Review: GHOST STORY

Ghost Story by Jim Butcher

Genre: urban fantasy

About Ghost Story:

When we last left the mighty wizard detective Harry Dresden, he wasn't doing well. In fact, he had been murdered by an unknown assassin.

But being dead doesn't stop him when his friends are in danger. Except now he has nobody, and no magic to help him. And there are also several dark spirits roaming the Chicago shadows who owe Harry some payback of their own.

To save his friends-and his own soul-Harry will have to pull off the ultimate trick without any magic...

Source: Info in the About Ghost Story was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8058301-ghost-story on 08/08/2011.

Source: http://bit.ly/nacyqN

My Take On This Book:

I am once again reminded why I love reading Jim Butcher so much. Truly a wonderful read! Though I do have a few nitpicking issues with this book, I am willing to overlook all of them for the wonderful reading experience I had with this book!! Another salient point why I like Jim Butcher's work is that all his books have coherent story structures. Has a beginning, a central dilemma and an ending. Always. Even if the book is part of a series. And even though he also adds teasers for the next book at the end, enough to keep the readers hooked to the series. (As if I need hooking!) I say Jim Butcher has a very good writing style indeed! And it's nice to get to see Mouse again. I missed the furball!!

I have only two complaints about this book. One, it's too quick a read. And second, I have to wait for another year to read the next book!!

Empirically, I would rate this book as:
World Building = 5
Character Development = 5
Story Telling Quality = 5
Plot = 4
Pace = 5
Ending = 4.5
Cover Art = 5

Cherry's Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries


I would like to thank RKCharron of FICTIONALL for holding a contest and made it possible for me to win a copy of Ghost Story by Jim Butcher.

WW28: BOUND BY DARKNESS

WW28
A chance to showcase your favourite!

• First you grab our Wicked Wednesday pic.
• Then you grab a book. Turn to page 28. Take the first sentence. And then you post it in your site with a link back to WW28.
• Come back to Cherry Mischievous - WW28 and give us the url of your post (in a comment at a WW28 post) so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

WW28 book offering : Bound By Darkness by Alexis Morgan

Not when all of you have proven your worth over and over again.

I'm just a sentimental old fool...

About Bound By Darkness:

Caught between two worlds, a powerful warrior must choose between impossible destinies when he meets a woman whose love will either make or break him. . . .

As the daughter of a Regent, Sasha has long known about the secret underworld of the Paladins and their work protecting her kind from the dark forces on the other side of the energy barrier. So when she is sent on her first solo investigation, on the path to becoming the first female Regent, she is determined to get the Seattle Paladins in line. Offering sanctuary to their Kalith enemies is simply unacceptable!

But when she meets Larem, she is inexorably drawn to a dark and valiant warrior who is not at all what he appears to be. As the power struggle between Regents and Paladins rages on, someone starts making attacks on her life. Sasha must choose between loyalty to her own kind and the warrior she loves . . . with the very fate of humanity hanging in the balance.

Source: Info in the About Bound By Darkness was taken from the author's website at http://www.alexismorgan.com/boundbydarkness.html on 17/04/2011.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the review copy received.

UK & EU Summer Hop Winner

And the winner of our UK & EU Summer Hop is:

Cait

Congratulations to our winner!!!

To the winner: Please check your inbox. If no reply is received after 72 hours of our email, another winner will be picked.

Wishlist: Conquer The Dark

WISHLIST:

Conquer The Dark by L.A. Banks
Book 2 of The Dark series

Publication Date: 27 September 2011

Description:

The second in a spellbinding new urban fantasy series about angels and demons from New York Times bestselling author L.A. Banks.

Just three short months ago, Celeste Jackson was pulled into a supernatural world by her guardian angel, Azrael, only to learn that not only was he super hot, but he was also the Angel of Death. What began as his platonic quest to find her, one of the Remnant, and to save her from the forces of evil hunting for her, quickly evolved into forbidden passion. They joined Azrael’s fellow angels in the Light in a battle against the fallen, and once the dust settled, it appeared as though the Light was victorious.

However that idyllic peace is short-lived when Azrael’s angel brother, Bath Kol, receives a disturbing vision. Those members of the fallen that were conquered have found a key to rebirth within the sacred tombs of Egypt. Now able to raise their full armies of darkness against the small twenty-one angel battalion charged with protecting the Remnant, evil has the advantage. That is unless Celeste, one of only three half-angel/half-human hybrids left on the planet, can sway the balance. If Celeste cannot, countless human lives will be lost, evil will eclipse the earth, the Light will forever be extinguished…and Azrael will be forced to make an awful choice between taking a fall to save the woman he loves or to allow her to perish.

