N.B.: I’ve made this post sticky, so you can start with Chapter One here and follow the links at the bottom to the other chapters. If you scroll down, the posts appear newest first – opposite to the chapter order – as I post them.
Okay! I know I said I wouldn’t start reading Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic until today, but I cheated a little and read ahead yesterday so I could blog this morning. I tweeted my fav quotes as I came upon them, but I’ll share a digest below as well.
WARNING: I assume there may be spoilers in the comments – because this is hopefully going to be a discussion – but I’ll try to keep my main post pretty spoiler free. Though, as the chapters progress, I’m sure that will change.
I absolutely love the opening line for the book/series. I believe I’ve managed to nail genre and tone in a single line. This line came to me as I was writing the very first draft of Cupcakes (Etc), and served as a launching point for the entire book, which was super cool. Whereas the opening lines for Trinkets (Etc) and Treasures (Etc) had to be honed much more. Especially the opening of Trinkets, but more on that later 🙂
The vampire stood at the door to my bakery.
The next line that stood out to me as I was reading – for what must be the tenth or more time – is a long time favourite, and if you’ve ever received an email from me you already know I use this as my signature. Again, this line really encapsulates the tone I was going for with Jade – I adore writing Jade.
The customer looked familiar, like maybe he’d been in the bakery a few times before. The vampire, however, was new.
The next bit jumped out at me, and I’m not sure that it had ever really stood out before. Perhaps after writing three (and a half) books from Jade’s POV I really recognized this section as really, truly her. This is Jade in two sentences – an observation and a … well … ill-informed follow-up?
The vampire was gone.
I was nowhere stupid enough to step out onto the sidewalk to look for him … okay, maybe a quick peek.
I thought there was some great interaction between Sienna and Jade in this chapter as well, but I wasn’t compelled to highlight any of it. Some readers wonder about the relationship between the two sisters and why Jade reacts/acts as she does when it comes to her family. I would encourage them to look closer at these sections in the very first chapter. Sometimes, we’re guilty of reading for plot instead of character – I know that’s pretty much all I read for the first time I gobble up a book – but if you read between the lines here, I think Jade’s decisions/actions to come, and her loyal love for one of the ONLY family members she has, might become more clear.
What are your thoughts on the first chapter?
I’m going to pin this post and link the other chapters back to it … I hope …
Read-a-long with the author:
Chapter One – above
Hello Dear Megan! I started reading along with you last evening. I’ve never done anything like this before, so bear with me if I lag behind a bit now and then. Sucking me right into the first chapter is a given, I fell in love with your writing from the first paragraph.
My view on the sisters relationship in the first couple of chapters is that Sienna is trying so hard to be like her sister. So hard that she gets herself all wound up, literally wound up plying several of Jades trinkets around her neck like she is trying to steal something from Jade, some magic. I felt that she was going to be the sister I would love to hate, and I was right.
Karen! So fun to have you join me in the read-a-long 🙂 re: the sisters – yes! I think there is some of that going on … definitely. We have to know that no matter how much Jade loves her that Sienna is going to feel like an outsider in the Godfrey family.
I did enjoy your opening lines very much. Those are so important. Since you are a new-to-me author, I count on the first page to grab me and make me want to read a book. Success! You nailed it.
The line about she shouldn’t look but she peeks anyway, I really like that about Jade’s character. So human..hee.hee….we all do what we know we shouldn’t.
Love the names taken after colors. Great idea. I would name a kid Sienna. Really like that.
The whole scene in the toilet stall had me grinning. The vampire’s horrified look when she mentioned that people thought they were having sex. *chuckles* Then when Sienna suggests it was a blow job…and Jade replies so sarcastically “Yes, Sienna, all vampires just want a blow job” …..I was howling with laughter at that point.
I did wonder why Sienna wasn’t more concerned about the encounter. She did get concerned about the werewolves. I’m thinking this is more about lack of exposure to these creatures. Hudson sure seems like the kind of guy a girl would want to get exposed to.
The as-yet-unnamed-vampire alternates between sexy and scary. I like that a lot!
I was just going to write up my thoughts on the next few chapters and you beat me to a few of my fav moments. 🙂 I love Jade’s sarcasm all through this first book – definitely a huge defence mechanism at play. LOL – re: Hudson – yes!