Tanya Lisle

Author: Tanya

  • September 2019 Quotes Roundup

    This month it was a bunch of Beauty Sleep quotes! Let me know what you’d like to see next month!

  • The Black Veins Review

    Okay, so a pitch of a no romance story of any kinds a hook for me. But this now was also an urban fantasy one, a road trip1 and with a title that sounds like we’re getting a little touch of horror elements? I’m checking it out at least.

    The story flows Blythe, a young woman in a magical family with no magic herself. This isn’t a strange thing or treated like it might be an issue, because she knows she is a Guardian, though we don’t know what that means. She is not an outcast in her own family, but she’s moved around so much that she has trouble bonding with people, given that she always has that fear of leaving in the back of her mind. 

    And then it all goes to hell when her parents and little sisters are kidnapped. She’s whisked away as a Guardian to be brought into safe keeping and the adventure starts, with Blythe realizing that the people taking her to safety might not have her best interests at heart and the people who have kidnapped her family are not all they seem. She finds the rest of the Guardians and together they try to rescue her family from the Trident Republic, a rival magical…. Government, I guess. 

    The story is a lot of fun! With a large cast, I wouldn’t have blamed Monet for resorting to more stereotypes, but each of the main kids felt fleshed out and like real people, with their own lives outside of this strange situation they were pulled into and those lives reflected how they dealt with the struggles each of them had. Cords is the only one who I felt had a full character arc happen in the first book, but the rest are well on their way to their own paths of self discovery at the conclusion. 

    I do want to talk a little about how the diversity was handled in the book, because it feels notable. This is a very diverse cast both racially and in terms of queer representation. First off, it didn’t feel like a checklist like some other books I could mention. They all felt natural and like it was part of who they were instead of them being defined by it. 

    As an example, Blythe in particular is a bi black girl, and you never forget either of those. She’s not constantly referencing either thing, but she does state she’s bisexual early on. From that point on, you know every time she’s checking out another character2 you know it’s because she’s interested. And there’s little things that remind you that she’s black, such as her reaction to danger and casual mentions of her hair now and then. 

    This is the trend with everyone else in the cast. There’s the initial mention to make it clear, and then little reminders in the rest of the text so you don’t forget and so that it informs and elaborates on their character rather than being a constant reminder of how diverse the book is. Which, as you’ve probably guessed by now, is what I look for in my representation. 

    I will note that there was one thing that never quite clicked with me, and that was the tense. I do not like present tense. It’s a very small thing, but it was there and it was always a little jarring while reading for me. I know this is an issue for almost no one but me. 

    Anyway, I really liked the book! It was a lot of fun, the characters were interesting and believable, and the story was entertaining. I’m a bit sad the second book isn’t out yet, honestly. 

    Get it on Amazon!

    1. I need to start reading more road trip books for the next series [↩]
    2. Which doesn’t happen too often! It at no point gets distracting or detracts from the rest of the narrative! [↩]

  • The Last Dragonslayer Review

    This one has been sitting on my shelf for a while. I got it as a gift and I’m only just getting around to reading it because of course I am. But I finished it, and in a day no less!

    The story follows the adventures of Jenifer Strange, a girl who is two weeks away from turning sixteen1 who has been running an organization that sends wizards out for odd jobs in a world where magic is dying and technology is taking over. When one of them gets a premonition that the last dragon is going to die, she goes out to get to the bottom of it and finds out she was named 400 years ago as the last dragonslayer. 

    It’s a really fun and quick read.2 Jennifer is a fun protagonist to follow and, while she reads a lot more mature than fifteen going on sixteen, she does still feel very young at times. She holds her morals high and it’s nice to see her tempted without compromising them in the end. It’s also nice to see them work against her and to watch her figure out her way out of situations that she got into because of them or in spite of them. 

    It’s also very British. The world building is done very matter-of-factly. This is a universe with dragons of course and yes the dragonslayer is driving a Rolls Royce, moving on. If that bothers you, this might not be your thing, but I found it a good thing to keep the pacing of the story moving. 

