I thought I would post a short and sweet update about the book since it's been over a month! Sorry guys and girls for leaving you hanging! Beautiful Sun's second book is in the making. A (probably) under-estimation would be a release of Christmas '08. Boy Craze sells have dropped a bit probably due to the author not advertising! Yes, I'm a bit frustrated at this but we are moving out of state and looking for jobs in Ohio without being there takes a bit of creativism of its own. However, I know that my supporters will keep up with me until we're settled. I believe things should be rolling again no later than the beginning of July, God-willing. :)
Thanks everyone, especially to jaems-kun for all the help.
In the meantime here is a lovely review by Ashley R. (this will be later placed in a Review section of the site):
"Beautiful Sun" is Beautiful
I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up the first book of the Beautiful Sun YA series, "Boy Craze". Yet, the moment, I began to read the story I could identify with the struggles faced by Saffire. Her story made me think about my own experiences. Like her, I was tormented mercilessly while in middle and high school. I would often come home sobbing, but since the school itself seemed to not take my harassment seriously, I was left to fend for myself, just like Saffire. The teasing itself was done realistically. How many girls are judged by their social rank or appearances in school? If you aren't in a group, you are left on your own and those that see you as weak will try to break you. But when they see you could serve some purpose for them, than you become someone with a face.
I liked how Saffire's teasing wasn't watered down - something that wound made the entire book a turn off. Kids can be crueler than adults give them credit for. So many parents will deny that their child is being mean, so they get away with it and leaving others with painful memories. As an orphan who chooses to be an individual, rather than a clone, I found her character realistic and refreshing. I've read too many Christian stories where the characters don't seem to be real. They rarely face adversity, and they don't seem to have a conflict that helps them grow mentally and spiritually. Saffire is a girl with dreams, and the desire for acceptance, something we all have. Yet, she refuses to compromise her faith. This is such a good message, especially for those who are struggling with trying to fit in, and not comprising their faith.
The only thing I would like to see more of is description of the setting, such as the location and such. I love the story, but I also want to know more about the setting. What kinds of plants does Saffire see? Does she live in a place that had lots or trees, or is it more known for its summer heat? I would defiantly recommend "Beautiful Sun: Boy Craze" by Rose Barnett, and will get the second book when it's out. It has a heroine that is realistic, so I will be eagerly looking forward to more books in the series. You can find out more about this series by visiting http://beausunnews.blogspot.com or buying it at www.lulu.com/4God
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Beauty...the book
Beauty by Nancy Butcher. This is the latest book I've read besides re-reading Beautiful Sun book 1 currently.
Beauty is a mix between a modern story of a girl trying to please her mother and a medieval (or earlier) story of a queen and the princess who didn't wanted to be royal. If this sounds interesting to you, you may enjoy Beauty. Ana finds out early in her life that her mother, Queen Veda, does not like any challengers to her beauty. So Ana decides to make herself ugly in order to stay on her mother's good side. Yet all of her hard work (not bathing, eating pastries and dressing less than average, let alone, less than royalty) comes to nothing. Queen Veda seems to have better things to do than spend any time with her daughter. Since her husband died, Veda has to run the kingdom herself. But the book says little to nothing about the run of the kingdom as it focuses on Veda's overwhelming desire to be the most beautiful in the kingdom. So much so she's willing to kill for it. As the story goes along we find the main character and lots of other young girls (beautiful young girls) sent off to an academy that turns out to be a lot different than Ana originally thought. Soon Ana is faced with a situation that pulls her not only out of her ugliness, but also reveals the true leadership that she's hoping will never fall on her, to become queen.
The story isn't too bad, for a YA fiction. It's not so much the story but the delivery that spoils this fic. It's so long an drawn out for probably half the book. Seriously, the book has lots of background, lots of what ifs, ands, and buts...but no real storyline until about halfway through. You know it's leading up to something but nothing is actually HAPPENING and that ticked me off for most of this read. When something does finally happen, well the moral of the story soon degrades. You think it's about how there is beauty more than skin deep or that it's ok not to center your life on makeup, clothes, etc. Yet at the end of the book you are left wondering what the author is trying to communicate about beauty. The main character seems to yearn and want that surface beauty so much, it really kills the initial thought that the book would display beauty as more than surface or not something to covet. There is also a mystery character; well he's a mystery to me at least. They don't explain much about the beauty consultant and well he's kind of creepy. There's another part that is creepy in the book but gives me my favorite line from the story, "But she was already dead." Trust me, it's cool in an eerie way.
