Piper Shelly's Blog, page 257

The one for me

Seriously, rating this book is a hard task. I’ll start off with the good things…

I loved the story, but then I love pretty much any High School drama so that was to be expected. Katy and Liam are two characters I totally rooted for from the first line I read about them. The book is written in first person POV, which tends to be my favorite, but it’s also written in present tense, which I really hate.

The story starts in the middle of the divorce of Katy’s parents, and we get a good feel of her emotions here. She’s hurt, she’s angry, she can’t understand what’s going on and why her dad had to cheat with this awful woman from his office. At the same time her boyfriend abandoned her for a Barbie Clone, and to top it all her best friend Jen (an adorable and lovely side character) has to empty her seat in Science to make room for bad boy Liam Erickson. Katy is stuck with the guy for a project on…tada, sex. At this point I want to mention that there are so many parallels to the book HUSH, HUSH from Becca Fitzpatrick, that I really wondered if this was going to be a lousy copy. But the story soon goes into a different direction…thank God.

Katy tries to get Liam to do the assay with her, but he has other plans. Going to a party, particularly. She follows him, and when her ass-wipe of ex-boyfriend shows up with his new gf, Katy feels the need to do ‘something’. So what the hell, she just kisses Liam. Not a good thing to do in her situation. Within a minute she has the reputation of a rebound girl, class whore and what not (which was a little drastic in my opinion, but for the sake of the story, well…let the author have her way). To pull her neck out of the noose, Katy offers a deal to Liam. He becomes her pretend boyfriend and she helps him get a nicer reputation and better grades. Here I was wondering again why the boy would be looked at differently by the teachers only because he has a girlfriend, but again…it’s part of a working story.

What the author managed brilliantly in this book is making the reader feel the chemistry between Katy and Liam. He’s a bad boy, all right, but he’s sexy, smart, dark and always has a perfect come back. The dialogue was the one thing that convinced me to read the book in the first place when I skimmed through the excerpt, and it kept going smoothly all the way to the end. Congratulations to the author for that.

Unfortunately, there were a few things that spoiled the book, and I think it’s fair to say spoil here, because it totally destroyed the reading pleasure of what could be a YA bestseller. Apart from a bad habit to start almost every sentence with ‘I did this…and I did that…’, the book was littered with typos. And it wasn’t just the occasional misplaced comma. In fact, commas were all over the place, there were typos, grammar mistakes, and the author even got the names of her heroes wrong in several places. I’m a writer, too, and I know how hard it is to catch your own mistakes. But, honestly, that’s why you have critique partners and proofreaders. If she’d done her homework, she would have produced an excellent teenage novel worth 5*. This way…well, I think 4* are okay. I really loved the characters and the story (except for a few inconsistencies like the thing about Liam’s mother moving away and not getting in touch with him, then ‘oh-so-emotional” returning when Katy calls her).

I know this is partly a harsh review, but I’m always honest when I write something for someone. And if I didn’t like the book so much, I wouldn’t feel the need to write anything at all. Make sense? Good.

In fact, I tried to contact the author and tell her all this personally, but there’s nothing about her to be found in the web. Luckily, a writer friend of mine just informed me that all the mistakes were corrected in a late run of edits and a new file was uploaded. I believe that now everyone will love reading this book.

On a final note, it seems the author has also changed the cover picture over night, which is a very good thing, because the former one sucked. It had the same couple as are posted on every other teenage romance, and it really catches your eye…in a bad way. Love the new one!

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Published on August 18, 2016 11:14

Torn

Samantha, the average 17-year old, suddenly discovers she’s not that average after all. After her father dies, she finds out things about herself, powers that intrigue her and at the same time scare her out of her pants. Moving into a cabin in the woods with two boys, both deliciously tempting in their very own way, she has to learn to control these powers, train to be ready when it’s time to fight the dark side, and keep this annoying voice of a stranger the hell out of her head.

With a sizzling passion budding between Sam and Ethan, one of her protectors, this story is right up my alley. Hughes describes perfectly how a teenager’s emotions threaten to escalate while she struggles to stay sane in a world that turns upside-down on her over night. What I found a bit troublesome was the hop back and forth in time at the beginning of the book and the overuse of names in dialogue, but the fast paced story, the light humor in Sam’s voice, and just the right dose of sarcasm, made up for it all the way through the book. TORN comes with far more than just one twist, and Hughes’ skills to build tension to a maximum in each single chapter is impressive. As I’ve heard, she is working on the sequel to it right now. Definitely something to grab.

