Waiting On Wednesday (12)

Hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine. My WoW for this week is:

Whisper by Phoebe Kitanidis
Balzer & Bray, 4/27/10

I’d love a cup of coffee. I wish she knew how pretty she was. I wish I could drop this kid in the dryer sometimes. I just want her to be happy. I hope she didn’t find out what Ben said about her. I wish I knew how many calories were in a bite of muffin…

Joy is used to hearing Whispers. She’s used to walking down the street and instantly knowing people’s deepest, darkest desires. She uses this talent for good, to make people happy and give them what they want. But for her older sister, Jessica, the family gift is a curse, and she uses it to make people’s lives—especially Joy’s—miserable. Still, when Joy Hears Jessica whisper: I want to kill my Hearing dead, and kill me too if that’s what it takes, she knows she has to save her sister, even if it means deserting her friends, stealing a car and running away with a boy she barely knows—a boy who may have a dark secret of his own.

Um...what else can I say? This book sounds great! And the cover makes me want to pass out from excitement! I'm definitely going to be checking this one out at the library first thing.

The Dust of 100 Dogs Review

Author: A.S. King

Release Date: January 13, 2009

Pages: 336 (Paperback)

Publisher: Flux

Most Appropriate For Ages: 16 and up- depending on the teen.

In the late seventeenth century, famed teenage pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping the pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with the "dust of one hundred dogs" dooming her to one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body-with her memories intact. Now she's a contemporary American teenager and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.

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This was probably one of the most original, interesting plots I've read in quite a while.

Although lower on adventure and twists, I still managed to thoroughly enjoy The Dust of 100 Dogs. The Dust of 100 Dogs pushes the boundaries of the young adult genre- probably one for more mature teens. I originally had thought that this would be more of a paranormal book, but it wasn't at all. In fact, at times it was closer to a contemporary novel. It also had a little history thrown in, and of course some pirate goodness.

The Dust of 100 Dogs had some great characters, as well. It has 3 different points of view, one from Saffron, Emer's first human life after living the lives of 100 dogs, Emer, and Fred Livingstone. I dreaded the chapters from Fred Livingstone's point of view- he was easy to hate, which is obviously what the author wanted. Emer was my favorite, I think. I loved her. Saffron was a very interesting character as well. Emer has two love interests, David and Seanie. I have to say that this was one of the cases where I loved them both. In the end, I think David might've been the better choice for Emer, though.

The writing was really good. You need more than that? OK, well I thought that A.S. King's descriptions of piracy, love, fear, and a desire for more were great. There were times where the description was so vivid and real that I felt like I could've been there watching it myself. She's also a great storyteller.

The ending was perfect. I actually wasn't able to predict what was going to happen, which is always nice. When you pick this up, and I hope you do, please- for your own good- don't expect a paranormal pirate tale. Expect a really good, mature, gripping book that will be extremely hard for you to forget. I'm glad this is what I was told, otherwise I'm not sure how much I would've liked it. But, overall, it was great!

LM Preston Guest Post+Contest!

Hey guys! I've got a special treat for everyone today- especially aspiring authors. It's Shut Up! I'm Reading.'s first ever guest post with the very nice author of Explorer X-Alpha, LM Preston! She stopped by to talk to us about some advice she had on how to get published:

How to get published

Wow, getting published. What does that mean? I ask that because getting published mean different things to different people. First of all if you love writing, and you do it for the shear pleasure of the art, then publishing can happen for you. You just have to have an open mind, tough skin, and love your art. If you write because you want to be the next big author, who rakes in millions of dollars for your first book, then I am about to hit you over the head with a cold block of reality. That is like hitting the lotto, so if you don’t write because you love it, you are in for lots of frustration.

The steps to becoming published are completely from my point of view, and realize that there are lots of other sources out there and different ways to become published, just make sure that you are open to all.

FINISH THE DARNED THING!

First you need to finish your book. If you are planning on writing Young Adult fiction, start writing in 12-point courier font, double spaced. Aim for around 69K-77K words. Writers are unique people, and everyone has their own time table. However, if you want to get published, and this is your first time pursuing getting published YOU NEED TO FINISH YOUR MANUSCRIPT.

