Serenya's Song - A review

Hi everyone. I have joined the bandwagon (again) of Mysti Parker’s book tour. This has nothing to do with this post, however.

I won a copy of her latest book, Serenya’s Song and read it…pretty darn fast, considering the fact that I just got married and had no time for silly things like reading. So, I wanted to share the magic with the world, since this book has left me satisfied :)

Serenya Crowe is trying to be the perfect wife to the Earl of Summerwind, Sebastian Crowe. With a birth defect and shady background, landing the most eligible bachelor and living in a mansion is pure luck…right?

Jayden Ravenwing (yes, it’s Jayden from A Ranger’s Tale), broken hearted by his divorce, decides to retreat into a small town. There, he meets Serenya and sparks start flying.

Add a creepy portal to hell in the mix and you’ve got one adventure with great promise.

I personally really enjoyed this story. It was a little harder for me to read than A Ranger’s Tale because I actually critted about 80% of it for Mysti. Even so, I still managed to get surprised regarding a particular twist and confuse the culprit.

What I liked most about this story: As opposed to A Ranger’s Tale, the plot is more focused. It’s actually sort of action-adventure with a very powerful romance plot, but it’s not the romance itself that seems to drive the story. And Mysti’s imagination runs wild. Lovely.

There is also extra world building. I already know the world of Tallenmere from the previous book, but more mythology and history comes through in this piece and I love that. We get more creatures, more spells, a deeper look into magic and some handy work from Jayden.

Sebastian is an awesome antagonist. He’s not the kinda person you love to hate, because, in my eyes at least, he wasn’t THAT despicable, but he’s in shades of grey. That’s what I loved about him – you know he’s a prick, but you can’t really hate him because you kinda get him.

Lilly was as kick-ass as ever, and I enjoyed finding out more about her and her people, the Haddo.

Caliphany and Galadin make a reappearance and show off their skills.

The atmosphere is also darker than ART, but me likey dark, so I enjoyed that. The setting is also superb and easy to picture.

Now, let’s move on to some criticism as well, right? Can’t be all kittens and rainbows.

Though I liked both Jayden and Serenya, the two of them are artsy, sensitive characters. The feistiest person in this book was Lilly. Now, as much as I love sweet romance and sensitive people, Serenya and Jayden together felt a bit like… sugar overdose, if you know what I mean. Mysti did handle this problem by giving them little love scenes together, and also by giving Serenya a…. okay, almost spoiled the story for you. Not gonna do that. So, yeah, bottom line is, they almost gave me diabetes.

There were also a few sections where I thought there should have been more of a reaction from characters. Like when Jayden and Caliphany meet again, and Jayden and Galadin come face to face – That part felt a little rushed to me, even if I agree that all characters were in a hurry.

Also, I didn’t get to feel much about Shade and Zephyrus before the end, and that was a shame.

But, of course, that’s just my opinion. Here’s my score for this book:

Atmosphere – 5/5

Characters – 4/5

Setting – 5/5

Romance – 4/5

Plot – 5/5

Side plots – 4/5

World building – 5/5

Entertainment value – 5/5

This is Mysti - teh awesome writer

So, yes, as you may notice, my second dive into the fantasy world of Tallenmere was very satisfying. The book was well worth the read and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next installment which will star one of the characters in Serenya’s Song.

If you haven’t grabbed your copy yet, you don’t know what you’re missing. Right now, you’re lucky. Until June 9^th, Mysti Parker is on tour and offers you the chance to win BOTH ART and SS. So join her for the chance at magic reading.

I'll be hosting my own interview with Mrs.Parker on the 4th of July. So drop on by for a chance to find out more about Mysti, her writing habits and maybe even win a little something. :)

If you’d like to purchase this awesome story, here are some handy links:

From the publisher (Melange)

Amazon

Let's announce some winners

As most of you know (well, people who've been by), I offered some prizes in the RAOK week.  I said I'd keep it open till Wednesday, but I stretched it out until... right about five minutes ago.

So, using random.org, I ran every person's name and the prize list to see what everyone will get. And *drum roll* here are the results.

Brad has randomed prize number 3 - a copy of Hunters once it comes out in late July. I won't forget.
Angel has won an interview on my blog - Just choose a date, and I'm game.
Lindsey has won a book review from me - If she'll let me have the book, I'll gladly read it and give an honest, detailed review, like the one I gave Mysti a while back.
 Diane has also won a book review from yours truly - if you don't have a book you want me to review, you may swap it for a prize of your choice (except the grand prize and secret one)

And here's why. Because Mysti actually managed to random the grand prize. Wow! I guess it's interview, review and book for you.

