Alyssa Brandon's Blog, page 3

What makes a good love story?

 

John & Aeryn

 

Prompted by a cold and a rewatch of the 90s show Farscape, I’ve been thinking a lot of my favorite love stories and why I love them so much. I’ve shipped a lot of couples over the years; both in books and TV. Most of them have a few things in common, but it’s maybe not the things you would think.

They have a mission

Abby & Connor

Saving the world from an alien invasion, finding murderers, escaping evil overlords or military vampires in bondage clothes, sending dinosaurs through time portals, going home, starting a PI business, stopping a plague, getting their jobs back or saving the city – most of my favorite characters have a lot of stuff going on outside their relationship with one another. They want stuff. Sometimes the same stuff and sometimes not. The mission comes first – at least at the start of the series – and it drives the story. It puts characters in situations where they need to act, choose and fight for (and occasionally with) each other.

Whether they are doing this in a living space ship, a crime lab or while saving history from a time traveling terrorist doesn’t really matter. The big thing here is that mission brings them together and along the way they fall in love.

Point: Your characters needs to have a strong want, desire, goal that at brings him in contact with the future love interest.  

They are part of a team

Team Arrow

Because three is better than two. And five is better than three. After that it’s debatable. But most characters are part of a group that want something. The dynamic of the group is almost as important as the budding love story. Friends and family, allies and enemies, they all change our relationship, influence them.

Here the classic three people is fairly common – it’s Harry, Ron and Hermione. It’s Michael, Fiona and Sam. It’s Chuck, Sarah and Casey. It’s Percy, Annabeth and Grover. It’s Buffy, Willow and Xander (and Giles so I guess that’s four). It’s Nikita, Michael and Birkhoff. It’s the amazing power trio!

There is also the 4+ group; Stargate SG-1, Team Castle, the Farscape gang, Leverage, Arrow (post season 1) and Bones lab. 

However many they are, the team works as a second (or sometimes primary) family for our couple (to be). They’re all on the same side most of the time (but argue and disagree frequently), stick together through thick and thin, never leave each other behind. They’re willing to die for one another. They have each other’s back, but also provide drama and increased tension. Also the team can poke fun at each other. And we all know a little humor can go along way…

I feel for you Johnny

Point: The team makes for more cozyness, drama and raises the stakes while also giving your characters people with different skill sets to help them and fight along side. Plus we all love people who are part of a ‘tribe’ that will do anything for each other, making the team more than the sum of their parts.

Their stories are not love stories

Elfen Lied

This might be the most important bit of why I love the love stories I love. The story isn’t a love story. Not in a traditional way (as in on page 1: boy meets girl and the story is about boy-girl falls in love, losing each other and then finding one another again). The love story is second to the main plot. Nikita isn’t about Nikita shacking up with Michael. Vampire Academy isn’t about Rose finding true love. Stargate isn’t about Sam/Jack. Mercy Thompson isn’t about Mercy finding true love and eternal bliss and happiness with her super hunky werewolf hubby Adam (but that bit is important too). Their primary focus are other things.

This ties in with the whole they have a mission, but is also a stand alone point. Because a “normal” love story has a pattern, one most of us know. It’s the boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy regains girl trope. Which most of us are pretty tired of. At least because in stories where the focus is the romance, the thing that drives boy-girl apart often feel unrealistic or lame or just plain old stupid. It’s the misunderstanding, the accidental kiss with a drunk ex, the reveal that it was all a bet or wrong choice for no reason.

While in a show where the love story is an element of the plot, rather than the focus, the reasons for being torn apart make more sense. It’s about more than getting the girl. It’s about saving the world and getting the girl. It’s about finding the killer and getting the guy. It’s about bringing down the evil organization and making sure your one true love isn’t caught while spying on said organisation. It’s about vengeance and maybe getting the boy. It’s about nearly blowing up a galaxy (including yourself, your wife and newborn kid) to get everyone to stop killing each other and agree to peaceful negotiations.

Point: When the story is not a ‘normal’ love story and the drama is caused by a bigger storyline rather than something to do with a conflict between the boy-girl, it makes the story feel more believable and enjoyable.

They took their sweet time getting together

Percabeth

It took Bones/ Booth like what? 5-6 seasons to get together. Castle / Beckett four. Mercy and Adam don’t seriously get together until book 3. Fiona and Michael have a one-off thing but don’t really commit for a long time. Percy and Annabeth don’t hook up until the end (granted they were kids in the beginning). Ron / Hermione took what? Seven books? Chuck and Sara? Well they fake dated but after that it took a while. Sam and Jack (Stargate SG-1) never ‘officially’ even got together. Eragon and Arya didn’t even get a proper kiss. Rose and Dimitri spend three books falling in love and then just as they get together he gets turned into a Strigoi. Heck it even took Katniss and Peeta ages to get together (I don’t really care about them but it’s still a good example).

But here is the important bit: even though the characters aren’t officially a couple, my fave ships are kind of together. They spend all their time around each other, saving each other’s lives, helping with each others problems. They trust each other. They’re just in denial about their feelings, don’t want to risk being hurt, their is bad timing. Point is, they’re a couple before becoming a real couple-couple. Sometimes they’re even together but haven’t quite worked out the kinks and end up breaking up but still beeing together-but-not-together.  Anyway, we know they love each other and are meant to be before they do, we feel and see the things they miss. 

This I think is a key point in writing romance, and something that seems to be skipped over a lot. You have your characters, you have your love story thought out, you have the conflict and the thing that forces them to resolve it, the ‘boy loses girl’ and the reunion all thought out. The problem is, a lot of the time, authors / creators just tend to skip over the bit where we learn why the characters are perfect for each other. The actual falling in love. The good times when they’re actually working together and are talking (having lots and lots of sex do not count as falling in love, something lots of modern ‘romance’ novelist seems to have forgotten. Falling in lust is not falling in love).

