Blog tour: Render by Stephanie Fleshman - a review

This week has been all about Stephanie Fleshman and her YA novel Render. You can read my intro and see a book trailer here, an interview with her here, a guest post by her here, and an excerpt of the book here.

I have received a free copy of the book in exchange for my review, this will however not influence my opinion about the book.

Short synopsis
Koldan, an 18 year old prodigy, thinks he has his life in front of him; a promising career as a doctor and the most wonderful girlfriend - Raya - that he plans to marry. But when his grandfather dies, everything changes when he finds a diary filled with mystical clues. These clues lead Koldan and Raya on to a dangerous voyage. Together with them they have Lukas, Koldan's younger brother, and their friend Ethan. Not until it seems to be too late, they realize how everything is connected through Koldan and Lukas' Russian heritage, and the reasons why their grandfather fled Russia when he was 18. Will Koldan manage to escape from his destiny and save his relationship with Raya?


Review 
While in Glasgow a few weeks back, I read a book review in The Independent on Sunday that ended with "As empty as its protagonist, the novel is stuck in her superficial worldview and lacks the gravitas or literary panache to puss us out of it." I don't have the literary quality to even write such a sentence, but more importantly - this is not how I feel about Render. However, there are some things I find troublesome during my reading of the book.

One of the most annoying things I know about, is loose ends. But equally annoying are loose beginnings. And unfortunately there are several of them in Render. What is a loose beginning, you may ask? It is when suddenly something appears without being well enough built up to. For me at least, it felt like it was out of the blue when the kids left on the voyage. What was so exciting with the diary that made them do it? How come Raya's and Lukas' parents let them travel all the way from the US to Australia? They're only 17, so they would need some kind of permission. Why were Raya and Lukas suddenly so close friends that they didn't have to speak to each other, they would instinctively understand what the other person was thinking? Nothing before that moment described their friendship as that close. And why would the story have to take place on a remote, lost island? I have the feeling the author was so excited about the action part of the story she wanted to tell, that she sometimes forgot that it isn't just about the action, it is also about understanding why the action is happening.

I have also read that the story is supposed to be in the paranormal genre, at it takes place in a world very similar to our own, but that it isn't our world. In this book, there aren't any hints of paranormalcy, neither are there any hints about their world not being our world.

But not everything is bad. Far from it! Stephanie Fleshman writes well. She doesn't fill her story with clichés and plump language. The story is constantly driven forward, and she doesn't linger with unnecessary descriptions of people and places. The reader wants to know what is going to happen on the next page, and we want to know if everything will be ok with Koldan and Raya.

The end makes it clear that this is the first book of a series, and I really hope some of the loose beginnings (and loose ends!) will be closed and better explained in the next books. It might also become clear why the author considers the book to be paranormal, and what the difference between their world and our world is. I know I will be reading them, because I have started to care about Koldan, Raya, Lukas and Ethan.

Blog tour: An Excerpt from Render by Stephanie Fleshman

I am hosting a blog tour this week. You should also check out today's event over at Novelty Publishing!


Please enjoy this fun, playful excerpt from Render by Stephanie Fleshman. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including a Kindle Fire, $550 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of the book.

Render: An Excerpt

I spin around and pull her to me, sighing as her arms lock around my neck. I lower my face to her hair, turning it into the curve of her neck to breathe her in.

Her body molds to mine, lithe and boneless, and my arms swallow her as I tighten my hold. It softens all the hard points, the tension I’d been holding onto, smoothing the muscles in my shoulders and back.

“You have great problem-solving skills, by the way,” I tell her softly in her ear.

Keeping her arms around me, she leans back against the wall to look at me, a baffled expression on her face, whether in relation to the compliment or the unexpected direction in conversation, I don’t know.

“Do I?” Her voice lifts in a flirtatious pitch.

“Mmm. It’s why I asked you out,” I tease. “You solved most of my problems just by agreeing.” Looking back, I realize just how true this is, though I doubt she’ll take me seriously.

Her lips curl in an obliging smile, and her eyes say it all, disbelieving in their beauty, corroborating what I already knew. But she’s still smiling, and I alone am responsible for that.

She curls her hand around the side of my neck, and I feel her thumb glide over the scar behind my earlobe, one I incurred at fourteen, when Lukas slammed my head into the bathroom mirror. Then I broke his collarbone. Both of us ended up in the emergency room that morning, an incident that resulted in our father leaving for work a half hour later. It’s always quieter when our father is home.

