October Book Giveaway

Another month, two more books. :)

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.
She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
There is.
She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.
She's wrong.

ARC of Eve by Anna Carey
The year is 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus—and the vaccine intended to protect against it—wiped out most of the earth’s population. The night before eighteen-year-old Eve’s graduation from her all-girls school she discovers what really happens to new graduates, and the horrifying fate that awaits her.
Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust...and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.

To enter, fill out the form below, then come back here on Saturday, October 29th to see if you've won. Good luck!

100 Book Reading Challenge: October

How is everyone's reading going? I'm on such a roller coaster. I get lots of reading done, then none. But I've been doing lots of writing, so it's all good. :)

Here are the two books I'm giving away this month. Happy reading!

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
The wars that followed The Collapse nearly destroyed civilization. Now, twenty years later, the world is faced with a choice—rebuild what was or make something new.
Stephen Quinn, a quiet and dutiful fifteen-year-old scavenger, travels Post-Collapse America with his Dad and stern ex-Marine Grandfather. They travel light. They keep to themselves. Nothing ever changes. But when his Grandfather passes suddenly and Stephen and his Dad decide to risk it all to save the lives of two strangers, Stephen's life is turned upside down. With his father terribly injured, Stephen is left alone to make his own choices for the first time.
Stephen’s choices lead him to Settler's Landing, a lost slice of the Pre-Collapse world where he encounters a seemingly benign world of barbecues, baseball games and days spent in a one-room schoolhouse. Distrustful of such tranquility, Stephen quickly falls in with Jenny Tan, the beautiful town outcast. As his relationship with Jenny grows it brings him into violent conflict with the leaders of Settler's Landing who are determined to remake the world they grew up in, no matter what the cost.
 

ARC of You Against Me by Jenny Downham
If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right? If your brother's been accused of a terrible crime and you're the main witness, then you banish all doubt and defend him. Isn't that what families do? When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her at a party, his world of work and girls begins to fall apart. When Ellie's brother is charged with the crime, but says he didn't do it, her world of revision, exams and fitting in at a new school begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide.

To enter, fill out the form below. You may join this challenge at any time. Also, you must follow these rules, or your entry will be disqualified:

1. One URL per entry, and that URL must directly link to a book review. A general link to your blog or Goodreads profile isn't specific enough (I simply don't have the time to go sifting through the hundred or so of these entries to figure out what everyone is reading).
2. You may enter as many times as you like, BUT you must keep to the one URL per entry rule. Otherwise your entry will only count as one.
3. You must have reviewed the book IN OCTOBER. Past reviews don't count.

FYI--to get to a direct link to your Goodreads reviews, click on the title of the book, and then click on the "My Review" heading just above where you type in your review. A link to your profile will render your entry invalid.

Come back here on Monday, October 31st to see if you've won. Good luck!!

Winner of the September Reading Challenge Giveaway!!

It's the last day of September, and I'm up to 55 books for the year. Not too bad, even if it's not as much as I'd like. :)

Anyway, it's time to announce the winner of this month's giveaway.

Veronica!

Congratulations!! I'll get your books out to you asap.

I've got more great ARCs to give away. Stop by tomorrow to see what they are!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.
When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Wow! This is such an amazing book. And set in Prague? Too cool. I've never been there, but I sure want to visit. Especially after reading this book!

Karou is awesome, and so is her friend, Zuzana. It’s refreshing to see such a good friendship. And the petty eyebrows thing! It made me laugh out loud. :) Actually, I loved all the little things Karou did. She's a master of subtlety, and she's so good at using it to her advantage.

The way Karou dealt with her ex-boyfriend felt authentic. She discovered he was a sleaze bag and left him, refusing to go back even though she's still attracted to him. I loved that! Huge thanks to the author for not turning him into a love triangle. I'm so sick of them.

The plot is solid, with plenty of mystery. I loved discovering everything right alongside Karou. I'm not usually one for flashbacks, but this story is built on them. And they were expertly woven in, giving us the necessary information at exactly the right time. There were a couple flashbacks toward the end that I got impatient with because I wanted find out what was happening in the present, but still. I don't think I've ever seen flashbacks handled so well.

The interaction between Akiva and Karou is interesting and done well. The build-up between them is gradual, and the twist at the end is truly painful. I cannot wait until the next book comes out!

Winner of the September Book Giveaway!

I'm terribly sorry for not posting this earlier. I got my weeks mixed up and thought the contest ended this saturday instead of last saturday.

Anyway, I've chosen a winner via Random.org, and that person is...

Jane!

Congratulations! I'll get your books out to you asap.

This saturday (and I won't forget this time), I'll announce the contest for next month--ARCs of more fabulous books. Stop by to enter!

How To Get The Most Out Of A Critique, Part Three

Last week, I talked about how to give an effective critique. This week, I want to go over how to incorporate feedback into your own work after you’ve gotten a critique.
Remember the critique I told you about last week? The one with this underlying message: Nothing about your story is good, and my way is the only way to make it better. Even though the critiquer never said this outright, her statements and observations were made with such confidence and assurance that it’s easy to believe she knows what she’s talking about—which makes that underlying message even stronger, and puts an incredible amount of pressure on the author to follow her advice.

In my opinion, this kind of critique is far more dangerous than one that rants. The arguments appear sound, and the lack of emotion makes it difficult to dismiss. But does that mean it’s valid? Not at all.

This was just one person’s opinion, and she didn’t have the same insight into my story that I did. Fortunately for me, I knew the heart of my story and recognized right away that she didn’t see it, so I actually stopped reading and set her critique aside. But what if I hadn’t been so sure of my story? This critique was so compelling and sure of itself that it could have led me in the wrong direction, and then I’d have been struggling to write a story that’s half mine and half someone else’s. That never works.

Which leads me to another point: if you don’t know the heart of your story, you are not ready for feedback. Let me say that again. If you don’t know the heart of your story, you are not ready for feedback. Here’s why.

If you don’t know what your story is about, then how can you improve it? So many new writers pound out a first draft and then send it off to a critiquer, eager for ideas to make it better. That’s admirable, but it’s also dangerous. If you don’t know the heart of your story and you get a critique like I did, you could find yourself in a whole mess of trouble. You might end up abandoning your story down the road. But if you know what your story is about and where it needs to go, then feedback is a good thing.

And now, finally, we get to the real question. How do you incorporate feedback into your story?

The very first thing to do is read through the comments, then set them aside for a few days. This will allow your brain to process the information, as well give your emotions time to settle. When you come back, you’ll be more open to the idea of change.

For the suggestions that you know won’t work, simply move on. Or, take a closer look at what’s behind the comment and see if the critiquer misunderstood a part of your story, which you could make clearer. Make a note of this. Also, make a note of the things you like, agree with, or ring true to you. If you’re not sure, then add it to the list.

Once that list is complete, go through it with a critical eye and compare it to the heart of your story. For the things you know will work, turn them into a Revision To-Do List, or some similar way to track the changes you intend to make in the next revision. For everything else, take a good, hard look at them. Do they really, truly mesh with your story? There might be some fantastic ideas and possibilities in this list, but that doesn’t mean they’ll work. It might be difficult, but let those things go.

Sounds good, right? Well, what if those brilliant-but-doesn’t-quite-work ideas came from an agent or editor? Then what do you do?

I’ll be talking about that next week, as well as what it means to write for yourself. :)