It truly baffles me sometimes. Mostly when reading romance, where the characters just suddenly love each other. After seeing someone in class and speaking to them twice, they’re meant to be soulmates? That makes no sense. Same with some TV shows. Like why does Cat like Vincent so much in Beauty and the Beast? Willing to risk it all for him after five minutes? Why did Oliver pine so much for Laurel when they don’t match at all? Even when she hated him? Makes no sense! Clare in the Mortal Instrument and her love interest Jace have zero chemistry and he’s kind of an ass half the time (granted I only watched like five eps of this show) so why are they so into one another? Without the author they’d just leave another alone and get on with their lives.

Even some of my fave books are guilty. Like why would Harry suddenly like Ginny, his BFF’s little annoying sister? (I mean did anyone ship Ginny/ Harry? I mean I know he needed a baby mama to have the kids they were going to name all the dead people after but why not Luna who was so much more awesome as a character?) Sydney in Bloodlines go from slow burn sweet high school-ish love with Adrian to giving up her freedom to save him to married with children in two books. Kind of weird because two books ago she was kind freaked out by vampires. I still like her and Adrian but sometimes love is just rushed at that makes me annoyed. 

So while love at first sight might sound romantic, and maybe in real life it is, in fiction, suddenly meeting a guy and then being in love with him three hours later, willing to die, give up your goal, dreams and lifestyle makes no sense. Bella has known Edward for what? Four months and she wants to be with him forever and become a vampire (okay I would too, but not because I wanted to be with him forever (can you say boring) but rather because being immortal and having super speed and strength and lots of money seems like a sweet deal.) Every Cinderella story ever written is this: the girl spends a few hours with a guy and WHAM they’re soulmates.

I mean, I can buy it in animated Disney movies (even though they do love better these days with both Tangled’s Rapunzel and Flynn and Frozen’s Anna and Kristoff spend most of the movie together before actually realizing they are perfect for one another and Frozen actually subverting this trope with the love at first sight with Hans) but live action TV and novels?

Seriously, to make a love story feel real, your characters need to experience some stuff together. Talk. Maybe have mad passionate monkey sex. Maybe not. Just don’t let the relationship just poof into being.

It only took them 4 years…to kiss

I mean it took Castle and Beckett four years to even make out (well there was the parking lot). Jack and Emily take until the last episodes to finally hook up and get married. TVD’s Caroline/ Stefan were friends for like six seasons before they got their first kiss. I’m not saying either Castle, TVD or Revenge handled their ships perfectly but they worked a heck of alot better for me than the hello! I love you! scenarios you see sometimes.

Point: Just like real relationships, fictional ones take time to develop. Don’t rush into it. If you’re writing a series, let the romance go slow. If you’re doing something stand alone, don’t try to do too much and make sure to develop the love and not force it, before you have the couple actually get together.

___

This was my thoughts on relationships based on some of my favorite shows and books. It’s not the ultimate truth or the perfect way to write a love story. It’s what I think works, what I personally enjoy. What I think makes for epic love stories. I like the slow burn, the mission, the action, the life and death and saving each other. And the world. Don’t forget saving the world. Unless your too busy blowing it up to save it.

 

My favorite 2016 (fall) new TV shows!

Wow! I haven’t posted in a long while, been feeling really ‘meheww’ about writing (and thinking) for a good long while. But since….

… and life was slow and boring last week I’ve just been through watching the first few episodes of all the new shows I had decided to check out this fall and suddenly totally wanted to share my thoughts.

So I didn’t have that many shows I was excited about coming out this fall. Lethal Weapon looked cool and I was intrigued by the Timeless concept and Westworld looked cool but kind of not my thing (I have issues with robots. they wig me out.)

See! Super scary!

 

Okay! Let’s get to the reviewing!

First of all I was right that Timeless (check out the trailer) was going to be cool! I freaking love shows with stuff like this. Get in a cool machine and WHAM you’re in the past. (Makes me think of Stargate SG 1 except SG 1 was about going different planets…and aliens that all spoke english. Yeah, it’s a bit like that because even Abraham Lincoln is like “Dude, rock on”.)

Anyway.

This is Lucy. The weird metal thing behind her is the time machine.

 

Basic concept: Terrorist stole a time machine and is trying to muck it up. Lucy (history prof.) and Wyatt (solider with dead wife as backstory) and Ruffus (their black driver…I mean pilot, who is just super adorable) are being sent back in the “back-up” time machine to stop said terrorist from destroying the past and now/future. Kind of. With cool costumes.

Okay so for me, this show totally works. It’s got a fun premises, the characters are different enough from each other to make for a interesting team and there is some action, some funny stuff, some history, really cool costumes and potential for lots of drama and moral discussion (like should we really keep history the same? Wouldn’t saving Lincoln from being assassinated be a good thing? Lucy’s sister disappearing because of history changing – can we fix it(yes we can…no builder Bob, back in the toybox) and saving Wyatt’s wife; is that a possibility?) and some mystery about the whole Rittenhouse (the group the terrorist is trying to wipe from existence) and just generally where we’re going next!

Also Lucy -played Abigail Spencer – is so adorable and Wyatt is totally not bad to look at either…and I’m totally shipping them already. So they got that going for them!

And I love their fake names; Juliet Shakesman, Nurse Jackie, Denzel Washington, Buck Rogers and when they joke about future stuff and no one gets it but them.

