Tuesday, June 28, 2011

When do you know you're at "The End"?

It's a question I have been asking myself a lot lately as I wrap up my first novel. This is the furthest I have ever made it in a work. I'm at the editing stage and I keep adding things, or thinking of different ways to phrase this and that. I wonder, is there such a thing as fine-tuning a piece of fiction to death? Yes, there probably is! I want to make it all flow together nicely, but I also don't want to be tedious.
So, my editing process involves a lot of highlighters. Different colors for different things. Mostly, I am searching for typos/grammatical errors, awkward phrasings and consistency.
Some days I think it's better than I remember and I am amazed I wrote it. Other days I am amazed I would actually consider letting other people read what I have written!
How will I know when it's finally done? I guess I'll just know.

Monday, June 6, 2011

The Perfect Play - Jaci Burton

The Perfect Play (Play by Play, #1)The Perfect Play by Jaci Burton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'm a sucker for football players. This cover was almost too good to pass up. I actually found myself more interested in the characters than the sex, which doesn't always happen in this genre. That is a big part of the four-star rating. I genuinely liked the two characters, even when I found them annoying. Mick is almost too good to be true. He is depicted as a very likeable (if sometimes a little dense) guy with regular human foibles. I would have liked to see him give Tara a little more grief when she acted like a jerk.



My only issue was that the two characters would seem to make up their minds about where there relationship was headed and then next thing you know, they were agonizing about it and pushing each other away. Again. Especially Tara. The continued conflict/non-conflict got tiresome. The blatant toss-in of Liz and Gavin's story towards the end of the book is clearly meant to generate interest for the next story. It was obvious and aggravating.



I did like how Tara is always mindful of how her actions affect her son. Her son is not in the story just as window dressing, he's an integral part of the story and his well-being motivates Tara's choices time and again throughout the book. I also enjoyed the excessive porny dirty talk during the sex scenes. :)





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