tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17993618739969603812024-02-19T06:51:52.541-05:00Read, Review, and RinseA Blog focused on Reading + Reviewing (and detailing my Writing journey).Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.comBlogger243125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-16032033650908833182016-01-29T08:47:00.004-05:002016-01-29T08:50:34.778-05:00MOVING...MOVED!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://media1.onsugar.com/files/2014/02/18/842/n/3019466/7a373a6161eb5499_url-19.gif.xxxlarge/i/Having-Move-Back-Your-Parents-House.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media1.onsugar.com/files/2014/02/18/842/n/3019466/7a373a6161eb5499_url-19.gif.xxxlarge/i/Having-Move-Back-Your-Parents-House.gif" height="164" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'M MOVING ON OUT!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No, no waterworks. It's not that kind of move.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But I <strong>am</strong> switching blogs and won't be actively updating (or updating at all) here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you want to continue to follow my journey to publication, hit me up </span><a href="https://authormarnareed.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">HERE</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> as author me (a.k.a. Marna Reed) makes her debut!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Seriously though, do I need to pass the tissues?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bye for now Blogger! <span style="color: #cc0000;">♥</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">xoxo</span> Muah!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-55656583826759243592016-01-23T22:53:00.002-05:002016-01-23T22:54:34.347-05:00RSS Winter Writing Fes 2016 Update #1: When a new year brings new challenges...<div align="center">
<strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">RSS Winter Writing Festival 2016</span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">UPDATE #1</span></strong></div>
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<a href="http://www.rsswwf.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.rsswwf.com/" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNGWG44pmGNrCsj8TSgtVxLHlgsZuUgrcDZErv04xaEUJkpb5gtBtTclXy8RR6yiOpopDcqv4E_7xn1YdIaPIDCLnQTPjPTefpxrHWQjWUqKmYAXk55zsuaO1JQJz6OPW9ffLNbsNDxnSW/s200/RSS+Winter+Writing+Festival+2016+update+marker.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I almost forgot to do this post.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">Not surprisingly considering this is my 1st update for 2016.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";"><strong>YAY</strong> 2016! Here's to a year of major productivity boost.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia";">I'm not doing any (formal) book reviews this year, so the blog's going to be quiet for the next few months.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">Right now, and the reason I'm doing this blog, is I've taken up a challenge!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">That challenge is the Winter Writing Festival (2016 edition) hosted by the <a href="http://www.rubyslipperedsisterhood.com/" target="_blank">Ruby Slippered Sisterhood</a>, a blog about books, from authors to readers and other writers/authors. It was originally created by a group of 2009 Golden Heart Finalists, so naturally the blog is focused on romance novels/novellas/shorts.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">What is the festival about? (<em>Hint</em>: it's writing-related)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">You know, forget it, I'll just tell you.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">It's actually an open challenge for anything writing-related. So you could be starting the first draft of your 1st novel or fiftieth, in the middle of the copyedits for your publisher, or slogging through the initial plotting/outlining stage(s): The RSS Winter Writing Fes is for you to set a goal/goals publically, have a (friendly and super supportive!) community of published and aspiring authors cheering you on and holding you to your goal(s), and enjoying the activities interspersed throughout the 50-day challenge.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">The challenge started January 12th and will end March 1st, with updates happening every Monday until then (here's the <a href="http://www.rubyslipperedsisterhood.com/its-check-in-monday-1-for-the-winter-writing-festival/" target="_blank">first week of updates</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">I found the Writing Festival last Saturday, chickened out of signing -- and then decided that was stupid and signed up the next day, making a public goal of writing 1000/day and write daily.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">First the writing daily helps me. Writing, like most skills, is more skill development than latent talent. Even being born a wordsmith requires you polish your natural linguistic ability. Not even a genius writer can dream up a novel in a night. Hard work is the backbone of ALL stories, and most things in general.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">As for the 1000/day, I know I can do that much now. I've got my writing groove back; the one I lost over the end of summer through fall. What with SAD to worry about and Blue Monday recently passing I think I'm over the hump of my slump (hehe) and into greener pastures...well, actually I'm still staring at snow and slush and will be for another, oh, 3ish months, but that's not the point --</span></div>
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<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/65a6783a50034d0c7a0cd3b513f7b25a/tumblr_mhczhhKbhc1rnw80to2_r1_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/65a6783a50034d0c7a0cd3b513f7b25a/tumblr_mhczhhKbhc1rnw80to2_r1_250.gif" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">No. No, I know you probably fell asleep so here's the...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";"><strong>TL;DR version:</strong> I joined THIS writing challenge and for the remaining 37 days until March 1st, my goals are,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">1) to <strong><em>write 1000/day</em></strong> (of whatever WIP I'm working on)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">2) <strong><em>write daily</em></strong> from January 15th to March 1st (and I'm on track so far!)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">I'll be doing my own updates every Saturday, since I started late and I'll have my own experiences to share from this 1.5 month-long challenge.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia";">Until next time! <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">♥</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigFdrSRLcVsZKW5-vUVJIU0gvqGjIJpiqpnMrJAwzyxWTCDaDjf7sHgWzVy9jQRp8N3ULrkrp9js_oipFRDhECSUDZOPDNwqMvQRUr7gCOr0gcA0gbPlC5cdkNNXqkSQ50wUp03m8eGBae/s1600/RSS+Winter+Writing+Festival+2016+update+marker+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigFdrSRLcVsZKW5-vUVJIU0gvqGjIJpiqpnMrJAwzyxWTCDaDjf7sHgWzVy9jQRp8N3ULrkrp9js_oipFRDhECSUDZOPDNwqMvQRUr7gCOr0gcA0gbPlC5cdkNNXqkSQ50wUp03m8eGBae/s320/RSS+Winter+Writing+Festival+2016+update+marker+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-21320958420163454432015-12-31T15:11:00.000-05:002015-12-31T15:16:37.318-05:00Good Endings make Better Beginnings. (Big Dreams Blog Update #27)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">YEAR-END UPDATE DAY!</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://sylmion.blogspot.ca/p/do-you-have-goal.html" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJX7R7w16vYsiAohACn9h371SBz_-6vrrqFNSMEonpRXp-L2ERbWU2OH8mJVhZBQ0GPON_QdgUkpwyHoJV9BV59wqLeIYj5pbhJ5mmzzjafCYOqAMONE0CLauFPuaYEOuItiX1tESaKTyI/s320/Do+You+Have+Goals+Button.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks to <a href="http://shahwharton.com/blog/" target="_blank">Shah Wharton</a> for the banner above.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’m pretty sure I say this every year (like I do almost every Update post), but 2015 raced by. I can’t believe a year’s come and gone from my last New Years’ Update. Ahh. The time. Where you go?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">*ahem*</span></div>
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So let’s review some of my year’s goals.</div>
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I actually have no problem with New Years’ resolutions. Some people mock them, other people revere them, I probably fell in the former category a few years back and since I started this blog, I began leaning towards the latter opinion of reverence. Heck! Last year I set these (favourite) New Years’ resolutions:</div>
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1) Eat healthier and exercise more.</div>
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2) Find a job (*cough*thatIlike*hack*)</div>
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3) Write two more novels and send them to agents or directly to publishers.</div>
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For me the same old goals I recycled (maybe tweaked) since 2014.</div>
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Sitting here mentally reviewing 2015 and writing this post has made me consider that resolutions are fine and dandy…when coupled with a goal plan.</div>
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It’s easy to say that this is the year that you’re going to cut down on chocolate, open a business and roll in the profit and quit the day job, and so on. It’s harder to put that ‘bigger’ plan to action.</div>
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So my broader goal in 2015 is to outline an action plan for each of my goals (even the small ones). How will I be doing this? By continuing my monthly Update reviews, and within those Updates setting smaller goals towards the bigger goals.</div>
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For example, one of my goals for 2015 is to renew my writing goals from 2015. This year, in particular, I wanted to write one sentence daily. That <i>didn't</i> happen. In fact that one-sentence goal was re-constructed from another failed goal of 750 words/daily. It's all <a href="http://readreviewrinserepeat.blogspot.ca/2014/12/keeping-it-short-for-year-long-worth-of.html" target="_blank">here</a> if you want to read about it. Instead of aiming for writing daily, I know that all my finished projects usually require me to focus and write on the project daily.</div>
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So if I can do that much, then great. Otherwise it's taken me two years to get to this point, but I now accept that I <b>won't</b> be writing daily. And you know what? That's just fine.</div>
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As long as I set my resolutions, have my mini action plans for each and I use this blog to keep myself accountable then I see a productive new year.</div>
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My resolutions for 2016 include:</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">✿ <b>WRITING:</b> this year I won't be setting a calendar of projects, instead I'd like to complete projects as per priority and take it a day at a time from there. For instance I'm opening the new year with a short story I have plans for but I can't speak about yet.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">✿ <b>READING + REVIEWING:</b> I surpassed my goal of reading + reviewing 52-53 books for 2015. I actually read a little more than 100, but I didn't review some of those novellas. I reviewed only 100 and I'm all the better for those 100 and some reads.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">Now I know this blog is called "Read, Review, and Rinse" and I started 2014 with book reviews, but I'll be stopping that this year. Why? I never really enjoyed reviewing books. It was an experience I'll cherish, not one I want to re-hash anymore. Maybe I'll feel differently after the next 366 days... We'll have to see. In the meantime, I will renew my reading goal of 52-53 books for 2016 and will continue to update my reading list -- I just won't be reviewing those books.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">✿ <b>MISC.: </b>this is where my health and financial plans go. Health-wise I didn't really appreciate my body and my spirit all that much this year.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">I was mostly equally depressed as I was happy, and some days I felt like I was tiptoeing around my mood to ensure my productivity for the day. 'Cause I don't know about anyone else, I just can't do anything when I'm all weepy and pissy. I also tend to binge-eat sweets when I'm sad, so I'd like to replace sugary treats with more fruits. I won't be doing baking reviews anymore. That was a trial for this year and I didn't like reviewing as much as I liked baking, so I'll keep up the baking just toss out the reviews. And I'll be searching for healthier desserts and whenever I find one I like, I'll share it real quick on here (or maybe Twitter or something). Fair?