank you.
I've finished my submission and I sent copies to three "readers," four if you could Amelia who saved my sanity when I said, "She's a total bitch-- how can I make her more likeable?!" Well, according to the hubby, I nailed it this time. I can't wait to share it with you. As always, all of my writing is fair game just as any of the other books I've reviewed and have written either positively or negatively about. Please feel free to leave your comments or share your insights. I've got an awesome ending planned for this, so I can't wait to see how it works out. And, of course, SOON I'LL GET TO MEET OUR HEROOO!!! God, I love romance novels, and I'm so excited that I'm going to be applying to a graduate school that understands and celebrates the need for them. Yes, I said need. To be honest, the world could use a little less cynicism and a lot more imagination, love, and fairy tales. Reading books and being able to create one myself is just such an incredible adventure. I am so excited to be able to share one of my visions with you.
I HOPE YOU LIKE IT!!!!!!!
SYNOPSIS
When Sara Mayberry, an airline executive out of Los Angeles, comes home to find that her father died under suspicious circumstances while undergoing heart surgery, she is determined to find out how such a thing could have happened. Estranged from her family for the last five years, Sara is completely out-of-touch with her father’s unsettling medical history and the imminent bankruptcy of the family furniture business. Resolved to mend her broken relationships with her mother and sister, Sara decides to stay in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania, and overhaul the family business to once again make it a profitable and thriving venture. Sara soon realizes that there is more to her father’s death than first meets the eye, and as she works to rebuild the business—and by association, the town of Parkesburg —strange things begin happening to destroy her progress. With the broken pieces of Sara’s life finally beginning to come together in a career she loves and a romance she’s been waiting her whole life for, she will fight for the business and for the town that she ran away from years ago, and learn that nothing is ever truly what it seems.
Chapter 1
“Sara, I need the files sent to United; they should have been there hours ago. What is the problem?” Dave Miles, head of Securities and Sara’s boss, asked as soon as she answered her phone.
Sara Mayberry slammed the door of her rental car and walked through the high-rise parking garage to the line of elevators, juggling the phone to her ear as she fumbled with the large bouquet of flowers. She hated it when Linda called out, which felt like every time they had an important project, and Alyssa from Purchasing filled in. Sara had left the files with detailed instructions on Linda’s desk, and then sent a longer email to Alyssa explaining everything while she had waited for her plane to taxi in. Apparently, Alyssa must have dropped the ball and now Sara was getting reamed for it. Again.
“I don’t know why they weren’t sent, Dave—I am in Pennsylvania for the rest of the week. I asked Linda to take care of it before I left; she’s out so Alyssa was supposed to be working on it.”
She shook her head at Dave’s next question, her long dark hair flicking over her shoulder as she jammed the button for the elevator three times, hard.
“I sent you an email detailing our role in the conflict with American. Legal will be sending letters out this week to the passengers involved,” Sara said. Dave asked another question, one that Sara had already answered in the email. Clearly he didn’t read it. She rolled her eyes but answered anyway. “No, I didn’t talk to Sunny personally. I’ll have to make the call when I’m back in town.” After a few more questions, Sara disconnected and tossed the phone in her new Gucci handbag, a present to herself for her thirtieth birthday. She took a deep, cleansing breath and pressed the elevator button once again, more gently this time.
She just needed to get through the weekend, and then she would be back in L.A. and able to put everything back together at work. Just three days. She could do this.
The thought prompted her to reach into the side compartment of her purse and dig out the roll of Tums that she bought specifically for this trip.
At first, Sara thought that working as the Director of Securities for Los Angeles World Airports was an incredible opportunity and one that couldn’t have come at a better time. She was a graduate of Cornell with thousands of dollars in student loans for a business degree that she hadn’t wanted. Now that she had it, though, where better than L.A.—which was as far as she could possibly be from anyone who knew her or her family—to begin a new career and earn her own way?
Sara’s phone beeped with a new message as the elevator in front of her nosily slid open. She gave the elevator a dubious glance before cautiously stepping in and pressing her floor. The message was from her little sister Cate, who had been in the hospital overnight.
Room 5386. Cardiology. Fourth door on your right past the nurses’ station.
Sara ignored the sinking feeling in her stomach as she memorized the room number and once again put her phone away.
As the elevator brought her down, Sara tried to decide what she would say to her father when she saw him again. It was hard to pinpoint the exact time they decided to stop speaking to one another; it had happened so gradually over the past five years that it was difficult to say. Phone calls both ways had become briefer and less frequent than they had ever before, most notably over the last two years. Her cross-country move had been a devastating blow to her family who had lived in Pennsylvania for generations and couldn’t understand why she wanted to move. Only her father knew the real reason why, though they had never discussed it again.
She only hoped that he had kept his promise and didn’t tell her mother.
Sara rubbed the palm of her hand over her breastbone in an attempt to calm her escalating nerves. She had grown apart from everyone, especially Cate, who for so long had been the one constant ray of sunshine in Sara’s life and the only one whom Sara really missed. It had been a long time since they had spent any time together. But Sara wanted to change that, and there was no better time to start than this weekend, now that her father was doing well and she had a few days off to spend with her family and long-lost friends.
The elevator doors slid open into the waiting room of Southern Pennsylvania Medical Center, and as Sara passed through the nearly empty room with its sickly potted trees, she became instantly on alert. Southern Pennsylvania Medical Center had been the only hospital close enough to send an ambulance when her father felt the telltale pressure in his chest, and although Sara was thankful that they had managed to save her father’s life, she decided that as soon as he was capable of moving she was getting him transferred to a real city hospital like the University of Pennsylvania. Somewhere they at least bothered to water the plants, she thought, pausing to collect her visitor’s pass.
The click of her heels echoed in the deserted hallway of the cardiac wing, and for a moment she wondered if she had made a wrong turn. She felt her heart start to pick up speed as she passed the first door, then the second, both dark and empty. Where is everyone? she thought, resisting the urge to recheck her phone. Ahead she saw a nurse dressed in scrubs featuring Woodstock, Snoopy’s sidekick from the Peanuts comic strip. Cartoon scrubs in a hospital? Sara thought, watching the nurse walk to a room across the hall with a pile of blankets in her arms. Wait. Was that the fourth door?
Sara turned her head to be sure she had only passed two rooms. She finally heard the low murmur of voices as she passed the nurses’ station and came up to the third room, which was also empty. She heard a muffled sob and, dropping the flowers, she raced to the next open doorway.
Two nurses and a doctor were in her father’s room, leaning over his bed, hands moving quickly as they frantically worked on him. An alarm was ringing, the shrill noise loud in the quiet wing. Her mother was sitting in a chair by the window facing the bed, holding her sister tightly as she sobbed. Silent tears ran down Cate’s cheeks when she saw Sara standing in the doorway. Another nurse came in, moving Sara out of the way to check the computer set up by her father’s bed. She looked up at the screens and realized belatedly that she hadn’t heard the heartbeat monitor. Where it was supposed to be was nothing but a flat blue line. A minute later, the doctor left the room without a word, leaving them with the nurses who went to console her mother and sister.
Her father was dead.
Sara marched through the doors of the administrative offices on the first floor and, without a second glance for the gray-haired secretary, flung open the door with Susan L. White, MD, written on the plaque outside.
“I’m calling my lawyer and suing this hospital for malpractice,” Sara said, slamming the office door closed behind her. The woman started at her entrance, and slowly removed the glasses she had been wearing as she turned to her.
“Excuse me? I’m not sure I heard you correctly.”
