Hopefully this summer will be more exciting.

-A

In my day job I do the marketing and media for a company as well as handle all donations and sponsorship requests. I had the chance to meet a young lady with a very inspiring story in need of sponsorships. Immediately I was stoked to help her out.

Then I googled her. This awesome girl has an awesome story, but I found a not so great representation of her online. Not a BAD representation — just a typical 25 year old living in LA representation — but unfortunately people who will be considering sponsorships don’t really care if it’s typical or not.

Rewind a bit: My googling tendencies began I was given the task to hire interns at my first job out of college and I googled all the applicants. Yes, these were the days before twitter, but Facebook was less private and though was on its last leg, MySpace profiles still showed up in searches.

Upon realizing how much I showed up on google, I immediately made my Facebook profile very private and deleted my deserted MySpace page.  A few years later when I began acting I decided since I was still in business (working then for a publicly traded company no less) I would not go by my real last name, hence the use of Boyle. I deleted my twitter account and began using my faux last name. I changed my Facebook profile to have be my first and middle name so as not to confuse people will a new last (non-married) name. My IMDb page says Amanda Boyle, and as far as the writing community goes, that’s my pen name as well. In my professional life of salaried jobs and health insurance, I barely exist online. My LinkedIn profile and a few articles related directly to my past jobs are all that remains of me.

The lesson of this post is that people take you as your online persona even if it isn’t a good representation of you. You may talk about volunteering at your local soup kitchen and that you’ve been accepted into the honor society, but if it’s mixed in with tales of getting drunk and partying that’s all they’re going to see.

So for future CEOs, writers, or Presidents of the United States: know that even if what comes up online is only a small part of who you are, people will still use it as their first, and possibly last impression of you.

Both GR and Amazon swear that nothing will change, but that’s impossible. Amazon isn’t going to spend a ton of money (the purchase price wasn’t disclosed) and NOT promote themselves. Currently there are buttons on each book page allowing you to purchase the book from not only Amazon but B&N, Indigo and several other online stores. Why would Amazon still give you the immediate option to buy from their competitors? Let’s not forget about the Kindle too, and what fancy integration we’re in store for — very effectively putting them in front of B&N’s Nook and Apple’s iBooks. And what about the brick and mortar stores? What keeps Amazon for giving GR members an even better price?

Worrying about physical stores is a bit hypocritical on my part since I am a big ebook fan. Mainly because I currently am nomadic and just don’t have the room to fill up a book shelf (nor do I constantly want to move them from place to place). I currently only have four books in my possession, and they are four editions of the exact same novel.  We also need to be realistic about our local bookstore. It’s 2013. Technology will continue to advance and people will live more and more through their devices (until a devastating incident zaps the power from the world). Who writes letters anymore besides the occasional thank you card for a wedding gift? It was only a decade ago when people were saying they could never replace a hand written letter with an e-mail, because a “real” letter is so much more intimate. I think everyone can agree to that — but it didn’t stop us from migrating to e-mail only communication.

Business wise, it was a great buy for Amazon if they use it correctly. If they reach out to the proper people in the book industry and don’t force Amazon The Company down the throats of those not interested (i.e indie book store fans and dedicated Apple and Nook users).

I don’t see Amazon ever monopolizing the industry, but it may mean some extra work for others. Readers will need to amp up the promotion for sites like IndieBound.com and authors will more than ever need to support local stores for book signings and other events.  This merger isn’t the End of Times ordeal I’ve seen some people making it, though no doubt it will hurt some. And honestly, no matter how dedicated to books and the Indie store, if someone offered you a check with a bunch of zeros would you not also be doing the same thing?

Clockwork Princess

by Cassandra Clare
5 out of 5 on Goodreads.com

Tessa Gray should be happy – aren’t all brides happy?
Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute.
A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa’s heart, will do anything to save her.

Yes, I’m almost 30. Yes, I real YA fiction. YA fantasy. No, I don’t care if you think that’s lame or I have a bad taste in books.  I really loved this series — more thank Harry Potter, Hunger Games or Clare’s other series, The Mortal Instruments. This book now takes the #1 spot of my favorite YA book. I’m one of those people who reads a book and falls into it — they consume me. But no book has ever over taken me like this one.

