Tales of Brierley

Anita Stansfield is a LDS fiction writer who specializes in LDS romances.  What makes this series different is that it is in a period setting, starting in the U.K. (England and Scotland) and moving on to the U.S. as the main characters join the Church and head west.  My least favorite of the series was the last book, In the Valley of the Mountains, mainly because I had issues relating to the main character – she was just too blind to the truth and too judgmental for my tastes, but I honestly adored Jamie.  

Towers of Brierley was the first book written and I think is my favorite of the bunch with an original plot (though I did figure out the big reveal before the half-way point of the book, I still found the journey enjoyable).

Shadows of Brierley are as series of sequels following the children of some of the main characters from Towers.  

If you are a fan of Anita Stansfield, I would definitely recommend these.  If you want some clean romance, go for it!

Tuesdays at the Castle

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George 4 out of 5 stars

I first came across Jessica Day George browsing through the BYU Bookstore's selection.  It was a common pastime of mine.  I've been visiting the BYU Bookstore for pretty much as long as I can remember and once I was actually attending BYU for school, I made sure to go at least once a month, just to see the new selection available.  The thing about the BYU bookstore - it has a great selection of fiction books written by LDS authors.

Now, you might be thinking, what does that have to do with anything?  Well, as a aspiring LDS fiction author, the answer becomes evident.

 BYU used to have the Teen Fiction/Youth section by the Twilight Zone and it was then that I noticed there was a particular shelf that seemed to be designated to primarily to LDS authors.    It was then that I noticed a certain book.  This book didn't seem like much, but the cover featured a young woman dressed in a beautiful ball gown.  One thing that most people don't readily know about me is that I have a certain fascination for ball gowns and gowns in general.  And this one instantly stuck out in my mind.  Without even reading the inside flap, I bought the book.  Since it was titled "Princess at the Midnight Ball" I couldn't help but think, "I love the ballgown and I like fairy tales and books to do with Princesses, so, why not?"

This began my journey with Jessica Day George.  Once I read this one book, I had to find every other book I can written by the author.

Tuesdays at the Castle just so happens to be the most recent work by Jessica Day George.

This book was written for a younger audience, but I still found it rather enjoyable.  It's a short little thing, only 237 pages on my Nook and I whipped through it in just a few hours.  Celie is the youngest princess living at Castle Glower, a magical castle that changes every Tuesday.  Celie is the only one to take an active interest in the changes within and tries to map everything out in her atlas.

Life goes on as normal until her parents are ambushed and its unknown whether they are dead or alive.  Celie along with her brother and her sister must defend the castle from their neighboring countries while everyone is out to prove that they are unfit to rule the kingdom.  With plots to take over the throne in abundance, Celie and her siblings must take a stand.  And why shouldn't they win, with Castle Glower on their side?

High Heel Mysteries, One for the Money and Wolf Legend

High Heel Mysteries – (Spying in High Heels, Killer in High Heels, Undercover in High Heels, Alibi in High Heels, Mayhem in High Heels, and Fearless in High Heels)  by Gemma Halliday. 1 out of 5 stars.

I’ll admit that I read this entire series, though I wouldn’t recommend them (I had just gotten the entire series for less than $15 which is the only reason why I had all of the books in the first place).  I prefer reading clean literature – without anything overly sexual or with strong language but this had both.  I honestly skipped over many scenes.  On a positive note, I will say that it was particularly funny at times, even if Maddie could be a total airhead.  For me to truly enjoy a book I like not being able to predict the “villain” but in these I always knew shortly after the start of the books.  Simply light reading that doesn’t require much thought.   

The books follow Maddie Springer who is thrown into a crime investigation when she finds her boyfriend missing and wanted for murder.  Maddie is insistent that he’s innocent and will do anything to prove that.  Throw in a hot homicide detective, a tabloid reporter, starving actress friend, Maddie’s mother and her psychic friend, and “Faux” Dad who Maddie is 80% sure is not gay and you have the main cast throughout the entire series.  

One for the Money – Janet Evanovich. 1 out of 5 stars.

Similar to the High Heel Mysteries, except the heroine is more intelligent.  Stephanie Plum is recently divorced and unemployed so she decides to take a stab at the bounty hunter business, particularly since it involves getting back at Joe Morelli, an old high school “acquaintance.”  Throw in Ranger  and the love “triangle” is complete.

I wasn’t super impressed.  Similar to the High Heel Mysteries it was filled with sexual innuendos, except this book included frequent use of strong language.   I wasn’t super impressed, though it did have its moments.

