"Waiting on" Wednesday: Falling Kingdoms

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

 It spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating!

 

Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms #1)

by Morgan Rhodes

Release Date: December 11, 2012

 

Goodreads Description:

 

In a land where magic has been forgotten but peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest is simmering. Three kingdoms grapple for power—brutally transforming their subjects’ lives in the process. Amidst betrayals, bargains, and battles, four young people find their fates forever intertwined:

Cleo: A princess raised in luxury must embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of a magic long thought extinct.

Jonas: Enraged at injustice, a rebel lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country impoverished—and finds himself the leader of a people’s revolution centuries in the making.

Lucia: A girl adopted at birth into a royal family discovers the truth about her past—and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.

Magnus: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, a firstborn son begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword...

The only outcome that’s certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?

 

Why am I eagerly waiting on this?  This book sounds like a truly epic adventure!  I haven't read many high fantasy novels lately (Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series just about did me in and I'm still not finished with the series...lol).  But, I'm really excited about this book and I think it's going to be a great beginning to an intriguing fantasy series!  And I really love what they've done with the cover...it's really stunning!

 

What are you eagerly waiting on?

Leave me a link or comment below and have a great WoW day!



Teaser Tuesday: My Wicked Marquess

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•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!

This weeks' teaser comes from My Wicked Marquess (The Inferno Club #1) by Gaelen Foley:

When he walked into his Town mansion on Hyde Park a short while later, a bit banged up but none the worse for wear, his old butler Dodsley greeted him with a dry glance that took note of his dishevelment. “Good afternoon, sir. Shall I fetch the medical kit?”
“Ah, no thanks, old boy. Bit of a row. Do me a favor, if the constable comes knocking, tell him I was here all morning, will you?”
“Killed someone again, did we?”
“Never before luncheon, Dodsley. It’s still early yet.”
“Indubitably, my lord.” (p. 26)


Okay, it's more than two sentences, but this interaction between Max and his butler just cracked me up!  This has been an intriguing read so far and I look forward to continuing with it today when I get the chance.

Have anything to tease me with?

Leave me a link or comment below!





Musing Mondays [1]

 

MUSING MONDAYS… is a weekly event where MizB of Should Be Reading will ask a book/reading-related question, and you answer with your own thoughts on the topic.

 

There are a lot of books being made into movies, these days (“Anna Karenina“; etc). So, this week’s musing — courtesy of http://abookandashortlatte.wordpress.com — asks…

 

Have you ever read a book after watching the movie/television version only to find that you don’t like the book as much as the adaptation?

It usually tends to be the opposite for me.  I'll read the book and then watch the movie or TV show and hate the movie/TV show.  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was a movie that I watched before I began reading the book and I was actually impressed that "Hollywood" managed to make an excellent movie based very closely on the book and it's events.  In fact, it was the movie that got me started reading the series.  But as for reading a book after watching the movie/TV version and not liking the book as much...I think the only instance I can come up with is Carrie by Stephen King.  The movie was actually much freakier and better portrayed than the book (yeah, I was shocked to discover this and I love Stephen King's writing).

What are your thoughts on this intriguing question?

Leave me a link or comment below and have an awesome Monday!

 

The Leaning Tower of Books

I love books!  I've been a voracious reader since I was 9 and was first introduced to The Nancy Drew Casefiles series (I still have 117 books out of this series...just couldn't bare to part with them).  I wanted to be Nancy Drew and travel to all the places she did, solving mysteries and catching the bad guys.  I even remember one time telling my mom to call me Nancy instead of Wendy (I was big into playing Pretend at that age and who better to pretend to be than Nancy Drew?). 

Anyway, as I got older, I slowly branched out into the paranormal realm (vampires and ghosts mainly with the occasional witch thrown in).  And then my last couple of years of high school, I was introduced to Fantasy with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

Then life hit and threw me some major curve balls which caused me to stop reading for quite a while - about 10 years or more, to be honest.  It also caused me to stop writing for the same amount of time.  Some things in life are hard to get past and they tend to take away your enjoyment in things that you once were completely immersed in.

