Review: Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn

Blurb from Amazon:

On one side of the border lies the modern world: the internet, homecoming dances, cell phones. On the other side dwell the ancient monsters who spark humanity's deepest fears: dragons.

Seventeen-year-old Kay Wyatt knows she's breaking the law by rock climbing near the border, but she'd rather have an adventure than follow the rules. When the dragon Artegal unexpectedly saves her life, the rules are abruptly shattered, and a secret friendship grows between them.

But suspicion and terror are the legacy of human and dragon inter­actions, and the fragile truce that has maintained peace between the species is unraveling. As tensions mount and battles begin, Kay and Artegal are caught in the middle. Can their friendship change the course of a war?

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I loved the fascinating world that Carrie Vaughn created in this book! Dragons and humans must share the world and to do that the border between the two nations must never be crossed. A 60 year old treaty prevents the two from ever meeting.

Above all, friendships between dragons and humans are illegal.

What I loved most was Kay's earthy, adventurous nature. She's the kind of teenager I wanted to be. I would have loved hiking and rock climbing and making friends with a dragon.

There was only one thing that frustrated me. I had wished that Kay would have told her friends about her secret trips to the dragon. How cool it would have been if she and her friends had worked together to solve problem--you know, Harry Potter style. Potter always worked with Ron and Hermione, and it was the camaraderie of solving the problem together that made us love the Potter books.

And I think the ending would have had more impact if Kay had had her friends part of her adventure all along. How much more impressive if several teenagers & young dragons had become friends and had chosen to fight alongside Kay & Artegal to stop the war.

And I liked Jon, the romantic interest. He and Kay were friends for years before they started dating, and they enjoyed many advntures togeter. Rock climbing. Kayaking in the moonlight. Cross-country skiing. Hiking and more hiking. Something was just sooooo dissatisfying that she didn't share this adventure with him too.

Review: All's Fair in Vanity's War by Elizabeth Marx

My Rating: 3 Stars
Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

Well thought-out world building and plot line! Fascinating concept. And the emotional aspects of the story tied me into knots.

The story is told from the perspective of the Seer, a dead teenager who has been given the task of guarding Locke's (her boyfriend when she was still alive) new girlfriend. It's been about 2 years since she died, but she still loves him. For me, it was painful to watch the budding romance through the eyes of the Seer.

I liked the Seer, and although I didn't mind Locke hooking up with Keleigh, I wished that the Seer could have some romance too. The Seer is dead; Locke is still alive. He's obviously not the right guy for her, but I would have been a lot happier if one of the Guardians who could actually see the Seer and talk to the Seer had shown some interest in her.

I wished that Locke and the Seer could have had a real conversation. I wanted closure between the two of them. I wanted to hear him say he loved her but that he was now ready to move on with his life. I wanted her to say she accepted that. But although Locke said several times that he needed to communicate with the Seer, he never did.

I also felt frustrated with the fact that the Seer could mostly only observe and did very little to interact. Because of that, we couldn't sink deeply into her consciousness. Most of the time, the focus was on the people she observed, and at the end of the scene, the Seer would chime in with her reactions to what she had just seen. We got very little sensation, reactions, and internal dialog from the POV.

Despite that, I identified with what we did get from the Seer. I loved the character and I'm hoping for more focus on her in the next book.

Elizabeth Marx is an author with so much wonderful potential. I think her books will just get better and better.

Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

blurb from goodreads:

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind




~ * ~ * ~  * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 

*sniffle, sniffle* I loved this book. *wipes eyes with back of hand*

Augustus was a beautiful soul, and I enjoyed how he encouraged Hazel to really live. She'd given up on living, knowing that she would die and leave a gaping hole behind her. He taught her that every moment here on earth is worth it--both for the one living it and for those who lose their loved ones.

I loved watching their lives, souls, and hearts intertwine, and every moment of this book was precious and beautiful. When I was done (3 in the morning on a work night--2nd time THIS WEEK--*sigh*), I snuck into the kids' rooms, tucked them in and gave them extra kisses.

When the YA Sisterhood blog said this book was about LIFE rather than CANCER, I now have to say they were so right. There isn't anything I didn't love about this book.

