Long Time, No See: The Shadow Book Review

Hello, my lovely readers and fellow writers!

Image taken from http://www.whiskeyriff.com/where-have-you-been/

You don't have to tell me how long it has been because I know that it has literally been YEARS. So much has happened in my personal life that has caused me to take an extended hiatus from blogging and writing. There will be a more in-depth blog post (with pictures) but here are the highlights:

1. Graduated College - two bachelor's degrees in French and English-Creative Writing

2. Met and married the love of my life - Michael <3

3. Graduated with my Masters of Arts in Teaching

4. Now have a big girl job teaching English Language Arts to the best kids in the world. I currently teach American Literature and Composition to Juniors in the Gwinnett County area. AND. I. LOVE. IT.

Taken from https://www.hercampus.com/after-college/15-thoughts-every-girl-has-while-looking-job 

So, those are my four excuses for leaving you all in suspense. However, I do have some great news. The third and final book in The Forget Me Not Trilogy is almost done. Over halfway finished before it is sent to the editor. I promise, as soon as I get information on the publication, you will be the first to know.

But moving on. I am here to review one of my favorite authors and good friends, Marianne Curley. Marianne has published the fourth book in the Guardians of Time Series, entitled The Shadow.

The image is taken from Marianne Curley's Website

If y'all know me at all or remember me from when I used to post on the regular, then you know how much I love Marianne Curley. Not only as an author but as a person. She is truly one of the most humble, kind, and talented young adult novelists that I have had the pleasure to read growing up and to have as a friend now that I am also an author. Even if we live several continents away from one another.

Her latest novel, The Shadow, picks up where the last in her trilogy, The Key, left off. Now, this review will not contain specific spoilers, but if you haven't read this novel or any other books by Marianne Curley, then stop reading now. Seriously. Stop. Go buy them. Read them. Love them.

Marianne Curley takes the reader on a beautiful journey back through the characters she created many years ago. We see all of our favorites: Ethan, Isabel, Arkarian (we know most people read just to see what our favorite blue-haired ageless mentor is doing), Matt, Dillon, Neriah, and many others. Marianne also brilliantly weaves in new characters that seem they have been there the whole time. While most continuation to series can leave the reader empty or wanting more, Marianne Curley successfully and seamlessly brings this world back to life and transports readers to another world where The Named and immortals are real and protect our world from the powers of chaos.

To be honest, I wasn't sure if The Shadow would live up to the last three novels in this series, The Named, The Dark, and The Key, but it surpasses all of my highest expectations. This novel is true to the characters and to the story of The Named. Marianne Curley's prose takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of emotion - from sorrow to hope to suspense to laughing out loud (Legit, I love that Ethan and the others refer to using their wings as "wing out.") to absolute happiness. Readers new and old will not be disappointed by this novel. It is one of my absolute favorites and one I will read and read again.

The Shadow by Marianne Curley can be purchased on Amazon, both in print copy and via Kindle download. Links to Marianne's website and her latest novel are below! GO BUY IT!

Image is taken from Goodreads.com 

BUY BOOK

Marianne Curley's Website

*This review is not sponsored and all opinions are my own.*
* All images are copyrighted to their proper owners found via Google search*

Giveaway Winners!

Merry Christmas my lovely readers! I am excited to announce the winners of my Christmas giveaway! Drum roll please...

Kaitlyn B. and Erin B.!! 

Congrats ladies! I will be emailing you shortly with the PDF versions of both books! 

I hope you all have a lovely holiday and enjoy being with friends and family! 

How To Make Time For Writing

I've decided to write a blog post that I think many aspiring writers need to read and one that I especially need to read. It's also a blog post about a question that I am often asked.

How do you make time for writing?

Well, it's definitely not easy. Being a full time college student who is also super involved with extracurriculars such as my university's literary journal, an online magazine for women, honor societies, sleeping, eating, AND writing a third novel....yeah, it's not easy.

However, it is not impossible. I know so many other authors who are just as busy or even busier than I. While it is difficult to balance everything, it is definitely doable. So I want to share with you all a few tips I try to follow to keep my creative juices going and to keep writing.

1. Give yourself a due date. 

While you may not have an editor or publisher giving you deadlines as you write your novel, that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Give yourself reachable deadlines as you write. For example, write 20,000 words by the end of the month. Or tell yourself the first draft will by done by summer. Whatever it is, write your deadlines down and keep them somewhere, like in an agenda, where you will see it often.

