Heather Heffner's Blog, page 16

August 2014 Book Review: Gilded

GILDEDBy Christina Farley~Book Review~
 
Warning! Spoilers!

MEET JAE HWA. She is a Korean-American girl with a black belt in Taekwondo who moves to South Korea after her mother’s death and has to deal with her cranky harabojee and fitting in at a prestigious international school. However, a nasty sun demigod of legend named Haemosu eagerly awaits her return as well: in order to marry her and steal her soul.  
Fantasy books featuring Korean mythology are few and far-between. Prophecy by Ellen Oh is another one to check out, geared more toward younger readers. Gilded is aimed at an older YA audience and makes a clean, refreshing read with a hard-hitting, well-intentioned heroine.
Jae Hwa has a lot of potential, and she’s quite entertaining to read about. At the beginning of the story, she is self-focused and short-sighted (as most sixteen-year-olds are apt to be), but by the end, amidst developing strong friendships and bonds of loyalty with her estranged family, her perspective shifts and she realizes how far she’s willing to go to protect them. Her grandfather is distant and cold for a reason, and her aunt is a kick-butt fighter with a lot to teach her. Her romantic interest is Marc, an American student at her international school. He’s super intelligent, has expert parents in the field of archaeology, the personality of sandpaper, and is perfect in every way—aka, boring. But whatever. This is only Book I, so a lot could change. And for just the first book, many fascinating Korean legends are introduced and the plot is cleanly wrapped up.
First off, let’s talk about how cool HAECHI is. He is a fire-eating lion-dog monster who guards Seoul, and in this interpretation, he appears to help Jae Hwa when Haemosu’s goonies are after her. Here’s hoping Haechi is actually a cute, shape-shifting Korean boy who shows up in Book II to partner up with Jae Hwa after Marc turns out to be an evil agent of the Korean god of darkness (that would make M more interesting)—but I’m getting ahead of myself. I liked Haemosu, too. He had interesting powers with sunlight, since usually baddies have “dark” or “shadow” powers and lurk around at night. So that was a nice flip. Haemosu is a formidable opponent and uber creepy; Jae Hwa falls for his tricks each time and gets closer to losing her soul completely. Although I would have liked more description of the day-to-day life in Seoul, since it such an exciting place full of old-style markets and cutting-edge technology, there are some neat sites highlighted. Jae Hwa visits King Mun Mu’s underwater tomb toward the tip of the peninsula, for example, which has some really interesting history behind it.
Jae Hwa makes some silly decisions (the plan to break into the museum, for example; ignoring her grandfather’s warnings; running around in the sunlight where Haemosu has power), but to be honest, many of them felt forced for the sake of moving the plot along. After all, the easiest way to thwart her evil suitor would be to leave Korea, but then there wouldn’t be much of a story. So I was willing to overlook a lot of her mistakes because I wanted more fighting, but at the same time, it did make the plot feel forced and disjointed at places.
Also, there is so much interesting Korean mythology, I thought too much of it was crammed into one book. Nine-tailed foxes and samjoko, the all-powerful three-legged crow, easily deserve a lot of attention by themselves, and they were just sort of thrown in. However, the focus on Korean gods was unique and sorely needed in the YA AND the mainstream fantasy genre, so I think this story is an excellent place to start for readers of all ages. My attention rarely flagged, I enjoyed the incorporation of Korean words, and the mythology is well-researched. The dialogue is a bit awkward and clichéd at times, particularly with Jae Hwa’s one-liners when it comes to boys (or Marc creatively calling her “Fighter Girl” :/), but I am confident Farley is only going to grow stronger as a writer in the next installment, Silvern . And hey, this gives me all the more inspiration to research and get moving on Citlalli and Raina’s next adventure in Seoul for Changeling Sisters III: Year of the Dragon ! 
Recommended for fans of: Susan Ee, Colleen Houck, Amanda SunUpcoming Book Review: Prophecy by Ellen Oh

Hurricane Watch: Iselle and Julio

LANAI CLEARED OUT and battened down? Check.
Costco-sized bags of ice, flashlights, and bath tub cleaned out for water? Triple check.
Looking forward to how little monies I'm going to make at work this weekend? ...
I guess I should look at this like a surprise vacation celebrated inside with no power while the storms plural party it up outside. 

