Cover reveal: ‘Shh!’ by Stacey Nash
Posted: February 3, 2015 Filed under: On Books | Tags: aussie-owned, book covers, new adult Leave a commentShh! (Oxley College #1)
by Stacey Nash
Release Date: 23 February 2015
Note from Cass: Stacey is one of my favourite writing peeps. I’ve read and loved three books by her, all sci-fi. Shh! is her first venture into contemporary, and I’m really excited to see what she will do in this new field. Plus the blurb is fascinating!
Nineteen-year-old Olivia Dean has the perfect reputation, the perfect boyfriend, and an increasingly perfect CV. She has it all, until Christian breaks up with her in public, calling her out as a self-gratifying sexoholic: the kind that plays solo. But Olivia doesn’t masturbate all night — the only thing she does is sleep … right?
Now all the boys on campus seem to want her attention for the absolutely wrong reason — including resident hottie, Logan Hays. He’s pulling out his best moves to gain her attention, so resisting his sexy charm is hard work. With rapidly slipping grades, a disturbingly lurid reputation and demanding parents, Olivia must discover the truth behind her rumoured sleeping problem. If she doesn’t, the perfect life she’s worked so hard for may slip away, including the one person who has Olivia breaking all her rules — Logan.
What do you do when you’re asleep?
***
Shh! is a story about acceptance, learning to trust and in turn love while facing life’s unexpected difficulties.
NB: This book is of a mild heat level, and contains no explicit sex scenes.
Pre-Order Links
(Shh! won’t be available on Amazon until release day)
Barnes & Noble│Kobo Books│iBooks
About the Author
Stacey Nash writes adventure filled stories for Young Adults in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres. She loves to read and write books that have a lot of adventure, a good dose of danger, a smattering of romance, and KISSING! Hailing from the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, she loves nothing more than immersing herself in the beauty and culture of the local area.
She also loves to blog is a co-founder and a contributor at Aussie Owned and Read, a blog designed for readers and writers of young adult and new adult fiction.
Her debut novel Forget Me Not released with HarperCollins Impulse in 2014 and was soon followed by the sequel, Remember Me. 2015 brings an Aussie set New Adult romance, the Oxley College Saga: Shh! and Wait!
Author Links
Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook│Pinterest
Cover reveal for ‘Keir’ by Pippa Jay – and a mini review
Posted: January 28, 2015 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: book covers, reviews, romance, sci-fi 2 CommentsI originally read Keir back in the middle of 2013 (I was going to write “last year” but oh, wait, 2015!). I really enjoyed it; I’ve copied my review of it from Goodreads and put it at the bottom of this cover reveal post. (The only sad thing for me is that I ordered the paperback and I love this new cover so much more. Can’t I just, you know, swap them? No? Rats!) — Cass
A demon waiting to die…
An outcast reviled for his discolored skin and rumors of black magic, Keirlan de Corizi sees no hope for redemption. Imprisoned beneath the palace that was once his home, the legendary ‘Blue Demon of Adalucian’ waits for death to finally free him of his curse. But salvation comes in an unexpected guise.
A woman determined to save him.
Able to cross space and time with a wave of her hand, Tarquin Secker has spent eternity on a hopeless quest. Drawn by a compulsion she can’t explain, she risks her apparent immortality to save Keir, and offers him sanctuary on her home-world, Lyagnius. But Quin has secrets of her own.
When Keir mistakenly unleashes the dormant alien powers within him and earns exile from Lyagnius, Quin chooses to stand by him. Can he master his newfound abilities in time to save Quin from the darkness that seeks to possess her?
Keir is Book One of the Redemption series and part of the Travellers Universe. Previously released by Lyrical Press in May 2012, it has received a SFR Galaxy Award for SciFi Romance for Best May–December Romance (2012), and was a Aspen Gold Readers Choice Award 3rd place finalist (2013), Readers’ Favorite International Book Award finalist (2012), and The Kindle Book Review’s Best Indie Book Awards Nominee for Best SciFi/Fantasy (2013).
You can add Keir to your Goodreads shelf HERE.