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">Financial stuff is my business, but I'm hoping to turn around my finances this year. Pay off more student loans, and learn to budget better. I'll probably do the latter by visiting the library and reading up on how-tos and all that. You learn by doing, right?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">Now that I listed my resolutions/bigger goals, I would go through each and break down my goals and they'd look something like this:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">✿ </span><b style="line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">WRITING: </b><span style="line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">complete short story and edit short story; I'll see what comes after that but I've got an idea for another project I'm co-authoring so that's probably what will come next</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">✿ <b>(JUST) READING</b></span><b style="line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">:</b><span style="line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;"> read 1 book/week and I already have my first two books lined up for the new year</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">✿ <b>MISC.</b></span><b style="line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">: </b><span style="line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">continue exercising (I exercise every other day for 30 mins at least, and I tend to break out into dance throughout the day anyways, so more exercise); keep a food journal -- this will be within my art journal (<-- more on both these in January); try to keep spending down to a minimum (I still live with the 'rents and they're cool with it, but I'd like to start to pitch in with the bills more) -- I'm looking into some jobs, and hopefully I can talk about my progress in the first quarter of 2016).</span></div>
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Really vague, I know, but it's enough to expand from resolutions to actual do-able goals. Next up, I need that accountability. Some people don't, and that's cool, but I know that if I don't feel like I'm looking over my shoulder just a bit that I'll start to slack off. And that's where the <a href="http://sylmion.blogspot.ca/p/do-you-have-goal.html" target="_blank">Do You Have a Goal?</a> blog hop has come in for a bit more than 2 years now.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
If I didn't know that there were 11 other bloggers out there trying to achieve their goals</div>
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Created by authors <a href="http://sylmion.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Misha Gericke</a> and <a href="http://bethfred.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Beth Fred</a>, the <a href="http://sylmion.blogspot.ca/p/do-you-have-goal.html" target="_blank">Do You Have a Goal?</a> hoppity hop invites you to set one (preferably big and crazy) goal to reach by July 2018 (five years after the blog hop's beginning).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My goal is 1 million words in completed stories because the 1 million and first word is supposed to be my first good word -- all lies, I just like "fullness" of 1 million. Whatever that means. But I am closing the year off with 192K (going down from ~250K because I haven't read some of those finished manuscripts, and once I do I'll add them to the count).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
As a member of the blog, every month I do an Update post recounting my goals from the previous month. Where am I at? What did I do for the past ~4 weeks? What are my goals for the coming month?</div>
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Like I said, AMAH-ZING for folks like me who are shaky with time management.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Interested in the blog? Click the icon up at the top of this post, or right <a href="http://sylmion.blogspot.ca/p/do-you-have-goal.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> or Uncle Sam to join in the fun now.</div>
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<a href="http://sylmion.blogspot.ca/p/do-you-have-goal.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/24988805.jpg" height="320" width="232" /></a></div>
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All in all, <b>2016</b> will be about upward change. Improving, stumbling along the way but remembering what worked and didn't work to ensure I don't keep falling flat on my face by repeating poor, old habits.</div>
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The reason I chose an English proverb* for this blog's title is to show how a New Year doesn't have to start at January 1st 12:00 AM; beginnings can start whenever, and there's always room to change, adapt and grow. Just make sure to have fun while you're doing all that. </div>
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<img border="0" src="http://img.pandawhale.com/post-18170-Leonardo-Dicaprio-raising-glas-Glmc.gif" height="133" width="320" /></div>
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Here's to a healthy, happy and successful year.</div>
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Cheers!</div>
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*actual English proverb: "A good beginning makes a good ending."</div>
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-24578263482527999182015-12-30T20:20:00.001-05:002015-12-30T20:20:24.181-05:00BOOK REVIEW (100): A Home in the Sky (Twice Told Tales #6)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>BOOK REVIEW:</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A Home in the Sky</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61DG4nUEg-L._AC_UL320_SR226,320_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #990000;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61DG4nUEg-L._AC_UL320_SR226,320_.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Like its predecessors in the <em>Twice Told </em>series from author Olivia Snowe (and illustrator Michelle Lamoreaux), I read<em> A Home in the Sky</em> in one sitting yesterday. This book, like the others, sticks very close to the fairy tale it is re-telling: in this case, "Jack and the Beanstalk".</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;">Jack is a teenager in this re-telling, and like his peers he wants items of materialistic value. He's raised by his mom alone in a crappy neighborhood housing thugs and thieves and he's a smart kid who wants to climb his way out of his dead-end, poor stick at life, and he wants to take his mom with him.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;">So Jack, being a good boy, listens to mom and sells his awesome, super-fast bike to a creepy old man in a city alley in exchange for six magical beans. Mom freaks out and sends Jack back to get his bike and fetch it for <em>real</em> money to help catch up with all the overdue bills.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;">If you haven't figured it out, this story is set in the 21st-century, though it gets pretty weird and I felt at time caught in a fairy tale parallel to a 21st century city setting, if you catch my drift.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;">Anyways, Jack tosses the beans when he can't find the old man who "stole" his bike and the next day he happens across the empty lot he tossed the beans in and BAM! there's a beanstalk where his beans were overnight.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;">Jack does the most natural thing: climb that stalk and find out where it goes.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;">And you know how the story ends.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<a data-ved="0ahUKEwiqt-u29oTKAhWMbT4KHbxzCpYQjRwIBw" href="https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiqt-u29oTKAhWMbT4KHbxzCpYQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DYZ6aeaGQKUE&psig=AFQjCNHkdY9asYQ3RIdzRi-riXoBQUAYdw&ust=1451610967120104" id="irc_mil" jsaction="mousedown:irc.rl;keydown:irc.rlk;irc.il;" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor;"><img height="179" id="irc_mi" src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YZ6aeaGQKUE/maxresdefault.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;">Well, nothing changes. Relatively nothing. Which, honestly given the nature of this tale, I was <em>hoping</em> something would give. When you take this story and drop it in modern times, it just DOESN'T work. I mean, the magic harp, the hen laying gold eggs, <strong>the giant</strong>, were just all terrible facades rather than charming outside a more fantastical setting.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;">Jack's mother is an idiot. I mean, she was pretty annoying in the original tale (or versions of the tale), but at least her greed made sense. It's like by trying to redeem her in this story -- put her in a better light -- Ms. Snowe failed to acknowledge how the plot turned out. Why would Jack's mother willingly go to a thug she knows is "a crook and a killer"?</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;">And what's with the ending. It felt TOO perfect, even for a fairy tale.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia;">I'll give it a one and a half because I liked the art as usual. Ms. Lamoreaux is really talented!</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;">✮.5</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(stars)</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-43533349604024922732015-12-30T20:08:00.000-05:002015-12-30T20:23:18.314-05:00BAKING REVIEW (12): Gingerbread Cookies<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>BAKING REVIEW:</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ginger Cookies</span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span> </div>
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<a href="http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/everafterhigh/images/6/6b/The_Cat_Who_Cried_Wolf_-_Grimmnastics_teacher.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130911142451" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><img border="0" src="http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/everafterhigh/images/6/6b/The_Cat_Who_Cried_Wolf_-_Grimmnastics_teacher.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130911142451" height="180" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Lately I've been obsessing over Ever After High, and I couldn't help including this guy, Coach Gingerbread, from the cartoon series.</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Haha, I can't imagine anyone taking a bite out of him -- would he taste like a sweaty gingerbread man? :D</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As the year went by, I'm sure my baking reviews are getting more vague. In this case, I completely forgot to bookmark the site where I riffed the recipe for the gingerbread cookies and the icing. Lol.</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So no comparisons from the site, but here's some pictures of gingerbread cookies around the net that make me envy my lacking decorating skills.</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://shnugglebunny.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Gingerbread-Cookies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://shnugglebunny.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Gingerbread-Cookies.jpg" height="204" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://hostedmedia.reimanpub.com/TOH/Images/Photos/37/300x300/exps44384_BLCB1449742D75A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://hostedmedia.reimanpub.com/TOH/Images/Photos/37/300x300/exps44384_BLCB1449742D75A.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu101/bridget350/new%20main/gingerbreadcouple3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu101/bridget350/new%20main/gingerbreadcouple3.jpg" height="204" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And here's mine straight from the oven:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUwVpS7cjukLIj8J8DqdjHziduRGwhuLT9fgMQQ_atXLIePoBf-D9sALjXeIy39mSkBwt9g2TRvOWZLbkZyELFBYpBSiU1_9vV7lBte7Jjyv54YmxpFdkMbZ6V43rDvL4jc5Gz6J76DX7k/s1600/20151227_154914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUwVpS7cjukLIj8J8DqdjHziduRGwhuLT9fgMQQ_atXLIePoBf-D9sALjXeIy39mSkBwt9g2TRvOWZLbkZyELFBYpBSiU1_9vV7lBte7Jjyv54YmxpFdkMbZ6V43rDvL4jc5Gz6J76DX7k/s320/20151227_154914.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia;">When it's frosted:</span><br />
