Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Top 10 (8 actually) Book Boyfriends in 2011

I saw on Twitter that everyone was doing this list, so I thought what the hell, I could do my own list too. Of course, it's a bit of a problem because I'm not sure when exactly I read what and who belongs in  2011 group, but let's try this.
 1. Dante from The Maker's Song. I'm in love with Dante ever since I read the first book in The Maker's Song series and he's just getting better and better. Vampire, rock-star, and a lot, lot more. You just have to love him!
2. Ash from Iron Fey. Who wouldn't love the ice prince? And after everything he's done to be with Meghan? Yeah, totally hot and awesome. :P
3. Murtagh from Inheritance Cycle.    I haven't read Inheritance yet exactly, but I've read all parts with Murtagh in it, and yeah, he's definitely the best character in the whole damn cycle. I love him so, so much!
4. Seth from Dark Hunter.  
As soon as this book came out, I had to have it and read it immediately. Seth is definitely on the list of my favorite Dark Hunters, which means he's special. XD Not that I don't adore other Dark Hunters, but some I like more than others. He might not be better than Acheron, because no one can be better than him, duh, but he's close.
5. Four from Divergent Ok, here we're getting to the part of the list where it was more difficult to choose because they're not as favorite as those stated above. But I liked Four, maybe not as much because he's instructor or sth like that, and I don't really seem to be fond of those ahaha but he can be cool too. He definitely won me over when he got drunk. :P As long as they're not perfect, too serious, too good, I'm fine ahaha
6. Jace from The Mortal Instruments This one is a bit...I don't know. I haven't gotten to the book published in 2011 yet, but I will soon. I started reading the series like a few days ago and am already on 3rd book, which means something. He didn't exactly win me over immediately. I'm not sure why. Maybe I see him as too young. Maybe there's something missing about him. I don't know. But he's ok. Maybe not really a boyfriend material, but certainly book boyfriend material. XD I love bad boys. :P
7. Warner from Shatter Me This must be the most awkward choice ever. So what if the guy is a bit psychotic (it's not the first time I choose psychotic lol), it's not like I'd choose him in real life anyway. Actually probably wouldn't choose half of them in real life (oh why don't they exist?? *cries*), but that's not the point. Let's just say this guy intrigues me so much. I want to know his past, I want to know what made him the way he is, i want love to change him lol... anyway, he's so much more interesting than that other guy, Adam, who is just too good and too boring.
8. Tucker from Unearthly I don't think this guy would interest me so much if I didn't love him with Clara. There's something about him that I really like, and I can't really explain what.
Looks like 9. and 10. are missing. XD And no, I won't add my boys from Dangerous because they're my babies, not my boyfriends lol Also I won't add boys from books that I loved, but wasn't so much interested in the boys. So yeah, 9 and 10 stay empty. It would be easier if the year didn't matter, but I guess this is the list for 2011. And I hope I didn't leave aynone out without knowing it. I probably did, but who would track down all books from 2011 now? XD

Friday, December 23, 2011

Book Trailer for Human!!!

I finally had some time to make a book trailer for my young adult paranormal romance/urban fantasy that is coming out in January 2012. I still don't know the exact date (yeah, I know, kill me), but I'm doing the last edits, so you'll probably know when exactly it's coming out in a week or two. I'm really excited about it! Now please check out the trailer!


Oh, and I almost forgot. I now have an author page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alycia-Linwood/290655180970202 so if you have Facebook, please "like" my page. Thank you! :D

Friday, December 9, 2011

Dangerous Now on Amazon!

Since I didn't feel like waiting anymore for Smashwords to start shipping to Amazon, I decided to publish my book there directly. For some reason I thought it would be a very difficult thing to do on my own, but it turned out it wasn't so. Ok, I don't know yet whether everything's fine, but so far it looks like it is. So, if you go to this link: Amazon you should be able to buy Dangerous for your Kindle for only 99 cents! Of course, the price might depend on your location in the world, and I still haven't figured out if Dangerous is available in countries such as Italy or Germany, but it should be really soon. :D

