kiwigirl reads. . . .

Not every fairy-tale needs a Prince Charming. When a troll no one else can see attacks her outside the bar on her 30th birthday, Caitlin Moore thinks someone spiked her drink. It isn’t until a team of faeries rescues her and reveals that she has a special Gift that she realizes it’s something worse: she’s just become the star of her own twisted fairy-tale. Her newly awakened Gift of the Warding makes her immune to fae magic, something unheard of in a human. Her rescuers are exiled enemies of the High King who has allowed bestial creatures like the troll to cross the boundary that separates their worlds. They promise to right the King’s wrongs, but first they need her Gift to find the key to breaking their banishment. Unable to a turn blind eye to the danger she now sees in every shadow, Caitlin dives headfirst into their world of crazy. In return for her help they teach her to fight back against the nasties, but she isn’t prepared for the thrill she feels on t...

For those of you who don't live on the internet or twitter like I do you may not have heard - they are making ' The Mortal Instruments ' book series by Cassandra Clare into a TV series called ' Shadowhunters . Wait! Wasn't that a movie? I hear you say. Yes they made it into a movie staring Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower but if you actually went and saw it you will know the problem. It was just not good. They certainly tried but so much was left out and a lot was not explained or explained too much. I was left very disappointed.  Because it did not do very well, plans for the follow up movie have been pushed back and it looks like it will never happen now. Can't say I'm that worried about the decision. What they have done is decided to start again from scratch on TV. The show is from ABC Family and they are casting at the moment. Most of the leads have been announced - here is the link to the Facebook page if you are interested - https://www.f...

Good News! This year I did it, I reached my goal of 50 books for the Goodreads Challenge! I actually went over it by one, so even better.  You might remember in 2013 I was a bit disappointed because I only managed to get to 45. I was so close.  I definitely think I've made a good effort in the past year, I also re-read a few old books and tried some short stories, these ones I didn't count in my overall numbers so I know I read even more than what I set out to do. I have set my 2015 goal to 50 again. I only just reached it so I don't want to push it too much and not be able to achieve the goal. I think 50 is a good number to ensure that I don't get too far off track and just spend all my time watching TV.  My friend sent me this list from the website 9gag.com . I think it sounds like fun so I might try and fit my books into this also. I have put a copy of the list from the website below in case you are interested. The link to the arti...

I have been meaning to put this post up for a bit but am as usual behind. I was very lucky to win a signed Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of the last Lotus War book - Engsinger by Jay Kristoff.  It's my first ARC - exciting. I have not actually had a chance to read it yet. I haven't read the second one in the trilogy so need to get that finished first. I am planning to do a review on the first one Stormdancer in the near future. Endsinger is out now so if you are looking for something a bit different then check it out, the series is kind of steampunk/fantasy set in feudal Japan. I would also recommend you check out Jay Kristoff's blog , he is an Australian author and a funny guy. The blog site is http://misterkristoff.wordpress.com/. This is where I won the ARC from, it was a worldwide competition which was great for me as I live in an obscure part of the world. Also came with a nifty bookmark

It's officially November which means it is the first day of National Novel Writing Month (Well it is here in South Korea, you might have to wait a few hours if you live on the other side of the world). I have written about this for the past two years. It's a time for you to challenge yourself to write that novel that you have been thinking about forever. All over the world people are committing themselves to the challenge of writing 50,000 words. There are huge online communities in different areas that are set up to make the solitary life of writing a bit more social. They have write-ins at local cafes, word games both online and in meetup groups and many other activities aimed at socializing but also getting your word count up.  If you have never heard of it before I would suggest you check out their website . It has all the information you need. You can find out if there is a writers group near you (there probably is) and get started. If you have al...

I wanted to share the new trailer for the Morganville Web Series that will be coming out soon. I just watched it and it looks really good. Very true to the books. I think that by going the Kickstarter and webseries route, Rachel Caine, the author was able to keep more of a hand in what was happening. Usually when these books get sold to movie producers they change things and very often screw up the casting just to get someone who has a name that will sell. I really enjoy Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampire series of books. I think it was a great fresh idea with good characters and plot lines. I have not finished the series yet but will do in the future. In the meantime I will be checking out the series as soon as it becomes available. You can also go to the website  http://www.morganvilletheseries.com/ to find out more about the series. A while ago I reviewed the first book in the series, you can check it out here . 

Just thought I would write a quick update, I have not been writing much here lately but that is nothing new. You will see however that I have been better in my reading this year so far, I am 31 books in to my Goodreads Reading Challenge of 50 books. I think this year I will be able to complete it. I am trying to make sure I put some time aside each week to do a bit of reading. I also recently took a course on Creative Writing though the Gotham Writers website, they have courses in New York but they also offer an extensive online catalog. I did the introductory course Creative Writing 101 which is just a six week course, very low pressure and basic for beginners or people just getting back into writing. I really enjoyed it, I was not really sure where to start or what to do so this was the perfect introduction for me. There was good information about lots of different writing styles and key ideas, there were weekly assignments but they were very small and I found them interesting...