Hurricanes Iselle and Julio are on their way to the Hawaiian Islands. Iselle is expected to hit Oʻahu at 6 tomorrow morning and storm all day Friday. Julio is more of a wild card, but it's expected to last Sunday through Monday. Needless to say, I most likely won't be updating Year of the Boar this weekend, apologies for that and also for being MIA in general. 

So, hurricane madness is in full swing. The list of worst storms I've been in include A) the Blizzard I Don't Remember because I was a baby, but it hit us on a camping trip up in the Cascades, Washington State, and apparently I was turning blue and screaming my head off quite helpfully; B) Jeju Island Summer 2011 , during  which it was so pitch-black I kid you not: I couldn't see my hand in front of my face; C) Assorted wind storms in Washington State, during which I prayed those pesky carpenter ants hadn't weakened our towering pine and Douglas Fur trees. There was also a wild lightning storm in West Virginia, during which streaks of purple lightning lit up the entire horizon in front of our car. 

Now there's Iselle and Julio. The whole island is waiting with bated breath. Last year there was a tsunami scare, but thankfully it didn't reach the island. There was less warning on that one, so people didn't have as much time to prepare. This situation is different. This entire week, people have been flooding Costco, Foodland, Sam's Club, City Mill, Safeway, and gas stations. I pulled into work yesterday and there was a line of cars swamping the Tesoro gas station, nearly out to the highway. The Tesoro people said they'd sold something like 80,000 gallons of gas--at one station. I went to Foodland three days ago, and the entire wall of bottled water was bare. Since then, other shelves have been plucked clean; it's kind of an eerie feeling to walk through the store and see so little there. 

Our landlords are clearing out tonight to go stay at a hotel, since the hotel wouldn't give them a refund and they have friends visiting. Various hurricane shelters have been set up. Some like at Kaimuki are pet friendly. Last storm scare we packed up our cat Mango to go stay at Greg's mother's place, who has a loveable German Shepherd mix. Yeah, neither of them were too happy. Also, The Bus is offering free service to hurricane shelters, if you look for the ones that have EVACUATION signs.

Mango no like storm.I'm definitely expecting power outages and maybe some flooding...hopefully it isn't too bad. Last time there was a bad storm, our driveway flooded quite a bit, so our landlord has been spending time diverting gutters and clearing out the leaves from storm drains. They just put in really nice solar panels, so I hope those don't get damaged. Greg and I will be staying home; his mother who lives inland did invite us over if it gets really bad, but I guess we'll just have to see.

The sky's so clear and blue right now. You wouldn't believe a storm was coming.


  

