A Chat with Book Chatter Cath

Book reviewers are awesome. As a writer, I can't thank them enough for helping to promote my work. I highly value their time and opinions and so I thought it would be great to start having them come to YAlicious for a chat.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome the lovely, Book Chatter Cath, who always gives refreshingly honest reviews. Her enthusiasm for reading is contagious and I'm so excited to have her as my first guest reviewer :)

Welcome along, Cath. It's super cool to have you :)

What were your favourite types of books as a kid?

Twist-a-plots or pick-a-plots I think they were called…after each chapter you could choose what should come next in a story and change the middle and ending. I liked having the ability to pick alternative storylines.

What is your favourite genre now and why do you like it?
I don’t have one distinctive favourite, but I do read a lot of YA. There just wasn’t as great an array of YA books available back in the eighties as there is now, so I’m making up for lost time!

What do you look for in a book description?
Tease me. I like a blurb to tell me just enough to interest me, but not enough that I can guess as to how it ends. A short teaser, rather than a blow-by-blow.

Is there a fatal flaw a writer can make that will stop you from reading a book?
I hate sentences that go on and on and have no punctuation and spell words wrong and use bad grammar and generally read like they were written by a twelve year old like you know like you know!
*snort* seriously though, even if an author is going to self publish, I would highly recommend they get a proof reader or an editor, or even just a family friend to help out. There is nothing worse than reading a story that is full of basic errors.

What do you like most about reviewing books for authors?
Hmm, that’s a hard one because I don’t always like everything about a book and sometimes conveying my feelings can be difficult to do without hurting an author’s feelings. I do love the fact that most authors just want you to get it, whatever it may be.

Is it sometimes hard to write a fair, honest review? What's the most challenging aspect?
Yes, it can be hard to write a fair and unbiased review, especially if I have LOVED previous books in a series and then book 4 or something comes around and I’m like “what were you thinking, that was a complete and utter copout” Sometimes the most challenging thing can be putting your hand up and saying “I did not like this because…” I sometimes feel as nervous as hell hitting that publish button on a low rated review.

Are there any trends in the publishing world that you do or do not like?
I’m so over the love triangle. The girl who is in love with one boy but is unwilling to let go of a second boy storyline is doing my head in!! And if she is kissing them both, and leading them on – oh Lordy, that makes me mad - lol!!

What's the most recent book you've read that you thought would make an awesome movie?

That’s really funny because I just had this conversation with my Mum after I lent her my copies of the Time Spirit trilogy!!!!
I kid you not, we both agree that Gemma and Harrison’s story would be awesome as either a movie or TV show; however, I would hate for some director to come along and loose the essence of the story by making changes.

A REVEIWER'S RECOMMENDATIONS

A traditionally published author you love:
Nalini Singh

And indie author you love:
Mireille Chester is a fantastic indie author, but I’m in embarrassing fangirl love with T.G. Ayer and Melissa Pearl *snort*!!

One of your favourite YA books:
Dead Radiance by T.G. Ayer because it’s one of the few stories based around a myth/legend that I felt did justice to the original inspiration.

One of your favourite Adult books:
Too hard!! Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh blew me away. It was the first book of hers that I read and she hooked me immediately!

A book you've read more than once and the reason why:
Man, really?! The only book that comes to mind is The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis. I read it as a kid, a teenager, and as an adult; I’ve even read it to my girls. It’s a classic. I love the magic of it, and I’d love to meet a real talking lion like Aslan!!

I'm currently reading that book to my son. He's loving it. Great choice :)

If you'd like to connect with Cath online, you can follow the links below:

Blog

Goodreads

Twitter

Facebook

Book Highlight - Dead Embers by T. G. Ayer

I recently finished reading Dead Embers by T. G. Ayer. It was the second book in the Valkyrie series and I thought it was even better than the first.

Ayer is a stunning writer. She knows how to paint a beautiful picture with her words... mix that with tense action, a solid mystery and an MC you can't helping cheering for and you have yourself a pretty solid story. I gave the book 4.5 stars. You can read my review here.

