Christine Amsden's Blog: Christine Amsden Author Blog, page 15
July 3, 2014
Mind Games Week in Review
This week has mostly been a week of great new reviews! But I did get in an interview with Desert Rose who, like so many others, wanted to know:
~Rose: Do you plan on writing other books after this series is finished?
~Christine: Yes, but I’m not sure what yet. I do still have to finish the two spin-offs. Madison’s Song is in the editorial phase (and should be out in early 2015) but Kaitlin’s Tale is in early rough draft form. When I’m done with that I think I’ll do what I did for Cassie … take a writing hiatus and wait for inspiration to strike. When I force the issue, things seem to go badly. If it takes a while for inspiration to strike, I may try a writing how-to book. I’ve got some extensive notes for one already.
But there will be more stories. I’m only 37 and have a lot of years ahead of me to create!
REVIEWS
Review: Offbeat Vagabond
” Cassie has got to be one of my favorite female leads in a book.”
Review: Desert Rose
“After the intensely emotional roller coaster of Secrets and Lies, I had no idea what the third installment in this series would reveal about Cassie’s life. This book picked up right where the second one left off, and pulled me right back into the emotional turmoil between Cassie and Evan. “
Review D’eBook Sharing Book Reviews
“The main thing I love about Christine Amsden’s books is that the woman gives you a STORY. ‘Mind Games’ drags you in so that you worry about characters and what’s happening to them.There are moments that are heart stopping..”
Review: Chapter Break
“All in all, another great installment of the Cassie Scot series.”
Review: Ramblings of a Crazed Writer
“Before I go ranting and raving about how awesome this book is and how you must buy it and all the others ones… because I can, just know that I highly recommend it. It’s great for paranormal and detective lovers out there. Trust me! You won’t be sorry you did!”
July 1, 2014
Game of Thrones Season 2
I finished the second season of Game of Thrones over the weekend. Season 3 is in the mail! (Netflix DVD)
Season 2 got off to a rough start, in my opinion. As a matter of fact, book 2 is when I stopped reading the books, and I was close to dropping the series for many of the same reasons. I sometimes joke about it being because all the good characters get killed off, but that’s not really it. In fact, I respect Martin for making things realistic enough that major, named, and in the case of Edard Stark, beloved characters die. The trouble is in two parts. First, there are a LOT of characters. So many that I have trouble keeping track of them all. Second, I don’t care about all the characters equally. I’d even go so far as to say some hold no interest for me at all.
I dropped the books years and years ago, well before the TV show came to the air, and my memories of this were the main reason that I’m four years behind the popular curve on this. 
Sure enough, as I watch season 2 things start to get overwhelming again. The show bounces back and forth between dozens of important characters and there simply is no clear “main” character or even characters. In a way, this is an amazing feat. Any of them could die. Any of them could win. Most of them will lose. It’s like life. And that’s pretty cool.
The TV show did have one BIG advantage over the books — it was shorter. It also kept things moving from place to place, scene to scene, so I didn’t wonder when I was ever going to get back to my favorite characters. In most episodes, I felt certain, I would get to visit my favorites. (The imp, the dragon lady, and Arya)
After about the halfway point I felt like I had a handle on the massive story and cast of characters. The season rallied by the end, and the last couple of episodes were exceptional. I look forward to season 3.
June 30, 2014
It was kind of nice to see Krentz stepping back from her ...
It was kind of nice to see Krentz stepping back from her paranormal series. This was a typical mainstream mystery, complete with sociopaths and serial killers. I enjoyed the suspense and mystery of it … right up until the reveal.
It’s tough to review mysteries because so often the problem is with the ending, and I don’t want to spoil it. Without giving anything away, I’ll just say that I didn’t buy the motivations for one murder and one attempted murder at all. Just didn’t believe it was a good enough reason to make someone kill, nor that the person who had done the killings was crazy enough to have done them for the stated reasons. Parts of it were overcomplicated, parts convoluted, and parts of it absolutely obvious from the start.
This is why I read so few mysteries. 
The romance didn’t do anything for me one way or another. More of a hookup than anything else, and with the characters so poorly developed, I didn’t care if they hooked up or not.
Rating: 2/5
Title: River Road
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
ISBN: 0399165126
Published January 2014
June 27, 2014
Mind Games VBT Week In Review
This week’s main attraction wasKay Dee Royal, where I gave a gave a great interview that included two length excerpts from the series. When asked:
“Who is Cassie to Evan? Can you give us a bit about the first time they meet each other?”
I replied with a flashback scene from Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot #2) which shows the scene in which Cassie and Evan first met! Also, when asked:
“Which scene was your favorite to write? Can you share a little of it?”
I shared a bit from one of my favorite (and most intense) scenes from Mind Games.
