How to Catch a Glassman (New Short Story Prequel!)

I’m so excited to share a new short story you can read on my blog today! Even superheroes have to pay the rent. When Restoren “Glassman” starts receiving broken things to fix with his repairing powers, it may be just the job he needs. But not all his clients are as they seem, and he may find himself in a fix he can’t…well…fix.

Sisterhood Blogger Award

Sarah @ Dreams & Dragons tagged me for the Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award, which I’ve done before, but I couldn’t pass up these awesome (and difficult-looking!) questions!

1. If you were tossed into a fictional world, which genre would you want it to be?  (In other words, which would you have the best chance at surviving?)

I wouldn’t necessarily have the best chance of surviving, but I’d definitely pick fantasy. Not going to even try saying anything otherwise. (Of course, odds don’t look good for survival in a dystopian or sci-fi place, so fantasy is better than that…)

2. After arriving in that world, what would you do first?

Quickly make friends with the most powerful (good) person or creature I could find so that they would keep me safe, and then proceed to explore. Or possibly sit in a castle library and read. Either/or.

3. You have an adventure in that other world and now have the choice of whether to stay there with the friends you’ve made or to return home to your family and former life. What do you decide?

*shifty eyes* That entirely depends on circumstances. But I’d probably just make sure to get the best of both worlds (literally) and have a magical door like Howl does so I can live both places. 😀 (Let me live in my delusions…)

4. Changing the subject: what’s your favorite Christmas song?

Ring Christmas Bells/Carol of the Bells.

5. Your favorite Christmas movie?

Muppet Christmas Carol.

6. If you were a superhero, what would your superpower(s) and code name be?

My superpower would be the ability to transfer thoughts/words/scenes perfectly directly onto paper (or computer) and my code name would be the Page Dreamer.

…What, you never heard of someone wanting to have a writer superpower? *cough*

7. Also, who would your arch-nemesis be? (Name, powers, etc.)

The Great Horrifically Humongous Procrastination of Doom and Despair and Apocalypse.

. . . I think his powers are pretty obvious. >.>

O, Arch-nemesis of mine, ye shall rue the day you ever– ! Um. I’m not sure what you shall rue the day of. I’ll figure it out later… Ahem.

8. What villain would you most want to show up on your doorstep (if one had to show up there)? How would you react to said villain?

ACK. What even, Sarah?? Erm. I’m just going to say Loki and hope that he’d be more amused than deadly at that moment in time. *nods* And I would probably react with wide eyes and quickly slam the door and lock it, or else very very politely ask him in to tea and try not to offend him.

9. What good guy (from one of your favorite books/series) would you least want to show up on your doorstep? Again, how would you react to him/her?

This one is the. hardest. A good guy from a favorite book that I don’t want to meet…? Hum. I’ve literally got nothing. Zilch. I’m going to have to sidle casually on to the next question and pretend I had an answer. *sidles casually on* >.>

10. How long did it take you to answer these questions?

Longer than I would care to admit. XD I didn’t time it. I should’ve… Then I could have knowingly cackled while refusing to tell the number… (I think these villainous questions are getting to my brain. O_O *is alarmed* Thanks a lot, Sarah. ;))

So! What about you, my roadlings? What genre would you visit, what would you pick for a superpower, and what villain wouldn’t you mind showing up on your door? 😉 Answer in the comments, or consider yourself tagged and do the tag on your blog!

Superpowers, Cookies, & Penguins (Twinepathy Review/Blogtour)

Today I’m joining in on the Blog Tour for the newly-released book Twinepathy by C.B. Cook! I’m very excited. 😀 SUPERPOWERS AND STUFF, Y’ALL. It’s awesome. ❤ (Okay, maybe there weren’t actual penguins, but there could have been, and they were discussed… *cough*)

I’ll be sharing my review further along in the post…

But firstly, a bit about the author (who’s an awesome person, FYI), the book, and the Book Tour schedule!

The tour will be running this whole week and will have bunches of fun involved, including book reviews, author interviews and even character interviews (YESSS)!

Author Bio:

C.B. Cook is just a girl trying to find out where her King is guiding her, while writing the stories of the people she creates, the worlds she wants to live in, and the adventures she dreams about. Also known as a mysterious creature called an “author”. She’s a Christian and a home school graduate dedicated to changing others’ lives through the power of the written word.

