Free Book! Giveaway!

I'm doing a book giveaway over at Martha Wells' blog (marthawells)! All you have to do is stop on by and leave a comment and you're entered into the giveaway. I'll pick someone at random and send them a signed copy of my new novel Leaves of Flame, and right now there are NO COMMENTS, so you're chances are rather high. *grin* So stop on by, read about the book if you haven't already, and ask a question or leave a comment! Even if you've already got the book, perhaps you can win one for a friend.

Book Review: "Disappearing Nightly" by Laura Resnick

This is the first book of Laura Resnick's that I've read and is the first book in her Esther Diamond urban fantasy series. The premise: Esther is a struggling actor in NYC but has a small part in a musical built around a magician's act. In the final scene, the magician makes one of the main characters in the muscial "vanish." The actors have rehearsed the scene an uncountable number of times, and have been performing it for weeks . . . but one night, Golly Gee, the lead, literally vanishes and the magician can't bring her back.

Esther is ecstatic, because that means SHE gets the lead, but soon she begins to get warnings not to do the vanishing act. Terrified, she begins to investigate Golly Gee's disappearance and discovers that Golly Gee isn't the only magician's sidekick to have vanished recently. The deeper she looks, the more she learns about the magical world around her that she's never seen. Real magic, not the illusions magician's ply on stage. And unless she wants to risk her entire career, she needs to find out who . . . or what . . . is causing people to disappear during magic acts, or she may be the next victim.

The set-up is cool and the writing really captures and drew me into the novel. I enjoyed Esther's character and loved the fact that Esther herself doesn't have any magical powers that make her special in any way. She's exactly what she's portrayed to be: an actor who'd like to keep her job and not get killed. There's also some romance elements woven into the plot and, while generally I'm not really reading for this, I thought this romance was well done. I didn't feel the need to skip pages or paragraphs and was actually interested in the romance plotline because it struck me as realistic, not overdone.

My main complaint about the book is that there was a lull in the middle of the book where it felt as if the plot had stalled out. This is the section where the slew of interesting characters Esther has somehow gathered together to help her are trying to research what's happened to the vanished people in their lives. Having the characters hit a wall and not know where to go next or what to do is fine, but this dragged on too long in my opinion, and I wasn't interested in the many wrong possibilities that were "discovered" by their research. Too much time was spent on this part.

Also, while the tone of the novel was fun and fast-paced and, yes, a little over the top like Esther's character, I thought the events at the end of the novel were just a little TOO over the top.

In the end, a very fun read. Fast-paced, with a ton of interesting characters, most of whom I hope appear in the next book. And I'll definitely be reading the next book, because even though I pointed out a few "issues" I had with the book, they were far outweighed by the sheer fun of the adventure.

Just FYI, the version of the book I have was published by LUNA and is no longer readily available. However, DAW Books will be re-releasing Disappearing Nightly in paperback this coming June. Preorder your copy today!

Book Review: "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

I was treating this book like I treated the Harry Potter books: people were making such noise about it that I resisted reading it on the basis that it couldn't be that good. When I finally got around to reading Harry Potter, I had the reaction I feared--I thought they were good books, but I didn't get totally sucked into them like everyone else seemed to. They were fun reads, but I felt no urge to reread them.

That wasn't the case with this book. I did get sucked into this story and the main character. All the way to the end. I probably don't need to rehash the premise, but just in case there's a few of you out there who don't know . . .

Katniss is barely surviving in District 12 of a dystopian future where America's remnants have been divided into twelve districts, ruled over by the Capitol. To remind the districts that they lost the last war and are, basically, enslaved, the Capitol randomly selects a boy and girl from each district to compete to the death in the Hunger Games. The winner--and their district--gets a shower of gifts and an easier life. The winner also gets to help the two chosen for next years game. Needless to say, Katniss' younger sister is chosen for the games, but Katniss volunteers herself instead, since her sister has no chance of winning. Katniss, at least, has been hunting for her family's food since her father died in the coal mines of their district.

And that's the setup. Fairly simple . . . and the book is certainly written for the young adult audience, not an adult audience . . . but Katniss and her plight still draw you in and drag you to the rather gruesome Hunger Games. The book is dark, but it's kept at a level appropriate for young adults, in my opinion. This is not a "fun" book, in the same sense as the Harry Potter books were fun, but the world and Katniss' fight for survival are definitely good reads. I can certainly see why the books became so popular, with both young adults and adults alike.

I'm certain it doesn't need to be said, but I'd recommend this book to anyone. I had one minor quibble with the very end (it kind of felt like it had a different ending originally, but was tweaked so there could be a sequel), but that wasn't enough for me to drop the rating down to a 4. Well written, a strong plot and main character, great secondary characters . . . altogether a great book.