Book review: China Dolls

A debut novel about three Chinese-American 20-somethings pursue careers and Mr. Right in ultracompetitive New York City. Alex, Lin and M.J. have been friends since they met in school as kids, studying the Chinese language, and, as the book opens, none of them are married, and each is feeling pressure from her immigrant parents to move to the next stage in life. The women's desires, predictably, differ from their parents'.

This is the premise for China Dolls by Michelle Yu & Blossom Kan. The stand-out character for me in this book was M.J., a sportswriter in a male-dominated field who wants to break into on-air reporting. She's a tomboy who prefers to wear jeans and a ponytail to dresses and high heels. She has a good friend Ming who is also a sportswriter who constantly excoriates her for dating white guys. She meets an old high school flame and thinks that her life is changing for the better, only to realize that he hasn't changed much, and sometimes you can't go home again. Frankly, the whole book could have been about this character and I would have been happy. I was eager to learn more about this character, to see her struggles getting interviews against other male colleagues, I was even intrigued by the fact that she was in a sense competing with her boyfriend, but her section ended abruptly and too fast.

The other characters of Alex and Lin were little more than ciphers for me. Alex seemed to be just an angry Asian woman, and Lin was pretty much a doormat, which I found strange since she was such a high-powered stockbroker. Their stories are also pretty much glossed over and tied up neatly. I also found that all three characters pretty much had the same plot line, while there was much talk about how hard it was to be an Asian woman, there were precious few examples in the book.

Having booked as an assistant for investment banks for over 20 years, I know what a frat boy mentality exists, but what happened with Lin, to me smacked of a sexual harrassment lawsuit waiting to happen. I just found her too passive, I would have loved to have seen her sue the pants of Drew and hire Alex to do it.

Still I enjoyed reading about different perspective on chick-lit. I loved reading about the different customs, and the visit to the fortune teller in the first scene. It gave readers a different view of the New York that seems so familiar from Sex and the City.

Although Alex, Lin, and MJ are Asian, their struggles are universal. I look forward to reading the next book from Michelle and Blossom.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

Interesting Horoscopes

libra: air signs are beyond clever. you are the most charming of the airs, with nary a bad word for anyone unless they've done you a serious wrong. then tact be damned. get it off your chest; rip the critics a new one.

scorpio: soon your patience and talent will give you the bonanza you deserve. jupiter in sadge shouldn't go by( lasts until dec. of this year) without rewarding you. if you are new to this business, you'll get your first deal. if an old hand, then your contract will be the biggest and best ever.

I sincerely hope the last one comes true. I've been working my butt off and I'm getting a little tired of being able to wallpaper my room with rejection letters. However, instead of sitting around moping, I have two new projects that I'm working on. One, is a continuation of a series of YA books I've been writing, the other that I've mentioned briefly is a romantic trilogy.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

EKM

P.S. Ooh, I had two minor celebrity sightings this week. Yummy Bradley Cooper from Alias and Kitchen Confidential and Paul Blackthorne from 24 and the Dresden Chronicles. I saw them both when I went to the theater this weekend.

Reading Fables

I've been having the blah's recently. I don't want it is, but I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to write. Maybe it's all the rejection letters that I've been wracking up lately. It's not that I don't have ideas. I have plenty of them. I've just having a hard time picking one. Last year, I wrote two complete manuscripts, and two partials. This year, so far, all I've done is revise one manuscript. I need to start something soon. I just don't know what.

In the meantime, I’ve been searching out new books to read. When I write, I have a tendency not to read within the genre that I’m writing. I’m so afraid that I’ll inadvertently borrow a plot point or a turn of phrase that I just don’t read them. Consequently, I have a huge TBR pile growing in my office of books that I’ve been meaning to get to for the past three years. That includes all the books that I’ve gotten at the last three RWA conferences that I’ve attended.

I’ve always been a huge reader, ever since I was a kid, but every now and again, I have the blahs where I pick up books and turn them over, and nothing grabs me. That’s when it’s time for me to seek out a book in a genre that I don’t often read, or possibly an author that I haven’t read in awhile.

Just recently, I’ve gotten really into reading graphic novels. For me, it’s the perfect combination of story and pretty pictures. I happened to stumble on a series of graphic novels written by Bill Willingham called Fables just because it was recommended to me on Amazon.com. Hey, it turns out it might be a good idea to pay attention to those recommendations! Fables are set in New York City, in a section called Fabletown. All the fairytales or fables that we grew up reading as kids have been forced to leave their mythical homelands when they were taken over by the Adversary.

Every fairytale character that you can think of turns up in the various volumes of Fables, but it’s what Bill Willingham does with the characters that is so clever and delicious. Without giving anything away, Prince Charming is not so charming after all. He has a little faithfulness problem, leading to his divorces from not only Snow White, but also Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. The Big Bad Wolf from The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood is now the Sheriff of Fabletown and Snow White is the deputy mayor.