So, with that void of books and writing in my life, I completely lost touch with the literary world and a lot of things had changed (for the better, I believe).  When I was a teen, there wasn't really such a thing as Young Adult books.  Everything was lumped into Children (or if you had a progressive bookstore in your town, they called the section Teens).  But the books at that time were pretty generic and not very mature.  And I was on a very mature reading level back then.  So, most books (with a few rare exceptions) were boring to me and I ended up reading more adult books (Robert Jordan, Dean Koontz, and a freakin' ton of romance novels).

So, imagine my pleasant surprise when the Twilight series and the Harry Potter series came out and I actually picked them up to read.  I couldn't believe how amazingly different these books were from the books I'd read as a kid and as a teen!  These two series alone broke the non-reading spell I was under and over the past few years, I have begun to devour books again like I used to.

The difference this time is that I feel I've truly branched out in my reading interests.  Whereas I typically stuck with mysteries, vampires, ghosts, some fantasy, and a ton of romance (especially Regency Romance), I now find myself reading so many new and intriguing subgenres in both the Young Adult and the Adult realms.  Dystopians, Psychological Thrillers, Zombies, Werewolves, Contemporaries, Historical Fictions.....and the list goes on and on. 

And now there are Indie Authors, Self-Published Authors, and Traditional Authors all turning up the notch and raising the bar for all these different genres.  And with the creation of the ebook, books are so much easier to come by (and relatively cheaper too).  But, I will admit that even though I have almost 400 books on my Kindle and Nook apps combined, I still much prefer to have either paperback or hardback. :)

Which brings me to why I titled this post the way I did: According to my calculations, I currently have almost 300 books on my TBR pile that I actually own but have yet to get around to reading.  I'm working on that pile and trying very hard not to add more to it, but it seems that I have a slight book buying addiction.  Even if I manage to not actually spend money on books, I still find myself occasionally going onto Amazon and finding Free books to download, which then sit on the pile for way longer than they should because really I was just trying appease the urge to own more books.  Sigh.  It's a vicious cycle but one that I am determined to someday break.

And the reason I'm rambling on about all of this is to let you all know that at the end of each month, I'll be posting an update that shows which books I read from the TBR pile that month and what, if any, books got added to the TBR pile.  Maybe someday I'll have the pile completely reduced to 0 but I highly doubt it.  My goal right now is to try and concentrate on some of the books that were added to the pile more than 6 months ago.  We'll see how well that goes. :)

Do you have a Leaning Tower of Books?

If so, how many books make up that Tower and how do you go about reducing the number?

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments, so please feel free to leave me something below and have a wonderful weekend!



"Waiting on" Wednesday: The Friday Society

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  It spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating!

 

The Friday Society

by Adrienne Kress

Release Date: December 6, 2012

 

Goodreads Description:

 

An action-packed tale of gowns, guys, guns–and the heroines who use them all

Set in turn of the century London, The Friday Society follows the stories of three very intelligent and talented young women, all of whom are assistants to powerful men: Cora, lab assistant; Michiko, Japanese fight assistant; and Nellie, magician's assistant. The three young women's lives become inexorably intertwined after a chance meeting at a ball that ends with the discovery of a murdered mystery man.

It's up to these three, in their own charming but bold way, to solve the murder–and the crimes they believe may be connected to it–without calling too much attention to themselves.

Set in the past but with a modern irreverent flare, this Steampunk whodunit introduces three unforgettable and very ladylike–well, relatively ladylike–heroines poised for more dangerous adventures.

 

Why am I eagerly waiting on this?  I've developed a fascination for Steampunk and I'm a huge murder mystery fan.  Plus, I love books set in turn of the century London!  So, this book encompasses all sorts of fascinating pieces that I enjoy and I can't wait to read it to see how well the author fits all of those pieces together.  And, I think the cover totally rocks!

 

What are you eagerly waiting on?

Leave me a link or comment below and have a great WoW day!



 

Teaser Tuesday: Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

 •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!

