Amanda A. Allen's Blog, page 10

And the final thoughts on Outlander….

No.

No, no, no, no.

Well yes to that.

But no.

Here’s the deal.

If you read my previous thoughts, you’ll know that I had issue with those WTF moments. For those of you who many choose to read/ watch the series, I won’t tell you the epic of all EPIC WTF’S, BUT WTF, WTF, WTF. In the end, it was a FINALLY moment. FINALLY, I can be done now.

By the end, I couldn’t care less what happened to Jamie and Claire. By the end, it was like well of course, he’s killing himself with seasickness. I mean, it started out with a bullet shot that he rode a damn horse home while carrying that wound. But this time, it’s a series of much smaller wounds and sea sickness that almost kills him. WTF?! That isn’t even the epic WTF.

I will say this though, this book is well-written and the audio is flawlessly read. It’s not the writing style that bothers me. It was those moments where you are like REALLY????!!!!!!!!!!!

I lowered my rating to 2 stars. Considering how sucked in I was at that beginning, I find myself literally shocked to feel that way. But feel that way I do.

~Amanda

PS: Onto The Iliad. It isn’t covered in Crash Course literature, but I haven’t read it in ages, and the audio is read by Derek Jacobi. So how could I skip it?

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Published on March 17, 2014 12:32

If all your friends…

…read the Outlander would you too?

In order to better understand this post, you probably need to know that there are certain kinds of books I don’t really care for. These are:

*ghost love stories (though there are two that I love in this genre***)

*time-slip novels (because why? it just doesn’t appeal to me)

*historical fiction (because you ALREADY know the end. it’s spoiled before you’ve begun. SPOILER ALERT: Anne Boelyn dies)

So Outlander . . . is based in history (PS Things don’t go well for the Highlanders). Also Time-slip. Also, it feels like once you’ve read:

There’s no need to read it again with a time-slip thrown in. Right? Right? Especially if you don’t like that kind of stuff. And here’s another confession, though I have read and loved many novels set historically in the Highlands, I always kinda hate them too, because it doesn’t go well for those dudes. And even if it’s set in an okay window of history for the Highlands, it’s not like it’ll be good for their kids. Y’know? You want to have some sort of hope.

Except then Auburn Seal and Cheri Lasota were getting all excited for some mini-series, and I wanted to play too. And then there were the many, many, many, many recommendations I’d gotten over the years to just read the damn series already. So, I downloaded the cheap kindle copy, took advantage of the cheap audio offer and have been listening to it. And this is what I think:

It’s a solid three stars. Solid though. In the, I’ll read the second one kind of way. I’d have given it four, but I’ve gotten too irritated with some things I’ll go ahead and lay them out for you here. (These are SPOILER-Y and ranty.) Don’t let the rage fool you. I’ve totally enjoyed this and will probably, eventually read the whole series. Probably. On audio. While working.

*Not a fan of the *having* to get married thing even though you’re already married in your own time. It just doesn’t work for me as a romance. I’d go so far as to identify it as adultery. And I’m not a fan of adultery. The end. In fact, I kinda hate it (not the end after all). You could get rid of Frank entirely and this would still be a book that totally worked. Why, why, why is Frank there except to add pressure to return? Which could have been done without making it adulterous. How about returning because Captain Randall has it out for you? Or because beloved Uncle Lem isn’t dead, and you know he needs you? Or because you have obligations that worry you? Or any of 100 other things?

*How many guys are going to make gay overtures in a rape-y kinda way to Jamie? I mean. . . I imagine that being gay in the 1700s was a real problem if you wanted to act on your desires. But still. ONE man gets TWO (so far) rape-y encounters. I mean…Oscar Wilde got kicked out of Britain for that like over a hundred years later. This was no time to be openly gay. Mind you, my understanding of this side of history is as balanced as all of my understanding of history which means if it is not directly connected to an author I already like or portrayed accurately in a novel I enjoy I don’t know anything about it. Unless it’s a HUGE piece of history. Then I might vaguely understand that piece of history. So color this as a really shaky interpretation of history.

Fictionally, however, I think that the author should have made another choice. Even if it links the Randall dude back to the duke, it’s still shaky. Why, why, why are they both able to get Jamie in a situation where they can attempt to rape him? Why is it that Jamie’s who is clearly straight having this happen except to show how hot he is.

I get it.

People want to have sex with Jamie. But only Claire gets to. Yay Claire.

