Saturday, August 12, 2017

Best Plot Twist- Book Lovers Blog Hop


Tweet: What's our favorite plot twist?
We will share during today's entry in the Book Lover's Blog Hop! https://ctt.ec/2ARZ5+
Today's Book Lover's Blog Hop question for our group of authors is... What's the best plot twist you've ever read?

I LOVE plot twists... though I struggle to rank who's is the best. Anne (in Anne of Green Gables) starts off hating Gilbert Blithe and then by the end of the books she's married to him. This is also done in Pride and Prejudice. Jacob likes Bella who likes Edward is solved by the insinuation that Jacob only ever liked Bella because he was destined to imprint on their daughter born later in the story (Twilight Saga). "Luke, I am your father" (OK that one is a movie).

So what’s the best plot twist you’ve read?






Usually anything by Agatha Christie but I think the one that Got me the most was the one in Cat Amongst the Pigeons. I will not spoil it, but it is one of the least known Poirot stories and the first Agatha Christie I ever read.






Skye Hegyes www.skyehegyes.com
I can’t go into detail of the plot twist without revealing the ending of the book, but Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. I was not expecting it, especially in a children’s book. It ripped out my heart and soul, dragged them around, and delivered them back to me broken and bruised, and it was absolutely brilliant.






Laurie Lucking www.landsuncharted.com

I’m going to have to go with a certain plot twist in White Dawn by Sara Baysinger. Her whole Black Tiger series has been full of amazing plot twists, but this one in particular (which I can’t go into because—spoilers!) just blew my mind. Seriously, I was sitting there on my couch in total shock. So crazy and brilliant!





Jebraun Clifford www.jebraunclifford.com

I’d have to say the plot twist in the thriller/mystery Gone Girl. I’d heard there were some unexpected occurrences. But. Wow. Did not expect that one!







Just B. Jordan www.JustBJordan.com 
There have been a lot of fantastic ones out there! The first that comes to my mind is in the Mistborn series. I had to sort through some emotions to come to terms with it! 









One of the first to come to mind is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini which has lots of twists. Pretty much any book by Agatha Christie deserves a mention here too. 









What about you, dear reader? What is your favorite plot twist? Leave your suggestion in the comments below!



Book Lovers Blog Hop Schedule!

(Links are likely to not go live until the date of)

1st August   www.JoLinsdell.com
What are you reading this month? TBR list for August

What’s your favourite genre to read?

Where do you get your books?

Best read of 2017 so far?

Favourite author?

Favourite book cover design?


Preferred book format? (ebook, print, audio)

How do you organise your bookshelves ?

Favourite book to movie adaption?

Most evil villain?

What’s the best plot twist you’ve read?

13th August http://www.cjbrightley.com
Favourite fictional character?

14th August www.JustBJordan.com
Best fictional friendship?

15th August  www.saderena.com/blog
Best book series?

16th August http://www.angelaguidolinauthor.co.uk/blog
Most thought provoking book you’ve read?

17th August  www.tabithacaplinger.com
Top 3 books you think everyone should read

18th August www.skyehegyes.com 
Where do you post your reviews of books you’ve read?

19th August www.landsuncharted.com
What was the last book you gave a 5 star review?

20th August  kmcarrollblog.wordpress.com
Which book do you wish had a sequel?

21st August www.upstreamwriter.blogspot.com 
Which author would you most want to interview and why?

22nd August www.JoLinsdell.com  
How often do you go to the library?

23rd August www.belindabekkers.com
Goodreads challenge/reading goal for this year? On track so far?

24th August www.FabianSpace.com 
Do your family/friends support your reading habit?

25th August  http://theliteraryapothecary.blogspot.com 
Do you enter book giveaways? Last prize you won?

26th August  www.JustBJordan.com 
Name a book that made you cry

27th August  www.jebraunclifford.com 
Do you write as well as read? Do you see yourself being an author in the future?

28th August www.brandypotterbooks.com
When did you get into reading?

29th August www.skyehegyes.com 
What do you do to get out of a reading slump?

