L. K. Madigan's Feast of Awesome Giveaway!

L. K. Madigan's Feast of Awesome Giveaway!

Posting this in honor of Lisa Madigan, currently battling pancreatic cancer after beating breast cancer.

I hate cancer. I watched my father fight (and beat) testicular cancer when he was only 37 years old.

Both of my grandfathers died shortly after being diagnosed with stomach cancer and brain cancer, respectively.

My husband's wonderful Aunt Mary died at the age of 48, when her breast cancer returned after eight years - three years past the supposed "all clear" mark.

My uncle John went through hell fighting esophageal cancer, including a surgery that left him with half a stomach, a partially paralyzed vocal chord, and sixty-three less lymph nodes. That was two years ago, and he's still standing strong.

Currently, my husband's Aunt Rita is battling breast cancer - thirty years after a partial mastectomy.

I have plenty of reason to hate cancer. The disease and the treatment are nightmarish invasions of a person's body. There are too many people fighting cancer in far too many forms. And if it will help anyone anywhere to re-post this contest, I'll do it gladly. Please do the same.

Amazing Book Alert

I just read - no, devoured - Rosebush by Michele Jaffe

This book was A-FREAKING-MAZING.  Suspenseful, beautifully written, totally engrossing right up to the very end.  The kind of book that makes me think, This is why I'm not published... because I didn't write THIS! 

Here is the synopsis from the back cover:

Jane wakes up tangled in a Rosebush, paralyzed and without a clue how she got there.

Her friends convince her she was the victim of a hit and run accident - but Jane begins to suspect someone is out to kill her.  Now, she must use the clues left behind by each person who visits her in the hospital - friend, stranger, enemy - to piece together what really happened, before it's too late.

The truth will change her life forever.  That is, if it doesn't kill her.

Great premise, right?  It only gets better from there.  A warning though: those who are offended by the (unfortunately accurate) portrayal of teenagers having sex, smoking pot, and experimenting with same-sex kissing, this book is not for you.  While it's not the focus of the plot, it's definitely there, so I'm just sayin'.

I did have a couple WTF moments.  Without giving too much away, I'll just say the first one was the Scott Situation, call it contrived, and leave it at that.  I thought it was trying too hard.  Ok, now I'll really leave it alone.

Second... Why did Jane stop at destroying the flower vase when she knew about Ollie's freakish pasttime?  Come on Jane, even I would have gone Rambo on the rest of those gifts.

Third... I'm still not quite sure I understand the "killer's" motive.  I was left guessing up until the last second, but once I knew I found myself thinking, "Really?  Am I buying this?"  I'm still not quite sure.  I know we're never supposed to suspect the real perp, but I felt like I still had questions at the end.  Which, of course, the author could have done intentionally but I'm nosy like that - I like closure.

All in all though, this book deserves to be read.  Michele Jaffe does such an amazing job painting a picture of the loneliness teenagers can feel - even pretty, popular girls.  As she puts it, "There's a finite amount of space at the top of the social pyramid and once you've reached it, there's only one direction to go and no shortage of people who want to push you there."  Jane wanted the perfect life, but learns the hard way that perfection is all smoke and mirrors, and comes at a high price.

You'll be dying to know who put the price tag on her head.  Go forth and enjoy!

Old Man Winter Had the Stomach Flu

I have never seen so much snow in my life.  Maybe I'm the only one who finds it awe-inspiring, but I just had to share the photos.

This is what my yard looks like on a normal day in the summer (thanks to my husband and his overly meticulous grooming of it):

And this is what my yard looks like right now:

Here's the view from my kitchen sliders on a sunny day

And today

Here is what my husband's car usually looks like (alright so this was 2 years ago when it was new and freshly washed):

Still better than it looks today:

And last but not least, my two favorites.  These were taken from my front door, before anyone attempted to dig themselves out.  The black dot in the right-hand corner of the first picture is my mailbox, and the two black dots on the left are my neighbor's rearview mirrors.  The second picture is my mailbox, looking like a buoy in a sea of snow:

Look What Santa Brought the Northeast!

OK, so this has nothing to do with my post, but I've noticed some activity on my blog.  I haven't publicized it or told anyone (scratch that- I've told three people.  Three people who don't blog) it exists, but clearly people are finding me because the number of page views keeps increasing.  So I just wanted to say that I have no problem with people signing up as followers.  None at all.  Really.  If you're reading, I'd love to know who you are.  Please.  Pretty please?

Anyhow, Santa bestowed a belated Christmas gift on the northeastern U.S. this year: a big ol' blizzard.  It started so innocently.  For the first few hours, it was nothing more than a sprinkle of angelic-looking snowflakes.  Here is my yard around 12:30 in the afternoon when it started:

Nothing impressive, right?  I didn't even bother to hope work might be cancelled on Monday.  Especially when hours later, my yard had only gone from the above to this:

Then, all of a sudden, the wind started howling like a wolf at the moon.  My house was literally shaking.  All I could see when I looked outside was white, until it was too dark to see anymore.  When I woke up the next morning, this was the sight that greeted me from my bedroom window:

Note the shrubs and stone wall have completely disappeared.  They're hidden beneath snowdrifts, much like the one that was waiting for us outside the front door:

And just in case you didn't believe me about the wind... Here you go.  Such a beautiful sight.  Especially when it DID get me out of going to work : )

Does anyone else love the snow as much as I do? : )

Boys: The Unflattering Sequel

So after careful consideration, I've come up with the flip side of my Most Wanted list.  Whether they're sleazy, skeevy, or just plain creepy, these are the YA boys who will haunt my dreams for all the wrong reasons:

5) Tamani from Wings and Spells
Maybe it's the whole low-man-on-the-faerie totem pole that turns me off.  Or maybe it's just the green roots of his hair.  Or maybe it's that I find Laurel to be kind of bitchy and hate that David and Tamani fall all over her just because she's hot.  I like man who fights for what he wants, but begging a girl to love you?   Oh, no.  No one should have to beg, and especially not to a girl who readily admits she keeps her adoring hottie human boy so she doesn't have to be alone outside the faerie realm.  Total beyotch.  Grow a pair and get over her.