2. Give yourself small, reachable goals

While the first tip is helpful, don't give yourself a due date that is impossible. Therefore, it would be also helpful to give yourself little goals that you can meet each week or even every day. For myself, I have created a goal of writing at least 500 words per day. While I haven't been consistent with that goal, it is still something I can remember and attempt everyday. Now, if the words are flowing and you go over 500 words, great! If not, just know that writing something is better than writing nothing at all.  

3. If you want writing to be your job, treat it like one

This goes back to my previous points. If writing is something that you want to make a career out of, then you should treat it like a job. Make deadlines, goals, and put hours in. If you love to write, then it deserves your time. And more importantly, your characters deserve your time.

4. Make an outline

If you are writing an in depth, super complicated multi-book series, then you may want to think about an outline. It isn't fair to you to expect yourself to bust out three books in a year (if you can, then kudos to you my friend!!). However, making an outline so that when you can sit down to write will help you be able to focus and write the scenes and characters you need to write. 

5. Drink coffee... lots of it

I think this tip is self-explanatory. Whatever you drink, coffee is always for me, make some while you write! Whatever keeps you awake, gets the creative juices going, then drink and write my friends! 

6. Don't beat yourself up

This tip is very important. If you dont' meet every small goal you make for yourself, don't freak out! Life gets busy and sometimes writing has to take a back seat. However, don't be so discouraged that you give up. Writing a novel takes time. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day! 

I hope you all found these tips and hints helpful! Happy Writing everyone! 

Also, for more information about my series and my inspiration, please follow me on my Pinterest account here!

Why Writing Matters

I realize it has been far too long. Life has been a constant blur of places, people, and things. I recently found myself wondering why I do what I do. Why do I write? Why do I try so hard to make time for something like writing? I have been writing a daily writing journal for one of my genre workshops and I thought I'd share one of my writings. Remember, this is rough, but I feel like it shows, at least to myself, why I write.

"To write is to breathe. To put words on a page is to live not once, but twice. To read the words on the page is to live an infinite amount of lives. Those who do not write surely live, yet never quite fully. Like lungs only half full, the breath is shallow and therefore the life can only be half lived.

Writing is necessary. As necessary as breathing, as water on a humid day, as sunlight in the dark. To write is to know who you truly are. Without writing, we are lost creatures, unable to learn from the past, unable to live in the present, and unable to safeguard our future.

Writing is silent screaming, bloodless bleeding, and dry sobs pouring out onto the page, like messy finger paints of a toddler. The writer has only one option and it is to write. To ignore the urge, to stifle the passionate longing within oneself is almost equal to a quiet death. Words must flow, must be written. For if we, the human race, forgo writing and pursue the sciences, the nine to five jobs. To be doctors, lawyers, teachers, students – all honorable, all needed and beautiful aspects of the human existence.

Yet if we forgo writing. If we strangle the passion with reason. If we delete and backspace our needs, our wants, our desires…

If we forget our past in the pursuit of our future. If we no longer write, then we can no longer live. If the human race goes on, but does not write…

Then we are lost."

I Leave in T-Minus 3 days, 1 hour, 9 minutes...

I can't even believe it! I'm only days away from going on my European adventure! While I am so excited for this amazing opportunity, I am also nervous and a little scared. This isn't my first time to France, but it is my first longterm stay in a foreign country. Yet, I have many exciting goals and opportunities while I am there.

First, I am hoping to be inspired and get some writing done on book three of the Forget Me Not Trilogy (yes, my lovely readers, I have not forgotten you!). With the long plane ride, different train rides, and days where I can sit in a French café  with un café crème, a croissant, and my laptop, I will have time to type away!

Secondly, I get the opportunity to research a famous 18th century French writer and her personal letters in Vire, France with my lovely French professor. Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont was a French author who is best known for penning the original "Beauty and the Beast." And I get to read, translate, and catalog the original, physical, real copies of her personal letters. Like in my hands. I get to hold them. And smell them.

I will be doing better at keeping my blog up to date as much as possible! Please follow me on Instagram, Vine, Twitter, and Facebook for more updates and pictures!

Instagram: apblanchard1218

Vine: Allison Blanchard

Twitter: @apblanchard

Facebook: www.facebook.com/allisonblanchardbooks

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I travel and move throughout Europe for the next four weeks! And thank you to my readers for all your support. It means the world!

The Secret Behind Being Published that No One Ever Tells You

I know it has been way too long since I last made a blog post. I was going through a lot with the Holidays, Morning Glory being released, and classes starting back up. And honestly, I couldn't think of anything really good to blog about. But after attending a reading of another author (who shall remain nameless) I suddenly realized something that I think people need to know. Especially writers and aspiring authors. It's a big one. A huge secret that people in the literary world don't tell.

Being published will not fix you or all your problems. Being published will not make you happy.

