Summer days drifting away...really fast! (Big Dreams Blog Update #22)

It's another Update Day!

Thanks to Shah Wharton for the banner above!

Well, it's Update Day if you're part of the Do You Have a Goal? blog hop hosted by authors Misha Gericke and Beth Fred. All you need to join the hop is a big (perhaps crazy) goal, be brave enough to post it and share it with the interwebs and work (like crazy) to reach it. 

Don't worry, you'll have 16 others of us cheering you along the way. :)

This post will be shorter because I'm on a bit of time constraint...

So, quick things then on my big (crazy) goal of writing one million words worth of stories:

For starters, I joined CampNaNo this month.

I started off planning to write one story, but by Day 3 I dropped it completely.

Why?

Another idea hooked its talon into my imagination and I cheated and ran away with it instead.

Thankfully it lead me to meet some pretty amazing characters for the last few weeks, and I'm still in awe on how it's already the end of the month. How did I reach the 31st and with 52K? Nuts!

As I'm not done my WIP I'll be continuing with it like regular -- I have a morning schedule going -- into August 1st onwards.

And that's my writing progress.

On my reading and reviewing front, I mentioned here that I've reached my goal of 53 books! ^^

But that I'm continuing to read whenever I can...because why not??

And as for the summer front...I'm walking a lot, getting fresh air and people watching. Not too many road trips though. A few, but not as much as I would have liked or planned at the start of this season.

Also it's been hellaciously hot this month.

Much, much hotter than June.

And it's only bearable outside once the sun has sorta cooled in the late evening.

Maybe I'm just too weak or something.

Or maybe I'm catching a lot of TV movies. (Anyone else got Summer Nights stuck on repeat in their heads?)

Anyways, how are you spending your summer?

Squeezing in vacation plans before September?

Let me know. I love to read a good story/comment.

CAMPNANO (JULY 2015) UPDATE #5: I survived...to see August and more writing.

CAMPNANO (JULY 2015):

VLOG UPDATE #5

Final vlog!
Yay.
We survived CampNaNo. :)

How did you do?
Check out how I did, and what I'd like to do differently as I continue to write my WIP in August.

BOOK REVIEW (69): Careful of the Company You Keep

BOOK REVIEW

Careful of the Company You Keep

Okay. Let me start this review by giving you a warning: when you first pick up Angie Daniels' Careful of the Company You Keep you'll probably want to throw the book away.
Like that first chapter (told from Renee's POV, one of two first-person narrators in the book) is so offensive, I considered DNF'ing at page 1.

Really.

There was a lot of gay-bashing, let's just put it at that, and downright nasty attitude from the so-called protagonist (again, one of two).

I promise, PROMISE, this story does get better.
It's like the Japanese dish, nattou, where acquired taste plays a large part in who likes it or not.
This book is really simply put -- IMO -- an acquired taste.

So the story follows Renee and Danielle, two friends in their late 30s (I believe they're both 38) who are unwed, bed-hopping frequently and in search of a calm in their love lives.
Mind you this is NOT a romance. I would call it women's fiction, but light-hearted, makes-fun-of-itself WF.

Anyways.
Renee and Danielle both tell the story in alternating chapters in 1st person narrative. Renee is the more ruder of the two; she doesn't have a filter. But she's also smarter. Danielle will make you want to toss the book across the room, yet she's kinder (not as potty-mouthed).

Both women end up landing in hot water with other females and poorly navigating their romantic and sexual decisions.
Eventually all of their choices -- good and bad -- comes to a head way at the end of the book. Let's just say neither woman escapes without a scar...or several.

All right what's U-G-L-Y that gives it no alibi:

1) What is up with the freaky euphemism in this novel!?
Both of these women refer to their vulvas as the "Kitty Cat" or just plain old "kitty"...as in, "my kitty is purring" (<-- paraphrased text from the book)
And Danielle calls her man's penis the "black snake". I don't have a thing against snakes, but imagine how much I don't want to be around one now. D:

2) How these women go from being downright intolerable to sympathetic figures -- if not symbols of martyrdom by the end. The change was too quick and too much for me. Not surprisingly it felt fake (particularly Danielle's relationship with her daughter and Renee's yo-yoing Good Samaritan role with her schizophrenic neighbor).