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

My Thoughts on Divergent by Veronica Roth

Since I read Divergent only a day ago, none of my friends have read it yet and I can't say all I think on Twitter, I decided I could make another blog post. It took me only two days to read it because it was so good and I just didn't want to put it down. I would have probably read it all in one sitting if I could have, but I had to go to sleep and do some things before I could continue - which didn't make me happy, but oh well. I really enjoyed this book, although there were a few things that I didn't like, so that's why I gave it four stars on Goodreads. I know people compare it to The Hunger Games because it's dystopian, but I wouldn't want to compare it at all. It seems silly to me to compare all the books with the most famous in the genre like it's supposed to be the same or something. Now for those who didn't read Divergent or haven't heard of it, here is the summary from Goodreads:
Picture Beatrice "Tris" Prior has reached the fateful age of sixteen, the stage at which teenagers in Veronica Roth's dystopian Chicago must select which of five factions to join for life. Each faction represents a virtue: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. To the surprise of herself and her selfless Abnegation family, she chooses Dauntless, the path of courage. Her choice exposes her to the demanding, violent initiation rites of this group, but it also threatens to expose a personal secret that could place her in mortal danger. Veronica Roth's young adult Divergent trilogy launches with a captivating adventure about love and loyalty playing out under most extreme circumstances.

So if you haven't read it yet and you like dystopian young adult fiction, go ahead and get this book immediately. It has great characters, good and interesting plot and it's nicely written.
If you have read the book, you can continue reading because now I will say things that some might consider spoilerish. So, yeah, possible spoilers ahead! 
First I wanted to say that I really don't know how would I choose a faction. No, seriously, how do you choose something like that? It decides your whole life. And yeah, reminds me a lot of choosing college, except there you can at least give up if you don't like something and switch to another. In the world of Divergent, you're basically doomed if you choose wrong. Besides, I'd probably end up being Divergent because when I did those test which were supposed to help me choose in which field to continue my education, the woman who brought the results told me it was all up to me because I was good in everything. Yeah, that was so helpful I ended up rolling my eyes as soon as I was out of her office. In that way I can relate a bit to Beatrice because she too had to choose by herself what she wanted and had more options. Of course, people could still choose to go study what they wanted despite the tests, but if you're not for something, then you have it harder to succeed. It's sort of like initiation test in Divergent. You can choose whatever you want, but that doesn't mean you're going to choose right and end up doing that kind of job.
Now when I think of factions, I probably couldn't choose one. The last thing I'd choose would probably be Abnegation. You probably think I must be the most selfish creature ever ahaha. No, actually in this I'm like Beatrice too, I can be selfless, but all the time in every situation? Uh huh. Maybe it's just the world we live in, where you have to fight for yourself because no one else will. What I don't like the most about Abnegation is their plain look, gray clothes, no looking in the mirror, children not allowed to ask question at the table.... Just no. :P As for Candor, to tell the truth all the time, I don't think so. I really wouldn't want to tell my friend her new haircut sucks, or that her dress makes her look fat. Sometimes you just can't be honest. Amity doesn't sound bad, but it's somehow too good, too dreamy or something like that. Actually, I don't know why I wouldn't want to belong there. Probably too ideal for me ahahah. Erudite sounds good, but they are too much in the scientist mode and too smart. :P I wouldn't want to go there just because Id' find it too boring. Besides, I hate studying ahaha. It doesn't even matter that I was good at Maths, Physics and things like that; I still mostly hated it. As for Dauntless, eh, I'd never pass the initiation. :D I'm just not in the shape to run and jump or anything. ahaha Too much sitting with books, I guess. Ok, a bit of exercising could fix that, but meh. I wouldn't really want to fight people, get punched in the face or jump from a building. O.o I guess I'm not really brave. Besides, I'd never survive a simulation with spiders, bugs and other icky things crawling all over me (yeah, what a fear :P). I'm not sure how that fear thing works. Does it see only your biggest fears or all fears? Because if it sees all fears, no matter how small, I'd probably never get done. :D  Oh, and if you're still reading this, you must be Dauntless. :P
Anyway, I should probably get to the things that bothered me. I don't know is it just me, but I had trouble picturing characters, especially Four. I just read the description and imagined something like a caricature, something weird and twisted, and most likely not human. So I just had to forget it and imagine how I wanted it. haha Maybe they weren't supposed to be pretty, but I need pretty people, I'm so shallow :D. Oh, and for someone so smart who can manipulate simulations, Beatrice sometimes does really stupid things, but maybe that's because she's just a teenager and isn't supposed to always do and react in the best way. For most of the book I kept thinking of Four as much older, like 25 or something, but that scene where he got drunk was perfect, so I was like yeah, finally, acting like a real teen. :P At first I had trouble seeing Four as a name and not a number, and right when I got used to it, she started to call him Tobias, and I was just noooooo! XD What else I wanted to say? Ah, yes, Beatrice and Four sort of reminded me of Vampire Academy and Rose and Dimitri, because of this whole instructor thing, but I like Rose more than Beatrice as a character, and Beatrice and Four more as a couple. :P I'm talking too much, aren't I? Oh, well, I loved this book, really did, and I can't wait for the sequel.

