Always in the wrong place

I'm staring at you

from across the room

through a glass of barley.

You’re standing there bitter and ugly

because I don't want you to be beautiful

that's why you aren't

and you never will be

because spite is a bitch.

When you should have been silent

your ugly thoughts sounded too loud in my head.

Do you enjoy the solitude?

I believe so...

you tried it twice.

Your attention was always in the wrong place.

Tanya von Ness, todays guest blogger and poet, is a teacher who loved designing so much that she decided to do it for a living.  Her dedication to creating quality book covers is reflected in her work.  She is also very passionate about writing and travelling with her family.  She is a proud mom of two beautiful little girls and wife of an amazing husband.  You can find her beautiful book covers on fictionbookcover.com.

15th Century Pop Stars

Isn't it funny how we see pop stars in our mind?  We see the glammy side of them, or the shameful side depicted in magazines and on webpages.  We think of red carpets and mobs of fans, trying to get their autograph.  We beg them to follow us on twitter and hope we see them one day to take a picture.

Things we don't generally think about is how they brush their teeth.  Or whether they like ice in their drinks.

Joan of Arc is a 15^th Century pop star.  We're still talking about her hundreds of years later.  Most of us know the general story: she lead France to win against England.  Then, when she won, France gave her over to England and they burned her at the stake (Not cool guys, not cool).

But, how much do you know about her childhood?

One thing cool about writing historical fantasy fiction is that I get to read about those kinds of things.  Things that you have to dig for, instead of doing a general Google search.

Here are 3 pretty awesome things I learned about Joan of Arc.

1.    She was always very compassionate and outspoken about it.  She had no qualms about speaking out if she saw an injustice.  Even though she was a girl.

There was a tree that Joan and her friends loved.  They believed that the Fairies would dance around the tree when no one else was looking.  One day, the town priest went to the tree (while Joan was sick) and did a ritual to ban the Fairies from the tree.  When Joan got better, she felt sorry for the poor Fairies.  So she ran to the priest and convinced him that God had made the Fairies and they deserved to have a place in this world just like any other creature.

2.    She loved animals, and would always feed them and help them if they were hurt.  In return, they would follow her around sometimes.  During dinner, she would let them eat with her and so she would have rabbits, birds, squirrels, cats, and other reptiles, all around the her, and she would feed them as she ate.  PETA would have made her their poster child.

3.    She was always very brave. There was an insane guy that they used to keep locked up in a cage in the middle of the town.  One day he got out and attacked her and her friends with an axe.  Instead of running away, she stood her ground and talked the guy into going back into his cage.  Turns out, she used to give him food and talk to him and she hoped that he would recognize her, even though he was in a ‘mad state’.  Crazy woman!!

To me, little Joannie seems like she would've been a very intersting person to hang out with as a kid.

If you want to know more about her, you can read her story written by Sieur Lous de Conte, who was a childhood friend of hers here.  The kindle version is FREE. (It says that the author of this book is Mark Twain.  I have no idea why it says this, but the book was written by Sieur Conte.)

Or, you can read my fictionalized version of her in my book.

My name is Fleur.  And this is my blog.

YA Book Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ - -   (3 out of 5)

“Imagine there was a cure, but finding it would cost you everything. It would completely ruin your life. What would you do?”

I've been meaning to read this book for some time now. The premise and cover looked and sounded cool, so I finally picked up a copy of my own. Set in a dystopian world where Earth is in a never ending confrontation with the Lunars. With a lot of deceit, sci-fi elements and mystery Cinder by Marissa Meyer takes you on a great adventure.

The Plot

Cinder is a retelling of the classic fairytale of Cinderella with a sci-fi twist. I enjoyed the new take on the classic story so much that it was fun trying to piece together who each character was loosely based off of. The plot of Cinder follows a cyborg girl who the book is named after as she tries to deal with her mysterious past and the connection to the Lunar people that are trying to take over Earth.

With twist and turns, numerous secrets, and a handsome prince, this book had everything I look for in a book. The only issue I had with it was the predictability. I felt like I knew what was going to happen before it actually happened. That is all fine and dandy, I just wish I was surprised by some of the revelations that occurred.

The Writing

Marissa Meyer's writing is tantalizing, descriptive, and just a joy to read. There is no awkward eye rolling cheesy dialogue between characters that makes me cringe. There was humor (especially with Iko), teenage love angst, cockiness, ruthlessness, and sweet character bonding that her writing just accentuated. I just wish there wasn't predictability and the writing would have been absolutely perfect.

The Characters

Cinder, the cyborg protagonist. She is a strong female heroine without being stupid and annoying. She made her own decisions, didn't fall in love with the prince right off the bat, and the relationship she had with her android friend Iko was a complete perfection. She was humorous, and the bickering that she did with Kai was cute as well.

Kai, the prince charming. He is thrust into being the new Emperor after his father passes away and has to deal with the cruel Queen Levana of Luna. He is awesome, humorous, courageous, and not your typical prince. He is down to earth, loving, and a bit cocky! His interactions with Cinder were funny and cute, and the way he made his decisions was brave. I want more of prince Kai in the future!

Levana, the evil queen from Luna.Everything you can hate in a character, Levana has. She is rude, condesending, cruel, ugly, and treacherous. In my opinion she is everything an antagonist should be. She doesn't have any good morals or decisions, she is just be completely evil! She encompasses everything I like in the evil character and it fits well with the story!

The Cover

The cover stays true to the story that it retells, Cinderella. With the glass slipper it adds in fresh elements of the cyborg leg and the red color of the slipper. With a pretty awesome font for the title, the cover looks absolutely gorgeous.

Over all Cinder by Marissa Meyer was not as exciting as I thought it was going to be, but from what I heard it gets better as the series continues. So I am thoroughly looking forward to reading the next installment in this series!

See ya next time, 

  - Jesse Nicholas 

Read more reviews here.

 Jesse Nicholas, todays guest blogger, lives in Manitoba, Canada. He is an aspiring writer and one day wishes to have a novel published. Along with writing, Jesse enjoys music, travel, trashy TV, and is an avid reader of anything in the Young Adult genre. He currently posts reviews on the YA novels he reads on his blog, and spends hours upon hours coming up with ideas for a future novel.  You can read other book reviews on his blog at jessenicholasya.blogspot.ca.