L.E. DeLano's Blog, page 7

My letter “Z” pick for the A To Z Reading Challenge was ZODIAC ACADEMY: THE AWAKENING by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti.

Within a chapter or two I had a wonderful feeling this was going to be a five star read. I loved Darcy and Tory, twins who find out they are Fae princesses and get whisked off to the Fae realm and the Zodiac Academy to learn to harness their elemental powers. They have the unheard of gift of all four elements – earth, air, fire, and water, and because of their bloodline are immensely powerful (though novices at wielding the power). This pisses off a lot of faeries, including the current heirs to the throne, four insanely hot, well-built guys with loads of power but nowhere near the levels of Darcy and Tory. They make it their mission to bully the girls into dropping out of the academy and giving up any claim to the throne.

Then I slid to four and a half stars as punctuation and spelling errors slipped in and every three paragraphs someone smirked. Soon I knocked it down to four stars as the authors began using the wrong words, the wrong spellings of words, and even made-up words that kind of sounded like the word they were going for. I realize this was a self-pub, but did the authors not hire an editor?

Then I plunged to three and a half stars when the relentless, vicious abuse – verbal, emotional and physical – from their classmates (especially the four heirs) and teachers (who either outright abuse or look the other way while it’s being done) got to be a little too much. I understand the “bully romance” genre, but if you want to show strong protagonists, there has to be a moment where they say “no more!” and stand up for themselves. What we got were a few nudges in the right direction that were quickly slapped down.

Finally, I devolved to three stars when the girls continually chose to overlook the truly torturous, cruel bullying simply because the four heirs and a certain teacher are just so damn hot and like to flirt between abuse sessions. This goes on until the end of the book where they are both beyond demeaned and degraded and barely avoid being murdered by the hotties – still without fighting back beyond a token effort. I was good and done with the all of them by that point.

We’ll leave it at three stars and I’ll pass on the rest of the series.

My letter “Y” pick for the 2023 A to Z Reading Challenge was YOU’VE REACHED SAM by Dustin Thao.

This book was an emotionally eviscerating journey into grief and loss as we follow seventeen year old Julie. She has great plans for her life and is looking forward to sharing all of them with her boyfriend Sam. She tragically loses him, and in pure, grieving desperation a week or so after he dies, she calls his cellphone – and Sam picks up.

The “how” of this is never explained – we just sort of go with it and the story doesn’t suffer for that. The “why” of this is simple and heartfelt. Sam, while acknowledging their great love for each other, wants Julie to move on with her life.

This book was a very fast read but no less impactful for it. The kind of book that stays with you long after you close it. I adored the character of Sam. I fell hard for this book boyfriend and mourned him right along with Julie. This would have been a five star read for me but there were a few flaws. The plot and dialogue at times felt forced, and Julie was hard to connect with due to her being scatterbrained and forgetful a lot. I also had a really hard time with the way she treated Sam’s family and friends at first, compounded by everyone’s insistence that she just get over it and move on already. She and Sam dated for three years and it was only a couple of weeks since he died, for creep’s sake. Despite all this, I still couldn’t put the book down.

All in all, a very good read. Four stars.

My letter “X” pick for the A to Z Reading Challenge was XOXO by Axie Oh. This was a light, fluffy easy read that got my attention immediately and I couldn’t put it down. Our main character, Jenny, is a talented young Korean-American cellist whose life is all practice, practice, practice. At the urging of her uncle to cut loose and live a little, Jenny ends up wandering the streets of LA with a sweet Korean guy named Jaewoo who wandered into the karaoke bar where she works (he’s spending his last night in America before flying home). They share a memorable evening and go their separate ways, with Jenny never expecting to see him again. When her mother’s cancer diagnosis forces her to relocate to Seoul, Jenny enrolls in a prestigious music academy only to find Jaewoo as a classmate. That’s not the biggest shock – Jaewoo is revealed to be a member of the popular K-Pop group, XOXO, and K-Pop stars are not allowed to date. Jaewoo can’t risk breaking the rules as he is his family’s breadwinner. Thus begins a forbidden romance that has us rooting for Jenny and Jaewoo all the way to the end of the book.

I loved that Jenny was down-to-earth and Jaewoo was very likeable (almost too perfect, though). The side characters of Jenny’s roommate and the other boy band members were colorful and a lot of fun (especially Nathaniel). I also love the warm way her relationship with her mom and grandmother were portrayed. All in all a fun and satisfying read. I’ll give this one 4 & 1/2 stars, just because it got a bit too saccharin sweet at times.

My letter “W” pick for this year’s A to Z reading challenge was Wicked Wonderland (The Looking-Glass Curse book 1) by Eva Chase. I went into this book blind and it was a terrific surprise on so many levels. This is an Alice in Wonderland retelling, of course, but a decidedly R-rated version with a wicked reverse harem story line between Alice, Hatter, Chess and Theo (the White Knight). The characters were fully fleshed out (pardon the pun) and the storyline was intriguing – this book isn’t all about the spice. The worldbuilding was every bit as lush and creative as Wonderland should be, with a spunky main character and quirky, witty twists and turns. This would have been a 4 star read, but it really does start off slow – almost dragging, to be honest. There are a lot of character intros plus discussions and backstory about the politics of Wonderland, but once it starts rolling it’s a fun ride. Three Stars.

Here it is – my next novel!

