Ramblings of a Young Aussie Writer

A writer lost in her own imagination

Category: Reading

The First Chapter — February 17, 2017

The First Chapter

/Charlotte Bull/Leave a comment

Kindle and Apple ibooks have free eBook samples of many books and personally, I think it’s a fantastic idea. From a reader’s perspective, this is a great way to see if a book appeals to your interest before buying it. From an author’s perspective, I’d say this would put a lot more pressure on them to write a first chapter that will ensnare the reader into the story you’ve created.

For those who have had books traditionally published, they’ve already had to impress the publishing company to get their book published. The problem with that, is impressing a few people is a whole world different to impressing millions of people worldwide.

Without these free first chapter samples, the most important part was writing a blurb that would entice people to buy your book, especially on the eBook front. With these free exerts, the first chapter needs to be almost as good as the blurb but no pressure or anything.

On a positive note for authors, at least if someone reads the sample and decides the book is unappealing to them, they won’t be leaving a one star review.

Naturally, a fantastic first chapter doesn’t ensure a great storyline but hey, at least the first chapter was great.

Of course when it comes to print books, well, if the cover is great then at the very worst it will look good on your bookshelf.

 

 

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3.5* Book Review – Iniquity by Amy A Bartol (The Premonition Series) — June 26, 2016

3.5* Book Review – Iniquity by Amy A Bartol (The Premonition Series)

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Iniquity – The Premonition Series (Book 5)

Amy A Bartol

3.5 Star Review

I’ve finally finished the series that I thought would never end. I feel like it has dragged on for way too long. It just felt like overkill. I understand that as a writer, sometimes you love writing about those characters and that world so much you never want it to end but there needs to be a conclusion. It might be a bit of a spoiler but there were loose ends at the end of the book. Clearly, Amy Bartol has left a few things open just in case she wants to add a sixth book. *Groan*

Positives – The cover is just beautiful – lets take a moment to appreciate that. I really enjoy Amy Bartol’s style of writing, probably most of the reason I persevered with this series (and of because of Reed). The basic storyline was great but I’ve heard that she doesn’t always plan her storyline when starting and I think that showed. I love Reed. How can you not? The ending certainly does him justice. Russell is really well developed and I wished he had had a bigger role in this book. I actually ended up liking Brennus which is no easy feat as I’ve wanted him to die from book one. You were shown very different sides to quite a few characters in this book. I did end up crying at the end of the book but that’s not too uncommon. Evie was well, Evie. There were quite a few moments where she certainly didn’t try that hard to deter some of her many admirers.

Negatives – How many admirers can one person have? Like seriously? I swear the count got up to seven. Yes you read correctly. Evie had a minimum of seven males obsessing over her. There was a lot of build up to a climax that just didn’t live up to it. A few pages and the spectacular climax scene was basically over. It was certainly a letdown. Especially considering this is the final book, the final fight scene. Buns, Brownie and Zee seemed like awkward add-ons in this book which was a shame. A lot of things that needed to be finished properly were just skimmed over. I enjoy finishing a book and still thinking about it days/weeks later but with this one I mostly just keep thinking of things that still confuse me. Whether they were unexplained or left too open, I’m not sure.

Overall – I did enjoy this book and was glad it was the final one in the series. Would I recommend it to someone? Maybe. The series as a whole, I loved but it was really long-winded, that was its downfall for me (and of course the fact that there were more than a few handfuls of past, present and future lovers). The best bit – Reed. Now let’s take a moment to once again swoon over Reed. Ahhhh Reed, you gorgeous, perfect angel.

*All my reviews are on Goodreads too*

A Court Of Thorns And Roses – Sarah J. Maas 4.5 Star Review — June 16, 2015

A Court Of Thorns And Roses – Sarah J. Maas 4.5 Star Review

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A Court Of Thorns And Roses

Sarah J. Maas

4.5 Star Review

A Court Of Thorns And Roses Cover

I picked up this book because well, who isn’t reading it?

Positives – I loved reading this book. It had all the wonderful aspects a great book should have. Sarah J. Maas has a beautiful style of writing which is enjoyable to read. The description in the book was wonderful but bordered on being overly descriptive. Tamlin *swoon* was gorgeous. How could you not love him? Feyre was a very strong character who faced all her problems head on making her a great female protagonist.

Negatives – This book has some aspects that are VERY similar to The Hunger Games books and Feyre could easily be confused with Katniss in quite a few parts. I understand that The Hunger Games series was amazing but I felt there needed to be a bit more originality. Apart from that though there wasn’t a lot else I could fault with the book. My only other issue was (without giving anything away) that I didn’t completely understand why Feyre didn’t do the one thing (that I felt was an obvious action) that could have fixed everything but then I guess the book would have been a lot shorter.

