Well I tried another one.

Ok this one, as psychotic and bizarre as it was was actually a really pleasant read surprisingly.

I don’t know if I am just warming up to this series or if it is a fluke.

I really enjoyed how the wizard of oz had a very different take in this book. Still just as murder-y as the others but it actually fit the plot quite well. Less of a strain on the brain to jump into the world.

I admit I still struggle with these books, they are hard for me to get along with, and there is no way they will have an obvious spot on my bookshelf because… mum life.

Hi to those of you new here and those of you wanting to know who I am?

I started writing at 19 instead of getting the therapy I really needed and I found myself falling in love with it. I never expected I would become a writer it’s not something planned or I anticipated. I wish I could say I would always have wanted to be a writer. Honestly, my delusional self wanted to do musical theatre because I loved the story telling. I lost the confidence I needed.

See at 19 I thought writing instead of therapy would help me with what I was struggling with. It turns out truth is stranger than fiction because if I were to write what’s happened in my life without censoring anything? I feel like no one would believe it. There are times I wish I hadn’t lived some of it. But it’s made me who I am. Flaws and all.

So write it right. Write what you know. In some ways I have. Small glimpses here and there.

That very first story I titled Breathing Smog. It’s not my best work. But it never would be.

But through that I discovered that I loved writing, I hate editing, but love writing. I spent my childhood either in a book or daydreaming about other worlds or lives and lived through that.

Now here I am. A thirty something writer who has spent the last 14 years (with a maternity break and pandemic break) writing and plotting and planning.

So here I am getting ready to really start querying agents for the book I’ve edited over and over until I’m now at a point where I am ready to be brave and try to be somewhat traditional in my approach.

It’s the first in a series of what will be 9. I’m going to be starting to stare at the blank pages for book two soon and start pushing forward for that as I query for book one.

I’ll let you know how that goes.

But for now, I’m getting used to the idea of having a little bit of faith in myself.

Twisted… was not as plot “twisty” as I would have hoped.

To be honest I get it, romance has a formula. If I wanted twists I should be looking elsewhere.

The characters at time lacked dimension and personality. The leading lady especially lacking in spine.

Honestly I won’t be re reading this book. That’s ok it was for research purposes but I find little enjoyment in this theme of murderers are sexy, abusive dynamics are the biggest turn off for me. Consider me a product of my own traumas. That’s ok, after all different strokes for different folks.

I left it a while to write the review hoping I would have found some memorable tidbit or something but all I can remember is the burning question of can snakes actually eat whole bodies, do they like them in that context and that it seems a highly inefficient way to stuff skeletons in a closet if you ask me.

So what does all this reading mean for my own writing? I hear absolutely no one asking.

I read the “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series primarily for research, I like some of it, I am frustrated by some of it. There where times where it got a real reaction out of me, shifting in my seat in excitement in battles, “ooo burn” may have slipped out my mouth a few times at some witty come backs. But it has highlighted to me what I really want to do in my own pursuits, what I want to avoid. Mainly a lack of planning.

Yes I have been working on, editing and re-editing the first book in a nine part series. Honestly the planning stage looks like a hot mess involving lever arch files (multiple) and notebooks of easter eggs, connections, maps and sketches across the series. The plot however, the first 3 books I can comfortably say right now are outlined enough I could take a crack at first drafts, books 4 on wards some have more details ready than others, more plans aligned. But all of them do have at least a vague outline of what each book must have as incidents and what’s at stake throughout.

The first book… Where’s that at?

Well, after sending it out to my test readers, getting some good feedback and shuffling a few bits around I am more inclined to say once I am finally happy with how the synopsis and cover letter look I will begin reaching out to literary agents. I am planning out the synopsis with a brief overview of the whole series as well, I don’t want to show up to the table with “hey this is a series but I can’t tell you the major stuff across the books because I haven’t quite worked it out yet”. There is a big part of me that would hate to do that. I know what I want to happen across the books roughly and I am prepared to fight for that. I want to fight for the characters, for their story.

The more I work on and work with these characters the more I am looking at their stories and believing that they deserve better than a half bake attempt. Some of them do have my contempt. But overall, I’ve really gotten to know them and I really want to bring the magic back and change their futures.