Blog | Abbie Lynn Smith
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Book Review: The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller

Have you ever been hooked on a book from the very first line?

I’m not talking about Austen’s “It is a truth universally acknowledged…” because that is, clearly, a classic. What I’m talking about is a novel released recently (let’s call it the last ten years) that just absolutely HOOKS you from the very first sentence?

It’s been a long time since that’s happened for me. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I was taken in by a book so quickly.

As with all things 2020, finding good reading material has been a challenge. I’ve reread books and started new ones so far. With most of my favorite authors’ new releases not out until 2021 or beyond, I’ve been in a bit of a book slump.

Until…

A friend of mine suggested Tricia Levenseller’s THE SHADOWS BETWEEN US. Given that she and I have similar tastes in books and plotlines, I knew by her rave review that I would enjoy it. What I didn’t expect was for it to be the best book I have read in 2020!

I read this book via the Overdrive app through my library, so no fancy bookstagram posts this time!

Pitched by Kerri Maniscalco, bestselling author of STALKING JACK THE RIPPER as “The Slytherin romance we’ve all been waiting for,” I was ecstatic to read this.

Anyone who has listened to me talk about my writing passions knows that one of my favorite characters in the Harry Potter world is Bellatrix Lestrange. However, it’s not because of anything we see in the Potter books. The reason I love her so much is because I assumed this character back in the mid-2000s back when forum roleplaying was a thing. I explored the depths of this dark character, I really dove in and tried to figure out what made her tick–alongside the dashing man she married. Put simply, I’ve been dying for someone to understand my love of the dark side and put it into print.

When I say I fell in love from the first line, y’all, check this out.

I was hooked from the very first sentence. I have a great love of true crime and murders in particular (I am currently working my way through YEARS of the Podcast, My Favorite Murder!). If you can have murder, intrigue, and a character that’s not afraid to get their hands a little dirty, I. Am. Hooked.

As we meet the main character, Alessandra, we learn of not only her ambitions, but her determination to be uniquely herself. She is not a heroine. She’s an anti-heroine. Her father is finally bringing her to court–after severely admonishing her for her dalliances with young men–and Alessandra has her eyes set on one person and one person alone: the King. Alessandra is ambitious and unapologetic. She wants to woo the king, marry him, then kill him and assume his power. What she finds is completely different than anything she could have ever expected.

Kallias is an intriguing, alluring, and confusing character. It takes time for him to open up, but once he does, the story blossoms. It does have a “fake dating” trope to it, but I found the two characters’ interactions to be charming.

Especially when Alessandra and Kallias go skinny dipping in a lake together and she tells him that she’s not a virgin. Surprisingly, we see a feminist in Kallias when he assures her that he won’t judge her for the things he’s allowed to do. We. Love. A. Feminist!

All in all, this story touched the deep dark parts of my Bellatrix heart and made me long for my own Slytherin romance (one day)! If you’re looking for something a little dark with a lot of fantasy and interesting characters that you just can’t help but root for, check it out!

I give this one 5/5 stars simply because it is the best book I’ve read in 2020. You definitely want to put this on your TBR list!

Thanks for reading, Abbie

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Fall Updates & NaNoWriMo!

As always, I am terrible at keeping up with my blog. Firstly, apologies. The truth is, I haven’t had much to update because until a few months ago, there wasn’t anything to update. I fell into the giant blackhole of writer’s block.

That being said, the last couple of months have been really great for my work.

I completed the fourth draft of Halflife (which is a whole hot mess in and of itself, but here we are). I am currently trying to complete a readthrough and a cursory edit by the end of the month.

I’ve also jumped back into joint writing with a long time friend and brilliant author: Lauren Sevier (her debut novel SONGS OF AUTUMN is releasing November 21, 2020. I’ve read it, and it’s brilliant! Check it out by clicking here!)

We started a project many years ago on a whim, and have finally gotten back into it. Look out for our first joint project to be published in 2021!




A post shared by Lauren Sevier (@laurensevier) on Oct 22, 2020 at 4:42pm PDT

GUNS & SMOKE is a post-apocalyptic western romance. Writing this was the most fun I’ve had writing in a long time. I enjoyed it so much that I think I’m going to embrace the Romance genre. Nearly every story I’ve ever written centers around some sort of romance or romantic elements. Romance does not equal erotica.