But don't forget the Good:

1) For starts the dialogue is amazing! I would kill to have the author's skill to bring to life these characters. If you're looking for a good teaching tool for realistic yet humorous dialogue, pick up Careful of the Company You Keep.

2) How the plot tied together. Like I said if you can manage to get through the first few chapters, you'll keep flipping the pages not knowing where the time is going (or at least that's how I felt!)

What you can take away then is that the book is an okay read. I liked what I liked, I hated what I hated, but it was all cool in the end.
After this review if you want to pick up Careful of the Company You Keep, and you like it, you might want to grab the other two preceding books in this trilogy (Book 1 - here and Book 2 - right here)

My verdict:

✮✮✮.5

(3.5 stars)

BOOK REVIEW (68): Love Times Three

BOOK REVIEW

Love Times Three

Another vlog review. Just rolling these out... :)

Click below to find out what I think of this read:

BOOK REVIEW (67): You, Stress Less

BOOK REVIEW:

You, Stress Less

A really great "go get 'em" guide to managing stress less.
BONUS! It's a short read. Less reading time, more getting you to start making the active changes to a better, healthier, stress-reduced life.

Here's my vlog review of it:

BOOK REVIEW (66): The Breakup Bible

BOOK REVIEW:

The Breakup Bible

A non-fiction title and a lengthy vlog review.
Enjoy.

CAMPNANO (JULY 2015) UPDATE #4: More plot talk.

CAMPNANO (JULY 2015):

VLOG UPDATE #4

What else would I talk about?

But I'm excited to share this (sorta*) new plotting method I've been trying to help me get to the midpoint of my WIP.

For more on that, click the video:

*I first found the scene/sequel method during a Harlequin contest in April 2014.

It didn't work too well for me then. I was more resistant.

This time it clicked...it REALLY clicked.

CAMPNANO (JULY 2015) UPDATE #3: What satisfaction?

CAMPNANO (JULY 2015):

VLOG UPDATE #3

We're at the halfway mark, fellow campers!
I've finally hit the ground running with my writing project, and everything's honky-dory so far.

One thing that's been helping is defining what satisfaction means for me concerning my WIP. Somewhere between "pushing through" the tough parts in the story and pausing to perfect every sentence, I've found a happy middle thus far.

Check out the vid below for more:

BAKING REVIEW (7): Blueberry Cupcakes w/ cream cheese frosting

BAKING REVIEW:
Blueberry Cupcakes
w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

I WAS planning to go with French macarons for this month's baking review, but I've been watching a lot of 2 Broke Girls and as a result have been craving cupcakes. Hence the choice to make blueberry cupcakes for this month's baking review! :)

HERE'S where I got my simple recipe.

And this is what the original blueberry cupcakes looked like:

See the hint of blueberry behind the extra cupcake liner above.
And of course my cupcakes:

Clearly I need help frosting...

Although I actually have a reason for that.

Seeing as I thought the recipe yielded too much cupcakes for my small fridge to handle, I halved the original cupcake recipe. In doing so I had to also halve the cheesecake frosting. TL;DR I must have miscalculated my cream cheese-to-butter and confectioner's sugar ratio.

BUT it tastes delicious. And my family concurs! :) (So my taste buds aren't insane. Yippee!)

That being said, next time around I would have used less blueberries as it was a bit too moist. I used fresh blueberries, but the recipe is open to frozen blueberries as well. It was also a bit too sweet...the frosting, the cupcake...just a bit too much for me.

Also although it was easy to put the cupcake batter together, I found it odious to mix the frosting. (Then again I'm particularly averse to the mess I have to clean up after frosting in gener.)

Not quite what I had to deal with... 

All in all, I would definitely try this recipe again. The mess and the dishes afterwards were worth tasting the result. Yum. *drool*

If you've caught the cupcake fever too, check out this simple and sweeeet recipe.

My verdict:

❤❤❤❤

(4 stars)

BOOK REVIEW (65): How to Do Everything and Be Happy

BOOK REVIEW:

How to Do Everything and Be Happy

I did a vlog review for this one.

Check it out below:

CAMPNANO (JULY 2015) UPDATE #2: I can't escape the plotting.

CAMPNANO (JULY 2015):

VLOG UPDATE #2

2nd video.
First week done and done.
Check out the video to see how I did.

But how did you do?