EDIT IT YOURSELF FIRST – AT LEAST 4 TIMES

Before you send your baby out to the world, you need to beautify it. After you wrote it, start writing a new manuscript, take a break from it. I mean it – step away from your newborn masterpiece for at least two weeks. Then print it out (I like to get mine printed in 6x9 book format at a local printer – like Staples) and read it, mark it up in red, and correct it. Please, please, please repeat this at least 3 more times, before you send it off to your BETA READERS they will greatly appreciate it.

FIND GINEA PIGS – BETA READERS TO READ IT

Ok, find people you trust to read your work. If you can try to find any friends, family, or colleagues that are willing to review it for you. Then join a critique group, check out some writers website that offer reviews of your work (www.absolutewrite.com is my favorite) or a class that will allow you to present your work for review, as well as read works. Put on your armor and don’t be sensitive (I know it will be hard). Note all the feedback, and keep what is useful while discarding comments that may be just a matter of the reader's personal taste.

EDIT IT AGAIN WHILE UTILIZING FEEDBACK FROM BETAS

You must edit it again. Realizing that your manuscript is a work of art, it must be improved, tightened, and clean up to look as though it is a finish work. Make sure your plot sticks, your grammatical errors are cleared away, and your work reads like a published work of art.

LEARN THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS

You have got to research, research, read and research again the publishing business. You must decide WHAT YOU WANT to do with your work.

- Whether you want a Large Publishing House to manage your work?

- A small publishing house to manage your book?

- What type of Agent you want?

- What type of book you wrote? YA? Fiction? Chic Lit? Sci-Fi?

- Whether your book is specific to your work, or a knowledge area?

- Whether you want to publish the book yourself?

DECIDE ON WHAT YOU WANT FROM WRITING

Some people feel that getting with a huge publisher is the final stamp of approval. However, there are lots of people who just want to write and share their story, and they don’t care if they make millions of dollars from it. So, I say that to make you think deeply about what you want to do with your work. There is one author that published chapters of her book via her blog, and another who published free chapters of his book as a free podcast. They were happy with their choices, because they just loved to write and wanted to share their story.

However, I must say, before you give your work away, please try to pursue getting a Literary Agent, and then landing a traditional publishing company to manage your work. If that doesn't work in your personal time limit, get creative, plow your own path, and do what in the end will make you and only you happy. Remember: if you plow your own path, do your research, map out what success is to you, and at the very least you will learn from your experiences.

WRITE A QUERY LETTER TO SEND TO AGENTS

This is where only the strong survive. The query letter, or as I say ‘Sales Letter’ that you send to Literary Agents to sale them on the idea of representing you and your book is harder to write than your book. I suggest taking a query writing class, going to author websites and look at examples, or going to author websites and getting their feedback on your letter. The author websites offer free advice, guidance and support. Again, I say be strong, because at this stage - only the strong survive.

QUERY LETTER READY? SALE THAT BABY!

Be prepared for a lot of rejection. So suck it up! Got on your armor? Remember, it’s a sales game! Toughen up and never say die! After you have fine tuned and cleaned up your query letter, send it out to agents that represent your genre. Mail out at least five a week, and keep a list of agents that respond and agents that don’t. If you get to about twenty rejection letters, you may want to revise your query letter before sending it out again. Keep querying, until you get signed by an agent.

NO AGENT IS BITING? SALE DIRECTLY TO PUBLISHER.

Then look up publishers that don’t require that you have an agent in order to submit your manuscript. There are several books, websites and writers organizations that have this information available. My first offer for publishing came from a small publisher who didn’t require agent only submissions.

STILL NO BITES?

Keep writing, while you continue to submit your first work. Also, re-evaluate the different publishing options available to you. Attend Author Conferences in order to mingle with publishers, agents, and other authors. Join writer's association and personally meet writer's that may have trailed a different path as you have. Re-evaluate what you want from your writing. Pursue contest, writing for magazines, anthologies.

KEEP WRITING!

Always keep writing. Do this in order to improve, have more products to sell, and to grow as an author.

by: LM Preston, Author of EXPLORER X - Alpha

Prologue



Chapter One








Thanks again for stopping by LM!