Alaskan Book Cafe reposted “Imperfect Parents” for me, a guest post I wrote a couple of months ago in response to some questions about Cassie’s parents and about forgiveness. Cristina has become a HUGE fan and wonderful supporter of this series.
MORE AMAZING REVIEWS!!!
“Mind Games is the perfect title for book three of Christine Amsden’s new adult paranormal series: Cassie Scot because it is full of mind games. Misinformation being planted into the community, mind mages working their magic, and romantic tensions are all present as Cassie fights to bring back some order to her own life and the lives of the residents of Eagle Rock.”
“I am a HUGE fan of the Cassie Scot series and I couldn’t wait for book 3….I will tell you I was not disappointed!! Like the other two books, Cassie has a murder to solve that involves a sorcerer who no one really cares about. Cassie is now dating Matthew but Evan is always present in her life adding just enough complications to the mix :)”
“‘m completely hooked on this series!
June 25, 2014
Stolen Dreams Ebook RELEASE!!!!
The CONCLUSION to the Cassie Scot series is here!!!!
That’s right, Stolen Dreams (Cassie Scot #4) is available right now in ebook format through Amazon. and Barnes and Noble.
Friend, family, and loyal series followers: I am doing another BOOK BOMB for this book — right now, today! To try to drive up that Amazon sales rank, I am asking all family and friends planning to buy the book through Amazon to do it today if at all possible. Amazon has a volatile system for ranking their books, which means that 100 books sold in a day makes a bigger impact than the same number of books sold in a week. The higher the sales rank, the more likely the book is to show up on “top 100″ lists within its categories. *All three prequel books were boosted into the top 100 in their category thanks to book bombs.*
Buy Now:
Book Blurb
Edward Scot and Victor Blackwood have despised one another for nearly a quarter of a century, but now their simmering hatred is about to erupt.
When Cassie Scot returns home from her sojourn in Pennsylvania, she finds that her family has taken a hostage. Desperate to end the fighting before someone dies, Cassie seeks help from local seer Abigail Hastings, Evan Blackwood’s grandmother. But Abigail has seen her own death, and when it comes at the hand of Cassie’s father, Victor Blackwood kills Edward Scot.
But things may not be precisely as they appear.
Evan persuades Cassie to help him learn the truth, teaming them up once again in their darkest hour. New revelations about Evan and his family make it difficult for Cassie to cling to a shield of anger, but can Evan and Cassie stop a feud that has taken on a life of its own? Conclusion to the Cassie Scot series.
June 23, 2014
TV Review: Rising Star
I’m not a fan of most reality shows, but I confess that I am developing a soft spot for the talent shows sub-genre of reality TV. I’ve been watching America’s Got Talent since season 2 and The Voice (which I reviewed a few weeks ago) since season 1. In my review of The Voice, I mentioned that one of my issues with it was that audience participation comes in too late. Which may be why, when I heard about ABC’s new live voting method, I gave this premiere a shot.
I am also not a fan of live TV. I watch 99% of my shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime, DVD, or the Internet. I even watched The Voice the next day on my computer as opposed to live on NBC, and I won’t watch America’s Got Talent live until we get to the voting rounds. Rising Star is the first show in years to convince me to turn on my TV (which only has an antenna) at a specific time. So obviously, I was very intrigued by the concept.
You have to download an app onto your cell phone in order to vote. Download, installation, and use were all very simple. They ask for access to your twitter or Facebook profile, but the permissions they request are reasonable — they won’t post, they only want your public information. You can *optionally* indicate that you are willing to have your profile picture on “the wall” when you vote. My husband opted out. I opted in. (My author image is public anyway, and there is no way it hurts me if it did end up as a blip on live TV.)
Now, down to the show:
I got a sense of pilot-episode awkwardness at the outset. Host Josh Groban tossed out a few jokes that weren’t funny as he introduced the experts — Ludacris, Kesha, and Brad Paisley. I will reserve judgment on the mix of personalities between host and experts; it’s only fair to give them a chance to settle in. Josh did simply and effectively explain the premise of the show, and how voting would work.
You have to log in to vote for each new contestant as they are introduced. The app prompts you and you simply swipe the screen. The reason for this is simple: Once you indicate a willingness to vote, your default is NO. You can swipe no, or you can not vote — it’s the same thing. So they want to check at each performance that you’re there, that you’re watching, and that you’re prepared to vote.
The singers need to get a yes from 70% of voters to “raise the wall” and go through to the next round.
BUT … The experts get a vote too. If they vote NO, nothing happens. If they vote YES, the singer gets a 7% bump. This effectively means that if all three experts vote yes, the singer auditioning only needs 49% of America to vote for them. I was dubious about this part at first. I really liked the idea of getting all the say, but as the episode unfolded I understood and appreciated why they chose to do it this way. First of all, Half of America essentially needs to vote yes anyway or it doesn’t matter what the experts thing. Second, the experts votes seriously influenced America’s. You could see it in the live tracking — the second an expert swiped YES, so did a hundred thousand watchers. Finally, the fact that the experts get a big say lends weight to their advice when they give it at the end of each round. So all in all, I decided I approved of this approach.