BOOK REVIEW (64): Don't Stay Up Late (New Fear Street #2)

BOOK REVIEW:

Don't Stay Up Late

You know how I said the first Fear Street book from the king of children's horror fiction was, well, not as bloody or frightening as I imagined it would be... Book 2, Don't Stay Up Late is indeed scarier.

In it readers will meet 16-year-old junior Lisa Brooks, who after a terrible accident falls prey to a string of frightening nightmares and hallucinations. She's missed out on going to school and hanging with her friends, and her mom really needs help with bringing in extra money to keep them afloat.

So when she's given the idea to get a P/T job, Lisa lands herself a babysitting gig...on Fear Street.
Still it seems normal enough so far, right?

But Lisa's nightmares/hallucinations only get worse. Now the creepy monster edging at the corners of said nightmares is coming to life, and it's followed her to her new employer's home. And it's killing people. Not just people but friends and school peers, and Lisa can't even testify against this thing, this Monster.

 What's worse is that no one believes her; not her mom, not her sorta-boyfriend, Nate, not her friends, Saralynn and Isaac, not the cops or even her sweet-tempered psychiatrist... She's in this whole Monster thing alone.

Now what I loved about this 2nd Fear Street title from the newly revamped series is the claustrophobia built around Lisa -- unlike the heroine in the 1st book, Lisa's well and truly alone, even though, and I could sense just how desperate, how important it was for her to try to regain stability and normalcy in her life again (and how sad her desperation particularly was given she really wouldn't ever have the same normal again).

Also it was nice to actually have a paranormal/sci-fi flair to this horror novel. Sure the first book had those ghost stories, but these come to life in Don't Stay Up Late.

One of the characters I liked dies by the claws of this Monster -- and no I don't think that's a spoiler! -- and I liked that I could be invested to finish the story to find out whether the killer(s) were captured.

Although I could see that almost every character played a role to some extent (yes, I'm counting the dead ones too), I didn't find it easy to wrap my mind around the last few chapters when a final twist is added to the story, as if it weren't twisted and messed up to begin with.

Do you sometimes watch movies (or read books) where a character suddenly, and almost randomly, decides to switch sides and reveal their TRUE self? It works when there's a build-up to it, and the individual can explain a complicated (or uncomplicated) network of connection to the plot.

Slevin's got the idea.

I'm all for crazy twists, but I don't like when they can't be properly explained. Also there were a lot of questions around the paranormal/sci-fi element in Don't Stay Up Late.

SPOILER!

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 So I get the villains have got this foolproof child-turning-Monster to take care of, hence Lisa's babysitting services, but two questions off the top of my head would be, how is the Monster created and what's the gain to creating this child-Monster exactly?

I didn't get the sense that Brenda, the child-Monster's "mother" (was she even genetically related to the kid) and Alice, the so-called "aunt" of the child-Monster were a gay, mad scientist couple looking to have a kid. It's NEVER explained. I mean I would have even understood if Brenda -- who at some point was married to some guy who's no longer in the picture and who is described from a picture as being "a good-looking guy" and who was "very clean cut, very all-American, tanned, blue-eyed, short brown hair, [and had] a nice smile" (p. 186-7); maybe this guy died and Brenda took his DNA or something to try to create a clone kid to keep by her side forever.

 END OF SPOILERS!

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Either way I shouldn't be plotting out the story and feeling this dissatisfied by the end to want to plot out different explanations. I mean there's thinking about a good book even after the last page, and there's becoming frustrated over the "let's be all mysterious and vague" approach R.L. Stine took this one. With Book 1 it was straightforward, and I didn't mind the teasing ghost story end. With Book 2 it was like, "GJAKJACJACKJFAKJFA, WHAT KIND OF ENDING WAS THAT???"

All in all, it was scarier than its predecessor even if it was more illogical, I still encourage anyone who might be interested to take the plunge and pick up Don't Stay Up Late (just a warning, it might make you think twice about babysitting).

My verdict:

✮✮✮

(3 stars)

CAMPNANO (JULY 2015) UPDATE #1: Off to a start.

CAMPNANO (JULY 2015):

VLOG UPDATE #1

First vlog of the July Camp NaNoWriMo.

I had no topic as you will see if you decide to watch the video, and not much to say after Day Two...

But good luck to my fellow campers!

Hopefully the pesky writing bugs (and a lack of bug spray) won't chase you away.

Also I'm trying this custom thumbnail thing, but it's all amateurish now. Still I suppose it's better than a unattractive still of me.