Your daily dose of cute! Guaranteed to brighten your day.

My sweet girl (anyone seen Black Swan?) and I wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Revising :D

Before I start rambling, who is watching the lunar eclipse tonight? I'm in the Eastern time zone, so I'm going to have to stay up really late to see it, but apparently the moon takes on a reddish hue at the full eclipse! I can't see the moon from any of my windows (trees in the way), so I'll be running outside periodically to see what's happening.

I have this new way of revising. What I do is I read each chapter and I change nothing. I write down a short list of what happens. Then I write a (longer) list of things that need to change, or what SHOULD happen. Then, instead of trying to tackle a whole bunch of revision things at once, I can take them one at a time, and go through the chapter as many times as I feel like it without losing my place or getting overwhelmed with all the changes that need to happen.

A creative writing professor once gave my class some really good advice: don't try to change too many things in a revision. For each draft, change ONE major thing. You won't get overwhelmed, but after just a couple drafts you'll start to see some real improvement. This is harder to do in a novel, but I like the system I'm working with now because I can do that with each chapter, and I can see how the changes will interact with each other before I make them (which prevents me from making some huge change that ends up not working).

I like it especially because it leaves me with a chapter-by-chapter outline! Once I get past 15ish chapters, I start doing that thing where I can't remember *exactly* in which chapter teensy-weensy-random-detail happened, and I have to skim like 40 pages to find it.

My friends, this is a very happy thing.

And back by popular demand, here's Lucy!

Stress-free giveaway winners!

Random.org and Lucy helped me pick the winners of the stress-free giveaway (it only makes sense that I'd use random.org--it's the most stress-free way to pick winners! And the fairest :) I just assigned numbers in the order everyone commented.)

The winner of the signed copy of ASH by Malinda Lo is....

Commenter #38:

Tere Kirkland!

And the winner of the signed copy of RADIANT SHADOWS by Melissa Marr is...

Commenter #24:

Scoot!

Lucy is very happy for the winners!!!!

Got stress? Come get rid of it!

Today is the last day to enter my stress-free giveaway! I will accept entries until midnight, at which point I'll pick winners. Come try to win something with minimal effort on your part! :)

Lucy wonders why you haven't entered yet!

Are we being a little hard on our teenage boys?

When I was fourteen, the literary men (and yes, they were men, not boys) I was swooning over were Mr. Darcy, Roiben from Holly Black's Tithe, the Marquis in Sherwood Smith's Crown Duel (which is a book that I adore and that not enough people have heard of!) and George from Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness series. Since they weren't my age, I didn't think to compare the guys in my 8th grade class to these swoon-worthy characters. The series that was sweeping everyone when I was in high school was Harry Potter, and while I wouldn't want to be compared to Harry Potter, either, the book wasn't a paranormal romance so nobody really thought to compare their potential date to Harry.

Now, though, YA is full of dreamy guys who are between 16 and 18 years old (I don't count Edward Cullen because he's had 100 years to practice) who are very perfect. Think about Matched by Ally Condie--Ky and Xander both are pretty awesome as far as guys go. Or what about Nightshade by Andrea Cremer. Shay? What a freaking cutie! He's respectful, egalitarian, and fun, with something of a dangerous side. And don't even get me started on Sonny from Wondrous Strange--aaaaah I love him! And these guys (and in this statement I WILL include Edward) complement the female protagonists of their respective novels pretty much perfectly. It's a hard standard to live up to.

I don't blame all the Twilight readers out there for wanting Edward Cullen instead of a human prom date. Not at all. Seriously, both my junior and senior proms sucked, and about 90% of the fault was on my dates for being lame. One of them wore shorts, those socks that don't stop at your ankle but don't go all the way up to your knee, and skateboarding shoes. Oh, and a MAROON blazer. Without asking me. The other whined at me every five minutes, asking me if he looked nice, and then got pissed at me at the end of the evening for not saying it enough times. When I was fourteen, I had a boy spend six months NOT kissing me. Every time we hung out, he did NOT kiss me. When you're fourteen, that is the freaking WORST! Trust me, teenage Alexandra KNOWS what it's like to be disappointed by a teenage boy.

But... I feel a little bad for the teenage guys who have to live up to the standard laid out in these books. It's no secret that boys develop more slowly maturity-wise than girls do. And I am sure that there are Shays and Kys and Xanders and even maybe an Edward or two out there. But, aw, what about the little short kid who hasn't hit his growth spurt yet and doesn't look like Adonis? Or the geeks in the science lab who haven't figured out that girls exist yet? The side of me that champions all things pathetic and not overtly cute feels so bad! :(

Don't get me wrong--I looooove reading a book with a good male love interest. I do not want this trend to change! Please, keep them coming! But I can't help but feel a little sympathy for the guys who now not only have to compete with the jocks and the guys who already look like freaking Brad Pitt, but who now also have to compete with people who don't actually even exist. It's a little hard on them to base all expectations on someone who exists only in the pages of a book. Rather, maybe it might be more fair to evaluate each boy on his own merits?

