The Book of Lost Souls by Michele Muto

The Book of Lost Souls

by Michelle Muto

Kindle Edition, 324 pages

Published March 6th 2011
Source: Author Provided ARC

Plot:

When teen witch Ivy MacTavish changes a lizard into her date for a Halloween dance, everything turns to chaos. And when no one is powerful enough to transform him back except Ivy, it sparks the rumor: Like father, like daughter. Ivy has heard it all before - that her father, who left when she was seven – was involved with the darkest of magic.


Making the rumors worse, someone uses an evil spell book to bring back two of history's most nefarious killers. Ivy's got a simple plan to set things right: find the real dark spell caster, steal the book, and reverse the spell. No problem! But she’ll have to deal with something more dangerous than murderous spirits that want her and her friends dead: the school’s resident bad boy and hotter-than-brimstone demon, Nick Marcelli. Nick’s offering Ivy more than his help with recovering the missing book – he’s offering her a way to ditch her scaly reputation as a lizard-lover. Demons are about as hard to handle as black magic, and as Ivy soon discovers, it’s going to take more than a lot of luck and a little charm if she wants to survive long enough to clear her status as a dark witch, get a warm-blooded boyfriend, and have her former date back to eating meal worms before the week’s end.

My Thoughts:

I must say that this cover is quite alluring. It immediately drew my interest and I had to find out more. I was pleasantly surprised to find the story is a blessedly fresh new take on the supernatural world. There is lots of mystery, plotting, subterfuge and generous handfuls of comedy throughout the story. While there is a love triangle, it does not overwhelm and derail the plot line. I particularly liked the group of friends and their intra-dynamic.


The story itself is fast-paced, had me laughing out loud and rooting for bad-boy love interest Nick. This YA novel is definitely worth the wait.

----Michele

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?