Roxanne Crouse's Blog, page 38
June 27, 2012
Interview with Liberty Frye Author J. L. McCreedy
Read the review for Liberty Frye HERE!
1. The world for Liberty Frye was well developed. How did you come
up with the ideas for the characters and how things would work in the
world?
Well, first of all, thanks for saying that! I’m thrilled to discover that it has intrigued you, because it has been a long, long journey. The world of Liberty Frye started back in 2004 when my husband and I moved to Germany for a job there. I was immediately enchanted by the history, the charm and all those quaint, half-timber towns riddled with folklore.
I’ve always adored fairy tales, and getting the chance to live near Hanau, where the Brothers Grimm were actually born, was surreal to me. As soon as we moved there, I knew I wanted to do something to incorporate that. One cold, soggy day, when my husband and I were walking back to the village of Rodenbach where we lived, we followed a path by the woods. The woods were deep and dark and beautifully enchanting. It was Sunday, so hardly anyone else was around at the time, and both of us remarked at how easy it would be to believe in those tales about witches and trolls and all sorts of magic, just lurking beyond the trees somewhere. And what if that happened to an ordinary, small-town girl from another world altogether, who somehow found herself in those woods, surrounded by that magic? What would she do? How would her “real world” and this sudden, unexpected world of fairy tales contend with each other? That’s where the idea of Liberty Frye first presented itself. I sat down and did an outline some days later, which, a year later, resulted in a seven hundred-plus page novel that honestly, looks very little like Liberty Frye today.
Regarding Libby’s personality, I wanted her to be a bit of a tomboy, not prissy, and just a curious, kind, independent and fun-loving girl who doesn’t fit in – largely because she isn’t a replica of everyone else around her — and who doesn’t see how awesome she is. Ginny’s character is almost the flip side of Libby. She never had the unconditional love that Libby grew up with, and so she’s desperate to fit in and gain approval. She follows rules because that’s all she knows to do in order to hedge her bets for security. Libby really confuses her at first, even offends her sensibilities.
For Wolfgang, I thought it would be fun to have an exuberant baker who is a bit of a lush, just because all of the excellent bakers in Germany that I ever encountered were extremely demure and professional. Zelna and Sabine are obvious character choices because you can’t have a good fairy tale-like story without villains and witches! Uncle Frank and Sal are drawn from family members – actually, mostly the same family member, just different sides of him, I suppose. But as I mentioned, the character development for all of them happened over years. Since my first draft in late 2005, I’ve re-written this thing so many times, tweaking and adding things until I really felt like I knew them.
2. What research did you do before writing Liberty Frye?
Well, I’ve always loved fairy tales and as a girl growing up overseas in Indonesia and Malaysia, I was absolutely enchanted with those worlds. I read whatever I could about them. During that time as a girl, I remember once stumbling upon a collection that first introduced me to the idea that these stories were not what they seemed – that older versions were a lot darker and more complex than most people really wanted to know about. So I guess I had that foundation to start with.
Much later in life, as I’ve mentioned above, I lived in Germany for thirteen months and traveled quite a bit during my time there. It was then that I was introduced to the Fairy Tale Road and to towns like Steinau where the Grimm Brothers spent a significant portion or their childhood. I remember the first time I went to their home (which is a Brothers Grimm museum now). I was so excited. It was almost like seeing the Holy Grail or something, actually being in the same home that Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm lived in! All of the locations in Liberty Frye came from personal encounters while living in Germany during that time. I would write down my impressions of these places, and the kind of scenario in which that setting would create an interesting backdrop.
