Mod-Goth is totally a thing, right?

I vividly remember being in 7th grade and struggling to pick a book for my first book report of the year. I had just read Phyllis Whitney's Silverhill, my first classic gothic romance, and I was in love with it. I convinced it was the only type of book I ever wanted to read again. My mother gently tried to suggest that perhaps it wasn't the best material for a book report but my answer was simply to suggest other titles by Whitney or similar sounding stories by Victoria Holt. My mother rolled her eyes and sent a note to my teacher with my book report proposal. My teacher tried to have the same conversation with me but I wouldn't budge. Thus my love of gothic was born. 

Over the next several years I burned through all of my mother's gothic romance novels but I read so many that I started to see repeating patterns, overused tropes, and stock characters. I wasn't calling my issues by those names at the time, but I got a little bored with the formulaic nature of the genre. 

And then Jenny Adams Perinovic wrote A Magic Dark & Bright and I fell entirely back in love with gothic. It was spooky and romantic and full of deep dark family secrets. It was all the things I had loved about my mother's gothics but it was also something else. It was modern and fresh and included so many other elements that made it the antithesis of formula fiction. 

Despite my undying love of AMD&B, I didn't dive right back into gothic. The wounds of my old betrayal ran deep. But I took baby steps. I downloaded The Artisans by Julie Reece months ago because it sounded so good and just what my little gothic-loving heart craved.   

Just a few days ago, I was struggling to stay afloat in daily life and, because stress leads to bad decisions, I decided to start reading The Artisans at 11pm on a weeknight. I binge read it in one sitting. (Bed time was after 2am but I don't want to talk about it.) 

AND I LOVED IT. It was perfect gothic gone modern. It had just enough of the tropes I wanted without being too predictable. It was just what my stressed out brain needed to relax and find its happy place again. I loved the spunky voice of the main character, Raven. And the infuriating but drop dead gorgeous Gideon with his blond curls and fancy cane. I loved Raven's super supportive, effortlessly endearing best friends and the grumpy chauffeur. And the pearly white boy who tells her that her black cat is in danger. I loved literally everything about this book. I highly recommend! 

So I'm thoroughly back in love with gothic, but modern, fresh, and innovative gothic. Something I've dubbed mod-goth. It's totally thing, right? Cool, now send me all the recommendations! 

xoxox,

LSM

GIRLS DON'T FLY nested in my heart

GIRLS DON'T FLY by Kristen Chandler is the story of Myra, a teenager with a lot of responsibilities. She already struggled to balance her family obligations with school and her boyfriend but when he dumps her and her pregnant older sister adds even more to her proverbial plate, something has to give. In a situation that could be crushing, Myra finds her wings, pushing herself to go head to head with her ex in an academic competition, find a new job, demand her own space, and just maybe fall in love along the way.

This book wrecked me because it hit so close to home in so many ways. It NAILS the complicated family scenario. The frustration, the insanity, the animosity, the mostly unconditional love. It's all there. Getting it right again, Chandler shows the challenge of letting others into your life when your family is something they will never understand. I've been there and it sucks and this book showed it. But this book, for me, was about hope. About finding your chance and going for it. About achieving balance most of the time but letting yourself screw up too.

I LOVED this book and cannot recommend it enough. Especially if you have an overbearing family with high expectations. Especially if you know how hard it is to find your niche. Just go read it!

BROWN GIRL DREAMING is even better than they said

When I picked up Jacqueline Woodson's BROWN GIRL DREAMING at the library I was apprehensive. I don't always love the things that the larger book world loves including many National Book Award winners. I decided to give it a go anyway and I'm so glad I did.

Woodson uses stunning free verse to take us on a journey, to help us bear witness to a life. I don't think of this book as a story in the traditional sense. It is an experience. The milestones, the family, the religion, the race, the time period. All these things so vivid in her poetry that I feel as though I know her neighborhood, her family, her friends. I could feel the heat of south and hear the rush of the NYC.

When I read a book, I generally walk away with a few big ideas or themes. For this book, that idea was identity. What makes us who we are, and how people, ideas, and places shape our development. I finished the book and I felt more attuned to the world around me and to myself.