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Published on August 18, 2016 11:13

Wild About You

Oh no… I’m so disappointed.

I got this book a few weeks ago, but when I started reading it, I had trouble staying focused. The book opened with a chapter in Shanna’s POV and not in one of the main characters, which is totally untypical for a romance. Also it was so boring, that I considered putting the book down before I got to the main part. And the main part (which is called a romance) started around chapter 4 or 5.

This is, oh I don’t know, book 12 or 13 in the Love at Stake series, and I expected to find another strong heroine, humor, and sexiness in it. But there was none of it. Or none that I would call worth to be mentioned. This never happened before with one of Kerrelyn Sparks’ books. She’s one of my favorite authors, but this time, I’m really disappointed. Of course, this is only my opinion, and there are plenty of people loving the book just as much as any before that. So what exactly put me off?

Elsa is a construction worker, taller than the average woman, and she loves to pull down houses. That is okay, as it would work well with Howard, a grizzly bear shifter. But in my opinion, the author made a major mistake, as she gave this woman a weak side that was becoming annoying to a frustrating point, and fast. Elsa was behaving like a small girl, when her aunts told her to stay away from Howard, the bear, because of an unfortunate family curse that might cause her death if Howard was losing control. She let her aunts scare her, and sort of dropped her own will and mind outside the front door, doing whatever they told her. Elsa is – or turned into – a guardian of the forest. This new side of her scared her a little at first, but she adjusted to it very quickly. Here I would have advised K. Sparks to give some deeper emotions. Elsa could be shocked beyond words, or intrigued to a fantastic point, but she just grew used to it. Very flat writing here.

Howard was an okay character. He didn’t blow me away – unlike most male leads in the books before this one – but he wasn’t as annoying as Elsa. He said and did some nice and sexy things, but when it came down to the important parts of any romance, the worshipping and the “get together” he totally sucked. Or rather…the author sucked it up. She rushed though the intimate scenes, like you’d read about them in the local newspaper the next day. The subplot was about revenge, and that is a major “turn me down”. A side character died in the process of destroying the antagonist, Rhett, the were-wolf. There are reasons over reasons why Howard is allowed to hate Rhett, but the way the author created this thread, she gave Howard a very dark side. Something that made it hard to like him. For me, anyway.

What happened here? Sometimes during reading, I wondered if K. Sparks was under pressure to deliver another book and so cut down the quality for the sake of quantity. Seriously, I hope she’s doing better with her next book.

Somehow I feel the need to apologize now. I hate giving bad reviews, really, but I also don’t want to lie in them. So yeah, sorry, but I just didn’t like this book very much.

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Published on August 18, 2016 11:11

Do me a favor? Pretty Pleeeeaaaase!

Die deutsche Übersetzung findet ihr unten! Das ist wichtig!

PLEEEEEAAAAASE!

I really, really want you to vote for my book NEVERLAND on this site:

http://indtale.com/2015-rone-awards-week-four

I’ll tell you why:

This is the site of the famous InD’Tale magazin. They reviewed PLAY WITH ME when it came hot from the press and helped me come out BIIIIIG!

Play With Me was a finalist in those RONE awards in 2013 and I went to Las Vegas for the show. It was A-MAZE-ING!

Now, if enough people vote for NEVERLAND, it might be another finalist in those awards. So PLEASE! Help me win a big price with my books once in my life!

But note that you have to create an account on the website to be able to vote. Nothing will happen to you. You won’t get spammed to death or anything. All you do is help me bring HOOK & ANGEL to a much bigger audience than I can ever do by myself.

How to get where you need to be:

Place cursor over “InD’Scribe/RONEs” on the menu.
Move to “2015 RONE Awards“
Click “2015 RONE Awards Week Four“
Scroll to “Young Adult: Paranormal 2015“
Find “Neverland“, check the box next to it, and click “vote“

This week’s voting will be over on May 10th! Do it NOW. :)

Again, PLEEEEAAAASE! If you love me, you do this for me. And you’ll tell all your friends and family to do the same! :D
Thank you!

xoxo

Anna

Für meine deutschen Freunde und Fans!