The Cliffs of Moher

This is the fifth installment in the Ireland Series about studying abroad in Galway, Ireland. Read Part Ihere.
FIVE MILES along the southwestern coast of County Clare rises a stunning stack of bluffs over the ocean: the famous Cliffs of Moher. Shale and sandstone pile on top of one another like a perilous Jenga game, and the result is dramatic overhangs and hollowed-out caves along a three million-year-old river bed. They tower 390 feet (120 meters), and at their tallest 702 feet (214 meters) toward the north by O’Brien’s Tower. Princess Bride or Harry Potter Movie #6 Fans? You no doubt remember these cliffs making a memorable performance.
 The Cliffs are about an hour and a half to the south of Galway in County Clare. Bus Éireann Route #350 travels there after making stops in Galway and the surrounding towns. We took a day-long tour there via Arcadia University, and pulled into a large parking lot complete with a Visitor’s Center. Children under 16 are free, students and seniors are 4 euros, and adults are 6 euros. The Cliffs of Moher Information Office also offers deals that include transportation and ticket. There is also a fee to enter O’Brien’s Tower, a popular look-out point for photographers (Adult 2; Child 1 euro). Refreshments, mini museums, souvenir shops, and picnic tables are available in and around the Visitor’s Center. I include the main Information Office website at the bottom of this page.  For our group, we were content just meandering along the path and snapping photos. The Cliffs stretch around 5 miles down the coastline. There are always new parts of the Cliffs that will capture your attention, and lighting at the different times of day also adds another unique aspect. If you’re a big hiker, you might make it as far as the puffin colony. There’s also a surf spot here, Aill Na Searrachor, or its nickname, “Aileen’s.” Jet Ski tow is recommended, since the waves can reach up to 30 feet, but real pro surfers have been known to paddle out, too. I’d be too busy gazing at a bottom-up view of the cliffs to pay attention to the waves!

Our daredevil stunts mostly consisted of taking dramatic poses on the precarious outcrops. Warning signs are posted everywhere around unstable rock, but tourists from around the world pretty much ignored them. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend time on the Cliffs seemed to bring out taking once-in-a-lifetime photo opps, too.
   We only spent around two hours at the Cliffs, not nearly enough time if planning to take the hike down to Hag’s Head and out to Liscannor Village. The Cliffs Coastal Trail stretches about 7.4 miles (12 kilometers) and takes around 3 hours. I’d recommend an independent adventure to pencil this gorgeous cliff-side walk in, and make sure to bring gear for blustery winds and rains.

When we arrived back in Galway, I found a new email waiting for me. My uncle had arrived to help paint his friend’s place in Sligo, and he’d invited me up for a visit. I’d been looking forward to meeting his “Irish family” for some time now, so I heartily agreed!
To be continued…
Disclaimer: The above is presented as fiction, not fact.

Sources:
“Cliffs of Moher,” Cliffs of Moher Information Office, accessed July 25, 2014, http://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/.
“Cliffs of Moher,” Wikipedia Foundation, July 15, 2014, accessed July 25, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffs_of_Moher.

July 2014 Book Review: Tiger's Curse

TIGER'S CURSE By Colleen Houck~Book Review~



***Warning! Spoilers, Includes Review of Tiger’s Curse and Overview of Series as a Whole!***


  I’M NOT GONNA LIE, I’m not a fan of Kelsey Hayes. This is problematic, since she is the heroine of the Tiger’s Curse series.  There are currently five books in counting, which take place primarily in India and Oregon. There are tiger shape-shifters, love triangles, cunning dragons, and Indiana Jones-style puzzles. The world-building and bits of Hindu lore are intriguing enough to invest your time in this series. Don’t expect to become an expert on Hindu mythology—in her Frequently Asked Question section, author Colleen Houck discusses how her mythology is a “westernized” version—but the plot is entertaining, and the supporting characters endearing. Just resign yourself to the fact that you will be doing a lot of eye-rolling over Kelsey’s attitude/actions.

Kelsey lands a pretty cool job at a circus in Oregon, where she is assigned to take care of a rare white tiger. Little does she know that the tiger is actually a cursed 300-year-old Indian prince named Ren, or that she has a role to play in fulfilling an ancient prophecy that will free Ren and his black tiger brother, Kishan. However, the evil magi Lokesh who cursed the princes is pretty keen on making sure they stay ferocious jungle beasts with a liking for poetry and cookies.

Let’s get the Kelsey part out of the way first. The goddess Durga chooses her to be “The Chosen One” who will lead her forces against Lokesh. Kelsey gets hooked up with Fanindra, a golden snake arm bracelet who can come to life (and saves her butt many times), and the Golden Fruit, so they never have to worry about running out of food. As the series progress, Kelsey becomes more unlikeable and unrelatable as the “perfect” Chosen One. 

