Shelsea's Super Saturday

Hello lovelies,

Welcome to another dose of SSS! If you follow me on my personal book account you’d probably know that I’ve loved reading Broken Skies by Theresa Kay. (If you actually read my captions.) Personally, I feel that my tiny little jumbled blob of a review on Instagram does not do the book any justice at all. I’ve decided to do a decent review on SSS instead. Give the book the proper justice it deserves! Also, I have a special guest on my blog post. She’s a lawyer by day, author by night, and a supermom 24/7. The beautiful and fierce Madhuri Baylock! I’m pretty damn sure she’s my spirit animal. Let’s get this party started, and by party I mean the post.

Broken Skies by Theresa Kay

synopsis << link 

My review: Jax is this kick-ass twin who goes through hell and back to save her brother. Along the way she discovers herself, and realizes that the only person who she needs to depend on is herself.

 In the book you’ll read on how her brother Jace stayed strong for the both of them. He had to be this rock for Jax to lean on. What’s so interesting about Jace’s character is that he does whatever he possibly can to protect his sister. Theresa Kay was daring when she wrote Jace. There are not a lot of books that I’ve read where guys like guys. I'm applauding Theresa for being bold and courageous enough to step out of the lines. 

Although, Jax finds love there are secrets and betrayal that will change her forever. Not only is she  being tested, but boundaries get pushed. I forgot to mention that aliens called E'rikons takeover the world…  Prepare yourselves to be blown away by Broken Skies. 

The story continues in book #2, and I cannot wait to see what happens! It’s the waiting part that I’m not good at. 

BUY THE BOOK

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*plays music* Madhuri Baylock takes over!

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Strength in the Softer Parts

by

Madhuri Blaylock

I wrote this post for a blog series about women and empowerment but love it so much that when Shelsea told me I could talk about anything under the sun for Shelsea’s Super Saturday, my mind immediately came back to this - the softer parts. I finished writing my paranormal trilogy, The Sanctum, earlier this year and am already deep into my next writing project, so if I’m being honest, I hardly thought I would get excited about going back to my fantastical world of hybrid demons, warriors, and vampires for this post. I figured I would need some time away from them, to decompress from the drama of their finale. And yet, here I am, talking about the women of The Sanctum

and you know why?

Because they are such freaking badasses, I simply cannot help myself.

It’s quite fitting actually, since the genesis of The Sanctum lies in my own desire to create the girl absent from the pages of my many and varied fantasy and paranormal books. Not the Badass, because she exists, in so many shapes and forms, on the pages of so many novels and screenplays, kicking butt and taking names after her badassery has been explained to her

laid out and examined

expounded upon and studied.

Nope. I didn’t want that girl because although she evolved into something fierce and proud, she began wide-eyed and unaware, beholden to some secret about herself unlocked by a cute boy.

I wanted the Self-Aware Badass. The girl who knows she is the shit, why she is the shit, and exactly how she became the shit.

Hermione Granger, all grown and sexy.

That’s the girl I wanted to meet, the girl I sought, craved really. And when I couldn’t find her, I created her. And while I was doing that, a funny thing happened.

I created a whole crew of similar women - tough as nails, whip smart, deadly, and full of a sense of self and purpose. Women who knew their worth without a man needing to define it, set the parameters, and provide the explanations. 

Hermoine Granger, all grown and sexy.

Interestingly enough, now that I look back on these women - Dev, Darby Winthrop, and Jools Clayworth - I realize that for all of their feats of greatness, the moments where they felled the antagonist, slayed the devils, and single-handedly made evil think twice, their true strength lies in their softer side.

Their vulnerabilities

and their willingness to accept those weaknesses, because that’s really what they are, look them in the face, understand they are just as vital as all the indestructibility, the super-human strength, the lightning speed

and do not make them any lesser of a woman.

If anything, they make them so very real and relatable and worthy

of all the accolades and hurrahs

the greatness and power.

It’s the vulnerabilities and the weaknesses that make these women whole and complete

grown and sexy.

For I love watching Dev lay waste to the warriors who come after her, felling them with ease, laughing in their faces as she slides her blade across their throats. I love living through her regeneration, knowing her body rebuilds itself after suffering horrific trauma. I love listening to her explain her creation and her purpose and her meaning - her knowledge of self is exhilarating.

But more beautiful than all of that is learning her fears and her weaknesses, her need to appear strong and unmoved, and watching as she accepts the hand offered her and takes a chance, trusting someone besides herself

sharing herself and her fears and weaknesses with another.

The quiet of that moment, its meaning and significance, stay with me long after her story ends. 

Then there is Darby Winthrop, the Southern Belle from Hell, the vampire I love madly. She is brash and sexy, uncouth and deadly. She’ll smile in your face and woo you with her Southern charm, then snap your neck before you knew what hit you. She’ll kiss your throat and run her hand up your thigh, making you all hot and bothered and wild, then she’ll drain you of every drop of blood and leave you for dead.

She is centuries old, smarter than anyone in the room, and stronger than them, too. She is funny and witty and full of life; she is sexy, in touch with her darkest desires, and simply oozes sensuality.

She is power - she wields it, she owns it - and watching her at work, bending men and women to her will and whim is a thing of beauty. But more wondrous than all of that, is learning Darby’s one weakness, for in him, we realize just how truly powerful she is. For in him we witness her capacity to love and forgive and forget, until that is no longer an option and she is forced to do the unthinkable.

And it is beautiful

and painful and extraordinary

and makes us fall for Miss Winthrop harder than we ever thought possible.

Last but not least is Jools Clayworth, younger sister, only daughter, given to fits of jealousy, brat. Superior warrior, killer instinct, natural leader. A roiling mess of insecurities, well hidden but fueling her every immature and petulant antic. Until she can no longer continue acting the child, when her skills on a battlefield are no longer enough, and she is forced to evolve into the strong, determined, powerful leader no one but Jools ever expected her to become.

And still that is not enough to protect her from herself, for she is her own worst enemy. She is her own weakness and when she finally realizes as much, when she comes to grips with all she has witnessed and all she has engendered, and she desperately reaches out to another to save her

it is gut-wrenching and moving

and I, the writer, Jools’ creator, who respected her and her gangsta from day one, but felt little else for the warrior or the woman, am finally able to also love and appreciate her. 

Because sometimes

the true strength of the Badass

the beauty

and the wonder

lies in the softer parts.

                                                 madhuriblaylock.wordpress.com