Author Appreciation Week - Part Five!!!

Before I start, I would like to thank Heidi R. Kling for conceiving and organizing Author Appreciation Week! Heidi, Thank you! I can't wait until SEA is released on June 10, 2010 (just in time for my birthday)!!! Unless you want to give me an ARC... ;o)


My last author is someone I recently discovered through the recommendation of a friend. I think her exact words were, "Once you read these books, nothing else will compare. Ever."

Well, goodness gracious!! How do you pass up a recommendation like that?? So I downloaded Hunger Games.

Oh. My. GOD!!!

THANK YOU, Suzanne Collins!!!

Thank you for Katniss. She is such an amazing character! Smart, strong, independent, fiercely protective, and the ultimate survivor. If I had to live in a dystopian future, I would want to be Katniss. I'm supposed to be a writer, yet I am out of words when it comes to Katniss. There is so much to say. She is so complex in so many ways.

Thank you for Peeta. I love Peeta. He is just as fiercely protective of Katniss as she is of Prim. And he loves her. And he gave her bread. And he wants to defy The Capitol. And he makes me swoon while lives are on the line!

Thank you for Gale. I love Gale. I think he is a better match for Katniss (from what I've seen thus far). He knows Katniss, knows how she works and how she thinks. They have been through many of the same hardships (obviously except for the Games) and have overcome long-term hardships together. And he is honest with her.

Thank you for Cinna. What can I say? He created the Girl on Fire. He turned Katniss into the Mockingjay. He just, well, I love him too.

Thank you for Rue. *sighs*

And those are just some of the characters...

Then there's the story...

Despite the dark topic, I found myself laughing throughout the story, often just as I was wiping tears away. These books are so beautifully crafted.

And the whole Katniss/Peeta/Gale thing just gets me. See, in Twilight (excuse the comparison here), it is so obvious that Bella belongs with Edward. While I love Jacob (more than Edward in some ways), there was never any doubt in my mind who Bella should end up with. The story would have seemed incongruous had she ended up with Jacob, so the whole Team Edward/Team Jacob thing is ridiculous to me. And in Mortal Instruments, from the day Jace finds Clary at the poetry reading, there was no doubt in my mind that they belong together. Whether they would actually be able to be together was the question. But, as much as I love Simon, I could never see him with Clary...

But Katniss. I can see her choosing either one of them. Or neither of them. All three of those choices make perfect sense to me. I personally think that she is more suited to Gale, and I think his love for her is more "true" seeing as how they actually knew each other before the Games, but I cannot disregard all that she went through with Peeta.

I am anxiously awaiting the release of Mockingjay in August!!!

So again, thank you, Suzanne Collins!!

By the way, after reading The Hunger Games Series, I realized that my dystopian short story, "A Few Dollars", was begging to be turned into book. And it will, as soon as I am done with this one!!


Thank you all for joining me this week!! It has been fun to document the five authors who have had the most influence on my writing!

Speaking of which... I'd better get back to it before Tamy has a heart attack waiting for the resolution to the cliffhanger I left her with!!! ;o)