Howdy Ya’ll,

Welcome to Life with Lisa, this fine Friday (or Saturday, depends where you’re at)! As you all probably know, the second book of Burn Bright is coming out soon, or already has, and  Marianne was kind enough to send each staff member their own signed copy. Since I didn’t have Burn Bright, she was such a doll and sent both Burn Bright and Angel Arias. As of right now, I’m super busy not only with blogging for Burn Bright, Turning Pages, and normal life, but school also; so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to finally dig into them (but I hope soon!).

Yesterday, I was kind of just sitting around, thinking about things I could talk about this week’s Life with Lisa post; to be honest I’ve been so busy I haven’t even had time to prepare posts (which I plan on doing this weekend). So yes, I’ve been a bad little blogger, doing her posts last minute. I had no clue, what I could talk about, until I sent Marianne an email informing her that her package arrived. That’s when it all came to me! Why not blog about getting mail!?

Noooo, I’m not showing you all the junk I get in the mail or what kind bills I have.

But one of my biggest bug-a-boos is having to wait a long time just for something to come in the mail. Yeah, there’s priority shipping, but who wants to pay twenty (or more…usually more though) bucks on having a package be there by tomorrow? I send out at least five to eight packages a week, that would cost me over one hundred dollars, that’s insane!? I would rather send it the cheap route, and go to the bookstore once I’m done at the post office.

On the other hand, when I’m the receiver I don’t want to wait for two weeks either. Especially, if I know that a good books coming or if it’s a surprise (I love surprises!), that’s when I want it here, and I want it here right now!

Screamed, danced, jumped, laughed, smiled, and screamed a bit more were just a few things I did when I received my first package through the blogging world. I felt like it was a huge step in my blogging life. Like now, I’m cool enough to not only get books sent to me by my grandma, but other people too! When I opened my mailbox, and saw that yellow package, and with my name on it, I ripped it open right there. Without any hesitation!

When I first started blogging, I felt like it was me against the world – that all of the other bloggers were way more experienced and knew more than I did. Receiving this first package made me feel accepted, and like I’m here too, blogging alongside all of these other bookworms.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Make sure to leave me a comment, telling me about your first package experience! Have a lovely weekend(:

Quillblade is the first book in the Voyages of the Flying Dragon saga, and it left us figuratively hanging from the edge of a cliff by a fingernail.  Beast Child picks up where it left off, but rather than settling into a comfortable pattern of asking questions and answering them; once more Ben has us holding our breath, being blinded by red herrings and itching for answers.

There is no cream for the itch however; the only way you’ll find out what happens next is to get your hands on a copy and consume it, page by well-crafted page.

The Hiryu has been given an engine upgrade by Lenis, allowing for a quick getaway when it’s needed, however as Lenis is the only one who knows how to run the engine without blowing the whole Hiryu to kingdom come, it becomes necessary to get him back, when a plan to retrieve the stones of Ebb and Flow from Karasu backfires and he is stranded on the mercenary’s air ship.

Missy is forced to question her own moral values to get her brother back and to continue the search for the stones that will help Suiteki’s powers come into their own.

We are introduced to at least 3 new characters, and their roles will only become more apparent in book 3. You’ll have to decide for yourself if they should be trusted.

The character evolution is on an extreme skyward arc, I felt that the one character I wanted to hear more from was the Dragon Suiteki but she took a back seat. I have hope she will come to the forefront in the next installment, Ebb and Flow

I cannot wait!

http://www.benchandler.com.au

ISBN: 9781864719796

Format: Paperback

Imprint: Random House Australia

Published: 01/09/11

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTJ_1U1x1QQ&feature=channel_video_title

Yara and her friend Cherie are transferring to Pendrell school. It so happens that Yara comes from a Waker family. Her family for generations have been able to see ghosts and help them cross over. Yara is still unwilling to accept her gifts and the responsibilities that come along with it, but her friend Cherie would do anything to have Yara’s gift, and Cherie has trained with Yara’s grandmother (Vovo) for years.

