I’ve always had cats, and since leaving home to go flatting, I’ve never been long without one in my life. Every time I’m cat-less, a cat in need of a home just seems to find me and I haven’t the heart to say no. Minnalouche was no different. We took her in as a five-year-old who needed a stable home where she was the only cat, instead of one of many.

Minnalouche was a purebred ocicat. She’d been named for a cat in a poem by Yeats, which was pretty cool, but Minnalouche being a bit of a mouthful, we opted to call her Minna.

A bit of research told us ocicats often have dog-like tendencies. So it wasn’t a surprise that when she finally got used to us and settled into her new home, she liked to roll around on the carpet like my family dog used to do. And when she was happy, she would wag her tail. Took us a while to figure that one out, and differentiate a “wag” from an “I’m not happy!” feline lash.

Minna had issues with food. She had no “off” switch when it came to eating. Meaning woe betide you if you left anything remotely edible out on the kitchen bench. Or on the kitchen table. Or anywhere, for that matter. A margarine container left in the sink would often be found on the floor the next morning, licked shiny clean. The cheese-topped rolls on the bread-board, your toast, your bowl of cereal — all were fair game. As were the neighbour’s dog’s bones. And anything thrown out on a back lawn for the birds. Like stale iced sponge cake, for example — and not a cake we’d bought but yet another stolen “gift” from a neighbour’s back lawn. (Have you any idea how much mess a piece of stale sponge cake can leave on your carpet by the time it’s been dragged through a cat-door and left under the dining room table?) And let’s not even mention the odd bird and cicada. Then again, she was pretty good at swatting flies in mid-air and eating them. And the occasional spider, too.

She was especially talented at letting us know in no uncertain terms when it was time to feed her proper food. She generally slept in the lounge area and for self-preservation reasons we learned to close the door into the hall leading to the bedroom areas before heading to bed. If we neglected to do so, her feeder would know all about it very very early the next morning. As soon as Minna’s hunger light went on she’d sneak into DD’s bedroom, jump on the bed, sit by–or on!–DD’s head, and chew on her hair.

If the door from the lounge was closed, no problem! Minna would insert her claws in the gap between the door and the carpet, and scratch madly at the bottom of the door… which is about on a par with fingernails down a blackboard. If that was ignored, she’d whack the door with her shoulder — at least we presume it was her shoulder! — and make it bang loudly until it woke someone up. As a last resort, she’d head outside, jump onto DD’s windowsill, and scratch her claws up and down the windowpane. Many a Sunday morning I’ve slept in and gone downstairs to “release the Kraken”… and timed how long it’s taken Minna to streak from the lounge to the bedrooms to wake her feeder up. A few minutes at most usually — pretty impressive considering DD’s a teenager who can ignore most things when it comes to sleeping in at the weekends.

Speaking of sleeping, that was Minna’s other favorite thing in the world. She could often be found snoozing like this:

Or like this:

Or this:

And even this:

And as she got older, she snored. Loudly. And made a habit of sleeping on top of DH’s laptop mousepad when he was trying to work. She’d often “forget” how to use the cat-door and sit outside the sliding door, yowling for someone to let her in. Same when she wanted to go out. And if it was raining or too cold for her liking, we’d open the door, she’d poke her nose outside… and promptly change her mind. She was a quirky cat and we loved her all the more for that. We thought we’d be enjoying her quirks for a long time yet.

Recently Minna had lost a lot of weight in a very short time. On Monday I brought her back from a day stay at the vet, thinking that we were dealing with a couple of mild infections that antibiotics should clear up pretty quickly, along with diabetes. We all — vets included — figured that with regular insulin shots and lots of TLC she would have an excellent chance at living a long, happy life. But by Tuesday morning she’d deteriorated and I rushed her back to the vet.

Tuesday night it wasn’t looking good. Minna wasn’t responding to treatment. I rounded up the family and brought them in to see her…  just in case things took a turn for the worse overnight and she didn’t make it.

She hung in there, but by Wednesday morning, she’d been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer — something no-one couldn’t fight, least of all Minna. And we had to make the hard call: You know the one.