30th August www.brandypotterbooks.com
If a genie were to grant you 3 bookish wishes, what would you ask for and why? 

31st August  www.landsuncharted.com
Do you take part in readathons? Why? If yes, which are your favourites? 




Friday, August 11, 2017

Most Evil Villain- Book Lovers Blog Hop


Tweet: Who's voted the most evil villain? Book Bloggers Blog Hop shares our choices! https://ctt.ec/cXf3U+
Today and tomorrow I am participating in the Book Lovers Blog Hop. During this blog hop every host gets to ask a group of authors some reading related questions. Today I'll be asking six authors who they think is the most evil villain. There are links at the end of this post to the rest of the Blog Hop days as well!

It can be pretty hard to nail down just how evil a bad guy is. Most baddies have a reason for doing what they are doing, even in some twisted way. To me, the most evil bad guy is one who takes away the humanity of a person, stripping them of the right to choose, the right to be different. IT in A Wrinkle In Time comes close for me. IT does this by telepathically taking over the victim's mind and forcing them to conform. To top all this off, IT isn't so easy to defeat completely either! (I love Villains that never completely go away!)


The mind is a delicate and valuable thing. The mind is what makes you, well... you. I've seen first hand what damage to a mind can do. Stripping a once hopeful person of all their dreams, making them forget things they once knew, altering their personality so they are no longer who they once were. Villains that toy with their victims mind, manipulating and/or damaging them in any way will always win the Most Evil Victim award in my opinion.

 What do you ladies think?

Brandy Potter - www.brandypotterbooks.com
Defining the most evil villain is hard to do. I think for me it comes down to motivation. For example Moriarty to me isn’t evil, he is just motivated by using his wits to gain what he wants. Then you have Sauron and Voldemort who are absolutely evil, but are they the MOST evil. Perhaps. Voldemort though is a “children’s” evil which fails to portray depravity. Sauron’s evil is masked by the other villains in the story who are concentrated on more. Except for maybe in the Silmarillion, but that is like reading the begats section of the bible for me, so I couldn’t choose him. So I took the road of choosing the character that made my skin crawl and found that it was none other than Jack the Ripper. In Alex Grecian’s The Devil’s Workshop he is portrayed as “Saucy Jack” another name that Scotland Yard gave to the notorious serial killer. He has rules, yes but the way his mind works is chilling… chilling. Coming in a close second is Dr. Peter Teleborian in Stig Larsen’s The Girl that shook The Hornet's Nest. To explain his evil is difficult because I could give away the ending and some would argue Nils Bjurman, Martin Vanger or even Zalachenko were more evil. All of them were chilling, but what Teleborian did to Lisbeth is appalling.

Jo Linsdell www.JoLinsdell.com
There are so many evil villains out there who would easily merit the top spot, but I’m going to go with Ackerman from the Shepherd series by Ethan Cross. Father of Fear (the third book in the series) is when we see just how evil, and twisted this man really is. As far as serial killers go he is definitely at the top of the list with how much he enjoys torturing his victims. What makes him the most evil though is the experimenting he does on his own family. Ackerman Jr really didn’t have much of a chance with a father like that… and although he holds his own ranking in the evil villain list, he’s nothing compared to his father. 


Skye Hegyes www.skyehegyes.com
I think it’s safe to say that the most evil villain in the fictional world is someone everyone can hate with a passion that’s almost holy, and that’s Professor Dolores Umbridge. I mean, how can you not hate the evil little toad of a woman. She was specifically cruel to anyone who did not go along with her exact thoughts of how things should be done. Ugh! Monster!





Belinda Bekkers www.belindabekkers.com
I think Cruella del Vil from The Hundred and One Dalmations and Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories are pretty unbeatable. Pap in the Mosquito Coast is also evil.


Jebraun Clifford www.jebraunclifford.com
Villains should be complicated and three-dimensional. They can’t just be bad because they’re bad. They’ve got to have a good motivation for what they do! To me, a terrible and chilling villain is the Queen in the Hall from Elizabeth Marie Pope’s The Perilous Gard because she doesn’t believe she is evil, she’s only doing what she must to keep her and her faerie folks’ way of life secure. There’s no reasoning with an antagonist like that! 



