GoodRead - Flesh Which Is Not Flesh

I'm sure some of you know about Jessica Verday and this story. For those who don't, a quick recap. Jessica wrote this story for a collection of short story, but the story didn't make it. The editor was in two minds over it as the main characters were both young gay men. It's more-complex than that but, after long thought, Jessica pulled the story from the collection. Later, the editor said "These teen anthologies I do are light on the sex and light on the language. I assumed they'd be light on alternative sexuality, as well. Turns out I was wrong! Just after I had the kerfuffle with jessica, I was told that the publishers would have loved the story to appear in the book! Oh dear. My rashness will be the death of me. It's a great story. Hope jessica publishes it online."

And that's what Jessica did, with some of the proceeds going to Living Beyond Tolerance scholarship.

So, the story. Cameron goes to a carnival and, to his shock, meets Wesley, the boy who once broke his heart and left town without so much as a goodbye, performing as a sword swallower’s assistant. But something's wrong. Why did Wesley leave without saying goodbye? Why did he break Cameron's heart the way he did? And who is the strange woman who seems to hold Wesley her prisoner?

Now, I like Jessica Verday's writing style within her "The Hollow" trilogy and this carried through within this short story and the idea of the story was interesting. She also didn't make a big deal about the two characters - Cam and Wesley - being gay. It was just handled the same way she wrote the love story between her main characters, Abbey and Caspian, in her "The Hollow" trilogy. She even stated on her blog that "You don't choose who you fall in love with and you don't choose to be gay" which, to me, makes perfectly true.

And while I sped through the novella (it's 13,000 word novella) within an hour, it is a short story and with that, details weren't really explained. It seemed to skim every now and then, but whether that was how I read the story or how the story was written, I'm not sure.

Another thing that a review on Goodreads is that the book suffers from "Disappearing Parent Syndrome". You see neither of Cam's parents and I get why they were seen nor heard, but surely there was one or two things you would have seen then. Also, the story is very "dated". But that, I mean they are modern reference that, in a few years time, might be out of date. There is mention of Lady Gaga, Kellan Lutz and Google that might get on some people's nerves.

But it was a fast read. And I like it. Not love it, but I like it. It warms me up for the third and final book in "The Hollow" trilogy, The Hidden.

GoodRead - The Haunted

Last year, I wrote a tiny review about "The Hollow" by Jessica Verday (click here if you wanna read it)and I said that I really liked it and would read the sequel (it's part of a trilogy).

Well, here's the sequel, "The Haunted". When I first heard the title, I got excited. Oh, the creepy factor! And then, I saw the UK cover. Am going to admit this - I'm not a great lover of pink. What can I say? I'm a guy!

Of course, never judge a book by it's cover. Must remember that saying!

Sorry, sidetracked! Anyway, the story takes place several months after the events of Hollow and, Abbey has done everything she can to reclaim her sanity and get over Caspian. So, when she returns home, she throws herself into her perfume making, into her tutoring from Ben to help her make up for the schooling she's missed and tries to move on from the grief she still feels over Kristen's death and the hollowness she feels from Caspian's absence. But ... well, let's just say things don't go according to plan...

I really like this trilogy. And Abbey grew as a character. And we got to see more Ben (a request I made in my first review!) as well as the rest of the characters, though I would have like to see more of Nikolas and Katy (but they had their part to play so am happy about that!) It's not like Twilight and Vampire Diaries (I'm guessing because never read the books! Sorry!) with it all going 100 miles per hours, and that's one of the reasons why, I think, I like it. You take your time to discover things...

And now, with Jessica adding new characters (I like Beth, I do!) and one or two of them not all what they seem, it looks like the third and final book in the trilogy will be one interesting read...

Oh, I forgot to say, this book has funny moments (hence why I loved Ben!), but one chapter will awesome. I tweeted Jessica about it. (It's Chapter 7 - An Embarrassment). I wonder how many teens have gone through what Abbey went through in that chapter... heeheehee...

