Announcements/ Updates/ TBR

Hey Fantabulous Readers!

I have a few announcements and updates to share with you guys!

June Wrap-Up

Hey Fantabulous Readers,

I read a total of 12 books this month! Woohoo! And I made a video, so you should watch it, k thanks.

Dorothy Must Die | Danielle Paige

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I've been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.

Non-Spoiler Review

Dorothy Must Die is a kick-butt book about a girl named Amy who travels to Oz in a tornado and is given the task to kill Dorothy, who, from the famous story, isn't as much of a hero as everyone thinks. She's turned Oz into a place of misery and despair. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love books with bad-butt female protagonists who have to overcome difficult odds to become successful. Amy was a great character and really enjoyed reading about her and her journey through Oz. 

If you enjoyed Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins, then you should definitely try Dorothy Must Die! 

Spoiler-Filled Review

The characters within this book were so well written. There were some characters I liked, some I hated and some I just didn't know how to feel about. We were really able to get inside of Amy's head and really feel what she felt, all the confusion and hesitation. 

I hated Madison from the beginning and completely hated how she dealt with the principal and how Amy got blamed for that entire fight. I hate when things like that happen in the books and the good guy is the one who gets in trouble. It makes me so mad. Gr. 

I loved the entire part when Amy was being trained just because even though Nox was there and even though it was quite obvious that they liked each other, neither strayed from the original plan and I love that. Generally, I'm also a huge fan of fighting/training scenes, when the protagonist is trained to fight. They're just epic and I love them. 

One thing that really blew my mind was that Pete was actually a girl. Halfway through the book I was spoiled, but it was still really weird and quite confusing, mostly since it was never fully explained. 

One thing I really really hate is that hesitation before killing Dorothy. Amy had at least three different chances to kill Dorothy but she always stopped just a little too long and her chance is gone. I understood why she stopped, but it was still frustrating since the book could have easily ended in the middle. 

This is the first book in a series and there are some things that I'm really looking forward to. I'm really hoping that Amy's real life and the life of Oz somehow get integrated. Maybe Dorothy escapes to the real world and gets involved with Madison and her mother and Amy has to control that situation and still kill Dorothy. I'm also looking for more progress in the relationship between Amy and Nox as well as an explanation to Pete and his/her disguise. 

Overall, I really did enjoy this book! I found it extremely similar to Rebel Belle, which was good considering I loved that book. What was your favorite scene in the book? Let me know in the comments below! 

Words with an Author | Ted Galdi

Hey Fantabulous Readers,

        Today I got the chance to interview the awesome Ted Galdi, author of the upcoming book Elixir to be released in August 2014. 

1.     How did you get into writing? When did you first start writing?

I’ve always been into writing – even as a little kid scribbling out crayon-illustrated stories at my old dining room table.  I didn’t start “formally” writing though until I was about fifteen; screenwriting was my initial hook into it all.  I’d always been a big movie fan, so writing screenplays was a natural transition into it.  None of them actually wound up getting made into real movies, but it was still a good experience and eventually led to the novel writing today. 

 

2.     Where did you come up with the idea for Elixir? Who/ what is your inspiration?

At first, I just thought it would be a cool premise to base a book around an extremely intelligent kid who got thrown into wild situations against his will because of his intellect.  In the beginning though, there was no concrete story, only that premise.  After thinking about it for a few months, I had the idea to add the love-story element; this really made the flow of the book come together, since it gave Sean, the protagonist, something to fight for.  Inspiration-wise, my biggest influence when doing the “scenes” in the book was music.  I’m easily inspired by a good song.

 

3.     Are any of your characters based on people you actually know, if so which ones?

Nobody is based entirely on a real person I know.  However, there are definitely certain things about most of the characters that were inspired by real people I’ve come across; everyone from Sean all the way down to the bit-part characters.

 

4.     Have you written anything before Elixir?

Formally, just the screenplays, which I did when I was a teenager.  Once I got to college though – and then the business world afterward – my writing unfortunately went on pause.  I took a ten-year hiatus between screenwriting and breaking into novels.  It’s great to be back in that world though.  I really missed it.  I just had so much other stuff going on in my life during those years (school, starting a career, etc) that I wasn’t able to dedicate enough of myself to it to make it worthwhile.

