If We Were Having Coffee...

Over the past few weeks, I've seen posts with this title popping up all over the blogosphere. Then I decided, "Hey, maybe I should write one for anyone who is curious what I would say." So, without any further stalling, here is what I might tell you if we were having coffee...

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE...

You would likely notice, right away, that I decided to get a cup of tea. I've just always preferred it. I find it soothing. According to my family, my grandfather use to put (cold) black tea in my baby bottle. No wonder I'm so damn hyper!

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE...

I'd tell you I'm having a heck of a time editing my novel, and that I know I'll need to push the release back again and I HATE that.

I'd also tell you that I can't tell whether it's that I honestly keep thinking up ways to improve the novel, or whether I'm just stalling. People I've spoken to tell me the ideas are solid, and that they will strengthen the book, but deep down inside I know there is a part of me that doesn't want to let go of this book and these characters just as much as there is part of me who is dying to find out what people will think of them.

I think my biggest concern, though, is that I know getting people to read this will be a challenge. I'm not an aggressive person, as you likely know from how much I promote what goes on here. I do need to remember that I'm writing first and foremost for me, and to prove to myself that I can do this. But it would be nice to have other people connect with this world and these characters that have eaten up three years of my life, y'know?

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE...

I'd probably poke fun at the fact that my organizational skills leave MUCH to be desired. I have tons of ideas for my blog, what books I want to read, and what I'm writing. But keeping track of them? Not my forte. This leads to a funky juggling act where if I'm blogging I feel like I should be reading, if I'm reading I feel like I should be writing, and when I'm writing I feel like I'm getting "behind" on my blog. And that leads to a paralyzing melt down where I get absolutely nothing done.

I'm working at this, and I think (hope?) I'm getting better at it. I think that the biggest breakthrough for me has been acknowledging the fact that I came here to be an author. I do love books, and I do love this community, but by owning up to the fact that my writing is my top priority, I don't have the problems I stated above nearly as much as I use to.

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE... 

I'd tell you that I Write, I Read, I Review is going through some really big changes. I've been thinking about what I want to have on my blog and I am working toward making sure that the content that ends up here is what I'd want to see if I was reading it. I also want to try and get my blog to be a bit more social--I want to take part in events. I want to have more discussion posts. I want to be talking about books I really love and about topics that really matter. I don't feel I did enough of that in 2013 and I want that to change.

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE... 

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

These are the three books I would totally be fangirling over. The ones I would be trying to devise schemes worthy of Wile E. Coyote to get you to read too.

Shadow and Bone has fantastic world building and the Darkling.

If You Stay has one of the most honest male POVs I've ever read, a bad boy who is truly, believably bad, and allows the reader actually see him redeem himself.

And The Collector has Dante Walker, who is one of the funniest, most enjoyable narrators I've ever followed through a story. It also has some pretty awesome world building which kept my interest from start to finish.

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE...

I'd tell you the three things I'm most excited about in 2014 are...

1) Releasing Sealer's Promise. Big surprise there. I've been working on the book for years. It's going to feel good getting it out there.

2) Jay coming to visit in April. Jay's visits are like vacations for me, even though he comes to my house. A visit from Jay is more important to me than most holidays.

3) Attending the next Ontario Blogger Meet Up. My parents have already said they'll take Marie and I again if there is one next year.

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE...

I'd talk about the books I'm most excited for next year:

Sequels:

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

Ignite Me: "I am 100% team Warner. This will probably bite me on the butt. Yet I really don't care." ;)

The One: "I really hope America and Maxon end up together, because I think Aspen is a jerk."

Into The Still Blue: "I really like Perry and Aria and I hope they get a satisfying ending."

New (To Me) Authors: 

GoodReads

GoodReads

GoodReads

Cruel Beauty: "A retelling of Beauty and the Beast where the 'beauty' has trained her whole life, plotting to assassinate him? This should be interesting."

