E.Maree On Writing - Latest Comments

Re: Visiting Duffus Castle

Allan — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:30:26 -0000

It was an awesome day out, thank you for coming!

Re: Road Trip Wednesday: Inspiration O’Clock

E.Maree — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:06:37 -0000

Yeah, the age comment was tongue in cheek. :)
Haha, that's surprising to hear - I guess the grass always looks greener on the other side?

Re: Road Trip Wednesday: Inspiration O’Clock

Alisonmiller20 — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:18:23 -0000

You are not old. :) Trust me.

I'm a morning person who is actually a little jealous of you night owls. But whatever works, right?

Re: Road Trip Wednesday: Inspiration O’Clock

Ava Jae — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:11:07 -0000

Reading through all of the responses, I've found it interesting just how many night owls are out there! Not surprising (I see them on Twitter all of the time, but interesting.

I used to be a night owl, but now I've converted into a morning person (and I've found to my surprise that I really love it). Evidently that's a little more rare than I anticipated. Ah, well.

Re: Road Trip Wednesday: Inspiration O’Clock

CrystalSchubert — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:20:12 -0000

I've been trying to force myself out of nocturnal mode, too, but it's hard! Mornings are too bright and too early for my taste.

Re: Dragon Tamers

E.Maree — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:18:48 -0000

Hi,

Sorry, as far as I know Rosenkilde (the Danish publisher) haven't translated the second book at the moment. You might be able to get the English one through Amazon or The Book Depository though. :)

Re: Dragon Tamers

ihavenoidea — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:35:55 -0000

hi do you know if nr.2 of your dragon tamers series is being sold in Denmark?

Re: Delirium Paperback Release!

K. D. — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:34:40 -0000

I totally agree with you about the cover. The other one was way better, but the interactive trailer sounds neat.

Re: "Fallen" Book Review

Beatrix — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 05:53:01 -0000

You have done a wonderful review! thumbs up! (n_n)
I just finished the book and I like the story of it. Other readers may find it similar with Twilight saga but its actually not, maybe they are just too attached with the characthers and plot of it but, Lauren also has her own style and way of making her own story. I must tell that its not that easy to write a book. I really appreciated how she put twist in the story, its unique and very different from twilight. So, others should stop comparing it to Twilight, we must respect the difference even the author because I know that she didn't intend to write the book just to imitate the twilight. I love it just how I also like the Twilight!

Re: "Fallen" Book Review

xAsphyxiia — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:08:35 -0000

This book is amazing, I read the whole thing in 5 days while on holiday, I couldn't take my eyes off it, I was confused at first with the fire part, but towards the end I finally understood

Re: "Fallen" Book Review

Niashaw — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:42:51 -0000

Thank you, I spent a long time considering my thoughts on this book, but I fear they came across as too critical and angry, I was in a bad mood. ~_~
I AM setting up a blog, so far I've read a few series and I've jotted down my thoughts on spare bits of paper but nothings official yet. I'll give you the link when I've finally set it up :P

Indeed, we need more kick-ass main characters, like Hermonie Granger from the 'Harry Potter' series who can actually think for herself and has an intelligent independancy that is highly enjoyable, or even the lovable character of Georgia Nicholson from 'Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging' who is a more realistic portrayal of what teenagers are actually like.

Re: "Fallen" Book Review

E.Maree — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 02:39:21 -0000

Thanks for stopping by with such an in-depth comment. Do you have a blog or Goodreads page? I'd love to keep up with your feelings on other series.

Needless to say, I agree with a you on most points - particular what a shame it is that YA paranormal is being ruled by this formula, and on poor Cam getting the short shaft.

"Judging by most of the comments however it seems that this book is loved by all teenage girls, so maybe this is perfect for all teenage girls but me. Sorry, I just can’t stand a weak female heroine and amazingly hot guys with messed up motives"

Don't ever apologise for liking strong female characters with healthy relationships! There's a serious lack of these atm, though there are some writers moving in to fill the gap, so hopefully this will level out soon. YA definitely needs more kick-ass ladies, as well as ones who can be damaged but still be strong.

