Reading Update and an Online Class

Central Ohio Fiction Writers (COFW) is offering an on-line class this January (all month, via e-mail) to anyone interested (you don’t need to be a member of COFW or RWA to register). Here are the details:

Worthy character? Check. Story Question? Um, maybe. GMC? Inciting Incident? Final Scene? If this is the point where you tear at your hair or reach for the gin bottle, then this intensive course, offered by award-winning authors Stacey Kade and Linnea Sinclair, is just what you need to get your writing groove on. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the planning stages of a story or have a finished first-draft manuscript. This checklist course will give you the template you need to organize your story, clean up the confusion, and get it polished to perfection.

About the Instructors: Winner of the prestigious national book award, the RITA®, science fiction romance author Linnea Sinclair has become a name synonymous for high-action, emotionally intense, character- driven novels.
A former award-winning corporate copywriter, Stacey Kade has written about everything from backhoe loaders to breast pumps. But she prefers to make things up instead and creates best-selling fiction in the young adult, romance, and paranormal genres for Disney-Hyperion, Simon & Schuster, and Tor.

Cost: $25 COFW, $30 RWA, $35 non-RWA. Register on the website: http://cofwevents.org/classes

Here’s what I read since my last update:

Book #47

Dates read: November 16-25
Title: Better Homes and Hauntings
Year of publication: 2014
Author: Molly Harper
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: N/A
# of Pages: 318
Paper or plastic: Mass market paperback
How obtained: Purchased
Blurb from book: When Nina Linden is hired to bring the once-lush gardens of the secluded Crane’s Nest estate back to life, she welcomes the chance to revive her withering landscape architecture business, too. She never expects that her handsome new client, tech mogul Deacon Whitney, will see her as more than just a talented gardener. Deacon has convinced Nina and a select group of renovators to live on the desolate island off the Rhode Island coast while he restores his family’s dilapidated mansion. He had to—the unexplained supernatural sightings at the notoriously haunted mansion are driving workers away faster than he can say “Boo.”
    Despite experiencing some unnerving phenomena, Nina finds herself falling for the quirky billionaire. And as the team works to restore the house’s faded glory, Deacon senses that he’s finally found a woman more interested in his brain than his fortune. But something on the island wants to protect the family secrets and prevent any potential Whitney happily-ever-afters. If Nina and Deacon can’t put these angry spirits to rest, their love doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance. 

My thoughts: It’s labeled a paranormal romance, but reads more like a horror story with romantic elements. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the story, but was expecting something… different. A little more head-hopping/omniscient than I expect in a romance.

Book #48

Dates read: November 26-28
Title: Hunter’s Blood
Year of publication: 2012
Author: Marianne Morea
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Cursed by Blood #1
# of Pages: 151
Paper or plastic: Trade paperback (advance reader copy)
How obtained: Free at convention
Blurb from book: Revenge. It’s a way of life for psychic, Lily Saburi. Haunted since the brutal murder of her best friend and partner, she’s obsessed with one thing—Retribution. She’s a vigilante bend on striking a blow for humanity against the shadowed world of the supernatural. Prey turned predator she aims to even the score—one bullet at a time; starting with the beast that changed her life forever.
    Prepared for Armageddon she’s in for the fight of her life. But when mortally wounded by a diseased and insane Were, Lily is rescued by a most unlikely savior—Were-hunter, Sean Leighton. Sexy and powerful, Leighton is charged with destroying anything infected with the deadly pathogen threatening the survival of his pack, and that includes Lily. But their immediate attraction leaves them both breathless and confused. As Lily grapples with truth about herself, Leighton is faced with the looming reality that he will most likely have to kill the woman he’s falling in love with. Only time will tell if they are destined to be together or if they’ll fall victim to the Hunter’s Blood.

My thoughts: The sticker on my copy of this book states it is an UNEDITED Advance Reader Copy, so I can’t really knock it for the mistakes I found. And I only hope they were caught during the editing. The story is interesting (it has a ghost!!), and I enjoyed it. Just didn’t care for the head-hopping and the little cliff-hanger at the end. Yep, this is the beginning of a series. And it appears the next book is a continuation of this one. However, subsequent books seem to feature different couples, if that makes a difference. It does to me, so I may give this series a try.

So… Do you take online classes? I take a lot of them. I find them very helpful. They tend to kick my brain into gear.

Happy Reading!

Stacy