Just B. Jordan www.JustBJordan.com 
When I hear “most evil villain” my mind instantly goes to Sephiroth from Final Fantasy. (I know, they’re games, not books. Haha) In my childhood Sephiroth was the baddest bad guy out there. My brothers and I would have conversations about how cruelly evil he could be. I think in my mind he will always hold the Most Evil trophy. ;)







I have to go with One from Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones. He’s this head of the galactic council who has extended his lifespan with various treatments to make sure he never has to pass his rule to anyone else. And he’s ruthlessly destroyed the descendents of the true reigning house, turning them into slaves and worse. No blood is shown, of course, but it’s very implied. I think the implications are so horrible because your mind gets to fill them in. The things he did to one of the heroes … I just shudder, even now. And he does it with a smile and completely friendly logic.


How about you, dear readers? Do you have a Villain that you love to hate? Leave a comment for all of us in the comments section below!



Book Lovers Blog Hop Schedule!

(Links are likely to not go live until the date of)

1st August   www.JoLinsdell.com
What are you reading this month? TBR list for August

What’s your favourite genre to read?

Where do you get your books?

Best read of 2017 so far?

Favourite author?

Favourite book cover design?


Preferred book format? (ebook, print, audio)

How do you organise your bookshelves ?

Favourite book to movie adaption?

Most evil villain?

What’s the best plot twist you’ve read?

13th August http://www.cjbrightley.com
Favourite fictional character?

14th August www.JustBJordan.com
Best fictional friendship?

15th August  www.saderena.com/blog
Best book series?

16th August http://www.angelaguidolinauthor.co.uk/blog
Most thought provoking book you’ve read?

17th August  www.tabithacaplinger.com
Top 3 books you think everyone should read

18th August www.skyehegyes.com 
Where do you post your reviews of books you’ve read?

19th August www.landsuncharted.com
What was the last book you gave a 5 star review?

20th August  kmcarrollblog.wordpress.com
Which book do you wish had a sequel?

21st August www.upstreamwriter.blogspot.com 
Which author would you most want to interview and why?

22nd August www.JoLinsdell.com  
How often do you go to the library?

23rd August www.belindabekkers.com
Goodreads challenge/reading goal for this year? On track so far?

24th August www.FabianSpace.com 
Do your family/friends support your reading habit?

25th August  http://theliteraryapothecary.blogspot.com 
Do you enter book giveaways? Last prize you won?

26th August  www.JustBJordan.com 
Name a book that made you cry

27th August  www.jebraunclifford.com 
Do you write as well as read? Do you see yourself being an author in the future?

28th August www.brandypotterbooks.com
When did you get into reading?

29th August www.skyehegyes.com 
What do you do to get out of a reading slump?

30th August www.brandypotterbooks.com
If a genie were to grant you 3 bookish wishes, what would you ask for and why? 

31st August  www.landsuncharted.com
Do you take part in readathons? Why? If yes, which are your favourites? 






Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Kosmos- A book by Jo Linsdell

Another of my favorite authors just started writing serial fiction! I love serial fiction! Bite sized fiction that you can read on the run! Bonus... it's about time travel! Forgive me while I geek out for a moment!


The Pendant (KOSMOS Episode One) is written by Jo Linsdell and is her very first published work of serial fiction! (Like... It JUST released TODAY!!) She's written many other non fiction books and written/illustrated numerous childrens books, all of which my children LOVED! Now that my children are too old for picture books I am sure they will love this one too- but they can't have it till I finish MY copy! ;)


(I will post a review later but as I am in college at the moment it may take me a bit before I have time to read it... maybe I should let my kids read it first! )

Kosmos


About the book:
Teenager Matthew Smith feels like his life is a mess. He keeps arguing with his mum, is being bullied at school, and worst of all has a crush on a girl who doesn't seem to even know he's alive. Just when he thinks things couldn't possibly get any worse he finds a strange pendant that changes his life forever.