So if there are any teens out there reading this, don't be too hard on the guys if they don't sparkle in the sunlight just quite yet! :) They might be a little awkward, and not understand girls very well, say the wrong thing, not be able to run at the speed of light. But the nice guys really aren't all that bad. As long as they remember to use deodorant and brush their teeth. ;)

Book Review: THE HATING GAME by Talli Roland

Watch out, Shopaholic, you have some serious competition.

Mattie Johns is in a serious financial bind. After being cheated on by her ex-boyfriend Kyle, the bastard stole most of her small business' clients, leaving her near to bankruptcy. So when a new reality dating show approaches her about appearing on TV, she jumps at the chance to win the 200,000 pound prize money. But what the show doesn't tell Mattie is that rather than dating four unknown guys, she'll be dating four of her ex boyfriends, one of whom is Kyle.

My phone did not leave my hand for two days while I was reading this (I downloaded the Kindle app, and then purchased the e-book during Talli's Take on Amazon Splash). I was reading two other books (fantasy, my favorite thing, I ought to mention) at the time I downloaded this one, but as soon as I started reading, they both went on hold until I was done. I don't read a lot of chicklit, but I don't have to to know that this is one of the best ones out there. Talli has an easy writing style, simple but biting, and the ability to convey a lot of information in only a few words. Every chapter, every p.o.v. switch, ends on a cliff hanger, leaving you dying to turn the page and find out what happens next. The action never lags as Mattie is put through torturous date after torturous date. And on the sidelines, we get points of view from one of the exes, the producer of the show, and Mattie's best friend, giving a well-rounded view of everything happening pertaining to the tv show, and giving the reader some very useful insight into the minds of the other characters, even characters who don't have their own point of view represented.

One of the best parts about THE HATING GAME is that all of the characters are well-rounded individuals. In character-driven romantic comedies, it's easy to make the two main characters into well-developed individuals, and let the supporting cast fall into cardboard cutout land. But Talli doesn't do that. The other characters were fleshed out as well, dealing with their own struggles and their own moral codes as Mattie battled with her heart to figure out if Kyle really was a liar, or if he was worthy of another chance. The other amazing thing about this was usually in a book like this, I skim through the other characters and their points of view to get back to the main character, but here I was interested in Jess, Nate, and Adam as well--each of them had their own sub-plot story that wove into the bigger picture seamlessly, and made the story of Mattie and Kyle that much richer.

I liked that Mattie was a strong, independent woman, and that she wasn't willing to give up her career for a man. She never wondered if she needed Kyle because she wanted someone to take care of her--it was about her happiness, not her ability to stand on her own two feet. I loved that Talli made it possible for there to be love between two strong, business-minded people, and that one of them didn't have to take the submissive role for it to happen.

Then there's the reality show itself. The whole time I was reading, my mind was screaming "this would make a GREAT movie!" It's a hilarious concept for a tv show (which I actually think would work pretty well as a tv show) but all the torture that Mattie goes through with these exes would make a great romcom movie. Every time you think it can't get bad enough, the producers make it worse, and all the while Mattie is having her own inner battles while still having to appear with dignity on tv to impress potential future clients who might see her there.

I think this is a hilarious and romantic book that would appeal to all kinds of people, not just fans of romcoms or chicklit. It offers deep insight into the horrors of reality television as well as a satisfying romance. A 5-star read for sure.

Help THE HATING GAME make the Amazon Kindle bestseller list!!!

Talli Roland is one of my favorite bloggers and authors! She's funny, super nice, and has a chicklit novel coming out in e-book TODAY! (The physical copy will be released early 2011). Her novel, THE HATING GAME, has already grabbed many positive reviews, and the premise is completely brilliant. Imagine having to go on a game show and having to date your ex boyfriends! So, today, I want you to...

Help Talli Roland's debut novel THE HATING GAME hit the Kindle bestseller list at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk by spreading the word today. Even a few sales in a short period of time on Amazon helps push the book up the rankings, making it more visible to other readers.

Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/hNBkJk
Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/hX2ieD

No Kindle? Download a free app at Amazon for Mac, iPhone, PC, Android and more. Coming soon in paperback. Keep up with the latest at www.talliroland.com.


About THE HATING GAME:

When man-eater Mattie Johns agrees to star on a dating game show to save her ailing recruitment business, she's confident she'll sail through to the end without letting down the perma-guard she's perfected from years of her love 'em and leave 'em dating strategy. After all, what can go wrong with dating a few losers and hanging out long enough to pick up a juicy £200,000 prize? Plenty, Mattie discovers, when it's revealed that the contestants are four of her very unhappy exes. Can Mattie confront her past to get the prize money she so desperately needs, or will her exes finally wreak their long-awaited revenge? And what about the ambitious TV producer whose career depends on stopping her from making it to the end?

See you later, I'll be reading!