Hey, everyone! Madeline J. Rose over at Short and Snappy created this challenge where you have to come up with books that are similar to your WIPs. Like "A Time to Die" meets "Wolf by Wolf," for example (just the first two books that came to mind, but OH MY SOMEONE PLEASE WRITE THAT BOOK.) So! Today you get a selection of Comp Titles that are similar to my books!

This won't be all of the books I've written/have ideas for (I came up with a new plot bunny last night, actuallly...haha) but it's going to be fun anyway. I hope.

This was a really fun challenge, but really tough...I will be tagging people, so prepare yourselves for that ;)

Here are Madeline's rules:

• Pick a few (or all!) of your WIPS!
• Give them some comp titles!
• Tag a few peoples if you wish!
• Have fun! 

The King's Daughter// X-Men meets Lord of the Rings meets the Last Jedi

*in Yzma voice* WRONG GIFFY!!!!!

Ink Storm//Fangirl meets Tomorrowland with Unicorns

Alone in this Dark//Wolf by Wolf meets Mockingjay Part 1 meets Man in the High Castle (without sci-fi elements)

White Rose//Les Miserables meets Nazi Germany

Wings//World War I meets The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe meets Game of Thrones (WITHOUT the content!)

Rise, You Lost Boy//Katniss Everdeen meets the Yearling

And the Sky Fell Down//The Refugee Crisis meets Star Wars

Teacher, Meet World//These Happy Golden Years meets The Lost Girl of Astor Street meets Star Wars meets Divergent

This month I wrote 58,017 words out of my goal of 70,000 in my novel The Winter's Chill. This was a very difficult book to write, you guys. It's the third book in the Pentegreens series, my hopefully epic fantasy series. While the second book was difficult and emotional to write, this one is harder on several levels. The second one had a lot going on, and despite the fact that there was in fact much raw emotion, it could be hidden thanks to the stuff going on.

But then this book happened...and there was no hiding from the emotion anymore. Ask my cabinmates...I may or may not have made myself cry writing my own story.

My creative well needed salvaging, so I stopped first drafting on the 26th. I probably could have finished the book and kept going, but I honestly didn't want to. I didn't want to force out something mediocre that I'd have to turn around and get rid of later on. So I stopped, and it all worked out alright. It was what needed to happen.

But enough of this....let me give you all some idea of what this story is about (without really saying anything because haha SPOILERS), some aesthetics, and some snippets. ;)

Blurb

Snippets

What's up, lovelies? Today I have a blog tour for you! The lovely K.A. Emmons is releasing the second book in her The Blood Race series, entitled Worlds Beneath, and while I have not yet read Worlds Beneath I have a review of the first book AND an interview with the amazing author today!

The Book

(And while I haven't read this one yet...I kind of need to after that cliffhanger. Like, sheesh. *dies*)

The Author

When she’s not hermiting away in her colorfully-painted home office writing her next science fiction, passionate story-teller and adventurer Kate Emmons is probably on the road for a surf or hiking trip, listening to vinyls, or going for a power run. Emmons’ debut novel The Blood Race is the first book in her YA science fiction/fantasy thriller series. Get connected with Kate on your favorite social platform, and be sure to check out http://kaemmons.com/!

My Review

After giving myself ample time to process (read: over a month XD) I have finally decided to review this book. And man, it's so complicated, I just can't. 

I'll admit to being a leeeeetle disappointed by this one, mostly because so many of my blogging friends absolutely LOVE it. That's not to say I didn't like it--it was really, really good! It simply didn't grab me and throw me into it the way my five-star reads have. 

The characters and the prose were probably the best part. Ion was a definite highlight--I LOVED his character arc, as well as the unconventional way that Kate tackled writing a random guy chosen for a supernatural task he doesn't understand. It broke the mold in the best possible ways. Then Hawk--she was so harsh and cold, and I'm kind of growing tired of girls like that...but then her backstory broke my heart (poor, poor girl) and I understood her a little better. Fin was an absolute sweetheart and I'm looking forward to seeing him develop more in future installments. I liked Sensei well enough, although I'm still not sure I understand him (intentional, I'm sure). The other characters were all fine, although I didn't fall head over heels for any of them. 

