Every revolution begins with a spark. Catching Fire in theaters November 22.
Literary Marie ♠️ Reader, Reviewer, Copyeditor, Migraineur & AutoImmuneur 🖤 Cannot Function Without Fiction
April 22, 2013
Catching Fire Movie Trailer
Every revolution begins with a spark. Catching Fire in theaters November 22.
April 21, 2013
Series Sunday: I is for Innocent
(Kinsey Millhone Alphabet #9)
- Read an installment of a series.
- Share your review/recommendation below.
- Include the title, author and series name.
My Series Sunday pick is I is for Innocent, the ninth book in the Kinsey Millhone alphabet series by Sue Grafton. Private Investigator Kinsey Millhone agrees to take over another P.I.'s investigation after he unexpectedly dies of a heart attack. Morley Shine was one of the greats in the business so it should be nothing but tying up loose ends. However, Kinsey finds the investigation is not easy at all. Notes are in a disarray. Witnesses deny ever being questioned. Kinsey begins to doubt whether the accused is innocent after all.
The format of I is for Innocent was appropriate to the title. It favored a legal case—prosecution side, defense side, cross-examination and closing arguments. It was fast-paced and filled with more action than previous Kinsey Millhone books. Yet it was kind of predictable.
However, I am still a little iffy on whether the series is starting to slip but will continue reading further. It was just released that the latest installment (W) will be published later this year. I have a lot of catching up to do.
Title: I is for Innocent
Author: Sue Grafton
Published: May 1992
Pages:246
Edition: eBook
Rating: ♥♥♡
April 19, 2013
First Lines Friday
First Lines Friday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.
- Grab your current read(s).
- Share the first line(s).
- Include the title and author.
"What a witch."
~ A House Divided by Kimberla Lawson Roby (First 7 Chapters Available for FREE Download on NOOK, Kindle, Google Books and iBooks)
April 17, 2013
Guest Post: A. T. Hicks
Author of the Peaches Donnelly Mystery Series
Welcome to Literary Marie's Precision Reviews. Today we have a special guest post from A. T. Hicks, author of the Peaches Donnelly Mystery Series.
When I first started thinking
about the Peaches Donnelly
Mystery Series it was a loose thought. Very
loose. For one, I had never even written a mystery novel, let alone created
characters for an entire series! But once my mind settles on doing something,
it won’t stop until I see the project through. So once I had the mystery
novel formula down packed I began rough sketches for the characters.
The first question I asked myself was ‘Who did I want the characters to be?’ Because I adore a good cozy mystery and love women sleuths, I decided that I wanted the main character to be quirky and funny. But I also wanted a character that was far more risqué than most cozy mysteries allow for. For instance, Peaches Donnelly, the main character and amateur sleuth in training, has a vast selection of vibrators. Risque right? But funny and very, ummm, real. Hey—a girl needs a little self therapy from time to time! So I scrapped the idea of a cozy mystery and decided on a Not-So-Cozy series of mysteries instead. This decision set the pace for the rest of the recurring characters that show up in this series of novels.
So once I decided who I wanted the characters to be, I started working on the characteristics of each individual.
Peaches' besties, Lynn and Charm, sort of hate one another. Being that Lynn is the overweight über successful, uptight career girl and Charm is a tall, gorgeous, leggy bartender cum aspiring actress whose morals are loose and whose life is borderline fabulous, the two of them are like oil and water. Peaches' two daughters, Nina, an annoying, boy crazy teenager with problems of her own and Sly, an elementary aged student whose main purpose in life is to aggravate Nina, play an additional hilarious role in each book. The two men in her life are Stick and Vernon. Stick she wants with all of her heart. Vernon, the unfaithful ex-boyfriend, is still hanging around like a cold and trying to get back in her good graces. Her younger opera singer sister Viviana just appeared in my mind out of the blue. I’m not quite sure why I developed this character; I just knew I loved her. She’s a famous opera singer living in Italy, high maintenance, well off and pretty loosy-goosy when it comes to leaving Peaches high and dry in varying awkward situations. And last but not least, there’s Mitch Donnelly, Peaches' single father and iffy family patriarch. All he wants is a little peace and quiet, for his two lovely daughters to exist in the same room without a war erupting, and some free lovin’ from whatever sympathetic widower wants to throw some his way. Each of these characters needed to be funny on their own as well as in situations that involved the main character. This makes for a comical read from beginning to end.
Recurring characters are fairly easy to develop once you decide exactly what you want your mystery series to be about. Will it be comical, hard-boiled, adventurous, or dangerous or perhaps a mixture of each? Will you have a hardcore P.I. or will your character be a bumbling amateur sleuth? What type of information will your main character have access to and how? Will they have recurring friends, family and associates that get involved in helping them solve the crime or will they have a different cast of characters that brings them to the resolution of the mystery in each book? These are the questions you’ll have to answer as you begin writing your mystery series. Or else you’ll have unbalanced characters that don’t pan out and won’t keep readers short attention spans!
