Natalina Reis's Blog, page 15

Dance of the Phoenix – Review

I believe I said once that I had learned a lot from Chinese period/fantasy dramas. Even though they are TV shows they have taught me how to write better. Dance of the Phoenix was not any different and I definitely learned a thing or two about what NOT to do when writing a fantasy.

I actually enjoyed the series and watched it faithfully every night, but as much as it was entertaining, it was riddled with plot holes, unexplained events, and to be honest the worst ending ever–and that includes The Fall of the Phoenix (no relation) which ended with death and destruction.

There were some major problems with the story, some of which I was okay with ignoring, others that made me cringe. Two of the cringeworthy problems had to do with fat-shaming and color-shaming. One of the main side characters, Zhao Ge (played by Estelle Chen), is introduced in the show as a cute young woman who happens to be on the chubby side (who is played by Zhou Yi Qiao). She’s likable and truly adorable and for a moment I thought this show would actually deviate from most of the C-dramas and actually have a character that was not super skinny. I even thought I saw signs that she would be the love interest of one of the other side characters, a very handsome man, Xuan Yi (played by Gao Ji Cai ). However as the plot develops ,it becomes painfully clear that I was wrong. Her weight is portraited as the result of a curse that makes her eat a lot. She eventually gets “cured” and becomes a beautiful and very thin woman. Xuan Yi does fall in love with her but not until after she regains her thin frame. Bummer!

The color-shaming happens when the main character, lovely Feng Wu (Yang Chao Yue) disguises herself as an “ugly” girl by getting a tan, freckles, and wavy hair. What????? I realize that fair skin was valued as the model of beauty in ancient China just like it was in Jane Austen’s time, but this is a show for modern sensibilities and it could have been handled much better.

That aside there are many plot holes and unexplained things. The main character claims to be “not from here” throughout the whole story but the only faint clue we have as to where she came from is when she offers a “birthday cake” made with pastries and a candle to her love interest, hinting at possible time travel. But that’s where it ends. Nothing is ever explained and at the end she claims this was her second life. What was her first life?

Other weird things happen. For example, her love interest, the Crown Prince (Xu Kai Cheng) gets stabbed in the heart and dies–or at least that’s what we all thought. Except he’s not dead. For unexplained reasons the Queen, who wanted him dead above all else because he was the only one legally capable of opposing her, decides to keep him alive. Why? It made zero sense.

Also above mentioned Zhao Ge and her love interest die on the last episode only to return at the very end with a brief explanation on how that was accomplished. Same with Feng Wu’s Master. One moment he’s dead, the next is back alive. The King/Emperor also has a mystery ending. The Queen has him drugged or something (not quite clear) so she can manipulate him but then he vanishes, never to be mentioned again.

Which takes me to the terrible ending. Everything is pointing at a unbelievable but satisfying happy end as the Crown Prince travels across the city to fetch his bride who is waiting for him in full wedding garb as it is traditional. But at the last minute someone walks in the room (her Master back from the dead) who takes her back to wherever it was she came from. No protests from her, no explanation why this is necessary considering she now has a family and friends and a position in this society. What were the writers thinking of?

However, if you are not the kind to get really upset about these kind of things and are willing to suspend disbelief this show is entertaining and well worth a watch. Just don’t expect to quite understand the reasons behind most of what the cast of characters does.

Taking a Breather

When I was first published about six years ago I knew close to nothing about the world of authoring. My then publisher was less than helpful with a “sink or swim” type of attitude toward rookie writers (which always baffled me because you would think they would want their authors to succeed, right?).

My first heartbreaking and discouraging experience with marketing my books was shortly after the book was published. The book was released in January and when I found out there was going to be an all-female Valentine’s Day event at a local wine shop, my inexperienced self thought this would be the perfect occasion to try to sell my book: what could be better than Valentine’s Day + women + wine?

I spent about three hours standing awkwardly in the middle of the store by my pretty display, surrounded by groups of women who couldn’t care less about me or my books. I was so out of my element and comfort zone I’m sure it showed. I tried to “pull” the audience in, I made a little speech, I went from table to table offering chocolate and free bookmarks which were turned down because “I’m on a diet” and “I don’t read physical books.”

