Book Series: The Demon's Lexicon

Written by Sarah Rees Brennan The Demon's Lexicon is a YA, paranormal, trilogy set in England and centred around two brothers - Alan and Nick Ryves.

A series that definitely sets itself a part from the typical YA layout, The Demon's Lexicon is a trilogy filled with darkness, wit, secrets, lies and magic. Sarah Rees Brennan is an adept when it comes to writing characters and relationships, and when I say relationships I don't mean the romantic kind. The relationships I am talking about are the familial kind, between siblings and parents, and also the relationship between friends and people who are not quite friends.

Each novel takes place from three different points of views and with each book it clearly emphasizes how much a perspective can affect how the reader will view a particular character because no one character has the exact same kind of relationship with more than one person. Seeing characters from different perspectives throughout the same book not only gives greater insight to the main POV but it also reveals the different layers and sides to characters we thought we already knew.

I couldn't think of the words to write a proper review for each book, but after completing the final instalment in this series I wanted to let everyone know my overall thoughts. If you are looking for a YA series to surprise you with twists, entertain you with sharp dialogue, and immerse you in a world filled with danger and action, give the first book in this series a try because you won't regret it.

Have you read The Demon's Lexicon series? Share your thoughts!

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J.K Rowling's new book has a title and more

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils...Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the town's council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults.

Release Date: September 27th, 2012

For more information check-out the article here on The Wall Street Journal.

So I think it's still a bit early for certainties but we definitely have more information then the last announcement on J.K.'s upcoming adult book. Last time people were saying that the book might be a crime-novel, does anyone still think that? If not what are your guesses?

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Author Highlight: Melissa Marr

The first book I ever read by Melissa Marr was discovered on the book shelf of my university's Barnes & Noble. I noticed the title first Wicked Lovely as the book was placed spine out and picked it up. My first thought was that the cover was gorgeous, which made me instantly weary because I didn't want to buy the book just because I thought the cover was pretty. I read the synopsis and was interested but still wasn't sure if I was being objective and placed the book down. The next time I returned to the store I picked up Wicked Lovely, read the first chapter, and bought the book.

Melissa Marr is one of my favourite authors because she writes books about complex characters set in modern day times that are enshrouded in worlds steeped in legend and folklore. Her Wicked Lovely series is about faeries that could be over nine hundred years old but don’t feel any less real then my friends and family because like us they have motivations, fears, desires and goals. They have pasts that shape them. Her Graveminder novel is about inhabitants of a town where certain rituals must take place or the dead won’t stay buried but what connects the reader to the story are the characters that tell it. Characters who have been thrust into roles they may not want to play but are the only ones who can.

Along with publishing novels Melissa has also published the manga series Desert Tales and has been published in several anthologies such as Teeth, Love is Hell, and Enthralled which she co-edited with Kelley Armstrong. Her latest YA novel Carnival of Souls will be released September 4th. From the information released so far this story sounds like it's going to be another fantastic world filled with an intriguing ensemble of characters.

Photo by Loch Marr

Melissa Marr grew up believing in faeries, ghosts, and various other creatures. After teaching college literature for a decade, she applied her fascination with folklore to writing. Wicked Lovely was her first novel. Currently, Marr lives in the Washington, D.C., area, writes full-time, and still believes in faeries and ghosts.

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New Books For The Shelves

This past weekend I was away on vacation and before returning home I stopped by Kitten's mom's place to pick up a few things I had mailed there.

Lips Touch Three Times and Daughter of Smoke and Bone (UK) by Laini Taylor | Saltwater Vampires by Kirsty Eagar | Sweetly by Jackson Pearce | Night Circus (UK) by Erin Morgenstern | Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey | Dark Heart Forever by Lee Monroe| The Cursed Ones (UK) by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie | Darklight by Lesley Livingston | The Demon's Surrender (UK) by Sarah Rees Brennan | Hammered and Hexed by Kevin Hearne | Ghost Hunt 4 and 5 by Shiho Inada | Shinobi Life 4 and 5 by Shoko Conami

Along with the books there was a book cover from Hide-a-Cover and 50 personalized bookplates from Bookplate Ink.

All of the above items were bought by me. All of the books were ordered from Book Depository except for Saltwater Vampires which was bought from FishPond World. Both websites offer free INTERNATIONAL shipping for books, book depository has better prices but for certain titles they tend to run out of stock after that I go looking for them at FishPondWorld which sells the UK, Australian and New Zealand editions of books. BD sells all of same editions including US and other language editions as well.

Any idea which book I should read first?

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Short Break

Hello readers. The contributors of WildFire Writing will be taking a short break until the end of next week. This does not mean that there will be no posts until then but it does mean that posts will be more sparse.

Reeshe and Kitten are currently on vacation and I am sick so I hope you understand if its a little quiet around here for the next two weeks.

Ciao!

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Book Blogger Confessions #8

Book Blogger Confessions is a new bi-weekly meme hosted by Tiger @ All Consuming Books and Karen @ For What it's Worth Reviews.

Review/Guest post requests: Do you have a review request policy? Has it changed over time? How do you handle requests that don’t meet your criteria?
In the past, what types of "pitches" have caught your attention? Are there any (non-specific) examples of requests that are off-putting to you as a blogger?

Here on WildFire Writing we don't have a review request policy, yet. We're still fairly new and considering the amount of books we have to read I don't think we have time to take requests for the moment so that's probably a good thing.

Over at Scribing Shadows I have a policy and currently it says that I am not taking any requests, the blog is on a break and before then I had no time to even look at email requests so that's why I made the decision to not take requests. From the first time I posted my policy over there to now it has changed every so often and it would always be me limiting the kind of genres I would accept, because although I did read all the genres I had stated in the beginning I was a lot pickier with what I would read from certain genres than others.

I don't like pitches or I don't buy pitches. All the requests I would get would be from authors so of course they are going to try and make their book sound as appealing to me as possible. I also hate when books are compared to a popular book series, it puts me off. What I like is a polite greeting, some indication that you've looked at my blog and understand the content I mainly cover and you're book cover, along with the synopsis and publisher. Also, don't send me the attachment or download link to your book in the initial email because I haven't accepted it yet. It just makes me feel worse if I decide I'm not interested.

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Beautiful Creatures to become a manga

I am surprised I haven't noticed any of this in my blogger dashboard especially since the information was posted on the YenPress website April 8th. Did I just miss everyone's posts or has no one else seen the news about this yet?

Coming in 2013, an original adaptation of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s bestselling BEAUTIFUL CREATURES!

For the past few months, Ethan Wate has been plagued with vivid, terrifying dreams—a mysterious girl cries out for his help, but as he reaches for her, she slips through his fingers and plunges into darkness. The dreams are unsettling, but awake, life in his small Southern town is the same-old news…until the new girl comes to town. And she looks almost…familiar…even though this tiny town has never seen the likes of a girl like Lena Duchannes…

Talented newcomer Cassandra Jean will be illustrating this dark romantic fantasy, which will be serializing in YEN PLUS magazine online later this year. - YenPress

I've only read the first book for the Caster Chronicle Series so far but I enjoyed it and I love manga so having YA being adapted into manga is always cause for celebration in my opinion.

What are your thoughts about this? Do you care that another popular YA novel is being adapted into a graphic novel? Like the idea? Hate the idea? Share your thoughts!

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