Desirae Clark's Blog

#GutterGirl cover reveal is here! Who else is excited?

If you want to get your own copy of Gutter Girl, check out this link: http://bit.ly/ReadGutterGirl 

SYNOPSIS:

Star football player Jace Rovers has a secret. And not just any secret—a shocking secret… He writes romance. The kind with swords. And dresses. And kissing. 

Nobody knows. Not the other kids at Twin River High. Not his overbearing parents. And certainly not the millions of fans who’ve read his book on the writing platform Scribbles. And that’s the way he plans to keep it. 

Except suddenly one of the other football players grabs his notebook in jest and starts reading a kissing scene out loud…and Jace knows he’s busted. But then McKenna Storm, resident goth girl who avoids the spotlight like a virus, snatches up the notebook and tells everyone she’s the author. And lucky for Jace, she later agrees to continue the ruse…for a price. 

Heck, he’d give her anything not to reveal his secret. But when they start to fall for each other, he knows he’ll have to keep the biggest secret of all—his darkest character is based on her…

For more information, check out @KellyAnneBlount, @LynnRushWrites, and @entangledteen 

In order to celebrate the release of Teal Swan’s newest novel HUNGER OF THE PINE, I wanted to share this Q&A with you guys and also share a giveaway that will be hosted over on my Instagram .

Hunger of the Pine centers on Aria Abbott, who has drifted through the foster system for most of her life. When she finally finds herself in an abusive home so unbearable, she has no choice to run away. Sleeping on the streets pushes Aria beyond any suffering she has felt before; the only thing worse than seeing no escape is the knowledge that no one in the world cares enough to try and find her.

She soon meets Taylor, an LGBTQ homeless young man with a charismatic smile and a dream of fame, fortune, and the sunshine of LA. Swept up in his energy, Aria and Taylor board a greyhound bus and never look back. In this bright new world, Aria will discover a whole community of people living in the shadows, in the margins of society. As Taylor follows his dreams, Aria follows her heart. But she will discover that it isn’t always clear who you can trust, that strangers can be kind, or treacherous, or sometimes as familiar as your own reflection if you’re willing to look hard enough.

If you’re interested in the book, you can get it here.

Q&A

Question: Tell us what your new book, Hunger of the Pine, is all about?

Teal Swan: Hunger of the Pine is my first fiction novel, and is a poetic novel about life on the streets in America. The book centers on Aria Abbott, a teen in the foster care system. She has been placed in a Christian foster home where the father is molesting her and her delinquency problems have turned her into the ‘scapegoat’ of the family. When the tension between her and her foster parents rises, she runs away and begins her life on the streets of Chicago. She soon meets Taylor, another homeless youth who is dreaming of fame, fortune and the sunshine of L.A. Together they board a Greyhound bus and never look back. In this bright new world, Aria will discover a whole community of people living in the shadows, in the margins of society. As Taylor follows his dreams, Aria follows her heart. But she will discover that it isn’t always clear who you can trust, that strangers can be kind, or treacherous, or sometimes as familiar as your own reflection, if you’re willing to look hard enough.

Q: What was your inspiration behind the writing the book?

Swan: As far as I know, no one has ever written apoetic novel about life on the streets of America. I wanted to highlight homelessness through descriptive writing and used a main character as a lens through which to see a snapshot. I also wrote it because I feel that we as a society — especially in America — need to look in the mirror at homelessness and see that it is a problem caused by many systemic failures within society. For this reason, there are many ‘reasons’ someone ends up on the street. And we aren’t really solving those reasons. People are complex, and it we need to see them with more compassion and understanding. And, it is with this ‘understanding,’ rather than labeling people good or bad, that we may see the root cause of behaviors and accurately resolve that root cause.

Q: You have written a lot of wonderful non-fiction books. Why did you decide to take the leap into fiction?

Swan: I want people to feel the raw reality of a side of life that they might never have experienced themselves by using descriptive writing to emotionally put them there. I am a descriptive writer first and foremost. My other books are informational, which I love, but they were not an opportunity to exercise my skills as a writer. Descriptive writing is a whole other beast than writing non-fiction that is engaging yet informative. It is to convey an emotion or sensory experience with words instead of to convey a concept for the purpose of comprehension. I want people to love the writing in and of itself, and remember it for the writing, and for their experience learning about homelessness as well as.

Q: Why did you decide to tackle the topic of youth homelessness?

