Holiday Indie Book SALE Blog Hop

I love a book sale, book sales are good!
(feel free to not understand that terrible reference)

Well, I know  I haven't been one for posting recently. My ability to write coherently has waxed and waned over the past 6 months. BUT! I've got something special for my lovely blog friends. A paperback book sale! My dear friend Grace Pennington and I put it together over the last couple of weeks, and we were excited for it to hit the streets.

Now of course, I'm a lame brain and never got around to posting this on the actual start of the sale, but fret not, for there are still 3 days to empty your wallets for these fabulous indie authors!

Made by yours truly. The color is a little darker in real life.

Also, we have a special giveaway running through Friday the 6th. There are three nerdy goodie packs, including shiny-fancy notebooks, trinkets, and a hand-knitted bow tie!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SALE FINISHED.

Okay, I think I've made enough nerd references for this post, don't you? Time to stuff your stockings with these fabulous books.

Melody Valadez

    Those Who Trespass: https://www.createspace.com/4404436

Faith Blum

    A Mighty Fortress: https://www.createspace.com/4420971

Marilynn Dawson

Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate:

https://www.createspace.com/4249405

Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey:

https://www.createspace.com/3672131 Volume One

https://www.createspace.com/3933868 Volume Two

https://www.createspace.com/3958072 Volume Three

https://www.createspace.com/3958097 Volume Four

https://www.createspace.com/3958124 Volume Five

https://www.createspace.com/3960362 Volume Six

https://www.createspace.com/3964570 Leader's Guide

Molly Evangeline

    http://www.mollyevangeline.com/holiday-sales

Kelsey Bryant

    Family Reunion: https://www.createspace.com/4428655

Christina & Melody Grubb

    http://www.etsy.com/shop/DaybyDayCreations

Aubrey Hansen

    Peter's Angel: https://www.createspace.com/3988112

Red Rain: https://www.createspace.com/3813172

Morgan Huneke

    Across the Stars: https://www.createspace.com/4259184

    The Experiment: https://www.createspace.com/4410811

Vicki Lucas

    Toxic: http://vickivlucas.com/books/toxic/ (Discounted to $10 through Paypal)

J. Grace Pennington

    Never: https://www.createspace.com/3940500

    Firmament: Radialloy: https://www.createspace.com/3816448

    Firmament: In His Image: https://www.createspace.com/4480518

Jordan Smith

    Finding the Core of Your Story: https://www.createspace.com/4064194

My Bookshelf Lacks X-Y-Z

Hello there! I've been terribly busy, but I'll save that for my next post. For now, here is a cool challenge that The Book Chewers had for their weekly blog link-up!

Prompt: Have you read a book starting with every. single. letter from the alphabet?! Make a list of books you've read, from A to Z! (Bonus points to those who've read those tricky letters, like X and Z.)

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Blackthorn Winter by Kathryn Reiss

Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop

Dream of Night by Heather Henson

Eva Underground by Dandi Daley Mackall

Fire & Ashes by Katie Lynn Daniels

Gods and Kings by Lynn Austin

Hattie Bigsky by Kirby Larson

Indian Captive by Lois Lenski

Janitor’s Boy [The] by Andrew Clements

Kimchi & Calamari by Rose Kent

Lost Time by Susan Maupin Schmid

Merchant’s Daughter [The] by Melanie Dickerson

{CURRENTLY READING AND THEREFORE IT DOESN'T COUNT :-(} Never by J. Grace Pennington

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

Penderwicks [The] by Jeanne Birdsall

Q.

Red Rain by Aubrey Hansen

Small Acts of Amazing Courage by Gloria Whelan

Thunderhead by Mary O’Hara

U.

Vanishing Violin [The] by Michael D. Beil

Water Street by Patricia Reilly Giff

X.

Y.

Z.

SO CLOSE.

AND

                           YET

so far

The Book Chewer's link-up is a ton of fun, and it's given me an idea. Wouldn't it be cool to do an A-Z series on your favorite books? I must remember to try that some time.

Okay For Now

 I didn't get a chance to post this on the VLA blog, but I thought it was pretty awesome. Here is Gary D Schmidt reading from his book Okay For Now. I wish he did his own audio books.

My Reading List Fall 2012

Ahhh... I've got some humorous blog posting coming your way soon, but until then, I'm going to post my reading list for this fall. I'm going to have to become friends with the persons at my library that order books, to be sure, to be sure.