I drove to the vet and sat out the back in the hospital area and cuddled her for a long time. She buried her nose in the crook of my arm. The way she looked… it broke my heart. And then I carried her in to the consult room, the vet came, and it was over in seconds. She was gone.

The drive back home was really hard. Worse, was having to wash her cat blankets and cushions and pack them away, along with her food bowls and toys, so the kids wouldn’t be gutted all over again at seeing them. Her cat cage is still in the boot of my car. I can’t quite bring myself to take it out and find a place to store it.

The house is very quiet without her. I work from home so now during the day I’m truly on my own. It’s lonely. I miss knowing she was snoring in the other room, or sunning herself in a patch of sun in the lounge. I miss her.

We didn’t get to have Minna as part of our family for very long — just six years. But she will always hold a special place in our hearts.

R.I.P. Minnalouche. I hope you knew how much joy you brought our family. I hope you know that you were dearly loved.

 THE CAT AND THE MOON

By W.B. Yeats

THE cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet,
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.

But on to books.

As you can see I’ve revisited a favorite series this month– the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. And second time around, now that I’m not quite so OMG! *cue heart palpitations* caught-up in the story, I’m a little more aware of just how many risks the author took with the writing style (for example, foreshadowing events via the main character talking to the reader, and in Shadowfever, swapping to present tense for the main character, and alternating with POVs from other characters). Not to mention the hell MacKayla (Mac) is put through — something I know shocked many readers.  I can’t really adequately convey how awesomely gritty this series is, and how much I love that Karen Moning “went there”… and that her editor and publisher allowed her to push boundaries.

On a lighter note, Heist Society by Ally Carter was a delight– clever, and a true “caper” in the style of Ocean’s Eleven. Check out this inside jacket blurb:

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre… to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria… to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own– scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected.

Soon, Kat’s friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster’s priceless art collection has been stolen and he wants it returned. Only a master thief could have pulled off this job, and Kat’s father isn’t just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.

For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it’s a spectacularly impossible job? She’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and, hopefully, just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family’s (very crooked) history– and with any luck, steal her life back along the way.

And on a darker note, I found Undone by Brooke Taylor to be an intense, heart-wrenching read. It explores Serena’s journey as she copes with the aftermath of the car crash that kills her best friend, Kori. Serena’s whole focus becomes trying to complete Kori’s list of  ”five secret impossible possibilities” and not leave them undone. And in the process Serena finally learns who Kori really was… and discovers herself along the way. Undone is “…a complex, thought-provoking story of fate, friendship, and the ultimate ties that bind you to the people you think you know best.”

That’s it for book discussions this month; here’s my full reading list for May:

• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
• I Kissed An Earl by Julie Anne Long
• Love Charm For Carlotta by Carly Carson
• Dark Serpent by Kylie Chan
• Lucien’s Fall by Barbara Samuel
• Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
• A Very Private Merger by Day Leclaire
• For Love Or Money by Elizabeth Bevarly
• Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder
• Heist Society by Ally Carter
• Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott
• Undone by Brooke Taylor
• Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning
• Faefever by Karen Marie Moning
• Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning
• Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning

Happy Reading!

:-)

M

Hi y’all,

Been a while since I posted because honestly, I was social-media-ed out and couldn’t think of anything witty or interesting to talk about. I blame the meds for this crappy allergy flare-up — that prednisone is nasty stuff and it fuzzes my brain :( Anyhow, one highlight of the past month has been getting out of the house and going to a movie. Last one we wanted to see was the movie version of the excellent book, Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion (I talk about it more here). But alas, by the time we got our act together and made time to see it, the movie had disappeared from our local cinemas.

Hey, we’re not too cut up over it; Warm Bodies will be just as great on the small screen at home, and I won’t begrudge buying the DVD because from what I’ve heard, it’s just as good as the book and one for the Keeper DVD shelf. But this time, with Star Trek Into Darkness, we were determined we weren’t gonna miss out on the big-screen experience at the cinema. And frankly, it was everything I hoped it’d be :) Chris Pine! Zachary Quinto! (Kiwi) Karl Urban! Benedict Cumberbatch! In space! What’s not to like?