Source: Info in the Description was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10414619-conquer-the-dark on 08/07/2011.

Interview with author CHRISTINA HENRY

We have with us today the talented author of the Madeline Black series, Christina Henry!! First off, Chris, please tell us about you.
I’m a thirtysomething (OK, almost fortysomething) mom of one boy and I’ve been happily married for twelve years.

When I’m not writing or helping my son build robots out of Legos I like to run long distances, bake sweet things (this is one of the many reasons that I run), and read as much as I can. I really enjoy watching movies where people get eaten by monsters – The Host, Jaws, Alien, and Night of the Living Dead are some of my favorites.

Where do you get your inspiration from? How do you come up with these ideas?
I’m more of an aural person than a visual person, so I usually hear the character’s voice before I see them. That’s happened with every character in the BLACK WINGS world so far.

When I’m writing a book I have a general idea of what has to happen at the beginning and at the end, but I don’t plan out the middle. I just kind of go along and let things happen organically.

Have you always wanted to be a writer? When and how did you start writing? Will you tell us a little about your journey to being a published author.
I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was 12 years old and I read J.R.R. Tolkien’s THE LORD OF THE RINGS series. I was so enthralled with the world that he created.

I wrote BLACK WINGS in the fall of 2008, and then spent six months trying to find an agent. It’s really, really difficult to get an agent in the current climate. There are way more writers than there are agents to go around.

After six months without any success I decided to submit the book directly to Ace/Roc. Most of my favorite writers (Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris) are with them, and I’d always wanted to be published by Ace anyway. One week after I submitted the query and first ten pages an editor asked to read the whole book, and a week after that I was offered a contract for three books. It was pretty amazing.

As I understand it, Black Wings is your debut novel. How did it feel and how did you react? What did you do when you finally got to be a published author?
It took a few days to sink in, that’s for sure. I don’t think I really felt like an author until I walked into my local bookstore and saw BLACK WINGS on the shelf. I still like to go into bookstores and check the SF/Fantasy section for my book :)

Please tell us the aspect in being a writer that you like most.
Working in my pajamas when I’m at home, and working in the bagel shop when I actually feel like getting dressed.

Please tell us the aspect about being a writer that you like least.
Really, there’s no downside to this. I get to make up stories for a living!

Was there any significant changes in your life since being a published author? Did you like it? Did you hate it? Or just put up with it?
No, my life hasn’t really changed that much. I wish I could say that my life has been super-exciting since the books came out but unfortunately I still have to do the laundry.

How many books are planned for the Madeline Black series? Or nothing is quite definite yet?
There are definitely going to be at least six books. If it seems like there is more story to tell after that then there will be more.

Are you working on any current projects right now?
I’m working on the rewrites for BLACK HOWL, the third book in the BLACK WINGS series, which will be released in February 2012. I’ve also started writing book 4 in the series.

Thanks so much for having me here today, Cherry!

And thank you!! To Christina for taking the time out of her busy schedule to answer the nosey questions from a reader!

Stalk Christina:
www.christinahenry.net
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Black Wings by Christina Henry
Book 1 of the Madeline Black series

Genre: urban fantasy

About Black Wings:

Escorting souls into the afterlife leaves Maddy little time for socializing-until devilishly handsome Gabriel Angeloscuro agrees to rent the empty apartment in her building. But when demons start appearing on Maddy’s front lawn, she realizes there’s more to her new tenant than meets the eye.

Source: Info in the About Black Wings was taken from the author's website at http://www.christinahenry.net/?page_id=43 on 10/01/2011.

Black Night by Christina Henry
Book 2 of the Madeline Black series

Genre: urban fantasy

About Black Night:

Madeline Black is an Agent of death, meaning she escorts the souls of people who have died to the afterlife. Of course, not everyone is happy to see her...

If obstinate dead people were all that Maddy had to worry about, life would be much easier. But the best-laid plans of Agents and fallen angels often go awry. Deaths are occurring contrary to the natural order, Maddy's being stalked by foes inside and outside of her family, and her two loves-her bodyguard, Gabriel, and her doughnut-loving gargoyle, Beezle-have disappeared. But because Maddy is Lucifer's granddaughter, things are expected of her, things like delicate diplomatic missions to other realms.

Source: Info in the About Black Night was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9986897-black-night on 27/06/2011.