*drum roll*

 ZE REEDING LISTZ (Darn, Aubrey. Thanks a lot. ;-D)

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy
The Book Theif by Markus Zuzak
Get Thee to a Punnery: An Anthology of Intentional Assaults Upon the English Language by Richard Lederer
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Wilder
Folks, This Ain't Normal by Joel Salatin
John Adams by David McCullough (started this last year and didn't finish)
Sleeping Freshman Never Lie by David Lubar (re-read; yessssss it was that good)
Firmament: Radialloy by Grace Pennington (missed the sale on July 4th... have to beg the library!)
Peter's Angel by Aubrey Hansen
National Velvet by Enid Bagnold
God and Kings: Chronicles of the Kings by Lynn Austin (got this for free on Amazon)



"EN AVANT THE CARTS!"

 I also want to read some of the other self-published books that were suggested for the VLAs, like Pirate Daughter's Promise, Charity's Diary, and the Destiny Trilogy, but I'll probably read those after I get some of the classics and non-fiction crossed off my list, :-D


( As a side note: prayers that I can afford a laptop to replace my old one would be appreciated, so I can get going on my senior year of homeschool. )

///////Ahhhhh

 Am I being lazy? I took a trip to the library this week, so I haven't felt much interest in wasting my time on  The Facebook, Twitter, or my blog. Not that I don't love ya'll, but I'm not obsessed over your life and I can always read about it four hours after you post instead of two minutes. ;-D

PacMan anyone? Oh, that's right, it's an Eclipse.

I have a very narrow field of reading interests, I know.

And I must really be lazy, because I salvaged the first part of this post from last week and added the pic from the Annular Eclipse last night. ;-D

 Listening to Adam Young. Youtopia is probably my favorite.

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer - A Quick Review

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I only upgrade books to five stars if I plan on reading it again soon, but this book will be an exemption. Not because I didn't love it, but I felt satisfied with it the first time around.

Hope Was Here was simple, straightforward, and believable. It felt real, it had twists, it had a real ending. Real endings are few and far between, folks. Enjoy this one and bring some tissues.



View all my reviews


---

Characters: 5/5 Unique. Not hugely delved into, but that wouldn't be appropriate with the style.
Plot: 5/5 I love it. I wish there were more diner novels out there.
Style: 6 out of 5 (yes I took pre-Algebra) Appropriate. See Characters rating.
Focus & Attention Span: 5/5 Some books fly off the plot radar just to skip around in some fairytale romance for a quarter of the book, and then suddenly the author goes "Crap I have to end the book!" so they try desperately to make a happy ending before the publisher starts throwing a deadline tantrum. There were little niches about individual characters throughout, but each was just right, and didn't steal the focus on the plot at all. In fact, the character nuances WERE the plot.
Ending: Oh, snap. I think I started crying. Almost. If you know me, you also know it's impossible to make me cry while reading, even if the book really means something to me. I teared up because there are very few books with real endings anymore, and it made me feel better about things. As they say on Author Agent blogs, even if your book is mediocre, a fantastic ending can score you some brownie points. If your book is great and has a fantastic ending, you are forever one of the best authors I've ever read.

MORE Library Books

On Tuesday or so I went to the library with one of my longest lists yet--about 19 books. As I went through the isles, I declined getting some of them. I mean, snore. It's one thing to get excited about something on Goodreads, it's another when you see the opening sentence.

 So after a bad run-in with a I-wrote-a-book-for-people-who-hate-goody-goody-Christians (your loss, author dude. not everyone has to be obsessed with adult garbage) I found some other books and put them on hold, and today my parents took me to get them. Of course I couldn't help but get a few extra.




 Yep, they finally got Ruby Redfort. My mom flipped through this and said SHE might even enjoy reading it, so that's a good sign. Also, each library branch in my town has two copies, and there was only one copy not checked out in the whole town. So obviously people like it a lot.
 The Weight of the Sky is actually in verse, which slightly annoys me but On Pointe was good and I had to force myself to put this down after two pages.
 And Gary D. Schmidt... well Wednesday Wars was just awesome so how could I resist?
 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Vingt Mille something-something uhh... okay I forgot the rest of the original title. I'm not that far in French yet. Whatever.) Kate from Dream Sailor has been bragging about this book, and it's science fiction so I'm giving it a try. I personally wanted Around the World in 80 Days, but my library is not that cool.