“How are you doing?” she asks, looking up to search my eyes.

I slide my hands from the small of her back to her waist, as my gaze sweeps from shoulder to shoulder. I can already feel the ground of normalcy beneath me, her presence holding the pieces of my life together, when it seems everything can come apart at any moment. “Good now that you’re here.”

This seems to make her both happy and sad. A look of gloom passes over her face even as a small smile touches her lips. Then her eyes trail down the front of my body, taking in my suit jacket and pants. “You look like a lawyer,” she comments. “Straight from the courtroom.”

I can’t remember a time when she’s ever seen me in a suit. The closest is the tux I wore to her senior prom two months ago, which is not much different than what I wear now.

“It suits you.”

I raise my eyebrows in doubt. “What? Looking like a lawyer?”

“Not just a lawyer. You look…professional.” Then, with a full smile, she adds, “I like it.”

“Ah,” I say, mirroring her smile as I grasp her meaning. “I like that you’re my biggest fan.”

Her teeth shine bright against her tan skin. She drops her arms to her sides, and I lace my fingers through hers. She smells of honeysuckle, vanilla, and lavender all at once, with soft underlying notes I can’t name, a scent that swirls inside me, tantalizing every cell in my body.

I lean forward, canting my head slightly to fit my lips to hers. I have to fight to keep the rhythm slow, to savor every second. But when her mouth opens, urgency builds within me, and I press farther. Too soon, though, she’s pulling away, leaving my blood pumping in a hot stream and my heart pounding against my chest. I place a hand on the wall behind her and lean forward, closing the narrow space she’s put between us.

“I wasn’t finished,” I say.

I’m already tilting my head to kiss her again when she stops me with one word. “Wait.”

“Wait?” I mutter against her lips.

I feel her palms on my chest, easing me back. It’s hard to concentrate on anything but touching her, but I slowly resign myself to the conversation that is apparently inevitable, when my only instinct is to kiss her. I straighten and meet her eyes, which does nothing to tame my thoughts.

“I got your note,” she says.

When I started mowing Mrs. Whitney’s lawn, Elizabeth gave me a key, so I could let myself in when they weren’t home. In the beginning, I would leave Raya notes on her dresser, not knowing at the time that she’d actually keep them. When she showed me every note I’d ever written her, my first instinct was to laugh, because it seemed senseless. But then I saw how impressed she was and felt empowered that I could make her so happy. She probably has a shoebox full of notes by now.

I back her against the wall until we’re touching from hips to shoulders. Her eyes, as warm and green as summer leaves, meet mine. She’s looking at me as if I did something amazing, but just in case, I ask, “Is that all? Or is there something else you want to add, because I’d really like to kiss you right now?”

Her eyes dip momentarily to my mouth. “I was going to thank you for the note, but you distracted me.”

“You don’t need words for that.”

As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, Render, the debut YA Paranormal novel by Stephanie Fleshman, is on sale for just 99 cents! What’s more, by purchasing this fantastic book at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include a Kindle Fire, $550 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of the book. All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment--easy to enter; easy to win! To win the prizes:

1. Get Render at its discounted price of 99 cents
2. Enter the Rafflecopter contest below
3. Visit the featured social media events
4. Leave a comment on my blog for a chance at a $100 prize.

About Render: A betrayal born of blood. A curse for a gift. A love worth saving... Seventeen-year-old Raya Whitney thought she knew Koldan--until a sudden turn of events threatens both their lives. Get it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes. Stephanie Fleshman graduated with a degree in psychology and has family throughout the United States as well as in Thessaloniki and Athens, Greece. Visit Stephanie on her website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog tour: Guest post by Stephanie Fleshman

I am this week hosting a blog tour. You should also check out today's event over at Novelty Publishing!

Please enjoy this guest post by Stephanie Fleshman, author of the enticing Paranormal YA, Render. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including a Kindle Fire, $550 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of the book.

The 5 Guys You'll Meet in YA Fiction:

A Guest Post by Stephanie Fleshman

According to GalleyCat, YA eBook revenues increased 120.9% last year. The great news is whatever YA male character types keep you reading, it's unlikely you'll run out of books anytime soon. After a while contemplating my favorite YA reads, I noticed a pattern when it came to the male heroes in these stories. Without further ado, here's a run-down of the 5 guys you're likely to meet when reading a Young Adult novel...

