Exciting news...

I have bought some images from Shutterstock and designed new covers!

BIG REVEAL coming soon...

If you would like to help me promote via a blog interview or otherwise in exchange for some prizes let me know!

Thank you
Vanessa

~*NEW*~ PAPERBACK for EMILY

I have decided to create a paperback for EMILY and am having a lot of fun figuring it all out again. I have to admit that I am tempted to redo the others since I prefer the font.

To celebrate I would like to run a paperback giveaway for the Trilogy. All I have to do is figure out how to do this. If you have ideas get in touch please.

I wonder if I will ever stop dabbling and write?

Who knows...

I have even started thinking of the next trilogy to follow this one, and am eager to get stuck in. 

For the past year I have been working on a Historical novel, based on the lives of my great grandparents. I am enjoying it, but have to admit the pressure gets to me. I don't want to disappoint family with my interpretation of the past. 

So, to all you readers who encourage me to write about Steven & Caitlin some more. I will not say no!

I miss them SO much! I know, fictional characters should not be missed. But, I do.

In the same way I missed BUFFY when it finished and countless other Book & TV Series I miss my world.

I hope to dive back in soon and bring them back to life again.

A few of you have asked for the Caitlin and Steven wrap-up, but I want to go into the future.

Thoughts?

Anyway, back to formatting I go.

All the best,

Vanessa

I love the dystopian world

In my last post I explained that I had read the Divergent trilogy and loved it, so I bought the DVD and it definitely met my expectations.

I don't know what it is about this imaginary world that I love. It's my ultimate escapism.

Recently, I read another trilogy that I read in three days! The Selection Trilogy by Kiera Cass. It was a case of Cinderella meets Ella Enchanted meets The Hunger Games!

THE SELECTION

Thirty-five beautiful girls. Thirty-five beautiful rivals…

It’s the chance of a lifetime and 17-year-old America Singer should feel lucky. She has been chosen for The Selection, a reality TV lottery in which the special few compete for gorgeous Prince Maxon’s love.

Swept up in a world of elaborate gowns, glittering jewels and decadent feasts, America is living a new and glamorous life. And the prince takes a special interest in her, much to the outrage of the others.

Rivalry within The Selection is fierce and not all of the girls are prepared to play by the rules. But what they don’t know is that America has a secret – one which could throw the whole competition… and change her life forever.

THE ELITE

The Selection gets fierce as rivals stake their claim on the Prince.

Six girls, one life-changing prize…

America Singer will leave her pre-destined life for a world of glamour and luxury, if she wins…

But surviving The Selection is tough. Rivals are battling to become Prince Maxon’s bride as the threat of rebel violence just beyond the palace walls escalates into war.

Only six girls are left and sworn friendships are tested to breaking point. America’s feelings for Maxon grow stronger, but she suspects darker mysteries in his royal past. With ex-lover Aspen waiting for her in the shadows, where do her loyalties truly lie?

THE ONE

THE SELECTION changed the lives of thirty-five girls forever. Now, only one will claim Prince Maxon’s heart…

It’s swoon meets the Hunger Games in the third instalment of THE SELECTION series!

For the four girls who remain at the palace, the friendships they’ve formed, rivalries they’ve struggled with and dangers they’ve faced have bound them to each other for the rest of their lives.

Now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen.

America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown – or to Prince Maxon’s heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realises just how much she stands to lose – and how hard she’ll have to fight for the future she wants.

I bought the entire collection via paperback at The Works for £9.99! I loved the silky soft paper they used... you can't get that via kindle! I have since realised it will no longer be a trilogy... the next book is out in May and I had to pre-order it - my daughter will be pleased!

Funny, because I have recently considered extending my own trilogy. Originally, I wanted my story to be a series of five books, but was advised to stick to three. However, some of my readers have asked me to continue what I started... and I just might do that sometime soon.

These are my other top dystopian reads! (Source: Wikipedia)

HARRY POTTER

The novels revolve around Harry Potter, an orphan who discovers at the age of eleven that he is a wizard, living within the ordinary world of non-magical people, known as Muggles.[9] The wizarding world is secret from the Muggle world, presumably to avoidpersecution of witches and wizards. His ability is inborn, and such children are invited to attend an exclusive magic school that teaches the necessary skills to succeed in the wizarding world. Harry becomes a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and it is here where most of the events in the series take place. As Harry develops through his adolescence, he learns to overcome the problems that face him: magical, social and emotional, including ordinary teenage challenges such as friendships, infatuation and exams, and the greater test of preparing himself for the confrontation in the real world that lies ahead.