So what more can you ask for? I for one am really loving it and can’t wait to see what funny wacky adventures the gang ends up on next week! I’m also hoping for time travel smarty-pants break through that let’s you travel to places when you were alive (because I’m so totally thinking Wyatt is the ‘someone’ who saved Lucy when her car crashed…ten years before their first meeting. Okay maybe not, but it was just something about that story that made me think that. I guess time will tell…LOL time travel joke!)

There are of course some things that don’t make sense. Like what is really going on with Flynn? Is he from the future; where he knows Lucy who is helping them, or some weird AU? Like an alternate timeline and he’s actually trying to fix history the way it was in his world. No…maybe. Probably not.

AND how is the time machine also a teleporter? (Is it like the Doctor’s box? Then why isn’t it bigger on the inside?) I mean time travel is impressive enough without teleportation added. But I get why they made it a teleporter too…because of FUN and COOLNESS! But still maybe someone should have explained it too? Like here is how you time travel (folds over paper) and here is how you teleport (folds paper into air plane…wait, someone already invented that).

The nit picker in me also wonders WHY WAS THERE GREEN LEAVES in December in western Germany? Why no frost and no one wearing gloves? Has no one been to west Germany in December? How about west Washington? I haven’t been to west Germany but I’m pretty sure it’s colder than that in December!

Also did they really speak like normal English back in 1885? I mean they all sounded kind of stuffy, but how easy would it really have been to understand? And why is Wyatt’s hair so CUTE? I love that his hair is adorably messy but in like the 20-60s wouldn’t people be like…”who is this homeless person with the bed head!”

Timeless score

Awesomeness: 5/5

Plot logic: 4/5

Shipping potential: 5/5

Mainstream: 3/5

 

Next show on the list…

Conviction

Agent Carter has become a slutty but awesome lawyer. Hayley Atwell is really…well there is just something so compelling about her. No matter what she does, who she plays, or whatever, I just can’t not be fasciated. She’s simply cool and the character she plays is just such a mess!

But while I enjoyed Convictions first few episodes (well mostly Atwell being totally awesome as Hayes Morrison) there is one kind of big problem with the whole thing. Why would you hire someone – even an ex-first daughter – instead of letting them go to jail for drug possession (or whateves)? WHY? WHY????? I get that there is no show without it, but still. You knew it was going to cause trouble, yes I’m talking to you DA Wallace. Sure you want to sleep with her (again?) and you want to make her possibly soon to be President mom happy, but still… there had to have been a smarter solution.

Still we’re just going to accept that’s what happened and move on. To the next kind of problem; why is there so much stuff happening? The premises of the show is this group of legal people from various parts of the criminal justice system try to ‘resolve’ cases that maybe weren’t properly investigated the first time around. Cool idea. We get a case of the week but it’s not ‘solve the murder and find the killer’ but more sort of ‘find the truth, maybe free someone innocent’. So we get to root for the little guy, Hayes gets to stick it to the big man and all that good stuff.

Except the case of the week take up like 1 % of the stuff going on. Okay maybe a little more. But there is also Hayes and the DA guy – who is also her ex and dude she wants to sleep with – her Mom, tension on the team (Jimmy Olsson wants to steal her job), plus her rag tag band of crime…reviewers? aren’t exactly working super well together yet and just general Hayes being Hayes. It just feels like too much stuff going on somehow.

Still Hayes is such a hot mess it works. The cases seems to be getting more into focus and the team is more solid after a few eps. Hayes is still making a bit of trouble but she’s really into this new job of hers so she’s trying? But it’s not going super. Which makes us like her more! Why do we love people that are total messes? What’s wrong with us? Why did that last scene in the ep. with Haze and the olive tree make me want to cry?

Conviction Score

Awesomeness: 4/5

Plot logic: 3/5

Shipping potential: 5/5

Mainstream: 5/5

Bull

I actually hadn’t seen the trailer for this when I watched the pilot. Tony, tired of solving navy crimes have left the NCIS to become a jury fixer. Basically he tailors a jury to make sure to get the right verdict for his client.

It’s kind of fun but in a while I think it’s going to get a little boring. It’s always in a courtroom, always trying to get the jury on the right side. I don’t know, maybe they can make it work.

Things that don’t make sense: Where does the money to help these clients come from? Who are all the employees, I get the tech girl and the FBI chick and the lawyer but the rest? Why is Tony getting so old? Is the point of this show to make me lose faith (if I ever had any) in the American justice system?

Bull Score

Awesomeness: 3/5

Plot logic: 4/5

 

Shipping potential: 2/5

Mainstream: 4/5

Lethal Weapon

So this is also a FUN show. It’s also kind of got some real serious bits. Dead pregnant wife as backstory serious. But they’re still keeping it pretty light. It’s basically the budding partnership between these two very different guys. Things blow up a lot too, which is both fun and kind of annoying.

MacGyver (2016) 

Reboots are kind of hard. It’s OK but so far it feels like nothing is being MacGyver-ed! I mean sure stuff is being made from weird stuff but nothing super exciting. It’s all things I could work out with like five seconds on google and/or a life hacks vid on youtube! And why does MacGyver look about 12? Why is the computer girl not in more scenes! She rocks!

Planning on checking out Frequency, Van Helsing and Designated Survivor after their first seasons are done. Also Westworld. Maybe. If I can get over my fear of robots

Review: Blindspot 1×10 “Evil Handmade Instrument”

OMG! Just watched the mid season finale of Blindspot (1×10 “Evil Handmade Instrument”) and can’t believe I’ll have to wait like three months to see what happens next. So unfair. Yeah, SPOILERS ahead, you have been warned, also if you haven’t watched this ep, I’d suggest stopping like five minutes before the end (somewhere around the “Great timing” line). That way the cliffhanger will make you less crazy (or well you’ll miss it which means it can’t make you crazy at all!)

