Thursday, May 27, 2010

Hop to it Friday!


It's Friday already and this week I feel as if I've been lax in my postings but I've been picking up extra shifts at work to try to pay off some of my doctors expenses! Uggggh don't you just hate doctors bills? Bu in lighter news its that joyous time of the week again book blogger hop time and this week I get to see some of your great blogs sooo excited to not be working(: and hopping instead! But let me know if you hop on by so I can visit you as well!

LOL=Lots Of Love

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. This week I'm reading Angels, Vampires, and Douche Bags by Carla Collins. Carla is a hilarious Canadian comedian who tells it like it is in her new book. This is her uplifting and hilarious story that deals with the three great forces in our lives. But let's get to the teaser because it's practically killing me not to give ya a sneak peek:

"If you want to ward off your vampire, prayer never hurts. You could even play Duran Duran's Save A Prayer For Me Now, as Duran Duran will ward off pretty much everyone."

~pg. 85 Angel, Vampires, and Douche Bags by Carla Collins


So far I am loving this book it has a very inspirational message while letting you laugh your @$$ off. And at the end of each part of her trilogy of people in your life that influence you there is a little joke list (which is where my teaser came from). I think this might just become my favorite self-help book!

LOL= Lots Of Love

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Flirting With Forever

Title: Flirting With Forever
Author: Gwyn Cready
Reading level: more adult-ish
Paperback: 415 pages
ISBN #: 9781439107249
Received From: publicist
Publisher: Pocket Books
Group Genre: Historical Fiction/ Romance
Cover: A+
Overall: A-

"Art historian Campbell Stratford is about to make a name for herself with her scandalously sexy tell-all “fictographies” of famous seventeenth-century artists, but she’s more intimately familiar with her subjects than her eager readers can imagine. Thanks to a time portal she accidentally discovered, she has caused quite a stir in the Great Beyond. To save their reputations, the Guild protecting dead artists convinces playboy Peter Lely, portraitist to the king, to sabotage Cam’s latest project. A few hours posing on Sir Peter’s modeling chaise leads to a night of seductive passion—then Cam returns home and discovers his betrayal. But before she can turn her angry pen on her lover, Sir Peter makes a surprise visit to the future and transforms Cam’s twenty-first-century life into chaos of classic proportions. . . ."


Sometimes your just in the mood for a little romance and a lot of surprises and I have to say this book hit the spot! I loved how the author has researched the time period that her character Cam transports back to. Before this book I had little knowledge of Lely' s (the painter in the stories) work or if he was even a real historical figure? However; after being enthralled by the passion and characters of this novel I had to Wikepedia Peter Lely. And yes he was a real artist and many of the factual information on him in the book was correct. And that's what I loved about this book, it surprised me! I was just looking for a romance novel and voila! ....I stumble upon an amazing hit/fic book as well. To break the book down the romance is amazing sometimes a bit graphic so I wouldn't recommend the book to a younger crowd and the history was spellbinding! I love finding a new era and character/ historical figure to dwell on. (And that's what I call my passion). Everything was exquisitely written (the plot, characters and settings) and my favorite part is the little surprise twist at the end which might have you saying, "Oh, how did I forget about that?" My only complaint would have to be I wanted more of the ending but I guess that may remain to be seen!

LOL=Lots Of Love

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Between Two Kingdoms

Title: Between Two Kingdoms
Author: Joe Boyd
Reading level: All
Paperback: 191 pages
ISBN #: 9780784723586
Received From: FSB Associates
Publisher: Standard Publishing
Group Genre: Fantasy/Religious
Cover: A
Overall: A


"There is a land of two kingdoms, but only one true King. A living land, where foundations grow in trees and rivers sing and breathe. A dying land, where the darkness of a false prince threatens to swallow everything in its shadow. Enter Between Two Kingdoms with Tommy, an eternally seven-year-old child of the Great King, as he and his friends accept the challenge of the Good Prince to live as grown men and women in the Lower Kingdom—where hope is hidden, vision is clouded, and pride twists truth into a beautiful yet deadly deception."