KOSMOS is a serial fiction of 12 episodes.

(PLUS it's only $0.99! What a DEAL!! A "little birdy" even told me that the next one is titled "Gunpowder" O.o)


Here's the purchasing link if you are interested!: http://amzn.to/2j4lL3e

ASIN: B01N32IN1N


I wondered how Jo decided to start writing serial fiction... here's what she had to say:

What made you want to write serial fiction?
I have a huge list of ideas for books I want to write but never seem to find the time to get round to. The story of KOSMOS was one of them. In 2016 I read a serial fiction called Remade and realised that my idea for KOSMOS would work perfectly as a series of short stories. It's also a fun way of experimenting with new genres.
Writing a full novel is a big task that takes a considerable amount of time. Writing short stories is much more manageable. I'm a big fan of writing challenges like NaNoWriMo and find they do wonders for my productivity. This year I decided to take part in the A Story A Week challenge, during which I'm writing the episodes of KOSMOS.


Here's some more information about the Author:



Jo Linsdell is the author of numerous books, including; How To Be Twittertastic, Virtual Book Tours: Effective Online Book Promotion From the Comfort of Your Own Home, Italian for Tourists, A Guide to Weddings in Italy, Out and About at the Zoo,  Fairy May and The Box. She is also the illustrator of the A Birthday Clown for Archer series (written by Kathy Mashburn) and the Jasmine Dreams series (written by Maria Rochelle).
She is the founder and CEO of Writers and Authors and Promo Day. Linsdell studied A-levels in Business Studies, History and Art and has won several awards in her career. She was named the Who's Who in the writing industry in 2009.

Connect with the author at www.JoLinsdell.com


I've never been disappointed by Jo's books so I hope you will all go and check out her newest serial story!




Monday, July 25, 2016

Inspiration For A Sequel To The Alien Mind


Island
No author is an island- or else we would be covered in sand and palm trees. Sounds like a nice vacation...

Anyhow, I do a lot of thinking, writing in my head, as well as listening to music on car rides. I'm slowly developing a list of songs that really help me formulate a more concrete picture of the emotions and scenarios in my stories. For those of you who are waiting for a sequel to The Alien Mind, it might be a while. Between my college work, housework, and doctors appointments for my eldest who has 22q deletion syndrome as well as a mental disability- yeah, my writing is coming along slowly.

In the meantime, I decided to develop a playlist on Youtube to collect each new song as I find one that works. The sequel is not yet titled.

Enjoy!


If you've read The Alien Mind and know of a song that you think epitomizes something in the book- please share in the comments! I'm working on a playlist for that one too!




Island photo credit: Dominican-Republic - Island of Saona - a Palm tree in the wind via photopin (license)

**********


Find The Alien Mind on Amazon!
Did you like this post? If so you might enjoy my book!

For adults and teens alike, it is truly a science fiction adventure for the whole family!

If you'd prefer an autographed copy straight from the author you can buy one here as well!
Autographed Copy:$13.00 + Shipping
 


"If you enjoy my writing, would you care to buy me a cup of coffee?"



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Tuesday, July 5, 2016

UnBlocking My Site With Social Media Buttons


Improving 
For those of you out there with websites I have a very interesting piece of info for you!

Originally I was using Social Media Button Maker to help me create the coding for the social media buttons on my website. That is until I started getting reports from Avast Users that they were getting blocked from my website!

After weeks of googling for a solution, I finally sent an e-mail to Avast to report to them that all other antivirus software (including Kaspersky) were reporting that my site was clean.

Avast sent me back a fast reply telling me that the Social Media Button Maker code (they actually sent me the erroneous piece of code to assist in me finding the problem) was why my website was getting blocked. Back to my backend to figure out why.

I pulled up my code for that widget and found a link INSIDE the code to a shifty hotel site! That was my tip off! I don't remember that being there before! So I deleted the Javascript and sat down to find better buttons and write the html myself. This sent me to a google search where I found ALL of my buttons (including the ones the button maker didn't offer) on WikiCommons! SCORE!