Mind you, I must admit to severe doubts about the casting of Zachary Quinto as Spock before I saw the first movie. He made such an amazingly awful and chilling bad dude as Sylar in the TV series Heroes that I couldn’t get past that at first. But I’m fast becoming a convert to this new incarnation of Spock. And gems like this Spock vs Spock vid definitely help :-)

But the reason for this particular post centers around a bit of flack Star Trek Into Darkness’s director J.J. Abrams has copped for what people are calling a “gratuitous” scene featuring actress Alice Eve in her underwear. If you haven’t seen the movie, Alice Eve plays Dr. Carol Marcus and there’s a scene where she’s stripping off to don her outside gear while explaining something to Kirk as he waits for her. She’s told him to turn around while she changes… but of course Kirk can’t help himself and sneaks a peek at her in her underwear. Of course she catches him peeking, too :)

Me? I don’t think this scene was gratuitous. Or sexist — as it’s also been called. For me, it’s wholly in keeping with Kirk’s character that he wouldn’t be able to resist peeking while a beautiful woman is getting changed. In fact, if he hadn’t peeked, I’d have thought the writers were copping out and not being true to his character!

Interestingly, earlier on in the movie there’s another brief scene that shows Kirk being interrupted by his comms unit while rolling round in bed with two alien women. We know he’s a bit of a lady’s man and unapologetic about it. That scene emphasizes that side of his character to the audience. And I find it interesting that no one seems to have too much of an issue with a bare-chested Kirk in that scene — at least, not to the extent of labeling it “sexist”.

So is there a bit of a double-standard going on?

I’d be interested in your opinions about what constitutes “gratuitous” when it comes to showing the audience a character’s foibles and traits in a movie.

I also found it interesting that when questioned about this so-called gratuitous underwear scene, Abrams said his piece, apologized, and then neatly changed the subject by bringing up the subject of a deleted scene featuring Benedict Cumberbatch taking a shower. Now I probably would have thought this scene a tad gratuitous, but I feel compelled to confess I wouldn’t have minded at all if it’d been left in because hey, buff naked dude in a shower! Nothing like tossing in a bit of guy-candy as a distraction, right? I know, I know, Bad Maree ;-)

So any Benedict Cumberbatch fans out there? If you haven’t already seen the infamous deleted shower scene, then this one’s for you. The actual scene is 2.23s in if you want to cut to the chase :)

:-)

M

How cool is that?

I was a bit hesitant about accepting because I haven’t written poetry since I was in high school… and was forced to do it in English class. Not to mention the shortest story I’ve ever written is a 25,ooo word erotic romance novella — hardly the kind of thing they’re wanting for this campaign! But DH encouraged me to go for it, so for the past couple of weeks I’ve been working on a story featuring one of New Zealand’s endangered birds, the Chatham Island Black Robin.

Aside from including a completely fictional paranormal element — because I can’t help myself! — I’ve done a heap of research for this little story. And I’ve learned some fascinating stuff — always a bonus when you’re tackling something challenging and new-to-you.

For instance, I knew black robins were endangered but I had no idea their numbers were once so few that they were considered “critical”. And by critical, consider this: at one stage there were only seven black robins remaining. Seven! And while a dedicated group of people were frantically trying to come up with ways to increase their numbers and pull them back from the brink of extinction, two more robins died. There was only one breeding pair remaining, and they came so close to only existing in paintings and photos and taxidermy-ed replicas in our museums that it doesn’t bear thinking about.

Anyway, while I was researching I came across some clips detailing the Herculean efforts of a dedicated group of people determined to ensure these wonderful little birds are still around today for us all to marvel over. I can’t share my story with you as yet, but I can share links to these short clips, which I hope you enjoy:

Seven Black Robins documentary, Part 1 (link to Part 2 is provided at the end of Part 1)

http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/seven-black-robins-1980

The Man Who Saved the Black Robin

http://tvnz.co.nz/meet-the-locals/2008-episode-152-video-2320248

Cheers!