My only complaint about this book was that I could'e kept reading. I wanted more of the story. I wanted the next chapter of Woodson's life told in aching poetry that awakes my head and heart together.

If you haven't read this book yet, DO IT NOW! Happy Reading!

xoxox
L.S. Mooney

If you've ever been dumped go read OVER YOU

I picked up this book because moving on is hard. As in, I broke up with my boyfriend over the summer and I still don't know what I'm doing emotionally. So, yeah, I picked up a YA book as a self-help book. Sue me. 

But you know what? This book was EXACTLY what I needed. 

Max is the girl who helps everyone else get over the boys that dump them, but deep down she isn't really over the boy who dumped her. Her program for getting girls over their exes is AWESOME and pretty real world accurate.  Her concept of The Moment as what every girl wants (and kind of needs) when getting over a guy is phenomenally on point. I couldn't help but think of experiences from my own past, of running into old crushes/bfs/etc and not feeling on my game or pretty enough or successful enough. But this book made me feel empowered and independent and awesome even when I'm not perfect. Oh, and Bridget is pretty much my favorite ever. 

Oddly enough, the best part about the book wasn't the man-hating, it was the girl power. I didn't come away from reading it hating the opposite gender (any more than I already did going in) and in some ways it even rekindled my hope for relationships. If a book about moving on can do that, I don't think you need any more of a recommendation. Just go read it. 


xoxox
L.S. Mooney

What's Up Wednesday # 9

1. WHAT I'M READING
   Nothing! But I just picked up a hardcover edition of The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer which looks super interesting. And by interesting I mean there is an eccentric theatre teacher and events that relate to the play she chooses. 
   
2. WHAT I'M WRITING
   I'm still working my way through edits of G4 but I am loving it. After a pretty slumpy writing month in November, I've been making new progress with fun additional scenes :) 
   
3. WHAT WORKS FOR ME*
   Musical rehearsal is in full swing and I'm finding so much inspiration in my teenagers. They keep me laughing at them, at myself, at the world. They also keep me current. Today they were debating the plausibility of the movie A Cinderella Story and said "like they really didn't know each other's screen name? How is that possible." It was a fun moment for me to explain the way the internet worked when I was a teenager (and to feel incredibly old).
   
4. WHAT ELSE IS NEW
   My car is in the shop (in the wrong state) and I hate depending on other people for rides. I am an incredibly independent person so I'm stressing big time. And I'm trying super super hard to be social in spite of my deep desire to hibernate. 

What's up with you this Wednesday? 

What's Up Wednesday #7

1. WHAT I'M READING: I just finished Sarah Addison Allen's latest book LOST LAKE. SAA is pretty much one of my favorite authors anyway, but there is something about the way she weaves the magic into real life and the way she writes human relationships, broken and hopeful and messy but lovely. Just go read everything by her.
2. WHAT I'M WRITING: As you know from my last post, I just finished draft one of Goodbye, Good-Goody Girl and I went a bit without being able to really write anything concrete. However, just in the last 24 hours, I've managed to write 314 words and create a rough outline for the new NA book I've been discussing with CPs lately. I don't want to say too much just yet. But I am all kinds of excited about it.
3. WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW: I'm currently inspired by loss and the rebuilding that comes after it.
4. WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO: I just enrolled in graduate school! I know, right? It's an awesome program that I am going to LOVE and I can't wait to start classes. Plus musical things are happening! (Just because this book isn't about a musical doesn't mean you won't still heard about it from time to time."

What are you up to this Wednesday?

xoxox

L.S. Mooney

Writing a Book: My Journey in Gifs

So...I finished the first draft of my first book and I am beside myself. Allow me to show you my book journey with gifs. 