I thought it would be fun for you to get to know the MC - Bryn - a little better today. So Ayer has put together a character profile for me to share with you. I hope you enjoy it :)

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 Name:

BRYN (Brynhilde) HALBROOK, 17. Bryn hates her given name and hopes nobody will ever find out what a dorky real name she has. Little does she know the history behind the name and how it will rewrite her very future.

Description:

Green eyes, red hair and eventually a pair of hot red wings

Traits:

Bryn is a loner. She sees herself as a freak and is happy to navigate the outskirts of school society. She's stubborn, headstrong and lonely, but longs for friendship.

Food:

Ms. Custers fried chicken tops her list even when her appetite mysteriously disappears. Chocolate comes a close second. The Mead from Asgard soon becomes Bryn's favorite drink though she wonders at its power to intoxicate her senses.

Music:

Green Day and Linkin Park, with a secret love for Melody Gardot.

Favorite things:

Amber pendant given to her by her father. Golden leaf given to her by the Glasir tree. The rose-petal encrusted soap from the Asgard Baths.

Dislikes:

Hamburgers, menthol sweets, cigarette smoke, Astrid, Loki

Ambivalent about:

The sword of Brunhilde, the Eye of the Dragon. Freya. Bifrost (bridge of the gods)

Skills:

Bryn has always been able to see the strange golden glow around people around her. It's not until someone close to her dies that she realizes the meaning of the glow is Death.

Bryn also discovers that she is a skilled fighter - both hand to hand combat and weaponry, as a band of thugs soon find out when they try to attack her.

In Asgard, training and fighting come easy for Bryn, but soon a mysterious power begins to blossom within her when she fights. Will Bryn's own courage and strength win out, or will the berserker rage that threatens her eventually overcome her in the end?

Special place in her heart for:

Ms. Custer, Brody, Joshua, Sigrun, Njall, Thor, Fen, Steinn

Romance:

Aidan Lee - son of her fathers arch-enemy. It's instant attraction. The kind she has no control of. Hormones, chemistry, who knows but Aidan gets Bryn all hot and bothered from Day 1. The couple barely get a chance to get to know each other before they are thrown into a life-threatening mission on the hunt for Freya's necklace. Bryn battles her feelings for Aidan and the guilt she feels for having put his life in danger. Little does she know there is much more than one obstacle to her relationship with Aidan. Can she come to terms with who he really is? Or is there someone else who deserves her heart more?

Character:

Bryn is sensitive, though impulsive. She is caring but sometimes selfish - a result of not having people around her who truly care for her. she is very independent, often refusing the help offered to her. Will she learn that it takes far more strength to trust than it does to walk alone?

Accepting change is ones life is not easy, especially when part of that change is accepting the existence of a mythology as reality. Can Bryn successfully transition from normal teen to Valkyrie?

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You can find both these awesome books on Amazon...

Dead Radiance

Dead Embers

Screwing Up Babylon - New Release by C. M. Keller

 Babylon, one of the most powerful and notorious empires ever, is the last place Mark wants to go. But when he discovers his girlfriend Miranda has been kidnapped and given to the king as a concubine, he travels through the colors of time to rescue her. It won’t be easy, not when the Hanging Gardens are a trap, his life is the prize in a game, and time is a prison. It will take all Mark’s cunning, the help of his friends, and a crazed chimp to free Miranda. When he does, time itself begins to unravel, and a life must be sacrificed or no one will survive.

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of this book and I loved it. You can see my review here.

Since the book has just come out, I invited C. M. Keller to visit YAlicious and tell us why she chose Babylon as her setting for the second book in her Screwing Up Time series.

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One of the joys of writing time travel is that all of history becomes your playground. No time or culture is off limits. Of course, the question then becomes what time period do you choose. And that’s the question Melissa posed for me when she asked me to write this blog post. Why Babylon?

I have to admit that Babylon has fascinated me for most of my life. My first contact with Babylon was the story of Esther—an ancient beauty pageant winner who almost ended up as a concubine. Then, I fell in love with the story of Scheherazade, a Persian woman who survives by cleverness and stories. When I was in school, I read about the Code of Hammurabi and the Hanging Gardens. Later as an adult, I taught the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Yale Museum of British Art’s paintings of Babylon captured my imagination.