Except. Why? Why do we even go there? So, Jamie is Chris Hemsworth hot. And that’s so hot straight guys lose their breath for him. Maybe Jamie is the Chris Hemsworth of the Highlands? Is that what you’re trying to say? Surely you can say it in a way that seems more likely. Because did anyone else have a really? moment when Jamie was having his confession over Captain Randall making the moves on him? And even if that jerk did, the second time when he’s retelling the duke I was like WTF. WTF, man. WTF. And he tells it so openly. Like it’s a big joke. And then he decides that he kinda likes the duke later. Like, you tried to rape me when I was a kid, and I had to dose myself with some stuff that made me super sick, so I’d puke all over you. And then I had to run away. And then I had to warn everyone openly as though talking about when I was abused like it’s a joke is fun for me, because you’re coming, and I don’t want the cute little stable boy to be raped like you tried to rape me. But hey, man, no hard feelings. You’re fun to hunt with.

Um.

No. No that’s not how it works. It works like this. You tried to rape me when I was a kid. You took advantage of the fact that I was a kid and alone, and you were the duke. Now I will punch you in the nose, the balls, and then your kidneys. Because that’s called child abuse and I’m all big and strong now.

Let alone why is Jamie so hot? Why can’t he just be normal hot? Why can’t he be just attractive? Or dare I say, have a crooked nose. Be shorter than the other dudes? Why does he have to be extraordinary? I think this part, for me, just might be too many stupidly attractive heroes. Feel free to disregard my thoughts here if you’re not on overdose. In fact, feel free to disregard all of my opinions.

*What are the chances of one chick slipping time and running across another chick who slipped time? And why does that other chick support some random King/ Prince (I wasn’t paying attention as much here. Because history.) I mean, it’s not as if Gilly’s support is a worthwhile activity for someone who ALREADY KNOWS what’s going to happen as she’s from the FUTURE. The FUTURE. I mean. . . if you weren’t having sex with a stupidly handsome Highlands God, wouldn’t you be trying to get back to indoor plumbing, a right to vote, and a much larger chance of not sleeping in a bed with fleas, lice, and/or bed bugs? Let alone cars, central heat, showers, air planes, places where it doesn’t literally take you days just to make candles???? I get staying if you’re in love. Because love.

But I don’t get staying if you’re married to a man you don’t like, have apparently zero human empathy, you’re working for a cause you already know the result of, and you aren’t in love. I mean…Gilly is married to a dude who’s awful and disgusting. She’s a suspected witch, she’s clearly not in a good place. She ends up murdering for this cause. And her end fate is to get burned. I mean how the hell can you justify that type choice? She isn’t making a difference. She knows the end. How bad is your “real life” in order to be willing to stay in the flipping 1700s? They don’t even have Midol for your cramps.

*I’ve spent far, far, far too much of this novel thinking about how bad Jamie and Claire must smell. I mean this is a fantasy. Why aren’t they having sexy swims with soap?

Now this rating is pre-finishing. But I thought it would be interesting to compare to my final thoughts. I’ve got about 25% to go and will probably finish next week cause who has time for reading on the weekend when you have a job, kids, and writing to do? Oh you? Then, maybe you’d like to read this:

Tee hee

~Amanda

PS the two ghost books I like are Anna Dressed in Blood and Dark Deed’s at Night’s Edge. Anna is fantastic. Dark Deed’s is a dirty, alpha male romance that I can not in good conscience recommend without telling you that. Also Anna is fantastic. And bloody. And wonderful. And I LOVED it. And in the sequel, the romance ends just how a ghost romance should.

SPOILER

Sadly.

PPS For those of you considering jumping off the Outlander cliff with me. It’s not…dirty, but the fade outs happen later than I like, and it’s certainly too graphic for children. IMO. I prefer an early fade out (even though I Dark Deed’s) and more violence. Because…because.

PPS In case you’ve lost all respect for me as a reader, first: suck it. Second: next up is The Odyssey. Or maybe The Illiad. I’ve read both before, but John Green is doing another season of Crash Course Literature, and I think I’ll read along. Except Hamlet. I’m gonna watch the movie. Maybe I’ll watch three of them. First I should probably plug my TV back in.

PPPS If you were to compare Jamie to the last winner of my Hero VS. Hero contest (I think it was Archie Goodwin) I’d take Archie Goodwin. Because, he comes with something that just can’t be over-valued. And that, my friends, is indoor plumbing. Just reading Outlander makes me want to take a shower. And use all the hot water there is available to me at the time. But lets be real. I do that every morning.

