Alright, here is another installment of my itty bitty book reviews. These are most of the books I've read in the past while....I'm not very good at remembering to jot down titles and then I quickly forget what I've read.

I also started many many other books, but put them down mostly because they didn't hold my interest. These are the ones I loved and finished.

Human .4 by Mike A. Lancaster



Wow. So weird and creepy and suspenseful. My 12 yo sat down and read it in one sitting. A boy and three others from his town are hypnotized during a town talent show and when they snap out of it everyone in town is frozen in place. What happened while they were under? Oooooh! You'll just have to read it!  It's so great.


But the cover kind of freaked out my kids. :)

Larklight by Philip Reeve
This was a rereading. Steampunk, Victorian space travel, an orphan turned pirate, giant spiders trying to take over the universe...I love this book.

The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal
Really great. A princess discovers she isn't the true princess and is sent back to the small town her real aunt leaves in.  She tries to find her new place in the world. There's some magic. And a sweet romance with a childhood friend who is also a noble. Loved all her struggles.

Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt


This was another rereading. I love Lindsey's sense of humor. Oh. My. I would not be surprised if this series gets made into movies. Nope. Not at all.  I need to get my hands on the next book. Such a fun premise...a girl substitues for princesses who need a break....throw in some magic, an unrequited crush, mean girls and ooooh....a taboo romance....yep. See? Totally fun.

But hey....where's the person to substitute for moms that need a break, eh?

The Roar by Emma Clayton
Animal plague that makes the people of the world take refuge behind a giant wall around London? Goodnight Nurse. This was an interesting premise. And the surprising ending? Brilliant.

The Candleman by Glenn Dakin
Oooooh, what a scary power! The kid can MELT people. Well, not just anyone.  Murderers. Yep. You heard me.  He can MELT them. Really great book.


The Clone Codes by Fred McKissack
The whole idea with clones totally fascinates me. This is a brilliant story of a world where the clones are second class citizens. They're considered dumb menial servants. But then a teenage girl learns she's actually a clone and the government wants to snag her.  Wow. World-changing, eh? As if being a teen isn't hard enough as it is. :)  And then the chase is on. So great.

Fame, Glory and Other Things on my To-do List by Janette Rallison
I love Janette's writing. She's witty and clever and her books are just so fun.  This one is no exception. A teen who dreams of being a famous actress. An unhappy son of a celebrity father. A big school play.  When the girl tries to manipulate the boy into getting his dad at the play (so he can see what a fabulous actress she is) there are some major problems. And a sweet romance.

Ivy's Ever After by Dawn Lairamore
Ok. This one was more toward the beginning of the summer.  I know I really enjoyed it. And it was about a girl who has to go into a tower guarded by a dragon when she's.

have been...

* Promoting this Writing Workshop.

*Taking care of my son who had to go to the doctor after his face smashed into the baby stroller. He was being a sweet son and lifting it out from behind the mass of bikes around it and somehow a part of it smacked into his cheek bone and cut him pretty deep. There was a lot of blood. Ugh. Isn't that one of the worst things in the world? Seeing that much blood leaving your child's body? And he had to get....wait for it....a whole One stitch. One? Come on. He can't even say, "I had to get stitches." Nope. "I had to get a stitch."

*Sticking with the Couch to 5k plan. Wooh. It's hard. I'm up to week 7 which is 25 minutes of constant jogging. It's hard, but I'm doing it. And I've very proud of myself.

*Trying to finish the current draft of my middle grade fantasy by September 12th. I have plans to hole up at the library tomorrow to get a whole bunch of pages written. Maybe 30? heh....I can dream.

*I've been studying a lot of middle grade novels. What makes them work? What is it that I love about them? Why did I get bored with this one or that one? What could the author have done to keep me up until two in the morning unable to put the book down? What did the author do to make me want to forgo sleep in order to continue turning pages?

I've been rereading Ella Enchanted. What a magical book!




