Trin In The Wind

I’m sure we’ve all heard this spiel. When attending exhibitions or being presented with an artwork at school the general mumbling of ‘my kid could do that,’ or ‘I could do that.’

The negativity of those statements has always bugged me. Why should a seemingly simple piece be dismissed as ‘art’ merely because we feel it could be easily achieved? Shouldn’t the accessibility of art be a good thing? I always wanted to say to those people, you could? Well, go on then get painting.*

Why is it that we feel art must be this bigger than us mysterious thing? Why does something simple madden us? I don’t really know the answers (sorry) but I do think it’s very interesting. 

You could bring the same thought into other mediums as well: pop music vs indie/alternate, genre novel vs literary. Why should something created to be accessible or ‘for the people’ be looked down on?

Or does the mere response to a ‘simple’ piece negate its accessibility at all? Making the viewer feel superior to the artist instead of, maybe, empowering them to make their own art. Is it perhaps because we feel there’s nothing to look up to or to strive for? Instead of feeling like there could be a way in to this mysterious art making business.

In the piece pictured above by Hans Hofmann we (well, I anyway) know little about its making. We don’t know the struggle of the artist. And we could, in fact, dismiss the struggle entirely. It looks too easy, that song was too simple, that book was too fluffy. I think it would be a mistake to dismiss the struggle in these mediums. Because the maker probably did bleed to make it. 

Anyway, that’s my spiel for the evening. Let me know your thoughts :)

*I wouldn’t say that because loud talking in such situations is frowned upon. Also is playing a game where you see how close you can get to the painting without touching it. 

So remember some time ago when I blogged all about keeping quiet and please don’t ask me about my WIP because all the magic might disappear? Ah, screw it. I LOVE talking about my WIP.

As part of the WIP It Good Blogfest here’s what I’m working on right now:

WIP Title: Hungry Sun

Word Count (projected/actual so far): 60k/13,400

Genre: YA Contemporary

How long have you been working on it?: About two months

Elevator Pitch: Zoe March–an eighteen-year-old claustrophobic art school reject–travels across the country to deliver an unopened letter from her long dead mother addressed to her estranged grandmother.

Brief Synopsis (300 words or less): 
Zoe was only three when her mother died and was raised by her dad, a sometimes employed jazz musician. Growing up Zoe has always felt a piece of her was missing. When she finds the letter in an old box of her mum’s things she sees an opportunity to find that missing piece. She suffers the day long coach trip into rural Australia, her phobia threatening to push her into panic, only to find her grandmother isn’t at all who she expected.

Lillian is a guarded individual, prickly to the touch, who lives on an orange grove owned by Zack, an old flame of Zoe’s mother. She doesn’t want anything to do with Zoe and Zoe can’t leave fast enough. But Zack promises that ‘Lil’ will come around and convinces her to stay. Zoe meets Blake, Zack’s son, who shows her how to pick oranges, introduces her to a motley band of backpackers helping out for the season, and challenges her to find out who she really is. Zoe falls in love with the wide open landscape and big skies of her mother’s home town, not to mention Blake, and finds new inspiration for her artwork. Zoe learns that her grandmother is a gifted artist and is determined to crack her hard shell.

Zoe hones her art with the help of Lillian and the two begin to grow close. Lil opens up about Zoe’s mum and eventually shares the reason she pushes people away.

Far from where she felt she belonged Zoe learns how deep the roots of family can go.

(Story is always evolving so might look pretty different when I’m done.)

Are you looking for a Critique Partner/Beta Reader: I have two very lovely CPs but I am always on the hunt for beta readers.

First of all: OMG look a blog post! 

I just read this brilliant post from Nova Ren Suma about her process of outlining. And it has stirred some thoughts.

Writers seem to be divided into two categories when it comes to process. Plotting and Pantsing. While I think that the lines are a bit greyer than that (you might be a loose plotting pantser perhaps) to keep it simple I’ll just refer to those two categories. 

When I first delved into the writing world my impression of the two categories was this: Pantsers = rock stars and Plotters = nerds. Naturally, I wanted to sit at the cool table. Pantsers throw everything to the wind and write with abandon. They give the rules the forks and do what they want. While plotters outline meticulously and know everything before they set pen to paper or finger to keyboard. 

So, I donned my flower crown, swirled my pretty dress (hmm maybe pantsers are hippies?) and skimmed my copy of No Plot? No Problem! And what can I say after two years and one painful manuscript later? *whispers* am I aloud to give back my pants?

I think I might give plotting a go. 

Here’s why I truly think I pantsed my first manuscript: fear. Fear that I didn’t have a story, an ending, a climax, fear that everything would fall down, fear that I had so many holes my MS resembled a poorly crocheted sock. Fear. Fear. Fear. Somehow discovering that in an outline felt worse than discovering it on the page. But I’m sure it would’ve saved me some thorough rewriters…or maybe not. 

