The Kari AnnAlysis

Posts Tagged ‘fiction’

Ginny isn’t much of an adventure girl. That’s what her Aunt Peg was for. Peg was the wild, free spirit, artsy one of the family. One day, Peg left without a word and the next time Ginny heard from Peg, it was after her beloved aunt died. No, she didn’t hold a seance! Before Peg’s death, she knew she was dying of cancer, she made up a little scavenger hunt for Ginny, across Europe, so that Ginny could experience what Peg did before she died.

This little hunt comes in the form of 13 Little Blue Envelopes. She gives Ginny strict instructions to only open one envelope at a time and she is denied access to cell phones and internet. Yes, Ginny could have just sat on her couch in Jersey and opened the envelopes one-by-one but her aunt knew her better than that, and knew she’d have to fufill her wishes, so off Ginny is to Europe, with no idea what lies ahead. But I’ll go ahead and tell you, it involves art, a cute boy and lots of foreign land that will make you want to pack your bags and puddle jump to London in a heart beat.

I have seen this book on the shelves of the bookstores for a while now, always thought it sounded good, but never picked it up. But when I got the sequal to this book on Netgalley and my time was running out before the release, I knew it was time to finally bite the spending bullet and buy it. But, I got a little lucky. I got on the Nook Book Store and guess what the featured free book of the week was? Yes, this one! How lucky is that? So, of course, I knew it was meant to be and started reading immediately.

The book is told through Ginny’s experiences, with a snippet from her aunt thrown in when it’s time to read the letters. I am a huge fan of different characters taking the lead in the books and even though it was only for a short time, while explaining the next task, it was nice.

I immediately fell in love with Ginny and her eccentric aunt. My family is a little crazy, but I can honestly say I don’t have anyone that would send me across Europe like this. How cool would that be? And would I even be gutsy enough to do it? Ginny, however, goes right across the ocean and dives right in. She may be a bit shy, but it takes something for someone to do something like this, so my admiration for her skyrocketed.

I’m not going to lie, this book is a bit magical. Johnson paints an amazing picture, no pun intended, of the destinations that Ginny goes to. If I would ever head to any of those countries in the future, I would check out the places Ginny went. I know that sounds silly, and yes I understand Ginny is not real, but they all sounded so amazing.

I loved this book, and am old enough to know that this may not be the safest journey to take by yourself. I also understand it is fiction, but I couldn’t help but think of what Ginny’s parents were thinking about this whole trip. She never contacted them once! Mine would not be ok with that and I am married and 24-years-old, not a soon-to-be senior in high school. But, that’s the beauty of fiction. You don’t have to have an explanation.

I give 13 Little Blue Envelopes 5 bookmarks. Stay tuned in the next day or so for my review on the sequal, The Last Little Blue Envelope. I couldn’t take any time between these two books and started reading the second one within minutes of finishing the first.

ISBN: 978-0060541415
Publish Date: August 2005
Author Website
Kari got this book on Free Friday at the Nook Book Store

I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember. My cousin and I used to write short fictional stories when we were little after reading RL Stein books. I was the little weird kid who asked for things like a typewriter and a reading chair for presents. And now, I’m the big weird kid who is obsessed with reading and writing.

I write from the time I get up until the time I go to bed, with some snacking in the middle of course. I write news stories for a living, I write blogs about the books I read, I write tweets about work and books and anything else that comes into my little head and recently I’ve also started writing books.

I started my fiction writing endeavor last summer, which I’m sure I’ve mentioned a few times in the past few months. It was an idea that came to me in a dream, seriously, and wouldn’t leave me alone until I started typing it out. And now, that idea has turned into a 43,000 word young adult murder mystery.

I have shared tidbits of info to bloggy and Twitter friends, but here’s the gist: Laney Gilmore is a sophomore at Redwoods Heights. She has been doing grunt-work articles on the school’s newspaper, but is finally getting her break. But it comes at the expense of the murder of the school’s beloved head cheerleader, suffocated by her pom-pom of all things. So Laney teams up with her uncle, a local detective, a nerdy freshman who has an in with the family, and of course a cute boy to find out who killed the teen prom queen. How creepy is it that someone you’ve walked through the halls with for years is dead? And isn’t it even creepier that someone else in those same halls could be a killer?