**Favourite Character – Just for something a bit different I thought I’d add in a bit about my favourite. After I finished the book I was surprised to realise that my favourite character was actually Rhys (Rhysand) rather than Lucien or of course Tamlin or Feyre. I felt the reader (or maybe it was just me), could understand him and his motives much easier than Feyre seemed to. I can’t say anymore because I’d hate to give away any spoilers.

Overall – If you love Beauty and the Beast as well as The Hunger Games then you will no doubt adore this book. Add in a Faerie theme and you get an enchanting fantasy book. I am super excited for the second book but I’m sure I have a long wait ahead of me.

BLURB –

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Glimmerglass – Jenna Black 3.5 Star Review — March 29, 2015

Glimmerglass – Jenna Black 3.5 Star Review

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Glimmerglass (Faeriewalker #1)

Jenna Black

3.5 Star Review

I picked this book up because it rated well on Goodreads and the blurb looked interesting. It didn’t quite live up to that rating for me, unfortunately.

Glimmerglass - Jenna Black Cover

Positives – I believe first impressions count and the cover of this book was certainly beautiful and intriguing. The storyline started off well and it was easy to empathise with Dana as she battled through teenage life with the extra burden of her mother constantly being drunk. I liked Dana’s character although I felt the reader wasn’t given enough of a description of appearance. She seemed like a responsible teenager whose motives were mostly plausible which made for a nice change from many other protagonists. Ethan was also a cool character and his sister Kimber was freshly honest. The story certainly had potential and I did enjoy reading it but the ending was its biggest downfall.

Negatives – There were a lot of things that weren’t explained and I felt it was assumed that the reader understood many concepts without any explanation at all. With a few of the characters, their motives didn’t quite fit or were hard to grasp. The ending was fairly rushed and anticlimactic. For all the build-up, I honestly expected more.

Overall – The book was a nice length and had hardly any unnecessary scenes. I did enjoy reading about most of the main characters and the storyline had potential. Unfortunately it didn’t quite eventuate into anything fantastic but for a quick read it was entertaining. I gave this book 3.5 stars as I enjoyed it but it didn’t really impress me and certainly didn’t have any kind of impact on me. When I finish a book, I want to be left feeling like ‘wow’ but it wasn’t the case with this book. I’m considering reading the second book to see if Jenna Black has harnessed that potential and turned it into a great second book.

BLURB – (From Goodreads)

It’s all she’s ever wanted to be, but it couldn’t be further from her grasp…

Dana Hathaway doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in big trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, again, Dana decides she’s had enough and runs away to find her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the captivating, magical world of Faerie intersect. But from the moment Dana sets foot in Avalon, everything goes wrong, for it turns out she isn’t just an ordinary teenage girl, she’s a Faeriewalker, a rare individual who can travel between both worlds, and the only person who can bring magic into the human world and technology into Faerie.

Dana finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone’s trying to kill her, and everyone seems to want something from her, from her new-found friends and family to Ethan, the hot Fae guy Dana figures she’ll never have a chance with… until she does. Caught between two worlds, Dana isn’t sure where she’ll ever fit in and who can be trusted, not to mention if her world will ever be normal again.

Addicted To Reading — March 1, 2015

Addicted To Reading

/Charlotte Bull/Leave a comment

I swear that people know when I stay up till the early hours of the morning reading because all of a sudden everyone needs me. If I went to bed at 8pm like a good girl I bet no-one would need me for days. Ughh, I’m so tired but I REGRET NOTHING haha. Now to go on autopilot until I can sleep again or read, most probably I’ll just read rather than sleep because heaven forbid I sleep when I haven’t finished my book yet!

Stayed up Reading

Many years after the hype I’ve actually decided to read the Twilight Saga and now I’m addicted. Totally worth the lack of sleep!

Getting Too Emotionally Involved With A Fictional Character — February 6, 2015

Getting Too Emotionally Involved With A Fictional Character

/Charlotte Bull/Leave a comment

I recently finished a book (Dream Thief by Maggie Stiefvater – which I’ll review soon) and I’ve come to realise that maybe I get a tad too emotionally invested in books and their characters. It hasn’t only been with the two Raven Boys Series books but I have found a character in them that I loathe when I don’t think that’s what the author intended.

This character, Adam Parish is a rude, disrespectful character and I can’t seem to get past my feelings toward him in order to properly enjoy the story (although I’m not overly impressed by the books). I should probably wait to see how the series ends before I make a final judgement but it is the backbone of his personality that frustrates me and if he does change then I don’t think that would be believable.

Who else has a character that they hate when the book dictates that you shouldn’t?

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