Book Review: The Land of Stories (The Wishing Spell)

Book Title: The Land of Stories (The Wishing Spell) lofs

Book Author: Chris Colfer

Source: Bought at a recycle bookstore

Rating: 5 Dragon Paws 5 paws

What can I say? I bought the book because of the cover and because I love fairy tales. The name ‘Chris Colfer’ didn’t tell me anything until I bought it, brought it home, and looked at the back cover where there’s his photo present. I laughed to myself because I have watched him grow as an actor on the show ‘Glee,’ watched his movie ‘Struck by Lightning,’ and now I have read his first novel in the middle-grade genre series. Guess, one keeps returning to his work.

I have to confess that I have stopped watching Glee, mainly because I believe the story line became boring and I grew out of it.

The Land of Stories (The Wishing Spell) was a great read and it was nice to read something for middle school kids that interested me, too. I really like Alex and Connor ‘Wishington.’ Froggy was entertaining and pretty obvious on who he truly was… for adults anyway. Can’t talk for the kids. I’ve also read stories where they told the story of the Evil Queen and they did have a romantic side to her, though I really liked Chris’s twist about the mirror. It would have been nice to get to know the fairies and have one more chapter, but there are more books and I expect we will see a lot more of them.

If I say anything more, I would give away a lot. It is nicely written, good flow, and entertaining. It did take a while for me to get into and it was a lot easier when magic was happening and the kids met Froggy.

I am looking forward to buying the other books in the series and I highly recommend this book to middle grade readers.

 

Inna Komarovsky- Illustrator for 7 Hours

Inna Komarovsky is an illustrator and designer based near Boston, Massachusetts.

One of her favorite things about art is the way it can help us see our everyday experiences with a fresh perspective. Her illustrations are based around drawing by hand or writing by hand because she finds inspiration in the process of putting pencil to paper to express one’s thoughts. Visit her website at: innakomarovsky.com

As promised, a blog post just for Inna because well she did the cover for my novella and I think that she’s awesome!

SevenHours_Black

 

Two of my favorite works of hers are:

App Illustration:                                                          Science Classroom Characters:

app              science

 

Pokemon Go and Safety

You may ask yourself? Why is Angelina writing about Pokemon Go? It has nothing to do with her work as an author, writing tips, or book reviews.

Good question.

Here’s the answer:

What is Pokemon Go?

http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-video-games/pokemon-go/ 

Taken from the website above:

“Pokémon GO is built on Niantic’s Real World Gaming Platform and will use real locations to encourage players to search far and wide in the real world to discover Pokémon. Pokémon GO allows you to find and catch more than a hundred species of Pokémon as you explore your surroundings.”

I have several friends who are playing the game and I’ve only heard good stuff about it – like meeting new people, getting out of the house, and walking a lot. However, last evening, something happened to make me think that’s not all fun and games. It can make people feel uncomfortable.

Yesterday, I was taking a bus from work to home and I noticed a guy sitting across from me and texting. I ignored him, well, because it’s normal for people to text, tweet, and use their apps while walking and being on the bus. Please do not walk and play with your phone. So, I was really surprised to notice out of the corner of my eye of him raising his phone and point it where I was sitting. I noticed that he pressed something and then smiled. Talk about creepy! I really wanted to say something like – Did you just take my photo? But, of course, that would not be appropriate so I ignored him and he took another photo… I think. There’s no proof, but it certainly felt like he took a photo. So, all the way to my house, I felt uncomfortable and annoyed.

It wasn’t until I was finished with cooking lasagna and checked my personal Facebook page for updates that I saw a photo. Someone took a photo of my friend flipping him off, with a Pokemon at the bottom of the screen. A logical solution came to mind about the guy on the bus. What if? What if he wasn’t a creep, but playing Pokemon Go? That didn’t make me feel better and it also doesn’t help that I don’t play those type of games so I don’t know how it works. However, I do know that I don’t want people ‘catching’ Pokemon near me and take photos. My friend who flipped off his friend knew what his friend was doing and was able to react. I didn’t know and it made me feel not safe when safety is important when taking the bus. I still don’t know- did the guy take a photo of me because he’s a creep, because he was playing Pokemon Go, or he didn’t even take my photo.

Now, you guys know why I brought up the topic.

