Tag Archives: novel

Excerpt from Jasmine

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I’m working on doing some rewrites, and I came across this part. I really liked it and I wanted to share this excerpt with you guys. Enjoy!

~Joe~

“That totally wouldn’t happen,” Jacob argued.

“Why not?” Jasmine snapped back, annoyed by Jacob’s unwillingness to budge.

“A guy is not going to let a girl wax him, give him a pedicure, and none of that other nonsense,” he explained. “I know I wouldn’t.

Jasmine leaned back shaking her head in disbelief before taking a sip of her tea. They were discussing the movie they had just watched while they waited for their plates to be cleared. When they left the movie theater, they felt a little hungry so they decided to grab a quick bite before ending their date. Jasmine picked the movie, a romantic comedy which Jacob argued against its credibility.

“So,” Jasmine countered shrewdly, “suppose I wanted to give you a mani-pedi. Are you telling me you wouldn’t let me? Not even if I asked you nicely?” She ended her question with bad attempt at a pout which elicited a laugh from her date. “What’s so funny?”

“I’m just saying…”

“You’re saying what?”

“Pedi-mani’s…”

“It’s mani-pedi’s,” she corrected.

“…are not a thing men really think about,” he continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted.

“How about two girls at once? Is that realistic?”

“No, but it would be fantastic,” Jacob replied with a dreamy expression before noticing Jasmine’s incredulous look. “But no, it’s not realistic. It’s just a fantasy.”

“Isn’t it more likely that a girl could talk a guy into getting manicure.”

“You’re probably right,” he conceded sarcastically. “That’s a lot more likely.”

“Damn right I’m right,” Jasmine said with a self-satisfied smirk. “But honestly, you wouldn’t let me do your nails? They could use a little work you know.”

“If I were to say yes, could we change the subject?” He asked wearily. She nodded enthusiastically. With a sigh, he nodded his assent. “Fine. I might let you do my hands, but that’s it.”

“Good enough for me.”

“When are you planning on torturing me?”

“I never said I was going to do it. I just want you to let me do it.” Jasmine grinned happily.

Jacob groaned, chuckling under his breath. “You’re impossible.”

“I am not. And for that,” she said, plucking the check from their server, “I’m going to pay for dinner.”

“I think I like this punishment. Remind me to misbehave more often.” Jasmine rolled her eyes and once she received the receipt, they walked slowly back to the truck. “I had a good time,” Jacob said softly.

“Me, too,” she agreed. “It’s kinda nice to have someone to hang with.” Jacob raised his eyebrows at her statement, causing Jasmine to blush and try to backpedal. “I mean, not that we’re a couple, I’m just saying.”

“I know what you’re saying. I agree with you. I’m happy that we’re able to hang out together.”

“It’s been a long time, for me,” she admitted, her voice almost lost in the breeze. She stopped walking when they got the the truck. She leaned back on the truck, propped her foot on the tire, and glanced heavenward for a moment. “It’s been too long.”

“Yeah,” he answered simply, resting his elbows on the bed rails. For several minutes no one said anything. The only sounds that could be heard were from the vehicles driving by on the highway, and the occasional voice of some passerby. Jasmine began to shake when the wind picked up. Without a word Jacob took her into his arms, and she didn’t resist. She fell into his embrace, and she felt as though she belonged there.

“I fit perfectly,” she laughed shyly.

“Yeah you do,” he agreed. Jacob hesitated for a second, then when Jasmine looked up, he took his chance. He bent slightly forward and kissed her. Only a small peck at first to gauge her response. She moved her head back in surprise for a second, before moving in to kiss him back. This time they kissed a little longer.

“I like you, Jacob,” she confessed. “I know I shouldn’t say anything yet. It’s too soon. I’m sorry.” She broke away, feeling embarrassed that she allowed herself to admit something like that so soon.

“I like you, too,” he responded, seriously. “You don’t need to feel sorry.”

