Iridescent Cover Reveal and Release Date

Hello, everyone!

Today, I'm excited to finally reveal the cover and release date for Iridescent. Yes, the novel is finally finished and it will be coming out very soon. I've been looking forward to this day for a while now, because I've really been wanting to show off this cover.

So, without further ado, here it is:

Synopsis:

Things are more than they appear...

Aly Roberts wasn't expecting much out of small town Airyville, NC. 

She certainly wasn't expecting to get caught up in a conspiracy involving the town's gated community, Lagniappe. 

The people of Lagniappe are private, and Aly's new friend, Riley Monroe, is certain that they're hiding something. 

Lagniappe's secrets are dangerous, and uncovering them may just change their lives forever. 


So when will this book be coming out?

July 11

Iridescent will be available for purchase on Amazon.com and CreateSpace on July 11.

Throughout the next weeks leading up to the release day, I'll occasionally be posting quotes and snippets from Iridescent on Twitter and Instagram. You can find me here:

https://twitter.com/kaitlyns95
https://www.instagram.com/daydreaming_butterfly/


I'm really looking forward to sharing this story with all of you, and I hope that you'll enjoy it!

The Fear of Bad Reviews

The closer I get to finishing Iridescent, the more nervous I get about publishing it. What if I’m not able to sell any copies of it? Or even worse, what if everyone hates it and I get flooded with bad reviews?

Bad reviews are a funny fear to have, because it’s likely that a writer will get one at some point in their career. And it shouldn’t be a surprise. We know that not everyone will love our works, even if we do wish that they could. So why is there a fear of them? Well, when you put so much time and effort into something, you want it to succeed. In a way, our characters and our stories are like our children. We created them, developed them, and watched them grow and change. The last thing we want is to see them torn to shreds.

The thing is, bad reviews really shouldn’t matter. One bad review isn’t the end of the world, and it’s extremely rare that a book is universally hated to the point where it only has negative reviews. There’s always someone who will enjoy your story.

I mean look at Twilight. Seriously, raise your hand if you’ve ever heard, thought, or said that Twilight isn’t a good novel.

Well, you’re not alone. On Amazon, Twilight has 1,774 critical reviews. The majority of said critical reviews are also one stars. That’s a lot of negativity, and frankly those critical reviews are probably more review than many of us will ever receive on one novel. And yet, overall, Twilight has a 4.6 out of 5 star rating on Amazon. Why? Because 5,984 people gave the novel a positive review and the majority of those were five stars.

Now Twilight is probably an extreme case, but it’s the book I’ve seen torn apart more than any other. The way some people act, you’d think that there wasn’t a soul on Earth who liked the series. And yet, as we all know, that simply isn’t true.

Writing a novel is hard. We put so much time and effort into them, and we want to see our stories succeed. And yet, it is so easy to get caught up in the what ifs. The thing is, we can’t just let the negatives overtake us, otherwise we’re going to take the fun out of something we love doing. We need to think positively too.

So yes, maybe someone will hate my story and yours, but there’s going to be someone who loves it too. 

The Tenseness of Tenses

AKA, changing the tense of my novel made a big difference.

It probably should seem obvious that tense can make a big impact on a story, but I didn’t realize it until after I finished Iridescent’s first draft. I always knew that I wanted the story to be told through first person point of view, primarily because Aly wanted to be the one to tell her story. The tense hadn’t seemed as important at the time. I had been reading some first person, present tense stories and I had really enjoyed them, so I thought that I would give it a try. Interestingly enough, I hadn’t realized that a lot of people seem to dislike present tense until after I finished draft one.

Please note, I am not saying that you should avoid a tense just because some people don’t like it. I mean I know some people aren’t a fan of first person POV either, but that’s what works for my story. You should always go with the POV and tense that works best for a story. In the case of Iridescent, present tense wasn’t the best idea.

I had thought that present tense would make the story more suspenseful. The reader would be seeing and learning everything right as Aly did. However, when reading the first draft I noticed that the story really wasn’t flowing well. There was something off about it. So I decided that for the second draft, I would change the story to past tense and see how things worked then.

Turns out it made a pretty big difference.

I’m halfway through my second draft and the story is flowing so much better now. It also feels more natural to write. I discovered that there were some elements in the story that were a lot easier to convey once I switched to past tense.

I’m hoping that once this draft is finished, I’ll find that the flow of the story is overall a lot better than it was when I wrote the story in present tense.

So if you ever find yourself having trouble with your story’s flow, try telling it a different way. A change in tense may just be the fix you’re looking for. 

Short Story Review: Threadbare

Today, I will be reviewing a short story called Threadbare by Bethany A. Jennings.