IN THE DARK OF A DREAM is a YA Sci-Fi Thriller about a girl with chronic night terrors. She finds herself sucked into a nanotech experiment that’s gone horribly wrong, trapping her with a group of soldiers in a virtual reality hell.

Coming April 2024!

My letter “V” pick for the 2023 A to Z Challenge was VIOLET MADE OF THORNS by Gina Chen. This was a dark fantasy with lush world building and lovely fairytale elements. Violet, our morally gray protagonist is clever and fierce but not terribly likeable. Cyrus, the morally gray prince was too self-righteous and petulant for my taste. Violet and Cyrus as a couple just fell flat for me. I love a good enemies to lovers story, but it has to progress in a satisfying way. This romance went from “I hate your guts” to “Oh, look at that – we’re together” with no real progression. It just sort of happened.

Still, it’s a solid story and I didn’t hate them – just wish I’d had a little more depth there. Their banter added a lot to the story, and the side characters really added a lot of flavor. I’m giving this one three stars for a good – but not great – book.

My letter “U” pick for the A to Z Reading Challenge was UNF*CK YOURSELF by Gary John Bishop and let me tell you, it came at the perfect time. I have ever been a procrastinator, to the point where it’s cost me peace of mind, money, and even my health at times. Believe me, I put the PRO in procrastinate. Gary John Bishop tackles this and numerous other things that leave you “stuck” in your life (or worse, moving in reverse). In a no-nonsense (but not rude or cruel) manner he talks about getting out of your pipe dreams, your somedays, your as-soon-as-I-can-find-the-time mentality and urges you drop your destructive behaviors and just f*cking do it, already. He also breaks down, in detailed and methodical chapters exactly how you can go about achieving that.

As a writer, I have a bad habit of thinking about my books far more often than actually writing them, and that sets me back and stresses me out on a near-constant basis. This book hammered in the one basic truth that gets me going: You are what you do. All in all, this book was a solid and very helpful read. Four and a half stars.

Finn reaches out, taking my hand. “Come on,” he says.

He pulls me back over to the bench, where he spreads one of our blankets down so we have a warmer seat.

“We need to turn our backs to the fire,” he says. “If we want the best view.”

I sit as he directs, making room for him on the blanket beside me as he pulls the other blanket over our shoulders. My stew has cooled off, but I don’t care. The coffee is still hot, and just as we’re finishing the last of our dinner, it begins.

The first wash of color streaks the sky, rolling across in a wave of brilliant green, shimmering into a yellow-orange and then streaming out to the horizon, where it fades into pinks and purples. As it dies out, another wave takes its place, then another, playing across the sky in colors so fierce and fiery, they take my breath away . . .

That’s an excerpt from one of my favorite chapters in DREAMER. The main character, Jessa, and her love interest, Finn, are taking in the northern lights in an alternate reality surrounded by extinct animals that live in a wildlife preserve.

The scene was not in the original draft. The latest round of edits on the book came in from my editor, and between two chapters she wrote that I needed a bonding moment – something to show Jessa and Finn connecting and growing closer. I scratched my head, sat down at the laptop, flipped through my ideas for romantic places, then added in a cool element from Jessa’s multiverse travel. It all clicked. The scene took me on a wonderful adventure and pretty much wrote itself, ending with a tag line that punched you right in the feels. I turned in that draft, and my editor left one comment on the chapter in her next set of notes. Three words.

This is magic.

I pull those three words out of my memory vault any time I’m feeling the angst of imposter syndrome, or I’m beating my head against a granite slab of writer’s block. See? I remind myself. I’m a writer, and a good one. I just need to trust that.

Do you have a positive writer memory that keeps you going?

So here’s the big announcement: I have re-acquired the rights to TRAVELER and DREAMER, and added into the purchase was the right to keep my cover art, so my new publisher won’t need to re-cover the books (which is awesome because I LOVE my covers).

That’s not the most exciting part: since the books (and the series) are now under new management, there may well be continuing adventures for Jessa, Finn, Ben, Olivia, and Danny.

It will likely be the new year before these are all converted over. You’ll still be able to purchase paperbacks from the old stock, but you’ll have to wait a bit for the ebook. We’re working as fast as we can to get these out, I promise. So stay tuned for the re-release and I’ll be letting my imagination run wild with our favorite multiverse travelers (and writing, writing, writing)!

My letter “T” pick for the A to Z Challenge was Tales From The Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson, and Robin Wasserman.

I’ve been meaning to read this for years, especially since I generally adore the Shadowhunter universe. I have never read a bad Cassandra Clare book, and this one did not change my point of view. That being said, I wasn’t crazy about the way the stories hopped all about on the timeline and followed various characters, interspersed with the linear story arc of Simon Lewis, Shadowhunter-in-training.

I would have greatly preferred to have this as a collection of novellas since the parts of the book that I enjoyed the most were Simon’s chapters. I’d just be settling into a chapter when it would end and the next chapter sends me to London in the 1800’s or New York in the 1980’s, etc. I would have preferred to keep Simon’s chapters together so I can savor and sink into the narrative, then everyone else’s stories (Robert Lightwood, the Merry Thieves, etc.), also kept intact instead of being pieced out the way they were.

Having four different authors writing in the same universe can seem a little disjointed (due to variety in writing styles and voice), but hacking the stories up and weaving the chapters in and out of each other left me irritated despite the fact that the stories were good. I’ll give this three stars, just for poor execution.