Review: Perfect World

Book: Perfect World

Author: Shari Sakurai

Page Count: 332

Amazon

My Rating: 3.5 TURTLES: A very enjoyable read, I recommend you check it out.

Description:
London, 2115

It is the year 2115 and the world is very different. With climate changes, natural disasters and war shaping the landscape, England has become a nation made up of several super cities and wasteland in between. 

Eric Rawlins is a genetically engineered superhero created by the London Security Agency (L.S.A) to defend and protect the city against both national and international threats. With his superior abilities, celebrity status and beautiful girlfriend, Eric appears to have the perfect life. However, it is an illusion created by the L.S.A in order to control him.

Eric's nemesis is the charismatic Adam Larimore. The only son of billionaire business tycoon Victor Larimore, Adam is gifted with a genius level IQ as well as the same longevity as Eric. 

When the actions of the L.S.A throw the two of them together Eric finds himself questioning everything that he has ever known as well as discovering the true course of events that led to Adam turning to a life of crime. As they become closer Eric realises that the L.S.A may be the real threat to London. But can he trust Adam or is he part of Adam’s plan for revenge against those who have wronged him?

Review:
I loved the premise of this book. It’s sort of Gattaca meets Captive Prince, so I was really excited to see what would happen. Although Perfect World didn’t fully live up to my expectations and hopes, it’s still an intriguing, fast-paced science fiction tale that I recommend you check out.

First of all, what’s not to love about the “hero who realizes his perfect world isn’t what it’s cracked up to be and is forced to fall in with his enemy” trope? Eric Rawlins is too naïve to see the corruption around him until it is shoved in his face, but he clings to his morals no matter what is going around him. From the get-go, I just felt for Eric and the situation he is in.

I also really enjoyed how Adam Larimore’as character was revealed to the reader. I suspected there was more to him than what met the eye, but even I wasn’t able to predict what was really going on in his head or what he would do next all the time. He could still get on my nerves sometimes, but despite that I still found myself rooting for him.

While there was a lot I liked about Perfect World, there were aspects that fell flat for me. For one thing, I felt like Adam and Eric’s relationship was way rushed. They go from being enemies to being in love in, like, a day, and I didn’t quite buy the fact that they’d fallen in love over the times they’d met as enemies. I could understand that to explain attraction, but not love. Instalove may not bother other people, but it’s kind of a pet peeve of mine.

A smaller thing that I wasn’t a huge fan of was the constant reference to Eric as “the hero” and Adam as “the villain.” I get it. Writing “Eric said this,” “Eric thought this,” “Eric was this” can get repetitive and it is nice to find other ways of referring to people other than their names. However, using “hero” and “villain” came off as cartoonish and silly. It’s made abundantly clear that the LSA and even Eric for the first half of the book (at least) sees Eric as the hero and Adam as the villain, it’s unnecessary to spell it out like that.

While not perfect, Perfect World is still an entertaining read that is absolutely worth your time. I’ll be excited to learn more about Adam Larimore in the next book released in the series, Adam, that follows the title character’s perspective.

Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases. 

Author Interview: Sarah Kay Moll

Today I'd like to welcome Sarah Kay Moll, author of the LGBT+ crime thriller Dark City (I can't wait to read it!) She was kind enough to answer some of my questions.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

As a kid, I wanted to be everything from an actress to an astronaut. It wasn't until I got to college and started writing seriously that I thought of it as a possible career option, but even then I was more interested in becoming a clinical psychologist or a librarian. When I came up with the idea for Dark City, though, then I knew I had found
something that was worth devoting my time to, and I wanted to be the author that would create this book. 

What was your inspiration for Dark City?

My inspiration for Dark City is all over the place. I love all sorts of books, from literary fiction to comic books, and have eclectic taste in movies and video games as well. A lot of the inspiration for Dark City did come from Batman, and the city is very similar to Gotham, particularly as it's portrayed in the Christopher Nolan movies. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, my absolute favorite book, was also a huge source of inspiration, though there aren't a lot of obvious similarities between her work and mine. 

