A Note:

6/2/13

I once told myself: IF I am accepted into grad school, this blog would no longer be updated. As it turns out, in April, I received news of my acceptance for the Fall 2013 semester, where I will attain a Master's degree of Science in Nutrition.

Running a blog, as many of you may already know, is a demanding side job once the excitement wears off. And once I fell out of the blogging community's loop (have you SEEN how many blogs there are now? Wow!), it was like the kiss of death. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get into a blogging routine once this happened due to the disconnect I felt from the community.

So I took a break. I struggled with the loss and with missing my blog. And then I realized I didn't have to run Book Faery to still be a book reviewer; I could read my books and post reviews online. I'm still a book review blogger, just not in the traditional sense.

I'll still be online. You can chat with me on Twitter, where I'll be posting links to my reviews and talking books. I'll also be posting links to nutrition articles. And if you'd like to connect with me where I guarantee I will post reviews, just add me as a friend on Goodreads.

So that's all, folks! It's been a fun and amazing journey, and I thank you all for listening to my thoughts about books. I hope we all can keep in touch elsewhere :)

Tori

Monday, August 2, 2010

(Day 2) Guest Post: Anastasia Hopcus

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Welcome to Day 2 of the Battle of the Sexies!  Today's guest is a wonderful young woman whose book was just released not even one month ago!  Please give a warm welcome to Anastasia Hopcus, author of Shadow Hills!


"Anastasia Hopcus wrote her first book in the 2nd grade.It was entitled Frederick the Friendly French Ferret and was seven pages long. During high school she wrote numerous short stories and started (but never finished) three screenplays, all as an alternative to doing actual school work. At the very wise age of twelve her career ambition was to drive a Mack truck, but when that didn’t pan out, she tried acting, bartending, and being a receptionist in a dojo before finally returning to writing. Anastasia loves horror movies, Joss Whedon, obsessing over music, and British accents. She lives in Austin, Texas and her debut young adult novel is out Summer 2010 from Egmont."

Connect with Anastasia:



Are heroines required to be kick ass or independent in order to be considered a strong lead?

I love this question because it leaves room for interpretation.   In my book Shadow Hills, my main character, Phe, is kick ass but not in the general  warrior sense. 
 
I think there are different ways that a heroine can possess independence and kick-ass-osity.  Some characters, like Buffy, have super strength and strength of character.  Not only could she go out and beat up the bad guy, but she had mental toughness, too.   She'd pick herself up after any adversity and get back in the fight.   While I love this kind of heroine--- because who wouldn't want to have that sort of power over their  life?---I find it fascinating when you have a heroine that possesses emotional strength and thinks and acts independently, but is  like a normal person in that she has no spectacular physical abilities.  For instance, Phe doesn't have extraordinary skills to rely on, which makes it harder for her to save the day, and the fact that she still goes out and does it is even  more remarkable. 
 
I wanted Phe to be someone that the reader could identify with.  I felt it was important that she could be a strong and independent person and yet realize that she couldn't do everything by herself and needed other people.  When her sister died,  Phe couldn't count on her parents  because they were too grief-stricken to help her in any way.  Phe came to feel that she could rely only on herself.  But over the course of Shadow Hills, she comes to see that she can be strong and her own person and still let other people help her.  I think attempting to take on everything yourself is a common human tendency and maybe even more so with women, but eventually you have to find somebody you can trust and let them help you because unless you are Superman, you can't handle everything  on your own.





9 comments:

  1. Great post. I loved that Phe was in a place full of supes of a kind, but as a regular human, was still able to save the day!

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  3. Linked to the wrong place lol:
    I awarded you the versatile Blogger award: http://loonyreads.blogspot.com/2010/08/awards.html

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  4. I loved this post because there are different kinds of heroines and not just the kick ass types.

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  5. Geez..Phe kinda sounds like me. I bet a lot of people can relate to Phe.

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  6. So very true! Buffy's great, but not everyone can be Buffy ;)

    (but I can daydream about being as kickass as her, muwahaha)

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  7. I agree--the heroine has to have mental toughness and strength of character, but she doesn't have to be able to do everything by herself. Phe sounds quite interesting. Nice post.

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  8. I'm really excited to read this book, so I found this post extremely intriguing. I love the idea that a heroine doesn't have to do everything by herself to still be a worthy heroine. It's a very fine balance, walking that line between strength and human weakness. I can't wait to see how Phe pulls it off in Shadow Hills!

    You have been awarded the Prolific Blogger Award! Pick it up here: http://thebookishtype.blogspot.com/p/awards.html

    =)

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