Dr. White was older than Sara, and she could see the intelligence in the eyes of her round face. She turned her chair to face Sara and clasped her hands loosely on the desk, obscuring the view of a bulging belly protruding from underneath the white coat that was now hanging open. For some reason the sight of a woman older than her, pregnant, threw her off the edge. Her father would never see her pregnant, would never hold his grandchild. She fought the tears and stepped up to Dr. White’s desk.
“My father just flatlined in your cardiac department due to malpractice, and I intend to sue this hospital for negligence. He was alive, the surgery went well. They won’t give us more information so I’m going to get a subpoena for you to turn over his files.”
“And you are?”
“Sara Mayberry.”
“Ah, of course,” she said, turning back to her computer. “Dr. Patel called and asked for me to review your father’s case. It’s a very unusual situation, Ms. Mayberry. Please, sit down.”
Sara sat in one of the matching leather arm chairs facing her desk and, for the first time, noticed the sparse décor and piles of papers arranged around the desk and on the bookcases. It felt more like the office of a crusty, old detective, not a mother-to-be, and certainly not like anything she had been expecting after watching House and Grey’s Anatomy.
Dr. White worked on her computer while Sara sat in silence, the multiple shocks from the day still playing in the back of her mind. She pushed it out—the tears, the questions, Dr. Patel’s cagey look as he excused himself from the room, leaving Sara, Cate, and their mother with her father’s body. She closed her eyes and practiced the exercise her therapist had taught her: She saw herself walk to her special closet and dust off a plain white shoe box from the top shelf. She opened the lid and emptied all of her negative thoughts, emotions, and stress. She put the lid back on, replaced the box, and turned out the light. With her emotions safely locked away, she opened her eyes to face the doctor once again.
Dr. White was staring intently at the computer, clicking the mouse, and then placed a call to her secretary Phyllis—whom Sara could only assume was the woman she blew past—and asked her to bring in the files she had just printed.
When Phyllis walked in holding a pile of papers, Dr. White motioned toward her.
“Ms. Mayberry, this is everything we have about your father’s case; I’m giving it to you so that there is no need to subpoena the hospital or engage in a lawsuit. Please accept the hospital’s heartfelt sympathy for your loss.” She paused, and Sara looked up from the pile in her lap.
“Ms. Mayberry, do you know what meloxicam is?”
“No.”
“Meloxicam is a type of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory that can cause a fatal reaction in heart patients. Your father had been ill for some time, but refused testing or additional treatment until this most recent episode. What’s strange is that neither he nor your mother has any medications listed in our database. He had been admitted twice this year for incidents that occurred, and meloxicam was not prescribed nor listed as a current medication either time.”
Sara tried to hide the fact that the floor had just dropped out from under her feet. Why hadn’t anyone told her this wasn’t the first time he had been admitted? Dr. White appeared oblivious to her reaction as she continued.
“I don’t have the autopsy yet to confirm, but I suspect that your father has been ingesting meloxicam for several months now, which ultimately caused this reaction. Such a substance in the bloodstream while undergoing major surgery would be fatal.”
Sara finally found her voice.
“This substance you’re talking about—I know it’s not over-the-counter. How could he have been ingesting it for months without you knowing?”
Dr. White shook her head. “Your father’s primary physician or a specialist could have written him a prescription—it’s common for patients who present with pain or arthritis.”
“That’s impossible,” Sara replied, standing up to pace. “My father doesn’t have a primary care physician. Until this last year he has never been sick. I’m sure you would have been notified if in fact he was taking something like that—my mother has an excellent memory and I know she would have told you. I don’t understand how this could have happened.”
Dr. White glanced back down at the papers on her desk. “I’m sorry, Ms. Mayberry, but that’s all the information I have at this time. As I’m sure you can understand, the hospital is not liable because the medication was not claimed; if we had known he was on meloxicam other measures would have been taken.” She opened a drawer and handed her a business card. “In case you need to reach me. But I will be sure to contact you as soon as we know more. And again, I’m sorry for your loss.”
Clearly dismissed, Sara nodded and left the hospital without waiting for her mother or Cate. As she climbed in her rental car, she focused on the one thing that she could do: she had to find that medication. It was impossible that her father was taking medication—any medication—willingly. Bill Mayberry was as stubborn as they got, and no matter what had been wrong with him, he never took a single pill. If her father had been taking a medication for a long period of time, he either didn’t know it or he was being forced to do it. And Sara was going to find out which it was.
---
A cell phone rang and was quickly answered by a man reading a newspaper in the waiting room at Southern Pennsylvania Medical Center. The caller relayed a brief message, to which the man responded in the affirmative. The next thing the caller said caused the man to fold his paper in half and pace to the far window where he couldn’t be overheard. He asked a few questions, and when he was satisfied with the responses, he pocketed his phone and left the hospital without a backward glance.
---
Sara slammed the front door behind her and raced up the familiar stairs to her parents’ bedroom. It felt as if it had been empty for years, the way the pristine coverlet lay folded, the pillows carefully arranged on top. Her mother stayed at the hospital during her father’s surgery, and her father…
Sara cut off the thought, and instead moved toward the bedside table where she knew her father’s things were kept. She went through both drawers, not finding anything that mentioned the word meloxicam or looked as if it could have been the culprit. Her father, even at 60 years old, was the healthiest man she had ever known; the only medication in the drawer was a daily vitamin.
Knowing that her mother kept medications in a few other places, Sara didn’t linger over the mess she made in the bedroom, but went straight into the master bathroom. There were pills in the top drawer of the vanity, but there was nothing—no prescriptions, no pill bottles—nothing that could have caused what the doctor had described.
Sara let out a defeated sigh and looked up at her face in the mirror. Her mascara had run down her face, leaving black tearstains that ran down to her chin. She gasped and flicked on the hot water. When had she cried? Did anyone actually see her like this? She quickly washed her face and then grabbed her bag out of the bedroom. Medications forgotten, Sara carefully reapplied her makeup and smoothed her hair as a car pulled into the driveway. The front door opened, and she heard Cate call out her name.
“I’ll be right there,” she replied. Sara tossed the makeup back into her purse and started to clean up the mess she made of her mother’s vanity during her search. How strange it all was. The numerous hospital visits, her father supposedly taking medication, and—most of all—her mother clearly having no knowledge of it. Or, did she? Sara’s hand paused in midair at the thought. Could it be possible that her mother withheld that information from the hospital deliberately?
Sara laughed at herself and continued to clean up. Too many CSI Miami re-runs. There was no way that would ever happen. Her mother and father had been joined at the hip for the last forty years; she didn’t know a single couple who was happier or more devoted to one another than her parents were. It was absolutely inconceivable that her mother would be responsible or would have done anything to hurt her father in any way. Sara moved into the bedroom and started to straighten the contents of the top drawer when a note written in her father’s block handwriting caught her eye.
R. Tolson, 10/16 at 6:15- DiNardo’s.
Sara nearly dropped the scrap of paper when she realized what it was. Ryan Toulson. It couldn’t be possible. Could it? If this actually happened, that meant that her father met with Ryan only three days ago for dinner at the nicest restaurant in Coatesville. Cate called her name again, so Sara pocketed the note and grabbed her things. Sara needed answers, and if anyone would know what the hell was going on around here, it would be her mother.
Sara came down the stairs to see Cate in the kitchen wearing baggy sweatpants, the same long dark hair as Sara’s pulled into a ponytail as she stirred noodles into a pot of boiling water. The kitchen radio was tuned in to a country radio station, and Sara cringed at the hokey lyrics.
“Hey, where’s Mom?” Sara asked, pouring herself a glass of water from the jug in the refrigerator.