Maree

My independently published eBooks are priced pretty much the same worldwide and across multiple retailers, (making allowances for currency exchange based on the original US$ price of course). But the prices for my traditionally published eBbooks often vary widely… which has led to a reader expressing her disappointment at the price she paid for one of my books.

Let me make it very clear she was supportive of me as an author. But….

• She had an expectation built around the prices I’ve set for my self-published, full-length novels, so it’s not hard to see why she was expecting something between 75 – 95,000 words for that price. But what she got was a 25,000 word novella. Frankly, I’d be disappointed, too!
• She blamed the retailer for the pricing. (I know if I walk into a retail store and buy a product, only to discover it’s more expensive there than at a bunch of other places, I’m gonna be snarking about the retailer, too!)
• Understandably, she rated the book on the low side to reflect her disappointment and in her comments blamed the entity she perceived to be at fault: the online retailer.

Now it would be easy to comment she hadn’t done due diligence before making the purchase — caveat emptor, and all that. It would be easy to say she should have known it was a traditionally published book and been aware that neither author nor online retailer had a say over the price set for this novella, or were responsible for the lack of information on the book’s product page. It would be easy to protest, “If she’d contacted me, I’d have told her it was much cheaper to buy the book from direct from the publisher!” But I don’t think that’s fair.

Unfortunately I can’t address her disappointments directly without leaving the information in the review section on the retailer’s product page… which forces me to rate my own book — soooo not ethical!  (I mean, do I give it one star? Three? Five? Let’s not go there.)

All readers are looking for is a good book to read at a decent price! It shouldn’t be this hard, right?

Well… no. But with the myriad of ways authors can publish these days, and so many people “doing it their way”, the information readers want isn’t always going to be at their fingertips.

So here’s what I think book-buyers should be aware of so they get the best bang for their buck.

Self-published authors (also known as independently published authors, or indie-pubbed authors) generally split into those who publish under their own names, and those who’ve formed a company and publish under their company name (in which case it’s tricky to pinpoint whether the “press” is actually a small press publisher or an author publishing under her company name). But if a book’s product information indicates the author and publisher names are the same (e.g. Seer’s Hope by Maree Anderson / Publisher: Maree Anderson) then readers can be 99.99% certain the author and the publisher are one and the same.

Why is it beneficial for readers to know this?

Because if the author is also the publisher, then the author is responsible for the following:

• The eBook’s cover, editing, layout and formatting
• Assigning genre categories that make the eBook visible when readers search a particular category
• Formats available for sale (e.g. PDF, epub, mobi)
• Whether the book is sold with or without DRM (Digital Rights Management designed to restrict readers from copying eBooks, but that also restricts readers from transferring eBooks they’ve legitimately purchased to another eReader device the reader might own.)
• Availability of the eBook at various retailers (e.g. exclusively on Amazon, available only in certain world territories, or available at a whole bunch of retailers worldwide)
• The eBook’s Product Page information
• Pricing

Sometimes, depending upon the size of the publisher (and the availability of experienced, dedicated staff to handle any of the above), the publisher will outsource steps to an independent company or contractor. For example, uploading the various eBook formats to retailers along with the eBook’s product information. And this is often where crucial information that would help readers make informed choices gets neglected.

And the publisher sets the price.

The pricing is out of the author’s control; she can’t discount it or put it on sale. She can’t tweak the price to bring it in line with other eBooks in the same genre with similar word counts. Her hands are tied. And depending on the deal the publisher has negotiated with the individual retailer, the retailer’s hands might well be tied, too. They may not be able to discount, or price-match other retailers to ensure readers get the lowest price.

(Though let’s face it: sometimes, there’s just no figuring out the logic behind pricing. Hence why one the price of my small press published eBooks ranges from US$3.50 direct from the publisher, to US$6.50 at some retailers.  Caveat emptor indeed!)

So how does a reader make sure she’s getting the best bang for her buck?

