Scookie Reviews

FROSTBITTEN by Heather Beck 4 stars Verdict : If you can get into it, you won’t want to put it down. Great beauty hides dark secrets...  Seventeen-year-old Anastasia Lockhart has never led an easy life, but when she starts getting into serious trouble, she’s sent to live with her grandparents in Cedar Falls. The small, picturesque town hasn’t changed since she visited four years ago, with one exception – the presence of a handsome, mysterious boy named Frost. Despite warnings from her grandparents and friends to stay away from Frost, Anastasia can’t deny their attraction, and the more time they spend together, the deeper in love they fall. Unfortunately, Frost has a secret that is beyond Anastasia’s wildest imagination, and she soon finds herself in the midst of a supernatural legend that has haunted Cedar Falls for years. Can Anastasia and Frost’s love really overcome anything, or are their fates much darker? ~*~ The Rating Breakdown Enjoyment: 3  Lots of ...

Nest Pitch has taught me so much writing. Here are a few thing's I learned from polishing up my first 300 words and taking part in the Nest Pitch: Your openings matters a lot. If your story kicks off in chapter two, or only grabs a reader's attention half way through chapter one, then you might be giving potential readers too much time to put the book down. Show . If you're cramming ideas in to hook the reader, you might actually be burring them with information instead. See if you can leave some of the exposition aside and show it later. Avoid vagueness . Your readers are blank slates, and they will only pull into the opening image what you give them. Specifics are what interests readers, and confusion is not the same as intrigue. One idea per sentence. If the sentence starts to sound full or unclear, then writing it as two separate sentences could strengthen your writing. Take a unique angle. Ask yourself, what makes your opening specific to your book? ...

Introducing the winner of Scookie Review's Hidden Gem Awards, Jason P Crawford, and his supernatural novel, Chain of Prophecy! How does it feel to win the Hidden Gem Awards? Fantastic! I really didn’t think I had a chance at it when I got a good look at the competition. I watched the final countdown with my heart in my throat…for five days! What inspired you to write Chains of Prophecy? Like a lot of my books, I wrote Chains of Prophecy after being inspired by a role-playing game. Ars Magica is a magical-European-medieval period game, and in it God is an objective reality. My book doesn’t use the mechanics presented in Ars Magica, but several of the concepts are borrowed from the same origin. What was the best part of writing it? Chains of Prophecy was my first published novel but my second written. The best part of writing it was that I had the same fire of creativity, but more confidence in myself as a writer because I knew I could finish a book. The harde...

Nest Pitch is over, and wow, I really wasn't expected the results. I'm ecstatic to announce that Team Sugar Rush cleared up the contest!  Not only did I receive four agent requests, I got to meet loads of lovely, supportive authors. Can't wait to read all your books, guys. If you'd like to read the opening 300 words of THE CLEARING, here's a link to the blog of my wonderful mentor, Louise Gornall , My whole manuscript is a lot stronger, thanks to her. I've also worked on the cover using copy-right free images. I think I'm getting the hang of Paint.Net. Despite danger lurking between the trees, the banished always run into the forest. Ruby doesn’t understand why. Until rebellious behaviour gets her sentenced. Now, Ruby is about to learn first-hand why the banished must run. Sixteen-year-old Ruby is not supposed to question the way of her village life. She is expected to settle down with her best friend and focus on bearing children,...

The contest is over, and congratulations to the winner, Jason P. Crawford. I will be posting up an author interview about The Chains of Prophecy within the next month! Here are my thoughts for the next contest. Feel free to comment below if you have any ideas, opinions, or musings. A Few Alterations So that the whole process is a little quicker, I will only select three top entries to read. This should make it much easier for me to post up the results within a few weeks, especially in case life gets unexpectedly busy again. After I've selected my three finalists, I will read each of the books entirely. In this contest, I mentioned I might put the book down at some point, but I decided against this. I need to know the ending to be able to truly judge a book. With so few final contestants, it seems unfair of me not to give everyone an equal chance. To Potential Contestants There's still time to vote on the next genre. The top two genres were Fantasy and Sci-Fi, so p...

