Natalina Reis's Blog, page 13
August 9, 2022
True Bliss
How do you define true bliss?
I guess it would depend on who you were asking. For a friend of mine who is a swimmer, bliss could be defined as a dip in the warm waters of the Mediterranean. For a foodie, it could be eating at the most famous restaurant in the land. For a nature lover it would possibly be a night in a forest, sleeping in a hammock/cocoon.
We all have different ideas about what bliss truly looks like and even then, those definitions change as we age and as our conditions change.
For me, as a writer, bliss is writing frequently AND enjoying it. Let me explain.
I just finished a novel that I started probably around October of last year. For some, that’s not a long time but for me, that feels like an eternity. The worst part is that because it dragged for so long I lost the passion, the excitement I normally feel when I sit at my laptop to write. It became a chore.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great story and I love it. I adore the characters and I believe I have a solid plot line (that turned into a possible series) with all the excitement that makes danmei such a beloved genre mixed with the romance and world building that will appeal to fantasy lovers.
But every time I sat down to write it, I was paralyzed. By what, I’m not sure. Fear I was writing crap? Possibly. Self-doubt about my writing skills? Almost certainly. Pandemic and family stress side effect? Absolutely.
The good news is, I have finished it and it turned out–despite all my worst fears–amazing (I did have to tweak it a bit to get rid of some odd inconsistencies). I’m very proud of it and excited to share it with the world sometime in the near future.
Even better news is that I am now writing a story (that was not even a seed in my brain) which is flowing easily and beautifully. It has brought my bliss back. This one was inspired by a cover I bought on a whim from an artist I love, Adriatica. And so far it’s been a pleasure to write. The characters are developing smoothly, the world-building is making me smile (a lot), and the plot is very promising (even though as a pantser I have a pretty fuzzy concept of what it might be, lol).
So, moral of the story is, don’t despair. Like my yoga teacher often says, everything passes, nothing is permanent. So if you are, like I was, going through a stage where whatever makes you happy is no longer doing it for you, stick with it. It will eventually come back. And if it doesn’t, there are a million other things to discover. One (or many) will surely bring back your bliss.
What makes you happy? Would love to hear from you.
August 1, 2022
So This Is Ever After – Book Review
So This Is Ever After by F.T. Lukens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Not sure how to start. Okay, I do.
This book was right up my alley; a mixture of different genres, a rom com set in a medieval-type society with magic and a lot of heart. I loved it!
It had all the things I liked. Let’s see: magic, friends to lovers trope, love conquers all, reluctant hero and his wonderful Scooby gang, lots of humor and sarcasm, diversity, fated mates trope, a bit of a fairytale flavor, and even a giant octopus. What’s not to love?
All kidding aside, the friendships in this story plus the swoony, sweet love between the two main characters are heartwarming and just what the doctor ordered for my romantic soul. Wrap it all up in a slightly demented plot and you have a winner.
I highly recommend this book to all lovers of romance, magic, or really anyone who just wants a break from reality.
July 19, 2022
Sorcery of Thorns – Review
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I started reading this book because it came highly recommended by several readers and writers on TikTok and Instagram. I’m always suspicious of hype but since this one was a standalone I figure I had nothing to lose.
And dang, am I glad I read it.
Even though this a YA fantasy set in a historical-looking era it has a definite MG ring to it, not sure why (it might just be me). But it works.
The character arcs are wonderful and so well done, especially that of Silas, the demon. The budding romance between Nathaniel and Elisabeth is well done and very sweet. The world created by the author is believable and rather original. And the fact that the whole story revolves around libraries filled with books (grimoires) with a life of their own is just the cherry on top.
Highly recommend it to anyone (YA or adult) who loves a good fantasy adventure.
June 6, 2022
Castles in Their Bones – Review
Castles in Their Bones by Laura Sebastian
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’m so glad I picked up this book from the shelves. This was a definite cover choice, but it proved to be so much more than just a gorgeous cover. I was not sure I was going to like this three (sometimes four) voices story since the main characters (the triplets) were not exactly great people. They were after all their mother’s greatest weapons.
But these three girls develop into so much more complex human beings, they grow before our eyes and change.
My favorite part of their character arc? The fact that love is what changes them. Not just romantic love but love for their fellow humans, the love for a friend, the love of family.
Awesome job, Ms. Sebastian. Can’t wait to read the second book in the series.
