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

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

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

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:

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.

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."

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!!!

The Cover and Blurb for Human!!!

So, like I promised, here is the cover and blurb for my new book, Human, which is going to be published in January 2012. I'm not sure about the exact date yet, but you will be informed in time. :)

So this is the cover. I hope you like it. And yes, there's a reason for the whole red/blue thing. You'll just have to read the book to find out.
And here is the blurb:

Ariel is a 17-year-old girl whose life takes a completely different turn on the day she comes late to school. There's a new very handsome dark-haired boy, Devin, in her class, but to Ariel's surprise everyone else seems to know him, and her best friend claims he's been going with them to school for years, except Ariel is sure she has never seen him before. Convinced her friends are playing with her, Ariel pretends nothing weird is going on. She even considers the possibility of having a brain disease... until she starts having visions of unknown people with wings and unusual eyes.

What's worse, her visions hint that Devin might be the demon who came to the human world to take an angel to Hell. As she becomes more aware of existence of angels and demons, Ariel finds out her sister is the angel demons want to take. Determined not to let anyone harm her sister, she will do anything, even try to kill the demon on her own. But can she really kill Devin when he appears so human, and what will she do when she reveals the secrets surrounding her true nature? Because, let's face it, a girl who can see both demons and angels in her visions can't really be human.

Human is a young adult urban fantasy/paranormal romance.

Any thoughts? :D

Short Update on Human!

So, as those who follow me on Twitter already know, I finished writing Human! It is now in the process of editing and everything else that needs to be done before publishing. I will reveal the cover and the blurb on November 3rd. If everything goes right, it should be ready for publishing in January.

      Even though I planned Human as just one book, I'm not totally opposed to writing a short story or a sequel following some of the other characters, but let's get this one published first and see how it goes. :)

Writing and Smashwords

Let's start with a little writing update. I believe I'm nearing the end of Human and I hope I'll be sending it out very soon to my beta readers. Since I never know the exact date when I'll be doing something (yeah, I'm horrible, I know), it's a bit difficult to find friends who have time to proofread it for me. But I'll find a way to solve that, even if publishing of Human gets postponed a week or two. The cover is done and I would really like to show it to you, so I guess I'll be doing that as soon as I finish writing and come up with a blurb. I really hate writing blurbs because I'm never sure how much I'm supposed to reveal about the plot and characters. As for Runaway (Element Preservers series, book 2), I will start writing it as soon as I finish Human.

      Now something for authors: my Smashwords experiment. So, how long does it really take to change price everywhere? As I mentioned in my last post, I changed the price of my book on 27 September. My Distribution Channel Manager on my Smashword's Dashboard says they sent the update to Sony (2011-10-07), Barnes & Noble (2011-10-08), Apple (2011-10-02), Diesel (2011-10-08) and Scrollmotion (2011-10-08). Kobo is still backlogged and my book hasn't appeared there yet at all, so I can't tell anything about that. But, I do see that the updates were sent mostly during weekend, so I guess you should have that in mind when you change your price.

      Let's get to the part when the changes actually took place. Apple was the fastest, as usual, and the new price was there two days after Smashwords sent the info to them (2011-10-04), Barnes & Nobel and Sony took a few days more, but not too long (both 2011-10-11). I'm still waiting for Diesel, but nothing is happening. It seems like they are the slowest. I actually found posts from other authors saying Diesel was the slowest for them too. As for Scrollmotion, I have no idea. I don't even know how they work. But, even though Sony updated my new price, my overview is still nonexistent, and B&N still hasn't categorized my book, which basically means it's lost on their page. Anyway, if you plan to change the price or promote your book, it might take some time to get everything done, which means 'limited time only' kind of thing could be difficult because some retailers will be late and then you'll have your book priced, for example, 1.99$ on B&N and 2.99$ on Diesel. Now I'm tempted to change my price again just to see will it take the same amount of time, but I won't. I'll try that some other time. :P 

My Opinion on 100+ Year Old Boys and Teen Girls in Paranormal Novels

  I've been reading a book where a teenage girl falls in love with a 400- year- old guy. Yeah, that's nothing strange to see in YA paranormal novels because those very old guys usually stopped aging long ago and still look like teens. I've read many books like that; it was mostly 'a girl falls in love with a vampire' thing. And, frankly, that never bothered me. But now that I'm no longer a teen myself, it all started to feel wrong. I realized it doesn't really matter that the guy has a body of teenager; he can no longer be considered a teenager.

