Alexandra Martin is a bespectacled, recent high school graduate excited about starting her fourth summer internship at the local Gem and Mineral Museum. She is excited about the work and about seeing her best friend — and fellow self-described “nerd” — Becca. But she is most excited about seeing her boss, Nicholas, an attractive graduate student Alex has quietly crushed on for four years. Everything is set for a great summer.

Until gorgeous and popular Luke Reed enters the picture. When they were children, Luke and Alex were inseparable. But then high school struck and the two followed different paths: Alex, the path of scholarship and social invisibility; Luke, the path of superstar sports player and top of the social food chain.

Alex is not happy about Luke’s presence and she does her best to fight her feelings for him — still a mixture of love and hate. But then Luke makes the mistake of kissing an enchanted princess and all bets are off. Alex must come to his rescue. But will he prove to be her Prince Charming?

Author Jessica Grey has created a believable and enthralling fantasy world balanced between our familiar reality and the realm of fairy enchantments. Her teenage characters feel like teens, though they are on the verge of adulthood. They deal with problems eighteen year olds have — school, life, love — without spouting annoying, pretentious, or overly adult dialogue. At the same time, I think that Awake, though listed as Young Adult Fantasy, holds enough adult appeal that older readers (like this one!) will still find much to love.

Grey engages very consciously with the ideas that we hold about the Sleeping Beauty story upon which Awake is based, most of which come from Disney. She gives us some recognizable signposts pointing toward what we already know, but adds quite a few new turns that add wonderful layers to the story. The biggest turn being that here it is Prince Charming who is asleep and the Princess who has to rescue him. It is a delight to see what ingenious (and potentially criminal) schemes Alex and Becca invent to rescue Luke.

I highly recommend Awake as a quick and enchanting read. Go on, indulge your inner princess.

Get your own copy of Awake: A Fairytale from Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon. Or, if you fancy a try, you might win a copy from Indie Jane!

Hey girl. I heard it was your birthday today. To make up for the fact that I've not (yet) been in an Austen movie -- and damn, wouldn't I look good with a cravat -- I brought some of my friends to help us celebrate this glorious day that you were born.

It's your birthday! I'll bring the chips and #hotdarcy salsa.

For your birthday I got you a paid vacation to my haunted abbey!

Pardon me, I'm in the bath getting ready for your party.

Oh dear, I'm not sure I know what to get you for your birthday. Let me take all of our lives to figure it out.

To apologize for being in such a crappy movie as "Becoming Jane", how about I read some scandalous poetry in your ear?

I know I'm not an Austen hero, but I thought I heard someone say smolder...

Pardon me, my good man, but I believe I have a monopoly on smoldering.

My lady, I would like to cut in here. May I have this waltz?

It has been a lovely party, my dear. I hope you have enjoyed all of your guests. But now it is time for you and I to retire for the evening. Happy Birthday.

Here’s the gist of “Philosophy of Composition”: Edgar Allan Poe — one of the most recognizable writers of our time, most students read something of his in high school — sets out to tell us all about the meticulous process of composing the — now iconic and very popular even at the time — poem “The Raven.” It’s an anatomy of a process that Poe likens to “a mathematical problem.”

He starts by thinking about the end, the effect he wants to produce in the reader (i.e. melancholy, contemplation of Beauty). Then he figures out how to produce this effect, taking into account everything from length of the poem (can the reader absorb it in one sitting?), to the most melancholy sounds he can think of (“o” and “r” being both “sonorous” and “producible”), to the exact way the poem will build in intensity (the narrator asking ever more frenzied questions), to the final “moral” overtones produced by the last two stanzas.

It’s an almost dizzyingly intricate dance between technique and personal style. Poe’s goal is to puncture our idea that literature springs whole from the thigh of the writer. It’s a labor-intensive, hard-thinking project. But at the end, you could produce something like “The Raven.”

If you’re a writer — of any kind, really — take a few moments and read “Philosophy of Composition” and “The Raven.” I hope they inspire you as they have done for me.

If freedom is an out-of-body experience this feminist wants none of it. This female eunuch wants to be at ease in her body, unembarrassed about her body, proud and protective of her body, the body she has now. She wants to be freed from forever criticizing it, chastising it and forcing it to submit.

"Yes... they're real!"

But at the end of the each year, after spending the past 365 days with the object, after it has served me faithfully all year, I feel kind of sad about abandoning the calendar. I don’t want to give up my leading ladies! In the past, I have used some calendar photos as locker decorations (hey-o high school!), framed wall art, scrapbooking supplies, etc.

On a recent shopping trip, though, I came across a lovely idea for old calendars: wrapping paper! A little store that I visited had crafted bags and envelopes out of old calendar sheets! Simple and fun! Here’s the leading lady from above formed into a handy envelope. Insert present et voila!

Today I presented two of my best friends with gifts wrapped this way. It was nice to know that my naughty leading ladies are finding another life as recycled wrapping, making someone else as happy as they’ve made me for the past year.

Happy crafting!

Say it with me now: Vodka Martini. Shaken, not stirred.

Even when I think that line, it comes out in Sean Connery’s Scottish accent.

So yesterday I picked up the first James Bond novel by Ian Fleming, “Casino Royale.” It inspired the series reboot with Daniel Craig. As a Bond nerd, I guessed it was time to actually read the book. It’s definitely gritty. But interesting to see Bond’s inner thoughts — and to see how much he recognizes and compensates for his own weaknesses.

But I was definitely keeping an eye out for those more iconic things we associate with the character of Bond. And, come to find out, there’s way more to the vodka martini than I ever guessed! Here’s the excerpt from the book:

‘A dry martini,’ he said. ‘One. In a deep champagne goblet.’
‘Oui, Monsieur.’
‘Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice cold, then add a large thick slice of lemon-peel.’

Wow. As another character — American CIA agent Felix Leiter — says: ‘That’s certainly a drink.’

Indeed. And now I want to try this out…

For more of my ongoing thoughts on James Bond, check out my Twitter feed @playsthetart.

Recently, Mr. Gold posted a video of himself playing what I believe will be his most iconic piece of music, the theme song of the Eleventh Doctor, called “I Am the Doctor.” Have a listen to this rousing piece of music and just TRY not to get pumped up!

I am so glad that I happened upon this lovely recitation of Othello’s speech about wooing Desdemona (Act 1, Scene 3). Not only is it lovely to listen to Fitzgerald’s voice, but it is also kind of wonderful to think that he wooed us (and Zelda) with his stories in the same way that Othello wooed Desdemona with his tales. “This only the witchcraft I have used.”