June 5, 2022
New Release – Bed of Rose and Thorns
Sir Ezra is an Elysian Bell; he has a frightening potential that he keeps hidden deep beneath tight layers of steel armor. He secretly loves a dark Queen whose touch would mean his death.
Banished for brutally slaughtering the Prince of Erle and husband to the Queen, Sir Ezra can only dream of seeing her again. Every night, his soul travels to distant lands, remembering the Queen, her deep convictions, brilliant mind, unending work, hidden loneliness, and a single night of horrific bloodshed.
Recalled to the Queendom after eleven years, Ezra hopes to catch at least a fleeting glimpse of the woman he was sacrificed for. Instead, he finds a nation in rebellion and the Queen to be an elusive phantom. His only friend, Sir Marigold, challenges his presence and tells him that he is not needed in the capitol. Looking for both the truth and the absent Queen, Ezra finds only more secrets and enemies.
Ezra’s armor is dented, scarred, and ruined by friend and enemy alike; his secret potential is about to become unbound.
Amazon | Universal Buy LinkGiveawayLee is giving away a $20 Amazon gift card with this tour:
a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47240/?
Excerpt
A man alone, thirsty, falls asleep.
***
“Where am I?” asks the man. He seems to be bobbing high in clear aquamarine water. All he can see is a vast expanse of ocean and a clear crystalline structure that floats nearby. Something seems familiar. He had been in a desert, travelling with friends, but now he swims upon an endless ocean.
“Have I been here before?” he asks. The tug of oceanic currents and the endless blue horizon pull on some memory . . . something important.
“You are in the sea of Eydos,” says the crystalline structure. It has been floating toward him, quietly, its approach, until then, unnoticed.
“And you are an iceberg,” the man says, smiling, unconcerned, unsurprised by the nearness of the mountainous structure. He does not know what Eydos is, but he thinks he may recognize this vast icy creature. Something tells him that he may have seen her before, though his memory is as difficult to make out as a words written on water.
The iceberg shakes from side to side, creating little ripples and dancing waves. “I suppose that I am.”
“Your sides are so smooth,” says the man. “I like you.”
The iceberg shakes again and glides right up beside the man. He floats high enough in the water that her ripples of laughter do not threaten to drown him. “You are brave, aren’t you?”
“I am not afraid to look upon that which I like. And say so.”
“Look down then, man, and tell me what you see.”
The man dives down a few body lengths, searching. When he resurfaces, he is smiling even more widely than before. “You go down and down, out of sight, beyond light and reckoning.” He shakes his head at her. “Most of you is down below, unknowable. How vast are you?”
“Never ask a lady her size,” the iceberg says, creating even bigger waves as she shakes the waters, laughing. “My size is my depth, and my depth is my size.”
“Well, I like it. I am just a man. Not vast or mysterious like an iceberg.”
“An amusing man, I think,” replies the berg.
The man asks, “Where are you going?”
“On currents that are my own, on purposes that are my own, for reasons that are my own.”
“I don’t know what I am doing here or where I am going,” says the man.
“Typical,” replies the iceberg lightly. “Most do not.”
The man, swimming hard beside her, says, “You are certainly moving fast through this ocean.”
“Indeed,” says the iceberg. “I am an agent of my own destiny.” After a moment, she adds, “If you come around back and swim in my eddy, you will be pulled along. You can rest while we talk.”
The man looks at the smooth surface of the iceberg. “Can I not just slide up onto you and rest there?”
“No!” says the iceberg, firm. “I am hard and cold. I would burn you. If you touch me, you will be undone.” Her voice softens as she adds, “It is nice in my eddy. Swim there, man.”
He shrugs and does as she says.
“Oh, this is nice,” says the man. “I can look at you and talk at the same time.”
“Glad to help you do two things at once,” giggles the iceberg, making tears of water jiggle and parade.
And they talk on through the day, the man endlessly curious about the magnificent creature of the waters.
***
“I love you, iceberg,” declares the man.
“That’s nice, but you don’t even know a tenth of me.”
“Good point,” laughs the man. “I need to dive deeper.” He takes a deep breath and dives into the dark again.
Missing completely the iceberg’s cry of “No!”
The water starts at a clear color, or is it green? Then it turns light blue, and then to deeper and darker shades. The man pushes and kicks, fighting his buoyancy, feeling the weight of water build and build, following the clean lines of ice down into oblivion.
