Michelle I. Mason's Blog: Michelle I. Mason, page 10

What I Read in 2020

I read 99 books in 2020. With my own book coming out in 2021, I made a concerted effort to seek out and support 2020 debuts. Some of these were also fellow 2017 PitchWars mentees–bonus! And later in the year, I added another goal: I sought out books by Black authors for both myself and my kids.

Of the 99 books I read, here is the breakout:

Young adult: 61

Middle grade: 12

Adult: 26

The high number of adult books is due to me continuing to weed out books from my existing shelves. I probably got rid of half of them; I need room for more MG and YA! I expect I will read more MG in the coming year as I’m hearing about so many more through #the21ders.

In previous years, this reading list was a page on my blog, but as I’ve migrated to an author website, going forward it will be a post. I felt it was best to keep it separate from my favorite reads post as that would be LOOONG. So below is a list of every book I read in 2020, with links to any reviews and my favorite reads for this year starred. If you’re interested in seeing what I’ve read other years, check out the What I Read This Year category here on the blog.

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando
Archenemies by Marissa Meyer
Supernova by Marissa Meyer
Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers
With Malice by Eileen Cook
I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella
Wild and Crooked by Leah Thomas
Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly
A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer*
This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher
The Lady Travelers Guide to Happily Ever After by Victoria Alexander
Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor by Ally Carter
Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee
Devil’s Daughter by Lisa Kleypas
The Body at the Tower by Y.S. Lee
The Traitor in the Tunnels by Y.S. Lee
Rivals in the City by Y.S. Lee
Tweet Cute by Emma Lord*
My Life As A Potato by Arianne Costner
A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat
The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L. Sayers
Lovely War by Julie Berry
10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston*
The Perfect Escape by Suzanne Park
A Whisper of Roses by Teresa Medeiros
What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter
Moment of Truth by Kasie West
Paradox by Catherine Coulter
If These Wings Could Fly by Kyrie McCauley*
The Silence of Bones by June Hur
By the Book by Amanda Sellet
Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff*
Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan
Sea Swept by Nora Roberts
Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
No Judgments by Meg Cabot
Rising Tides by Nora Roberts
Truly Madly Royally by Debbie Rigaud*
The Possibility of Now by Kim Culbertson
New Kid by Jerry Craft
The Paper Girl of Paris by Jordyn Taylor*
Jackpot by Nic Stone
Hood by Jenny Elder Moke
The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds*
From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks
Inner Harbor by Nora Roberts
That Summer by Lauren Willig
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts
Most Likely by Sarah Watson*
Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon
A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Born to be Wild by Catherine Coulter
Again, but Better by Christine Riccio
The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa
I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn
More Than Just A Pretty Face by Syed M. Masood
Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Funny Girl edited by Betsy Bird
Say Yes Summer by Lindsey Roth Culli
The Sherbrooke Bride by Catherine Coulter
Mirror, Mirror by Jen Calonita
The Hellion Bride by Catherine Coulter
Part of Your World by Liz Braswell
The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson
The Heiress Bride by Catherine Coulter
Unscripted by Nicole Kronzer
Accidental by Alex Richards
Layoverland by Gabby Noone
American Royals by Katharine McGee
Majesty by Katharine McGee
Class Act by Jerry Craft
Tracker220 by Jamie Krakover*
Mad Jack by Catherine Coulter
The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
Famous in a Small Town by Emma Mills
Charming As A Verb by Ben Philippe
Order of the Majestic by Matt Myklusch
I Believe In A Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo
Kingdom of Sea and Stone by Mara Rutherford
Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch
One Way or Another by Kara McDowell*
A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey*
Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer
The Invisible Live of Addie LaRue
All I Want for Christmas by Wendy Loggia
Unlocked by Shannon Messenger
Better than the Movies by Lynn Painter*
Temptation’s Darling by Johanna Lindsey
The Courtship by Catherine Coulter
Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

As always, I have a daunting TBR list, but going into 2021 is a bit different. I have five ARCs waiting to be read, plus I used a birthday gift card to preorder several 2021 debuts that will start arriving next week. Not to mention all the books I’ve requested at the library. And then there are the rest of the books I received for Christmas…

What does your reading list look like for the new year? And as always, if you ever have questions about any books I’ve read, feel free to ask in the comments! Sometimes I don’t get to a review due to whatever’s going on at the time I’m reading.

Happy New Year!!

The post What I Read in 2020 appeared first on Michelle I. Mason.