It crushed me. It is probably no wonder that my worst bout with depression started shortly after this. But, pain aside, I learned something: I was not made for this kind of event. Similar experiences in the future just reinforced this notion and I eventually quit trying to set up events where I was the focus. I am too shy and too much of an introvert (with zero gab) to be successful at this no matter how much I tried or forced myself to do it.

First lesson learned.

Many other lessons followed, but more recently I learned another one that may very well be the one that saves me from going insane.

Social media is a mixed blessing at the best of times. I’m so grateful it exists so I can be in touch with my family and friends overseas, but I am also often frustrated and irritated by weird algorithms that favor only those who don’t need much exposure while keeping those of us who are vastly unknown hidden.

For years now I have been driving myself batty following the advice of the experts in the field of marketing: post every day, interact with the audience, post in as many social media sites as possible, don’t slack. I just about burned myself out. My Sundays were, until very recently, spent scheduling social media posts, taking pictures for said-posts, racking my brain to create and/or find interesting graphics that would incite interaction from the audience. This on top of lesson planning for the week, cooking lunches for work, and other things I don’t have time to do during the week.

My efforts paid off in my Facebook author’s page for a very short time. I was actually getting good interaction, but it was very short-lived. For the last year or so my author’s page is pretty much dead even though I post everyday and spend hours preparing materials for it. I’m not even sure anyone is seeing the posts much less interacting with them.

My reader’s group has also been on the decline. Even though my following has grown, interaction has not. I have a handful of amazing readers who faithfully interact with my posts, but I’m not certain the rest even realize the posts exist. Not their fault. I’m pretty sure it all has to do with that infamous mysterious algorithm that only helps those who don’t need much help anyway.

I’m so proud of my Instagram account. I followed the advice of not posting only about my books. “Post other people’s books,” they said, “make it look pretty”. Well, I did and even though my following has grown steadily, the interaction has not. Just like with Facebook I have a handful of followers who interact, most don’t.

A few weeks ago I was at the end of my rope. Between being sick with COVID, craziness at work, family problems, and a crushingly disappointing new release I’d had it. I wanted out. I did not want to spend hours of my remaining years of life working on something to show no results for it. I even considered quitting writing. For someone who’s been writing since she could put words together, this is very telling of how frustrated and tired I was.

Then someone in one of the many webinars I have been attending said something like, “You don’t have to post things everyday as long as you’re consistent” and “Post only promos on your author’s page and focus on interaction in your reader’s group”.

Eureka.

Or at least, eureka-ish. It didn’t solve all my problems but it did give me the “permission” to lighten my burden. I made a decision then to post very little in my author’s page. In fact, my wonderful PA does most of my promos on that page and that’s how it’s going to stay. I wasn’t getting any traction there even when I had an established “schedule” for my “highly-engaging” posts.

Then I decided to cut down the quantity of posts on Instagram as well, from six days/weekly to only three or four. That right there opened up a nice window in my Sunday workload.

So now I want to instead focus on my reader’s group and on interacting with authors I have met online and come to love. I want to network, something I suck at. I had a great new release (thank you all who made it happen) that made me feel better about myself as a writer and gave me the strength to carry on the business of writing.

I am not young anymore. As I enter the silver years of my life and my body starts to remind me of it every second of the day, I want to enjoy life and writing instead of stressing over posts and follows. I want to focus on the people who enjoy my stories or those who potentially could come to love them. Yes, I want to be a successful writer but not at the cost of my sanity. For now I choose to take it easy. Juggling two full time jobs is not a picnic and I have been doing it for far too long.

Right or wrong, it’s time to take a breather.