Cass’s review
I really enjoyed Keir. It reminded me of some of Anne McCaffrey’s books, which are sci-fi that was light on the science but with a consistent romantic element. I’d forgotten with my recent urban fantasy kick how much I enjoy that combination.
The romance is a slow burn, not a love at first sight thing, which I prefer — although I did start wanting to shake both characters (especially Keir) to get them to just GET ON WITH IT a chapter or two before they actually did.
The world building is great; I especially enjoyed Metraxi but there are a few to choose from. And the characters are interesting, with back stories that give them lots of issues (read: character development arcs).
Ultimately the underlying message of the story is about acceptance: finding those who will accept you despite your differences, and — by seeing yourself through their eyes — learning to accept yourself.
About Pippa
After spending twelve years working as an Analytical Chemist in a Metals and Minerals laboratory, Pippa Jay is now a stay-at-home mum who writes scifi and the supernatural. Somewhere along the way a touch of romance crept into her work and refused to leave. In between torturing her plethora of characters, she spends the odd free moment playing guitar very badly, punishing herself with freestyle street dance, and studying the Dark Side of the Force. Although happily settled in the historical town of Colchester in the UK with her husband of 21 years and three little monsters, she continues to roam the rest of the Universe in her head.
Pippa Jay is a dedicated member of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade, blogging at Spacefreighters Lounge, Adventures in Scifi, and Romancing the Genres. Her works include YA and adult stories crossing a multitude of subgenres from scifi to the paranormal, often with romance, and she’s one of eight authors included in a science fiction romance anthology—Tales from the SFR Brigade.
Sign up HERE for Pippa’s no-spam newsletter for special previews on cover reveals, new releases, the latest giveaways and discounts, and upcoming news. You can also stalk her at her website, or at her blog, but without doubt her favorite place to hang around and chat is on Twitter as @pippajaygreen.
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My favourite girl names, aka characters I’d name my daughters after
Posted: January 25, 2015 Filed under: On Books | Tags: Isla's Inheritance 8 CommentsLast week’s Top Ten Tuesday bookish meme was a freebie, meaning you could blog about whatever took your fancy, so long as it was in a list of up to ten. My fellow Aussie Owned coblogger, Emily Mead, went with “YA Characters I’d Name My Children After”, which I thought was such a cool idea that I’d run with it as a post. Only I’ve only done the five girls for now; I’ll have a bit more of a think about the boy names. (There are some I love but their sources aren’t books.)
My taste usually runs to “unusual but traditional”, and some of these aren’t traditional, so I don’t know if I’d actually go with them or not. But I’d give it some serious consideration, if I ever had five daughters.
Arwen. This is a tricky one, because although I love the poetry of Arwen’s name, part of me thinks naming a daughter after the most beautiful half-elf in The Lord of the Rings might be a “no pressure” kind of situation! (As an aside — and this may be controversial — but the movie version of Arwen is a much better role model than the one in the book, who mostly just stays home and lets her man do all the work. Tolkien wasn’t good at writing women.)
Aviendha. This is a name from The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. The character is a fierce warrior and learns to be a magic-using shaman type called a “wise one”. I imagine that she could be played by Karen Gillan, who was Amy Pond in Doctor Who. And what a gorgeous name! (Note: I also love the name Amelia/Amy, but since I got that from Doctor Who rather than a book, I won’t include it here. Oh, and I love Clara, also from Doctor Who.)
Gabriella, or Gaby. Gaby is the main character in Paula Weston’s The Rephaim series. And it’s such a beautiful name! Although I’d probably go with “Gabrielle” rather than adding that extra syllable on the end, just for ease of pronunciation!
Rhiannon. This name first came to my attention in Kate Forsyth’s series Rhiannon’s Ride. In fact, for a while Isla’s name in my trilogy was Rhiannon, but I changed it due to some personal stuff that happened at the time I was drafting what is now Isla’s Inheritance. Also, Rhiannon doesn’t start with i and alliteration is bloody beautiful. 😉
Isla. Ok, I’m being cheeky including this, AND I can’t actually use it now because I have written about her, but I really love the name Isla. I think it’s often true that writers give their characters names they would’ve given their children. (Apparently that’s where Stephanie Meyer got Isabella from.) I could be less shameless and say I got the name from Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins, but I haven’t even read it!