She's definitely not the Snow White from the Disney cartoon that's for sure. She's got a hard edge, after finding Prince Charming in bed with her sister. And she's spent the past several hundred years feeling bitter about it.

There are eight volumes in the series, and I’ve already glommed onto all but the last two (thanks to the auspices) of the New York Public Library. Each volume is written in a different style. The first volume, Legends in Exile, sets up the story and is written in the style of a Film Noir, dealing with the disappearance and possible death of Snow White’s sister Rose Red.

What makes the series so awesome, is that you can read it on two levels, one just the sheer enjoyment of the stories, but also as an allegory of war and the toll it takes. Fables is just one example of the sheer wealth of stories that are available in graphic novel form. Neil Gaiman has the popular Sandman graphic novels, and Alan Moore with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (much better than the crappy movie) and From Hell.

Now authors like Meg Cabot and Sherrilyn Kenyon are now writing original stories for graphic novels, and Laurel K. Hamilton, author of the Anita Blake series has had her novels adapted in graphic novel form. Not to mention the Harlequin Manga series.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

Category Blues

I began reading romances since the age of eleven, when I first discovered Harlequin Presents. I read them because they were mostly set in England (apart from Janet Dailey’s books), and featured alpha male heroes. Of course, at the time, I had no idea what an alpha male was. I just knew that part of me enjoyed the fact that the men were so dominating, while the budding feminist in me, wondered why the heroines didn’t just tell the hero where to stick it. Some of my favorite authors were Anne Mather and Carole Mortimer.

Then I discovered Dell Candlelight Ecstasy and Silhouette romances (when they were being published by Simon & Schuster). This was back in the eighties, what I like to call the ‘Golden Age’ of category romances, because you had so many choices. Bantam was publishing Loveswept, and Berkley had Second Chance at Love. Nora Roberts, Barbara Delinsky, Jayne Ann Krentz and Sandra Brown were all published in category.

I used to buy 25 to 30 books a month in the category lines, but then slowly but surely, lines ended. First Dell Candlelight Ecstasy, then Second Chance, and finally Loveswept. Others like Precious Gems and the Kensington category line were barely blips on the radar, although they did give authors like Tracey Kelleher and Barbara Daly their starts.

But I’ve realized recently that I don’t read many category romances anymore, unless I know the author like our own Anna DePalo, Kathleen O’Reilly and Barbara Gale. Every month, I go into the book store, and I head to the romance section to look through that month's offerings from Harlequin/Silhouette. I've read through the reviews in RT, and checked out the eHarlequin web-site and every month, I don't buy anything unless it's an author I know, or I find an intriguing plot. But that doesn't happen often.

Maybe it's the titles on the covers of Silhouette Desire and Harlequin Presents, the Baron's Billionaire Baby or the Pregnancy of Revenge (how do you have a pregnancy of revenge?). Maybe it's all the Sheik books, or brooding continental Europeans, but they just don't appeal to me anymore. Not even the books from Harlequin Blaze float my boat. I also have a problem with heroines getting pregnant from unprotected sex, or being blackmailed into marriage.

I've never read a NEXT novel, and I only read the Bombshells by certain authors. The only Nocturnes I've read have been by authors I know.

Recently, however, I read a category romance that I picked up in England called BEING A BAD GIRL, that I really loved by an American author, Julie Cohen, who lives in the UK. It took the two stereotypes, the good girl who wants to be a bad girl, and the hero who turns out to be pyschologist and made them fresh. Marianne just wants to stop living up to other people's expectations, not realizing that she had the power within her to make changes, and Oz gets in touch with the reckless side that he's supressed since he's helped raise his younger siblings. For once, I felt that here were two characters who actually talked to each other, and the misunderstandings came from not listening, not from anything contrived.

This is the second Julie Cohen book that I've read, and I plan on purchasing the others from Amazon.co.uk or the Eharlequin UK site.

Thanks for reading!

EKM

What the heck is going on?

I'm away from the internet for like two days, and what happens? Britney Spears shaves all her hair off! Yes, people, after checking herself in and out of rehab, girlfriend went into a barbershop and demanded that a stylist shave all her hair off.

I knew that Mercury in retrograde did weird things but this is just the weirdest. First, like four guys are claiming that they fathered Anna Nicole Smith's baby, including Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband who now claims that he had a ten year affair with Anna, and then her half-sister claims that no, Anna impregnated herself with her late husband's sperm!

I just wish they would let the poor misguided woman rest in peace. She had just lost her son, her dreams of becoming a huge star didn't turn out quite the way that she planned, and now this. I'm not even sure who I think should get custody of the baby, but I do think Dannielynn should at least be given to Howard Stern's sister, or someone not related to the case, like a foster parent. Someone with no vested interest in whether or not that little baby is going to inherit millions.