To begin with I was a little leery at first about reading this book when I got an email about a possible review copy. My biggest worry was that I try not to mix religion and my love of books. but lets just say curiosity got this cat. And it didn't kill me; actually I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't the in your face religious sermon I was expecting but it still portrays a great message in a fun way. I can't tell you how much excitement I got out of searching for hidden meaning in the story. For example the name of the dark prince is Senkrad and if you reverse his name what do you get?......Darknes (Prince of Darkness anyone?) And there are so many more concealed messages throughout the novel. The storyline is enchanting and exciting and doesn't drag on. The setting is very vivid and although you can picture the places in religion they are also just as believable in this fantasy setting. And the characters are magical not just in the way they are written but also in personality. I think if the author was trying to make religion relate-able and fun for all ages he definitely has my attention. And my one wish for this book would be where was it when I was in High School? It has such a great message and teaches right and wrong without trying to stuff it down your throat! Bravo!

LOL = Lots Of Love

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Prolific Blogger Award

Quite some time ago I received my first ever Award (yay hooray). The reason for posting it so late is because I didn't know how to post it up on my sidebar (yup I'm about as technologically equipped as a caveman). However thanks to my lil' sister Rachel over at The Book Wars ( who taught me how to post em up) I can finally add my first award to my blog!! (: I recently received The Prolific Blogger Award from Sara over @ Loving Books and this is what it means to be a Prolific Blogger:

"A prolific blogger is one who is intellectually productive, keeping up an active blog with enjoyable content. After accepting this award, recipients are asked to pass it forward to seven other deserving blogs."

Now comes the hard part. There are so many blogs I truly enjoy but I can only choose seven of my favorites. So here are my lucky number sevens in no particular order:

Lucy @ Enchanted by Josephine
Amy @ Passages to the Past
Rachel @ The Book Wars
Eleni @ La Femme Readers
Taschima @ Bloody Bookaholic
Alyssa @ Teens Read and Write
Bridget @ Readaholic

I hope you all enjoy your award as much as I did. I know some of you may have already received this award but I just wanted to re-recognize your continuous dedication and effort you put into your blogs! Thanks again to Sara for the award!

LOL= Lots Of Love

Monday, May 17, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. This week I'm reading Between Two Kingdoms by Joe Boyd. I received this book via FSB Associates and was quite interested in the message it portrays. Although the book is a fantasy novel it has roots based in religion which I found fascinating and intriguing. So far I'm very interested in the book and it's hidden messages and hope this novel will become a success story! But enough of my jibber-jabber time for my Teaser Tuesday:

"Simon's fingernails morphed into talons of an eagle, and his tongue split down the middle like a snake's. In a fit of rage, he struck the mirror against the corner of a nearby table and threw the shattered square at Roger's face."

~pg 108 Between Two Kingdoms by Joe Boyd

I really like this book so far because it's not in your face religion but has a very subtle under-tone that if you know it's there is very visible. However; just to read this book without knowing I think you'd still enjoy the way it is written and the story it conveys. But let me know what you think? Can you tell by the teaser this book is about religion because I sure couldn't! And as always let me know your teasers for the week I always enjoy what everyone comes up with!

LOL= Lots Of Love

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Author Guest Post : Cynthia Roberts

I am so excited to present to everyone a new rising star in the Historical Fiction Romance scene ....Cynthia Roberts. Her first book in her Native American romance series is due out very soon. And she has graced my blog with the pleasure of a guest post to explain a little bit about herself and her up and coming novel Wind Warriors! So without further ado I give you Cynthia:



Hello everyone. Like all of you, I lived and breathed reading romances … it filled many long, lonely evenings when my husband worked nights in law enforcement and I was raising our children Jason and Alyssa (now 31 and 29). It proved my constant companion later when my “Cinderella” marriage of twenty-five years came to an unexpected end. There is a quote I heard once I can’t remember verbatim but goes somewhat like … “There is no greater loss than a love once known.”