Heavy, crushing pressure begins to squeeze him. It is like the weight of memory, everywhere pushing, everywhere trying to change and deform him from his human shape, trying to make his courage fail and shatter his hope. But he loves the iceberg and he needs to follow her down.
At the utmost point of indigo darkness, he finds a new light. It shines from a clear chamber in the ice where a figure waits. Lungs bursting, he pushes deeper, drawing level to the translucent walls and the woman who lies inside.
She is naked but for her long, tawny hair. Like a lion’s mane, it frames her long, pure face and spills over her delicate, perfect shoulders. She looks at peace. Her eyes are closed, but she is smiling.
This is the heart of the iceberg, the man thinks, in the crushing pressure of the deep. So beautiful.
Then he sees that she rests upon a bed of long, sharp thorns.
Author Bio
Born with only one working lung and having had the last rights read to him and dying of an influenza related viral pneumonia, 25-year-old geophysicist Lee Hunt experienced several near-death dreams. The power of communication and the need to both understand and be understood was at the heart of each. He had already found that nothing was more important than being able to cross the distance between people.
Lee’s interests are eclectic. He is an Ironman Triathlete, hiker, traveler, and an enthusiastic sport rock climber. Lee also continues to work as a geophysicist on Carbon Capture and Sequestration projects, and is a writer for BIG-Media.ca.
The dream of understanding and being understood has never left his mind, and Lee continues that in his works of fiction through metaphor. His works include The Dynamicist Trilogy, Last Worst Hopes and Bed of Rose and Thorns.
Author Liminal Fiction (LimFic.com)
June 2, 2022
Buttons for Peace
My grandmother had a tin full of buttons. It was a pretty tin, that had probably been full of cookies or other treats at some point, but was now filled with buttons.
Random buttons.
I have no idea where they came from. Maybe my grandma had bought them but never used them. Or maybe they were the leftovers of clothes no longer worn. Or maybe she had just found them.
There were lots of them of all colors, sizes and shapes and I was fascinated by them. Nothing made me happier than shaking and opening that tin to go through its contents over and over again. Every time I did, I’d find something I hadn’t noticed before.
All those buttons were a treasure to me, and I remember hoping my grandmother would one day give it to me.
Cookie TinNow, I think of all the different shapes and colors inside that tin and I understand the reason for my fascination. Even as a child, and way before I could begin to understand it, I was already in awe of diversity.
Those pretty—and some not so pretty—buttons were an allegory to the human race: chaotic, thrown together into a shrinking planet, beautifully colorful and varied, each one with its own role, its own use. All perfect in their own way.
It also reflected, I think, my longtime wish for peace and harmony.
I grew up at a time when war was still raging in our then African colonies and in Vietnam. The Cold War held a threat of nuclear war over our heads at all times. My country’s government was overthrown during a revolution that propelled the nation into euphoric chaos and led the way to the pouring of refugees into our tiny country with no resources or the infrastructure needed to accommodate so many people.
Anger, hate, racism, and all kinds of negative feelings born of fear hung over our society like a nasty, dark bird of prey ready to pounce.
Even as a child, I wanted peace. I wanted my friends to not be hated or discriminated against because of their gender, where they came from, or the color of their skin. I wanted people not to hate me for the same reasons.
It was a time of unrest and those buttons, sitting cozily inside the tin, mixing and mingling in peaceful bliss made me feel hopeful that one day humans would do the same.
I’m old now and I’m still waiting. We’ve made great strides in the right direction only to backtrack as if history has taught us nothing.
Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing and expect a different outcome. Humans seem to have history on a loop, making the same mistakes again and again only to be shocked when things don’t get better.
We need to take a lesson from my grandmother’s button collection, don’t you think?
Buttons
May 30, 2022
The Madness of Mental Health
I don’t normally write about things like this. Anyone who follows me on social media knows I very rarely comment or post about anything on the news, be it political or about some terrible tragedy. I keep those thoughts for myself and my closest friends. No judgement. It is just the way I am.
However, I feel the need to address (vent?) this after what has recently happened in Texas. Some of you know I am an elementary school teacher. I also happen to teach mostly 4th grade and 99% of my students are Hispanic. So this horrifying massacre hit a special cord for me and all of my coworkers.
But despite what you might have guessed, I am not here to talk about guns or the wisdom of allowing teenagers (or anyone really) whose prefrontal cortex, responsible for things like self-control, planning, and self-awareness, is still not fully developed, to buy war weaponry. I’m here to discuss the state of mental health in this country. Because, let’s face, it’s one big slice of the problem.