Alienated: "Between the gorgeous cover and the alien / human love premise--complete with a potential threat that these aliens didn't come to Earth to pal around, Alienated is way up there on my must read list for 2014."

The Break Up Artist: "This looks like it could be massively funny, and I'm pretty sure our "artist" will learn something along the way. In today's world, with the internet giving us moral invisibility and the divorce rate through the ceiling, a premise like this is something I could actually buy into."

IF WE WERE HAVING COFFEE...

I'd tell you that I am so glad that there are people who take the time to come here and check out my blog, even though I'm not the most organized, and don't post the most often. I've made some great friends, both readers and writers, since I started I Write, I Read, I Review. And I wouldn't trade that for anything.

So, now that I've said all that, it's your turn. What would you want to say if we were having coffee? I'd love to know, so feel free to leave a comment!

Review: If You Leave by Courtney Cole

*This is not YA

After reading and loving If You Stay, the first book in the Beautifully Broken series, I ended up buying If You Leave the day it launched. But I was really busy with writing and editing at the time, and I had finished the first book recently, so I decided to let it sit.

Then this week I read two books that totally didn't work for me, and I basically went, "That's it. I'm done reading stuff that I'm not sure I'll like. It's time to stack the odds in my favor.". I'm kinda obsessed with reading books that are on my beautiful new Kindle, so when I noticed If You Leave there it seemed like just the thing. I was still in the mood for something contemporary and romantic, even though the other book I'd just finished in the genre didn't end up being my cup of tea.

So...did I prejudge If You Leave? Were my hopes fulfilled or totally dashed? Read on and find out!

(Summary from GoodReads)

26-year old Gabriel Vincent is a badass hero. Or he used to be, anyway. As an ex-Army Ranger, Gabe never thought he needed anyone. But after one horrible night in Afghanistan scars him in a way that he can't get past, he needs someone who can help him heal...even if he doesn't realize it.

25-year old Madison Hill doesn't need anybody...or so she thinks. She grew up watching her parents' messed-up abusive relationship and she knows there's no way in hell that she's ever letting that happen to her.

They don't know it in the beginning, but Gabriel and Madison will soon develop a weakness: Each other.

But Gabriel's got a secret, a hidden monster that he's afraid Maddy could never overcome... And Maddy's got issues that she's afraid Gabe will never understand. They quickly realize that they need each other to be whole, but at the same time they know that they've got demons to fight.

And the problem with demons is that they never die quietly.

I really loved If You Stay. And if you'd like a quick verdict without all the technical details for this book, let me say this: I loved If You Leave even more. 

Everything that was great about If You Stay is back: a kickass, albeit broken, hero; a likable heroine; a terrific supporting cast; zippy writing (with especially great, funny and honest / real dialog) that keeps those pages turning. If you liked If You Stay, you will likely enjoy If You Leave. 

The connection and chemistry between Madison and Gabriel is hot, instant and undeniable. Yet the emotional impact these two will have on each other has a delicious slow burn and by the time they actually get to do anything real with the attraction they show in the beginning, you'll pretty much be begging them. And the wait totally pays off. A lot of times I feel that people might misunderstand my view regarding sex scenes in novels and think I just don't like them. That's not true. I like well written scenes that move the characters--and their story--forward. And again, just like she did in If You Stay, Courtney Cole beyond delivers. 

But wait. It gets better...

...Every criticism I had against the first book in this series has been addressed and (mostly) dealt with. Unlike Mila, Madison has a real spine and has problems of her own which are actually addressed in the story. The habit I noticed Courtney Cole had of summarizing things that might need more detail only cropped up once, and in all fairness it was information the reader already knew. 

In parting, my one request would be this: I want to know what happens to Brand. I really, really, like Brand. <3 

As far as I'm concerned, If You Leave is a must read, and it secures Courtney Cole as an auto buy author for me. On top of all the good things I said above, I will also add that Gabriel is one of, if not my favorite, contemporary heroes ever. I don't think I can give much higher praise than that. If you haven't checked out the Beautifully Broken series yet, and you like contemporary or NA, I would highly recommend that you do. 