I’m a true believer that when tragedy strikes and you’re standing at the edge of a fathomless abyss and all you see is darkness looking back at you, faith lies in knowing one of two things will happen. You can either let fear consume you, roll up into a ball and waste away or, you can take a leap of faith and learn how to soar like an eagle.

I’ve always had a passion for writing from that very moment a Crayola was placed in my hand and throughout my career in marketing, public relations and sales writing creatively came easy. When my marriage ended at the age of 45, life as I knew it was never the same. It was a time of unrest, uncertainty, losing friends and family and financial ruin because I also found myself jobless which continued nearly two years.

Wind Warrior became my salvation. One evening I sat in front of the computer and decided to write instead of read. I loved Cassie Edwards Savage Series and read every one of her books and figured all I could do was fail. Every historical Indian romance I read from that point on was based on a Plains tribe. I wanted to focus on a tribe indigenous to my area and decided to write a series based on the five tribes that make up the Iroquois League of Nations. Their warriors were the fiercest ever known to strike terror in the hearts of early settlers from Pennsylvania to Canada. They were referred to as "People of the Longhouse" because their families lived together in wooden structures upward of 40 feet long. They were an extremely powerful nation that was sadly torn apart by the American Revolution.

It proved my therapy back then but not quite up to par to win the favor of publishers. I received so many rejections I could have wallpapered a small room in my house and almost gave up on my dream. That is, until I realized it just wasn’t my time. I needed to live through and get beyond the pain in my own life before I could transform that experience into the kind of passion and emotion I wanted my readers to feel personally through my writing.

Wind Warrior is book one of five of my Iroquois Series and will officially be released by Tate Publishing June 15th. It is, however, available now for purchase through Tate’s website and it is my heartfelt hope readers will find it as enthralling to read as it was for me to research and bring to life. You can read an excerpt on my website. Book #2 Captive Heart is finished and I’m hoping it will be released the end of this year.

Now that the writer in me has been unleashed … look out world! If I can leave my beautiful five grandchildren any legacy, it will be the strength, conviction and passion put into every story I bring to life. Please stay tuned for future projects which will include a series introducing contemporary shape shifters and two mainstream romance thrillers entitled Pawn For Malice and The Keeper’s Watch.

Wind Warrior
Tate Publishing
ISBN 978-1-61663-162-8
Link to purchase from Tate before June 15 http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61663-162-8
Available at Amazon and all other venues June 15th
http://www.romanceauthorcynthiaroberts.com
Thanks so much to Cynthia for stopping by my blog and I look forward to hearing more about her fabulous new novel as I'm sure my readers are as well!

LOL= Lots Of Love

Monday, May 10, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. This week I'm reading ( big pause.....) Dead In The Family by Charlaine Harris. This is her volume in her fabulous Sookie Stackhouse Series. And in case you've been living on Mars it is also the series that sprouted the phenomenal TrueBlood TV show on HBO (more on that in a minute). I am bursting at the seams to finish this book because I am in love with all things Sookie! And I know I've begun to ramble again so I'll just get to my teaser this week:

"That would really have been amazing, talking to a creature who'd seen the living God.....even if he called him a "myth". And I went back to fearing the Roman - not for what he'd done to me, or what he'd done to Eric, or even what he was doing to Alexei, but for what he might do to all of us."

~pg 178 Dead In The Family by Charlaine Harris

Now back to the whole HBO thing. When you flip to the last few pages of the book there is a certain advertisement, for a certain shows season 2 DVD release..... Yep you guessed it TrueBlood season 2 will be out on DVD May 25th (finally)! I am sooooo ecstatic more yummy Eric and drama to own! I will definitely be heading to my nearest Target to pick up this set because it is just so darn good. But I hope everyone has a Terrific Tuesday and please leave me your Tantalizing Teasers for the week because I enjoy finding new books based on your teaser tidbits!