 

This weeks' teaser comes from Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swenson #1) by Joanne Fluke:

 

Hannah wanted to tell him that she didn’t need a shrink. Even if she did, a Jordan High counselor who dealt with the heartbreak of acne and dateless Saturday nights wouldn’t be the shrink she’d choose. But then she reminded herself that she’d vowed to be tactful, and she took a deep breath, preparing to lie through her teeth. (p. 42) 

 

This has been a cute read so far.  I've not read many "cozy mysteries" and I wouldn't put this on par with Agatha Christie or anything, but it's a fun read with a nice mix of realism and humor.  Plus, it comes with some good recipes! :)



Changes Run Amok

If it's been a while since you've been to the blog, you'll notice some changes taking place.  I guess I decided I was in a Blue Period but I like how things look for the moment.  And I've added some new things to the sidebar, like a logo with the link to Cressen Books, my publishing company, a display of my Tweets, and a widget displaying what book I'm currently reading.  I've also made a few tweaks to the About page but those are more subtle.

Some of these changes were made due to the fact that I decided to end my book review blog, Escape Into Fiction, but I still wanted to share what I was reading at the moment and such, which would have been found there.  And because Escape Into Fiction has escaped into the sunset, I thought I might participate in some bookish memes here on my authors' blog, such as Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading and Waiting on Wednesday hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  Those two memes in particular I really enjoyed and thought it would add a nice mix up here on Wendy's Musings.  It's all book related, so it's all good.  And I think it's also good to share things outside of just what project I'm working on at the moment.  Makes me feel more human!

I'm also hoping that these changes will have me posting on this blog more often.  I realized that as I got busier with everything happening with the business, I was spending less and less time on the book review blog.  And when I took into account what I was posting there (when I had the time), I realized that I could just as easily incorporate those posts here on this blog.

I'm still trying to adjust to this new idea, so some of the memes I've mentioned may or may not get posted this week.  I wanted to make sure I was satisfied with the overall "new" look of the blog before I dove into adding new posts.  I also intend to continue reviewing the occasional book, especially if it's a book that I found really interesting or amazing.  So, be on the lookout for reviews thrown in here and there.

So, although I'm sad to see the end of Escape Into Fiction, I know and feel that it was the right decision to make.  I look forward to occasionally sharing fun bookish memes with you all as well as reviews and of course the usual musings! :)

When Will I Write Again?

Wow, it has been a crazy few months and things don't look to be slowing down any.  Especially with the holidays approaching, I've been trying to figure out just when I can get back to my writing.

As some of you may know, my Muse and I own a publishing company.  So, aside from writing, I wear many other hats including editing, cover design, website maintenance, etc.  And this year, we've taken on an intern from Shepherd University who has been an absolute joy to work with these last few months.  Her enthusiasm and insight has helped us branch out even more with our business and has given us ideas of how we want to proceed in the future with many different things.

And most of you probably remember me announcing that we have signed on a new author, Jessica L. Padilla, who will be writing in the Paranormal genre.  So, exciting times to be had by us here and more exciting times to come as we may sign Rachel Stark, our intern, on as an author (she's still contemplating what she wants to do and we don't want to pressure her and will respect any decision she comes to as we want to see her do what's best for her).  We are also in talks with another potential author but that's still the early stages, so we won't know anything at this time.  But I'll definitely post when we know something for sure there.

With all of this going on, I also managed to get our books in paperback out on Amazon.com and soon it will be time to start a "Christmas" marketing campaign.  So many things to juggle where the business is concerned and I worry at times that I'm going to drop the ball somewhere.  I mean, the Muse is a huge help with the business, but he works full-time for the federal government, which leaves me handling the business alone most days.  I don't mind because I absolutely love what I do and I love working with all the different aspects of a publishing company.  But it can get overwhelming at times for just one person to handle.

So, that brings me to the title of this post: When will I write again?  I've got The Butterfly Connection waiting to get it's final edits so I can publish it and finish out The L & L Mysteries series.  I've got Galactic Dynasty waiting for me to write more on it.  And I've got a ton of other stories and ideas that keep grappling for my attention.  But there's only so much time in the day and these other pieces have needed my complete focus these last few weeks.

I'm extremely happy that the business seems to be picking up, so please don't think I'm complaining about that.  It's really wonderful and exciting!  In the case of my writing, I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to restructure my days so I can at least get some writing done each day and not feel as though I've completely abandoned my own aspirations to be a writer.  I have so many stories to tell that I don't want to push them to the back burner permanently.

So, I'm out of here for now to figure out how to make time for writing and to hopefully get back into the wonderful flow of words!