Weeks after I read this book, I find myself still thinking about it. Hazel's relationship with her parents, the fear of what her death will do to them, and most importantly her questions about how the world will continue without her. Some of my worst fears (losing a loved one and my loved ones losing me) are addressed by this book, but the more I think about it, the more I feel that I can put those fears aside and focus on living one day at a time, enjoying my family.

I highly recommend this story for everyone.

Lucky 7 Game

The Rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS.
2. Go to line 7.
3. Copy down the next 7 lines/sentences, and post them as they’re written. No cheating.
4. Tag 7 other victims …er, authors.

(Shamelessy borrowed from Victoria Scott's blog...)


From Daughter of the Goddess, a novella that is only 54 pages long. Sooooooo, I'm going to page 7 rather than 77. Just to set the scene, the priestesses pushed this girl Peaches into a bathing pool filled with oil, and she is now drowning:

She no longer wants to breathe, and the water is dark as she slips into the recesses of the pool. A light in the distance and she lifts her hand toward it, a farewell gesture.

I would have been useful. I would have tried.

The light creeps closer. A woman, smiling in the midst of the light, long hair floating in the water around her, reaches out a hand. Peaches lunges toward her, desperate to touch her.

As for my pick of victims:

1. Wendy Swore
2. Renee Miller
3. S.M. Carrera
4. Heather McCubbin
5. Lani Woodland
6. Melanie Marks
7. Evan Joseph

Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Synopsis from Goodreads:
At age 16, Rhine Ellery has four years to live. Thanks to a botched effort to create a perfect race, all females live to age 20 and males live to age 25. On the cusp of her 17th birthday, Rhine attempts to flee, but what she finds is a society spiraling out of control.















My thoughts:

I WANTED to like this book. I've heard so many people raving about it that I expected to love it, but instead, it just made me angry.


First off, I couldn't connect with Rhine. I thought she was selfish to want to run away rather than to fight to make things better. People depended on her, and watching her lie to Linden and plotting to leave her sister wives angered me.

Why was Gabriel better than Linden? Linden was intelligent and considerate and tender. Well, I guess I wouldn't really want to be married to a man who has two other wives, but somehow author Lauren DeStefano made it seem normal and natural. It didn't bother me in the least bit.

So I liked Linden and I thought he deserved a better chance than Rhine gave him. It broke my heart to think how hurt he would be to find her gone in the morning.

And I hated the idea of her sister-wife being left to the mercies of Rhine's father in law. Too naive, the youngest of Linden's bride wouldn't know how to stand up to the master of the house and protect herself and her baby.

Doggonit, Lauren DeStefano made me care!!! I wanted to see good things happen. I wanted to see true bonding between Rhine and her companions. I wanted her father-in-law to be stopped!

Instead, she got that selfish escape she wanted, and I'm not sure I want to read the next book.

Congratulations to 24 winners!

Robot Playground Inc is happy to announce the winners to the Transcendent Giveaway.

Kidlets #1 & #2 & #3 picked out the winning numbers, and whenever I told them the names of their picks, they got all excited. I heard a lot of "That's the best name!"

You all made three little girls very happy for an hour.

Candie L. won the Grand Prize Paranormal Survival Package:

• the movie Beastly in DVD or Blu-Ray (winner's choice)
• candy & popcorn (can't watch a movie without snacks)
• paperback copy of Transcendent
• eBook copy of Tears

Ashley Lavering won the second prize: paperback Transcendent: Tales of the Paranormal


Szabina won the third prize:  paperback Tears by Rita J Webb


Trasina won the fourth prize:  paperback anthology Unlocked: Ten "Key" Tales edited by Wendy Swore and Rita J Webb


Kelly won the fifth prize: eBook Intrinsical by Lani Woodland


Gwen won the sixth prize: eBook When Kyle Comes Back by Melanie Marks


Jennifer K Clark won the seventh prize: eBook Possession by Elana Johnson


Maegan Morin won the eighth prize: eBook Sapphire Flute and eBook The Armor of Light by Karen E Hoover


