NaNoWriMo = Complete!

I finished National Novel Writing Month's challenge of 50,000 words in the month of November tonight with a grand total of 50,029! I still have at least 3 scenes to write to complete this first draft, but I hit the magic number to be classified a WINNER for NaNoWriMo!

I am so excited to be done, at least with the timed challenge portion of this novel. My goal is to get the final three scenes written in the coming weeks so that I can count it as a complete first draft by the end of the year.

Harry Potter Re-Read

I decided to finally ignore my overflowing TBR pile of books and e-books to do something I have wanted to do for at least a year – re-read the Harry Potter series. I flew through the first few the two weeks before my wedding but had to wait for the remainder to come out as they were released. I have always wanted to read them back to back so that’s what I am going to do for the rest of 2010!

Review: The Almost Archer Sisters by Lisa Gabriele

From Goodreads: Georgia "Peachy" Archer always thought she was happy with her choices in life: quitting college, marrying young, raising two boys in the same small town where she grew up. But just as Peachy's life is beginning to settle into a careful routine, her sister's life begins to dangerously unravel. Beth Archer chose a different life: fancy apartment in Manhattan, fancy friends, making lots of money. She's been on her own since she was a teenager, and she's still on her own, outgrowing dress styles and boyfriends faster than Peachy can inherit them. But on a visit home one weekend, Beth upends everything Peachy thought she knew about being happy.
In the tradition of Jennifer Weiner and Melissa Bank, The Almost Archer Sisters is a refreshingly honest portrait of sisterhood, motherhood, and female mayhem in its many states of grievance, grace, and forgiveness

My review: This story started off very slow and the main character, Peach, came across as an unhappy person jealous of others who tries to appear truly happy with her life. She was annoying and spent most of her narration complaining about everyone and everything which I found hard to read. She seemed very reactive in her life/choices rather than proactive. I also struggled through the portions of dialogue between Peach's husband and her sister, Beth. They were each other's first love and first sexual partner (with major consequences) so they had a long history and the conversation always seemed a tad inappropriate.

About halfway through the book the plot finally picked up steam after a major relationship upheaval in Peach's life leaving her taking a plane to New York. She has a wonderful two days away, staying in her sister's apartment. She gets a window into her sister's life and what her life could be without the stress of two children, including one with life threatening seizures. The trip turns into a time of self-evaluation. One that leaves her wanting her family, but also finding the way back to finding herself.

The story was good but lacked deep emotion for me. There are other novels I would recommend with the same basic plot elements before I would recommend this one.

Grade: D

NaNoWriMo Week 3 Wrap Up

This week had a positive start but just went downhill. I ran out of motivation to write as the week progresses. Life got busy and I started realizing how behind I was with things I had to do. Also, I realized I was rushing through major things to have time to write, with possibly disastrous results. Such as, writing down a paycheck amount wrong, writing down about $400 too much! Luckily I figured it out before it caused major issues but I realized that NaNoWriMo is only a fun thing to do but my life is a have-to. So I took a few nights off from writing to enjoy my husband, get some things done and read! Through this experience I am realizing how very much I am missing my books!

That said, I am still going to try for the 50K by November 30th, but if I don't make it because my life came first, I'm ok with that too.

Total word count: 33,221. It's just shy of 1800 words behind but I'm ok with that.

Blue Nude Giveaway Winner

I'm a little late in posting this but congrats are in order to Carol W for winning the Blue Nude giveaway. Congrats!!! I hope you enjoy it!

NaNoWriMo Update – Week 2

Week 2 has surprisingly been less scary than I thought. Things I have learned:

1. Head colds make for cloudy writing. Luckily, the cold my daughter so lovingly passed to me didn’t stay with me very long.

2. I am squeezing in writing time easier than I thought. Of course my reading has drastically dropped off but only part of that is related to writing. The other part is related to the book I was reading not being so great. 250 pages took me over a week to read. Blah. I have been reading while I am eating lunch shoveling my salad into my mouth as fast as I can chew, so that I can squeeze in a good 45 minutes worth of writing. I am finding myself particularly wordy during that time. It is almost like I word sprint the whole time.

