Rita Stradling
Auteur de The Deception Dance
A propos de l'auteur
Crédit image: Rita Stradling. Photo Copyrighted by Karla Rivas Photography.
Séries
Œuvres de Rita Stradling
Waltzing into Damnation (The Deception Dance, #3) 3 exemplaires
The Fourteen Day Soul Detox, Volume Four 3 exemplaires
Midnight Secrets (The Vampire Legacy #1) 3 exemplaires
The fourteen days soul detox Vol 1&2 2 exemplaires
One Forbidden Kiss: A Stepbrother Romance (Choices) 2 exemplaires
The Fourteen Day Soul Detox, Volume Five 2 exemplaires
Tsunami Riders 1 exemplaire
Princep 1 exemplaire
Sneak Peek: Henchgirl 1 exemplaire
Hunting Monsters (Grayhaven, #3) 1 exemplaire
Hunter Trials (The Vampire Legacy #2) 1 exemplaire
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Date de naissance
- 1985
- Sexe
- female
- Nationalité
- USA
- Lieu de naissance
- Seattle, Washington, USA
- Lieux de résidence
- California, USA
Maui, Hawaii, USA - Études
- Humboldt State University
- Professions
- author
- Courte biographie
- Rita Stradling lives in Maui. You can find her at all the places the cool four year olds hang out (because she has one, if that isn't obvious). She has a MAJOR book addiction and lives in fear that her family is planning an intervention (she keeps books stashed in weird places, just in case). Rita got her degree in college parties...no...no it was Art History. Ha. That was a joke. Parties? Rita? Crazy talk.
Rita gets along with people who don't mind sustaining small injuries to tell a good joke. You should meet her husband, he’s hilarious. Rita and her husband fell in love after she pushed him off her porch. She claims he deserved it… but she can’t really remember why.
Rita, her husband and son keep moving back and forth between Northern California and Hawaii (it’s a grass (…palm tree) is greener thing, don’t ask).
Thanks for checking Rita out (in a bio way). Happy reading!
Membres
Critiques
This was much better than I expected!
Is it a typical clichéed as hell YA magic academy story with tacky romance? sure.
But you really can't be mad about that because it literally says so in the blurb.
But within the overserved genre with all its typical tropes is actually decent which makes it actually pretty rare.
I think the main point that differentiates this from most others in the genre is that it is willing to take the time to actually develop the story step by step to the point where it's supposed to go.
The author doesn't fall for the temptation to employ cheap and lazy shortcuts to just skip all the setup and handwave everything she doesn't want to waste time on while at the same time still presenting an interesting and immersive story.
The book couldn't be more unoriginal but the writing is just very well done and was able to capture me despite my strong negative bias against YA because it's notorious for lazy and inconsistent writing.
I am very surprised this wasn't a lot more successful. Maybe the pacing is too slow for the modern YA audience or the following volumes are much worse. I guess I will figure that out as I've already acquired the second one and will start to read it right now.
Edit:
The second book was a bit disappointing compared with the first one.
It has some major plot problems because it tries to employ a method of forcing the MCs hand that seems very appealing and easy but is actually very hard to pull off convincingly.
Namely, threatening friends and family so she does what the bad guy wants. The problem with this is that it's too powerful and there are no believable checks and balances on the kind of influence the bad guy can and can't take. It's all over the place and contradicts constantly.
The slower pacing which I praised in the first book became a liability because instead of picking up with the tension of the plot it got even slower which made large swaths of the story, which could've been very exciting and captivating, a chore.
The third thing that I didn't like on a more personal level is how casual the story is about general assholery and how quickly it is forgotten or ignored. Something similar happens with corporate corruption which the story plays down as something people laugh about in the end even afterdecades-long secret plots that led to hundreds of deaths at least are revealed.
All that is to say that the level of willing suspension of disbelief you need for the second book is significantly higher compared to the first one. It's generally much more in line with what you would expect from your average second-grade YA UF academy novel.… (plus d'informations)
Is it a typical clichéed as hell YA magic academy story with tacky romance? sure.
But you really can't be mad about that because it literally says so in the blurb.
But within the overserved genre with all its typical tropes is actually decent which makes it actually pretty rare.
I think the main point that differentiates this from most others in the genre is that it is willing to take the time to actually develop the story step by step to the point where it's supposed to go.
The author doesn't fall for the temptation to employ cheap and lazy shortcuts to just skip all the setup and handwave everything she doesn't want to waste time on while at the same time still presenting an interesting and immersive story.
The book couldn't be more unoriginal but the writing is just very well done and was able to capture me despite my strong negative bias against YA because it's notorious for lazy and inconsistent writing.
I am very surprised this wasn't a lot more successful. Maybe the pacing is too slow for the modern YA audience or the following volumes are much worse. I guess I will figure that out as I've already acquired the second one and will start to read it right now.
Edit:
The second book was a bit disappointing compared with the first one.
It has some major plot problems because it tries to employ a method of forcing the MCs hand that seems very appealing and easy but is actually very hard to pull off convincingly.
Namely, threatening friends and family so she does what the bad guy wants. The problem with this is that it's too powerful and there are no believable checks and balances on the kind of influence the bad guy can and can't take. It's all over the place and contradicts constantly.
The slower pacing which I praised in the first book became a liability because instead of picking up with the tension of the plot it got even slower which made large swaths of the story, which could've been very exciting and captivating, a chore.