I can’t give a review without spoilers. All I can say is read it. Read the entire series, if you haven’t. Enjoy a love triangle unlike any other — all three sides are equal, one would never do something to hurt the others. Pure, selfless love. (Also known as agape…see my tattoo for reference) Above all, enjoy the ending. It may be too “happily ever after” for some. Too easy of a way out, but I like my stories tied in a bow.

A head’s up: I cried the entire last 50 pages. You have been warned.

Click Read More for spoilers!

Tessa never had to choose. I couldn’t figure out how in the world Cassie would be able to end this book, because Jem dying would destroy half of the fandom…and Will never getting Tessa would destroy the rest. I always wondered how much Tessa really did LOVE Jem, even though he is my #1 fictional boyfriend, but CP2 makes it clear she does. She loves him and she love Will, the same but differently. Some people believe everyone has only one soulmate, but I never have. And as Tessa was told, she was lucky enough to have two.

When we were with Will and Jem “died” I felt like my heart was bleeding as Will’s was. When Brother Zachariah’s hood fell to reveal Jem, I gasped and my heart jumped into my throat. Then I remembered from City of Lost Souls, a conversation Brother Zachariah had with Clary:

“Were you ever in love? Before the Brotherhood? Was there anyone you would have died for?”

“Two people.” Will and Tessa. And this is why he fought so dearly to find Jace when Sebastian/Jonathan took him. Jace is the great-great-great grandson of the two people he would have died for — or in his case, chose to stay alive.

I am thankful Clare put so much time wrapping up the book. When I realized Mortmain was dead and there was still a lot left, I knew Cassie was giving us the closure we needed. We got to learn Clary was a descent of Charlotte, the first woman Consul. I hadn’t looked at the family tree yet, but I already knew not only were Jace and Alec parabati, but they were distant cousins. Alec, with his black hair and blue eyes, reminded Magnus so much of Will because Alec’s coloring came from the Herondale line. From Cecily.

As Tessa, in 2008 while waiting for Jem’s yearly visit, thought back on her life with Will my heart just broke. Her laying beside him, still a young girl while he was an old man. When Jem, still a Silent Brother, picks up the violin Will always kept for him. Tears, tears, tears!

I still don’t know why Jem was allowed to leave the Brotherhood after the battle at Idris, especially after most of the Brothers had been slaughtered by Valentine in his attempt to get the Mortal Sword. Hopefully this will answered eventually, but is really inconsequential for me because he was Jem again.

As I said before, it is a bit of a cop out that Tessa never had to choose and got to have a happily ever after with both Will and Jem. But I don’t care. When you’ve invested such emotion into these characters as the fandom has, I think we should all get a pass. And after all, we have one more TMI book where Tessa could make another appearance and then TDA. In TDA, I’m going to assume Emma Carstairs has the blade Jem’s uncle offered to Will. TDA takes place only five or so years after Tessa and Jem’s reunion. Could we see them again? Could Tessa and Jem have children of their own? Too many possibilities.

-AB

Book review to come once all of the extreme feels have calmed dow.

When did you begin writing with a goal to be published?
Oh, a long time ago – I was finally accepted for publication a week after my 40th birthday: that was 20 years ago. Before that I had been writing what eventually became the Kingmaking, the first of my Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy – I had been researching and writing it for ten years!

What is a typical day for you when you are writing a new book? Do you have any unusual habits?
I usually deal with e-mails, Facebook, my blog and such in the morning, often while in my dressing gown. I then shower and get on with whatever project is in hand, either research, writing, or editing and proof reading. I do tend to spend more time looking out the window though!

What books and writers influenced you either personally or as a professional writer?
Rosemary Sutcliff. I adore her books – especially Eagle of the Ninth, Frontier Wolf and Mark of the Horselord. Her style of writing is almost poetic, the stories are magic for they transport you into the reality of the past from page one to the end of the book.

Your characters are obviously from a different time and place, but do you draw from anyone in real life when you write?
Not from actual people, but I do use events; for instance in my novel the Forever Queen (entitled A Hollow Crown in the UK) I have a scene where Queen Emma is stranded on a Yorkshire beach and climbs the cliff with her baby in order to survive the incoming tide. That was taken directly form a situation my grandmother found herself in back in 1918!