Swan:  A Great many people don’t relate to homelessness or the issues surrounding it. But a great many do and those people are drowning in the feeling that they were just born to suffer. I wanted to show the reality of homelessness and make it relatable to those who don’t understand it. But I also wanted to insert some answers and hope into this novel for those who do. To be ‘real’ it had to be a mixture of “this is too much to surmount” and “you can surmount it”. It needed to be tragic but also inspirational. And people who relate to these characters, especially the main character will not have thought of themselves as a protagonist.. as significant…As someone capable of love and triumph and of finding belonging and love… until now!

Q: What do you think society can do to help the homeless population? 

Swan: The issue of homelessness is not an easy one because so many systemic factors within society contribute to it. This means there is not a one size fits all solution. For example, the failures within parenting and beyond that the foster care system cause youth homelessness.

 Society’s complete lack of care for the mentally ill and the fact that there is literally nowhere for them to get help if they don’t have money, contributes to homelessness in the mentally ill and veterans. The fact that a person on social security is not getting enough money to afford both food and housing and often medications causes senior citizen homelessness. The lack of prioritization within society when it comes to understanding and finding solutions for the needs of those who are in need, create this multivariable factor scenario where suddenly a great many people are on the street. It’s time to see the broken-ness of our system and stop thinking things are being taken care of by ‘someone else’ when they are not.

Q: What do you hope readers take away from A Hunger of Pine and Aria’s story?

Swan: I want people to feel the raw reality of a side of life that they might never have experienced themselves by using descriptive writing to emotionally put them there. Also, a better and more empathetic view of the homeless population. We tend to be so uncomfortable with homelessness that we compartmentalize it and tell ourselves that we could never be in the same position… That homeless are like a ‘breed’ of people or another species unto themselves. Understanding this why behind homelessness actually makes it impossible for us to keep this ‘separation’ alive. To keep them marginalized. When we stop seeing people as “other”, when we relate to them, we suddenly have the motive to do something because we identify with them instead. I wrote this book to create this identification, understanding and relatability so as to close this perceptual gap.

TEAL SWAN is an international speaker, best-selling author, and a survivor of severe childhood abuse. Today, having integrated her own harrowing life experience, she inspires millions of people around the world towards truth, authenticity, freedom, and joy. Swan is also the author of six internationally published books, the creator of hundreds of frequency paintings, as well as the popular “Ask Teal” YouTube series, which currently has more than 80 million views and almost one million subscribers.

She is also the owner and founder of Teal Eye LLC, a company focused on bringing self-empowerment and healing back to the individual. In conjunction with her vision of creating positive world change, Swan founded HEADWAY FOUNDATION, a nonprofit company that enables ideas, goals and ventures that are aimed at positive world change by ending suffering.

In the years to come, Headway Foundation will encompass programs, centers, scholarships and products that better our world; such as in the areas of justice reform, education, environmental endeavors, end of life care, health, parenting, integrative medicine and food industry reform. Headway Foundation seeks to create the changes within our society that will create a better life for all beings who call this earth their home.

Swan was born with a range of extrasensory abilities, including clairvoyance, clairsentience, and clairaudience. It was because of these abilities that she ended up being targeted to become a victim of abuse.

In her own words: “Without the abuse and suffering I experienced, I would be someone who could give you a lot of esoteric information about the universe at large, but who would have no real grasp on the reality of human suffering or how to heal it. I would have only had ½ of the picture of human existence. The gift of my own suffering is that I now have the full picture and that has drastically changed both what I teach and the way that I teach.”

For more information, visit  www.hungerofthepine.com  and connect with Teal on  Facebook ,  Instagram ,  YouTube  and  Twitter .

Hi babes! Today I’ve got for you another review brought to you by Wattpad Books!

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I would like to thank Wattpad Books for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I also filmed a YouTube video which you can check out here:

Quick summary:

The story follows our main protagonist Avery who lives in a society descended from Greek gods and goddesses. Avery is brought to the Royal Court to take part in her first Gathering, which people attend in hopes of finding their soulmate. Avery finds herself not wanting to find her other half and get away from the traditions that her kind followed for generations. Things get complicated when a series of suspicious and tragic events occurs, further reminding us that there is something mysterious going on. With the help of her best friend’s brother Vlad, whom she didn’t get along with, and Adrian, who keeps flirting with her, Avery tries to uncover the truth while also keeping in mind that any day, she could find her soulmate and lose herself.

Overall review:

AJ Rosen created a world that pushes the limits of your imagination and makes you wonder how anybody could come up with such a story. The mystery aspect is what made this book impossible to put down and easy to read through the night and until early hours of the morning. If you pick it up, prepare to get sucked into the world of Greek mythology and murder.