Cate didn’t answer. Sara walked over and stood beside her at the stove, and for the first time noticed Cate’s red-rimmed eyes and the tears that were still silently coursing down her cheeks. She put her arm around her little sister’s waist but, instead of returning her hug, Cate jerked away.
“Just stop it.”
“What?” Sara asked, turning to face her. “What’s your problem?”
“Where were you? We waited at the hospital for you so that you could say goodbye to Dad but you just left! If Mrs. Redmond hadn’t called to tell us a strange car pulled into the driveway and someone ran into the house we would never have known that you came back here!”
Fresh tears rolled down Cate’s cheeks, but instead of brushing them away she let them fall. Sara took her water and sat at the kitchen table, knowing better than anyone that Cate was inconsolable in a mood like this. So instead she answered her question with a question of her own.
“Do you know if Dad was on anything for arthritis or pain? Did he ever mention that he was taking something?”
Cate leveled her with a glare.
“You can’t seriously be asking that.”
“I know, I tried to tell the doctor but they’re convinced he was on something that caused the reaction.”
“When did you talk to the doctor?” Cate asked, turning to get a jar of pasta sauce out of one of the cabinets. Sara didn’t know how much she should tell Cate; at this point the only fact was that her father was dead and, as far as his daughters knew, they hadn’t been aware he was taking something that would have caused it.
She shrugged, then took another drink of water. “I went to talk to the Chief of Staff about the doctor—she told me that there was no reason to suspect malpractice.”
Sara held her breath, waiting for the next question, but Cate just nodded and spooned pasta into her bowl. She sat at the table with Sara and just stared at her bowl, her fork forgotten in her hand.
“Mom told me to drop her off at Uncle Richard’s. She said she had to call the church and make funeral arrangements, and Aunt Patty had gone through this so she would know what to do.”
Sara nodded, remembering the phone call she had gotten last year saying that her cousin Richie had been killed while on active duty in Somalia. She hadn’t been able to make it home for the funeral because of work, and Aunt Pat still wouldn’t forgive her for missing the service. She couldn’t even remember now what was so important that Dave wouldn’t give her the time off.
Cate started twirling the long strands of spaghetti on her fork and dropping the perfect circles, untouched, back into the bowl in front of her. Sara cleared her throat and shoved her water away.
“Is there any vodka in this house?” she asked, pushing up from the kitchen table.
Cate got up and dumped her spaghetti in the trash. “Follow me.”
Sunday, September 1, 2013
New (to me) author... now a favorite!
I am absolutely in love with someone new. Well, new to me. Last month at my father-in-law's BBQ birthday party, my grandmother-in-law (is that a real thing?) had a book by Sherryl Woods laying upside down on the coffee table. Naturally, snoop that I am, I turned it over and started reading. Jean (G-in-law) saw and we struck up a conversation about romance novels. Apparently we are both huge fans of new authors, so she lent me two books from an author I had never read before. See, I'm kind of a [closet] creature of habit, as much as I like to pretend that I'm fun and spontaneous. I have to be really in the mood (or there has to be nothing new by the authors I love) in order for me to pay for a book from an author I've never heard of. For me, there's nothing worse than being totally disappointed because I didn't do my research. I've taken some chances and had some GREAT results (that's how I met Jo Beverly, Diana Gabaldon, and Julia Quinn!) but sometimes..... it's not such a great experience. :(
BUT! I have never been happier to try someone new!
I am absolutely in love with Susan Elizabeth Phillips, author of Call Me Irresistible (Book 5) and The Great Escape (Book 6). I could not put down either book. Call Me Irresistible is the story of a woman who ruins her best friend's wedding and is stuck in the hometown of the ditched groom. It's no secret who's responsible for breaking their local hero's heart, and no one is rolling out the welcome mat to Meg. It's such a funny story with a few totally unexpected twists. I love Meg, Ted, and especially Torie. You have to read it!!!!!!!!!
After you're done that book and you're sitting there asking yourself.... well, what about Lucy?!... pick up The Great Escape. It's such an awesome follow-up to answer the million-dollar question everyone is asking: where did Lucy go, and how does she get herself out of the mess she got herself into?!
Both were page-turners and I couldn't get enough. I wish I didn't have to give them back so I could reread them! I'm reading them way out of order (as you can see, I read Book 5 and Book 6 before 1 through 4) but I'm not worried about it. I felt they both stood alone as great novels, even though I know it would have been so much better to read in order. No big deal, though, Fancy Pants and Lady Be Good are on my list to read next!
Here are the stats for my two new favorite books:
Call Me Irresistible—Kindle $5.69; 3.9 out of 5 stars (by 246 readers)
http://www.amazon.com/Call-Me-Irresistible-Americans-ebook/dp/B003ZSHULQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=
The Great Escape—Kindle $9.78; 3.5 out of 5 stars (by 194 readers)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Escape-Book-ebook/dp/B0070XF97O/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1378061657&sr=1-1&keywords=the+great+escape
BUT! I have never been happier to try someone new!
I am absolutely in love with Susan Elizabeth Phillips, author of Call Me Irresistible (Book 5) and The Great Escape (Book 6). I could not put down either book. Call Me Irresistible is the story of a woman who ruins her best friend's wedding and is stuck in the hometown of the ditched groom. It's no secret who's responsible for breaking their local hero's heart, and no one is rolling out the welcome mat to Meg. It's such a funny story with a few totally unexpected twists. I love Meg, Ted, and especially Torie. You have to read it!!!!!!!!!
After you're done that book and you're sitting there asking yourself.... well, what about Lucy?!... pick up The Great Escape. It's such an awesome follow-up to answer the million-dollar question everyone is asking: where did Lucy go, and how does she get herself out of the mess she got herself into?!
Both were page-turners and I couldn't get enough. I wish I didn't have to give them back so I could reread them! I'm reading them way out of order (as you can see, I read Book 5 and Book 6 before 1 through 4) but I'm not worried about it. I felt they both stood alone as great novels, even though I know it would have been so much better to read in order. No big deal, though, Fancy Pants and Lady Be Good are on my list to read next!
Here are the stats for my two new favorite books:
Call Me Irresistible—Kindle $5.69; 3.9 out of 5 stars (by 246 readers)
http://www.amazon.com/Call-Me-Irresistible-Americans-ebook/dp/B003ZSHULQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=
The Great Escape—Kindle $9.78; 3.5 out of 5 stars (by 194 readers)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Escape-Book-ebook/dp/B0070XF97O/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1378061657&sr=1-1&keywords=the+great+escape
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Book Review: Decieving Derek
Cindy Procter-King... question for you. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?! I love books that keep me asking that question. Deceiving Derek was extremely short and my only complaint was that I wish it had been expanded into a novel because I wanted to keep reading about the budding romance between Lacey and Derek.
The book starts with Derek looking through his files, another day on the job (in a series of long days as a police officer) when this "kook" comes in trying to press charges about how someone stole her underwear. Derek decides to give the woman a few minutes of his time, mostly because he's not sure if she's serious.... and, in a small way, because he can't keep his eyes off the gorgeous woman who just might be a little crazy.
The thing I like most about Deceiving Derek is that, until we get into Lacey's head halfway through the book, we have no idea that the entire thing is a ruse and Lacey lied to him in order to get him to come to a bachelorette party as the scavenger hunt wild card item. There was so much potential here for a great story full of funny and entertaining conflict between the two workaholics-- Lacey, the owner and designer of fancy underwear and Detective Derek--the twin brother of her friend. It's a fun story, a quick read (I think it took me about 12-15 minutes total?) and I really enjoyed meeting such a fun cast of characters!
