Tuesday, January 18, 2011

New Year: Reading instead of Writing

The Lost HeroImage via WikipediaHave I really not blogged about my writing since before Christmas? Sadly, I have not, which really shouldn't be a surprise, because I haven't really worked on my writing since before Christmas. Bad Karyn!

Instead, I've been reading and dealing with various colds in the house (my own included), and working on art. My writing group meets this week so I hope I'll be energized by the other writers' offerings, and get back in the writing swing.

I have been reading more lately, and as a result, I'm trying to be better about updating my Goodreads account.

I hate to be critical to any author, but this was my biggest disappointment out of all the books I read in 2010:

Fatally Frosted (Donut Shop Mystery #2)Fatally Frosted by Jessica Beck

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I was looking for a quick, cozy mystery and loved the premise of this book, so I snagged it at the library.



But everything disappointed me in this book, from the way the main character unrealistically jumped to the conclusion of murder before anyone had even examined the body, to the way she interviewed and annoyed all her neighbors in her small town.



There was no tension, just a huge snooze.



However -- this writer showed competence in her writing and in the way she thought up her characters, and I wonder if I would have enjoyed this book more had I started with the first of the series. Perhaps it just wasn't to my personal taste.


View all my reviews

This writer has several positive reviews, however, so please read all reviews before you take mine as the final word.

In other reading news, yesterday at the library I checked out A Sick Day for Amos McGee, which Erin is the 2011 Caldecott Medal winner, and I'm interested to read it, since I've heard nothing about it previously. Also, this week I finished Rick Riordan's latest books, The Lost Hero and The Kane Chronicles, Book 1, and as usual, he knocked them out of the park. LOVE HIS BOOKS. LOVE.


Lastly, I quite enjoyed two new urban fantasies: Deadtown and Hellforged by Nancy Holzner. They're books 1 and 2 of a series, and I quite enjoyed them. Tough heroine, interesting world building, and the second book was better than the first. Demons, zombies, Welsh mythology and shape changers. How can you go wrong?


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