Top Ten Tuesday: What Makes Me Pick Up a Book?

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. They created it because they're "particularly fond of lists" and since I also enjoy lists, I've decided to participate in this fun feature.

It's rewind week on Top Ten Tuesday! There are a lot of topics that I've missed out on, either because I didn't know about TTT when they were first done or because I was too busy to put a post together the first time around. I remember reading the posts in April 2013 for words/topics that made people pick up a book. I thought it was really interesting and wished I had done it myself! You can see the links from that week here. So, thanks to the rewind week, here are ten words or topics that will catch my eye when I'm browsing for books. What makes you pick up a book?

mid-twenties

I've looked for characters who were in their early to mid-twenties long before the emergence of New Adult. The age that catches my eye has grown as I have (now I'm happy to see a character who is 26 or 27, especially) but I'm happy to read about anyone in their twenties.

publishing, librarian, event/wedding planner, travel writer, journalist, authors

A character who works in any of these jobs is probably going to be well liked by me. If I hear that one of these professions or industries is in the book, I'll eagerly read the synopsis to see if it's something I'm interested in.

tall

I'm tall (6') so I love when I find out the heroine is tall (5'8"+) as well!

small town

I'm a total small town girl so I love reading novels that take place outside of major cities.

any sport, but especially basketball and baseball

I grew up playing basketball and you can almost always find me watching Blue Jays games so I love when either sports show up in a novel. Really, I'm happy whenever any athletics are focused on but these are my favourites.

cupcakes/ice cream/chocolates

I'm a sucker for any story that takes place in a cupcake/ice cream/chocolate shop. Happily, these stories are frequent in chick lit - my fave genre.

best friends

I love a good story about BFFs. I'm lucky to have a few ridiculously close girlfriends and I like reading books that feature characters who have great besties too.

boy and girl (adults or teens) are friends and then they discover they have feelings for each other

One of my favourite type of story to read about is when a female and male have been friends for years and all of a sudden one or both of them realize they have more romantic feelings for the other. There are all sorts of ways to make this story unique and I love seeing what authors can do with it.

Scotland

My family is from Scotland (my last name is Stewart...is it really a surprise?) so I love when I see that a book takes place there. I've never been so, for now, I have to be content with traveling there in books.

fairy tales
Thanks to Once Upon a Time, I've become a little obsessed with fairy tale retellings. There aren't a lot for adults so I really need to find some time to check out some of the great YA novels that other bloggers can't stop talking about.

Review: Just Friends With Benefits

I've read and loved Meredith Schorr's later novels, A State of Jane (review here) and Blogger Girl (one of my favourites of 2013, review here), but I had somehow never read her first book, Just Friends with Benefits. Since her publisher has recently released all three ebooks in one bundle, I thought it was a fitting time to finally read it. I'm so glad I did because I absolutely loved it!

Here's the synopsis:

When a friend urges Stephanie Cohen not to put all her eggs in one bastard, the advice falls on deaf ears. Stephanie's college crush on Craig Hille has been awakened 13 years later as if soaked in a can of Red Bull and she is determined not to let the guy who got away once, get away twice. Stephanie, a 32-year-old paralegal from Washington, D.C., is a 70's and 80's television trivia buff who can recite the starting lineup of the New York Yankees and go beer for beer with the guys. And despite her failure to get married and pro-create prior to entering her thirties, she has so far managed to keep her overbearing mother from sticking her head in the oven. Just Friends with Benefits is the humorous story of Stephanie's pursuit of love, her adventures in friendship, and her journey to discover what really matters.

I think what makes this novel so fun is that it takes the typical 'boy and girl are friends and fall for each other' story and turns it on its head. Nothing works out quite like you'd expect and I loved that. In fact, I actually had a "holy crap!" moment when something was revealed that I wasn't quite anticipating. I love when authors can surprise me! The romances in the novel were completely believable and realistic. And I don't just mean the relationships main character Stephanie was involved in. Each of her friends had their own relationship and we got to read about their love lives, too.

Building on the friendship angle, I loved the emphasis Schorr put on the various friendships Stephanie has. Sure, being in a relationship is great but you always need to have a good friend, or five, who you can always count on to be there. Steph has an awesome group around her, and while some would find them crude, outrageous, or rude, I loved them. I actually feel like they were like what my friends and I will be like in another few years.

