Hollywood Buzz - A Look At Buzzworthy by Elsie Moody.

Buzzworthy by Elsie Moody

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

She had only one dating rule: no more actors. 

For entertainment reporter Kate Ferris, interviewing celebrities is just part of the job, and she’s never been one to get starstruck. At least, not until she meets movie star Nick Archer in the flesh. One of the hottest and most elusive bachelors in Hollywood, Nick seems miles out of her league, so when he takes an interest in her at a press junket, Kate can’t help but be intrigued. She may have a strict rule against dating actors, but he’s drop-dead gorgeous and she’s only human. 

As their flirtation blossoms into full-blown romance, Kate struggles to maintain her journalistic integrity, while potentially becoming a subject of tabloid gossip herself. Can she and Nick survive the public fallout when the painful mistakes of their past come back to haunt them both? 

If only romance were as simple in real life as it is in the movies.

When I happened across Buzzworthy by Elsie Moody, my expectation was that it would be a pleasant and fun romance, set amongst the glitz and glamor of Hollywood. What I did not expect is that Buzzworthy would be a story of uncharacteristic depth and emotionally satisfying heart.

Elsie Moody brings considerable journalistic experience from a career in the Hollywood press industry, providing a vivid backdrop where industry politics and the cut throat nature of celebrity interweave through a narrative about real people, trying to make their way through an often superficial and unforgiving environment. The result, on that score, feels authentic.

Into the mix, Moody inserts a cast of diverse characters, led by plucky journalist Katelyn Ferris and enigmatic Hollywood A-List actor Nick Archer. They are appealing characters on their own terms, well drawn and full of nuance. I was impressed with how fully realized they are - though this I consider is a failing on my part. The Hollywood setting, the world of movies and celebrity had me thinking that I would find limits in the trajectory of Moody's characters. I underestimated just how much these individuals had to offer. They crackle with ambition, intelligence, sexiness, villainy and humanity. It was a delightful discovery.

Moody's story craft is layered well, with some satisfying twists and turns on its path towards resolution. There was unpredictability in the narrative too, which had me anxious and wanting to read ahead. And, of course, the romantic elements were lovely, with moments of tenderness, emotion and steam.

Buzzworthy is a smart, funny, sexy and heartfelt romance and a resounding success as a debut for Elsie Moody.

Elsie Moody worked in Hollywood for many years as an entertainment reporter, where she attended her share of press junkets and spent countless hours interviewing celebrities on red carpets. Now, she focuses her time writing romantic novels set in the entertainment industry. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two precocious cats.

I had the opportunity to have a chat with Elsie over a 3AM cup of tea while Elsie was keeping a nervous eye on the Californian wildfires that have dominated the news cycle this past week. I started by congratulating Elsie on Buzzworthy. It's what I regard as a real step up in terms of romance. I was intrigued to know more about how she brought elements of her career as a journalist in Hollywood to the character of Kate Ferris. 

DM:  Having been a journalist in the entertainment industry, and modeling Kate on your own experiences, have you had any encounters where the interview script kinda got thrown out the window and you found yourself having a much deeper discussion with your interview subject? I imagine those experiences would have been really satisfying for you as a journalist.

EM: I've never broke protocol the way Kate does by talking negatively about the film with the star, though I'd definitely had the same thoughts! Maybe that was a little projection there, having her say the things I couldn't because I actually wanted to be invited back. There isn't time to go into depth in a junket situation, but I have had the opportunity to attend private dinners set up by publicists with a single star and a few journalists to promote a film or home-video release. Those were really enjoyable, because by the end of the night you've run out of questions and you're just chatting like a group of friends hanging out. 

I've also had some great experiences visiting sets. Usually, you're squeezing in whatever interview time you can get when the actor or director is on a break, then they go back to work or to their trailer or something. But there was one set visit where a big-name actor kept coming over to talk to us in between takes. The director would yell cut, and he'd come back to our table until they called him over again. We got more than an hour with him, broken up into little fragments. It's always nice when you feel like they actually want to talk to you.