4) Mike Montgomery from the Pretty Little Liars series
Blue eyes and dark hair is almost always a winning combination in my book.  It might even distract me from the fact that his name is short for Michaelangelo.  But Mike Montgomery is the kind of guy who ruins his good looks every time he opens his mouth.  Immature AND perverted.  Now there's a winning combo * insert sarcasm here*.

3) Christopher from Flowers in the Attic
OK Chris, I know that at the time you were locked in the attic with your sister, it was at a very formative, very hormonal point in your life.  But she's still your SISTER for crying out loud!!  And you weren't in there forever!  Shake it off, buddy!  There are plenty of fish in the sea, and ones who come with the added bonus of not needing to worry about inbreeding.  Talk about not knowing when to get over it! 

2) Reth from Paranormalcy
So just as wolf boys kept popping up in my other list, faeries keep popping up on this one.  It's not that I have anything against faeries per se, but Reth (despite being short for "Lorethan", which I thought was a pretty sexy name) comes across as a total cretin.  Speaking in convoluted riddles?  Materializing in Evie's room unannounced?  Constantly telling her he wants to "fill" her?  Ewww!  It sounds like a romance novel euphemism for getting it on, except he supposedly has no interest in things of that nature (and WTF is up with that??)  I think that's enough strikes to take him out of the game.  Plus, the whole no-nipples-or-belly-button thing freaks me out a little.  You stick with your see-through water boy, Evie.  At least he's anatomically correct.

1) Ben from the Touch Series
So Ben has the power of psychometry, and can see flashes of your future when he touches you.  Look out though, because if it gets too intense, he may just end up hurting you.  I can only speak for myself, but if I had a crush on cute boy, the last thing I would want him to see is visions of my dead body when he puts his hands on me.  And then nearly crushing me from the effort of it?  How romantic.  But I guess it's better than actually BEING mysteriously dead, like his ex-girlfriend.  Or worse, being obsessed with Ben to the point of pathetic, like Camelia.  I know Ben is supposed to come across as brooding, mysterious, and tortured, but I just found him totally creepy.  Keep those psychometric paws off me.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

What are the odds that there's a literary agent hiding in one of these boxes??

Sadly, not a chance.  I wrapped them all.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Pretty Little Lies

First let me start by saying that I am in no way slamming literary agencies with this post.  Seeing as I am desperately seeking representation from an agent, that would be like biting the hand that may someday (hopefully, pretty pretty please) feed me.

I have to backtrack a little and say that I am so glad I only sent out a handful of queries this time around.  None of them rendered the response I was looking for, and this tells me my letter still needs work.  Having said that, my frustration is two part:

1) Have you ever read a book and found yourself enjoying it so little, you wondered how it was published in the first place?  The process is supposed to occur as follows, correct?
- agent's interest is piqued by query letter
- agent requests more material
- material decidedly does NOT suck, so agent begins pitching it to publishing houses
- publishing house concurs material is worth investing in, publishes the book
- We read it and agree or disagree
Granted, everyone's tastes are different, but I have read some books where the material definitely DOES suck.  Trite plotting, cliche dialogue, completely unrealistic scenarios... it almost makes me angry.  But here's the catch - there was SOME reason that agent, publisher, and finally me as the reader were drawn to the book in the first place.  Someone, most likely the author, found some way to cleverly present the premise.  Agent and publisher expanded on it.  They drew us all in, and while agent and publisher cash their checks, do they care that I don't stand behind my investment in their product?  And did they take it on because THEY genuinely believed in the product, or were they merely confident they'd found a way to spin it into best sellerdom?

So my main frustration is this: Even if my novel DOESN'T suck (and I do realize my opinion doesn't count in this respect), an agent would never know it if they're throwing away my sample pages based on the query alone.  Even if I've written the novel competently, I'm not SELLING it effectively.  So while my query is deleted, another query is moving on to the next round.  Will it become a novel some of us wish we'd never read?  Who knows.  But they made someone believe in their product.  EVERYTHING rides on that letter.  Which leads to my second frustration:

2) Many (some, not all) web sites and/or agencies make it sound like your query stands a chance so long as it is free of the glaring no-no's all agents despise.  For example, addressing it to the wrong person, bragging about yourself, not including the word count/genre, making spelling/punctuation errors, etc. 
Don't be fooled.  They are just being kind.  Your query can be grammatical perfection, with an ideal word count and a clearly identified genre, but guess what?  You still can and will be rejected.  It's not enough to do everything correctly.  You have to do it exceptionally.

So, Stephenie Meyer, despite what you would like us all to believe, your query obviously didn't suck.  But mine is clearly not at the exceptional level yet, so back to tweaking I go.  And when I do get to the next round, I sincerely hope no one regrets buying my novel! 

If anyone stops by and has ever been driven to distraction wondering how a book they found intolerable made it to publication, I'd love to know about it.  Happy Saturday!