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Funny story for this one. When Divergent came out in theaters, I saw the film cover softback in my local market and decided to pick it up. Then I waited. And waited… And waited… Finally, the Insurgent film was set to release in a week and I still hadn't seen the film cover soft back. I was in my market, holding the standard art covered done, debating. I fought with myself and ultimately decided I could be patient a little longer. I put the book back. The next day, yes I spend a lot of time at the market, I looked again. Behold! The cover I wanted was there! I snatched it up and read it that night. [goodreads review]
The world has gone crazy around Tris and Tobias. Factions have turned against one another, the factionless are working together, and their allies look like enemies and their enemies become friends. But even more difficult still, all of this happens while Tris is battling not just the demons around her, but her own demons within.
Tris is written beautifully. She's full of difficult decisions, angsty teen drama (yup, try to remember this character is only sixteen), and more PTSD than she can handle. All of Roth's hard work and research into PTSD was well worth it because as readers we were pulled along on Tris’ fear of guns, lies to those closest to her, and skittish behavior. Tobias of course tries to be there to help her, but her destructive behavior finds him pulling away for self preservation reasons. Through all of the drama the two provide a solid story and compelling plot. Overall the second book didn’t wow me like the first. Divergent had an innocence to it and a plot surprise that was more intriguing to me that Insurgent's. That’s not to say Insurgent wasn’t a good book, it was fantastic, the writing, the descriptions, the drama, all great. But what made Divergent not just any other post-apocalyptic novel were the factions, and in Insurgent they were almost non existent, and yes, I know that’s the point.
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Who brought the fire works!? The s'mores!? How about the ghost stories!? It’s camping season and it’s time for your week two updates on my journey through Camp NaNoWriMo! Welcome the the most exciting blog post I have written to date, while also being consequently the most anti-climactic. Today is Monday, the second Monday of April’s session in fact and also day 20 of camp. Day 20 makes it officially WIN DAY! Yesterday, was the last day of the session where a camper was able to change their word count goal before the clock ticked over to today, win day. Once wind day begins, validation of your word count is possible and campers are able to begin winning. So… without further ado…. *drum roll please* *I won!*  Yup, you heard me right! I finished writing Stealth a full 10 days before the camp session ended! This marks my SECOND fully written novel and I’m honestly still in shock. Even as I type this I can’t help but smile at the amount of progress I’ve made in the last two years with my writing. Slowly my pattern is becoming a routine and I couldn’t possibly be happier about it. My goal is to continue writing every day even if just for an hour, blog posts, book reviews, editing my novels, etc. Anything as long as I get the fingers moving and the words flowing.
 Pull out the marshmallows and the chocolate! Pass me the graham crackers, it's Fiction Friday and I'm ready for a story! Camp has reached the halfway point in the month and team Eliza has made EPIC progress. As of this morning we are a mere SIX thousand from our goal of 50k. That's nearly double where we should be! At this rate we will be finished sometime on Sunday and the first draft of Stealth will be completed. This just boggles my mind. Last night I finished up the epilogue and all that remains are a few transitions and a scene or two that I've put off writing. I'm expecting a full update post on Monday so stay tuned for juicy stats, pictographs, and as much confetti as I can find. For now, enjoy this scene from Stealth that I wrote this week with Annabelle attempting to was a sleepy Miranda with a tantalizing cup of coffee... and maybe some sisterly threats. Annabelle climbed into Miranda’s bed, Tin having long since vacated it in favor of the gym. She waved a cup of hot coffee under her sister’s nose and wafted the steam in her face. “Mir…” she purred, “Wake up Mir.” I loved this book. I was given Vanishing Girl via a goodreads giveaway and it has been in my stack of to-be-read for far too long. Laura Thalassa wrote the first government spy story I have ever enjoyed to date and I can't wait for the next one. [goodreads review]
What would you do if you could teleport, and what if you found out you were not the only one. Ember found out just that, eighteen and just trying to get through high school, she just tries to make it through one night at a time. Then the government shows up and everything changes. She's not the only one with this ability, and she must use them to aid the government for a minimum of two years, but will she survive two years.
