Alyssa McCarthy's Magical Missions, Book 1, From Frights to Flaws by Sunayna Prasad Guest Post! and review

 Title: Alyssa McCarthy's Magical Missions, Book 1, From Frights to Flaws

Author: Sunayna Prasad

Genre: MG Fantasy

Twelve-year-old Alyssa McCarthy can no longer stand the toughness of her uncle and wants a better life. But one day she discovers not only the existence of magic, but also a villain hunting her down. The villain uses magic and magical technology to kidnap Alyssa to the Fiji Islands. As much as she wants to go home, she has to face some dangerous challenges first. Not only that, the villain himself must also be defeated. Can Alyssa succeed, even with the help of her mentors?

Author Bio

Sunayna Prasad has been writing stories for over thirteen years, starting at the age of six. Now nineteen, she will start her junior year of college this fall, and will study accessory design as well as continue to write for children. Aside from that, Sunayna also likes to cook, watch movies, and draw. She lives on Long Island, New York, with her family.

Links

Author Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SunaynaPrasadBooks?ref=stream

Excerpt 

The sound of the rain banging against the window distracted Alyssa from washing her lunch dishes. She stared out the window and watched every drop. What better way to spend a Thursday noon than to wash dishes? No hard work involved—just looking out the window.

                Gone were the happy days of living in her uncle’s house. No more family fun. No more sweets and desserts. Just a structured life of strict and unfair rules. Alyssa longed for a normal and better life—the kind she’d lived before her parents had died in a car crash five years ago. She wanted to be like many children her age, but when would it happen? Not any time soon.

                Unless… she could find her godfather’s phone number and call him without her uncle knowing. One of the rules here was that all phone calls had to be earned unless there was an important reason to call someone. She hadn’t talked to her godfather ever since she’d also lost her aunt three years ago. She had never been able to find his number nor had she ever succeeded at convincing her uncle to let her talk to him. But she still remembered how sweet, fun, and caring he’d been. He even could be her legal guardian since her parents had designated him as one. If she could find his number and ask about moving in with him, her life would be happier.

                But now something didn’t seem right with the raindrops, which took Alyssa’s mind off of her godfather. They turned grayish blue. Huh? How could that be? That broke the laws of nature. Too distract her more, though, the blue deepened into a dark grayish blue. What could be going on? 

Guest Post:

From Cliché to Shining Original

Almost everyone has heard the terms, “piece of cake,” “pearly white,” or “slept like a log.” Once upon a time, they were okay to use. Today, however, they take readers out of the story. People have heard of them so many times that they don’t want to read them in a book. Instead of saying, “piece of cake,” say something like, “slice of peach cobbler,” or “square of chocolate.” You’ll mean the same thing, but using different words.

Now let’s talk about clichés in the fantasy genre. Elves, orcs, dragons, and dwarves are very overused. Many people discourage writers from using them. However, you could use them and make them different than other authors. J.K. Rowling made elves in her books look nothing like little humans. I made wizards use modern technology more advanced than ordinary people’s in my novel, From Frights to Flaws. Most people online said that it’s better to make up your own magical creatures in your fantasy story. If, however, you want to use one that is already known, try to find a way to make them unique. If you’re going to use dwarves, maybe leave out the beards, make them wear suits, and make them wealthy. If you’re going to use mermaids, maybe make them live in the lake, don’t give all of them long, flowing hair (or beards for the mermen), and make them speak their own language.

Finally, I’ll discuss clichés in literary fiction. One topic is naming a character with default names, such as Susie for a little girl, or Billy for a little boy. Of course, those names were much more popular several decades ago. If however, your story takes place in modern times, it’s better to give your characters names that were popular in the time they were born. If you have a female character born in the 90’s, a name like Christina or Taylor would work better than Susan or Dorothy. Of course, there are females born in the 90’s with names popular in the 50’s and 60’s. However, a lot of people are probably sick of default names like Susie or Billy. Another cliché I notice is a fictional school performing the production, The Wizard of Oz. If a school play is relevant to your story, I would suggest making the school perform a different show, like West Side Story, Annie, or My Fair Lady.

All in all, if you want to use an overdone topic in your story, try to strive for something original.  Or, if you can’t, try something else.

My Review:
This was an interesting read for me. I enjoyed that Alyssa had to go to the Fiji Islands at 12 years old, by herself, because of magic. She is also being chased by a villain that knew more about magic then her. This is the first book in a series, and the ending did not have as much closure as I wanted it too. However I think that it is the perfect length for its age group, and it is a fun read. The magic was not overly done, and I found myself wondering what other trouble Alyssa was going to find herself in, and where her abilities would take her. I did think that it was weird that she trusted her mentors, especially when they were practically strangers. I am giving this book a 4/5. I was given a copy to review, however all opinions are my own.