So, was I wrong to pants? No. Like I said I was scared. And that fear of writing will, well, stop you writing. Yes my MS was a huge mess at the end but I still pulled out 55,000 words of something. 

The danger of identifying yourself with a category is if something in you changes your chosen identifier can feel like a box you can’t get out of. The writing process is so personal and you need to sometimes try different things to find out what works and what doesn’t work for you. 

Also, plotters aren’t nerds. Seriously, is this high school? Gee whizz. We’re all out there trying to tame this giant beast of story and to (loosely) quote Patrick Ness, “If you get to the end of your manuscript, you’ve done it right.”

Now, excuse me while I go outline. *puts on nerd glasses* ;)

Well, hello neglected blog. I hope you are well. 

This year I seem to be doing everything other than blogging or reviewing. I started another blog that I’ve since neglected, read a lot, did a whole bunch of writing and started a podcast. 

But I miss you. So I’m going to try and start posting again. Soon.

Recently a very talented friend of ours, Gavin Smith, did some family photos for us. Here are some of my faves.

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I waffled off some advice earlier today that has been spinning around in my brain since I read it last year. It’s from Stephen King’s book On Writing. He talks about writing first drafts with the door closed. Which basically means not discussing it with anyone, keeping it all to yourself. He also says they should be written in no more than three months but that’s a whole other post. 

Now, I can totally see the value in this idea of keeping the door closed. When I was writing the first draft of my current WIP, which incidentally is the first first draft I’ve ever written, I was over the moon about it and when I found people that wanted to know about it I talked and discussed all the things with them and it was lovely. Now this all sounds jolly good but there were some definite drawbacks to this. Minor details got drawn out, things that I probably could’ve dismissed for now got brought back to the surface, I got stuck and my love started to dry up. I didn’t write for a whole month. Then I gritted my teeth and bashed out a whole lotta suck for the last 50%. 

Am I blaming my lovely friends who read and discussed and listened to my drama? No, god no, no, no, no. But I’m thinking there might be something to this, keeping the door closed. I think it’s possible for something to get too talked about too soon. For your fledgling idea to be spread too thin. 

Why am I bringing this up? Because I’m overwhelmed with love and gushing for my new story idea and want to flood the world with it and I’m finding it so hard to keep it to myself!

It’s like having a crush. You keep it secret for so long and then someone finally asks you who you like and you can barely even say their name but then you do and suddenly you can’t shut up about them. But something’s changed, a small shift, your crush is public and it’s almost like it’s not entirely yours anymore. 

So, gah! I’m going to try so hard and not tell anyone anything about my new WIP (which I’m not even starting until I get the current one off on submission)  but it’s really hard you guys. Like, really hard. So if you see me coming, then please, kindly tell me to sod off.

Well it’s Wednesday and I’m behind for TTT but luckily time zones are to my advantage and I can just scrape through. So, yes, Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.

Things that I realised in 2012: I’m a book snob. I turned my nose up at so many much loved books (for various reasons) and so 2013 is the year of Trin Eating Her Hat (or maybe not…maybe buying a bigger hat, we shall see.)

1. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
I finished this book today (so I’m already ahead!) and loved it. Maggie and I got off to a rocky start, with my abandoning of Shiver but I’m so glad I’ve given her another chance.

2. The Diviners by Libba Bray
I’m yet to read any Libba Bray! I know! I have a copy of this and I fully intend to read it.

3. Me Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
I know this is supposed to be the funniest cancer book going but it’s still a cancer book and my quota for the year was filled by THFioS and, unfortunately, Before I Die. 

4. My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick 
I saw this book on so many end of year lists. It seems like I’m missing out and I don’t wanna miss out! 

And then there’s books that I really want to read but I feel nervous! I need to give these books time and space.

5. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
This poor book suffers from having the words ‘shades’ and ‘gray’ in its title, causing me to do a double take at many reviews. But it’s so far away from its smutty sound-alike, it’s a totally different book people! And I’m pretty sure it’s about war.

6. The Book Thief by Mark Zusak
I know! *ducks* How can I not have read this yet?? I will. This is the year.  

7. How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Time and space people. These books demand it. I will find time for these, I will.  

And then there’s just books I’ve been meaning to read forever.

8. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
This book is pretty much a YA classic. I have no idea why I haven’t read it.  

9. Blood Red Road by Moira Young
I’ve been quite reserved on the dystopian front, reading many terrible reviews of  Hunger Games wannabes, but this book seems legit.  

10. Saltwater Vampires by Kirsty Eagar
How can I have a Kirsty Eagar book unread? This book is haunting me and shall be ticked off the list very soon.  