One day I was just sitting around like this: 

When I got an idea like: 

So I worked really hard for a long time until I was all: 

 But then I lost the plot and was all like:

Suddenly inspiration struck and everything fell into place and I was all: 

With only a few chapters left I felt like life wouldn't stop happening long enough to let me write. Like, seriously:

And  then I finished it and I'm currently dancing like whoa: 

 Sorry for the preponderance of Buffy gifs but that show is basically my air. When I am a little more coherent I might have more eloquent things to say about this 15 month journey but for now this is it.

xoxox,
L.S. Mooney

Lex Martin got it right with DEAREST CLEMENTINE

I want to preface this post with the fact that I have not read a ton of NA. Despite starting my own NA project (but more on that in a different post) I have only read a handful of NA and liked even fewer. And then I got DEAREST CLEMENTINE because it was free on my Kindle app a few weeks ago. I hate reading on my Kindle app, it isn't a fun experience for me, but I put up with it when the stories I want to read only come in that format (worthy stories so far have included THE ART OF FALLING by Jenny Kaczorowski, CLASS OF '98 by A.L. Player).  When I saw the tweet that DEAREST CLEMENTINE was free and FINDING DANDELION was coming out, I decided to get them both. But because I'm not big on ereading, I forgot I had them until I didn't get to the library  before it closed and NEEDED something to read.

And how glad I am that I did!

Lex Martin NAILS the college feel. That one roommate who is always screwing her boyfriend but you love anyway and the struggle to politely tell your roommate that you hate their furniture. And the horror of letting someone else plan your 21st birthday party. I loved letting myself fall back into my college days as these girls took me on a great journey.

And don't even get me started on Gavin. He is the perfect mix of confused college boy and sweetheart and amazing cuddler. Gah, I want a Gavin, ok? And the bad communication and the misunderstandings and ugh. Why was this romance so perfect?

Oh, and Clementine? While she has a much darker past, I could so easily relate to the one setting: bitch. Hello, most of my young life. For real, my best friend called me a praying mantis for the way I treated guys in late high school. I loved seeing those feelings of disgust portrayed so accurately in Clementine. I wanted to be her BFF and commiserate about the eternal shortcomings of young men. Except Gavin, because he's perf.

Basically, Lex Martin GETS IT. Her dialogue is awesome, her characters feel real, and her story is part mystery, part romance, and a whole lot of college friendship. Go read this book!

There Is No Wrong Way to Read a Series

I think we've been over the fact that I am a binge reader (I read 5 books in the last 7 days), but I am not a series binger. I realized this on Saturday when I finished THE WARLOCK, the 5th installment of Michael Scott's Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flammel saga and had no desire to sprint to the library for the sixth and final book. Not because I didn't enjoy the book I'd just finished but because I needed to digest it a little. I wanted to think about what had happened and maybe even think about what might happen in the next one.

As I was ruminating on The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flammel books, I realized that I had done the same thing with another series book a few days earlier (one I've actually already talked about here) BORN WICKED, the first book of Jessica Spotswood's Cahill Witch Chronicles. This book has a serious cliffhanger ending and I want to know what happens, but I don't want to know right now.

Two examples in a week felt like more than a coincidence so I took a look back on other series books I've read. I read DREAMS OF GODS AND MONSTERS (the last book in Laini Taylor's Smoke and Bone Trilogy) but that was the last book so it doesn't count. Or, at least that was what I thought until I looked at how I had read the whole series. I read the first book after the second had come out but I still waited over six months before reading it and I waited again for the last one.

I asked myself, was this a trend?

I thought of UNSPOKEN by Sarah Rees Brennan the sequel to which I still haven't gone near (although I want to). Then I remembered I just read HOLLOW CITY by Ransom Riggs, the second book in the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Series, 20 months after I read the first one and 6 months after it was released. I haven't read the sequel to PEACHES by Jodi Lynn Anderson even though I know it will be the perfect summer read. Or, the rest of published Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer.

The list grew and grew as I fell backwards through the rabbit hole of my reading. I couldn't find a single series that I binge read in the last five years. Not a single one.

So I had identified my pattern, now I wanted to know why. Which turned out to be a really easy question to answer.

The reason: Harry Potter.

I will never be ashamed of the impact that the entire Harry Potter phenomenon had on my existence. However, I am often shocked to find evidence of just how much it has effected me. Being a true member of the Potter Generation, I grew up waiting for the next book. I devoured the first three books the summer before sixth grade and then went to my first midnight book release at Media Play for Goblet of Fire. Which I read until I was done, without sleep or nourishment. Then I promptly had to wait until the summer after eighth grade for Order of the Phoenix to come out. I got to dwell on the first four books and the return of Voldemort. I reread them several times. I had numerous discussions about what might happen next. I read some fanfiction.

