Combo Post! Book Notes & Author Journey July 9, 2021

 I must confess I was so excited about our home school order coming in this week and my current progress on the Surge revisions that I completely mixed up what had been done and when on this blog and the home school blog I write. I came to the site thinking, surely I had posts set up ahead of time. And surely I did not! ...sigh... Regular schedules are super hard for me. I don't like super-structured days because I thrive on variety. But some things do need to stay on a regular schedule. 

In this combo post, I'll share a couple of book reviews with you and give you a little update on where my current projects are, as well as how I've been doing with my Camp Nano project. 

Book Review: The James Haak Legacy by Elizabeth D. Marie

The James Haak Legacy by Elizabeth D. Marie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Soft and Gentle Romance

How such a short, soft, and gentle romance could also be gripping amazes me. Elizabeth D. Marie has written an absolute gem of a romance, painting a beautiful picture of inner struggle and growth with her well-written characters. If you're looking for a beautiful story for a cozy night in, I highly recommend this one!

View all my reviews

I'm always blown away by Elizabeth's talent. The final installment of her Crown of Stars YA fantasy series of fairytale retellings is coming out soon and I can hardly wait. I keep checking... Still, this was an excellent way to pause in the fantasy genre and see what she's capable of in a more contemporary setting. No disappointments here! 

 Book Review: Meant for Each Other by Delaney Cameron

Meant for Each Other by Delaney Cameron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Ending was Worth the Ups and Downs

This was such a rich, fairytale type of story. The POV switching was well-written. I was invested in the characters and wanted to see how the story would play out.
My only issues were with the use of parentheses when simple commas would do, and at the end, the last paragraph was dark. I read in dark mode and haven't seen the font darkened like that before. It was a bit difficult to read that bit.
Overall, this was a clean, sweet contemporary romance. If that's to your liking, you won't want to pass this one up.

View all my reviews

I read the reviews before grabbing this one and I have to be honest, what most people speak of derisively, I crave. I want a book to take me away from reality and paint a beautiful picture of fanciful dreams. This book followed along those lines, too fanciful to happen in real life...at least, I'm certain it would be very rare if it did. But it made for a lovely and cozy read to wind down at the end of a day. 

 Author Journey: Camp Nano July 2021 Progress

I wasn't sure whether I'd participate in this year's Camp Nano events. I struggled horribly with the last one, but I seem to be doing a bit better this time. Not only has it helped me really focus on daily writing, reforming that 'write every day' habit I should have already ingrained, but it's helped me get back on track with The Tale of Outh'n Durr.

Here's what the stats look like so far:

Also, that's a pretty lame working cover. I have another in the works which I'm loving so much better. It also inspired me to use that format to create a new cover for Ripples. I'll also use it as a template for making future covers, even though it hurts my heart to revamp the Over Land & Under Stone cover. 

Progress on Outh'n's story is as good as it can be at this point. I finished a line edit and popped it into the hands of a beta reader. If three or four other folks would like to beta read that for me, it's less than 30k words and wouldn't take long for an avid reader to get through...I don't think. It's fantasy and more on the adventure side. What I'm really wondering about is the content and if that's going to flow well for readers. I use the short stories to help me build a better world for my characters to populate. So in some ways, they could come across as 'extra' or 'fluff'. We'll see, I guess. 

If you're interested in being part of my Beta Reading Team, you can fill out this short form. (This form will automatically collect your email. I will only use your email to send you an ARC when available. You'll get no spam from me. If you do, it's because someone hacked my account. I honestly have far too much to do to send multiple emails to people who are also very busy.) If I think you're a good fit, I'll let you know you're added to the team, as well as which ARCs are currently available. 

Here's the form:

 

I'm looking into Booksprout to see if that will work for my situation. If it does, I'll control my ARC distribution from there. Just a heads-up, you'll need an account there to be added to a beta reading team. 

So that's what's been going on with me lately. It's certainly not a boring life, I'll give you that. :) Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a blessed, safe, and healthy weekend.