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</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIcBfKKEf8O26dpjOZhBhVEUmeahDxTnGlzkLVYV-WWdS-DUwFNRnN1FJ4eHmDa9HuQy3zpzmegSFmrlRfTW6BVB2lk39xDt34xLCJorCRXT6cIl56UTogRLMraHD7eVsldMWBBeaxZ_k7/s1600/20151227_174912.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIcBfKKEf8O26dpjOZhBhVEUmeahDxTnGlzkLVYV-WWdS-DUwFNRnN1FJ4eHmDa9HuQy3zpzmegSFmrlRfTW6BVB2lk39xDt34xLCJorCRXT6cIl56UTogRLMraHD7eVsldMWBBeaxZ_k7/s320/20151227_174912.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It wasn't planning to share the frosted version, but *shrugs* why not?</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm of the mind that if it tastes good, and looks somewhat appetizing, then I've done my job.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">These are delicious, and as such I'm going to keep this review short.</span><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My only qualm was that it could have been more moist, but that doesn't make sense because we're talking gingerbread cookies.</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia;">What I liked especially was that there wasn't too much sugar -- other than 3/4 cup light brown sugar -- in the cookies because the icing could be sweet, and even a little <em>too</em> sweet...</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia;">In the end, this was a great way to end my baking review career. Haha. I can't replicate this, and I don't want to in 2016. Then again if I find that <strong>extra</strong> special dessert, I'd be happy to share. Until then...</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia;">EAT ON.</span><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<a data-ved="0ahUKEwiNxe7d94TKAhXGFj4KHYBNCZUQjRwIBw" href="https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiNxe7d94TKAhXGFj4KHYBNCZUQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fugly.com%2Fpictures%2F26113%2Fkeep-calm-and-eat.html&psig=AFQjCNHu5tkxls8lQjbyvXeF1OfOTh7ZjA&ust=1451611301118198" id="irc_mil" jsaction="mousedown:irc.rl;keydown:irc.rlk;irc.il;" style="border-image: none; border: 0px currentColor;"><img height="200" id="irc_mi" src="https://www.fugly.com/media/IMAGES/Random/keep-calm-and-eat.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="135" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My verdict:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">❤</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">❤</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">❤</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">❤.5</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(4.5 hearts)</span></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-86886086666762981212015-12-29T18:06:00.000-05:002015-12-29T18:06:56.180-05:00BOOK REVIEW (99): Haunted Memories (Saranormal #2)<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">BOOK REVIEW:</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Haunted Memories</span></div>
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330990971l/12813939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><img border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330990971l/12813939.jpg" height="320" width="214" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Since I sort of left the first Saranormal book with high hopes for the series, I decided to grab book 2 and join Sara and see what new ghostly adventures she’s unearthed. Book 2, <i>Haunted Memories</i>, follows 12-year-old medium Sara Collins to junior high in her new port-side town, Stellamar.</span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
Sara is not too excited to be at school because 1) she’s not really social and as the new girl, she’s on display, and 2) there are a lot of ghosts popping up around the school halls and the cafeteria which makes her plan to act normal kaput.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
There’s a bit of plot carry over from the first book, but I think it’s still safe to jump into this one without being too lost.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Book 2 like Book 1 doesn’t have a lot of ghost showdowns. The ghosts so far are benign: if you’ve ever stumbled upon the <i>Ghost Whisperer</i> series with Jennifer Love Hewitt then you’ll see what I mean. There are the <i>Ghost Whisperer</i> episodes were you have the ‘ghost-of-the-day’ and they’re usually ghosts who are stuck because of some problem they need to solve, so on, so forth.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But you know why I really loved this book: Sara has a love interest!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Jayden Mendes is the new kid from last year and he's probably the only one who understands how Sara feels. It helps that he's hot and Sara's getting lovey-dovey vibes from him too. The thing is that she can't seem to escape the whole seeing-ghosts part of her and every time she's enjoying a moment with Jayden they're interrupted by the spirit of his dead older brother.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I can't promise action, but there's enough mystery to last the short read, and it helps that Sara is actually coming into her powers a bit. Oh, and she isn't sharing her secret with herself anymore! Want to know who's in on her secret, pick up <i>Haunted Memories</i> and find out for yourself.</div>
</span><br />
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(4 stars)</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-60528757801119501522015-12-29T18:05:00.001-05:002015-12-29T18:05:21.061-05:00BOOK REVIEW (98): Fairest of All (Whatever After #1)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>BOOK REVIEW:</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fairest of All</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">I really enjoyed the first book in author Sarah Mlynowski's <i>Whatever After</i> series. If you haven't guessed by the cover, the series re-tells some favourite fairy tales. This first book takes another look at "Snow White" and borrows elements from the Disney version, and a few local versions (i.e. poisoned apple, poisoned comb, poisoned pillow).</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>Whatever After #1</i>, <i>Fairest of All</i>, follows 10-year-old Abby and her 7-year-old brother Jonah into a magic mirror in their basement. From the mirror they land in the fairy tale kingdom of Zamel. Currently ruled by Snow White's evil stepmother, Abby and Jonah realize they need to get home and fast before they are permanently stuck in the technology-free kingdom.</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Snow White was annoyingly ditzy, and though she's sixteen, it felt that Abby and Jonah could take care of her better than she could herself. I should go easy on her though. She was orphaned at a young age and she has a (funny) evil stepmother. </span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;">The evil stepmother was more funny than scary: she was a bit of a loon, and her plans to poison Snow were laughable. At least I could admire her tenacity... *sigh*</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;"> The dwarfs were useless for the most part, although they offered a bit of comic relief and they happened to be a big part of the climax.</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Of course no "Snow White" re-telling is complete without an appearance from the Prince.</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Prince Trevor from the neighbouring kingdom of Gamel is AWOL until about halfway through the book when Abby (or was it Jonah?) remembers the Prince's role in the fairy tale. In the end Trevor is about as useless as the dwarfs (if not even more useless as he saves NO ONE), but the dude's nice and though he seems a bit eager to marry Snow, he isn't put out when she tells him to take things slowly:</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>"Listen, Trevor," Snow says. "I'm not looking for a serious relationship right now. I need to focus on my duties here, now that I'm queen."</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><i>"I get it," the prince says, nodding. "Look, why don't we take it a little slower? How about dinner?"</i> (pg. 156)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">And that, ladies and gents, is how fairy tales should be written.</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Other than the endearing twists to this tale, the reason I <i>really</i> loved this re-telling and continued reading was to follow the relationship of Abby and Jonah. These two were <b>hilarious</b>! I could believe they were brother and sister. I'm so glad that each of the stories will feature these two together, otherwise Abby would come across too bossy and Jonah would be 'act first, think later'. Like all good teammates (and siblings!) they share weaknesses and strengths.</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">If you're at all interested, try this first adventure with Abby and Jonah.</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(5 stars)</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-14539821314971150262015-12-28T17:31:00.000-05:002015-12-29T17:02:09.923-05:00BOOK REVIEW (97): The Baby Project<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">BOOK REVIEW:</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Baby Project</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">It wasn't until I picked this title up from the library on a whim (while picking up other loans) that I realized I hadn't read a Harlequin in months. I've been on a dry spell and I needed to end it. And what a way to end it!</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Susan Meier's <i>The Baby Project</i>, the 1st title in the <i>Babies in the Boardroom</i> trilogy. Each title features one of the three Andreas brothers. These trio of billionaires are powerful, intelligent, sexy...and damaged.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">In <i>The Baby Project</i> hero Darius Andreas, the eldest Andreas brother, is in heroine Whitney Ross' family legal offices to hear his late father's will. When he walks out of the office, he's learned two things: 1) his father lived up to his womanizing ways until the end, 2) Darius is a father to his baby half-brother, Gino Andreas, and 3) Darius has to share his new parental/custodial duties with Whitney, the best friend of Gino's late mother.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">6-month Gino is alone in the world, and Darius and Whitney have to learn to push aside their animal attraction to focus on raising the little boy in their care.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">I liked this story because Darius didn't shy away from pursing Whitney, and Whitney didn't wilt like a flower (at least she didn't once she shared her sad past with Darius). Their chemistry leaps off the page, it kept me turning page after page considering it starts off a tad slowly (and maybe a bit melodramatically).</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">I think it also helped that I loved Darius' banter with his two brothers, Cade and Nick. These three were hiliarious. I only <i>wish</i> I was surrounded by these three. Seriously. I was <b>jelly</b> of Whitney.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">I had nothing bad to say about this one. Even the build-up to the black moment wasn't cheesy. It set up the cheesiness then -- BAM! genius plotting saved the day and I closed the book grinning after a super-cute epilogue.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Now to hunt down Books 2 & 3.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(5 stars)</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-16656120203285661932015-12-20T18:02:00.004-05:002015-12-20T18:12:09.393-05:00BOOK REVIEW (96): Beauty and the Basement (Twice Told Tales #4)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>BOOK REVIEW:</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Beauty and the Basement</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I wanted to save this book for later, but I not only ended up reading it earlier -- I also finished it in one very short sitting.</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's too bad. As the second book from the <i>Twice Told Tales</i> series by author Olivia Snowe (and illustrator Michelle Lamoreaux), this fairy tale re-telling was better than the first book I read from this series (that was the Little Red Riding Hood one and you can find it <a href="http://readreviewrinserepeat.blogspot.ca/2015/11/book-review-92-cassie-and-woolf-twice.html" target="_blank">here</a>).</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The plotting was better with this one. The characterization didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth, and though the external conflict was worthy a few eye rolls the ending was plausible and I could swallow it comfortably.</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But let's talk characters:</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We got 15-year-old Belle Beaumont who has an obnoxious father -- the guy was more of a butt-hole than the original fairy tale version or Disney's take on the tale. I promise you'll feel no sympathy for Belle's father, Jack Beaumont.</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Belle I liked.</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She was spunky, optimistic, yet she had her morals all-lined up and that, IMO, made her a far better character than Scarlet in the LRRH <i>Twice Told</i> re-telling. Like I would actually want to meet this girl and have a chat with her and ask her why her parents thought it fit to call her 'Belle' when her last name already means 'beautiful mountain' (<-- with the extent of my French)?