And then the PROSE. My goodness. I would recommend this book for the gorgeous prose alone. It's so beautiful, and I loved all the description. I felt like I was truly in all the scenes, and the flying parts? AMAZING. <3 

The worldbuilding was pretty cool, especially the sort of stepping-between-realms stuff. I always love that kind of plot device. I didn't find myself blown away by the plot (it was well-paced and very character-driven, which I liked...but then it also confused me a couple of times, which I didn't so much like). 

Probably the biggest negative for me is that I didn't really get the whole "student body government" thing at all? Like it just seemed so...I don't even know. It didn't make sense to my goldfish brain. XD That's probably just me though? 

Overall I'm giving this 3.5 stars, and I am very eager to read the next one! At some point I'm DEFINITELY going to get my hands on it, because the cliffhanger was NOT OKAY. (And I want to know more about the chaaaaaaaaaaaaarrraaacteeeeeerrrrrrrs) 

CONTENT ADVISORY
-Language: there's a handful of cuss words in this novel, ranging from lighter stuff (h*ll is used a few times) to cut-off f-words. I thought it was dealt with pretty well, though, and was in there for a reason...so I'm not counting off points on that account :P
-Sexy stuff: The main characters are largely a group of very secular college students, so there's some kissing and flirting and making out. One character's backstory deals with being raped. 
-Alcohol: Again, secular college students, so there's quite a bit of drinking at some points :P 
(Note about the content: I found it really cool how all of this stuff wasn't allowed anymore once Ion had his new calling. An allegory, perhaps? XD) 

Overall, 3.5 stars, and I'd recommend this one to anybody who doesn't mind a couple of content concerns! 

Interview

Thank you so much for that beautiful word and for being a part of my blog today! I'm so happy to finally have gotten the chance to read this amazing book and to help celebrate the release of Worlds Beneath (which I can't wait to read, btw <3) 









How do you like the Blood Race, if you've read it? 

This post was inspired by part by Micaiah's series on the same thing, so if you haven't checked that out yet you definitely should. (And give her blog a follow, she's totally epic.) This is part one of what will most LIKELY be a two-part post, and the next will be up next week. Hope you enjoy!



Strong female characters. We all know 'em, and we all have sort of a love-hate relationship with them. On the one hand, it can be kind of fun to see a girl take on all the baddies and win. The Hunger Games isn't my personal favorite series, but I still enjoy Katniss's part in that. Another well-done strong female character that comes to mind is Parvin from the Out of Time series by Nadine Brandes. She's complicated and feminine, but still good at fighting and being tough, both of which are great skills to have.

However, sometimes I feel like when I read (or more often, watch) stories about "strong female leads" the girls are just blank pieces of paper with the word "kick-butt" inscribed on them.

A couple of examples of this:

Rey

via Pinterest

Don't get me wrong--I really like Rey. I really enjoyed the whole movie The Force Awakens, and I think it's a fun adventure romp. But this is a problem I've always seen in Star Wars: the female characters have very little personality outside of being "strong." Say what you want about the prequels--I find it very interesting that Padme is the most unique of any of the heroines in Star Wars, and yet she's the one who's always being beat up on for letting her emotions show and being a woman who dared to fall in love (albeit with the wrong guy).

Rey is good at everything. She can fly a ship even though she's never been on board it before, and other than a couple of bumps she's a better pilot than the great Han Solo. She can beat up a million thugs twice her size with a single stick. She's got more raw potential than a dozen eggs. She's beautiful. And none of this is a problem! But she also shows no emotion and nothing to make her unique from anyone else.

In the novelization AND the deleted scenes there's extra bits that make her far more human. A scene on the snow planet where she gets cold and Finn gives her his coat. A scene where Chewbacca has to save her instead of her doing the saving. A moment at Maz's castle where she stuffs her face with food and can barely talk because her manners are gone and she just. Wants. Food. because she's been starving for her whole life. We can only wish that these were moments in the actual movie.