Kristin Feliz won the ninth prize: eBook The Misadventures of a Teenage Wizard: Two Souls are Better Than One by Karen E Hoover


Donna K Weaver won the tenth prize: eBook Blank Slate by Heather Justesen


Jaclyn won the eleventh prize: eBook Bound by C. K. Bryant


Teressa Oliver won the twelfth prize: eBook Season of Sacrifice by Tristi Pinkston


Gena Robertson won the thirteenth prize: paperback Watched by Cindy M Hogan


Christine Jensen won the fourteenth prize: eBook Watched by Cindy M Hogan


Heidi Noel won the fifteenth prize: eBook Wings of Light by Laura Bingham


Desi won the sixteenth prize: paperback The Peasant Queen by Cheri Chesley


Melissa Haggerty won the seventeenth prize: eBook The Wild Queen by Cheri Chesley


Lucia won the eighteenth prize: eBook Exiled by Rachelle Workman


Dacie won the nineteenth prize: eBook Become by Ali Cross


Francesca won the twentieth prize: ANOTHER eBook copy of Become by Ali Cross


Reagan Walsh won the twenty-first prize: eBook copy of Totally Cliché by Kasey Tross, Debra Erfert, Cathy Witbeck, & More


Eileen won the twenty-second prize: eBook copy of Four Houses by Tori Scott


Lisa won the twenty-third prize: eBook copy of Darkspell by Elizabeth Mueller


Aanchal won the twenty-fourth prize: eBook copy of Vampire Rules by K.C. Blake

Sex in YA Books

When you hit thirteen, you become an adult-in-training. Puberty is the waking of sexuality. We cripple our teenagers if we try to sweep adult issues under the rug. We do them no favors by controlling their thoughts or banning books that contains sexuality.

I can’t even remember how many books I read on the sly when I was a teenager, including Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Flies, and The Eye of the Dragon. None of them were racy or evil, but they were banned from the house all the same. So I kept them in my school locker and read them during study hall.

Rather than banning books, the smarter thing to do is to read the book as well and to keep an open dialog with your kids about issues that the book raises. When it comes to sexuality, there are many topics to discuss: making responsible decisions, knowing what true love is, dealing with making the wrong decision, facing consequences, surviving rape, feeling pressured... What better way is there to learn than to face the problems through the eyes of characters in a book and learn from their mistakes?

YA writers have a responsibility to address these issues. Using flawed characters and difficult situations, writers can help YA readers learn from the characters whose worlds they travel through.

In Going Bovine by Libba Bray, Cameron has sex with a girl from his high school, and when it is over, he feels hollow inside because he never loved her. A great opportunity to learn that sex without love is not satisfying.

In Beauty Queens, also by Libba Bray, one of the girls loses her virginity but discovers afterward that she was used. From the experience, she learns that she has value. How many girls out there make this same mistake? Reading this book and talking about it with an adult would be one of the best ways to avoid making this mistake or to learn how to recover from such an experience.

In White Cat (Curse Workers) and in Red Glove (Curse Workers, Book 2) by Holly Black, Cassel must turn down the girl he has loved since they were best friends as kids. Why? Because her emotions were magically altered to make her love him, and he loves her too much to use her. To protect her from himself, he goes so far as to tell her he doesn’t love her, even when it breaks her heart—and his. Heart wrenching and beautiful.

In Speak by Laura Halse Anderson, a freshman in high school crawls into a shell, refusing to speak, finding every opportunity to hide in the janitor’s closet, failing when she used to be a straight A student, skipping classes, wearing baggy clothes, fighting nightmares. Why? Because she made the mistake of drinking at a party that summer and got raped. Nobody knows. Not the parents or teachers who think that she has a discipline problem. Not the classmates or ex-friends who shun her. Not the art teacher who encourages her. The story carries you through her road to healing. A must read for mothers to share with teenage daughters.

It was hard to make the decisions I did about the content in my book Tears. One beta-reader told me that the detail was too graphic for a YA book. There actually is no on-scene sex in my book. Not even a foreplay scene that fades to black. There are a few kissing scenes that don’t lead anywhere. But the only way readers know that Jaak and Chester have sex is because Chester gets pregnant.