Glint – Book Review

Glint by Raven Kennedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a series I came very close to DNFing. The first few chapters of the first book in the series plus the personality of the main character really rubbed me the wrong way. Thankfully someone I trust told me I would change my mind as I read so I stuck to it and I’m glad I did. So far this has been a very entertaining (if infuriating at times) series.
I loved book 2 for a couple of reasons. The main female character still drives me crazy with how blind she is to Midas’s real intentions and feelings toward her but the character’s growth in this book was very well done if a bit too slow in my opinion. The new male character is also fabulous so far as are other secondary characters (I’m still pissed off about Sel). I still think that some scenes are unnecessary for the development of the plot and the characters (for example; Queen Malina’s sex scene with her “saddle” adds zero to the story and goes on for far too long and Auren often takes off in overdrawn soliloquies that don’t add much to the scene or overall story arc).
I agree with some reviewers that her relationship with the other saddles is perplexing at best. As a writer myself I imagine Kennedy does this to show how kind and empathic Auren really is (and strong under her layer of apparent weakness) but it unfortunately also adds up to her image as weak in terms of caring for those who have bullied and abused her in the past.
The surprises were a nice addition to the plot even though I’m sure most readers already suspected at least part of what’s revealed late in book 2.
Despite all the flaws, I am hooked and looking forward to the next book. I am giving this book four stars because of how entertaining it is despite the darkness of its theme.

View all my reviews

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation – Review

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 1 by 墨香铜臭
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was really excited when I found out the English translation of this book had finally landed so I bought it immediately. As a fan of The Untamed I was already acquainted with the story and in love with the characters. I will be honest: I don’t know whether I would keep reading if that was not the case.

The writing takes a bit of getting used to (or maybe it’s the translation. As a linguist I know how hard it is to translate literature) for someone who like me is a rookie in this kind of fiction. It felt childish at times, like how one of my students would write it, with a lot of rather cartoonish language (the transcription of laughter sounds drove me crazy, lol) and quite a LOT of telling instead of showing.

That said I couldn’t put it down and I will definitely read volume 2. Also, kudos to the scriptwriters and actors in the TV series for an excellent interpretation of the characters’ personality and for keeping mostly faithful to the story.

The illustrations throughout the book are also wonderful and I’m excited to finally (the last 1/4 or so of the first volume) begin seeing a romance developing between the two main characters (which is after all what made me fall in love with the story). Looking forward to Book 2.

View all my reviews

Blood Bound–New Release

Courtney Maguire has a new MM paranormal historical romance out, Youkai Bloodlines book 3: Blood Bound. And there’s a giveaway!

Two hundred years can strain even the seemingly eternal love of the youkai.

When Hideyoshi’s coldness drives them apart, Hiro finds comfort in his friendship with Takanori, a vociferous human man he met at a ramen shop and can’t seem to keep away from.. Everything Hiro had to fight for from Hideyoshi, Takanori gives freely, making it all too easy to turn away from his responsibilities–and Hideyoshi–in favor of something sweeter.

But while Hiro is off playing human, danger is brewing among the Youkai. Hideyoshi, still reeling from his breakup with Hiro, struggles to uphold the promise they made to the Hunter leader, Kyo, but the Youkai’s loyalty has been challenged by Hiro’s abrupt disappearance. With Hunters literally banging at the door, Hide must find a way to bring Hiro home or risk igniting the war they’ve spent the last two hundred years trying to prevent.

Warning: graphic violence, terminal illness, depictions of grief and depression/mental illness, suicidal actions

Publisher | Amazon | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Universal Buy Link | Goodreads

Giveaway

Courtney is giving away a $10 Amazon Gift Card with this tour:

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Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47222/?

Excerpt

Chapter 1: Trainwreck

Spring 2004

You can live a hundred lifetimes and the world will still surprise you, hit you like a high-speed train and drag you along the rails before dumping you off a thousand miles from where you started. Sometimes, the ride isn’t as violent as all that. Sometimes, it feels like a vacation, an escape, like falling in love. But, the end of the line is always the same—a broken, bloody mess far from home.

Sitting on a hard cobblestone path in my two-day-old funeral suit, I stared at a pillar of granite with his name on it, a fifth of Jack in my gut and my soul shattered into a million pieces. Aikawa Takanori—the name of the train that hit me.