(FROM A TAG ON THE FLIKR WEBSITE: "from Jules Vernes' Journey to the Center of the Earth, Chapter 5;

"This church exhibited nothing remarkable in itself; in fact, the worthy Professor had only been attracted to it by one circumstance, which was, that its rather elevated steeple started from a circular platform, after which there was an exterior staircase, which wound round to the very summit. - ed snook")

 Which makes me want to read Journey, but the edition my library had was weird and I didn't want to read that.
---
 And for your enjoyment, I have decided to start doing book pair ups. If there are two book that have something very similar, I'll talk a little about it.


VS.

Both are a mystery about the past. Both I could not finish reading. Blah, blah, blah. If your going to write something about being obsessed about something small from your childhood even when you are seventeen, add more than one dimension to the story, please.
---
 I would also like to add that Smiles to Go by Jerry Spinelli is ultra rad. Skateboards, astronomy, and an awesome style of narrative. Lovin' it!

Favorites Volume I

 There will always be that list of books you tell people are your favorite, that you keep repeating and repeating. I will always say Anne of Green Gables is my most favorite book, but even then I oft forget the wondrous words that make me keep reading.

Empurpled. Anyone remember that?     

  Often by favorite I mean something that I would read more than four times. It's stiff competition out there, ladies.

Here are some grand words to read:

 - - The Wednesday Wars by Gary D Schmidt
 - - The Plastic Ocean by M
 - - Wonder Struck by Brian Selznick
 - - Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes
 - - The Mozart Season by Virginia Euwer Wolff
 - - The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
 - - Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen
 - - First Snow by Kate Sayloor
 - - Good Hours by Robert Frost

From 1940s Census

Novel Self-Help

Is it pathetic that I'm still working on my NaNoNovel?

“It already sounds stupid.”

 The plot keeps evading me. I want the narrator, Jane, to be the FMC, but the secondary FMC keeps stealing the spotlight every time I work on the outline. It's always 'Jill' this, 'Jill' will do that.

"The key word here," she smiled out of context. "Is desperation."

  So I've been reading this novel-help book (gasp) that I used to hate, but actually has some great ideas and thoughts in it. Teach Youself: Writing a Novel by Nigel Watts. It's some none-existent British version of Idiot's Guide. There is little room in my writing world for talk of structured outlines and roller coasters and arcs. So I usually skip all of that. Here is a random good bit:
"Not every novel you read will have a clearly identifiable thesis [. . .] Such books are often like low-grade fast food: tasty in an obvious sort of way, but without much nutrition. [. . .] The market for junk food and junk literature is ever-expanding, and there is a lot of money to be made. Whatever sort of writing you are drawn to write, don't resist the tug. If you self-consciously inject meaning into your work, you will probably seem fake. Even junk has its own integrity." -From Teach Yourself: Writing a Novel
 But I'm a nerd for the study of fiction writing, so that probably doesn't interest you. You probably want more quotes from my book.

 “Enough said.” I held up my hands and grinned awkwardly at the table.

Deceptive (indented quotes) copyright 2012 Jessica Verve.

LHBP 2012: The Lowdown on Me

 The Literary Heroine Blog Party is already deeply underway, but Jess slips in anyways, smoothing her clothes and sitting on the edge of a small, elegant chair near the door. Kellie is asking the new members to answer questions.

"Introduce yourself!  Divulge your life's vision, likes, dislikes, aspirations, or something completely random!" Kellie asked first.

 "I'm Jessica Verve. I've been deeply interested in writing fiction for years, and have been penning a mystery book since last summer that is almost completed. Anything I do in my life would be completely hopeless if it wasn't for God, my wonderful heavenly Father. He inspires me with so many things and has piqued a broad variety of interests in my heart, so many I could go on for quite a long time..." Jessie grins.


 "What, to you, forms the essence of a true heroine?"

What title?

Sorry for the lack of blog, readers.

My week:

-Emails (alot)
-Book reviewing/Reading
-Creating Accounts for VLA
--Goodreads
--Facebook (puke)
-Twerting (twitting) (which is mostly stupid, but it helps me remember Dictionary.com Words of the Day) [See: Inferior Blogging]
-Homeschool
-Angry Fantasy Writers Glare At Jessica Verve Project
-Research for novels
-Church
-Chores
-Crochet project

Nuts, yes.


 And I'm sad, because Healer's Apprentice was better than Merchant's Daughter.