      I still remember a discussion I had with my friends about The Vampire Diaries (a girl torn between two vampire brothers). We were talking about the TV series mostly and not so much about the books, but I guess our opinion could be applied to both. So, some of my friends claimed that it was ok for the main character, Elena, to end up with the younger brother, Stefan, because he was seventeen forever. I found their reasoning a bit funny because the old brother, Damon, is supposed to be in his twenties, so that's not really far away. But what everyone seemed to ignore was the fact that both brothers were at least a hundred years old (depends if you're referring to the TV series or the books). So, is Stefan really a seventeen- year- old? Nope, not even close. He's had years to live, just like his brother, and got to experience so many things. It's impossible that his mind stayed at the level of a seventeen- year- old. I immediately picture all those child vampires in adult novels that still look like children, but their eyes and behavior reveal their true age, which is creepy as hell.

      I believe that real age has a lot to do with psychological age, because how are you supposed to have a lot of experience if you didn't have time to gain it? And if you have more experience, then you're supposed to be more mature and have a bit different view on things around you. If I could actually remember my Psychology classes, it would be great. I know we were talking about this, but I just can't remember much of it because it didn't interest me back then. Anyway, I could be right or wrong on this.

      Now let's go to the thing that I find creepy about all of this: epic love story. Ok, I understand vampires stuck in their teen years wouldn't have much success with women. Then again, that depends on how young they looked when they were turned. Some teens do look older than they actually are, and sometimes people in their twenties can pass for teens. So, yeah, it's a bit hard to tell. It's not such an issue that young looking vamps go for teen girls, but it bothers me that those girls are usually very immature ones, who have little to zero experience with boys in general. It doesn't even surprise me that the girl instantly falls in love with the vamp, because what does she actually know about love? She can think what she's feeling is love, but shouldn't a 100+ year- old vamp know better? Fine, the vamp is attracted to the girl because she's young and human, and he finds that refreshing. But wouldn't his interest fade with time? Would he really instantly fall in love with her and be sure it's true love? Wouldn't there be too big gaps and differences of opinion? Or it's just that girls don't think much at all in those stories except how gorgeous the guy is?

      I know there are relationships in real life with big age difference that function just fine (young girls with rich old guys and similar excluded), but those are very rare. I think the younger person in these relationships is probably more mature than people of her/his age. But that refers only to adults, and that's why I'm completely fine with twenty-something-year-olds and old vamps. Twenty might still be young in some cases, but there is less chance you'll fall in love without thinking.

      In conclusion, (because if I don't stop writing now, this will turn into a monster), I'm not really against instant love and teen-vampire relationships in books, because I know a lot of people likes to read that, so why not? I only wish there were more books with more mature girls, or at least girls who'll think about it all and not immediately marry the vamp/turn into one. What is so wrong with waiting a few years to see how it works out? It's not like the girl will look that much older.

Ok, end of rant. Now you can throw tomatoes at me. *runs and hides*

P.S. I can't believe I wrote so much in such a short time. If this were a school assignment, it would have taken me ages to write it. It's possible I overlooked some mistakes because my stream of consciousness isn't always the clearest thing in the world.

Oh, Apple updated the price of my book. It took them a week. Ok, maybe less because Smashwords didn't immediately send the info to them.

My New Book

I've been thinking a bit, and yes, the title I first had in mind when I started writing my next book stays. It's really funny, but sometimes I just feel something fits and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. So the title of my next book will be Human. I have no idea what's with me and one word titles, but I love them. If I finish this book how I planned, it will be a stand-alone book and won't turn into series, trilogy or anything like that. Sometimes it's almost impossible not to turn your book into series. It happened to me with Element Preservers because I just couldn't finish Ria's story in Dangerous. There were too many possibilities for new plots and resolving everything in short time would have felt completely unnatural.