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository 

Kat's Fall TBR Pile!

Well, now that Sealer's Promise is finally nearing its end, I'll have time to READ! (Imagine that!) I wanted to do the Top 10 Tuesday topic about Fall TBR a while ago but I was knee deep in doing the re-write, so that wasn't possible. But now that I'm only a couple chapters out, I finally have time to sit down and list what I want to read between now and mid December. Ready to see what you'll likely get reviews for between now and Christmas? Read on! :)

The Devil's Tattoo
by Nicole R. Taylor

An overnight music sensation. A hot rock star (or four), some trust issues and two bands on tour. Have I listed enough variables to create an interesting premise yet? :D I don't sign up for a lot of tours, but The Devil's Tattoo seemed like something I'll love so I'm looking forward to sitting down with my kindle and diving in. 

Crown of Midnight
by Sarah J. Maas

I absolutely adored Throne of Glass, so waiting to read this--especially waiting after it came in the mail!--has been torture. Will we see more of Celaena and Choal together? What does Dorian think of this? And what new secrets and perils will we face during this journey into the realm of Adarlan? I can't wait to find out! 

Wild Cards
by Simone Elkeles

Having read and loved Simone Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry trilogy early on in my time as a blogger, I have eagerly awaited her next series for quite a while. Wild Cards sounds like a totally awesome contemporary read which will give her other books a run for their place on my favorites list. I have been counting the days for this book for a while now. :) 

The Burning Sky
by Sherry Thomas

Magic elixers? Check. An evil Bane? Check. A PRINCE?! Triple check. And the reviews I've read are giving major praise to the romance in this one, which is always a welcome thing to see. This is a new to me author, and I only found out it's historical after I bought it, but I still can't wait to read it. There is just too much "Read me now!" going on here for me to ignore. 

If You Leave
by Courtney Cole

Can the absolute awesome-sauce that is If You Stay be topped, or even matched? I must know, and I downloaded If You Leave onto my kindle the day it released. I've been (not so patiently) waiting to read it since. Now, as soon as I finish 2.5 chapters, I *can*!!! Maddy had her flaws in Pax and Mila's story, but I'm anxious to see her get an HEA and to see *how* she'll get that. 

The Mephisto Mark
by Trinity Faegen

How did I miss the release date for this? Have I really been sleeping under that big a rock? With that outta the way... Holy crap, this is Phoenix's book! Woo! I absolutely must read this. This guy has been breaking my heart from the beginning of the series and I *must* see how he will get a happy ending. The glimpse we got of Mariah in the last book has me intrigued by her, too. I need this now, dammit!

Finding It
by Cora Carmack

I totally loved Losing It and I really enjoyed Faking It. So reading Finding It is just common sense. I really liked Kelsey, despite the fact that our personalities would clash in real life. I think I can say this much about my enthusiasm: it's not going to be dull reading about her adventures to find love. Plus, she's over in Europe. That certainly can't hurt, right? (I love books that are set in places I haven't been.) Another book that will likely be a day one purchase.

Antigoddess
by Kendare Blake

Feathers growing under someone's skin? A fever that can eat a man's flesh? And that shit is happening to the Greek Gods? Yeah, you bet I'm right there. I grabbed this a couple weeks ago (how could I not?!?!) and it's been testing my resolve to get my writing done before I open it up. (Maybe I should set it on my table during these last couple pesky chapters?) I totally loved Anna Dressed In Blood, and I love Greek Mythology--and seeing what people can do to it. So yeah. I have to read this. 

Shooting Scars
by Karina Halle

Earlier this year I read Sins & Needles and On Every Street and totally loved both. Karina Halle has a way of writing characters that are fascinating shades of gray--you cannot predict what they will do from one moment to the next, but you are taken so deeply into who they are that you want them to succeed regardless. After the way Sins & Needles ended (OMG) the fact I haven't opened this and started reading is shocking. I'm really looking forward to it! 