    Overall, I really liked it. It was a good read, light, and it certainly didn’t drag. The world is a lot of fun and, while I wish there were more with the wizards for hire business and less with the politics, I would highly recommend checking it out. 

    Get it on Amazon!

    1. As she reminds us several times in the text [↩]
    2. I mean, one day. [↩]

  • Miss Mabel’s School for Girls Review

    I don’t quite remember the circumstances that brought me to this one, even though it was not that long ago. Which is strange for me. Usually I have a backstory, but this time I just had the book on my Kobo and I decided, at long last, to read it. And I definitely made a good choice there. 

    Miss Mabel’s School for Girls follows a first year girl, Bianca, as she is warned repeatedly about the headmistress who she is determined to get an apprenticeship with. Bianca and her family are under a curse put on them by the headmistress’ family and, if it’s not removed, Bianca is going to die at 17. She’s already 16, giving her not much time to find a way to negotiate the curse off of her by the chaotic evil Miss Mabel, who has much more in store for her than Bianca realizes. 

    Bianca is precisely the kind of protagonist that I like to see in these kinds of stories. She’s prepared. So prepared. And even though she is ready, even though she has been training for this for most of her life, she still finds herself in over her head. It’s refreshing to see a character that really did do everything she could do to get ready for what was coming. She’s a determined, compassionate character that finds herself challenged by things that couldn’t have been predicted, that catch most of the other characters even off guard. 

    Miss Mabel is a fun antagonist, too, even if she does feel a little cartoonishly evil at times. She never tips all the way into silly and always feels like a very real threat, though, and none of her antics are funny so much as excessively cruel while she smiles about it. She’s the Joker, but written by a skilled writer. 

    I will give a quick shout out to the world-building, as everything feels very well thought out and, even though not all the rules are spelled out, they feel very consistent throughout. The world adds to the story and enhances it rather than distracting, which is a delicate balance I’ve found with some of these. 

    There is one bit I’ll warn everyone about. There’s a bit with a cat. For those who want to skip that chapter—It is only one chapter—I’ll spoil what happens. 

    Spoiler

    Bianca hides the real cat and makes a duplicate fake one to perform the hexes on. She does not get caught and passes. It is still very difficult to read because the fake cat does mimic how the real one would have responded.

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    Overall, I’d say check it out. It’s an interesting story and I found the characters to be interesting and the story compelling. The way information about Bianca is revealed makes you feel like she’s a different person and her own character rather than one you are supposed to insert yourself into and you find yourself really hoping that she succeeds. 

    Get it on Amazon!

  • NaNoWriMo Poll 2019

    Guess what time it is! You guessed it, it’s time for the annual novel poll! By now you all know the drill. You get up to three votes, so pick the ones you like the most and I’ll be sure to write at least one of them this November!

    Cloned Evil: More Present than the Living
    Something weird is happening to Gigi. Her adopted mom doesn’t have the answers, but her estranged family might. Though her villain sisters have never quite seen eye to eye with their hero sibling, Gigi doesn’t know who else to turn to and is surprised when they agree to help her find her biological father.

    Dreamscape: Drifting1
    Ciara hasn’t woken up. She is trapped in this dream, uncertain of whether all these other people around her are part of her dream or not. Strangely, this one girl seems much too happy to have company in her dream and seems to know exactly what’s going on. 

    Atlantis Project
    When the kids escaped into the portal to another world all those years ago, they ruined diplomatic relations with an entire universe. Years later, the one child they managed to get back is charged with finding the rest of his friends and stopping their shenanigans so that they can mend their relationship with the alien race. 

    Reckless Abandon
    It started when Liz stopped speaking English one day. And then Caelin’s father went missing, and his wasn’t the only one. They’ve all been seeing a strange boy asking for their help, and Caelin decides to gather all those who are affected to go into a strange land, only to find that their parents were taken for a reason.

    The End
    After years of knowing that the end is coming, it’s finally arrived. Every fortune teller has fallen into a deep coma. It’s time for the world to be reborn, but no one is quite sure how it will happen or what it will look like. No one’s even sure what will cause it, leaving no way to prepare or make sure they survive.