My Favorite Reads of 2020

I read so many fantastic books in 2020, it’s really hard to narrow down favorites. As I was reading back through my reviews from the year to decide, one of my major determining factors was the book’s unputtdownable factor (I guess that’s not a word, but oh well). So you’ll see how quickly I read as a key recommendation for several of these. But it definitely isn’t the only reason some of these books ended up making the list.

Even so, I’m going to cheat a bit and give you my top 10 plus a couple of honorable mentions

8 Months to Release: A Title Story!

Merry Christmas to those of you celebrating today and tomorrow!

Today marks eight months until YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED releases, and I promised that each month on the 24th leading up to release day, I would share behind-the-scenes information about the book. Today I thought it would be fun to talk about the title and also give some tips for those of you who might be working on titles yourselves.

I love brainstorming titles, and it’s generally a process that happens after I finish the first draft, while I’m letting it sit before diving back in to revisions. I always title the Scrivener file with something descriptive about the book. In this case: 1995 story. That’s still its Scrivener name

INSTANT KARMA and A Few Other Books You Should Read

Happy December, friends!

I expect this will be my last review roundup of 2020, but I will still have some other fun reading features before the end of the year. As always, I plan to feature my favorite reads of 2020 the last week of year–although I have no idea how I’m going to choose. I read so many fantastic books this year! Also, before switching to my new website, I used to have a page listing all the books I’d read for the year. When I moved to the new site, I converted all of those to blog posts (now found under the What I Read This Year category), and I’ll post the 2020 list on Dec. 31.

But for today, I have several recent reads to share with you. First up, INSTANT KARMA by Marissa Meyer!

I’ve been a huge fan of Marissa Meyer since I first read CINDER many years ago, and the premise of INSTANT KARMA immediately intrigued me. Chronic overachiever Prudence Daniels is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and irritating residents of her coastal town. She dreams of a world in which people might actually get what they deserve… Pru’s dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled after a night out with her friends, when she wakes up with the sudden, wondrous ability to cast instant karma on those around her.

As you can imagine, Pru’s powers don’t always work the way she expects them to. I love how this book explores right and wrong and shades of gray. And also how it takes a look at one girl’s sense of justice and how she doesn’t always see the motives behind the choices someone else makes. The nuances to all of the characters are really well drawn. I also really enjoyed her relationship with Quint Erickson, who she initially views as a slacker lab partner but gradually grows to see as someone she’s misjudged. It’s both a fun read and one that makes you think–a great combination.

Last week I read an adult book everyone was talking about, and while it had its good points, it was rather draining. I needed something light and uplifting afterward, and ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS by Wendy Loggia was the perfect fit. Christmas-loving Bailey Briggs lives for holiday music, baking cookies, going on snowy sleigh rides, and wearing her light-up reindeer ears to work at Winslow’s bookstore. But all she really wants this year is the one thing she doesn’t have: someone special to kiss under the mistletoe.

She ends up with two potential boys (and potential kisses!), and while as a reader I felt there was a clear choice, I still understood Bailey’s confusion. The book was full of Christmas spirit and magic and a quick, fun read for this time of year. It felt like reading a Hallmark or Netflix Christmas movie. Absolutely delightful!

If you’re in the mood for more Christmas reads, I’d also highly recommend ONE WAY OR ANOTHER by Kara McDowell. The book is pitched as Sliding Doors meets TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE and follows Paige Collins, who lives in debilitating fear of making the wrong choice. When Paige is presented with two last-minute options for Christmas vacation, she’s paralyzed by indecision. Should she go with her best friend (and longtime crush) Fitz to his family’s romantic mountain cabin? Or accompany her mom to New York, a city she’s spent her whole life dreaming about?

A slippery grocery store floor sends her into both possible realities. I love this kind of setup, and Kara McDowell handles it so well, alternating between the two realities with tension mounting at the end of each chapter so that I could not put the book down. I found myself equally invested in each reality and impressed by how each one was leading toward resolution.

The book also addresses Paige’s anxiety and how she starts to work through it. The romance is fantastic, but the internal character journey is also super important. Highly recommend this gripping read!

While I was reading A CUBAN GIRL’S GUIDE TO TEA AND TOMORROW by Laura Taylor Namey, I kept wanting to pull out baking supplies. Or cooking. Either way. And I realized I am vastly under-educated when it comes to Cuban cuisine. Cue the Google search for Cuban food in St. Louis, because all of it sounds amazing!

