New Release: The Freeze by Patricia Hamill

Today is release day for The Freeze, my fifth published book. I wrote this back in November 2013 as part of the NaNoWriMo challenge. That year I had decided not to participate, but halfway through, I relented and managed to finish just in time on November 30. Unlike some stories, this one just flew. Everything worked, and the ideas kept coming.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope you’ll check it out. I look forward to finding out what you think. I still get a thrill when I see someone has left a review.

On Amazon: US / UK / CA / AU

The Freeze by Patricia Hamill 
Released February 14, 2015

When life gives you lemons, dig deep and stay there. Ignore reality and pretend everything is fine. Make the kids go to school, pretend they aren't hungry. Make them pretend not to see the worry on every face, poorly hidden. Life doesn't give us lemons, it gives us ice. It gives us ice and hail and destruction. Life doesn't give, it takes. In a frozen future where survivors have taken refuge in an underground tunnel system, Andrea, sick of writing sappy, optimistic essays for what the adults call school, decides to try her luck on one of the scavenging crews. With the help of a boy she likes, she pretends to be a boy and joins the team. But the job isn't at all what she expected, and she soon finds herself separated from the team, lost and alone in the frozen city.


Now available in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon. Check out this and other books by Patricia Hamill on her Amazon Author Page.

Don’t forget to add The Freeze to your shelves on Goodreads or Shelfari!

Childrens Picture Book Review: My Grandma's a Ninja by Todd Tarpley

My Grandma's a Ninja by Todd Tarpley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This kept me laughing the whole time. I actually have tears in my eyes.

Ok, first off, the cadence of this story is excellent. I think this would be a great bedtime story. It's quick and funny. The pictures are cute and the jokes are, too.

The illustrations are simple, but funny. I like how the grandma ninja still wears her necklace. The slow motion ninja moves are well done, too.

And the ending? Priceless.

I would say the only thing that could be done better is the font and text formatting used inside. It looks like it's Arial, which isn't a particularly interesting font. Plus, it seems rather small. I think a serif font, a bit bigger, would fit in with the illustrations a bit better. Also, the larger font would be easier to read during bedtime when lights might be dimmed a bit to get the youngsters in the mood for sleep. Another note on the text is that the paragraph indents seem weird. Sure, paragraphs tend to start with an indent, but in picture books, we're talking one or two liners. I think no indent would look better.

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Reading Lists: Do I need one? Yes, I do...

Well, I'm a bit late posting this week and I have no new reviews to share, so I figured I'd share my thoughts on reading lists instead.

So, reading lists. Lists of things you plan to read. Honestly? I've never really used a list to determine my next book to read. I've always been the kind of girl to browse along the bookshelf or scan through my kindle until a particular cover or title catches my eye and that's worked for the most part. But now that I blog, particularly because I write reviews for two sites and because I signed up for NetGalley, I have found that I can no longer leave all of my reading choices up to chance and whim.

Because of this, I've created a few reading lists and one to manage the overall order I read the books I plan to review. I may even add them to this blog. I've already added my currently reading shelf, which has been sparse at 1 book for quite a while, so it shouldn't be hard to add some more.

I have one for books I plan to submit to Pure Textuality, one for books I get from NetGalley, and one for book reviews requested directly from authors. The to-be-read shelf on Goodreads is too long and clunky to work for a near-future reading list, so I'm using the to-be-reviewed-by-me shelf to organize the reads from those three I just mentioned plus the books I've come across and purchased on my own.

Oh, and I also added a fun little shelf called "on-actual-paper" for books that I've purchased, you guessed it, on actual paper. So, anyway, without Goodreads and those shelves, I'd probably not have any kind of plan, which worked before, but won't work now.


Here are the books I'd like to read and review next. It's a shelf widget, so I think it'll be current for whenever you happen to be reading this. I love those widgets.

Patricia's bookshelf: to-be-reviewed-by-me

The Earth Dwellers

by David Estes

tagged: by-david-estes, to-read, and to-be-reviewed-by-me

Of Shadow and Stone

by Michelle Muto

tagged: netgalley, to-be-reviewed-by-me, and currently-reading

This Shrinking World

by H.L. Cherryholmes

tagged: to-read, pure-textuality-review, to-be-reviewed-by-me, and to-be-bl...

True Calling

by Siobhan Davis

tagged: to-read, netgalley, to-be-blogged, and to-be-reviewed-by-me

From the Ashes

by H.L. Cherryholmes

tagged: to-read, pure-textuality-review, to-be-reviewed-by-me, and to-be-bl...

YA Review: The Vanishing Girl by Laura Thalassa

The Vanishing Girl by Laura Thalassa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Vanishing Girl is a story about Ember Pierce, a girl who teleports to other locations in the first ten minutes of sleep every night. After five years dealing with this ability and keeping it secret, the government shows up to collect on a debt Ember had no idea she owed.

I think my favorite thing about this story is the ten minute time limit. Whenever Ember and her peers transport, they have only ten minutes to do what they have to do. And, if things go wrong, they have ten long minutes to survive the consequences. This gives each traveling segment a degree of excitement.

I also enjoyed the romance between Ember and Caden, though Caden starts off as an annoying prick. I didn't care for how he kept pushing himself on Ember. But later on, he shapes up and seems much more likeable, probably because Ember ultimately gives in to his advances. Then again, I kept wondering about the guy Ember transports to, as well, wondering if Adrian might pose Caden some competition.

While I dig a good us vs. them story where the young hero or heroine is fighting back against a big brother type organization, I found it a bit hard to believe that the U.S. Government would sponsor the creation of teleporters and then make those kids their slaves for life. It makes for an interesting story, but such a thing is easier to believe when set in a distant future or another world. Still, I enjoyed it.

Overall, I liked this story and would recommend it to folks who enjoy a good YA paranormal dystopian set in the present day. There is a healthy dose of sexual content, making this one geared more towards the older end of the YA spectrum.

I received the review copy of this book from NetGalley.

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Intrigued? Grab your own copy here on Amazon.com.

Sci-fi Short Story Review: Hangtime by Jack Thompson

Hangtime by Jack Thompson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Imagine sparking the ability to speed through time and work miracles. Then imagine figuring out how to do that through the power of math.

Hangtime is a short story that tells the story of an ordinary man who figures out the secret of hangtime while watching sports one night.

There are so many things I like about this story. The sweet little romance that developes, despite Laslo's cluelessness in the face of an office crush. The ability to span time, the effect reminding me of Flash Gordon. How Laslo likes watching sports, not because of the game, but because he likes calculating angles and velocities of the players in his head.

I also love how solid a story is packed into this tiny bundle. This is a short story, but it doesn't feel rushed. It feels just right, and it's a complete tale, from start to finish. No cliffhangers, but really an excellent and satisfying conclusion that left me smiling.

I loved this little story and look forward to reading more from this author. I'd recommend this to folks who love a good sci-fi with a nerdy hero. There's a little clean romance and adventure, too. Short and sweet.

I picked this book up on Kindle during a free promotion. I don't always take authors up on their Tweets for freebees, but he was basically putting up a handful at a time, and I couldn't resist.

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