The Big Smoke Blog Tour: Does Romance Equal Happiness In Fiction?

Today I have the honor of hosting Cally Jackson for her blog tour to spread the word about her new book, The Big Smoke. Take it away, Cally!

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Does romance equal happiness?

I’m a sucker for a good romance. Twilight is one of my favourite books and movies like Ten Things I Hate About You never fail to make me smile. But as much as I love stories like these, they make me slightly uncomfortable. Why? Because they seem to equate romance with happiness, and I’m not sure that’s a great message, particularly for young (and new) adults.

I know that those messages really affected me when I was a teenager, and consequently, I was slightly totally obsessed with finding 'true love' for myself. To prove my point, here are some real, live diary excerpts from when I was seventeen:

'Life just isn’t what dreams are made of. At least, not my dreams. The one thing that really scares me is, what if Billy [ex-boyfriend] is the best thing I’m going to get in life? What if it's all down hill from here?'

I've actually been dreaming about him [an ex-crush] recently, but it’s not really him. I mean, it’s him physically, but personality wise, it’s someone else. I guess it’s my made-up Mr Perfect's personality – someone I unfortunately haven’t had the pleasure of meeting…

The first kernel of an idea for a novel came to me in the same year I wrote those diary entries, and the idea was in the form of a lesson I wanted to teach myself. What was the lesson? That your happiness and life journey are your own responsibility, nobody else's.

Somewhere along the line, I realised that I'd totally bought into the message that romance equals happiness and it’s impossible to be truly happy without it. I decided then that I wanted to write a book that showed this wasn't the case. That book became what we now know as The Big Smoke.

Don't get me wrong, The Big Smoke is not anti-romance, but it attempts to demonstrate that if you have issues, they'll still be there whether you’re in a relationship or not. And in fact, if you get too hung up on being in a relationship, it can actually be an obstacle to happiness.

This was the case for me as a teenager, and it's also the case for The Big Smoke's main female character, Ceara. I have a feeling it may be the case for many other girls (and maybe guys) out there who love teen fiction too.

While The Big Smoke is about a lot more than just this one idea, the issue of romance and happiness is definitely at the heart of the story. I hope that my novel might make some teenagers question whether romance does indeed equal happiness and help them to realise that their happiness is in their own hands, nobody else's.

What about you? Do you think that fiction (particularly fiction aimed at teens) equates romance with happiness? Do you enjoy a good romantic read or would you prefer something more realistic? Or perhaps something that combines the two?

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More about The Big Smoke

Ceara’s desperate for love; Seb's desperate to get laid. Ceara adores reading novels; Seb hasn't finished a book in years. Two strangers, both moving from small country towns to Brisbane – the big smoke. As they prepare to attend the same university, their paths seem set to collide, but they keep missing each other. Maybe fate is keeping them apart, or maybe it's just chance.

When the semester starts, things get complicated. Ceara's best friend withdraws from her, Seb's closest mate turns into a sleazebag, and the relentless demands of university make their stress levels soar. Before their first semester is over, both Seb and Ceara will be forced to question who they are and what they want from their lives. Will they have the courage to find the answers, or will they crumble under the pressure? And when they finally meet, will it be love at first sight or a collision of headstrong personalities?

You can purchase a copy of The Big Smoke: 
• in paperback format from Cally's buy page (Australia and New Zealand) or Amazon (rest of the world)
• in e-book format from Smashwords (preferred digital supplier), Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Diesel and other e-stores.




-----The Golden Eagle

Book Review: Ladies and Gentlemen...The Redeemers

Title: Ladies and Gentlemen...The Redeemers

Author: Michael Scott Miller
Self-published

Genre: Realistic/Contemporary Fiction

Page Count: 268

Rating: 4 out of 5

Cover Rating: 4 out of 5. I like it--the title is easy enough to read, and the scene matches the story.