But aside from making me hungry, the book was also just a complete delight on all sides. Lila’s sent to England to get over the trifecta of heartbreak—the death of her grandmother, dumping by her boyfriend, and desertion of her best friend. Living with family at their Winchester, England, inn, she finds herself in their kitchen, and starts exploring with a boy whose family owns, of all things, a tea shop.

I loved Lila’s expansive family. I loved how she grew throughout the story. I loved Orion (the tea shop boy), as well as all of his friends. Did I mention I loved the food??

Also, this book totally got picked for Reese’s Book Club! How awesome is that! Way to go, Laura!!!

I’ve loved every book I’ve read by Stacey Lee, so no surprise I’m adding THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL to my list of favorites.

Set in 1890 Atlanta, it centers around 17-year-old Jo Kuan, who works as a lady’s maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta and moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, “Dear Miss Sweetie.” When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society’s ills, but she’s not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender.

I enjoy reading historical fiction because it broadens my understanding of how we got to where we are. And in many cases, it opens me up to the experiences of other people. THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL focuses not only on the challenges Chinese immigrants (and their children) faced in the late nineteenth century, but also how the landscape was changing for the Black population as their new freedoms were once again restricted with segregation. It’s a very powerful read.

My entire family read NEW KID by Jerry Craft earlier this year, so we had to read the companion book, CLASS ACT, as soon as it became available. The graphic novel follows eighth grader Drew Ellis, on scholarship at the prestigious Riverdale Academy Day School, as well as keeping up with Jordan Banks from the first book. Drew feels that he has to work ten times as hard to be seen anywhere close to equal to the privileged kids at his school. To make matters worse, he begins to feel his friend Drew might be one of those privileged kids.

CLASS ACT builds on the racial issues raised in NEW KID and expands further into how wealth also divides—and how to bridge those divides. But at the same time, it doesn’t pull punches about the seriousness of these issues. My son and I had some great conversations after he finished the book, and I highly recommend it for family discussion.

At the same time, I recommend it as a great story of friendship and because it made me laugh out loud multiple times. CLASS ACT shares serious messages, but it’s also full of humor and heart. Check it out!

Whew! That was more books than I usually include in a roundup, but I’ve had a lot going on! And I expect things will be even crazier in 2021 as it will be the year my book debuts, but I will still try to shout about books I love when I can.

What books have you loved lately? I’d love to hear about them!

The post INSTANT KARMA and A Few Other Books You Should Read appeared first on Michelle I. Mason.

It’s Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day!

During the November Twitter chat for #the21ders, one of the questions was:

If your book were a holiday, what would it be?

In case you aren’t aware, there are days out there commemorating pretty much everything, and sure enough, I found Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day! Which happens to be celebrated on Dec. 8 every year.

So…

Happy Pretend to Be A Time Traveler Day!

According to NationalDayCalendar.com, people started celebrating time travelers in 2007. Both this site and NationalToday.com include some really fascinating facts about time travel and its history both in media as well as some associated theories. Like: is it actually possible? While my main character, Jenny, is much more concerned about how the time jump has affected her life, there are other characters in YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED who are intrigued by the science.

I hope Jenny and the passengers of Flight 237 will become some of your favorite time travelers, but in the meantime, here are some other time travelers I love!

Books!

If you think about it, A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens is sort of a time travel novel. Scrooge travels to the past and the future. I really loved this version of the tale by Cynthia Hand–THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE. Bonus: if you decide to read now, it fits right in with the holiday season!

 

 

I absolutely adored ONCE UPON A KISS by Robin Palmer. It’s about a girl from 1986 who chokes on Fun Dip and wakes up in 2016. Unlike my book, where everyone around Jenny has aged 25 years, Zoe is dropped into a different century with all the same people, just a different life. She’s the most popular girl in school, has a boyfriend she doesn’t know what to do with, and her best friend is a nerd she apparently doesn’t associate with. More people should check this book out!

 

As soon as I read OPPOSITE OF ALWAYS by Justin A. Reynolds earlier this year, I knew it would be one of my favorite reads of 2020 (so be prepared for me to talk about it again in a couple of weeks!). It’s a Groundhog Day take on time travel, with Jack repeating the same four months on an endless loop, making different mistakes every time, trying to save Kate’s life. WOW! I could not put this book down!

 

Movies!

First and always. My family just finished a re-watch of the Back to the Future series, and I’m toying with the idea of doing a live re-watch of Back to the Future II sometime during 2021 leading up to release. It’s just so fun to see how the writers expected 2015 to look–a year that’s now five years in the past. They got a few things right. And yes, this movie is totally on my YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED watch list, a post I plan to do later. However, it’s so much more than just time travel!

