#ReadingLife - No. 2

 Book 2 of 2022 is Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, the first book in her Wolves of Mercy Falls series. 

My first introduction to Stiefvater's work was her Raven Cycle series, and book two of the follow up Dreamer Trilogy, Mister Impossible, is coming up soon on my TBR. I love her authorial voice; it's so immediately and distinctly recognizable. She has a dry sense of humor that keeps the prose from getting too heavy, but then she'll lay down the most gorgeous, unique metaphor that hits you like a sucker punch out of nowhere. Anyone who wants to learn how to balance clean and effective lines of narrative with bursts of lush indulgence needs to study her work, because it's a master class. 

This series was written years before the Raven Cycle, and it definitely reads like earlier work while she was still in the process of refining her style. A little more YA standard in some respects than her later work, but still with those bursts of absolute genius descriptions, and with dark moments dropped with little fanfare, and therefore lots of impact. 

She offers a unique take on werewolves - a lore in which wolves are human during the summer/warm months, and it's the cold/winter that brings on the shift. I'm reading another werewolf book now, as well, and I always enjoy seeing the ways different authors bring lycanthropy to life. 

Because it's YA, the characters feel things deeply and dramatically. Teenagers always sense that their worlds are falling apart in situations like this, the sharp sting of new love driving their emotions. The last few chapters ratchet up the tension at a steady pace, POVs swapping on each one, and ends with a surprise that meant I immediately downloaded the next. 

Not my favorite Stiefvater, but still solid, sweet, and boasting a new spin on wolf lore. 

#TeaserTuesday - The Winter Palace

 Progress on all things Sons of Rome has been snail-slow thanks to other projects, obligations, and a lack of proper research and story-mapping time. But I did decide last year that it simply wasn't possible to include every story thread I wanted into Lionheart. Thus, an in-between novella was born, one that will follow along with Nikita's pack that will run concurrent with the first part of Lionheart. Given lots of memory, allusion to the past, and Alexei coming a bit more into his own, it's titled The Winter Palace. I don't know when it will be available, but goodness, I've missed my grumpy Captain Baskin. 

From The Winter Palace
Copyright © 2022 by Lauren Gilley 

Nikita lit a fresh cigarette off the butt of the old one. He dropped the last bit of the filter and crushed it beneath his bootheel. Took a long, long drag off the fresh one, and blew the smoke in a hard plume up into the air. The wind swirled it into tattered gray ribbons, carrying them off between the trees.

Happy Birthday, Fearless, and a Sale

 In the busyness of writing, I completely forgot that Fearless turned 6 last week! In those six years, my relationship with Dartmoor has had its ups and downs: sometimes I'm incredibly proud of it, sometimes I resent it. But I'm still floored by the way readers connected with that story, with Mercy, and Ava, and their relationship, and the Dogs in general. Mercy was, in truth, my first monster. Before Vlad and Val, before vamps and werewolves and demons and all the others, there was a giant Cajun with a sledgehammer. He holds big grudges, but he's got a bigger heart, and I still can't see the word "Merci" without thinking of him. From Knoxville, to Nola, to Amarillo, to NYC, and even to London, thank you for riding along with him, and all the Dogs, and me.

In honor of its (belated) birthday, I've bumped Fearless down to just 99 cents for a limited time. If you have friends who've been thinking of picking it up, now's the time!

Find it HERE. 

#TeaserTuesday - Prince Leif

Blood of Wolves was largely action-driven. Between the race back to Aeres, and the siege at the palace, there was less time for the slow beats that I enjoy writing most. While there's still a war on - and one that is unfolding slowly and intricately in true epic fantasy fashion - Demon of the Dead is allowing me a bit more breathing room. There are moments of urgency, but, for the most part, it's giving me time to take those long, slow-beat pauses to explore all sorts of character relationships. We'll see more Erik/Ollie, more Amelia and her gathering forces, and lots and lots of Náli, and his devoted Guard, since the book is, after all, named after him. 

But I'm an absolute sucker for a twisty, complicated relationship, so expect some Leif and Ragnar, too. I've had readers say they like Ragnar, and some say they hate him, and I'm rubbing my hands together gleefully over here. 