One of my most absolute favourite things is recommending books. Especially Young Adult books. Especially Contemporary Young Adult books. I was about to put together a list for a lovely twitter friend who wants to make the journey into contemp and I thought, heck, why not blog it! That way you can all know and I can make a list with pretty covers and descriptions and whatnot. 

I’ve seen the word contemporary in a few different contexts (eg contemp fantasy?) so to avoid confusion I define contemporary as a book set in the real world, ie no para/super/elfin things, typically slice of life stories tending to be character, rather than plot, centric. 

So onto the list! 
Warning: lots of these will be Australian and most probably hard to get (fishpond world you guys, slow but worth it.)

Gateway Books
For the reader who’s used to para/super/elfin things

This Is Shyness by Leanne Hall
I know, I’m already rebelling against my own definition of contemporary but I can’t think of a better book to act as a bridge between the fantastical and the real world. TIS takes place over the course of one night in the suburb of Shyness, where the sun never rises. It’s adventurous, swoony and completely awesome. The world building is light but the characters and the prose more than make up for it. This book is like a fable plus there’s a boy who howls. 

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols
This book is fast paced and heavy with the swoon. I devoured it in one sitting. 

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
Nobody writes a mean girl like Courtney Summers. Told in her signature style of sparse but face smacking prose, Some Girls Are is incredibly hard to put down and I may have developed a stress ulcer in my reading of it. 

Holy Crap! Books
In which you must keep checking that this is aloud to be a book

Preface: I attended a panel this year with both of these authors (plus Margo Lanagan) to discuss the dark themes in YA and how far is too far. It was awesome. 

Stolen by Lucy Christopher
A story of abduction told against the harsh landscape of the Australian desert. You won’t be able to stop thinking about this book. Prepare to have your head put back on backwards.

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar
The title of this book is so completely apt. This book is all kinds of raw, exposed and confronting. It’s a story of difficult recovery and of letting people back in. Some of the most real characters you’ll ever meet.

Some books worth mentioning that I haven’t actually read yet. Live Through This by Mindi Scott, Creepy and Maud by Dianne Touchel, The Good Daughter by Honey Brown.

Best Friends Books
Where you want to hug everybody 

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
Something you should know, Melina Marchetta is the queen and all her books are a must buy, buy it now, go, go buy it now. SF is a quiet, gorgeous book that sneaks up on you with all its characters and loveliness.  

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Oh this book makes me huggy. Art, love, mistaken identity, all told on one night with stunning prose and characters that I want to fiercely wish into reality.  

On The Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Jellicoe is in no way a light book. This book will make you ache. But everything, everything, is so entirely worth it. JONAH GRIGGS. Do I ever want to hug him. 

Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood
This book is lovely and sweet. Psychic dogs, cake decorating, making lists, Dan! and lovely Estelle.  

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
I’m yet to make up my mind if I’m a Dessen fan or not but I’m definitely a Truth About Forever fan. I want to hang out with all these people. A beautiful story. 

The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta
A companion book to Saving Francesca and yes I still love everybody. This story is difficult, you’ll likely cry and have feelings but it’s full of so much hope and wonderfulness.  

Grief Books
Because sometimes you want to cry and have feelings 

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby
A heartbreaking, beautiful, hopeful story. Set on the beach and there’s a boy. I loved this book.

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
This book at first reads quite fun and quirky but there’s a  depth of loss that runs through this that left me breathless.

Saving June by Hannah Harrington
This is one of the first contemporary books I read and it completely turned me. Loss, grief, road trip, music, love, awesomeness. An amazing debut. 

Heart Destroying Books
As above

Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield
Words so often fail me when I try to talk about this book. It’s simply stunning. A story that breathes and grows and sits on your chest.  

I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan
This story is like watching everything you love fall off a cliff.  

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
I had a residual crying for weeks after finishing this book. So perfect. 

Some More Books
Much loved but too lazy to categorise…or even describe, click covers for goodreads links

Phew I kinda ran out of steam at the end there. What do you think? What’s on your essential list? Anything you haven’t read here? Leave a comment and lets discuss this brilliant genre. 

Lately I’ve been thinking of the bar I’ve set for myself as an author. Now this might just be a response to a rather stressful month but I’m thinking maybe my bar is too high. I’ve said to a few people that I don’t want to be forgiven for being a debut (if I ever even debut) but I want my first book to smack readers right in the face with its awesome. If I don’t end up in the same sentence as Kirsty Eagar, Melina Marchetta then I’ve failed. God, how arrogant am I? 