Elsker
by S.T. Bende

Norse mythology? Going away to university on another continent? Loves books? Winds up dating a Norse God? Has visions that might be able to stop Ragnorok? Ummm... Yeah. To say this grabbed my attention would be a massive understatement. Another book that's been sitting on my kindle and waiting for me to have time to read. I read and really liked the sample for this, and I'm honestly very eager to open it up and read the whole thing. 

Have you thought about what you're going to read this fall? Are we reading any of the same things? Feel free to let me know in the comments, or link me to a post you've made about it. 

Review: If You Stay by Courtney Cole

Since I'm juggling whether my own novel is new adult or straight up contemporary romance, I decided one of the best ways to resolve the dilemma would be to dive into this genre head first and see just what all the fuss is about. Among all the books that were available, If You Stay grabbed my attention with an absolutely stunning male POV opening chapter that dared me *not* to keep going.

It also doesn't hurt that I've always been a sucker for a bad boy, and they don't come much badder (yet still redeemable) then Pax. Is there anything this guy doesn't do? You'll need to read to find out, but with the level of "Whoa, wait a minute. This is the hero?" that the first chapter of this novel injects into the story, my curiosity was definitely piqued.

Ultimately, If You Stay is a tale of love, loss and redemption. To find out whether it works, keep reading...

(Summary from GoodReads)

24-year old Pax Tate is an asshole.

Seriously.

He’s a tattooed, rock-hard bad-boy with a bad attitude to match.

But he’s got his reasons.

His mother died when Pax was seven, leaving a hole in his heart filled with guilt although he doesn’t understand why. What he does know is that he and his dad are left alone and with more issues than they can count.

As Pax grew up, he tried to be the kid his father always wanted; the perfect golden boy, but it didn’t work. His dad couldn’t overcome his grief long enough to notice and Pax couldn’t keep up the impossible perfect façade.

So he slipped far, far from it.

Now, he uses drugs and women to cope with the ugliness, the black void that he doesn’t want to deal with. If he pretends that the emptiness isn’t there, then it isn’t, right?
Wrong.

And it’s never more apparent than when he meets Mila.
Sweet, beautiful Mila Hill is the fresh air to his hardened frown, the beauty to his ugly heart. He doesn’t know how to not hurt her, but he quickly realizes that he’s got to figure it out because he needs her to breathe.

When memories of his mother’s death resurface from where he’s repressed them for so long, Mila is there to catch him when the guilt starts making sense. Mila is the one…the one who can save him from his broken troubled heart; from his issues, from the emptiness.

But only if he can stop being an asshole long enough to allow it.

He knows that. And he’s working on it.

But is that enough to make her stay?

Before we start: I think this may be the longest book summary that has been posted on this blog. Ever. Okay, now on with the review. ;) 

In my intro, I said that in the end If You Stay is a story of redemption, and now that we're at the meat of the review I want to make it clear that I thought it was a good one. I've heard some people complaining that (a) people cannot use drugs and not become addicted, and therefore (b) that Pax's recovery time, and the heroine's ultimate decision at the end of the book, was ridiculous. 

Well... In response to (a): while it's certainly not advised to take the kinda crap Pax uses in the novel, *ever*, the author's information *can* be legitimate. If you read the end note you find out more about her inspiration for the book, and it was something I was able to go with because I, too, have known someone in such a situation. Is it likely? Is it logical? Is it the story our governments, teachers, churches. etc. want us telling? No. But unlikely / unusual is not an alternate word for implausible. 

As for the second point, it must be remembered that while there is a theme of redemption within this novel, it is genre fiction (meaning it needs to be entertaining) and it is a romance (which means it needs a happy ending). In a different story, under a different context, aimed at a different audience, I could easily see the claim being made as valid (and on a realistic level, I still do.). However, every novel makes a promise to its readers and, to me, the promise If You Stay made to the reader was: "Let me show you how love can help someone rise up from a difficult situation, and how through acknowledging and owning the situation, that love can be made permanent.". At no time was I under the illusion that, in any way, this book was trying to tell me "Here is what happens when someone who has screwed up his life falls in love.".