And Britney? She needs to go back to rehab, because the girl has some serious problems. She needs Courtney Love and Whitney Houston do an intervention or something. Where's Madonna when you need her?

Thanks for reading,

EKM

Feeling Good!

I pulled a sickie yesterday, after working 2 nights in a row at my night job until almost two o'clock in the morning. I managed to sleep until 9 a.m. and then I took off for my hair appointment at Ouidad. If you have curly hair like mine, Ouidad is the mecca for us. The salon is also very expensive. We're talking like 4 Supercuts for the price of one. But my hair looks great, and the stylist Alina actually managed to cut my hair the way that I've always wanted it. So now, of course, I'm hooked. Plus, I got the deep conditioning treatment because my hair was fried, from all the hair care products, and coloring my hair every two months. So the hair cut, the conditioning treatment, plus the haircare products I had to buy (and they didn't twist my arm either) means that I won't be eating sushi for a couple of weeks.

I've also continued querying for my YA novels. I just shot out two queries today, and got partial requests, so I'm psyched. I'm going to put the rejection that I got on Wednesday (yes, Valentine's Day) behind me and move forward. Like the email said, there are lots of agents out there that I haven't yet queried.

Last night, I went to a lovely book party for the China Dolls authors, Michelle Yu and Blossom Kan at an art gallery way the hell over near the highway in Chelsea. It was freezing last night which made the walk particularly unpleasant but I looked great with my new hair, and a slamming red sweater dress from Victoria's Secret. Had two delicious apple lychee martinis, and chatted with the lovely Kwana Jackson, Marley Gibson, and her husband Mike, my future web master.

We then headed over to Half-King, which is this groovy pub on 23rd street and 10th. The fish and chips were awesome. If you're ever in New York, I would definitely head over there. Now tonight, I'm heading out at 10:00 p.m. to meet a friend to see the musical episode of Buffy at the IFC Center. They do a Buffy sing-a-long night, which I'm looking forward to, and tomorrow I'm having a day spa experience.

Since Mercury is in retrograde, I'm taking this time to work out the kinks in my books, and to really make sure that I plot out my new series before I start writing.

Have a great President's Day weekend!

EKM

HVD!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

May this day – and all your days -- be full of love. --EKM

What's Going On?

I'm sure all you people out in blogland and the world at large are wondering, what happened to Elizabeth? She used to blog regularly with pithy and witty posts about life in New York.

Well, sorry the well is dry right now. I'm still revising my YA for submission to the manuscript critique service and busy sending out queries before Mercury goes into retrograde tomorrow. I'm still plotting my new trilogy which I want to start work on once Mercury is out of retograde. Oh, and I now have a DVR, meaning that not only is the picture clearer on my TV set, but I can now record a show on one channel and watch a show on a different channel.

I recorded the new version of Dracula which I already know is going to piss me off because it takes huge liberties with the book. Like implying that Lucy's fiance has syphillis and that's why he needs Dracula to bite him, as a cure. I'm also back to taping my soap now that I can actually watch it in color.

We're moving floors tomorrow at my job which is annoying because this is the second move in the year and a half since I've been at my job. Two of my group are out, so guess who has to pack up their stuff? Me, of course. I'm not looking forward to it, not the least because it takes away from my writing time.

Can I just say that while I like Extreme Makover: Home Edition, Ty Pennington gets on my last nerve? I used to like him on Trading Spaces, but now he just sucks up the air on Extreme Makeover. And I hate when he tries to get all symphathetic and stuff with the families. It just looks so fake.

Well, that's it for today. We're due snow tomorrow. Sweet!

EKM

Dialects, too much or too little?

Sorry, I've been such a bad blogger. I'm revising my first YA trying to get in shape before I sent it to the manuscript critique service that I've used before. Bev Katz Rosenbaum, who wrote 'I was a teenage popsicle' does fantastic critiques. I'm kind of excited yet trepidatious to see what she's going to say about the manuscript. Still, I want to get it in the best shape possible before I send it off.

I've already shaved off about ten pages out of the manuscript, but the last 60 pages of the manuscript need alot of tweaking. I can't believe that I actually sent this off to an agent now that I've re-read it. Three of my characters in Crazy Little Thing Called Love are foreign, Theo is Greek, Penny is English and Demetrius, who is also Greek, was sent to school in England. So, I'm very conscious as I go through the manuscript that their voices are distinctive compared to my American characters.

I was thinking about this tonight when I went to the Strand Bookstore to kill time before I went to work. I love the Strand, 3 floors of books all just waiting to be read and bought. Downstairs, among the review paperbacks, I found a book by a well-known chick-lit author, who's new book is partially set in Ireland. As I flipped through the book, I was kind of appalled at the writing for the Irish characters.