Regarding technical issues, such as Buttercup’s journey or Sal’s flight, I did search-engine work to find out how many miles, for instance, a P-40 could fly without refueling or how far a snow goose could travel. (Firstly, I researched what types of geese actually fly long distances – specifically white geese as I wanted Buttercup to be a solid, white color for the visual effect.) The search results gave me ideas that I then used to structure their adventures on. I made a calendar to synch up the events in the story, ensuring that the time frames for each character’s circumstance fit in with the rest of narrative. The actual idea of the Flying Tigers came from my husband, who is a huge history and plane buff – largely because his dad was a navy patrol pilot. Sal’s interactions within the story are a result of what some might call research, but what I would call serendipity. For example, when Sal appears at Uncle Frank’s house, the idea of him flying from El Paso comes from a road trip we did back in 2008 or so, when I was rewriting yet another version of Liberty Frye and puzzling how to make sense of Sal’s sudden appearance. I already had him arriving in the Flying Tiger’s P-40, but I didn’t know how to explain the probability of that. Lo and behold, as we are driving down the freeway, there’s a billboard – literally a sign — for an aviation museum in El Paso, complete with a functioning runway, and featuring a fully restored P-40 from the Flying Tigers!
3. Are you an outliner or a seat of the pants writer? Tell us about your process.
I outlined Liberty Frye initially, but then things would just happen. Long story short, an outline helps me have an idea of where I am headed, but along the way, there are a lot of twists and turns. It is that way with all of my creative projects. Ideas come to me when I’m writing that I could never have anticipated during the outlining. And I end up editing and redrafting a lot more than is probably healthy. In Liberty Frye’s case, the final product is entirely different than originally intended. At first, this frustrated me more than it fascinated. I’m a bit more accepting of the process now and I usually – unless I’m feeling rushed — think it’s part of the magic.
4. What was the most important thing you learned while writing
Liberty Frye?
That, for me at least, a good story doesn’t just happen. It’s a lot of tedious work, a lot of nose-to-the-grindstone, oh-my-god-what-am-I-doing-with-my-life kind of devotion. I know there are some writers out there that can whip up something in several months and then, oops, look at that! Everyone just loves it! Well, I’m the opposite of that writer. I’ve been working on my story on and off for almost seven years! I would have never dreamed I’d be that person before I took this on. But you know what? The other thing about writing a novel that is different than any other kind of writing I’ve done is that, even when it feels like it’s draining everything from you, it’s also giving you life. To be able to create a world and characters and scenarios that are drawn from something within you — and to see that world shared with other people — is absolutely magical.
5. *Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or
purely all imagination?*
The premise of Liberty Frye came to me while I was living in Germany, as did the locations that Libby visits in her story. My website, www.libertyfrye.com touches on this quite a bit, mostly because I think its fun to tie her world and my travels in Germany together! For instance, the abbey ruins where Sabine lives actually exist in the woods in Rodenbach, sans a witch of course (at least as far as I know)! The first time I stumbled upon the Wolfgang Abbey ruins, I literally had chills down my arms; there was something wondrous about the place. And the castle where Libby is held captive was inspired by Ronneburg Castle – a place I visited several times. The bicycle path Libby travels is one I traveled myself, riding my bike from Rodenbach to Hanau on a regular basis!
The location of Baluhla, though a fictional town, is drawn from a memory in my childhood, and most of the characters — except Uncle Frank and Sal, who are embellished versions of certain people I know – are largely made up. Libby’s difficulty at school is drawn from personal experience as I was kind of a goofy and awkward kid – chubby, too, like Ginny – and I was a bit of a tomboy at a time when that wasn’t really socially acceptable, especially at a boarding school run by missionaries! The idea of the purple berries was another memory from my childhood; we had a tree outside my bedroom window when I was probably three or four years old. Every morning, it would drop purple berries. I was convinced that they were being dropped by witches!
6. Did you try traditional publishing before self-publishing? What
happened? What made you decide to self-publish?
So, I completed my first draft of Liberty Frye at the end of 2005 and promptly sent it off to a list of publishers – not agents, publishers! — that I’d compiled. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that this did not end in my favor. But I just did anyway.
I had an awful lot to learn about publishing, agents, etc., etc. I was super naive when I first started writing this story. I think I kind of bought the movie version of how it all works, which is an embarrassing thing to admit to, but I’m an awkward person anyway, so it’s really not that painful.