Jasmine turned around to face him, but kept her head down. “I’m just scared. Last time I got hurt, pretty bad, and I haven’t gotten to a place where I can trust a guy, or anyone for that matter, again. Letting you in is forcing me to choose between trust and fear, and it’s scary.”

“I know it’s scary, but it’s also fun. It’s been a while for me, too. All I know is that whatever this is between us, I’m liking it and I don’t want it to end.”

“Me either,” she agreed.

“Okay,” he said understandingly. “Look, I’m not going to force the issue. We’ve only gone out for a few dates, so why are we having the conversation now? Let’s relax and see what happens. No point in moving too quickly.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “I wish I would have waited to open up.”

“No, I’m glad you did. I just wish I had the courage to bring it up first. But now it’s out in the open, and we both like each other, so we’re good. Let’s just see where we go from here.”

Book Review: Find My Baby

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Save My Baby © 2014 Mitch Lavender

Save My Baby © 2014 Mitch Lavender

Happy August my friends! I can’t believe another school year will soon be starting, not that it affects me directly. Still, the summer will be waning soon, and all that will be left is to settle in for another fun winter, but cold is still several months away.

In the meantime, I have another book I would like to share with you. Find My Baby is Mitch Lavender‘s debut novel. Find My Baby follows a computer hacker turned IT security professional Zachary Foxborne as he is given the most complex case of his life. A mysterious email that was delivered to every email address that seemed to come from nowhere. Untraceable, a ghost.

The H@x0r Hoax, as it is called, leaves security professionals scrambling, trying to decipher the intent behind the message. No one can find anything malicious in the message, no Trojans or viruses, just a seemingly innocuous mailing, but whose implications seem crystal clear to many. A test run from someone unknown, who could wreak havoc on an unsuspecting world.

Through his work, Zachary become known to Ratmir, a Ukrainian who had figured out how to beat the system, to become invisible online. He had planned on selling the code, until Zachary came along and thwarted his plan. Now he wanted revenge, and he found the opportunity.

Lucy, Zachary’s wife had been unable to carry a child to term, and had lately become unable to become pregnant. After much searching, she settled on adopting a child from a foreign orphanage, one from Ukraine.

Once this becomes known to Ratmir, he devices a plan to keep the child hostage. In order to proceed with the adoption, Zachary has to pay a ransom, deciphering a manuscript that Ratmir desperately wants. Can he do so in time, or will he and Lucy lose the child that had hoped to call their own?

At the beginning of the novel, I was intrigued by the level of detail the author put in. Computer terms and explanations into what they meant, helped create the setting, which turned out to be short-lived. It wouldn’t be until the end of the book that Zachary’s computer knowledge would once again come to the forefront.

What I liked about the story was that Mitch Lavender displays his knowledge of the IT sector. Write what you know, and he did. Where it fell apart was that for all the build up of suspense, the rising tension between our hero and his antagonist, there seemed to be no payoff, no moment conflict where our hero is in mortal peril.

The danger is resolved in such a way that it left me unsatisfied. I don’t mind a happy ending, but it has to be earned, and felt that neither Zachary nor Lucy earned it. Too much promise and for naught. I liked the premise and the build up, just not the climax and resolution.

For this reason, I feel I would be doing a disservice to rate it highly, but I feel comfortable giving it a 3 out of 5 stars. There is some merit to the novel, and I truly believe the author shows promise as a novelist, but this first showing left me wanting more.

List of Book Reviews
Next Review – Back From Chaos
Previous Review – The Ship

Book Review: The Ship

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Finally, Cassandra slumped against the wooden rail and murmured, “It’s coming… we have maybe two hours to prepare…”

The Ship © 2014 Allan Krummenacker

The Ship © 2014 Allan Krummenacker

Happy Monday! Hope you had an exciting 4th of July weekend. Now it’s time to get back into the swing of things. To help you out, I’m back with an all-new book to share with you. The Ship is the second book of the Para-Earth Series by Allan Krummenacker.