And here's what the buttons look like!:



website buttons
Buttons in use!
Just regular buttons! YAY!

Once I was finished I reported my fix to Avast and they promptly sent me a confirmation saying that my site would be taken off "blocked" in the next antivirus definition update! YAY!!!

Because I have so many friends that love building their own websites I figured I would offer the code here. They don't have counters, don't lag in loading, or do anything fancy. All you have to do is update the BOLDED links with your own social media links and paste the html where you need it on your site!

HTML Code for social buttons:


<div><a href="http://www.instagram.com/author.vl.jennings" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="WikiInstagram button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Instagram_icon.png" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a><a href="www.twitter.com/vljennings" style="font-size: 100%;">  <img alt="Wikitwitter button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Twitter_Logo_Mini.svg" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /> </a><a href="www.facebook.com/vljennings" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="Wikifacebook button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Facebook_icon.jpg" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /> </a><a href="https://plus.google.com/+VirginiaLoriJennings" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="WikiGplus button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Google_Plus_logo.png" style="border: 1; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/vljennings/" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="Wikipinterest button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Pinterest-logo.png" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/virginialorijennings" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="Wikiyoutube button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Youtube_logo_stacked-vfl225ZTx.png" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/VLJennings" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="Wikigoodreads button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Goodreads_%27g%27_logo.jpg" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Mind-V-L-Jennings/dp/1940812658" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="Wikiamazon button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Amazon-mp3-store-source_Faenza.svg" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/vljennings" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="Wikilinkedin button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Linkedin.svg" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a><a href="http://www.virginialorijennings.com/feeds/posts/default" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="WikiRSS button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Rss-feed.svg" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a></div>


<end code>

Once again these codes are completely clean! Once you replace the bolded links with your own there will be no further link back to me at all ;) 

If you'd prefer to take out some of the buttons or perhaps re-order them... here's the breakdown:

Instagram:
<div><a href="http://www.instagram.com/author.vl.jennings" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="WikiInstagram button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Instagram_icon.png" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a>

Twitter:
<a href="www.twitter.com/vljennings" style="font-size: 100%;">  <img alt="Wikitwitter button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Twitter_Logo_Mini.svg" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /> </a>


Facebook:
<a href="www.facebook.com/vljennings" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="Wikifacebook button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Facebook_icon.jpg" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /> </a>

Google+
<a href="https://plus.google.com/+VirginiaLoriJennings" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="WikiGplus button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Google_Plus_logo.png" style="border: 1; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a>

Pinterest:
<a href="https://www.pinterest.com/vljennings/" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="Wikipinterest button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Pinterest-logo.png" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a>

Youtube Profile:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/virginialorijennings" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="Wikiyoutube button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Youtube_logo_stacked-vfl225ZTx.png" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a>

Goodreads:
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/VLJennings" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="Wikigoodreads button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Goodreads_%27g%27_logo.jpg" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a>

Amazon Author Page:
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Mind-V-L-Jennings/dp/1940812658" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="Wikiamazon button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Amazon-mp3-store-source_Faenza.svg" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a>

Linkdin:
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/vljennings" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="Wikilinkedin button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Linkedin.svg" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a>

RSS Feed:
<a href="http://www.virginialorijennings.com/feeds/posts/default" style="font-size: 100%;"><img alt="WikiRSS button" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Rss-feed.svg" style="border: 0; height: 42px; width: 42px;" / /></a></div>



I hope this helps someone out there! Thanks for stopping by!

***"Improving, Non-stop"photo credit: Broadway via photopin (license)


Find The Alien Mind on Amazon!

Did you like this post? If so you might enjoy my book!

For adults and teens alike, it is truly a science fiction adventure for the whole family!

If you'd prefer an autographed copy straight from the author you can buy one here as well!
Autographed Copy:$13.00 + Shipping
 


"If you enjoy my writing, would you care to buy me a cup of coffee?"



Tip Options