 

I actually really enjoy Groundhog Day (mentioned above) as well. Phil, a TV weatherman, is sent to Punxsutawney, PA, to cover Groundhog Day and keeps repeating the day. Bill Murray is perfect for this role because he’s so great at playing a jerk, but he’s also great at showing character change.

 

 

Time travel is not a new concept to the Star Trek universe. It’s all over the original TV show and a major plot point in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (yes, my parents raised me on Star Trek!). But I really enjoyed how it was incorporated with the new movie series in 2009. Basically, it created a separate timeline so the old one could still exist and this one could too.

 

Side note on this movie discussion: one where I am not on board with the time travel? Avengers: Endgame. You seriously don’t want to get me started on why Captain America staying in the past screws up so many things. It kind of ruined it for me. Moving on…

TV Shows!

Oh, I loved this show so much when I was a kid! How Scott Bakula’s character would leap into the lives of people in the past and correct mistakes they had made. It’s time travel and living someone else’s life for a while and a seemingly endless quest to get back home. Gosh, now I’m wondering if it’s streaming somewhere so I can watch Quantum Leap all over again…

 

I confess I came really late to Doctor Who, and I’m nowhere near caught up. We’re paused somewhere in the Peter Capaldi seasons. I expect to go back at some point, but I’ve just had so many other things to watch lately. My favorite Doctor so far has been David Tennant. I love how crazy, creative, and varied this show is. I also love all of the supporting characters. Okay, writing about it is making me think I need to make it a priority again.

The Flying House is a cartoon from the early 1980s made in Japan. It’s about kids who find a spaceship shaped like a house in the woods, with a professor and robot inside. It turns out the “flying house” is a time machine, and it takes them back to Bible times. I watched this as a very small child, and yes, it was telling Bible stories, but it also was probably the very first time travel show I ever watched. After all these years, I still remember this show and the magic of the flying house!

What are your favorite time travel stories? And if you were going to pretend to be a time traveler, who would you choose?

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9 Months to Release: Your Life Has Been Delayed Playlist

Today marks nine months until YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED releases! This is when the term “book baby” gets real

After the Book Deal: Copyediting Fun!

It’s been a while since I’ve given an update on YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED. I think I’ve mentioned here on the blog that the book is now coming out Aug. 24, 2021. (I have, right? I’ve kind of lost track of this whole year… ) Anyway, you can even pre-order YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED now, if you’re so inclined. I have the available links on my book page!

But back to the purpose of this post…

My last “After the Book Deal” post was in October 2019, when I’d just turned in round two edits. I forgot to post after line edits, which were basically my editor going through and zeroing in more on specific sentences and wording rather than overall themes and plots. I wasn’t sure what to expect from copyedits, and I have a feeling some other writers will not agree with me on this, but–

I LOVED THEM!

This probably doesn’t surprise anyone who worked with me at the PR agency, where they had a name for me when it came to edits… Moving on.

Five things I loved about copyedits:

The copyeditor double-checked facts and even provided links to sources.
The copyeditor caught places where I repeated words too close to each other. If you’ve been reading this blog a while, you know how careful I am to avoid that, but after many rounds of edits, repeated words are bound to reappear.
The copyeditor noticed if a character wasn’t where they should be, like if they had magically moved. Often another result of multiple rounds of edits/cuts.
Similarly, the copyeditor pointed out if something hadn’t been established in the story. Sometimes these were facts I, as the author, knew in my head, but other times they were lines/info deleted from earlier drafts and never put elsewhere.
Clarifying questions! I love these. Because if I hadn’t made something clear–or I’d muddled it up the way I’d revised it along the line–I obviously needed to tweak it.

And, obviously, being me, I kept a running document of all the house style changes the copyeditor made. I mean, it’s totally a goal for book two to get back a copyedited manuscript with the fewest changes possible. Honestly, I felt like mine was in pretty good shape, although I haven’t seen anyone else’s, so who knows?

Oh, and here was my favorite comment of all:

Have you been through copyedits? How was your experience?

Next up, I’ll get to see the pages all laid out as they’ll be in the actual book, otherwise known as pass pages. Looking forward to that!

I’ll continue to share news about YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED here on the blog, but I’m also planning to start a newsletter, and I’d love for you to sign up for that as well!

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Another Draft in the Books: Take That, 2020!