Visit her online at TheWorldOfTheWriter.Wordpress.com

About the Book:

Albany York has a secret.

Albany and her twin sister, Brooklyn, have spent years successfully hiding their telepathic connection. But when a girl falls unconscious at their doorstep, the girls learn that they might not be the only people in the world with extraordinary powers and that a memory thief is on the loose. As the twins try to help the girl find her memories, they discover that the superhero world might be bigger—and more dangerous—than they ever imagined.

Find Twinepathy here:

Amazon | Goodreads

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Tour Schedule

Sunday, July 17th

Depth of my Faith – Character and Author Interview

Beyond the Amethyst – Book Review

Monday, July 18th

Musings of an Elf – Author Interview

The Road of a Writer – Book Review (You are HERE. XD)

Tuesday, July 19th

Light and Shadows – Author Interview

Lilyorphaned – Book Review

Wednesday, July 20th

Breathing in the Pages – Book Review

WritingAnyone – Character Interview and Book Review

Writefury – Character Interview

Thursday, July 21st

Claire M. Banschbach – Author Interview

Sherwood Storyteller – Author Interview

Friday, July 22nd

The Art of Writing for Him – Book Review

Elvish Pen’s Fantastical Writings – Author Interview and Book Review

Saturday, July 23rd

Thoughts of a Word Collector – Author Interview

Thriving Hope – Book Review

My Review

Twinepathy

(Series: IDIA, #1)

by C. B. Cook

YA / Contemporary / Fantasy/Sci-fi / Thriller/Suspense/Mystery / Superheroes/Superpowers

[I received a free Advance Reader e-Copy of this book from the author (thanks muchly, C.B.!) in exchange for my honest review, and these opinions are my own.]

Things I don’t often read include contemporary novels, superhero tales (this may be my first? O_O), and first-person-present-tense (which normally I loathe but in this case I quickly got used to and forgot about). But while Twinepathy had all of those things, I greatly enjoyed it! 🙂

A few overall thoughts and then I’ll do the rest of the review in list form (because lists are obviously the best).

It was exciting, gripping, and I couldn’t put it down (I read the whole thing in two days). It’s a fairly quick read, and feels in a way sort of like the pilot episode of a TV show — an awesome, well-put-together intro, with more to come. Its own contained story, but also introducing a lot of things which will continue… I might have wished to get deeper into some of the characters and goings-on, but the quick feeling of the story lines up with the episodic feel, so that just makes me eager for more books. 😉

Okay, lists!

Things I LOVED:

• Mostly, I really enjoyed how FUN this book was. There are obviously some more exciting/deep bits too, but overall the feel is very lighthearted and just a fun romp. The characters and banter were some of my favorites, and there’s jokes and camaraderie and fun dialog and bickering. I just ENJOYED this book a lot. FUNNN.
• The superpowers, which were SO cool. Telepathy, teleportation… I won’t give them all away here, since part of the joy of the story is running into all these fun, awesome superpowers, but I really enjoyed all the superpowers. They were soooo enjoyable to read about and felt original and fresh to me. 🙂 (Admittedly I haven’t read anything like this before. But I loved them. :D)
• The plot. It’s a mystery involving a MEMORY THIEF. Need I say more?
• ALL THE HINTS. Seriously, I’m soooo curious about so many things! There were so many hints at different plot things and characters and their backstories… I’m just really curious to find out more about all of it! I NEEEED more books ASAP. 😀
• The settings. America, a touch of London, and Antarctica! I mean, how cool is Antarctica? (Pretty cool, considering the temperature… but I digress.) Popping to a couple different places around the world a time or two was great fun and gave it an extra exciting aura.
• COOKIES! That is all. (I need the recipe of a certain super-awesome agent’s cookies. *cough*) I mean seriously, it’s so fun that they’re running around doing superhero stuff and take time to make and/or eat cookies. Somebody has their priorities in order. *nods*
• Real life + superpowers. I appreciate how Albany and Brooklyn had to work in their adventures around school and family and having to get home to eat dinner (props for actual meals happening!). They’re just normal teenagers (haha, okay, so not really; but you know what I mean) and have to fit life and crazy superpower stuff together, and that feels realistic. 😉
• It felt really vivid and colorful. Like, I could see everything SO clearly. It just has this bright feel that I absolutely loved.
• It’s clean and enjoyable and lacks the annoyances I have with many contemporary books.
• The writing. The writing was quick and quippy and occasionally there would be some line that I giggled at the fun of it, or grinned over its cleverness.