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Book Review: Deeper, by Blue Ashcroft
I'm not going to waste a lot of "blog space" talking about this book, because--to be honest--this book needs more help than I could possibly ever offer in this format.
Deeper is a book about two emotionally scarred lifeguards working at an inner city theme park. Rain, the newest lifeguard and supervisor of this often misnamed and confusing motley crew, is looking for redemption after a terrible accident that led to the death of her fellow lifeguard (a boy who was in love with her) the previous year.
Knight, the current supervisor, has been emotionally unavailable for the last 4 years, since his childhood sweetheart was raped and decided to end her own life. He blames himself for not being able to help her work through her issues, and as a result he feels especially protective of all of the women under his care, especially Rain.
Deeper is one of those books that you can definitely tell someone wrote "by the seat of (his/her) pants." There is very little structure, the events that occur feel like they could or should have a bigger emotional punch than they actually do, and throughout it's missing that central conflict that can only be developed by first doing some actual thinking about your plot/characters. Normally I'm fine with writing that way--honestly, that's how every great idea starts. However, all authors (and editors) need to learn how to REVISE. Your "seat of the pants" story should never be what you publish. Case in point, I saw several instances of where a character was called by the wrong name. A silly mistake that really led me to question the quality of this manuscript.Take your rough copy, work out the kinks, develop your central conflict, study your 3-act structure, and THEN publish.
One of the good things about this book is that-- with this motley crew of characters-- there was a lot of drama that inevitably ensued. It would have been much better if, instead of multiple dramatic incidents that incited very little emotional investment, the author had concentrated on maybe 2 or 3 incidents and wrote the hell out of them. Unfortunately, like I said, it just didn't happen. However, since this is Blue Ashcroft's first book, let's give her the benefit of the doubt that, from now on, her writing will only keep getting better.
Deeper got 3.9 out of 5 stars (by 21 reviewers) according to Amazon.com and is available for Kindle for $2.99. The book is 179 pages and has an interesting dual perspective, where sometimes Rain is the viewpoint character and other times Knight is. If you're into that first-person perspective, this might be something you'd enjoy!
Deeper is a book about two emotionally scarred lifeguards working at an inner city theme park. Rain, the newest lifeguard and supervisor of this often misnamed and confusing motley crew, is looking for redemption after a terrible accident that led to the death of her fellow lifeguard (a boy who was in love with her) the previous year. Knight, the current supervisor, has been emotionally unavailable for the last 4 years, since his childhood sweetheart was raped and decided to end her own life. He blames himself for not being able to help her work through her issues, and as a result he feels especially protective of all of the women under his care, especially Rain.
Deeper is one of those books that you can definitely tell someone wrote "by the seat of (his/her) pants." There is very little structure, the events that occur feel like they could or should have a bigger emotional punch than they actually do, and throughout it's missing that central conflict that can only be developed by first doing some actual thinking about your plot/characters. Normally I'm fine with writing that way--honestly, that's how every great idea starts. However, all authors (and editors) need to learn how to REVISE. Your "seat of the pants" story should never be what you publish. Case in point, I saw several instances of where a character was called by the wrong name. A silly mistake that really led me to question the quality of this manuscript.Take your rough copy, work out the kinks, develop your central conflict, study your 3-act structure, and THEN publish.
One of the good things about this book is that-- with this motley crew of characters-- there was a lot of drama that inevitably ensued. It would have been much better if, instead of multiple dramatic incidents that incited very little emotional investment, the author had concentrated on maybe 2 or 3 incidents and wrote the hell out of them. Unfortunately, like I said, it just didn't happen. However, since this is Blue Ashcroft's first book, let's give her the benefit of the doubt that, from now on, her writing will only keep getting better.
Deeper got 3.9 out of 5 stars (by 21 reviewers) according to Amazon.com and is available for Kindle for $2.99. The book is 179 pages and has an interesting dual perspective, where sometimes Rain is the viewpoint character and other times Knight is. If you're into that first-person perspective, this might be something you'd enjoy!
Friday, August 23, 2013
Writing Tips from Christina Dodd
I love Christina Dodd and I follow her on Facebook and get her e-mail alerts when she updates her website. One of my favorite things about Christina's books is that she is utterly fearless and writes what will make the best story. She creates funny, smart-mouth characters who all really make you feel something. Today she posted her revised writing tips for writers, and I thought they were great (just like her!) so I wanted to share with you!
http://christinadodd.com/christina-dodds-brief-and-random-writing-tips/
In romance, plot is important. Characters are more important. Readers must care about the characters. The hero and heroine must march through hell and survive — and triumph!
Hero and heroine can do anything, no matter how stupid or trivial, if they’re well motivated.
Motivate your hero and heroine with *big* things: important issues, dramatic experiences.
Always ask, “What’s the worst thing that could happen to this character?” Then write it!
If your heroine starts the book being a timid, bookish librarian in glasses, by THE END she had better become a wild, passionate, smart adventuress.
If your hero starts out the book as a rude, revenge-driven, sexy, rich brute…hey, I’m a happy reader!
Let me try that again.
If your hero begins as vengeful sexy rich brute, by THE END he had better be tamed by heroine’s love. Still sexy and rich, though. ;)
Torture your hero early and often; it develops his character, sort of like roasting nuts brings out the flavor.
Tortured, brooding, sexy, ruthless heroes…I love them. Everyone does. Not really a tip. Truth.
About Ideas and Synopses
Ideas are everywhere. Watch movies. Read books. Improve bad stories and re-work good ones.
Worried about writing a cliché? Clichés are clichés for a reason.
A synopsis is a roadmap of my plot. Want to write quickly? Work out every plot point before you start.
Divide your synopsis into chapters so you always know what happens next. Of course, changes happen…
A synopsis is a roadmap. Off-roading is encouraged! Change, revise, do anything to improve your story!
About Writing
Most important: Put your butt in the chair and write.
Very important! Write the book you want to read.
Very, very important! The more you write, the better you get. Yes, there is a learning curve. I wrote two practice books which were never published. So what? I’ve published over fifty novels and novellas since then, and had (and have) a successful career as a writer. Put your butt in the chair and write! A lot!
Very, very, very important! As long as you produce pages, your writing method is the best. Yes, if you’re writing without a synopsis, but the characters and plot is shaping up and you’re putting out pages, IGNORE WHAT I SAID ABOUT SYNOPSES! Ignore everything. You’re the writer. There is no correct way to write!
Research is important, but I’ll never get it all right. Just write the book!
Stuck? Change location. Move to bedroom, deck, Starbucks. Don’t know why, but this jogs my brain.
Writer and pal Heather MacAllister says vacuum cleaner is your best writing tool. Stuck? Think about getting up from your desk and vacuuming (or performing any other hated task) and inspiration fills your brain.
Writer and pal Susan Elizabeth Phillips taught me to set a timer for an hour and write. Don’t get up. Don’t check email, or look at Facebook or Twitter or Goodreads. Don’t answer the phone. Write.
Email, Facebook and Twitter too much of a temptation? Write on an Alphasmart Neo. No internet!
Are you editing too much? Write on an Alphasmart Neo. Forces forward progress. Yes — I do write most of my original material on an Alphasmart. It’s cheap, light, portable, and restrictive in important ways that work for me. No, I have no investment in the company and I get nothing out of recommending the Alphasmart.
Promo is not writing. Blogging not writing.
Writing a sex scene is full of pitfalls. Suggest critique group/editor/much revision. Read about the nuts and bolts of writing sex…
Typos & misplaced modifiers are inevitable. And funny. Again, suggest critique group/editor/much revision. Read about my funniest mistakes…
Motivation can be as easy as giving yourself an M & M at the end of each complete paragraph. Whatever works! (Also, you must exercise. Yes. Exercise.)