3. I am getting into some more sensitive scenes and they are taking a bit more creative energy that the first week. I’m not sure my romantic scene is really romantic or just overly cheesy but oh well, the words still count, right? Right!

Total Word Count: 22,686

What I foresee for week 3:

I hope to start the week off writing the tragedy of this novel, the death of own of my main characters. He is going to meet a horrible, but realistic, end that is going to take a lot of emotion out of me, I can feel it already. Not only have I really started to like this character and his relationship with my main female character but is death is something that could happen within my household so it is a bit of reality check for me too. I may not be able to work on this scene and the immediate after either at work because I feel like I will be crying while writing it. And crying at my desk at work, that’s just plain embarrassing. Been there, Done that, Got the T-Shirt.

Review: Juliet by Anne Fortier

From Goodreads: Twenty-five-year-old Julie Jacobs is heartbroken over the death of her beloved aunt Rose. But the shock goes even deeper when she learns that the woman who has been like a mother to her has left her entire estate to Julie’s twin sister. The only thing Julie receives is a key—one carried by her mother on the day she herself died—to a safety-deposit box in Siena, Italy.

This key sends Julie on a journey that will change her life forever—a journey into the troubled past of her ancestor Giulietta Tolomei. In 1340, still reeling from the slaughter of her parents, Giulietta was smuggled into Siena, where she met a young man named Romeo. Their ill-fated love turned medieval Siena upside-down and went on to inspire generations of poets and artists, the story reaching its pinnacle in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.

But six centuries have a way of catching up to the present, and Julie gradually begins to discover that here, in this ancient city, the past and present are hard to tell apart. The deeper she delves into the history of Romeo and Giulietta, and the closer she gets to the treasure they allegedly left behind, the greater the danger surrounding her—superstitions, ancient hostilities, and personal vendettas. As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families involved in the unforgettable blood feud, she begins to fear that the notorious curse—“A plague on both your houses!”—is still at work, and that she is destined to be its next target. Only someone like Romeo, it seems, could save her from this dreaded fate, but his story ended long ago. Or did it?

From Anne Fortier comes a sweeping, beautifully written novel of intrigue and identity, of love and legacy, as a young woman discovers that her own fate is irrevocably tied—for better or worse—to literature’s greatest star-crossed lovers.

My review: Disclaimer: I am not a fan of Romeo and Juliet. Sure there is a good plot in there somewhere full of drama, love, loss and death but the whole overly flowery language just kills it for me. Juliet, is everything that Shakespeare’s novel isn’t – it has modern day drama stemming from century old drama, causing a swirl of who do I trust and who is trying to kill me. I need the modern day touch to connect, or at least to follow along.

The mystery unravels slowly throughout the novel, sometimes in pieces and sometimes in big buckets of twists and turns. Julie and Janice are thrust into different futures the day their Aunt Rose dies, and this one event starts the wildfire of truths, lies and deadly consequences. The descriptions of Sienna are beautiful and I would be lying if I didn’t look up travel information while reading this book. How I would love to travel to such a beautiful and historical location. Wound within this plot is the story of a woman learning who see is and what she wants, all while struggling with her newly discovered name and lineage. This novel has it all including some romance.

Grade: B

Review: Four Thousand Miles by Jesi Lea Ryan

From Goodreads: When Natalie Spencer loses both her career and marriage in the same morning, the emotional shock sends her on a spontaneous journey to England. There, she is nearly mugged in a Tube station, but an introverted songwriter named Gavin Ashby scares off her attackers. Recognizing Natalie’s fragile state, Gavin offers help and invites her to recuperate from her trauma at his country home.

As she adjusts to her new role and surroundings, Natalie finds healing by helping others. Gavin and his family begin to accept Natalie into their hearts, leading her to a choice…abandon her old life in the States and trust in a new chance at love, or flee once again?

My review: Who hasn’t wanted to fly away when life gets rough? End up in a new place surrounded by new people who don’t know your story, your troubles. Well, Natalie does just this after waking up to the worst day of her life with everything falling in shambles around her. She doesn’t know which way is up or down or who she really is anymore. She takes off on the first flight to an English speaking locale, and lands in London. This bold and reckless step takes her on an adventure that provides her freedom, wings and roots.