In 2009, I submitted my latest and greatest rendition of Liberty Frye to an agent that I really liked – just had a good impression of him, if that makes any sense, and of course, his profile showed an interest in middle grade novels. He asked for my entire manuscript and then, a month or so later, I received a thoughtful letter from him explaining why he couldn’t take my story. Naturally, I was upset at first and thought he was being close-minded, wanting a cookie-cutter version and I’m-not-that-kind-of-writer, those New Yorkers are so shallow, so on and so on.
Eventually, I came to see that a lot of his criticisms were right. I rewrote my story yet again, which took me two years because, in between working and a major move, I also pretty much rewrote every single chapter. At the end of 2011, I felt like I had it right this time. I sent it off again to that same agent, along with an email query to two other agents that I thought may be a good fit. I never heard back from any of them. This was pretty hard on me because the whole time during that last rewrite, I had a gut feeling that that one agent just might give me a second chance. Well, in between my box full of tissues and a block of cheese, my husband asked me to read a few articles about some self-published writers who were pretty pleased with the whole indie thing. That’s when I decided to take the kindle leap. I love my story, and after seven years of writing and rewriting, I figured it deserves to be seen!
7. *How do you market Liberty Frye? What avenues have you found to
work best for your genre?*
I wish I had a good answer to this question, because it would also mean that I’d more or less cracked the code, so to speak. I’m really bad at self promotion, so, my husband Sam has taken it upon himself to contact fun and inquisitive bloggers (you, for example!) to review Liberty Frye. We’ve only had the story on Kindle since February, so I have limited experience to share in the promotion realm. I will say that we tried a paid advertisement on reddit once, which was a disappointment. We have also done the Kindle Direct Publishing Select free book promotion twice (once for one day and once for two days) which had some decent results, but not nearly what we’ve heard other authors have had. Since then, we’ve received a few helpful hints such as twitter feeds to use, etc., and I think we’ll try that out next time we do a promotion. When I first started formatting Liberty Frye for Kindle publishing, I was told by a couple of authors that middle grade novels don’t do well in this venue. Maybe they’re right, but I’m going to keep trying and hopefully, learn a few things in the process!
8. Are there any self-published authors that have grasped your
interest?
Although I’m pretty new to it all, I’m excited by the world of electronic self-publishing and I enjoy discovering new authors. What has me the most inspired, however, is helping others take part in this. My husband and I are currently living in the Kingdom of Tonga, which is a small undeveloped island country in Oceania, where we’ve been for about a year and a half. To say that this part of the globe is under-represented in the publishing world would be a massive understatement. Only a small percentage of the people here even have internet connections, (and for those of us who do, it is so, so, so slow and unreliable), much less ereaders such as Kindles, but there is a ton of wonderful stories and legends and cultural traditions that deserve to be shared with the rest of the world. While there have been some paper books published locally, for the most part the local tales have been passed on orally from generation to generation – just like the folk tales that the Brothers Grimm collected! So, anyway, I’ve been reaching out to some of the locals who have expressed an interest in sharing their stories. For fun, my husband and I actually started our own “publishing company” (www.penelopepipp.com) which we intend to act as a sort of umbrella under which new authors can be fostered and encouraged. Ebook publishing is making this possible.
Most recently, I’ve been working with a wonderful local woman named Jacinta Tonga who is thrilled to see her stories in print. She grew up in Rotuma, which is a small, remote island that is part of Fiji. Her first book, A Remarkable Rotuman Woman, is a fascinating account of her childhood relationship with her grandmother. Her main motivation for this memoir is so that future generations of her family will know her grandmother as she does. Since English is not her first language, the editing process has been both challenging and fun. I’m trying hard to help her find the balance between having her work make sense to native English readers while maintaining Jacinta’s own unique voice. Anyway, we hope to be finished with the final editing pretty soon so we can start formatting it for Kindle. Jacinta is excited, and I’m excited for her. She’s already started writing her next story.