When Order of the Phoenix came out, I was so engrossed in reading that I missed a friend's birthday party. And, of course, the sobbing and throwing things when it ended. But then 2 more years of waiting for Snape to go all traitorous in Half Blood Prince. I will never forget how much my best friend defended him while I was staunchly with Harry that he'd been a traitor all along. Or discussing what we thought the rest of the horcruxes might be. Then finally we got Deathly Hallows in 2007 and found out what happened.

The process of binging then waiting and speculating and hoping was horrible and wonderful. It was imposed on me but I loved it anyway. Even though I was dying for the next book, the waiting made me love the characters and the stories even more because I got to spend time with them rather than of rushing all the way through on the first go.

It seems that the process has become ingrained. I no longer want to read the next book in a series immediately after finishing the first. I want to stew with the characters. I want to analyze and think about the story, then I want to read the next one.

How do you read a series? (Bonus points if you tell me how you read Harry Potter the first time)

BORN WICKED gave me feels about FATE

So I picked up Jessica Spotswood's BORN WICKED, the first book in the Cahill Witch Chronicles Trilogy for $1.79 at one of those bargain close out places. I'd been looking for it anyway because the all-knowing Jenny Adams Perinovic said it was awesome and that Jessica is awesome (which she is obviously, because she let me threaten to shake her via Twitter and knew it was just the feels talking). I started started it on Monday but was so tired I didn't get very far. Last night, I binge read the rest of it and I'm still hungover from it. Hence talking about it here. There might be spoilers so read with caution.

Cate lives in New England just before the dawn of the twentieth century in a world where The Brotherhood has kept women subservient and uneducated, feeling dirty and stupid. (My hatred of The Brotherhood was so immediate I almost threw the book several times.) Cate is the oldest of three sisters and she has been protecting them since her mother's death. Except Cate and her sisters, Maura & Tess, aren't normal. They're witches. Any not just any witches - sister witches with special powers whose existence was foretold in the last prophecy before the fall of the witches and the rise of the Brotherhood. Sister witches who could change the world. As if her life wasn't complicated enough, Cate is also falling in love with Finn, the gardener and local bookseller's son, and making interesting new friends with the daughter of the Brotherhood council leader. She has some tough choices to make but there are some who would rather not let her choose at all. 

This book was soooo good.  Jessica Spotswood hits the nail on the head every time she describes emotion. She gets the feuding between sisters and the love that underlies it. AND THE FALLING IN LOVE? If you don't love Finn and Kate (FATE), you're being silly. Once again, Jessica nails it: kissing is fun but kissing the right guy is amazing. 

I know that wasn't entirely coherent but I hope you get the idea that this book is amazing and perfect and visceral. And the paperback cover is beautiful! JUST GO READ IT! 

Laini Taylor is a Godstar and I don't care if you don't believe me.

A little over a year ago I read Daughter of Smoke and Bone and fell in love with the universe that Laini Taylor created. I read Days of Blood and Starlight in the fall and was heartbroken in so many ways. Then two weeks ago I saw Dreams of Gods and Monsters at the library and left it on the shelf. I was so worried that it would rip my heart out and thought maybe I was better off not knowing what happened to the characters I had grown to love.

On Monday, I went back and picked it up. AND I AM SO GLAD I DID. I believe the chat below pretty accurately sums things up.

So I was reduced to semi-incoherent babbling by this book which is a pretty awesome feat. The only issue is that I miss them. I miss them all. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it so  I guess I really can't say any more. Just know that these characters are awesome. The story is phenomenal. The world is rich. And it is perfect. So perfect that it will leave you begging for more.

Go read this trilogy, you will not regret it.

xoxox
L.S. Mooney

carpe diem ain't got nothing on Just One Day by Gayle Forman

I was drawn to this book because (a BUNCH of people recommended it to me and) I have this constant feeling that these tiny brief encounters in my life have greater meaning even when no one else seems to give them value. Just the blurb for this book made me feel like I wasn't alone in that. Actually reading it was like making a new friend. C.S. Lewis is credited with the quote: Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . " and with every new emotion that Allyson shared, I had that feeling. Throughout the book, I connected with Allyson in profound ways. 