I’ve been thinking about leaving myself room to grow and about being okay with that. Because the truth is where I am now is really only the beginning. I’m at the start. And it makes sense that my writing would grow and change and eventually end up being what I so desperately want it to be. The book I’m writing now is actually the very first book I’ve written. And maybe it’s the joy of a new story starting to birth in me (the thought that I have more) that’s making me okay with it not being astounding with its brilliance. 

The perfection that is Graffiti Moon was nowhere close to Cath Crowley’s first book. It took Melina Marchetta ten years to write again after Looking For Alibrandi and Vikki Wakefield’s sophomore novel shines way brighter for me than her debut. Many brilliant authors navigate years of rejection before finally breaking through.

I’m not saying any of this to say that I’m going to slack off. Not try as hard and be happy with mediocre. Because I’m not. But I’m going to be okay if I don’t win awards, get five stars or if this book doesn’t even end up in print. I’m going to be okay because I’m going to grow and get better. 

and p.s my next story will totally smack you in the face.
p.p.s Ballerinas use a bar n’ stuff. Picture is relevant…and pretty. 

I love this round up! I just want to hug it and squeeze its little cheeks. Thanks to Broke and Bookish for hosting.

This has been a glorious reading year. So many brilliant releases and so many bar raises. I’ve laughed, cried, been creeped out, swooned and just fallen in love over and over again with so many books. I think this has been a particularly strong year for Aussie YA writers (or maybe I’ve just never sought so many on purpose before) and it makes me ridiculously proud of my country (this must be what it’s like to be into some sport team…I dunno). 

Top Ten Books I’ve Read In 2012:

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Holier Than Thou by Laura Buzo

Night Beach by Kirsty Eagar

Preloved by Shirley Marr

Shadows by Paula Weston

Blood Storm by Rhiannon Hart

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Days of Blood and Starlight by Lani Taylor

Not pictured and more than ten:

Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield

Cinnamon Rain by Emma Cameron

Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta

Well, hey look, it’s Tuesday again! How did that even happen? Did I mention my love of the Tuesday? Well I love it. And now look here’s a top ten list from Broke and Bookish so you can get all loving on Tuesday as well. 

The top ten new to me authors in 2012 (in no particular order and not particularly ten):

Paula Weston (twitter goodreads)
I think I’m gonna change the name of my blog to Trin Has a Big Ol’ Crush On Paula Weston…because I do. She’s wonderful to tweet to and I’m pretty sure I’ve convinced her to get matching feather tattoos. Plus she wrote that book Shadows, you know the one I can’t stop going on about. 

Trish Doller (twitter goodreads)
Trish Trish lovely Trish. I enjoy stalking Trish all over the internet (here’s her tumblr) and I’m sure she enjoys it right back. She’s always good for a tweet and her debut Something Like Normal is outstanding.

Courtney Summers (twitter goodreads)
Though I first read Ms Summers last year I don’t think her awesomeness dawned on me until this year. Though her awesome is so great I’m sure you can see it from a mile off. This is Not a Test is one of my standout reads this year. If you haven’t read anything by her yet then consider this my kicking you in her direction.

Pip Harry (twitter goodreads)
Pip is the new kid on the Aussie YA block, aka the best block ever, and she is totally one to watch. I met her at Melina’s book launch and can attest to her loveliness. I thoroughly enjoyed her debut I’ll Tell You Mine and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. 

Jessi Kirby (twitter goodreads)
I saw this lady around the traps last year and for some reason I thought maybe I wouldn’t like her writing. I really need to stop making these assumption. I really enjoyed In Honor and Moonglass proved to me that lady can throw down in the contemp genre. Plus she loves FNL…Jessi, you had me at Tim Riggins.

Shirley Marr (twitter goodreads)
It’s so odd to me that I only read Ms Marr’s debut this year because it feels like I’ve known her forever. Shirley is a stunning lady of the highest class and gives me great music recommendations. I’m eagerly EAGERLY awaiting her third book.

John Green (twitter goodreads)
Yes, I know, be quiet. I tried to read John Green last year but didn’t get through An Abundance of Katherines. But this year I read The Fault In Our Stars and cried my eyes out loved it. I wouldn’t call myself a nerdfighter but I have some serious props for this man.

Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner made this most fantastic survey. My answers below the cut.

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Synopsis from Goodreads:

“Bono met his wife in high school,” Park says.
“So did Jerry Lee Lewis,” Eleanor answers.
“I’m not kidding,” he says.
“You should be,” she says, “we’re sixteen.”
“What about Romeo and Juliet?”
“Shallow, confused, then dead.”
”I love you,” Park says.
“Wherefore art thou,” Eleanor answers.
“I’m not kidding,” he says.
“You should be.”