9. What new projects are you working on now?
I’m in the process of rewriting (again) a young adult romance/adventure entitled The Orphan of Torundi, that is a way more fun, imaginative and intriguing variation of my boarding school days in Penang, Malaysia. I originally finished the story in 2009, but have been working on it since then. I hope to have it done within the next six months, but I scare myself with these statements because I hate missing a deadline! I’ve also got a sequel to Liberty Frye in the works, and I hope to have a rough draft completed before the end of the year.
10. Is there anything about writing you find particularly challenging?
I think my biggest challenge is just believing in myself and forging on in the face of the unknown. It’s a lonely business, writing a novel, and it’s easy to feel like it’s all a waste of time, that it’s idiotic to pour so much passion and so much of one’s attention into a story with no knowledge of whether or not it will truly have a life of its own. Obviously, confidence is so important; a writer has to believe in their ability and in the world that they’re creating, so it can get discouraging at times when I’m not feeling it. And there have been a lot of times like that! If I didn’t love my story so much, I would have given up on it a long time ago.
11. Who came up with the cover design and where did the art come from?
I had a very specific idea of what I wanted for the cover, so I sketched it out and then found an artist on elance.com whose portfolio indicated she might get what I was after. She created the images that you now see on the cover and sent back the un-merged Photoshop file. I tweaked it until I got the portions, etc., the way I wanted and voila!
Regarding the chapter art designs, I did those myself. I’ve always done squiggly doodles and I wanted something at the beginning of each chapter to give a bit of character. So I hand-drew the designs in ink, scanned them and then tinkered with them in Photoshop. To be honest, I’m glad I did it, but it took much longer than I anticipated and I’m not sure if I’d be up for doing that again!
12. I searched for a website or blog for you. Do you have one or plan
to start one?
I’ve got www.libertyfrye.com that I plan to update with news, info, etc. In regards to a blog about my writing, I don’t have one yet, but I do have a site I’ve started called tongatime, that is just a random accounting of events from my tiny little island in the South Pacific. I may start a blog there on my self-publishing endeavors at some point in the future. Also, as mentioned above, there is www.penelopepipp.com, which is the address of the ebook “publishing company” we’re starting.
13. *What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author?
Probably silence. I have a friend who once wanted to read my story; I gave it to her, and then months later, nothing! When I finally asked about it, she told me that her dog ate her notes and that’s why she never got back to me! That was disheartening on a multitude of levels.
What has been the best compliment?*
When someone tells me that my story is fun and exciting, it just sends me to the moon. Stories are supposed to be fun! It tells me that the writing carries them along and is enabling the adventure. As a general rule, people don’t finish boring books unless they have to. So when I hear that my story is fun or exciting, I’m happy!
On the technical side of things, it is always nice to hear that the story is well edited and produced. As an indie writer/ publisher, it’s a daunting process to take on. We worked hard on editing and formatting Liberty Frye and on combing through it for typos or other concerns. We still find little ticks every now and then and take remedial action, but I’m pretty proud of the presentation!
14. Do you have any advice for other writers?
At this point in my creative writing career, I think I’m in a better position to receive advice than to give it! But I do feel strongly about one thing: If you love what you do, keep trying and don’t give up.
15. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Yes, and it is, “Thank you for giving Liberty Frye a chance!” I greatly appreciate all of the comments I’ve received so far and would love to hear other readers’ thoughts or questions, comments, etc. about the story. It is so helpful to receive feedback, to hear what sits well and what doesn’t. My hope is that libertyfrye.com can be used as a platform for sharing these things. We’ll see!
June 26, 2012
It’s official; I’m a Kindle-single-amazon publisher!
Reblogged from A Writer's Journey:
It was a bit more time-consuming than I expected, but its done and official. My short story, Into the Shade, is now live on Kindlesingles.net.
I’d love if anyone orders it to please leave a good review!
Technorati Tags: amazon,published,writer,paranormal,kindle singles,short stories,book cover
A friend of mine in my writing group just released her first story on Amazon. Way to go Sharon!
