Born At Midnight: A Review

Before I get to my post, I wanted to pause to make a quick announcement. On Monday, I will be doing an author interview on J.L. Campbell's amazing blog, The Character Depot. She is also hosting a giveaway of Glittering Ashes that goes with the interview, and all you have to do to enter is comment on my author interview that day. How amazing is that? I want to thank her for having me, and don't worry, I'll remind y'all on Monday to run over there to read the interview and enter! Okay, now back to the regularly scheduled blog post...

Today, I'm doing another book review. Yes, I, too, am amazed, lol. I finished all of Gayle Forman's Where She Went on Wednesday, and you can too if you happen to have an un-busy day, and I had been chugging through Born At Midnight by C.C. Hunter for a while and happened to finish it yesterday. 

Hunter's Born At Midnight is a YA paranormal romance/Bildungsroman-ish (coming of age story). 

My version of the blurb is that Kylie Galen, in the midst of a family ordeal, is dealing with her own personal struggle to find out who she is and why she sees what she sees. When her mother sends her to Shadow Falls camp to work things out for herself, Kylie is mortified because everyone at camp is a delinquent weirdo, or at least has been labeled as such, and Kylie doesn't feel she fits the bill. While Kylie tries to find out more about herself, she also finds friends, loves, and has a few realizations while solving a mystery of sorts that flows through the novel (as well as the mystery of finding out who she really is).

That was surely more complicated than Hunter's own blurb, which you can find by Googling or clicking on the book picture above, but I like blurbing, and I feel like it'll tell you more about the story than a book's usual sales pitch. (And I hate spoilers, so I would never want to do that to anyone, no worries).

The Cover: I like this cover. It's simplistic, which I love, but it's also eye catching. I tend to like metallic looking things, and really, I like the spine of the book more than the front, but that's a personal preference. Either way, I don't have any real complaints about the cover, and the girl could be Kylie, so it's appropriate.

The Plot: This book is probably longer than a lot of YAs I've read lately, 398 pages. So there's a lot put into one book here. Lots of drama, lots of mystery, lots of love triangly goodness, if that's your cup of tea. As far as the plot goes, if you like paranormal, coming of age stories, Hunter is what you'd want. It reads like a slightly more in depth teen TV drama. I could see it as a TV series, with all of the paranormal stuff that's on the CW and MTV and such now. For us readers who moonlight as teenagers when we read, it might read a little young, but it's pretty spot on for the intended audience, I'd say.

The Romantic Element: Because there's a lot of this in this one. I asked for lots of love drama, Hunter delivered. There's exes, a love triangle, and complications. I wasn't full on swooning the entire time I read this book, but there's a lot of romantic element to work with here. My only complaint (and it's little and maybe nitpicky), is that you, as the reader, may like just one of the romantic players in Kylie's life, and so all of the drama might not be as appetizing. But, if you just like reading about love drama, the book has more than enough to satisfy.

Carry-on Factor: Born At Midnight is the beginning of the Shadow Falls series; so while everything is pretty much tied up plot-wise by the end, Hunter has to leave some things to pull you into the next book. It's a good, paranormal coming-of-age, so if that's what you're looking for, Born At Midnight is where you can find it. It just has to be a paranormal coming-of-age that you're looking for.

Overall: Hunter did a lot in 398 (print) pages. She introduces Kylie, her family, and secondary and love interest characters to the point that you feel like you could know a lot of them by the end. That's impressive to juggle that many balls in the air. If you want to read paranormal YA, the kind of paranormal YA that deals with finding oneself and finding others in the process, Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls Novel) will not disappoint.

Have you heard of this book? Read it? Want to read it? Let me know below.

Now to leave you with a song to write by, one I don't personally own, but I kind of want to because it was unexpected for me, Lil' Wayne's "How To Love" (For 69 cents through this link to Amazon). He's singing, not rapping, just in case you didn't know about this song. I had to go with a love themed song. Completely necessary, people. 

P.S. I got this book from the library and did not receive any compensation for doing this review (some of the links are affiliated links, however).

Media Inspiration Please

Hey, everyone? How's tricks (or basically, how are things going for you as of this moment)?

Today, I wanted to talk about why I watch what I watch and read what I read. I like to be inspired by things, and I think inspiration can come from anywhere at any time, if you're paying attention and willing to look.

When I watch TV, I like watching things (mostly reality TV) about people doing stuff I can't do, or stuff I want to do in a madly obsessed way, or things I'm remotely interested in.