Another typical chick lit feature, apart from having some romance woven in, is the comedic nature of most of the stories. Schorr manages to fit in quite a bit of humour throughout the novel without it taking over the rest of the story. As I write this part of the review it's well over two weeks since I read the book so I can't recall any specifics, unfortunately. But, all you need to know is that I found myself laughing out loud at parts of the story, which I always love.

I'm glad I've finally read all of Meredith Schorr's books! I can tell that she's grown stronger as a writer with each novel she published. Now I can say, without a doubt, that she's one of my favourite authors (chick lit or otherwise) and can recommend all three of her books. Speaking of which...I wrote a little while ago that you can now buy all three of her books in one ebook collection. Even more exciting: you can currently get that collection for just 99 cents! (Or $1.09 for Amazon.ca.) You don't want to miss out on this, trust me! Hurry up and write book four, Meredith! No pressure ;)

Author Interview: Nancy Scrofano

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of reviewing Nancy Scrofano's latest novel, American Honey (you can check out my review here if you missed it). Today Nancy is here to answer a few of my questions. I hope you enjoy it!

Five Favourites

Chick Flick: The Proposal

Alcoholic Beverage: I don’t drink alcohol.

Travel Destination: Las Vegas is my favorite destination that I’ve been to because it’s so lively and exciting. It isn’t that far from Los Angeles, so I’ve been there many times.

Book from your childhood: Berenstain Bears series

TV show: Hard to choose just one! But my all-time favorite TV show is I Love Lucy.

Books Etc.: American Honey can be considered a New Adult title. What do you think of the current trend in NA and what would you like to see change? 

Nancy Scrofano: New Adult fiction tends to be racy and intense. From the covers to the content, they are similar to romance novels. I would like to see more variety in NA, and especially more lighthearted books. That’s part of the reason why I wrote American Honey. I know the age range of 18 to 25 can be an intense period of change and transition for people, but it’s also a really fun time, too. NA fiction needs to have more fun and more humor.

BE: What's your writing process like? Do you like to write at a certain time of day or in a certain place? 

NS: I write a lot more at night than I do during the day. I’m a night owl. I write the most on my computer, but occasionally, I jot down ideas the old fashioned way with a pen and paper, then later input them into my computer. I wrote all the songs for American Honey on paper first.  

BE: Do you find yourself giving your characters qualities that you or people who are close to you have? 

NS: Sometimes. I’m a people watcher. I’m not very outgoing, so in social situations, I’m usually the quiet one observing all the other people instead of being the center of attention. I make mental notes of their characteristics, mannerisms, and personality traits to incorporate into my characters.  

BE: How do you come up with your story ideas? What inspires you? 

NS: I’m really inspired by music. I listen to a lot of different types of music, and I always pay attention to the lyrics. There’s a story in every song, and I make sure to listen for it. I love trying to find the meaning behind the lyrics and interpret them in different ways. Music plays a huge role in my writing process.

BE: Do you create outlines for your work or do you write by the seat of your pants? 

NS: I make an outline before I start writing, and then I follow it as best I can while I write. Things always change as I go along, but it helps to have a general idea of what needs to be happening and when. I’ve tried to write without an outline, but it hasn’t worked out for me. I like to know the end of the book before I begin writing it. I need to know where I’m going.

Add American Honey to your Goodreads shelf. Follow along with the American Honey Tour via Fictionella. Connect with Nancy at nancyscrofano.com.

Review: American Honey

New Adult has become the latest trend in the book world. These stories feature protagonists who are in their late teens/early twenties, are out of high school, and are trying to navigate the real world. Right now these books seem to be stuck on sexy, angst-ridden stories and, while some of those stories can be good, I'm sort of tired of the norm. Enter American Honey, Nancy Scrofano's latest novel. This is the kind of New Adult title I want to read!

Here's the synopsis:

After graduating high school, Olivia “Ollie” McKenna leaves her small town roots in Summerville, Georgia, to pursue her dream of becoming a professional singer. With her best friend and older sister in tow, wholesome Ollie travels to the big city to compete in singing contest Atlanta Idol. There she meets nineteen-year-old Jack Bradley, a fellow country singer who quickly becomes a close friend. The connection between them is magnetic and an opportunity to sing together could change their lives forever. But what about Ollie's mama's fear of the music business? She's been burned by the lures of the bright lights before and doesn't want Ollie anywhere near that world. And Ollie's growing feelings for Jack as more than just a pal could ruin everything. Despite her own doubts, Ollie is determined to win. Can she make her dream come true or will she return to her hometown empty-handed and brokenhearted?