Tiger’s Curse has an exciting introduction, but it really gets bogged down in the middle as Kelsey wanders around the jungle. Eventually she and Ren start communicating properly and orient themselves to complete their quest to recover the first of Duraga’s artifacts. The story delivery is entertaining when it comes to action, but there are excessive info-dumps. Mr. Kadam is the biggest offender. Since Kelsey has zero prior knowledge of Hindu lore, her wealthy mentor spends pages lecturing her, and it comes off as tedious.

As far as the romance goes, Kelsey often acts like an idiotic plot device in order to further the tension/make poor Kishan think he has a chance in the love triangle. I’m not sure what either of the brothers fell in love with, since Kelsey has a flawlessly bland personality and is known for telling people off by way of: “Mister! How dare you!” As we all know, “mister” is often used in a teenager’s vocabulary. Whimsical poet Ren manages to stay relatively true to his character throughout the love triangle woes, but “badass” Kishan loses his fire and becomes steadily more dependent on Kelsey’s every whim—a mindless moon caught in her orbit. It made him lose a lot of appeal to me, and by Book 3, I honestly didn’t care who Kelsey ended up with. That helped soften the “twist” that resolves the love triangle in Book 4.

Each book in the Tiger series features 1) more or less romantic angst between Kelsey and the two brothers, and 2) and Kelsey & Co (Ren, Kishan, her mentor Mr. Kadam, and Mr. Kadam’s  great+ granddaughter Nilima, who I wish more was done with) tracking down Durga’s gifts, which are four artifacts of great power. Lokesh the villain is the epitome of cartoonish evil. See what I mean about the Indiana Jones-feel? Here’s my synopsis of the books:


(These covers are so epic)
Book 1: Tiger’s Curse : Recommended. Exciting, fresh, potential.
Book 2: Tiger’s Quest : Ok. Rehashed plotline except featuring Kishan as main love interest.
Book 3: Tiger’s Voyage: AWESOME. They have to outwit/befriend these different types of dragons and it’s sooo cool! Give me dragons and I’m easily won over.
Book 4: Tiger’s Destiny: Final battle type book. I liked, but Kelsey is intolerably holier-than-thou in this one.
Book 5: Tiger’s Dream (Forthcoming): Probably skip, since I was more interested in world-building than romance resolution. Guess we’ll have to see. 
Recommended for fans of: Sarah Fine, Amanda Sun, Kiersten White Upcoming Book Review: Well, if you haven’t heard of it yet, there is a new YA book out featuring *Korean* mythology that I’ve been dying to get my hands on: Gilded by Christian Farley. So that is plan.