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Published on March 13, 2014 15:55

Who is this now?

Oh that’s right me.

I’m pretty sure I’m writing this. . .

Life.

You know?

Life.

So for quick, emotionless updates. On being a foster parent: it’s hard. On being a daughter: it sucks to have my parents across the country. On being a mommy: awesome.

Conflicting I know. But that’s how you know I wrote this. It’s a little bit crazy.

Reading updates: I’m still in the last book of Wheel of Time. It’s insane after 13 books, but I just haven’t finished the last one. Dracula may have the worst cast of heroes ever and I can’t remember how it ended. I assume Dracula died only to come back the page after “The End.” Either way, the *heroes* were morons and the poor girls would have been better off taking that stake into their own hands and taking care of business. I assume Joss’s rage reading this is why we now have Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’ve only been listening-reading rather than reading-reading which means my reading history on Goodreads is just weird. I don’t recommend this course of action. But it accounts for my word count lately. Currently, I’m listening-reading to the Outlander. So far, I think they’re all a bit irritating but possibly irritating / I’ll come to love you and never remember why I didn’t like you in the first place, but someone should really jab Frank in the throat. Douche.

Also I read Out of Dark. SPOILER. SPOILER. SPOILER ALERT. Oddly, this book also had Dracula in it. Dracula who in NO WAY WHATSOEVER resembled the Dracula of Dracula. I would say that if you go into reading Out of Dark knowing that this is an end-of-the-world due to aliens novel ONLY the hero is Dracula you may enjoy it more. Otherwise you’re in for a giant WTF?!?!?!?! The spoiling of it for me is what made me read it. I don’t regret it, but if there was a sequel, I’d probably pass. Initially I gave it 4 stars. Right now, after some thought, 2 stars. It was funny immediately after. Now I’m just like, well funny or not–there was far too much gun talk.

On writing: actually this is where I’m the most excited. But, as much as my dreams are wrapped up in this, it’s not as deep in my heart as being a mommy. So…most excited right at this very second, crazy a second later. It’s how I roll.

I’m writing the sequel to These Lying Eyes right now, but have had my mind totally overtaken by some fairy tale rewrites. The truth is writing anything but the sequel was the opposite of my plans, but then I wrote something else. Several something else’s actually. It wasn’t the plan. It happened. Amen.

Except I get to publish two new stories in the coming months. A novella prequel to Rapunzel and a rewrite of Snow White, Rose Red. Don’t expect your earth to be shattered, but I had soooooo much fun writing these, and I’m excited for people to read them. It turned, completely by accident I swear, into a series. I also swear I will finish all the stories I publish. So, This Betraying Flesh is coming, and I still plan to publish it this year.

The change here is that…I’m writing more. That’s right more. A LOT MORE. I don’t think I’ve ever been more consistently dedicated in anything. So these stories are not taking away from the sequel. They’re bonuses.

Your welcome.

~Amanda

ps. It’s possible there will be another update before Fall. Don’t hold your breath, but I’m trying to be a *bit* more professional. As evidenced by the above. :) Suck it.

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Published on March 10, 2014 14:08

November TBR

So, I’ve sort of been a reading mess lately. I’ve been reading The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater forever (because it’s in print and turns out I don’t have time to read print brooks.) My Classic Book a Month resolution died in the face of The Wheel of Time series, and I’ve done nothing but listen to those books, take care of the kiddos and fight with the sequel to my own book.

The Wheel of Time is a 14 book, 400+ hour on audio epic fantasy series that I’ve been planning to finish since I realized I simply didn’t have the time to re-read the entire series each time a new book came out but couldn’t keep track of what was happening unless I did. Like many others, I decided to just read the whole series again when the final book was published. That happened last January, after the death of the author, with a new writer (who blows it out of the park, btw).

I’m trying to do NaNo this month (50K words on my new book in a month.) So what I’m saying is that all my reading will be audio books. And those will start with the end of the Wheel of Time Series.

I plan on reading:

Towers of Midnight by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan

A Memory of Light by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan

Dracula by Bram Stoker (my classic book goal for October which didn’t happen)

Dorthy and the Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card

and another as yet un-selected classic novel

Happy reading my friends and wish my luck on NaNo!