If you could jump into the world of any book, which would it be and why?

There are a lot of books I absolutely love but wouldn't want to jump into the world of--Game of Thrones springs to mind! But there are some I'd love to visit. If I could, I would jump into the world of the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. I would love to just sit in a tavern and hear Kvothe play and tell some stories. 

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Most writing advice is really just personal preference. The beauty of writing is that you can do just about anything, in just about any way you want to, as long as you do it well and with enough confidence. The only two rules a writer must follow are that you must write and that you must read. If you don't read, your stories and your prose will become stale. 

What is your favorite and least favorite thing about being a writer?

My favorite thing by far is that feeling I get when I'm writing. When the words are flowing and the story is shining, it's so intoxicating it's almost like being high. I chase that feeling every day when I sit down to write. My least favorite thing has got to be the marketing. It's really, really hard to sell a book. I understand this because as a reader I'm pretty skeptical when I go to buy, but as an author it's very difficult to get your work out there and find an audience, particularly when you write in an ill-defined genre like I do. 

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading three books, which is about normal for me. The first is Metro 2033, which is translated from the original Russian, and is a post-apocalyptic thriller about a world where humanity has been driven underground and struggles to survive in the Moscow Metro. The second is called Sonny Montes and Mexican American Activism in Oregon. It's nonfiction about the Chicano movement as it arose from farmworker communities in western Oregon, right near Portland, where I live. I work for a small nonprofit that serves farmworkers (among others) here in the Portland metro area, so I've found it really interesting. The third book I'm reading is called Amigos, and it's a romance novel and (hopefully) the first "grown-up" book I'll finish reading entirely in Spanish. 

About Dark City:

Jude has a tender heart. Yet he was born into a criminal empire and groomed from childhood to step into his father's violent footsteps. To survive, he created a second personality. Ras is everything Jude isn't--cruel, remorseless, and utterly without fear, as incapable of love as Jude is of malice.

But when Ras meets a ruthless socialite, he begins to feel a strange stirring of emotion, a brush of Jude's passion against his own dark heart. Meanwhile, Jude finds himself with a knife in his hand, the evil in Ras's soul bleeding into his own.

As the walls between them crumble, they could lose everything--their lovers, their family, and their hold on the dark city itself.

Coming together could break them...or make them whole.

Check it out on Amazon

About Sarah Kay Moll:

Sarah Kay Moll is a wordsmith and an amateur homemaker. She's good with metaphors and bad with coffee stains, both of which result from a writing habit she hasn't been able to quit. She lives a mostly solitary life, and as a result, might never say the right thing at parties. She's passionate about books, and has about five hundred on her to-read pile. When she does go out, it's probably to the library, the theater, or the non-profit where she works.

Sarah lives in a beautiful corner of western Oregon where the trees are still changing color at the end of November and the mornings are misty and mysterious. She spends her free time playing video games and catering to her cat's every whim.

Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases. 

Review: Lustre

Title: Lustre (A Witchlight novela)
Author: Jaime Munn
Page Count: 196
My Rating: 4 TURTLES: A great read, I definitely recommend.
Amazon
 
Review:

Nilla Hayes is still trying to get over her werewolf ex-girlfriend when an angel comes to call on her witchy services to track down a dream thief. Despite her reluctance to work for an angelic being – they’re usually bad news – she accepts and tracks the thief to the small town of Whisper Falls. Nilla quickly realizes her target is much more dangerous than she originally thought and has to catch him before it’s too late.

This was a really fun and unexpected read!