I've been craving stories about characters who are out of high school but still haven't figured out their lives for awhile now. This is why I was so excited when New Adult became a thing. However, like I said, these books all seem to follow a similar format - at least the ones that are getting all the attention - and they aren't doing a whole lot for me. I was so happy when Nancy told me she was writing a NA novel that was going to be more contemporary and chick lit-like in feel. I think she did a really great job in capturing the emotional ups and downs Ollie would have been feeling. She's at a very sensitive point in time - she should be leaving the nest and following her own dreams but she still feels like she needs her mama's approval for everything. The feelings Ollie had really came through the writing and I was very happy about that.

The best part about this book was reading about Ollie and Jack's journey into the music business. I may not watch singing competition shows but that didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying this part of the story. Every time Ollie and Jack moved on to the next round, the stress and emotions were heightened and Scrofano did a great job of making sure I was feeling those emotions as well. I was totally rooting for them and was really happy with the way their careers ended up.

There were a few things that kept me from absolutely loving this novel, unfortunately. I felt like the musical/career portion of the story was so strong but all the other, smaller, storylines just didn't measure up. Or even add up. I felt like there were too many little plot holes and not enough explanation. This feeling is probably magnified because I didn't really like the ending. There were way too many loose strings and I needed more of them tied up. I honestly turned the last page and said, "Seriously?" I found it very odd that Scrofano chose to end it when and how she did. Having a few more scenes before the final one would have made it almost perfect. (Update: I've learned that American Honey will be the first in a series so that explains the really unresolved ending. Phew! And yay! more books about Ollie and Jack!)

I really wanted Ollie and Jack to get together, romantically. I appreciated the "Will they? Won't they?"...to an extent. I needed proper resolution and I don't feel like I got it. Of course, I think this is one of those personal opinion things. I can handle vague endings, sometimes, but this was a time when I wanted to know for sure how they were feeling and what they were going to do about it. It was still really sweet to read as the two tried to work out their feelings for each other.

While I didn't love American Honey as much as I'd hoped, I still enjoyed reading Nancy Scrofano's latest novel. Country music fans, American Idol fans, and chick lit fans will all enjoy this book. Make sure you check back on Friday for my Q&A with Nancy!

And for those of you who, like me, didn't realize that American Honey is an actual song (by Lady Antebellum), here's the video. Enjoy!

*A copy of this novel was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.*

Top Ten Tuesday: Why I Love Blogging

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. They created it because they're "particularly fond of lists" and since I also enjoy lists, I've decided to participate in this fun feature.

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is an interesting one. The top ten reasons I love being a blogger and/or reader. I focused mostly on the things I loved about blogging but I threw in my favourite thing about being a reader, too. Are you a blogger? What's your favourite thing about it? If you're not, what do you love about reading?

Talking about books all the time
This is the big one. I'm sure this is the reason a lot of book bloggers originally started out - I know that's why I created Books Etc. I wanted a way to discuss books, even if it was just to myself. Happily, it appears others enjoy my thoughts as well!

It allows me to write
I don't want to be a novelist (at least, not right now) but I do like writing. Having this blog allows me to work on my writing skills and keeps me writing, even if they are just reviews on the internet.

The book blogging community
I didn't realize how huge and how awesome the blogging community is when I first started out. I've been able to meet some amazing fellow bloggers, some who have become close friends. These fellow bloggers let me know what books I should be reading and give me someone to talk to when I've read an advanced copy of a book that made me super happy/sad/mad. These bloggers are my people and it makes me happy that there are so many other bookworms out there, just like me.

Free books
Let's be real, we all like freebies. However, if this is the only reason you got into blogging...that's a problem. I think it's fine to love the free books you get (in exchange for a review) and to sometimes use your experience to request titles you really want to read (I did that myself just the other day!).

Being in the know
Involvement in this community means we find out about upcoming releases and book events before a lot of other people. I like knowing when I should save up to buy a book because one of my favourite authors is publishing a new novel in a few months. Having a list of books to look forward to is a little daunting but

Book events
Sometimes bloggers get special access to events. This hasn't happened a ton to me (I don't live in Toronto, where almost every single major book event in Canada is) but I have been able to meet publicists in person and I have been invited to a couple of events just for bloggers. I've been able to meet some great authors because I'm a blogger.

It's my opinion
This blog is mine, all mine. So that means I can share what I want, when and how I want to. It's my own little piece of the internet.

Gives me something to do
This is especially true right now since I'm not working. If I didn't have this blog and the books I have to review I probably would have totally lost my mind months ago. It gives me structure when I'm lacking it in the rest of my life. This is a great hobby and I love that it gives me an outlet to keep my mind occupied while I hunt for jobs.

