BEST OF '11: MOST ANTICIPATED

It's the last day of the Best of '11 Circus, and we're rounding out with our most anticipated reads of 2012. Yay! I actually almost didn't get to make this post because of reasons. BUT HERE I AM. My most anticipated reads for 2012 are:

5) Cinder:  I've always been a big fan of fairy tales (their original forms, not the sugared up Disney versions)(really, how surprised are you by that, guys?) - and I have a super love for cyber punk. So putting the two together? Yes please. It certainly doesn't hurt that the cover is gorgeous. The jacket copy reads:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

In this thrilling debut young adult novel, the first of a quartet, Marissa Meyer introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine and a masterfully crafted new world that’s enthralling.

4) Isla and the Happily Ever After: I've been a staunch Stepahnie Perkins fan since I got a hold of Anna and the French Kiss (quite by chance, mind you - I had no idea what I was picking up when I snatched a copy at ALA all those years ago). Naturally, I'm sitting on tenterhooks for her next release!

3) Insurgent: I got to read a very early copy of Divergent way back when, and then the published version when it hit shelves. My love for this series (and its author) are limitless, and I am so looking forward to the next book in the trilogy!

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.

2) Born Wicked: I think if you know anything about my love for the series Charmed you won't be at all surprised that I have been waiting for this book forever! Witches, historical fiction and scandal. Yes, please!

Blessed with a gift...cursed with a secret.

Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship - or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word . . . especially after she finds her mother's diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood - not even from each other.

1) Winds of Winter: Technically, this book isn't even scheduled for release, but I really hope since the show has been signed on for another season that there's going to be lots and lots of pressure on George Martin to finish it up and put it to press! I've been putting off reading A Feast for Crows just so that I don't finish the series before there's a release date!

So those are my most anticipated reads! What are yours? And don't forget to check out the rest of the circus:

Caroline Richmond, Corrine Jackson, Erin Bowman, Kaitlin Ward, Kate Hart, Kathleen Peacock, Kirsten Hubbard, Kristen Halbrook, Kristin Otts, Lee Bross, Lindsey Roth Culli, Phoebe North, Sarah Enni, Stephanie Keuhn, Veronica Roth

BEST OF '11: BEST BOOKS

Strangely enough (or perhaps not so strange) this is the year I've been both recommending and loaning out books the most to my friends, which makes writing this list pretty easy! So my most recommended books for 2011 have been:

5) A Hundred Thousand Kingdoms: I actually loaned my copy of this book out (and still haven't gotten it back, for shame), but barring A Song of Ice and Fire, this series has been my favorite. It's complex, brilliant, and not at all what you'd expect from a fantasy series. The cast is diverse in the best possible way and I love this series enough to reread it, which I never ever do.

4) A Song of Ice and Fire: You may or may not have noticed I kind of have a George Martin situation. I also seem to enjoy getting my heart ripped out of my chest repeatedly. And sharing that feeling with all my friends. Martin's work definitely has problems, but there's also a lot of brilliance  and it's the brilliance that has me shoving both the book and the show (which, guys, littered with issues) onto my friends.
3) The Hunger Games: I read The Hunger Games trilogy the weekend Mockingjay came out, and with the trailer out just this past month, have had the very lovely opportunity to push it on my friends. I have lent my lovely, autographed hardcovers out to friends so they can enjoy and weep over Finnick and Annie.
2) Jellicoe Road: I read this book at the very end of 2010 and haven't been able to stop recommending it since.

1) Anna and the French Kiss: So I may have ended up starting a St. Claire's club. And that club may be heading to Paris this summer. Because, well, that's just what you do when you fall in love with Etienne. I've loaned this book out this year more times than I can count, and without fail, every single person has loved it. Because this book is the best book.

What have your most recommended books this year been? And don't forget to check out the rest of the circus!

Caroline Richmond, Corrine Jackson, Erin Bowman, Kaitlin Ward, Kate Hart, Kathleen Peacock, Kirsten Hubbard, Kristen Halbrook, Kristin Otts, Lee Bross, Lindsey Roth Culli, Phoebe North, Sarah Enni, Stephanie Keuhn, Veronica Roth

BEST OF '11: WOMEN OF WESTEROS

So today the BEST OF '11 Circus is all about the best gals and guys you've run into reading this year. This list kind of made me realize that maybe I've been slacking on my reading? And then I remembered that this summer was the summer of A Song of Ice and Fire all day, every day. It was really very easy to make my list after that. Just a warning, some of these may contain spoilers.

