September 2024 Roundup

8 Feedback Questions For Non-Fiction ... 8 Feedback Questions For Fiction Manu...

September 2024 Roundup

Welcome to the September 2024 roundup!

Last month I dropped my roundup a little early as I was heading off on a writing retreat. I’m happy to say it was a great weekend with friends and we got plenty of work done on our prospective projects. There was good food, great company, and lots of writing and brainstorming. I managed to complete a draft of one of my upcoming Writing Checklist books, and my fellow #6amAusWriters, KD Kells, Emily Wrayburn, and Belinda Grant helped me come up with titles for each book. Belinda even drafted blurbs as an impartial third party who could sum up what the books are going to be about. It was the perfect way to end August and start September. As for what else I got up to this month, read on…

What I’ve Been…Writing

The writing checklist project. As mentioned previously, I’m working on two books. A paperback and ebook that will be all about Writing and Editing, and a second companion book that will cover Authoring topics, which I’m aiming to offer as a free ebook download. At the retreat, I completed a draft of the Authoring book and now need to work on the checklist graphics for it. As for the Writing and Editing book, I completed the latest draft this month and sent it off to my beta readers for feedback. While I wait for them to get back to me, I’ll continue working on the Authoring book. My goal at this minute is to have both books ready for a January 2025 release.

Watching

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

A sequel that pays great homage to the original. While the story doesn’t stray far from the beats that made Beetlejuice a classic, it does include enough new beats to make it enjoyable. There are plenty of callbacks and little nods with references and even the musical score. When a grown-up Lydia Deetz and her family come together for a funeral, it opens up old wounds and the rift between herself and her daughter, Astrid. Never believing that Lydia can see ghosts (a skill she profits off with her own TV show), Astrid refuses to indulge in the possibility of an afterlife until she’s dragged to the underworld and Lydia has to call on Beetlejuice to get her back. Highly recommended for those looking for light comedy and for fans of Beetlejuice.

The Perfect Couple

When throwing a wedding for their middle son at their beach-side home, Greer and Tag Winbury have to postpone when the maid of honor is found dead. At first, it seems like a tragic drowning, but when the toxicology report comes back, secrets and relationships are put under the microscope as it becomes obvious a wedding guest has committed a murder. Played out over 6 episodes, there are plenty of red herrings, secrets, and star turns as the well-known cast of Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, and Dakota Fanning, work with a raft of new talent to bring this murder mystery to a satisfying close. Recommended for fans of police procedurals with added drama and rich, holiday settings.

Reading

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

This sequel picks up in the aftermath of Pip solving the murder of Andi Bell. She turns it into a successful podcast called, A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder, and is asked to use her audience to help her friend Connor. After a memorial for Andie and her murdered boyfriend, Sal, Connor’s brother disappeared. The police rank Jamie as low risk as he’s 24 and has disappeared in the past, but Connor and Pip insist something is wrong, especially after realizing Jamie has been cat-fished.

Digging into the case brings up Pip’s inner turmoil and author Holly Jackson does a great job at showing that even a good girl has a dark side as Pip realizes that she must lean into the shadowy parts of herself that wants to solve crimes. There are throwbacks to the first book, revelations to loose strands, and a villain reveal that isn’t exactly surprising, but still makes sense as the foreshadowing is done so well. I listened to the audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed the voice acting, which added a nice layer to this installment of a series that’s perfect for fans of YA mysteries.

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

The third and final book in the A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder series seems to be a little controversial and I’ve noticed readers either love it or dislike it. I found it to be just as entertaining, if not the most entertaining, of the series. Split into two parts, the first deals with Pip and the aftermath of book 2 which has left her with PTSD and a habit of getting illegal pills to help her sleep. She also has a stalker, an event which is once again dismissed by the police who never helped her with cases in the previous two books. This leads to some out there decisions in part 2 of the book when Pip comes face-to-face with her stalker.

Who that is was supposed to be a big twist, but it was fairly obvious, and the fact Pip tried to put her suspicions on someone else is the first controversial issue. The second is how she dealt with her stalker, and the third an illogical decision she makes for the last few chapters of the book. Besides those love/dislike decisions, the overall story was very edge-of-your-seat, and the way it looped around to the very first book and also twisted and closed off threads from the second is a masterclass in foreshadowing. If you’re a fan of murder mysteries with twists that fall into place, this is definitely a series worth checking out.

The Rarkyn’s Fall by Nikky Lee

A sequel to The Rarkyn’s Familiar which is just as entertaining, if not more so, than its predecessor. Picking up where the last book left off, Lyss and the Raykyn, Skaar, are on the run and trying to free their friends who were caught helping them flee. As they trek, their blood bond and mixed magic continue to change them both. Afraid he is turning into a monster, Skaar tries to hide it from Lyss, but as the action of the book ramps up in the final chapters, Skaar discovers he is not the only one undergoing a transformation. Lyss has never had answers about her lineage, and as she finds out more about her murdered Fa and why they were on the run for all of her life, devastating truths are uncovered.

As well as Lyss and Skaar’s story and connection deepening, new characters, allegiances, backstories, and betrayals pepper the book, which is beautifully and masterfully written by author, Nikky Lee. As with the first book, many of the story threads are resolved, and a banger of a reveal ends this book on a high note, setting up the final book perfectly. Highly recommended for fans of fantastical worlds, monsters, and magic.

Silent Sister by Megan Davidhizar

When sisters Maddy and Grace attend a High School trip in the woods, they expect a weekend of bonding with their classmates and making memories to last a lifetime. By the end of the week, Maddy is missing and Grace is found on the side of the road with a severe head injury. She was the last person to see her sister, but she can’t remember anything before the trip or the night everyone said she and Maddy went off alone into the woods.

Switching between Grace’s present, and then Maddy’s past POV, each chapter slowly unravels the events leading up to their disappearance, with each of Maddy’s chapters ending in her own poetry that also hints at her state of mind and a twist in the final few chapters that you won’t see coming. Highly recommended for fans of YA suspense that is very character-driven.

If you’ve got any good book recommendations, let me know in the comments, or be my friend on Goodreads and share your books/recommendations! You can also find and follow my reviews and book recommendations on Amazon and BookBub.

If you’d like to add the Blackbirch books to your Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf and/or check out the reviews, click the following links:

Blackbirch: The Beginning Blackbirch: The Dark Half Blackbirch: The Ritual Blackbirch: The Collector

Taking Photos Of

A writing retreat and a writer dinner. Not only did I start the month at the writing retreat with writing friends, but I ended it with a dinner with more writing friends! Both occasions were full of fun and interesting conversations about the industry, books, and writing, leaving my creative cup very full.

Blackbirch Review Of The Month

This month’s review is for the third book in the series, The Ritual, and was such a great review to receive as I spent a good year rewriting this book to get it ready for publication after the first few drafts were a real mess. Knowing readers love the book after the stress and worry of having to rework it so intensely, and almost giving up writing entirely (yep, it was that bad), it makes my little writer heart so happy!