H. Danielle Crabtree's Blog, page 6
August 25, 2012
Protected: Shelter from the Rain
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Shelter from the Rain
By H. Danielle Crabtree
Drew pulled his knees to his chest and tugged his faded black sweatshirt down to cover them. He shivered, drawing his body back as far as he could into the covered doorway. The rain fell heavy tonight instead of the usual drizzle that most Oregonians considered rain. The drops splashed his worn, holey tennis shoes and the ends of his tattered jeans as they rebounded off the pavement. His warm breath came out frozen, crystallizing before dissipating...
August 17, 2012
Bookshelf: Modern Faerie Tales Series Review
Although I can’t say that the Modern Faerie Tales series by Holly Black has made me a die-hard fan, I can say that this is not your average fairy tale. There are no pretty fields of flowers where everyone dances and sings, at least not outside of a glamor. The characters are trashy and rough, but that’s what allows them to navigate through the sewage spewed by the Seelie and Unseelie courts.
The first novel, “Tithe,” didn’t really thrill me. Overall, the characters and the fictitious world wer...
August 14, 2012
‘Nandana’s Mark’ now available
NANDANA’S MARK.
Melia has always wanted to fly. Away. From her two sisters, who’ve found their place in the Enchanted World, despite being half-faeries with no wings. From her mother, the full blooded faerie who practices black magic, and weeps every night when she thinks her daughters aren’t listening. But mostly from her father, the mortal druid who broke his faerie troth, and lives to reunite with Melia’s mother. He believes incarnating Umbra—t...
August 1, 2012
What’s on the Bookshelf: House of Night novels
I recently read a blog about cliffhangers and series that discussed the true cliffhanger, where everything ends at the height of action, and the soft cliffhanger, where events at the end of the novel are resolved, only to leave one event, one final act lingering for the start of the next novel.
The House of Night series is one such series that consistently leaves the reader with a soft cliffhanger.
At first, I rather liked the approach; it kept me coming back for the next novel. However, after...
July 26, 2012
What’s on the Bookshelf: Review ‘Bitterblue’
Kristin Cashore‘s characters are everyday – yet still completely extraordinary. The feeling as if I’m visiting old friends is what keeps me coming back for more in her Graceling books. Her latest, “Bitterblue,” didn’t disappoint. Only this time, I got to discover how a little girl I once knew comes of age.
Her character-driven approach might seem tedious to some readers. It doesn’t lend itself to fast-paced action, although there is no shortage of mystery and events that affect her characters....
July 16, 2012
What’s on the bookshelf: The Hunger Games Trilogy: The Price of Freedom
After reading “The Hunger Games” last fall, I read an article that said the draw of the books had to do with the gore and the gladiator-in-the-arena effect—no matter how horrific it is, you just can’t look away.
I was finally able to read the last two books (“Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay”) in the series last week, and whereas the first book left me with a sense of hope, I found the last two books completely destructive. However, what kept me reading these books wasn’t the bloodshed or the mo...
July 13, 2012
New Covers for Magan Vernon’s Alien Romance series
Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVED my original covers for How to Date an Alien and How to Break up with an Alien, but to some people it was giving off the impression that it was a cutesy MG book.
If you still loved my original covers, the beautiful designs by CA Marshall will still grace my paperbacks. To up the stakes and grace my covers with a hot alien boy, I enlisted the help of the awesome Steven Novakwho has designed covers for Rashelle Workman, Megg Jensen, and Angela Carlie.
He understood...
June 30, 2012
What’s on the Bookshelf: The Summer Experiment
If you follow my blog and Goodreads, I’m sure you’ve notice that I’m flying through about two books a week, on top of the freelance editing, but my blog has been a bit silent. Well, this summer, I decided to explore some of the YA series that are out there.
So far, I’ve read The Looking Glass Wars Trilogy (which I’ve blogged), The Modern Faerie Tales, Bitterblue (the sequel to Graceling), and I’m working on the House of Night, the last two books in the Hunger Games trilogy, the last two books...
June 13, 2012
Blog Tour: A Princess Broken
“A Princess Broken” made me uncomfortable, but I hardly fault the novel. If anything, I am grateful for the discomfort.
In a world where faith is under fire, the discussion of religion has become taboo, and I hadn’t realize the effect that taboo had on me until I read Misty Gatlin’s book. Never once did I disagree with the things that Kate was trying to teach Sarah through an open discussion of her faith, and yet, I still squirmed—mentally and physically.
I discovered something about myself by...