DM: The thing that I was most engaged me with Buzzworthy, was the your style of writing. I found it really accessible and your voice authentic. As a journalist, having to adhere to a certain writing style, was transitioning to fiction writing a challenge for you or have you written fiction alongside your professional duties as a journalist.

EM: When I started the book a few years ago it was the first time I'd ever written original fiction outside of school. It requires a whole different set of intellectual muscles, but there are some similarities. Already having the discipline of sitting in front of the screen coming up with words really helped me. When I wrote feature stories I would start with the quotes I wanted to use and then build the article around them. So, whenever I got stuck on the book I'd just write the dialogue and let the characters talk to each other for a bit. Then I'd fill out the rest of the scene later. Of the two, I'd say fiction is harder. I'd compare it to jazz, where non-fiction is more like classical. Many jazz musicians can play classical music if you put it in front of them, but ask a classical musician to improvise and they'll balk. It's possible to learn both styles, it just takes practice.

DM: I'm interested to know how you infused your characters with the depth they contain in the story. Was it a difficult process? Did you find yourself trying to avoid certain stereotypes in their portrayal?
EM: The characters progressed so much from the first draft to the last. I started with a vague idea of their back stories and filled the rest in as I wrote. Then I'd go back and revise earlier chapters after I'd decided on some detail about their personality or history that I needed for the story. Nick took the most tweaking, I think. I started out with this notion that he was the typical Hollywood player/bad boy, but that has been done so much already. I tossed that idea out almost immediately. I wanted to do something different. So I made him more guarded and private. He doesn't like the attention, doesn't want to be in the news for anything other than his films. That's more true to life, but surprisingly rare in stories about movie stars.

DM: You sat down with Novel2Screen recently to discuss the novel. I note from that interview, you've talked about more 'in universe' stories. Could that include a future sequel featuring Kate & Nick? Their journey was so compelling that I found myself wondering about their possible futures after turning the last page.

EM: That's an interesting question. Some people have described the book as having an open ending. To me, it's pretty clear where the story is headed. They've conquered their obstacles, so what's left? I don't have any plans for a sequel at the moment, but I wouldn't rule it out if a good story idea came to me. That being said, don't be surprised if there's a passing reference to one or both of them in the next book that confirms where they ended up. I do plan on writing a number of books set in Hollywood and will be using the characters I've already created to populate it. One problem with writing about Hollywood in the current climate is that you never know whether that real-life actor you name dropped will turn out to be a creep. It's easier just to make up my own movie stars, writers, directors, etc.

Buzzworthy is available now from Amazon.

Visit Elsie Moody here.

Tweet with Elsie here. 

Connect with Elsie here. 

DFA.

View all my Goodreads reviews

For Goblins Do The Bells Toll - A Look At The Goblins Of Bellwater by Molly Ringle.

The Goblins of Bellwater by Molly Ringle

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Most people have no idea goblins live in the woods around the small town of Bellwater, Washington. But some are about to find out. 

Skye, a young barista and artist, falls victim to a goblin curse in the forest one winter night, rendering her depressed and silenced, unable to speak of what happened. Her older sister, Livy, is at wit’s end trying to understand what’s wrong with her. Local mechanic Kit would know, but he doesn't talk of such things: he’s the human liaison for the goblin tribe, a job he keeps secret and never wanted, thrust on him by an ancient family contract.

Unaware of what’s happened to Skye, Kit starts dating Livy, trying to keep it casual to protect her from the attention of the goblins. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kit, Skye draws his cousin Grady into the spell through an enchanted kiss in the woods, dooming Grady and Skye both to become goblins and disappear from humankind forever.


It’s a midwinter night’s enchantment as Livy, the only one untainted by a spell, sets out to save them on a dangerous magical path of her own.

I had the opportunity to read an early version of The Goblins Of Bellwater by Molly and this forms the basis for my review.