:) BIIITTEEE! Bitte! Bitte! Bitte! :)

Helft mir und gebt meinem Buch NEVERLAND (Herzklopfen in Nimmerland) auf dieser Seite eure Stimme.

http://indtale.com/2015-rone-awards-week-four

Ich sag euch auch gleich warum:

Das ist die Webseite des InD’Tale Magazins, das 2013 mein Buch Play With Me (Teamwechsel) rezensiert hat, als es gerade frisch aus der Presse kam, und mir somit einen tollen Start in die Schriftstellerwelt verschafft hat. Play With Me war damals ein Finalist bei den RONE Awards in Las Vegas, und ich wurde zur Show eingeladen. Gewonnen hat mein Buch zwar nicht, aber es war trotzdem ein unglaubliches Erlebnis.

Wenn jetzt genügend Leser für NEVERLAND abstimmen, könnte es das Buch wieder ins Finale schaffen. Also BIIIIITTEEEE! Helft mir, mit meinen Büchern endlich mal einen richtig großen Preis zu gewinnen. Das wäre dann so etwas, wie der Oskar in der Buchbranche. ;)

Aber bedenkt, dass ihr dafür einen Account auf der Seite kreieren müsst, ehe ihr abstimmen könnt. Das geht ganz schnell und ihr werdet auch nicht mit Spam Emails zugemüllt, versprochen. Ihr helft mir damit nur, HOOK & ANGEL einem weit größeren Publikum zu präsentieren, als ich es je alleine schaffen könnte.

Und so geht’s:

Fahrt mit der Maus auf “InD’Scribe/RONEs” in der Menüleiste.
Fahrt weiter zu “2015 RONE Awards“
Klickt auf “2015 RONE Awards Week Four“
Scrollt runter zu “Young Adult: Paranormal 2015“
Sucht “Neverland“, macht ein Hackerl im Kastl daneben und klickt anschließend auf “vote“

Die Abstimmung läuft nur noch bis 10. Mai, also macht bitte ganz schnell!

Und auch wenn ich mich hier wiederhole … BIIIIITTEEEE! Wenn ihr mich nur ein bisschen lieb habt, dann macht ihr das für mich. Und ihr teilt es auch mit all euren Freunden und Verwandten und bettelt in meinem Namen darum, dass sie ihre Stimme für NEVERLAND abgeben. :)

Vielen, vielen Dank!

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Published on May 05, 2015 09:37

The Trouble with Dating Sue

I made a promise…

I told you I had some agency stuff to do and wanted to read a couple books before I could finally hurl myself into my next project: Chris’s POV of DATING TROUBLE.

Well, I’m ready, and for the official start, I’d love to show you the brand new cover for THE TROUBLE WITH DATING SUE.

I have no idea how long this book is going to be in the end or if it’ll live up to everybody’s expectations, but I sure as heck will give my very best.

Happy cover reveal day! – because I like giving special days special names. ;-)

P.s. @everybody: Please don’t rant about Susan’s hair color. There are only so many perfect pictures in the web.

And here’s the totally unedited, rough drafted opening to that book. Just so you get an idea of what’s coming at you. ;)

Chapter 1

Lauren Young was a satanic tease. She detached her lips from mine, fastened her long black hair that I just had my hands in with a clip at the back of her head, and grinned at my face. “Learn to conjugate future two and you’ll get a bigger reward next time.”

Dammit, she knew how to make my heart go boom. Or maybe it wasn’t so much my heart that exploded at that incentive as my imagination. Her body was just as exotic as her Thai eyes and always a pleasure to explore, but today she was still wearing her satiny underwear which meant I hadn’t studied hard enough the past week. We were in the same Spanish class, both seniors at Grover Beach High, and I swear since the time we started seeing each other for noncommittal fun under the cover of her tutoring me, my grades had shot straight up.

I detangled from her mile-long legs and climbed out of bed, finding my own shirt and jeans on the floor. It was ten past four, time to run. Basketball practice on Monday was something I wouldn’t miss, not for any of the girls I occasionally hooked up with and not for a smoking hot Spanish lesson with Lauren either.

“Remember that we have a test on Friday,” she cooed, slowly dragging the sheets over her body just to touch the curve of her racks. Jesus! With my jeans pulled up halfway, I stumbled and caught myself on the backrest of the desk chair. That girl knew how to tempt an eighteen-year-old for sure. Well, two could play this game.