    You can vote for up to three and cheating is encouraged! If you’re not quite sure which, be sure to come back and I’ll be talking about each of them a little more over the next couple weeks. Happy voting!

    NaNoWriMo 2019 Poll!

    • Cloned Evil (45%, 58 Votes)
    • Dreamscape (38%, 49 Votes)
    • Reckless Abandon (30%, 39 Votes)
    • The End (26%, 33 Votes)
    • Atlantis Project (23%, 29 Votes)

    Total Voters: 128

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    1. Anyone who’s been following me a while, yep I’m reviving this and turning it into a series [↩]

  • I’ll be at Canzine 2019

    Heads up for those who live in the area! I’m going to be at Canzine in a few weeks! I’m getting better at making sure I make it out to events like this and it’s a lot of fun to get a chance to actually meet some of you in person. I’ll have books, the shorts, and maybe a couple other fun things if you ask nice. 

    There’s also just a lot of other cool stuff there? When I went last year, it was really cool and I met a lot of really great people. Plus, it’s at the library this year, so if you’re in town why not?

    Here’s the information if you need to know more:

  • Dreadful Company Review

    After how much fun I had with Strange Practice, it seemed only natural that I’d checkout the sequel! Because apparently there’s more than one!

    This book starts with Greta and Ruthvan in France attending a conference about supernatural medical practices.1 In pretty short order things go wrong in that Greta gets kidnapped and it takes a while to notice she’s missing thanks to people being conveniently called away and not thinking much about the woman at a conference not paying attention to her phone for a bit. Gradually, you learn that she’s been taken by a coven of vampires, the head of which has a grudge against Ruthvan, and that this is a pretty terrible coven in most respects. Partially because one is turning people without consent, and partially because another is summoning so many cute things that she’s causing the fabric of reality to grow thin. 

    I mean, worth it though. 

    This book was as much fun as the last one, I’m happy to say. It doesn’t suffer from second book syndrome in that it’s still a contained adventure that references previous events and builds on the characters. There are a few perspectives I didn’t care for initially, but it was good to have them in the narrative to help flesh out the universe and give the last few keys to the puzzle of what was going on. The story has so many disparate parts that you really don’t know until the end how they all fit together, but they do fit together pretty marvelously. 

    I also really like how the diversity is done in this universe. They exist and that’s it. It feels like the universe is diverse as opposed to a story where they are trying to hit a quota. They are there, you notice them, their actions are informed by their experiences, and then we focus on the vampires destroying reality that we need to call in the forces of hell to deal with. 

    It does, however, still have that other issue where it doesn’t sound like it’s taking place in the modern day. Every reference to cell phones and smartphones feels out of place because they all talk like they are from a very different era. It feels jarring, but I wonder if some of that is because it takes place in Europe. 

    Overall, I really enjoyed it! The series is a lot of fun so far and I’ll probably check out the third when it comes out. 

    Get it on Amazon!

    1. Which is actually a pretty fascinating world detail! [↩]

  • The Hazel Wood Review

    Did I pick up this book because I thought it might be another comp title? Yes. Was it? Kind of. Did I enjoy it? Mostly!

    The Hazel Wood follows Alice as she is just trying to live her nomadic life with her mother. They are constantly moving around due to bad luck and she ends up marrying a rich man who is an asshole, as rich men always seem to be in these stories. Her estranged and now dead grandmother, Althea, was an author of a very rare book with a fanbase of obsessives. Or rather, everyone who gets their hands on the books becomes obsessed with them? One of those directions. When Ella’s mother gets kidnapped, Alice teams up with a fan to find her mother, given that the kidnappers have left the name Hinterland behind, which is the title of her grandmother’s book.

    The whole thing is wrapped in fairy tales and the first half is steeped deep in the mystery of it, They aren’t the fairy tales that we grew up with, but they feel like they could have come from Grimm given how they are treated and interacted with. It’s interesting to have the feeling that you know what these stories are when only two are ever actually told in the book, and one of them I don’t think is actually told to completion.