Characters:

Avery felt like an interesting character at first but then the more the story progressed, she felt quite flat. Everybody kept telling her that she was fierce and built this image of her but the only thing she lived up to when it came to her reputation was her recklessness. She didn’t come across as feisty or fierce, just rash.

Due to the circumstances of the story, I was very suspicious of Adrian. He’s a sweetheart but there was something off about him that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

Because we had been informed of a love triangle in the summary, I couldn’t help but be biased and root for Vlad, her best friend’s older brother. He seemed like the only sensible one in this story.

World-building:

The society is split into three castes: Pure Royals (descendants of the big three), Royals (all other gods and goddesses), and Regulars (everybody descended from minor gods). Our main character belongs in the last category, marking her an unimportant subject compared to everybody else.

The history behind the beginning of the Hellenicus (this race that was then split into castes) was what made me truly sit down and try to pick my jaw up from the floor. It’s been a while since I’ve encountered such a strong beginning in a story. I loved every aspect of it and the introduction we got in order to better understand how everything worked. For some people, the first chapter could count as an info-dump but I think this book got away with it because it was done so well. It was easy to understand and interesting enough to keep on reading. The imagination it took to come up with the foundation of this story blows my mind.

Atmosphere:

I couldn’t really get behind the atmosphere in this book. The atmosphere itself didn’t stand out to me that much because there was a lot of telling and not showing going on. It’s unfortunate but it didn’t take that much away from my enjoyment of the story.

Writing:

The author’s strong points are the descriptions and weaknesses are the cliche and cheesy dialogues. A lot of these conversations could’ve been reworked to make them less cringy and more enjoyable. The book could use a beta reader or two just to make sure everything is the best it can be.

The writing itself, apart from it being tell and not show, felt awfully convenient. It was as if everybody disappeared in order for Avery to have bonding moments with the two boys. Her parents were gone most of the time, only appearing to remind the reader that they still existed. Things didn’t happen to help progress the plot, it was mostly on Avery to do that. One advice I’d have for AJ Rosen moving forward and it’s completely up to the author to take it, is to create some external forces to help progress the plot and force a split-second reaction out of the main character. Have the character not expect things yet be forced to make decisions that move the plot further.

Taking a step back from afore-mentioned dialogues and convenience, AJ Rosen’s writing and descriptions are anything but repetitive. To be honest, it’s far better than anything I could’ve written. I have really enjoyed that aspect of the story because I thought it was done really well without making the reader lose interest.

Plot and pacing:

The plot itself was easy to follow but the pacing was a little bit off at times. One second, our main character could be hanging out with her friends and the next, she’d be already in her room asleep. I’d love it if these scenes had a smoother transition from one to another. The idea behind the suspicious events that surrounded Avery intrigued me and I needed to know what happened. A lot of the scenes inside the book could’ve easily been skipped because they weren’t detrimental to the story and they could have been replaced with something more high-stakes. The book itself had high points and low points – chapters where a lot of things have been happening and chapters that didn’t need to happen.

Enjoyment: 

My enjoyment mostly derived from the intensity that the mystery provided. The plot twists in the second half of the book when everything had finally been established made me scream in excitement that my theories were either debunked or confirmed.

When I say that I’ve had many, many theories, that doesn’t even come close to painting the real picture on how many theories I’ve had. This book kept me at the edge of my seat, constantly guessing and trying to predict the final outcome.

And I couldn’t have predicted half of the things that ended up revealing themselves.

The main question for this book: does the mystery make up for some of the weaknesses this book has?

Yes. Definitely. I would 100% recommend it. If anything, at least you’re highly entertained.

All in all, I’m giving this book 4 stars because it in my opinion deserves it. I can understand why a lot of people on Wattpad enjoyed this book because it makes you constantly question what is going to happen next. It is a black hole, sucking you in and spitting you out with even more questions.

With that being said: I NEED THE SECOND BOOK. PLEASE. Thank you

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I completely forgot about my blog. If you’ve followed me on my other platforms (not going to link them because this is not about me), you’ve probably seen my endless posts but I’m going to post this here too because I remembered that this blog exists and would feel even more ashamed if I didn’t use this platform either.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d know by now that major changes have been happening in the U.S.

Too many innocent black people have died and the black community has had enough. As a white person, I’ve had enough. Black lives matter and it’s time that they start to feel safe. It’s way past the time for them to start being treated with respect, decency and kindness.

There is so much I want to say but because English isn’t my first language, it’s probably not going to be the most eloquent post.