Synopsis:

Ladies and Gentlemen…The Redeemers tells the story of Bert Ingram, once a successful rep in the music industry, who has lost his way. Desperate for redemption, the perpetual dreamer decides to put together a band, recruiting musicians who have only one thing in common:  the need to overcome a significant obstacle in their lives. The volatile mix of the musicians' personalities and backgrounds threatens to derail the band at every opportunity, but in time, the Redeemers begin to realize they have more to gain from one another than they ever could have imagined.

My expectations: I really wasn't sure what to expect. I discovered the author through reading a guest post on another blog, and hadn't heard of the book before. The synopsis on the site intrigued me, though.

I am happy to say my expectations were exceeded.

About the book: I've never read a book on a band before, I have to say. But as far as fiction goes, I enjoyed this story. There was a diverse cast of characters and a good plot--watching the band evolve as the members bounced off one another and tried to overcome the obstacles on their way to fame certainly held my attention while I read.

• Writing: 

At times I felt like there could have been a little more description of what was happening, or of the character's emotions, but the writing style is to the point and brought the story along well.

• Plot:

It was interesting to see the band musicians come together as Bert Ingram searched and hunted for the right people, traveling around San Francisco alone or with help from others. There was an unexpected twist at the end, too--throughout, the story kept moving, with good pacing.

• Characters:

Bert Ingram is not the kind of character I'd normally bond with, but he did have a distinctive personality. He kept on working toward his goal even when things seemed like they were about--or had already--fallen apart; I had to cheer for him when he kept on.

Dave Hollaway was probably one of my favorite characters out of the band. He was one of the more easygoing members, reasonable, who kept his head and didn't let the circumstances faze him quite as much as some of the other characters.

The other five members of the band, Charlie, Abe, Ethan, Bongo Joe (whose actual name is Aaron) and Gene, made for an interesting group. Charlie's a former cardplayer, Abe has been singing in the subway, Ethan is a college student, Aaron a former college student who was asked to leave because he didn't practice, and Gene retired--not a combination that would normally come together.

• Setting/Elements:

One thing I liked was the structure of the book; the way the characters' histories were put in separate chapters, before the characters themselves finally met each other.

Other: Some language, references.

Do I recommend this book? If you have an interest in music-related stories, then yes. Ladies and Gentlemen...The Redeemers is a great book based on a band and how they come together.

Note: A copy of this book was provided by the author for me to review. It did not in any way affect the contents of this review.

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This book is available for $0.99 for Kindle, Nook, or Kobo, and $7.95 in paperback. Purchase links:

Amazon Kindle or paperback: http://tinyurl.com/4zpmzhk
Nook: http://tinyurl.com/3md2zcc

Kobo: http://tinyurl.com/3djcz45

-----The Golden Eagle

Interview With Nicole MacDonald, Author of The Arrival

It is my honor to announce today that I have an interview with Nicole MacDonald! She is the author of the Epic, Contemporary Fantasy The BirthRight Trilogy Book One: The Arrival, which is now available on Amazon Kindle!

About Nicole:

I’m a 28yr old kiwi girl living in Wellington and I’ve recently completed my first novel, a 116,000 word fantasy with two sequels in the works. Although I’ve been an avid reader since age seven I’ve always loathed writing so discovering now that it’s something I love with a passion – well it’s rather surprising! Follow my blog as I navigate the muddy and pot-holed road towards achieving publication.

About The Arrival:

Cat, Kassie, Sian and Loi are anything but damsels in distress.
   Fed up with a lack of decent male specimens they cast a love spell in the hopes of finding their soul-mates. And inadvertently land themselves on another planet. Oops.
   The Arrival follows the girls' adventures as they stumble through a foreign and often hostile world where humans are NOT at the top of the food chain.
   Friendships are forged and love teeters on the horizon while the threat of civil war looms thanks to the girls' very unexpected 'gifts'.
   Will the girls master these gifts in time to survive a war in which, not only are they the ultimate weapons, but also the ultimate prize.

*****

Now, to the interview!