At first I struggled with the getting on a plane and not telling anyone where you are aspect of this novel. I just found it hard to believe but I have never been in those shoes. Plus, I have a lot of close family near me and Natalie was limited on family and friends which enabled her to fly away almost undetected for awhile. Her adventure in London starts off rocky, reflecting her whole meltdown and lands her smack dab into trouble. It felt a little like irresponsible college kid behavior but I loved how that made the emotions more real and the beginning of her new phase more powerful.

Gavin is like a breath of fresh air for Natalie. He is calm, kind and wants to help her without asking for anything in return. What she doesn’t realize is that he has a hurting heart too and needs something to help him heal. Natalie becomes that for Gavin just as Gavin becomes that for Natalie. As their friendship blooms, emotions swirl and the reality of jet setting across the country come to blows. At about the half way point I just couldn’t put the characters and their troubles down. I had to read on.


I really enjoyed how this novel had love and trust woven through the text. The story is about finding yourself and starting over, embracing the unknown and making dreams a reality. It was romantic, but not so much in the traditional manor. The romance showed in the location, the deep emotions, the passion for music and creating things with your own hands.

Grade: B

Four Thousand Miles is available now, and you can buy it in e-book format on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

Review: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson

From Goodreads: Laurel Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty. Coming from a family with a literal skeleton in their closet, she's developed this talent all her life, whether helping her willful mother to smooth over the reality of her family's ugly past, or elevating humble scraps of unwanted fabric into nationally acclaimed art quilts.

Her sister Thalia, an impoverished "Actress" with a capital A, is her opposite, and prides herself in exposing the lurid truth lurking behind life's everyday niceties. And while Laurel's life was neatly on track, a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, and a lovely home in lovely suburban Victorianna, everything she holds dear is thrown into question the night she is visited by an apparition in her bedroom. The ghost appears to be her 14-year-old neighbor Molly Dufresne, and when Laurel follows this ghost , she finds the real Molly floating lifeless in her swimming pool. While the community writes the tragedy off as a suicide, Laurel can't. Reluctantly enlisting Thalia's aid, Laurel sets out on a life-altering investigation that triggers startling revelations about her own guarded past, the truth about her marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

Richer and more rewarding than any story from Joshilyn Jackson, THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING is destined both to delight Jackson's loyal fans and capture a whole new audience.

My review: For the first half of this book I struggled with the whole plot and the entire cast of characters. There was a lot of darkness and was generally depressing, from the dead girl in the swimming pool to the multiple family dramas. As the story continued and some information was revealed about Laurel’s past and how Thalia played a deep role in ways Laurel never knew, or would have expected, the story finally pulled me in. This story battles over the lines of poor and middle class. Can a person leave behind the memories of their poor relatives by hiding in their middle class neighborhood? What happens when that destitute family shows up to turn your perfect life upside down and backwards?

I didn’t feel the Southern portion as much in this novel, as in Gods in Alabama, Joshilyn Jackson’s other novel I have read. I was hoping for more Southern charm, but it was more about those who live in poverty and those who pretend it doesn’t exist who just happen to be living in the South. This was an average book that just didn’t wrap me up the way Gods in Alabama did.

Grade: C

Quick NaNoWriMo Update - Week 1

My first week of my first NaNoWriMo has come to an end. It has been an interesting experience! I have been running behind on my word count most of the week but am really enjoying the process. I got caught up (with a few words to spare) on Saturday night and continued by lead into tonight.

My final week one word count total is: 11,731! All done within 7 days! I am super proud of myself...I want to win NaNoWriMo but even this amount is an accomplishment to soak up!

I went to my first write-in on Thursday and had a great time meeting other writers and participating in word sprints! I was a little, all right, immensely terrified to go to this write-in. I'm new to NaNo and writing novels (I have written off and on throughout my life but never a novel) and thought I might be looked at as a newbie faker person. Alas, everyone was super nice and I had a really great time. I might stop by this same group's Write or Die event next Saturday to have some dedicated writing time outside the house.