The time to act is now. Speak up. Use your platform. Start conversations with people in real life. Share the links. Sign petitions. Send emails. Send texts and call your officials. Donate. Speak up. Then do it all over again. Do it until your head is so full and until you don’t know how else you could possibly help. Do it because too many people are silent and black people are counting on us to use our voices. Do it because it’ll save lives.

Acknowledge how much they contribute and then pay them respect by showing support and taking actions.

Do it because you’ve also profited off black culture in many ways. Whether it’s through their music, their fashion, makeup or anything else they’ve created or inspired. Our society wouldn’t be where it is without black people. So many trends wouldn’t exist without black people.

We as a collective need to do a better job of supporting them and making them feel heard. Whether it’s through the books we read, the movies we watch or the stores we support.

I am calling you out and I’m calling myself out. We need to hold ourselves and our loved ones accountable. I realize that the books I’m reading are lacking diversity and although I’m mostly working through my physical of books I’ve owned for years, that’s no excuse. It’s not enough to say you support black authors or authors of color by reading one of their books every once in a while. You need to actively look at ways to support them and incorporate their work into your tbr. Because let’s be honest, plenty of them are way better writers than some of the white authors we read but they receive A LOT LESS HYPE. And that is also one of the reasons why my tbr is lacking. I need to do a better job at actively searching for books that are hidden gems and aren’t hyped up because the entire point of blogging and reviewing is to spread awareness.

I’ve got so much to say but my thoughts are scattered and my heart is heavy so I’m leaving you with many useful links and I encourage you to speak up and call out those who aren’t doing the same.

Here is a master thread of:
-PETITIONS
– DONATION LINKS
– RESOURCES
– CONTACT INFORMATION

https://mobile.twitter.com/rosiegguks/status/1266307905692864513

BAIL PROJECT
https://bailproject.org/

Thread of UK based charities, organizations and platforms
https://twitter.com/BlackBalladUK/status/1267034356444430337

THE LIBERTY FUND
https://www.libertyfund.nyc/

RECLAIM THE BLOCK
https://secure.everyaction.com/zae4prEeKESHBy0MKXTIcQ2

I RUN WITH MAUD FUNDRAISER
https://www.gofundme.com/f/i-run-with-maud

CAMPAIGN ZERO
https://www.joincampaignzero.org/solutions#solutionsoverview

UNICORN RIOT
https://unicornriot.ninja/

ACLU
https://www.aclu.org/

Justice for George Floyd
https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd

Justice for Ahmaud Arbery! I Run with Maud!
https://www.change.org/p/district-attorney-tom-durden-justice-for-ahmaud-arbery-i-run-with-maud?

Justice for Belly Mujinga.
https://www.change.org/p/govia-thameslink-justice-for-belly-mujinga-justiceforbellymujinga

A list of 85 Culturally Inclusive Books
http://dearkatherineanne.co.uk/2020/05/80-racially-inclusive-books-a-starting-point-to-expand-your-reading/

This post is a mess and I apologize but I literally cannot function anymore and I can’t even imagine how black people are feeling.

Speak up. USE YOUR PLATFORM. SHARE PETITION LINKS.

Hi everyone,

In case you don’t know who I am, my name is Arden Hall and I am a booktuber, a Wattpad writer and obviously a blogger.

In today’s post, I wanted to share with you my most recent reading vlog where I read Half-Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows, marking the end of my Harry Potter reading journey.

Please subscribe to my channel if you haven’t yet and if you read this book, let me know what you think

*skip to the end to see the wrap ups in video form*

#34: Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

rating: 2/5 stars
finished: April 3

#35: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

rating: 5/5 stars
finished: April 8

#36: The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

rating: 5/5 stars
finished: April 8

#37: Chasing Red by Isabelle Ronin

rating: 5/5 stars
finished: April 15

#38: Forget Me Not by Nicole Bea

rating: 5/5 stars
finished: April 20

#39: Deity by Jennifer L. Armentrout

rating: 3/5 stars
finished: April 22

***

Hey there,

my name is Arden and today I’m going to explain why my reading list for 2020 is not working out for me.

Let me first explain how things started:

Since 2018, I was slowly getting tired of my constantly-growing book collection of unread books. My physical TBR had tripled since 2014 and I hadn’t done that much to keep up. It would be safe to say that my sister and I own over 550 books in total and I’ve only read about 200 of those.

[image error]there are two bookshelves missing in this picture

So in December of 2019, I had this idea to put out a poll on my Instagram and let people vote for their favorite books which also happened to be books I’ve had on my TBR for literal years, thinking it would be a great opportunity to tackle my TBR and get some enjoyable reads out of it.

