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Showing posts from July, 2011

Chocolate, Writing, & Reading

Happy Friday All, Thursday I didn't post, I decided to take that day off. But, I'm back now. I made cupcakes Thursday night--from Hershey's Cocoa recipe (I'm sorry I don't have pictures). I had these first at my sister's house and fell in love. Very rich, but totally yummy and with chocolate icing. Another way to get to my "happy place". I'm finishing up reading a novel, and I've gotten some editing on one of my manuscripts, and working on another project, so things are moving along. So, as always, lots going on and a lot coming up. What's going on on your end? Have A Fantastic Friday!

August Releases, Anyone?

Happy Wednesday All, Robin Badillo's second Blood Hunter book, The Betrayal is available on Amazon now . The 3rd book in the Blood Hunter series, The Return is available from Extasy Books . So are you looking forward to August releases? I've been waiting and waiting for Christie Craig's Don't Mess With Texas --although that one doesn't come out until later in August, but still. Are there any August releases you're looking forward to? Have A Wonderful Wednesday!

TV, YA & Pizza

Happy Tuesday Everybody, If you haven't watched TLC's Surprise Homecoming I recommend it. Service Men and Women come home and surprise their family members. I usually end up with tears streaming down my cheeks. It's a heartwarming show. Has anyone read any Jennifer Echols books? I saw a book of hers online and I was intrigued. It's called Love Story and it looks good (was released July 19, 2011). The blurb made me curious about her work. Okay, so who likes pizza? Raise your hands! I love pizza. Favorite topping is plain cheese (yeah, I know, boring). But I also like Hawaiian (Canadian Bacon with pineapple) and I'll eat pepperoni and I'll eat mushroom, but I really do like plain cheese pizza best. I also like pizza rolls and calzones, too. Emeril on the Food Network  was talking about calzones one time when I was watching his show and I thought "Hmm, I wonder if that's something I could do." So I got some ingredients, put it together a

Mermaids, Mythology & Relaxing

Happy Monday All, I finished reading over the weekend Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs . As with the first one, Forgive My Fins I loved it. I wonder if she's going to have a third mermaid book (I hope so) but I don't know and her FAQ hasn't been updated to say yes or no about it. Love these two books, by the way. They're a lot of fun! Last week I finished reading Josephine Angelini's Starcrossed . I can hardly wait for the sequel, but I heard it's not out until next year. I can tell you, that's one I will definitely be planning on reading again. I heard about  Starcrossed on  A Cupcake And A Latte (Mocha Latte Reads) Blog (A YA Review Site).  Starcrossed is kind of a retelling of the Helen Of Troy story from The Iliad . It's updated and modernized for YA audiences. It focuses on the notion that the three Fates like to replay the story over and over throughout history. Anyone who's into Greek/Roman Mythology I recommend you give this nov

Computers With Minds Of Their Own & Playgrounds

Happy Friday All, Congratulations to Harvee for winning the Nancy Gideon interview drawing last night! Last night I wrote up a fun post about playgrounds. About how I like to play on the swings (when they have ones that will work for adults). I clicked on the "Publish Post" button and all of a sudden it took me to some sort of search page or whatever and when I came back to my blog the post wasn't there at all! Now when I'm typing up the post it automatically saves it every few minutes. So I can't figure out where it went. So anyway I had asked what every one's favorite thing to do on the playground was and if you still did go to playgrounds? Have A Fabulous Friday and a Great Weekend!

Spotlight On Author: Nancy Gideon

Happy Thursday All, **Contest portion of this post is now officially closed.** I enjoy every author interview I post on here for different reasons. This author's writing is what I term "tight". She writes in such a fashion that not only does she keep track of the main story, but she's able to weave several side stories without getting lost. You never quite know what's going to happen next when you enter this author's world of New Orleans Mob, a sassy strong-willed dectective, "preternatural" creatures...it's enough to send shivers down your back. And all of it is from the talented pen/keyboard of author Nancy Gideon. So, let me introduce you to Nancy Gideon , author of the Moonlight series (Adult Romance), which has a brand new one coming out July 26, 2011. However, Nancy has graciously offered to giveaway a copy of her up coming release, Bound By Moonlight as well as a "book thong" to one lucky blog commenter (I'll tell you

Candy Memories

Happy Wednesday All, Recently I had Nerds (the candy) again. I haven't had those things in years. I can't eat too many of them now, but I remember now how good they are. Definitely a trip down memory lane. I remember walking into the CVS when I lived in New Jersey (this was many moons ago). We'd walk from our house downtown. The CVS had lime green carpet and bright fluorescent lights. I always felt like I had just woken up and someone turned on a light and shined it in my eyes when I walked into that store. What triggers memories for you? What candy takes you back to your childhood? Is the candy still available in stores? (For the record, you get Nerds at different stores--they were at my grocery store). Have A Whimsical Wednesday!

