First of all...
Showing posts with label goodreads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goodreads. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

New Decade, Who Dis?

Well as you can imagine, I didn't participate in the look where I was in 2009 and look where I am now in 2019 retrospectives that were on Facebook and the like.  In 2009 I had more hair and boobs. Now an inch of hair and the boobs. Welp. It beats letting my boobs kill me.

Anywho... New Decade and I'm still here. In my head, I picture myself at 32. I think far too often as if I am not yet a grown-up and that middle age and retirement are thirty years away.  Turns out, that this year I will be half a century old.  I've already lived longer than many people and I'm much closer to retirement age than my high school years.  Wild how time goes by slowly and far too fast at the same time.  How can I be almost fifty and have two kids that are over 18?  It happened so fast and so slowly at the same time. 

For today, the sun is shining, I'm still here and I think I will go for a run.  Later I'll have another bowl of my soup from yesterday and read a book that I got for free for being a member of the Between the Chapters Book Club run by Kensington Books on Facebook. 



My Goodreads book goal for 2020 is 50 books. Get it?  50 years 50 books?  I love numbers tying into my life and my goals. 

Happy New Year. 2020 is going to be amazing (that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Got a couple hours? Read this book!

Sweet and DeadlySweet and Deadly by Charlaine Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Everything about this book made me feel as though I'd stepped into a small town in the 1950s or 1960s. The only tell I could find that this is actually more contemporary is  Catherine says that abortion is legal. I would describe this book as a novella and as such it has very good pacing. In other works by Charlaine Harris there tends to be, in my opinion, too much time spent on housekeeping details. In this book, fortunately, there is only one long scene of Catherine cleaning.

The mystery is solid, there are some nice red herrings and the main character doesn't foolishly put herself in harm's way but once.

The killer's motive is the weakest part of this book in my opinion. If you enjoy mysteries, you'll likely enjoy this book.


View all my reviews


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What's going on with my writing?

Thanks for asking!  I am a solid  63% done on my first draft.  My plan is to finish my draft before 2019 shows up. Actually,I'd like to get it done before December arrives. If I get stuck in my writing lately what I've been doing is writing out of sequence.  Yesterday I was working on the book's final scene.  Bad news, I thought I had it all figured out and then I realized I didn't like where it was going. Today I'm writing in sequence and maybe that will help my final scene whenever I get back to it.

Socially to help with my writing I just joined the "Guppy" Chapter of  Sisters in Crime. This is an online group for first time writers of mysteries.  With my membership I can join a critique group to get feedback on my unpublished work.  I'm very excited and also overwhelmed.  The business of publishing is not easy. (understatement).  The important thing for me to keep reminding myself is to focus on finishing my book, then try to get it published.  Don't put the cart before the horse and all that!

Happy September!
xoxo

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Did you know you can listen to all the best selling novels out there for FREE?

In addition to listening to a bunch of podcasts, I also listen to audiobooks when I'm out running or am cleaning around the house. The best way to listen to books is to borrow them from your local library and these days you don't even have to go to the library.  They have an app for that!  My library uses Libby/Overdrive.

It doesn't get any easier or cheaper to read a novel or twenty.  Currently I'm listening to "The Outsider" by Stephen King.  The Kindle version is $14.95, a gently used hardback is $17 and to purchase it the Audible member price is $24.49.  The cost to me via my library: $0.00. You can't beat it!

Just before starting "The Outsider"  I listened to "A Cast-Off Coven" by Juliet Blackwell.  "A Cast-Off Coven is the second book in her "A Witchcraft Mystery" cozy mystery series. Lily Ivory is a witch and owns a vintage clothing store so the series has lots of supernatural lore and vintage fashion nods.  I recommend it, a fun series to listen to as you are out running or walking while the leaves change.

A Cast-Off Coven (A Witchcraft Mystery, #2)A Cast-Off Coven by Juliet Blackwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to the audiobook. The reader does a nice job with the various character's voices including the potbelly pig. It's fun to read this series as fall approaches. This book's pacing was spot on, and the audiobook runs just about the right length of time for a cozy mystery at 8 hours.

I am enjoying how Ms. Blackwell intertwines San Francisco in the book, allowing for a small sense of community as she makes friends inside the big city setting. Each book in the series has a main mystery along side the slow parceling out of Lily's backstory. I have to keep reading to find out what the deal is with her father!

When I finished this book, I had the undeniable desire to go visit a vintage clothing store!


View all my reviews

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Nice start to a new Vampire Series!

I'm pleased to share a book recommendation  for a new paranormal romance series from Entangled Publishing. Read on as I share my review of  Undying Destiny by new author Jessica Lee.


I was excited to learn that one of her inspirations is Karen Marie Moning! This book draws from the tradition of Urban Fantasy of Karen Marie Moning as well as JR Ward and Ilona Andrews.


In Undying Destiny we met Emily, a third -shift working nurse who has a real loser of an ex-finance stalking her. One night she sees a mortally wounded man in the street. Her professional instincts kick in and she attends to this stranger. Within hours her life is changed forever by Kenric St James, a Vampire who spends his nights keeps humans safe from the scourge of DEAD (Death Euphoria ADdicted ) Vampires.


