Book Talk: The Gemma Doyle Trilogy

 Has anyone else read Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle Trilogy? I fell in love with the evocative, gorgeous writing in each of these books, and maybe I'm not the only one who closed her eyes in the hopes of envisioning a door of golden light... so far I'm not the chosen one but hey, a girl can hope right?!

For a while now I've found that the more I write, the harder it is for me to really get swept up in another person's story. I tend to "feel" where the author's going, but this was definitely not the case this time. What a relief to turn off that internal editor and just get carried away!

Of course, a writer's a writer, and it was impossible not to notice the fully realized characters, the real-life issues woven so seamlessly into the story that they had a place to exist without overrunning the action, and her gutsy choice of pov: first-person present tense, not an easy thing to pull off but Ms. Bray triumphed. When done right it sure keeps the reader right in the middle of the action. For fun I tried writing a scene from my wip like this, just as a little character development thingamajig for the hero of the story, and even though it won't make it into my ms I'm really glad I did it. I know him better now.

Books, books, books...it's the reason we write!