Well, this week I got something totally awesome in the mail. An unexpected package! I opened it up and…it was a free book! Not just any free book. I was my friend Becca Whitham’s very first book! Becca and I have been friends and writer friends for a long time and to see her dream sitting on my dinning room table was so awesome. I’ve critiqued stuff for Becca and she’s critiqued stuff for me. We have attended writer’s conferences together and hoped and fretted and prayed that someday we would be skilled enough to be published. Now here this book sits, as proof of her arrival.

She even signed her story for me. Of course I read it first and I am so proud of her. I think her story was the best one! She did such a good job. Of course I enjoyed the other stories as well, but it was just so good to read Becca’s finished dream. Yay Becca! So that, my friends, is what I was reading this week. What did I learn from that reading…to keep working hard and develop your skills and someday it just might pay off.

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That dialogue can make or break a book.

I know, we all kindof know that. But it really is true. I just finished reading The Perilous Sea by Sherri Thomas for my long awaited reading day.

And I loved it!

This is everything that a good secular YA novel should be. Beautifully written with snappy dialogue and a fun twisty plot. But oh the dialogue, it was the best part. Now I am reading an old favorite. Guilt by Association by Gilbert Morris. And there are some cheesy moments of dialogue, especially the “preaching” scenes. When the dialogue sings, it just makes the book perfect. Now this book is a favorite because I love the characters and the mystery and the romance. But I find myself appreciating the kind of dialogue that Sherry Thomas pulled off more and more. It is a special thrill to find such wonderful dialogue in a book. Back to the drawing board. Now I need to make my dialogue sing!

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From reading The Blackberry Pie Murder I was reminded once again that readers like the comfortable and familiar. I like that Hannah is always going to find the body and that the corpse will always be clutching some delicious pastry. I like that she can never choose between Norman and Mike and that her cat is always fat. I know exactly what I’m going to get from these books, giving me the confidence to pick one up when I am in the mood for a cozy mystery.

From reading the Alanna the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce, I am reminded of how much we like seeing a determined character get what she is striving for. But that we want her journey to be difficult and have surprises and pain as well as joy.

I listened to a secular vampire book in the car on the way to the conference and was reminded why book readers have been falling for the loveable but dangerous anti-hero for centuries. How can you trust him? But how can you resist him? What with his awesome Russian accent and rescuing the heroine from certain doom and quoting crazy poetry all the time?

Some good books, which were compelling for completely different reasons.

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What did I learn from my reading this week…

Well, this week I read “The Burning Sky” by Sherry Thomas. I have always wanted to read something by Sherry Thomas ever since I read about her on Agent Kristin Nelson’s blog. She posted her query letter and it was awesome. But Sherry Thomas writes very spicy secular romance and I had to send her book back to the library as it was…a bit too much.

But readers are in luck, because she has just written something for the YA market. Now this is secular YA so there is a lot of sexual tension and some inappropriate teen guy type humor, but no sex in this book. A few kisses and loads of awesome wizardly action and fighting and sweet romance. And could the cover get an awesomer? My boys all ran across the room to look at the cover when they saw it on my coffee table. They then informed me that I must read this one next. The one with the phoenix.

What did I learn? That even fabulous and experienced writers must learn and grow to switch markets. In her acknowledgements she thanks Agent Kristin for the 6 drafts of this book they went through together. Sherry Thomas is a veteran writer with about 10 published romances under her belt. But still she was willing to learn. Her work paid off. I loved this book. If you enjoy secular YA fantasy this is one to add to your list. And the boy humor…I have three sons. Are boys ever completely appropriate???

Photo from http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-burning-sky-sherry-thomas/1114298576?ean=9780062207296

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I read “Storm Peak” by John Flanagan this week. I love his YA books, Ranger’s Apprentice and The Brotherband Chronicles. This book was an adult thriller and I enjoyed it, but there were several pages I had to skip due to excessively um…passionate encounters. As I look back on this book one thing stands out to me.

Women are not like men think they are.

It makes me greatly fear writing a male character. Perhaps I should just stick to writing girls.

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Well, I tried to read the first book of an author I really like. I think it was self-published. She has a very successful series about a post-apocalyptic princess that I enjoy. I try to give a book a fair chance. But I got about 60-80 pages in and made an important realization. Talent is not enough. One must indeed have a plot. Unless you are a fabulously gifted literary novelist, then you don’t even need punctuation.

So yep, one does need a plot. The book had interesting characters and a cool premise and lots of potential…but it didn’t hold me. The main character didn’t have any pressing need. She just had to survive for 100 years without falling in love or talking to people. But does her true love fall into her arms with a bullet in his shoulder needing to be nursed back to health? Nope. He hadn’t even shown up! After 60-80 pages!!! So yep, I took it back to the library and really hoped that someday I can get a traditional publisher because even for talented writers capable of great things, it is hard to make it all come out right without a good professional editor.

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Anyway, the three books are A World Without Heroes, Seeds of Rebellion, and Chasing the Prophecy. I enjoyed the first book very much, but by the second and third I was totally immersed in the story world. I love it when stories are such a part of you that you even dream about them. The hero of our story is an everyday teen who accidentally falls into the open maw of a hippo at the zoo and is transported to another world. It is a world ruled by an evil sorcerer. A world that has totally given up. What I love best about this series: the wonderful character development. The author has a bunch of strange and unusual people on this journey with his hero and manages to make you love all of them.

Anyway, if you are looking for a good fantasy YA with a fast-paced classic hero story, Beyonders is the way to go.

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That a reader doesn’t want a romance to be too easy. I’ve been reading some of the O’Malley books by Dee Henderson and the The Prince by Kiera Cass. I realized that I don’t want the hero and heroine to get along at the beginning of a book. I want there to be problems, I want there to be difficulties and hurt feelings and angry exchanges. They could even hate each other for a little bit, that would be great! The Healer started out with the hero and heroine dating and liking each other. It was a nice love story, but I kind of wanted them to hate each other at first and then fight their way through it. Truth Seeker is my favorite book of hers, the hero and heroine have lots of problems. I realized that I find this sort of love story much more interesting. So I guess that is my brilliant writing insight this week, less love and more hate…then well get back to the love thing once were all ready.

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