5) Val: Val is the younger sister of Dalla, wife of Mance Rider who is King-Beyond-the-Wall. You don't see her very often, and when you do it's usually through Jon Snow's eyes. But what we do see of her is amazing; she's strong willed, gutsy, enjoys herself and others, and is committed to her family. But what you know the most is that Jon respects her. He respects her will, her determination, her time for grief and her autonomy. When he's given the choice of taking her to wife without her consent he turns it down because he knows Val is stronger and better than that. You come to respect Val because the only person we see her through respects her, and believes through and through that she's deserving of that respect.
4) Catelyn Stark: Catelyn gets so much hate in ASoIaF fandom it isn't even funny. It makes my heart bleed guys, because while Catelyn is not flawless, she's definitely a lot smarter than a lot of the men in Westeros and if one of them would listen a lot of bloody-tear-inducing events that go down in A Storm of Swords would have been avoided. She's a Southron lady who knows how to play the Game of Thrones, it's just that no one actually believes her. Her determination to see her children alive, and the quiet strength she bears when she believes most of them are dead is breathtaking. All I can say to this fandom is: haters to the left.
3) Daenerys Targaryen: Dany was my absolute favorite character in the very first book. Her plot line is one of intense self discovery and growth. She transforms from a terrified child, abused by her brother, friendless and without parents, into a strong and determined Khaleesi, capable of standing up for herself and demanding her birth right. Her introspection is finely wrought and beautifully played out.
2) Cersei Lannister: We cannot talk about the women of Westeros without talking about Cersei Lannister. Oh god, my feelings on Cersei are many and varied and I don't even know where to begin. What I love most about her, and what makes her number two on this list and fabulous women of Westeros is her ability to play the Game of Thrones, play it well, and be totally unabashed and without shame about the way she plays and wins. Cersei hate in the fandom is stronger (and often more terrifying) than hate against Catelyn because one of the things Cersei is unafraid to use as a weapon is her sexuality. But what a lot of people forget is she's living in a society where that is the only tool available to her. Her brothers and her father can use their swords, their gold, and their minds. And while Cersei has both gold and a mind, nothing but her sexuality is ever recognized. She's a woman whose success would have been much more easily achieved had she been a man, and she knows that and hates it. So she plays the game the only way she can to get what should have been hers in the first place. And the more you learn about Cersei, her insecurities and her fears, her transformation from the girl Robert Baratheon married twenty years ago into the woman she is at the start of the series, the more you feel for her. She's the product of a misogynistic society, and a lot of the misdeeds people attribute to her have actually been committed by men around her. I could go on and on but the point is: Cersei, cunning and awful and wonderful. I love her.
1) Sansa Stark: If my feelings on Cersei Lannister are many and varied, my feelings about Sansa are limitless. She's thirteen when the series starts out, innocent, and she's never left Winterfell (the Stark seat). If Daenerys' journey of growth and self discovery are finely wrought, Sansa's is a masterpiece. She is, in my opinion, going to be the only Stark that survives the end of the implosion of Westeros. Much like Cersei, she's learning to play the Game of Thrones the only way a girl in her position can, and she's learning fast. She gets a lot of criticism for being meek and passive, but she's thirteen, she's not Arya, all she wants is to be married to a knight and have children (which is a valid desire, especially given the fact that she's been spoon fed those stories for as long as she knows). Instead she gets slammed with tragedy after tragedy, is betrothed to a boy who is most definitely a sociopath, and she manages to survive in the pursuit of her own happiness. She's not swinging swords or fighting battles or poisoning kings, but that's because she wants to live and she's learning that if she wants to live in the political climate her father helped create, she's going to have to play the game. And she's learning, good god is she learning. Nothing would please me more than if George Martin made Sansa sit the iron throne at the end of the series. Nothing.

So, these are my top five characters for 2011. Do share yours! And don't forget to check out the rest of the blog circus:

Caroline Richmond, Corrine Jackson, Erin Bowman, Kaitlin Ward, Kate Hart, Kathleen Peacock, Kirsten Hubbard, Kristen Halbrook, Kristin Otts, Lee Bross, Lindsey Roth Culli, Phoebe North, Sarah Enni, Stephanie Keuhn, Veronica Roth

BEST OF '11: SONGS/ALBUMS

Well. It's been a while, blog followers. I...have not been the best blog keeper, but you can blame school for that. One more semester, and then I get to dive in to grad school. I'm hoping and praying it'll be more manageable, but...you know...it rarely ever turns out that way. So what brings about my resurgence (aside from the end of the semester)? The lovely Sarah Enni has invited me to the lovely BEST OF '11 blog circus for the last week of December. I always do a recap post on New Year's Eve, so I figured, what better way to prep for that than joining in on Sarah's BEST OF '11 circus?

Today it's songs and/or albums.

I'm definitely a music writer. More often than not when I'm writing I'm listening to soundtracks, but the plotting stages are usually dominated by musics with lyrics. So here are my top five albums and songs for the year 2011.