What my beta-reader referred to was Aren’s admiration of Lelea and his vivid imagination about what he would like to do with her:

He would choose a warrior woman to be his mate—like Lelea. Now there was a woman, strong and shapely. She could stalk her prey, wield a knife, shoot even better than he could—she had kicked his ass—and he liked how her nipples perked up under her skintight suit.

– Tears by Rita J Webb, page 181

Aren stood behind the two girls in the doorway to the cargo bay. From his angle, he could see nothing but a gray wall and a corner of the metal door on the ceiling—and two perfect butts in tight jumpsuits. He liked Lelea’s better. Maybe because she was shorter; the right height for him to grab it.

– Tears by Rita J Webb, page 199

A gun belted to her waist, Lelea strapped a rifle over her shoulder and a knife to her leg. Aren liked how she carried herself. The soft, weak girl he had first met was gone. Was this the real Lelea? A soldier like Jadon?

But then he had fought her in the cave back on Lantis. It had to have been her.

She wore a bodysuit, and her nipples stood out under the cloth. He should look away, he knew, but the perfect curve of her breast…

If only the shirt hung loose, then he could see the pink nipple hidden underneath as she bent over. He imagined it hard between his teeth.

Catching his gaze, she winked. Aren glanced away, his face burning.

Her hand on his shoulder. “Never be ashamed of the wildness that makes you a man.”

His gaze darted back to hers. Her smile ignited a fire within him.

– Tears by Rita J Webb, pages 215-216

The last thing I want is to offend, so I almost cut it all out. However, I stopped to think about what it was I wanted to relate to my readers:

1) There’s no shame in healthy sexuality.

2) Fifteen-year-old men think about sex.

3) Men of all ages think about sex.

Ten years of marriage taught me that. A woman who tries to keep her husband’s balls in a jar by the bed will likely have a husband who can’t do much more than watch football and scream for the wench to bring his beer.

I really believe that if you cut away someone’s sexuality, you cut away part of their soul. You leave them crippled inside—man or woman. And so I left the offending passages as they were.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Plummeting into depression after being raped, Melinda starts her freshman year of high school, friendless and alone. She's unable to speak, let alone tell anybody what happened, and her parents and teachers don't know what to do with her.



Obviously, it's a discipline issue, so she's grounded and watched and sent for in-school suspension. Nobody notices the signs--that she takes down her bedroom mirror, that she wants to do nothing but sleep, that she hides behind baggy clothes, that she has nightmares.



But the story isn't about her pain. It's about the seeds of love that a few people plant in her heart. Like her art teacher who won't give up on her. It's about finding herself under all the pain. As she learns to draw a tree, which is her years project, she finds that she is that tree, warped and twisted and broken, but that she has strong roots and she will survive.



It fills me with deep sadness and pain to think that someone would want to ban this book.



View all my reviews

Teenage Motivations

This conversation has shown that there are many deep thinkers among teenagers today—analytical minds that are willing to look deeply at themselves and at society—and then articulate clearly the truths that they have seen.

But today, many teenagers stagnate because adults give them no room to test an awakening that has grown in their spirits. They are relegated to the role of child, and parents seem so afraid of their children's failures that the teenager cannot learn from their mistakes. They do not make mistakes because their choices are taken away from them.


Historical Teenagers
Throughout history and throughout the world, many cultures and races and tribes of men ushered their children into adulthood at puberty. There was a rite of passage, a spirit quest, or a ceremony to mark the occasion. At twelve or thirteen, children became a contributing member of society. Girls were married and began having children of their own. Boys started to learn a trade.

Even the Bible shows a spiritual awakening that occurs at the age of twelve. Most of the strong people throughout the Old Testament, who changed things for the better, started their mission—their battle—at very young ages:

* Joseph was just 17 when he first had his dreams and was sold into slavery.

* King David was a boy in his father's field when he was anointed as king.

* Josiah was 8 when he began to rule, and then at 17, he purged the land of evil.

* Jeremiah was young when God called him as a prophet.

* Mary was in her early teens—as she was still unmarried—when she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus.

*And Jesus was 12, teaching the scribes and Pharisees in the temple.

