Book Review: Blank Mastermind by Rosey Mucklestone

Guys, I’m so excited to be bringing you this book review today! I absolutely loved reading this book, and I couldn’t wait to share about it with all of you. So let’s get right into the review!

Blurb

Amnesia is annoying. The poor hero has to find out everything about his wonderful life again and re-meet all the lovely people he knew before, then go to stop the villain. But what if the life that starts showing itself isn’t wonderful, the people aren’t lovely and the villain is… yourself?

My Review

WOOOOWWWW!!!!! I was so excited to finally get to read this book in its full and final form! I got to read a lot of the parts on the author’s blog (you can check it out here, and I highly recommend it), but I got behind due to the craziness of school, so when I heard she was publishing it, I decided to wait and read the final product. And man, did it blow me away!!!

First of all, the idea of a villain getting amnesia is great, and the author executed it so well! Amnesia is hard to write, especially in first person, and she pulled it off! And with our amnesiac being a villain… well, that made the whole thing crazier. Not to mention that the name Wolfgang Dankworth is hilariously evil (apologies to anyone named Wolfgang Dankworth…).

And speaking of Wolfy, the characters in this book are amazing!!! I was so blown away by the character development. Not just Wolfy and his gang, but the superheroes too. Everyone seemed so real and normal and human. Like you could actually run into these people on the street. The little kids were also amazingly accurate and adorable, too.

The plot! I couldn’t put this book down! The twists and turns of the plot and the suspense were amazing, and aaaaahhhh it was so good!!! I hesitate to say much due to spoilers, so you just need to read it for yourself! I only had one minor issue in that I got a little frustrated that Charles didn’t tell Wolfgang why Wolfgang hated him when he was at their house. Communication is key…. But that was really minor and it was handled all right later on.

Favorite moments:
-Wolfgang finding out he was a villain. So. Much. Emotion.
-Ice cream and cake for breakfast. That’s one thing I haven’t done yet as a college student…
-Everything with Lucius.
-Cardboard. ❤ Like… everything she does.
-Schoolhouse Rock
-Old Tom
-Bad News’ “internal mother hen radar”

Favorite quotes:
-“What happened to your face?” “Dashing good looks happened to my face.”
-“Something held me back from asking who my sworn enemy was. I guess I was nervous it would turn out to be Mother Theresa or something.”

So, basically, read it! This book is soooo good, and now I want to get a paperback copy of it, too! I’m looking forward to reading more books by Rosey Mucklestone, and you should, too! This was a perfect first read for the year.

Here’s where you can find Blank Mastermind!

Amazon | Goodreads

About the Author

Rosey Mucklestone is the oldest of nine crazy kids and the daughter of two awesome parents. She lives with her family and two dogs in Missouri, spending her time writing, reading, baking and waitressing. Topics she’s passionate about include: the ocean, the Bible, mountains, fandoms, stories and characters in general. She’s never gotten amnesia and doesn’t plan on it, but life is full of surprises, so who knows? You can stalk her blog at: www.writefury.com.

So what do you think? If you’ve read the book, what are your favorite parts? If you haven’t… maybe you should! Feel free to comment below, I love talking to you guys!

 

Tales From The Writer’s Desk: Blogiversary Bash

Warning: Craziness follows. For more information about characters, click the links provided. 😉 Enjoy!!!

“So… why are we here?” Slade asks. He leans back in the chair, arms behind his head.

I gape at him. “What?”

“Why was I dragged here?” Slade says, raising an eyebrow.

“We didn’t drag you here,” Wilson says, plopping down in another chair nearby. “We said, ‘Come on, there’s going to be cake,’ and you came.”

“And I haven’t seen any cake.” Slade leaned forward. “You didn’t lie to me, did you?”

Iris leans against my desk. “Bri said there would be cake,” she says. All eyes turn to me.

“Um.” This is a tough position. “I think all of you might have misunderstood. While there will most likely be birthday cake, as long as Adelyn doesn’t make… er, attempt to make… it, I-I wasn’t talking about cake the food. I was talking about Cake the person.”

Silence. “You–” Ellis stutters. “There’s a person named Cake?”

“Blame Adelyn,” I grumble. “She’s the one who gave him the nickname when he wouldn’t tell her his name.”

“I’m more concerned about the apparent lack of food cake,” Slade says, looking very upset.

Haven stands up. “I can take care of that.”

I give her a grateful smile and she ducks her head shyly before turning to leave the room. Benedict comes in, and I point towards a seat. “Sit,” I command. “You don’t need to work. This is a party. Everyone can show themselves in here.”

He sits down reluctantly, and Iris leans forward, eyes sparkling. “So, this Cake guy. Does he have a real name?”

I make a face. “He says he does, but he won’t tell me, so sometimes I wonder.”

The door opens and Adelyn walks in, followed by Cake, Jet, and Chase, her story companions. “I can’t believe you’ve been around for a whole year,” Adelyn says, giving me a present.