5) The Beast - Austra: I found this song on Tumblr, via a fanmix for the women of A Song of Ice and Fire called Stiffen the Sinews, Summon Up the Blood (which, how cool of a name is that?!)(it's from Macbeth)(Tumblr this fanmix guys, the songs on it are ah-mazing)(fanmixes in general are very good). Anyway, this song captured a lot of what I was trying to capture with my main character, the quiet build, the monstrosity, the fear and anger. It's a beautiful song that manages to convey so much and I've listened to it more than a hundred times. 
4) Inception OST - Hans Zimmer: Do I really need to elaborate on my obsession with Inception? Do I? I think it's well documented via twitter and emails and this blog (in fact I think there's a post on Inception on this blog right after it came out somewhere). Hans Zimmer is a genius (seriously; everything he makes is magic)(The Dark Knight soundtrack is amazing)(the amount of want I feel for the The Dark Knight Rises soundtrack is ridiculous, guys). I really love the mix of quiet and loud moments, the juxtaposition of calm and panic. If you haven't gotten your hands on this soundtrack, get on that. So much of my writing was done to this soundtrack, thank you very much, Zimmer.
3) Rocks and Water  - Deb Talan: Deb Talan was another song I found on Stiffen the Sinews, Summon Up the Blood. I love this song, guys (seriously, it's my ring tone right now). It's simple, but it's message is powerful: a mother leaving her daughter a legacy, and watching over her even when the daughter isn't aware. The message more than anything else captured me and my imagination.
2) Barton Hollow - The Civil Wars: Sarah, though she might not be aware, introduced me to The Civil Wars. There is something beautiful and poetic about them, their voices, and their music. Dance Me to the End of Love wrote the back end of my last book. Barton Hollow is writing the beginning of my current work in progress. And of course, their collaboration with Taylor Swift has captured the imagination of The Hunger Games fandom.
1) Death is the Road to Awe - Clint Mansell: If you haven't seen The Fountain you are missing out on what is, in my opinion, a masterpiece. The Fountain made me fall in love with Darren Aronofsky as a director, and this song epitomizes the film and, like a lot of Clint  Mansell's work, is amazing. The amount of emotion that this song carries on its own and that it allows you to put into it is limitless. Many, many scenes were written to this.


Check out the rest of the circus' BEST OF 2011:

Caroline Richmond, Corrine Jackson, Erin Bowman, Kaitlin Ward, Kate Hart, Kathleen Peacock, Kirsten Hubbard, Kristen Halbrook, Kristin Otts, Lee Bross, Lindsey Roth Culli, Phoebe North, Sarah Enni, Stephanie Keuhn, Veronica Roth

RETURN OF THE JEDI

source.

I've been meaning to post since I got on break but - well, things got in the way. Mostly, I pushed myself to finish my latest project (I did, on December 28!) and then I was busy either lazing around and getting out of work mode or revising like a mad woman so that I could send the project out to beta readers. But I have now finished both writing and revisions, just in time for the New Years (I actually spent New Year's Eve putting the last touches on the project) and I will be trying to put myself in a Zen zone until I have to go back to school on the 9th.

To greet the new year I've revamped the site layout with these funky colors (and thanks so much to colour lovers for the amazing background) as my way of greeting 2011 with love and high hopes for a successful year. Last year I did Through 2009 and What I Found There to reflect on the year. Here is Through 2010 and What I Found There:


1) Finished The Scion: The Scion was the second complete manuscript that I wrote and I loved it to bits. Unfortunately, I freaked out at the end and trunked it with hopes of a rewrite. In hindsight, I'm really glad I did. It gave me the time to improve my writing and gather the courage to really query and not just kind of query with a book that definitely wasn't my best. But just as The Pawn taught me how to finish a book, The Scion taught me how to write a book. And that's important.
2) Started two projects (Heart of Angelline and Eidolon): I started Eidolon in the very early days of the summer and trunked it around July and then started Heart of Angelline and trunked it in late October. Trunking both was really, really important because it taught me how to let go, when something is beyond fixing, when fixing something isn't worth it. I was of the opinion that if something wasn't working you could power through it and fix it in the end and I think this is still true for a lot of things. But there are times when it stops being true and it's important to recognize that and pull out.
3) My third creative writing workshop: This. There are no words for the roller coaster that this class was. I'm not going to lie: this class is part of the reason I managed to finish my last project. The professor was brilliant and I learned something I might have never known or managed to forget and it made writing not only easy but fun again. I'd forgotten how wonderful it is to be with your character to know everything about them to enjoy wrecking their lives and then fixing it again. And regardless of how psychotic my professor may have been they did teach me to write again and to stop getting twisted in so much of the business and focus on the  craft of it.
4) Cutting back on my social life: I know this sounds kind of ridiculous to be a good thing but - yeah, it wasn't. My freshman year of college wasn't as stellar as I wanted it to be because I invested more time in hanging out and running around instead of buckling down and studying. Sophomore year was all about trying to find a balance between the two and this year (junior year) I think I've struck the balance. I'm doing much better in school, I enjoy the majority of my classes and I have time to write.
5) Finished the first draft of a project I am in love with: This felt like a break through for me. I love this project and I loved it when I started and I loved it even when I was going through revisions. I have never felt this way about a book that I wrote. I've loved characters and plot lines but I've never loved anything as wholly as I love this project.

That's my year in hindsight. Pretty quiet all things considered but I like quiet, thank God. Happy new year! May it be as fruitful or more so than 2010.