Here’s the synopsis:

“What happens when your gift turns against you?

All her life Bess has known the magic streams around her, waves of power she can draw from to wield the gift of magical threads. Now the youngest member of a team of Anchors, she helps protect the city streets from Drifters—energy thieves who prey on the life force of ordinary humans.

But when a battle leaves Bess’s threads in an irreparable tangle, she is faced with an agonizing choice: sever her threads and lose her magic forever—or be slowly consumed by her own power.”

My rating: *****

I think that short stories can be difficult to write. To be exciting and coherent in such a small word count, can be a hard feat to accomplish. Bethany A. Jennings was able to accomplish this and more. Threadbare is a delightfully imaginative tale. The use of the magical abilities in this story is one that I personally have never seen in a story before and I found it intriguing. Bess is an interesting protagonist and she is a very relatable character. Despite the steady pace and satisfying conclusion, Threadbare left me wanting more. Even though we the readers really only get a small glimpse of the world, it’s fascinating and it’s a setting I’d love to see explored more.

Overall, if you’re looking for a nice fantasy short story to check out, I would recommend giving Threadbare a shot! 

Book Review: Where the Woods Grow Wild

Today, I will be reviewing Where the Woods Grow Wild by Nate Philbrick.

Here’s the synopsis:

“A forest looms over Bardun Village. Nobody goes in. Nothing comes out. The secrets in the oaks remain hidden until a mischievous escapade thrusts Martin and Elodie behind the silent trees. Separated and lost in a tangle of fantasy, they discover more than animals roam where the woods grow wild.”

My rating: *****

Where the Woods Grow Wild is an enjoyable fantasy. Where many fantasies tend to move closer to darkness and despair, this story stays on the lighter side of things. That isn’t to say that it’s an easy journey for the characters. There are many obstacles and challenges that the characters are faced with. Not only that, the story does explore some serious topics such as losing a loved one and learning to accept and live with a disability. These are topics that many of us can relate to.

This novel is filled with wonderful world building and funny and witty dialogue, but my favorite part was the characters. Martin and Elodie were fantastic protagonists and I really liked how the story would switch between their perspectives. I was rooting for them throughout their journey as they went through all of their struggles to find each other again. They were realistic and, like pretty much all of the characters in the novel, there was more to them than what you first see.

The other characters were also fantastic. Illo, Fella, Aguilax, Podgin, Bramble, and the rest were all entertaining to read about.

There was also a little mystery to the story as well, which I particularly enjoyed. I kept wondering what caused Martin to lose his hand, and what or who exactly was Nayadu. There were a few things that I was left wondering about, but perhaps those questions will be answered in the next story. Which by the way, there is a sneak peek of the next book at the end of the story. I really enjoy it when authors do that!

Overall, Where the Woods Grow Wild is a great story and if you’re looking for a lighter fantasy, I recommend checking it out! 

Book Review: The Assassin's Daughter

Today, I’ll be reviewing The Assassin’s Daughter by Jameson C. Smith.

Here’s the synopsis:

“For most of her life, Katira has trained to take on the role of assassin. While it’s far from the life she would have chosen, the law known as the Inheritance Proclamation dictates that she must follow in her father’s profession. At seventeen, she’ll be expected to use her training on a real assignment any day.

When new information about an old fugitive brings questions about Kat’s past to light, she must make a choice: Prove her loyalties to the Tederan Order and their laws, or become a fugitive to search after answers she may never find.”

My rating: *****

First off, let me just say how much I love this cover. It’s very simplistic, but still super awesome. I especially like the colors. Honestly, it makes me kind of sad that my Kindle Paperwhite only displays covers in black and white. Since the cover is a darker color, the purple in it is turned to a dark gray color and it doesn’t stand out as much.

Now onto the story itself. Overall, I enjoyed it. There were moments where I wasn’t quite sure where the plot was going, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It kept me guessing on what was going to happen to the characters, which can be rather fun. This is the first book in a series, so there were some story threads left to be explored in the future. I’m interested in learning more about the world of this story, because it seems like there’s a lot of interesting aspects to it.

Personally the characters were my favorite part of this book. Kat and Ed were really great characters and I loved their relationship. Their friendship and loyalty to each other felt like one of the strongest elements of this novel to me. Also can I just say that I love how simple their nicknames are to pronounce? I love fantasy stories, but they often leave me feeling clueless about how some of the names are supposed to be pronounced. It feels like it’s kind of a staple for the genre, but I really hate it when I’m not sure how to pronounce the protagonist’s name. Kat and Ed as nicknames were rather refreshing for a fantasy. J

The rest of the characters were great too. All of them were interesting and I’d like to learn more about them, so hopefully we’ll get to see them again in the next book.