So, congrats to everyone and thanks for playing. Contact me for appointments and how and when you'd like to receive your goodies.

I'll be back soon, I hope, with some writing related posts. I do actually have some things that have been bothering me lately and I want to set them straight.

I'll be back *she said ominously*

Random Acts of Kindness

Okay, so I've been missing like... a whole month and stuff. Even more. The thing is, Real Life has this habit of eating up one's time.

I've been through a lot these past few weeks. From getting married (Yay for me :D), to almost getting fired and then not getting fired but getting more work assigned (not liking that one bit) to struggling to finish my masters' course and trying to figure out how that damn Facebook Fanpage works...

Yes, I've been busy.

But today, I want to celebrate Random Acts of Kindness. (I'd love to add the official photo, but for some reason, I'm quite unable at this time). The awesome gals at the Book Shelf Muse have started it as a way to celebrate all the help they have received and the launch of their book, The Emotional Thesaurus.

I can't say I've received many random acts of kindness. Whatever kindness I do receive... well, it doesn't seem random. But I do want to do someone else some random good. And when I say random, I mean random. Which is why I won't nominate anyone.

There are so many awesome people out there who have helped me and I want to give some of them back. Which is why I'm giving away the following: *drum roll*

- 5 author interview spaces on my blog

- 3 book reviews (though I'll kinda need the books for that O:))

- 2 free copies of Hunters  when it will hopefully be coming out in July

- 1 Grand prize of interview + book review + copy of Hunters

- Surprise hidden present

So, leave a comment, mention what prize you would like (you could chose 1, 2 or more off the list). I'll be keeping this open until Monday, when the RAOK flurry ends.

Hope I make someone's day. :)

Also, maybe I'll be back around here soon. (Of course I will - I need to give out the prizes, right?)

Finally did it!

I'm a slave to the world of the internet!

I'm just kidding. What I mean is that I finally gave in and decided to believe in myself and consider myself a published author (even if my novel has not seen the light of day yet). Therefore, starting a couple of days ago, I've launched the official fan page on Facebook. It's pretty barren for now, but I plan to fill it with many writing-related thoughts.

Yes, this is my official launch of the page. So virtual champagne and scones for everyone!

So, if you're interested in how the publishing process will work for me from this point on, don't be afraid to wonder over and give me a shout. You can find it here.

In other news, I've just edited chapter 5 of Hunters (first go - using the crits). I'll have to go through it again soon and see what I want to say in it that I haven't already.

Also, coming soon, news about Saving Grace and where it will be going.

Just wanted to take the time and thank everyone for their support and virtual love. It's given me confidence and kept me going all this time. The 4000 hits my blog has received makes me long to give away free stuff. Hopefully, by the time I get to 5000 hits, I'll actually have what to give away ;)

So, until then, virtual hugs for everyone!

Some news

So, I went and saw The Hunger Games last night. I'm sort of on the fence about it. Knowing the books and the film industry, I know it could have been much worse. On the other hand, I found myself getting bored during. And the action shots were just terrible. The camera moved around so much, I couldn't tell who was fighting whom and who was doing what.
The screenplay felt pretty solid to me. I had trouble with the directing and the soundtrack. The lack of background sounds made me... well, notice that there aren't any. They could have played out the suspense a lot better with some sound.
I did like the scenes from behind the cameras. Those were really interesting and nice. :) Overall, I think the movie worked and could have been worse.

On to other news. I'm excited that in April, the page for the Fire&Ice devision of Melange Publishing will be out -- cuz that's where Hunters is coming out. It was apparently deemed YA (not exactly sure why, but I guess it's pretty clean), so... I can't wait :D. I still haven't gotten news about the cover, and I'm still very excited to see it (the official one).

Mysti Parker (yeah, you know her), had me do a guest post on her blog. I managed to put that in at work (oopsy, almost forgot), but in the flurry of it, I discovered something about myself. If you're curious, you can read the guest post here.

I've been wondering if to make an author Facebook page for myself. I've been toying with the idea for a while and decided to have one once I am a published author. Now that I'm contracted, I'm a bit scared to call myself that. Like if I exaggerate and get over excited, the good thing will go away. And I'm pretty nervous about that. Though I've seen unpublished authors with Facebook pages. Hmmm... not sure what to do about that. I'm just sure I won't be giving out news of my books on my personal page (since most of the stuff going on there is in Romanian and for Romanians) Most of the people there don't even know I write (yup, let alone that I'm contracted - ha! I can't get enough of saying that).

So, this is me for now. I'll be giving you more news soon. Right now, I'm getting excited with wedding planning and such. Already gave the order for my invitations. :D Hope to get back here with some good news and/or a potential cover/Facebook page.

Over and out!