Pirates are not a theme often seen on the bookshelves, what drew you to write about them?
The first of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies – The Curse of the Black Pearl. It was such a fun movie and Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Jack Sparrow was fabulous – a loveable rogue. The movie led me to finding out the true history of pirates, which in turn led me to deciding to create my own lovable rogue, Captain Jesamiah Acorne. I wanted to read something that was akin to the Pirates of the Caribbean movie – good fun, with a touch of fantasy and a drop-dead gorgeous hero, but couldn’t find a thing. Plenty of nautical novels, yes, such as Hornblower and Patrick O’Brian’s novels – but nothing a little more light-hearted, and certainly nothing with a touch of fantasy. So I did what any author would do. Wrote my own.

Your writing mimics the style of speech used during that time period and by that class of people. Was there a lot of research done on your part to learn their phonetics and speech patterns?
No, it just comes naturally. I hear the dialogue in my head and I write it down. Probably what I write is not correct English, but my style is how I “feel” the characters and their adventures.

A big thank you to Helen Hart of Silverwood Books for giving me this opportunity and to Helen Hollick for her time!

-AB

Boundless

by Cynthia Hand
5 out of 5 on Goodreads.com

The past few years held more surprises than part-angel Clara Gardner ever could have anticipated. Yet through the dizzying high of first love to the agonizing low of losing someone close to her, the one thing she could no longer deny was that she was never meant to have a normal life.

Since discovering the special role she plays among the other angel-bloods, Clara has been determined to protect Tucker Avery from the evil that follows her . . . even if it means breaking both their hearts. Leaving town seemed like the best option, so she’s headed back to California—and so is Christian Prescott, the irresistible boy from the vision that started her on this journey in the first place.

As Clara makes her way in a world that is frighteningly new, she discovers that the fallen angel who attacked her is watching her every move. And he’s not the only one. . . . With the battle against the Black Wings looming, Clara knows she must finally fulfill her destiny. But it won’t come without sacrifices and betrayal.

In the riveting finale of the Unearthly series, Clara must choose her fate once and for all.

I bought this book the day it came out (January 22nd), yet didn’t read it until Friday (coincidentally February 22nd). Why? Because I knew once I read those 300-something pages, Clara’s story would be over.  But I happened to be sick on Friday and without anything else to do, I curled up under the covers and pulled out my tablet.

Four hours later, I was sniffling into a tissue staring at the last page.

Somehow through all of this divine growing up Clara had to do, she was at the same time kept an eighteen year old with thoughts and problems any college freshman would have. Most of our heros and heroines of YA stories lose that innocence as the series progresses, but Hand kept that in balance. Before I cut to spoilers, for those who aren’t going to read them I just want to say I liked the ending. It’s impossible to truly end a story in a way everyone will be happy about it, but Hand gave Clara and the rest of the characters their curtain call and closed the red drapes on a great adventure.

SPOILERS BELOW!

If you don’t know, Tucker Avery is my second favorite fictional boyfriend (Jem Carstairs in #1 by a hair), so naturally I was all GETWITHTUCKERGETWITHTUCKER and geeze, my heart was jumping all over the place at some points. I do love Christian as a character and as a boyfriend for Clara — if there wasn’t Tucker. I was afraid at the end of  Hallowed that they were really through, and honestly you don’t really know throughout most of the book. I think I did fall a little bit in love with Christian when he bowed out; admitted Clara’s love for Tucker was real and not a crush.

At the end I REALLY DID THINK TUCKER DIED. At first I was all this is a dream sequence, then I was like okay, he must not be actually dead though, but by the time they hug goodbye, I’m full on crying convinced Tucker is really going to Heaven.

I’ve heard mix reviews on the end. Sorry, but I like my endings tied in nice pretty bows. I like that Tucker was given a “power” so he could be more a part of Clara’s world and we don’t need to worry about him dying in several decades while Clara lives to be 120. Do I wish we knew a little more about Christian? Yes, but it wasn’t his story, and sometimes not everyone has a happily ever after.

Hand could continue with this series — she sure left the story line open for more adventures — but as much as I hate to let characters I love go, I am plenty happy thinking of Clara and Tucker living out their last century together.

So thank you, Cynthia, for creating this world and allowing us to be apart of it.

-AB