Honourable mention
Bella. I used to love the names Bella and Isabelle (and also Isabeau from The Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth), but although Bella Swan is a gorgeous name — Meyer gets props for that — she’s not my favourite character around, so I’m not sure I could use this now.
What book character names do you love? 🙂
Review: ‘Endsinger’ by Jay Kristoff
Posted: January 23, 2015 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: jay kristoff, reviews, steampunk Leave a comment
A TREMBLING EARTH
The flames of civil war sweep across the Shima Imperium. With their plans to renew the Kazumitsu dynasty foiled, the Lotus Guild unleash their deadliest creation—a mechanical goliath known as the Earthcrusher, intended to unite the shattered Empire under a yoke of fear. With the Tiger Clan and their puppet Daimyo Hiro in tow, the Guild marches toward a battle for absolute dominion over the Isles.A BROKEN REBELLION
Yukiko and Buruu are forced to take leadership of the Kagé rebellion, gathering new allies and old friends in an effort to unite the country against the chi-mongers. But the ghosts of Buruu’s past stand between them and the army they need, and Kin’s betrayal has destroyed all trust among their allies. When a new foe joins the war tearing the Imperium apart, it will be all the pair can do to muster the strength to fight, let alone win.A FINAL BATTLE
The traitor Kin walks the halls of Guild power, his destiny only a bloody knife-stroke away. Hana and Yoshi struggle to find their place in a world now looking to them as heroes. Secret cabals within the Lotus Guild claw and struggle; one toward darkness, the other toward light. And as the earth splits asunder, as armies destroy each other for rule over an empire of lifeless ash and the final secret about blood lotus is revealed, the people of Shima will learn one last, horrifying truth.There is nothing a mother won’t do to keep her children by her side.
Nothing.
Endsinger is the third and final book in The Lotus War trilogy by Aussie author Jay Kristoff. All the setup from the first two books—the various factions, wars, betrayals, rivalries and romances—comes to a head in Endsinger. That’s probably why the paperback was 661 pages. Seriously, there were times when, after reading for a couple of hours, I had to stop due to wrist strain. By the end I had to stick the cover together with sticky tape because the book was collapsing under its own weight!
If you’ve read the first two books in the series, you’ve already got an idea of what to expect from Jay’s style. His prose is beautifully, darkly descriptive, so much so that I half expected to get a chest infection from reading about Shima’s polluted air and soil. The Lotus Guild and its toxic chi industry—made from the Lotus Bloom they worship and adore—have driven the land over the edge, killed the animals and created great swathes of deadlands where nothing can survive.
(A note on the prose: if you’re the sort who prefers a straightforward style over lush metaphor, you might want to look at a sample of Jay’s writing before deciding whether it’s for you. It’s definitely a matter of taste: one person’s “descriptive” can be another’s “florid”.)
And, like the first two books, his story is bloody. He isn’t afraid to kill characters, which is only fitting. This is a war, after all. But there are a couple of particularly traumatic deaths in Endsinger. I won’t say who they are, obviously, but although I found them sad, they fall into the category of “noble sacrifice for a greater good”, which I’m okay with as a reader. It would be unrealistic if no one died.
Jay’s style is like a lot of epic fantasy, in that he tends to jump between characters, giving little bursts from different perspectives. During battle scenes, particularly, this can be four or five times in a chapter. But he doesn’t head hop within each scene, which is good; when he’s telling a story from a character’s perspective, he is faithful to that character, and manages to portray them as fully fledged people with their own motivations and desires, even the ones that only appear once or twice. (Even the puppy.)
I love the relationships between characters—especially between Yokiko and Buruu, although that’s been an ongoing thing and my adoration is therefore no surprise to me. I have a new favourite in Endsinger though, which is the street rat Yoshi. He’s learned from his (it must be said) rather stupid, cocky behaviour in the previous book, but he still has a bit of swagger there. I just loved his attitude.