Time Is An Illusion...Lunchtime Doubly So

Okay, who can guess where the quote comes from that is the title of this post??  Have you guessed it??  Not entirely sure?  Let me help you.  It's from Douglas Adam's "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy". :)  I freakin' love that book and the BBC adaptation!

Anyway, time does feel like an illusion most days.  It either speeds up when you're enjoying something or it goes ridiculously slow when you're not.  And as I get older, I've noticed that time in general just seems to speed by more quickly than it did when I was a kid.

And what about that saying 'if only there were more hours in the day'?  Yeah, I find myself saying that alot too.  There are so many things I want to do or need to do or have to do, that it feels like most days just don't have enough hours to get all of that accomplished.

Lately, I've found myself doing something I never thought I would do.  I find myself working on the weekends.  My entire life, the weekend meant fun and relaxation, doing things I want to do.  But, it seems in the past few months, I've been devoting a lot of that fun and relaxation time to the business or to my writing or to just work in general.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I love writing and it actually is a lot of fun for me.  So, I don't mind so much if I find myself writing a few extra pages in a novel on the weekends.  It's when I find myself working on other things, mostly business related regarding the publishing company I co-own with the Muse, that I'm astonished at. 

I mean, I love our publishing company and I really do want to see it succeed.  So, I know that there are times that I have to devote a little more of my free time to it.  But, I shouldn't be devoting all of my free time to it because then when will I have time for me?  And I truly believe that taking time for yourself is very important in staying healthy and at least mostly stress-free.

So, this weekend, I am determined to take more time for myself.  And even though I know there are several things on my business To Do List, I realize that those things can actually wait until Monday morning when the work week starts again.  This weekend will be a work-free weekend, daggonit, and I will not feel guilty when I sit in my comfy Catnapper Recliner and play video games or read for the majority of the weekend! lol  Yeah, I have a recliner that is actually called a Catnapper...is that awesome or what?!

Anyway, now that I've determined that this will be a fun weekend spent relaxing and playing and spending quality time with the Muse, I'm sure that time will probably fly by and it will be Monday before I know it.  But, I won't think about that right now.  Otherwise, I might get bummed at the idea!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing weekend and don't forget to take time for yourself and just enjoy!

Working Through the Blahs

There are times when I get the blahs and I just can't decide what I want to do with myself.  Nothing seems to hold my interest for more than a few minutes regardless of whether it's something I enjoy doing or not.  And when these moments happen, writing seems to go right out the window because I can barely put two coherent words together, let alone an entire sentence.

I love being creative and really abhor when my creativity gets blocked by random visits from Blah-Ville.  But, I've learned that I don't have to be creative in writing during these times.  I've discovered many different ways for me to be creative without having to try and smash words together.

So, during this particular visit from Blah-Ville, I've discovered an interest to possibly put my Bachelor's degree to work.  My degree is in Simulation and Digital Entertainment which basically means I learned how to create computer/video games from the ground up.  And I've been kicking the idea around of maybe creating some fun, casual games to coincide with The L & L Mysteries series.  Possibly create a game for each book in the series.  I'm not sure what type of game yet, but I don't think it will be something too complex as I'll be the only one working on it.  But there are all different kinds of levels of creativity when it comes to creating games that I have a feeling I could be drowning in this project before long.  But I'll have a very happy, cheesy grin on my face!

Actually, I'm still working on the concept right now.  So game creation will not begin anytime soon.  But, as I go along with this new idea, I'll keep everyone informed of what's happening with it.

Writing comes first, though, and I have one more book in The L & L Mysteries to produce.  Plus, I'm co-authoring with the Muse on a sci-fi/adventure series that I really need to give more attention to in the coming months.  Fortunately, The Butterfly Connection (the final book in L & L) is already drafted out.  I just have to go through and massage it and tweak it a bit before it's ready to be published.

With all of this stuff floating around in my brain, I really can't begin to fathom how I could have received a visit from Blah-Ville.  But it happened and I'm trying very hard to push through it so I can continue on with all the great ideas and plans I've got rolling around upstairs.  And I'm confident that I'll push through and will be moving full steam ahead very soon!

I know this was a bit of a rambling session.  But, do any of you ever get visits from Blah-Ville?  How do you handle those visits?  Leave me a comment below and have a great All Saints Day!