Help Wanted

I really need some minions.  That is all.  I said good day!

Friday Fun: The Boys of HATE CRIME

For this Friday, I figured I'd give all you lovelies a little treat in the form of some eye candy.

As you all know, I've been working on and off on a mystery entitled HATE CRIME.  Currently, we're flipped back into the ON position.  So, I thought, what better way to end this week than to gift all my peeps with a little looksee into the world of HATE CRIME and its cast o' characters.

You're welcome.

Matt, the MC and super-sleuth who will investigate the HATE CRIME

Alex, the LI (Matt's boyfriend), who has a 'not so friendly' history with the victim, which sadly puts him right at the top of the suspect list.  Poor Alex.

Ben, Matt's best friend and the victim of the HATE CRIME

*fans self* Soo...can you blame me for not wanting to let this story go? Just too much eye candy within the pages to turn away ;)

What about your characters?  Do share (pictures welcomed)

Book Hungry enters the CITY OF BONES

The Book: CITY OF BONES
The Author: Cassandra Clare
The Book Hungry Biotch Responsible for this Month's Selection: Blake

Summary (as taken from Amazon):

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

My Thoughts:

I admit it.  I don't have any thoughts.  This girl *points at self* did not read this month's selection.  I had a bit of other things on my reading plate, but do not fear, lovelies.  I have read this, but it's been so long that I just can't bring myself to write a review to talk about all the awesome things I THINK I remember from the book.  I do remember that I liked it, and the more we chatted about CITY OF BONES during our meeting, the more I recalled little tidbits.

Will I read it again?  Most likely yes.  The movie looks awesome-sauce and when it was advertised while I was at the movies with friends, I kept saying to them "I read this book! I read this book!"

How about all you fun friends?  Have you read it?  What did you think?  Do share.  Until next month, when Patty has chosen for us to read GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn

SILVER MOON: THE COMPLETE SAGA

The Book(s): SILVER MOON: THE COMPLETE SAGA  (book #1 SILVER MOON; book #2 BLACK MOON; book #3 BLOOD MOON; book #0.5 a prequel/novella ALPHA MOON)
The Author: Rebecca A. Rogers

**This book was given to me by the author in an exchange for a fair and honest review**


Summary (as taken from Amazon):

Join Alaric, Ulric, and Daciana in ALPHA MOON as they discover there’s more to life in the 1500s than plowing fields and attending balls. A powerful witch, who practices black magic, won’t hesitate to place a curse upon them—one that will have them howling at the silvery moon.

In SILVER MOON, Candra Lowell is sent to live with her aunt and uncle in present-day Connecticut. She thinks it’s because she’s a troublemaker, but Candra’s parents only shipped her off for one reason: to learn how to become a werewolf. She’ll learn there’s more to the story, though, when a rival pack has their hearts set on making her visit a living hell.

The past and the present merge into one in BLACK MOON as Candra falls even harder for her star-crossed lover, Benjamin Conway, who also happens to be her enemy, and wrestles with the fact that she has awakened an ancient soul inside her body. Can she stretch her newfound claws in peace, or will she wish she had never become a werewolf?

In the final installment of the saga, BLOOD MOON, Candra and Ben travel back to the sixteenth century, where they’ll embark on their toughest journey yet—stopping Alaric and breaking the curse which started it all. But if ending the werewolf curse, and the powers that come with it, means Candra and Ben will be stuck in the sixteenth century, can they live with the fact that they’ll never return home and see their families again?


My Thoughts:

I must admit that I had to think long and hard before posting this review.  You see, friends, when I decided to start reviewing books on this here blog, I said that I'd never post a negative review.  If I couldn't find at least three things that I love, love, LOVED about the book, I would decline to post the actual review.

That said, I wanted to love this book.  I really did.  While the feud between the families is nothing new (hello, ROMEO & JULIET), the idea of werewolves with magical abilities is a somewhat fresh spin on the been-there-done-that paranormal.

And, that right there is probably why I read all three of the books.  I wanted to see the change, the magic, the time-traveling to the past to save the future.  I wanted so many things from this story than what I was actually given.  This is probably the major reason why I think I did not enjoy the SILVER MOON saga.

Yes, I could harp on the random typos, the one-dimensional characters (of which there were more than a few), the lack of description of people, places, and things, the somewhat slow, meandering scenes that really didn't move the story along, or even the gratuitous "almost" sex scenes that really added nothing the storyline and felt like they were crammed in there for effect.

But, at the end of the day, it all boils down the to the story.  And, the story idea itself is a good one.  This collection has the potential to be great.  It's just not there. YET.