</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Carlo Mostro*, a.k.a. the Beast, was also pretty cool. Like Belle's he is a 15-year-old boy whose become a summer shut-in since a tragedy befell his family. With his mother in and out of his life, Carlo becomes anti-social and mean. The thing is I LOVED watching Belle slip past his defenses without so much as saying a word at first: he just thinks that's she's really pretty and why not?</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then, of course, it goes the cliched way and I'm sure you can piece that together as i</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">t doesn't stray too much from the original plot.</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You have Belle whose physical beauty matches her internal beauty. And there's Carlo, the misunderstood Beast. Disney added the twist of the cursed servants, and we get only one "servant" in this, the Mostro family chef.</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you can't piece it together, might I suggest picking up <i>Beauty and the Basement.</i> This installment in the <i>Twice Told Tales</i> series is fantastic and should be shared!</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I only wish that there was an epic transformation at the end, instead of a boring old change of heart. ;) There is rain at the end, just no fingertip 'light-show' transformation.</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">*NOTE: Because it was bugging me, and it read like 'monster' I looked up Carlo's surname. 'Mostro' <b>does</b> mean 'monster' in Italian. What a last name! Haha.</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(4 stars) </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-58123320758197568392015-12-05T16:58:00.002-05:002015-12-05T16:58:20.145-05:00BOOK REVIEW (95): Ghost Town (Saranormal #1)<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">BOOK REVIEW:</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ghost Town</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Back with another review: this time I didn't stray too long after completing this one. Though I did read it <b>super</b> slow, I blame school (*ahem*andmybadtimemanagementskills*cough,hack*).</span><br />
<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is the first in the MG series <i>Saranormal</i> by Phoebe Rivers. This series stars heroine/MC Sara Collins and her ghost-seeing, medium-like abilities. Ever since Sara was four she's been able to see ghosts -- 12 now she's trying her best to keep her secret just that a secret. But it's getting hard with all the dearly departed hanging around her new home, Stellamar, a fictional seaside town in New Jersey.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She's making friends and that's keeping her over-protective dad happy. Still at this rate with a ghostly old man warning her about danger on the pier where all her friends hang out, Sara isn't sure how much longer she can pretend to be normal without packing up and leaving Stellamar for good.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What I loved about Book One <i>Ghost Town </i>was Sara's sarcasm and that she isn't 100% confident in herself; that made her seem normal, and she isn't exactly rushing out to save the world. She's also not a pity case: sure she's got powers, sure she doesn't have a lot of friends, but she's still a normal pre-teen (plus her extra special power).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I liked the pacing, too. I didn't expect anything super deep. Don't go in having watched too many episodes of <i>College Medium</i> and <i>Long Island Medium</i> and any other <strike>whacko</strike> reality show of that variety. It might go that way, sure, in the next 10ish books of the series, but Book one is clear of that nonsense.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Saranormal #1: Ghost Town</i> was a quick, fun read. I recommend picking it up if ghosts and drama and MG is for you.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(5 stars)</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-4463923707778500412015-12-01T18:35:00.001-05:002015-12-01T18:35:24.862-05:00BOOK REVIEW (94): Alice in Rapture, Sort of (Alice #2)<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">BOOK REVIEW:</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alice in Rapture, Sort of</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is the newer cover -- again, very <b>pretty</b> illustration here of Alice and sorta boyfriend, Patrick.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But here's the original 1989 version, and that's the one I borrowed from the library:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>WARNING:</b> this will be a short review. Although most of my reviews are short, this one will be definitely <i>short</i> short.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Once again Alice didn't fail to make me laugh.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alice and I get along now, especially after the dreck (and horror) that was the beginning of the first book in this series by author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So this 2nd book picks up where the first book left off with Alice graduating sixth grade and moving on from elementary to junior high/middle school. It's the summer before her seventh grade year and Alice has a boyfriend officially! And so do her two best friends, Pamela and Elizabeth. The group of six do everything together: until something happens to drive a wrench between them and get these tweens thinking about what it means to be "grown up".</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alice wants to be with Patrick, but not at the cost of her friends -- it's really a vicious cycle of thought. I think what I really liked about this book is that Alice has matured in a lot of ways. She isn't quick to judge people and there's more depth to her decision making. She actually sounds WAY wiser than I did at 12. That's why the title to this book was so <b>awesome</b>!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The ending is really great, too. You'll understand if you decide to pick this next book up and read for yourself which is way I gave it...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(5 stars)</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-74333397196122941252015-11-30T21:40:00.000-05:002015-11-30T21:40:16.459-05:00BOOK REVIEW (93): Noelle's Christmas Crush (Crush #4)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>BOOK REVIEW:</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Noelle's Christmas Crush</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Okay, I read this a couple weeks ago but I'm getting to the review now.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is the 4th book in the <i>Crush </i>series by Angela Darling. And you can go check out reviews to the first three books here, here, and here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That out of the way, let's get to the review.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Like most of my Christmas-y reads this year, I read this a bit earlier then the actual season start (and now with American Thanksgiving over, Christmas and New Years' are in full swing).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So this book, <i>Noelle's Christmas Crush</i> is about, well, 12-year-old Noelle and her crush on a classmate, Noel. Hehe. I still giggle when I think or say their names together: Noelle & Noel sitting (under) a (Christmas) tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is what I found when I searched up that old playground song. Best picture of this ever (look at their lips!)... Hahaha.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So Noelle likes Noel and she wants to invite him to her birthday party. She's on of those (lucky? unlucky?) people born on (or near) a holiday: Noelle's birthday is on Christmas. She hasn't minded this before, but this year she's 12 and older and she wants an un-Christmas birthday. Basically she wants a separate birthday party and she wants presents that are a combo of her b-day and Christmas.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Anyways, she's in party planning mode and the best way to cap off her party would be if Noel were to accept her invitation. You'll have to read the book to find out if he does.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What I liked about this book was the family element. The other stories had bits and pieces of it, but not to the degree of this book. I think that goes to say it went with the holiday theme, but it was still heartwarming following Noelle interacting with her older brother and her parents and aunts and uncles and Grandmother.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The one thing I thought was cheesy was Noel was born on Christmas Eve. That had me rolling my eyes, but I let it go since it didn't get in the way...too much. The ending was my favourite surprise as Noelle comes to learn something really special about Noel's life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Again: you gotta pick up <i>Noelle's Christmas Crush</i> to find out what I'm hinting at and join in on the fun and sweetness of this short read.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Other than making me hungry (the mention of holiday treats) I would recommend this book to anyone interested. Upside of picking this one up is that you don't have to read the first three books to enjoy Noelle and Noel's story.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(5 stars)</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-27913120566867277262015-11-29T12:44:00.000-05:002015-11-29T12:44:40.367-05:00BOOK REVIEW (92): Cassie and the Woolf (Twice Told Tales #2)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>BOOK REVIEW:</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Cassie and the Woolf</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I found this series by accident.</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was looking around in the MG/juvenile section in my local library and I found this title by author Olivia Snowe and illustrator Michelle Lamoreaux. I'm happy for the accident, even if the read wasn't so great.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'll explain: like most writers/readers, I <b>love</b> reading fairy tales, comparing and debating the themes and subject matter in fairy tales and folklore, so I was perfectly at home with this re-telling of "Little Red Riding Hood" in Snowe + Lamoreaux's </span><i style="color: #cc0000; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;">Cassie and the Woolf</i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So in this version we have 13-y/o Cassie Cloak -- *ahem* real original name, lol and instead of a "red riding hood" she's got her nifty "red raincoat" -- and she's all grown up now to go fetch her grandmother's daily meal and deliver it to her without the company of her mom. On this trip she's caught up in a storm and she's cornered by Caleb Woolf, the antagonist and Cassie's school peer -- although Caleb's two grades older.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Caleb follows her to Granny's and the rest is history, of course, or according to Perrault the corruptness of stupid mothers and older females and naive little girls who let "big bad" men into their homes and lives...and between their legs?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">DISCLAIMER: <i>Cassie and the Woolf</i> is PG, if you don't count the psychological eff-ery at the end of the book. Which brings me to t</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">he problem with this re-telling: how Cassie (or LRH) was portrayed and her character arc. There should have been some kind of warning that this read like a dark MG (think along the lines of Gaiman's <i>Coraline</i>). There was even a hint of magic that wasn't handled very well, because it felt more like a deus ex machina then a natural growth out of the conflict and plot.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Little Cassie was kinda...witchy. I mean, the ending was SO messed up. Like beyond levels of messed up. I really thought I was being Punk'd until I saw it was, indeed, THE END.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was just <b>weird</b>. I won't spoil it, so go pick it up, but I warn you be prepared to make that ^^^ face above.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One pro (worth this review's 2 stars) was that the story stayed as true to Grimm version (and Perrault as well) as an MG read could without crossing parental boundaries and pissing people off. </span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Basically the message remains the same, </span><b style="color: #cc0000; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;">don't invite trouble and stay vigilant as naivety is NOT cute all the time and can lead to real problems</b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (plus the modern caveat of settling scores).