I think for many young writers (and I'm totes putting myself into this category!) believe that once they land that book deal, they will feel fulfilled, appreciated, and most of all happy.

Wrong. So wrong.

Being published is great - a huge blessing, but it's not everything. If you're writing for the sole purpose of becoming published, then you should stop now, put the computer away, and find another way to try to "make it." Because it will not give you everlasting joy and peace. It can't possibly do that.

Now, going back to the reading I attended, I learned something very important. But it wasn't till after I had left and talked to someone who knew the writer well. This writer has many books under her belt, has won many awards, has many great reviews, etc. She has a great job and she's doing what she loves. I found myself wishing to be more like her. Until I heard what her friend had to say. Get ready for this.

She wasn't happy. She wanted more awards. She wanted more prestige. She wanted more recognition. You see, simply being published wasn't enough. She wanted more.

Let's be honest, we all have felt the same way this author did. We all want more of something. But hearing that this author, who is quite well known in the literary world, wasn't happy astounded me. But then I realized why she wasn't being fulfilled by the things of this world. Because they are just that. Things.

I don't hide the fact that I love Jesus. I give Him the glory for all my books because He gave me the gift and talent for writing. My trust, my fulfillment, my hope, my dreams are in Him. Not in the things this world has to offer. And I think that's why this author was so unhappy. Her whole life has been dedicated to uplifting herself, gaining more attention, more books, etc. But this world disappoints. And so do its things.

Even if I had never been published, I would still be happy, no, joyful. I have Christ and that is more than enough for me. I have to remind myself of this every time I feel like I need more. I don't need anything but Jesus.

So back to my message to all those who want to be published. It is not a bad thing to want or desire. But it can't consume you. You can't think, "When I am published, then I will be happy and fulfilled." False. Wrong. Not gonna happen.

My biggest advice to aspiring writers has changed over the past two years. Forget the idea that publishing your book will make you happy and joyful forever. It is such a blessing. I'm not bashing published books or writers who have made it. But I am warning you of the danger of letting it consume you. Write because you have to write, because you love it, because your mind would explode if you didn't. Not because you want awards or fame. Trust me, I have gone down that road and it is full of disappointment. Your life's goal has to be bigger than just being published and getting prestige. Being published is such a small thing to live for in the grand scheme of things.

For me, my life is to further Christ's kingdom, to show others His love, and to bring more people into the everlasting, awe-inspiring, unbelievable, beautiful, and overwhelming grace and love of God. That's my mission. That's my life's goal.

Being a College Student/President of a Sorority/Published Author/This Title has too many slashes...

Before I begin this post, I would like to apologize for my lack of posts this past week. After the blogger book fair, life got a little hectic as I moved back to my college apartment. Speaking of being a college student, I come back to the purpose of this post.

I'm often asked what it is like to be a college student double major/president of my sorority/published author? It's tiring just saying it. While is sounds odd, even to me, I am blessed to be able to live this life. But that doesn't mean it doesn't come with its own set of challenges.

I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I'd actually publish while still in college. It has always been a dream and goal of mine, but I don't think I really thought it would come to pass. But that's just how awesome my God is - He knows the desires of my heart and heaps blessings on me that I don't deserve. And that's the only way I know I can live this life and wear all the hats that I do, through Jesus Christ and the strength He gives me. 

But like I said, it's not always easy being a double major and published author. I almost feel like I can't talk about my books in classes for fear of being judged. YES, JUDGED. I don't want other students looking at me differently and I especially don't want my professors judging me one way or another - whether it is positive or negative. However, it is hard to hide something as big as this. And it's not that I want to hide it. I'm very proud of my books, but I also want to be treated just like any other student and I want the other students to treat me the same way. 

So it's a difficult balance I try to keep. But so far it has been doable. But now I have the added blessing of being president of my sorority. I am absolutely thrilled and honored to step into this role ( DOVE LOVE), but I obviously still have some fear that makes me question myself. 

But that's when the Lord tells me again and again that He would never give me anything I couldn't handle. And it's true. I can do it all, not by my own strength, but by the strength Christ has equipped me with. 

So as I go into this new semester with new goals and dreams, I am reminded that Christ holds my destiny, both in class and in my career, and that trusting Him is the first step. My advice to any one who is also feeling the same way as I am in whatever situation is to take a deep breath, take the chance, and remember that regret is worse than fear or failure.

Blogger Book Fair Day Two: Sydney Logan and her Lovely Novels

I feel so honored to host such a lovely author and person, Sydney Logan! Today, Sydney has graciously allowed me to post an excerpt of second novel, Mountain Charm. Please check out the links below to learn more about this beautiful writer and her works.