Overall, my favourite part of Endsinger is the way all the loose threads are tied into a neat bow (probably made of flesh or intestines or something). There are a few eye-opening moments as we get to see what’s really been going on this whole time—things that were just part of the world in the first two books turn out to have been significant all along. I really admire the level of craft that went into achieving that.
I’ve seen some people shelve this as young adult on Goodreads, but I’d suggest it’s more for older teenagers and adults. Did I mention bloody?
Review: ‘Eleven Weeks’ by Lauren K. McKellar
Posted: January 15, 2015 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: aussie-owned, AWW, new adult, reviews 7 Comments
Eleven weeks.
Seven tequila shots.
Five siblings.
Two boys.
One heartbeat.
***
Stacey is good at pretending.
She pretends that the boy she’s in love with doesn’t exist.
She pretends that she’s happy to live and die in this small town.
She pretends that her life is carefree while her best friend’s world crumbles before her very eyes.
But Stacey’s got a secret …
And it’s going to ruin everything.
Note: Eleven Weeks comes out on 28 January. I was fortunate enough to get an ARC.
Stacey is Kate’s best friend in the first book in this series, The Problem With Crazy. During Eleven Weeks, we follow Stacey’s story during more or less the same period of time that The Problem With Crazy covers (I think Eleven Weeks starts a little earlier, but it ends at the same point).
Stacey always came across as a caring friend but also as a girl who likes to party. She was a cheerleader in high school and not particularly academically inclined. It’s not that she’s stupid, just that she found boys far more interesting than homework — the sort of character that in your stereotypical teen movie would be the mean girl. Except Stacey’s not the mean girl; she’s lovely, and totally supportive of Kate throughout her struggle with her father’s Huntington’s diagnosis (and her wait to find out whether she has it too).
When you find out what was going on during that same period of time — the things that Stacey is dealing with on her own, because she doesn’t want to burden her friend — you realise that Stacey is selfless almost to the point of self-destruction. There were times I wanted to just shake her and say tell your friend, but of course I knew she wouldn’t, because otherwise we’d have known about it in the first book. 😉 I imagine that in the third book, when Kate finds out what Stacey was hiding from her, she’s going to kill her.
As far as what Stacey’s big secret is, I won’t spill it here, but I think you can guess it pretty easily from the blurb. One thing that is misleading in the blurb is the bit about “two boys” — it makes it sound like there’s a love triangle in Eleven Weeks, which I’m happy to report there isn’t. There’s just Michael, the friend who clearly likes her but that Stacey thinks is too good for her. Michael is adorable.
I felt so bad for Stacey, despite her frustratingly stubborn determination to keep her secret for as long as possible. It becomes clear pretty quickly that, even though she was popular in school, she has almost no sense of self-worth. It’s the cause of her continued rejection of Michael, and of her lack of ambition. The way her family constantly runs her down, doing everything but describing her as a dumb blonde to her face, is simply awful. I wanted to beat her mother and sister around the head with a blunt object at several points.
Some people shouldn’t be allowed to have kids.
Stacey is also quite naïve about certain things, but no more so than any other teenage girl in the same boat as her. Still, she tried her best to handle everything (once she got over the initial shock and denial).
Eleven Weeks has its teary moments, but I didn’t find it quite as soul-shattering as The Problem With Crazy, which broke me over and over. I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series, mostly because I really want to see Kate end up with Lee, and for everyone to live happily ever after! (Although given Lauren has form for breaking hearts, I’m a little nervous about that…)
Review: ‘Fight For Me’ by K. A. Last
Posted: January 10, 2015 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: aussie-owned, AWW, reviews, urban fantasy, young adult 1 Comment
“How can I fight for you when I don’t know what I’m fighting for?”
When Grace Tate became one of the fallen to protect a vampire, it got her into more trouble than she’d bargained for. She’s angry at Charlotte for hiding the truth, and with Josh living in the city and Seth missing, life is harder than ever.
It’s about to get a lot harder…
Grace doesn’t want to leave Hopetown Valley, but when Josh ignores her calls she decides to go and search for him. She doesn’t expect to run into Seth as well.