Self-publishing Mistakes I Made (So You Don't Have To) Part 1
Reblogged from Pen in Her Hand:
In her memoir, One Writer’s Beginnings, Eudora Welty describes her childhood forays to the local library. The stern librarian, Mrs. Calloway, would look up from her desk, “her dragon eye on the front door” and if sunlight passed through young Welty’s dress, the librarian sent her home. “You could just put on another petticoat if you wanted a book that badly from the public library” (29).
Add your thoughts here... (optional)Interesting information!
June 13, 2012
What I’m Reading=First Enlistment (War For Profit) Book One
First Enlistment (War for Profit) [Kindle Edition]
Jed Fisher (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars
Digital List Price:
$2.99
Kindle Price:
$2.99 includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
Length: 218 pages (estimated)
Book Description
Publication Date: May 1, 2012
It’s two millenia in the future and professioanl mercenary units dominate planetary warfare.
Sergeant Galen Raper arrives at the Jasmine Panzer Brigade welcoming center with high hopes for assignment as a tank commander. But when he arrives he is assigned to the Brigade’s on-planet mechanized infantry battalion and has to serve a year as enlisted before he can apply for a commission as an officer.
From there it’s wall to wall action, never a moment’s rest, as is often the case for Soldiers serving their first enlistment. But then Galen is pulled up higher into the command structure and gets a bird’s eye view and it all starts to make sense.
A nice twist near the end puts Galen in a situation he’s hardly prepared for and he’s forced to rise to the occasion or accept defeat.
June 12, 2012
Roxanne Crouse’s Reviews= Death Seraph by Ashley Bruce
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Death Seraph by Ashley Bruce is a novel about a 16-year-old girl named Minky whose parents are murdered at the beginning of the story. While being questioned by the police, she sees a strange, but attractive, teen male lurking around. She later witnesses this handsome stranger taking the souls of her parents. Without any parents, Minky moves in with her Aunt. She learns that the stranger is death himself and she is fated to be paired with him and become a death seraph herself. Minky discovers she can also see the dead that haven’t passed on and that she is able to see the men who killed her parents in her dreams. Unfortunately for her, they can also see Minky. To save her Aunt’s life Minky must make a choice that will change her destiny forever.
When I read the description and the prologue for this book, I thought it had potential. As I read on, I became more and more disappointed. I still believe the idea has potential, but Death Seraph still needs a lot of editing done to it to make it work. There are some great scenes that pull you in for a while, but then the telling sections kick you back out.
In the beginning, there are large sections of telling that are boring to read, and much of it is redundant and could be edited out. Long sections of telling are scattered throughout the book. I’d rather see these parts written as engaging scenes and the redundancies edited out. It makes the book’s pace very slow every time you have dialog followed by two or three paragraphs of character thoughts before you see dialog again. I started skipping much of it and reading only the dialog. Here’s an example of some redundancy I found:
That kind of life wasn’t in the cards for me. Things like that didn’t happen to girls like me.
The two sentences say the same thing. One could be edited out or the two combined together. Twenty-five percent of this novel could be edited out as redundancy.
Another problem is much of the novel is wordy and awkward to read, mainly because most of the novel is written in past perfect progression instead of simple past tense like it should be. After the preface, the novel should have switched to simple past tense.
A copy editor needs to do a read through, too. There are many sentences where words are missing or extra words are typed in that aren’t needed. There are also a few places where the wrong word is typed. For example, lesion is typed in where lesson should be. A word processor wouldn’t catch that mistake. There are also Kindle formatting errors. One section changes font for no reason and there are chapters with several blank pages between them.
I want to mention, between the telling sections, there are some engaging scenes in this novel that are worth reading. I’d like to see the entire novel rewritten the same way.
**Spoiler Alert**
Now to the story. The idea has potential until we get to the end. I don’t find it believable that Minky’s only choice is to kill herself. If she excepts that she may die anyway, she might as well confront the men instead of suicide. It would be the braver choice, and it also doesn’t glamorize suicide. Young adult novels should never make suicide seem like a good or noble choice to make. Killing herself wouldn’t stop the men from attacking her aunt, anyway. The men may still show up at her aunts looking for Minky and still kill her after Minky is dead.
