Book Review: Undercover by Beth Kephart

UNDERCOVER by Beth Kephart
A review from a writers perspective

Imagine words pirouetting in a perfectly choreographed line straight into the depth of your soul. Along the way their magic softens calluses and sets free the hidden and the buried things that you've justified into darkness yet have managed to take root in your very core. The words breeze by, stir up the muck and set them free. This phenomenon may result in tears, relief, latent therapy or just made you take time to stop and think, but they've done some good none-the-less, in one way or another. That's what lyrical language does for me. That's what this book did. Beautifully written.

Why I picked it up? I went to flashlightworthy.com and looked for reading suggestions. The description and the mention of "lyrical language" caught my eye.

The Story: The story in itself is simple: Girl (Elisa) with low self esteem and a crumbling home life likes boy. Boy dates another girl. What sets this book apart from other books with a similar story line is the materials with which it is woven into an intricate and thoughtful design. Kephart created a modern day, teen Cyrano De Bergerac (Elisa) and adorned her with a unique perspective on life and a love for skating that helps her step out of her shell so she can face her troubles with confidence and realize the beauty within herself.

The Characters: Most of the characters are well-rounded and well-done. The only Character that I think could have been more developed was Lila, the girlfriend of our main characters love interest. Lila's character is flat and since we know so little about what fuels her over-dramatic outbursts towards Elisa, it makes Lila's character and her excessive actions feel a bit forced.

The Voice: The things that make up the voice of this book: The lyrical language (of course) Even though this is a lyrical book Kephart is still able to maintain an authentic teen mindset and thought process, Elisa's unique perspective and contemplation about the world around her, strong use of symbolism with a statue, a lake and the change of seasons.

The Underlying Theme: What is going on beneath this regular girl with regular problems? She is learning to not give into her troubles and let them keep her from having what she wants just because she has always believed that she didn't deserve them.

I believe that the best of the best of the books out there have a sentence or a paragraph (usually found somewhere in the last quarter of the book that states or gives clue to the underlying theme of the book. Since it is written so well, I want to share this paragraph where I found (what I believe to be) the underlying theme.


Part 2 chapter 18
setting: Elisa is contemplating her honors English class study of Cyrano De Bergerac as he cares for Roxanne after the death of Christian, yet he never tells her the truth of his love and his letters, that the words that made her fall in love with Christian were really his words and his sentiments.
". . . . But what does he do, for fourteen years? He attends to Roxanne's fantasy. 'It is written/ that I should build for others and be forgotten . . .' he says. 'I stand below in dark--'tis all my story--/while others climb to snatch the kiss of glory.'
Here's what I think, when I think about it more: beauty is a cruel deception, true. But the greatest tragedy of all is letting invisibility win. It's choosing to give up the thing you want because you think you don't deserve it."

On a scale from 1-5 I give this book a 4. It's a great read and a ton of literary jewels for a writer to uncover and put in their little literary box of treasures.

What you may not know about me . . .

Thanks to Katrina Lantz for giving this blog award to me.

Since I'm a very obedient person and adhere to all rules (a-hem) I will do what all who post this award must do; Post 15 things that you probably don't know about me.

1) I study 2 disciplines of martial arts; Taekwondo and Hapkido

2) I don't mind going to the movies by myself. I actually kind of like it when I feel like a need an "escape"

3) I have broken both of my legs and both of my arms, but not at the same time. This last broken ankle was the clincher. I'd really like to stop breaking bones now.

4) In 7th grade, my English teacher accused me of plagiarizing a poem that I had written for an assignment. (It was called Lead Foot Granny) I was so embarrassed that I didn't keep it. In hindsight, I wish I had.

5) When I was 16 I got to travel through France for a month with my French group.

6) My husband and I only knew each other for one week before we started talking about getting married. I was only 21 when we got married. The odds were against us, but we'll be celebrating year 18 this May.

7) I had some unusual pets as a kid such as; a turtle, an iguana and hermit crabs

8) I love turkey bologna.

9) My favorite Starbucks drink is a skinny vanilla latte.

10) I was hit by a car when I was 5 years old (see #3) with a broken arm, leg and my face split open, I was lucky I survived.

11) I was a gymnast and a figure skater when I was younger

12) I went to the same church with Clay Aiken a year before he went on American Idol. My jaw dropped the first time I heard him sing a solo from the stage.