What if her preferred online retailer’s product page lacks the information she needs, or the price seems way too high?

Here are some suggestions:

1. Google the book’s title and scan the prices that pop up

2. Google the author’s website for book information & buy links
Most author’s these days have websites. And most will provide — at the very least — the genre, a short blurb, excerpt, and a bunch of buy links for of their books at various retailers. Often the author will provide links to the publisher’s website, and if that publisher has direct-to-reader sales, the price may be cheaper than at your preferred retailer.

3. Check the book’s cover for the publisher’s logo or name, and Google it
If the publisher has a website with direct-to-the-public sales, as I’ve already mentioned it may be cheaper to buy direct from the publisher than pay the MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) at a retailer. Publishers often offer a variety of formats which you can select from and then side-load to an eReader. Sure, the process is trickier than, say, Amazon’s One-Click button and an immediate download to your Kindle device, but the extra couple of steps involved may save you a few bucks.

3a. If the book’s cover doesn’t show the publisher, check the front matter/copyright info inside the eBook (via the retailer’s Look Inside function if it’s available)

4. Contact the author via her website contact form and ask for the information you need
The majority of authors will be thrilled you asked, and go out of their way to provide any information lacking, as well as cluing you in on the best place to buy their book.

5. Contact the retailer directly
And here’s hoping they have a great customer  service team and will get back to you in a timely fashion… like, before you give up and buy something else from somewhere else. But remember, if the information hasn’t been provided to them in the first place, they won’t be able to help.

Finally, if you are disappointed with the price you paid for your purchase, I’d ask that you reconsider rating the book poorly in the reviews section to air your disappointment. In my humble opinion, ratings are an indication of what you thought of the book – the characters, the writing etc. By all means mention the issues you have with the price — that’s immensely valuable to other potential readers! But rating it poorly potentially hurts the author… who may not have any control over the price her publisher has set.

Happy reading!

M

Enjoy!

“Brenda Novak’s Annual Online Auction for Diabetes Research is gearing up for its biggest year yet. Thanks to all who have participated in the past — both donors and shoppers — we’ve raised a cumulative total of $1.6 million. This year we are hoping to surpass $2 million to help all those with diabetes [  ].”

Hi all,

As I did last year, I’m participating in Brenda Novak’s annual auction to raise funds for diabetes research.

Like me, the chances are high that you know someone who is affected by diabetes. In Brenda’s case that “someone” is her son, Thad. I’ve gotten to know Brenda through the IndieRomanceInk loop we’re both members of, and she’s not only a talented author, but a wonderful lady all round. So when she put out the call for donations to help raise money for diabetes research it was a no-brainer for me and many other indie authors on the loop to contribute and help make a difference in the lives of those living with diabetes.

The 2013 annual online auction for diabetes research is now live, and runs until 31st May 2013.

This year we’ve again kicked in to buy eReaders, which have been preloaded with eBooks — here’s just three of the eReaders being auctioned off that might interest you:

1) ITEM #2948732: Kindle 6″ WiFi #2 Young Adult 

This Kindle comes preloaded with the following 12 eBooks:

Young Adult Paranormal Mystery:

• WILDWOOD by Helen Scott Taylor

Young Adult Paranormal:

• FREAKS OF GREENFIELD HIGH (Book 1: Freaks Series) by Maree Anderson
• FREAKS IN THE CITY (Book 2: Freaks Series) by Maree Anderson

Young Adult Contemporary Adventure/Mystery:

• GEM STONE (A Gemma Stone Mystery) by Dale Mayer

Young Adult Contemporary Romance/Ghost Story:

• IN CASSIE’S CORNER by Dale Mayer

Young Adult Urban Fantasy:

• DANGEROUS DESIGNS (Designs Series Book 1) by Dale Mayer
• DEADLY DESIGNS (Designs Series Book 2) by Dale Mayer

Young Adult Paranormal Romance/Dystopian:

• VAMPIRE IN DENIAL (Family Blood Ties Book 2) by Dale Mayer
• VAMPIRE IN DESIGN (Family Blood Ties Book 3) by Dale Mayer