When she reaches the city, Grace learns that Charlotte is the most hunted vampire in Wide Island. The city vamps want her blood, and the angels are after her soul. Grace gets caught in the crossfire of a battle she never wanted, but to win one war, she has to fight another.
Torn between the one she gave up everything for, and the one who sacrificed everything for her, Grace has to face Charlotte, and the past, if she wants to fight for her future. But how can she fight for someone who doesn’t want to fight for her?
Every choice Grace makes becomes a battle, and in every battle someone has to die.
I read this book last October, but as it comes out next week — 17 January — now seems like a good time to post my review. That also means it counts towards my 2015 Aussie Women Writers challenge, and I’d already beaten the 2014 one. Winning!
Fight For Me is the sequel to Fall For Me, a series about a protection angel named Grace Tate and her human twin brother, Archer. Grace reincarnates over and over as a twin of the Tate boys, down the family line, an arangement that means she has a telepathic link with each one and lets them be an awesome vampire-hunting duo.
Everything’s going swimmingly till Charlotte shows up and drags Archer, Grace and Josh — Grace’s boyfriend — into her mess. Fight For Me picks up after the dust settles. Of course, the peace and quiet don’t last long.
While Fall For Me was a good read — fast-paced, with a plot twist at the end that made me gasp — Fight For Me is great. I think Kim really hit her mark with this one, maybe because the initial worldbuilding has been taken care of and she can really sink her teeth into the story. (See what I did there?)
In the first book I didn’t like Josh very much; he got super jealous of Grace and her love/hate relationship with fellow fallen angel Seth, and his attitude kind of bugged me. Fight For Me is dual POV between Grace and Josh, which worried me at first, but although Josh is clearly still very troubled in the second book (because spoilers), seeing it from his perspective made me understand him better. He’s still not my favourite — if I had to choose a boyfriend for Grace, I’d choose Seth. But Josh still redeemed himself somewhat in my eyes.
My favourite character in both this book and the previous one is Archer, Grace’s brother. He’s a total smartass, and isn’t afraid to tell it like it is when Grace is getting a little overwrought. But at the same time he’s protective of her. He’s basically what Xander from Buffy would be if you made him a slayer too.
As with Fall For Me, Fight For Me had an awesome plot twist at the end, and again I didn’t see it coming, although in hindsight the clues were there. I love that!
Finally, the epilogue makes it clear there’s at least one more book in the series, which is always exciting. I love a trilogy!
The Aussie Women Writers challenge
Posted: January 6, 2015 Filed under: On Books | Tags: aussie-owned, AWW Leave a commentToday over at Aussie Owned and Read, I’m talking about the awesomeness that is the Australian Women Writers Challenge. Get you some!
The Australian Women Writers’ Challenge is part of the growing world-wide movement to raise awareness of excellent writing by women. It helps readers to challenge the subconscious stereotypes that govern our choice of books to read. We are excited to be entering our third year and hope that we can help you do something about this issue.
I’ve always read a more-than-average number of books by female writers — I’m guessing maybe a third of my reads were by women, although I don’t have any data to back that up — but almost all of them were by Americans or Brits. When I realised this, it left me scratching my head. I love reading book set in my own backyard, and I want to see a healthy Australian publishing industry (partly for selfish reasons, I admit), so why didn’t I read more Aussie books?! Eventually I realised that a lot…
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Review: ‘Dead Witch Walking’ by Kim Harrison
Posted: January 2, 2015 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: reviews, urban fantasy 6 Comments
All the creatures of the night gather in “the Hollows” of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party … and to feed.
Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining — and it’s Rachel Morgan’s job to keep that world civilized.
A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she’ll bring ’em back alive, dead … or undead.
I’d never heard of Kim Harrison before, but now I’m wondering why. I discovered her when I asked on Twitter for some urban fantasy audiobook recommendations before Christmas; on Boxing Day I had to drive my son interstate to spend some time with his father, and wanted something to listen to on the way back. Nicole Evelina recommended this series.
My favourite thing about Dead Witch Walking is the world-building. Rachel Morgan’s world is one where, following a terrible virus outbreak halfway through last century, the supernatural creatures all got outed by virtue of the fact that there weren’t as many humans to hide amongst anymore. Now they live in plain sight, tending to stick to their own communities but otherwise part of society.