Contest:

I've got 1 copy of Explorer X-Alpha and one Explorer X-Alpha poster to give away to one lucky winner! In case the first chapter, prologue, and book trailer wasn't enough for you, here is the synopsis:

For most kids, a trip to space camp is a trip of a lifetime, for Aadi it was life altering. After receiving a camp immunization needed for travel to Mars, Aadi finds that the immunization is the catalyst of an insidious experiment. Lucky for him, he was engineered to survive, thrive, and dominate. Without realizing he is being trained to conquer worlds, and manipulated under the guise of a camp, he unfolds the plot too late for a change of fate. Aadi’s world is shaken upon the revelation that life before camp was not what it appeared. This solidifies his plan to save them all from the company that seeks to control him, only for his rescue to end abruptly due to a freak accident on a field trip to Mars. The full experiment is set in motion when he and his co-pilot, Eirena, crash in a distant galaxy called Shrenas, where they change and realize the full extent of their power. Holding onto his humanity, in the midst of turning into a god is Aadi's biggest battle yet. This turn of events causes him to put his childish thoughts away, forcing him to accept his change, and to decide to save a world, or to do what he was trained to do, dominate it. In the midst his struggles with his changes, his power is coveted by the warring leaders of Shrenas, and he is forced to choose sides to save a life, or to save himself. A decision that may prove just how much humanity he has left.

Rules:

You MUST follow LM Preston's blog to be entered.

US only. (Sorry!)

Contest ends December 9th.

Good luck everybody!

Waiting On Wednesday (12)

Hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine. My WoW for this week is:

SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ WINGS

Spells, the sequel to Aprilynne Pike's #1 New York Times best-selling debut, Wings, continues the story of a not-so-ordinary girl named Laurel.

Six months have passed since Laurel saved the gateway to the faerie realm of Avalon. Now she must spend her summer there and hone her skills as a Fall faerie. But Laurel quickly realizes that her human family and friends are still in mortal danger--and the gateway to Avalon is more compromised than ever.

When it comes time to protect those she loves, will she depend on David, her human boyfriend, for help? Or will she turn to Tamani, the electrifying faerie with whom her connection is undeniable?

Coming from HarperTeen on May 4, 2010.

I really enjoyed Wings, so I'm pretty darn excited for this one! There are a million places that Aprilynne Pike could take the series, and from the synopsis it sounds like she's got it going down the right path. And, come on, did you see that cover? It's awesome. May seems very far away....

Contest: ARC of Shiver

So, if any of you have read my review of Shiver, then you'll know how much I loved it. Although I didn't put this in my review, it's probably one of my favorite books. It took a lot of thinking but I finally decided to hold a contest for my gently used ARC of Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater that I won from The Story Siren, and ask for the hardcover for Christmas.

What Shiver is about:

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Just fill out this form to enter:



Edit: Two comments so far have asked if this contest is international, and since I loved this book so much and want to share its greatness, and since I love my followers SO much, this contest IS international!

Contest ends December 2nd.

Good luck everybody!

Judging A Book By It's Cover

This books looks, really, really good. And from what I've heard about it, it IS really, really good. But, what about the cover?

The picture on the cover just looks too animated for my taste. And I don't really like the color of the author's name. But, other than that, it's not bad. The font's nice, I like the idea for the picture (like I said though, the picture's too animated for my taste), and I've definitely seen worse. Although I probably wouldn't pick it up as soon as I saw the cover if I didn't know what it was about. But, that's just my opinion, what do you think?
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On a different note: I've decided to feature new and old bloggers to interview and/or guest post along with some author interviews that I'm going to try to arrange soon. If any bloggers (and, of course, authors) want to be interviewed or write a guest post for Shut Up! I'm Reading., don't hesitate to email me at: shutupjessicasreading @ gmail.com First come, first serve. (Just take away the spaces.) Thanks!

Waiting On Wednesday (11)

Waiting on Wednesdays is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine!

My pick for this week is:
Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeevs

Sixteen-year-old Hanna Järvinen is an unusual girl with a head full of hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet full of frilly, violet dresses. Everything a girl needs–except love. But that’s what mothers are for, and Hanna is sure she can reconcile with hers, even though she was abandoned as a baby.

Unfortunately, her mother lives in Portero, an odd East Texas town with doors that lead out of the world, flesh-eating creatures, and parasitical spirits–not an ideal environment for winning a mother’s love.

Hanna, however, refuses to let a few monsters interfere with her plans. If she has to flirt a little, lie a little, kill a little, or even bleed a little, she’ll do it. Hanna can live with monsters and mayhem, but she would rather die than live without love.

