So I just posted on FaceBook how it’s so impossible for me to simply tell what my favorite book is. I could give out a list of my top 50 books that I most like, but to simply say “Oh yes, Pride and Prejudice is my absolute favorite book!” just doesn’t work for me. (I did enjoy Pride and Prejudice, by the way.) That being said, today I am going to do a little review on one of my favorite paranormal series. (Note that it’s not just one book, but the whole series, and I have to classify it with a genre because I have other favorite books/series that could be considered a favorite in a different genre. See how complicated this gets when I try to narrow down my favorites?)

Getting back on track here, one of my favorite series is the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. In a brief summary, it’s about a young woman named Mac (short for MacKayla) who travels to Dublin, Ireland to investigate her sister’s murder. Once there, she discovers that she’s a Sidhe (pronounced “she”) seer. Someone who can see past the glamour of the Fae to their true self. She meets a mysterious man named Jericho who claims that he will help her if she helps him find a book called the Sinsar Dubh. This dark book holds much power that the Fae royalty would love to have, as well as any other creature that knows of its existence. The series is five books long and each one ends with a major cliffhanger that will have you driving to the bookstore for the next one as soon as humanly possible. I read these books before all five were out, so I was one of the fans that had it pre-ordered and anxiously awaited for the next book release. There were a few times when it took almost two years for the next book to come out. It was enough to have me biting my nails while doing a countdown of when the day would finally come! (What can I say? I’m a total bookworm!)

There are many reasons why I love this series so much, but we’ll just skim off the top for the sake of time. First of all, it has an intricate plot with fabulous twists. Some of them I was able to call, while others blew my mind right out of the water. Secondly, the characters are fabulous. Mac undergoes major emotional transitions and matures along with the books. It’s easy to like her character and root for her from the beginning. Jericho is an absolute mystery. The whole time I read this series, I couldn’t be sure if he was a bad guy or not, but I still wanted Mac to fall in love with him anyway because he had this allure that jumped off the pages. Don’t worry, I won’t give a spoiler alert about him, you’ll just have to read it for yourself to find out if he’ll come through for Mac, or betray her in the end. 🙂

Moning also does a wonderful job of creating a crossover of the world as we know it integrated with Celtic mythology. Her take on the Seelie and the Unseelie Fae is creative and dynamic. She makes them very attractive and dangerous at the same time. Moning is able to bring together four or five different groups of characters and integrate them to perform in a plot that will keep you reading through the night and into the day. It’s a series where you just can’t put the book down until you’ve finished it. That alone puts this series into my top favorites list. I think the most successful of authors are those who suck you in so completely that you have to finish the book before you can go back to your normal reality called life.

So there you have it, in a nutshell, why the Fever series is one of my favorites. I look forward to see if Karen Marie Moning will be coming out with a new series any time soon. If it’s anything like her Fever series, I’ll be one of the first to pre-order her books!

 

It seems that a lot of new writers like to ask the successful or experienced author “What is the most important thing that helps you with your writing?” It also seems to me that most authors almost always give the same answer: critique groups.

If you’re unfamiliar with what a critique group does, it’s easy to sum up. It’s a group of people who read your work and give you good feedback on it. Now, when I say “good feedback”, I don’t mean that they tell you what you want to hear. In fact, if they only tell you good things about your writing, you had better find a different group – fast. But I digress.

So authors say critique groups are important. Why? Well, for many reasons. So many that I might not be able to list them all in this blog. But I’ll try! For one thing, it helps writers to learn how to share their work. I know a lot of writers that will work vigorously on a novel, but when it comes time to have someone else look at it, they can’t bring themselves to do it. In the environment of a critique group, where everyone is sharing their work and getting feedback, it’s a little easier to have others read your work. Everyone takes turns reading each others stuff, and they usually start by telling you the things they liked, then move into the things that need improvement. They are objective in their critiques and don’t try to flower things for you. They tell you how it is.

Critique groups also help you see things that you wouldn’t have noticed on your own. I read a friend’s novel for her and sent her a critique on it. In her book, the main character has psychic powers that are limited in the beginning, then change at the end. This is fine, but the way in which she wrote made it seem sudden. I was confused and asked her if the character’s powers were supposed to develop, and when had they done that, or did she accidentally write the powers differently.  She had no clue that she’d done that and went to work fixing it once I’d pointed it out to her.

Another thing critique groups can do for you is tell you what others are afraid to tell you. When I sent out the first draft of Dissension to my critique companions, they all said how much they liked the plot and what a good job I had done. However, they didn’t like some of my key characters. It was quickly pointed out to me that while my plot was solid, my characters were not third dimensional. It was somewhat hard to take in, but once my weakness was pointed out to me, I used many methods on how to really get into my characters’ heads. (I’ll write a blog all about that later.) It was amazing what a difference it made in my novel.