There are a couple of other things I don't quite get with this story either, but I can bypass all of it and just say, it's a not too bad story if you just want to read something. But truly, if you just want to read something (and get hooked, fall in love and maybe find direction for your own life while being entertained) I really suggest you pick up Beautiful Sun: Boy Craze. Purchase it at http://lulu.com/4God
Beauty is a mix between a modern story of a girl trying to please her mother and a medieval (or earlier) story of a queen and the princess who didn't wanted to be royal. If this sounds interesting to you, you may enjoy Beauty. Ana finds out early in her life that her mother, Queen Veda, does not like any challengers to her beauty. So Ana decides to make herself ugly in order to stay on her mother's good side. Yet all of her hard work (not bathing, eating pastries and dressing less than average, let alone, less than royalty) comes to nothing. Queen Veda seems to have better things to do than spend any time with her daughter. Since her husband died, Veda has to run the kingdom herself. But the book says little to nothing about the run of the kingdom as it focuses on Veda's overwhelming desire to be the most beautiful in the kingdom. So much so she's willing to kill for it. As the story goes along we find the main character and lots of other young girls (beautiful young girls) sent off to an academy that turns out to be a lot different than Ana originally thought. Soon Ana is faced with a situation that pulls her not only out of her ugliness, but also reveals the true leadership that she's hoping will never fall on her, to become queen.
The story isn't too bad, for a YA fiction. It's not so much the story but the delivery that spoils this fic. It's so long an drawn out for probably half the book. Seriously, the book has lots of background, lots of what ifs, ands, and buts...but no real storyline until about halfway through. You know it's leading up to something but nothing is actually HAPPENING and that ticked me off for most of this read. When something does finally happen, well the moral of the story soon degrades. You think it's about how there is beauty more than skin deep or that it's ok not to center your life on makeup, clothes, etc. Yet at the end of the book you are left wondering what the author is trying to communicate about beauty. The main character seems to yearn and want that surface beauty so much, it really kills the initial thought that the book would display beauty as more than surface or not something to covet. There is also a mystery character; well he's a mystery to me at least. They don't explain much about the beauty consultant and well he's kind of creepy. There's another part that is creepy in the book but gives me my favorite line from the story, "But she was already dead." Trust me, it's cool in an eerie way.
There are a couple of other things I don't quite get with this story either, but I can bypass all of it and just say, it's a not too bad story if you just want to read something. But truly, if you just want to read something (and get hooked, fall in love and maybe find direction for your own life while being entertained) I really suggest you pick up Beautiful Sun: Boy Craze. Purchase it at http://lulu.com/4God
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Co-starring Saffire Muube!!
Saffire Muube? I'm sure you are all wondering, what kind of name is that?
Well there is a background to Beautiful Sun. It's beginning (which I'll expand on later) is a web-story called Sunshine Kingdom. And the starring character of that story is Princess Saffire. I like Sapphires (blue being my favorite color) and decided to switch out the p's with f's. This being of no relation or attachment to Prince Safire from the SailorMoon series. I know it looks like it but it isn't. Period. There's nothing else to the name and I don't think there needs to be much talk about it because LOADS of people have strange names and no one asks them about their names much :P
Muube? Well, I just had an idea in my mind that Saffire's heritage was African. Not like the African-Americans that live in America today and have been here for over a 100 years. But African like her great great mother (or somebody) is directly from Africa. Meaning that Saffire's family was never slaves! That's awesome in my mind. At any rate, since I'm not from Africa or know many Africans I made up a last name that sounded African. And it's not "u" like Moo, but "u" like Moe. Is that logical? Probably not Spock-approved logic but it's fantasy so give me a break. And it's not "be" like her name would be Moby, but "bay". So her name is pronounced "Moe-bay". I like it and I hope you do too.
Enough about her name. Who is she? Saffire is a fun-loving teenager who has been pushed down and tucked away. She doesn't express herself like she'd like. Not only is she family-less but she also is bullied at school and teased at "home". Home being Telston Orphanage Community. She's lived there for enough years to know that it's nothing like a real home. It's almost like living on a college campus, but with insecure, psychotic, prankster juneviles who also are struggling with not having moms or dads or, worse, having moms or dads that can't or won't take care of them. Saffire thinks of them as outcasts of the world, and herself being one of the top. She's a bit crazy herself due to years of this treatment. She tends to overthink and overanalyze, strangely enough, not about the right issues. It's an odd teeter-totter that she can't seem to balance. Well she is a teenager and she doesn't have much of any direction. No one counsels her except for her friend Lisa, who doesn't have the slightest idea of the emotional and mental scars that Saffire carries. Lisa is wise but not insightful. She is caring but cynical and at times not as open as Saffire would like. The only other help Saffire has is the Divine.