5.     If you had to pick only five books from your bookshelf you could keep, what would they be?

Hmmm…The Catcher in the Rye.  Slaughterhouse-Five.  Liar’s Poker.  Rabbit at Rest.  Where the Wild Things Are.

 

6.  If you could pick one character from Elixir whose perspective (besides Sean) that you could write from, who would it be and why?

The old man who wakes him up at the foot of the Pantheon.  I don’t want to give anything away, but though that character plays a very small part in the actual story, he represents something much “larger,” which could make for some pretty interesting story perspectives.

7.  Who is your favorite character from any book and why?

Max from Where the Wild Things Are – he symbolizes the imaginative power we all have, which tends to sadly get muffled as we get older and things get in the way.  He reminds people they shouldn’t lose sight of that.    

 

8.   How long did the writing process take for Elixir? From conception of the story to final publication?

I came up with the premise in late 2012, then didn’t have the love-story idea for a good six months, which kick started the initial outline.  I started writing the actual chapters about a year ago.  All in all, it was around a year and a half.  I had a full-time job through the whole process though, so was only able to write on nights and weekends.  This made things kind of tough.  But I really enjoyed doing it, so the weird hours weren’t a problem.  

 

9.  Who are some of your favorite authors?

I really admire Kurt Vonnegut, John Updike, and JD Salinger.  In terms of newer authors, I recently read A Visit from the Goon Squad, and like Jennifer Egan’s style a lot.

10. What actors/ actresses could you see playing the characters of your book?

I get asked this a lot about Sean.  Though there are some good young actors today, I haven’t seen enough of their stuff to be dead set on one person.  Ideally though, I tell people it would be a young Leonardo DiCaprio, from the Basketball Diaries days.

 

11.  How did you come up with the title and cover of Elixir? Did they morph as you wrote the book, or were they constant?

The title was constant.  It of course relates to the central conflict in the book – the search for a cure, or elixir, for Sean’s girlfriend, Natasha.  And the concept of a one-word noun was appealing to me; I think titles like that tend to grab attention.  So Elixir seemed fitting.  As for the cover, I live in Los Angeles and have friends who work in entertainment.  Luckily, I was able to get put in touch with a very talented artist who does promotional artwork for movies; she made the cover based on a terrible stick-figure sketch I drew.  It definitely has a cinematic feel to it, which I think is pretty cool.  Like the title, the design was constant through the whole process.

12. Are you planning to write any other books besides Elixir?

I absolutely want to write more books.   I loved writing Elixir.  As for what to do next, I’ve been thinking about three different ideas – one being an Elixir sequel – but haven’t decided on one yet. 

 

13.  What would your advice be to someone who's aspiring to be a writer?

Don’t try to force fit your story into a current “hot” trend or sub-genre because you think it’ll be easier to make money that way.  Write a story that means something to you on a personal level, no matter the business climate of the book industry at the time.  The authenticity will show, and you’ll ironically sell more copies than you would’ve by chasing a sales trend.

 

14.  Finally, just to wrap things up, what's your favorite color and why?

Blue.  Why?  That’s a really hard question, which I can’t honestly answer.  I just kind of like it.  Not a very climatic way for me to end this interview, but at least I didn’t make up some fake story about the color blue.  That just wouldn’t be right. 

Review Mashup: My Life Next Door and Everything Leads to You

Hey Fantabulous Readers!

I did another mashup review of:

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Everything Leads to You by Nina Lacour

I really enjoyed both of these books, let me know what you guys thought in the comments below!

Elixir | Ted Galdi

Meet 14-year-old Sean Malone. He has an IQ above 200, a full-ride scholarship to one of the country’s top universities, and more than one million dollars from his winning streak on Jeopardy. However, Sean wishes he could just be normal.

But his life is anything but normal. The US government manipulates him, using him as a codebreaker in pursuit of a drug lord and killing innocent people along the way. 

For reasons related to his personal security, Sean finds himself in Rome, building a new life under a new name, abandoning academics, and hiding his genius from everyone. When he’s 18 he falls in love. The thrills begin again when he learns that his girlfriend is critically ill and it’s up to him to use his intellect to find a cure, a battle pitting him against a multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company and the demons of his past. 

Elixir is a story about identity, secrets, and above all, love.

Review Mashup: The Secret Diamond Sisters, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, We Were Liars

Hey Fantabulous Readers!

I decided to do a mashup review of three books I've read so far this month!
The Secret Diamond Sisters by Michelle Madow
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart