Alex Mar's Blog, page 3

NanoWrimo 2013 anyone?

I really need to get a schedule going for this again. I've been extremely lazy lately…

Anyone else doing NanoWrimo this year? I've done it before, but never actually officially – not with m/m anyway. So, this year I'm going to because I've found that honestly, I'm at my best when I'm working under pressure. You know, the kind of pressure that has you going into work the next morning with your eyes bloodshot looking like you've been on an all-night pub crawl that ended with you dragging your ass into bed at ass-a-clock in the morning only to wake up five minutes later (or what feels like five minutes later…) when the alarm goes off.

…I think I'm getting off topic.

NanoWrimo! Got an idea, got a plan – why is it never the actual WIP's I actually have that I want to use for this? *sigh* Anyway. I'm doing it. This is me over at the NaNo site, feel free to add me as a buddy, in fact, please do, I need people making me feel like they're kicking my ass into gear.

So I'll write it, even if it's just 50,000 words of non-stop porn (which it probably won't be because porn is probably what takes me longest to write…)

So. Yes. NanoWrimo. Porn. I think I've covered everything?

Also catching up with SPN. I missed my Winchesters. Aside from their addictive man-pain, they still make the most amazing eye candy. Like fine wine. Seriously.

LHNB - No Boundaries!

It's been a while since I've posted - which kind of sucks, sorry! I do have a couple more book reviews up my sleeve, I've just yet to put them on paper.
I'm here for some pimpage today! My story for the Love Has No Boundaries event has gone up on Goodreads today \O/

It was my first time writing sci-fi, I kind of have the bigger picture in mind, and I think I'm digging my heels in a bit because, while I love reading sci-fi, writing it feels tens times harder, but I had fun! But, yeah I do have a bit more in store for this particular world and characters :)
Anyway, it's Sunday, hope you're enjoying the last day of the weekend. If you feel like sitting down with some tea and my story it'd make me even happier. Did I mention it's a freebie? And also, don't forget to stop in and read all the other fabulous stories up for the LHNB event (I told you I've got more reviews to come!). I'd especially love it if you looked in on this one Jackson's Law by Vanessa North, which is actually the story for my prompt!
Have a good one, guys!
p.s. Has anyone been watching Teen Wolf S3? I'm LOVING it! :D

First LHNB teaser up!

So after a lot of false starts, I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere with my LHNB story. A bit last minute considering the deadline is coming up in ten days but, recently this has been the way I meet my deadlines it seems. I hope this starts to change soon, less stressful that way.

If you want to take a look, this is my thread!

Recently finished reading Cut and Run by Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban and found myself asking afterwards, why it took me so long to finally reading it because of course, I loved it. But review is coming soon!

My other writing project has taken a bit of a back seat as I focus on the LHNB story for now but that's not an entirely bad thing, means I'm getting more time to put into an outline and flesh some things out and I'm working myself into a pretty excitable state whenever I even think of going back to work on it *_*

Anyway, hope you guys are having a great weekend, am hoping to come back with some more interesting news on the next post. For now I will leave you with the most gorgeous Derek/Stiles fanart I've seen in a while. Don't know yet who the artist is but have linked it to the post where I found it!


Source

♥

Review: The Last Grand Master by Andrew Q. Gordon

Now, when I got my request for this title approved, I was beyond excited!

I love fantasy novels, especially when it deals with such a grand and fantastical world—add together a wizard and a warrior and you've basically sold it to me.

The world Gordon presents did not let me down. It was all those things I mentioned and more. The world building was excellent, I like to jump right in and don't need large bits of information to process it, so the way the novel started off was absolutely perfect for me and I was with it all the way.

Farrell is our main character and from the first page you want him to succeed. And better yet, Farell has layers (every time I say that I can hear Shrek going on about onions having layers in my head…). Yes he's a wizard confident in his own abilities, but when it comes to his personal dealings with people, he has flaws and weaknesses and at times it's endearing to see. You really do feel that Miceral, a Muchari and with such a calm nature is the the yin to Farrell's yang, so Gordon had me on their relationship too!

