Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Camp NaNoWriMo

There are two sessions, this year. One in June -- the other in August. To be quite honest, I can't wait! For anyone who doesn't know what Camp NaNoWriMo, or what NaNoWriMo is, it's basically a month where you write a whole novel -- or 50, 000 words. NaNoWriMo, originally held in November stands for: National Novel Writing Month. I won't go into too much detail, but you can read more about the event/s here and here!


I attempted it last last year ( Both Camp NaNoWriMo & NaNoWriMo) and failed. I blame school, ha ha. But this year -- I'm determined to actually give it a proper shot and not give up if I get behind. So far, I'm still deciding between two plots -- and I really hope that during the month that I'll actually be able to stick to it.


So, what do you think? Are you participation? Feel free to follow me on Twitter (@Kara_writes15) to probably see updates during the month of June.


It's only nine days away, so get ready everyone!


(:



Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Book review: Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon




Synopsis (From Goodreads):

On the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Renée Winters was still an ordinary girl. She spent her summers at the beach, had the perfect best friend, and had just started dating the cutest guy at school. No one she'd ever known had died. But all that changes when she finds her parents dead in the Redwood Forest, in what appears to be a strange double murder.

After the funeral Renée’s wealthy grandfather sends her to Gottfried Academy, a remote and mysterious boarding school in Maine, where she finds herself studying subjects like Philosophy, Latin, and the “Crude Sciences.”

It’s there that she meets Dante Berlin, a handsome and elusive boy to whom she feels inexplicably drawn. As they grow closer, unexplainable things begin to happen, but Renée can’t stop herself from falling in love. It’s only when she discovers a dark tragedy in Gottfried’s past that she begins to wonder if the Academy is everything it seems.

Little does she know, Dante is the one hiding a dangerous secret, one that has him fearing for her life.

What I liked: 

-- The cover

-- The title 

-- The plot, and the mysterious edge to it.



What I didn't like: 



The pacing.I felt that this book was a little too slow for my liking. It wasn't the fact that there was a lot of description; I usually don't mind that, I just thought that the way that she wrote it was boring. There was no spark that made me go: 'Wow'!

Phrases such as, "How old are you?" ,"Seventeen." ,"How old are you really?" and, "I tried to stay away from you." and, "I never sleep." are really starting to piss me off. They are the types of lines that you read in almost every YA paranormal. Don't you think that authors would deliberately stay AWAY from those sorts of lines that are directly linked to Twilight


Characters. 
It also doesn't help that I dislikes about 95% of the characters, especially Renee. I wasn't sure what it was about her, but I thought that she was just irritating half the time. And Dante. Oh, Dante. I dislike you even more, if possible.

Will I read the next one?

I think I will—in the end I really did like the plot, so I think I might. Although I don’t think that I will buy it. 

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Book review: Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep



2.7 / 5--

I liked it, I really did, but was a bit let down. Probably because I'd read so many glowing reveiws of it before hand (probably not a good idea in hindsight). I felt as though I was skimming a lot of it, as well. I think I'll pick up the sequel though, just to see how what happens. And another thing that bugged me -- YOU DON'T HAVE TO POINT OUT LOGAN'S MUSCLES EVERY FREAKING PARAGRAPH! OK, I GET IT, HE'S SEXY! BUT CAN WE PLEASE GET ON WITH THE STORY!?