Wolf Legend by Jennette Brown. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Jennette is an acquaintance of mine and she is rather enthralled with the concept of werewolves and this book is definite proof of that.  I found this to be an average book.  I’ll admit that there were more grammatical mistakes than I would prefer (but then I almost always notice a few in each book I read) but I thought she had an interesting view on what it means to be a werewolf.  Some of the characters are one-dimensional and some ideas are rather cliche, but these are balanced by the new perceptions in regards to werewolves.  If you are into the supernatural, I would say give this a shot, if not then definitely pass it by.

Wolf Legend tells the story Andrew, a werewolf who thought he had found a comfortable place in the human world, until he meets Rabeka, the woman who utterly fascinates him.   Throw in the mob and another angry werewolf and you have the basics of the plot. 

Book blogs?

So I was thinking about starting a project of recording/reviewing all of the books I read throughout 2012.  This exercise will serve two main purposes - force me to think about the various kinds of writing out there and getting me to write in a more analytical avenue.  And it will help me keep track of how far I've come.

So I was thinking of having a master list on one blog entry such as this one, while having individual entries for other books.  You can use this to see my recommendations for books and to offer ideas for new ones to read, among other things.

Just a thought/announcement of sorts =)

Too Late to Save You...

 

I quietly closed the door behind me with a sigh. The room was oddly quiet, even while filled with people. I quickly got lost in the crowd; even these guards could have been smart enough to figure out the route of my escape.

I didn't belong here. My mere presence ruined the atmosphere. The mourners gathered around the tombstones of their loved ones, and yet I had no one. But then there was one tombstone that was left alone - perhaps we could give each other solace. As I stepped forward, the lines of the stone grew increasingly familiar. I've been here before.

I let my hands skim over the engraved name. It didn't sound familiar and yet at my touch visions of the man buried here flashed across my mind. The man that I've been searching for all these years. This grave belonged to my only connection to my past. Even now I was two late to save you. I came all this way searching for you and I lost. Even in my dreams, I always lost.

I turned away as something in me cracked. For the first time in years, a tear trickled its way down my cheek.

A new personal sketch! Obviously it's not finished - but the bones are certainly there [you know that you like block hands!]. I like drawing wavy/curly hair.

If I was to finish it I would fix the anatomy errors and straighten out the steps. And the squiggles are there for a reason - even though she doesn't realize it, she's faintly glowing with magic.

And those are a vase of dead/wilting flowers in front of the gravestone - if you were wondering.

The scene occurs in the middle of one of the many writing projects I'm working on. 

Anyways, you kind find more of my most recent sketches here: Deviantart Gallery!

Life and What I've been thinking about!

So for all of those who missed the update or didn't know, I officially decided to leave law school back in January.  After much thought and prayer, I withdrew from Michigan State and moved back to Fresno, California.  I'm now working as a secretarial assistant at Motschielder, Michaelides, Wishon, Brewer & Ryan (that's a mouthful, I know haha.  Side note: I support nepotism in certain situations, and no, I'm not biased).  I've been working there off and on ever since 2007, so they were happy to take me back.

As for my decision to leave law school - the thought had a pernament residence in my mind ever since Thanksgiving last year.  I enjoyed what I did at law school and my grades were fine, but I just had the feeling that my place wasn't there anymore.  I don't regret the decision to move out to Michigan or my decision to move back to California in the least.  I needed to go to Michigan for many different reasons, some of which I think I'm beginning to understand.  Needless to say, it was entirely worth it.

I've been working on several different projects including studying for the GMAT  (I'm planning to take it late April).  Though I haven't decided quite what to do next, I'm thought that this test would be a good start.  I've also been editing my book and hope I'll have the first two edits done by the end of the March (wish me luck!).  I'm finally starting to work on some of those art prizes I owe to certain people.  Mostly, I'm just enjoying living with my family again and being able to take a step and breathe again since I've been working on school almost constantly the last 3 and half years since I graduated from high school.


Now as to what I've been thinking about is the juxtaposition of these two songs: Higher Window by Josh Groban (which I mentioned before as one of my favorite songs of all time) and I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston.  I've been viewing them as a sort of "song of the heart"s for two characters of mine - the words kind of represent the point of view of their hearts.  These characters are singing about each other and have been for years, and yet neither one realizes that they are now in a position where they are free to love each and to let this emotion show.  They are both stuck thinking that they are the only one that loves the other, and yet one thinks it's too late for him to the take the chance, and the other thinks that it's best that they are separated.   Consider the sort events that would bring this sort of separation.  Consider what would make an individual so certain of their own emotions that they are so blinded to the truth. 

What does all of this mean?

I have a new idea for something spectacular (if I may say so).