Take Off On A Dream Trip

Happy Tuesday All, Sorry for the late posts. We've had a friend over the last couple of days and so I've been spending time with her. I put some Oreos in the freezer, per my illustrious C.P. (Tess St. John) recommendation. I haven't tried them, yet, but I plan to, soon. Thursday I'll have an author interview and giveaway of an adult Romance--brand new release. I hope all of you will drop by and have peek. Do you have a pipe dream vacation (that may or may not come true one day)? My husband and I are hoping to go back to St. Croix (USA Virgin Islands) during the year of our 10th wedding anniversary. We went there on our honeymoon and had a blast. The water was awesome, pristine beaches, and we fell in love with a French-Mediterranean Restaurant (there's something about fresh Seafood, with little white lights on a patio that just makes for great atmosphere and eating experience). So what about you? Do you have a dream vacation? If so, where? Have A Terrific

Announcements!

Happy Monday All, Last week Robin Badillo put out the 3rd novel in her Blood Hunter (adult*) Paranormal Romance series, The Return available from Extasy Books . * I put this there as a reference to a post I posted last Friday about genre age groups. This Thursday I'm having an (adult Romance) author interview and a giveaway, so be sure to come back on Thursday, July 21, 2011. I'm on an Oreo kick again...the Reduced Fat ones actually taste like the regular (even though the fat is a little lower). Currently I'm reading Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini (a YA fantasy/paranormal novel--that has Greek Mythology mixed in it). Just released this year from HarperTeen. Pretty good so far. What are you reading? Have A Mythical Magical Monday! So what are you reading now? 

What The Genre?

Happy Friday All, Sorry about not posting on Thursday. I was exhausted Wednesday evening, so I decided to just go to bed--then I was busy today, so I took the day off. I thought I'd cover age genre types and what they mean. Some people have asked me about genres. One question I got was, "What's YA?" So, I'll start with the youngest age group and work my way up (as a Romance author I'm going to talk a lot about that when I get to the adult section): Children's Books:   These are anything from infant to 7 years old. (Some bookstores will have a section that says:  "3-5 Year Olds") Typically you'll find board books and easy-to-reads. There's a lot of Disney books available in this section. Titles like Brown Bear What Do You See? Caps For Sale, Splat The Cat, Berenstin Bears, Thomas The Tank Engine, I've found a lot of Dr. Seuss books in this section as well. Mid-Grade :  Most of these books are geared toward kids between children a

It's Magical!

Happy Wednesday All, From mermaids to dragons, I'm enjoying the fantasy/paranormal (when am I not?) So that makes me wonder...if you had magical powers what would you do with them? Fly instead of drive? Wave your hand and be showered, dressed and ready for the day? Housework and laundry would be done in record time in my house. Shoot, I could cook up a very involved dinner in seconds! The sky's the limit...what would you do with magical powers? Have A Wand-er-Full Wednesday!

A Fin-Ish Delight

Happy Tuesday All, A good story always makes me extremely happy. I love being taken to "another world" so to speak (whether it's actual other world, or just the author's world). The other day I finished reading Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs . This book makes me so happy. It was a lot fun, plus there was enough romantic scenes to make a mushy romantic like me happy. Forgive My Fins  was an extremely fast read for me. I just had trouble putting it down. I started it in the afternoon and finished at 2 a.m. (there long  breaks in between when I had to do other things--like take a nap, and be with my family). Awesome book and I just can't wait until I get to read the sequel. In Forgive My Fins , Lily (Princess Waterlily when under the sea) is half-mermaid/half-human (merman for a dad, human for a mom). For 14 years she lived in her father's kingdom, until her dad finally told her that her mother (who died when Lily was still a baby) was a human. So, L

Calling All Heroes!