Cherie has been able to talk Yara into going to Pendrell with her, both knowing very well that the school is known to be haunted. Soon Yara finds out that Cherie has managed to also score them the dorm room, known to have the most ghostly activity throughout the school’s history.

What I appreciated the most about this book is the friendships that the characters have with each other. You can tell Cherie and Yara have been friends for a long time, they know each other’s quirks and care for each other deeply. As the girls start to date, the love interests also hold more than just a physical attraction, but friendship and trust. The dialogue and banter throughout the book is light-hearted and funny. Yara is one to wear her heart on her sleeve and you never have to guess what she’s thinking. One of my favorite parts is when she hurls her chemistry book at Brent’s head for mouthing back to her and pissing her off.

After settling into school Yara soon finds out that she has the ability to spiritually leave her body and wander around the campus. She also finds out that she is not the only person who can do so, and her new abilities draw danger closer. There is something weird going on behind the walls of Pendrell and Yara may be the only person who can rescue the school from the evil spirits…if she survives.

Intrinsical is one of those books that I have been recommending to my friends. I was so impressed with this story that I fan-girled the author over Twitter and never miss one of her stops into my town. It had all of those elements in it that make a great young adult novel. There is the boarding school setting, the BFF and the cute boy crush. With Intrinsical you get the added elements of ghosts and magic. A highly enjoyable read for me and have purchased more than one copy of it myself.

Hardcover, 304 pages
Published August 20th 2010 by Pendrell Publishing (first published August 17th 2010)
ISBN 0982729707 (ISBN13: 9780982729700)
More info here.

Series The Yara Silva Trilogy #1

I’m one of those people that likes something left for me to discover about a book after reading the review. I read the first book of this series last year, and though the book is well thought out and evenly paced, I found it difficult to write a review without giving the away whole plot.

The deep and intricate way the stories are woven together really has everything connected in such a way that to tell one story, is to involve them all. So upon completing the second book this week, I think I can now natter out a skeletal enough review without totally ruining all the surprises that will await you, should you decide to pick the series up and give it a go.

Our key characters are British teenage boys, Fin, Christopher, and Joe. They know each other from the schools that Fin attends in an alternating order. The journey through book 1 Double Edged Sword introduces Fin and his friends to the alternate reality London called Nowhere, and the secret society of knights that keep the Somewhere (the London reality that Fin and his friends grew up in) very much separate from the Nowhere. Confused yet? Fin’s main storyline is that he just wants to find out who his parents are.

In book 2, Traitor’s Gate, Fin’s main storyline from book one isn’t as prominent, while the struggles of Christopher and Joe share equal page space. There is an evil forcing the Somewhere and the Nowhere to align, sending both realities into utter chaos. The boys are struggling to find out who’s responsible and how to fix the rift.

As I said before, the books are evenly paced, though that pace is very slow. I think this series would be a little more consumable if it were in audio format, or if you’re a teen that still enjoys being read to, this would make a brilliant read aloud series.

There is political intrigue, gypsies, thieves and damsels in distress everywhere.  There are twists in the least likely places and stick with it until the end of Traitors Gate to have your mind blown away and to have you really wishing book three, The London Stone, was close at hand.  But you’ll have to wait until March 2012 for that third installment.

George is a Melbourne author and stay-at-home dad. He has written over 50 books for kids and teens, including novels, chapter books, school readers, reference books and even a short story collection. Gamers’ Quest, a teen, sci-fi, action/adventure set entirely within an elaborate computer game, won a 2010 Chronos award. The sequel, Gamers’ Challenge is to be published by Ford Street Publishing in September this year.

George drinks too much coffee and eats too much chocolate. Aside from that, he tries to live a balanced life. His two daughters and one wife put up with him, while his two cats constantly demand to be fed. Sometimes he wonders how he actually finds the time to write.

