I can't believe it's already Friday!

Seriously, where has this week gone?

I think that taking this week off from most of my projects was a great idea. I mean, I've still been thinking about a bunch of them, added notes about some of them, and have been researching more info for M-YA (and its sequels) but mostly I've been trying to relax and even catch up on some YA reading. It's been great.

Last night, I picked up EVERMORE and am really enjoying it so far. I'm about 30 pages in and am totally intrigued about the story. Oh, and I love the narrator's name. Ever was a name that I wanted to use for one of my characters, which I got from the Foo Fighters song, Everlong. I remember singing to it on Rock Band and thinking how cool it would be to write about a girl called Ever. I guess someone else thought the same thing, lol.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading some more of the book later. I'm in a total YA-kinda mood at the moment. Which is a great thing because there are SO many awesome YA books out there, but it's not-so-good because it makes my muse itch to get back into the futuristic and odd world that M-YA takes place in. I know it sounds werid, but hey, I'm a writer. ;)

And speaking of that story, I think I've finally decided that this YA idea of mine is going to be a quartet of books. The first one's already done in first draft, the second one has a first chapter and the main plotline... I've also pretty much got the plot for the third one, and kinda know where the fourth one needs to go in order to end my heroine's journey. We'll see what happens, but for now, I'm working on the four titles. I've got the first, and possibly the last. Just need the two in the middle now.

Next week, however, I'm throwing myself into the second draft of DT. This one's definitely NOT a YA story, but it's one that I can't wait to return to.

On that note, I hope you all have an awesome weekend! Bye for now...

PS. Tomorrow, I will attempt to wear shoes on my right foot. Will let you know how it goes on Monday. Fingers crossed.

LAMENT The Faerie Queen's Deception

Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. When a mysterious boy enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of nowhere, Deirdre finds herself infatuated. Trouble is, the enigmatic and conflicted Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin—and Deirdre is meant to be his next mark. Deirdre has to decide if Luke's feelings towards her are real, or only a way to lure her deeper into the world of Faerie.

I grabbed this book from my bookshelf yesterday and as soon as I got started, knew that it was going to be a fast read. And I wasn't wrong. I got swept away with the story instantly. Deirdre's voice was smooth, melodic, and she totally dragged me into her story... which happpened to be amazing!

Not only is the plot for this book an intriguing work of art, but the characters were deep and felt incredibly real in a world of very unreal creatures. I loved every minute of this story, and the emotional connection between Deirdre and Luke helped to make this story shine.

I love reading tales about faeries, and this one was fantastic! Oh, and the actual book is lovely. The artwork within the book - as well as the cover and the inside of the cover - is gorgeous! Seriously, I loved everything about this book. *sigh*

I'm really glad that I've discovered Maggie Stiefvater's work, because I will definitely be buying SHIVER and BALLAD. Can't wait to read them. :)

Buzzing-buzz

I thought last week was a little odd, but this one's turning out to be even stranger.

It's something that happens to me every time I finish a first draft...

I feel a little restless for a while after the exertion of getting a story out of my head. And then other ideas start pressing to be told, leaving me a little lost.

Do you ever feel that way?

For me, I guess it's just part of the creative process. But I find that although I'm totally itching to write, it's best to take a week (or at least several days) off after a first draft. Just to recharge.

I've been filling my days with reading and yesterday even took a look at the end of M-YA and the beginning of M-YA#2... which wants to be written right now. Like, yesterday. But I'm not ready to go any further than the first chapter. Although the second story's coming to me in bits and pieces, and I'd probably be able to write at least the first half of the story, I feel it still needs a little simmering time. Not too much, but enough for me to figure out if this is going to be a trilogy or a quartet. Not sure yet.

That might be something to ponder today. Gosh, it's so cold today.

I've also got a bunch of awesome books for review from Hachette that I'm looking forward to getting my hands on, but am trying to spend most of this week reading some of the (many) YA titles I've got on my bookshelf. There are so many good ones that I can't wait to read! Ah! So many awesome books, so little time.

Anyway. I think it's time to actually do something productive. Other than blogging, of course. ;)

THE SUMMONING

My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost—and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? It's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House . . . before its skeletons come back to haunt me.

This is the first book in the Darkest Powers trilogy. It's set in the same world as Kelley's Otherworld series, and I found myself getting caught up in Chloe's story with the same degree that I do with all of her other fantastic books.

I enjoyed not only the story - which I'm very eager to continue with the next book - but Chloe's voice, vulnerability, and fear. She's a teenager trying to be like everyone else, but she isn't. She's never been like everyone else, and is slowly finding out why. I also enjoyed the way she continued to reference a lot of her experiences to movie scenes. A way to help her relieve the stress and fear that arises as she starts to understand a little of what's going on around her.

The tension kept me on the edge of my seat. Some of the ghost scenes are incredibly scary and creepy, all because of her emotional reaction to it. Her connection to Derek and Simon (especially Derek) was fascinating and I can't help but wonder where that's all going to go. The way it ended certainly kept me wanting more. Good thing that the next book is currently on its way. ;)

Anyway, bottom line is: I loved it!

A mixed week ahead...

Well, today is the last day of my daughter's school holidays. She goes back to school tomorrow, so I was planning to use this week for the revision of one of the stories I wrote last month. But... decided against it.

Instead, I'm going to take this week off from one project and concentrate on a bunch of them. Or none of them. I want this to be one of those weeks where I flutter from one idea to another, when I sit down and take much-needed notes, or jot down what needs to be done next month. I already know what I'd like to do during the first week of August, and that's revision.

I'll be working on a second draft.

Second drafts are tricky for me because that's when I usually hate the story. I know, it's really strange but that's how it is. By the end of the second draft, I'm once again in love with it, but it's still a weird process. Lol.

Exactly two weeks ago, I busted up my toe. This morning I did my first yoga workout since then. There were a few moves that made my toe feel a little uncomfy, but it didn't hurt. During the weekend, it hurt on Saturday but was okay yesterday. The bruising is almost gone. Almost. But the swelling's still there. Not as bad, but still enough to keep me from wearing shoes. So, now I walk around with a sneaker on my left foot, and a thong (flip-flop) on the other. It looks and feels wonky, but it's the only way I can get around properly.

I'm pretty sure I broke it. So it looks like I've still got a few weeks of discomfort to go. At least, according to what I've read online. :) That's also the reason why I didn't go to the doctor, because apparently, they can't do much for a broken toe anyway. So, I'm toughing it out and hopefully it'll heal on it's own. Of course, if I still can't wear shoes after five weeks... then I'll have to consider going to a doctor. But not before then. ;)

Okay, that's enough toe talk.

Over the weekend, I read JASMYN by Alex Bell, GHOSTGIRL: Homecoming by Tonya Hurley, and started reading THE SUMMONING by Kelley Armstrong. I'll be posting reviews for JASMYN and GHOSTGIRL closer to their Aussie release, but they were both great books. Especially JASMYN. I loved it!

Well, I guess that's it for today. Hope you all have a great week!