Kate Willis's Blog, page 118

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Day

I’ve been busy today cleaning up after our family shenanigans last night, writing approximately 1,350 words for my Noble Novels deadline, posting on Goodreads about how hard it is to focus on writing when I have a new book from the library, discussing violence in Christian fiction on the Rabbit Room, and watching Mary Poppins with my family. It’s been a great day!

How was your day and week?

Ten…Nine…Eight…

Time is running out. You must hurry. There are 28,800 minutes left until Read to Win 2016 ends. That’s only twenty days!

Hop on over to Amazon and pick up one of these books for 99 cents, review it on Goodreads, and get entered in the Homeschooled Authors’ giveaway!

Read my postFavorite Books from Read-to-Win 2016if you need recommendations.

Grammar Surprise

I posted on my Goodreads yesterday: “Moving to Britain. They have better punctuation rules.”

Let me elaborate. I was helping my brother with his grammar lesson yesterday when I noticed a sentence that bothered me: Today we read the story “The Observing Judge.”

Why did the period come before the quotation marks?It looked totally wrong to me since in all my years of grammar study I’d never seen anything like it. Logically, the period belongs to the whole sentence–not to the title contained in i...

Book Review: You’ll Be Like Faye

“In her second novel, J.C. Buchanan leaves the fairy kingdom behind and introduces her readers to Faye Corcoran, a regular 12-year-old girl in a typical suburban family. But is it a typical suburban family? And when Faye’s best friend convinces her there’s something suspicious about the new housekeeper, how far will Faye go for answers?”(from Amazon)

The writing style was exceptional; and, although I was figuring out the mystery pretty early on, there were still some shivers-up-and-down-my-sp...

Book-Lover Blog Tag

Apparently I’m not the only book fanatic in the world. (Goodreads is proof.) My blogging friend Lauren started a tag specifically for us avid readers.

Name a book you’re embarrassed to say you haven’t read yet.

Aggie’s Inheritance: Ante Up!by Chautona Havig. You’d think after so much delightedscreaming, I would have read it by now! Nope. I am being patient. Do you see me being patient? I am being so patient I am wiggling!

2. What is the strangest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark?

Ha, h...

Book Review: Song of the Sword!!!

Hey, everyone. *drops voice to a whisper* You know that review I’ve been promising you? Here it is…finally.

“A glittering sword. An ancient oath. A blackened rose. And a melody which ties it all together.

When Evrard and Roinette, twins separated at birth, are overtaken by events swirling from centuries past, they are forced into a battle beyond their own limited powers. With their ability to walk in the melody realm, catching glimpses of the light and darkness underlying Aslaria, comes even mor...

Hope Ann Interview

Join me in welcoming Hope Ann, author of the fantasy Song of the Sword! *cheers*

Hope, tell us a bit about yourself.

Well, I’m a Christian writer with eight younger siblings. I live on a small farm in Indiana and, now that I’ve graduated, I help Mom homeschool some of the younger ones…including teaching them creative writing. *grins and rubs hands* My random assortment of abilities include butchering chickens, climbing trees, reading, roller blading, painting (kind of), and collecting shiny f...

To Fantasy or Not To Fantasy?

I realize that this is a huge topic of debate. I also realize that Ineed to do more studying on it, but here’s where I am right now.

I’m all right with make- believe creatures, different laws of physics, and miraculous objects in the fantasy genre. I keep these in the realm of completely imaginary, and they don’t affect my life at all.

Magic, on the other hand, is a stickier issue. I’m personally okay with two kinds of magic in the fantasy books I read.

Laughable Disney/fairy tale magic.Litt...

Fantastic Fantasy Finds

I don’t read many fantasy books, but I have found a few I enjoy and can recommend wholeheartedly. Let me share them with you.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

When asked what book has most impacted my life, I immediately thought of this series. Light on the magic side with great [witty, British] characters and compelling stories, these books never fail to draw mein and nearer to my Savior.

Dreamlanderby K.M. Weiland

This book is soooooooo amazing!!! It has ginormously good worldbuildin...

Plate Update: Princesses, Sandwiches, and Free Books

Remember that crazy pictureofmy ridiculously full plate I shared last month? Here’s an update on what I have and haven’t eaten–I mean, accomplished.

Last month alone I…

Beta-read:

Grace Space by Robin Merrill (three stars)

Growing Up Neighbors by Frances Hoelsema (two stars)

Song of the Sword by Hope Ann (five stars, but you have to wait to find out why )

The Dressmaker’s Secret by Kellyn Roth (three stars)

I’m also reading a few chapters a week of someone’s work in progress.

Pleasure read:

T...