1. You’ve written more than 50 books (!!), some of which have appeared on the Vic & NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge booklists, and one of which (Gamers’ Quest) was awarded a 2010 Chronos Award for spec fiction. Phew! As a kid, were you always writing stories and engaging in creative pursuits? What’s the secret to maintaining those energy levels?

I was a reluctant reader during early primary school, until I discovered science fiction about mid-way through. That turned my life around as I suddenly found myself willingly diving into the world of books. I didn’t discover I enjoyed writing until somewhere during high school. And even then, I didn’t do a huge amount of it beyond schoolwork. At that stage I was much more interested in reading. It was during my final year at high school and during my university years that I really started to get into writing. I wrote a lot of stuff for amateur publications during that time… some of it during my lectures. J

I don’t know that there’s any secret to maintaining the energy levels. It’s simply a case of loving what I do. I’d be writing even if I wasn’t getting paid for it. Getting paid for it simply means that I can spend more time doing it. So, as well as writing teen novels like Gamers’ Challenge, I’m also writing school readers, chapter books and short reference books, as well as stories and articles for mags and anthologies. And I’m loving every minute of it.

2    The sequel to Gamers’ Quest, Gamers’ Challenge, is due for release in September. When you’re writing a series, how far in advance do you plan your story line? And do you prefer to plot carefully, or just take an idea and run with it?

The Gamers books weren’t originally planned as a series. I wrote Gamers’ Quest to be a stand-alone novel. It was not until Ford Street Publishing suggested that a sequel might be a good idea that I even considered I could go beyond that first book. Of course, once I started thinking about it, I couldn’t stop… to the extent that while I was writing Gamers’ Challenge, I was coming up with ideas for a third book. Now I’ve just got to hope that book two does well enough to warrant a third.

In terms of the actual writing process for the books, I did carefully plot out each of them before starting the writing. But then things evolved as I was writing them. No matter how carefully I plot, the characters will always end up doing something that surprises me.

3.   I love your concept of this computer game world. Are you a keen gamer yourself? What inspired you to create a techno universe?

I was a very keen gamer when I was a teenager — back in the days when Space Invaders was the height of sophisticated game play. 😉 These days I don’t play as often and when I do, it’s usually with my eldest daughter. Rayman Raving Rabbids is a favourite on Wii. But I suck big-time at Force Unleashed. And I do still indulge in Space Invaders Extreme on the DS every now and then. I also like watching others play — the way people get so immersed in the games is fascinating.

I wrote the Gamers novels to be the books that I would have loved reading as a 13-year-old. Full of action and adventure, of weird characters and bizarre situations — cramming in all the things that interested me as a teen. So over the course of two novels you get everything from a droll dragon to a relentless cyborg, from warrior monks to invading centurions, from a giant robot spider to a homicidal computer virus, from a space battle to combat in an enclosed light-grid. Everything that I would have wanted at that age, all wrapped up in a computer game package.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

Difficult choice! The characters I tend to love the most are those that I’m writing at any given time. But, looking back at the two Gamers books, if I absolutely had to choose…

Edgar the dragon, who is thoroughly sick of people coming along to challenge him for his bag of gold, and his wife Vera, who literally married her husband for his body (certain dragon body parts being rather valuable commodities). They were, simply, a lot of fun to write. They feature in Gamers’ Quest. I desperately wanted to include them in Gamers’ Challenge as well… but that would have been self-indulgent on my part and would not have served the story. Sometimes, no matter how much you love certain characters, it’s better for the story to not include them. But that’s okay, because I got to create a whole bunch of new characters. And really, they all burn bright in my mind — otherwise they would never have made it into the books.

Now check out the new Gamers’ Challenge & Gamers’ Quest trailers!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPQc32qn2_E

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vCC-l34Fgo

Check out George’s webiste here!

Visit the official Gamers website here!