 Perchance a song will cheer us?

Confessions of a Book Award Committee Member

 Let's get this straight.

 When you read all of those books about twelve-year-olds that save the world, it's a total and complete lie. I'm nearly an adult, and I can't even find the time to put as much work into a website as I want to. Real life is more like Black Beauty or Huck Finn or A House of Tailors. I am under no impression that what I'm doing is world-changing, or will ever matter to anyone. But for the first time in my life, I feel like I have a responsibility that needs to be completed. It's stupid, stupid, stupid, but I must get there. I must follow this through to the end, and work more than I probably should. Long nights. Library trips. Gosh-awful humility-checking email marathons. Being honest about sincerity. Not sounding like a clingy puppy dog. Facing facts. Standing on my beliefs, and not backing down because someone has their genre in a wad. Doing chores. Remembering to graduate homeschool. Intermittent novel drafting. Endless recently published novel lists on yucky publisher websites.

 And remembering to stay tight with God.


 "When you get hooked into something by God, you'll have all the energy you'll need to do it."



 I just wanted to show people that there are interesting things in life that have nothing to do with vampires. But now it's more than that. It's about really nice people and sharing some pretty incredible words.

 Toughing it out. This is nothing.

Jobs

 I'm thinking about becoming an Author Publicist/Book Doctor.

 That's a random one, isn't it?

 You see, I've really been getting into researching self published authors lately, and wishing I could help the really talented ones get more promotion. I shamelessly update pages on Goodreads (I'm a librarian there) just so that indie books will show up more in search engines.
 And I really want to help those less-than-great new authors. Because I see a lot of ideas that COULD be utterly fantastic, but they lack direction or good scene mapping or even key details. Most of them (even ones by small imprints) need two things: a real, gutsy, knowledgeable editor; and about five more drafts. Any editor that would leave his diamond in the rough author out in the lions den with a half-edited book shouldn't be an editor. To heck with your MFA! College degrees are no guarantee for knowledge OR ability OR creativity.

I have nothing more to say right now. Already swamped just by reading books, answering emails, and doing social media for Verve Lit Awards! But it really does bug me, y'know? Maybe if I could have someone doing twitter for me, I could have the time to be an indie publicist/agent.


 Or maybe I'm just looking for a way out of admitting that most of the books I've read in the last week stink on ice.

I LOVE BARNES & NOBLE

 

I started reading this book at the store... SO BEYOND DISAPPOINTED

that it was published too long ago to nominate for VLA. I want to buy this book

very badly. It's about a girl who's mom becomes the US ambassador to Ethiopia.

And there's some safari moments. Didn't want to drain gift card, though. I'm not an

impulse buyer anymore.

 P.R. Giff! She emailed me once. *grins* This book looks pretty good. Shame on

Random House for not even updating her website and let everyone know she has

a new book! Actually, it was new in August. BLEH. I can't wait to read about the

depression farm life. I love historical stories.

 First reaction: Enough. WWII stories are overkill at this point, because everyone

and their third-cousin-five-times-removed has written one in the past three years,

and not many are that good. This, on the other side, had some spice. Can't wait

to read. Isn't that the best cover ever? Okay, maybe I was won over by the cover.

It beats The Book Thief.

 Neato. My mom commented on how I keep reading Red books.
Red Rain. Red Blazer Girls.

 Another awesome cover. Haven't read this book after six months of picking it up
every time I go to the bookstore.

 Pukey new release shelf.

More pukey/bland/overkill/boring/beentheredonethat books.

All in all: Zero books purchased.

I do however find B&N my new favorite place to write. It seems I only write the big chunks of chapters when I'm there, but there are so many books I don't know when I get the time to scribble. Tonight I just discovered the non-fic section (this B&N is newish to me) and almost passed out at how awesome it was. I think I shall take The Sailor and CrazyWriter there to drool at astronomy books some day. And roll our eyes at the angst ridden teens zoning out in the Blight section. I think you know what I'm talking about. ;-D

TTFN!

bookzzz

The Reinvention of Bessica Lefter (eh)
Waiting for Normal
Listening for Lions (liked the safari theme... who knows if it'll be good)
The Healer's Apprentice (don't laugh xD)
What I Call Life (knitting on cover is the only reason I got it)
Eight Keys (wanted to buy this)
The Trouble With May Amelia (everyone likes this for some reason. We'll see)
Junonia <3
The Summer Before Boys (wanted to buy this a looooong time ago)
Seaglass Summer (didn't even look at the description)
Mo Wren Lost and Found (this is questionable, but it looked funny and it was in the kids section)
More Than a Horse (awesome cover)
Penderwicks 2 & 3 (read before)


 The librarian smiled at me while I was checking out. "That's some good stuff."
 Me: "Uuuuhh..... yeah, yeah, it is. *smiles stupidly*"

 Not to copy Lidia, who just did a book list post. xD

 Hopefully one of the new ones will go up for the VLA. I'm considering doing a drastic change. It's a #snore. AHHHHH, I'm using hashtags in EVERYTHING now.