In the second book, we follow Cassandra “Cassie” Elliott, heiress to the Elliott family shipping fortune, and a family with a dark secret. Cassie is beginning to embrace her gift as a psychic, a gift that unbeknownst to her is putting her in danger.

Cassie is also learning to accept her sexual identity and is beginning a relationship with Julie Cloudfoot, a gifted woman of Seneca descent, who harbors her own personal demons as well. Little do the pair know that more than attraction binds to two together.

As the book opens, we find Cassie is hosting a memorial for Julie’s uncle Jason, a Seneca shaman, at her beach house in Santa Cruz, California. It’s at the beach where odd things begin to happen, and where her psychic abilities beacon a danger that has haunted the seas for centuries, and which puts her and her new lover in danger.

A ghost ship – an entity that hunts and absorbs into ships into it’s being, and captures her crew, absorbing them into it’s grotesque form, prolonging their lives in unimaginable suffering – is drawn to Cassie by her abilities. She has become it’s next target for assimilation.

Thus begins a race to find its weaknesses, to subdue this malevolent creature before it can take Cassie into itself. The heiress finds help in Julie, who is coming into her own as a shamaness, Julie’s parents and family, and an unknown alliance from the mysterious Z, a man who has his own nefarious plans for Cassie and her abilities. Can this other-worldly ship be destroyed? Can the group save Cassie and themselves from a fate worse than death?

First, I want to say that though this is the second book in the series, it is very much a stand-alone book. It’s not necessary to read the first, but if I were to be asked for my opinion, I would suggest read The Bridge first. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Now for the book itself, I found myself engrossed by the telling. I could not guess as to what was coming next, which was a nice surprise. It is an original tale from a highly imaginative mind. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

It would have been to easy to exploit the main character’s newfound sexual identity. Instead, Allan balances Cassie’s journey into her first lesbian experiences with the needs of the story. There’s nothing gratuitous or pornographic. We see glimpses of a tenderness and passion, enough to satisfy the readers while keeping the private act private.

The focus instead is placed in the characters as individuals, Cassie as a psychic, and Julie as a shamaness. It’s is their gifts as well as the affection for one another, that is their greatest asset. It is their reliance on their support group, a network of friends and family that is at the core of this story.

It is the uniqueness of the cast, their mutual respect and admiration that I found most appealing. There is love, both romantic and familial, that drives the story through is climax and to its conclusion.

My verdict? This is a great book, one that I have no qualms recommending to all readers. Please give The Ship a try. You won’t be disappointed. You can find the book on Amazon or on Smashwords.

The Para-Earth Series
The Bridge
The Ship
TBA

List of Book Reviews
Next Review –  Find My Baby
Previous Review – The Trinity

Struggles in outlining

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Outlining my story was a great idea! I can’t believe just how much easier it is for me to write with this crisp new outline in front of me! Well, maybe not. Outlining hasn’t gone too well. So far all I have to show for my troubles are several aborted attempts. A pantser I remain, for now.

My problem is that I don’t know how to outline. I’m trying to put too much detail into the outline, but I don’t really know what’s going to happen, other than a vague idea of where I want my story to go, and a few key scenes I would like to include. To make a comparison to real life, it’s like knowing where I want to drive to, where I’m starting, but only knowing the general direction I’ll take. Lubbock, Texas to Boston, Massachusetts? I’ll just drive north and east and I’ll get there eventually.

Actually, that sounds like fun, and potentially the makings of another epic “Amy Adventure,” but that’s a story for another time.

I know the ending to the series, though I haven’t sat down and written it down. I know what the problem is going to be in the first book, but not how to resolve it. I vaguely want the second book to focus on Lily’s relationships with everyone around her, and her adversary’s attempt to subvert those ties in order to weaken her. I know Lily will make an unlikely alliance in the third book to defeat her adversary, though it comes with a cost.