I think the author was married to the idea that Minky would sacrifice herself to save her loved ones and didn’t see the holes in the plot. Never marry an idea while writing. It’s OK to get engaged to and idea, but never marry one. I also find the idea of sacrificing your life for the ones you love too “twilightish”. That is how the first Twilight novel starts. Confronting the killers would make this novel different from Twilight format that so many new novelists are copying whether consciously or not.
Another Twilight staple this novel has is two men attracted to the same girl, Minky, our main character. What girl wouldn’t want two hot guys fighting for her, but this plot is being over done, matter of fact, it’s burnt. It’s time for something fresh.
The novel has set itself up for sequels. At the end of Death Seraph, Minky asks Nic a question and he responds that he doesn’t think, in this case, anything bad will happen. I think something bad should happen in the next novel. Don’t wuss out. Do it, make him pay the consequences and let us travel along for the ride.
Give this novel a read. It is enjoyable in areas. I think more readers will enjoy it if the above mentioned problems are fixed.
June 11, 2012
Empathy For Editors
I’m happy to say that I’m getting a nice response to my request for self-published novels to review. I’ve developed a system so hopefully I don’t miss any and I’m able to get through them in a timely manner. Many of the novels I’ve received are great reads and well written. I’m glad I got a chance to read them, but some, well. I feel really need more work.
I’m starting to better understand what editors are talking about. I guess I’ve always assumed the editors I’ve talked to or listened to at panels were exaggerating, or maybe being far more picky about the work of writers because they have to be. They want to make money so they want the best writers. But now I see they were telling the absolute truth. I’m surprised at the common mistakes writers are making and not fixing before putting their work out for the world.
If you’ve decided to be a professional writer, you need to do your homework on the craft of writing. Read books on writing, read blogs written by editors, and most of all, read great writing. You’ve got to understand what those writers are doing (or not doing) so your work will be as good. You can’t be lazy. Writing is not a quick and easy way to make money. It’s a lot of hard work.
Here are some of the mistakes I’ve seen so far.
1. Sending a book in a genre that wasn’t on the interest list. I understand how desperate a writer can be. I feel that desperation myself, but sending a book about paranormal romance to an editor, or in my case, a reviewer who only wants, say, horror books about bugs is not a good idea. You are wasting that person’s time and your own time. Only send your paranormal romance to people who want paranormal romance. Do your homework before sending your work out. Don’t pick random places and send your novel out to them just because they a excepting.
2. Edit, edit,edit and edit some more before sending out your work. If you are not sick to death of reading your own book, then you haven’t edited enough. If you haven’t let other eyes read your novel that are not family or friends, then you haven’t edited enough. If you can afford it, hire a professional editor to go over your book. If you can’t afford it, join a writing group and help other writers edit their books in exchange for editing your book. Your mom and your best friend don’t know the difference between telling and showing, unless they happen to work at Random house. Here are some thing s to look for while editing.
1. Misspellings and wrong version of words like there and their.
2. Missing words or sentences with extra unneeded words.
3. Passive sentences and overuse of the word was (normally a sign of telling and not showing)
4. Large passages of telling
5. Redundancy
6. Inconsistency, such as a character’s name changing half way through the work
7. Make sure your story is logical
8. Check your facts, science and history
9. Check your formatting by using several e devices and ordering a proof copy of soft a hard cover books
10. Check every sentence and see if you can rewrite it shorter and clearer
11. Clichés, unless they are purposely being used to show character
3. Which leads us into Show, Don’t Tell. This is the biggest problem I’m encountering with the self published books I’m receiving. I know within my writing group, it is a hard concept to grasp because it is not as easy as it sounds above. It took me a while to understand the difference between the two, and sometimes you do want to tell, but it should be brief and shouldn’t be something important to the plot. Telling should only be used to move the reader from one scene to the next. Everything else should be written as scenes. I’ve received a few novels where the first chapters were all telling, usually back story the author feels is important for the reader to know. If it’s important, then the writer should start their story with that back story and write it as scenes. Reading paragraph after paragraph of telling is boring. It’s information the reader doesn’t care about yet and they will skip over it or not read your novel at all. An easy way to tell if you are in telling mode and not showing mode is if you are writing without any dialog. Another way, if your character is alone, to tell is if you are writing about multiple locations and situations and not describing anything immediately around the character. Never start your novel with telling and never write the whole novel with telling. You’re not writing a novel then, you’re writing a synopsis.
