Inside Out Book Tag (October Book Wrap-Up)

I am now 20 years old, NaNoWriMo 2015 right around the corner, and I have a ton of things to do before midnight (this is one of them). So here we go!

Writing
I did get some writing done this month, but not much. I wrote and posted chapters four and five of "Worlds Collide" over on Wattpad, and my hope is that I can get chapter six done sometime before midnight so that I can post it on November 2 before taking the rest of the month off. Despite recent struggles, the story still seems to be doing well with 441 reads, 54 votes, and 25 comments.

I somehow managed to get some basic outlining done for NaNoWriMo. Initially I was going to write the sequel to last year's story this year (as I've mentioned several times before), but then some new characters popped into my mind and said, "Hey! We want our story told next instead!" A battle between novels ensued with the newcomers coming out on top, so instead of "Rise of Sarama," I will be writing a mystery / suspense titled "Jenkins and Smith." Despite not having much experience in the genre, I am super excited to try it out. Here's to that glorious 50,000!

Reading
October was slow in terms of reading. I am happy to blame NaNoWriMo prep season for that. In any case, I did get three books read this month:

• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Roof Oasis by Marie Gilbert
• Saving Solanda by Marie Gilbert

The Dispossessed was the second book we read in my sci-fi class. I liked it much better than Where Late the Sweet Birds sang, though several of my classmates would disagree. I thought it was funny that they were all upset by the novel not taking place on Earth. That is the point of science fiction, people! Roof Oasis is just as good now as it was the first time I read it, and its sequel, Saving Solanda had a great story despite numerous grammatical and consistency errors. I enjoyed them both.

The Inside Out Book Tag

This tag was created by Kristina Horner on YouTube.

1) Which book brings you the most joy?

• This is a close tie for me - I really, really love Skulduggery Pleasant, but I also really love The True Meaning of Smekday. They are my favorite books ever and I never get tired of reading them. As a matter of fact, for Halloween this year I am dressed up as Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant's partner.

2) Which book disgusted you the most?

• I haven't read many books that have grossed me out. I suppose, looking back strictly within the year 2015, I read a book called Quarantine back in August that had some pretty vivid and gross descriptions of the virus that was going around. Honestly, that's the only thing I can think of right now. That and Roof Oasis, which described toddlers being eaten by zombies. Ick.

3) Which book scared you the most?

• The only thing I can think for this one is Coraline. When it was read aloud to us in one of my elementary classes I thought it was pretty creepy, and the movie confirmed its eeriness. There was also this book I read in junior high that featured one true scary story from each of the United States, though I can't recall the title anymore.

4) Which book made you cry the hardest?

• The first book that ever made me actually cry was Where the Red Fern Grows. The book that made me cry the hardest was The Iron Queen. I was so devastated at the way it had to end that I felt like my best friend had just died. My dad walked in on me reading that scene and kind of smirked at me, but us book lovers know: the feels are real.

5) Which book made you the angriest?

• The Truth About Us made me SO angry SO many times! On my Goodreads review I said, "I actually had to put it down a few times because of how worked up I would get." I was so mad at her father for being such a dork about the whole situation. Agh! It doesn't MATTER which side of the tracks you're from. Stereotyping doesn't help anyone!

There you have it! Happy Halloween, everyone! I cannot guarantee that November will have "posts" necessarily - instead it will most likely have updates on my progress throughout NaNoWriMo. The only real post I can promise at this point will be the book wrap-up on November 30. Wish me luck!

Saving Solanda: Book Review

I feel bad that it took me so long to sit down and read this book, seeing how I had it for a month before finally getting it done. I felt like I had a bajillion books I needed to read for school first and it took me all eternity to get through those. Whose great idea was it to read a 600-pager and a 400-pager at the same time? Anyway, before I go into my review, I want to say congrats again to my grandmom for publishing her second book! Also, I am going to be 100% honest about what I think. So here we go!

Saving Solanda is a sci-fi / dystopian novella that tells the continuing story of Roof Oasis. On Earth, The Leader is rapidly gaining power and appears unstoppable, though twins Michael and Lucy are going to do their best to prove otherwise. Meanwhile on Solanda, Queen Elizabeth faces a revolt unless she can successfully marry her daughter to a prince from a neighboring planet. Her daughter, however, has plans of her own.

In Book 1 the story was divided into two parts - one focusing on Lucy and the other on Michael. However, Book 2 does things a little differently in that it shuffles focus with every chapter. This book actually had chapters! That was a nice change of pace from its predecessor.

Some things I liked about this book are as follows: I really, really love the story of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Bird. I won't give spoilers here, but I thought their relationship was great and the way their joint story ended was perfect. I also liked the story of what was happening on Earth. Lucy's, especially, was very well done. I am anxious to see what happens to her in Book 3. Finally, I thought that Patty's character development was scary, but in a good way. The last line of this book gave me chills and promises that the next installment will be even more intense. I can't wait.

Some things I didn't prefer about this book: As I've said before, I don't care for language in anything, no matter the author, so there's that. My biggest complaint about this book would be the grammatical errors. There were so many of them that it was actually difficult for me to plow through some sections. Way, way too many commas were used in this novella. Use them sparingly! Also, there were a few things that were not very clear to me. One example is the dream Bird had about Potate. I had no clue that was a dream sequence, and when he was suddenly alive a few chapters later I was thrown way off track. Another example was Lucy and the baby. One minute she's in complete denial, and the next she's accepting him and naming him and crying for him? Maybe it's just because I've never had children or been pregnant, but I did not think that scene was genuine.

Overall, I gave this book a 2/5 rating, meaning it was okay. That is compared to the last book, which I gave a 3/5. Honestly, the grammatical errors are what did it for me. Clean up the commas and throw in some more editing time and this book would be as good as (if not better than) the first. That said, I'm excited for Book 3. Congrats again, grandmom!