A broad shadow fell over me and I closed my eyes against it. I knew who it was, knew the sound of his steps, the way the air trembled in his presence. Sakurai Hideyoshi. He sat down beside me on the stone path without a word, so close our shoulders touched. Over two hundred years had passed since the day we met, and his nearness still made my skin prickle. His fingers brushed against mine as he slipped the nearly empty bottle of whiskey out of my hands and raised it to his own lips.

“You knew it would end this way,” he said, his voice low and cold. Not a judgement or an accusation, just a statement of fact.

“If you’re here to lecture me, you can save it,” I said, snatching the bottle back out of his hand.

There was something shocking about seeing him again, sitting there like an inkblot on my vision. The same solid frame, the same dark features, sharp as cut granite and just as immovable. How much time had I spent pounding myself against that hardness, like the ocean against a rocky cliff, trying to break it away? Now I observed him as if from a distance. Something bitter pushed up against my grief, but there was no room for it, so it settled back into my gut. He had been my home before Takanori, but now he was almost unrecognizable. He hadn’t changed, of course. I was the one who was different.

“How long since you’ve drank something besides whiskey?”

“Not since—” I broke off, my eyes darting to the gravestone. My hands trembled as I took a long pull off the whiskey bottle. It could have been hours or years, every second since that day stretched into an eternity.

“Come with me,” he said, pulling himself gracefully to his feet. I didn’t move. “Hiro.”

“I can’t,” I choked. I struggled to breathe around the ball of grief wedged in my throat. He was here for a reason. He wanted something and I couldn’t give it to him. “I’m not…ready…”

“He’s dead. It doesn’t matter if you’re ready,” he barked. The words were sharp, the edge of a blade iced over, and they cut deep.

He grabbed the collar of my jacket and yanked me to my feet. Without even waiting for me to catch my balance, he turned and stomped off down the path. It had been this way since the day we met, Hideyoshi plodding ahead without looking back, so confident I would follow. I found it comforting somehow, like nothing had ever broken between us. We would always be Hideyoshi and Hiro. The shape of his back would never change. He would never get sick and die.

I ran my hand over Taka’s name on the granite and felt my heart tugged in two different directions. Another train had come, this one promising to take me back to somewhere familiar, but part of me was afraid. What if I got there and found it wasn’t my home at all anymore, but just another strange place that would leave me even more broken?

But, Hideyoshi was right. Taka was dead, the home I could have had here reduced to ashes. I had nowhere else to go.

My chest constricted and I cursed under my breath as I ran to catch up to Hideyoshi, falling in step just a few paces behind. The sun was setting as we exited the cemetery and darkness fell quickly over the narrow streets of Tokyo. Neon signs lit up one by one with an electric pop as we passed, the early evening crowds already taking their places in the izakayas that lined the street and disappearing into basement bars. Hideyoshi led me all the way to Ikebukuro and the busy streets surrounding Sunshine City. Wires hung like spider webs overhead, feeding power to the garish artificial light. Loud music and cigarette smoke filled the streets and the smell of sweaty bodies started a scratching under my skin that had me gritting my teeth.

He stopped in the most crowded part of the busy street and looked over his shoulder at me for the first time. My gut clenched. I knew what he wanted. I scowled and shook my head, but he simply pinned me with those needle-sharp eyes that didn’t take no for an answer until I relented.

His silent command: Sing.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The scratching under my skin intensified and the sounds of the city died away as something else rose to the surface, something dark and dangerous. When my eyes opened again, the electric lights paled behind the glare of human life, every movement leaving a streaky after image in blue and white. My pulse sped and my mouth watered. I pulled in a deep breath and my voice rose from the depths with an old song, something traditional that took me back to a different Tokyo, and despite its terrible purpose, it warmed me. My heart swam in it, cleansed its wounds in it.

Author Bio

Courtney Maguire is a University of Texas graduate from Corpus Christi, Texas. Drawn to Austin by a voracious appetite for music, she spent most of her young adult life in dark, divey venues nursing a love for the sublimely weird. A self-proclaimed fangirl with a press pass, she combined her love of music and writing as the primary contributor for Japanese music and culture blog, Project: Lixx, interviewing Japanese rock and roll icons and providing live event coverage for appearances across the country.