Before I start, I want to emphasize that having a mental illness does not make you a monster willing to go on senseless killing sprees like the young man in Texas did. Just like everyone else, people who suffer from mental health problems are all individuals who react to things differently. I hate when people automatically pin the label of bipolar on anyone who loses control of their anger or has an explosive temperament. It doesn’t work like that. But I digress…
My youngest son was diagnosed with bipolar disease at the age of nineteen. He had always been hyperactive, creative, stubborn, impulsive, and a risk taker. He was climbing out of his crib before he could even walk. Yes, he was a challenging child who often had trouble with self-control. But he was not an angry kid who bullied others, hurt other children, or had excessive bouts of temper tantrums in school. He was instead the kid who jumped off a high wall with no forethought of how it would hurt him. He was the child who cut his brand new pants with his kindergarten scissors because he wanted to see if the scissors were sharp enough and overlooked the fact it’d destroy his clothes in the process. He was the kind of preteen that would sneak out of the house in the middle of the night–blind to the danger to himself–to go help a friend in trouble.
One summer day, he walked in the house and told us all he was Jesus and that like the original one, he had to die in order to save his friends. Needless to say we called 911 and this was his first of many hospitalizations.
Keep in mind that we, the parents, are financially supporting him (he was in his first year in community college at the time). That he lives with us and an older brother. That his pain becomes our pain because we love him. A mother does not dream of having her child committed to a mental institution and to watch her child’s life go from full of promise to one of helplessness and despair.
Like most people who suffer from a mental illness, he has always had the tendency to self-medicate which 99% of the time only makes his psychosis and his depression worse. As the years went by, things got worse and worse. He was hospitalized five times, most of them involuntarily. In order for him to get the help he needed, we as parents had only ONE option: to call the police and have him taken away like a criminal to be assessed and then placed in a mental hospital.
One time he had a bad reaction to one of his meds and was extremely agitated. He has never been physically violent towards others but he can get verbally abusive and destructive of things around him. When we visited him at the hospital and had a meeting with one of the doctors there, he was not hiding the fact he was angry at us for putting him in the hospital and that he was obviously not okay to put it mildly. Despite that, they decided to let him go and let us, the family, deal with someone who at the time was being assailed by psychosis and believed the world was out to get him. Nothing we said mattered because he was an adult and he wanted to go home.
The whole family suffers from PTSD. Even our dog suffered from it. Watching your son go to bed with gardening implements and cry all night because he thought there were people coming to kill us all, does a number on your emotions. Walking in your son’s room and find him with a belt wrapped around his neck is not something you will ever be able to erase from your memory. And through it all we, the parents, couldn’t do anything to get the help he desperately needed. Every time he went to the hospital, he was let go after a few days without any signs of recovery.
Why?
Because the system must protect his right to privacy as an adult. Parents have NO saying in their adult children’s health care, not even when they are so obviously unable to do it themselves.
I get it. I totally agree that we all have the right to privacy. However to not allow family members, those who love the patients, to do anything (other than call the police on them) to help those who by definition cannot be expected to make the right choices because of their illness seems to be counterproductive. If not outright criminal.
A mental disorder, also called a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_disorder
Any time something like Texas happens, people tend to blame the parents. They brought them up wrong. They did nothing to control them. They were bad parents.
Not necessarily so. The system does not allow parents of adult children to do anything about their mental health. I have a friend whose brother in law suffers from schizophrenia. The man is harmless but oftentimes he is “out there” like my son, incapable of taking care of himself. His parents with whom he lives have tried to help him with no success. This man who often doesn’t even know who he is or where he lives is expected to make his own health decisions.
Is it me or is there something terribly wrong with this?
Mental Health needs a facelift. We went from a time when everyone who did not fit in the box was diagnosed as mad and taken to a mental institution to the very extreme opposite; now we have people who obviously need the care and can’t find it because they are expected to do it themselves. Do you see what I am getting at?
The way it stands today mental health care is, well, total madness.
May 27, 2022
Bed of Roses and Thorns – Cover Reveal
Sir Ezra is an Elysian Bell; he has a frightening potential that he keeps hidden deep beneath tight layers of steel armor. He secretly loves a dark Queen whose touch would mean his death.