Each book chronicles one year in Harry's life with the main narrative being set in the years 1991–98. The books also contain many flashbacks, which are frequently experienced by Harry viewing the memories of other characters in a device called a Pensieve.

The environment Rowling created is completely separate from reality yet also intimately connected to it. While the fantasy land of Narnia is an alternative universe and the Lord of the Rings' Middle-earth a mythic past, the wizarding world of Harry Potter exists in parallel within the real world and contains magical versions of the ordinary elements of everyday life. Many of its institutions and locations are recognisable, such as London. It comprises a fragmented collection of overlooked hidden streets, ancient pubs, lonely country manors and secluded castles that remain invisible to the Muggle population.

THE HUNGER GAMES

The Hunger Games trilogy takes place in an unspecified future time in a dystopian post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, in the ruins of North America. The country consists of the wealthy Capitol located in the Rocky Mountains and twelve (formerly thirteen) poorer districts ruled by the Capitol. The Capitol is lavishly rich and technologically advanced but the twelve districts are in varying states of poverty – the trilogy's narrator and protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, lives in District 12, the poorest region of Panem, formerly known as Appalachia, where people regularly die of starvation. As punishment for a past rebellion (called "The Dark Days") against the Capitol wherein twelve of the districts were defeated and the thirteenth supposedly destroyed, one boy and one girl from each of the twelve districts, between the ages of twelve and eighteen, are selected by lottery to participate in the "Hunger Games" on an annual basis. The Games are a televised event with the participants, called "tributes", being forced to fight to the death in a dangerous public arena. The winning tribute and his/her home district is then rewarded with food, supplies, and riches. The purpose of the Hunger Games is to provide entertainment for the Capitol and to serve as a reminder to the Districts of the Capitol's power and lack of remorse.

DIVERGENT

Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant all take place in the same area, a futuristic and dystopian vision of Chicago. Society defines its citizens by their social and personality-related affiliation with five different factions, which removes the threat of anyone exercising independent will and re-threatening the population's safety. Beatrice Prior, who later changed her name to Tris, an Abnegation-born and Dauntless transfer, must figure out her life as a Divergent. If the Dauntless leaders find her out she will be killed. She must learn to conceal her ability and not let it show.

A Trilogy? Oh My...

Yesterday I was really ill again... this winter flu virus is taking its toll on me. Luckily, I got to spend most of the day in bed reading. There had to be a perk to this sickness lark!

Anyway, I got given the Divergent trilogy for Christmas so I finally for my teeth into Insurgent, having read Divergent a while back. I have to be honest, when I read Divergent I was not convinced - it read too much like The Hunger Games. But, this second book takes it into a different level. For anyone who has read the Hugh Howie books, I have read Dust and Shift, there is some resemblance.

A dystopian society brought about by man's failure...

The difference between Divergent and the Hugh Howey books is the style of writing.

Divergent is written very much for YA, and is so easy to read that I devoured nearly two books in a day! At times, the addition of new scenarios and characters confused me, and the lack of "action" left me slightly disgruntled (teenagers do a lot more than what they are described to do here). But, considering the audience in mind, it worked, even though I found the descriptions to be repetitive at times (how many times can you hook your fingers on trousers, bite the inside of your mouth, and play with the fray of a t-shirt?).

Saying this, I loved it & am now keen to watch the film, Divergent...

Insurgent is due out soon too...

Having read The Hunger Games, The Divergent Trilogy, and series like Twilight and Harry Potter, I can see a similar theme running through these. In fact, I can even liken it to my own trilogy. I feel quite honoured to even think that what I wrote can be compared to these amazing best-sellers. But, it has...

For example, read this review by Lydia Aswolf

"This is the third book in the Hybrid Trilogy, and while I'll be sad to see it go, how thrilled I am to have any sort of melancholy feeling about saying goodbye to characters I've worried over and rooted for so long?

The truth is that I've been rather disappointed in the final book in trilogy series of late, so it means something to me that Ms. Wester has taken great care not to make a cookie cutter everyone-gets-everything-they-want-in-the-end final book; nor does she envision the alternate gloomy world which has also plagued trilogies of late (Allegiant or Mockingjay, anyone?) 

As a matter of fact, Ms. Wester derives a way to both answer our must-know questions while also leaving a decent bit to our imaginations, an approach I appreciated...and one that will no doubt lead me towards reviewing more of this talented author's work in the future."

Having now read both Allegient and Mockingjay I now understand the reference.

It was important to me to leave doors open, and yet close others. The truth is humanity is not perfect and one day we might just press the self-destruct button. Until that day, let's cherish what we have and look for the light at the end of the tunnel - it is there if you look for it! :)

Let me know your thoughts...

All the best,
Vanessa