Goodreads calls this book sweepingly romantic and it is. I mean she has this fairytale day in Paris then spends a year recovering before deciding she has to go back and find that fairytale guy. But to me, this book was so much more than that. It was a novel about friendship - learning to grow with old ones and get close to new ones, family - finding the nuances of being an adult with your parents, responsibility - paying your own way to your dreams, and self-discovery - figuring out how the sometimes clashing part of your personality make you who you are. This book, for me, is about so much more than romance. 
Don't get me wrong, I was dying for her to find Willem. To know why he left her. To know anything more about him. To know if they still had a chance. 

But Gayle Forman did something amazing with my emotions in this book. I won't spoil the ending because you should ALL read it but it left me profoundly missing its entire cast of characters and thinking about my own life.

Go read it. NOW!


xoxoxL.S. Mooney

A Family of Readers

I love libraries. I love the concept. I can borrow and read books for free. And not just me, anyone. It is like the single most awesome thing people have come up with. I'm sure I inherited my love of libraries from my mother who took my sister and I to our town library at least once a week. We had special canvas bags for library books so that we didn't lose them or mix them up with the books we owned. It was both a regular occurrence and big deal to go to the library. I can still remember the smell of my early childhood library.

Anyway, the library in my town now is still pretty cool. I spent a decent amount of there in my school-aged years.  While I was away at college I lost touch with my town library and definitely lost my old library card so a while back, I finally got a new card and starting going back. The librarian remembered me and the shelf dedicated in memory of my uncle was still there waiting for me. 

Last week, I was running errands with my mom and asked if we could stop at the library so I could return books (I compulsively return books as soon as I finish them so that I don't accidentally lose them). We pulled in and as I was getting out my mom asked me to grab her something that looked interesting. Because being around my mom brings out my teenage attitude I said she should get it herself. Her response shocked me. 

"I don't have a library card anymore."

It makes sense, when I stopped going to the library with her, she kind of stopped going, she didn't stop reading by any means but the ritual of going to the library faded. So I marched her right into the library and up to the counter to get her a new card. 

Then I went off in search of my books. I only take out 3-5 books at a time. It's my rule so that I 1) don't become entirely antisocial while binge reading 2) don't lose any of them. (I'm noticing a reoccurring theme with a fear of losing library books - I'll have to ask Mom if I have a lost library book childhood trauma.) I picked out a few:  

And then I went to find my mom. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the table I found her at because it was hilarious. She had two whole series laid out on the table and a stack of DIY books. If I ever had any doubt as to where my love reading came from, it disappeared in that moment. I talked her down to 10 books. Take that in, DOWN to TEN!

I made fun of my mom (who is already done with three of those ten books by the way) but I am incredibly thankful that I come from a family of readers, where it was ok to spend a day curled up in a chair with a blanket, a cup of tea, a cat, and a good book, where it was ok to miss a friend's birthday party because you're not done with the fifth Harry Potter book yet even though you've been reading since you got it at 12:01am, where no one even says anything when you come home with yet another thrift store copy of To Kill A Mockingbird. 

I wouldn't trade my family of readers for anything.

Do you come from a family of readers or are you the exception? 

Writing Process Blog Hop!

I was tagged for this blog hop by Faith McKay. Hey there!

1.) What am I working on?
I'm working on a YA contemp called Goodbye Good-Goody Girl (aka G4). It's the story of Mirella, a theatre nerd trying to make the most of her senior year. She lands the leading role in Thoroughly Modern Millie and starts acting a little more "modern" in real life, too. It's a story of friendships and firsts with a hearty dose of musical theatre.

2.) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
 This question was really hard for me but the always wonderful Jenny Adams Perinovic told me G4 is different from other YA contemps because of it's lady-mances, her new term for female bromances. There have been a few posts floating around the web lately about female friendship (http://www.bustle.com/articles/18771-we-need-more-female-friendships-like-these-8-ya-bffs and http://www.stackedbooks.org/2014/03/positive-girl-friendships-in-ya-guest.html) and a huge part of my story is about friendship, positive, deep, female friendship. There is a little romance, too. And a dash of drama.
I also think G4 is different because of the role the musical plays in it. I read (and loved) Maria Boyd's Will but the role of the musical show itself was so much smaller than I imagined. I just had to stop for a moment to think what the show was (The Boyfriend). In G4, Thoroughly Modern Millie is not only important because Mirella is a theatre nerd, the content and story of the show is important, too.