Anyway, moving on the the actual review part of this. What to say about this episode…we had dead boyfriend, Russian spies, Jaimie Alexander speaking Russian, Patterson being kind of sad but mostly in denial, take down on a big boat, a Kurt/Jane kiss! (happy dance), Jane being kidnapped, the Natasha agent quitting (but since the bad guy blackmailing her dies (yay!) this is probably not going to stick and shocking (at least kind of) revelations about Jane’s amnesia and tattoos.

Over all this episode felt a little like it was trying to cram a little too much into it and while it did give us Cute First Kiss, I didn’t love it as much as I’d expected. Maybe because last week playing dress up and going undercover (and Rich .com) was so awesome and so much fun. Maybe because the ending leaves me too much to wonder about and makes me worried about if it’s going to change the shows awesome dynamics and stuff. Maybe I’ve just been obsessing to much about the show and have unrealistic expectations :P

So my two favorite moment in this ep. actually follow each other and both come at the end; Jane and Patterson talking/ Patterson finally being sad and then Jane and Weller’s Cute First Kiss.

“Just…I wanted a moment that was just us.”

So glad they didn’t turn Blindspot into another one of those “Will-they-won’t-they” shows where it takes like three seasons before the couple you ship lip lock. Not that I don’t like those, but sometimes it’s nice when something a little different happens. Besides way more realistic this way, because if you’re really into someone you don’t just hang around them for years without making a move (yes I’m talking to you Richard Castle). I mean I guess some characters do, but I can’t really see Jane doing that. She’s a go and get em kind of girl.

Anyway really liked the Cute First Kiss, Jane being the one to initiate it, Weller’s little smile and the nephew interrupting. Jane / Kurt are seriously becoming one of my favorite ships! Do they have a ship name yet? Think I’ve seen Jeller and Kane somewhere. Kane sounds cooler but I’ve seen more Jeller so I guess that’s the one we’re going with!

So promo for the spring season. Half of the clips are from previous episodes, pretty much only the scene with the guy with the tree tattoos are new.

Most important question I hope we get an answer for in 1×11 is if Jane is Talyor Shaw. If she isn’t, then that raises the question of why she would send herself to Weller. If she is, then that still begs the question where has she been for twenty-five years? Why did Talyor/ Jane / whoever she is come up with this crazy plan?  What is the plan? Will this guy really tell her anything ? What are the “very terrible” things the FBI are into? Something to do with Daylight or Orion or something else?

I guess all will be answered…in three months *tear*

Review: Blindspot and Quantico

So I’ve been really busy lately, yet somehow I’ve found the time to watch all 8/7 episodes of both Blindspot & Quantico. Like twice. Which I really shouldn’t be doing but they’re both kind of addictive, in very different ways.

Blindspot – SPOILERS TO EP. 8 – So the premises for this show is… unique. Naked lady, covered in fresh tattoos with no memory is found on Time Squares with a FBI agent’s name written on her back. They use the tattoos to solve crime. Kind of a bit Blacklist, except well, not.

Mostly I just kind of ended up shipping Jane / Weller from like the first second and besides who wouldn’t want to watch Jaimie Alexander for 42 minutes doing just about anything?

Seriously.

Just look at her. She’s way hot (um, yeah, I may currently have a tiny bit of girl-crush on her) and has this cool way of looking like a scared little girl even while kicking ass.

So why else is this a good show? Well lots of mystery, like who is Jane Doe? She might be Taylor Shaw(Weller’s neighbor who was kidnapped 25 years ago), but she may also not be. Weller seems to think she is. I kind of do too. Some other good questions….why did someone tattoo her up and erase her memory?(seems like she might have done it herself, but why do that?). Are the tattoos bad or good? Who is the guy with the Tree Tattoo? Who kidnapped Jane as a kid (if she is Taylor)? And where has she been for twenty-five years? Plus each tattoo is it’s own mystery.

There is drama too. We got some big tension with the boss-lady with a case tattooed on Jane having to do with a big cover up, Jane and Weller making goo-goo eyes at each other, the FBI agent chick who sold out to the CIA, the black dude that doesn’t seem to like Jane (or actually how she makes Weller act) and the tech girl with the cute dorky boyfriend. Okay that all got kind of confusing and seem like a lot for 8 eps, but it’s totally not.

Anyway, I totally ship Jane / Weller. They’ve had some pretty great moments from day one. Favorite lines include them talking about her kidnapping as a kid and him blaming himself.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“I’ve heard that my whole life.”

“But you haven’t heard it from me. It wasn’t your fault. You told me Taylor was my starting point. I think you’re wrong. You…you’re my starting point.”

Aww!

Another cute one is from ep. 8 when they’re talking about stuff being unforgivable and what Jane would do. Her reply is so cute and awesome, “I’m not sure… none of you have ever let me down.”

Also the, “I’ve been looking for you my whole life.” line!

If that’s not enough reasons to watch you could always tune in for the cool tattoos.

And a really epic intro.

Seriously, if nothing else you need to check out the intro. But you really should just watch the show. I mean there is a reason the already renewed it for a second season like 8 eps in.

Quantico – SPOILDERS TO EP. 7 – Quantico is addictive in a totally different way. Sure you got the mystery and everything but here it’s all about the drama and the action. Just a few eps in we got a girl on the run because she’s being framed for a bombing, like three or four couples already in messy relationships,  fun / scary FBI class room stuff and people getting shot and being undercover. It’s a bit like Gray’s Anatomy meets Nikita. That’s the best way I can really describe it.