I await the third and final book in the trilogy. I hope I don't wait too long...

*

Okay, I know usually put a music track I relate to the book. But, I can't think of any! None jump to mind! Sorry. I still see "Raven Hair" by Michael Dashow linked to the series. So, when in doubt, go to the author! She said, on her website, that the Haunted's Official Theme Song is "She Moves Through The Fair" by Skully - (I believe it's an Irish folk song, but don't hold me to that!) - so am going to use that...

GoodRead - UK Cover Vs US Cover

I have several covers to do today so am going to keep them as seperate as I can.

So, let's start with ... "The Haunted" by Jessica Verday! Now, I liked the first book - "The Hollow" - and this is the second book in the trilogy.

The UK cover of "The Haunted"


And now, the US cover of "The Haunted"


Now, I'm going to be honest with you. Am not 100% sure of either of these covers. I like them both, but I have some issues. But I can't understand why I have issue with them both, because both are beautiful covers.

However, the more I look at them, the more I like the UK cover. It's the purple, I think - at first, it's very "in your face" but I like it now. But I like the fact that BOTH the UK and the US cover feature the same item - a perfume bottle.

If you've read "The Hollow", you'll understand why.

But, what do you guys think? Leave a comment please!

GoodRead - "The Hollow" Review

Imagine you’re at your best friend’s funeral, but they’re going to bury an empty coffin.

That’s what happens to Abbey at the start of “The Hollow” by Jessica Verday. Abbey is at the funeral home for the town of Sleep Hollow (yes, THAT Sleepy Hollow), trying to understand why her best friend, Kristen, would suddenly disappear. It’s at Kristen wake that she meets the mysterious (and, of course, drop-dead gorgeous) Caspian.

This is the story of Abbey trying to come to make sense of Kristen’s disappearance and her slowly growing relationship with Caspian…

I quite like this book. Not only do I like the fact that every chapter starts with a short quote from the original “Sleepy Hollow” story, but it stands up by itself, not really needing the Sleepy Hollow legend to survive (though it does reference the story in several places…). As for the love story element in it, I feel that most readers of the Twilight Saga will like this book.

(But saying that though, the last few books I have read recently [that I have and haven’t reviewed] I think most Twilight fans would like…)

There’s, also, a slight edge of “Things are not what they seems” with this book and with one or two of the characters (won’t spoil it by saying who!) and that gives the book a mysterious edge.

And from that, am making the book seems like a dark read. It’s not. The romantic in the story lightens the tone and then there’s Ben… one of my fave characters… he definitely lightens the tone!

Now, there is something I need to say that might put people off so am stating it now: this is the first book in a Trilogy and, for some people; the ending might be seen as a very “open” ending. There is a sense of closure, but some people (myself included) could easily see that it’s open and I know some people might find that irritating.

I will be reading the next book in the trilogy (rumours are flying that the next book is going to be called “The Haunting”…) and I hope that there will be some answers (as the author promises us. She said that book 1 is about questions, book 2 is about answers and book 3 is about choices… remember that, folks…). And I hope she writes more of Ben! Please, Jessica, more Ben!

(Couldn’t find a place for this in review but, because there’s something about the book that lingers in the mind [very much like Shiver and other books of late]. So much so that I kept finding songs on my iPod that I found relatable to “The Hollow” [that is very surprising!] The first song that I thought of [and the only song I can remember off the top of my head at the moment] is “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” by Iron & Wine - and here's the link for you all to investigate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1BgYTZ4Mxc)

"The Hollow" & Raven Hair

A while ago, I showed you the picture "Rhinos in Bed" by Michael Dashow that a Twitter Friend of mine (http://twitter.com/really_rachel) showed me and I fell in love with...

Now, am reading a book called "The Hollow" by Jessica Verday and, while I was reading chapter 9 ("Prom Night"), one of his other painting came to mind and I thought I would share this image with you.

It's called "Raven Hair" and it's, again, a painting I love!