Book Review: Turning Pages by Tristi Pinkston

Blurb:

With his pride and her prejudice, what could possibly go wrong?
When the arrogant Blake Hansen steals Addie Preston's promotion at the library, he pretty much rubs her nose in it. But Addie, who dreams of being a full-fledged librarian, decides to stick it out. She loves surrounding herself with books and keeping her father's memory alive in the building where they spent so much time together.
Soon, Addie learns that her beloved library will be torn down to make room for a larger facility, and she has to make a choice. Fight, or let go?
To complicate things, she finds herself attracted to Blake, who is engaged to someone else. Will Blake and Addie ever resolve their differences?

My review:

Contemporary novels normally aren’t my genre. I live, breathe, write, and absorb fantasy novels. But I loved Turning Pages. This was such a cute story with very real, awesome characters. I have read it twice now and will read it again. (Making it on to my shelf of re-readers is a very high award.) Some books I love. Other books I love enough to read them a million times.

Why was this particular book so good?

The characters. Particularly one character: Blake.

He’s so dreadfully annoying in an awesome, cute sort of way. In a sense, he is the perfect character. He is someone that I want to learn more about. Someone that I get annoyed at, but still adore.

Not that he wasn’t the only awesome character. Addie was great too. The story was from her point of view. Point of view characters have to be superb. They have to be someone the reader wants to be with for two hundred or so pages.

Addie, like Blake, isn’t a perfect person. She tends to be a bit dramatic, but her imperfections are what make her great.

How on earth do imperfections make a character awesome?

It makes them real. Real enough to come off the page. When I was reading Turning Pages, I wasn’t reading about some place and some people that an author made up. I was reading about Addie and Blake and the library. All very real people in a very real setting.

And that is what elevates a book to the read-a-million-times status.

Excellent book. I recommend it.

If you want to learn more about the author, here is the like to her website (she's awesome): http://www.tristipinkston.blogspot.com/

Review of Possession

I finished editing my current draft of Bonded recently. I wanted to reward myself. It was a tough edit, so my prize had to be something really really good.

Books are the best thing in the world, so to celebrate my finished-current-draft, I’d read Possession by Elana Johnson.

And it was a fabulous book! I loved especially the characters. Vi has such a unique voice and Jag . . . he is awesome in every way possible. I think the best part about them is that they are very much imperfect. Now, you might be thinking that’s a negative, but actually it’s not.

Perfect characters never get on our nerves. They never do what we know they shouldn’t. They never disappoint us. In essence, perfect characters are boring.

For writing, this doesn’t mean you should just stick any old flaw on your characters to make them less boring. Readers will see through that Band-Aid so fast. The key is to create a character that feels like a real person with all of their imperfections.

Pure genius is the writer that can create a character that we adore, even when they are annoying us. Those are the characters that will stick in the reader's mind.

How do we do that? I don’t know, but if you want to read a book by someone that does: Elana Johnson’s Possession.

And note: The sequel to Possession, Surrender is being released on June 5, 2012. (That’s in six days!)

Conference Recap

Wow, I sure love writer’s conferences. This was a big deal for me because I was pitching my novel for the first time. It was a great experience (I may blog about my thoughts on pitching later on).

Why do I go to conferences?

I go to learn, but really most of the information can be found on-line or from wise critique partners.

Yet it is different. A conference is the one place where things are explained clearly and all in one place. It is interactive, meaning you can go up to the presenter after the class and ask questions, get clarification.

Plus, there are other writers at conferences.

Writers are my most favorite type of people. I love their imaginations and how much they adore books. I love the jokes writers make because they know words. I love the hushed awe that overcomes them over a well-worded sentence.

Writer’s conferences are the best place to meet other writers and we need other writers.

They are the critique partners that help your books be better. They are the shoulders to cry on when rejections come. You can bounce ideas off them without them thinking you are totally insane. They are the people who allow you to critique their books (even if you secretly just want to critique their stuff to read an awesome story before anyone else). Fellow writers are the ones who follow your blog. The friends you make at writer’s conferences are the ones who buy your books even though they’ve already read it because they remember when you were struggling through the first draft and have seen how awesome story has grown. They’re the ones who tweet about your book and share it with their friends. They’re the ones who write awesome books that you are dying share with the world.