Character Meet Blog Hop: Kantazsia

I would like to give a big shout-out to Erin Diane for inviting me on this "Character Meet" Blog Tour. Erin Diane is the author of Room in the Heart. Erin grew up in Northern Michigan, later moving to Northern Colorado, and was encouraged to write from a very young age. She has been writing poetry, songs and stories since she was 12 years old. Room in the Heart is Erin Diane's first full length book. Check out her books on Amazon here and meet protagonist Thea Michaels here .
This character interview will introduce you to a main character from Works in Progress (WIP) or recent releases. My recent release is THE TRIBE OF ISHMAEL (Afterlife Chronicles #1). In this interview, you will meet Kantazsia, a demon solider in the Host of Hell who plays a pivotal role in determining protagonist Ishmael's afterlife. As a bonus, for today only this book will be available for free on Amazon.com here .
 KANTAZSIA
1) What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person? Kantazsia Leviathan is a fictional demoness that protagonist Ishmael befriends on his journey through Hell in Afterlife Chronicles I: The Tribe of Ishmael.
2) When and where is the story set?
This dark epic fantasy tale is set in Hell. No one really knows the date, but it is estimated to be the millionth year of the Miser. All the demons know is that when the Doom Bell in Acheron tolls its seventh chime, warrior angels will descend and the battle of the Apocalypse will begin. 
3) What should we know about him/her?
Kantazsia is one of many demons born into the dark authoritarian world of Hell, which sustains itself through the torment of human souls in each of its ninety-nine punishment circles. By the time they reach demonhood, every demon swears to one of the all-powerful Fallen, who embody one of the Seven Deadly Sins. They train to best be able to serve the mysterious Darkness, King of Hell, for the day when he will free them from their prison. Every aspect of demon life revolves around preparing for the inevitable war.
It is hinted that Kantazsia is estranged from her powerful family. When she was young, the demoness escaped from her cruel mother by day-dreaming that her father was an angel who would one day fly down to rescue her from the unending misery of Hell. This fantasy helped distract her from the reality that she watched her mother kill him. Kantazsia grew up spending a lot of time alone, hunting only with her favorite pets, a pair of gray lyons. When no one ever came to rescue her, Kantazsia’s heart hardened and she committed full-heartily to the cause of the Darkness.
As an adult, the demoness followed her dream to become a follower of Abaddon, the war-like Fallen of Wrath, by joining the Host of Hell. This decision was frowned upon by her family, who championed the Fallen of Envy. In the ranks, Kantazsia’s high-class background alienated her from her military comrades, effectively casting her out as a “lone ranger” type. She is rowdy and crass; loves fire whiskey and human designer jeans; hates tempters, the mind-reading followers of Satan; and keeps her enemies at a distance with a magical golden pistol that never runs out of bullets. Despite her drawl and casual demeanor, Kantazsia is fiercely loyal to those she cares about and is wholly dedicated to the Darkness.
4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
Kantazsia fails her tank squad test and is demoted to be a patroller in the lifeless Furnace circle. She is the laughingstock of her comrades. When she captures Ishmael, an unclaimed soul, Kantazsia finally has the chance to seize the glory she’s always dreamed about in the eyes of the Darkness. However, Ishmael challenges her single-minded dedication to her cause with his vision of a different afterlife beyond anything she’s ever dreamed. Kantazsia must choose between avenging her people’s pain or a glimpse of freedom.
 
5) What is the personal goal of the character?
Kantazsia wants to be recognized as one of the Darkness’s beloved for everything she has sacrificed as a solider of Hell.
 
6) When can we expect the book to be published?
It was published recently on Amazon.com. Visit:  http://www.amazon.com/Tribe-Ishmael-Afterlife-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B00HMEK7BY
“Chapter 43: Reborn” Excerpt:
 ***Warning: Contains Profanity/Violence***

~Kantazsia~
Sooner or later, every demon faces its first death.It could be over something stupid. Betting a wolf demon you can outdrink him, for example. Or it could be out of curiosity. Cut yourself shaving, and you just keep cutting, until all of the blood runs out of you.Humans let fear dictate their actions during their earthly life, and for good reason. Once they’re chained to a punishment circle down here, one way or another, Hell will make sure they return to it. Demons know Death like an old friend, but that doesn’t mean they’re any happier to see him. Death strips age and memories from our souls, but he doesn’t strip away enemies. When I was a fledgling, and kind of a bigger bitch than I am now, I tormented this one imp, Vyphar, for cycles, before stuffing him in a washing machine, sprinkling him with chlorine, and setting the dial to heavy duty. Even during the final stages of the rinse cycle, the poor imp didn’t remember that he’d been the demon who’d failed my entry exam into the Glorious Infernal the first time. The report included this one really cute quip: Kantazsia will never amount to anything more than a follower of Jezebel. Most demons spend their present life obsessed with the past—or what we can remember of it. You never know if you will come back as an imp or a fledgling, female or male. The only thing you know for certain is your name; it whispers from the hearth of your soulfire.Except this time. This time when I awoke in the Bleeding Grounds, I remembered my family name and every memory of my past life in vivid, excruciating detail. Suddenly I didn’t want to die anymore. I wanted to fight. I wanted to grow strong. I remembered Azrael’s hand returning me to Hell. I remembered fighting my way through its nefarious embrace, felt it eat bits and pieces of me. I felt my hellfire dwindle and watched my vision of Paradise grow dimmer. There are only so many times you can come back before Hell takes you.Survive. The Darkness has a timeline for getting out of Hell. When the Doom Bell tolls its last, he will bring Heaven to its knees. The question is, will I have endured the mortal banes of life that Hell taunts us with, eating and sleeping; will I have quelled my enemies, past and present; so that I will be left standing at his side?If Vyphar hadn’t included that last bit, I would have used the delicate cycle. It’s the fuckin’ small things. Copyright © Heffner 2013
Meet more Amazing Characters: 

