Spring '13 Gut Reactions

 Well looky looky, -the gut reactions posted at the right time this season, (i.e before the launch of the next pile.) Who'd have thought?

 So, the round up looks like this:

 The Spring books are listed here.

The sneaky extras were;

Rocked Under – Cora Hawkes

Twisted Perfection – Abby Glines

Hopeless – Colleen Hoover

Walking Disaster – Jamie McGuire

If I Stay – Gayle Foreman

Where She Went – Gayle Foreman

Just One Day – Gayle Foreman

(Kody Keplinger's Shut Out got postponed from the UK for a really long time, apparently.)

The Name-checks;

Star of the List; The Sky is Everywhere. It was a close call with John Green, but I’m going with the debut novel. I gushed about it here. By sheer chance I managed to get into a mini-run of books about Bereavement. This one just shone.

John Green- I love thee so. I adore his dialogue. I have a wee quibble with the plot in The Fate in our Stars, but as a whole I am willing to overlook it, just because the sum of its parts, his characters and the dialogue just did it for me. (And no, I didn't cry, but that is only because I have a heart of stone...)

David Levithan- I love thee so, too.  These two are my literary boyfriends. I don't think they'll mind that I am two-timing.

Rainbow Rowell – I enjoyed Attachments for the brilliantly realistic email exchanges. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on Eleanor & Park which everyone is raving about.

Kristin Cashore’s Bitterblue was pleasure. It’s the third in a sort of series, Graceling and Fire were companion books and this one brought them together, albeit in a slightly rushed fashion, but I'll forgive it as I love her phrasing, and her characters and their world.

It has been a season of some yummy blokes;
Joe Fontaine (The Sky is Everywhere)
Augustus (The Fault in our Stars)
Travis (Walking Disaster)
Holder (Hopeless)

Woods (Twisted Perfection)
Yessss, some of them are bad boys…

And then the other thoughts;
    * One book I had to give up after 15 pages as the speech did my head in. I accept that to sustain it for a whole book is impressive, but I couldn’t handle any more of it.
   * One book I gave up the first time after chapter 7 and asked my dad if he would read it for me instead and tell me what happened. Spookily, he was already reading it himself and loving it. He told me to keep reading. I made it to chapter 10. And then skipped the end. I get a point for effort.
   * One book had me wanting to slap the female MC for poor behavior. The author didn’t seem to agree.

   *I always read the acknowledgements in a book, mainly to see who the author’s agent is and also to see their writer friends. This season I’ve noticed one writer-friends group’s plots are getting more similar, as are their turns of phrase.

   *One book sharply reminded me why I crave a happy ending. Boo Hiss!!

I’m ready for the Summer TBR pile now. Bring it on!

Squeeing

So I blogged recently about Belinda Jones' Sunlounger anthology which is due out on the 1st of July. I mentioned that there was a competition for three unpublished writers to have a short story included. (Do you remember? Were you paying attention? There will be a quiz one day, you know...)

 I might have failed to mention - actually I know I did because I can be coy like that - that I had in fact entered a story in said competition. 

And I have made it onto the shortlist!! I haven't entered a writing competition since I was approximately ten, which is  more than a wee while ago, so this felt like a bit of a leap.

There has been a fair bit of Woo Hooing and Squeeing around here (by me obviously, the rest of the family simply roll their eyes at my shenanigans) and now there is bum-clenching for the announcement of the final three on the 1st of June.

Currently, I don't need any distraction tools, as this is just filling my head.

Brewing

  I've just spotted that technically summer starts in two weeks. Yes, I know that the weather does not seem to be on board, at least not here in the UK, where the recession means we can no longer afford any good weather, but still. Beginning of June = Beginning of Summer. It's the Law (or something.)

  Specifically, it means I have about two weeks to brew the Summer TBR pile. Unlike last season when I had a stack already, it is currently looking a wee bit thin on the ground. (Most likely this is because it is birthday month chez nous -7 birthdays in 15 days - and I'm immersed in present sourcing.)

  I've also set myself the new rule that from now on I have to include two books from the shelves that I have never got around to reading. I’m going to consider it as remedying an obsession. It might also stop my better half from scowling at the shelves.

  So, while I'm in the procurement stages for the list, does anyone have any recommendations? YA, NA or ChickLit please. I'm not even going to look at the Classics this time- we know that path never ends well for me…

  Suggestions please!

Sunlounger Stories

For anyone who is a fan of Chick-lit, or sorry, Women's Fiction rather, then there is a new website that might be of interest. Belinda Jones, of numerous novels has just launched a new website www.va-va-vacation.com that links nicely to Sunlounger, a new anthology of short stories which are all based on holidays. (Out July 1st)

  Besides the thirty plus published authors who have contributed to the anthology, three slots are also being given over to the winners of the Short Story competition which was held earlier this year. The short list is due any day now and the winners will be announced on the 1st of June.

   One for the suitcase perhaps? Or if you haven't got a holiday booked, then the book s designed to be an escape in itself or a source of inspiration. 

The cocktails are easily sorted, now we just need a little sun...

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

  Miss Snark's First Victim is running a critique session based on first kisses. In some kind of out-of-body-experience I entered a kissy scene from one of my stories. 
These things scare the be-jeezus out of me (critiques, not kissing, that is). It feels roughly like volunteering to have tomatoes pelted at one's naked personage. 
  
 I haven't read the comments yet; I'm just about to pour the glass of wine to steel myself with, but if you have a look through the entries, can you spot which is mine? (No looking through the comments for clues, cheaty.)

 (Fairview, Liz and Yotti you are all exempt from this game - Insider knowledge!)