A Happy New Year to You!

A wish to everyone that is so kind to follow my blog for a very happy new year.  And in the case of my fellow authors...a year of published manuscripts!

Crush by Lacey Weatherford

Crush by Lacey Weatherford

Crush was a surprise for me.  I am going to place this Novel in the New Adult catagory due to one of the characters being older, however it does take place in a high school.  Cami is the main character, a nerd by association but a hot one.  The new guy in school arrives, Hunter, and immediately feels an attration.  The prologue to the book tells us that a boy died of a drug overdose during a dance.  Hunter is the bad boy...introduced as the guy looking for a hook up and some good drugs.  But when he ends up sitting behind Cami in almost all his classes, due to the alphabetical order of things, he finds himself drawn to her.  Cami, being a good-two-shoes, as Dace prefers to call her, frowns upon his partying ways but feels the same uncanny attraction.  The antagonist in the story is Cami's childhood friend Clay decides he wants to be more that friends and begins to persue her.  There is a huge twist in this book that I can't tell you but it is worth the time to find out.  I really liked how the author wrote the character of Hunter.  Occationally there were times I thought the writing left the realm of teenager, but overall it fetl connected to the characters.
I give it three out of five stars.

Fade (The Ragnarok Prophesies) by A.K. Morgen

Fade (The Ragnarok Prophesies) by A.K. Morgen

I have had this book on my kindle for awhile, I love the cover art and that drew me to buy it.  This is a New Adult book, the characters being in college.
I had the opportunity to read a little excerpt of this book before it was published and I have to say the small changes that were made were exactly what was needed to draw the reader into the story.  The main character is a girl named Arionna.  Arionna's mother dies and she goes to live with her father in a small college town.  The death of her mother is a thread through the story but is not a primary story line.  Ari's first day on campus leads her to Dace.  Dace is mysterious and of course beautiful and most importantly connected to Arionna in a way no one is really sure about.  I loved how the author used mythology to tell the of the past that drew these characters together and slowly divuldges bits of information to add characters and suspense of the story line.  This book takes a new look at shifters and there place in the world.  The characters were vivid and I felt like I knew them.  Dace was developed in a way that we all wish a boyfriend would be.  My only complaint about this book is that it leaves us with a cliff hanger and I can't find any information about whether the author is currently writing the sequel.  If not...I encourage her to begin.  If in the midst....please write faster! 

My Favorite Mistake by Chelsea M. Cameron

I found this book when I was lurking around the NA Alley blog.  I have to say my new favorite books are New Adult.  My Favorite Mistake falls into this catagory.  Along the lines of Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, this book follows the girl hates boy, boy challenges girl, girl falls for boy pattern.  Although that is greatly simplifying the plot and it works very well in this book.  Taylor, the MC, has a past that has made her leary of men.  Hunter the protagonist also has a past and isn't willing to open up, using a quick wit and smart ass attitude to deflect any questions.  When Taylor and her room mates are one room mate shy in their campus houseing, Hunter gets assigned.  To make matters worse they are going to have to share a bedroom.  Taylor's past rears its' head through violent outbursts and after barely an hour together she welcomes Hunter with a left hook and a knee to the balls. Watching these two grow in their relationship and discover they each have a past that has made them vulnerable and in need of love, is intensly fun and Hunter grabbed my heart. I have to commend the author for her writing. I loved the quick banter between the characters as Hunter chips at Taylor's walls and Taylor never backs down, shooting his crap right back.  A sucker for good dialogue...I couldn't put the book down.  The story line is quick and adds twists and turns to a well used pattern in romance.  I highly recommend this title. 

Correction on Voting Location

Thank you to Aldrea, "thank you", my NaNoMo book Screamers is under Speculative Fiction/ Sci Fi.  Vote! Vote! Vote! Yeah!

Curiosity Quills NaNoMo Contest

The NaNoMo contest at Curiosity Quills is gearing up!  You have until December 28th to vote for your favorite entries.  I would greatly appreciate anyone who would like to got to their website, to the NaNoMo tab and find my entry under Urban Fantasy called Screamers.  Votes would be appreciated so I can move on to the next round. 

Got back into the gym which means I GET TO READ!

Going to the gym for me doesn't only mean I am being honest when I go to the doctor and he asks me if I exercise, what it means is I get an hour, YES! an HOUR of uniterrupted time to READ!  Yeah!

So I was lucky enough to win a copy of EVER, from Jenna Russo herself after she chose the title of my NaNaMo manuscript as her favorite in a blog hop.  By the way the title was Screamers.