Miranda Var , from A.L. Butcher's fantasy book The Stolen Tower.

Adam Blake , from Ryan Gladney's surreal Nine Lives of Adam Blake

Through the Burren to Clifden

This is the fourth installment in the Ireland Series about studying abroad in Galway, Ireland. Read Part I here.



THERE’S NOTHING like hitching a bus ride through the Burren for a spur-of-the-moment weekend getaway and checking out small-town Clifden, which just happens to be throwing an arts festival. This sleepy village is about an hour to the northwest of Galway along the coast. After absorbing the natural limestone beauty of the Burren countryside, a group of us hopped off in Clifden to stay a couple nights.


We booked a room at the Clifden Town Hostel directly on Market Street, at which the six of us had our own private room. The hostel staff set us up with maps to nearby attractions, such as the Errislannan Riding Centre & Connemara Pony Stud, as well as Clifden Castle.


Pony RidingMost people would scoff at riding a pony, but I assure you: they are as spirited as their bigger brethren. My parents enrolled me in a horseback riding camp when I was little, and I remember being upset because everyone else in the class got a horse except for me—I got a fat white pony. However, when they had the end-of-camp races, my little pony broke into a gallop the moment a tall mare tried to pass her. Yeah, I wasn’t really in charge of the horse.
 However, I’ve always sought out horseback riding opportunities whenever I can, and this was a no-brainer. The Errislannan Manor Riding Centre offers horseback rides along the rugged emerald coastal cliffs of Clifden Bay, which then dip down to a trek across the sand. The more comfortable riders could even take their steed for a dip in the ocean—an ultimate dream of mine! The stables had beautiful grey-duns, white and flea-bitten grey mares, and chestnut geldings, Connemara ponies all who looked right at home along the mist-shrouded green coast.  
My horse was named Barnaby, a big brown bloke with a white mark on his forehead. He mostly ambled along and followed the pony ahead of him; this trail was nothing new to him. Several times I had to scold him for stopping to eat saplings, but he was a good reliable horse. When we got to the beach and the guide let the experienced riders gallop, Barnaby showed off his stuff with an exhilarating canter across the damp sand. Then came the ride through the ocean with the surf curling up around his knees—fun! We meandered our way back to the stables, the ride taking around 3 hours for 70 euros.
Clifden Castle
This old manor ruin is hidden deep in the countryside to the west of Clifden, overlooking Clifden Bay. This was before Smartphones so it took us a while to find it! We ended up going on a little adventure of our own, through pastures where sheep and horses grazed, over and under barbed wire fences. Several times we feared we were trespassing; other times we were ambushed by a herd of beautiful gray mares and colts who assumed we were bringing them dinner.



The sky darkened late afternoon. We were getting worried about finding the castle, when one of us spotted a dilapidated courtyard. We followed it around to behold an ivy-clad fortress spearing the mists. All of us took shelter inside the ruins just in time; the skies opened up and rain came pelting down. We explored the castle until the showers passed and then took a nice leisurely stroll back to Clifden for dinner—this time along the designated path.



