Kathryn's Inbox

Sex. Romance. Love triangles. The pastor's daughter gone bad. The Vincent Boys either has a lot going for it, or is a huge pile of cliches depending on who you talk to and what your perspective is on the matter. This would have to be the first young adult novel I've ever read where the sweet, pastor's daughter ends up getting cunnilingus in her boyfriend's car (in fact, it's the first young adult novel I've read that features cunnilingus at all,) and I suspect that much of the novel's popularity has to do with the same elements that make the novel kind of annoying. The fact is, this book is sexually explicit for a young adult novel. It is also contains a love triangle that is as interesting as it is cliched. Sweet, Pastor's daughter Ashton is alone for the summer as her boyfriend, the perfect and popular Sawyer is away on a mountain trip. Chance leads Ashton to encountering Sawyer's cousin, the trailer dwelling bad boy Beau. Until she hit pub

Ooh, this is a little bit exciting. I've been invited to take part in the Restore My Heart blog tour, which is intended to promote the first in a new series of romance novels by Chelsea Camaron, an indie author from the United States. According to her bio and goodreads page, Chelsea is quite the fan of old muscle cars and Harley Davidson motor cycles and her awesome knowledge of both shines in her work (in fact reading about the cars was my favourite part of the book). Anyway, Restore My Heart tells the story of Dina and Ryder. Dina is a sweet young woman whose trust was shattered by an abusive boyfriend. Ryder is the stereotypical bad boy ... but falling for Dina changes all of that. Can Dina learn to trust again and can Ryder break free of his old selfish ways? Restore My Heart is a fun, lightweight read. The setting, which revolves mostly around old cars and a garage is quite interesting and the characters, though not perfect, are quite likeable which is always a

In all honesty, I did not think that I would ever be able to top the story of what happened when I bought a copy of the first book in this excellent series for middle readers, where I ended up having a long conversation about books with the checkout operator at my local Kmart. (You can read more here.) And then one of the authors saw my review and visited my workplace and presented me with a hardcover copy of the sequel, which I thought was just excellent. (To explain this one further, Sean Williams is a regular customer at the post office where I work. Hi Sean!) Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed reading  The Monster . In this one, we find Jack and Jaide learning more about their gifts and trying desperately to find out more about a monster that is haunting Portland, much to the chagrin of their kind but stern Grandma X. The twins also must attend school, where they are soon befriended by a lonely girl called Tara. The next twist? Tara's dad may just be working for the Evil ...

Just wanted to share another brilliant clip from Daria. In this one, Daria convinces Quinn to handle a situation with a bit of maturity--in her usual sarcastic fashion.

Just finished reading  Seeds Vol. 1 , an independently published novel by M.M. Kin which retells a wonderful Greek myth--the romance between Hades and Persephone. Meticulously researched, Seeds  tells the story of Persephone's conception and childhood and the beginnings of her romance with Hades. What I loved about this one was the sheer attention to detail and the way that the author made the characters seem real--her interest in the myths shows throughout the book. It's worth noting that Seeds started out being published online and eventually evolved into its current form after building a solid fan base. The only grumble I have with this one is the typesetting--we have a beautiful professionally designed cover but the interior looks like it could use a little tweaking. Still, this one is a solid addition to my bookshelf and I am looking forward to the next instalment in the next volume in the series.

When I found a copy of Our Little Secret somewhere near the bottom of my reading pile, it took me a while to remember how it got there. I never purchase new books from this particular publisher (for reasons which, out of politeness, I will leave out of this blog post,) so it would have most likely come via a secondhand book seller. And then it came back to me. A while ago I had a certain amount of credit which had to be spent within a certain timeframe from a local secondhand bookstore and I couldn't find anything. I eventually picked this one up because it was written by a South Australian and appeared to be a reasonably intelligent young adult novel. Anyway, Our Little Secret has more or less sat at the bottom of my to-read pile for more than three years, until now. And what did I get? An intelligently written, well-researched and well-told cautionary tale for young adults and, dare I say it, their parents. Edwina is a teenager who lives in a country town. She does n

The original cover from 1995. Even in my early teens, I thought these models looked too old for the characters they were meant to represent. This book is so old and I first read it such a long time ago that I was tempted to file it under 1990s nostalgia, but I decided that would be doing this great novel a diservice. In recent times there has been much discussion about New Adult, a supposedly new genre. Well, folks, I have news for you. Maureen McCarthy was writing "New Adult" in the mid-1990s and doing a bloody fine job of it. Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude Get a Life  was her first novel of this type and was soon followed on by two more novels, Chain of Hearts  and When You Wake and Find Me Gone.  These novels contained strong, female characters who had very recently reached adulthood and were facing some new and scary challenges. As I said, the novel was released in the mid-1990s and judging by some of the other titles that were released during that era ( Livin' L

Why?

Just wanted to share this litte gem, a Garfield strip from May 1981. This comic was written back in the days when garish, tacky wallpaper was still considered to be a classy choice for interior decoration. I'm not sure if Jim Davis is trying to say that such wallpapers look awful, or if it was a clever hint to various wallpaper manufactures that he would like to organise a licensing deal. Or you know, maybe he just came up with the strip because he wanted people to laugh ... In any case, this one is a solid contribution to Garfield's early years.

Google winking, wink meaning or winking and body language and a vast array of sites will come up, each with a list of meanings. Some of them also noted the old expression a wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse, which I think is true. Winking, or the action of looking at another person and deliberately closing one eye can have a variety of meanings. In some cultures it is a friendly gesture, in others it is sexual and in some parts of the world winking can be considered vulgar. In my own life, I have been on the receiving end of winks that felt like everything from comradeship to sexual harassment. For the purposes of this article, I'm going to explore the variety of winks and meanings ... Styles of Winking Apparently, there is more than one way to wink. People usually wink with their dominant eye--for example if the left eye is dominant, that person will always wink with their left eye--or winking may be sometimes done with both eyes. (I have yet to see anyone do t

After a very big week for Kathryn's Inbox, it's time once again for Feature and Follow Friday, an awesome weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read designed to help like-minded bloggers meet and connect. This week's all important question is: Q:  Have you ever read a book that you thought you would hate — ? Did you end up hating it? Did you end up loving it? Or would you never do that? This has happened to me. You may be surprised to learn that I thought that I would hate Harry Potter. I first encountered the series shortly after the release of the third book in the series, which was kind-of before they became popular in Australia. Anyway, my auntie kept trying to push what looked like a kids book on to me and I kept getting annoyed. Finally, I caved in, read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and loved it. Hmm, must have been Snape's influence. Severus Snape. Who can resist a man like this? PS For those of you who don't k

Finally, after many, many months of hard work, I'm proud to launch my fourth novel, Behind the Scenes! Behind the Scenes tells the story of aspiring actress, Catlin Ryan, who scores a starring role on her favourite television drama, Angel Street . Taking the role means moving to Melbourne ... and in with the father that she barely knows. A dark family secret is soon uncovered ... but can Australia's hottest new celebrity stop the media from finding out about her past? Behind the Scenes is available at Amazon , Amazon Kindle Store , CreateSpace and Smashwords , with more retailers to follow very soon. And because no launch is complete without some kind of awesome giveaway or another, throughout April, I'll be running a very awesome international giveaway where you can win: Personally Signed copy of Behind the Scenes Personally Signed Copies of Being Abigail and Best Forgotten (not pictured) A beautiful journal Gorgeous letter writing set