Anyway, I zipped through it in no time.

REVIEW OF EVER, by Jenna Russo

Ever, is the story of a seventeen girl whose best friend Frankie died in a car accident, but has chosen to stay with her in her house instead of moving on. Frankie has been in her house for two years and Ever is kind of hitting her limit with her pent up feelings.  She's holding onto a love she knows she can't have while longing for a real life, solid, boyfriend.  But as we all know...be careful what you wish for. I do not usually read ghost stories so was curious how I would like this one.  Well I loved it and I am frustrated that I went to Jenna's blog and saw her word-o-meter and discovered she isn't done with the sequel yet.  Ah! 

The story draws you in from the get go.  The writing is great and the banter between the characters is entertaining.  The over all story is suspenseful, you know that something is up with the hot new neighbor and you want to yell out for her to stay far away from him but you aren't sure why.  Toby and Frankie, the boys in the book are decribed in a way that I wanted to know them.  I was a little jealous that Ever had two hot, caring guys drooling over her.  This book has twists and turns and builds the tension adding conflict with a variety of characters and always having that tension fall back to Ever having to deal with it.  Even though the ending sets up a perfect sequel it didn't leave me hanging in a way that I felt I had unanswered questions...well I do but so does Ever so I guess we will suffer together until the sequel comes out.
Definitly recommend this for you book shelf.

Book Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

It was hard, but during NaNoMo I was reading The Raven Boys.  I need to begin my review by recommending Maggie's blog.  She has a great sense of humor and recently has really been trying to reach out to the youth that are reading her books.  Highly suggest stopping by.
On to my review.  Basically I loved it.  I do not know how she does it but she totally made me fall in love with her characters.  I was emotionly connected with them and through the book she throws in twists and turns that grab your heart and squeeze.  I really liked that she did her research and went more for a supernatural thread as apposed to the shifting theme of her last series I read (although I equally loved those books.)  The idea of reading of palms, ley lines, and ancient powers, was a fresh idea that I really enjoyed.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention one little complaint and that is....dare I say it....I didn't like the ending.  Or more accuratly I didn't like the last sentence.  It just ended.  There were loose ends and I was a little confused as to what had happened, (I don't want to elaborate because I don't want to be a spoiler) and the last sentence seemed akward.  It did leaving me drooling for a sequel but also scratching my head saying "what".  I envy Maggie's writing style and know it is a good...no.... great book when I can't get it out of my head.  Five stars definitly.

And you are....

1. How many speeding tickets have you gotten?
Three and that is only because the small town I live in has quotas for the police.  Sadly I got two on the way to church. 

 2. Can you pitch a tent?
Tent?  After going through survival training just give me some pine needles and tree boughs and I'll make my own tent!  Ha ha!  But when back in civilization I can put up a tent even when the hubby forgets the stakes.

3. What was your worst vacation ever?
We were on a weekend away with the kids and had left the hotel to goof off, returning late into the evening, and discovered that the hotel had shut down.  New management came in and closed the hotel.  Which was probubly a good idea since we had ran back at lunch to see a drug deal going down...however they locked everyone out of the hotel.  All our stuff was locked in the office and no one was there.  We called the police and the nice officer told us if it was him he would break in, but of course he couldn't advise us to do this, but was nice enough to drive away so we could.  My huband and son borke the door down and got our stuff.  But it was a busy weekend and midnight and we couldn't find a room anywhere cheap so ended up in a honeymoon suite in a super fancy (great use of adj.) place.  The kids thought it was awesome!

4. What was the last thing you bought over $100?
My puppy Dasy and she was worth every penny.  Does the new carpet we have to buy now count too?

5. We're handing you the keys to what?
The door to my FREEDOM so I don't have to work and I can stay home and Write!!!6. What was the last meal you cooked that made even you sick?
Well, I have problems with my immune system and am constantly developing new allergies to food so it isn't uncommon for me to cook something and my face to swell up and I have to get the epi pen out.  The last thing I cooked was paella with quinoa and spent the night throwing up.

7. Fill in the blank: Oh my gosh! Becky, look at her butt! It is so big. She looks like a ?  Not sure about this one.  I don't often look at womens butts.  Mens most certainly but womans...not so much.

8. What was your first car?1984 Chevy Cavelier.  Stick shift. I thought I was so awesome!!

9. Your best friend falls and gets hurt. Do you ask if he/she's okay or laugh first?
I tend to not be too sympathetic.  So I would probubly stand and stare blankly at her.

10. What's the worst song ever?
Putting on the ritz by Taco
Hate Hate that song