Jessica Lee does a solid job of world building. I really enjoyed the DEAD concept, and the role of Kenric and his Enclave. The focus was kept on our couple but we are given the seeds of stories to come featuring other members of the Enclave.


Undying Destiny introduces us to a very rich "big bad" that I know we will meet again.  Jessica also includes a stunning betrayal and an excellent suprise in the relationship of Emily and Kenric. 


Emily comes into her own in this story, but it's not a far journey. I like that  she is strong and gets stronger as the story progresses. I look forward to Jessica's next Enclave installment! 


Here is a short excerpt from the book as well links to orders and a Giveaway!!


Undying Destiny by Jessica Lee

 

Entangled Publishing - June 2013

 

 

Kenric St. James is out for revenge. Over 300 years ago, an ancient female vampire turned him against his will and killed the woman he loved. He’s spent more than a century building an Enclave of warrior vampires who have sworn to defend humanity against his evil sire and her minions. But when Kenric finds a woman he finally burns to claim as his own again, Kenric knows loving her means giving his sire another target.

 

Emily Ross just wanted a fresh start. She’s a survivor, coming off the tail end of an abusive relationship, and craves time alone to learn who she is and to save the home that holds her heart. The last thing she needed was a controlling, alpha male calling all the shots.

 

Meeting Kenric might just have changed her mind, though. He is wrong for her in all the right ways. But in order to keep her heart from breaking, he first has to keep the hoards of evil vamps from stealing her very breath.

 

Title: Undying Destiny

Author: Jessica Lee

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Release Date: June 2013

Imprint: Edge

 

Purchase from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Undying-Destiny-Enclave-Entangled-ebook/dp/B00CK55RJ2/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=36TOXN5A9DZUF&coliid=I1T3598Q45ETJ6

 

Purchase from Barnes & Noble:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/undying-destiny-jessica-lee/1115290509?ean=9781622660988

 

Author Information

 

 

Almost every author's bio states they've been writing since they learned how to read. It's what they've always wanted to do. Well, my journey wasn't so straight and narrow. I was a nurse for over twenty years and hold a bachelor's degree in science with a major in biology. So as you can see, my career path had originally gone in the opposite direction. I didn't discover my passion for the craft until after I'd had my son and decided to work part-time.

I've always loved to read but had never read a paranormal romance. Then one night at work on break, I began reading Karen Marie Moning's Spell of the Highlander. I couldn't believe what I'd been missing, and I immediately fell in love with the genre.

I wanted to write like that. I wanted to create worlds where others could find the same escape and fascination I did when I read my first sensual paranormal romance.

And I hope that's what I've accomplished in my work. Please dive in, hold on tight, and enjoy the adventure. Just be careful in the dark—you might find more than you expected waiting for you there.

Jessica Lee lives in the southeastern United States with her husband and son. She loves writing and can't wait for that quiet time each day when her son is in school, and she can get lost in another place and world with the fantastical, sexy creatures in her head.

She's a member of Romance Writers of America Carolina Romance Writers.

Author Website:http://www.jessicaleenovels.com/index.html

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessicaleenovels

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessleenovels

Goodreads:http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3013591.Jessica_Lee


http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/MWNiNTU0OTUyMGNlZDFiOGJmOTc5ZmExZmRmZDJmOjg3/

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

No Alternative by William Dickerson Book Review and Giveaway!

I stumbled across the No Alternative Blog Tour on Facebook. I have not reviewed a book for quite sometime and I have fond memories of 1994, so I asked to be part of the book tour.

 Coming into the story with no preconceived ideas, only knowing that Kurt Cobain's suicide would feature prominently, I was curious and hesitant. Suicide is such an enormously verboten topic, I don't know that many of us like to poke a stick at it, much less read about it. So I took a deep breath and dove into the story and read and waited for the inevitable shoe to drop. And it did, and with the darkness of that death, came awakening.

No Alternative;, is rooted in the depression and disassociation felt by all its characters and it is through the inevitable suicide of one, that everyone around that character is transformed and infused with life.

William Dickerson's story begins in a documentary style.  A staccato sharing of this time, the 1990s and this music, grunge. Throughout the book we are reminded of what was: the 1980s, what is: 1994 and what will be: 2012 and beyond.  This  time shifting throughout the book by our omniscient  narrator was a writing technique that I felt worked and I greatly enjoyed. 

The protagonist of No Alternative is Thomas Harrison and intelligent and average suburban 17 year-old who idolized Kurt Cobain. The book begins several months after Kurt Cobain's suicide, after a time of mourning, Thomas is ready to submerge himself in music and decides to start a band. The story moves forward from there and we are introduced to Thomas's younger sister Bridget, his parents and his band mates.  Each character is isolated from others, living behind the mask of what they think the world would prefer them to be.  It is a pleasure to read how those barriers breakdown and see these people washed clean of their perceptions.