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(2 stars)</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-89187357587402846162015-11-28T19:33:00.000-05:002015-11-28T19:33:58.422-05:00BAKING REVIEW (11): Chocolate Crinkles<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>BAKING REVIEW:</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Chocolate Crinkles</span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hello! I can't believe I'm at baking review #11 already. I had a lot of fun in the kitchen, baking these treats and then eating them for the reviews. ^^</span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But as the year went on I started to get stuck on what I wanted to do, and since I'm limiting my resources to what I have in the kitchen, it's been pretty hard. Finally I settled on something simple enough to do without caving and making a trip to the grocers to buy ingredients.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My November treat was a type of cookie I'd never heard before, chocolate crinkles.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Have you tried it before? Yes? No? Let me know either way.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now I used a <a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chocolate_crinkles/" target="_blank">recipe</a> like this one (only with less eggs) for the chocolate crinkles. I don't recall the actual link for the cookies, but they were <i>very</i> similar.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now here's an example of what the finished product looks like from this blog, <i>Simply Recipes</i>:</span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/chocolate-crinkle-cookies-horiz-a-1600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #6f4e37;"><img border="0" src="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/chocolate-crinkle-cookies-horiz-a-1600.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Very pretty. You can see why they call it chocolate crinkles.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And here's what mine looked like:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7XE-zZCba9YvZkQnOKSMXHtXQfW8A_2FpPFaizYGqtHFY5X_1-t75ETYcLrbQQvn9h4Nwz426u-Gjlghpbi9WlOfZmer-LpqkOfgjOg5oUS59Nb5KgpoHbc1eIgff46abvlcv5Dh9Ukb-/s1600/20151123_145846.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7XE-zZCba9YvZkQnOKSMXHtXQfW8A_2FpPFaizYGqtHFY5X_1-t75ETYcLrbQQvn9h4Nwz426u-Gjlghpbi9WlOfZmer-LpqkOfgjOg5oUS59Nb5KgpoHbc1eIgff46abvlcv5Dh9Ukb-/s320/20151123_145846.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhf6yvr8Dx7aAjaQH25Txv41tbSsf08ONEVw6r-bMYZP1P3Pabk07-JenSMPyotuRIbPWDWUJN1z0Qy6TN6m30vrMdQn78k-dxN-VSFiUD6ARN68EowXNfSdYFEj3X7Vn_jEIGosE-2D70/s1600/20151123_145853.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhf6yvr8Dx7aAjaQH25Txv41tbSsf08ONEVw6r-bMYZP1P3Pabk07-JenSMPyotuRIbPWDWUJN1z0Qy6TN6m30vrMdQn78k-dxN-VSFiUD6ARN68EowXNfSdYFEj3X7Vn_jEIGosE-2D70/s320/20151123_145853.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Doesn't look as great (I scrimped on the icing sugar), but apparently it tasted really good (according to my family). I had a contrary opinion. I should preface my review by explaining that I actually find brownies too rich for my taste, although I have no problem with double fudge chocolate chip cookies. The chocolate crinkles felt <i>too</i> dry. I had them with milk and it helped, but I would have appreciated them more if they were moist.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was really a brownie-cookie rolled in confectioner's sugar.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Personally I'm not raring to try the recipe again, but I figure I might try to redeem myself with these cookies some day.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the mean time, it was so-so and my 2.5 rating reflects that.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you ARE a brownie person (like my siblings and parents) try the crinkles for yourself. It just might suit your tastes and give you a new recipe to add to your favs inventory.</span><br />
<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="color: #6f4e37; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #6f4e37;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">❤</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18.2px; text-align: left;">❤.5</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #6f4e37;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(2.5 hearts)</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-26198176485676741352015-11-28T18:06:00.001-05:002015-11-28T19:33:28.667-05:00Not-So-Official NaNo Update #4 & #5: The end is just the beginning.<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">NOT-SO-OFFICIAL NANO (NOVEMBER 2015):</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">BLOG UPDATE #4 & #5</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I wasn't planning to post this as it is obviously late, and I'm combining two weeks into one post. And it's gonna be a short post because it's only making it glaringly obvious how little I did this month where writing is concerned. -sigh-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm trying to keep my chin up though. I know I'll be freer in three weeks and I can play catch-up and try to finish the novella I started this month by the end of the year (hopefully).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What else can I say, but now as NaNoWriMo draws to an end that I'd like to congratulate all winners (present and future), as well as those who took the plunge, created and shared their novel goal on the official site and <i>tried</i> to write the 50K -- that's important, the <b>trying</b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now whether you're writing for fun or hoping to one day write full time, you deserve this banner for your efforts -- 50K win or not:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi66o5RymNDhLZ3nP6tD_sj_qdiMSYxrZA_jz6a2T8PtzlfOvQ6hZvyGFMdHBHjxQhcBy7yDMHiCr9DK3fH1fMN8b3oFP8A63wxO7SoMXWcb088RgkziN3ZmOMv2XyQHgHaL7TLY5hxyQTc/s1600-r/NaNo-2015-Winner-Banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi66o5RymNDhLZ3nP6tD_sj_qdiMSYxrZA_jz6a2T8PtzlfOvQ6hZvyGFMdHBHjxQhcBy7yDMHiCr9DK3fH1fMN8b3oFP8A63wxO7SoMXWcb088RgkziN3ZmOMv2XyQHgHaL7TLY5hxyQTc/s1600-r/NaNo-2015-Winner-Banner.jpg" height="118" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The next step is for you to finish what you started if 50K didn't = THE END.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm serious. Go back and keep writing. Even if it takes 100 words/day (or 10-20 minutes/day) for another whole year to finish. Slow and steady still wins the race, remember?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even if you plan to never write again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's one thing to hit 50K in a month, it's a <i>whole</i> other thing to finish a novel. An actual novel, folks. That takes a lot. (And it seems to never get easier.) I'm sure you heard it before 'but the end is just the beginning', and at the risk of repeating myself over and over, though you might not be planning to write another word in this lifetime at least I think you can agree with this at least: a lot of people want to finish a novel -- it's one of those "goals" like "eating healthy this year" or "exercising more", and a lot of people fail at it. Don't be one of those people if you've already made it this far. Don't make this the beginning of a failed goal. Just finish the <strike>darn</strike> novel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Good luck with the writing and any other future goals, and thanks for sticking around (if you did).</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-29664976362082738712015-11-27T23:08:00.004-05:002015-11-27T23:14:17.473-05:00Pre-winter blues. (Big Dreams Blog Update #26)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">UPDATE DAY!</span></div>
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<a href="http://sylmion.blogspot.ca/p/do-you-have-goal.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJX7R7w16vYsiAohACn9h371SBz_-6vrrqFNSMEonpRXp-L2ERbWU2OH8mJVhZBQ0GPON_QdgUkpwyHoJV9BV59wqLeIYj5pbhJ5mmzzjafCYOqAMONE0CLauFPuaYEOuItiX1tESaKTyI/s320/Do+You+Have+Goals+Button.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Quick update -- as I almost forgot to do this today...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Before I jump in, if any of you are interested in signing up for the Do You Have Goals? blog hop hosted by authors <a href="http://sylmion.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Misha Gericke</a> and <a href="http://bethfred.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Beth Fred</a>, click the big link above to the sign-up page. There's about 12 of us right now and the usual saying applies here, 'the more, the merrier'. You can also click <a href="http://sylmion.blogspot.ca/p/do-you-have-goal.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This month has been stressful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Really stressful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's not that my plate is any fuller than it was the month before necessarily; I mean school is coming to a close, so with Finals looming closer and assignments, etc. I've just been worrying about everything and not really giving myself time to breathe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As far as my writing goals for November went I didn't get far. I wasn't planning to do NaNo, but the idea was to write 500/day. I did write for about the first week and a half to 2 weeks, but the rest of the month was fruitless. I don't like saying this because it doesn't put me in a "good light", but I just wasn't in the mood to write. Mentally, I was worn out. I had a lot of days where I didn't want to get out of bed and start the day. I'm calling it the "pre-winter blues" or maybe it's an early bout of seasonal affective disorder. I know they say Blue Monday is in the 3rd Monday of January, but is there such thing as a Blue Month to describe the anxiety I've felt in November?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://www.dltk-teach.com/books/mrmen/mworry3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.dltk-teach.com/books/mrmen/mworry3.gif" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Reading was okay, too, for the first half of the month but that flopped as well. I'm in the middle of my 95th read for the year, so that's something to celebrate, but I still have a few reviews to catch up on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For December I'd like to try to finish this novella that I started. I want to see the rough draft through by the New Years' Eve. And, though I haven't talked reading goal for a while since I completed it back in July, I'd like to try to read and review book 100. I know I can do it, especially as I'm free for winter break by Dec 18th.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's getting colder over here. I hate winter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I feel so sluggish and I wish we could hibernate, stay indoors for the four months and read and sleep the frost and snow away. *sigh*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We saw the first dusting of snow a few days ago, but it's just been rain and chilly gusts since then. I'm hoping it stays away for a couple more weeks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How's the weather been for everyone else?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Is it getting icky where you're at, too? Or are you in summer bliss?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And before I forget anything else: Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to any Americans. The holiday spirit doesn't quite much the mood I set up here in this post, nevertheless there it is.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-24174223621843040522015-11-20T21:54:00.004-05:002015-11-20T21:54:57.419-05:00BOOK REVIEW (91): Athena the Brain (Goddess Girls #1)<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">BOOK REVIEW:</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Athena the Brain</span></div>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516tCGzGfaL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #bf9000;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516tCGzGfaL.jpg" height="320" width="215" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I've been meaning to read this series for awhile, but I only got around to it a couple weeks ago. I love mythology (Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Native American, etc.) and I was excited about the MG feel.</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was right to be excited -- <i>Goddess Girls </i>#1, <i>Athena the Brain</i>, was so cute and genius. I really admired the touches of Greek myth in the stories. So let me start with a background...