She Fought Alone: This Is A Great YA Contempt Story!

So I was loading up my netflix que, and this movie SHE FOUGHT ALONE popped up. I remembered when this came out on TV, mainly because of Brian Austin Green, but also for it's great story. I wanted to share this with you, my fellow YA writers, because we all find inspiration in different places. ENJOY!!

Movie Synopsis:

She cried rape. But no one would listen.
Tiffani-Amber Thiessen (Fastlane, Beverly Hills 90210, Saved by the Bell) and Brian Austin Green star in this disturbing true-to-life story directed by My Life and Times' Christopher Leitch. Thiessen stars as Caitlin Rose, a teenager who joins the coolest group in high school, boosting her popularity and giving her a chance to get closer to Ethan (Green). But Caitlin's happiness is destroyed when she is raped by star football player Jace, Ethan's best friend. When she reports the crime, Jace vehemently denies what happened. Suspected of lying, Caitlin becomes an outcast. With no one else to turn to, Caitlin takes a chance and confides in Ethan. Will he turn against her too or help her prove the truth? The crime shattered her life. But what followed was even worse.

 

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick -- Review

Title: Crescendo
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Hardcover, 427 pages

Published October 19th 2010 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (first published October 14th 2010)
SeriesHush, Hush #2
Characters: Nora Grey, Patch Cipriano, Vee Sky, Marcie Millar, Rixon
Setting: Coldwater, Maine (United States)

Synopsis:

Feisty teen Nora Grey somehow survived the crises of Hush, Hush!, but dangers just as frightening loom in this standalone sequel. Patch, her guardian angel and love interest, appears to have a dark side and a wandering eye. Worse yet, he seems intent on obstructing Nora as she hunts for the truth behind her father's mysterious death. Even better than the first.

My Thoughts:

I thought Crescendo did wonders for Patch. He showed the romantic side I knew he had buried deep down. I won't lie, Chapter two made me want to gouge his eyes out over Marcie Miller, but his character grew so much I still wanted him and Nora together. *Sigh* And OMG, the ending of this book reminds me of a good movie. You know, when the last lines spoken and you look at your friend like OMG whens the next one. Yeah, it's like that.

The sexual tension in this book is HAWT! Patch has now made it on my literary crush list.

Kudos to Ms. Fitzpatrick for writing a kick-ass sequel. Can't wait for book three!

Read this one if you like naughty bad-boy angels!

Torment by Lauren Kate --Review

Title: Torment
Author: Lauren Kate
Hardcover, 452 pages

Published September 28th 2010 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
http://www.laurenkatebooks.net/
Series: Fallen #2
Characters: Lucinda Price, Daniel Grigori

Synopsis:
Hell on earth. That's what it's like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel. It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts - immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students -Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.




At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn't told her everything. He's hiding something - something dangerous. What if Daniel's version of the past isn't actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else? The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series . . . where love never dies.

My Thoughts:

Torment was so much better than the first book, Fallen. Luce grew as a character, she finally stopped being a "Bella Swan" type in this novel. There were new characters introduced as well as some old favorites brought back. One thing I didn't like about this novel was there wasn't much CAM, only like ten pages. To me, Cam is a much hotter love interest than Daniel. Cam is so dark and rockerish, which I have a soft spot.

The beginning of this novel started a little slow for me, and seemed like a repeat of book 1, FALLEN, just a new setting. The last part of the book really took off with action, so I'm curious to see if book 3 helps the series to grow.

Read this if you've read FALLEN.

Debut Author Challenge 2011

Just doing my part to spread the word about the DEBUT AUTHOR CHALLENGE 2011 presented by the Story Siren. GO HERE to sign up.

Welcome to the third annual DEBUT AUTHOR CHALLENGE!




I'm extremely excited to be hosting the 2011 Debut Author Challenge! I've worked out a few kinks throughout the years and I'm hoping that this year will be even better than the last! This is a post where you can find out a little bit more about the challenge if you are unfamiliar with it and decide if you'd like to join up this year.