If your goal is 5 pages and you don’t make it, don’t yell at yourself. Next day, start new and write 5 pages.
Finished your manuscript? Go back and take out half of the stage direction.
Finished your manuscript? Go back and eliminate the “justs” and “suddenlys.”
Author is glamour overrated, especially at Costco in gardening clothes covered with dirt.
Best words in the English language = THE END. Better than “I love you” or “Here’s your royalty check.”
Don’t worry about getting it right the first time. Quality words on the page don’t matter on the first draft. Quality comes later in revisions. I revise every scene at least five times before the manuscript goes to the editor. Then I revise according to those comments. Then it goes to the copy editor who check grammar/punctuation/continuity, and I revise again. I spend at least as much time revising as I do writing. Revise! Revise! Revise!
My favorite book is the one I just finished or the one I haven’t started. Never the one I’m working on.
Miscellaneous Writing Tips
For my money, the best writing book Chris Vogler’s WRITER’S JOURNEY. Problems? Flip open to any page and get immediate help.
Win a contest? Finish a first chapter? Or a book? Publish your 40th book? --Celebrate!
Selling your first book is An Occasion that will never come again. Celebrate! I took the family to Disney World.
Some stories are hard to write, some easy. Doesn’t matter, doesn’t affect how the book is received.
Don’t sweat reviews; good or bad, it’s just an opinion.
The book of your heart is important, but if you want a writing career, your heart had better be TEAMING with books.
The best thing a romance writer can do for her career is to join Romance Writers of America. RWA has a monthly magazine with articles about writing and publishing local and online chapters filled with writers, both published and unpublished, and an annual conference with sessions on how to write and how to publish. I’m a long-time member, and every year, I learn something about important about writing from RWA.
Recap of the Most Important Writing Tips
The book of your heart is important, but if you want a writing career, your heart had better be TEAMING with books.
As long as you produce pages, your writing method is the best.
Put your butt in the chair and write.
Stop reading my writing tips and go write. Now.
http://christinadodd.com/christina-dodds-brief-and-random-writing-tips/
CHRISTINA DODD’S WRITING TIPS
About Characters
In romance, plot is important. Characters are more important. Readers must care about the characters. The hero and heroine must march through hell and survive — and triumph!
Hero and heroine can do anything, no matter how stupid or trivial, if they’re well motivated.
Motivate your hero and heroine with *big* things: important issues, dramatic experiences.
Always ask, “What’s the worst thing that could happen to this character?” Then write it!
If your heroine starts the book being a timid, bookish librarian in glasses, by THE END she had better become a wild, passionate, smart adventuress.
If your hero starts out the book as a rude, revenge-driven, sexy, rich brute…hey, I’m a happy reader!
Let me try that again.
If your hero begins as vengeful sexy rich brute, by THE END he had better be tamed by heroine’s love. Still sexy and rich, though. ;)
Torture your hero early and often; it develops his character, sort of like roasting nuts brings out the flavor.
Tortured, brooding, sexy, ruthless heroes…I love them. Everyone does. Not really a tip. Truth.
About Ideas and Synopses
Ideas are everywhere. Watch movies. Read books. Improve bad stories and re-work good ones.
Worried about writing a cliché? Clichés are clichés for a reason.
A synopsis is a roadmap of my plot. Want to write quickly? Work out every plot point before you start.
Divide your synopsis into chapters so you always know what happens next. Of course, changes happen…
A synopsis is a roadmap. Off-roading is encouraged! Change, revise, do anything to improve your story!
About Writing
Most important: Put your butt in the chair and write.
Very important! Write the book you want to read.
Very, very important! The more you write, the better you get. Yes, there is a learning curve. I wrote two practice books which were never published. So what? I’ve published over fifty novels and novellas since then, and had (and have) a successful career as a writer. Put your butt in the chair and write! A lot!
Very, very, very important! As long as you produce pages, your writing method is the best. Yes, if you’re writing without a synopsis, but the characters and plot is shaping up and you’re putting out pages, IGNORE WHAT I SAID ABOUT SYNOPSES! Ignore everything. You’re the writer. There is no correct way to write!
Research is important, but I’ll never get it all right. Just write the book!
Stuck? Change location. Move to bedroom, deck, Starbucks. Don’t know why, but this jogs my brain.
Writer and pal Heather MacAllister says vacuum cleaner is your best writing tool. Stuck? Think about getting up from your desk and vacuuming (or performing any other hated task) and inspiration fills your brain.
Writer and pal Susan Elizabeth Phillips taught me to set a timer for an hour and write. Don’t get up. Don’t check email, or look at Facebook or Twitter or Goodreads. Don’t answer the phone. Write.
Email, Facebook and Twitter too much of a temptation? Write on an Alphasmart Neo. No internet!
Are you editing too much? Write on an Alphasmart Neo. Forces forward progress. Yes — I do write most of my original material on an Alphasmart. It’s cheap, light, portable, and restrictive in important ways that work for me. No, I have no investment in the company and I get nothing out of recommending the Alphasmart.
Promo is not writing. Blogging not writing.
Writing a sex scene is full of pitfalls. Suggest critique group/editor/much revision. Read about the nuts and bolts of writing sex…
Typos & misplaced modifiers are inevitable. And funny. Again, suggest critique group/editor/much revision. Read about my funniest mistakes…
Motivation can be as easy as giving yourself an M & M at the end of each complete paragraph. Whatever works! (Also, you must exercise. Yes. Exercise.)
If your goal is 5 pages and you don’t make it, don’t yell at yourself. Next day, start new and write 5 pages.
Finished your manuscript? Go back and take out half of the stage direction.
Finished your manuscript? Go back and eliminate the “justs” and “suddenlys.”
Author is glamour overrated, especially at Costco in gardening clothes covered with dirt.
Best words in the English language = THE END. Better than “I love you” or “Here’s your royalty check.”
Don’t worry about getting it right the first time. Quality words on the page don’t matter on the first draft. Quality comes later in revisions. I revise every scene at least five times before the manuscript goes to the editor. Then I revise according to those comments. Then it goes to the copy editor who check grammar/punctuation/continuity, and I revise again. I spend at least as much time revising as I do writing. Revise! Revise! Revise!
My favorite book is the one I just finished or the one I haven’t started. Never the one I’m working on.
Miscellaneous Writing Tips
For my money, the best writing book Chris Vogler’s WRITER’S JOURNEY. Problems? Flip open to any page and get immediate help.
Win a contest? Finish a first chapter? Or a book? Publish your 40th book? --Celebrate!
Selling your first book is An Occasion that will never come again. Celebrate! I took the family to Disney World.
Some stories are hard to write, some easy. Doesn’t matter, doesn’t affect how the book is received.
Don’t sweat reviews; good or bad, it’s just an opinion.
The book of your heart is important, but if you want a writing career, your heart had better be TEAMING with books.
The best thing a romance writer can do for her career is to join Romance Writers of America. RWA has a monthly magazine with articles about writing and publishing local and online chapters filled with writers, both published and unpublished, and an annual conference with sessions on how to write and how to publish. I’m a long-time member, and every year, I learn something about important about writing from RWA.
Recap of the Most Important Writing Tips
The book of your heart is important, but if you want a writing career, your heart had better be TEAMING with books.
As long as you produce pages, your writing method is the best.
Put your butt in the chair and write.
Stop reading my writing tips and go write. Now.
Friday, August 16, 2013
My rough copy, "Like Father"
Sara McCartney slammed the door of her rental car and walked through the high-rise parking garage to the line of elevators. She pulled her new coat—especially bought for this trip—tightly around her as the frigid October air worked its way through the fine linen of her cream-colored trousers.