Saffire knows who the Divine is, that He's God. Saffire only 2 years ago began whole-heartedly seeking the Divine for help. But she doesn't know enough about Him to know what He wants of her. She knows that He controls her destiny but she's not sure how much. She also knows that He took her parents away, but she's not sure why or if that makes Him evil. She believes He's good, remembering things her grandmother used to teach her, but she just can't see what all this adds up to. So she's trying to find out. What she has learned by the time we meet up with her in Boy Craze, leads her to trust Him. After all, He is her ONLY hope for something good coming out of this crash collision life she's had so far.
She really is the type of girl that you would fall in love with but also be very confused by. Then again, if you were almost friend-less, definitely family-less and treated like dirt, would you make great life decisions?
I think Saffire has a lot more to offer than book 1 shows. I've already started book two and decided it's NOT gonna be a direct continuation to Boy Craze, but I do see Saffire popping up again in the series. I mean, she has to right? See if you agree with my thoughts on Saffire by reading Boy Craze. Download for ONLY $1.50 or buy the paperback you can take with you anywhere. Also get a peak at Saffire in the excerpt from Chapter 1, available on this site.
Well there is a background to Beautiful Sun. It's beginning (which I'll expand on later) is a web-story called Sunshine Kingdom. And the starring character of that story is Princess Saffire. I like Sapphires (blue being my favorite color) and decided to switch out the p's with f's. This being of no relation or attachment to Prince Safire from the SailorMoon series. I know it looks like it but it isn't. Period. There's nothing else to the name and I don't think there needs to be much talk about it because LOADS of people have strange names and no one asks them about their names much :P
Muube? Well, I just had an idea in my mind that Saffire's heritage was African. Not like the African-Americans that live in America today and have been here for over a 100 years. But African like her great great mother (or somebody) is directly from Africa. Meaning that Saffire's family was never slaves! That's awesome in my mind. At any rate, since I'm not from Africa or know many Africans I made up a last name that sounded African. And it's not "u" like Moo, but "u" like Moe. Is that logical? Probably not Spock-approved logic but it's fantasy so give me a break. And it's not "be" like her name would be Moby, but "bay". So her name is pronounced "Moe-bay". I like it and I hope you do too.
Enough about her name. Who is she? Saffire is a fun-loving teenager who has been pushed down and tucked away. She doesn't express herself like she'd like. Not only is she family-less but she also is bullied at school and teased at "home". Home being Telston Orphanage Community. She's lived there for enough years to know that it's nothing like a real home. It's almost like living on a college campus, but with insecure, psychotic, prankster juneviles who also are struggling with not having moms or dads or, worse, having moms or dads that can't or won't take care of them. Saffire thinks of them as outcasts of the world, and herself being one of the top. She's a bit crazy herself due to years of this treatment. She tends to overthink and overanalyze, strangely enough, not about the right issues. It's an odd teeter-totter that she can't seem to balance. Well she is a teenager and she doesn't have much of any direction. No one counsels her except for her friend Lisa, who doesn't have the slightest idea of the emotional and mental scars that Saffire carries. Lisa is wise but not insightful. She is caring but cynical and at times not as open as Saffire would like. The only other help Saffire has is the Divine.
Saffire knows who the Divine is, that He's God. Saffire only 2 years ago began whole-heartedly seeking the Divine for help. But she doesn't know enough about Him to know what He wants of her. She knows that He controls her destiny but she's not sure how much. She also knows that He took her parents away, but she's not sure why or if that makes Him evil. She believes He's good, remembering things her grandmother used to teach her, but she just can't see what all this adds up to. So she's trying to find out. What she has learned by the time we meet up with her in Boy Craze, leads her to trust Him. After all, He is her ONLY hope for something good coming out of this crash collision life she's had so far.
She really is the type of girl that you would fall in love with but also be very confused by. Then again, if you were almost friend-less, definitely family-less and treated like dirt, would you make great life decisions?
I think Saffire has a lot more to offer than book 1 shows. I've already started book two and decided it's NOT gonna be a direct continuation to Boy Craze, but I do see Saffire popping up again in the series. I mean, she has to right? See if you agree with my thoughts on Saffire by reading Boy Craze. Download for ONLY $1.50 or buy the paperback you can take with you anywhere. Also get a peak at Saffire in the excerpt from Chapter 1, available on this site.
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