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

4.5 stars

Eleanor & Park is like falling in love with your eyes open and your skirt over your head (but not in that way but also a bit in that way)

I devoured most of this book the night I started it and had to literally make myself stop and put it down at around 2am. This book caught me off guard and at completely the right time. 

Eleanor & Park is a messy book about first love. It’s messy at it’s core and through all the writing. If I’d read this a few weeks ago I probably would have crossed the road to avoid all those adverbs. But here it just works. It’s a fluid, unapologetic, head first read. I loved the build up between them and all of Park’s stupid but so correct boy thoughts. 

Park. Oh I fell in love with Park right alongside Eleanor (she’d probably hate me for that). Yes he’s naive, unsure and awkward. But he’s also wonderful. I loved how Eleanor was a complete spanner in his carefully built life and I loved how he loved that too. Also Park is a completely brilliant name and is now on my baby name list. (I know, stalker me.) 

Eleanor. I struggled a bit with this lady. She kept me on edge the entire time. (Not to mention all the Romeo & Juliet refs peppered about) She has a terrible home life. So much so that she doesn’t have a toothbrush or batteries or, well, anything. That whole story line made me so upset and a bit sick. And I understand why she was like she was but gosh it was still frustrating. She’s be there one second and the next she’d runaway and chuck all these walls up. Leaving Park and me going what?? But still I loved her.

Eleanor & Park is a completely gorgeous book that you can lose yourself in and come out with a stupid grin on your face.

Also hurry up US edition, I need to own you. Seriously look at that cover. 

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s press for giving me a chance to read this. 

Well it’s Tuesday, again, how did that happen? I love Tuesdays. Tuesdays are my writing and lying about the house days. And also days for making fun top ten lists thanks to Broke and Bookish. 

This week’s topic: most anticipated reads for 2013. 

This is hard. I’m not particularly in the loop for what’s coming out and Aussie pubs tend to hold their cards pretty close to their chest. So let me preface by saying I anticipate every Aussie YA release next year. But here’s my attempt at a list with handy goodreads links.

1. Haze by Paula Weston

2. Golden by Jessi Kirby

3. Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller 

4. All This Could End by Steph Bowe

5. The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher

6. 17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma

7. The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr

8. Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith

9. The Howling Boy by Cath Crowley

10. Wildlife by Fiona Wood

Actually this wasn’t hard at all, in fact I had to cull!
Honourable mention: Life In Outer Space by Melissa Keil.  

I’m back!

Did you know I was gone? Did you miss me?
Family and I spent a week chilling up the coast and it was fantastic. I feel so refreshed and revived. I got stacks done on my MS and am finally getting to work on the ending!! I spent a wonderful day in Bellingen with dear Emily, writing and chatting in a lovely cafe/op-shop. I love talking about writing, I get so excited and motivated!

Here are some of my fave holiday snaps.

xo

Top Ten Tuesday hosted by the lovely Broke and Bookish.

Oh this is a tough one. I can only take ten? Gah, hmm. Well let’s see I’d need something swoony (duh), something to make me laugh, something to take my mind off the desertness and something to make me contemplate life and existence n stuff. 

So in no particular order and with handy goodreads links.

1. The Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta

2.  Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

3. Shadows (and hopefully the rest of the series if they’re out by the time I get stranded) by Paula Weston

4. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

5. Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar (since Night Beach would scare me far too much)

6. The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta

7. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

8. The Bible by God et al

9.  Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

10. On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta 

 This was a hard list and really made me squint at my goodreads favourite shelf. I tried to pick books whose characters I love like best friends ‘cause they’re who I want with me on those long desert nights–and Jonah Griggs *flirty look*.

I’ve been thinking lately about vulnerability. 

It’s scary isn’t it? Being vulnerable. There needs to be a taking down of walls and an offer for people to glimpse inside. We spend so much time putting up those walls and reinforcing them in an effort to keep the rest of the world (bar a few) out. We don’t want to be seen, judged, exposed. Not by people who don’t know us, not by anybody really. We hide and we’re good at it.

The thing is though, when it comes to writing vulnerability is somewhat essential. And, I think, a choice. We can pour ourselves into our work but still hide. Hide behind our characters and their choices, distance ourselves in narration, keep that wall up and not go there. But the readers know. I know. I know when a book is still protecting itself, not being real with me not letting me know who it really is. And as a reader I want to be in. In the character, in the story, in the world. It’s a subtle thing, but it’s there. It’s the difference between this book was okay and this book invaded me. 

In my own work I can feel my fear. Fear to let my character think or say that. Fear to really really say what’s going on. I want to protect my characters, protect my world. I don’t want them opened up and raw. But they need to be. I need to open them up so people can see them. Because when a character is really really open, vulnerable, it’s (confronting), it’s (uncomfortable), it (invites response). It gives the reader something to see, and sometimes they see themselves. And that is a very freeing thing. 