What brought down my enjoyment of the book however was a mixture of things. The pacing at times began to drag for me, and I had to put the book down several times before continuing. There was a lot of repetition, going over certain facts over and over by Farrell which grated a bit on me as a reader. And although there is plenty of external conflict, with the impeding war and Meglar looming over them, I was left feeling unfulfilled when it came to Farell and Miceral's relationship.

I love that they got on so well, because they really do fit! But there was a lack of conflict and a lot of summarising over the first stages of their relationship, so, although they clearly got to know each other well—we didn't really get to make the journey with them and I found that disappointing.

I was also a little let down by the lack of Meglar's participation in this first instalment. Oh, he was there alright, and did quite a lot of damage. But, it never felt like there was a personal thing at stake here. Yes, Farrell is the Gods' chosen but… I just didn't feel that Meglar was an immediate threat, or that he was that present.

Having said that, I can't praise the world building enough! I love the Seven Kingdoms, and its history. It's a living thing in my imagination and Andrew Q. Gordon did a very good job in making it so. I very much enjoyed how he brought it to life and I will be reading the next instalment.

I'd say give it a go, if you're into high fantasy and want a side of romance to go with it then you'll probably enjoy this one.

Reader's copy provided by Netgalley.

Talking WIP's...

It's taken me a while to get going on these projects but it seems like I'm finally getting off the ground with them.

At the moment I'm trying not to let it get out of hand but here's what I've got going:

Love Has No Boundaries short story! I'm aiming for about 15k – 18k but not much above that. I don't want to give too much away, I'll be posting sneak peeks soon over at my thread, so stay in tune if you're interested. I can tell you it'll be sci-fi and there'll be some kinky shit going on. (At least I hope it'll come across this way.) I'd say more but the nature of the anthology includes suspense for the epic readers!

This is the novel I've been having a bit of difficulty mapping out, but it's in the same world as my A Charming Idea story, except the theme isn't as light and fluffy. We're dealing with the Wizard Guards in this one. It'll be a contemporary/fantasy novel that will hopefully be a fun and fast paced read, with a side of angst and… hot sex? *cough*

But since at the moment I have nothing to show for it (or I do, but it'd make your poor eyes bleed at how much it all sucks right now), please accept this wonderful gif instead. Think of it as a placeholder.



Werewolves. It's a thing I have.
And Derek Hale. That's another thing I have.
(And Stiles, but I don't want this to get out of hand, okay?)

Um. Expect Teen Wolf, Supernatural or Sherlock crazy at any given time. And other things. Just saying...

I have some more reviews coming up! Keep an eye out ♥

Review: Josh of the Damned by Andrea Speed

This review is actually for Josh of the Damned: 1-3, which includes Pretty Monsters , Peek-a-Boo and Josh of the Damned Triple Feature #1 . This series has been on my TBR list for a long time so I was happy when I finally got to read them!

The world of Josh of the Damned is a pretty damn fun one to be immersed in. You've got Josh, a night clerk at the local convenience store which happens to be right next to a hell mouth. He gets all sorts of customers (and I do mean all sorts) and trust me, the moment where a zombie walks in to pick up a frozen burrito, is epic.

Josh of the Damned is a mish-mash of romance and comedy with this upside down view of monsters and hell and it's pretty fantastic. Each story is self-contained and short but just as fun as the one before it and you get to find out a bit more of the world Josh now finds himself in, as you go on. Which means the next instalment is a must-read!

The characters are memorable, one of my favourites being Josh's yeti stalker, Bobo, who despite its hugeness and how badass it can be, is just adorable. Oh. And let's not forget Cthullu's half-brother Stan. That's right. Stan. I swear, I spent most of the time reading the Josh stories with a smile on my face and biting my lip not to laugh out loud in the middle of the silent rush-hour train journey.

You get sweetness and sexiness too, in the shape of Josh's hot-vampire-with-a-sweet-tooth boyfriend, Colin. And I have to say, I love the chemistry between them and how the author can take a scene with them and make it all shivery and sexy and in the next turn of the page (or button of my kindle), make it funny at the same time. It's very well done and Ms Speed does it fantastically.