I love cooking show competitions because in another life, I would be ALL ABOUT having a restaurant (fun fact: I like coming up with restaurant concepts and catch phrases, just cause. AND, I might be doing something with that eventually). Right now, I love

Hell's Kitchen

Master Chef

Top Chef (in all the ways it comes)

The Great Food Truck Race (Cannot explain my <3 for food trucks = EPIC)

I love really any competition that has something to do with being creative (see my <3 for Project Runway and Platinum Hit).

And I even love watching things I would never be caught dead watching on my own, so big thank you's to my dad and fiancé. They make me watch anything and everything on A&E--and I do love me some Storage Wars).

When I read, I want to be inspired by amazing authors who say things in new ways, by plots that I would never think of ever ever, and by books that keep me mesmerized for days. A lot of people I read about on these writer blogs get performance anxiety from reading something amazing. They say a lot of "Wow, I can just give up now because I'm never going to be that awesome."

I think that the exact opposite of what it should do. Amazing people, in any capacity, should inspire you to bring new things to your writing, to write differently than you thought was "acceptable," and to want to be better and the next big awesome thing.

So now, I ask, what inspires you? Photographs, TV shows? Movies? Amazing, amazing books? All of the above? Something not mentioned? Let me know below.

Now to leave you with a song to write by, "Daisy" by Brand New off of their album Daisy . 

I cannot explain to you in human words how much I love Brand New. They are practically untouched as my favorite band. If you can't get inspired by their lyrics, check your pulse. (that sounded pushy, but I am way passionate about them. Sigh).

Me: Updated.

Today, I'm writing a good old-fashioned update about myself, book wise and t.v. wise.

I have finished the first third of my outline for my next book (WOOHOO). I'm digging it. It feels right.

I have finished everything I needed to do to get the self-publishing party started. I'm just waiting on one last thing beyond my control to push the final buttons. That does mean that I have a cover, but until the last thing happens, I'm going to be making other covers to see which one will actually be used. It's actually kind of fun.

I have watched the first four episodes of Pretty Little Liars, season 1, in case you were wondering.

I am all caught up on Hell's Kitchen and Master Chef.

AND, I am ecstatic to watch Platinum Hit tonight or tomorrow. Nick (not the best picture, but that's irrelevant). That's should be all I have to say. He's amazing. Seriously. Google that show and watch from the beginning--best decision you'll make today. Writers, I'm especially talking to you, but also referring to how all of humanity should be tuned in to this show.

P.S. I hate the Shark Tank comes on the same time as Platinum Hit. We'll see who wins since I have no DVR, and Platinum Hit is on demand. Who knows?

Now to leave you with a song to write by, "Animal" by Sky Ferreira. One of my favorite songs, and my favorite song by her, though I do <3 another one that I'm sure I'll mention later. So beautiful. 

Pretty Little Liars and Meanie Little Peoples

So originally for this post, I was going to talk about Cross-genres in YA. Or, rather, the debate on whether or not it's okay to cross genres in YA, or if you should resist the temptation to experiment like that until after you become more established as an author.

But then I watched Pretty Little Liars, Season 1, Episode 1 yesterday, and I have some things to rant about say.

My bestie kept telling me since the show started that's it made of amazing, and fairy dust, and all the drama I crave, but I wouldn't bite. I had started reading the books before...well, the first one...for fifty pages, and it wasn't bad, but I had to return it before I could continue it. If I hadn't even read one book, I thought maybe I should give the books a chance before the t.v. show.

BUT, I have read LOTS of people/bloggers talk about how they never read the books and have no desire to, but they heart the show in a big way. So, having a little downtime yesterday, I looked up the first episode and gave it a whirl.

Here's where the rant comes in. As it was loading, I scrolled through the comments to see people UBER excited about the show, yada yada. Then I read something my eyes couldn't unread. Someone spoiled the whole whodunnit of the show in one comment. And people proceeded to lose their S in a big way.

The rest of the comments were "You stupid so-and-so, this was my first time watching this and you, the blah-blah-blah that you are, had to ruin it, you ahem-er" [Note, this amalgamation of quotes was edited to protect the angry and the innocent readers of this blog].

People were justifiably angry. I was justifiably angry.

This is a cautionary tale for those of the world with big mouths and little, fragmented brains: Don't spoil things for other people. They will hate you for it. And call you names. And wish you evil if you do so.

And it'll make me pissy.

I'm still going to watch the show, because, eh, why not? Maybe I'll become obsessive like everyone else (that's the goal...I love liking something that much). But for future reference, spoilers are Meanie Little Peoples that I don't care for in the tiniest bleeping bit.

Now to leave you with a song to write by that I love with most of my heart, "Momentum" by The Hush Sound. The verses? I am completely in FULL love with them. Listen. Like. Love.