As she waited for the elevator to take her to the third
floor, Sara shuffled the flowers she was holding into her other arm so that she
could pull out her phone and rechecked the message from her sister.
Room 5386. Cardiology.
Fourth door on your right past the nurses’ station.
Sara clicked the phone off and put it back as the elevator
in front of her nosily slid open. She gave it a dubious glance before
cautiously stepping in and pressing her floor.
Our Lady of Mercy was the only hospital close enough to send
an ambulance when her father felt the telltale pressure in his chest during a
hard day at the store. And although Sara was thankful that they had managed to
save her father’s life, she decided that as soon as he was capable of moving
she was getting him transferred to a real city hospital like the University of
Pennsylvania. Somewhere that at least appreciated the value of aesthetics and
bothered to replace the elevators, she thought.
Sara entered the Cardiac wing, the click of her heels loud
in the deserted hallway. She felt her heart start to pick up speed as she
passed the first door, then the second, both dark and empty. Where is everyone? Sara thought,
resisting the urge to recheck her phone. Ahead she saw a nurse dressed in
cartoon character scrubs exit one of the rooms on the right with a pile of
blankets in her arms. Was that the fourth door? Sara turned her head to be sure
she had only passed two rooms. She finally heard the low murmur of voices as
she passed the nurses’ station and came up to the third room, which was also
empty. She heard a quickly muffled sob and, clutching the flowers, she raced to
the next open doorway and saw two nurses and a doctor in her father’s room,
leaning over his bed. Her mother was sitting in a chair by the window facing
them, holding her sister Emily tightly as she sobbed. Silent tears ran down
Emily’s cheeks as she met Sara’s eyes from across the room. Sara looked back
toward the bed and realized belatedly that she hadn’t heard the heartbeat
monitor. She looked up at where it was supposed to be and saw nothing but a
flat orange line. Her father was dead.
I wrote this last night as a potential opening to my "Like Father" story as my graduate school submission. I wasn't going to have Sara's father die before she could see him one last time, and honestly, I don't know if that was the right move to make. The concept of the story is that Sara takes over the business from her father, figures out that The Bad Guy has been sabotaging them for the last several years, "defeats" him, and really moves back home and takes over the business and makes it her own. With her father dying in the hospital, will Sara have that same motivation to come back and fulfill (what I've roughly outlined) as the story plot?
See, last night I went to bed thinking no, but this morning I had an epiphany: I'm going to do some research and finds out what could be something that would make a heart attack go very wrong. I don't want the hospital blamed, though (of course) knowing Sara that's the first person she runs over to sue and kick some ass on. No, I want the hospital to do an autopsy and find out that someone had slipped him some sort of drug or something that reacted badly during the surgery and that was what ultimately killed him. Of course Sara's mom, whose been taking care of him, wouldn't have known that someone slipped it to him. Sara now knows that her father was murdered, and of course she's going to want to know who did it. Again, so she can exact revenge. (Clearly, my girl is not someone to mess around with, HAHA.)
So what do you think of my idea so far? totally lame? As a writer who's been reading some pretty bad books lately and giving everyone a hard time about their fundamentals, I want some feedback on my own. Nothing is better than a close (outside) eye on a story. When I write more tonight I'll post it tomorrow for review....... that is, if I can! Hubby and I are taking Buddy on his first beach trip down to Cape May, apparently there are some awesome beaches for dogs down there. Surf's up! :)
But, knowing Buddy, this will be our dog....
(from http://www.stjohnsuntimes.com/node/2236)
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Character Motivation
One of the things we talk about constantly in writing is MOTIVATION. Writers are often told to ask themselves why someone does the things they do. What could make a completely rational man with young children rob a bank, hold a hospital hostage, or willingly give up his own life? They say that anyone will do anything if properly motivated. Basic motivations for characters include the need for things: love, shelter, sustenance, freedom, etc. More specific motivating factors can be things like money, acceptance, and life or death situations.
The point is that everyone must be motivated in your story, but your hero/heroine has to have the most pressing motivation of all. This character's motivation is what is driving the story, after all! The character's world is CHANGING, which is why we have a story in the first place. The motivating factor is what is causing this change. No one wants to read (or write) a story about "another day in the life of XYZ person." Look at your life, look at mine. None of our daily lives are interesting enough to carry a story because none of us are changing when we're living the status quo.
I want to talk for a minute about how motivation shapes a story, and why it's important for your lead characters to have different motivations.
I'm reading a story now from NetGalley about lifeguards at an inner-city water park. Both the hero and the heroine have experienced a loss while on the job: the hero wasn't able to save his ex-girlfriend, and somehow she died in the water. The heroine wasn't able to save her ex-boyfriend, and he died while going down a water slide. Both of these lifeguards are reliving these same terrible moments of experiencing their loved one slip away while "under their watch," and both have severe guilt complexes about it as a result.
I don't know anything about the author, so I don't want to say it's an amateur move to make, but I do want to say one thing: it's boring.
And I'm not trying to be rude by saying that, because it must have been as boring to write as it is to read. And honestly, the concept really isn't that far-fetched or totally original either. Fancy that, someone who works in a life-and-death industry lost someone they each loved as a result of not being "enough" (fast enough, aware enough, etc.) in that industry. I bet there are many people who can relate.
Which leads me to the purpose of this blog: DIFFERENTIATE. Opposites attract, not people who have similar damaging experiences. Think about who you're friends with, think about the person you're involved with/married to. I'm willing to bet that they come from a totally different background or social situation, and I bet that the people you are friends with see things from a totally different perspective than you. Newsflash: this is what makes people interesting; i.e., when they can bring something new to the table, something you haven't thought of or a way of seeing the world that you would never see yourself.
People are attracted to other... (unless, of course, they are severely egotistical and want someone exactly like themselves. But honestly, these people aren't who we want to read about anyway so why waste time? :) )
In this story (and keep in mind, I'm only 16% of the way in right now so I don't have a lot of concrete facts yet), but Rain is an independent "don't mess with me" female lifeguard who is coming to this new park that just recently integrated something she specializes in: water slides and lazy rivers. Knight, who is a senior supervisor at the park already and Rain's partner, is a huge hunk of a man who sees her like he saw his ex: as someone to protect. So, maybe instead of losing his loved one to water (like Rain lost her loved one) maybe his motivation and need to protect comes from a childhood trauma of not being able to help his mother while she was being abused by his father. As a result, he sees a woman in trouble and--throughout training, Rain gets herself into some trouble--and he needs to be able to save her like he couldn't save this other person.
I don't know, but you get my point right? Trying to spin the same situation two different ways to make it work just doesn't work. We've heard it once already; give me a counterpoint character who can bring something new to the table to coax the character out of whatever protective shell they've entered into after that trauma, and give me someone with problems of their own for the hero to step to the forefront to solve.
Another thing with motivation is to make sure it drives the plot. You want your characters to want something, which causes them to act. Whatever action they take has a reaction that ignites a whole other chain of events directly linked to the character. This new event challenges them by presenting an obstacle to what they want and forces them to make another move in the direction to achieve their goal. Character-driven fiction, with motivation at the forefront, will always be more interesting than plot-driven fiction because our characters reflect us and the human condition, and in them--and their decisions--we see ourselves.
There is very little motivation in this book and I'm wondering how the author is going to get through the second act with so little actually happening. I wonder if they are going to steal a page from the "most commonly abused cliches." According to Nora Roberts, “As a rule of thumb, I'd say one cliché per [Romance]--and then be damn sure you can make it work. But if you're going to try to write the virginal amnesiac twin disguised as a boy mistaken for the mother (or father depending how well the disguise works) of a secret baby, honey, you better have some serious skills. Or seek therapy.” :)
I'll let you know what happens!