Alex Lloyd - Backseat Clause

Latest addition to the writing playlist

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It’s almost a year since Gaby Winters was in the car crash that killed her twin brother, Jude. Her body has healed in the sunshine of Pandanus Beach, but her grief is raw and constant. It doesn’t help that every night in her dreams she kills demons and other hell-spawn.

And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who’s been appearing in Gaby’s dreams—he claims a history with her brother that makes no sense. Gaby is forced to accept that what she thought she knew about herself and her life is only a shadow of the truth—and that the truth is more likely to be
found in the shadows of her nightmares.

Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And most importantly, who can she trust?

Fast-paced and gripping, Shadows, the first book in the Rephaim series, is a standout paranormal romance for fans of Richelle Mead and Cassandra Clare.

5 Stars

If you told me last week that I’d be fan-girling over a YA urban fantasy series I would’ve stared at you blankly then hurled a copy of Friday Brown at your face.
*Quietly eats hat*

I loved this book. 
Loved.
And it’s an angel book. *ducks* I know right? 

So let the gushing commence!

From the first paragraph I knew I’d love this book. Knew it because it smacked with flavours of Kirsty Eagar and Vikki Wakefield and I was immediately at home. The prose in this book is stunning with that gorgeous Aussie edge that I’ve come to crave in most books. I connected with Gaby, feeling her grief and emotional isolation from the first chapter. Gaby is a strong character and made all the more interesting because she shouldn’t exist. You see she is really someone else, a someone that she can’t remember. But we’ll come back to that. 

Every night Gaby dreams about fighting demons and hell spawn with a guy we’d all like to fight demons and hell spawn with. Then dream guy walks into a bar. 

Rafa.

It feels like too long since I’ve added a book to my ‘sawoon’ shelf, I almost feel like I need to list it twice. Dammit this book made me sigh. *fans self* Rafa claims to know who Gaby is, actually he’s more shocked that she’s got no clue who he is and he has some *cough* interesting methods of trying to snap her out of it.The history between these two adds an interesting dimension because, well, it’s one sided. Rafa keeps expecting Gaby to tear his head off but dear Gaby doesn’t remember. This makes Rafa take pause and while he does muck around with her a bit, it’s obvious how much he respects her and wouldn’t take advantage of the situation no matter how much I Gaby wants him to. 

Let’s just take a moment to side note how brilliant it is that Gaby isn’t some random 18 year old girl who caught the attention of a 130 year old guy and now there love is true and eternal. *fist pump*

Now let’s talk about Gabe/Gaby (no Gabe’s not a guy, she’s not really a guy…I never thought that for a second…) Gabe is old Gaby. Gabe is an half-angel badass who eats hell beasties for breakfast. She also sounds like she has a major stick up her ass. BUT. She is who Gaby is supposed to be. But Gaby is Gaby she has a life, friends, values, she is a real person. What happens if she gets her memories back? Would Gaby cease to be? Would she just get absorbed into stick-in-the-mud Gabe? It’s like if someone came up to me and said ‘Hey Trish’ and I’d be all who you callin’ Trish bub? (though if it happened around here I’d just assume they were high and smile and run away very very fast) But what if it turned out my whole life is a lie? I’m actually some computer genius working for the government and not someone who attempts to grow veggies? I don’t wanna beeee a computer genius, I want to be me. But I’m not me. I’m someone else. Ow, my head hurts. Gah I love it. 

My biggest gripe with angel books is how they handle the theology side of things. They ignore it, make fun of it, make it sound weak and lame. Not here. Without being heavy handed with the subject Paula manages to weave a world that still feels grounded in (I’m gonna say it) Christian history. The Rephaim shouldn’t exist. They’re an accident. A result of a wild night with some fallen angels and human women. They aren’t human, they aren’t angels, they’re something else. And they have to save themselves if they don’t want to get sent back to hell with their dads. This whole idea actually made me take pause. They have to save themselves. There’s no rescue plan for them, no sacrifice, no pact with heaven. They’re very much on their own. And they’re all so beautifully human as well. So flawed. Some following orders others rebelling others being apathetic. In fact there’s so much us in them it made me feel sorry for them. How are they possibly going to get out of this?

With all this existential questioning going on you might think this book is a dense slog, it’s not. Paula manages to weave these layers through the book in a way that doesn’t slow the pace or cause you to put the book down. It’s a brilliant testament to her skill as an author!

This book sucks you in. I finished it the day I started it then I lent it to a friend the next morning who devoured it in one sitting. The prose, the swoon, the characters, the story. Everything, everything here I loved. I cannot wait for the next book. Hurry up June!

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Olive Corbett is not crazy. Not anymore.