Re: "Fallen" Book Review

Niashaw — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 19:28:28 -0000

Edward Cullen is FAR from being the most loved character ever written, that's a ludicrous claim, I'm sorry, but what you said actually made me quite angry. But what disappoints me is that most teenage paranormal romance books these days seem to follow the exact same formula as the Twilight series, because that's what sells. A plain, dull character arrives somewhere new and finds themselves inexplicably drawn to an unnaturally good looking God-like man who initially avoids them and has a sideline flirtation with a friendly, warm character that is also good looking but is simply thrown in as a device to stall the REAL romance from developing as all readers know that he has no chance, not next to the angelic hero that the heroine finds herself unconditionally in love with after two to three lines of dialogue, perhaps even less. This book is no exception.

That could be why so many books today are compared to Stephanie Meyers 'Twilight', because they are pretty much EXACTLY THE SAME. Girl falls in love with guy but can't because he's a {Insert paranormal creature here} but can't help it anyway. Now before people type in all caps to inform me of their rage, I have to admit- I don't hate Twilight. The series has promise; I fell in love with the first book, enjoyed the second, disliked Eclipse, and had a sort of love-hate relationship with the fourth and final book of the series. However, it is shameless copies of this book that I can't stand. It's as if a bunch of middle aged women just held their hands up and went 'Who cares about putting actual time and effort in my writing? Hey, that Twilight series is popular, I'll just crap something out and let my editor deal with all the mistakes, cause' that's what sells today!’

Sorry to sound so bitter, but after reading 'Fallen' I'd had enough. It starts out with promise, a shy girl with a tortured mind because of her possibly murderous background being sent to a prison-like facility for teens? Hell yes. This could make an interesting book on its own, forget the romance, forget the love triangle, and forget the tired clichés. Lauren Kate could've easily worked on a book full of careful character development, but she missed that opportunity by a landslide, cause' I forgot, that doesn't sell. It needs to be a book about fallen angels. But that part needs to be tacked on right at the end, whoever's heard of build up?

Well she sets 'first' sight on her charming love interest, the asshat Daniel who has chiselled good looks that seems to be all that matters. He flips the main character Luce off, and Luce just knew that from that moment, they were destined to be together. Unfortunately she winds up with playful and friendly Cam who seems to be interested in her, but of course this won't do for Luce. She needs her hunk Daniel to be her beloved, since they HAVE always been bound by fate together. I'm sorry, but I don't understand how Daniel, who is supposed to be her one true wuv, can just stand there and watch as hard edged, bullying Molly pours the content of her lunch over Luce and yet loses it when Cam kisses her. Can he really just not stand to see her happy?

While the book set off to an interesting start with beautifully made scenery and descriptive background imagery, it slowed down to a miserable halt- before it even reached the halfway mark. Like you pointed out E. Maree, the almost never ending repetition of Luce stalking Daniel, getting rejected, leading Cam on is all extremely tiring, and I was tempted to just give up reading altogether. Whereas with books like Twilight and the House of Night series you can just breeze through, this book was extremely hard to work through as I felt tortured turning the next page over to read yet more of Luce's mooning over Daniel. To many teenagers everywhere this may be 'true wuv', it is simply a pointless, half assed and empty reason to include romance into the story. Both characters need a hit up the head, Daniel for treating Luce like the scum on his shoe, and Luce for going along with it. Here's an actual excerpt from Fallen, pages 326-327:
*“I don’t get it?” She asked. “I don’t get it? Let me tell you something about what I get. You think you’re so smart? I spent three years on a full academic scholarship at the best college-prep school in the country. And when they kicked me out, I had to petition- petition!- to keep them from wiping out my four-point-oh transcript.”
{She continues to list reasons why she’s smart}
“So don’t tell me I don’t understand just because I can’t decode your erratic, flaky, hot-one-minute-cold-the-next, frankly”- she looked up at him, letting out her breath- “really hurtful behaviour.” She brushed a tear away, angry with herself for getting so worked up.
“Shut up,” Daniel said, but he said it so softly and so tenderly that Luce surprised both of them by obeying.*
Wow. Just... wow. She manages to list just how smart she is, FINALLY letting off steam that by that point I was applauding her, and THEN because she’s so smart lets Daniel walk all over her. AGAIN. She let this guy treat her badly for weeks, and then asked ‘how high?’ whenever Daniel said ‘Jump’. Congrats for raving about your intelligence and independence for most of a page there, cause’ you threw it all away in just one sentence. I like relationships with the whole ‘redemption’ angle, like a former bully stops being a bully and a character finds love with the reformed character, but I don’t like a relationship where a person loves another WHILE their doing the bullying. That’s just sick. What messages does that send to other teenagers who read this kind of stuff? Keep obsessing over a guy who treats you horribly, stalk him, and avoid guys who ARE good for you and then you’ll find true love? At least the boring Edward Cullen actually seemed to care and look after Bella, this Daniel has no personality, no emotions, and no realistic conflicts and is emotionally abusive to Luce.
I like some of the side characters however, Arianne brightened up the pages for the short time she arrived. Why couldn’t she have been the main character? Why couldn’t Luce be the friend that stood to the side and served little to no purpose to the story? I liked Penn, she seemed real and friendly, though I wished she wasn’t so lax and even helpful with Luce’s stalking. She should’ve talked sense into Luce. Plus Molly interested me, why was SHE so angry? What has SHE gone through to reach the point of becoming a tyrannical punk bully in a reform school? Plus Cam seemed like a nice guy, but he has what I like to call the ‘Jacob Black syndrome’, in which he constantly gets led on by main girl, falls in love but is punished for his feelings when they try to act on them when the main girl has decided she doesn’t really want him at all.
While the book has some perks and interesting points, it altogether fails as a good book. Judging by most of the comments however it seems that this book is loved by all teenage girls, so maybe this is perfect for all teenage girls but me. Sorry, I just can’t stand a weak female heroine and amazingly hot guys with messed up motives, and unlike all those other Twilight rip-off books, this rip-off fails to be addictive or exhilarating in anyway because by the time we got to the Daniel/Luce sexual tension scenes I had become so alienated by the characters that I just. Didn’t. Care. My mum bought me the next book in the series by mistakenly thinking I actually enjoyed the first, and I was warned by a friend not to read Torment, as it is apparently worse. Likewise, I advise all not to buy this book, it is a waste of money that could be spent on much more entertaining guilty pleasures- alas, I fear that not many people will listen and go out to seek this book anyway. Well, happy reading, and I apologize for my endless ranting.