The BirthRight Trilogy: The Arrival is one amazing book! What gave you the idea for a story with 4 kick-butt heroines and a love spell?

I can't stand damsels in distress (had you guessed? Really?? ;p) so any girl lead I write is likely to be able to take care of herself.  Even if she doesn't have a black belt in jujitsu (I wanna do jusjitsu!!).  The love spell was the easiest way to get them to the other world and four girls were needed to 'make' the spell work J

Neither can I! Damsels in distress . . . nope, not my cup of tea. And I agree--would be cool to do jujitsu!

While there are similarities between Earth and Sytas, there are many differences; what inspired you to create all the different aspects to it, like the Griffon Guard, fabricers, and the many races?

Well it had to be a 'foreign' world and from a young age I've been fascinated with mythical creatures and the concept of having 'powers' or a gift as I refer to them.  I love the idea of a multi-racial world it just seems very natural. 

And Ada the fabricer is inspired by my Nana (Ada) who used to be a seamstress and was incredibly gifted at it.  As a child it looked like magic to me the way she could create something so quickly and easily.

Multi-racial words do seem natural, in a way--it does seem likely (in a world like that of The Arrival) people would have gotten used to living next to each other.

What's your writing process like?

Intensive plotting on scraps of paper/books/post its and just in my head.  I try to keep the flow of it in my mind and I aim toward plot points.  Most the time I have the plot fully in my head and I just keep 'rerunning' it on the movie reel in my mind.  I fix something then play it out again to see if I like the feel of it.  Writing involves a LOT of daydreaming *grin*

LOL. I day dream a lot, too--sometimes when I shouldn't be. *ahem*

For you, which parts were the hardest to write? Dialogue? Description? The action scenes? Which were the easiest?

The hardest were the first couple of chapters because the very first scene I wrote was the action scene in the forest when the girls meet the Griffon Guard.  OMG did those chapters take forever.  They also received some of the biggest overhauls in the re-writes.

I've had trouble with the beginning's of stories as well. They're hard!

There are many point-of-view shifts in The Arrival--it says on the website for the trilogy "The book is written in an unusual style, allowing the reader to see inside many of the main characters minds. This provides a broader perspective of the journey and gives a fuller reading experience." What made you decide that switching the POV was the best way to tell the story, instead of staying with a single character, or only 1st or 3rd person?

*grin* well yes it says that on the website… but truth be told, it's just what made sense.  I wanted the reader to be able to fall in love with any of the girls, not just the lead and then it's also due to the way I play the plot out in my mind.  I see it as a movie and then write what I see.  So it's not that surprising that it reads like that J

Cool!

It also says on the website "BirthRight is a Contemporary, Epic Fantasy that was inspired from a frustration of the typical 'damsel in distress' type reads". Do you think that there should be more books written from the perspective of damsels who can stand on their own? Have you ever come across a book whose female characters you have truly enjoyed because of their personality?

Claire in Diana Gabladon's novels.  Some of Tamora Pierce's novels have the right feel.  Anne McCaffrey's Crystal Singer series and quite a few of her sci-fi works have the right feeling.  Yes I would love more books with capable female leads, but it's making sure there's the right balance.  I don't make a big issue of my girls doing jujitsu because for them it's just a hobby they enjoy.  The same as I don't announce (normally *grin*) that I'm a target shooter - it's a hobby I enjoy and I'm good at.  It doesn't define me.  I also sew and do lotsa 'girly' stuff but again they don't define me.  I like being a contradiction in some senses and I like characters who are too.  They deal with crappy circumstances much better J

I'll have to check out those books! And, a target shooter? That is awesome. I agree, though, activities don't define a person, and balance is a must. It adds something to the character, and they're more 3-dimensional if they enjoy all sorts of different things.

Since some of the characters in the story--Kassandra, Sian, and Laura--are based on your friends, do you think it is easier or harder to write about people who already exist (in a way)? And is Catherine, the fourth, like you?