My biggest complaint about the episode was that in two hours, we saw 10 singers (or groups of singers). It was full of the usual nonsense that draws out and weighs down talent shows like this. They put a lot of time and effort into a surprise auditioner, a sixteen-year-old girl from the audience who had sent in an instagram audition and didn’t know she’d been picked to audition too. They gave her an hour and a half to prepare a song and she got the last audition spot of the night.
Back to positives: It really was fun to sit in my living room, discuss the pros and cons of each singer with my husband and son, and to swipe a YES or a NO. I loved seeing the instant results (results shows being my least favorite part of any talent show). The first three singers all made it through, making me wonder if America had a soft touch (I voted NO on two of the three myself and was beginning to wonder if I was just grumpy). Then a couple came on whose energy and enthusiasm couldn’t make up for the fact that they didn’t sound all that good together. America voted overwhelmingly NO, restoring my faith in our overall good taste. (And in truth, the first three singers were fine. I just wasn’t wowed.)
Of the experts, Ludacris earned my absolute respect last night. He not only said exactly what I was thinking 99% of the time, but his personality was a great mix of fun/friendly and honest/serious. Kesha struck me as a bit superficial. She put a lot of importance on the right look or, in a couple of cases, some random personal connection. And she was a bit of a soft touch overall. Brad Paisley hasn’t made a huge impression on me yet; I am again reserving judgment here.
Back to some weaknesses: There were too many sixteen-year-olds auditioning. One of the things I like about both The Voice and America’s Got Talent is that they’ll take anyone — any age, look, gender, etc. I hope to see a more diverse selection in the coming weeks.
I’m also wary of the commercials. Like I said early on, I don’t watch broadcast TV anymore. Haven’t in years. And last night reminded me why. It’s not just the existence of the commercials, but the truth is that the show was perfect fun for the whole family except that in between singers, there were commercials for shows like Mistresses, earning the question from my 8-year-old: “What’s a mistress?” I have a strict policy of answering honestly at all times so I did, but I really resent having had to answer that particular question last night. The level of sex and violence in the ads surprised me after so many years away from it. My kids are getting older, staying up later, and it’s summer so they are up until 9 or 10.
Finally, one aspect of the show confuses me: The west coast. I don’t live there (I’m in the central time zone) but I didn’t understand how this show would work when they rebroadcast it later. Josh explained, but I’m not wrapping my mind around it. I can’t imagine it being as satisfying to be out on the west coast, watching a rebroadcast. From the sounds of it, if the west coast votes are high enough they could change the results for someone who didn’t make it through, but that’s not what it looked like as I watched it. The people who got voted off just … left.
Overall, I think this is a fun new approach to a talent show competition. I have a few small reservations, but overall I am excited to watch again next week!
June 20, 2014
Mind Games Tour Weekly Recap
For those of you who don’t know, Mind Games is the first book I have toured on my own — without the help of a virtual book tour service. My reasons for going solo aren’t important, but it has been a learning experience! And one of the most important things I’ve learned is this: Daily blasts of tour stops through social media become redundant and it’s not long before followers tune out.
This wouldn’t be a problem if I were running a short-term tour, but Mind Games will last through July 15 and then the next day, July 16, I will begin a three-month tour for Stolen Dreams, the last Cassie Scot book! That will be six months of straight promotion.
So instead of daily posts, from now on I’m going to do a week in review. I will highlight each stop, with excerpts and discussion. There is a link to each stop – please feel free to visit and leave a comment.
Reviews
Another bunch of terrific reviews this week!
The Reading Addict
“This exciting addition to a fun new adult fantasy series continues to reveal more about the complicated Cassie Scot who has to juggle her duties to the town as a deputy and the obligations inherent in being a member of a very powerful magical family.” — A lot is going on in this book; I’m so glad I still have readers on the edge of their seats!
Hide the Matches
“Mind Games is another great book in the series and I definitely agree with the author, Christine Amsden, that the books need to be read in order. ” — A girl never gets tired of being told she’s right!
The Story of a Writer
“Cassie is brave though not perfect. She makes mistakes. She has doubts. In other words, she’s human, not just a paper character in a book. The author is great at creating characters that are so real the reader can identify with them, the good and the bad ones.” – I love reviews that focus on character. This reviewer really seemed to get Cassie.
Mary’s Cup of Tea (Warning: Contains huge series spoilers — if you have not read books 1 and 2, read at your own risk.)
