Everyone feeling festive now? Good! Just have to keep that spirit going for a few more days.
I've read a lot of books this year that I haven't gone back and reviewed, (shame on me) but today I'd like to take a moment to blog about His Brother's Wife, by Mary Ellen Boyd. This book was a little different for me, as it was outside my normal selected genre, so it took a bit for me to get through it. I'm normally all about the big explosive, magical battles in fantasy, or the creepy crawly things hiding under my bed in horror. This book had neither of those things. It was simple a really nice story.
I don't want to give the impression that this book was inferior in anyway to what I typically read. It was just very different and I'm glad I took the time with it that I did. I am not a historian, so I can't really vouch for the accuracy or the details of the time period the book was set in, but I found it fascinating. One thing I'm really grateful to the author for, is that she did not try to force the dialog into old fashioned speech. It was simple, modern speech that was consistent, and did not take away from the story. I've read some historical books that tried old english dialog, and when it fails, it totally breaks the story rhythm and pulls me out of the book. That was not an issue here.
I really felt for the main characters, especially Hannah. Her situation was so sad and dire at the beginning of the book. The mystery is spun out slowly and is well paced. The resolution at the end of the book was satisfying and watching Hannah's character blossom was rewarding as well.
I downloaded the book from Audible, and it was narrated by the lovely Pamela Lorence, who did a wonderful job bringing Hannah to life.
Solid romance with a little bit of mystery, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Now, what have I been up to lately since NaNo? Well, still NaNo. I currently have a manuscript of over 100k words from my NaNo this year, a smashing cover ready to go, and still probably another 50k words left to finish up the story. I originally thought it would be done by the end of December, but I also didn't think I would need so many words. Hitting my goal of 100k words was accomplished, but now I have to adjust my time line to account for the rest of the story! So lets say January. Three months to write, three months to edit, allocate that same time frame for The Phoenix Curse, and that means you'll see both The Walk and Dreamland - Part Two next year!
The more I write, the more comfortable I am with assessing my capabilities and my limitations. If I can't finish first draft of The Walk by the end of January, I'll have to turn my attention to Dreamland. Getting the next installment of The Phoenix Curse out next year still remains my top priority. I'm looking at another September/October release for that one. Hold me to it!
The end of 2015 is just a few days away. Whatever your plans my be come Thursday night, remember to have lots of fun and stay safe!
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