Guy #1: The Broken and Vulnerable

When I think of broken, I think of Josh from Barry Lyga’s Boy Toy. The sad thing about Josh is that he knows he’s broken but blames himself instead of the person at fault. When I think of vulnerable, two characters come to mind: Sam from Maggie Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series and Cabel from Lisa McMann’s Wake series. Cabel is doused with gasoline, then set on fire by his alcoholic father. He wants to be loved, yet is scared. What makes him strong in a not-in-your-face kind of way is that he wants to love. His lack of resentment and hate is what makes him attractive.

Guy #2: The Abusive

In Jennifer Brown’s Bitter End, Cole is the product of “like father, like son.” In Swati Avasthi’s YA novel Split, however, Jace is the product of being victimized by his own abuser. Unlike Cole, Jace is capable of remorse and guilt. He not only owns up to his actions, but he wants to pay for them. By comparison, Jace makes Cole look like a sociopath.  

Guy #3: The Obsessive

It’s no secret that Edward from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga is borderline stalker when it comes to Bella. She is his world entirely. In his mind, though, he is only being protective. So, is Edward protective, overprotective, or obsessive? You decide:

• Protective: Capable of or intended to protect someone or something.
• Overprotective: Having a tendency to protect someone, esp. a child, excessively.
• Obsessive: Of, relating to, characteristic of, or causing an obsession; Excessive in degree or nature.

Guy #4: The Dominant

A good example of this type of YA male lead character is Patch from Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush series. Patch is 100% boy. He’s self-confident, strong, and stands his ground against Nora. Though he is dominating, I don’t believe it’s in a harmful or abusive manner. In the second book, you get to see more into his heart as he begins to really care for Nora’s well-being. By the third book, he’s thinking of Nora’s safety and how he can stay with her. He sacrifices what he wants in order to protect her and their relationship, which seems non-existent to Nora by this stage. Not everything is what it seems, though. Other good examples are Alex from Simone Elkeles’s Perfect Chemistry and Avi from the same author's How to Ruin series.  

Guy #5: The Lovable

I’m going to start with Koldan from my own YA novel, Render. Koldan is firm but not so dominating that he feels the need to control. He’s confident and strong, but recognizes his weaknesses. He’s romantic in the sense that he will do whatever it takes to keep Raya safe, even if it means risking his own life. And he’s not afraid to show his feelings for Raya. Now, I cannot move forward without mentioning Holder from Hopeless by Colleen Hoover. Thirteen years! Thirteen!!! That’s all I’m going to say. Those of you who have read Hopeless know exactly what I’m talking about. For those of you who haven’t, there’s nothing about this guy not to love.  

Now I've got a question for you: What's your favorite YA male character type?

As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, Render, the debut YA Paranormal novel by Stephanie Fleshman, is on sale for just 99 cents! What’s more, by purchasing this fantastic book at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include a Kindle Fire, $550 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of the book. All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment--easy to enter; easy to win! To win the prizes:

1. Get Render at its discounted price of 99 cents
2. Enter the Rafflecopter contest below
3. Visit the featured social media events
4. Leave a comment on my blog for a chance at a $100 prize.

About Render: A betrayal born of blood. A curse for a gift. A love worth saving... Seventeen-year-old Raya Whitney thought she knew Koldan--until a sudden turn of events threatens both their lives. Get it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes. Stephanie Fleshman graduated with a degree in psychology and has family throughout the United States as well as in Thessaloniki and Athens, Greece. Visit Stephanie on her website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.





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Blog tour: Interview with Stephanie Fleshman

I am this week hosting a blog tour. You should also check out today's even over at Novelty Publishing!


Please enjoy this interview with Stephanie Fleshman, author of the enticing Paranormal YA, Render. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including a Kindle Fire, $550 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of the book.  

An Interview with Stephanie Fleshman

Author of YA Paranormal Novel, Render

1. How do your experiences traveling and growing up in a rural town help you to write? 
Traveling has always stimulated the passion I have for learning other cultures. Render definitely depicts that, since I bring so many other cultures into the story.

2. You are among many new authors who went to a post-secondary school for something completely different from writing. How does your degree in psychology play a role in your writing? Psychology is the study of human behavior, so that has definitely helped to create multi-dimensional characters.

3. Do you have any advice for others who have stuck to a career path, but find that writing is their true calling? 
I don’t believe you have to choose. Experience and knowledge of different fields can benefit a writing career, depending on what you want to write.