“So, what will she do? Well, I have to admit I thought for someone who is suppose to be so smart, she sure is making a lot of mistakes and trusting the wrong people. When this book ends, she makes another huge mistake or I think it is.” — Not every review is glowing, but I value every opinion.
Guest Articles
Little Miss Drama Queen – “Cassie Scot Character Profile”
Interviews
Shah Wharton – How do I write? Where is this series going?
Hide the Matches – What sort of research have I done? Is this series connected in any way to new age religions, paganism, or the occult?
June 18, 2014
Movie Review: Annie
I’ve ordered Netflix DVD plan for the summer (while my kids are at home) and I decided we should watch Annie after I saw that they’ll be doing a modernized remake of this movie later in the year.
If you haven’t seen the classic Annie by now, nothing I’m going to say will probably convince you to do so! As the mother of a 6 and 8-year-old, I wasn’t sure how well the movie would work on modern younglings. I have been disappointed in the fast to discover that some of my old favorites simply don’t translate well to the modern age of super-fast-paced movies with lots of bling and computer graphics.
Annie held up well, mostly because of the music. “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow” is just one of those great songs that doesn’t get dates. And there are other wonderful songs. I did explain a bit about The Great Depression, what an orphanage is, and what an orphan is. I also told them a bit about FDR. But this is mostly because my son is very inquisitive and always wants to understand as much as possible about what’s going on.
In the end, I’m not thinking this is going to rank as one of their favorites, be we did enjoy the old movie together — them seeing it for the first time and me seeing it for the first time in decades.
BUT I do have one question for anyone out there who happens to know: What happened to the other orphans? I know Annie gets her HEA, but it looked like those other little girls just got nicer clothes. When I was a kid, I think I thought Daddy Warbucks adopted them all, but as an adult I think that was just wishful thinking.
Movie Review: Gravity
I watched Gravity on DVD.
Gravity is a story of survival in space.
This wasn’t a bad movie. There are plenty of good things I could say about it, mostly in terms of cinematography. It was a beautiful movie, and all of it was filmed to make the actors look like they were in the weightlessness of space. That took some doing.
I’ve heard people say that the pace was slow and it was certainly … gradual. The conflict didn’t rise toward a climax so much as glide through to the end, with a few spikes here in there for good measure. In a slow movie, I feel impatient for it to end, which wasn’t how I felt here. I was always interested in knowing how they would get through this situation, and I thought at more than one point that the main characters would both die. That’s pretty good conflict, actually, even if it’s gradual.
Gravity is a story of survival in space. And it tells that story well. But that’s all this is. There is no depth of character (though we learn a bit about the two main characters), no moral, no subplot of any kind. As an author, I find coming up with loglines (one sentence to describe a whole book) to e just about the most challenging thing I have to do. I don’t have that problem with Gravity.
Bottom line: Good but not great. Not the sort of movie I’m likely to want to watch again.
June 16, 2014
Book Review: Bastion
This series baffles me.
First of all: Is it over? If anyone knows, please comment!
I don’t feel a burning need to read anything else in the series. It didn’t end on a cliffhanger and the mysteries of the previous volumes are over. And yet if this is the end … talk about an anti-climax! It practically whispered out of existence.
Yet paradoxically, even though I’m not sure this is over, I don’t want there to be anymore books. There were already 2 books too many! Most of Lackey’s series take place in trilogies.
Which brings me to my second baffling point: Why was this five books long? There certainly wasn’t enough substance to fill five books. I commented on this two books ago. The fourth book picked up the pace a bit, but this fifth book could just about have been tacked on to the end of that one for all the actual plot that existed.
Thinking back over this book (which I JUST finished), I can’t really remember what happened. They returned home from their original adventure, took baths, debriefed, spent time with the weapons master, packed, left, went to inns, rode on circuit ….
Mags did spend quite a bit of time worrying about having sex with his girlfriend. Knowing Lackey as I do, I was sure she’d skip the details of the scene and of course she did, but I have to say that I found some real irony in this case: Mags main concern was that he didn’t know what he was doing and was afraid of hurting her. So his mentor explains it (not so the reader can hear, mind — this is summarized) and I guess it worked … whatever these magical tricks to please a woman are! I had to laugh because she was, in effect, contributing to the conspiracy of silence and non-information.
Oh, and a nit-pick I just have to put out there: Leena and Leeta? (sp?) I do read audiobooks so these names may not have been quite as similar to read as they were to hear (Lina/Lita/Leena/Leeta?) but it was so annoying to keep them straight! The reader was even good, and gave each one a different voice, but I still had to work to keep them straight.
I’m not sure what to say about this book. Not sure if it’s the conclusion of the series or a boring middling book. Overall, I’m not going to recommend this series to new readers, even if the first book in the series was extremely good.
Rating: 2/5
Title: Bastion ( Valdemar: Collegium Chronicles #5)
Audhot: Mercedes Lackey
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