The third thing that I didn't like on a more personal level is how casual the story is about general assholery and how quickly it is forgotten or ignored. Something similar happens with corporate corruption which the story plays down as something people laugh about in the end even after
All that is to say that the level of willing suspension of disbelief you need for the second book is significantly higher compared to the first one. It's generally much more in line with what you would expect from your average second-grade YA UF academy novel.… (plus d'informations)
Cette critique a été rédigée pour LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
This was a good addition to the series. It was interesting but a bit slow. I did enjoy her trying not to fall in love as well as the trouble that she got into. Overall, I would recommend.
*Note: I recieved this book for free in exchange for an honest review*
*Note: I recieved this book for free in exchange for an honest review*
Cette critique a été rédigée pour LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
[I received an ARC from the Author, as part of the LibraryThing giveaway, in exchange for a review.]
I have read a couple of Rita's earlier works, which I loved so it was natural that my interest was piqued when I saw her latest work and I jumped at the chance of reading her book.
As much as it is a retelling of beauty and the beast (Is it me, or are there too many of these coming up recently esp on beauty and the beast?), I liked the futuristic take on the fairy tale as it gives a nice twist to the story.
The initial pages caught my attention and kept me hooked for some time, though certain sections did make me pause and read them over once more, as either there was a break in the action or the narrative felt off. There was a reference to Alainn being away and coming back... but from where is not mentioned until much later.
As I progressed, I was able to match the pace with the story, though I felt that there were a lot of ups and down in the action that was happening. There would be a pause in the narrative, and a different thread would be picked up on and taken forward. The whole mountain section when Rose steps out of her window needs a once-over. There's something there that disturbs the flow. The same goes for the detailed description of Lorccan's tower, where the flow again breaks a few times and left me confused a bit. The voice leading Alaine around the house or giving her directions, especially phrases like 'come this way', was left hanging. Come this way ... how... Is there a 3D projection of a life-size Rose leading the way, or are signs flashing around the walls telling her where to go. This section would require a little more information on how Alainn was being led around the house with the voice asking her to take a left or a right or turn around the corner and walk up the stairs, kind of, which would sound more practical and probable.
The sex scene raised an eyebrow... one minute, you have Lorccan writhing in pain on the floor, screaming cause he is living a nightmare, and in a wink, he is awake, and his hand is up her dress, and he wants to roll around with her or in her. I mean—what the heck!
As I said earlier, the story has a few highs and lows. The high point for me was the rescue scene and the fight scene— this is an intense action scene, and the excitement rubs off on you. After the rescue, the story slightly dips into the characters' daily routine, and I began to wonder where it was going.
The dramatic closing caught me by surprise as it concluded the story, which I had begun to think, should have ended a few pages back. Many things get explained here and most of the questions that rose earlier are answered. The end was nice, sweet and sterile.
Good work with the potential to become great. I would highly recommend the author for one more round of editing.… (plus d'informations)
I have read a couple of Rita's earlier works, which I loved so it was natural that my interest was piqued when I saw her latest work and I jumped at the chance of reading her book.
As much as it is a retelling of beauty and the beast (Is it me, or are there too many of these coming up recently esp on beauty and the beast?), I liked the futuristic take on the fairy tale as it gives a nice twist to the story.
The initial pages caught my attention and kept me hooked for some time, though certain sections did make me pause and read them over once more, as either there was a break in the action or the narrative felt off. There was a reference to Alainn being away and coming back... but from where is not mentioned until much later.
As I progressed, I was able to match the pace with the story, though I felt that there were a lot of ups and down in the action that was happening. There would be a pause in the narrative, and a different thread would be picked up on and taken forward. The whole mountain section when Rose steps out of her window needs a once-over. There's something there that disturbs the flow. The same goes for the detailed description of Lorccan's tower, where the flow again breaks a few times and left me confused a bit. The voice leading Alaine around the house or giving her directions, especially phrases like 'come this way', was left hanging. Come this way ... how... Is there a 3D projection of a life-size Rose leading the way, or are signs flashing around the walls telling her where to go. This section would require a little more information on how Alainn was being led around the house with the voice asking her to take a left or a right or turn around the corner and walk up the stairs, kind of, which would sound more practical and probable.
The sex scene raised an eyebrow... one minute, you have Lorccan writhing in pain on the floor, screaming cause he is living a nightmare, and in a wink, he is awake, and his hand is up her dress, and he wants to roll around with her or in her. I mean—what the heck!
As I said earlier, the story has a few highs and lows. The high point for me was the rescue scene and the fight scene— this is an intense action scene, and the excitement rubs off on you. After the rescue, the story slightly dips into the characters' daily routine, and I began to wonder where it was going.
The dramatic closing caught me by surprise as it concluded the story, which I had begun to think, should have ended a few pages back. Many things get explained here and most of the questions that rose earlier are answered. The end was nice, sweet and sterile.
Good work with the potential to become great. I would highly recommend the author for one more round of editing.… (plus d'informations)
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Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 28
- Membres
- 361
- Popularité
- #66,480
- Évaluation
- 3.8
- Critiques
- 94
- ISBN
- 16
It's incredibly cheesy and it's unoriginal. But it is pretty good compared with the average shapeshifter RH. It accomplishes what it set out to do.
The stuff with the adversary made little sense and was just there to create the tension required for the climax. The RH is very typical but the members are all unique in personality and don't feel too two-dimensional. The romance itself is very insta-lovy because "mates".
The smut is hot and the banter is cute.
I would probably listen to the next volume but there is no audiobook.… (plus d'informations)