Clifden Arts Festival
Our last night in Clifden took us by surprise, as festivities commenced for Ireland’s longest running community arts festival. And boy, did they! The 10-day festival launched off with artistic showcases, street performers, parades, and musical sets in the pubs, topped off by a surprising fireworks display. This country town hosts a number of festivals throughout the year, such as the Arts Festival in September and the Traditional Music Festival in April. As I watched the fireworks cascade overhead while enjoying a pint and some delicious clam chowder, I knew we couldn’t have accidentally picked a better weekend to visit.




To be continued…
Disclaimer: the above is presented as fiction, not fact.

June 2014 Book Review: The Chaos of Stars

THE CHAOS OF STARSBy Kiersten White~Book Review~

 Warning! Spoilers Alert!

THE AUTHOR of the Paranormalcy Series has been on my radar for a while now, but I’ve taken a break from reading vampire/werewolf/fey books. However, The Chaos of Stars is a contemporary take on Egyptian mythology, which let’s be honest, most of what I know comes from Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles . The tantalizing myths he introduced involving the ambitious likes of Isis, the powerful Ra, and the mysterious Anubis immediately made me eager to read more. Fellow fantasy author Colleen Houck ( Tiger’s Curse books) is also planning a paranormal romance series around Egyptian mythology, but if it’s anything like White’s Chaos, I’ll be sorely disappointed. I found myself bored and skimming through the majority of the novel. It read like a children’s book, but it lacked the magic of Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles or J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter—heck, I’m even entertained by Christopher Paolini’s Eragon (the first book. Just the first book).
Isadora is godly royalty. She is none other than the daughter of Isis and Osiris, and grows up surrounded by an immortal family. Pretty awesome, huh? Except for one thing—that immortality bit doesn’t extend to her. She will grow old and die like the rest of us mere mortals. As much as her parents love her, she can’t feel their sincerity since she is one in a long line of Isis’s deceased mortal children. So when she discovers that her mother is yet again pregnant, it isn’t hard to see why Isadora doesn’t jump for joy. Alienated from her ancient Egyptian family, Isadora decides to seek out her own destiny…in San Diego.
In San Diego, Isadora lives with her mother’s brother Sirus. Her intimate knowledge of Egyptian artifacts makes her an ideal candidate to work at the local museum. After Isadora lands in San Diego, the action slows to a crawl. She makes some friends, including Standard Hottie Model #NiceGuy, Ry, and contemplates room decoration and dying her hair purple. Danger lurks in the background, but I’d completely forgotten it until the plot lazily propped up a climax. I didn’t mind that the author chose to make Isadora whiny, but that amount of self-centeredness made it really easy to detach from caring about her struggles.
When Isadora first escapes to America, certain parts of her inner monologue made me wince. She talks about America “having no culture” and “no roots.” Genealogy, history, and religion are “fleeting and unimportant as the latest trend in style”—followed by “Yay! I’ll fit right in!” The sad thing is, this is not true. A person’s genealogy/history/religion are very important and often politicized by the groups in power. There are an abundance of distinctive cultures that are framed as living together harmoniously in a melting pot, but that perspective detracts from the history of how it came to be that way (settlers relationships’ via Hawaiians, Native Americans, African Americans, Asian laborers you name it). Simply put, certain genealogies/histories/religions are privileged over others, and to frame it otherwise is idealistic. “Many cultures” does not equal “none;” in some ways, there is more of an awareness of minority cultures in America than in other countries, even if that awareness does not translate to equal footing. I get that Isadora is young and headstrong, so that is an arguable perspective to have at the beginning, especially since she did not grow up in America. However, nothing following in the novel suggests she learns anything otherwise.
Also, I’m not sure why the paranormal element was included at all, since it wasn’t essential to the story. At the beginning of each chapter, there are these exciting tidbits about ancient Egyptian myths, but they felt completely detached from the actual, day-to-day trudge through a teenager’s life. You could have substituted any other mythology in place of the Egyptian one, and it wouldn’t have changed a thing. Ry also turns out to have a secret, but it wasn’t very meaningful and didn’t connect with the Egyptian motif. This is basically a teenage romance with some supernatural elements, and a boring one at that.
Recommended for fans of: Colleen Houck, Kendare Blake, Kiera Cass Upcoming Book Review: Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck

Year of the Boar Launches on Wattpad

Happy Father's Day, US Readers!