I buttoned my pants as I prowled back to her bed. Hands braced on the pillow at either side of her head, I leaned down so she had to roll from her side to her back and stopped just an inch from her face. A smirk on my lips, I drawled, “Guess that means I’ll be seeing you a little more often this week.” Without giving her the goodbye kiss she certainly expected, I pulled my tee over my head, grabbed my hoodie and shoes and was out of her room before the testosterone in my body got a chance to take over.

“You forgot your text book, Chris!” her voice caught up with me.

Right. Rolling my eyes, I skittered to a halt, turned around and headed back into her room. The book lay on the desk, pretty much untouched the entire afternoon. I shoved it into my duffle bag to my jersey and shorts, gave Lauren a tight-lipped grin and was gone the next minute.

Lauren lived so far out of town that it took me twenty minutes to get back to Grover Beach and to my high school. It’s a shame when half a year before your graduation you still don’t have your own car, but Mom’s black SUV was good enough for now. And hey, look at that, my brother’s car was parked two lots down. What was Ethan doing here so late? As far as I knew, he should be home and be to his lonely self in his room. At least that’s what I saw him doing most of this year. The complete opposite of me, my identical twin brother wasn’t what one would call a social guy—or he wasn’t anymore.

Until last spring, he too had been part of the Dunkin’ Sharks, our basketball team, and the two of us hung out with the rest of the gang every minute of the day. That changed when one of the guys started rumors about Ethan. They were of the really bad kind, you know, and at some point, it was just too much for Ethan to cope with. He should have stuffed a fist into Will’s mouth—at least that’s what I would have done. Yet my brother, who was not a fighter, decided to drop out of the team instead.

Frankly, that sucked. Ethan had been one of the best players on our team, and giving up basketball because of dickhead William Davis was such a dumb thing to do. But who was I to tell Ethan how to live his life?

Abandoning thoughts of my brother altogether, I snatched the duffle bag from the passenger seat, headed into the changing room, and got ready for my favorite ninety minutes of the day…

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Published on April 08, 2015 21:00

When it’s hard to be an author

You might think I’m rude. Can I explain? Well, I’m only human.

Hey folks, if you read this and think it’s not about you, then that’s probably true and I really am not talking about you. But I got some really strange and most of all hurting messages the past few months, and I think it’s time to explain something to each and every single reader and fan out there.

I love you all for reading my novels and for your great support. But if you have the feeling I did you wrong in any way, I can only tell you that I never meant to. I just can’t do magic is all.

I’ve been called lazy, stupid, mean, rude, a fake, incompetent, and a crappy author. All of it by people I never met in my life. But most of them have read my Grover Beach Team series. Or at least, some of my books. Give me a chance to explain why I may seem all these things at certain moments.

1. I’m mean.

Every other day I still get the same emails or messages on Facebook where people ask me to write more books in my contemprary teen romance series, and especially more about Ryan Hunter. I always give the same answer. There will be more books, but Ryan’s story is told. He’s happy with Liza and I don’t want to ruin that story by dragging it out with some fake problems.

It seems some people don’t trust me to write other sweet and maybe even great books. I’ve been called “a mean person” because of that. Apparently I started something that I “didn’t finish” and now I’m torturing people with holding back. I’m so sorry if you really think that, but I can only go with my own feeling in this. I really don’t intend to be mean to anybody with my decision.

2. I’m a crappy author.

In other messages, I got asked by a few people if they could tell me the epic story of their life and I write it down for them. I always say no for several reasons: It’s your story, not mine. I don’t want to write stories that are being dictated to me. I have a ton of ideas that I want to write down because I feel like it, and while I hardly have time to write them all down, you shouldn’t expect me to write something that I don’t feel in my heart at the same time.

There’s also the very important issue of copyright. If you tell me your story and I write it, you would be the copyright owner. So tell me, am I really supposed to work 6 months on a book that you told me in 90 minutes and then give you all the money for my work? Would you do that for someone else?

I’ve been literally called a “crappy author” because of that by someone who claimed to be my biggest fan only two emails before that. I absolutely don’t know what else I can say to make you understand my reasons, but I’m sorry if you feel that way. I really am.

3. I’m stupid.

Fantasy doesn’t work. That’s what I’ve been told when I spent 5 months on writing Neverland and Pan’s Revenge, instead of investing that precious time in another book in the Grover Beach Team series. And apparently I’m stupid, because I don’t get that.