2011 Debut Author Challenge participant information:





•The objective of the DAC is to read at least twelve novels from Young Adult or Middle Grade Authors. While twelve is the minimum there is no maximum limit! I encourage readers who can read more than twelve to do so!

•Anyone can join. You don't have to be a blogger, and you don't have to live in the United States.

•You do not have to have an blog written in English to participate.

•You can join at anytime. The challenge runs from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011.



Qualifying books:





•Books must be a Young Adult or Middle Grade novel.

•This must be the authors debut with a release date in 2011.

•If an author has a previous novel published under adult fiction/nonfiction or children's fiction/nonfiction, they can still qualify for the challenge if they are releasing their YA or MG debut.



I've tried to compose a list of 2011 Debut Authors, you can find a spreadsheet below. If you now of a debut title that I've missed, please fill out this form so that I can submit it to my spreadsheet. Please note this is a list of US debuts only. I am in the process of getting a list of UK debuts and hoping to possibly get an AUS debut list as well.

Breakup Letters: Because Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

So we've all been there. We've all been heartbroken at some point or another. Even our main characters (MCs) go through this. In YA we see so many female MCs first fall for the "bad boy" and then only break up with him a few chapters later. Guess that just makes for a good read.

Anyway, I wanted to start a post where we, as authors, can write a letter to one of our favorite or hated love interests and break up with them. Tell them about all their faults. You can write it from the female counterpart of the story or write it directly from you. Thought this might be a fun way to get some NANO creative juices flowing!! I'll share my lame attempt first and you can play along from your blog and post here to share!

Dear William Compton,


I hate how you came into my life and promised to love me forever only to find out later it was all a ploy to sell me out later. You completely betrayed my trust, and for that I will never forgive you. That's why I have to end this. You're no good for me. All you do is drag me down and get me into trouble. Even the first night I met you, you nearly got me killed tangling with the Ratrays. I should've realized then, dating you would only break my heart or worse off, get me dead. I wish I would've never met you Bill.


Well, I take that back. If I hadn't met you, I would not have met my true soul mate, Eric Northman. He's twice the man vampire you'll ever be.


In the future I hope you learn not to decieve the person you love, even if it's 'just part of your job', only because you really only care about yourself.


Love, 


Sookie Stackhouse 

Red Riding Hood by Director Cathrine Hardwick

OMG you guys! Have you seen this trailer yet? This trailer looked amazing last night when it played right before Harry Potter and I'm stoked that Cathrine Hardwick directed it. She was the director of the first Twilight movie and I think she grasps romantic concepts well.

So anyway, here it is. Check it out and let me know if you're excited to see this one when it hits theaters March 2011.

Double Take Covers: Falling Under by Gwen Hayes

I won't lie. I put this one on my to be read list because of the cover, but once I read the synopsis I was, well, EXCITED! Can't wait for this one on March 1, 2011. Sounds spicy! LOL

Synopsis:

In her dreams he’s irresistible—seductive, charming, and undoubtedly dangerous. But when he appears to her when she’s awake—and captivates her just the same—she’s not sure which way is up and which is down.




Theia Alderson has always led a sheltered life, not allowed the same freedoms as the rest of the teenagers in the small California town of Serendipity Falls. But when a devastatingly handsome boy appears in the halls of her school, she feels every urge she’s ever denied burning through her at the slightest glance from Haden Black. Theia knows she’s seen Haden before—not around town, but in her dreams.



Theia doesn’t understand how she dreamed of Haden before they ever met, but every night has them joined in a haunting world of eerie fantasy. And as the Haden of both the night and the day beckons her forward one moment and pushes her away the next, the only thing Theia knows for sure is that the incredible pull she feels towards him is stronger than her fear. And as she slowly discovers what Haden truly is, Theia’s not sure if she wants to resist him, even if the cost is her soul.