4. Who are two of your favorite authors, and why do those authors speak to you? 
Cormac McCarthy. I think he is a literary genius.
J.K. Rowling. She is a true storyteller, which I believe is different than telling a story.

5. You use some really unique names in Render like Koldan, Raya Whitney and "The Russian." Where did you get the inspiration for the names? Secondly, when in the writing process do you name characters?
I start with names, but those names have a tendency to change throughout the story. For Render, most of the names had to do with origin.

6. “Koldan Holdt knows what he wants.” He knows, but his fate has been determined since before his birth. Can you discuss how people find their way around the obstacles of life as well as any suggestions you might have? 
Recognizing there is no such thing as complete control--the control you do have is determined by different variables, one being the choices you make.

As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, Render, the debut YA Paranormal novel by Stephanie Fleshman, is on sale for just 99 cents! What’s more, by purchasing this fantastic book at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include a Kindle Fire, $550 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of the book. All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment--easy to enter; easy to win! To win the prizes:

1. Get Render at its discounted price of 99 cents
2. Enter the Rafflecopter contest below
3. Visit the featured social media events
4. Leave a comment on my blog for a chance at a $100 prize.

About Render: A betrayal born of blood. A curse for a gift. A love worth saving... Seventeen-year-old Raya Whitney thought she knew Koldan--until a sudden turn of events threatens both their lives. Get it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes. Stephanie Fleshman graduated with a degree in psychology and has family throughout the United States as well as in Thessaloniki and Athens, Greece. Visit Stephanie on her website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.





a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog tour: Render by Stephanie Fleshman

I have now officially been blogging one month and there are so many exciting things I'm discovering out there in the blogsphere. One of the most exciting are blog tours as a way to help new writers promote their books. I'm so lucky that I get to host one of these tours this week!

This week we are getting to know Stephanie Fleshman and her YA novel Render.

The blog tour includes a bunch of giveaways and a really good offer on the book itself. Tomorrow you'll get an interview with Stephanie Fleshman, on Wednesday she will be guestblogging her, on Thursday you will get an excerpt from Render, and on Friday I will post my own review of the book. All this while I also do my regular blogging.

  

You should also check out today's event over on Novel Publicity! 

As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, Render, the debut YA Paranormal novel by Stephanie Fleshman, is on sale for just 99 cents! What’s more, by purchasing this fantastic book at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes. The prizes include a Kindle Fire, $550 in Amazon gift cards, and 5 autographed copies of the book. All the info you need to win one of these amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment--easy to enter; easy to win! To win the prizes:

1. Get Render at its discounted price of 99 cents
2. Enter the Rafflecopter contest below
3. Visit the featured social media events
4. Leave a comment on my blog for a chance at a $100 prize.

About Render: A betrayal born of blood. A curse for a gift. A love worth saving... Seventeen-year-old Raya Whitney thought she knew Koldan--until a sudden turn of events threatens both their lives. Get it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes. Stephanie Fleshman graduated with a degree in psychology and has family throughout the United States as well as in Thessaloniki and Athens, Greece. Visit Stephanie on her




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Small comparisons #1: A Room with a View

This is the series where I compare a book and the movie version of the book based on these 3 criteria:

1) Is the mood of the book translated into the movie?
2) Do the characters have the same motivation in both the book and the movie?
3) Is the movie just as easy to understand without having read the book first?






This is one of relatively few times where I saw the movie before reading the book. The movie instantly caught my attention with the opening music being O Mio Babbino Caro by Puccini and the excellent cast (Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, Daniel Day-Lewis, Dame Judi Dench among others). Further on I found the way they divided the movie into chapters very interesting. All this made me download a free version of the book on Kindle and read it right away.


Short synopsis 
E.M. Forster published A room with a view in 1908 and the story takes place in the same period. Director James Ivory chose to stay very close to the original setting in the book in his movie from 1986.

The main character is the young woman Lucy Honeychurch. In the first part she is in Florence with her older cousin Charlotte Bartlett as her chaperone. At the pension where they stay, they get to know among others Miss Lavis, a writer, and Mr. Emerson and his son George. There are some tensions between the rest of the pensionnaires and the two Emersons because of their direct and frank behavior. There is a hint of romance between Lucy and George, but it is swiftly suppressed by among others Miss Bartlett.

Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) and George Emerson (Julian Sands)

The second part of the movie takes place back in England. Lucy Honeychurch says yes to marry Cecil Vyse, an acquaintance neither her mother, nor her brother really likes. It seems Lucy says yes to his proposal because he is a suitable a husband for her. Whether it is fate, coincidence or divine intervention, the Emersons move in to a house in the village where Lucy lives. Will Lucy choose the man she thinks is the proper choice for her, or will she choose love?


The proper way
The first thing that hit me, was the slight absurdity of the behavior of the characters. It is obvious already in the opening scene when Lucy and Miss Bartlett arrive in Florence and to their disappointment realize that they haven't got rooms with view. When Mr. Emerson and his son offer their rooms since men don't appreciate a view the same way women do, Miss Bartlett brusquely refuses this because it seems improper to her. This constant concern for what society deems "proper" runs through the book as well as the movie.

Miss Bartlett does NOT approve of that. 

Lucy is young and has not yet grown into her own personality, and both the book and the movie shows how she is influenced by everyone around her in different ways, but the book show her own confusion better than the movie, which is understandable as long as you can't show a person's thoughts in the movie. However, the dialog in the book is very rich and filled with much of the characters' thoughts and motives, and since the movie is using the dialog almost word to word, most of the feelings and opinions seen in the book are conveyed to the movie.

But Cecil approves of this. 

The big question in both the movie and book, is whether Lucy will conform to what society seems to deem as right for her, or if she will make her own choices. 

Characters as caricatures

Since all the dialog in the movie is so closely based on the dialog in the book, the personality of the characters stays the same. And in this they seem to me like caricatures of opinions. It seems that Mr. Vyse and Miss Bartlett are the voices of the society, where as the Emersons are the voices of a more liberal and free approach to life. Lucy's mother and brother are somewhere in between.

Mr. Emerson telling Lucy that she should choose love. 

What I found very interesting when reading the book, was the author's strong sympathy with Lucy and antipathy with Mr. Vyse, especially when it came to Lucy's search for her own personality. While Mr. Vyse found her the most attractive when she reminded him of a lifeless piece of art, Lucy shows on several occasions (especially when playing the piano) that she is inclined to be much more independent, and has a strong personality just waiting to blossom. This makes me ask myself a couple of questions; Was E.M. Forster kind of a feminist? And was the book perceived as a criticism of the society at the time it was published? 

Conclusion

Those two last questions are the main difference between the book and the movie, as far as I see it. The story in itself is very well put onto screen in the movie, but the radicalism of the author is partly lost in the movie. That being said, the movie stands very well on its own feet and I don't expect a movie to be able to convey every layer and sentiment found in the book it is based on.

__________________________________________

How did you feel about the movie and/or the book?
What should I read and watch next?
I have already started on reading "Dangerous Liaisons" and want to compare it with the 1988 movie with Glenn Close and John Malkovich and with "Cruel Intentions" from 1999. This will however take about a year to finish since the only free version of the book was in French and my efficiency when it comes to reading French is rather low compared with Norwegian and English. 

Small comparisons: Intro

I am not good enough at reading classic books or watching classic movies. This time I've done both! And I am turning it into a new series here.

Look! I'm reading! 

Netflix is the main source for TV entertainment in our home since we don't have cable, and here the other day we were looking through some movie options and my husband realized I have never seen A Room with a View. I said yes to watch as soon as I saw that both Helena Bonham Carter and Maggie Smith are playing in it. It is interesting to see the two of them playing their characters in this movie when I associate them with their roles in the Harry Potter movies. It also did not hurt that Daniel Day-Lewis and Dame Judi Dench star in the movie as well.

Helena Bonham Carter has really become more eccentric through the years. 

Watching this movie which follows so closely the structure of the book it is based on, made me want to read the book as well. And voilà! - I had the idea for a new series where I read a book and watch the movie based on it do kind of a comparative review.

I am not that interested in really reviewing the books or the movies, a bunch of people have already done that much better than I will ever be capable of doing. What I am looking for, is whether or not I think the movie capture the spirit of the book. With that in mind, I have chosen 3 criteria for my comparisons:
1) Is the mood of the book translated into the movie?
2) Do the characters have the same motivation in both the book and the movie?
3) Is the movie just as easy to understand without having read the book first?

The first book-movie comparison I am doing, is of course A Room with a View. It will come online here tomorrow. Others I have on my list are Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Great Gatsby and Dangerous Liaisons. If any of you  have suggestions on books I should read and compare with the movie version, don't hesitate to leave a comment about it. I am open for new, interesting reads and movies to watch!