Our Christmas Books

We always get books for Christmas. Each person gets one (or maybe two), but we all read all the books eventually. (For me, it can take a long time to get to all of them. I don't read as fast or as much as I used to.)

Anyway, I thought I'd share the books we got this Christmas, in case your looking for some good reading.

I got Blood Sword by Terry W. Ervin II and Become by Ali Cross.

My husband got Psion Gamma by Jacob Gowen and The Death Cure by James Dashner.

Son #1 (age 18)  got The Missionary Reference Library. (He'll be going on a mission for the LDS church soon, so he needs those.)

Son #2 (age 16) got Variant by Robison Wells.

Son #3 (age 13) got Inheritance by Christopher Paolini. (I admit, I probably won't read that one.)

Son #4 (age 11) got Guardians of the Hidden Scepter by Frank L. Cole

Daughter (age 7) got Silverlicious by Victoria Kann

Son #5 (age 4) got Pirates Don't Change Diapers by Melinda Long, Illustrated by David Shannon.

We also got Teachings of President Thomas S. Monson and a Christmas storybook, The Little Christmas Tree, from family.

I can't wait to read these!

How about you? Did you get any good books for Christmas?

All the Magic in the World...

Happy Halloween, everyone! Welcome to the Darkspell Launch Spookfesta!

Today my friend Elizabeth Mueller is celebrating the release of her YA paranormal romance Darkspell! I'm so, so happy for her. To celebrate, Elizabeth is hosting the Spookfesta blogfest. I get to post a picture of what I would do if I had all the magic in the world.

Wow. What a thought. All the magic in the world? Would I end hunger? Bring world peace? Tempting possibilities. However, even if I had all the magic in the world, I still wouldn't have the wisdom to know how to bring changes like that. (I think it's up to us to do those things without magic. Just sayin'.)

So, if I had all the magic in the world to do something a little selfish, I'd conjure up one of these for my very own. And give myself the ability to fly it!

So what about you? What would you do with all the magic in the world? You can join the Spookfesta here. And be sure to check out Elizabeth's new book:

Winter Sky believes she is everything ordinary . . .until she is kissed by Alex Stormhold.
As seer of Stormhold Coven, Alex is sworn to be Winter’s protector against the darkness that hunts her. Violently thrust into a magical realm she always thought impossible, she stumbles upon a disturbing secret of her own.
Will love prove thicker than magic?

Happy Book Birthday, Elizabeth! Visit her blog and website or order the book here!

The Hidden Sun--A Review

A faraway kingdom

A beautiful princess

A courageous hero

A ruthless villain

An impossible choice

The Hidden Sun by J. Lloyd Morgan, 2nd edition is a fun medieval adventure, with plenty of intrigue, action, secrets, heroes and romance. This is actually my second time to read and review this book. I reviewed the first edition a little over a year ago. You can read that here. Since then, The Hidden Sun was picked up by my publisher, Walnut Springs, and issued in a shiny new edition, newly edited, with a new cover.

So, what do I think of the second edition? Same great story, wonderful new package! In my first review, my main complaint was a large number of typos that I found distracted me from the story. That issue has been resolved, and without those distractions, I found the story even more fun to read this time around.

I love the way Morgan uses symbolism in the book. His characters are well-developed and easy to love and root for. I found I really cared about what happened to them and to their beloved kingdom of Bariwon. But the story itself is not the only thing to love about this book. I had fun noticing (on my second time through), Morgan's skillful naming of characters and places. Can you guess the secret of Bariwon and it's seven districts (Erd, Grenoa, Lewyol, Regne, Lebu, Donigi, and Teviol)? Not to mention such events as the Mortentaun and Shoginoc.

The Hidden Sun is full of surprises. It's also a good, clean read with no objectionable content. Just the sort of thing I'm looking for!

Check out J. Lloyd Morgan's website for more about the book and purchasing information. I always like to give books for Christmas, and this one would make a great gift.

*Please note: I received a free copy of the book from the publisher to review.

Three Stars, Anyone?

I've seen a lot of authors bemoaning three star ratings on Goodreads lately, as if it were a bad thing. And I'm thinking, what? I thought three stars was a good rating. I routinely give three stars to books that I like, because that's what it says when you hover over three stars:

I like it. 

So, if I've offended any of my author friends with a three star rating, please rest assured I mean it as a positive review. Three stars is kind of my default rating. I don't bother rating (or even finishing) books I don't like. Four stars go to books that have something special about them that I especially like. Five stars are reserved for books destined to be my all-time favorites. Ender's Game, Lord of the Rings ... you understand.


It's so hard to boil down how you feel about a book into a number between 1 and 5. That's why I don't particularly like Goodreads, actually.

What do you think? What kind of books do you give three or four or five stars to? Would you be offended with a three star rating?

What Readers Don't Care About

Genre. 

Seriously. I talk to people who like to read, but aren't writers about stuff like dystopian, thriller, steampunk, paranormal romance and all I get back are blank stares. What are you even talking about?

I asked a question on my Facebook page about which speculative fiction genres people liked best. I listed all sorts of stuff like space opera, epic fantasy, hard science fiction, etc. No one answered.

I wondered if it hadn't shown up in the newsfeed or something. My son pointed out that he didn't understand the question, or the answers (and he's a pretty smart guy). Oh. Hadn't thought of that.

Sure, people understand the big categories romance, mystery, historical, science fiction, etc. But they don't really care about the labels we writers are so anxious to give our work. They just want to read the books they like to read. At least that's been my experience.

Of course, we need to care about what genre we're writing and what the audience expectations are for that genre and stuff like that. But when it comes to interacting with readers, remember what they really want is a good book.  Don't pigeonhole yourself too much. You never know who might pick up your book and decide that's the kind of thing they like to read, even if they've never read anything like it before.

And isn't that just what we're after?

Book Fair Volunteer

It's time for the spring book fair down at the elementary school. It's pretty much the only PTA activity that I volunteer to help with anymore. I went a little crazy this time and volunteered to work two afternoon shifts this week, 3.5 hours apiece. No biggie. It's easy and I enjoy being there, surrounded by books and people who want to read them. I'll probably even get some of my revising done. I just didn't think about what I am going to do with my two little ones (age 6 and 3) for those 3.5 hours. I don't want to find a babysitter for them. So, I'm heading down there today with a bag of books, paper, crayons, puzzles and toys and hoping for the best. Wish me luck.

Also, seven hours at the book fair is going to take a chunk out of my blogging time. I won't get to read as many blogs this week as I'd like. Come to think of it, I didn't last week either. Life comes up and, frankly, blogging is lower down the list. So forgive me. I'll be visiting blogs as best I can. As always, I appreciate those of you who stop by to read and comment on mine!

And stay tuned: I'll soon be posting a review of Dan Harrington's Who's at the Door? A Memoir of Me and the Missionaries, plus I'm going to a writing conference this Saturday, and I'll let you know all about that too.

Until then, I'll see you around!