The Goblins Of Bellwater, in many ways, marks a significant left turn for Molly Ringle after the rather epic Chrysomelia Stories. True to her talents as a story teller, and a nimble one at that, Molly Ringle returns with a one shot novel that, it could be argued, packs just as powerful a punch as her re-imagining of the Persephone mythology.

Taking inspiration from the works of Christina Rossetti and the visual genius of Brian Froud, The Goblins Of Bellwater offers a fantastical premise, complete with an ancient curse and a hidden population of goblins, which Molly injects seamlessly into a contemporary Pacific North West setting.

The balancing act from the very beginning of this story is perfect and, through the character of Skye - the victim of that curse - we are invested, experiencing her terror and helplessness as she endures it from behind a veil. Likewise, her sister Livy is a vividly drawn character, struggling to cope with something she interprets as something far removed from dark magic, but a something that is no less frightening. Into the mix, comes Kit, an unwilling witness to the machinations of the Goblins, while his cousin Grady, who falls for Skye in the midst of her ordeal, is unwittingly drawn into a conflict that threatens both his and Skye's very existence. Livy's trajectory in the story is, perhaps, the most compelling as it is she who has to find courage and the resources to confront this ages old curse as well as a tribe of beings who have only ever existed in imagination.

The Pacific Northwest, once again, leaps from the page in all its color and life and vibrancy, and I had no trouble immersing myself in a place that I can see is very special to Ringle. And, as she did with her Chrysomelia Stories, Ringle takes an established mythology and turns it on its head, resulting in fresh storytelling that crackles anew and surprises and delights.

The Goblins Of Bellwater is Molly Ringle at her fantastical finest.

The Goblins Of Bellwater hits bookshelves on October 1st 2017.

Molly Ringle (image credit: the author).

Molly Ringle was one of the quiet, weird kids in school, and is now one of the quiet, weird writers of the world. 

She likes thinking up innovative romantic obstacles and mixing them with topics like Greek mythology, ghost stories, fairy tales, or regular-world scandalous gossip. She's into mild rainy climates, gardens, '80s new wave music, chocolate, tea, and perfume (or really anything that smells good). 

She has lived in the Pacific Northwest most of her life, aside from grad school in California and one work-abroad season in Edinburgh in the 1990s. (She's also really into the U.K., though has a love/stress relationship with travel.) She currently lives in Seattle with her husband, kids, guinea pigs, and a lot of moss.

DFA.

View all my Goodreads reviews

Paying Debts - A Review Of Aftermath: Life Debt by Chuck Wendig.

Chuck Wendig's arrival among the pantheon of Star Wars authors has been, perhaps, the most significant one since the announcement of the new canonical timeline by Lucasfilm in 2012. Wendig has certainly divided opinion - as the reviews of his first entry Aftermath illustrated at the time of its release. 

Aftermath was a bold departure - both in style and substance - from previous Star Wars storiesand which many readers took issue with, but it was one that I really liked. Wendig laid the foundations for a wholly revised geopolitical environment in Aftermath that examined the fall out from the Empire's defeat at Endor - both from the Imperial and Alliance perspectives and his examination of both factions responses to the new paradigm was absorbing.

With Aftermath: Life Debt, Chuck Wendig pushes forward unapologetically, making Star Wars his own.

From the liner notes; 

The Emperor is dead, and the remnants of his former Empire are in retreat. As the New Republic fights to restore a lasting peace to the galaxy, some dare to imagine new beginnings and new destinies. For Han Solo, that means settling his last outstanding debt, by helping Chewbacca liberate the Wookiee s homeworld of Kashyyyk.

Meanwhile, Norra Wexley and her band of Imperial hunters pursue Grand Admiral Rae Sloane and the Empire s remaining leadership across the galaxy. Even as more and more officers are brought to justice, Sloane continues to elude the New Republic, and Norra fears Sloane may be searching for a means to save the crumbling Empire from oblivion. But the hunt for Sloane is cut short when Norra receives an urgent request from Princess Leia Organa. The attempt to liberate Kashyyyk has carried Han Solo, Chewbacca, and a band of smugglers into an ambush resulting in Chewie s capture and Han s disappearance.