 Below you can find an excerpt from the book. I am thrilled that the excerpt provided to me focuses on Thomas's sister Bridget. Bridget is compelling, Bridge is a force and as I read on through the book, I wanted more Bridget, I wanted to pen Mr. Dickerson quick note asking him to start work on a follow-up novel of Bridget.Take a moment, read the except, and run over to Amazon and get this book. You'll thank me.
 
Bridget is parked in art class, surrounded by her classmates at their individual easels. Ms. Sheehan, her skinny, exceedingly longhaired, Earth-mother of a teacher, makes her rounds from student to student. She stops behind Bridget, eyeballing her canvas. While others concentrate on drawing bowls of luscious fruit, glistening and ripe, Bridget touches up an image of fruit, apples and such, impaled on several razor-sharp meat hooks. Ms. Sheehan surveys the depiction with interest, “Do you think you’ll ever actually follow the assignment, Bridget?” Bridget adds some luster to those metallic hooks, “Not likely.”“I do kind of like it.”“It needs more blood,” Bridget observes.“Of course.”Sheehan shakes her head, but has to smile, as she continues along to another student. Bridget places her pencils down, closing her eyes, and exhales. Bridget exhales for the therapeutic value of the act.Bridget has been prescribed anti-depressant medications, many different medications, a bounty of medications, medications as plentiful as Baskin & Robbins ice cream flavors, medications in all shapes and colors, in colors much more numerous than the colors of the rainbow, medications in quantities nearly equal to the many languages of the human race, a tower of Babel of medications and she has been on this laundry list of medications since she was eight years old. What childhood malady could have justified this salad bar of meds being visited on Bridget? Sure, a casual observer with an eye for analysis might have detected her lack of motivation on the soccer field at an early age, like the way she’d shy away from the ball whenever it was kicked anywhere near her, or noticed her brittle temper, like the time she smashed all the windows on the garage door with a hockey stick. An ever-increasing percentage of the medical community views these childhood failures as justification for testing new wonder drugs on innocent children. Bridget suffers much, there’s no doubt about it and most of all from a debilitating anxiety. The bone-chilling anxiety that accompanies her while being forced to give classroom presentations. The gastrointestinal stomach ailments that she swears are there, but no doctor can officially confirm. The anxiety of her compulsive drawing and erasing, drawing and erasing. Bridget suffers.Just breath. In. And then out. The phenomenon of syncing one’s breathing with another’s is seldom discussed, but is a considerable fear held among the anxiety-ridden. It’s something Bridget obsesses over: the idea of someone other than herself controlling her breathing. It is simultaneously smothering and freeing. During an anxiety attack, breathing becomes front and center, you can actually convince yourself to stop breathing if you’re anxious enough. Or so you think. But it’s what you think that matters. It matters enough to actually cause you physical pain and discomfort. And that’s a problem. Inevitably, nobody thinks you’re crazier than you think you are.In an attempt to combat her anxiety while giving a presentation on earthquake preparedness – an endeavor not worth the chalk when you live in the northeastern quadrant of the country, but an assignment is an assignment, and who knows what part of the country one will abscond to when free to abscond – Bridget focused on her classmates around her. She attempted to picture them in their underwear, a ridiculous cliché, but one that had worked for her in the past. It didn’t work this time. She couldn’t picture anything. No boxers, no panties, no edible thongs, no pierced labia or Prince Alberts; just her breathing – And the sound of other people breathing. Bridget became deaf to her own rhythm as her classmates began breathing in the same tempo. At least that’s what she thought was happening. In actuality, it was Amanda Welsh, and only Amanda Welsh, overweight by acceptable Westchester standards, with dimples the size of pomegranate seeds and the crease of her belly pinching the plaid of her uniform with every exhale. Her breathing eclipsed that of her peers, thunderous sound waves created at a distinctly lower frequency and emitted from the inner depths of her flesh. She was like a bag of bagpipes squeezing itself.Bridget could hear nothing but her breathing; in fact, she honed in on it, on the wheeze of air passing through a crowded windpipe.Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.Like the equalizing knob on her stereo, Bridget’s brain shut off the treble and turned up the bass, louder, louder, louder; all the way to the max. Every word out of her mouth was garbled, as if she was speaking underwater. The only frequencies allowed into her ear canals were those from the bagpipes. As a result, she adjusted her breathing to mimic those of the bagpipes, because if she didn’t begin and end her breath at the precise moment the bagpipes did, she would cease breathing. And, of course, die. The bagpipes were her assisted breathing machine: at this very moment, standing before her class, every movement, every word, every breath, being judged by her peers, her teacher, the loiterers in the hallway passing by, and her breathing was regulated by a bag of human bagpipes. She was a stock car stuck in its groove, unable to change lanes. Then she stopped. Breathing.Either the overweight girl she was listening to stopped breathing, or Bridget mercifully broke free of her often unforgiving burden. Either way, the end result was the same: Bridget’s knees buckled, her legs collapsing underneath her, and the side of her head smashed into the corner of her teacher’s steel desk. She was knocked instantly into blissful unconsciousness. She likes this moment the best.