I Love A Good Challenge

A debut author's best friend is "google alerts". That is how I know when ever someone writes anything about Forbidden Sea on the internet. Without it I couldn't keep on top of who is saying what about my book.

Today I found this fun Summer reading challenge on the Life After Jane book blog. The one thing I miss most about living in California (where I grew up) is not having the beaches around, especially during the Summer. When you read Forbidden Sea you will find my life long love affair with the ocean in my discriptions of the sea. The wonder and beauty of the ocean lingers in my heart even though I live far away from it now. The beach always held a magic and romance for me that has never left. So here is a Summer reading challenge that takes after my own heart. You have to read ten books that have a water theme before the end of the Summer! Since I will not be able to get down and visit California's beaches this year--I guess this is the next best thing. If you are feeling up for a challenge, feel free to click on the link above and join in the fun!

P.S. Forbidden Sea counts!

More Reviews

Only one month left until Forbidden Sea is released to the public. It's getting down to the line and more and more reviews are surfacing. I've been pleasantly surprised by the good buzz surrounding Forbidden Sea. Here are a few new reviews I discovered online lately:

SWON Library Review - To read this review click here.

Kids World Review - To read this review click here.

Random Buzzers - To read this review click here.

Thanks to all you great reviewers out there! For those heading down to BEA this week, don't forget to drop by the Scholastic booth and ask for an ARC of Forbidden Sea. As for those who are still waiting to get your chance to read Forbidden Sea, it won't be long now.

UK Cover--Let's Take a Vote

The final UK Cover for Forbidden Sea can now be seen on Amazon UK. Click here to see what it looks like! So let's take a vote. Which one do you like best? The US cover (the one showing on this page) or the UK cover? Make sure to list where you are from with your vote--I'm curious if where a person lives really does affect what style of cover they like. Let me know what you think. Be honest now. You won't hurt my feelings. I had no say what so ever on either cover.

They Way it SHOULD Have Ended

Have you ever read a book that after finishing it, you wished you could rewrite the ending? I have. More times than I can count. I’ve often wondered if this is because I’m a writer or if this is something that happens to a lot of people when they read books.

Take the Wren series by Sherwood Smith for instance. I loved this fabulous series when I was younger, but I always felt that Wren and Prince Conner would have been a perfect match. I read the whole series just waiting for the moment when they would finally “discover” each other. It never happened, and I was left feeling just a little bit cheated because of it. Still loved the series though.

Then there was the Emily of New Moon series--my absolute favorite series of books when I was young. However, you wait so long through that series to see Teddy and Emily fall in love and get together that when they finally do--the story ends so fast you don't even get to see the wedding. Come on, we readers should at least get the pay off of attending the wedding and basking in the glow for one chapter! After all, Teddy had put so much time and effort into his engagement with Ilse before it was broken, he should have done even more for Emily, his true love. Am I right? What can I say, I'm a die hard, hopeless romantic.

The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts was another book I loved growing up. I wanted that book to have a sequel so bad, as a kid, I could almost taste it. What happened to the four kids after they went away to school to learn how to use their powers? What adventures did the four of them have growing up together? The world will never know.

So what about all of you? What are the books you wish had ended differently? How would you have liked them to end instead? I want to hear all about it in comments.