There is a very important distinction, in that Pax's struggle to define and eventually defeat the things that have held him down his entire life are motivated by love, *not* healed by it. Yes, the time frame may not be completely ideal in a realistic setting, but it was right for the type of story being told. 

One thing I will complain about in If You Stay is that Courtney Cole has this odd habit of occasionally summarizing key events rather than dramatizing them through scene. This didn't destroy the book, but it did make me scratch my head and puzzle over the times this choice was made now and then.

Also, we get the beginnings of a situation for the heroine, Mila, where we know she has struggled, and continues to struggle, with her parents deaths. While we do see resolution and growth for Pax's issues, I felt that at some point Milas's were forgotten. Or at least, by the end of the novel I wasn't sure how or whether she was still coping with them. 

Pax was definitely the star of this show. The way that Courtney did his voice, his decisions, his thoughts and his actions was truly unique among bad boys. Why? Because instead of being told "he was very, very, bad..." we are dumped head first off a diving board with no ability to swim and without a life jacket. Like hitting the frigid water of a lake in the middle of winter, we are jolted into Pax's world with force and total gusto, whether we wanna be there or not. What kept the character compelling, at least for me, was that while his integrity and ambitions did shift when he met Mila, he didn't magically become "good" overnight; nor did his attitude or thoughts suddenly make him sound like someone else. He maintained his own identity throughout the novel; something I found extremely refreshing. 

The trouble with creating a character as compelling and memorable as Pax, of course, is that it can be hard to create an equal for him. Someone who can hold her own both in the story and as a narrator for the story. Alas, Mila just wasn't quite up to the task. It wasn't that she was blatantly horrible in any way. Rather, it was just that she was so totally overshadowed and outclassed (as far as the interesting-ness of Pax; she's obviously a lot more *classy* than him.). There is also the fact that I did find certain choices she made during the novel questionable. Once you set certain things up in a story, you need to make sure a reader sees why deviating from the 'rules' set for a character makes sense. That didn't happen here. 

The other issue I had with If You Stay is that, while it was interesting to spend so much time with these two characters, they did seem to live in a bubble. Where were their friends? What else was in Angel Bay aside from their houses and the Italian restaurant Mila's parents had owned? I was a little disappointed with the lack of immersion into this world because I was really into the story and I wanted to be able to reach out and touch this world more then I felt I got to. 

Warning: insta love incoming! 

Now that I have that up front for you, what I will say is that the instant *draw* between these two was something I was willing to buy into. Why? Because she saved his life, and sometimes people can do really strange things when someone intervenes when they've hit rock bottom. I admire the fact that Courtney did *try* to control the speed of things a little, and I understand she didn't want to bog her plot down over this issue since this novel was a very tightly sealed nut (we really don't get a lot of meandering subplots here). But when it comes off strong, insta love is something I like to give my readers a heads up about, so it is what it is. 

On the plus side, I did feel that Mila and Pax had terrific chemistry and I loved reading about their interactions with each other. I had no trouble getting behind the whole 'good girl, bad guy' vibe going on. In real life, I wouldn't touch this with a ten foot pole, but in fiction? Why not? I'm certainly not going to confuse fantasy and reality, nor do I honestly fear most readers are going to lose track of that distinction. 

Now, as I said in the character section, there was one situation where Mila's reaction *did* make me want to throw my kindle. Oh! And Pax has one of the best grovels (that moment where the hero knows he has screwed up, huge, and wants to make it better) that I've ever read. Because (1) it was well written and believable, and (2) he proved himself to be the real deal, and not just full of hot air. 

If You Stay is one of those novels that I started and then totally devoured. I really loved a lot of things about it, despite the fact that I was reading it for research and did, therefore, pick up on things that did not work for me. If you are into new adult and haven't read If You Stay, though, do yourself a favor and give this book a go.