~Amanda

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Published on November 07, 2013 08:11

On being grateful…

Today I’m grateful for the assurance that things will be OK.

On the Facebook, I’ve been posting things I’m grateful for the last few days, joining in on a month of gratitude. According to Merriam Webster, gratitude “is a feeling of appreciation or thanks.”

But the LDS Bible Dictionary expands on that idea, they say: “Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation and thankfulness for blessings or benefits we have received. As we cultivate a grateful attitude, we are more likely to be happy and spiritually strong. We should regularly express our gratitude to God for the blessings He gives us and to others for the kind acts they do for us.”

Today as I was thinking about what I was grateful for I couldn’t help but focus on how things are hard for me right now. In fact, I was whining to my mom that all the things I wanted for my life aren’t mine. I’m not married (more importantly, I’m not in love.) I don’t have children that are my own. My family lives far away. My dogs are clearly depressed, and it makes me feel guilty. I live in gestapo, patio-snooping apartments that leave me nasty grams on my door. And I have spent the last half dozen years not working my way up the ladder at my job or going to graduate school to write a book that isn’t selling well.

My parents moved a couple months ago, and it’s been really, super hard on me. Then today, my computer got wet, and I might have lost all of the work I have on my new book. It’s still drying, so we’ll see. Then there’s the fact that the foster care payment is late (yet again!), and I’ll be paying a returned check fee. Money I wanted to spend on the kiddos for Christmas.

And that these things happened today has just darkened this day. I’ve been feeling sorry for myself and then feeling guilty that I feel sorry for myself in this circle of woe-is-me shame.

Then, I re-read a friend’s blog post that reminded me that suffering is relative. That my worst day is better than many a person’s best day, and that, I think is the most important part of this month of gratitude.

I am so very blessed. I’ll say it again. I Am So Very Blessed. Hey, hey stupid me, you are so very blessed, and you’re smarter than that woe-is-me ingratitude circle.

Even when I’m stressed, when things are hard, when little things go wrong, I am still so very blessed. I am blessed because even if I can’t get the apartments to waive that fee, I can pay it. Sure, it’ll suck, but I can do it. And my new book has been a struggle for me, so if it’s lost maybe the reincarnation will be even better (Did you know that John Steinbeck’s dog chewed up Of Mice and Men, and he was like oh well and just re-wrote it?! Warning that story is possibly English Major Legend which are like unto urban legends but about stuff only English Majors care about.) And I may not get a new laptop right away, but I can buy a keyboard for one of the other devices I have and carry on with my writing.

So, what I’m trying to say is that suffering is relative, but so is gratitude. Every day that my computer dies, I’m still not in a refugee camp. Every day that I get stuck in traffic, I still have a job (which I actually like). Every day that Boyo is a stinker, he’s still healthy and happy and has an amazing imagination that is fun to hear about. (The bruises on his legs from walking into stuff all the time are from the mouse who lives in his legs. Eventually, he says, he’ll kill that mouse.) And every day that my parents live across the country, they’re still the most amazing parents a girl could want.

So my friends, what I’m saying is that I’m a whiner with an underlying layer of gratitude. I’ll be working on making that gratitude layer be more obvious. Because, as I’ve said before, I Am So Very, Super, Wonderfully, Blessed. I am grateful to God for my blessings. I am grateful to the people who have made my parent’s move Ok by being there for me. I am grateful for my job, my friends, my FAMILY, my mother, my father, my sweet foster children, my sad little puppies, and I’m grateful to live in a country where my big woe is that my very nice apartments are snoopy rather than bound in by barbed wire with too little food.

I am grateful for my suffering which is laughable compared to the horrible trials others in this world face.

~Amanda

If you would like to read my friend’s blog about suffering and being a mommy, you can find it HERE.

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Published on November 05, 2013 11:52

On Foster Parenting…

I’m not unaware that I’ve totally been out of touch with this blog. But it feels like lying to not talk about being a foster parent when it consumes almost my every thought. And…

Sometimes my feelings about foster parenting are too big for words.

You are not forgotten. Here are some random pictures from previous blog posts:

~Amanda

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Published on October 17, 2013 10:04

It’s your lucky day!

Been hemming and hawing over buying my book? Know someone who’d like it? Today’s a lucky day then. It’s free until midnight pacific. You can find it HERE.

Happy Friday the 13th!

~Amanda

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Published on September 13, 2013 07:53

August Reads

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Recommended? Yes. Super fun. But, um….duh.

