First up is VikLit's Celebrate The Small Things in which participants are asked to share whatever it is they're celebrating from the previous week. (Click on the above link or the pic to the left for a complete list of participants.)
Here's what I'm celebrating this week:
—Inventory is officially over. Sure, it took nine hours, I broke three nails, and one of my co-workers stole my chocolate protein shake out of the break room fridge (denying me both protein and chocolate—do that at your own risk) but in spite of all that, everyone survived and inventory's over. Now I get some time off. In which I shall plot revenge upon the co-worker who believes that stealing my stuff is a good idea.
—The official trailer for the upcoming adaptation of John Green's novel, The Fault In Our Stars, was released this week. I watched it with a crappy internet connection and it still made me cry. I'll have to see this movie with all the tissues in all the world.
Next up is the Cephalapod Coffeehouse, hosted by The Armchair Squid, in which participants blog about a book they read and enjoyed most over the previous month. (Again, please click on the above link for a complete list of participants.)
So the book I have chosen to talk about this month is Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas. It is the second installment in a series about eighteen year old assassin, Celaena Sardothien.
Here's the synopsis, courtesy of Goodreads:
An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt.
But her heart never wavers.
After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.
Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.
Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?
I read the first book in the series (Throne of Glass) earlier this month, and was entertained, so I borrowed the second book from the library. I started reading it and was kind of plodding along, curious as to where the story would go, and entertained, but not riveted.
But then I hit the halfway point—or about the halfway point, I don't know exactly—and suddenly the story found a whole new gear, and I couldn't put it down. I ended up staying awake until 4am just so I could finish it because I didn't want to put it down.
And I wanted to share this book not because it's the best thing I've ever read, but because it made me just so damn excited to read a book in a way that I hadn't been in a while. And not only that, but it made me excited about writing in a way that I hadn't been in a while (that time has since passed, but that's another blog for another day, and is in no way the fault of this novel. Just my own incompetence.).
As I tweeted/facebooked later that morning, I want to write books that make people stay up all night to read. Or want to stay up all night to read. Or, you know, just write a story that people want to read, regardless of the time of day. Or even kind of skim a little. I'm not in a position to be choosy, I know, but I'd really love to write a story that someone who isn't me is maybe just a little bit excited about.
It's a cool feeling to have a story get under your skin and make you cry or laugh or want to scream at the characters who are about to do something stupid or something wonderful or whatever. And I'd love to write a book that could do that sort of thing. Maybe I'm setting my sights too high, but I'm going to try for it anyway. What do I have to lose, right?
The bottom line is I just really want to write books. My publishing journey has been...well, less than stellar thus far, to say the least, and that's been discouraging. Really discouraging. Debilitatingly discouraging, even. But Crown of Midnight reminded me just how much I want to do this. The writing thing, anyway.
I want to write books. And so I shall.
And now I shall shut up because I feel as though I've been rambling on forever. If you made it to the end of this post, I thank you for your perseverance. It's much appreciated.
Have a great weekend, all.