Perils and joys of being a writer by Philippa Ballantine

Perils and joys of being a writer - Philippa Ballantine

I’ve always wanted to be a writer—well as soon as I realized I had read all the books in my father’s science fiction shelf.

I started when I was a teenager. I immediately fell in love with the creativity and freedom of tackling a blank page and filling it with characters and worlds. I’d never been able to draw to save myself, my knitting was terrifying, and I got ejected from the school choir. So it was quite lucky that I got some creative writing talents to make up for that.

I write speculative fiction (fantasy and science fiction) because it was what I read as a kid, and the shear scope of what you can do with it is unmatched in any other genre. You can go anywhere in the universe or anywhere in time.

Speculative fiction is particularly good for me since I love building worlds. There is something liberating about thinking about all aspects of life on a planet. In the world of Geist I had to consider what the effects of having the supernatural present in your everyday world would be. How would the citizens of Arkaym cope? How would it mould the Empire and the world in general? And that was when I came up with the Order of the Eye and the Fist. When you have a force as powerful as the supernatural geists, you need something else to balance it out.

I like to think of world building as a puzzle. It occupies my mind during the day, gives me something to chew on while doing housework, and when I go to sleep at night, it’s the last thing I think about. Sounds like I am obsessed doesn’t it?

Characters are how your reader will experience the world you have built. They cannot be perfect, but they must have personalities that make the reader want to spend time with them. Sorcha is abrasive and arrogant at the beginning of Geist, but she is also loyal to her friends, and brave in the face of terrible danger. They must also be altered by the events of that happen in the book—at least to continue to be interesting. Sorcha learns in Spectyr to rely on her friends, and that isn’t a scary thing.

Another joy however, is reaching the end. The sweet joy of finishing a book can barely compared. You’ve sweated hours of your time away to reach it. It’s like the marathon of creative writing—but without anyone there to cheer when you pass the finish line.

However before you get too comfortable, there is editing. I cried the very first time I got my professional edits done, but since then I have learned to appreciate that too. It’s exciting to see a rough draft of a book be polished into something cohesive where everything fits. Having fresh eyes on it makes all the difference.

After that comes the really, really fun stuff. Seeing the cover art for the first time, getting your author copies in the mail, and then seeing your book in stores.

However I wouldn’t be totally honest…there are some rough places in being a writer. The one most people know about is the dreaded writer’s block. This is exactly how it sounds, painful. It feels kinda like you have something stuck in your tooth, and you just don’t know how to get it out. Luckily there are some techniques to get around the block. Doing something else, going back a couple of scenes and writing a different direction, or giving the problem writing to someone else and getting suggestions.

But once you get around it, it is a giddy joy. Writing is full of bumps and joys, but I find it totally worth it. The cherry on the top is when you meet someone who has read your book and enjoyed what you did. Then it is impossible to keep the smile of your face. It makes it all worthwhile!

Stalk Philippa:
www.pjballantine.com
www.booksoftheorder.com
Facebook
GoodReads
Shelfari
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UK & EU Summer Hop

UK & EU Summer Hop
This contest hop is sponsered by UK & EU Summer Hop blog. Go to here for details of this contest hop. Now, what are you getting for this hop here at CM?

Prize: £15 giftcertificate or equivalent or Book Depo book up to £15

To enter: Be a GFC follower and leave a comment with a way to contact you and the country you're in.

Giveaway deets:

• Giveaway period: 1-8 August 2011.
• Have to be GFC follower. I must be able to verify you in my followers list.
• Leave a comment and a way to contact you with this post.
• Additional entry credit(s) every time you spread this contest around. Just leave the url address in a comment as to where you posted about it where I could see it and you will be credited the additional entry.
• This giveaway is limited to countries where Book Depo ships to. Please check here to avoid disappointment.
• Please read the Disclaimer as it forms part of all giveaways/contests here at CM.
  

*Amendment:
I have a little confession to make. I screwed up with the giveaway post. I thought that it being "UK & EU" is clear enough... I should have made it very clear in no uncertain words that this is a UK/EU giveaway... anyway, I realized belatedly my mistake... but the giveaway has already begun and we have international entrees already so I can't really change that. So to compensate, I added one other rule:

• I will draw a random winner and if the winner is not from EU, then we will have a second winner which will be from EU.

That at least ensures that we are following the spirit of the giveaway hop and both international and EU readers gets a crack at the pot. Please note that I am not calling anybody crack pot here... least of all myself.