I loved Nilla’s dry sense of humor and her wry and conversational narrating voice. The strong, humorous sense of voice was one of my favorite things about this story. It is so hard to craft and keep consistent, but when it’s done well it can make even slow points in a plot engaging and interesting. (Some of my favorite authors like Rick Riordan and Eoin Colfer have earned that spot because of this narration style). Since Lustre is so short, there isn’t much of a lull in the action, so the combo of voice and snappy plot made it a breeze to read!

In the short span of the book we are introduced to a very complex urban fantasy world. While what is in the plot is only the tip of the iceberg, we get glimpses of what lays beneath the water and I’d be excited to see what more we’d learn in the future book set in this world. Having said that, I was a little confused because I don’t think we ever learn where on Earth Nilla is. We know she lives in a city and travels to a small town called Whisper Falls a ways outside the city, but we never learn which city it’s in, or even what country it’s in. Just saying what city it is, or making up a fictional city in a real country, would have grounded the story so much more. How I envision the surroundings is going to change so much depending where in the world, or where in a country, it is and it is an easy enough detail to through in.

I don’t want to give anything away, but I love the unexpected turns the story and characters take. Everything is much more complicated and personal than it first appears and it raises the stakes and makes the result all the more gratifying.

I definitely recommend you check out Lustre! Fans of Urban Fantasy or TV shows like Supernatural or Grimm should especially consider putting it on your TBR lists! 

Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases. 

Review: Check, Please!: #Hockey

Title: Check, Please!: #Hockey

Author: Ngozi Ukazu

Page Count: 288

My Rating: 5 TURTLES: AMAZING read. I loved this book, and it's going on my favorites shelf forever! You must get a copy of this book!

Preorder it!

Description:

Helloooo, Internet Land. Bitty here!

Y’all... I might not be ready for this. I may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It’s nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! First of all? There’s checking. And then, there is Jack—our very attractive but moody captain.

A collection of the first half of the megapopular webcomic series of the same name, Check, Please!: #Hockey is the first book of a hilarious and stirring two-volume coming-of-age story about hockey, bros, and trying to find yourself during the best four years of your life.

Review:

Oh my God, you guys, this graphic novel made me FEEL things! I never make audible noises when I’m reading things, I don’t even usually laugh at loud if I’m watching comedy shows, but Check, Please!: #Hockey made me laugh and squee at the sheer adorableness of this story! I read this whole thing in one sitting, which never happens, so you know it’s serious!

If you had told me several years ago that some of my favorite stories would heavily feature non-equestrian sports I would have looked at you funny, but this new trend of sports teammates/colleagues falling for each other has arrived and I am 100% here for it. (I’ve included a list of my other favorite books and TV shows that follow this trend at the end of the review and I hope that you’ll check them out).

Teammate to lover stories though

There is so much I love about this story! The art is super fun and thoughtfully drawn. The characters are also so distinct and memorable – I especially love the adorable and earnest Bitty and the party-bro with a heart of gold Shitty (whose real name we may or may not learn throughout the course of this book). And, of course, the main selling point of this book for me, I loved the romance between Bitty and Jack. What can I say? I’m weak for sweet queer romances, especially of the teammate to lover variety, and since there are not nearly enough of them (yet) each one I find is like finding a rare gem.

Also, huge bonus points to this book for having a badass character with my name, even if 99% people refer to her by her nickname, Lardo.

One thing that catches me a little bit off guard about graphic novels is that they tend to feel rushed to me. Check, Please has a great arc, but I wanted, like, five more hockey games, and ten more Bitty and Jack scenes. I think this is partly due to the fact that this is a compilation of web-comics. If I had read each page as it was initially released and had to wait a while for the next installment I don’t think it would feel rushed at all.

I think this would be especially true since the author runs “Bitty’s” Twitter account, so people’s experience with the story continues between installments (such a smart idea). The advanced copy has a sampling of some of these tweets, but promises that the published version will have many, many more. 