Also. Medusa. That's really all I have to say on that one. Because I love Medusa. So yeah. There.

I'll definitely be grabbing up the next instalment of Josh's weirdly funny gruesome world, as well as looking into the author's other works.

Great, fun and an entertaining read!

Reader's copy provided through Netgalley.

Review: Stolen Hearts by Sasha L. Miller

This was a gem of a read. I bought it quite a while ago and because of the long list of unread books on my Kindle it went unnoticed. Then I was browsing through my titles for my next read and saw this one, double checked the summary one more time and settled down. Needless to say I was annoyed with myself for having taken so long to get around to it.

I loved Stolen Hearts! Everything about it just captured me.

Mervyn and Callisto were wonderful characters and their slow paced romance was perfect, allowing the reader to get time to know them and fall for the characters themselves. These two characters complimented each other so well, and the side characters helped bring the story to life even more. I think I'm not the only one hoping to get a peek in at Callisto's brothers story... and hopefully it'll involve another certain wizard. But I'll wait and see.

I think what won me over especially, aside from the characters themselves, was the magic. I love a book with magic, and when it's well done it's even better, and this was the case with this story. I found it fascinating, the way the charms worked and the skill required, the way we were given a subtle view of the world beyond our main characters that we'll hopefully get to know more of. Everything about this just had me enchanted. Adored it!

Cannot wait for the next installment and to revisit these characters, I highly recommend you read this one ♥

Review: Lancelot and the Wolf by Sarah Luddington

I was quite excited about this one so, I'm a bit sad that my review isn't as encouraging as I originally wanted it to be.

I'm not quite sure what to say, just that this wasn't what I expected. The premise was interesting but, I struggled to keep reading. Although I rooted for Lancelot at first, and appreciated that he was a darker character and had his flaws, after a while it started to grate. I enjoyed his interactions with other characters, but at points it just felt too disjointed.

Also, the love triangle, I felt that Guinevere got the brunt of it and although yes, her character was not something to be admired, it was done in a way that made me uncomfortable. Even Lancelot's travelling companion, who had an inner strength and got him through so many things - she felt under appreciated and just handed off to the next convenient man, though I can understand her reasons for wanting to stay away from Lancelot. It just led to him being a very difficult main character to sympathize with, leading to an over all view that men are always falling prey to women. Like I said, it made me uncomfortable. Yes I'm reading this for an m/m couple, but I'm often wary of portrayals of female characters in m/m books.

Still, I'm curious enough that I might look into the next book. I'd say give it a go anyway, because not everyone has the same tastes and chances are you'll love this darker take on Lancelot :)

100 Things Challenge: #3 Spidereye and Gabriel by Creature13

Been a while since I posted one of these. But today I'm going for an art piece!
I thought this time I'd share with you one of my all time favourite artists who draws some of the most gorgeous M/M works and tells stories without even having to do comics for them. There are two particular characters she's created which I would love to read a story for. But I get to see their story told in brilliant pieces of art instead.
How about I show you them?


Spidereye and Gabriel ©Creature13

How gorgeous are they?

Check out more of her work at her DeviantArt: Creature13@DeviantArt

A Charming Idea

And the day is finally here! I've been anticipating this day for a while now!

A couple of months ago I submitted a short story to Dreamspinner Press for their Evergreen anthology and by some miracle, it was accepted!

A Charming Idea

Having fallen on hard times, London-based wizard Evan keeps his charms shop open on Christmas Eve. When he finally gets home, he finds his neighbor, Kian, languishing with a wound that hasn't healed properly. He takes Kian in and they share the Christmas roast from their neighbor, Mrs. Halfpenny—neither suspecting the magic in the marinade that will make their holiday especially merry.

It's now available for sale here for $2.99.

See, I was just cheeky and bought the entire anthology *_* which means I get one story delivered to me every day until the end of December. How's that as a Christmas gift for myself?

Hope you guys are having a good weekend ♥

p.s. I also have some reviews coming up to add to my 100 things posts! Looking forward to having those up soon!