The teaser I'm sharing today is the tail end of a much longer scene, one which ended up having - unintentionally - a bit of a "now you see me, brother" vibe to it, and I gotta tell ya, I ain't hatin' it. These two give me a chance to write such delicious tension into the series, and it's become one of my highlights. 

Happy Tuesday. I'm working industriously on this one and hope to have it to you all sooner rather than later. 

From Demon of the Dead

Copyright © 2022 by Lauren Gilley 

They fed Ragnar down in the dungeons, same as they would any prisoner. Erik could be prone to fits of temper – beheaded Sel general as a prime example – but he didn’t believe in cruelty for cruelty’s sake. It was a mindset that had never sat well with their Úlfheðnar cousins. Leif had agreed with Erik…had. Since his turning, he’d known ugly urges toward violence. He hadn’t acted upon them – in fact, he’d gone out of his way to push back against them.

#ReadingLife - No. 1

I've given up on the idea of NY's resolutions, per se, because setting rigid goals inevitably leads to disappointment. But I have a loose collection of things I want to work toward, and one of those is keeping better track of the books I'm reading. I could use Goodreads for that, but, well, I'm not a fan. So I'm going to do it on the blog instead. I'll post them in the order in which I finish them. I don't do stars or ratings of any kind. I have very eclectic taste and will read just about anything so long as I feel I can connect with an author's voice and characters. I'll only be posting about books that I've finished and truly enjoyed - I don't do bad reviews, fair warning. 

Book 1 of 2022 is The Foxhole Court, by Nora Sakavic 

I've seen this series make the Twitter and Tumblr rounds for years, and it was mentioned alongside enough books that I've enjoyed that it piqued my interest. Looking for something contemporary to read between heavy historicals, I finally picked it up last week. 

"It's not the world that's cruel," Neil said. "It's the people in it."

The story follows Neil Josten, who we immediately learn is running from something, and as the novel unfolds, we learn just how nasty that something is. (I won't spoil it for you) He's invited (read - demanded) to join the Palmetto State University Exy team, and spends his time trying to hide his secrets, survive his volatile teammates, and improve his game, in that order. It's the perils of young adulthood meets sports story, meets mafia drama, and if that sounds like a wild mashup, trust me, it is. It's the first of a trilogy and ends on a sequence of shockers that meant I immediately downloaded book two at my Kindle's prompting. 

The opening scene - Neil smoking a cig on his high school court's bleachers, about to get the surprise of his life in the form of a familiar face - instantly grabs. This is a kid with something heavy lying across his shoulders. No easing in, no setting the stage; it's like a crisp, black-and-white snapshot, and you immediately know things are going to get complicated. Sakavic's prose is direct and no frills; not overly descriptive, but very precise in the portrait it paints. She picks out the most necessary detail of a character, and, in that way, brings them to life in a way that makes them seem a little over the top...and I mean that in the best way. The characterization echoes the blunt, visceral impacts and dodges of a contact sport. 

Which brings us to Exy - a fictional sport created for the purposes of this trilogy. While I didn't always follow the action as I would have had it been a real and familiar sport, I like Sakavic's use of one we don't know. We have to follow the characters and rely on them for information; we don't come to the story with our own ideas about the way someone should or shouldn't play or train. And it has the added bonus of allowing the author to use the NCAA and ESPN, and familiar sports landmarks without having to work around real NCAA schools. It's pretty brilliant, actually. 

My favorite thing about this book was the way it reminded me, turn after turn, of a sports anime. I love sports anime and manga. The drama on and off the field/court/rink, etc. The ways sport becomes a metaphor for learning to trust and lean on one another. The explosive, larger-than-life characters. The tension that makes you want to ship pairings even though it's not a romance. Only, tone down some of the bonding and throw in some dramatic crime family plotlines. 

I don't know where the next two books will take us - if Neil learns to trust or even like Andrew and Kevin, if the Palmetto Foxes become the comeback kids of college Exy...or if someone's getting their fingernails pulled for information. Who knows! This is definitely not YA, but a darker look at a college sports drama with some underage drinking, drug use, vicious teammates, and mafia action on the side. I really liked it: American Haikyu!! meets Banana Fish, if you're into that.