Picture of me trying to figure out how hockey works

The only other small thing that I would have liked to see was an in-depth explanation of how hockey works. Most of the other stories I know of that follow sports team dedicates a section where they just explain how the game works. It feels a bit info-dumpy, but also necessary for someone like me who has very little knowledge about anything sport-related. There were some explanations of how hockey works here and there, but by the end I was still pretty confused. 

And if you’re thinking “Gee, Larissa, if only there were a magical device that you could type ‘how does hockey work’ into and get as detailed an answer as you’d like,” point taken. 

Thank goodness my roommate for the NYU publishing program I’m taking lent me her advanced copy that she picked up at Book Expo, but I will definitely be picking up my own copy when it comes out in September! And if you’re as excited about getting your own copy as I am, you can always pre-order it.

Now that I have been introduced to this wonderful comic, I definitely won’t be patient enough to wait for volume two to come out to find out what happens next. Lucky for me (and all of you) this comic is not only available online, but it’s still ongoing! So there’s plenty more in store for Jack, Bitty, Shitty and all the others. 

More Queer sports romances! 

These are the stories that I couldn’t help but think of while reading Check, Please! Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments!

Yuri on Ice (TV show)

All for the Game series (book series)

Fence (comic series)

Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases. 

Guest Post: Tess Keeler

Today I'd like to welcome Tess Keeler to the blog! She was kind enough to shed some light on her process of co-writing a novel with her wife. You can find Everything Comes Back to You on Amazon here.

Hey, everyone!

I’m Tess Keeler, co-author of Everything Comes Back to You, a YA/NA novel centered around two male childhood best friends who, you guessed it, fall in love. My wife, Saundra Keeler, and I wrote our debut novel with alternating point of views of River Saxton and Aiden Jacobs, the two main characters. Each of us had created our character from the heart and built their world around it. We took turns writing chapters from our personal character’s point of view. It was a fun and interesting process, but we enjoyed it, and we are currently writing our second novel in the same format.

That leads me to our subject of the day: I want to talk to you all about the process of writing a book with two authors.

We have always written in a back and forth process since becoming writing partners in 2012, but when we decided to start writing Everything Comes Back to You, we had never written the amount we were committing to. We started off with a 50,000 word goal, and by the end of the novel, we had over 80,000 words. 

We find outlining to be more structured, so we did that before anything else. Our novel is a little different than most, because it has a time jump of five years in the middle (hence the YA and NA genre title). Because of our time jump, we wanted to make sure that it was a mostly equal combination of both timeframes. We took our goal and divided it in half. That was where we would most likely make our shift. We took those amounts (25,000), and divided them by 2,500 (our chapter goals) to give us the amount of chapters needed to meet our goals.

Getting the number of chapters needed to fill our book was the easy part. We would write them down in list form with dashes beside them, and we would begin filling in our major events (while deciding if it was an event both of us needed to write a chapter about), spacing them far enough apart to create growth between events. We really aimed for creating an emotional bond between the readers and the characters. Then we chose who would start the novel, and the opposite person ends would the novel.

Once the major events were penciled in, we filled in any other scene ideas and where they would fall on our outline. We don’t always have a lot to start, but we usually have a good idea. The ones that are blank, we write “filler”. These are usually filled in later if we think of something, or the person writing that chapter with come up with something on the spot that is productive for the novel.

Working as a team can sometimes be difficult. Agreeing on supporting characters and how they behave can be a challenge, all while both learning to control them the same way. Before we can ever start writing, we have to have a face, name, and personality to every character we plan to introduce, so that we are both comfortable writing them in any situation.

The main characters can be tough as well, but we enjoy asking the other author what their character would say or how they would react instead, making it true and genuine to the character as the creator sees it in their heart, but written in the point of view character’s charm. River and Aiden are our babies. Each of us favor our own to the point of feeling betrayed when our friends assume I write hers and she writes mine. It’s silly really.

Our chapters are mapped and our characters created, so then we choose the setting, the overall ambiance of their environments, and all the other details that go into setting the tone of the novel. I find the location fun, because we spend time researching the places we choose. Portraying everything well is important to us. 