A writer would be nothing without friends and a writer’s conference is the perfect place to find them.

April A-Z Blog Challange: The Beginning

A and B: Animals and Books

I’m planning on doing the A-Z Blog challenge. It’s my first year. Since I missed the letter A yesterday I will combine it with B.

Animals and books are probably the biggest distractions known to writers. I have a cat and a dog and if I need to write, they need cuddles. And the keyboard! That is the best place for cats to take a nap. I’m getting pretty good at moving fuzzy limbs to get to the backspace key.

Books—how am I supposed to write when there are so many awesome books out there? I write because I love characters and plots and settings that suck me in. Many times, I have not written because I could not put down a book. Darn those authors.

Everyone needs a break now and then. So pick up that book you’ve been meaning to.

Nothing better than cuddling with a purring cat, warm puppy, and a good book. Though I suppose that’s better than my other A and B distraction—Angry Birds.

Trust and Awesome Books

Sometimes, I’m just in the mood to read a really good book. I don’t want to be bogged down with flat characters or boring plots. I don't want to start a book and have it end terribly or begin terribly. I just want to be caught up in story. I want characters that I adore (even when they are annoying).

During these times, I turn to authors I can trust. I have a list of authors that I enjoy every single book they write. The genre doesn’t matter. I know it will be good. For these authors, I’ll snatch their books off the library shelf without even reading the jacket flaps or studying the covers.

I know their books will be awesome and sometimes every reader needs a little bit of awesomeness.

How do these trusty-worthy authors do it?

Here are some things I’ve noticed that the authors on my list have in common.

1.      They know their craft. They know the basics of grammar. They understand character development and plot arcs. I don't have to plow through poorly constructed sentences or dig my way out of plot holes. I can just enjoy the story.

2.      They create memorable characters. Yeah, their plots are superb too, but really I can’t put down their books because I want to find out what happens to the character. The voice is strong. When reading, I forget that the characters are a creation of the author's imagination.

3.      Their endings are satisfying. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a happy ending, just that it’s a fitting ending. Their endings are also not predictable and yet, there is a connection to the beginning that astounds me in its simplicity.

4.      Their books make me think. I love books that when I finish, I just have to sit and think about what happened. Books that help me better understand people and ponder life. On my list of trusted authors, they do this consistently.

Do you have favorite authors like this? How do you think they do it?

The Books We Love

I recently read The Sapphire Flute by Karen E. Hoover and it got me pondering about what makes a book good. Not just good, but what makes a book awesome?

Sometimes, you find books that you like and other times you find books that you love. Books that you like you enjoy reading, but when you finish, you finish. It sits back on your shelf or is returned to the library and forgotten. Books that you love, stick in your mind. You see a word or a name in the real world and instantly it brings you back to that world. These are the books that are lovingly read and reread.

What makes a book un-put-downable? What makes you think of it weeks after reading the last page?

In an unforgettable book, the characters are lovable. They have to be so real that as a reader, you forget they are mere words on a page. The Sapphire Flute's characters are a good example of that. Immediately, before she even has a point of view, I am curious of the main character Shandae's role and worry for her future. I feel sympathy for her and I haven't even met her yet! Then, as she makes an appearance as a point of view character, she is loveable and easy to relate to. I care for her trials, because a tight emotional connection is established early on.

Phenomenal books stand out by the details in which the author writes them. In The Sapphire Flute, the settings and the characters are described so richly that the world feels real. I can feel what the scorching of the flames and hear the sweet music from the flute. It is more than just reading a book, it's being swept into a book.

The Sapphire Flute definitely falls under my personal “love it” category. It isn't just a good book—it is an unforgettable, awesome book. Currently, it is available at Amazon, but it won't be for long. Also, it is available on smashwords as an e-book.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66328

Also, stop by sometime next week for an interview with the author and a contest!

Happy writing!