Showing posts with label Beth Revis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beth Revis. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Book Review: The Body Electric

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The Body Electric by Beth Revis
Release Date: October 6th, 2014
Format of Novel: E-book/On the Nook
Publication: I think it was self published? Not sure.
Rating: 3/5 stars
Summary from Goodreads: The future world is at peace.

Ella Shepherd has dedicated her life to using her unique gift—the ability to enter people’s dreams and memories using technology developed by her mother—to help others relive their happy memories.

But not all is as it seems.

Ella starts seeing impossible things—images of her dead father, warnings of who she cannot trust. Her government recruits her to spy on a rebel group, using her ability to experience—and influence—the memories of traitors. But the leader of the rebels claims they used to be in love—even though Ella’s never met him before in her life. Which can only mean one thing…

Someone’s altered her memory.

Ella’s gift is enough to overthrow a corrupt government or crush a growing rebel group. She is the key to stopping a war she didn’t even know was happening. But if someone else has been inside Ella’s head, she cannot trust her own memories, thoughts, or feelings.

So who can she trust
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Recently, I've been trying to expand my reading tastes and try stuff that I'm not normally into like science fiction. Beth Revis is a very popular author and I do enjoy her Paper Heart series since it was very honest and enjoyable to read. So as a result, I figured why not try out her other books. I've had this one on my nook for a while and gave it a whirl. Meaningless to say that I fairly enjoyed it. The characters were interesting to say the least with each of them having their own goals following this sudden take over of the upcoming battle between the government and the uprising rebel group. Etta sparked by interest because she is a stubborn one and has that powerful passion to go out of her way to save her mother and uncover the mysteries of her father's death and this unknown group. The other characters were cool as well, but at the same time, I didn't really connect with them. They were there for one second, then they weren't, especially during the action packed scenes. And the main guy character, Jack, was annoying as heck. I wanted to deck him in the fact for Etta. He was annoyingly set on being with Etta and at times I wanted him to be more mysterious and cunning instead of 'oh here you go, I screwed up your past!' to Etta.

As for the plot, it was the typical dystopian plot with the world going to shit and the main female protagonist is the source of saving the shitty world. I enjoyed the idea of Revis' world building and the scientific elements for this book. However, I felt that it was lacking and the pacing and the short chapters made it a little difficult to the overall concept of this book. I'm not sure if this was because I didn't read her Across the Universe trilogy before I picked this one up or what. Who knows.

Even though I wanted something more from this book, it was still an generally decent book to read. It was filled with action and passion. The characters were easy to follow and enjoyable and the plot was on point for a person that enjoys books within the sci-fi genre. I wish I can that I fell in love with it, but I didn't. But, I did enjoy it.

What are your opinions about this novel? Let me know in the comments below. :) Bye for now my fellow wolves!

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Book Review: Paper Hearts

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Paper Hearts: Written by Beth Revis
Release Date: November 1st, 2015
Publisher: Scripturient Books
Format of Novel: Paper back
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary (from good reads): Your enemy is the blank page. When it comes to writing, there's no wrong way to get words on paper. But it's not always easy to make the ink flow. Paper Hearts: Some Writing Advice won't make writing any simpler, but it may help spark your imagination and get your hands back on the keyboard.

Practical Advice Meets Real Experience

With information that takes you from common mistakes in grammar to detailed charts on story structure, Paper Hearts describes:

• How to Develop Character, Plot, and World
• What Common Advice You Should Ignore
• What Advice Actually Helps
• How to Develop a Novel
• The Basics of Grammar, Style, and Tone
• Four Practical Methods of Charting Story Structure
• How to Get Critiques and Revise Your Novel
• How to Deal with Failure
• And much more!

BONUS! More than 25 "What to do if" scenarios to help writers navigate problems in writing from a New York Times Bestselling author who's written more than 2 million words of fiction.
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I remember reading snippets of this from watt pad and I felt myself nodding to about 99.9% of her words and examples for writing. Beth Revis delivered such honest advice for writing in general and its fantastic. The way she makes the book speak to us is so breath taking and enjoyable because she's dead honest yet humorous with the advice. She flat outs tells people how weird and difficult the writing business is going to be if you want to make a career out of story writing. It's such a fresh reminder to see how these best selling authors of the fantastic books we love and fan boy/girl over are still similar to us with the challenges and so generous to help us get to their level of craziness because they hold the love for books like we do and want to spread the love to  the world.

My favorite thing about this book was the honesty. Like I mentioned before, Beth Revis was really honest in her writing advice book. She explained how the writing advice we'll always hear from other writers aren't always the truth. Instead, she expresses different tips on how to better yourself and continue to do you as a growing writer. Another thing that I did enjoy was the way she described her journey pre-published. She was so relatable because she really brought out the long process of how difficult it is to take the risk and the wait, oh the waiting process to hear from publishers and agents.. It's a bitch and at least she gave me an better understanding on how much of a bitch the waiting is gonna be when the rest of us start querying.

Overall, this book is great for us writers. Its honest, blunt, and quite helpful when learning how to 'write' or get into the business of writing. I'm so glad I picked up this advice book because she made her 'story' encouraging yet will described the struggles in a realistic way. If you are a writer, I highly suggest picking this volume so you can grasp the truth of the writing and get reminders that you possibly forgotten throughout the years. It's such a refreshing book for writing and while I do have a few other favorable ones in my tool box, this book is a wonderful addition for writers to have in their author toolbox.

What are your opinions about this book? Let me know in the comments below. :)