Empowerment
In the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki, a father comes to Kiyosaki for advice. His son wants a car, and the dad doesn't know whether he should buy it for him or make the kid earn it on his own. Kiyosaki suggests that the father use this as a teaching moment, so the man and his son play the game Cashflow and discuss the wise use of money. Then the father gives his son $3000 with a stipulation that he cannot directly use the money on a car.

The boy starts investing in the stock. He studies books from the library and quickly loses $2000 of the money his father gave him. But he's learned some lessons and he goes back to get more library books. He's forgotten about the car—material possessions mean nothing in his newfound freedom.

But freedom isn't really the word, is it? It's purpose that he found.

Having a Purpose
Teenagers have a God-given mission—to change the world for the better—and instead they are acting the role of children, twiddling their thumbs, and being told that success (good grades, going to the best colleges, finding security in a good job) is all that matters. Because somebody wiser has learned from experience that that is how the world works.

Oh, I agree with gergiskhan that experience has deepened the adult perspective, but experience can only do two things:

* give you the opportunity to learn from your mistakes

* or just kill your spirit for adventure

With our society's focus on success, we are more and more likely to learn that living on the edge is too risky, and it is better to be safe than to live with vigor and passion.

Yes, teenagers yearn for freedom, but I don't think that is what causes teenage angst. It is bitterness that comes from the feeling of ineffectiveness when a passion burns in their hearts to affect the world with fire. And truly, our world needs such an awakening.

What Teenagers Need
Therefore, this is what I believe teenagers need from adults—what I hope to give my own kids today as well as when they are teenagers:

* An environment where failure is celebrated as equally as successes

*A safety net where experiments gone awry can cause the least amount of trouble

* The encouragement to try new things

* The empowerment to make things happen

* The respect and trust of a mind and a heart that is capable of making wise decisions

And The Winners Are...
It was a very hard choice to decide who to award the books to. Everyone was very thoughtful and well-spoken. The three finalists are:

Authorgirl4
Ilana Shayn
Olivia S.

Please email me at rita@ritajwebb.com with an address that I can use to ship your Little Brother books to you.

Writing the Teenage Perspective

NOTE: I am looking for reader feedback. The three best responses will win copies of Cory Doctorow's book Little Brother.

Fifteen-year-old Matt (names been changed to protect me from angry family members) ramped his skateboard off the roof of his house. "It's his ADD," the parents said. "We can't trust him to go down the block to the park on his bike. We know he'll do something stupid."

Just another three years and that 15-year-old will be on his own. Maybe at college. Maybe at his job. What will those parents do then? Spy on him? Follow him around campus? Ask his boss if he's behaving? In my opinion, it's the desperation to experience life that made him do something so crazy. If everyone wasn't breathing down his neck—don't do this, don't do that, don't get dirty, don't be dangerous and wild and free, and you can't do anything worthwhile because you are just a kid—he wouldn't feel the need to almost kill himself just to feel alive.

I may be 34, but my rebellious teenage angst still motivates much of my life philosophy. Even though I am a parent, I don't believe that one person can ever control another. Parents / teachers / authority figures who try to control only destroy the soul. And I believe it is wrong, wrong, wrong for schools to subjugate students into mindless, empty robots. That's why I home school my kids.

Truth is I don't really feel like I've changed since my teenage years. However, today it's not my parents & teachers but rather responsibility, society, & money that keep me from true freedom. Now I have three little persons who depend on me. Mouths to feed and rent to pay.

I enjoyed Cory Doctorow's book Little Brother. A friend of mine complained that it did not accurately portray the teenage mindset. But what really is the teenage mindset? How do you write it? How do see the world through the eyes of a teenager?

I am looking for reader feedback. I want to hear some thoughts from teenagers and adults alike. As stated above, the three best responses will win a copy of Cory Doctorow's book Little Brother.

Some possible questions to answer:

What makes teenagers different from adults?
What makes them similar?
What motivate(s/d) you?
If you are an adult, writing YA books, how do you accurately portray your characters?
If you are a teenager, what is it that you yearn for?
What books best portray teenagers today?