Those are the main problems I’ve encountered. I’ll probably talk about each one in more detail sometime in the future, but now I must stop procrastinating and get back to my writing.
June 9, 2012
What I’m Reading Now= Death Seraph by Ashley Bruce
This book was sent to me for a review. I’ve read the prologue so far and it seems like an interesting read. I liked the letter to the aunt in the beginning. I hope the rest of the book is just as good.
Death Seraph
by Ashley Bruce (Goodreads Author)
4.00 ·After witnessing Death himself procure the spirits of her slain parents, seventeen-year-old Minky Rea must make a choice—one that bears on the final destination of her eternal soul.
Grief-stricken by her parents’ sudden passing, Minky discovers that not only has her traumatic experience triggered her innate ability to convene with the dead but it has also given her the power to enter their executioners’ dreams. Unfortunately, the threat of their mortal killers pales in comparison to the immortal danger Minky has unknowingly invited by acknowledging the presence of Death the night he collected the souls of her parents. When she is forced to juggle her menacing nightmares and the continuous pursuit of the ostentatiously hot angel of death named Nicolaus, she finds the only hope she has of maintaining her sanity is to rely on her aunt, Maggie Hayes, for stability and comfort. Ultimately, Minky must choose between embracing her destiny of becoming a ‘death delivery girl’ with Nicolaus or relinquishing her fated path by ending her own life in order to protect her aunt.
June 7, 2012
Roxanne Crouse’s Review= Liberty Frye and the Witches of Hessen
Liberty Frye and the Witches of Hessen by J.L. McCreedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I don’t normally read middle-grade novels, but I’m glad I read this one. Liberty Frye and the Witches of Hessen by J.L. McCreedy is a well plotted, fun, adventurous read. The novel follows a classic fairy tale structure, but is written in a modern style so modern readers will enjoy reading it. The story is full of well developed, colorful characters and moves at a fast pace that will keep you entertained. Young Children will love to read, or have their parents read this story to them. A big plus is this story isn’t dumbed down for kids. Adults will enjoy it as much as young readers.
The story starts when a strange envelope is delivered to Libby’s home. Libby’s mom reads what’s in the envelope and decides she must return to Germany, her home land, and see her parents whom she hasn’t seen since before Libby was born. Libby is unaware she had grandparents and is upset that her parents keep so many secrets. Once Libby and her parents reach Germany, the adventure begins.
This story is well written and well edited. The kindle formatting is perfect and it is obvious a lot of love was put into setting this eBook up professionally. Some small issues I might not have done, and this is being picky, is the misspelling of words to simulate a German accent. When I first encountered it, I thought it was missed typos. Later, Libby explains that sometimes her mom pronounces w’s as v’s. I’d rather have seen the words spelled correctly and the structure of the sentence rearranged to simulate a German accent. The biggest reason why is because when you use text to speech on a kindle, the kindle doesn’t know how to handle the misspellings and it makes it hard to understand those sections. Not a huge problem, but something to consider.
A parent warning, there is one adult word in the novel, p**s, which I was surprised to come across. Not a big deal to me, but some parents who monitor what their children read may want to be aware of it.
There is some passive writing in the story as well. Not a lot that it is distracting from the story, but enough to possibly cause an editor to reject it. The words: very, just, seemed, there was, even, etc. were used frequently enough for someone who is a writer to notice. These are considered passive words that should be avoided if possible. A child or a non-writing adult wouldn’t notice at all. Just pointing it out as something to be aware of for the next JL McCreedy novel, and I do hope there are many more. Mrs. McCreedy is an exceptional writer and I can’t wait to read what she comes out with next.