She obediently takes her meds and stays under the radar at school. After “the incident,” Olive just wants to avoid any more trouble, so she knows the smartest thing is to stay clear of the new girl who is rumored to have quite the creepy past.
But there’s no avoiding Miranda Vaile. As mousy Miranda edges her way into the popular group, right up to the side of queen bee Katie – and pushes the others right out – only Olive seems to notice that something strange is going on. Something almost … parasitic. Either Olive is losing her grip on reality, or Miranda Vaile is stealing Katie’s life.

But who would ever believe crazy Olive, the girl who has a habit of letting her imagination run away with her? And what if Olive is the next target?

A chilling psychological thriller that tears through themes of identity, loss, and toxic friendship, Shift will leave readers guessing until the final pages.

3.5 Stars

Shift is a book with an unreliable narrator and I tend to think of unreliable narrators as slippery fish (well ok I hadn’t until I just wrote that sentence…does that make me an unreliable reviewer?) Shift is a book about friendship, love and stalker crazy people…or is it? (Ok I’ll stop now…or will I?) 

From the first page I was hooked. Olive’s voice is so very very real and she’s a brilliant narrator. (all be it for the unreliable part…this is an orange, no wait it’s a banana, no wait it’s an orange!) She’s so wonderfully teenagery, making up words, obsessing over a band no one’s heard of, wondering if the new girl at school is a psychopathic robot, you know, the usual. 

The first half of Shift is a slow burn and takes it time to build the layers of creepiness and foreboding. The first half of Shift deserves 5 stars and then it hits the mid point and if this book was a bottle pink champagne and someone was shaking it a great deal and then the cork popped and everyone was covered in sparkly stickiness and then left with flat champers well that’s a bit like what happened. The book reached its moment of holy crap! then took a hundred steps backward and almost started the story again. And it was good it was fine but it was rushed. The second half of the book is more told than shown and by dammit I wanted to see it! Olive skimmed over everything that happened to her (which I guess the argument could be that she didn’t completely know what happened to her) which left the final climax unsatisfying and the ending flatter than the champagne I was still getting out of my hair. 

Olive was definitely a standout for me, with Ami a close second and the creepy creepiness of Miranda was brilliant. Where I was pulled out of the story a bit was with Lachlan. Why did he like her? Who knows (besides the fact that she’s awesome). But he’d never even talked to her, she just looked like she might be interesting. And then he goes from ten to like 80 on the like you scale come to the formal with me girl I’ve spoken to twice. Eh. It was okaaaay. I’d much prefer it though if the love interest had been someone that had known her for a while maybe a boy she was friends with and then even when she went bat crazy still cared about her. 

All that sounds like I didn’t like it, but I did. (see unreliable!) 

Shift is a fun ride, a bit scary/creepy but also very safe and I can see why it won the 2012 Inky and why teens love this book. It’s highly readable and that in no way is a bad thing. I enjoyed it messing with my brain and making me question what was real but not in an Matrix/Inception type way. 

This book is heaps of fun!

So I’m jumping on the top ten tuesday wagon (all be it on a wednesday but shh timezones) hosted by broke and bookish. This week’s roundup is your top ten authors in any genre, am I cheating by claiming Aussie as a genre? I think Aussie YA definitely has its own unique feel and to me it is a genre. (I know I’m totally cheating, shut up.)

1. Vikki Wakefield – Friday Brown, All I Ever Wanted

2. Kirsty Eagar – Night Beach, Raw Blue

3. Laura Buzo – Holier Than Thou, Good Oil

4. Melina Marchetta – Saving Francesca, The Piper’s Son, On The Jellicoe Road…

5. Cath Crowley – Graffiti Moon, Chasing Charlie Duskin

6. Leanne Hall – This Is Shyness, Queen Of The Night

7. Lucy Christopher – Stolen (I’m not sure if Lucy is technically aussie or uk but I’m gonna claim her)

8. Shirley Marr – Preloved, Fury

9. John Marsden – Tomorrow series plus a billion other things

10. Emma Cameron – Cinnamon Rain

aka I’m a lazy reviewer.

Here’s a small round up of what I’ve been reading plus some tiny thoughts.

Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta
5 glorious stars
An amazing end to the trilogy. Lost sleep and sobbed my eyes out. LUCIEN.

Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell
4.5 stars
Bold, breathtaking and devastating.  

Cinnamon Rain by Emma Cameron
4 cinnamon stars
This took me by surprise. It’s a verse book and I loved it, loved it.

Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Abandoned
I really wanted to like this but the prose was clunky and didn’t hold my attention. Still love the cover though. 

I feel like I just posted a ‘revisions are hard woe is Trin’ post but you guys revisions are haaaaard. 