Release Date: January 5, 2010

My thoughts:
I recently discovered this on Shelfari. It sounds awesome! And it's pretty refreshing to see a book about a girl who's "different" since usually they're considered "normal" girls. Plus, look at the beautiful cover! I can't believe I haven't heard of it before....

Blue Moon Review

DO NO READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ EVERMORE

Release Date: July 7, 2009
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Age Group: 13+
Pages: 288 (Paperback)
Other Titles In The Series: Evermore

Just as Ever is learning everything she can about her new abilities as an immortal, initiated into the dark, seductive world by her beloved Damen, something terrible is happening to him. As Ever’s powers are increasing, Damen’s are fading—stricken by a mysterious illness that threatens his memory, his identity, his life.

Desperate to save him, Ever travels to the mystical dimension of Summerland, uncovering not only the secrets of Damen’s past—the brutal, tortured history he hoped to keep hidden—but also an ancient text revealing the workings of time. With the approaching blue moon heralding her only window for travel, Ever is forced to decide between turning back the clock and saving her family from the accident that claimed them—or staying in the present and saving Damen, who grows weaker each day...
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I have extremely mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it was a fun read that took the series places I didn't expect it to go. On the other hand, it definitely had its flaws....

The plot goes deeper into Summerland and Damen's past; two things that I was craving all though Evermore. It also talks a lot about magic and the moon, which I thought was pretty cool. But, at some points in the book, it was like the plot was going nowhere. Ever would just ask questions while going to school, and it seemed like the book would never end. Towards the end that problem was solved and (finally!) provided answers.

Ever kind of annoyed me in Blue Moon. She was fine in Evermore, and towards the beginning of this book was even less whiny than in evermore, but then as the book progressed and decisions had to be made by Ever, I just noticed her complete lack of confidence and self-esteem. It really started to irritate me. In Blue Moon, we see much less of Ever's friends Miles and Haven, and much more of Ever new friend, the physic Ava, who I didn't care for. We barely see any of Damen, either, which saddened me.

Alyson Noel's writing was, again, unimpressive. I often wondered if others disliked her writing style too, since she obviously tried to step it up, which could be weird when she tried to make the characters dialogue "better" too, especially since it was inconsistent; one minute they'd talk like normal teenagers, the next they wouldn't. The one thing that I genuinely liked about Alyson Noel's writing in Evermore was he snappy teen dialogue, but I feel like that's been taken away from me.

I didn't exactly predict the ending. Well, I predicted the overall ending, I suppose, but there was one twist that I didn't see coming. (I assume those that have read Blue Moon will know what I mean.) Despite my problems with the book, it was still a fun read. I'll definitely be picking up Shadowland, which comes out this month.

Happy Halloween!

So, I'm at this Halloween party, blogging to wish all of my reading friends a safe and happy Halloween. I'm not much of a party person, nor do I choose to hang out with teenagers (except for my friends, obviously). Anyways, Happy Halloween! May the book you're reading give you chills tonight!

Mini Challenge: 8 Of My Favorite Things And A Cover

Princess Bookie is hosting an awesome surprise contest along with a mini-challenge in honor of the read-a-thon (which I'm not participating in this time), and you have to list 8 of your favorite things. Mine are:

1. The obvious, family and friends
2. Another obvious answer, books, authors, publishers, trees, ink, type writers (now more commonly referred to as some weird thing called a...computer or something), and light to read
3. My type of music (tied with number 2)
4. DVR/Tivo, I have no idea how I would live with commercials
5. Fingernails, to scratch your back when it's just so itchy
6. Those sometimes cool, sometimes annoying emoticons to tell you what mood the typer is in. Example? "I hate you! :D" or, "You suck! XD" and my favorite, "You're such a dolphin and I wish you'd go swim in a pile of hot dogs. :/" ...I have no idea what was up with the last one, but the person was not happy, hence the unhappy emoticon. See how it works?
7. Reece's' Peanut Butter Cups, I could eat, like, 15 of them in one sitting
8. Tissues with lotion, if you've got a 5 day cold, and are blowing/wiping your nose constantly and only have the lousy non-lotioned kind, then your nose is gonna burn. Trust me. Been there.

Go over and add your link to Cindy of Princess Bookie's mini-challenge and enter to win some books that look fantastic!

I also created a cover for her other surprise contest!

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Thanks again to Cindy for hosting such awesomeness these past two-er, three-days!