The first couple chapters of YEAR OF THE BOAR are up and running on Wattpad! Visit and follow me here for weekly chapter updates: 

http://wattpad.com/heffneh


Direct Story Link: 

http://www.wattpad.com/story/17683111-year-of-the-boar-tica
 
Thanks All! 

Year of the Boar, the first Changeling Sisters Novella, coming June 15th

That's in 10 days! 

Dramatic Cover Reveal...


 ...A plunge into the ocean, quite appropriate for the summer, don't ya think?

YEAR OF THE BOAR
Tica Dominguez lives and breathes a colorful, vibrant life on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu with her Peruvian mother and her older brother, Rafael. However, after she loses an arm to an aggressive battle with bone cancer, Tica can’t swim. Can’t surf. Can’t live. A mysterious and seductive new student named Jinho promises to understand her pain, but what Tica doesn’t know is that shadows have come to her island home. And Jinho has a secret that could threaten everything she cherishes…
YEAR OF THE BOAR (Changeling Sisters #1.5) is a flashback novel to Rafael's childhood on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu. It is narrated primarily by his younger sister, Tica, and Vampyre Prince Khyber. The story features heavy spoilers for Changeling Sisters I: YEAR OF THE WOLF, so if you haven't already, drop by my Changeling Sisters page to see what this series is all about! (A diverse world of shape-shifters saving the spirit world from an evil vampyre queen, kick-ass fight scenes, family drama, romance--you know, that sort of thing).

I didn't intend for this story to be so long (twenty-five chapters) but Tica surprised me with her stubbornness and her unique voice. In YEAR OF THE WOLF, we hear Rafael's tragic tale about his childhood, but when we see what happened through Tica's eyes, we realize that quite a few things were left out. Scary, world-shattering things. I truly enjoyed writing this novella because it reminded me of how briefly we scrape the surface of other peoples' lives, and how little we may actually know about them. Plus, I got to explore Hawaiian folklore, which is pretty cool! Some of you may be wondering, "Where does the boar come into all of this?" Do not fear. All shall be revealed :D

This free novella will be released weekly chapter by chapter on Wattpad.com, and it will also come to Goodreads at some point in the future. I've always been interested in how ebooks have changed what a book is: no longer is there one finished form of it. An e-version can be revisited time and time again to improve it, although at some point you just have to declare it done. As such, you as the reader get to enjoy an advanced read and watch my editing process unfold; you can even participate with Wattpad's awesome comments section! There was a lot of challenging material to research in this novella, such as bone cancer and Hawaiian phrases, so any mistakes I've made are my own and will be addressed for the final draft. Eventually this novella will be available on Amazon.com.

I've met a lot of amazing people along my journey in indie publishing, many of whom are on Goodreads.com. I'd really like to thank every reader/reviewer who has invested time in my books and left me great, insightful feedback (you know who  you are!). For fans of the series, I couldn't have come this far without you! So please enjoy this freebie :) Year of the Dragon is next on my list to write!

See you on Wattpad: http://wattpad.com/heffneh. 
 

Latest Book Reviews

Latest Reviews of YEAR OF THE WOLF & YEAR OF TIGER (paranormal/urban fantasy) and THE TRIBE OF ISHMAEL (dark/epic fantasy):

From Sophia Martin's Writing Blog on " WOLF "

From Goodreads Reviewer J. Libby on " TIGER "

From the Bibliophilic Book Blog on " TRIBE "

From Sharon Stevenson's Supernatural Story Spinner Blog on " TRIBE "


Cheers! Make sure to cruise around their blogs, they've got some great reads for y'all :)