Creates opportunities
The best opportunity I've had because I'm a blogger was helping plan BookBuzz Toronto and being able to meet some of my all time favourite authors. Other book events fall into this, which I've already mentioned, but I've been able to work with authors and publishing companies because I'm a blogger.

Experiencing other worlds
This is the best thing about reading. Books allow us to experience so many different worlds (not just fantasy places like Hogwarts but other locations we've never been) and to make friends (or enemies) with many different characters. 

Review: One More Thing

A lot of you may already know B.J. Novak's name. If you don't, click on his name there and you'll be taken to his IMDb page. Ahhh, you know the face, right? Novak was on The Office and in the recent Saving Mr. Banks. But I didn't read his recently published book of short stories because of his acting chops. I read it because it sounded like an awesome collection. That and the online marketing ladies at Random House of Canada wouldn't stop talking about it! I'm glad I got the chance to read One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories because I really enjoyed it.

Here's the synopsis, which is actually longer than some of the stories in the book!:

B.J. Novak's One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is an endlessly entertaining, surprisingly sensitive, and startlingly original debut collection that signals the arrival of a welcome new voice in American fiction.
Across a dazzling range of subjects, themes, tones, and narrative voices, Novak's assured prose and expansive imagination introduce readers to people, places, and premises that are hilarious, insightful, provocative, and moving-often at the same time.
In One More Thing, a boy wins a $100,000 prize in a box of Frosted Flakes - only to discover that claiming the winnings may unravel his family. A woman sets out to seduce motivational speaker Tony Robbins - turning for help to the famed motivator himself. A school principal unveils a bold plan to permanently abolish arithmetic. An acclaimed ambulance driver seeks the courage to follow his heart and throw it all away to be a singer-songwriter. Author John Grisham contemplates a monumental typo. A new arrival in heaven, overwhelmed by infinite options, procrastinates over his long-ago promise to visit his grandmother. We meet a vengeance-minded hare, obsessed with scoring a rematch against the tortoise who ruined his life; and post-college friends who debate how to stage an intervention in the era of Facebook. We learn why wearing a red t-shirt every day is the key to finding love; how February got its name; and why the stock market is sometimes just... down.
Finding inspiration in questions from the nature of perfection to the icing on carrot cake, from the deeply familiar to the intoxicatingly imaginative, One More Thing finds its heart in the most human of phenomena: love, fear, family, ambition, and the inner stirring for the one elusive element that might make a person complete. The stories in this collection are like nothing else, but they have one thing in common: they share the playful humor, deep heart, inquisitive mind, and altogether electrifying spirit of a writer with a fierce devotion to the entertainment of the reader.

My favourite thing about this collection was the mixture of light and dark, funny and serious. There were stories that made me laugh out loud, like "Wikipedia Brown and the Case of the Missing Bicycle", and others that made me really think about things, like "The Market Was Down" (why was the market down?). There were also stories that made me look at things a little differently, like the very first story "The Rematch." (one of my favourites.) That one told the story of the rematch between the tortoise and the hare and it makes you think about how you might judge the characters/animals from other fables or stories. Plus, it was just plain funny and well written!

All sorts of topics were discussed, too. Did you ever wonder how John Grisham comes up with his titles? In "The Something by John Grisham", that issue is tackled (in a hilarious way). Dating tips are sprinkled throughout and one of my favourites is "All You Have to Do" which provides, what I think is, a great guide on how to use Craiglist's Missed Connections. Walking on the moon is written about too. There were just so many different topics and I loved it.

One of the other neat things is that characters from one story showed up in another. I only noticed this twice but there may have been other, more subtle, mentions. I really liked this because it allowed for a thread of connectivity between all of the stories. Plus, it's always fun to find mention of a character in another work by the same author. This time it just happened to be all in the same book!

Novak didn't stick with one type of story format, either. Some stories are long and have a narrative woven through while others are short and don't have a typical story structure. I'm a fan of stories and novels that follow a linear format and don't try to be all creative (think random paragraphs that just have one word on each line and things like that) but I appreciated that Novak wrote what he wanted and in the way he wanted because it all worked together in this collection.

I want to mention a few of my other favourite stories, just because I can: "Romance, Chapter One", "The Beautiful Girl in the Bookstore", "If You Love Something", "Heyyyyy, Rabbits" (I have a rabbit so this one made me smile!), "Constructive Criticism", and "The Literalist's Love Poem."

