Just started Gilt by Katherine Longshore. If it carries on as well as it starts it will be excellent. Lots of those visceral details about Tudor life that really carry you into the past.
So far it's head and shoulders above all the other Tudor court books I have read.
I reread Anna and the French Kiss and damn, it has confirmed its place on my list of favourite books ever. I loved everything about it (except that Etienne's slight jerk-ness was more apparent on a reread...)
I like Etienne's slight jerk-ness, because while he is incredibly swoony, he's clearly flawed. She does hot boys so well - Cricket wasn't perfect either. I'm curious to see what Josh is like in Isla, because I don't find him a particularly memorable character in Anna.
I saw Perkins tweet something like Cricket is the boy she would crush on, Etienne is the boy she would make out with, and Josh is the boy she would marry.
Eeee! That's really interesting. I would also make out with Etienne ;P
I'm EVEN MORE excited for Isla now that I remember Josh better. And I totally saw the opportunity for a great story: Etienne & company are graduating, Josh will be at SOAP all alone for a year, he's broken up with Rashmi... and Isla adores him. Oh god, it's going to be so good.
Love that song. If it fits your book, I'd say keep it. I've heard a majority of titles get changed before pub anyway.I want to call my WIP The Killer in Me (from the Smashing Pumpkins lyric "The killer in me is the killer in you"), but that may be too close to Thompson's The Killer Inside Me, which is still in print. Titles can't, I believe, be copyrighted, but still, hmmm.
Currently reading 'The Book Thief', borrowed from the library.
I have just discovered a sealed plaster (Band-Aid) in amongst the pages. Yes, really!
Is this book going to wound me so much they're giving away free plasters for the emotional scarring??! (And here was me thinking it'd just be bucketloads of tears I'd have to deal with!)
Finished 'Gilt' and now I'm on 'Tarnish'.
Katherine Longshore is a very intelligent historical writer. I'm very impressed with the way she builds character on known words and incidents in people's lives, rather than starting with a fixed idea of the character and trying to fit it around true incidents. So the real-life thing where Katherine Howard asked for the block to be sent to her room the night before the execution so she could practice becomes the culmination of a habit the character has of practising things (curtsies, conversations) over and over again. This is both good history and nifty storytelling IMO.
Her research is also fabulous, so much so that when I find things that contradict what I thought, I find myself assuming I must have got it wrong or that she knows about some sources no-one else does. (Actually I think there are one or two mistakes but nothing major.)
Some of her language is a little bit too modern and throws me out a bit - eg 'teenager', 'alpha male' - but this doesn't happen often and I am sure it is deliberate choice bearing in mind the intended audience, rather than ignorance.
'Tarnish' doesn't really read like YA though. It's quite rarified in some of the language and focus and I will be v interested to see how much of a hit it is with teens. Grown-ups should definitely be reading it - I'm going to be recommending it to Philippa Gregory fans.
Both titles are perfect.
The idea of 'gilt' - Katherine looks like gold to Henry but really she's just gilt and it's going to get chipped off and show the reality - is a great metaphor. And the fact it sounds like 'guilt' makes it even cleverer.
And I just started EARTHBOUND.SPELLS by Aprilynne Pike
OCD LOVE STORY. Love it so far. This is my kind of book.
I gave up on ELEANOR & PARK. I'm disappointed I couldn't get into. Maybe I'll try again later. Something just wasn't working for me... I almost felt like it lacked a distinct voice of any kind, which surprises me because ATTACHMENT'S (Rowell's adult novel) was oozing with voice. (Also, I kept getting oddly distracted that Eleanor didn't own a toothbrush.)
Started WRITING IRRESISTIBLE KIDLIT by (former) agent Mary Kole. It's specifically geared to YA/MG. I'm loving the sections at the end of each chapter that have lots of examples straight from the pages of books. One of the best craft books I've read.