I don’t want to be creeped out and I don’t want my photo to be taken because of some Pokemon. The idea behind the game is interesting and shows just how much technology has evolved, however, it has security and safety issues. Because the platform is for smart phones, you can be at the stop sign, moving your phone all around the place and someone on his bike would see that you’re vulnerable and steal it. Another thing that can happen is for you to walk into a poll. Just think about the time when Texting happened!

I would love for you guys to comment and let me know what you guys think about this topic. 

Thank you!

 

Cover Reveal: Seven Hours

SevenHours_Black

Releasing August 1, 2016, SEVEN HOURS  is my first novella and hopefully not the last.

Dear Readers and Fellow Bloggers,

As many of you know, a couple of weeks ago, I created a contest for the cover. I have received two entries – one from my sister and one from Inna Komarovsky, a friend from Illinois. I’m very happy that though we have a distance between us, she had created such a beautiful cover. However, since I do adore my sister’s talent, Inna is taking one of my sister’s drawings and adapting it into her style for the back cover. I haven’t seen the final version yet, but I am excited!

Sincerely,

Angelina 

“Seven Hours is packed with love, suspense, and the kind of fun that only comes from true friendships. A truly magnificent work that will have you so entranced you won’t want to put it down. A must read. 5 out of 5 fairies” – Lily Shadowlyn, The Faerie Review

“A fun, quick and thought-provoking read, with such well-developed characters you will feel part of the story too!” – Ashleigh W.

“Brilliantly wrote, strong real life characters, and roller coaster of emotions. Kerner has you hooked from the first page!” – Laura Fitzsimmons

Book Cover Contest Update

Hi everyone,

Today is the last day to turn in your entries of my book cover.

Contest Rules

I have received two entries- one from my sister (she had no choice) and one from Inna. I will share the covers with all of you tomorrow, but there’s still time for you send me your book cover, today until midnight PST!

As a reminder here is what you get if I liked your cover.

Prizes:

The winner will be named as the illustrator for the novel and will appear as the illustrator on Amazon, Goodreads and on other sites.

The winner will have a profile section on my website. See what I did for Deity’s Soulmate at Illustrator and Editors for Deity’s Soulmate

There will be a blog entry on Word Press about the winner and the book cover itself. Will also be twitted about.

A free printed copy of the novella and a thank you card.

Comment if you are still working on the cover or going to make one today. You can send me a message and I’ll let you know where you need to send it to.

Snip20160528_5

Thank you!

The Liebster Award

The Liebster Award is an online award given to new bloggers or those with less than 200 followers. It’s a way of promoting your own blog, other people’s blogs, and support the blogging community. Which I find absolutely amazing!

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This morning, as my husband drove me to work, I got a surprise in my inbox.

I was nominated for a Liebster Award by the wonderful A.M. Bradley at Akaluv https://ambradleyblog.wordpress.com/. Thank you for thinking of me!

A.M. Bradley was one of the first bloggers that I had stumbled upon after joining wordpress. She described herself as an amateur author, though I disagree because she has fans of her work and she publishes her stories online! She is no amateur when it comes to writing, especially since she is certified in Creative Writing. Her stories involve fantasy, action, romance, and mature content.

As, I already mentioned, she was one of the first bloggers that I have stumbled upon. I really like that she posted two stories, broken down my chapters, was open to constructive feedback, and that she created illustrations! I love it when authors post illustrations that depict events or characters from their short stories, novellas, and novels. The first story that I clicked of hers was “Love for an Angel,”and the second was “Clash of Tides.” I absolutely adore the world that she has created in “Clash of Tides”and highly recommend it! I am still reading it and didn’t get to meet all of the characters, but I’m looking forward to the experience. So, if you would like to read a novel online… especially one that involves mermaids, visit Akaluv’s blog! Again, the link is: https://ambradleyblog.wordpress.com/.

The Liebster Award rules for 2016:

  • Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog. Try to include a little promotion for the person who nominated you.
  • Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”.  Images you can use for your 2016 Liebster Award can be found at http://theglobalaussie.com/the-official-rules-of-the-liebster-award-2016/ .
  • List these rules in your post.
  • Answer your nominator’s questions.
  • Give 10 random facts about yourself.
  • Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 200 followers.
  • Create 11 questions for your own nominees to answer.
  • Once you have written and published it, you then have to: Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it.