My opinion: Instead of this being a “saga”, this storyline would’ve been better served if it had been ONE book.  The real story/action begins in book #2, only about a third of book #3 is truly necessary.

CONTEST!!

As you fun friends know, this girl *points at self* has had a book or two published.  The most recent of which being A SLIVER OF HOPE.

Isn't she purrdy?

Now, I want to do something fun with my FaceBook Author page and my Twitter background.  Instead of just making the cover photos that of the book cover (boring, I know), I thought it might be fun to put together a collage of sorts.  (and when I say that, I mean that Kelly Breakey will probs be doing all the heavy lifting as we all know I'm a complete lackwit when it comes to that kind of stuff).

Ahem.  Seems I've gotten off track.   Big shocker there, huh? ;)  Anywho...I'd love to make this a collage of YOU, the fans who've bought, read, enjoyed, and told others about me and my little SLIVER

So, send me your pictures, peeps.  Of you or my book or BOTH you and my book, out in the wild, roaming free.

Here are some examples of what I got when A&F broke free:

It could look like this:

Or, better: Like this!

Even better: THIS one came to me with the caption: YOU SUCK. MY FACE IS SOAKED

Post them to my FaceBook Author Page (while you're there, you could always hit the LIKE button, too.  #justsayin) or on the Twitter using the hashtags #FANtastic or #ASliverofHope or even just @ reply to me at @KarlaNellenbach

The contest will be open until May 5th (if you've already read SLIVER, you know what the significance of that day was in Hannah's life).  There will be a couple of different prizes handed out.  Most original (remember I'm a YAer, so try to keep things PG) photo, 100th photo posted, and one random entrant will each get an autographed copy of A SLIVER OF HOPE.

And, who knows? I might just add a few more prizes into the mix.  Happy photographing, folks!

Soapbox Soliloquy

As many of you fun friends know, I'm reader of all.  I may enjoy tearing out my readers hearts and then stomping all over them writing tales of teen tragedy and transcendence, but my reading lists are vast and varied.  It's nothing for me to finish a mystery/suspense where the body count is into the triple digit and leap headlong into middle grade book about mean girls and popularity contests. That said, I follow many authors (both on the Facebook & Twitter) whose genres are scattered all across the board.

I sit here now, a little saddened by something that transpired on a fellow author's Facebook fan page over the weekend.  I'm not going to go into too many details, but I will tell you this: The author in question writes Romance, most specifically, ADULT Romance, and even then leaning toward the light and comedic, not the dark twisted tales that someone like, say ME, would come up with.  This author posed a simple, fun question on her page in regards to her new hero's profession.  I commented, of course, and then went on about my day.

Later, when I logged back into FB, I found another comment, one that not only jumped to the absolutely wrong conclusion, but (IN MY OPINION) leaped headlong into the perverted rabbit hole and called the author out for an imagined crime.  In true Karla-fashion, I responded with a comment that was a little more snappish than I probably should have.  But, I was a little angered, and absolutely shocked that anyone could draw such a line from an adult romance writer asking whether her readers would find a teacher hot.

Now, I can see this commenter making assumptions like that if someone like me (a YA writer with a penchant for pushing the boundaries in my own writings) might have posed this question.  But, how said commenter drew this conclusion when it is absolutely obvious (AGAIN, IN MY OPINION) that this author only writes ADULT novels with ADULT characters is beyond me.

I logged off FB still a little angry, but then the sadness came.  My heart grew heavy with the knowledge that if this commenter made such a statement, surely there were others that were thinking along the same lines.

How is it that the first thing anyone thinks about when a simple, supposed-to-be-fun exercise in reader involvement is the absolute worst imaginable thing?  Why do we look at a stranger in the mall and think, I bet you have a dozen bodies chopped up and stored in your freezer, or you just have the look of a pedophile, or even, you belong in a padded cell because there just aren't enough drugs out there for your level of crazy?  Why do we turn on the news and expect to see stories of violence and mayhem, but then turn it off when the newscaster turns to clips that are meant to inspire hope and goodwill?

Have we become so jaded, so desensitized that not only do we barely flinch when the worst in people rises to the surface but that we expect nothing less?  I think that's what kills me most, how true that really has become.

And, it's just wrong.  On so many levels.  *end rant*

FREE to be you and me

Today, folks.  Today is the day I give myself away for FREE.

If you have a kindle and don't already own ALWAYS AND FOREVER, this is the moment you've been waiting for.

It's FREE.  Right now!  Click here.

Hello?!?! What are you still doing here?!?! Go. Now. Download.  FREE!!!!!

That is all.  I said good day :)