Rachel, a witch, starts out working as a runner (a type of cop) for Inderland Security — sort of like the FBI for supernatural types. But she decides very early on that she’s tired of getting all the milk runs rather than the real jobs she knows she can do. She’s confident in her own abilities, although that does tend to lead her to be reckless at times. She decides to quit, and two of her IS colleagues, Jenks the pixie and Ivy the living vampire, quit with her to go freelance.
Unfortunately the IS has a policy of not letting runners leave in the middle of their contract, and the consequence is to take a hit out on them — presumably to discourage that sort of behaviour from everyone else.
The hit on Rachel was the one thing I was left scratching my head over. It is commonly known that the IS do this; even the human version of the IS, the FIB, knows about it. But somehow it’s sanctioned? I guess because the FIB figures so long as no one else gets hurt, it’s the supernaturals in-fighting, and whatever, but I just would’ve expected the law enforcement bodies to frown on assassinating people, even if it’s then done on the sly.
The characters were fun. Jenks is sarcastic and has as much attitude as any of the full-size characters, only packed into a pixie-sized package. Imagine if Tinker Bell was able to speak, and that’s what Jenks is like. Rachel’s recklessness is offset by Ivy’s OCD-level of planning, which causes tension between them at times. The other source of tension is Rachel’s paranoia that Ivy wants to eat her. While it’s understandable, it does get a little old after a while. Fortunately, there is character growth on Rachel’s part throughout the book, and I liked her courage and willingness to admit when she’s screwed up.
A comment on the audiobook: the narrator, , was very versatile. She managed to capture Rachel’s general no-nonsense narration — that businesslike delivery — while still acting out her moments of fear and the other characters. One of my beefs with James Marsters’ delivery of the Jim Butcher books is that his delivery is done in a sort of lazy noir drawl that he never breaks up, no matter which character he’s voicing. Gavin is much better (sorry, James!).
New year’s resolutions: 2015 edition
Posted: December 30, 2014 Filed under: On Books, On me, On writing | Tags: Isla's Inheritance, Isla's Oath, Lucid Dreaming, Melpomene's Daughter, new year's resolutions, Tammy Calder, top ten tuesday 2 Comments
Top Ten Tuesday is a bookish meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and it is loads of fun. You should all partake of it. PARTAKE! (Please imagine I said that in my best Dalek voice.) This week’s theme is: “Top Ten Goals/Resolutions For 2015 — bookish, blogging or otherwise!”
I’ve discovered over the last two years that blogging about my goals is a really great way to hold myself accountable, and make sure I actually do the things I set out to do.
2014 recap
Celebrate the launch of Isla’s Inheritance in October (or thereabouts). Convince as many of you as possible to buy it. Check. Sort of. I dunno if I’ve convinced as many of you as possible. I mean, I haven’t paid people with kittens or threatened dire consequences if people don’t. But people
have read
it, and left nice reviews around the place. So I’m pretty happy about that.
Finish writing and editing the third book in Isla’s trilogy, so it’s ready to go to Turquoise Morning Press when they ask for it. Check. Right now, I’m actually halfway through re-reading it after the second-round edits from TMP. I really love this story, you guys. I know we’re not meant to have favourites among our children, but of the Isla’s Inheritance trilogy, the third book in the series, Melpomene’s Daughter, is definitely my favourite. Shh!
Find a home for Lucid Dreaming, whether that be via the agent/traditional press route or the small press route. This is the one resolution I have’t yet been successful on, for reasons that would require another blog post. But I have a plan of action. Hopefully I’ll be able to share something with you around the middle of next year. (By the way, there’s a lesson in this for everyone: don’t set goals that are outside your control. You can’t make people offer on your manuscripts, and sometimes people love them but don’t offer on them anyway, for market reasons or list reasons or whatever. Publishing is a tricky thing.)