#1 The Chains of Prophecy Jason P. Crawford When Samuel Buckland discovers he's descended of a powerful bloodline, he must first battle with his lack of faith before he faces evil in the form of a vicious yet smooth-talking politician.  This book takes no time in getting started, which is probably because Samuel is a character who likes to take action. Some of the side characters also act strangely at first, but it soon starts to fall into place as Samuel discovers that he must save a powerful yet helpless being. I'm going to keep my wording vague to avoid spoiling the plot, but if you're a fan of contemporary fiction involving angels, powers, and villains, then you'll love Chains of Prophecy . I’m a huge fan of angels and legacies, especially when the author adds in a few new spins like Crawford has. After learning that God and beliefs would play a part in the story, I was also thankful that this book handled beliefs in a way that isn't designed to...

#2 Bloodline Tara Ellis A meteor shower is followed by an infectious disease, one that seems to changing everyone around Alex into emotionless aliens. Alex always knew her father’s death was suspicious, but now solving the clues he left behind for her seems to be the key to reversing the disease.  The mystery behind the disease is well thought out. I loved the hieroglyphics sketched into the book – a nice touch, very unusual. The sketches pulled me into the puzzle left for Alex to solve, and it’s quite a clever quirk. I also commend the author for the diversity of her characters. I'm a fan of anything Egyptian and was glad to see Alex's heritage being part of the story. Alex is a sweetheart and her brother is intelligent and loving too. They make a good pair. On the other hand, I didn’t care much for ‘nice guy’ Chris because I just didn’t feel like I knew him very well. Maybe I’ll have to read book 2 to find out more about him. This was a quick read with a g...

#3 The Scary Girls J.D. Kaplan Trick needs a new band, preferably one where the lead singer doesn't make out with his girlfriend. That's when he meets the Scary Girls: three beautiful, mysterious, and talented musicians whom Trick instantly clicks with. He soon finds himself playing extraordinary music as well as bumping into otherworldly beings that have him questioning who, or what exactly, is he? Mixing music with the supernatural, The Scary Girls was the most original book of all the entries. I could tell the writer must be an awesome musician as well as a talented writer. I liked Trick a lot. There was something very relatable about all the characters - something real and raw, especially with Trick. He's a little uncomfortable in his skin, but rises to the moment, and comes across as very likeable, easy going, and very easy to follow as a main character. If you're tired of strong female leads, then this might be the book for you.  I became real...

#4 Broken Dolls B.R. Kingsolver Private Investigator R.B. Kendrick usually uses her telepathy to help nail cheating spouses. But when she's asked to investigate the disappearance of a missing girl, Kendrick uses her abilities to unravel a much more dangerous plot in the dark underbelly of the telepathic society. I loved the creativity in this one. The feisty character’s main gift was telepathy, which allowed a brilliant spin on a private investigator story. My favourite part was how Kendrick can tell what nasty things a person has done by the stains on their soul. There were also lots of juicy plot twists and action scenes too – a lot to keep me reading onwards. As much as I loved the concepts, explanations were often wordy and complicated, even when rereading. It all seemed to sound overly complicated for what it was, and new powers would pop up whenever needed rather than recycling old ideas to really knit the concepts together. I thought it would be better if the ch...

Ladies and gentlemen, readers and writers, it's about time I announced the results of the  Hidden Gem Awards . Eleven supernatural themed books entered, all self-published. Five were selected from reading the opening alone, and now they are all read and reviewed. I'll be posting one a day until we reach the winner to give each fantastic entry it's own time in the light. Here's the first runner up: #5 A Time Apart Rebecca Norrinne Caudill Olivia moves to Ireland, feeling a down on her luck and looking to kick start her life back up, starting with a tour of William Macauley's castle. When William rejects her offer, he wasn't expecting such a feisty reply, but Olivia was even more surprised when she remembers just exactly who William is. I knew a little of what was to come when I checked it was supernatural, but the twist was still a good one. The writing was quite clever, weaving in a few ideas that only really came together at that click mo...