Author Website: https://www.courtneymaguirewrites.com/

Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/courtney.maguire.37

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/CourtneyMaguireWrites

Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/PretentiousAho

Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/courtneymaguirewrites/

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19774498.Courtney_Maguire

Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/courtney-maguire/

Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B082S34S7W

Coming Up Roses – Review

Coming Up Roses – A Cozy Mystery (with dragons): A Beaufort Scales Mystery, Book 6 by Kim M. Watt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I stumbled on this series a while back and I can’t tell you how happy I am I did. Just like all the other books in the series, this one did not disappoint.

What a concept! Cozy mystery with dragons (and talking cats). Readers like me that love many different genres will absolutely be enchanted by this series. It has mystery (always a good one with many surprises), lots of humor (the chases in this book had me laugh out loud), amazing characters from the ladies of the Womens Institute to the dragons (each one with their own personality from the cranky elder to the rebel young dragon), the police detectives of Toot Hansel, Rose’s bickering “boy toys”, and of course the talking dragons.

Oh and for those of us who have a sweet tooth, the author always ends her books with a collection of tried and tested baking recipes. I have tried a couple of them and just like the stories, they sure do not disappoint.

View all my reviews

Operation Get-Smart

A writer friend pointed out that everything sounds better if you turn it into a snazzy non-military maneuver (thanks Sam) and isn’t that the truth? LOL

This particular “operation” refers to my one and only New Year’s resolution, to get smart (and I’m not talking about the goofy spy of the 60s) and take much better care of myself.

The last two years have been crazy pretty much for everyone in this blue planet of ours. I actually was cocky enough (or delusional, not sure which) to believe I was left unscathed by the madness of the last two years. I was so wrong!

I might have thought I was handling it well because of an epically bad year at work when the pandemic hit. At the time, I worked with some very toxic people who made the school year so unbearable I was actually happy when the pandemic closed our schools, and I had to teach from home with improvised tech support and materials. It was a relief not to have to go to work and deal with people who single purpose in life seemed to be to make mine as difficult as humanly possible. I couldn’t understand why my friends and colleagues were so stressed about teaching from home.

I was fine.

In fact, I was better than fine.

In that second half of 2019 I was super productive. Not only did I work even longer hours than before, teaching my students (the few that were able to get online), but my creativity was at its best. You know the old saying, necessity is the mother of invention. I needed to be creative in order to successfully teach my students, and thanks to some fabulous collaborators (thank you Keshia and Karen), I think I succeeded. My lessons were great and creativity begets more creativity, right?

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That year I wrote like a fiend. Stories just poured out of my head and into the keyboard of my laptop almost effortlessly. When there were no masks to be found, I came up with creative ways of making my own with materials I had around the house. I was on fire!

I spent that summer taking classes to master the new platform we were going to use for teaching in the 2019-2021 school year. I was excited about it as I prepared lessons and turned my home office into a virtual classroom. Except I ended up being one of only three teachers (me, my fabulous co-teacher and friend, Jessica and one of the special education teachers) who would be in person with a handful of children while concurrently teaching the rest of the students online. I’m a ESL specialist which means I normally have anywhere between 30 and 45 students.

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That year I had an average of about six in-person and close to thirty virtual students. It was crazy but between my co-teacher and me we were able to master enough creativity to make it work as we wrangled different schedules (we had first, second and fourth graders in our in-person group all with different schedules and curriculum), different languages, and different abilities while still coteaching virtually with the classroom teachers (I collaborated with three of them) and teaching small groups throughout the day. All of this while wearing a restrictive N95 mask that made me look like a duck (comedy relief really, lol). I’m getting a headache just remembering it. I don’t know how we did it, but we did! Coffee had a lot to do with it, methinks.

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I also published five books. Yes, you heard me correctly. Five books. If you’re not an author you might not realize all that goes into publishing, be it by a publishing house or self-publishing. There are never-ending edits, marketing, rewrites, cover art searches, online events, you name it. Hours and hours of brain-exhausting work.