13) I once went to a hard-core biker wedding. I went dressed in shorts and still felt over dressed.

14) I once had a friend who had a guinea pig that would do back flips after it ate broccoli.

15) I have a tattoo.

Now I'm supposed to tag people. The rules say it should be 15 people, but honestly by this point it's hard to find bloggers who haven't already had this award given to them. I'll just tag some people and not worry about how many it ends up being. I mean, there aren't any blogging award police out there, is there?

I am tagging:

Kelly Pollark, Rena Jones, Angela Ackerman, Bish Denham, MG Higgins, Cynthia Chapman Willis. Also, if I didn't post your name but you want to participate then consider yourself tagged!

Beth Revis Gives Encouragement to Writers

Happy Birthday
Across the Universe!

That's right. Today is the long anticipated birth of Beth Revis' brain child, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

Congratulations Beth! I know the world is going to go gaga over your book.

I also thought this would be a good opportunity to start a new segment on my blog called "Encouragement for Writers from Authors, Editors and Agents." Who better to be my first Encouragement Interview than Beth!

So, Thank you Beth for sharing some words of encouragement for writers on your very special day.

Beth, Do you have a favorite saying, quote or poem that inspires you during times of discouragement?
I love Winston Churchill's quote: "Never never never never never give up."

Do you have a brief story about discouragement in your own writing career that you would like to share with us?
The truth of the matter is that I was rejected for ten years before I got a single acceptance. That sucked. There's no other way to put it. I was ready to give up, and very nearly did, but decided to give it one last shot...and that ended up being ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, the book that changed everything.

What words of encouragement do you have for people who have yet to publish their fist manuscript?
Keep writing. By this, I mean: write each novel like it's The One--revise it, edit it, work on it, and submit it--but if it doesn't work out, write the next novel. Don't let yourself stagnate. Keep writing.

What words of encouragement do you have for those who are published yet are seeking further publication?
Keep writing. The same principle applies to the published author as to the unpublished one. Keep working, keep striving, and never never never never never give up.

Anything else to add?
If you haven't read it, check out Paolo Coelho's novel, THE ALCHEMIST. It's a wonderful book about seeking and striving towards your dreams, and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to try to become something more.

Thanks for your encouraging words, Beth. You are an inspiration! Also, thanks for rec. the Alchemist. I'll have to check that out, but before I do, I HAVE to read Across the Universe first! I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.

I give a whole new meaning to "breaking a resolution"

It's only the 3rd of January and I've already broke my resolution. Literally.

OK, so it's not necessarily a resolution for the new year. I have an ongoing resolution to work on my health and fitness goals. It's pretty much a staple in my life. January just seems like a good time to renew that commitment. So . . . this morning I wake up at around 5:00. I'm feeling energetic and peppy, so I decide to take the dogs for a walk before waking the kids up for school. I bundle up. Walk out the door, walk down the driveway, slip on ice at the end of the driveway and break my ankle. I had to crawl up the drive and up the stairs to wake up my hubby to take me to the emergency room. To make a long story short, I have to have surgery on my ankle in the morning to have a metal plate put on my bone.

So, my new New Years resolution is to not take the dogs for a walk early in the morning. Nothing good happens that early in the morning. Sleep in people! It's the safest thing to do.

I'll be off my feet for about 6-8 weeks, so it looks like I'll have more time to dedicate to my writing. I'm thinking about doing a NaNo Break-mo. I've started an idea for a new book, so maybe it'll be fun to see what I can do with that for the next 6-8 weeks and an ample supply of pain killer.

On a more positive note, here's a link to my article that was published in the 2011 Charlotte Parent Baby Guide. Click here to see it.

Psssst!!! Come a little closer. I have a secret to share.

the Genie Scheme by Kimberly K. Jones

a review from a writers perspective

Do you ever have things magically disapper? Socks, toys, jewelry, books? Psst . . . . ! Come a little closer. I've got a secret to share with you.

I've done a little research on this "disappearing epidemic" and I found some interesting intel. The answer to this phenomenon? Genies. Yep. That's right.

I learned this info from Janna, a teen who feel like she lives in poverty because her mom drives an old car and they have to shop at second hand stores, showed a random act of kindness to a bag lady. Turns out this wasn't your run-of-the-mill bag lady. Nope! She was a Genie. Apparently when you show kindness to a Genie, this binds them to you as their master.