</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The <i>Goddess Girls</i> series is set at Mount Olympus Academy (MOA), a school for godgirls and godboys and other mythological creatures: each of the stories in the series features the problems of one of the girls. Athena is the brainiac goddess, the newest addition to the Academy and she's making friends and trying to not disappoint her father, the King of Gods, Zeus.</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This review is short because I liked the book. The author(s) used really inventive techniques, and I think it would be a great way to introduce young girls (and boys, not discriminating) to Greek myth. For instance, there was a competition for the best invention by a God (judged by the Greeks/humans) open to all the students attending MOA.</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I also liked how some of the Greek myth traits/characteristics were entwined with the plot and conflict in interesting ways (e.g. with Medusa).</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The only down side of this first story was the chronology -- the age difference between the characters. I know that sounds weird since the Greek gods were immortal or ageless, but Hermes was described as being a young boy and the trio of brothers, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus were old men, and so on.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/images/310xNxposeidon-greek-god.jpg.pagespeed.ic.Ac17xzIGcp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #bf9000;"><img border="0" src="http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/images/310xNxposeidon-greek-god.jpg.pagespeed.ic.Ac17xzIGcp.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But suddenly Poseidon is a "godboy" in this and all the godgirls and other mythological girls are drooling all over him. (Check out the cover and look to Athena's right and compare tween Poseidon from <i>Goddess Girls</i> to old man Poseidon who fathered many children.)</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The end was a bit abrupt as well. It tied everything together, but the big "conflict" sorta fizzled out a bit...you have to go read the book though.</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And so on that note if I interested you at all, pick up this first book and see if this series is for you. No harm, no foul. Bonus points for being a quick read.</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As for me, I'm on the hunt for Book 2 already.</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮.5</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(4.5 stars)</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-1835067351377431912015-11-17T17:07:00.003-05:002015-11-17T17:07:36.980-05:00BOOK REVIEW (90): Lindsay's Surprise Crush<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>BOOK REVIEW:</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lindsay's Surprise Crush</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another <i>Crush</i> title!</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I can't get enough of this series... I've got a crush on <i>Crush</i>, teehee.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">*ahem* Back to the review. Book #3 in this series by Angela Darling stars heroine Lindsay and her best friend, Nick. Lindsay is just starting 7th grade, and she's looking forward to junior high -- as most of us were I'm sure (i mean lockers!?! Whaaaat.) She's also stoked to see Nick after not spending a rare summer attached at the hip. Now if only she could stop looking at that really hot guy in her homeroo-- oh wait! That's Nick.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Since she hasn't changed at all over the summer, you know not counting being free of braces, Lindsay hardly expects for Nick to have grown several inches and filled out with muscle. And instead of feeling like she's catching up with an old friend, she's suddenly <b>way</b> too focused on her new crush.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I definitely have a soft spot for the friends-to-lovers trope. And I felt so bad for Lindsay. This was (is?) my favourite book: the only one to really keep me on the edge of my seat until everything tied up together in the last page.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Every time Lindsay and Nick were on the page, *swoon*... Give me a second.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Also, since we're dealing with school, there was plenty cliched conflicts, archetypes?, but a lot of tropes were turned over on their head: the nerdy band kid, the popular sporty girl, the misunderstanding with the bff, etc.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I only wish there was a part two of Lindsay and Nick, who I will now dub <b>Team Nicsay</b>: yes, yes they do deserve a couple name.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now what are you waiting for? Go pick up <i>Lindsay's Surprise Crush </i>and be prepared to do a lot of this</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(5 stars)</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-8196090652459505142015-11-16T16:01:00.000-05:002015-11-16T16:01:03.654-05:00BOOK REVIEW (89): The Agony of Alice (Alice #1)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>BOOK REVIEW:</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Agony of Alice</span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I think I already mentioned this in a previous review, but my reading has been leaning toward MG and it will remain like that for the rest of the year. I neglect this age group because I tend towards adult romances (i.e. Harlequin), so once I picked up one, I'm finding it hard to get out of this mindset.</span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ahh, youth! Do you remember being eleven-twelve and getting into a fight with your friend, or being reprimanded by your teacher, or having your crush smile at you...okay, most of these still get my heart racing in some fashion, but at 11-12 it feels like the whole world is hinged on whether your friend accepts your apology, your teacher will tattle on you during parent-teacher conference night (or whatever they call it where you are), and deciphering your crush's cryptic smile -- was s/he smiling because s/he likes you, OR were they trying to not laugh at the piece of lunch rimming your gums?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Being a adolescence is SO complicated guys!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So in this first story of the <i>Alice</i> series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Book 1, <i>The Agony of Alice</i>, introduces readers to 6th grader Alice McKinley. She's just moved to Silver Springs with her dad and 19-year-old brother, Lester, and she's ready to make sense of the last year of her elementary years.</span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now you're probably read the first 60ish pages of this story and want to toss the book. I cringed A LOT. I mean A LOT. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alice's little antics touched home, even though I wasn't </span><i style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;">nearly</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> as rude as she is at the beginning. I did stupid things as a kid, but I prided myself on being semi-decent.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Get through those pages and you're gold -- I mean you'll start to see why I LOVE this book and will totally read it to my future children. <i>The Agony of Alice, </i>at its heart, tells the coming-of-age story of a young girl and sees her through one, teeny stage of her life but in a potent way that resonates with older readers as well.</span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I didn't need to be 11-12 again to understand it </span><i style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;">bites</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> when a person you idolize doesn't care for you the way you do. Or finding out someone likes you and not being prepared for it, or even doing something embarrassing and making a colossal deal of it...when everyone else has already forgotten your blunder.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I wasn't bothered by the language either. I really thought that it might affect the way the story was told -- </span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The A</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">gony of Alice</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> was published in 1985 -- but I could still enjoy the book even if a few things were clearly dated...</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If I interested you at all, pick up the first in the <i>Alice</i> series (I do believe the books have been re-vamped by publisher Simon & Schuster)...</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So yeah, another reason to pick this series up!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My rating:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(5 stars)</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-88437797785823984082015-11-15T19:26:00.002-05:002015-11-15T19:26:18.794-05:00Not-So-Official NaNo Update #3: What's in a name? What's in a title?<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;"><span style="color: #073763;">NOT-SO-OFFICIAL NANO (NOVEMBER 2015):</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">BLOG UPDATE #3</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #073763;"><span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">This is going to be a short update, but then again my blogs are usually short (and sometimes coherent, if I'm lucky). </span><span style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;">Hopefully a more light-hearted topic this go around.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Names!</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">*rubs hands together*</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">I could go on for hours about name origins, my favourite names as of now, nicknames, spelling variants, sounds and rhymes of/with names, guilty pleasure names, etc.</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">So since I'm, sorta, in the middle of writing 2-3 WIPs...actually more like jumping around until one story sticks, I've chosen a lot of names this month (for 3 couples to be exact). Usually I'm "whatever" with any other characters BUT my MCs -- they get the choicest fruit when it comes to names.</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">I don't know about any of you: I can't continue if my main characters' names don't fit. Right now I write solely in the romance genre, and so that would be my couple's names. And they usually have to go together, not in the "Brangelina" style, but I'm careful with things like:</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">1) choosing the same first letter for my H/h (i.e. Ashley and Aidan...okay, that's not too bad, maybe Ashley and Asher -- that's silly).</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">2) same ending syllable (e.g. Cole and Nicole are WAY too close)</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">3) and that goes for surnames too (SOMETHING Price and SOMETHING Preston)!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Just some of the reasons I can think of when I make my naming choices.</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">I mostly write for contemporary, but I do have some fantasy stories/ideas laying around and roaming about my mind. For those types of stories, I might make up names, find certain patterns with names and use that as a jumping point and create meanings, or what I'm gonna call right now "character emblems", from a combination of parts of a name (not quite morphemes, but the equivalent to lexical suffixes and prefixes to generate that <b>perfect</b> name).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">What are some of the resources I use?</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">-<i>naming sites</i>, e.g. nameberry, behind the name, babycenter, babble, etc.</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">-<i>books</i> (lots and lots of books -- don't bother buying books unless you're REALLY obsessed with names and can't live without adding to your growing collection...or, um, expecting??? borrow them from the library)</span><br />