Lily’s relationship with her dead mother will come more into focus as Lily learns more about her and the reason for her apparent neglect and unfortunate demise. My character will have to grow up and live up to a destiny that many before her refused to take.

What I hope will work out is the nature of Lily’s enemy. That has me worried because it’s either the best idea ever written, or the worst. It excites me and terrifies me as the same time. I need to finish it before I’ll know for sure.

Writing is a scary endeavor. I’ve gotten used to posting my thoughts on this blog, so now I’m working towards a grander goal. I’ve been hoping to cross this one last goal line, though I’ve been putting it off. I think I’m about ready to put myself out there to be scrutinized, to have my books out to be criticized as either good or bad. As much as I wanted it, I wasn’t strong enough emotionally for it. I am now, I think.

I’ll get back to creating a general outline for Lily, and hope that it is detailed enough for me to work with, but flexible enough for me to create an organic and fluid narrative. I’m still a long ways away from finishing Book One, but in all honesty, I’m closer to being done than I would like.

 

Book Review: The Trinity

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Happy Monday everyone! Spring is around the corner, so I’m sending you all hopes of a warm and pleasant spring season. As promised, today I’m bringing you my review of The Trinity, by Daelynn Quinn. You can find her on her website, on Twitter, or on Facebook. Follow her and give her your support! Please note, if you haven’t read the rest of the Fall of Venus Trilogy, this review does contain spoilers. Read at your own risk!

“One’s greatest fear, when confronted,
Invokes one’s greatest strength.” ~Anonymous
-as read by Pollen McRae

the trinityPollen McRae is a young woman struggling to keep her world together. Her dead brother is alive, her niece Evie captured by the Crimson Enforcers, the militia of the Trinity, and she is pregnant with a child whose paternity is very much in doubt. All this while the world teeters on the edge of annihilation.

Most of the world population is dead, due to a virus released by the Trinity, and Pollen, her brother Drake, and Evie may hold the key to the survival of the human race. The best hope for survival is to escape and colonize a neighboring planet before the madness of the trio who seek to control the destiny of the populace destroys them all.

It’s a race against time. The planet is heating up, global warming is fast making the world uninhabitable during the summer months. All the while, the population is having to seek refuge in underground colonies called the web. Pollen is assured a seat on the first shuttle mission to colonize an alien world, but she refuses to go unless Evie is rescued first.

Can Pollen and the rest of the refugees at Ceborec save Evie and thwart the demented plans of the Trinity? At risk are the lives of everyone on the planet. Who will ultimately triumph, the power-mad self-appointed rulers of a dying world, or Pollen, a young woman striving to keep the remains of her family intact? Survival is at stake.

There is only life or death to be gained, and there are no second chances….

Daelynn created a wonderfully engaging story, filled with hope and wonder, and also pain and heartbreak. Even when I thought I knew where the writer was taking the story, she managed to throw a twist and surprise me. In the trilogy as a whole, Daelynn never allowed the reader to grow complacent with the plot, and guided us on a journey we could never expect.

At the end of the series, I was left amazed by the storytelling. Some may question why she chose to write this book, or why she chose to write it the way she did. Daelynn plays with the concepts of origin and evolution, of the Genesis stories of creation, and of theology itself to wonderful effect. It is at once controversial and entertaining, and well worth the read.

The story was highly imaginative and original. The narrative itself was well-written and exciting, The ending did leave me perplexed, but I recognized that I had allowed my own prejudices guide me to a conclusion that never materialized. Instead, my expectations allowed me to be shocked, and I appreciated it all the more.

I highly recommend not only this book, but the rest of the series as a whole. Please check all her books out. The links are at the bottom.

The Fall of Venus Trilogy
Fall of Venus
Crimson Return
The Trinity

List of Book Reviews
Next Review –  The Ship
Previous Review – Hat Dance