Double Take Covers: Forsaken (Demon Trappers #1) by Jana Oliver

This is one of my most anticipated reads of 2011!!! FORSAKEN (Demon Trappers #1) hits shelves Jan 07, 2011!

SYNOPSIS:

Riley has always wanted to be a Demon Trapper like her father, and she's already following in his footsteps as one of the best. But it's tough being the only girl in an all-guy world, especially when three of those guys start making her life more complicated: Simon, the angelic apprentice who has heaven on his side; Beck, the tough trapper who thinks he's God's gift, and Ori, the strikingly sexy stranger who keeps turning up to save her ass. One thing's for sure - if she doesn't keep her wits about her there'll be hell to pay...

Double Take Covers: Demon Glass (Hex Hall #2) by Rachel Hawkins

LOVED Hex Hall and I've been counting down the days until Feb. 15, 2011 when DEMON GLASS is released! The Cover rawks!

Synopsis:

That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.




Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers.



But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Archer to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

Double Take Covers: Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

WOLFSBANE hits shelves July 12, 2011 and I CAN'T wait!!! Here's the cover guys!! Meep!

Synopsis:

(This is all that's out so far!)

Betrayal, loss, pain, fear. How many trials can love endure and still survive?

Double Take Covers: Luminous by Dawn Metcalf

Dawn Metcalf's novel LUMINOUS hits shelves July 7, 2011. This cover is stunning and the synopsis sounds awesome! Just bumped this one up on my to-read list.

Synopsis:

When sixteen-year-old Consuela discovers she can remove her skin, revealing a lustrous mother-of-pearl skeleton, she slips into a parallel world known as the Flow, a place inhabited by archetypal teens with extraordinary abilities. Crafting skins out of anything – air, water, feathers, fire – she is compelled to save ordinary people from dying before their time. Yet now someone is murdering them, one by one, and Consuela finds herself the focus of an intricate plot to end the Flow forever when all she really wants is to get back home, alive.

Double Take Covers: Die For Me by Amy Plum

DIE FORME hits shelves May 10, 2011 and I just added this to my to read list on Goodreads. The Cover alone looks pretty great. Can't wait for this one!

Synopsis:

DIE FOR ME is the first of three books about Kate, a sixteen-year-old American who moves to Paris after the death of her parents. She finds herself falling for Vincent, who she discovers is not the typical French teenager he appears: he is something else entirely.




DIE FOR ME presents a new supernatural mythology presented in a city where dreams are sometimes the same as reality.

Double Take Covers: Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter

The cover for the upcoming YA novel BORN AT MIDNIGHT intrigued me the minute I saw it. This novel by C.C. Hunter hits shelves March 29, 2011.

SYNOPSIS:

Kylie Galen has had a lot of crap tossed in her lap. Her parents are getting a divorce. Her boyfriend broke up with her because she wouldn’t put out. Her grandmother died and now Kylie’s acquired a stalker. Unfortunately, she’s the only one who seems to be able to see the stalker. And that gets her sent to a psychologist’s sofa.

The kooky psychologist gets Kylie sent to Shadow Falls Camp. Kylie and her parents think it’s a camp for troubled teens.



They thought wrong.



It’s a camp of supernaturals: vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches and shape shifters. And if she believes the camp leader, Kylie is one of them, too.



Just because she’s seeing ghosts, just because she was born at midnight, does that really mean she’s not human? And if so, what is she? Not even the other supernaturals can tell her.



As Kylie attempts to cope with the realization that these creatures actually exist, and that she might even be one of them, the ever present stalker/ghost appears to have secrets that could unravel the mystery of Kylie’s identity and her destiny.



But getting a ghost to open up is as hard as getting a guy to talk about his feelings.



As Kylie struggles to find answers, two hot guys, a werewolf and a half-fairy vie for her attention. However, Kylie’s determined that before she lets her heart discover a new love, she needs to solve her identity crisis and unearth the truth of her destiny.