It was all written in the worst kind of dialect imaginable. Lucky Charms leprechaun Irish. Words were spelt like 'cawl' for 'call' and 'forst' for 'first.' But the worst was that the love interest kept saying 'yiz'. It made me wonder if the author had ever read a Marian Keyes book or any Irish author. Not even John Millington Synge wrote dialogue that was as appalling as what I read in this novel. She thanks a woman who she says helped her with the Irish portions, but obviously the help wasn't great. And this wasn't the first time I'd noticed this tendency. She had a character in her last book who was West Indian who sounded like a Madame Cleo clone.

It reminded me of Nicolas Cage's bad Italian accent in Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

On the other hand, I just read a review of a book, where the reviewer felt that she didn't get enough of the hero's Scottish accent. It's a real toughie when it comes to how to convey that a character speaks with an accent without relying on cliches.

I have a character in my second YA who is French Canadian, and I work with a guy who's French Canadian, so I'm very careful to listen to how he speaks. I've also thought of throwing in a few french words every now and again when he gets stressed or at a loss for words.

Do other people find it hard to write for characters with accents, and what was the worst experience you had reading a book?

Thanks for reading.

EKM

"Dirty Books" I read as a teenager

Entertainment Weekly has a great article up on the 'dirty books' that the staff read as a teenager. The article came about after author, Tina Jordan, was complaining that her teenage daughter was reading The Gossip Girls series. Even though her daughter read another books besides The Gossip Girl series, including alot of literary fiction, Tina wondered what her daughter saw in the books.

This apparently sparked a debate in the office, leading the staff to reminisce about the 'dirty books' they read as a teenager. Most of the usual suspects appeared on the list, including Forever by Judy Blume, the first book written for teens that had an actual sex scene in it. Who can forget Mike naming his penis 'Ralph'? Before that, I had to read adult books if I wanted to learn about sex, like John Jakes, The Bastard and Rich Man, Poor Man, both of which I read in the 6th grade.

My parents were probably unusual in that they never censored what I read. I think they were just so happy to have a child that loved reading. Not to mention the fact that I was already reading on a college level by the time I was ten. So when I used my allowance to buy books like Rich Man, Poor Man or anything by Helen Van Slyke or Taylor Caldwell, they didn't say anything.

I mean, I read books that were age appropriate also. All of Madeleine L'Engle, Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie, but I have ADD when I read, so I was always dipping into 2 or 3 books at a time. I had to get permission to use the Upper School library, because I'd read everything in the Lower School library by the time I was ten.

The only time that my parents ever said anything to me about what I read was when my father caught me reading Harold Robbins, The Pirate, and then he just wanted to know if my mother knew that I read such books. I told him she loaned it to me! In fact, Sweet Savage Love, the first historical romance I ever read, I borrowed from my mother. It's where I learned that men went down to Brazil in a manner of speaking. I was almost more embarrassed that my mother had read it!

The article also mentioned Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. Now that was totally a dirty book. If you haven't read it, you might want to take a shower afterwards. Four kids are locked in an attic by their grandmother, after they come to live with her when their father dies. Their mother just goes off and leaves them with her. You learn later it's because their mother married her Uncle or something like that, which sort of foreshadows the fact that Chris and his sister end up falling in love and doing the nasty.

I'm not ashamed to admit I learned alot about male/female relations from these books. They were very informative, when you consider that my mother was still trying to pass off the cabbage patch theory of childbirth to me when I was ten. This was after I had already learned the facts of life in school!

If it weren't for Are You There God, It's Me Margaret, I would totally have been unprepared for when it hit puberty. (Wasn't that a funny scene in Talladega Nights, when Michael Clarke Duncan is reading the book to Will Ferrell?).

Thank god, for 'dirty books'! They certainly made my adolescence that much more interesting!

EKM

Finally some good news!

No, I haven't sold a book or gotten an agent, but there is still some good news to be had in the world, and I'm not just talking about the fact that Ilan Hall beat Marcel Vigneron on Top Chef.

The good news is that the final Harry Potter book will be out this July 21st, and yours truly has already pre-ordered her copy to be delivered hot off the press by Amazon.com on the day of. Ever since the 4th Harry Potter, I have pre-ordered my copies from Amazon and they arrive bright and early on the morning the book comes out right into my hot little hand.

I just hope that this book isn't as thick as the last two because I almost broke my foot reading the last one when it dropped on it by accident. Although since is the very last one (and I'm holding JK Rowling to this), it'll probably weigh a ton. I'll just have to remember not to read it in the bathroom (Hey, I read in the tub!).

Can't wait to read it but it will be very sad because it'll be the penultimate book. I just hope she doesn't kill off Harry, Ron or Hermione. It was bad enough she killed you know who in the last one.

Thanks for reading!

EKM