On My Wish List (12)

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

Why it is on my wish list: I loved the Luxe series so when I found out the author was writing another historical fiction young adult novel I immediately added it to my Goodreads TBR shelf. I have read a few reviews of this book already and it sounds like I will love it.

From Amazon: The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties. Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey escaped their small Midwestern town for New York's glittering metropolis. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star…Cordelia is searching for the father she's never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes. Overnight, she enters a world more thrilling and glamorous than she ever could have imagined—and more dangerous. It's a life anyone would kill for . . . and someone will. The only person Cordelia can trust is Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. But Astrid's perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets. Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls' fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes an epic new series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

Review: Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

From Goodreads: "Ruby, where is your mother?" Ruby knows that the game is up. For the past few months, she's been on her own in the yellow house, managing somehow, knowing that her mother will probably never return.That's how she comes to live with Cora, the sister she
hasn't seen in ten years, and Cora's husband Jamie, whose down-to-earth demeanor makes it hard for Ruby to believe he founded the most popular networking Web site around. A luxurious house, fancy private school, a new wardrobe, the promise of college and a future—it's a dream come true. So why is Ruby such a reluctant Cinderella, wary and defensive? And why is Nate, the genial boy next door with some secrets of his own, unable to accept the help that Ruby is just learning to give?

My review: I love Sarah Desson. She is funny and real and if you haven’t checked out her twitter account, you must follow her starting right now! All my gushing at her as a person aside, I must say I enjoy her writing too. She tackles real issues that teenagers face, and keeps the plot reality based without unrealistic endings. Ruby has a lackluster Mom who spends more time with men and alcohol than a job or her daughter. Ruby has maintained their life by juggling school and work while desperately trying to keep her appearance as a normal high school student. She is successful at this balancing act until her Mom bolts without a word into the great unknown. Ruby manages to live for a while, keeping the secret hidden by doing without the heat until she can pay the bills until her landlords catch on and notify authorities. Ruby is then shipped off to Cora, her estranged sister’s house in Yuppyville across town. As she settles into her new routine she begins to learn that everything isn’t always how it seems and the same goes for people. Pretty outsides can hide secrets darker than hers and those secrets can make or break relationships. I thought this was a heartfelt story about love. It doesn’t just show the roses and happy moments but also the heartache that comes with loving someone who won’t let you help escape an unhealthy situation.

Grade: B

October wrap-up

October was another pretty good month for me with 11 books read, not my best but not my worst either. I hit the 100 book mark during October so it has a special place in my heart!

I read the following:

Extraordinary by Werlin, Nancy
Bloodroot by Greene, Amy
Planning to Live by Wardell, Heather
Speak by Anderson, Laurie Halse
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Alexie, Sherman
Twenty Boy Summer by Ockler, Sarah
Blue Nude by Rosner, Elizabeth
Juliet by Fortier, Anne
Lock and Key by Dessen, Sarah
If I Stay (If I Stay, #1) by Forman, Gayle
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Jackson, Joshilyn

Review: Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin

 From Goodreads: Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new kid in school, and the two girls become as close as sisters . . . until Mallory's magnetic older brother, Ryland, shows up during their junior year. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe, but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, about herself. Soon she'll discover the shocking truth about Ryland and Mallory: that these two are visitors from the faerie realm who have come to collect on an age-old debt. Generations ago, the faerie queen promised Pheobe's ancestor five extraordinary sons in exchange for the sacrifice of one ordinary female heir. But in hundreds of years there hasn't been a single ordinary girl in the family, and now the faeries are dying. Could Phoebe be the first ordinary one? Could she save the faeries, or is she special enough to save herself?

My review: First off, when I reserved this online on my library's website before the purchased it, I just thought it was a self-standing novel. I didn't realize it was a sequel to another book until I was halfway through it! Oops! That said, I think it could stand well on its own. I plan to read the first book at some point in the near future.

The way this book was written, with narration changes from the Faerie and Phoebe had you connecting and siding with each side. This made the ending even more powerful and bittersweet. I hated how Phoebe was taken advantage of in the love department, even if their was some magical help. I did love the premise of past promises/deals hitting their due date generations later. It created an almost-historical fiction novel feel.

Grade: C