      I think I mentioned it already in my last post, but I can say again that Human is different from Dangerous and surprise, surprise, doesn't contain profanity and sexual situations. Ariel is a very nice character, even though she's only a year younger than Ria (Element Preservers). She is actually a bit more like me, but she still does things I'd never do. I won't reveal much more because I need to finish writing it, and when I do, I'll come up with a blurb. The only thing I can tell now is that it won't be a book for people who aren't open-minded when it comes to religion. I'm still in the process of finding people who will proofread it once it's done. But since I don't know the exact date when that will be, I'm having a problem. Anyway, I hope I'll solve this soon. Human should be published in January 2012, and I hope it won't be postponed. I'm not a full-time writer, so I'll see how things go.

      I'm doing an experiment with Smashwords because people keep saying it takes forever to get your price updated everywhere. I changed the price of Dangerous two days ago, and I'm still waiting for retailers to notice it. I'll post an update about it when it happens. I know many authors want to figure this one out since it's important for promotion of other books, and it would be annoying to wait forever to change the price if you want it for a specific time only. Dangerous still hasn't appeared on Kobo, and Sony still doesn't have my overview, but I suppose price change should come through faster. Maybe Sony finally realizes I do have an overview.

Have a nice day everyone. I'll go back to writing now.

Alycia Linwood

Writing and Only Writing

I've been busy lately because I'm working on my new book. Even though I wanted to write paranormal romance or urban fantasy, I'm again writing YA. Only this time it's not elements but angels and demons. It would be another love story and I sort of hope it won't turn into another series because I'd need way too much time to write it all. So far I haven't come up with a title for that one, but I hope I will have an idea pretty soon. The plan is to finish it before starting the second book of Element Preservers series. I really hope I'll manage to do it all in time.

It says on Smashwords that Dangerous has been shipped to Sony, so now I only have to wait for it to actually show up there. Still waiting for Kobo to put it on their page. I have no idea about Apple and Scrollmotion because I can't access these bookstores, but I hope my book is there somewhere. :D

Writing Update

I've decided that the title of the second book in Element Preservers series will be Runaway. Of course, I might change the title at some point, but this one feels right, so I'll most likely keep it. Runaway will follow Ria's story right from the moment where Dangerous ended. I'm still not in the process of writing it, but Ria is already whispering into my ear because she is very impatient. I'll start writing when I finish my current project and, hopefully, Runaway will be ready for publishing in August 2012. I can't wait to see where Ria takes me, but I also can't wait to show her things I know about that she doesn't. We'll see who'll be surprised more in the end.

    My demon/angel story is going well and I'm still looking around for any demon/angel stories that could be similar. I don't want my book to resemble any other books, but I know that is hard to avoid because there are tons of books out there. The protagonist of this one is a 17-year-old girl, Ariel, and yes, reading José Enrique Rodó's essay Ariel might have influenced me to choose that name. So far, I love writing from her POV because she's different from Ria. The only thing I'm a bit worried about is that my two gay characters are demons in hell, which might lead people to wrong conclusions. However, I'll do my best that it doesn't. I'm not going to follow any of the usual beliefs about demons and angels, maybe only some if I find them fitting.

    And of course I got an idea for another book, but that will have to wait. I'm still not sure would that one be YA or not. The main character would kill someone and I'm not sure is this suitable for YA, even thought I have read some books where this and more was perfectly fine. I guess I'll have to think a bit more about the plot to figure it out. But right now this is just a thought at the back of my mind, nothing more. Oh, and this one would probably have vampires in it. I love vampires, but for some weird reason I'm not writing about them yet. 

Alycia Linwood

Follow Alycia on Twitter

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Dangerous published!

The first book in Element Preservers Series has been published at Smashwords. Hopefully it will become available at other retailers very soon.