Back from Vaca with an August Book Review Club

Happy August! I hope you are having a fantastic summer. :) The first Wednesday of the month means another edition of The Book Review Club hosted by Barrie Summy, author of I So Don't Do Mysteries. Today, I'm featuring the fabulous and new mommy, Cyn Balog's FAIRY TALE.

I'm going to be honest and I don't usually share this with ANYONE - mainly because I don't want my writer and reader buds to throw things at me. I'm not a huge fan of fantasy because most of the time I just don't 'get it' (it meaning the fantasy). BUT, I do enjoy a good story and Cyn Balog's debut, FAIRY TALE is amazing. In fact, it's so good, I actually contemplated picking up a few fantasies at Borders last weekend. :)

I'll let Cyn tell you about FAIRY TALE..

1. After reading FAIRY TALE, I was left with a lot of potential lessons about life – letting loved ones go, fate, sacrifice and selflessness, teenage boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, etc... What is the most important one you tried to portray?

Mostly, I wanted to portray how even things we're 100% sure about might not happen... even when you're a psychic and have the most perfect relationship ever, that by no means guarantees the future!

2. Loved your characters, Cam, Morgan, Scab, Eden, and Pip. Any muses?? :)

Not so much-- Cam is my popular dream guy, the guy most girls would want, and Pip is the flip side, the gangly, humble, sensitive guy... the type of guy girls SAY they want! Morgan is who I would probably be if I had the ability to see the future... she is snarky and sometimes mean, but it's a thin disguise because she's really not that self-confident-- she knows all of her popularity is tied up in her gift and her boyfriend... so when both of those start to crumble, her insecurity begins to show.

3. Why did you choose to write about fairies? Are you a fairy fan?

Not a huge fairy fan. I just wanted to write a paranormal with a love triangle, and I thought it would be very interesting to have a GUY fairy, since most books out there were about girls learning they were fairy princesses.

4. Your description is remarkable and I commend the way you were able to make the story so real and believable. Any tips for writing such rich description? Do you write description in your first draft or add it later?

I write really lean at first; my first drafts are usually like 45,000 words. Then I go back and embellish. I really have no idea how people can write 100k-word books, because I have never been able to do that. I always seem to want to rush rush rush through all the action, so I leave description and characterization very sparse and always have to throw it in there in the next draft. Plus, I guess I don't think very descriptively... it always takes me longer to come up with that imagery.

5. Tell us about your next book.. I can’t wait! :)

Sleepless, about a Sandman who falls in love with a mortal girl whose sleep he controls, is due out in 2010! It's another YA geared toward the 12-14 age group and I just turned in revisions for it... so I am excited to go through the whole process again with another book!

Thanks, Cyn!!! And don't miss FAIRY TALE!!

Have a wonderful Wednesday! :)