The trailer is pretty much describes the premises but still – main character is Alex (Priyanka Chopra). The show follows two parallel story lines. One after a terror attack on Grand Central Station (where Alex has been found knocked out) and her being framed and being hunted down. The other is like a year(ish) before when Alex is first starting out at Quantico training to become an FBI agent. Flashbacks usually bug me. Like a lot. But so far on Quantico they’re still working for me. Maybe because it’s the future stuff that feel more like flash forwards. I’m not sure what the exact ratio is for the time spent in the “Present” and “Past” but I’m thinking fifty fifty.

So far Quantico totally has me hooked (if not as obsessed as Blindspot) but the show has two big problems for the future; it’s called Quantico. That’s the FBI training facility. But if they keep going like they are now I’m thinking by the time season one is done, the flashbacks will be over and we will be all caught up. They’ll all be FBI agents and no longer have a reason to hang out at Quantico. Yes, this is seriously a problem because titles should reflected what a show is about (and post season 1 Quantico won’t be about Quantico. I think.) Here for example Blindspot works a lot better because it can be interpenetrated lots of different ways but is still connected enough with show for it to work. Still Blindspot is not the best-best title ever but it still works better than Quantico for me.

Second problem with Quantico. If they clear Alex’s name in season 1 the show will kind of be over. If they drag it out, people will get annoyed. Same with the flashbacks. If they drag them out forever people will start to hate on that too. While Blindspot (with 100s of tattoo, each that could have several meaning) they have potential episodes for several seasons. Also here finding out just who Jane really is and why she was taken isn’t the primary focus, they have a “mystery of the week” which is solved, so it taking several seasons for us to puzzle out Jane’s backstory (or even longer) wouldn’t bother me. For Quantico keeping the suspense and drama going will be harder. But this part was supposed to be about why Quantico is awesome!

Okay, so just like Blindspot; Really hot female lead.

Right?

And also really hot love interest for her! Grrr military dude! Me like!

Booth weirdly enough has the same stubble, hair cut and ears as Weller from Blindspot. Anyone else seeing this? Are they like cousins? Or is stubble and buzz cut hair trendy right now? I should probably google this.

Back to Quantico however!

Twins switching place! (Even if that jig seems to be up as of episode 7)

Twins! Twins make me happy!

The Guy from flash who was so adorable but we all kind of knew he would die, paying a dork(ish) gay tech guy!

Most emotional moment: When Alex admits to Ryan that she was the one that killed her father “…killed a hero.”

Or maybe Alex finding out Ryan is pretty much only at Quantico to spy at her. *tear*

Or possibly when kind of tells him it’s okay! Or later when she blackmails a superior into giving Ryan his badge back.

Quantico is just one of those shows that start off really good, with lots of drama and potential and just force you to kind of have to like them. I hope they figure out a way to keep it as interesting and engaging for the rest of the season and a way for the show to keep on moving forward while at the same time getting Alex and the viewers some answers!

Review: Velvet by Temple West (Book 1)

Title: Velvet (I’ll talk about the title more later) by Temple West

Stars: 3.5 out of 5 + a awesome cover bonus point.

Summary: Girl moves to small town after mother’s death to live with her aunt and uncle. Manages to attract the attention of a demon by being in the wrong place at the wrong time and ends up with a vampire bodyguard/ fake boyfriend to protect her from said demon. The vamp is of course super fashion conscious, drives a motorcycle and have fantastic abs. It’s basically Twilight but with an actual plot.

Okay first thing we all need to comment on is the Cover. It not only fits the book, it’s also super pretty. I love the way the letters are kind of wild and tie to her arm and make me think of both vines and blood. Totally vampire worthy cover (and no one had to be half naked. Bonus points for that.)

Next up the title. Velvet… I have no idea how that is supposed to tie in with the book. Okay she wears a velvet dress once but I’m not sure if that qualifies. I guess it’s like Twilight. Just a random word that sound kind of cool. Still, I think someone could have come up with something better. Something with like Ice or Snow or Blood or Demon or Bad Boy or Vampire or Bodyguard.

Now for the actual story. There is a pretty clear external conflict/threat: a demon (other dimensional being that can shape shift) wants to get the MC pregers with a demon kid that would kill her as it was being born. No real reason for this other than as some sort of weird “revenge” on the vamps in the area for stealing back a vampire kid, nor proof it is actually going to happen either but everyone seems to be pretty sure that’s what the bad guy’s plan is. But it’s a pretty okay supernatural problem in my book. Anyway the demon wanting to knock her up means she needs a vampire body guard.

Here enter the emotional/ internal conflict: Adrian (the vampire body guard and pretend boyfriend) isn’t allowed to fall in love with a human, and besides he’s going to live for like forever Caitlin is going to get old and die. Also everyone she gets close to tend to die (at least both her parents have). Besides even though Adrian is clearly way into her, he spends most of their time together being all emo teenage vampire pretending not to like her. It makes sense in context and brooding mean vampires are pretty awesome so I’m cool with it.

Caitlin is also grieving for her mom who just passed away (cancer) and to some extent also her father who died when she was a kid from a brain aneurysm and trying to in generally make a new life for herself in the town she’s landed in. She’s also trying to figure out her future, which she hopes will include designing cool clothes and living in New York.

As a character Caitlin is alright. I can’t help comparing her to Bella Swan, which when you write a vampire book about a girl moving to a small town and falling in love with a vampire is kind of hard not to. Bella is a bookish, smart girl no real dreams for life or aspirations after high school (other than marrying Edward). She’s very docile and not really very argumentative. Caitlin on the other hand is not bookish and her life is about what comes after high school. She is also kind of messed up by her parents’ deaths. She’s angry and gets pissed off. She’s not as much of a doormat as Bella. Her anger and lack of interest in school (she sleeps through most of it) makes her a bit rough. The anger also makes it hard for me to sometimes like her, even though it at the same time serves to make her character more realistic (she’s dealing with her grief). Sometimes though I feel like Caitlin is a bit inconsistent as a character, sometimes seeming very nice and caring and loving and sometimes she’s a needy annoying bitch.