The New World by Patrick Ness. Recommended? Yes, if you like and have read The Knife of Never Letting Go.

The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Recommended? Yes, though the whole (SPOILER) sex change thing at the end was unexpected and weird.

The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye. Recommended? Absolutely. I was reading it to the baby (to get her in the habit), but I had to leave her behind and finish it on my own. I don’t think she minded. :) But I’ll definitely read it to her again when she’s big enough to follow a plot line, for it’s light, happy, sweet, and though a princess story not another story about how happiness is shoes.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. Recommended? Yes, though if you’re tired, don’t read this book. They’re going to sleep All.The.Time.

2k to 10k by Rachel Aaron. Recommended? I don’t know. I haven’t tried her recommendations for increasing your word count for writing yet. We’ll see. We’ll see.

Therese Raquin by Emile Zola. Recommended? Sort of. It was awesome. And stupidly dark. Stupidly, horrifically, unreasonably, dark.

The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Recommended? If you like pulp, it’s excellent. Though it needed far more Jane.

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith/ J.K. Rowling. Recommended? Yes. Please. The thing is, I WANTED to like this book, and I did. It wasn’t surprising. I liked murder mysteries, I LOVE J.K. Rowling, and I was inclined to like it. But I think I would have fully enjoyed it regardless of my previous desire to love it.

Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Recommended? Meh.. It was funnish, and if you’ve also got a classic novel resolution, totally. However, if you read just a little, it wouldn’t be my first recommendation.

My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett. Recommended? Sure, especially for reading to a little one. For adults reading middle readers? Probably not. For me it was somewhat boring. For the tot, he loved the shiz out of it.

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin. Recommended? Yes. I don’t like dystopians. Or organized crime novels. This is both of those things. And a YA that hits all the familiar notes with all the familiar tropes. But somehow superseding all the mehs it should have had and took those mehs making them pretty darn fun.

Macrieve by Kresley Cole. Recommended? I must preface by saying this book is pretty darn smutty. So, if you don’t edit as you go and don’t want to read the smut, no. If you either edit or don’t care, yes. Kresley Cole is one of the few authors I still read with the smutty stuff because she’s so very, very good at everything else.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Recommended? Yes. But only if you’ve read every other Jane. She’s hilarious even in this one where I can’t stand any of the characters. Except pug. I like pug. (And maybe I like the bad boy. Kinda a lot. What?! Sure he makes terrible, terrible mistakes. But at least he isn’t a d-bag, jerk face, a-hole who is stuck on himself, “molding” idiot Fanny’s mind, and constantly letting her down while also thinking that he’s pretty great. Is this a love story or an epic on why you should remain single?!?!?!??!?!?)

Elmer and the Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannet. Recommended? Mixed bag on this one. The tot enjoyed this one too. So yes in that respect. But if it were me reading alone, I wouldn’t have finished the first let alone picking up the sequel which was worse. Even still, there’s the tot factor, plus we already own the third (it’s a bind-up), so we’re totally reading Dragons of Blueland or Blue island or something. There’s a place. It’s blue. Dragons seem to live there.

The Book of Mormon. I’d say it’s recommended, but you already know that. Glad to have read it again and for the peace it brought my life this last month with the addition of Boyo.

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien. Recommended? I’d go with the obviously on this one. The thing is the audio book is…not as fantastic as it should be. It’s weird. Honestly, I need the reader to do better voices for me like I do for Boyo. And I need him to quit singing. And the lines of Aragorn need a significant amount of additional emotion of ooomph. I still love the story, but I’ll enjoy another read through at a future date in print.

~Amanda

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Published on September 03, 2013 09:15

September TBR

Now that I have Boyo at my house, my 3-year-old foster son, I have an exciting new way of splitting my TBR. The print reading for me, the audio reading for me, and the print reading for Boyo at bed time. The first time I put him to bed, I decided to try a chapter book. It went swimmingly, and now we’re reading chapter books which is so, so, so, exciting for me. That’s what I’ve been dreaming of doing since I first decided I wanted to be a Mumma.

Here’s the TBR for Boyo and me:

Finish The Mouse & The Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary.

And then read:

The Story of Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting

Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang by Ian Fleming (Did you know he wrote the Bond novels? True story.)

Dragons of Blueland by Ruth Stiles Gannett

The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

Stuart Little by E.B. White