June

via Goodreads

Honestly, I think this is a problem I've had with all the books I've read so far by Marie Lu (and I've read or started all of them besides The Young Elites...) the female lead is a sexy gorgeous prodigy (pun intended) who kicks butts and breaks hearts and gives no cares. They aren't memorable, but I'm calling her out anyway. This is kind of the archetype of this character. June, Emika, Madeliene...I might venture to say Emika (of Warcross) was the best of the three, but none of them had any personality in my opinion.


(catching a pattern here?)

Nova 

via Goodreads

It's a bummer, because normally Marissa Meyer is amazing at writing girls who can not only kick butt but are bursting with personality, too. (Think Scarlet or Cinder.) But in this book, she...seems to lose that. Outside of her desire to avenge her parents and sister, there's very little driving Nova, and she's once again good at everything-- (except killing her mortal enemies, for some reason, even though she's spent the whole book trying to do so...but whatever).



Are you catching the pattern? Essentially, the problem that I think a lot of female leads have is that there's nothing that makes them unique. Which stinks! There's SO much that can be done with strong gals to make them more interesting. And on top of that, there's different kinds of STRENGTH, too.

I'm going to pick on my own story here, not because I think it's some great pinnacle of storytelling or anything like that, but because I have a character who I hope can stand as a reasonable example of what I'm wishing for.

via Pinterest, although you must remember that this is only an occasional look for her face.

Kariana Winslet is my story's "strong female character". She's fast, apparently fearless, and a formidable warrior who can use multiple kinds of weapons. She's faced down some of my worst villains without breaking a sweat, and she's got the sass and confidence that any self-respecting gal needs.

But underneath, she's insecure. She's afraid of the dark. She carries horrible memories of both her childhood and teenage years, and doesn't trust anyone with those secrets. Her trust issues make things difficult for her, even around her very best friends, and there are times when she has to sit down and recite the names of everyone she truly loves in order to remind herself that she's not alone. She toys with people, and hides her real face from anyone's knowledge under layers of paint and dye. She has a true soft spot for the people she knows well (and no younger siblings...just puttin' that out there ;))

I know Kariana could very easily become a stereotypical character, and so I've worked very hard to ensure that she doesn't. It's not hard! Give your female characters:

• Concrete desires
• Real fears
• More than one friend
• Quirks
• Something unique about her appearance
• Basically the same sort of character development you'd do on any of your other characters

via IMDb

A sappy story of two sisters.

The story of a girl scared of her powers who must learn to control them.

A movie where comic relief is everything until suddenly things get dark.

A film that deals with the triumph of non-romantic love.

Yes, there's been a million movies that use aspects of Frozen, and the movie itself is overhyped and overdone. We've all sung the songs a million times, and heaven knows we'd never watch it again unless our little siblings BEG us...because it was an animated movie we actually liked when it came out and now we're done with it. (You'd never admit it, but you watched it 47 times in two weeks when it first came out on DVD.)

And  now you can't bear to look at it.

I understand those feelings. I actually did something similar with a movie called Interstellar--one sme of y'all have probably seen. It's a Christopher Nolan film. Very well-made, gorgeous special effects, a mostly plausible plot, excellent acting, the first film I ever heard "strong language" (unfortunately), and altogether the kind of movie I love to obsess over. I watched it so many times I could recite every word (except aforementioned strong language.) It was amazing. I loved it.

EDIT: PARDON THE MISLEADING TITLE. THIS IS A FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR WRAPUP HAHA WE'RE NOT CONFUSED AS TO HOW LONG THIS YEAR HAS BEEN AT ALL.


OKAY, SOMEONE TELL TIME TO STOP GOING SO FAST, WOULD YA?! O_O

Half of this year is already gone, which is both crazy and completely believable. I am here to tell you all about my year so far!!!!!! It's been great and fun and difficult and mind-blowing. Let's talk my life for a little while. You know you want to.

Music

via Goodreads

via Goodreads

I was tagged for this loveliness by Savannah (definitely give her a follow if you  haven't already, she's AMAZING :D)

RULES