Adrian is your run of the mill hot vampire bad boy with a motor cycle. He’s basically Edwards except no sparkling. And he’s not old. He’s pretty much got the brooding down pat despite that though. Oh did I forgot to mention he’s awesomely rich? Well he is. His family lives in a mansion with like a dozen bedrooms, a library and a six car garage. While I get the appeal, couldn’t just ONE vampire family chose to live in a moderately furnished normal four bed room two car garage suburban house?

On the vampires; I like the “lore” in this book but would have liked it a bit more explained. From what I understand, demons get a hot and smart human woman pregnant and when she gives birth she dies. The demon comes back and collects the baby and takes it to “hell” but if that doesn’t happen and the kid grows up here it becomes a vampire. So basically it depends on where the kid grows ups? Or is it something more? A little confused but still liking the idea.

The vampires in this story are born and not made and they’re alive. They drink blood (from birth?) because their bodies can’t make some enzyme or whateves. West explains it really well in the book but I can’t remember it at all now. They eat normal food and age pretty normally (human like) until adulthood when they stop. There is some kind of Council that has made a bunch of rules, mostly about vamps interacting with humans (they can’t, not even for one night stands much to Adrian’s brother’s annoyance).

I think one of the things I don’t like about this book is the lack of sex / blood / desire. I mean Caitlin clearly got the hots for Adrian and he for her and all that. But vampire books usually have this sort of deeper Hunger thing, with blood and sex and lust being a little mixed up. There is some occasions when Adrian tells her to chill but I never felt like he was ever at risk of losing control and biting her. And when he does drink her blood it’s too survive. Not sexy. I’d have liked just one make out session that ended because he tried to take a bite out of her for reals, or one when she actually asked him to bite her.

The ending of the book to me felt a little rushed, like a bit of a “oh shit, I need to wrap this up” and a bit too obvious. Did like that vampires can feed on all emotions and demons can’t (but would like to know how this could be if they’re basically the same only raised in different worlds) and that it was Caitlin loving Adrian that sort of saved the day. Also liked that Caitlin gets to help kick some ass, where as Bella (yes we’re back to comparing it against Twilight) pretty much is like just laying there making faces.)

Yeah, I couldn’t help but to add that little movie because it’s just so awesome. Anyway, Caitlin actually does something mildly helpful – even though she’s kind of outclassed since they’re fighting a demon. Still ending fight was alright, rest of ending felt like too much. Adrian temporarily dying, Caitlin being all “nooooo”, the aftermath, the kid going missing and just everything else. Could have been stretched into another chapter for better flow in my opinion. And I would have liked some more explanation to what was going on. I get it’s a series but it felt like the last few pages just opened up a door to like a 100 more question I’d like to have gotten the answer to right away.

Final thoughts: This book is a little out of it’s time, like it maybe would have done better when vampires were still “hot” (even though I love to read about vampires even though they’re not cool anymore).  The cover is very pretty. Sometimes Caitlin is a bit difficult for me relate to. It good a pretty solid story, a little wonky on why it’s happening to Caitlin and the lore could be more explained, but a fun and nice read. I enjoyed reading it and would like to read the sequel.

I’m Swooning…

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a few weeks but life has been busy and I haven’t had much time for reading, writing or blogging (which let’s be honest I’m not even good at when I have the time). Anyway, some people might know this from Wattpad or Twiter but for the rest of you I got news: THE HARD MATE (read it here or here) is being published by Swoon Reads! YAY! Super awesomeness!

 

So you want the story? Well it all started a long time ago when I wrote the book and got a lot of amazing comments and support from everyone over at Wattpad. Then about a year ago I found the Swoon Reads page and decided to give it a try and posted my manuscript there. Then a little ways back I got some emails from Swoon Reads and at first I was just like “whatever, they’re just verifying stuff” and then they wanted to video chat with me. At this point I was like getting excited, I was like “Mom, some publishing people might really like my book, cool huh?” but I didn’t think I was actually that big of a chance. Video chat conference – which was a bit scary at first – goes on for like TEN minutes and they’re talking about the contract and how much they like my book and I go “You mean you really want to buy my book?” and they go “YES”! Then I spent like most of the video chat being overwhelmed but super happy. That was September. Since then I’ve filled out a lot of papers (and discovered tax forms are no fun), talked about the editing process, shared some of my ideas for changes, they’ve shared some of theirs and so on.

I also got a bunch of Swoon Reads books in the mail last week, which on it’s own is enough to make a book lover like me Swoon!

Welcome to the Swoon Reads family!! Awww!

The books are:

Velvet by Temple West

The Boy Next Door by Katie van Ark

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

Love, Fortunes and other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius

Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend by Katie Fin

They all seem awesome. I’ve already finished Velvet and The Boy Next Door and I’m going to try to review them here before I read the others (when I do I will link them to this post). Next up I’m thinking Love, Fortunes and other Disasters but we’ll see.

Anyway, safe to say I’m super excited. Soon my of my school stuff will be done for the semester and during NaNoWriMo I plan on writing at least the 50,000 and maybe more (I broke my record and wrote 10,000 words in one day last week). I still can’t quite believe I’m getting PUBLISHED, even though it’s been two months! I guess it might feel real when I actually hold my book in my hands!

Before I forget; I want to thank the people that voted The Hard Mate and me, both on Wattpad and over on Swoon Reads! If it wasn’t for all of you guys the book might never have been finished or been about to be published. So lots of thanks and hugs from me to all of you!