Banished for brutally slaughtering the Prince of Erle and husband to the Queen, Sir Ezra can only dream of seeing her again. Every night, his soul travels to distant lands, remembering the Queen, her deep convictions, brilliant mind, unending work, hidden loneliness, and a single night of horrific bloodshed.
Recalled to the Queendom after eleven years, Ezra hopes to catch at least a fleeting glimpse of the woman he was sacrificed for. Instead, he finds a nation in rebellion and the Queen to be an elusive phantom. His only friend, Sir Marigold, challenges his presence and tells him that he is not needed in the capitol. Looking for both the truth and the absent Queen, Ezra finds only more secrets and enemies.
Ezra’s armor is dented, scarred, and ruined by friend and enemy alike; his secret potential is about to become unbound.
Amazon | Universal Buy LinkGiveawayLee is giving away a $20 Amazon gift card with this tour:
a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47239/?
Excerpt
A man alone, thirsty, falls asleep.
***“Where am I?” asks the man. He seems to be bobbing high in clear aquamarine water. All he can see is a vast expanse of ocean and a clear crystalline structure that floats nearby. Something seems familiar. He had been in a desert, travelling with friends, but now he swims upon an endless ocean.
“Have I been here before?” he asks. The tug of oceanic currents and the endless blue horizon pull on some memory . . . something important.
“You are in the sea of Eydos,” says the crystalline structure. It has been floating toward him, quietly, its approach, until then, unnoticed.
“And you are an iceberg,” the man says, smiling, unconcerned, unsurprised by the nearness of the mountainous structure. He does not know what Eydos is, but he thinks he may recognize this vast icy creature. Something tells him that he may have seen her before, though his memory is as difficult to make out as a words written on water.
The iceberg shakes from side to side, creating little ripples and dancing waves. “I suppose that I am.”
“Your sides are so smooth,” says the man. “I like you.”
The iceberg shakes again and glides right up beside the man. He floats high enough in the water that her ripples of laughter do not threaten to drown him. “You are brave, aren’t you?”
“I am not afraid to look upon that which I like. And say so.”
“Look down then, man, and tell me what you see.”
The man dives down a few body lengths, searching. When he resurfaces, he is smiling even more widely than before. “You go down and down, out of sight, beyond light and reckoning.” He shakes his head at her. “Most of you is down below, unknowable. How vast are you?”
“Never ask a lady her size,” the iceberg says, creating even bigger waves as she shakes the waters, laughing. “My size is my depth, and my depth is my size.”
“Well, I like it. I am just a man. Not vast or mysterious like an iceberg.”
“An amusing man, I think,” replies the berg.
The man asks, “Where are you going?”
“On currents that are my own, on purposes that are my own, for reasons that are my own.”
“I don’t know what I am doing here or where I am going,” says the man.
“Typical,” replies the iceberg lightly. “Most do not.”
The man, swimming hard beside her, says, “You are certainly moving fast through this ocean.”
“Indeed,” says the iceberg. “I am an agent of my own destiny.” After a moment, she adds, “If you come around back and swim in my eddy, you will be pulled along. You can rest while we talk.”
The man looks at the smooth surface of the iceberg. “Can I not just slide up onto you and rest there?”
“No!” says the iceberg, firm. “I am hard and cold. I would burn you. If you touch me, you will be undone.” Her voice softens as she adds, “It is nice in my eddy. Swim there, man.”
He shrugs and does as she says.
“Oh, this is nice,” says the man. “I can look at you and talk at the same time.”
“Glad to help you do two things at once,” giggles the iceberg, making tears of water jiggle and parade.
And they talk on through the day, the man endlessly curious about the magnificent creature of the waters.
***“I love you, iceberg,” declares the man.
“That’s nice, but you don’t even know a tenth of me.”
“Good point,” laughs the man. “I need to dive deeper.” He takes a deep breath and dives into the dark again.
Missing completely the iceberg’s cry of “No!”
The water starts at a clear color, or is it green? Then it turns light blue, and then to deeper and darker shades. The man pushes and kicks, fighting his buoyancy, feeling the weight of water build and build, following the clean lines of ice down into oblivion.
Heavy, crushing pressure begins to squeeze him. It is like the weight of memory, everywhere pushing, everywhere trying to change and deform him from his human shape, trying to make his courage fail and shatter his hope. But he loves the iceberg and he needs to follow her down.
At the utmost point of indigo darkness, he finds a new light. It shines from a clear chamber in the ice where a figure waits. Lungs bursting, he pushes deeper, drawing level to the translucent walls and the woman who lies inside.