On Writing Without Eyeglasses…Guest Post by Holly Schindler

Okay, guys. Today I have a very special guest poster, Holly Schindler, who has been kind enough to stop by and give us some pointers about self-editing. This is couldn't come at a better time, being NaNo month and all. Be sure to check out Holly's debut novel A BLUE SO DARK that's out now and her forthcoming novel PLAYING HURT. Now without further ado, take it away Holly.

On Writing Without Eyeglasses…

I graduated with my master’s degree in the spring of 2001, and decided to nix the idea of a full-time job in order to pursue a writing career—my lifelong dream. This was possible, of course, only because of the incredible—INCREDIBLE—financial support I received from my family. I know—very ROOM OF ONE’S OWN. That support allowed me the freedom to spend my time drafting enough manuscripts to form a pile that stretches from the floor to the ceiling in my office! A mere (ahem) seven and a half years after grad school, I snagged my first publishing deal…A BLUE SO DARK, my debut novel, was released in May 2010.

…After all that time spent writing project after project, if I could give writers just one piece of drafting advice? Take off your glasses.


Yup, take ‘em off completely…


I drafted the entirety of A BLUE SO DARK in late 2006…only took about two months. The reason I was able to write at such an incredible pace was because I took my glasses off as I wrote—I’m so nearsighted, the print COMPLETELY disappeared from my screen. The beautiful part was, if I couldn’t SEE what I’d just written, I couldn’t second-guess it. So my internal editor was silenced. Completely. And it really didn’t take any effort to silence her. She was just…gone.


Sure, the book was revised globally about four different times in the next two years. But revising for me is always far easier than drafting. I’d much prefer to be reworking something that’s already down in draft form than trying to come up with something from scratch.


…And one thing I’ve heard repeatedly from bloggers about BLUE is that it’s honest… But I think the reason I GOT that honesty is because of the blind first draft. That stark truthfulness was there from the get-go.  

So, all you drafters out there (even those of you currently in the midst of NaNoWriMo), put those glasses down—or turn off or cover your screen…Remove the temptation to read that last sentence. Not only will your internal editor fade away, but you’ll actually forget about the potential audience, too…It’ll just be you and your words flowing as naturally as the thoughts in your own head…Which will make YOUR book brutally honest, and your main character seem flesh-and-blood real!

--Holly Schindler

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Thanks to Holly for giving us all some helpful writing tips. I think I just might give this a try myself. For more helpful hints follow Holly on Twitter. Don't forget to put PLAYING HURT on your to be read (TBR) list! It hits shelves March 1,  2011!

Plot:
Star basketball player Chelsea "Nitro" Keyes had a full ride to college—and everyone's admiration back home. Then she took a horrible fall during senior year. Now a metal plate holds her together and she feels like a stranger in her own family.




That summer, Chelsea's dad hires Clint, a nineteen-year-old ex-hockey player and "boot camp" trainer, to work with her at a northern Minnesota lake resort. As they grow close, Chelsea finds that Clint's haunted by his own tragedy. Will their romance end up hurting them all over again—or finally heal their heartbreak?

Author Slamming During A Book Review

A while back my post on Got YA, SHOWING LOVE TO YOUR FELLOW WRITERS, touched on the same topic one of my favorite new YA authors, Lisa Desrochers posted on HER BLOG today. I couldn't agree with Ms. Desrochers more. The YA community is tight nit. We all pretty much know each other. With that being said, I don't think belittling an author if you don't like their book is a wise move if you are an aspiring writer. I just wanted to mention this because it's something I feel pretty strongly about because I've read some pretty harsh reviews that I thought crossed the line or came very close to it.

What are your guy's thoughts about book reviews that cross the line?

NANO Time!!

Okay, so I wasn't gonna do NANO, but today is November 1st and I just can't help myself. Ahhhhhh KILL ME!

So far I have come up with my title, a rough plot and a one sentence pitch.

Only 30 More days to go to reach a goal of 50,000 words. Is it doable??? I'm not sure, but I'm gonna definitely give it the old college try.

My Question is: Are you guys doing Nano?????