Start writing something else. Possibly a sequel to Lucid Dreaming, although there’s that steampunk I’ve been thinking about for aaaages. I’m currently 18,000 words into the aforementioned steampunk, although the steampunk elements are actually pretty light. A year later, I describe it as historical fantasy. 🙂 I also self-published a novella under another pen name, Tammy Calder. It’s 8500 words long.
That means in 2014 I wrote…a lot of words. Probably in the order of 70,000, counting Melpomene’s Daughter, although I didn’t track it. And that doesn’t count blog posts and reviews. Whew. Chuck Wendig estimated he wrote 750,000 words this year, but we can’t all be Chuck, I guess! (I can’t even grow a beard.)
Read. I’ll set my Goodreads target to 40 again, see how it goes. Kicked this one out of the ballpark.
2015 goals
Reading goals
Read lots of books. I’ve set my Goodreads target to 40 again, with the caveat that childrens books and novellas don’t count. If I read 10 of those, I need to read 50 titles overall. Otherwise I have to wear the cone of shame.
Read a variety of Australian books. I’m also doing the Aussie Readers challenge over at Goodreads. For that, I need to read 12 books by Australian writers in 12 different genres. I’ll post my choices in a blog post in the new year. I’m looking forward to it — it’s a very exciting list!
Read books by Australian women. I’m also going to do the Australian Women Writers challenge again in 2015. There’s a lot of overlap between this list and number two, I confess — currently my Aussie readers challenge list only includes one bloke. Still, since this year I read and reviewed 11 books by Australian women, my plan for 2015 is to set my own goal of 15. I think I can do it, and it means this challenge is pushing me further than the previous one. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Writing and publishing goals
Release Isla’s Oath and Melpomene’s Daughter on time, with as much fanfare as I can manage. The former is scheduled for release on 20 January, and the latter for the week of 20 April (I don’t have an exact date). SO EXITE! Isla’s Oath is already available for preorder a
nd is on NetGalley, but I still have some promo stuff to finish off. And as I mentioned, Melpomene’s Daughter is still in the editing process. Busy busy busy.
Finish my historical fantasy. The four other novels (and even the novella) I’ve written have been urban fantasy, and the novels have all been in the first person. Switching to historical fantasy and the third person has required a massive change of gears. But I’ve wanted to tell this story for three years now, and the thrill of actually seeing it come to life is pretty high. Sure, there are growing pains, but that’s to be expected. And fixing it afterwards is what edits are for!
Give Lucid Dreaming the attention it deserves. I love this book, you guys. At least as much as Melpomene’s Daughter. I’ve neglected it a bit this year — having three books scheduled for release over the space of seven months does tend to eat up your time — but 2015 will be its year. I promise. *pats manuscript reassuringly*
Write another novella for Tammy Calder. Enough said about that. 😉
Blog at least twice a week. This will require some planning, since I’m going away to the coast with my son and some friends for a week at the end of January (a few days after Isla’s Oath comes out — oops), but I can do it. I don’t need to sleep, right?
What are your goals for this year, reading, writing or otherwise?
My 2014 Goodreads challenge wrap up
Posted: December 27, 2014 Filed under: On Books | Tags: Goodreads, kevin hearne 3 CommentsThis year I really embraced the reading challenges (both the Goodreads and the Australian Women Writers one) and you can really tell. Last year I read 40 books, whereas this year I read 61 — excluding picture books. Originally my goal was to read 40, but when I got there I discovered I’d read 12 novellas or childrens books. So I increased it to 52, figuring that way I’d get at least 40 full-length novels.
Here are my reads as I write this (from most recent to least recent). I haven’t counted books I wrote, even though I’ve read three of those this year, plus a novella. 😉
A few observations:
- Roald Dahl (13%) and Kevin Hearne (also 13%) were a feature. Both were writers I listened to on audiobook, the former with my son in the car, the latter not so much. :p
- Female writers were heavily represented at 59% of my reads, which I’m really happy with. Eleven of those, or 18%, were Australian.
- Eight (also 13%) of the books I read were self-published.
- There were four novellas (6%), nine childrens books (15%), and one non-fiction, which means I read forty-seven full-length novels. Win!
I think I’ll aim for 40 full-length novels again next year and see how I go!
Cassandra Page 