<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">-want to go visual, check out some vloggers who are name crazy too (I personally like AnastasiaRuby, also fellow Canadian!)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">For my current WIP -- well current as of this afternoon -- my hero's pseudonym is Orazio Black (he's not human so the concept of names doesn't exist AND ), and my heroine is Autumn Hayes. I <i>personally</i> love the names. Autumn & Orazio, Orazio & Autumn.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #073763;">-le sigh-</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So I'm done swooning. Gonna get back to thinking/dreaming up what scenes I'll be writing tomorrow. Cool?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As for story titles, I keep them tentative. They will remain tentative unless they're picked up by a publisher and that publisher wants to change it or modify it or whatever. Some of my titles are <i>really</i> tentative, as in I don't care for them but it beats the dreaded UNTITLED document. I can't stand leaving stories without a title.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And some titles I'm all for. I'm in love with them AND if they were ever to get picked up, I would want them as is...but we'll see how that works out.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Okay. I'm done. Signing off with this update blog post.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">BTW people who are doing NaNo: YOU ARE AT THE HALFWAY MARK.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do not give up. This is the point where you'll feel prone to give up. Keep writing no matter the word count. Let's do this!</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-517727548671348082015-11-08T16:46:00.004-05:002015-11-08T16:47:53.678-05:00Not-So-Official NaNo Update #2: First sentence, first chapter, first draft...countless meltdowns.<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">NOT-SO-OFFICIAL NANO (NOVEMBER 2015):</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">BLOG UPDATE #2</span></div>
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As I write this I finished the first sentence, not quite done working on the first chapter (prologue actually!) and with a plan to finish the first draft by the end of this year -- I can only hope, and WRITE; write lots!</div>
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So what does this not-so-official NaNo update post/blog cover, other than it being another slightly coherent post from my local write-in?</div>
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You looked at the title, didn't you? Yes, it's (partially) about the pitfalls of the first sentence, first chapter and, more generally, the first draft.</div>
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As a disclaimer, I won't be covering everything that can be covered (and has already been covered) in this post. WAY too lazy and uninspired for that.</div>
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Now let me start with what I believe is a universal truth: most firsts are pretty emotional...either negative emotional or positive, or maybe even some where in between.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sums up how I feel looking at a blank Word document.</span></div>
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For instance, I know some first sentences are amazing the moment I close it off with a period. It's that "AHA" light bulb moment where everything falls perfectly into place. And then sometimes the following sentence gives me a hard time.</div>
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If you're anything like me (personality-wise) you both dread and welcome firsts, be they the first sentence, first page, first time riding a roller coaster or eating, *makes a face*, <i>dango</i> for the first --and last--time.</div>
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Honestly. I get this rush! I'm scared and excited and nervous and totally jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store with unlimited access to EVERYTHING. It's like the first day of November, knowing everyone's kicking off with a goal to hit 50K and end up with a semblance of a "full-length" novel.</div>
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Does this sound like you?</div>
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Well let me give you a personalized tip -- personalized because I take my own medicine, folks (preach it, teach it bby): embrace that first, and hold it down, suffocate it and then move on.</div>
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Seriously though, answer this question: What do you lose if you DON'T write a first sentence, a first page, if you don't continue from page to page for that matter and hit THE END?</div>
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You say 'my precious time', I say 'go away and stop bugging people about your pipe dream to write a novel one day'. If you're seriously committed to at least seeing a first draft through then pull up a chair for another...err, minute or so (I'm on borrowed time as the write-in comes to a close).</div>
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So you want to write a novel? Want to get past several first to the last sentence of your masterpiece...well for starters 1) set a smaller word count, be that daily or not. If you keep it small, you're more likely to <b>reach</b> your word goal AND that might give you a boost to write a bit more...and then just a bit more... You get it, right? See the simple logic, the 2 + 2 = 4 math.</div>
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Secondly, you're going to have to set aside any assumptions of HOW your work should look like because it MIGHT not look like that and you can just get over yourself right now. What is up in your head won't necessarily translate to the page and that's because your head -- unless you're some kind of savant -- doesn't hold a novel-ready book. It <b>just</b> doesn't. Cool?</div>
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And finally -- I love finally -- write for you. I mean even if you're planning to actually send this WIP off to an agent/editor some day, you still have to write the story of your heart THEN tailor it to the story that can sell as well (without losing the heart).</div>
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I have to sign off this post now, but I hope this has helped in giving you an extra pep in your writing journey.</div>
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Now because I'm in the mood, I'll share the 1st sentence of my current work:</div>
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<i>"Her thighs still pulsed from where he’d violently grabbed and pried them apart."</i></div>
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That's it!</div>
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I'm not even sure if that is a "powerful/good enough" first, but it's my first and I don't care what anyone else thinks. (Unless it's a future editor.) Otherwise, <i>nah</i>.</div>
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Signing off after this friendly message:<br />
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</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-20197266919379364762015-11-06T19:58:00.001-05:002015-11-06T20:00:45.645-05:00BOOK REVIEW (88): Maddie's Camp Crush (Crush #2)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>BOOK REVIEW:</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Maddie's Camp Crush</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another great addition to the <i>Crush</i> series by Angela Darling, Book TWO <i>Maddie's Camp Crush</i> is . By which I mean if I had to choose to spend time with Lauren from Book One and Maddie in this second installment then I'd pick...MADDIE.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Wanna know why?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well first off Maddie isn't annoying like Lauren was -- she also doesn't scheme like Lauren did. Maddie likes Gabriel, the love interest in this story, and she feels that insecurity that comes along with liking a hot guy and knowing other girls have a crush on him and COULD steal him away... (like he was yours in the first place, ladies).</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But it's a "relatable" feeling for the most part. I mean I imagine a lot of 12-year-olds think like this somewhat. Heck I know some adults who do some stupid, crazy things in the name of love (or even lust).</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What I really liked though was how Maddie came in on her own, and how Gabriel was just one part of her revelation over summer. Ever since she lost her father, Maddie's been struggling to find a new normal in her new (sadly enforced) family dynamic. One there's the whole guilt of leaving her mom alone during the 6 weeks at camp (she's an only child!) and two, she's hoping her camp besties don't single her out the way her regular school friends and community has been doing: she just wants to be treated normally -- not like the sad-poor-girl-whose-lost-her-father-and-should-therefore-be-treated-with-an-extra-gentle-touch.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The whole point of the series, though what I'd call an MG (female-geared) contemporary romance, is more about character growth and moralization. Especially as it's written from Maddie's POV. Like if there would be a moral/theme for <i>Crush </i>Book Two I'd call it as "accept that change will happen, and not all types of changes are in our control, but learning to recognize happiness/joy in the moments of unwelcome change will keep us afloat"...or something equally wise (and probably better written than what I wrote).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Better yet here's a quote from the book:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"The world will change and go by plenty fast outside of camp, but inside all I want you to do this summer is have fun and enjoy it." - Maddie's Dad</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">AND that's all well and good, but you want to know all about Gabriel, don't you?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Oddly I read Heather Davis' <i>Never Cry Werewolf</i> (which stared a British love interest in a summer camp setting) and now there's Gabriel (Maddie's British crush) and it's set in a camp!</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do I have my own theme going on here...?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Anyways, Gabriel was a cutie! Very "crush"-worthy, *nods enthusiastically*. For one he wasn't stuck up. And two, the poor guy was lonely as well. Like Maddie's he, too, is going through a big change -- not parent-dying grief-induced type of change, but parents-divorcing, moving-continents type change, and Maddie becomes sort of his pillar of support/confidante and vice versa.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Like I said, all very adorable.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">ALSO as a bonus, Maddie's friends are super hilarious. Emily was my fave! Keep an eye out for her (not that she's hard to miss)!</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If I intrigued you at all, grab a copy of Angela Darling's <i>Crush </i>Book 2! And the great thing is you don't have to read the books in order -- so if you wanna read Maddie's story then you can skip Lauren's in Book 1. (Though I loved both stories!)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(5 stars)</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-41055636196052147732015-11-04T10:27:00.001-05:002015-11-04T10:28:21.509-05:00BOOK REVIEW (87): Never Cry Werewolf (Never Cry Werewolf #1)<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">BOOK REVIEW:</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Never Cry Werewolf</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Totally planned to have this book review posted for Halloween...or even All Souls' Day, but life sorta caught up to me (that and EXTREME laziness).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So this was my Halloween YA read (last year it was Ghost House!) and my, what a read. I'm not a fear junkie and I love nothing more than combining my romance with just a bit of tension (of either paranormal or contemporary variety) . I wouldn't call this horror, because it isn't, but it definitely had the potential with a couple scary, in-the-woods-at-night moments.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What is Heather Davis' debut <i>Never Cry Werewolf</i> about?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It stars *ahem*troubled*cough* teen Shelby (whose last name has escaped me) and her journey to summer (rich) brat camp in the woods of Oregon (again, I don't remember the exact location). And she's all geared up for a crappy summer until she meets her camp crush, hero Austin Bridges III (<-- I will never try of writing/saying his name xD). But she can't have a crush, since the whole reason she's spending here summer vacay with rich brats are because she was caught in trouble with one too many boys/boyfriends.</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And Austin is a whole lot of trouble from the get-go...but now he's confiding his dark, <b>super weird</b> secret with her? She's sure there's no way he's telling the truth about his family being a bunch of genetic werewolves.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now let's sidetrack a bit...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Have any of you seen Nina Dobrev in action pre-TVD?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Have you heard of the 2008 direct-to-TV supernatural horror movie, <i>Never Cry Werewolf</i>?