I didn’t even notice it at first but my writing gradually slowed down which eventually made me stress. I had to write, I had to publish books. In the publishing world today it’s extremely hard to be noticed and way too easy to be forgotten. Writers feel the need to publish book after book in order to stay “fresh” in reader’s minds. I wasn’t immune to that fever. Every class I took on the business of writing taught the same, “Write more, publish rapidly, don’t let the readers forget you.”

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My writing slowed to a crawl. The more I stressed about writing, the less my muse spoke to me. Writing had always been my therapy, my escape, the one thing that made me happy. Now, that was as good as gone. I spent most of the day staring blankly at the screen, anxiety growing inside me and threatening to explode.

My other wake-up call was when I noticed I had such large holes in my memory they made the craters in the moon look like potholes. I began misplacing things, forgetting names, forgetting appointments, deadlines… I even forgot to edit one of my upcoming books.

The kicker was when this woman who never naps almost fell asleep while teaching. I mean, while I was talking to the students. That really scared me and made me reevaluate the way I’ve been dealing with life in general. Something has to change.

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So, back to the beginning of this very long blog (sorry about that. Just be glad I left the part about my son’s mental health crisis and COVID outbreak in my house out). I have made ONE resolution and that is I have to slow down.

A lot.

I want to be able to enjoy my writing again without stressing about whether or not I will publish enough so the very few people who know my books will buy the next one. I have to stop trying so hard to get followers in my social media accounts and then keep up with trends.

I am old. I started my authorship very late in life and I cannot escape the reality that my energy level is not the same that it was when I was thirty years old, that my brain and my body get tired easier now than they did ten years ago, that I’m on the last stretch of my lifespan and that I need to enjoy it and not live these years in a constant state of stress and anxiety.

I need to be good to myself.

So stick around. I’m hoping to post here about my progress in this new year’s operation. Wish me luck and have an amazing, relaxing and satisfying 2022.

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The Love Hypothesis-Book Review

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book kind of renewed my faith and love of romance. It was well written, funny (and yes, it required some level of suspension of reality, but that’s the fun of fiction, right?), romantic and smart. I kept expecting for something bad because of a few reviews I had read about the book but was excited to find out I had nothing to fear. Flawless storytelling, great character development (even with the male protagonist despite what I had read in some reviews), the funniest awkward moments, and a great ending. Love it and highly recommend it to anyone who truly loves romance (not just the “in the sack” parts–which were hot by the way but thankfully sparse). My favorite part was the serious issues it touched on under the humor. Great side kicks also. And I do love an underdog protagonist…

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Cover of the Month

They say not to judge a book by its cover but I need you to do just that. If you liked the cover of my book, Kiss of the Swan, please vote for it for the Cover of the Month contest on AllAuthor.com!

I’m getting closer to clinch the “Cover of the Month” contest on AllAuthor! I’d need as much support from you guys. Please take a short moment to vote for my book cover here:
Click to Vote!

Gild-A Review

Gild by Raven Kennedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I almost didn’t finish this book. The first few chapters were painful to read, not only because of the main character’s situation as basically a caged pet but also because of her attitude toward it. She was so comfortable with the fact she was little more than an animal for the man she loved and accepted his deviant inclinations as nothing to fret about that I cringed at every page for the first few chapters. The book starts with an orgy that the main character is made to watch. Even now, after reading the rest of the book, I still feel that scene was unnecessary–or at least how long and detailed it was. The other thing that made me almost give up on it was the language and the frequent use of the word c***. Profanity is great to emphasize certain character traits or situations but when used too much it loses its power and becomes, well, cringeworthy. That’s, of course, just my opinion.
Another reader convinced me to continue to read it, and I’m glad I did because the story is fantastic and full of surprises. After the first few chapters, the character begins to change and rebel against her situation even if not fully and the plot thickens. I’m definitely reading the second in the series. Caution: there is a detailed rape scene that is very hard to read (or listen to, which was my case). Not a book for the faint of heart.

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