Kats Review: Fugly

Fugly by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely loved this book!!!

The blurb totally drew me in and the story kept me reading like a total book junkie till the very end. This was a different kind of story unlike those where every character is unequivocally gorgeous. It is truly a thought provoking read that makes you ask the question…

What is your definition of beauty?

Lily Snow is not a beauty not physically anyway, she is plagued by insecurities as it relates to how she looks and has managed to convince herself that this does not affect how she lives her life and more importantly how she deserves to be treated by others.

Maxwell Cole is absolutely beautiful on the outside with a very troubling phobia that has haunted him most of his life. He’s aware that this is the “ugly” side of him and wants to be rid of it.

Lily and Max in essence are each other’s salvation. Max learns to look beyond the physical to the person within and Lily learns to truly believe in her beauty and in essence her self-worth.

One of the best parts of book for me was Mimi’s “note from the author” at the end that sums up perfectly what this story was about and in essence is why this is such a successfully written book. Without trying to plagiarize her words here is an excerpt from her note;

The book was never about a young woman looking for acceptance but about the derailing inner voice within determined to sabotage out best intentions and potential…

…we all know beauty fades. And true love does not. And that includes inner love…

…This story will inspire you to never give up and trust those who love you. There is a reason they love you: because you deserve it…

…just take a moment and try to see yourself through their eyes…

This is a complete and total must read!!!

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Kats Review: Not You It's Me

Not You It's Me by Julie Johnson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Promising start that morphed into the ridiculous.

First of all I really enjoyed the start of the book, like really, like really really. The banter between the two main characters Gemma Summers and Chase Croft had me in stitches. There were literally moments when I laughed out loud while reading this book.

The story starts off with Gemma winning a pair of tickets to a basketball game in hope of igniting (not re-igniting) as stale relationship with her neighbor/boyfriend. I didn’t really buy into why she was with him based on how Julie described him. I mean besides have so so looks and being pudgy the man basically showed her no affection, the sex was bleh and he was a A-double hockey sticks (shaped like an S) to her most of the time. Gemma being gorgeous (if not a little self-deprecating) was more than enough confident not to allow crap from a guy like that.

Chase was your typical misunderstood millionaire that doesn’t do love and has a complicated past. I could forgive that since he and Gemma had so much chemistry. I especially enjoyed their interaction in his car after the basketball game (you’ll know what I mean when you read the book). I also enjoyed the dialogue written for her friends particularly Chrissy (pregnant and hormonal) who was hilarious.

Now on to where it got ridiculous for me…

1. After probably her fifth or sixth misunderstanding with Chase she runs away to her mother but first runs into her neighbor/ex-boyfriend who is so pissed at her he attempts to strangle her in building and after managing to get away surprise surprise does not report him, or tell her mother, or tell Chase (who btw goes after her to bring her home).

2. Chase’s cousin is a complete psychopath who tried to take away everything from him growing up (and is pissed that Chase will be CEO of the family company a position for which he wanted) tries to have Gemma killed after her ex-neighbor/ex-boyfriend along with Chase’s ex-girlfriend that used to sleep with Chase’s cousin kidnaps her and Chrissy (who is in labor) for ransom from Chase. What follows is Gemma getting shot by the idiot ex-boyfriend, getting away in car chase (an actual chase not the hero of the story Chase) only to crash the car and be taken by Chase’s cousin’s gooney to be driven off a bridge (have I lost you in the ridiculous yet???)

3. They fall in love inexplicably in 1 week, no… 5 days

4. Gemma’s father who she was never close to (from which she has her commitment issues) turns out be a millionaire, a secret she was hiding but her ex-boyfriend finds out and spills the beans to Chase’s brother who in turn uses the information to bring her half-sister to a party for the public announcement that Chase will be CEO to… well I’m not exactly sure to what… Anyhow Gemma’s half-sister instantly likes her and declares them friends.

5. Chase’s uncle turns out to be his father and the night his (non biological) father finds out both him and his mother die in a crash (supposedly at his non biological father’s hands although it is not specifically said in the book) over the very same bridge Chase’s cousin… well brother tries to have Gemma killed.

I still gave it though three stars mainly because Julie has a talent for making her characters funny and having that translated well in her book (which btw is not an easy thing to do).

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So You’ve Written a Book…

I’m not going to tell you how to write a book because I strongly believe the process is different for each person and you have to find the method or formula that works for you. Personally I started off with an idea and main characters then loosely planed out how I wanted the story to end. Then I just wrote and as the personalities of my characters took shape how I thought they would have reacted in a given situation directed my story.

So now that you know what I did when I was writing let’s move on to what to do after you’ve finished you literary masterpiece (or maybe not a masterpiece and just a fun read).

The next couple of posts will focus on what I did as part of self-publishing and will address editing/copy-editing, cover design, distribution, marketing etc. Although not particularly complicated the most important of this (in my opinion) is the editing/copy-editing process.

But first a couple of rules;

1. Don’t try to proof read and edit your work yourself: No matter how many times you read it you will never see all your mistakes.
2. Do have a professional or at the very least someone with a strong knowledge and understanding of grammar rules read your work: Be prepared to see lots errors (unless you are a super writing grammar god and in that event I bow down to you)
3. Don’t try to proof read and edit your work yourself: I know I said it before but it deserves repeating, learn from my mistakes (at one point I had two chapter 21’s in my book)

Now if your cash strapped and can’t afford a professional use a family member or a friend to review your book but beware that they may not be quite as invested as you are in completing this task (it took my sister months to proof read and at this point I’m not even sure she finished the job…)

Another option is to use sites like Freelancer, Upwork or Elance. These are basically sites that support virtual work and allow businesses to post jobs, solicit proposals and get competitive pricing/biding. They also allow freelancers to set up profiles to market their services. One of the sites I plan to use in the future is www.ProofReadingServices.com. After some extensive investigations it looks really promising and professional as well as cost effective (for a girl on a budget). Also they appear to have an extensive assessment criterion before allowing someone to freelance so you can be assured that the person you get knows what they’re doing.  I will definitely let you know once I try…

The reason why I stress on editing/copy-editing is because it’s a personal pet peeve of mines. I can tolerate with a reasonable amount of patience books with minor grammar errors but when it reaches the point that I have to read a sentence multiple times to understand what the writer is trying to express I’m just going to put the book down.

I pretty sure I’m not alone in this!

Now that I’ve gone through the most important step, we can move on to the second most important and the fun part, designing your cover. 

Coming in the next post, stay tuned…