When I began Screwing Up Babylon and discovered that Peter had kidnapped Miranda to use her to manipulate Mark, I knew where Peter would take her. Babylon. I actually tried to talk myself out of the location because I knew it would present several problems. One, the language—the people of Babylon speak Akkadian, and my main characters do not. So it would be a huge challenge to engage the reader in the plot when Mark and Miranda can’t understand what anyone around them is saying. My other concern was that the culture of Babylon was violent and life was cheap. I knew if I set the novel there, the story would be darker.

So I tried to think of other settings, but they weren’t right. This sequel had to take place in Babylon because Babylon itself was a character—what was going to happen in the story could only take place in Babylon. So I stopped trying to force the story to fit somewhere else. And when I did, the story wrote itself.

Hopefully, readers come away from the book not only with a better understanding of many sides of Babylon, both the exotic and the bleak, but also a greater appreciation of their own culture.

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I loved seeing Babylon through the eyes of Mark and Miranda. You captured the city beautifully and it was the perfect setting for Screwing Up Babylon. Thanks so much for your insights, Connie.

The first book in this series - Screwing Up Time - is currently only 99c on Amazon. If you'd like to pick up a copy and grab yourself a copy of Screwing Up Babylon, you can follow the link below.

Amazon.com

Betwixt by Melissa Pearl - New Release

As many of you may have already seen, Betwixt is now available for purchase!! Yay!!

In keeping with the new feel of this blog (check out post: It's Time To Make Some Changes), I thought I'd kick things off with Betwixt. Perfect timing, right :)

Rather than just giving you all the normal run down on Betwixt, which many have already seen, I am actually going to answer a question put forward by one of the blog readers instead.

How do you think your childhood influenced your writing, if at all?
"I was raised in a very happy home. We did travel a lot and live around the world and I was quite a shy child, so this did make it challenging for me. In saying that, it was also good for me to see so many different cultures and be pushed out of my comfort zone. 

When I look back, one thing that has influenced my writing hugely is the fact I became a very good observer. I would often stand quietly with my parents and brother just watching... always watching. I used to love studying people (I still do). This has helped my writing so much. I was able to see different cultures first hand, understand how people react to each other differently... understand that people are different. It gave me a healthy respect and I feel as though I can include so much of this in my writing.

I have witnessed pain, poverty, desperation, loud celebrations, mob mentality... I have heard so many different accents, watched how people greet and respond to each other in a myriad of ways.

I can bring all of these observations to the writing table and I think it helps me create rich, complex characters that people can relate to."

Thank you so much for submitting this question, Paddy.

Betwixt is filled with characters that have been made complex by the harsh realities of life. It is a story I hope touches the heart and gives everyone a glimpse of the power of unconditional love.

If you would like to purchase a copy, it is available through Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Smashwords. It will soon also be available on Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony and Kobo.

For every copy sold, $1 is being donated to Love146 - an organisation fighting against child trafficking and exploitation.

It's Time To Make Some Changes

Over the past month, I've been thinking a lot about this blog. I ran the Author-fest throughout October and had so much fun with it. It made me realize how many amazing authors there are out there and how I want to get to know them better.

Having had a chat with Brenda, we think it is time to make some changes to our blog.

YAlicious is all about celebrating Young Adult books and movies. So it's time to start doing that a little more. From now on, we are going to dedicate this blog to book and movie reviews, author guests posts, blogger guest posts and chats about what author's are working on.

We want this to be a place of discussion and fun.

If you are an author, or know of an author you think would be good for this blog, please let us know in the comments section. This also applies to book bloggers. You guys read so many amazing books, we'd love to hear your favourites and find out what you think about writers as well.

We're also on the hunt for questions you want answered. As a reader or writer, what kinds of interview questions do you want to ask an author or book blogger?

Thank you so much to the followers we have and thank you in advance to all the wonderful guests we will having visiting our blog. We're so excited about these changes!!

Let the fun begin :)

PS - Posting times are going to shift as well. We will now be posting on a Monday and a Thursday.