Review: Writing Great Books for Young Adults

If you want to write, then by all means, you have got to read. 

Novels are a great start. They help maintain the vocabulary flowing and learn how to keep up paragraph and dialogue pace. But reading how-to write books can be a huge advantage.


Here is part of the books on writing I have read:

Writing Great Books for Young Adults outshines its competitors, by combining all of the writing themes together. Instead of focusing just on dialogue, it will have a chapter on the subject, and so on, making it a great start for aspiring writers. 

The main focus on YA literature comes from written examples and exercises. Brooks will ask you to go back in time to your teenage years and focus on your preoccupations. She also lists teen character traits, plots that involve family and school issues, as well as settings youth would most likely be chilling at. 

Although, adding a list of YA literature classes students may take in American Universities doesn't help us Canadians, she does explain the variety of awards (YALSA) YA books can merit as well as publishing houses, and manuscript format and submitting procedures. 

Cover Reveal: Escape from Witchwood Hollow + Giveaway

After losing her parents in a terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, fifteen-year-old Honoria escapes New York City to Arnn—a farming town with more legends than residents, and a history of witchcraft and secrets best left buried.

Everyone in Arnn knows the story of Witchwood Hollow: if you venture into the whispering forest, the witch will trap your soul among the shadowed trees. In the lure of that perpetual darkness, Honoria finds hope when she should be afraid, and a past of missing children and broken promises.  To save the citizens of Arnn from becoming the witch’s next victims, she must find the truth behind the woman’s madness. How deep into Witchwood Hollow does Honoria dare venture? 




Escape from Witchwood Hollow will be published through Curiosity Quills on October 29 2014. 

Jordan Elizabeth, can't get enough of the woods, be it splashing through a stream, sitting beneath an ancient oak, or following a path up a hill. You can contact Jordan via her website.

You don't have to wait until October 29th to explore Witchwood Hollow. Jordan is offering a free ebook. To enter, all you need to do is share the cover. This can be done on your blog, facebook, twitter. Each time you share it, log in to rafflecopter to record it. Contest ends October 20th. Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Movie Time: If I Stay

If I Stay directed by R.J. Cutler

Blooming star Chloe Grace Moretz from Hugo, takes over the role of Mia in Gayle Forman's book adaptation. Those who read the book, know that most of the story takes place in flashbacks as Mia skims through her memories, after a tragic car accident that left her an orphan. Is love enough of a reason to continue to stay alive?

If I stay places all the action on the main characters. In fact, the accident scene is incredibly rushed, Mia waking up when the ambulance is already there. The book was a lot more detailed. As a reader, that's what connected me to Mia. Watching her go through all that anguish of finding her family members one after the other except for little brother Teddy (Jakob Davies). This time around, I felt, disconnected from her. It seemed the only thing Mia cared about was to fit it. Whether with Adam (Jamie Blackley) or best friend Bri's (Liana Liberato) opinion of Adam and her.

So, the film concentrates more on Adam and Mia's romance. Showing us that aside from family, we can experience other types of love. Love that we choose and love that chooses us.

Strangely, the most powerful lines of the film are delivered by Mia's grandfather (Stacy Keach). A man with a small role but with strong words.

Book Feels (The Gif Tag)

BOOK FEELS (a.k.a The Gift Tag)

A shout out thank you to Mo_books for challenging me to join this fun post.


How to play:

I will give a list of books at the end. All you have to do is list the books, and then write a sentence that relates to what you think of when reading the book, and add a gif! Then, tag people/blogs and list ten books for them to do this with! Try to keep the books relatively well known or popular. When you receive this make sure you mention who tagged you! Pass it on!


My turn:

Here are the books from Mo_books list and what I thought of them:

1. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

He he, the printer went loco... Oh no, wait! The strikethrough text is there on purpose.

2. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kawaga

So wrapped into this story, my poor nerves! Won't make it through without a little help. 

3. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Series just started, and I'm still loving it. Encore! Encore!

4. The Selection by Kiera Cass

WTH! How could he just let her walk away?

5. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

That Will and I are going to have a talk on how to treat a lady. Like it or not!


6. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I can no longer sit here and pretend the world is normal.

7. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Not quite ready to read this yet. Soon, I promise.

Couldn't make it to 10. But maybe others can. 

Here is my list:

1. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

2. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

3. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman

4. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

5. Fifty Shades of Grey by  E.L.James

6. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

7. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

You are free to add 3 more gif from books of your choice.

I challenge: A Book Paradise

                 Teen Book Hoots

                 Sassy and Dangerous

                 Take me Away

                 World Inside Books

                 

Review: Vampires of Manhattan

Forget friendly reunions -- the Blue Bloods are back to face enemies once again. 

It's been ten years since the gang defeated Lucifer. Lives were lost. But Oliver, who is now in charge of the vampire community, decides it's time to come out of the shadows and celebrate their victory with a ball. The werewolves are afraid this event will bring havoc, particularly when strange signs (like pentagrams and corpses) begin appearing all over the city. As the saying goes, "the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." Could Lucifer still be out there?

In Vampires of Manhattan, De La Cruz had the hard task to please longtime fans of the series but also gain NA paranormal fans by managing to explain the past events without drowning the reader with too much information. Schuyler, although very present in the first book of the Blue Blood series, holds a small role, with the promise to come back as a main character in the sequel. But no worries. Tension, marital woes, steamy sex scenes and lavish gatherings fill the gaps of the mysterious plotline proving that De La Cruz's talent keeps growing with time.

Prepare for a cliffhanger ending!