Easier.  Because they only influence the character so I can pick certain characteristics I find amusing or interesting and play with them.  A character we meet in book 2, Leseach, is a Northerner and she is based on a work friend and it's due to certain aspects of her personality that I adore.  Because I like to create characters this way it makes people watching so much fun and very necessary.

Yes Catherine is based on me.  For a newbie at writing it seemed the easiest way for me to be able to envision the story if I was there in it.  That’s the original reason too for selecting my friends as the inspiration for Cat's friends.

I always found basing characters on real people harder--and it always felt strange to me. But all writers have their individual ways of putting together their characters!

I could picture Cat as you, and vice versa. ;)

Self-publishing seems like such a big step: what was the hardest, and what did you find the easiest? Any advice for people who are considering self-publishing?

Ever step seems hard the first time.  At first it was the right cover (thank you Keary!) then it was editing and proofing (thank you Kerrin & Vicky) and then the most tedious part, the formatting.  And now getting the word out about it. 

It's a constant and demanding hobby but I just can't stop!  I would love for this to transition from a hobby to a career so it's worth it. 

Advice to those considering?  Go for it!

Nicole also has a helpful post "How to format an e-book for dummies", in case you want to learn about formatting.

What's the best thing about being a published author?

Getting reviews from people you don't know who love your book!!  Makes the months and months of work feel worth it J

Now that sounds like a plus!

*****

And so concludes our interview!

You can find out more about The BirthRight Trilogy: The Arrival HERE on the website, and you can find out more about Nicole at her blog, Damsel in a Dirty Dress. You can also purchase The Arrival at the Amazon Kindle Store HERE.

Thank you for reading, everyone!


----The Golden Eagle

Book Review: Hunger

Title: Hunger

Author: Jakie Morse Kessler

Publisher: Graphia

Genre: Paranormal/Contemporary/YA

Page Count: 174 (paperback)

Rating: 4.2 out of 5

Cover Rating: 4.7 out of 5. I really like this cover--the scales, the font, and the swirly black/blue.

Back Cover:

"Thou art the Black Rider. Go thee out unto the world."

Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she's been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

   Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home--her constant battle with hunger and the struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life and to face the horrifying effects of her awesome new power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power--and the courage to fight her own inner demons?

My expectations: High. I loved the idea, and I'd read a lot of positive review about the book.


It was better than I expected.

About the book: This is a very interesting take on eating disorders. Imagine--a teenage girl becoming one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Death, War, Famine, and Pestilence) while at the same time battling her own inner voices that tell her she's fat and ugly and will never be successful.


I really like Kessler's writing style. It's to the point, and Hunger being a short book, there really wasn't anything that got more attention that it should. I sped through the book--which kind of disappointed me because I wanted more of it! And despite the fact that it deals with such a heavy subject, this book was actually rather funny at times.

• Plot:

It's a strong plot, with little twists that keep things moving (it's only 174 pages long, remember!) and I love the ending--it's excellent.

• Characters:

Lisa is mess at the beginning. She's anorexic--which you don't find often in books--and desperate to find people who understand what she's going through. She's dealing with strained relationships between people she used to be really close to, such as her best friend, her father, and her boyfriend, who all believe that she needs help--only she doesn't think so, and concludes that they're jealous about her skin-and-bones body. But I had to like her determination and spunk, and I grew fond her as time went on.

I hadn't really pictured Death as Kurt Cobain, but that's the way he appears to Lisa in the book; he's surprisingly funny for someone who has the job of taking lives, and I had to laugh at the exchanges.


War was just as you'd picture War: angry, powerful, and easy to provoke. Only female, too. Pestilence was interesting--I found what he had to say intriguing, although he doesn't make much of an appearance next to the other Horsemen.

• Setting/Elements:

I love the idea in Hunger. It's not your average Young Adult Paranormal/Fantasy, and I enjoyed the freshness of it all.

Other: Some language, references, and some violence.

