Heart Full of Ink

It's nearing the end of October which means Halloween is almost here! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because you're encouraged to dress up and pretend to be someone else. If it were socially acceptable to dress up in a different costume each day, I totally would.



To celebrate Halloween, I'd thought I'd share this treat with you: The Halloween Book Tag. I read Tasha's Halloween Book Tag on her blog The Bookie Monsters, and she invited anyone to participate in the tag.

Also, be warned, I went a little gif crazy on this post.

• The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding, obviously.
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. A group of people are trapped in a house together and are being killed off one by one. 
• Edgar Allen Poe Short Stories: "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado" are two of my favorites. They're both pretty short reads, so you definitely should have time to sneak them in before or on Halloween.
• Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is my favorite Sherlock Holmes story. It is creepy and has one of the most awesome endings. 
• Prom Nights from Hell by Kim Harrison, Stephanie Meyer, Meg Cabot, Lauren Myracle, and Michelle Jaffe. This is a collection of short stories written by popular young adult authors. I read it back when I was in high school. I remember them being fun and quick reads.
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Witches, murder, revenge, what's not to love? This is my favorite of Shakespeare's tragedies.
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Life and death, what it means to be human, the dangers of megalomania, the supernatural, each time I read this book I pull something new out of it. It is definitely near the top of the list of my favorite classics.

Summary of Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Forty years ago, the war between humans and dragons ended with a peace treaty. Now, despite the good intentions behind the treaty, humans and dragons are still wary of each other and human religious zealots are stirring up old hatred of dragons which could drive both humans and dragons back into battle against one another.

Seraphina is a young talented musician who recently arrived to court where the mistrust of dragons is steadily rising. When a member of the royal family is found murdered with his head ripped from his body—the preferred killing method of dragons—Seraphina is drawn into the investigation as she tries to uncover an evil plot to destroy the shaky peace between humans and dragons. As she races to find the prince's killer, Seraphina must also guard her own secret for fear of losing everything.


Review

Seraphina, Rachel Hartman's debut novel, was published in 2012. I remember seeing it in Barnes and Noble and jotting the title down on the back of a receipt I found in my purse. I placed a hold on the book at the library and patiently waited for it to work its way through everyone else ahead of me on the hold list. When it did arrive, it came at the same time as about five other books for which I had been waiting. I was also at university at the time, and I was in three different literature classes at the time.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Three.

Lit.

Classes.

I do not know what I was thinking when I planned my schedule.

The amount of reading I did for school that semester was insane. Needless to say, I didn't have much time to read for fun. So, I returned Seraphina to the library without even opening it once. I hate returning a book without reading it.

So, here I am, three years later, and I've finally read the book! I am so glad I found the time to return to it. The world building was fantastic, the plot was engaging, and the characters were diverse and endearing.

World building can make or break a novel, especially when it's your first novel. Writers have a tendency to want to explain everything to their readers to make sure they understand it. Hartman, in a refreshing change of pace, lets readers figure out Seraphina's world on their own. She knows that readers are smart and enjoy discovering new information alone. I enjoyed piecing together the various tidbits of world building spread throughout the novel to gain a better view of the world and culture Hartman created.

In addition to the excellent world building, the plot of Seraphina made for an entertaining read. The more I write, the more I appreciate a well-plotted novel. Hartman threw in plenty of red herrings so that I didn't know who the killer was until the big reveal. Whenever Seraphina solved one problem, another was thrown in her path. The secret Seraphina struggles with throughout the novel also kept me on edge.

Reading Seraphina reminded me of Sharon Shinn's books because of the wonderful characters, especially the strong female protagonists. I'm a sucker for a strong female character. What I love so much about the main character Seraphina is that she isn't your stereotypical bow and arrow wielding female BA but is still strong in her own way. Don't get me wrong. I love those bow and arrow wielding female BAs as much as the next girl. I also like to see characters who are diversely strong. Seraphina is not skilled in combat. She's a musician who seeks to teach those around her tolerance and acceptance of differences. She's daring and brave. She lies but always has a good reason to do so. Much like Shinn, Hartman created characters who were strong in many different ways which I love because that's how women are in real life. We're all strong in different areas.

Seraphina is not the only strong female character in this novel. Princess Glisselda, at first glance, appears to be a flighty young girl who loves to flirt and dance. As the book progresses, Glisselda grew on me as a character because I got to know her better through Seraphina and watch her grow into a leader. Another female character I enjoyed reading about was a foreign ambassador named Dame Okra Carmine. She is a cranky woman whose stomach tells her where to be at the exact right moment.

I don't want to spoil the rest of the book, so I'm not going to go into much detail about Seraphina's  love interest. All I'm going to say is that my response to Seraphina's struggle to keep her secret and deal with her feelings for her love interest went something like this: akdfjldslakmf! From a reading standpoint, I kept thinking "Hartman, why can't you let Seraphina be happy?" As a writer, I applaud Hartman for all of the tension the situation created.

Ultimately, I recommended Seraphina to my sister, which is pretty high praise coming from me. My sister and I have a similar taste in books, though she's usually able to see plot twists coming before I do, so I only suggest books when I particularly enjoyed them and think she will too.

And if my sister likes a book, you'll probably like it too. She has good taste.

Do you prefer to read books or listen to them? Do you have any favorite readers when it comes to audiobooks? Comment below.

Coming Soon

The next book on my list is Seraphina by Rachel Hartman.

Hello Everyone!

Well, it's officially October now which means November is less than a month away.  I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this November with the goal of writing a novel which is 50,000+ words in length by the end of the month. I've been planning my novel, Cursed, since August and thought I would share a bit of my planning process with you. I am modeling my video off of the one Alyssa Carlier did on her blog The Devil Orders Takeout

• A strong, independent female protagonist who is a reluctant heroine
• A Han Solo and Princess Leia type of relationship with the genders reversed (meaning the character similar to Han Solo is female and the Princess Leia like character is male)
• Curses, spells, and general mayhem

This is the first time I am actually planning out my novel before I write it. Previously, I did little to no plotting prior to writing which resulted in dozens and dozens of unfinished stories. I have the horrible habit of only writing when I'm inspired and then dropping the project when I lose that initial spark. So, this time around, I'm planning before I write. If you have any tips or tricks you use to plot your novels, please share them in a comment below.

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? What do you do to prepare for it?