3.) Why do I write what I do?
 I write because I want to share stories. I write YA contemp with musicals and lady-mances because that is what I know and what I think is missing from a bunch of YA. I had a wonderful, if at times emotional, high school experience complete with weirdness and great girl friends. I want to share that with teens who have it rough. We talk about fiction as a safe way to explore difficult and diverse situations, and it is which is awesome. However, I also love fiction because it's an escape and a comfort. I want my readers to relate to the quirkiness of my characters and know that being "weird" or "abnormal" is ok. Actually, it's awesome. Jenny Kaczorowski has talked about this on her blog as well (http://jennykaczorowski.blogspot.com/2014/03/girls-like-me.html?m=1 )
At the end of the day, I write what I do because of memories like this photo of me and my girls during spirit week junior year (2005) which actually made it into our yearbook in hopes of inspiring and supporting those kinds of memories for others.

4.) How does my writing process work?
 Before I officially joined The Great Noveling Adventure, I wrote a guest post about my process of writing longhand first. You can find it here: Why I Love Longhand And that is still true. I write most scenes longhand first then type them up where I flesh out and do a quick edit. My hand on the page helps ground me to the words I'm writing. To be honest, as much as I love writing longhand and I think the process works for me, sometimes I really hate the typing. But nothing is perfect, right?

As far as the planning and organizing part, that's my writing notebook (a front shot and the inside cover). In case you couldn't tell, I like sticky notes. I normally start writing linearly but now I'm writing by scene so I have sticky notes for each separate scene I've written that hasn't been typed yet. Then the inside front cover is a list of finished scenes/chapters, scenes I still need/want, and a rough word count list. I'm very tactile and love to physically organized things. I often rewrite my sticky notes and relay them and it helps me somehow. I'm a quirky writer, I know.


I'm tagging Alex Yuschik
and Angel Cruz 
:)

Middles

I'm so mad that I missed What's Up Wednesday this week, but I'm excusing myself because we had a blizzard/snow day and I totally forgot what day it was.
Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about some recent posts by editors that I've seen around the web. Mostly they've said a lot the same thing, strong, captivating characters and voice. I obsess about choice anyway so I'm not really surprised on that one. And good characters? Duh.
But among "all the same thing" I found a kernel of incredibly helpful, if also obvious, advice. I can't find the post now (curse you internet!), but the basic gist was consistent quality. Beginnings are good because they get workshopped and obsessed over. Endings, mostly the same thing. The stuff in the middle? Not so much. The unique qualities of voice disappear, characters lose their sparkle, and plot gets lost in the convoluted details.
Basically, middles suck. And if your middle sucks it could turn off potential agents and publishers.
Since I'm struggling so much with the middle of G4, this post hit home. Now I'm just more neurotic about it....
What's your favorite part of the story to write?

Five Favorites This Fall

Fall is my favorite time to read. I love reading all the time but when it starts to get cold, there is just something about grabbing a cup of tea and a good book and snuggling under the covers with warm fluffy kitties. Since finishing college - which put a serious damper on my leisure reading - I always read a ton in the fall. Like, I've read 30 books since September 1st. I wanted to share a few of my favorites from the last few months.

1. Paper Towns by John Green 

I read Looking for Alaska and it was good but after this one, I understand why everyone loves John Green. This is accurate yet adventurous coming of age. 

2. The Misfits by James Howe

Middle school is rough but having friends makes it better. I really liked everything about this book. 

3. Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo

The characters is this are great. Having been the girl with the crush on the inappropriate older guy, Buzo gets it SO right.

4. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

This book is eerily easy to relate to. I'm not going to try and explain it. Just read it. 

5. Winter Town by Stephen Emond

If you have friends you only see during certain seasons, you will understand how just a short period of time together can still feel incredibly important. This book might break your heart but it will kind of put it back together again.