For this year’s National Novel Writing Month, I am embarking on a journey to write an entirely new project.




A post shared by Abbie Lynn Smith (@abbiewritesx) on Oct 22, 2020 at 10:02am PDT

As is normally the case, I can’t contain my characters to just one story. A SHIELD OF STARS is the first in a trilogy about a priestess who gives up the world she’s known for over half her life to find out the truth of what happened to her mother. It is an Adult Fantasy Romance novel. The normal NaNoWriMo goal is 50,000 words, but I am going to shoot for 75,000, which puts my daily at around 2,500. It’s not going to be easy, but it will totally be worth it.

I have gone back and forth on Halflife for years. I started this project thirteen and a half years ago, and I feel like I’m so so close to getting it into the right form. All of that said, it’s still not quite where it needs to be. I would like to traditionally publish this one, but it may not be the first to get done.

We are self-publishing GUNS & SMOKE next year. This will be my debut novel (super scary to think about!). While I am working on it, I plan on shaping up HALFLIFE and A SHIELD OF STARS. For me, it’s important to not get stuck on HALFLIFE, as I have been.

It feels wonderful to be able to dive into my craft. When I’m writing, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, and the last couple of months have been full of happiness, which is a new and welcome change to the way things have been over the last few years.

I’m going to try my best to keep up over here. I’ve got a couple of book reviews in progress, so keep an eye out!

As always, thanks for reading! Abbie

P.S.: I decided that I wanted to do Christmas cards with my animals this year. Check out a sneak peek of them below!

I adopted Bree this past spring. She is the absolute sweetest pitty I’ve ever met!

I think Klaus is the most photogenic dog I’ve ever met.

Sirius was an AMAZING model!


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News! (Kind of)

It’s been about six months since my last personal update. There are two reasons for that.

One: I haven’t written much.

&

Two: I have a new baby!



A post shared by Abbie Lynn Smith (@abbiewritesx) on Apr 14, 2019 at 2:44pm PDT


I have been wanting to get my own dog for literally years. I’m a corgi fanatic, but I’ve also been surfing Petfinder the last couple of years to see if there’s a dog I can’t live without. He’s the one! I’d just watched Umbrella Academy a couple of times and when I saw that his name was Klaus, I knew it was fate!

Klaus has been with me for nearly three months, which has contributed to my lack of writerly things. I’m just now starting to get back into the flow of taking a little time each day on my craft. I knew puppies were a lot of work, but, honestly, I didn’t realize just how much goes into them. I’m thankful everyday for this little guy who’s stolen my heart.

That being said, I’ve been doing some soul searching, trying to figure out my next move in my writer journey. I have struggled to find my writing voice. HalfLife is, I think, indefinitely going to be placed on the back burner. The story is far too long, and I don’t have it in me right now to cut it down to where it need to be in order to be considered for a debut novel. I have scenes written and a plot outline for another novel that’s a spinoff of a joint project that I did, but it doesn’t feel right either. I’m going to take some time to revisit ideas that I’ve had in the past. 

My favorite part of the writing process is drafting. I consider myself a plantser. I have a general idea of the plot, but not a step-by-step narrative. I love getting lost in a story, letting the characters drive through the world of my loose idea. I adore character driven stories, because they are the ones that I like to write. I haven’t drafted anything new in a long while and my fingers are itching to. I’m taking some extra time off from work around the 4th of July, so I may have some time to do it then.

Now, I just need to brainstorm. I need to find my story and just write it. (I must add here that “Let’s get down to business, to defeat, the Huns” passed through my mind) I think one of my greatest problems is that I don’t like being confined to just one genre. For example, in HalfLife, I feel like the writing is a little more on par with YA, but because of the age of the characters, it’s an Adult novel.

Most of what I’ve read the last four or five years is YA fiction. I particularly enjoy the fantasy genre, but I know that market is over saturated at the moment. Even if I did get something written, it would take a long time before the market swings back. It’s nearly impossible to predict market trends, and even if I tried, that wouldn’t be fair to me. I’ve read over and over again not to write to the market–write what you want to write.

So the question is now: what do I want to write?

What a terrifyingly beautiful question.

-Abbie

P.S.: More puppy spam because I can. Feel free to follow Klaus on Instagram here.

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