If you have a critique group that you see on a regular basis, they become your friends, cheerleaders, and champions of your work. They can also open up new connections to help you get published. What it really comes down to, is that a good critique group is invaluable. Once you find one, stick with them and listen to their advice. You don’t always need to follow it, but you should consider what they have to say to you with an open mind. This will improve your work in ways you could never have imagined!

Shopping to me is an experience, one to be savoured with not just shops- but restaurants, cinema and any other little quirks you can get from a large shopping centre.

Whilst shopping can easily be disregarded as a complete faff, and ‘why not do it online?’, there really is something to be said from going out to the shops every once in a while and actually using all your senses to get to know products before you buy.

There are a few items of clothing I feel it’s vital to try on first before buying, namely shoes. If you buy long boots online, you might find a good fit on the foot, but whether they’ll be able to zip up properly is another matter entirely, and an issue that’s far more difficult to address online.

Even things you could easily buy online such as wallets, you really can’t beat being able to pick it up and get a feel for the weight, the texture and the sizes of compartments.

I like to go for long periods without shopping at all, with the intention of making it more of an event when I do go shopping. Often there’s an something fun going on at my local shopping centre which can be good fun to watch with a coffee as a break from wandering around shops with aching feet. It could be a dancing or singing contest, or live cooking.

I have always loved to spend a morning shopping, then buy some sandwiches and sweets and watch a film at the cinema, knowing that there’s a whole afternoon left to patrol the shops to find more cool stuff. Rounding that off with a meal at a restaurant is just the perfect day, and something that’s really hard to beat. Most of my birthdays have consisted of days like this.

It’s a brilliant feeling when you come home and go through all your purchases; it’s an excitement that links back to opening presents as a child, almost – and perhaps that’s part of the reason so many of us enjoy shopping so much. I like to go through each bag and recall that there’s so much more new stuff that I have yet to admire – the stronger and happier that feeling, the more successful I feeling the shopping trip was.

Of course, the convenience of buying online is also a great thing, but I think we’d be missing out if we forgot the pleasures of a real trip to the shops.

Rainbow’s End is a retailer online and in real shops, of gifts and clothing such as Yaya clothing

So I just finished The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson. I very much enjoyed it! Though I have enjoyed all of his adult fiction (I haven’t read his Alcatraz book), I think this book is my favorite of his. It was a bit long- 1250 pages, but well worth reading through. Some people have  told me that it took a while to get into it, but I felt intrigued from the first page. The world he creates is unique and diverse. His characters are dynamic, and the plot is fantastic. The only problem with the book is that I wanted to keep reading after it ended. It is only book one, so there will be others to look forward to.  Sanderson does have quite a bit on his plate with other projects (namely the final book in the Wheel of Time series), so who knows when book two of this series will come out. That said, I still recommend reading it! Once the next book finally launches, we can all have a party and celebrate.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that the diamond is the most powerful gemstone on the planet. Fortunes rest on them. People will do anything to own them. Some even die because of them. You cannot underestimate the demand for diamonds.

A diamond sparkles like no other, and has been a alluring gemstone that the most powerful people on Earth have coveted. What is it about diamonds that makes them so loved, and how have they become almost legendary in our lives? The answer lies in their properties, which have led to an attraction rivalled by few other commodities.

The origin of diamonds

Diamonds are made from carbon, and formed under incredible pressures and superheated temperatures. The result is a rough stone, which is then cut and polished, shaping it into the incredible stone that we know and love. Once set into a piece of jewellery, it will shimmer and beguile like no other gem. The most popular use of diamonds is for setting in engagement rings, a practice that has been commonplace for more than 50 years.

Diamonds are also known for their hardness. In fact, only other diamonds can scratch their surface. It is this hardness that gives the diamond its name, derived from the Greek meaning ‘unalterable’ or ‘unbreakable’. Because of this hardness, diamonds are also used for industrial applications, such as grinding and drilling. Due to the expense of diamonds, however, industrial diamonds tend to be manufactured instead of mined.

Diamonds: the April birthstone

Such a precious stone will have something of a mythology behind them, as you would expect. Diamonds are the birthstone for April, representing the qualities of those born in that month. As a birthstone, these personal qualities reflect those of the stone itself; toughness and strength, purity of spirit and clarity of vision. Diamond also represents an everlasting love, as enduring as the stone’s own invincibility.

Diamonds were also believed to possess magical properties. Their sheer brightness and lustre made them the most magical of stones. In India, they were used as talismans to ward off evil, or provide protection against physical harm. During the medieval era, they were even believed to cure illness by ingestion, with little success one would imagine.

While we’re not as superstitious or as ready to accept the ingestion of diamonds as palliative treatment, our love affair with these dazzling gems are far from over. The represent love and glamour, offering just a little extra sparkle into our lives.

Citations:

• The Hope Diamond, on display at the Smithsonian Institute

Parriss Jewellers has a superb collection of beautiful necklaces, rings, earrings and more, including diamond April birthstone jewellery