The point is that everyone must be motivated in your story, but your hero/heroine has to have the most pressing motivation of all. This character's motivation is what is driving the story, after all! The character's world is CHANGING, which is why we have a story in the first place. The motivating factor is what is causing this change. No one wants to read (or write) a story about "another day in the life of XYZ person." Look at your life, look at mine. None of our daily lives are interesting enough to carry a story because none of us are changing when we're living the status quo.
I want to talk for a minute about how motivation shapes a story, and why it's important for your lead characters to have different motivations.
I'm reading a story now from NetGalley about lifeguards at an inner-city water park. Both the hero and the heroine have experienced a loss while on the job: the hero wasn't able to save his ex-girlfriend, and somehow she died in the water. The heroine wasn't able to save her ex-boyfriend, and he died while going down a water slide. Both of these lifeguards are reliving these same terrible moments of experiencing their loved one slip away while "under their watch," and both have severe guilt complexes about it as a result.
I don't know anything about the author, so I don't want to say it's an amateur move to make, but I do want to say one thing: it's boring.
And I'm not trying to be rude by saying that, because it must have been as boring to write as it is to read. And honestly, the concept really isn't that far-fetched or totally original either. Fancy that, someone who works in a life-and-death industry lost someone they each loved as a result of not being "enough" (fast enough, aware enough, etc.) in that industry. I bet there are many people who can relate.
Which leads me to the purpose of this blog: DIFFERENTIATE. Opposites attract, not people who have similar damaging experiences. Think about who you're friends with, think about the person you're involved with/married to. I'm willing to bet that they come from a totally different background or social situation, and I bet that the people you are friends with see things from a totally different perspective than you. Newsflash: this is what makes people interesting; i.e., when they can bring something new to the table, something you haven't thought of or a way of seeing the world that you would never see yourself.
People are attracted to other... (unless, of course, they are severely egotistical and want someone exactly like themselves. But honestly, these people aren't who we want to read about anyway so why waste time? :) )
In this story (and keep in mind, I'm only 16% of the way in right now so I don't have a lot of concrete facts yet), but Rain is an independent "don't mess with me" female lifeguard who is coming to this new park that just recently integrated something she specializes in: water slides and lazy rivers. Knight, who is a senior supervisor at the park already and Rain's partner, is a huge hunk of a man who sees her like he saw his ex: as someone to protect. So, maybe instead of losing his loved one to water (like Rain lost her loved one) maybe his motivation and need to protect comes from a childhood trauma of not being able to help his mother while she was being abused by his father. As a result, he sees a woman in trouble and--throughout training, Rain gets herself into some trouble--and he needs to be able to save her like he couldn't save this other person.
I don't know, but you get my point right? Trying to spin the same situation two different ways to make it work just doesn't work. We've heard it once already; give me a counterpoint character who can bring something new to the table to coax the character out of whatever protective shell they've entered into after that trauma, and give me someone with problems of their own for the hero to step to the forefront to solve.
Another thing with motivation is to make sure it drives the plot. You want your characters to want something, which causes them to act. Whatever action they take has a reaction that ignites a whole other chain of events directly linked to the character. This new event challenges them by presenting an obstacle to what they want and forces them to make another move in the direction to achieve their goal. Character-driven fiction, with motivation at the forefront, will always be more interesting than plot-driven fiction because our characters reflect us and the human condition, and in them--and their decisions--we see ourselves.
There is very little motivation in this book and I'm wondering how the author is going to get through the second act with so little actually happening. I wonder if they are going to steal a page from the "most commonly abused cliches." According to Nora Roberts, “As a rule of thumb, I'd say one cliché per [Romance]--and then be damn sure you can make it work. But if you're going to try to write the virginal amnesiac twin disguised as a boy mistaken for the mother (or father depending how well the disguise works) of a secret baby, honey, you better have some serious skills. Or seek therapy.” :)
I'll let you know what happens!
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Book Review: Her Favorite Temptation
Her Favorite Temptation is confused right off the bat due to the title. When you see the title, without knowing anything else about this book, what do you think? Maybe you're like me and think it's about a woman who knows that she can't have something, but it's something she wants desperately so she takes it anyway even when she shouldn't. Right?
Wrong.
Leah Mathews, an unhappy cardiothoracic surgeon who is making the transition into immunology against her parents' wishes, is in the midst of an emotional upheaval when the story opens. Her 30th birthday is looming and she doesn't want to spend her life living someone else's (namely her mother's) dream, so she decides to start making some changes in her life, starting with her career, and then herself. Not only does she leave her career, she decides to take a 8-week "holiday" to do some of the things she's been missing out on: namely running, since that is the only activity we actually see her perform that she hadn't done before.
During this period of emotional turmoil Leah meets Will Jones, half of the popular Australian rock band Galahad Jones. Will is in the city preparing for a major surgery, and he's not sure if he's going to make it out alive... and if he does, he doesn't know to what capacity he will be enjoying the life he has left. One night, frustrated with herself and needing an outlet, Leah walks on to her balcony and starts venting to the sky. She hears a noise and turns toward the adjacent balcony, and we see Will clutching a guitar as he attempts to make his exit and give her some privacy.
Flash forward to the next night: Leah can hear someone playing so she opens her door and allows the sounds from her neighbor's guitar to come in. She doesn't recognize any of the music, but she loves it and decides to introduce herself... properly.
Throughout the remainder of the first and second "act," we see Leah and Will skirt around the issues and obstacles that their attraction creates. Will knows that it wouldn't be fair to become involved with Leah in case his operation does not succeed and he dies on the operating table. Leah is convinced that someone as cool and as gorgeous as Will could never be interested in a "Brainstein" like her and so, in an effort to save herself some humiliation, she doesn't put herself out there and just go for it.
Neither make the move, though they both want to.
Until, on the night before Will's surgery, Leah comes to Will's door and changes everything. After their night is over, Leah finally finds out that the "appointment" Will left her for is to remove a brain tumor, and thus the climax is reached. We find out in the following chapters that Will made it through the surgery but extensive rehabilitation is needed to regain the use of his right side, namely his hand and his leg. Brainstein offers to help, and after a quickly documented few days, Will tells Leah he loves her and the story ends. Right there. Oh, there's an epilogue alright, but it has nothing to do with anything that anyone cares about.
Issues.....
Her Favorite Temptation has a fundamental flaw: it can't decide who the hero is, therefore, it can't define the story "problem" that the characters are attempting to resolve. Furthermore, I'm having a hard time trying to decide WHOSE temptation is the problem here, since it seems like Will is the one making all of the moves and all of the decisions, and Leah is just going along for the ride.Here are the specific problems I'm having with Her Favorite Temptation:
- Will's story is SO much more interesting than Leah's, and I wish that instead of having a weak hero like Leah and a strong secondary character like Will, we had just let the story progress as it wanted to and made Will the star. There was SO much potential there, since he had the better motivation for staying away from her and, later, he is the one who makes the decision to move into a relationship. Leah's personal issues in her own head and her paltry career/family drama is not enough to carry the story. Will's drama is enough, which is of course why the author leaned on it so heavily toward the end of the book.
- I really like Audrey, but she didn't get nearly enough book time to make the "main problem" about how she and Leah are treated differently by their parents. A conflict like that just wasn't good enough. I started to read the first few chapters of the next book in the series, Her Favorite Rival, in which I can really see a conflict: Audrey and her counterpoint both really want this promotion at work, and they are going to battle it out and do whatever they can to win it. See? That's an obstacle. Something concrete, something that someone would be desperate to achieve (ie, their livelihoods are at stake). Unfortunately, Her Favorite Temptation--well, Leah's story, anyway--just didn't have it.