“Uh, it’s not my birthday,” I say, face turning red.

“Yeah, but it’s the blog’s, and it’s pretty much the same thing,” Adelyn insists. “Besides, I burned the cake.” She looks around the room at everyone. “Well, this is our first time here. I can’t believe it! It’s so cool. I meant to talk to you about an interview, Bri,” she hints.

I clear my throat, but I’m interrupted as the door opens again. “I’m pretty sure I’ve got the next turn,” Chloe says, walking in. Her cane taps slowly against the floor, and Benedict helps her find a chair. Melissa rolls in after her, parking her wheelchair next to Chloe’s chair. There’s a slight tap at the door as it starts to close and then Pam rolls in.

“Yay for the only one whose story is actually finished and published,” Slade grumbles, giving me a pointed look.

Pam’s cheeks redden. “Are you almost finished typing up our post-book interview?” she asks me.

Now my face is hot. “Um. Getting close, yes.” I stand up quickly. “Since we’re obviously limited on space, you all are the only ones I’ve invited.”

“Yay, no Marba!” Ellis says, grinning.

“I don’t have a villain,” Pam says, frowning.

“Same.” Chloe shifts in her chair. “Or do you just mean that you didn’t invite my mom? She’s not exactly a villain.”

“Um.” Abstract villains? “Technically your conflicts are internal. But that doesn’t matter now, why don’t we just enjoy ourselves?”

Haven walks in carrying a cake, and Slade leaps up to hold the door for her. I’m not sure if it’s because of the cake or Haven. I hide a smile. “How did you even make it that fast?” Iris says, eyes wide.

Haven smiles and sends me a wink. “I came prepared.” She’s always thinking ahead, of course, and she probably decided to bring a cake, just in case.

We set the cake down in the middle of my desk, which is cleaned off for once. Everyone gathers around, and Benedict and I blow out the candles. I roll my eyes at him, but he just smiles.

Slade reaches for the cake. “This is mine, okay? You guys can find your own…”

I smack his hands away and pick up the knife. “Who wants a slice?”

Here’s to a full year of writerly blogging! And free cake for all you wonderful followers! Oh… and a giveaway! Comment below and you’ll be entered for a chance to win a PDF copy of Paralyzed Dreams!

Make sure to use a valid email address when commenting, as this is how I’ll send the book.

The 777 Writing Challenge

Hi, everyone! Today I was sort-of tagged for the 777 challenge by Lynette Noni!

The 777 challenge requires you go to Page 7 of your work-in-progress, scroll down to Line 7 and share the next 7 lines in a blog post. Once you have done this, you can tag 7 other bloggers to do the same with their work-in-progress.

Since my two main stories that I’m working on are still in the plotting stages, I decided to share from the story I’m currently editing. This worked out perfectly to the first time we see the villain! And don’t worry, you’ll be hearing more about this story soon.

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Marba wove her way down the hallway between the small groups of people. They didn’t pay any attention to her, and she repaid them with the same treatment. You could tell which trainees were new; they were the ones who stared at her in awe as she walked past. Most of the seasoned trainees, and those who had completed training, had grown used to her commanding stature.

“Marba,” an authoritative voice called from behind her. The very sound of that voice was enough to silence all of the conversation in the hallway.

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What a perfect ending! 😀 Now for those people I tag…

icedmocha34

erinkenobi2893

awkwardlyartistic

Ashlee Willis

writefury

Robyn Hoode

And if you’re reading this, I tag YOU as my seventh person! 😀

What did you think of the excerpt? Are you going to do the challenge? Well, are you????

Writings About Writing – Those We Love, Part Three

Part 1 and Part 2

Here’s a tough question. (One I don’t have an answer to, too.) Why do people like some villains?

I mean, really. They’re the bad guys. (Ahem, Loki, Moriarty… Read more in this post from my other blog.) We’re not necessarily supposed to like the bad guys.

That said, maybe we can learn a lesson or two from these bad guys, to apply to the characters we want our readers to like.

Appearance. We live in a culture that is totally concerned with how people look. If you think about it, yeah. Most of the characters that get fangirled over (if that’s even the right term) are “cute”.

Backstory. This is the bigger of these two points. Now, I don’t know about Moriarty, since I haven’t watched BBC’s Sherlock, and he certainly wasn’t that likable in the books, but (from what I’ve watched, remember that I’ve only seen him in The Avengers) Loki’s got a pretty sad backstory. Adoption, under his brother’s shadow, and all of that. People like characters with sad backstories. Just don’t give your character a tragic backstory that has absolutely nothing to do with your story. Have it play in somehow.

That said, it’s back to editing… So long, friends!

Do you like characters with tragic backstories? Do you like Loki or Moriarty? Do any of your favorite  characters (in your stories or others) have a sad story, and how does that play into the overall story? Do you think a backstory needs to affect the overall story?