What the F*ckity F*ck?
Ever have a day where you are p*ssed at every f*cking thing? Welcome to my day! I have some “real life” reasons for it, but my mood has prevailed and colored my view on everything I’ve dealt with today. So, while Jade is feeling majorly b*tchy, let’s deal with some gripes.
You all probably know that Fully Automatic came out last week. Aside from the fact that Amazon published the book in record time (long before I was ready for it to go live), a few things have happened surrounding its release that I can no longer keep my mouth closed about. So…at the risk of getting people p*ssed at me, hang on tight. Here goes nothin’.
The Alternate POV book: When I chose to write Bullet from Brad’s point of view, I did it with the intention of not writing the same book simply told from another vantage point. To me, that feels like a cheat. Yep, there are scenes both books have in common, situations you will recognize, but this is not Bullet all over again—not by a long shot. I found out, though, that many readers are avoiding it like the plague because that’s exactly what they’re afraid Fully Automatic is. It’s disappointing, because I expected this book to do so much better. So, yes, I’m going to b*tch, because there are authors out there who have done that—they haven’t poured their heart and soul into their alternate POV books, and now the rest of us suffer.
Whew. Okay. That was gripe number one.
The Cliffhanger: No, I do not write cliffhangers, but you don’t even know how many readers have avoided my books, thinking I might have written a cliffhanger. I don’t know where they get that idea or why, but again, cliffhangers feel like a huge cheat to me. I’m not going to end a book in the middle of the story just to get you to buy another one. Even when I write a series, I like each book to be a complete story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. So you bet I’m b*tching about this because other authors have felt the need to be all cute and clever, trying to force you to buy their set of books that probably should have just been one big one. So, yeah…thanks.
Wow. I almost feel all the way better now. But one more thing…
Stupid Reviews: For the most part, I figure everyone is entitled to her opinion, and I don’t read negative reviews anymore if I can help it. I know I’ll get them, and that’s okay, because I do not expect every reader on the planet to like my writing. That would be ridiculous, and I would be more delusional than I already am. 
Seriously, though, every once in a while I get a review that makes me say out loud, “What. The. F*ck?” I got one of those today…a three-star review for Fully Automatic. Again, I don’t expect all my reviews to be four- and five-star. I’m not that naïve. However, I like for reviews to be well-founded. Okay, so…I got this review today in which the reader said she was “disappointed.” Why? Because, she said, Fully Automatic was “just another re-telling from a different POV.” If I responded to reviews (which I do not), I would like to ask her what f*cking book she read. Did she actually recognize the first five chapters of Fully Automatic from having read them in Bullet? Uh…no, because none of that was in Bullet. I gathered, reading her review, that she skimmed the book and skipped to the end and felt “disappointed” because I didn’t drag out the storyline more than I did, and I didn’t take the timeline out further. No, I didn’t, because I still have plans for Nick and Zane’s books (and those stories will take the timeline out further), and Brad, Val, and Ethan will have huge parts in those books. Fully Automatic was barely shorter than Bullet, and—by most standards—it’s a huge f*cking book. That’s beside the point, though. The point is that in review after review after review, written by trusted bloggers who review books for a living, most people have raved about how Fully Automatic is most certainly NOT just a retelling. I can’t bring myself to do that and sell it to you and then try to sleep at night.
I realize I shouldn’t let this sh*t get to me. It probably wouldn’t, except this review will likely be read by people who really are afraid that I’ve gone and done that dirty, sneaky trick, and now—thanks to her false review—won’t give the book a chance, in spite of the fact that the majority of readers are quite pleased with Brad’s story. It’s a story I’m dying for you to read, because it moved me more than any other book I’ve ever written. It ripped my heart and guts out, and I want to share it with the world!
Well…thanks for listening to me rant, rave, and complain. I keep looking outside, expecting to see a full moon…but it’s snowing like crazy so I can’t see sh*t (and I also know we’re nowhere near that time of the month). 
Thank you to all of you who have given Fully Automatic a chance. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that!