A.M. Bradley’s Questions:

  1. Why did you decide to start blogging?
  2. What is the main topic of your blog?
  3. What are your goals and aspirations?
  4. What would you like to be doing five years from now?
  5. What was the happiest moment of your life?
  6. How do you feel about the future?
  7. What advice would you give to other bloggers?
  8. What are you passionate about?
  9. What are some of your hobbies?
  10. If you could have one thing, what would it be?
  11. What is the best way to spend your day?

My answers to her questions:

1. Why did you decide to start blogging?

Other bloggers and authors. When I was researching marketing techniques for promoting my novel (s), most online articles and bloggers have suggested that authors cannot succeed without a blog… so here I am with a new blog… a total newbie if you will blogging about stuff other than just about my novels.

2. What is the main topic of your blog?

Those the title of my blog, “Where Dragons Reside,”could be misleading, in a way my main topic of my blog are dragons. I adore dragons and have them appear in my writing in different forms. Though, since I cannot just blog about my favorite dragons (Villam, Ri, and Ra), I tend to blog about book reviews, writing tips, and about my beautiful cats. You may be able to find some random posts because sometimes being random brings out the creativity in me.

book cover  villam 2 Writing Tip #5 IMG_4178

3. What are your goals and aspirations?

I would really love to earn a phD in Geography in the next few years and of course continue sharing my stories with the world.

4. What would you like to be doing five years from now?

Five years from now, I would love to live in a house with a big back yard. It also wouldn’t hurt to have my phD and have my trilogy complete and published!

5. What was the happiest moment of your life?

It was when my family have been reunited after years of being apart.

6. How do you feel about the future?

It is full of possibilities! Bring it on!

7. What advice would you give to other bloggers?

Don’t force yourself to blog everyday, only blog when you want to share something with others.

8. What are you passionate about?

I am passionate about my family, my writing, and dance. I have been a dancer my whole life and when I hear music (wherever I may be – example – store), I break out in dance. I don’t let weird looks stop me from enjoying myself because all of us have one life to live so let’s live it to the fullest.

9. What are some of your hobbies?

Needlework, dancing, and writing. Need I say more?

10. If you could have one thing, what would it be?

Health for my entire family. That would make me very happy.

11. What is the best way to spend your day?

With a coffee in my hand, at a bookstore, writing my next novel or people watching. After that, a nice dinner with my family and watch a family movie.

Ten Random Facts About Me:

  1. I’ve been told that I am an Angel that has her halo stuck being the devil horns.
  2. People have called me Garfield because I love lasagna… maybe too much.
  3. I hate gum! Get it away from me!
  4. I enjoy watching live sunflowers, they calm me down and make think that the world is beautiful.
  5. If you talk to me about music, I blank out. I don’t know any bands or musicians and tend to listen to radio, my boss’s playlist, or husband’s playlist without really caring who is the singer.
  6.  Coffee ice cream is the key to my heart.
  7. I like re watching old cartoons like The Flintstones, Totally Spies, and Tom & Jerry. I just love the cartoons of the 90s and early 2000…
  8. I wish that I knew how to turn myself into a dragon.
  9. I can’t ride a bike, never really learned and don’t care what people think about that. I rather walk.
  10. My go to shows for when my day does not go well are Bones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Xena the Warrior Princess.

My Nominations 

https://ambradleyblog.wordpress.com/ – I know that she nominated me, but seriously she is the first person that I thought of.

https://lisalancaster.wordpress.com/

https://thebookshelfblog.wordpress.com/

https://theothersideofcountingtoten.wordpress.com/

https://thesarahdoughty.wordpress.com/

I wanted to add more people, but I couldn’t see everyone’s followers =(

My Questions:

  1. Why did you decide to start blogging?
  2. What is the main topic of your blog?
  3. Before wordpress, did you have another blog?
  4. Who is your favorite author and why?
  5. What was the happiest moment of your life?
  6. What is the silliest thing that you blogged about?
  7. What advice would you give to other bloggers?
  8. What was your favorite game when you were a child?
  9. What are some of your hobbies?
  10. If you could have one thing, what would it be?
  11. Who is the person that inspired you the most?

I would like to thank A.M. Bradley again for nominating me!!!!

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