Cycles by Lois D. Brown

Synopsis

She remembers things that never happened.

She's a stranger in her own home.

She always knew she was different.

She just didn't know why.

Until now.

Renee Beaumont is about to die . . . again.

Review

I am sure I have said it about a million times now, but YA books are not my favorite type of book on the planet. But lately this view of mine has been challenged. I have had the opportunity to read a lot of really quality YA books, with writing that has seriously impressed me. I personally love it when a YA author uses language that doesn't talk down to people just because their young, I think it makes a younger person learn and it makes the book more enjoyable for adults. Thankfully this book is one of the YA books I have enjoyed. 

I think one of the things I enjoyed the most about this novel was the pacing of it. You get brought into the novel very quickly and the situations introduced make it so much easier to get into the book and to care about the characters. I think a dramatic beginning in a book makes the reader want to read more, they want to find out what happened, why it happened, and how the character is going to respond. This was done really well in this book. Renee, the main character was in an accident in the beginning of the novel that required her to have a blood transfusion. That starts the plot off for Renee and the rest of the characters. 

The book had a bit of a mystery element to it, with Renee and Sam (her best friend) trying to figure out why her neighbor had some of her blood (the same blood used to save her after her accident). I think the mystery element works exceptionally well in this book, especially if I were a younger reader. Any book that makes a person think or try to figure out what is going on/what is going to happen next is a book I like. 

I spent most of the time with this novel wondering what was going to happen next, and trying to piece the puzzle together in my own head. I was glad that when I thought I had things figured out or created my own theory to the situation a curve ball would make me rethink things. 

I also thought the characters were really well done. Renee and Sam are easy to like, easy to pull for, and in general identify with them. I do think that maybe they would have been older judging by their maturity throughout the book, but other than that I thought they were both good characters. 

I have to say once more I liked this YA book, and I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys reading YA, or anyone who wants a little bit of a non-conventional mystery to sink their teeth into. It was really a fun read. 

Lois D. Brown Guest Post

Paralyzed by Perfection

High on a shelf in my kitchen pantry used to sit a small glass jar full of Skittles. At the time, one of my young children was having a difficult adjustment to a new school year. She fretted over her homework and would become upset if everything wasn’t just right. A friend suggested I try the “Skittles method”—each time she made a mistake on her homework she would get a Skittle if she didn’t fix it. This meant each time her number four slanted too much to one side she had to choose between fixing it or getting candy. Let the Skittles feast begin! Wrong.

It took several months for my daughter to slowly eat her way through that jar of Skittles. When faced with the possibility of having others see a mistake she made, the candy became unattractive. She wanted perfection, so much so that she would pass up candy.

As an author, I found the lesson of the Skittle jar to be invaluable. We write, rewrite, edit, edit some more, proof, stress about it, rewrite it again, etc. to the point where we don’t even like our book anymore. Sometimes our writing needs a lot of work. BUT, and I think this happens more often than we’d like to believe, we’re stalling. We don’t want anyone to see our mistakes. And mistakes there will be.

When querying for my recently published young adult novel, CYCLES, it almost made me sick to push the send button on my email. The nausea didn’t go away after the first time either. It took more than fifty queries until my stomach didn’t do flip flops the moment I thought of writing to another agent.

In the end, it was worth it. I grew a thicker skin (though I could still use a few layers) and I realized that I am simply an imperfect being. I finally decided I would rather have a few mistakes and move forward then feel paralyzed with perfection. 

So go ahead. Do the best you can on your manuscript. Then a little bit more  AND THEN, bite your pencil hard and move down the path you’ve chosen to take, whether that be sending it to a publisher, querying an agent, or self-publishing it yourself. 

Face the fear. :)

Giveaways:

1) an e-book copy of Lois’ young adult Urban Fantasy CYCLES. (Both U.S. and International entries are welcome.) 

CLICK HERE to enter the giveaway 

2) An e-book copy of Lois’ collection of short stories TREASURE HUNTERS. In addition, the winner will receive via snail mail a set of three  magnets made from sandstone only found in southern Utah by Zion's National Park and where several of the stories in TREASURE HUNTERS are set. (Only U.S. entries, please).

CLICK HERE to enter the giveaway

To contact her, please visit her website at www.loisdbrown.com or her blog Life of Lois