</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well although I liked the plot of Heather Davis' <i>Never Cry Werewolf </i><b>so much</b> better, I thought that the title was almost irrelevant... I mean the title doesn't refer to Shelby. She's definitely not a blabber-mouth -- actually she's quite loyal, and I loved that about her, even if she wasn't always swept up by the hotness of Austin Bridges III.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nina Dobrev's character in <i>Never Cry Werewolf</i> actually fits the whole "boy-who-cried-wolf" theme/moral.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">BTW the movie and book are DO NOT REMOTELY have the same plot!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I just wanted to compare the titles because I have to admit it's what hooked me to pick up both.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's only ONE character who might fit the bill in the Davis' <i>Never Cry Werewolf</i>, and that's closest character to an antagonist (and this antagonist is more of a nuisance, or an annoying threat -- no real threat is presented). </span></span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;">Which is probably the only reason I docked off a half-star rating: there's really no threat...I mean there is, but it's more of a time constraint threat. Okay, I lied, I also found some of the interactions a bit childish and contrived.</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">However it was balanced by Shelby's well-plotted GMC. My heart ached for the poor girl, which was weird because from the beginning I anticipated she'd be annoying as hell for the next 200+ pages. It goes much deeper than the superficial boy-crazy teen image, but you'll have to go read the book to understand what I mean.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Other than that I got what I wanted from Shelby x Austin's story, and I'm looking forward to picking up the follow-up two novellas! If you're interested in a tame YA pnr, then I suggest you pick up <i>Never Cry Werewolf</i>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My verdict:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">✮.5</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(4.5 stars)</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-70737358309053997942015-11-01T16:34:00.003-05:002015-11-01T16:35:39.765-05:00Not-So-Official NaNo Update #1: Ideas and the Dollar store<div style="background-color: #ffffe5; line-height: 21.735px; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">NOT-SO-OFFICIAL NANO (NOVEMBER 2015):</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">BLOG UPDATE #1</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First update.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is going to be a quick (and therefore probably messy) post. I'll try to keep this coherent post-NaNoDayOne phase.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hello NaNoers, fellow writers and bloggers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Reporting from my local write-in, I just cleared through the finish line of the 1667 goal for NaNo.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Honestly I didn't want to go but I'm SO glad I forced myself to face the dreary weather on this chilly November 1st afternoon. But as promised I needed material for my Update posts, and since I figured my conscience was just too big to lie and feel good about it, I decide to pack up my laptop and bundle for the inclement weather.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So this part is all about ideas...and the dollar store?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">IMO one of the most frequent qs I hear directed at authors/writers is "how do I/you write a book?" Another variation of this question can be "Where do I start if I don't have an idea?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think we ALL are capable of ideas, but that extra level flavouring these questions above is "how do I know my ideas are any good" (especially if I'm considering publication). Simple answer: you don't. I mean, sometimes you do, but you really can't know unless you're actually <i>done</i> drafting for the first time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You see a first draft is part 'oh-what-was-I-thinking' and part 'there's-something-here-somewhere-deep-under-all-the-crap'. And I think sometimes the first part stops us from seeing our first drafts through to some "end". You probably heard it before, but you can't edit a blank page (the genius of Nora Roberts).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You JUST can't. It's physically impossible. But try it by all means and you'll see my point very quickly: and that point is, you have to mire through all the <i>suckage</i> that will be your 1st draft.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So where do the lack of ideas come to play?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well sometimes when you're hung up on waiting for that <b>perrrrrrfect</b> idea to strike, or you DO have this fantastic idea for a story but it's not coming out on page the way it looks like in your head...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First, you're not alone. My current WIP has been an ongoing "should-I-do-this-or-should-I-abandon-it" tug-of-war. Why? Because it wasn't matching up with the awesomeness going on in my head.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Secondly, you're the only one who can pull yourself out. The answer for why you didn't write anything isn't out in the Internet (so stop wasting your time surfing the net when you could be writing), it's locked in your head.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So where <i>do</i> ideas come from?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think it was Stephen King who said, from Walmart...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Are you back from Walmart yet?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Okay, you realized ideas are a <b>little bit</b> harder to get than just a quick trip. "But my friend just got an idea in the shower", you cry -- and I say "great"! Great for your friend. But ideas don't equal plot. Not decent plot anyways.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Takeaway nugget then: <i>i</i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>deas do not a plot make.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What makes a plot is planning, of some sort, or a pantsing approach that still takes into consideration characters' goals, motivations, conflicts (GMCs), etc. I mean, you don't REALLY need this, but I believe these are the basics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm more a pantser, so I like to think I know what I'm talking about. What I did this time around is grab my lovely colour-coded index cards and (since I'm writing a romance) plotted out my hero and heroine's GMCs and their romantic GMC as an overall.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(green for heroine, orange for hero, pink? for romance GMC)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After that I took regular lined cards and . This go around I'm using something called the "headlight" method to plot my chapters. TL;DR version*: that means I only have a certain amount of chapters plotted beforehand (so right now I got my prologue and Chapter One, that's all).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today I whipped out the 'prologue' card and went to work on this chapter. I'm hoping to keep this going and not burn out before the end of November (although OFFICIALLY I'm not don't NaNo this year).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Caveat: I'm letting my pantsing self go nuts whenever I can just because it gets the words out -- and sometimes those words are actually <i>really</i> good.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-wFhDvKfoXO-H4h2Dd8bnhn09JbvQXbKph88dljo3Afg3hZOCcr3ROATYYSwgWObVHMFXbZPfvC49KuUodFoiUZmmBdDptzpqVA6_t0XpWIPBZeQLAt9WyX5h15vwlYpq7tSEE4UR4mr/s1600/20151013_183716.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-wFhDvKfoXO-H4h2Dd8bnhn09JbvQXbKph88dljo3Afg3hZOCcr3ROATYYSwgWObVHMFXbZPfvC49KuUodFoiUZmmBdDptzpqVA6_t0XpWIPBZeQLAt9WyX5h15vwlYpq7tSEE4UR4mr/s320/20151013_183716.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(got the lined index cards from the dollar store, where magic is hidden behind some other questionable products)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All in all don't let the lack of ideas seduce you, don't let the fact that your great idea is just <i>too</i> great for paper/computer stop you: just run with it and see where these plot bunnies lead you. Just make sure to bring an umbrella for a day like today when the rain is unpredictable and the plot bunnies lead you astray.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">*Want the longer version? Check out this <a href="http://www.swoonreads.com/blog/outlining-methods-put-test/" target="_blank">Swoonreads</a> blog where I stole this idea from!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10682452054900402503noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1799361873996960381.post-90755547252403155922015-10-31T15:46:00.000-04:002015-10-31T15:46:28.607-04:00BOOK REVIEW (86): Santa's Playbook (Jersey Boys #3)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>BOOK REVIEW:</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Santa's Playbook</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A little early for a Christmas-y themed title, but then this wouldn't be the first Christmas book I read this year. Ahem.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What can I say? I love the spirit of the holiday -- or most holidays because the gathering of family, friends and community. There's just a sense of magic in festivities... -sigh- Anyways, as I'm sure you can tell, I loved <i>Santa's Playbook</i> by Karen Templeton. The third in the <i>Jersey Boys</i> series, <i>Santa's Playbook</i> features yet another member of the Noble family. Each book follows one of the family members to a HEA.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This book gives us HS football coach Ethan Noble's tale. His is a sad story: he lost his wife and became a young father of four, and for the past sixteen years he's made no attempt to re-connect with the female species. That is until heroine Claire Jacobs blows into his life like a nor'easter. The spunky, drama-English teacher is his work colleague, so it's not like he can just ignore her either. Especially when his oldest daughter, Juliette, takes an interest in match-making the reluctant father and her young teacher, Claire.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So there IS a third POV in this romance, and it would be the perspective of Juliette -- be-fitting name for a teen who has a knack for the stage. Although she doesn't get as much say as Claire and her father, Ethan, Juliette adds an objective plane to the story. It's different, but in a great way! ^^</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It offers a break from Claire and Ethan, both pretty introspective people and particularly when it comes to their romance. I mean, Claire doubts herself a lot. She's already been married once and that ended because she was aloof to her ex-husband. But I liked that Claire was a spit-fire who was comfortable with the way she looked and what she liked to do, even if it didn't always give others a great first impression; she could be also adorably awkward.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ethan sounded...um, hot. I think it was also because he was playing super-Dad. That's it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://static.socialitelife.com/uploads/2008/03/48722_naomiwatts-leivschrieber-alex-photos-032608-06-435x580.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://static.socialitelife.com/uploads/2008/03/48722_naomiwatts-leivschrieber-alex-photos-032608-06-435x580.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Overload on hot dads (and cute kids) yet?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But honestly Ethan sounded like he <i>needed</i> a happily ever after, and STAT. The poor guy would be lost once all his kids flew the coop... Now if only he could get over the decade-and-half of defense walls he built up.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One thing, the "language" was a bit jarring. Sometimes it felt weird when Claire would best into 'Jersey' speak...if you know what I mean.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But after a few pages I got used to it. It came with the characters, and I sorta knew what I was signing up for (the story <i>is</i> set in a fictional NJ town <b>and</b> the series is called <i>Jersey Boys</i>).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you want to know how Ethan and Claire's story ends, you have to pick up <i>Santa's Playbook</i>. I promise it's one Thanksgiving/Christmas story you won't want to wait for until the holidays.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My verdict:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(5 stars)</span></div>
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