Ember is one strong female heroine. Throught the story, Ember sees and experiences many things, and following her own moral compass, she stands her ground and continues to second guess the harsh world she’s been thrown into. Her compassion for her friends is applaudable and her personality makes her easy to like from the very beginning. Caden is written just as well and balances Ember’s quirks. Caden grew up with the government and his loyalty had been built up over the years, but that practiced loyalty he also shares with Ember and their interactions and relationship was one of true companionship. With multiple settings, the need for brevity and at the same time, enough detail to inform the reader, was a hurdle the author seemed to handle easily. Every new environment was detailed enough to be imagined but not too detailed as to weight down the rest of the novel’s flow. The multitude of support characters we also treated with the same delicate care as the environment. Lastly, because this book was provided physically I’ll comment on the actual item. The cover is beautiful, though completely irrelevant to the story, and no that’s not a bad thing. The paper stock was high quality and the oversized paperback format had a good heft and feel in the hands. It was beautiful inside and out. Dear Cyberstalker, I'd like to bring to your attention a definition: Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, a group, or an organization. It may include false accusations, defamation, slander and libel. It may also include monitoring, threats, or gathering information that may be used to threaten or harass. Cyberstalker, if you comprehend the above definition, I'd like to ask you a few questions, don't worry they should be pretty easy.
So Cyberstalker, what do you think, can we be friends? You felt uncomfortable with one or more of the questions I asked you, and you don't want to be my friend? You feel violated, threatened, and disrespected ...but...but. Yeah, well, I don't want to know you either Cyberstalker, so how about we make a pact. You lose my phone number, my pen name, my real name, and how you think I owe you something. In return, I'll wish you a beautiful rest of your life, and you can go get the help you so desperately need. -Eliza Cyberbullying, cyberstalking, and harassment are real things and if you or anyone you know is suffering from an abusive online relationship you should seek help and guidance for how to deal with the situation.
Contact a lawyer to discuss your options and contact your local police department if you feel your life is being threatened.
Lucian slowed their dance before kissing her gently and unlocking the door to the patio, pulling her out onto it with him.  If you follow me on Facebook, you may know I took last Friday off of work to stay home and play full time writer. I set a goal for myself of just under 6k, which would put the full manuscript of Stealth at the 60k mark. Well, I didn't quite make my goal of 6K, but I made it to 4.5K and to be honest, I'm happy with that. After nearly four hours of disciplined work at the keyboard a headache made it hard to see and it was nap time. I came back to my work later, but a sleepy hubs and fluffy made offers for cuddles that I had a difficult time refusing. I’m finding my groove in writing again, but this session of camp is a bit more rough than previous sessions I've attended. I realistically had not written anything for Stealth or Keeper's from July to February (wedding, graduation, school, etc) and getting back into it was hard.
Book two of Cassandra and Logan’s trilogy! I bought Irreplaceable the same night I finished the first book, Inevitable, and read it in its entirety one night before bed. [goodreads review]
The first time she sees Logan she’s smitten and her lust is out of control, but all signs point to him being taken and blessed with the life she’s always wanted. When their relationship just starts to accelerate, a few harsh words and one drunk driver could ruin it all. Cassandra struggles to figure out which Logan is real, the persona he projects to the world as his shield, or the one he lets only her and Oliver see.
As with the previous book, the scenes with Oliver were by far the best, sadly, in this book they were far fewer. Cassandra’s personality and judgmental quality reaches new heights and through her struggle with Logan I often found myself hoping she’d stop talking and get over it. The level of her stubbornness got out of hand very quickly and as she tries to move past her feeling for Logan she tries to protect herself by treating him horribly. Logan tries so hard to make up for his one moment of weakness in book one, that I often sided with him and sometimes wanted to scream at him to ignore Cassandra and move on. Overall, this book felt more like filler than an actual separate book, the back and forth between Cassandra and Logan drug on for way too many pages, and the introduction of his ex wife, while interesting, was not enough to keep me engaged. Hopefully, I change my mind when getting to through the third and final part. |
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