After writing everything down, the first person begins the first chapter, and then it’s in the moment decision making and brainstorming until we feel like the story has been tied up. 

One great thing about co-authoring is two sets of eyes proofreading and editing the work. We each read it wholly once, and then we decide if anything needs to be added. Is there anything missing from the story?

Since creating this process, we have been successful in keeping our momentum. I can write my chapter better knowing that Saundra is covering a certain event. I can lead up to it in a way that is beneficial to the character development and all over quality of the novel. 

And that’s it! 

I hope you enjoyed learning about our process. As most authors do, we hope our effort shines through our work. If you have any questions on the writing process of co-authors, you can find me on instagram: @tesshybe

About Everything Comes Back to You:
River and Aiden had been inseparable since Aiden’s family moved in next door to their West Seattle home, nearly seven years prior to their senior year of high school. River Saxton was a seventeen-year-old who loved music and comics. Aiden Jacobs was a sixteen-year-old who loved painting and girls. They both bonded over their dysfunctional families and the love they shared for their small group of friends.

After another uneasy breakup and a moment of vulnerability, Aiden was in River’s room, and suddenly they were kissing.
With River’s innocence and Aiden’s identity on the line, two best friends struggle to define the line between friends and lovers. 

When River leaves for an incredible opportunity in Florida, Aiden is left wondering what more he could have done to keep his best friend from moving on.

Five years of experience, growth, and suffering passes before they see or speak to each other again. River moves back home, but he’s brought someone with him. Aiden wedges himself in the middle of everything. Are they getting a second chance at friendship, love, or both?




Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.

Release Blitz: The Mage Heir

About the Book

Traitor: that's what Tatsu is now. On the run from both Runon and Chayd, Tatsu and Yudai's only hope for survival is to disappear into the wilds. However, when the siphon's deadly curse returns, they have no choice but to travel into the desert kingdom of Joesar in search of a cure.

Battling the unforgiving elements of the sands, Tatsu starts to realize that the path towards destroying the siphon may claim Yudai's life. Time is running out as Nota's fury-and the siphon's hunger-begin to spiral wildly beyond their control. As their options slowly fall away, the only thing Tatsu and Yudai can count on is each other.

Author Bio

Kathryn didn't major in creative writing, but never stopped believing. She survives on books, strong coffee, craft beer, puppies, and the Oxford comma. She currently lives in Japan with her husband and teaches high school English to shape the next generation of young minds. She also comma splices like it's going out of style.

Links

The Mage Heir on Amazon

Book One (The Life Siphon) on Amazon

Book Excerpt

Tatsu didn't mind sleeping under the leaves, but Yudai's agitation seemed to grow as the sky darkened. He paced back and forth between two ancient tree trunks with his hands clasped behind his back, over and over, until the stars came out.

"You're going to have to sleep eventually," Tatsu pointed out, voice mild, once the moon was high overhead. It earned him a growl in reply. "Please just sit down."

"This clearing will be dead by morning," Yudai snapped. When he turned to retrace his steps again, Tatsu could see the twist of his fingers clenched together in tight fists.

"You can't do anything about it, so there's no point in blaming yourself. It's probably just making the whole thing worse."

The look Yudai threw him was dubious at best, but evidently, the possibility was difficult to ignore. Yudai eventually settled himself down between two patches of yellow-green weeds, and he ran his finger over his lip a few times before his eyes flickered up towards Tatsu. "Distract me."

"You could ask nicely," Tatsu said.

One corner of Yudai's mouth quirked upward. "I could," he agreed, and said nothing more.

"Did you know that my mother had other children?"

Yudai blinked and sat back, face slackening. "Good distraction."

Giveaway

Giveaway for 5 eBook copies of "The Mage Heir" to celebrate the release day.

a Rafflecopter giveaway