—A footnote cut from my review of Dark Visions by L.J. Smith as it did not contribute in any meaningful way. It’s now here as I did not want to let the actual text go.A note on The Forbidden Game here, so don’t go any further if you have yet to read this awesome trilogy: As much as I think Julian as a character is awesome and however one might be tempted, it’s an unfair playing field and Julian is not the most… admirable of choices. It’s just like in Labyrinth – and I’m not the first nor the last to compare The Forbidden Game to Labyrinth – we might at first shout at Sarah to not be an idiot and to “just let [him] rule you” as there’s no way we’d turn down a beautiful goblin king who wants to make us a queen – especially one who’s in those pants – but on further reflection we’d remember, “Hey, this is a guy who steals babies, is mean to his subjects and is hitting on a teenage girl with talks of fear, slavery and being ruled. Do not want.
—This is the first time my writing has made me hungry. Well, hungry in a way that is not “hey, it’s dinner time”, anyway.Lunch that day was a simple but hearty affair. When Leander returned from the bathroom the table was already laid out. There were several different kinds of bread, all with different grains and baking styles. And for the breads there was butter, various spreads and several different kinds of cheese – they ranged from so hard Angelika struggled to cut slices off, to so soft and creamy Gretel had no trouble at all spreading it across her piece of bread, which she had toasted slightly over the fire behind her. There was meat, too, many types of sausages of various sizes. The smallest was the size of Leander’s thumb, while the largest was the diameter of Gretel’s small fist. That one, Leander discovered, was eaten best on a thick slice of toast with a middling-hard slice of cheese on top.
—“This. I can’t do this. I love him – God, do I love him – but… I just can’t handle this. I mean he… I’m older than him now!” She kept her voice low, but there was no mistaking the force behind those words.
I glanced around, checking to see if anyone was listening. They weren’t. “I know, I know,” I said softly. “It’s going to happen to me, too. Four years from now… but it’s coming.”
She shook her head wildly. There were tears in the corners of her eyes, just waiting for their chance to fall. “No, you don’t know, Dee! You’re family, and family’s love is, is unconditional. Charlie adores you, and he’ll love you forever.”
“He’ll love you, too.”
“Will he, Dee?” she asked, blinking twice. Those tears looked set to fall any second now. “Will he love me when I’m thirty? Forty? Old enough to be his mother? Grandmother?”
Vampire/human romances don’t really get anything remotely resembling a happy ending without a whole lot of sacrifice and suffering. And change.
And, as Kirsti (the girlfriend of Delia’s vampire brother) is experiencing first hand it might just be best to love and let go.
—He was about a year or two older than Leander, and a few inches taller. His face was oval, his complexion olive, and his hair brown. He had high cheekbones so sharp one could use them as a knife. His nose was technically too big for his face, as were his lips to a lesser degree, but somehow the overall effect was one that worked. He had an easy, friendly air about him, a sense of confidence that took effect immediately. But it was the kind that brought trouble along with it - you would still be smiling and laughing at his jokes even as he convinced you to do something so incredibly stupid you had never even considered it an option.
So, I am finally on the real meat of Lionheart. The set-up is done, and now we are on the quest. And I can finally bring in other characters I have been dying to do so.
This is one of them. And this is the first draft of his introduction.
—When I finished Eyes Like Stars, I wished I had written it so I could claim its magic and beauty as my own. But then I was glad I had not, as there was no way I could have come close to doing this story the justice it deserved, and that Lisa Mantchev gave it.
So I’m trying to finish off my review for Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev but I am struggling. The hardest reviews are for the books you love to death - and ELS is definitely one.
So here’s the opening to review, which should give a clue as to how much I love this story.
Charlie, by Ingrid Michaelson.
I know it’s about Charlie Brown, but I can’t help think of my own character called Charlie and his “red-headed girl”.
Lunch was the happiest 45 minutes of the day
For the red-headed angel would glide your way and say
“Hello, hello, Charlie hello”
And for the record, Charlie and Kirsti met in the lunchroom long before I heard this song. :P
—“How old are you?”
Hopefully I’ve misheard that. I tap the power button of the vacuum with my foot and it goes dead. Silence fills the hallway of V-Floor for a second before I speak. “Pardon?”
He smiles and I’m reminded of, funnily enough, Scar from the Lion King and when he speaks his voice does nothing to change that impression – he’s all smooth words and smooth voice. “How old are you?”
“I’m not sure what that has to do with anything.” It’s the first time this vampire has spoken to me since he arrived two – no wait, three – days ago. How old are you? is definitely not the best way to approach a girl.
Especially an underaged one.
Instead of working on The Superhero Diaries (my current novel project) I have instead wandered back into the Blood Bound universe. Think of it as a little prequel short story, with a sixteen year old Delia who still doesn’t quite know how to handle vampires.
One thing I am liking about this story though is that I get to introduce Eoin in the flesh. He is mentioned a few times over the course of Blood Bound but doesn’t actually appear until book two.
Unless you have read this short story, of course. When it’s completed, I mean.
22 year old writer, web designer and student from New Zealand.