Janna was finally able to have everything she had ever dreamed about. Unfortunately, she learned very quickly that genies don't just *poof* things out of thin air. Anything that they give to you has to *poof* out of the possession of someone or someplace else. Janna learns that there are consequences to our greed and materialization of our wishes.

So . . . all those socks that you've lost, they've gone to some poor sap that needs to learn how to make better wishes. Missing books? Gone to some lucky reader who has a magical-endless supply of reading material.

Story: The Genie Scheme is a cute and humorous story best suited for the tween reader. I think an older teen audience would think the moral of the story might be too preachy.

Chracterization: The main character has realistic problems and realistic reactions to them, her character was written well. The genie is funny and likeable. I love the Genie!
The only downside to the characterization is that the "bad guys" fall flat. There seems to be little (if any) redeemable qualities in the antagonists making their personalities unrealistic. Also, there seems to be a blanket idea that all "rich" people are self serving and bad.

Voice: Each character had their own distinctive, consistent and believable voice. Great job on voice!

Overall this is a cute, fast and fun read. And with all our hopes and dreams building up in anticipation of the New Year, this is a good book to remind us to "be careful what you wish for because you just might get it!"

That lead me to ask . . . what do you wish for 2011 to bring?

Critter's new mom just started a blog!

Critter's new adopted mom has set up a new blog in honor of Critter's arrival. Please stop by her blog and welcome Sherri Carpenter and Critter to the blogosphere! http://followsherriandcritter.blogspot.com/

Critter is up for auction!

Click here to go directly to Critter's auction on e-bay!

It has been 15 month, and the time has finally come for Critter's auction! Along with Critter in all his autographed glory, I also made a nice little 20 page scrapbook documenting his travels. you can see the details of the scrapbook by clicking here http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/projectshareewelcome/l=2376313028/p=345131292260621756/g=1555904028/cobrandOid=1000/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/otsc=SYE/otsi=SPBKlink/

this is a picture of what artist,Robert Bateman wrote on Critter's backside.


Are you just finding out about Critter right now? Who is Critter?
Good question.

For over 14 months Critter has traveled the world visiting talented writers, artists, and authors: while exploring their world. Christy Evers sent out Critter after an interactive art project, directed by the cutting edge artist, Ian Sands.

Critter has visited (and was signed) by PJ Hoover (author of the Forgotten Worlds trilogy) and the Texas Sweethearts, in Texas. Beth Revis in North Carolina (whose debut novel, Across the Universe, coming out in January 2011, is expected to be a HUGE success!). Christina Farley in Korea, New England with Nandini Bajpai, Illinois with Kelly Polark, (who is frequented in Highlights magazine), MG Higgins in California, Rena Jones (author of multiple picture books) in Montana, Cynthia Leitich Smith (NY Times best-selling author) in Texas, Bish Denham in the Virgin Islands, Jacqui Robbins (author of “The New Kid and Me”, and “Two of a Kind”) in Michigan, Tina Ferraro, (author of “How to Hook a Hottie, Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress, and The ABC’s of Kissing Boys) in California, Cynthia Chapman Willis, (Picture book author of “Dog Gone” and “Buck Fever”) in New Jersey, Jill S. Alexander, (YA author of “The Sweetheart of Prosper County”) in Texas, Ellen Oh in Virginia, Alberta, Canada with Angela Ackerman (the blog-genius behind the “Writing Thesaurus”. The World-famous artist, Robert Bateman, also signed Critter (on his backside) as an honorary host.

Critter’s Travels have caused him to be beaten around the edges and cracked just a bit, but I think that adds to his charm . . . scarred like a foam-board Indian Jones (for St. Jude) or something like that. It hasn’t taken away from the integrity of the signatures, though. He has traveled the globe in 14 months. He looks pretty good (for being handled by the U.S. post office) The signatures of fabulous people (in addition to his worthy cause) well makes up for his worn edges. Upon his return trip to me he was cracked a bit, but it was easily repaired with super glue.

The winning bidder will receive THE autographed (by the notable people mentioned above) Critter as well as a 20-page scrapbook documenting his travels.

He will be shipped in the flag-case, as shown in the picture, along with the 20 page scrapbook (designed by Snapfish).

You can view Critter's travels on the sidebar of my blog at http://ChristysCreativeSpace.blogspot.com

%100 of the winning bid will go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.