All in all, this was an enjoyable novel and I look forward to seeing where the story and characters will go in the next installment. I definitely recommend giving this book a shot! 

Favorite Fictional Relationships

It’s that time of year again. It’s Valentine’s Day and love is in the air. Unless you’re currently single like me, in which case the only love that’s in the air is the love between fictional characters. So what better way to celebrate this holiday than talking about my favorite fictional romances? These romances range from books to movies to TV shows to games. So without further ado, I present my top seven favorite fictional relationships.

7. Tris Prior and Tobias “Four” Eaton – Divergent

Okay, I have a big love-hate relationship with the Divergent books, and by love-hate, I primarily lean towards hate. I loved the first book, the second was “eh”, and then the third book was just plain awful to me. That being said, I did like Tris and Four as a couple.

6. Emma Swan and Neal Cassidy – Once Upon a Time

I’ve mentioned on this blog before how I loved these two as a pairing, even though it was short lived because Once Upon a Time had to crush my heart and force me to lose interest in the show. Regardless, I still love the thought of these two characters in a relationship. Part of it is because they have a history together, they shared good moments and bad, and, frankly, their relationship wasn’t perfect. If Neal had lived these two would have had a lot of stuff that they would have had to work through and that could have been interesting to have seen. Also their relationship was so poetic when you think about it. The one meant to break the curse and the one who was the reason behind it. If only it could have worked out between the two of them.

5.  Daisy Johnson and Lincoln Campbell – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

Oh look, another short lived romance. There’s really not a lot to say about these two characters except that I love them both and liked them together as a couple. A lot of people seemed to have issues with Lincoln, but I always liked him. I wish he could have stayed on the show longer. L

4. Stephanie Plum and Ranger Manoso – Stephanie Plum

This is the odd couple in this list, because they’ve never officially been a couple in the book series. They like each other and people ship them together, but they’ve never been an official item. That being said, I still think that they could make an awesome couple.

3. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Malarik – The Hunger Games

These two characters really went through a lot throughout their journey and it was really interesting to watch them grow. This is another one of those couples where I just really like them together, but I don’t have much else to say about them. All I can really say is that I’m glad that they found some semblance of happiness together after everything that happened in these books.

2. Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner – Pirates of the Caribbean

Okay, so Will and Elizabeth are my favorite characters in the Pirates movies. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Captain Jack Sparrow too, but I’ve always been invested in Will and Elizabeth’s characters and relationship. Which is probably why I’m so excited about the new movie coming out in May. Yay, Will’s back! I will say that Will and Elizabeth never got an official happy ending. As we can see now with the new movie, he’s still stuck having to roam the sea as captain of the Flying Dutchman, which means that his curse apparently can’t be broken and that he can’t be with Elizabeth all the time. Add in the fact that he’s essentially immortal now, unless you know someone stabs his heart, their time together really is limited.

1. Nancy Drew and Ned Nickerson – Nancy Drew

Alright Nancy and Ned are my top favorite couple, and if I’m going to be completely honest, Ned is pretty much my fictional dream guy. Nancy goes on adventures all the time in the books and in the video games by HerInteractive, and a lot of the time that leaves Ned back at home. Understandably, he would get a little frustrated from time to time. I mean his girlfriend is traveling the globe often times risking her life, and he can’t really do much to help her. Also, Nancy gets so caught up in cases that she forgets other important things, such as her anniversary with Ned in the game Sea of Darkness. While Ned does get upset, he comes back around and forgives Nancy. He’s always understanding and supportive of her, and best of all he always believes in her. Two of my absolute favorite moments in the video game series come from The Silent Spy and Sea of Darkness and they are lines from Ned that go back to his relationship with Nancy:

"Nothing I say is going to stop Nancy -not this time. I understand why you don't want to help her. But that'll make things more dangerous for Nancy. She called me because she knows that my faith in her is stronger than my fear for her." – Ned in The Silent Spy

"You have that 'help people' gene. There's this fire within you. I firmly believe you're going to save the world one day. At times, I worry like crazy. Even if I'm out with my friends, or at a game, or in the middle of class. I've got one hand on my phone, terrified that I might get that call one day. A call that this time you didn't get lucky. And that used to terrify me, but now... I'm not afraid. What I'm trying to say is, I can't imagine life or the world without you. And even though I might get that call someday... I'm not gonna let fear hold me back. I love you Nancy. I love you so much." – Ned in Sea of Darkness

Isn’t he the sweetest?

Well that sums up my favorite fictional couples. What are yours?