Young Adult Zombie Romance:

• BARELY ALIVE (Barely Alive Series) by Bonnie Paulson
• FALLING APART (Barely Alive #2) by Bonnie Paulson
• MOSTLY DEAD (Barely Alive #3) by Bonnie Paulson

2) ITEM #2948735: Kindle 6″ WiFi #4: Erotica, Fantasy, SciFi, Time Travel

This Kindle comes preloaded with the following 16 eBooks:

Time Travel Romance:

• TIME’S ENEMY (Saturn Society) by Jennette Marie Powell

Science Fiction Romance:

• HANGAR 18: LEGACY by Jennette Marie Powell

Erotic Romance – A Scottish Historical Novella:

• HIGHLANDER IN HER BED (Forbidden Fantasy) by Cathleen Ross

Paranormal Erotic (MF Pairing):

• UP ON THE HOUSETOP (Kyron Pack Series) by Suzanne Rock

Fantasy Romance:

• A CLOCKWORK FAIRYTALE (Fantasy Romance) by Helen Scott Taylor

Fantasy:

• FEAST OF BEAUTY (Irish Fantasy Romance Novella) (Celtic Magic) by Helen Scott Taylor

SciFi Romance:

• THE SWORDS OF GREGARA-HONORA by Cynthia Woolf

Fantasy With Romantic Elements:

• SEER’S HOPE (Book 1 Of The Seer Trilogy) by Maree Anderson
• SEER’S PROMISE (Book 2 Of The Seer Trilogy) by Maree Anderson
• SEER’S CHOICE (Book 3 Of The Seer Trilogy) by Maree Anderson

Gothic Sci Fi Romance:

• APOCALYPSE BABES: THE COMPLETE SERIES (The Z Word, The X Factor, iRobotronic, Kumbaya Much, Bite Me and Apocalypse For Realz) by Bella Street

3) ITEM #2948807: Kindle Paperwhite WiFi #2: Paranormal Romance

If eReaders and eBooks aren’t your thing, there’s a huge range of other items and services to bid for, so make sure you head over to Brenda’s online auction and check them out.

Good luck bidding, and let’s hope this year’s auction is the most successful one so far!

:-)

M

Whenever I hear that kind of comment I inwardly wince and presume that the speaker doesn’t read YA — or at least, doesn’t read widely in the genre. And I feel kinda sad about all the amazing books that person is missing out on because they “never”.

One such book is on my reading list for April: Mind Games by Kiersten White. (If that name sounds familiar, she’s the author of the Paranormalcy trilogy).

Mind Games: They stole her past. She won’t let them take her future.

I can’t see the present… but I know what lies ahead.

My instincts are always right… but every move I make feels wrong.

It’s my fault Fia’s here… how was I supposed to know?

Annie will die if I don’t do what they ask… I’ll wish I were dead if I do.

Not only is Mind Games written in first person present tense, but it also swaps the point-of view between the two main characters, sisters Fia and Annie. And the timeline isn’t linear; it zips back and forth from the past to the present.

I know, I know: this book was a hot mess that was impossible to follow, right?

So wrong. For me, nothing could be further from the truth. It works brilliantly — think movie-style flashbacks. Also, those past-set chapters interspersed with the present day timeline are written linearly, starting from seven years ago and getting progressively closer to the present day timeline. For me, this gives a thread of urgency throughout the story, like we’re running as fast as we can so we can catch up to the present and finally have all the information we need to survive along with the two main characters. And then the final scene…. Well, let’s just say the past came full circle, like whoa!

