I Definitely Ain't No New York Times Book Reviewer

     I've realized that I'm a terrible book reviewer. Which is funny because I used to think that I should be a movie reviewer. I hate reading reviews from hoity-toity reviewers who despise all the really good blockbuster movies but love those ones that are so slow or awful for whatever reason. Example: they slam Transformers, but love The Hours. I've seen both, and Transformers wins, hands down, in my opinion. I mean, come on, the way those cars transform into giant robots is cool! Staring at Nicole Kidman's huge fake schnoz- not so much. Which I think is the general opinion of the masses (not everyone of course). So I always thought I should be a reviewer for "the people".
     Well I suck at reviews. Especially book reviews. Here's the problem- I get so caught up in the story that I'm not really paying attention to much else. I've tried during my latest Twilight and Harry Potter readings to slow down and really analyze why I like those books. It never works. I end up getting so lost in the story that I've finished the book and I'm left thinking, "whoops, why do I love it? who knows?"
     I've realized that this could be a problem with my writing. I love story and characters. Rarely do I stop reading in a book and think, wow that was a really good sentence. So when I write, I do the same thing. I don't like to sit there and think of ingenious or literary ways to say "I feel sick". Instead I want to know why does the character feel sick, what is he/she going to do about it.
     I think really great writers probably do both. Tell a great story with the ingenious writing. That's something for me to work on, to reach towards. To tell the story in a way that only I can tell it, not in a generic fashion. Which is why we edit, right? The first draft is telling the story. The later drafts are to help it stand out, not be generic. To fix those blah sentences like "I feel sick" and make them more meaningful. Writing is tough, there's no going around it. Telling the story is easy. But writing...

     Anyway, I read "Intertwined" by Gena Showalter this week. It's paranormal with vampires, werewolves, and powers. In most books the male and female main characters feel inexplicably and powerfully "drawn" to each other which leads to their inevitable romance. Well, not in this book. While the main characters do feel "drawn" to each other, it's more in a brother/sister kind of way and I found that refreshing. Although later both main characters do feel that inexplicable draw to two other people (er, creatures). Sigh. It seems that a lot of YA books have that these days- the powerful unknown force that draws the boy and girl together. I hate to say that I think it's getting a little overused and while I didn't use that in my own book, I hope I don't even have one sentence saying Jessica is "drawn" to Alric. I'm getting a little sick of it. Just saying.
     Actually, I think I need to step away from the whole paranormal thing for awhile. I don't think it's the writing of any of the books I've read, I think I've just become oversaturated. I need to read something different. Which I'm not. I'm reading City of Fallen Angels, by Cassandra Clare. Ah well.
     See what I mean about being a bad reviewer? Did I even really say anything about the book? Not so much. The book's ok. Yeah. 3 out of 5 stars. Go me.