I highly recommend reading Liberty Frye and the Witches of Hessen. The novel is a breath of fresh air to read after so many paranormal vampire stories that are all alike after reading several. This book would be a great one to sit down with your child and read together. It is as fun and adventurous as other stories like James and the Giant Peach or The Indian in the Cupboard. Definitely check this book out.
June 4, 2012
What I’m Reading Now= Liberty Frye and the Witches of Hessen by JL McCreedy
Liberty Frye and the Witches of Hessen
by J.L. McCreedy
4.33 ·The average ten-year-old girl seldom travels far from home. She doesn’t worry about being kidnapped by witches or imprisoned in medieval castles where children are ensnared to meet their unspeakable demise. She rarely gives thought to curses, potions and magic. She certainly isn’t concerned about risking life and limb to decipher ancient rites and lost treasures….
But Liberty Frye is about to discover that she is not just your average girl.
When a cryptic note from long-lost relatives arrives, the news it brings flips Libby’s small-town existence upside down. Soon, she finds herself lured to a foreign land where mystery, spells and the dark stuff of fairy tales await. It’s up to Libby to unravel the sinister plot that brought her there in the first place, but in so doing, she’ll uncover a shocking secret that will change her life forever … if she survives the challenge.
Available on Kindle:
http://www.amzn.com/dp/B0075SRW2E/
June 3, 2012
Roxanne Crouse’s Reviews= Stained by Ella James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Stained by Ella James is a YA novel about a girl named Julia who has lived her life in the foster system. She knows nothing about her real parents, and at the start of the story, her foster parents’ house is on fire and the foster parents and children inside have burned in the fire. Julia sees a demon above the house that quickly disappears. When I first read this part, it seemed like Julia didn’t care very much that the family taking care of her died. I found that a bit cold. Maybe she was in shock, maybe she wasn’t close to them. At this time in the story we don’t know her relationship with the foster family or how long she has lived with them.
Julia runs away because she doesn’t want to return to the foster system. She doesn’t express any fear about seeing the demon, which I thought was curious, made me think maybe she was used to supernatural occurrences. She stays the night in a warehouse where an attractive male fighting the same demon she saw before falls through the roof. The male is close to death and at this point we learn Julia can see the auras of other people and can heal people as she heals the mysterious attractive male. I wondered at this point why the demon stopped attacking and left. If the guy was on the verge of death, why would the demon stop? The demon could have taken them both out at this point. I assumed there was a reason the demon stopped the attack, but that reason is never answered in this first book. I’ll assume it gets answered in the second or third book, otherwise this is a big plot hole to me.
The two reluctantly team up using Julia as bait to try to catch the demon. The relationship development during this time is entertaining, but nothing new. Maybe if an ugly guy fell through the roof it would have added a more interesting angle to the story, something for the main character to overcome. The two travel back and forth across the United States chasing the demon and learn some interesting information about the birthmark Julia has on her body. The novel ends at an exciting part, but so far, nothing in the story is resolved so you will have to read the next book and possibly the third book to reach any conclusions.
I liked the book. It was well written, although there were enough typos in the piece that they stood out, mostly the use of the wrong word in sentences, a problem a correction program wouldn’t catch. The writer will need a human to go through and find those mistakes. The novel is a light read with a simple plot so far. If you are looking for something entertaining that won’t require a lot of investment to follow, then this is a great choice. This first book in the series is your typical paranormal romance, no surprises yet, so if that’s what you like, you’ll like Stained.
I initially chose this book to read next because one of the reviews said this book had the best boyfriend character they’d ever read. Cayne has no memory part of the way through the book, then gets it back and turns cold toward Julia for a while. He deemed the typical YA male character to me. Perhaps in books two and three we see what makes him better, but in this first book, he is a standard male love interest for a YA novel.
If you like paranormal romance then give Stained a try. You will find everything in it that you would find in other YA paranormal romance, which is not a bad thing.