Breaking away from their official mission and racing toward the "Millennium Falcon" s last known location, Norra and her crew prepare for any challenge that stands between them and their missing comrades. But they can t anticipate the true depth of the danger that awaits them or the ruthlessness of the enemy drawing them into his crosshairs.

Life Debt builds on those Aftermath foundations and kicks the action into high gear. The team we were introduced to in Aftermath, led by Norra Wexley and Sinjir Rath Velus, hit the ground running as a galactic equivalent of Nazi hunters, contracted by the nascent New Republic to collar and bring high value Imperial targets. Their cohesion as team remains appealing and I like how Wendig undertakes a deeper study of them as individuals and the internal conflicts they are grappling with. I have a particular fondness for the Zabrakian Bounty Hunter Jas Emari whose desire to remain a lone wolf hunter clashes with the burgeoning loyalty she has to the group and she has an extensive internal narrative surrounding that that I liked a lot.

The main game however, is the team's secondment by Princess Leia Organa - making a welcome return to form - to find her missing husband Han Solo and his loyal friend Chewbacca, both of whom have gone missing in the region of the Wookiee homeworld Kashyyyk. The team's reverence for Leia and the legendary smuggling duo makes the decision a relatively easy one - though Wexley does have to prick some of their consciences - and soon they are propelled head long into a conflict that represents a significant last stand for both sides. 

On the Imperial side, Grand Admiral Sloane continues to navigate her way through a veritable hornets nest of treacherous Imperial colleagues who are floundering in the aftermath of their defeats at Endor and Akiva and thus they spend a lot of time bickering amongst one another rather than unite towards a common goal. The introduction of a new, even more calculating antagonist in Gallius Rax (*cough* Benedict Cumberbatch *cough*) is a welcome one and the chess game that goes on between Rax and Sloane proves to be one of the highlights of Life Debt. 

When the focus shifts to Kashyyyk, Life Debt really comes into its own. For the longest time, I have wanted to see the liberation of the Wookiee homeworld done in a really compelling way but previous efforts to portray it have fallen flat. Wendig's approach is gut wrenching. 

He shows us the devastation the Empire has wrought upon this planet and the cruelty it has metted out to the Wookiees themselves. There are moments of real anguish and emotion here. Their plight is visceral. The Empire's evil is absolute and I became emotional reading these scenes. The subsequent battle for the planet is one that, I think, outshines the Battle for Endor. The Wookiees, as portrayed by Wendig, are a more complex species than they have ever been. 

Wendig's bringing together of his own cast with classic identities from Star Wars is seamless. He retains the cinematic qualities of those we have known and loved for 40 years and adds to nuance to them. Leia is fascinating to watch as a figure head in the New Republic and she is much more dynamic than she was in the old EU. Han and Chewbacca are like a well worn jacket with the Ford/Mayhew influence easy to access. Wendig gives unexpected gravitas to Han Solo that sees him truly evolve into a more considered human being. Without spoiling it, the Life Debt we have always known is actually kind of turned on its head. And I found Wedge Antilles presence in Life Debt to be a really strong one. Wendig does things with his character that I don't think has ever been done previously and Wedge comes off as being perhaps one of the most interesting characters in the story.

(art by blindroosevelts: DeviantArt).

The mainline narrative moves at varying speeds, but it is easy to follow and it doesn't labor. Scenes of action, both in the stars and on the ground, are kinetic and easy to access visually. And they're as entertaining as hell. The interludes - a kind of Wendig signature - remain as  enjoyable additions to Life Debt. I spent a lot of time thinking about them between reading, wondering if some of them hint at future story points and characters in the sequel saga. Others serve as mood pieces, giving the reader more of an insight into the feel of events and the emotions of the characters in Life Debt even if they aren't directly specific to those characters.

Life Debt is a thrilling, fully formed sequel to Aftermath and one that students of the new Star Wars canon era should add to their shelves. 

I loved it.

DFA.