Swoonread article!

Book on Swoo Read

On Wattpad

Limits for More Creativity…huh?

It’s been a while since I updated anything here, which kind of has to do with today’s post. I simply have too many things I’m thinking about to remember this blog, even though I really quite like blogging.

Anyway, I counted my works in progress stories and there are lots of them – lots and lots – almost enough for me to open my own book store if I ever got around to writing half of them. My hope is that one day I will have finished at least a few of those books but if that’s going to happen I have to start putting some limits on my new ideas. Which is like telling a dog it can’t bark. How exactly do you limit your imagination enough to focus on what you’re currently writing?

I got no real answer for you since I’m still pondering the question myself but I have a few ideas of how one might manage it.

I always one for writing down new stories and ideas for characters. Heck sometimes I get ideas for whole world dumped into my head because I watch a really bad movie after reading a really terrific book. Sometimes I just wake up having had a dream about a world full of flying elephants and just know that has to be part of my new book. Still that’s not the way I work when I’m actually writing a book. That’s the idea and imagination part of my writing process.

But most of the time for me to be able to focus on one story I have to push away all the new ideas, put my imagination into writing mode instead of idea mode. Focus is what is needed here. So to write a book I do the writing for a few weeks and nothing else. No movies, no reading, no TV, no parties or funerals to get inspiration from. That’s the only way I can really focus on one book. I limit the intake of possible ideas and distractions.

It’s not really the most flexible way of doing things, but it works. It lets me get completely into the world I’m working with, lets me know my characters and forces me to finish the books because I’m not allowed to do anything else. Here the biggest problem is getting too many ideas for the next book in the series.

Still most people might do better with a “Two-hours-a-day-focus-period” where they know they’re just supposed to write. They can’t make up new stories or worlds – they have to stick with the one they’re working on. Then the rest of the day is free to get inspired for other stories. As long as you can get your focus back on the book you’re writing for those hours every day there is nothing to worry about. I for one mostly let my imagination get in the way of my writing, but if you can combine it that’s wonderful. Just realize there might need to be a separation between the imagination and the focus and writing part.

Don’t let your imagination destroy your focus – limit yourself to be more creative and effective!

Cute Moments: This could come in right handy…

“Bloody hell, look at your eyes.”

So deeply had I fallen into the fervent prayer, I hadn’t felt him pull back. He stared at me with fanged mouth

open in disbelief, his face illuminated in the new green glow of my eyes. His brown ones were now that

penetrating shade as well, and matching rays of emerald connected one shocked gaze to another.

“Look at your bloody eyes!”

He gripped either side of my head as though it would spin off. Still in a fog from teetering on the brink of

mortality, I mumbled my response.

“Don’t need to look at them, I’ve seen them. They change from gray to green when I’m upset. Happy now?

Going to enjoy your meal more?”

As if my head were scalding, he released me. I sagged in my chains, the adrenaline abandoning me and

leaving dizzying lethargy in its wake.

The sound of his pacing bounced off the stone walls.

“Bugger, you’re telling the truth. You have to be. You have a pulse, but only vampires have eyes that glow

green. This is unbelievable!”

“Glad you’re excited.” I peeked at him through my hair, which had tumbled back onto my shoulders. In the

near-complete darkness I saw he was definitely worked up, his steps brisk and full of energy, eyes fading from

feeding green to snapping brown.

“Oh, this is perfect! In fact, it could come in right handy.”

Page 13 – Halfway to the grave by Jeaniene Frost.

—

Don’t you just love Bone’s nifty English accent?

Review: Outlander Pilot

So let me just start this off by saying I am a big fan of the Oulander book, and would perhaps be willing to go as far as to say it’s my favorite time travel romance novel. It in fact contains one of my favorite scenes of all time, the one at the end of the book when Jamie is looking at his crocked and scared hand and cries and Claire thinks he is crying because his hand is damaged and try to reassure him it will get better. And he in return tells her he’s crying with happiness because he, thanks to her, has two hands instead of one. It’s a really sweet moment, and I realize unless you’ve read the book it probably makes no sense, still it’s one of my faves.

There are of course parts of the book I don’t like, and some I even find right out weird, including the structure and the fact that there is so MANY books. I’ve only read the one but I know there are like a dozen more. And while I generally like it when there are lots of books I think romance novels should have a Happily Ever After ending. You can’t have that if there is no actual ending, now can you? Still I enjoyed the book a lot and am considering at some point reading the others.

Still this isn’t about the book, even though the book is why I was so stoked about seeing the TV adaption. Seriously, I was all giddy as I sat down to watch it, especially when it turned out to be GOOD. As someone who has felt continuously let down by most new shows over the past few years, this was a bit of a surprise. A very good surprise.

The phase of it is really nice, maybe because it is an hour long (hoping the rest of the episodes will be too not just the pilot) and it uses a lot from the book. The flash backs are nice rather than annoying, maybe because they’re not so long. The actress playing Claire (Caitriona Balfe) reminds me of Cate Blanchett which makes me happy and Jamie is cute and her husband/Black Jack has that handsome but cruel vibe I imagined.

Total Cate Blanchett look alike, only dark haired, right?

 

So far I’m really happy with the start. It’s not too weird, too fast, to sappy or too awkward. It’s just lovely. The scenery is to die for too. I’d love nothing more than to get to work on the set of a movie like that, you could just soak up the atmosphere and write great historical stuff. The only thing I’d really like is some easier to understand Scottish accents, but I don’t think that is happening. I mean they can’t change a whole language just because of little old me, now can they :P  So I best just get used to it. Maybe find myself some Scottish movies and practice!Can’t wait to see where it goes and if everyone else loves it as much as me so there will be a season two! I also can’t wait to see how they will handle some of the more…backwards and otherwise weird things that happen in the book. And I also wonder just how much they’ll get into five episodes (which if my Goggling skills are any good is all the first season is going to be.) The book is really really long, (they only got about 1/10th through it in the first ep.) so I doubt they’d even manage to get halfway through it in five episodes.

