Meet My New Guest Reviewer!

*Phew*  I'm going to get a bit of time to relax for a few months.  *sigh*  This is awesome.  I'll be here, but I'm going to have a helping hand.

I'm so happy (THRILLED!) to share with you a guest reviewer who will be around for a few months (unless I or your *evil eye* scare her off - but between you and me, I think it's going to be hard to scare her off).  Okay, don't believe me about being hard to scare her off?  Did you see her name?  Yea.  Look at the eyes she's giving you! ;P  LOL!  Seriously, I'm totally jelly over her logo!  I want one. :D

Alright, all in fun.  Seriously, I love this woman.  I'll let her introduce herself to you.  Not only does she have killer books, but she has a wonderful personality.  So please, give a great big warm welcome for Mama Bitchstress...

Hello Melissa’s Awesome Blog Followers!

For the next couple of months, I am on a writing hiatus (refilling the well so that I can come back refreshed and write Books That Do Not Suck Hairy Goat Ass), and I decided the first thing I wanted to do was dive into my MASSIVE to-be-read pile. I’d like to read a book a week, and I pitched to Mel the idea of posting guest reviews at her blog in the hopes it would give her a day or so off to relax as she catches up with things. She graciously agreed to let me play in her sandbox (am I the only one who finds that metaphor dirty-sounding?), and so here I am.

Who am I: Multi-published urban fantasy writer, Skyla Dawn Cameron. Mel likes my books. I think they’re pretty rad too. I work in publishing and I have a lot of cats. When I’m not banging my head in frustration as I work out a plot tangle, I like running, watching anything Whedon, killing zombies (in games), talking about vegan food, and learning how to knit.

Why Mama Bitchstress: “Bitchstress Dreamkiller” is my title over at The Evil League of Evil Writers, and I do a series of posts called Editing 101 with Mama Bitchstress. I am the mother-hen-type, hence “Mama.” And Bitchstress, well...I’m a bitch, folks.

What I’ll be reviewing: Let’s get this out of the way now...I will only review books I like. My reviews will always be 100% honest, however a) I am picky, hard to please, and often broke, therefore I select my reading material very carefully so don’t often read something I hate, and b) I work in this industry and it is in my best interest not to get all ranty about books potentially by my peers. And because I’m doing this for pleasure, I want to talk about books I’m excited about.

I am not paid to review things; all books are purchased for my own enjoyment. I will not review any books I’ve worked on. I may review books by my friends, but only if I genuinely love the book, and I will disclose this fact on the review itself. I also have trouble separating the technical aspects of how a book is written from my enjoyment of it, meaning I like shit that’s well done. “Unlikeable” characters? Hey, if they’re written well, I don’t care if they’re not the sort I’d want to have over for dinner. Horrifying plot twist? I can dig it if it fits, even if it means everyone I love dies at the end. I may talk about things like pacing and structure, but will endeavor not to make my reviews book-report-y.

I also told Mel I’d stick with books in genres she blogs about, so you’ll see UF, paranormal, adventure, and fantasy (maybe YA in those genres). On the weeks I’m reading about mountaineering or North Korea, I will kindly skip my blog post here (though I tend to share my thoughts on GoodReads, so go ahead and friend me there if you want to keep up with how I feel about The Secret History of Mi6 or Eve Ensler’s new memoir).

I’ll be starting next week with Lilith Saintcrow’s The Red Plague Affair (plus a giveaway! Because I want you to like me and THAT’S HOW I ROLL, FOLKS).

Thank you, again, to Mel for having me here, and I look forward to getting to know everyone.