    I do have to make mention of Alice, because this will be a thing of contention, but I enjoyed watching her story and disliked her as a person. Alice is angry and self-centred, and that doesn’t stop by the end of the book. She has a reason behind it, but the reason is not really enough to excuse any of her actions in the story and I did actually like it. She’s kind of terrible and I have a thing for terrible characters that I feel I’m not supposed to relate to.

    My issues come largely in the second half of the book. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but the second half felt rushed even though it wasn’t. I think it was supposed to read more like a traditional fairy tale, but it came across instead like the front half of the story was being shown and the back half was being told. There were too many elements that were brought in, too many new characters that didn’t have enough impact on the story to warrant being named, too many things about Alice herself that hadn’t been foreshadowed before. There was a lot that needed to be cut back or cut down in order to make the pacing of the latter half match the former, and to tighten up the narrative on the other side. The detour to show that the brother1 was helpful was largely unnecessary and could have been better woven in.

    And now I’m going to talk about Ellery Finch.

    Spoiler

    So Finch. The only black character, who is black for exactly one scene in the story when they are talking to the cops and could be anything else throughout the rest of the book, He feels very much like a token character in that regard, and I don’t know if that was intentional, but it felt out of place. She kills him off at one point, but the landing doesn’t stick and he comes back, which feels strange given the context of the rest of the story. In a dark fairy tale world, the dead should really stay dead or it loses that atmosphere.The relationship between him and Alice was nice, but it never feels like it actually resolves at the end, and the redemption at the end feels hollow.

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    Still, I did enjoy the majority of the book. As I’m learning, I’m weirdly picky with narrative pacing and structure, and that’s much more on me than it is on the books.2 I did enjoy the read, even with the pacing problems at the end, and it was a lot of fun, especially with the new fairy tale concepts.

    Read it now on Amazon!

    1. Who never gets a name despite him being plot relevant for some reason [↩]
    2. I’m also learning that I’m a horror writer! [↩]

  • Writing Resources

    There’s a lot of resources that I’ve been relying on to make all these books and aesthetic stuff over the years. I might as well share a could of them with everyone, eh? 

    Programs

    Some cheaper alternatives to some of the more expensive options1 that are out there. I’ve used all of these and found them to be almost as good as the standard products, though some have a bit of a steeper learning curve than others. 

    Courses

    Because continuous learning is good. Especially continuous learning about marketing because, well, marketing is hard. 

    • Lynda (I get this one from the library)
    • Skillshare (This link gives 2 free months and helps me out)

    Covers and Aesthetic Resources

    Graphics! We love cover making and, if you’re as bad at drawing as I am, these are some pretty good graphic resources to get you started. 

    Let me know if there’s any that I missed! 

    1. And Adobe in specific, which I really want to get off of [↩]

  • Ms Miller Backstory

    I’m going to be doing a short series about the backstories of characters that appear in The Looking Glass Saga that don’t get nearly enough attention and probably never will. To start with, Ms. Miller!

    Ms Rose Miller is an educational tutor that is currently working while going for her PhD in Child Psychology. Her specialization is with children with autism, though working with Alice has been a it of a special case. She took the job of caring and educating a child who was advertised to have a very tenuous grasp on reality because it presented a unique challenge and because it was very good money at a time when she desperately needed it. 

    She is not fond of the situation that she ended up with in terms of Alice. The issue was largely with the parents believing strange things about their child and giving her a very different complex. When mentioning it to colleagues, they warned her quickly that the Liddells had a reputation of making things difficult for anyone who tried to call CPS. Careers had been left ruined by what were deemed false accusations of those who pressed too hard. She doesn’t think that the children in the house are safe there, but ultimately doesn’t want to ruin her career before it gets started. 

    Given this, Rose’s focus remained entirely on the well being of the girls in the house. While Alice was a docile girl looking to stay out of trouble, her sister was much less willing to remain under her father’s rule. Eventually, she ran away and Rose helped her escape once she was sure of the situation that she was escaping into, promising to keep an eye on her sister. 

    Aside from Alice, Rose watches over three other students that are much less intensive, which gives her just enough time for her thesis and a relationship, especially now that she is only seeing Alice during the summers. She has been seeing Theodore Williams, a social worker she met through her program, for two years and they have been talking about marriage after Rose finishes her degree.