Whatever happens I really liked this first episode and I can’t wait to see more!

I’m so getting ready to ship Claire and Jamie!

 

Review: Under the Dome 2×01

Wow it’s been ages since I posted anything. Guess I haven’t seen anything to get excited/annoyed/pissed about for so long. Or just been lazy about posting things.

So season 2 of Under the Dome. Finally!

So I was really excited about this. Mostly because the wait has been so long. And I don’t know if it was because I’ve re-watched season one a few too many times or what, but the season 2 premier sort of fell a little flat for me.

Firstly the whole thing with Barbie – I was kind of expecting something more. I mean the town was prepping to hang him. Then things go sideways and Junior who was totally on the “let’s kill Barbie parade” goes and saves him. Okay I guess that was Linda, since Big Jim was all but ready to just pull the leaver himself. But whatever. I can handle the anti-climatic way the way they got him out of the noose. But the way he’s just so damned forgiving and peaceful about it annoys me. He should at least muster some sort of anger – and frankly I was a bit surprised how quick people seemed to go from wanting to hang him to letting him be in charge of building a gigantic magnetic tower.

Also introducing this Uncle Sam (lol) guy, who just happens to be an EMT and have just being hanging out drunk in the forest felt kind of weird. I guess they’re spicing things up a bit, which would also be why they killed off Linda and Angie. Linda I was kind of glad to be rid of, even if she did get to die a heroic (if somewhat lame) death saving Barbie. Go Linda. But Angie? What’s wrong with these people? Angie had so much more story left in her.

But even at Angei’s death I can’t muster up much excitement/anger/tears . I was mostly just glad Julia and Barbie survived. Because I kind of ship them, at least I did season one because of the angst. I mean it was so brilliant – I accidentally kill a guy, ran into a nice girl that offered to let me stay at her house, realize the girl’s missing husband was the guy I killed, fall in love with said girl, then she finds out and manages to sort of forgive me but then gets shot by my crazy ex GF, I manage to save her only to get blamed for her attempted murder. Mostly just the beginning “killing her husband and falling in love with her” is epic. I totally want to write a couple with similar back story.

Whatever. They got a cute little reunion scene where Julia is all like, “Barbie?” Because she’s been thinking she killed him by not giving Big Jim the black egg alien thingie.

Cue adorableness!

“I thought you were dead.”

“Come on! You’re not getting rid of me that easy.”

 

I guess they’ll be a bit of a power couple for a while. Hopefully. Be interested to know if the fact that Barbie said those three little words to Julia at the end of last season will ever be mentioned, revealed or important or if they were just there for dramatic effect. Also thinking there should be some Julia proving she’s willing to fight for Barbie since mostly it’s been all Barbie being all “must sacrifice myself to save Julia” and while that is all fine and dandy I want some Julia rescuing Barbie too.

Big Jim’s sudden self- sacrifice/must save Junior thing and  Julia seeming ready to kill him was weird, but I liked the way Julia’s character stayed mostly true to her new “I’m the Monarch and I believe in doing the dome’s bidding” self. Liked how Barbie’s face was all “What’s going on here? Is he’s going to kill him? How do I stop it? Do I want to stop it? This is weird? Is she really gonna kill him?”

Onto something really shallow that bugs me despite the fact that it is totally stupid and irrelevant; Julia’s hair. It was really curly season one.

That’s curly. All super curly. She had Rachel hair (a weird Hollows references. Those of you who have read know what I’m talking about.)

This is season two. That’s not curly. That’s wavy. It’s like my hair and my hair is not curly. I want the Julia’s curls back.

Granted this is after falling into a lake. But I am no expert on curly hair, since mine only curly a bit, sometimes, but usually when I get my hair wet and don’t fix it up it get’s more wavy and wild. I figure when you have curly hair your hair would bounce back and be even more curly after a quick swim. But whatever. I just hope her hair will be back to its normal (curly) self by the next episode or two.

Also how does Julia swim and hug/kiss Barbie really tight (which I love that she does),  with a bullet wound through her shoulder????

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See? Big time hugs & kisses? That got to hurt? (Also more kissing!)

 

I mean it has only been what? Max 48 hours since Max shot her. Okay if we’re generous and let’s say Barbie was running around a lot before they arrested him and say three days? I’ve never been shot but I don’t think I would be up and walking around. Okay maybe it’s the dome healing her. Or TV magic medicine.

What I am a little worried about is Uncle Sam’s comment about Julia “looking a little flushed” at the end. That could be A) because she and Barbie have been snogging at the nonexistent red lights B) she has like an infection in her little wound and is going to get sick and need Barbie to rescue her or C) she’s just tried (because she’s had a rough couple of days) and after a nice nap she’ll be as good as new and no one will make a fuss about it in the next ep. I’m kind of hoping for option A or C because I’m a little tired of Julia being sick and injured.

Anyway, despite the not so strong first ep of the seasons I still have hopes. I like the promo for next week in which School Teacher Lady (I forgot her name) makes some awesome calculations and confides in Big Jim that they don’t have resources for all the people in town. About freaking time someone (other than Joe) started planing and calculating instead of just acting and handling the problem of the day. So excited about that. Also how everyone reacts to Angie’s death, especially Julia who sounds like she’s having a bit of a crisis of faith in the promo.