P.S. I basically wrote this post how ideas came to my mind, so if it doesn't make sense, if there are missing words, typos or something, I'm sorry. Spent too much time writing this already, have to go. See you soon. Oh, and if you actually read all of this, you're the most amazing person in the whole world.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Dangerous is now only 99 cents! Small Update and Book Rec!

I've been planning to update my blog for ages, but I never had time or knew what to write. Actually, I would come up with a topic while I was doing something, and then completely forgot about it when I reached my computer. I guess I'm just not used to having a blog. It seems easier to write a book than come up with a blog post. :P
Anyway, with holidays coming and everything, Dangerous (the first book in Element Preservers series) is now only 0.99$ at Smashwords, Apple, Sony and Diesel. Barnes & Noble should update the price soon and I hope my book will finally appear on Kobo too.  So now might be a great chance to grab your copy. :D
I started writing Runaway (the second book in Element Preservers) and I can't even describe how happy I am about that. I missed Ria and her messed up life. And right now the book is basically writing itself. Of course, I'm full of ideas and plots for the next gazillion of books, but I don't really have much time to write. Maybe I'd have more time if I wasn't also an avid reader who just can't stop herself from picking up a new book. But I'm sure I'll finish Runaway in time, so no worries. :D Maybe I even manage to finish earlier than expected.
I also got most of the feedback from my beta readers for Human, which is coming out in January. We are working now on editing some things and making sure everything is ready for publishing. I still don't know the exact date, but I was thinking it could be around 20th. Honestly, if my friend hadn't asked me for the exact date, I would totally think no one cared when I published it. I mean, I'm not some famous writer or anything, so I figured it just didn't matter. But my friend was all like, "are you crazy? I want a date!" so I'll try to come up with a date, but I can't promise anything. I'm just not sure how long it will take, and I didn't really write down how long it took me publish Dangerous, so I'm a bit lost. We'll see.
Now let's talk a bit about the book, or better said books, that kept me so occupied I didn't want to do anything else. There aren't many books that can grip me so much that I can't stop reading, not even for a second. Yeah, one of those books that make you think "oh, I'll just finish this chapter, then I'll do xy", and then you never get to doing what you wanted because you thought, "oh, only one chapter more. It isn't much."
Picture Iron King by Julie Kagawa!!
Summary from Goodreads:
Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.
Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.
When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.
But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Now what I can say about this book except that it's pure awesomeness? I just couldn't stop reading and I immediatelly had to read the entire series, which were all awesome too! I don't really want to spoil the book for you if you haven't read it, but I seriously recommend it. The world Julie created is just awesome and described really good. The pacing is not annoying slow, but not too fast either. The characters are really lovable and will steal your heart in a second. The romance might be a tiny little bit too sudden, but it wasn't exactly 'I see you, I love you' thing, so I'm happy. There were also some tiny issues, which I overlooked because they weren't really important, like Meghan saying Ash called her for the first time by her name, and he had already done that like half a page before. What else can I say? Ash became one of my favorite male characters ever. This book actually made me like faeries because I was never really a fan of them, probably because I kept imagining them like Tinkerbell. :D Anyway, I really liked Meghan because she would do anything to save people she cares about. (I'm trying really hard not to spoil anything.)
For those who read the book, I also loved Grimalkin, because, seriously, who wouldn't love that cat? :P Now to my less popular opinion (please don't throw rocks at me), I didn't really care for Puck. It might have something to do with me being annoyed by him in Midsummer Night's Dream, but even though he was funny at times, I just couldn't bring myself to really like him and sometimes wished he'd just go away. :P
Ok, since I really suck at writing reviews, I suggest you check out this book on Goodreads and see reviews of people who know what they're doing. But if you're looking for a great read, don't hesitate to check this one out. A really great series. I read all four books and those short novellas, and now I'm just sad it's all over. I want more!!!