Re: Dragon Tamers

E.Maree — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 14:09:38 -0000

Hi Kyra! Not at the moment, I'm working in a brand new story.

Re: Dragon Tamers

Kyra — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 13:55:39 -0000

Hi! Are you writing the third book of the series?

Re: I’m A Mac

Dez x — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:31:09 -0000

He is totally adorable - although he still has his black soot mark on his head I notice, your next Mac adventure may be a bath. But the question is - who will end up being the wettest !

Re: "Fallen" Book Review

E.Maree — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 12:06:43 -0000

Thank you! It seems like some book Bloggers are avoiding being too critical
in their reviews these days. Glad you enjoyed the post. :)

Re: "Fallen" Book Review

miche — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 19:41:42 -0000

By far you have the best review on this book! I certainly did not like how the author wrote it. It could have been edited to a shorter length. The story has a lot to grow from but Fallen simply falls short of what could have been a very good introduction to a series.

Re: Road Trip Wednesday: Book of the Month

Miss Cole — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:16:28 -0000

Good luck to your partner.

College Humor wins again! Thanks for sharing!

Re: "Fallen" Book Review

Pstarr — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:44:24 -0000

I read that they are making these series in to a movie, they're making it in 2012 It's going to overtake the twilight fans. I absolutely loved this book I cried nearly three whole times, anyone who doesn't like this book has no sense of imagination. And I'm sure Im not the only on who thinks that. I used to hate reading but then I met the Fallen series and know I'm In love I want a Daniel!

Re: “Passion” Competition!

Hammer — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:02:04 -0000

i would talk about passion, love and obsession but Josh would be heartbroken.

Regards

Hammer

Re: “Passion” Competition!

E.Maree — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 06:18:03 -0000

Looks like Opera just wants to ruin everything. It's the only browser the 'Find Me On' sidebar looks weird in as well.

Re: “Passion” Competition!

E.Maree — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 04:03:38 -0000

Yikes. I'll see if I can get that sorted.

Re: “Passion” Competition!

Alexnessie — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 03:11:59 -0000

I should get it for the first comment :3 Plus I'd save on postage for you!

Also connecting with facebook is broken in Opera :(

Re: Moving

E.Maree — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 05:25:14 -0000

So cute! Not as cute as a ferret poking out of a box, though. I'll need to
take a picture of them in the box next to the Hoover.

Kind regards,

Emma Maree Urquhart
http://www.emmamaree.com