The beautiful Sydney Logan

Bio:

Sydney Logan is an Amazon bestselling author and holds a Master’s degree in Elementary Education. With the 2012 release of her first novel, Lessons Learned, she made the transition from bookworm to author. Her second novel, Mountain Charm, was released in July 2013. She is also the author of two short stories: “Mistletoe Magic,” available exclusively on Amazon Kindle, and “Stupid Cupid,” which is featured in the Romantic Interludes compilation.

Sydney has a very unhealthy obsession with music, and her iPod is filled with everything from Johnny Cash to Eminem.  When she isn't reading or writing, she enjoys playing piano and relaxing on her front porch at her home in East Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat.

Please visit her on the web at www.sydneylogan.com.

Purchasing Links:

Website: http://www.sydneylogan.com/2013/06/buy-books.html

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sydney-Logan/e/B0096LZK90/

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/sydney-logan

TWCS: http://ph.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/authors/detail/41

Also available through iTunes, Kobo, & Books-a-Million

Social Media Links:

Website: http://www.sydneylogan.com

Goodreads:http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5787300.Sydney_Logan

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SydneyLoganAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SydneyALogan

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/sydneyalogan/

Now, without further waiting, here is an excerpt of Sydney Logan's latest work, Mountain Charm.

 Mountain Charm Blurb

“True love and sweet whispers, till death do us part;
Send someone to love my Appalachian heart.”

At the age of thirteen, Angelina Clark followed in the footsteps of her ancestors by casting an Appalachian love spell, which promised she would blossom into a beautiful and gifted woman who would find her true love. A young Angelina had been thrilled to participate in the sacred ritual, but through the years, her father’s untimely death and her mother’s failing health have shaken Angelina’s magical faith to its core. As her twenty-first birthday approaches, she refuses to practice her supernatural gifts and no longer believes in the love charm.

That is, until Dylan Thomas arrives on her front porch.

Dylan, a Nashville writer, travels to the mountain town of Maple Ridge to unearth the family’s supernatural secrets. While her clairvoyant mother is convinced that Dylan is her daughter’s soul mate, Angelina refuses to see the nosy reporter as anything more than a nuisance.

Despite their constant bickering, sparks fly.

Dylan admits he feels strangely drawn to Angelina and is in no hurry to leave Maple Ridge or publish his magazine article. Fearful that his emotions are being influenced by the spell, a stubborn Angelina struggles to fight her own budding attraction to the reporter.

The two inevitably grow closer just as her mother’s health begins to deteriorate, and Angelina is faced with the possibility of selling the family’s music shop to pay the mounting medical expenses. Desperate to help the woman he loves, Dylan explores his own family tree and finds support from an unlikely source. Can he finally prove his love is real—spell or no spell?

A story filled with love, friendship, family, and just a hint of Appalachian magic, Mountain Charm will leave you spellbound.

Mountain Charm Excerpt

“It’s your birthday?” Dylan asked.

“Yes, and it was blissfully uneventful until you showed up.”

“Beautiful and infuriating,” Dylan muttered. “Look, Angelina, I was just given this assignment yesterday. I don’t have a clue about Appalachian magic tricks or devil-worshipping or whatever it is you do up in these mountains, but I have a story to write. Just let me interview you and your mom, and I’ll be back on the interstate before you can say abracadabra.”

Instead of pointing out just how ignorant he sounded, Angelina decided what he truly needed was a strong dose of fear.

“Actually, I do have something you need to see. A family heirloom. Wait here?”

Excited for any useful information, Dylan’s eyes lit up and he nodded enthusiastically. Once again, those good manners kicked in, and Dylan opened the door for her. 

Angelina raced inside the house. She hadn’t touched it in years, but she still remembered where her father kept the key to the case. She grabbed what she needed and quickly made her way back out to the porch, letting the screen door slam behind her.

Dylan jumped out of his chair. “What the hell?”

Angelina lifted the rifle and pointed it straight at him. He didn’t need to know the safety was on—or that the chamber was empty.

“This is a Remington, passed down from my father and his father, also known as an Appalachian magic wand. Just watch. It’s going to make you disappear.”

Angelina thought it was almost comical, hearing him curse and watching him leap off the porch. All the commotion caused her dog to chase after him, which only made Dylan sprint faster until he reached the sanctuary of his vehicle.

“Are you insane?” Dylan yelled.

“I tend to get a little crazy when someone trespasses on my property. Leave my family alone and don’t come back!”

He slammed the door and had to do some fancy maneuvering to get around her car, but within seconds, the only sounds Angelina could hear were Dylan’s squealing tires, her dog’s noisy bark, and her mother’s hearty laughter.

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