This is How I do It: Book Reviews

Just a quick note before I launch my first real Book Review here on site. Basically I've done reviews where I just spew a squeegasm onto paper and tell you all how awesome the thing is.
However now I plan to do things a little differently. I'm trying to focus on providing a review with good presentation that gives you a snapshot of the book without spoilers, that highlights my experience of the book, while still allowing for your own interpretation. I refuse to put spoilers in my reviews, because I hate tripping over them when I troll the web for new material.

At the top and bottom of each book I'll give a "Grade" this is my personal subjective opinion on where the book ranks in a 10 out of 10 scale. This hinges on a lot of things, an authors past works, my expectations of the novel, writing craft, and whether the overall story grabbed and held my attention.
There will glowing reviews, I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't love reading and want to share my passion, but in fairness there will be critical reviews and yes, even the dreaded Bad Book Review.

I'm also toying with the idea of a semi-frequent post titled 'Calling to the Carpet', a chance where I will tackle with blistering honesty a particular book failing. I'm reserving this for sections where the writing just didn't stand up, when the craft fumbled. I don't like to focus on the negative, but I think we can all remember at least one time as a reader when  a book failed so dramatically that we actually felt betrayed. (This happens much more often to me at the movies!) These moments deserve at least an accounting, and even if nothing ever comes of it, at the very least there will be those of you who empathize and appreciate the vicarious venting.

That said, let's move on to our first Book Review in the new system, a book I've reviewed before, but I liked it so much I wanted to kick off the new review section with a real winner.
Head on to the next post for "Blackbirds"!

Current Projects

aka What is Sizzling in my Brain Pan

I'm trying to write without falling into that place where I start to hate the words. This means I'm also dabbling in several projects to avoid stagnation. For some writers this is a kiss of death. For most this is probably ill advised. Regardless, these are the ideas I've slapped onto paper to call them mine.

What I'm Writing:
Pyrophage -aka Talia. 2nd Draft done, percolating between heavy edits and some large formatting issues that need to be addressed. Genre: Urban Fantasy, Dystopian Sci-fi. Series. 1st of 6. (Burn baby BURN!)

Fiends Rise - aka GIANT LIZARDS EAT MANHATTAN  1st draft 30% done. Outlines are done, (most) world building done. Hurting my brain so I'm taking a break. (Related to Pyrophage. Same world. 2 of 6.)

Anna Undying - YA Vampire Fic, Modern Hungary. (Castles+Cellphones=awesome) Hard outline done. MC fleshed out, secondary characters falling into place.

Laboratory 6 - Short story. Urban Fantasy. Underground science compound, Emus, Raptors, and science geeks. I'm panstering this. I'll probably make an outline, but it's a short, so I'm trying to see if I can wing a first draft w/out too much pre-planning. (Candy Coated Emu. 'Nuff Said.)

Pending Book Reviews:
50 Shades of Grey  (3/10 stars)
50 Shades Darker (I liked it more than I expected)

Suzanne Collins:
Hunger Games, (7/10 stars)
Catching Fire (5/10 stars)<-This may change. I want to reread.
Mockingjay (2/10 stars) (YES. REALLY.)

Chuck Wendig: Mockingbird (Really awesome. Need to re-read critically before rating)
Seanan McGuire: Ashes of Honor (<3! But needs a 2nd read.)

Twilight.... (Sigh. Yes, I may actually read the whole thing. If only to say YES, I read it, now STOP ASKING ME.)

Maybe some Charlaine Harris to round out the reviews, but frankly I already have SO MANY to do. Just... yeah. Give me time.

Also, this week was my birthday! (October 3rd) So I may be receiving even MORE BOOKS as gifts. I have been subsequently more busy as a result. Hopefully I'll be putting more work in here in the future. But first I have to plan time to sleep, meds, and all that jazz.