Really good reading!

I just finished a really excellent book, DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST, by Juliet Marillier. It's a fantasy story, set in Ireland and what I think is either Wales or Cornwall (the natives are just called "Britons"). I'm not a huge fan of fantasy or paranormal novels, but this one works for me because the fantasy element, while vital to the story, takes a back seat to main characters. It's also first person, not something I seek out, but again, it works for me because of the characters. It's the start of a trilogy, and I've got the second book, SON OF THE SHADOWS ready to read, and Daughter considers it the best of the three (because of the main male character, to which I say, if he's better than Red? Yippee!). It was Daughter who found this series, so I owe her one.

However, there was an excerpt from Book II in the back of Book I, and the main characters seem quite similar. Well, why not? They're related. But I decided to take a break in between so I'll be able to consider the second book without getting distracted by similarities. Now I'm reading THE BESTSELLER by Olivia Goldsmith.

I'm enjoying it, although I imagine if you haven't been exposed to the inner workings of the publishing world, this would be a lot more fascinating. At the same time, I can see why Ms. Goldsmith was a popular author. It's interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, and there's one character I really, really want to get his comeuppance, so I can hardly wait to see what happens to him. And I just hit a really interesting plot twist.

Now, back to my own novel. I wound up tossing about 75 pages when I took out The Subplot That Didn't Work, and have been busily rewriting and adding new material, including the aforementioned 33 pages in yesterday's post. I've still got two scenes from the second draft to rework, and then it's new material after that. But it's near the end, and while the middle of my novels may not always be clearly set in my mind, the endings are, so that shouldn't be tooooo bad.

Wait! What's that sound? I fear the gods are beginning to laugh....