 That, ladies and germs, is my random post for the week. Bear with me.

Going to the library library blibrary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1) God delivered me from my sinus infection last night! WOOT now I'm all better.

2) The thought of having the power to give a book award to any YA author only enthralls Me and said Authors.

3) Today is library day. Going to get a bunch of titles on my Goodreads list. I might take a picture of the mountain of books. Haha.

Newberry Shock

 I'm a little slow in looking up this year's Newberry winners, as I completely forgot when they announce it. xD Almost a whole week late!

 Dead End in Norvelt was the winner? It must be a lot more exciting than I remember the dust jacket blurb being. I am kinda biased and don't look at a book if the description is dull or the opening is a snooze. I might read it eventually.

 The only books I've read or heard of on the Notable List are Junonia (I have recently reconciled with Kevin Henkes' books), Okay For Now (read a review on Into The Book), and Tall Story. I actually got Tall Story from the library a couple of weeks ago. Bleh.

 They could have at least mentioned Penderwicks 3. >.<

 This, my friends, is why I do my own awards. I get incredibly frustrated when my favorite books don't make the list. A lot of kids I know feel the same way.

Sailboats...

CURRENTLY READING: The Great Wide Sea by M. H. Herlong

VLA SITE CONSTRUCTION : 99% Complete

What does this mean? I can stop being a web designer and be a writer again. To be honest, I was getting a little frustrated with writing when I began the heavy work on the site last week. The break did me good. Every time I want to throw my notebooks in a heap and run the garden hose over it, I know it's time to take a breath.

 That is another reason why I work on more than one novel at a time. Easier to write a more refreshing point of view.

 Speaking of POV, does anyone else find themselves doing multi-POVs without noticing? Deceptive's been getting a little confusing with the constant switching, and it's making me wonder what my story is really about--what would the meaning be if it was ONLY in one person's eyes?

Windsor Airlift - Love (w/o weird beeping=beautiful); No One Tells Me Anything

Black Hearts in Battersea... hmmmm

 So I pick up things at random whenever I go to the library. Mysteries, audio books, biographies, math textbooks (last time I picked up The Writer's Market and tried to check it out. *Reference section only* Oops). And some times, I find a good one. Well, last week I was feeling British, historical, and oceanic, so when I saw Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken, I thought "OH GOODY, a sea mystery." (I often take things literally.) At first I read the description and thought it was an adventure novel along the lines of King of the Wind, but when I got hope it turned at to be a mystery. A fantasy mystery. But not THAT kind of fantasy, I was pleased to find out.

 It turns out, even after the Inklings ruled the world, there were actually fantasy novels that were not about alternate universes, but alternate history. Pretty interesting.

 Long ago in England, there was some kind of war between people of a political persuasion called 'Hanoverians' and those for King James III. Who the heck they are, would take a search engine and an encyclopedia to find out, to be sure. Anyways, I guess the Hanoverians won, but Aikens was not exactly one to write things the way they ended up originally, so in her "Wolves of Willoughby Chase Chronicles" the sovereign over England is King James the III. Thus it is classified a historical fantasy. Though I think some of it had to do with a 8-person hot air balloon. ;-P

 A reviewer on Goodreads pretty much sums it up:

A humorously convoluted Victorian melodrama, complete with plots, assassination attempts, kidnappings, shipwrecks, hidden identities, secret societies, and hot-air balloon escapes.

 This book was quite interesting and had a remarkably good style; however, many overtly convenient plot twists kept this from being a favorite. The beginning was extraordinarily fun and mysterious, as was the middle, but the ending had too many obvious outs. You can tell it is a series because of the references to Willoughby Chase as well as the loose ends that are left at the end. To be honest though, I liked the loose ends and thought that a book standing by itself would be very intriguing with them.