She is naked but for her long, tawny hair. Like a lion’s mane, it frames her long, pure face and spills over her delicate, perfect shoulders. She looks at peace. Her eyes are closed, but she is smiling.
This is the heart of the iceberg, the man thinks, in the crushing pressure of the deep. So beautiful.
Then he sees that she rests upon a bed of long, sharp thorns.
Author Bio
Born with only one working lung and having had the last rights read to him and dying of an influenza related viral pneumonia, 25-year-old geophysicist Lee Hunt experienced several near-death dreams. The power of communication and the need to both understand and be understood was at the heart of each. He had already found that nothing was more important than being able to cross the distance between people.
Lee’s interests are eclectic. He is an Ironman Triathlete, hiker, traveler, and an enthusiastic sport rock climber. Lee also continues to work as a geophysicist on Carbon Capture and Sequestration projects, and is a writer for BIG-Media.ca.
The dream of understanding and being understood has never left his mind, and Lee continues that in his works of fiction through metaphor. His works include The Dynamicist Trilogy, Last Worst Hopes and Bed of Rose and Thorns.
Author Liminal Fiction (LimFic.com)
May 22, 2022
To Fill or Not To Fill
I am reading a book (second in a series) by an author I love and have uber respect for. I’m not pleased. In fact, I’m extremely disappointed. Let me explain.
The first book was great. The writing was what I came to expect from that author, the characters were three-dimensional and fascinating, and the plot was intriguing and surprising at times. The book ended in a cliffhanger of sorts so I bought the second one without hesitation. I’m 70% into it and I’m at the point of DNFing it.
By now you must be asking yourself why? What can this author, who I love so much, be doing to warrant such thing?
Unfortunately it seems to be a trend lately. This is at least the third book I read (from different favorite writers) that follows this trend. The worst part–arguably–is that I don’t even blame the authors. Judging from reviews I have received for some of my own books, this is what many modern readers want to see in a fantasy romance/romantic fantasy.
So what is this trend you speak of?
Fillers that normally translate into either lengthy and repetitive conversations and/or extremely long and detailed sex scenes. Disclosure: I have nothing against a good sex scene. Have quite a few in my own stories. My issue with these scenes–especially the ones in this particular book–is that they don’t seem to fit with the story and also because there isn’t much going on in terms of plot. It really feel as the author is using these scenes and the repetitive conversations to stretch the series and thus sell more books (Who can blame her? We all want to sell more books. I mean, it is a job after all).
Another issue (for me) with the sex scenes in this book is the language used. This is a fantasy and even though the language is modern (no problem there) when the male protagonist started talking dirty during sex, it just totally ruined the fantasy/magical tone of the whole story. It took me out of the story world and that really pissed me off. I read for escapism so the fact that the fantastic, well-thought world this author created came crushing down when the MC started using certain lewd terms to address his love upset me to no end.
I started skipping parts of these scenes which makes me nervous because I’m always afraid I will miss something important in the plot. After reading most of the book, it’s a safe bet I won’t miss anything though. I will not DNF it because I do love this author’s stories, and I am hoping the third in the series is better. I doubt, however, that I will be reading it any time soon.
This creates a conundrum for other fantasy romance authors like me. I have been writing a short story that takes on something one of the side characters in Sleeping Love says and I’m planning to give it away to my followers and subscribers. It was agonizing to figure out how much detail to add to the sex scene in the story. I wanted to be a bit of a fade-to-black scene since it’s a 3K story, but every time I read it I would ask myself, “What if my readers want more? What if they’ll be upset that the scene is cut short? Will I lose some of my readers because of it?”
I considered expanding it and after a few days of painful deliberation, I decided against it. It just didn’t feel right for this particular story. But I can’t say I’m not nervous about it, because of what seems to be the current trend.
So what do you think? Are fillers (sexual or otherwise) acceptable to stretch a series and therefore expand the chances of income? Or not?
I want to know your opinion on this but please, do not name titles or authors in the comments. Thank you.
April 16, 2022
Heaven Official’s Blessing-Vol.2 Review
Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 2 by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
MXTX’s writing takes a while to get used to (at least it did for me) but I am now a huge fan. Love the odd couple who complete and complement each other’s very distinct personalities. Being a lover of the underdog, MXTX’s characters are just up my aisle. Outcasts rock!
Now I have to wait for volume 3. Not fair, lol.