Do I recommend this book? Yes! If you're looking for something unique, interesting, and funny, and don't mind a novel with a darker side.

-----The Golden Eagle

Book Review: The Maze Runner

Title: The Maze Runner

Author: James Dashner

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Genre: Dystopian/Contemporary/Adventure/YA

Page Count: 374 (paperback)

Rating: 4.3 out of 5

Cover Rating: 4 out of 5. It's good--I like the green and the font is nice and big--but aside from the spikes I find it kind of boring.

Back flap:

Everything is going to change . . .

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. He has no recollection of his parents, his home, or how he got where he is. His memory is empty.

   But he's not alone. When the lift's doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade, a large expanse enclosed by stone walls.

   Just like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning, for as long as anyone can remember, the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night, for just as long, they've closed tight. Everything thirty days a new boy is delivered in the lift. And no one wants to be stuck in the maze after dark.

   The Gladers were expecting Thomas's arrival. But the next day, a girl is sent up--the first girl ever to arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. The Gladers have always been convinced that if they can solve the maze that surrounds the Glade, they might find their way home . . . wherever that may be. But it's looking more and more as if the Maze is unsolvable.

   And something about the girl's arrival is starting to make Thomas feel different. Something is telling him that he just might have some answers--if he can only find a way to retrieve the dark secrets locked within his own mind.

My expectations: I'd heard a lot about this book, and almost everything was positive, so I expected a fast-paced, exciting read at the least.


That's what I got.

About the book: The Maze Runner is an interesting book. The idea that a large group of boys would be stuck in a maze that appears to be unsolvable is a perfect recipe for intriguing results. For some reason, this book creeped me out a bit, when even some Horror books don't. There was something disturbing about the Glade and the Maze.


I like James Dashner's writing style. It's to the point and there isn't excessive description. I thought that the emotions were highlighted somewhat more than what's usual, with swings from one emotion to the other and back again from Thomas's POV, but it wasn't a bad thing.

• Plot: 

I guessed the ending. Well, I didn't guess everything, but since I knew there was a book called The Scorch Trials--please, if you're going to release a sequel, don't give things away from the previous novel!--and since Thomas kept making promises and saying he'd do things . . . it all kind of led up to the ending. But aside from that, it was a fairly fast plot that kept me reading much too late. (Hehe.)

• Characters:

I felt throughout like I was in the mind of someone in their  mid- to later- 20s, past a "young adult", and maybe parent-age. He seemed almost condescending at times toward the other boys, and I got the feeling had more experience than everyone else, and not just knowledge. I wouldn't say I liked him; but I respected him for what he did.

Teresa didn't do much in The Maze Runner besides act as an anomaly. I didn't get attached to her, I didn't hate her, I just felt like her character was kind of flat. Yes, she had answers and information, and that was intriguing, but her personality could have shone through a bit more.

Gally was an interesting antagonist. Stereotypical bully at first, but then it comes out that he might just have other motives that seeing Thomas as a threat to his social status. He was an angry and creepy person, and why he did things was unknown to Thomas and the others--a good thing for a bad guy/villain.

• Setting/Elements:

I expected it to be a whole lot more like Lord of the Flies, with the kids there trying to tear each other apart and get to the top of the social ladder. However, things got nowhere near as nasty and violent as in the book by Golding. I suppose that's because things were fairly controlled inside the Glade, without much change--until Thomas arrived, of course.

Other: Violence, language, (made-up words that are clear substitutes for s%#* and so on; if that's worse or better than using the actual words depends on how you look at it) and "thematic elements" (I suppose that's what you'd call it).


They're making a movie of this book--I hope they don't botch it up.

Do I recommend this book? Yes.

*****

In other book news, I will have an interview here on January 20th with a character from The Treasures of Carmelidrium, the Fantasy novel recently released as an e-book, and written by N. R. Williams! Don't forget to come back to check it out. :)

(Also don't forget you can ask me questions in the post below, or HERE, which I will answer on January 21st!)