I’ve been thinking lately how each scene and chapter is like this tiny piece of a puzzle and you focus all your energy on one tiny piece, getting it to utter perfection (or just saying blah stuff it, next!), then moving onto the next piece. Then at the end you look up and hey look at that it’s the mona lisa of awesome puzzles! Or you realise that you started building a dragon and somewhere along the way it turned into a boat. A dragon boat. (Which could be cool) That’s not what you wanted to make, start over! I’m really worried I’m going to look up at the end and see a dragon boat crowded with tiny smurfs holding watering cans and cry my eyes out. 

So yeah, forest for the trees. I hope all my trees turn into one bitchn’ forest.

Sorry for mixing metaphors. 

Not sorry.

Dragon boat.

“The ocean grew us up, rubbed us raw and spat us out.” (WIP)

So Emo-Ocean-Book is going well. I’ve revised up to chapter 10 (of 34). It’s funny this book thing, some days everything works and flows (see lovey gushing post) other days I tinker with the same scene too scared to move onto the next. Each time I go to write a whole new scene I feel like I need a run up. I spend maybe a day dreading it, another day thinking it out and then, if I’m lucky, start writing it. Then rewriting it. 

Things I’m learning. Adverbs. Kill them all dead. 

Also the word ‘that’ can generally be removed from any sentence. 

I recently read Stephen King’s On Writing (highly recommend this to everyone) here are some favourite quotes. (Apologies this post is going nowhere my brain is soup)

“In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it ‘got boring,’ the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling.” 

“You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.” 

“Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe.” 

“I have spent a good many years since—too many, I think—being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction or poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.” 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

‘I am Friday Brown. I buried my mother. My grandfather buried a swimming pool. A boy who can’t speak has adopted me. A girl kissed me. I broke and entered. Now I’m fantasising about a guy who’s a victim of crime and I am the criminal. I’m going nowhere and every minute I’m not moving, I’m being tail-gated by a curse that may or may not be real. They call me Friday. It has been foretold that on a Saturday I will drown…’

Seventeen-year-old Friday Brown is on the run—running to escape memories of her mother and of the family curse. And of a grandfather who’d like her to stay. She’s lost, alone and afraid.

Silence, a street kid, finds Friday and she joins him in a gang led by beautiful, charismatic Arden. When Silence is involved in a crime, the gang escapes to a ghost town in the outback. In Murungal Creek, the town of never leaving, Friday must face the ghosts of her past. She will learn that sometimes you have to stay to finish what you started—and often, before you can find out who you are, you have to become someone you were never meant to be.

5 Stars

There are some books that I literally have no words for, and that can be a problem when trying to write a review. But, I have no words for this book.

It’s beautiful, heartbreaking, poignant, lingering, surreal, more aussie than a cut snake. Okay, bah copout, those were totally some words. This book is in my head, it’s beautiful sentences bumping together filling me with writer’s envy. The characters are in my heart, in my blood, so strong, so powerful. This story will stay with me.

GAH *throws book at you* just go read it will you, go!

So lately I’ve been falling in love.

Maybe it’s the warmer weather and the promise of Spring just around the corner triggering some hormone in my brain that makes me feel gooey. But I don’t mind. I’m falling in love with my story. 

It catches me off guard. I could be thinking of something totally unrelated or listening to someone really closely then all of a sudden my mind is taken over by my characters and I’m overcome with a swooning sensation. 

I count the hours until I can be with my story again. I get excited. I have a crush. A total crush on my book.

When I’m actually submerged in a sea of notes and rewrites the love tends to wane a bit. But then I hit it. Oh the zone. Beautiful, magical zone. When everything stretches out before me and my hands can’t type fast enough. Addictive.

I hope you’re falling in love too.

xx

I’m not sure if these memes are making me a lazy or more active blogger…But hey, I’m definitely blogging more, so that’s good…Right? I promise I’ll do an actual proper grown up post soon. But in the mean time!

TGIF is hosted by Ginger at Greads.

This Friday’s Question:

Comfort Reads: Which books do you go to for comfort & familiarity?  

Is there a type of book you seek out when you’re needing that extra bit of comfort in your life?

When I’m in a slump or need a quick book fix my go to read is something that makes me swoon. I just want to wear a goofy grin and feel sparkly in my tummy.

Here are a few of my faves:

Another lovely meme hosted by Greads.

What were you listening to when you were a teenager? We all come from different decades, with different tunes.  For this month, please pick some of your favorite songs that bring you back to those glorious teenage years!

Well this is gonna get down right embarrassing! So lets start at the bottom and move our way up shall we? My formative teen years were spent teeny bopping to Hanson, BSB, The Spice Girls et al. We all gotta start somewhere and boy did my obsession for things start there.