I remember loving it, but I'd forgotten just how wonderful it is. I checked it out from the library yesterday (I really need to buy my own copy) and picked it up to glance at it during lunch. And then...

I couldn't put it down. I got so completely sucked in. How she did that? How did Gail Carson Levine get me so absorbed in Ella's tale? Ella's problem (well, a pretty awesome fantasy world ta boot). Ella is cursed to obey every command she hears. What a great and horrible thing! And not only did the author give her main character a huge problem, but Ella also has a specific solution in mind. She is convinced if she can simply find the fairy Lucinda, maybe she can convince her to take her "gift" back.

A specific solution. Something to motivate her to do crazy things, like run away from finishing school to a giant's wedding in the hopes of finding Lucinda.

I've been needing this. Motivation. In my WIP, Jasper, my MC has a problem. But the solution in his mind has been somewhat vague. Luckily, yesterday I thought of a way to solidfy what it is he is searching for. I gave him a specific solution to motivate, to push him to do crazy things in an effort to reach solve his own problem.

Thank you Gail Carson Levine!

Birthdays are great for seeing where you are and where you'd like to be.  So, I've set some goals.  Big Goals.  And I even have a Big Reward in mind for myself if I can reach them. 

Reaching these goals requires me to give up some things.  Like computer time.  At the end of my life am I going to be happy I spent oodles of time repinning on Pinterest and reading crafty blogs and checking out all the status updates on facebook? (really? you're cleaning your toilet?  Yep. That's fascinating.) 

Nope.  That will not bring me any kind of satisfaction. 

So, I'm cutting back.  I'm not going to be blogging much (as if I was already....).  Or on facebook much.

*gasp* I'm going to even try to stay away from Pinterest. 

I mean, think about all the time we spend on the internet or watching TV!  It's crazy.  And the time goes by so fast.  Before you know it the day has shot by and you wonder where it went! Or at least I do.  It's not like I spend all day near a screen, but I piddle away time here and there and then a little more after the kids are asleep.  blech.

So, I'm backing away from my brainless time on the internet.  And I'm going to write books.  The End. 

   Ok. How cool is this? Seriously a fish tank toilet? My kids would hang out in the bathroom all day.  Hey now.  There's an idea...

So, I finally cleaned my bathroom today.  I'd been meaning to do it for....awhile. But there was always something more fun to do... playing with my kids, crafting something, washing my hair, cleaning up puke (my 7 yo son had the flu), poking my eyes with sharp needles.

So, I finally got the paper towel and cleaener and scrubbed my counter and sink and as I was wiping away the scuzz and blech I wondered if cleaning the bathroom is like writing a novel. 

You know you need to clean the bathroom.  You look at it everyday with plans to get it done, but somehow the day gets away and you didn't so much as wipe up one bit of crusty grime (yeah. It was that bad.)

And then when you finally get around to cleaning it and you are reminded your counters are actually a lovely white marble instead of a speckled hairy tan color you think, "Well, that wasn't so bad.  I should have just done it sooner."

I don't actually know if this is like finishing writing a novel.  I've written the rough stinky draft.  Two years later (having made another baby in there as well) I still haven't finished rewriting it. 

But I have big plans.  BIG plans, I say! 

The kids will be back in school next week.  I love having them around (read: I love sleeping in.) and planning fun things for us to do, but I am looking forward to quiet naptimes when I can write.  As it is now, I get the little girls down for naps and there are still the three big boys roaming around the house searching for something to occupy themselves with. And often, this means chatting with mom about things like the downsides of having to buy a new filter for their fish tank every two years or the fact that they wish there was an invention that let them clean the fish tank with just one drop of a chemical.  Both interesting topics, of course, but I do look forward to some writing time that isn't at midnight.

In other writing news, today I got to playing around with the idea of a picture book called The Pickled Princess.  I was thinking pickled was kind of slang for like, "in a pickle"...you know...in trouble.  But I googled it. 

Um...er...it means drunk. 

So.  Either I'll have to change the story or the title.  heh heh.