Well, you might not like Fantasy, but I do. And if a book is calling to me, I’m going to write it. I’m sorry if that intervenes with my contemporary series, and I’d love to give you more books about the Grover Beach guys a lot faster, but there’s really more in my heart and head that wants out. And just because you don’t like Fantasy, there are still some people who do. And, of course, that also goes the other way round! James Hook is a sexy hero and I love him as much as you do. But please have faith and believe that I can write other heroes just as sweet and hot as him.

4. I’m lazy.

There are periods of time where you don’t hear from me often and where you don’t get a new book. Contrary to some people thinking that in that time I’m hanging out in front of the TV or doing my toe nails while stuffing cake into my mouth (I never do that—the toe nails. I do occasionally stuff cake in my mouth, though), I’m actually busy with other work. You may or may not know that I’m from Austria and my first language is German. I do have some fans around here too, and they are waiting for my next release as anxiously as you. But that means I have to make time to translate my books. And even if it’s a work I really dislike, I do it for my German readers. Translating a book takes about 2 months. But maybe there’s a small light at the end of the tunnel for you: I hired a translator for my future books. From now on, I can concentrate on my English writing all the time and hope to present you with new releases more often.

5. I’m a fake.

Ouch, that one hurt. People think I’m a fake because there are some small similarities in one or two books they read before mine. I wonder if you actually know how many books there are out there by now. Probably something close to ten billion, it might be a lot more, though. Personally, I believe each and every story has been written in one way or another already. Or can one of you think of ten billion different plots? I dare you to try.

The truth is I read every single book that people accused me of copying—after I wrote my books. Just because I wanted to find out if they were right. And you know what? They were right. There are some similarities between my books and some others. I’m sorry about that, but it wasn’t intentional. At the time I wrote Play With Me, I totally thought it was quite original in its own way, even if it sported a love triangle that was done in a million other books before. I’m sorry if anyone, especially some other authors feel I copied an idea. I did not. I just seem to have had a similar idea at the same time or before or after somebody else.

6. I’m incompetent.

My books are shit and I’m an incompetent author because my books lack ideas and editing, that’s what I’ve been told not only in emails but in some reviews, too. I don’t know where that comes from. I give my best when I write and I have a professional editor who’s doing an excellent job. If you find errors in my books, I’m more than happy for you to reach out to me and tell me about them, so I can make appropriate corrections. Strangely enough, no one ever does…

7. I’m rude.

I’m rude because I didn’t get back to you within a week after you sent me your first fan email. I’m rude, because instead of getting in touch with you personally, I set up an auto reply.

Yes, I did that. And yes, it might take me longer than a couple days to get to your email, but that’s not because I don’t care, it’s because I don’t always have the time for it. There are days where I write 10 to 14 hours non stop. I don’t eat and barely drink in that time. I don’t talk to my family or my friends. I just write because I’m on a roll and really want to give you the next book as soon as possible. Because I think that would make you happy.

If you write to me and it’s a nice email telling me how you liked my stories, ask me questions or whatever else, you will get a reply. If you call me a rude pig in your message, you probably won’t.

In all that time I try to make for my fans in between my work and my family, I’d really rather speak to nice people and don’t waste that time one someone who only aims at making me feel bad. I hope you can understand that. If not, I’m sorry.

Having said all of that, I know these people are a small minority and most of you are still very, very suppostive and understanding. I silently thank you every day for giving my books a chance and falling in love with my heroes and heroines. I apprecialte every single email you write me, every single review you post, every single time we chat and every single moment you spend reading my stories.

I love you!

Anna

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Published on April 06, 2015 09:01

The Trouble with Dating Sue

I made a promise…

I told you I had some agency stuff to do and wanted to read a couple books before I could finally hurl myself into my next project: Chris’s POV of DATING TROUBLE.

Well, I’m ready, and for the official start, I’d love to show you the brand new cover for THE TROUBLE WITH DATING SUE.

I have no idea how long this book is going to be in the end or if it’ll live up to everybody’s expectations, but I sure as heck will give my very best.

Happy cover reveal day! – because I like giving special days special names. ;-)

P.s. @everybody: Please don’t rant about Susan’s hair color. There are only so many perfect pictures in the web.