Proper character development is an important part to writing not only a well-loved series but a successful book. In the case of the Peaches Donnelly Mystery Series, the characters not only set the stage for hilarity in each of the novels in the Peaches Donnelly Mystery Series, but each of them also plumps the story out making it more interesting and engaging for the reader.
The first question I asked myself was ‘Who did I want the characters to be?’ Because I adore a good cozy mystery and love women sleuths, I decided that I wanted the main character to be quirky and funny. But I also wanted a character that was far more risqué than most cozy mysteries allow for. For instance, Peaches Donnelly, the main character and amateur sleuth in training, has a vast selection of vibrators. Risque right? But funny and very, ummm, real. Hey—a girl needs a little self therapy from time to time! So I scrapped the idea of a cozy mystery and decided on a Not-So-Cozy series of mysteries instead. This decision set the pace for the rest of the recurring characters that show up in this series of novels.
So once I decided who I wanted the characters to be, I started working on the characteristics of each individual.
Peaches' besties, Lynn and Charm, sort of hate one another. Being that Lynn is the overweight über successful, uptight career girl and Charm is a tall, gorgeous, leggy bartender cum aspiring actress whose morals are loose and whose life is borderline fabulous, the two of them are like oil and water. Peaches' two daughters, Nina, an annoying, boy crazy teenager with problems of her own and Sly, an elementary aged student whose main purpose in life is to aggravate Nina, play an additional hilarious role in each book. The two men in her life are Stick and Vernon. Stick she wants with all of her heart. Vernon, the unfaithful ex-boyfriend, is still hanging around like a cold and trying to get back in her good graces. Her younger opera singer sister Viviana just appeared in my mind out of the blue. I’m not quite sure why I developed this character; I just knew I loved her. She’s a famous opera singer living in Italy, high maintenance, well off and pretty loosy-goosy when it comes to leaving Peaches high and dry in varying awkward situations. And last but not least, there’s Mitch Donnelly, Peaches' single father and iffy family patriarch. All he wants is a little peace and quiet, for his two lovely daughters to exist in the same room without a war erupting, and some free lovin’ from whatever sympathetic widower wants to throw some his way. Each of these characters needed to be funny on their own as well as in situations that involved the main character. This makes for a comical read from beginning to end.
Recurring characters are fairly easy to develop once you decide exactly what you want your mystery series to be about. Will it be comical, hard-boiled, adventurous, or dangerous or perhaps a mixture of each? Will you have a hardcore P.I. or will your character be a bumbling amateur sleuth? What type of information will your main character have access to and how? Will they have recurring friends, family and associates that get involved in helping them solve the crime or will they have a different cast of characters that brings them to the resolution of the mystery in each book? These are the questions you’ll have to answer as you begin writing your mystery series. Or else you’ll have unbalanced characters that don’t pan out and won’t keep readers short attention spans!
Proper character development is an important part to writing not only a well-loved series but a successful book. In the case of the Peaches Donnelly Mystery Series, the characters not only set the stage for hilarity in each of the novels in the Peaches Donnelly Mystery Series, but each of them also plumps the story out making it more interesting and engaging for the reader.
What does a strip club, a dead man, and a Dove ice cream bar all have in common? Peaches Donnelly
About the Author:
For more information on A. T. Hicks, please visit www.saltygurl.com where you can register for a FREE copy of the first installment in the Peaches Donnelly mystery series, read excerpts and more. You can also find A. T. Hicks on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.
April 16, 2013
Bookfessions
Bookfessions is one of my favorite book blogs. It features the obvious: confessions from book lovers. Below are bookfessions that I relate to. They are so me, and may describe you too! Be sure to check out and follow Bookfessions on Tumblr. Happy reading and confessing, bookhearts!
April 14, 2013
Series Sunday: Deck of Lies
Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.
- Read an installment of a series.
- Share your review/recommendation below.
- Include the title, author and series name.
Today's Series Sunday features the Deck of Lies YA series by Jade Varden. In a single day, Rain Ramey's life changed. She discovers her life is based on a deck of lies and is determined to uncover them all. There are four books in the series:
- Justice
- The Tower
- Death
- Judgment
April 12, 2013
First Lines Friday
First Lines Friday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.
- Grab your current read(s).
- Share the first line(s).
- Include the title and author.
"Delicious political intrigue, shocking twists, oh-so-chic clothes, and the hottest White House affair since Marilyn sang for JFK—That's why viewers are electing Scandal their new TV (and Twitter) obsession."
~ Crazy in Love with Scandal: Entertainment Weekly 4/12/13
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