The books would later be sorted into a list, ranging from the ones with most votes to the ones with least. The list contained 30 books but I’ll only be naming the first 12. I’ll explain later why. This is the order:

Six of Crows by Leigh BardugoThe Scorch Trials by James DashnerBloodlines by Richelle MeadMiss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom RiggsAsh Princess by Laura SebastianAfter by Anna ToddIlluminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay KristoffStarcrossed by Josephine AngeliniDaughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini TaylorAn Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa TahirQueen of the Tearling by Erika JohansenThe Young Elites by Marie Lu

I took that list of 12 books and decided to read one book per month, in this exact same order. Since it’s April, that would mean that I finished reading the first four books.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – 3 STARSThe Scorch Trials by James Dashner – 2 STARSBloodlines by Richelle Mead – 5 STARSMiss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs – 2 STARS

Now that is not the only reading list I had for 2020. I was also fed up with constantly collecting published Wattpad books but always prioritizing other books over them. It was starting to drive me insane. So I made a list of all the Wattpad books I owned at the time and decided that I would not read them in the order that they were written (that list almost doubled since then which is another reason for my quitting this reading list):

Chasing Red by Isabelle RoninThe QB Bad Boy & Me by Tay MarleyCupid’s Match by Lauren PalphreymanThe Heartbreakers by Ali NovakPaper Hearts by Ali NovakFollow Me Back by A. V. GeigerArrowheart by Rebecca SkyClique Bait by Ann Vallett (pre-ordered)

Note: I owned another book at the time but it was a sequel and I hadn’t yet ordered the first book so I decided to cut that one out of this list.

And out of these, I’ve read:

Cupid’s Match by Lauren Palphreyman – 5 STARSThe QB Bad Boy & Me by Tay Marley – 5 STARSArrowheart by Rebecca Sky – 5 STARSChasing Red by Isabelle Ronin – 5 STARS

Note: I usually rate Wattpad books higher to support my writer friends and Wattpad family. However, this doesn’t mean that they’re bad.

Here’s what happened:

Almost every month, I struggled through that first list of books that when I picked up Wattpad books, it was like a breath of fresh air. I needed something light to save me from entering a book slump after not enjoying myself. The only book from the first list I absolutely loved was Bloodlines by Richelle Mead.

But there’s more…

I went a step further and made a third list where I wrote down the months, insert the books from those two lists into each month and then went ahead to sort out all the books I really wanted to read this year. This is what I ended up with:

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Note: Underlined (or in September’s case in bold) books are either Wattpad books or books from those two lists. Confessions About Colton and In 27 Days are also Wattpad books which I ended up buying this year and adding to the list just the same.

Where have things gone wrong?

First off, I didn’t anticipate the new releases and making one of the largest book hauls in the past few years.

Reading all of these books according to the list eventually became less fun and more like a burden. I didn’t look forward to reading anymore. I was struggling to get through some books just so that I could read the ones I really am in the mood for.

I have therefore intentionally put myself in a reading slump by following these pre-made lists rather than reading what I really want to read. I’ve come to the realization that planning for a whole year in advance is a bit of a stretch, as fun as it was at the time. I can just never foresee how my month is going to go and how motivated I’m going to be.

The cons are that I already know what I’m going to read in advance, making myself dread certain months. I know I have to get rid of my physical TBR but not at the risk of getting myself into a slump.

There’s no spontaneity anymore or surprises in store. Also, if I wanted to film secret videos for BookTube where I read the entirety of Narnia, I would have to work around this massive list or at least try to find a good month for binge-reading.

There is also no room left for mood reading.

Any of these lists are just not something I want to do anymore.

The pros are that you don’t have to worry about books you’re going to read each month. You don’t have to stare at your bookshelf for a good portion of an hour, trying to decide on which one has suffered enough and needs some love. You can follow this list if you’re uninspired and need a new challenge – which is the exact same reason why I started this!

I was in a weird phase of reading where I really struggled picking up books. This list helped me find my love for reading again and now it’s time to finally let it go.

I’ll also be letting go of my blog post called 2020 Reading List which you can still check out here.

Thank you for following along on this journey and I can’t wait to see where this decision takes me.

Maybe I’ll do this every year where I make a list of books and read them from January – April as a 4-month yabookprincess reading challenge

Hi everyone,

In case you don’t know who I am, my name is Arden Hall and I am a booktuber, a Wattpad writer and obviously a blogger.

In today’s post, I wanted to share with you my most recent reading vlog where I read Chasing Red by Isabelle Ronin.

Please subscribe to my channel if you haven’t yet and if you read this book, let me know what you think