I have to be honest – I didn’t pick up this book because the story looked interesting. I bought it because it was on the bargain shelf at the bookstore, and it takes place in Las Vegas. For that price, I was willing to put up with it, certain that it would be over quickly.

This book is about vampires. Vampires that live in Las Vegas. I’m down with the Vegas part of it, since I live here and all, but I never got into the whole vampire thing. Which means that I have never read and have no intention of reading a certain vampire series written for the young adult market but is wildly popular with women my own age.

But enough about that. Bled Dry: A Tale of Vegas Vampires by Erin McCarthy is about Brittany, a woman who gets herself knocked up by a vampire after a one-night stand. As we read further into the book, we find out that her sister has become a vampire after marrying one, and that her brother-in-law is president of the whole vampire nation. Brittany happens to be a half-breed herself, though she doesn’t have any symptoms at all. Her unborn child will be three-quarters vampire, and there was only one other known case of this ever. Which makes the baby a super-powered vampire and very sought after for this reason. So Mr. One-night-stand, who happens to be doing some DNA research on the whole vampirism virus and trying to find a cure, figures all this out and tries to protect Brittany.

What problems did I have with this book? Well, it was overly simplistic, had long, drawn-out love scenes that were more annoying than titillating (no, I’m not a fan of trashy romance novels, why do you ask?), one-sided underdeveloped characters, and other than maybe having been in a casino once, the author obviously had no knowledge of Las Vegas because it didn’t factor very much into the story. Sure, most of the scenes take place in a casino, or a room in the hotel, but having lived here for over six years now, I should know Vegas, and I did not know the mostly nondescript town with a fictional casino that this story took place in.

This is an ok book if you’re looking for something to read when you’re traveling so you can forget the book in the seat-back pocket. I’m just glad I didn’t pay more than $5 for it. And don’t worry, future book reviews will be of books with some actual substance to them.

Ok, it’s been awhile since I last posted. But don’t blame me – I took a long weekend away and I don’t check email or anything else online when I’m away. Well, blame me if you want, but that’s the way it is.

Anyway, when I got back from my long weekend I checked the comments on my blog and found that I had new comments on my post Cuts Like a Knife. My mom left a comment to bolster my ego, and my mom’s Cousin Betty left me an amazing comment (that’s becoming a habit with her). Betty suggested I try writing a book.

I’ll be honest, the idea is not new to me. Besides a few bloggers I know of who have written or are trying to write books, I too have thought of this. It’s something that’s been at the back of my mind since I was a kid. English literature and writing classes have been among my favorites in school, and they are the classes I always got the best grades in. I still have a lot of the stuff I wrote back then, and even posted one of my papers here on my blog. I have it in my blog post idea list to post more of my writing from school.

Writing a book is a great idea, and while I’d love to do that, I’m not ready – not yet. I think I still have some adventures to come that will help put me in a better position to have a complete book. I’d be looking towards a memoir or collection of anecdotes from my life, or using stories from my life and propelling them into a fictional chick lit book, which is a genre I tend to like. In the meantime, I’ll continue writing here. This blog is a beginning, a place to practice writing and hone my skills and test out what sort of stories would appeal more than others. Based on what I like to read, I am drawn towards stories in which I can identify with a character or situation in some way. I like complex, well-developed characters because I like to be able to figure out what makes them tick. Even if what I write isn’t popular, I like to know that it resonates with readers. As a writer, these are all skills that take time and lots of practice to perfect.

While I continue living my life and writing my story in my head, do you have any suggestions? Any blogs or books to read that will help me along my way?

I’ve found that the best way for me to unwind at the end of the day is to read. It’s usually the last thing I do before falling asleep for the night. It helps me get out of my own head so that I can relax enough to fall asleep.

I recently finished reading The Emigrants. It’s a 4-book series about Swedish emigrants who leave their homeland and settle in America hoping for a better life. I was first introduced to this series by a friend from Sweden, who said it would help me understand my own history better. My great-grandparents came from Sweden, though about 60 years later than these books take place, and they weren’t farmers like the Nilsson family in the book.

It took me a few tries to get through the book. I tried when I first got it, and would then pick it up every few years. I think it took me about 10 years before I was able to sit down and really push myself to get through the entire book. Once I did, I wanted to read more. Once I got into it, I really wanted to find out what happened to these characters and how they fared on this journey they embarked upon.

The first book, The Emigrants, tells of the life that the main characters, Karl Oskar and his wife Kristina have on their farm in Sweden. It tells of the hard times they have as they begin their family and are met with drought and the resulting starvation. Karl Oskar’s younger brother Robert, full of wanderlust and not willing to live a life of being anyone’s servant, as would be his fate in Sweden, tells Kark Oskar of a great land called America. After suffering a heart-wrenching tragedy, Karl Oskar decides to move his family to America so that they can have better opportunities. Various friends and relatives hear of the plan and join the party, so early in April 1850, the party of 16 Swedish emigrants board a ship bound for America. The second half of the book tells of the rough journey they all experience.

The second book, Unto a Good Land, tells of the trials and tribulations the settlers have as the make their way towards Minnesota Territory, stake out their land, and start to set up home. It’s interesting to read of the culture shock they experience as they settle into their new homes.

The third book, The Settlers, is about how the emigrants get along after having been in the new land for a few years and the successes and failures they have. Their community begins to grow, and more Swedes begin moving into the area.

The final book, The Last Letter Home, finishes up by telling how Karl Oskar’s children have grown up and started their own families.

Except for a few small facts, which are outlined in the introduction to the books, I’d say these books are historical fiction – the places the emigrants end up in are real, and their stories are the same stories that many other settlers from Sweden have. My family didn’t go west, instead preferring to settle in the NYC area. My great-grandmother’s aunt had a boarding house in Brooklyn, where my great-grandmother worked when she arrived, and where she met my great-grandfather when he rented a room their. They lived in Brooklyn until the early 1920s, when they moved to the Plainfield, NJ area, which is where my grandmother and mother grew up, and where I still have some family. My family didn’t work the land, like the families in the books, but I took great interest in the character’s experiences. I’m sure that the cultural issues outlined in the books were very similar to the ones my family experienced.

Reading these books made me feel closer to my roots, and as my friend told me, they did help me understand my great-grandparents’ experience. Even if you’re not Swedish, or not descended from immigrants, I’d recommend these books just as highly as I’d recommend something from Steinbeck.