- Another issue I had was that neither Leah or Will actually HAD an issue-- a rock solid obstacle-- keeping them apart, and the entire book consisted of them skirting around their own opinions, self-doubt, and guilt. I hate books like that, and it was very misleading that the book was called "temptation" when they both did such a good job of avoiding it. It would have been better titled My Favorite Crush. Temptation insinuates that someone is taking something or indulging in something they are not supposed to and that they try to avoid; it was obvious that these characters were nothing like that.
- There were a few unresolved story threads that I would have liked to see: I would have liked to know where the "bad girl" laugh came back in again, since we saw it once, it wasn't mentioned during their night together, and it was just forgotten about. I would have liked to see her parents--at least one of them--respond to the comment about the differences in the way they treat Audrey and Leah; maybe it would have helped to have a "reflection" character to help them see that first-hand. I also would have liked to see the jelly beans make a reappearance or have some kind of closure.... I mean, she kept them like a talisman, but they ARE candy; what happened to that?
To be totally honest, I loved the book/writing until Will had his 2-page turnaround about his embarrassment while Leah was watching him put the marbles into the cup. I actually made a mental note to myself, because I wanted to call it the quickest turnaround in history. On the first day of his CIMT treatment, Will is so nervous and ashamed of his "claw," he almost backs out from going through the treatment. Leah's determined to get him to succeed, and of course Will doesn't want to look like he's afraid so he sits down and proceeds to put 7 marbles into the cup. The entire time he's doing it all he can think about is how disgusted she must be with him, how humiliating this is, how this is proving to her that he can be nothing to her, etc, etc, etc. Then, as soon as the 30-second time is up and Leah congratulates Will on putting the marbles in, he has this instant EPIPHANY about how she's great and wonderful and he is completely in love with her and he's going to do whatever he can to win her over and regain the use of his hand.
The story falls even deeper from there, mostly because Leah never takes the lead and fights for what she wants. If this was Leah's story, it's her obstacle to overcome and therefore her ultimate reward when she succeeds. Having Will make the final move and resolve the limbo that the relationship had been in was completely anticlimactic. It just didn't have the satisfying ending that it could have. If Will was our main character, it would have been a great ending. Because Leah was our "hero" and she didn't pull through in the end, it was a complete disappointment.
Monday, August 12, 2013
Book Review: Undone by the Duke
Undone by the Duke is the first book in the "Secrets in Silk" series by Michelle Willingham. The second book in the series, Unraveled by the Rebel, is out, but the other 2 that are anticipated are not published yet. But that's okay, these two are enough to keep you occupied until the others are released!
Undone by the Duke is the story of Victoria Andrews, one of 4 sisters whose family left London 5 years ago to visit property in Scotland that her father inherited when he obtained the title of Viscount. Victoria is a multifaceted character with a great "backstory": she was lost on the moors for several days on the trip up to Scotland, and now she refuses to leave the house. She hasn't been outside in 5 years and she has no plans to leave. It's not that she doesn't WANT to leave, but because of her experience, she has a paralyzing fear of the outdoors.
The Andrews' family is very poor since their mother mismanaged their finances when their father went to fight in Spain. In order to make ends meet, Victoria and her sisters have been sewing gowns for a famous modiste in London. While dressing one of her sisters in a new gown she made, Victoria's mind starts to wander, reflecting on how uncomfortable corsets are and if there's a way to make them more bearable while still being supportive. Maybe, she thinks, if I use silk to line the in- and outside of the garment.............
And thus, the story is born!
Victoria starts remaking corsets and chemises, a lady's "unmentionables," using old materials and out-of-date ballgowns in scandalous colors and they suddenly become all the rage in London, given the name "Aphrodite's Unmentionables." The corsets are selling for astronomical sums, and Victoria is designing them for all walks of women: courtesans, maidens, and married women alike.
In the midst of all of this happening, Victoria has an unexpected house guest: the Duke of Worthingstone, who was shot by the son of a crofter and left to die. Afraid to reveal his identity and be killed by an indiscriminate mob who might misunderstand his position, Jonathan stays with Victoria as his wound mends but refuses to tell her the truth about himself. As they spend more time together and their relationship grows, Jonathan and Victoria each realize their feelings for the other. Determined not to leave Scotland without Victoria by his side, Jonathan makes her an offer she cannot refuse: if she marries him, he will offer the crofters who had been forced off their land his protection and allow them to build anew on his land. If not, he will sit by and let the Earl who had forced them out in the first place proceed to threaten their livelihoods.
I like this story for a lot of reasons. I think the concept is hysterical; I like that a virgin recluse is crafting these daring garments and trying to save her family by whatever means are at her disposal. I also like how the author introduced these new "threads" into the story that will hopefully be answered in the remaining books. Namely:
Undone by the Duke is the story of Victoria Andrews, one of 4 sisters whose family left London 5 years ago to visit property in Scotland that her father inherited when he obtained the title of Viscount. Victoria is a multifaceted character with a great "backstory": she was lost on the moors for several days on the trip up to Scotland, and now she refuses to leave the house. She hasn't been outside in 5 years and she has no plans to leave. It's not that she doesn't WANT to leave, but because of her experience, she has a paralyzing fear of the outdoors.
The Andrews' family is very poor since their mother mismanaged their finances when their father went to fight in Spain. In order to make ends meet, Victoria and her sisters have been sewing gowns for a famous modiste in London. While dressing one of her sisters in a new gown she made, Victoria's mind starts to wander, reflecting on how uncomfortable corsets are and if there's a way to make them more bearable while still being supportive. Maybe, she thinks, if I use silk to line the in- and outside of the garment.............
And thus, the story is born!
Victoria starts remaking corsets and chemises, a lady's "unmentionables," using old materials and out-of-date ballgowns in scandalous colors and they suddenly become all the rage in London, given the name "Aphrodite's Unmentionables." The corsets are selling for astronomical sums, and Victoria is designing them for all walks of women: courtesans, maidens, and married women alike.
In the midst of all of this happening, Victoria has an unexpected house guest: the Duke of Worthingstone, who was shot by the son of a crofter and left to die. Afraid to reveal his identity and be killed by an indiscriminate mob who might misunderstand his position, Jonathan stays with Victoria as his wound mends but refuses to tell her the truth about himself. As they spend more time together and their relationship grows, Jonathan and Victoria each realize their feelings for the other. Determined not to leave Scotland without Victoria by his side, Jonathan makes her an offer she cannot refuse: if she marries him, he will offer the crofters who had been forced off their land his protection and allow them to build anew on his land. If not, he will sit by and let the Earl who had forced them out in the first place proceed to threaten their livelihoods.
I like this story for a lot of reasons. I think the concept is hysterical; I like that a virgin recluse is crafting these daring garments and trying to save her family by whatever means are at her disposal. I also like how the author introduced these new "threads" into the story that will hopefully be answered in the remaining books. Namely:
- Will Victoria's parents reclaim the relationship they lost, and be able to find happiness together again?
- Why will Victoria's sister refuse to marry? What is her secret, and how will she overcome it?
- What in the heck is going on with the house in London, and why does it need so many repairs? Has the Andrews' solicitor been scheming them all of this time, and if so, how will they get the money back that has been invested?
- And, finally, how will Dr. Paul Fraser convince Juliette to let go of the pain she holds (which we discover in Book 2) and have her happily ever after?
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