So, there you have it. I started the book around June of last year and was going strong until November. That’s when I started NaNo and couldn’t think of anything better to write about, than a sequel to my first unfinished WIP. This one deals with a kidnapping.

I spent about three months on the sequel and decided a couple of weeks ago when I had a vacation day that I would go back and see if things started flowing again. And they did. In just three days, I had finished my first book. And I am happy with it! I keep thinking of little tid bits that I need to add, but for the most part, it’s done, finito.

As soon as I finished, I felt great about myself, so I started searching for agents. I was on a roll and didn’t want to get out of the groove. I found five or six online I thought I could work with, but one stood out above the others. One thing that I looked for was an agency that represented authors that I have read and liked. I feel if they can back a work that I like, then it may be a good fit for me too.

I started writing up a query within the next few days, but didn’t love it so I stashed it away. I kept thinking to myself about how I could change it and make it better. It wasn’t until more than a week later (last week) that I sat down with it and tweeked it for hours before finally pushing send. I am not going to lie, it was a high like I never felt. Less than 12 hours later, I heard back and they didn’t agree that we were a fit. No biggie. I knew that this wasn’t going to be easy peasy. I guess I didn’t expect it so soon. I imagined not to hear back for a week or so. But I did and now it’s back to the drawing board.

I have actually learned a lot about the publishing world from the past few weeks and know I have a lot more to learn, and I’m excited for this new journey. But for those who are wanting to jump into the booky world, I will tell you that so far, the writing has been the easiest part.

Now, I’m not writing this for everyone to feel bad for me because I got a rejection. I know it happens to thousands of people a day who want to be authors. I am writing this, because I have briefly discussesd this with a number of my online friends and want to keep my bloggy support group in the know!

So, fingers crossed as I embark on this trip and of course I will keep everyone updated!

Released: November 14, 2007

I got this book from the Kelley and Hall book company for review. I was told this book was Stephen King meets J.R.R Tolkein and it was magical. I haven’t read either of these authors, but the book was magical.

There are two stories in this book. One is of Charles and his sister Tanya. Tanya is sick and one of the things to make her feel better is story telling. Every night her father tells them the story of Prince Cha Cha and Princess Ta Ta. This is the second story.

The Prince and Princess are in a bit of a bind. Evil has twisted its way into their kingdom in the form of a traitor. After the Princess is left in the woods, she has to find her way to the greatest wizard in the land. She doesn’t quite find him, but does find herself in an adventure. All the while, the Prince has changed. He’s not bratty and demanding as he used to be, but no one is really sure why. The two have to come together somehow and put their kingdom back in order.

Between story times, Charles and Tanya learn a lot about each other and Tanya’s sickness. Their relationship grows as Charles takes it upon himself to save his sister.

I do like wizard stories, so I was very optimistic when starting this. I thought it was written very well and I really liked how it went back and forth between the two stories. It wasn’t confusing at all, like some stories are when they go between fantasy and reality. You always knew where you were.

I also liked the characters in this story too. There were some that I didn’t like when the story started, but grew to love once I really got to know them. And vice versa of course.

There were many twists in this story that I didn’t expect. Some of them I guessed, but most caught me by surprise.

I didn’t have many complaints about this story, other than the bed time story part may have been a little adult for the kids. The story itself was kid friendly, but there were parts when I had to read and re-read and consult my dictionary. I guess this may actually be genius because it’s on a kid level and adult level at the same time. Kind of like Finding Nemo. If you’re a kid, you love it because it’s fun. If you’re an adult, you get the humor, it’s a win-win.

This is a little darker than I normally read, but I enjoyed it. I give the book 4 bookmarks and will look forward to Ronald Neal Green books in the future.