Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 1/22/13

MLK Day has completely screwed up my days, but I'm pretty sure it's Tuesday. And it's a re-reading day! I know I talk ad nauseum about Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, but it's probably my favorite book series since Harry Potter. And I may have a slight (major) author crush on Kelley Armstrong. So I have a tendency to re-read these books a lot, especially when I'm too lazy to go searching for another book after I finish one.

As a curious child, Clayton didn’t resist the bite–he asked for it. But surviving as a lone child werewolf was more than he could manage–until Jeremy came along and taught him how to straddle the human-werewolf worlds, gave him a home…and introduced him to the Pack. So begins this volume, featuring three of the most intriguing members of the American Pack–a hierarchical founding family where bloodlines mean everything, and each day presents a new, thrilling, and often deadly challenge. As Clayton grows from a wild child to a clever teen who tests his beloved mentor at every turn, he must learn not only to control his animal instincts, but to navigate Pack politics–including showing his brutal arch nemesis, Malcolm, who the real Alpha is…

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

At the time, it seemed to me that Jeremy was spending a lot of time with a piece of plastic pressed against his ear, talking to himself. Which was fine by me. We all have our eccentricities. Jeremy liked talking to plastic; I liked hunting and eating the rats that ventured into the motel room. Or, at least I did like hunting and eating the rats, until Jeremy caught me and promptly kiboshed that hobby. Some of us are less tolerant of eccentricities than others.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 1/15/13

I had a lazy weekend that I spent blowing my way through The Girlfriend's Guide to Boys series by Stephie Davis/Stephanie Rowe. It was a cute, fairly predictable series that was exactly what I wanted. After finishing the last book last night, I decided to actually consult my TBR list on Goodreads, and I looked up Feed by M.T. Anderson. The writing style is pretty interesting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.

For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., M. T. Anderson has created a not-so-brave new world — and a smart, savage satire that has captivated readers with its view of an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to the here and now.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

When we got off the ship, our feeds were going fugue with all the banners. The hotels were jumping on each other, and there was bumff from like the casinos and mud slides and the gift shops and places where you could rent extra arms.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 1/8/13


Photo credit: JamesPatterson.com

Before I got into urban fantasy, I was really, really into legal thrillers and murder mysteries. Still am, to an extent, but I haven't read as many of them recently. So I was pleasantly surprised to find I was actually two books behind on James Patterson's Women's Murder Club series. I finished 10th Anniversary this morning, and now I'm working on 11th Hour.

WARNING: Blurb contains spoilers for previous books in the series.

YOUR BEST FRIEND

Lindsay Boxer is pregnant at last! But her work doesn't slow for a second. When millionaire Chaz Smith is mercilessly gunned down, she discovers that the murder weapon is linked to the deaths of four of San Francisco's most untouchable criminals. And it was taken from her own department's evidence locker. Anyone could be the killer—even her closest friends.

OR A VICIOUS KILLER?

Lindsay is called next to the most bizarre crime scene she's ever seen: two bodiless heads elaborately displayed in the garden of a world-famous actor. Another head is unearthed in the garden, and Lindsay realizes that the ground could hide hundreds of victims.

YOU WON'T KNOW UNTIL THE 11TH HOUR

A reporter launches a series of vicious articles about the cases and Lindsay's personal life is laid bare. But this time she has no one to turn to—especially not Joe. 11TH HOUR is the most shocking, most emotional, and most thrilling Women's Murder Club novel ever.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

Something had happened at that house. And if there really was a reason for everything, then she'd walked four miles this morning so that she would be the first reporter on the scene.




Also, you should check out this awesome bloghop hosted by Nick Wilford. He's compiling an anthology of stories about overcoming adversity to raise money to send his stepson to college. Check out the details here, and don't forget to post on February 4-5.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New Year's Resolutions

Happy new year, everyone! I hope all your holidays were wonderful and that the new year began with promise. I've returned from my spontaneous hibernation with enthusiasm (and new year's resolutions).

  1. Finish CH2. I'll tell you, I probably shouldn't have taken a month-long break from this after NaNoWriMo, since I've now forgotten any ideas I had for the ending. But that's okay, I'm sure whatever I come up with will be better (she says optimistically). I have about 25,000 words left, and I'm really, really planning to finish it by the end of the month so I can give it to K.S. Lewis and make her fix it.
  2. Write two more novels. Or at least write one and start the other. Right now, I'm thinking Bex and CH3, but I often change plans unexpectedly.
  3. Read one non-fiction book. I can't remember a non-fiction book I read all the way through that wasn't required for school. That's not to say I haven't enjoyed any--because I have--but I just can't seem to finish them for some reason. But I'm going to change that this year.
  4. Read 52 books, averaging one per week. I exceeded this last year, so I don't think it's unreasonable.
  5. Query 60 agents, averaging five per month, or until signed.
  6. Submit 12 stories to magazines/contests, averaging one per month. I constantly toy with this, and occasionally send one or two things out, but I'd like to spend a little more time focusing on it. Plus, short stories are a good way to unstick myself when I get writer's block.
  7. Blog twice a week. And this is where I owe you guys a small apology. Things got a little crazy here over the last few months, and I haven't kept up very well with my blog and others. But I really do love blogging and I love keeping in touch with all of you, so I'm going to shake off last year and really dive back into it.

Also, keep an eye out for a giveaway soon, since I've almost hit 200 followers on Twitter.

Did you make resolutions? Care to share? Also, how were your holidays?