Beautiful Demons (Peachville High Demons #1) by Sarra Cannon

I finished reading Beautiful Demons (Peachville High Demons #1) by Sarra Cannon a couple days ago and wanted to share my thoughts on it here on my blog.

About the Book (taken from Amazon)

In Peachville, even the cheerleaders have a dark side...

Harper Madison isn't like other girls. She has extraordinary powers, but her inability to control them has gotten her kicked from so many foster homes she's lost count. Shadowford Home for Girls is her last chance, and she hopes Peachville High will be the fresh start she needs.

But when evidence ties her to the gruesome murder of a Demons cheerleader, Harper discovers this small town has a big secret.

Beautiful Demons is a fast-paced YA novel with magic, mystery, and a touch of romance. This series will appeal to fans of Pretty Little Liars, Hex Hall, and The Vampire Diaries.

About the Author (taken from Amazon)

Sarra Cannon grew up in a small town in Georgia where she learned that being popular always comes at a price. Now, she lives in North Carolina with her amazing husband and her teeny tiny Pomeranian, Snickerdoodle. Books and music are her greatest passions. She has never been a cheerleader, but it's possible she knows a few things about casting spells.

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book. It was filled with twists and turns and, for most of the book, I was in the dark about what was going on as much as Harper was, so I got to figure out what was happening as she figured it out and I love when books are written that way! I loved what was happening (or not happening if you will) between Harper and Jackson. And the ending of the book completely threw me for a loop (in a good, oh-my-god-I-did-not-see-that-coming kind of way). It was a very unexpected but excellent surprise. Sarra Cannon definitely put a lot of thought and imagination into writing this book, and I'm looking forward to seeing where these characters go in the rest of the series.

I cannot wait to read book 2, but before I can do that I must get through the huge "stack" of books piling up on my Kindle.

What I'm reading now: After Forever Ends by Melodie Ramone. You can get it HERE free, if you'd like to read it. I believe today is the last day it's being offered free, so get it while you can! It's really good :)

First Draft Suckage

I've been reading a lot of helpful articles about writing books: plotting, characterization, POV, description, dialogue, using passive voice, etc., and I came across an article (several very helpful articles actually, but one in particular that I'm talking about today) on Janice Hardy's blog called If at First You Don't Succeed....Then You Know You're Writing a First Draft. I particularly liked this article because I'm in the process of writing my first draft, and, well, it sucks. It doesn't suck in the sense that it's not going anywhere or that it's all a jumbled mess of gibberish with no plot or direction. It sucks in the sense that I already know it's going to need a lot of rewriting and reworking of scenes, additional scenes added, and I tell a lot instead of show, among other things.

For instance, the first 3 pages of my book are nothing but a giant info dump. The first chapter and part of the second chapter are written in 1st person present tense, but I kept finding myself slipping into 1st person past tense so from that point on I just wrote it in 1st person past tense. I've changed plot elements (for the better!) that I will have to go back in and edit and change around. It's for these reasons that I am suffering from first draft suckage.

Janice's article really made me understand that I'm not alone. I'm not the only writer whose first draft is so awful, and, even better, it's okay that my first draft is the way it is. Before I read that article, I was kinda freaking out about it. Now, not so much. She has several other very helpful articles on writing first drafts, completing first drafts, and just about every other aspect of writing a book. I definitely recommend checking out her blog no matter what stage of writing you're at.

Another problem I'm having is trying to keep myself from going back and editing things right now, especially the first chapter. But, I'd rather get my first draft completely done and then go back and start fixing things. On that note, I have written about 1600 words in the last 2 days. Not a lot, but not bad either. My biggest regret is that due to things out of my control so much time has passed since I first started writing this book (almost 3 years!). I try not to dwell on the fact that my book could have been finished a long time ago and could possibly have been published by now. On the other hand, I'm thankful that things happened the way they did because it makes me that much more determined to get it done this time. And if I succeed, then that's all that matters.

Disclaimer: I cannot be held accountable for any grammatical or punctuational mistakes in this blog post as it is after 2 am and I'm very tired.