Character run-down: (Yay! This cast is a rollick. :D)

• Albany & Brooklyn are twins, which gives them automatic awesome-points. Albany is the “I” of the story, since she narrates it. She and I did not always get along, but overall I liked her. Brooklyn is so nice and sometimes ended up a little more in the background but I really liked her too. Twins, guys. TWINS. Yesss. These two are fun to read about, especially their telepathic connection. 😀
• Maddie is cute and such a sweet thing, the poor darling. I love her muchly.
• Jen is so intriguing… I occasionally felt unsure of her, since some of her authority-figure part of the story brought her dangerously close to the edge where I could have ended up disliking her… but that never happened because she’s super (haha, see what I did there?) interesting and I’m so curious about her! Jen’s basically really cool.
• Denver was really grumpy at first but he grew on me. XD
• Ezra‘s name startled me because I’m used to that being a boy’s name. Whoops. But she was neat, and I love seeing a girl hacker! That was new.
• I’m not sure what I think of Keller… Hmm. She’s a tough cookie, that one.
• Finch was cool too. I felt kinda bad for him… Poor lad.
• Anvil. (Saving the best for last here…) ANVIL IS A PRECIOUS BURNT MARSHMALLOW AND THE BEST AND NEEDS HIS OWN BOOK. THAT IS ALL. (Seriously, Anvil is AWESOME and I wish he’d been in it more. I definitely want to see more of him. But I will say no more concerning this possible favorite or at least tying-for-favorite character of mine lest I spoil the story. *nods* I love Anvil though. ❤ )
• Blaze gets to go last of all because oh boy, he’s going to get a long point on this list! He’s fun and charming and I LOVE his superpowers. As I said while I was reading it, a cocky teleporter bringing donuts? Yep, I like this guy. Not to mention his other superpower… He has a generally cheerful nature, like an excitable puppy, but he also has a secret side which I’m verrry curious about. He’s hilarious and loyal and he seems to try to hide his more serious side and pretend he’s all fun and games but I think there’s more to him. I’m so CURIOUS about this guy — so many questions! *waits anxiously for a sequel or three* I definitely need more of him. 😀 He just brings such charm and mischief to the group, and the way he interacts with the twins (especially Albany) and everyone else was one of my favorite things about the book. Blaze is just awesome. ❤

Things I didn’t like as much: (Minor, unimportant things…)

• I wish there’d been more with the twins and their telepathy. I liked it and them on the whole, I just felt like there could have been more?
• There were a few things I wish had been explained better (why they didn’t use their connection much, or in school, for instance), especially when they were trying to “get out of” things and I wanted to see the entire conversation so I could know if it actually worked. XD Sometimes it seemed like there MIGHT be plotholes, but I wasn’t sure since there wasn’t enough info explained.
• It was slightly irksome that things kept being Albany’s fault; I mean seriously, poor girl. 😛 She didn’t HAVE to be clumsy that time, and she didn’t have to singlehandedly… well… THAT thing near the end. Ahem.
• They lied to poor Denver a lot, which I understand under the circumstances, but still, poor guy… (Their parents too. Possibly unavoidable under the circumstances, but still unfortunate. :P)
• There seemed to be a contradiction where they acted like it was okay for one character to manipulate another’s emotions to get him to do what they wanted . . . and then a little later they got furious at another character for manipulating a couple of people’s minds to . . . also get what they wanted? It seemed really similar to me. I’m just confused, is all. 😛

As always with superpowers etc., ESPECIALLY with mind-reading ones, there were probably plot things that could have been solved quicker than the characters actually did… but if there was anything of the sort I ignored it and just had fun with the story. Because SUPERPOWERS, come on! 😀 All in all, it really only had minor problems (and they’re probably just my own opinion anyway!) and I don’t really care because I just enjoyed the book so much. ^_^

Overall, aside from a couple minor points, it was awesome and I loved it! It’s exciting and cool and fun and just a great light read. I’m verrry much looking forward to book 2 and I highly recommend this one! 🙂

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the book tour going on this week! 🙂

What do you think, readers mine? Sound like fun? (It IS.) Have you read any superpower books? (Recommendations, anyone?) What superpower is your favorite? 😀 Thanks for reading! ^_^

Infinity Dreams Blog Award

O Frabjous Day! I was tagged by Candice Williams @ O Ye Scribes for the Infinity Dreams Blog Award! Thanks muchly, Candice! 🙂

Rules

• Thank the blog that nominated you.
• Tell us 11 facts about yourself.
• Answer the questions that were set for you to answer.
• Nominate 11 bloggers and set questions for them.