Read One More Thing. Read it if you're a fan of B.J. Novak. Read it if you're a fan of short stories. Read it if you're a fan of fiction. Basically, just read it. It has something for everyone and I think that's what makes it so fantastic.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, Random House of Canada, in exchange for an honest review.*

Blog Tour: Queen of Hearts

Fairy tale and classic story retellings are becoming pretty common these days but for good reason. In this latest reimagining, author Colleen Oakes has written the story of how the villain in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland became evil. In Queen of Hearts, released today, we meet Princess of Wonderland, Dinah, when she's a teen. Over the course of the novel we learn what happened to make her the villainous queen we know. I wasn't too sure what to expect with this book but I ended up really enjoying it.

Here's the synopsis:

Blossoming Love. A Father’s Betrayal. A Kingdom with a Black Secret.
As Princess of Wonderland Palace and the future Queen of Hearts, Dinah’s days are an endless monotony of tea, tarts, and a stream of vicious humiliations at the hands of her father, the King of Hearts. The only highlight of her days is visiting Wardley, her childhood best friend, the future Knave of Hearts — and the love of her life.
When an enchanting stranger arrives at the Palace, Dinah watches as everything she’s ever wanted threatens to crumble. As her coronation date approaches, a series of suspicious and bloody events suggests that something sinister stirs in the whimsical halls of Wonderland. It’s up to Dinah to unravel the mysteries that lurk both inside and under the Palace before she loses her own head to a clever and faceless foe.
Part epic fantasy, part twisted fairy tale, this dazzling saga will have readers shivering as Dinah’s furious nature sweeps Wonderland up in the maelstrom of her wrath. Familiar characters such as Cheshire, the White Rabbit, and the Mad Hatter make their appearance, enchanting readers with this new, dark take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
But be warned…not every fairytale has a happy ending.
This is the story of a princess who became a villain.  

Fairy tales are a staple in a lot of children's lives and, once they're grown, they want to have a way to revisit those stories. I, like many others, want grown up fairy tales. Sure, we can rewatch the Disney classics or reread the original material but having a story that is directed to young adults or adults challenges us a little more. The success of previous reimagined fairy tales include novels like The Lunar Chronicles, TV shows like Once Upon a Time, and movies like the upcoming Maleficent. What the best retellings do, I think, is create interesting backstories for characters, particularly ones who you may not think of. One of the things I love about Once is that we get to learn why Regina, the evil queen, became evil. Oakes does the same thing in Queen of Hearts. I loved reading about Dinah's youth and seeing how she gets on to the path to evil, at least how Oakes imagines it.

I'm one of those people who only has the Disney Alice in Wonderland story to refer to when Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is brought up. I've never read Lewis Carroll's novels. I haven't even seen Tim Burton's film. So, I have no idea what the original material is like and how true Oakes' work might have been. But, I don't think that totally matters. I think true Alice fans can love Queen of Hearts, as can readers like me, those who only have a slight idea of Wonderland. Even those who only know the basics will recognize some of the Wonderland characters and I really liked that. I know I never thought about the history of the Queen of Hearts but I feel like Oakes' novel gives readers something they didn't know they were missing.

I love that Oakes doesn't shy away from a really dark storyline. I like this because fairy tales didn't start out all warm and fuzzy like Disney has made us think. Since this is a young adult title, she wrote a story that is more serious and darker than we may have previously encountered. There's murder, adultery, torture, prisons, beheading, and really dangerous sounding horses (they're huge and have spikes on their hooves!). There's also a king who's not going to win any Father of the Year awards any time soon, a younger brother who's crazy, and unrequited love. Intrigued yet? It might sound like there's a lot going on but Oakes weaves everything together well and tells a magnificent story.

I'm really glad I gave Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes a chance. I'm also really glad that it's going to be a series. I think Dinah's story deserves to be told over a few books. Read this book if you're a fan of fairy tale and classic story retellings or if you're an Alice in Wonderland fan. It's a short novel and I think you'll be happy that you gave it a chance!

Happy reading :)

About Colleen

Colleen Oakes is the author of the Elly in Bloom series and the upcoming YA fantasy Queen of Hearts Saga, both published via SparkPress, a BookSparks imprint. She lives in North Denver with her husband and son. When not writing, Colleen enjoys swimming, traveling, and immersing herself in nerdy pop culture. She is currently at work on the last Elly novel and her second YA fantasy series, Wendy Darling.

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*A copy of this novel was provided  by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*