Happy Monday All, What do you look for in a hero? Someone larger than life? Super-Man, maybe? *EDIT as of 9:37 a.m.:  (I'm talking about FICTIONAL heroes. As Tess points out in the comments there are real life heroes that make this world a better place, and they have my respect, admiration and gratitude for what they do, but for this post I'm talking about heroes in novels, I apologize for being unclear).     Or perhaps you're for someone a bit more "untouchable"--a little more "forbidding", like Mr. Darcy. Maybe you go for swashbuckling pirates like Captain Jack Sparrow. One thing I was told about heroes is that they should be "larger than life".   Heroes do have to be believable but they aren't likely to necessarily be someone you'd meet walking down the street. I don't know about you, but I've never run into Edward Cullen (or any other vampire) as I walked out of my house (maybe I wasn't looking hard enoug

Pirates Take Over My E-Reader

Happy Friday All, Before I get started on today's topic, I want to give you all a heads up about a post I enjoyed on another blog. This post was done by Will Graham , author of Street Heat and Sometimes There Really Are Monsters Under The Bed . I highly recommend you check out the post, it's called Can't Never Did Anything and it's on MuseTracks . But, first, before you go to MuseTracks to check out that awesome blog post, come on board a pirate ship with me in Jennifer Bray-Weber's Pirate Romance, Blood And Treasure . I've been interested in reading this one because pirates are one of those mysteriously fascinating things that I've sort of dipped my foot into every now and again (plus I'd heard great things about it). I don't know much about them, but I know some of the legends and stories out there. After all, my husband's a big fan of the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies and of course, Laura Childs' Tea Shop Mystery had some pirat

It's Summer--Take A Trip!

Happy Thursday Everyone, Summer's still going strong--July's not even half over and there's some of August, too. This year we weren't taking any summer vacation trip, but my husband took a little time off and that was nice. Growing up my family often headed up north to Michigan to visit relatives. We'd load up the car and drive through several states. We often stayed at friends' house in Kentucky. One year we went out to the Kentucky Horse Park , visited Churchill Downs (and the  Kentucky Derby Museum  there). That was a lot of fun. I had been taking horseback riding lessons at the time, so I knew how to hold the reins (learned both Western and English saddles/bridles). Another year my mom, younger brother and I were in Ohio and Mom took us to the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame . This was back when it hadn't been open real long. When I was there they had 1950's and 1960's cars hanging from the ceiling. I was so terrified the cars would fall on

New Release & Blog Update

Happy Wednesday All, Yesterday MaryJanice Davidson just put out her brand-new book in her Undead series, Undead And Undermined. Last year I had the pleasure of interviewing MJ and her husband, Anthony Alongi . The interview centered around their YA series, Jennifer Scales . But MJ has written several series for adults, as well. I'm working out some details for this blog, so please bear with me :-) Have A Whimsical Wednesday!

Release Updates & A Question

Happy Tuesday Everyone, Just thought I'd let you know... Chuck Emerson, a fellow writer friend of mine, has a new e-book out called Guys And Stuff (Short Stories)  available on Barnes & Noble Nook . He also has another story out called Journeys Of Mid-Life Relationships (Short Stories) . This one is available on both Barnes & Noble Nook  and also on Amazon Kindle . I'm a little late reporting on these two e-books (I'm sorry, Chuck). Guys And Stuff was released a couple of days ago and Journeys Of Mid-Life Relationships came out in March. Oh and update on Suzan Harden's Zombie Love:  When I first posted about the release, it hadn't come up on Barnes & Noble Nook, yet. Well, that's changed. Zombie Love is now available on Barnes & Noble Nook . Zombie Love is the sequel to Blood Magick . Okay, here's hypothetical question for you:  Suppose you had something in a story you wanted to put in--a big reveal--when is the best time to p

Go Fourth And Sparkle!

Happy Monday All, A very happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans! Happy Birthday to the U.S.A! Will Graham is celebrating the 4th all the way through July 15th with a very special offer on his novels, Street Heat and Sometimes There Really ARE Monsters Under The Bed . Up until July 15th both novels are on sale on Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook for just 99 cents each! Be sure to stop by his blog for links to both novels on Kindle and Nook . So do any of you all have special plans for today? Me and my family are going to have a laid back 4th . Have A Fabulous Fourth!

Zombies, RWA Twitters, Paperback, and It's Friday!

Happy Friday All, It's been a rather quiet week with RWA Nationals going on (catch up on RWA Conference news by way of Twitter ). I'm not there--wasn't in the cards for this year, but I've seen pictures from a couple of chapter mates of mine. But wait! Maybe it's not as quiet as I thought... This just in... Suzan Harden has released the second novel in her Bloodlines series (this release is the next one after Blood Magick ) The new release is entitled Zombie Love . It's available now on Amazon Kindle  It's also available on Smashwords , and XinXii . (Should be available on Barnes & Noble Nook soon).  Gotta say, I don't envy Suzan's heroine, Samatha "Sam" Rideway. Although, Sam sounds like she can handle anything thrown at her.   Also, yesterday Will Graham's book, Street Heat went in-print through Amazon . It's been available on Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook for awhile now, but now you can also get it in print.