When I jumped back into drafting this manuscript a few weeks ago, I didn’t expect to finish this quickly, but here we are! At 56,229 words, it’s much shorter than I was shooting for. This means I only added about 25,000 words to the existing partial manuscript I drafted and rewrote several times last year, but I’ll take it!

I can’t help but compare the two drafts I completed this year, as my drafting experience was very different. Even though I technically started this second book first, for the purposes of this comparison, I’m going to call the book I finished drafting in the spring Book One and this Book Two.

I finished drafting Book One at the height of COVID stress, with my kids and husband all home, and for some reason, words were really flowing out of me. I think I just channeled everything into writing. The result was a 90,983-word draft. I have never written a first draft anywhere close to that before. Obviously I was escaping into excess words at the time, because that book was definitely too long. I ended up chopping 11,000 words before I sent it to my agent.

Book Two, on the other hand… well, now I’m firmly in COVID fatigue. Which means the words are not flowing like they did earlier this year. Book Two has had a rocky path. I tried pantsing it last year, and when I stalled out on it, I set it aside. Before returning to this draft, I spent a considerable amount of time outlining both the existing partial and remainder of the novel. All that being said, I’m not concerned that my draft is on the short side. It’s not unusual for me to write shorter drafts–just to get through this awful part of the process–and go back to fill everything in later.

A few years ago, I wrote a book in reverse (yes, starting with the last chapter and working backward), and that book came out at about 55,000 words as well. I entered that book in PitchWars at 60,000 words and added another 10,000 words with my mentors before querying it.

I sort of feel like this book has been written out of order, with taking nearly a year away from it. For sure it’s very uneven, with a heavily revised first half and second half that’s mainly dialogue and movement beats. But I also know that my true strength lies in revising, and that’s where I’ll go back in and add description and emotion (something I inevitably skip in a first draft).

Usually I finish writing a draft and think, “This is a mess, but I still love it.” I didn’t quite feel that way yesterday. More leaning on the messy side. But let’s just blame the COVID fatigue, shall we?

I’m still going to celebrate, because I FINISHED ANOTHER DRAFT!

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TRACKER220 and A Few Other Books You Should Read

I normally do review roundups on Mondays, but today is special because it’s the book birthday for my friend Jamie Krakover’s YA debut, TRACKER220! I didn’t want to let the day pass without celebrating with her, and while I’m at it, I might as well tell you about a few other books I’ve been reading recently.

But first, some background. Jamie and I first met online–as people do

An Update on the Book I Attempted to Pants

I’ve been writing novels for many years now, and over time, I’ve discovered what works well for me. At the same time, I also know that as a person who really likes systems and schedules, sometimes I need to be flexible and try new things. My usual system for drafting is to create an outline in Scrivener based on K.M. Weiland’s Structuring Your Novel. So my Scrivener file is full of digital note cards that look something like this:

However, last summer when it was time for me to start drafting something new, I found myself at something of a loss. Instead of the plot being clear, I had a better idea of the character. I discussed it with my agent, and she suggested I just try writing and seeing where it went. For the unfamiliar, this is generally called “pantsing.”

I hadn’t done that in years–not since my very first book, which took me FOREVER to write, because without an outline I felt compelled to go back and edit everything. That wasn’t an issue with this particular book, but I did stall out around 30,000 words, an issue I blogged about last summer (When a Plotter Attempts to Pants).

As I wasn’t sure the book was even working, I sent it to trusted readers and revised based on their comments. I wrote a synopsis and sent it off to my agent. We went back and forth on two more revisions of this first 30,000 words, and while the manuscript had a lot of really nice elements to it, there was still a major piece missing: TENSION.

I just couldn’t figure out how to add the right amount of tension into the beginning of this manuscript. There’s a key reveal scene I had planned for about the fifty percent mark of the story, and my agent suggested I write that scene and see if it helped me figure out the earlier chapters, but the problem was: I couldn’t get myself to that part of the story. For some reason, I was just blocked on it.

So I set it aside and wrote a whole other book.

But, whenever I had time, I went back and worked on outlining this book, including that first 30,000 words. Now every scene has a goal, conflict, disaster/outcome, reaction, dilemma, and decision–because that’s how I ensure there’s tension. I finally finished outlining the week before last, so I’m back to drafting again, and today, I wrote THE SCENE–the one my agent wanted me to get to. It took me more than a year to reach it, but she was right that it helps to see that scene play out.

I don’t know what will end up happening with this book, but I’m going to see it through. And I will have learned valuable lessons from the process. It is ALWAYS worth trying new things when writing. I, for one, never want to be stuck in a rut.

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