Eleven Facts About Mwah [I know, it’s French and I’m misspelling it. Boohoo]

(Oh dear. Prepare to learn all about this odd humanoid behind-the-blog…)

1. I’m an INFP. I recently saw somewhere the Meyers-Briggs personality types assigned to fairytale archetypes. Which makes me the Princess, the “dreamy, naive, and idealistic girl wandering the woods singing”. Oh dear… (Also, I only remember which letters I am by turning it into an acronym for It’s Never Fully Perfect.)

2. I am an introvert. I would rather sit in my room with the doors closed and read or write than go anywhere. I enjoy being with people but am exhausted and burnt out after the fact, which means that if I do go somewhere, even if it’s just a writing meeting, I consider that the primary focus of my day because I know I won’t get anything done afterward…

3. I am a perfectionist. Which can be useful, but mostly it’s really bad. You don’t even want to know how many times I edit, preview, tweak, preview, adjust, preview, polish, preview… etc. my blog posts…

4. I’m also a chronic procrastinator. Yes, this is a lethal combination with #3…

5. I have FOMO (yes this is a thing, which means Fear Of Missing Out) and an inability-to-say-no. I want to do aaaall the things and not miss out, plus I can’t turn people down. Which when coupled with  #2, #3, and #4, means I am constantly over-committed and stressed and behind… But it also means that I have my fingers in all of the pies whenever possible, which can be fairly awesome, when I can keep up.

6. I should be reading the lovely books I’m supposed to review instead of blogging right now. (Case in point. BUT LOVELY BOOOOOKS. <3)

7. I want to start a book blog for sporadically reviewing random books. This is something I must do. Yes. And it will be fabulous, surely.

8. My favorite foods are Fettuccine Alfredo, strawberries, apricots, chocolate (totally a food), and anything that tastes like mint or orange-flavor, and my favorite snack is cream-cheese on crackers. (I have no idea, they are just amazing.)

9. I am very excited about the first look at the Sherlock Christmas Special episode! I HAVE NO CLUE (haha see what I did there) WHAT IS GOING ON OR WHAT THE DEAL IS WITH THE COSTUMES/TIME PERIOD BUT I REALLY DON’T CARE BECAUSE I’M JUST SUPER EXCITED. Why is December so far awayyy? And why is 2017 even farther??

10. My favorite funny things to watch on youtube are Blimey Cow and HISHE (How It Should Have Ended), both of which I discovered recently. I don’t always agree of course, but it’s still funny. [Warning: both are at times extremely hilarious and always extremely addicting and therefore time-consuming!]

11. I’ve recently gotten into listening to Christian pop/rock on the radio. I don’t enjoy all the songs but there are a surprising amount that I’m starting to like a lot!

Candice’s Questions

1. Would you rather grow a garden or raise a puppy?

I honestly don’t know… I have a cat, which mayyy be similar to the latter? So maybe? But I’d also be paranoid of doing either wrong, so a garden if I failed it would just be… dead. Which, dead plants are a better option. But gardening can be enjoyable, at times. I JUST DON’T KNOW! O_O

2. What’s the last book you read that had the word the in the title?

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Which was a reread… *realizes I haven’t finished reading a book since June 24th and freaks out slightly*

3. If you could create a theme park, what would the theme be?

Interesting question! I actually have no idea… Maybe Middle-earth themed? Or else book-themed (but maybe libraries count…?). It’s kind of a toss-up. But both would be kind of awesome.

My Questions

1. If you could have any superpower/ability, what would you choose? (My cruelty knows no bounds. ;))

2. Would you mind sharing a snippet of your latest work-in-progress? Do so! (Alternately, tell us a little about what it’s about?)

3. What’s the best book you read recently and why did you like it?

I Tag

Ashley @ [insert-title-here] // Aspen @ Texas Rebel Girl // C.B. @ The World of the Writer // Sarah @ Lights and Shadows // Abi @ Rambling Writer // Lisa @ God’s Daughter 4 Ever