Haven't posted in a while. Here's a review on things that happened book-wise.

I realized I haven't compile my list of books yet. 

My first book, the first book that I entered NaNo with is published in 2011. Available on MizanStore and GooglePlay in print and ebook format. 

Author: D.F.Jules

Genre: Paranormal, YA, adventure, action, romance

Summary (As seen on Goodreads)

My name is Leah Curran and my life sucks

While other people inherit boxes of junk from their relatives, my family inherits powers. And not even cool powers. I have the ability to sense Angels, Demons and most importantly the Touched; people who are graced and cursed with the power of Angels and Demons, responsible for keeping the balance between Good and Evil. When it came to them, my mother only had one rule; avoid them at all cost. I broke that rule and lost my mother because of it.

Now I try to live a quiet, careful life with my uncle’s family and my best friend, Gabe. But once in a while the universe likes to kick you in the face just to remind you that you are small and insignificant. The Touched are gathering in my small little town of nowhere, and some of them know me and know what I can do. Some of them want to hurt me, some of them want to use me, and so little few want to protect me. Avoiding them is no longer an option.

I will finally have the chance to do something that I have been hopelessly wishing for since the night my mother disappeared; a chance to fight back.

I have been waiting for this, I have trained for this. It’s time to do or die.

Available at: MizanStore  (Print. DeadTree version), GooglePlay (ebook, friendly to foreign-buyers), WayangForce (ebook).

The second book I did on NaNoWriMo.

Author: D.F.Jules

Genre: Paranormal, fantasy, YA, action, romance, adventure

Summary (as seen on Goodreads)

Lorelei Wong is a simple and ordinary girl. She fights with her mother, she goes to school, she paints and she hangs out with her friends. 

She is completely ordinary—

—in spite of the fact that her three best friends—the Lyall boys; Kai, Colin and Channing—are werewolves and that she is the only human growing up in a werewolf pack.

Other than that, she is completely normal.

Or so she, and most of the people around her, thought.

Until one day she is told that she isn’t; that she is in fact a key element that can either help or destroy the very people she calls family, the very people she calls pack. And the Packs, already dwindling in number because of The Great Pack War, responds very seriously to threats.

Suddenly, Lorelei doesn’t have the option of being just a girl, she must be smart and sneaky and strong in order to survive, because being what she is, the packs will want to either own her, use her or destroy her.

And if she dies, she knows all her three boys will follow--and that is something she will never accept. 

In order to bargain for their lives, she must learn to deal and control her powers under the tutelage of her mother, but soon she learns that power doesn't come for free and Lorelei has to figure out if the price for a life is greater than the price of her soul.

Available at: Wayang Force (ebook: PDF format)

On NaNoWriMo 2014 I'm doing Till Death Do Us (Not) Part.

I haven't a cover yet but here is the summary also seen on Goodreads:

Seth Matthews and his two siblings, Nadia and Nate, have a knack for finding trouble, or as they often protested, trouble have a way of finding them.

But with a family history like theirs, mischief-making is in their blood.

In a world of Affinity-users, Seth, Nadia and Nate have the Affinity with the dead, mainly ghosts. People like them are called Reapers, a designation that is usually treated with respect and admiration. But the black mark upon their family brought the siblings' day-to-day life under scrutiny from Affinity Elders.

Handling the burden of prejudice and suspicion in their own unique way together with their Bond-Ghosts--ghosts who are tethered to their souls whose sole job is to guard their bodies from possession--Seth, Nadia and Nate stumbles upon a mystery where Bond-Ghosts are disappearing one by one.

Now they have to work together to figure out who is behind the disappearances before accusing fingers point toward them...and before their own Bond-Ghosts, Darling, Lizzie and Vincent disappear as well.

Last year I did my book DreamWalkers but it's still not done yet because of reasons.  But you can read chapter 1 and 2 (as usual I will be periodically posting up chapters as I go along) here:

DreamWalkers is a book that I had a lot of trouble to begin with, not only because the vagueness concept but because of the characterization of my main character Medea. Medea struggles a lot with her demons and most of the time her demons wins and I'm not that person but when I write this story I have to become that person and it is hard. It became hard for me to sleep, it became hard for me to be around people, I'm anxious all the time, I focused on the negative and I'm angry and often times vindictive. It's uncomfortable. So I have to stop from time to time as I write which of course makes the book slow going. 

I will one of these days put on my big girl panties and hunker down to finish this book in the near future, the story is too interesting not too. 

BTW, I am also on Goodreads. 

#NowReading Sherry Thomas' The Elemental Mage Trilogy (ARCs)

It all began with a ruined elixir and an accidental bolt of lightning…

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's being told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the greatest mage tyrant the world has ever known. A suicide task for anyone let alone a sixteen-year-old girl with no training, facing a prophecy that foretells a fiery clash to the death.

Prince Titus of Elberon has sworn to protect Iolanthe at all costs but he's also a powerful mage committed to obliterating the Bane to avenge the death of his family—even if he must sacrifice both Iolanthe and himself to achieve his goal.

But Titus makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the Bane closing in, he must choose between his mission and her life

After spending the summer away from each other, Titus and Iolanthe (still disguised as Archer Fairfax) are eager to return to Eton College to resume their training to fight the Bane. Although no longer bound to Titus by a blood oath, Iolanthe is more committed than ever to fulfilling her destiny—especially with the agents of Atlantis quickly closing in.