-----The Golden Eagle

Book Review: The Kite Runner

Cover of The Kite Runner

Title: The Kite Runner

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Genre: Realistic Fiction/Contemporary Fiction

Page Count: N/A

Rating: 4.8 out of 5

Cover Rating: 4.7 out of 5. I like it--it looks like Afghanistan, and it has a nice nostalgic feel to it. Plus I like the cover scheme.

Inside flap:

Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is an unforgettable, beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan nonetheless grow up in different worlds: Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy man, while Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara, member of a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When the Soviets invade and Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him.

   The Kite Runner is a novel about friendship, betrayal, and the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of fathers over sons--their love, their sacrifices, and their lies. Written against a backdrop of history that has not been told in fiction before, The Kite Runner describes the rich culture and beauty of a land in the process of being destroyed. But with the devastation, Khaled Hosseini also gives us hope: though the novel's faith in the power of reading and storytelling, and in the possibilities he shows for redemption.

My expectations: Since this book has been on Banned Books lists, I expected there to be at least some graphic violence/language/etc. (I was prepared to stop reading it if it got too bad.)


There was little that could be called really explicit, and my expectations were very much exceeded.

About the book: The Kite Runner is a beautiful story. It was well-paced, well-written, and realistic. Khaled Hosseini's writing is amazing, and that in itself hikes my opinion of the book greatly. The description is wonderful, and the way things are presented is believable, unlike a lot of literature these days. I felt for the characters, understood their feelings, and nothing felt forced or artificial. The events, people, and the world of Afghanistan--and, later, America--were real and just there in a way that takes excellent writing to accomplish.

• Plot:

Excellent. There were twists and turns to it that sent the story forward, but without rushing anything. There's a big secret that comes out later in the book, which was surprising and a little shocking, and I loved that aspect. The ending was great, too; I won't say anything for fear of giving it away, but it made me a little sniffly. I felt like hugging the book afterwards (which, believe me, is something I do only for books I've really enjoyed).

• Characters:

Amir was mixed character; a complex one, more diverse, a person that you really can't pass judgement on without knowing the entire story and the circumstances--those are the best kinds of characters. I was fond of him, frustrated at his actions, and enjoyed reading about someone who wasn't a stereotype, cliche, or an otherwise-repetitive character.

Hassan, a Hazara, is Amir's family's servant. Hazaras are considered lower-class than the higher-ups such as Amir's family's ethnicity, which is Tajik. He's loyal to Amir's family--sometimes I felt like shouting at him to stand up for himself, against what was happening to him, but it was understandable; he would only have been punished, mocked, etc. I loved him as a character.

Amira's father, Baba, wasn't quite a stereotype, although some of the things he did could fall into that category. I wouldn't call him a cliche though, since he still had depth and importance. I didn't like him, but the interplay between him, Amir, Hassan, Hassan's father Ali, and the people he met in America was interesting to read.

• Setting/Elements:

There are practically no books set in Afghanistan, at least in the USA (I'm sure there are books on it in other countries--like, well, Afghanistan), so it was fascinating to read it just for that fact. It was another perspective into the lives of regular Afghans, the social structure, and it was a look at Kabul before the wars began, before the Soviets, and before the USA stuck its big head in. The world was depicted well, in the writing; I could see the city clearly in my mind.

Other: There is rape, but it's not nearly as graphic as some people seem to be making it out to be. It mentions blood, (after the rape) but it doesn't go into the details--the other character is running away from the scene as it happens, and there is no head-hopping into the victim, or the ones committing the crime. There are references and some language, and a scene ends as two characters are about to have sex (there is no description during that part, though). Some violence; mentions of war, physical attacks, attempted suicide.


I want to see the movie! Hopefully they didn't butcher it, like they do with some really good books; it would be interesting to see how they incorporated the Afghanistan part of it. There certainly aren't many movies out there that involve Afghanistan.

Do I recommend this book? Yes. Absolutely.


-----The Golden Eagle