The other really interesting aspect of this book is how vibrantly different each point-of-view character is. Even if each chapter didn’t have a heading i.e. Fia or Annie, it’d be very apparent who “I” was and which character was taking center stage in that chapter. Annie is blind, but she can occasionally ”see” events, so her point of view is very unique. But I especially loved when we were in Fia’s head. She’s a damaged character whose been abused in the name of “training” and forced to kill and do things she didn’t want to do in order to keep her sister safe. She “feels” wrongness. Inside her head is a pretty scary place to be. Here’s an excerpt:

I sit up (it hurts, it hurts my body hurts) and grab her hand in mine. She startles; I haven’t been touching her at all lately. I don’t like my hands anymore. I used to think they were pretty. Now they look like they belong on someone else’s body. Someone who kills people. “Listen to me. Do not tell them. Don’t tell them you’re seeing more. Don’t tell Clarice. Don’t even think about what you’re seeing.”

“Why?” Fia, you’re scaring me. Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”

“Promise me you won’t tell them!”

“I won’t! I promise! What’s going on?”

I drop her hand. “Nothing. And stop trying to see me. You won’t like it.” I walk out of her dorm room.

Down the hall.

Down the stairs.

Doesn’t matter where I go.

Outside the entrance hall I nearly bump into a boy. He’s wearing a coat and he is tall and he belongs black-and-white and shirtless on the wall of a clothing store and his warm brown eyes are completely glazed over. I simultaneously want to kiss him and to get as far away from him as possible. He feels wrong, he feels dangerous; my heart speeds up the same way for him that it did for the stun guns.

Everything here feels wrong all the time. But he feels exciting wrong.

“Hey,” he says, grinning, his eyes tracing over me without apology.

“Hey.” There are no boys here. Not teenagers, anyway. Only men. With weapons. (It hurts, it hurts my body hurts.)

“James. Keane. James Keane.” He sticks out his hand for me to shake it.

I keep my murderer hands to myself. “Keane as in the Keane Foundation?”

“The very same!”

“I should bash your brains in right now,” I say, but I am too tired to do it.

“You’re the third person to say that to me today!” He winks, then takes my arm and links it through his own. “Why don’t you take me on the grand tour of the secret school?”

“Why don’t you take a walking tour through rush-hour traffic?”

He laughs. “I like you. What did you say your name is?”

“Sofia.”

“Sofia. Soooofia. Sofia, I have done something very bad.”

It is wrong to go with him as he pulls me down the hall toward the empty classrooms. I go anyway. “I’ll bet I’ve done something worse.” Tap tap goes my finger.

“I would love to hear it if you have. But I get to go first. I have” –he looks both ways down the hall in exaggerated caution, then leans in and whispers right in my ear (wrong, wrong, but it doesn’t stop the shivers from going up and down my spine; he is gorgeous, I have never been this close to a gorgeous boy) –”broken into a boarding school for special teenage girls.”

I shove him back, glare. “That’s it? That’s pathetic.”

“It’s not! It’s very, very, bad. You see, I brought whiskey with me. Stolen whiskey.”

I yawn, patting my hand over my mouth.

“Stolen from the dean of my college.”

I check the watch I’m not wearing for the time.

“After he expelled me.”

I look him straight in the eyes. “I delivered a package bomb that killed two people.”

This book is captioned on the back cover by author Holly Black as “A brutal, exciting gem of a book.” And it certainly is.

In the acknowledgements, the author thanks her agent (Michelle Wolfson) for letting her write a book she “wasn’t supposed to” and for sending it out “in spite of its being ‘crazy’”. I’d like to thank Michelle, too. If she hadn’t taken a chance on this book, it might never have seen the light of day. And that would have been a huge shame for readers like me, and my daughter, who loved it to bits… and can’t wait for the next installment. Please let there be another installment!!!!!

And here’s my reading list for April:

• The Touch of Twilight (Sign of the Zodiac 3) by Vicki Pettersson
• Mind Games by Kiersten White
• Crossing The Line by Katie McGarry
• Newborn Baby For Christmas by Fiona Lowe
• The War Hero’s Locked-Away Heart by Louisa George
• Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen
• Shadow City by Diana Pharaoh Francis
• What The Librarian Did by Karina Bliss
• Breathe by Sarah Crossan
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• City of Souls (Sign of the Zodiac 4) by Vicki Pettersson
• Cheat The Grave (Sign of the Zodiac 5) by Vicki Pettersson

Happy Reading!

:-)

M