Soon after arriving at school, though, Titus makes a shocking discovery, one that makes him question everything he previously believed about their mission. Faced with this devastating realization, Iolanthe is forced to come to terms with her new role, while Titus must choose between following his mother's prophecies—and forging a divergent path to an unknowable future

#NowReading: McCormick Templeman's The Glass Casket and Stacey Jay's Of Beast and Beauty

Summary on Goodreads:

Death hasn't visited Rowan Rose since it took her mother when Rowan was only a little girl. But that changes one bleak morning, when five horses and their riders thunder into her village and through the forest, disappearing into the hills. Days later, the riders' bodies are found, and though no one can say for certain what happened in their final hours, their remains prove that whatever it was must have been brutal.

Rowan's village was once a tranquil place, but now things have changed. Something has followed the path those riders made and has come down from the hills, through the forest, and into the village. Beast or man, it has brought death to Rowan's door once again.

Only this time, its appetite is insatiable

Summary at Goodreads:

In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.

#NowReading: Adrienne Kress's The Friday Society

Summary (Goodreads):

An action-packed tale of gowns, guys, guns –and the heroines who use them all 

Set in turn of the century London, The Friday Society follows the stories of three very intelligent and talented young women, all of whom are assistants to powerful men: Cora, lab assistant; Michiko, Japanese fight assistant; and Nellie, magician's assistant. The three young women's lives become inexorably intertwined after a chance meeting at a ball that ends with the discovery of a murdered mystery man.

It's up to these three, in their own charming but bold way, to solve the murder–and the crimes they believe may be connected to it–without calling too much attention to themselves.

Set in the past but with a modern irreverent flare, this Steampunk whodunit introduces three unforgettable and very ladylike–well, relatively ladylike–heroines poised for more dangerous adventures.

edited:

The writing style didn't agree with me so I abandoned this. 

#BOOKHAUL!, DreamWalkers and A Whole Lot of Nothing

Aren't they PURTY?

Still have a ton of new books but I'll introduced them to you gently. 

Anyway, have been busy editing Wolf at the Door (WATD) especially since contract is being negotiated and I haven't time to continue with DreamWalkers but will go back to it after. Meanwhile, I'm thinking of changing The Wolf Series into the Oathbreaker Series, considering the book isn't really about the wolves but about the Waerloga....strange how things can hit you at the last moment. 

And I just changed the title on Goodreads. So WATD is Oathbreaker #1. 

I'm not editing much of the book just a little here and there, change some weird sentences or catch a few more typos and misspellings if I can. 

I really need a good editor. It would help if I have another set of eyes to catch things that I didn't. 

In DreamWalkers, it's weird how as an author you would have your own favorite character. Someone who despite not being a main character, you love just the same. Sure enough, like a parent, you would have a favorite child but...in DreamWalkers, I didn't expect Yohan to be my favorite. Sure he will be a big part of the story but...It's not surprising that Medea would be the most confusing character for me, I just don't really get her because my personality is so very different from her and writing her has its ups and downs and sideways while Sen, my second favorite, is actually pretty easy to write about that I'm worried that he would come off as boring. Don't get me wrong, I don't consider him boring, but he's so entrenched in Asian customs and traditions (Japanese, where everything is suppressed and understated) that I'm afraid he would come off as staid and...boring. To me he is fascinating, all that rock-steadiness and Japanese restraint hiding an ocean vastness of will and passion and I give him little moments-subtle-moments where I try to give hints of that intensity and bring it out, especially in his interactions with Medea. But Sen is also respectful, quiet, a flowing river underneath a mirror surface type and I'm afraid I wouldn't do him justice. And I'm afraid that my readers who aren't Asian will not be able to relate to him...

It's like when an Asian movie is remade by Hollywood,  a change in values and traditions change the whole look and feel of the movie. Sometimes what we Asians consider powerful emotionally or scandalous isn't a big deal for other people and I'm afraid of such meaningful actions from Sen would pass people by because they don't get it. They don't get him.

Or am I thinking too much or being an Asian snob?

Yohan, my favorite, would most definitely be a crowd pleaser, not only because he's the not-so-typical bad boy type--sort of--but because he is passionate and he acts on said passion. Not that he's reckless, because he's not. But he's the type to say rousing speeches and lead men while Sen is the one who stands behind the throne and whispers secrets and quiet advice. Both boys are intense but while Yohan has the burn-to-ashes intensity of the sun, Sen is the steady light in the dark that guides you home. 

So, which would you prefer? 

P.S: Boo is doing great. He's eating a lot, napping like the world is going to end and basically creating a mess wherever he goes like cats do. 

Happy with his progress. *thumbs up*

Relevant Video of the Day

This is me after every Cassandra Clare book, especially Clockwork Prince, and also Sarah Rees Brennan's Untold and Maureen Johnson's the Madness Underneath. Those unholy three causes this. Their books need disclaimers.

Just without the bottle of Jack Daniels.

#amreading

Am half-way through this. So far so good. Am loving the cover and the idea behind the story. I mean come on, a ghost hunter and a ghost? You can't get more star-crossed than that. I'm glad I found out this book now because the second book is already out and I have it!

Books: Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices #3: Clockwork Princess

Am starting Clockwork Princess. Pray for me.