LOL= Lots Of Love

Friday, May 7, 2010

O' Juliet

Title: O' Juliet
Author: Robin Maxwell
Reading level: All
Paperback: 306 pages
ISBN #: 9780451229150
Received From: Late Easter Present
Publisher: New American Library
Group Genre: Historical Fiction/ Romance
Cover: A
Overall: A++


"Before Juliet Capelletti lie two futures: a traditionally loveless marriage to her father's business partner, or the fulfillment of her poetic dreams, inspired by the great Dante. Unlike her beloved friend Lucrezia, who looks forward to her arranged marriage, Juliet has a wild, romantic imagination that knows not the bounds of her great family's stalwart keep.The latter path is hers for the taking when Juliet meets Romeo Monticecco, a soulful young man seeking peace between their warring families. A dreamer himself, Romeo is unstoppable, once he determines to capture the heart of the remarkable woman foretold in his stars. The breathless intrigue that ensues is the stuff of beloved legend. But those familiar with Shakespeare's muse know only half the story... "

That's right I finally got the book I've been pining over for the past 6 months! And let me tell you it was......phenomenal, outstanding, and exactly what I had hoped for. As soon as I cracked open the binding a huge, cheesy grin broke out onto my face. That is how excited I was to read this novel. Robin does it again putting me right into the time period and setting and the poetry O' the poetry. The verses inserted by Maxwell of Dante's work sing to the soul, and shake love and passion to your core! And thats what this book is about love conquering all! I mean we all know the story of Romeo and Juliet but this novel adds a depth to the story and retells the legend through the lovers. After reading I fell like I have a deeper understanding of their connection, the family feud (haha funny game show), betrayal, overcoming-all-obstacle love. And yes at the end of the novel even though I know whats supposed to happen I stilled bawled my eyes out like a baby! But all laughs at my expense aside this book was stunning, beautifully written, heart-wrenching and I could go on and on. I don't want to give away too much because I highly recommend you read this one! In short Robin Maxwell you amaze me and I think O' Juliet ranks up there with your Signora da Vinci!

LOL=Lots Of Love
Yay it's blog hop time again!! Sorry I was MIA last week I have a pretty gnarly burn on my left hand and my parents came to visit me @ good ol' Disney World! (Which by the way was sooo much fun!!!) But that just means I have to make up for last week by visiting a ton more blogs this week right? Well if you wanna join in on the hop and check out some pretty amazing blogs out here in the vast, open blogosphere just click here and link up and start exploring. ( Gosh now I feel like that stingray from Finding Nemo "climb aboard explorers" haha too much park time for me!!)

LOL=Lots Of Love

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Brighid's Quest

Title: Brighid's Quest
Author: P. C. Cast
Reading level: All
Paperback: 537 pages
ISBN #: 9780373210169
Received From: I bought it
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Group Genre: Fiction
Cover: B
Overall: A++

"I will go. Rather than follow her family's restrictive rules, centaur Brighid chose to set out on her own to make friends and form relationships with humans as well as centaurs. Now she's facing her toughest challenge yet. While helping guide home a grieving human—Cuchulainn, her friend Elphame's brother—Brighid finds herself beginning to care for him. An emotion forbidden by her clan. To add to her troubles, the Great Goddess has awoken the power of the Shaman within Brighid—the first centaur so blessed in ages. And just as she's torn between taking up a power she never expected and a love she's afraid to admit to, Brighid receives a vision of a tragedy that might destroy everyone she's ever cared about…."

Picking up right where Elphame's Choice left off Brighid starts out on her quest to save herself, her soulmate, and the world of Partholon as we know it. And what a quest it is! Ms. Cast weaves her web again and I am happy to become prey to this rich vivid web of a world. The characters have more meaning to me now like they've become (through the first book) a close-knit personal group of friends. And I love that this book is about Brighid because after Lochlan (Elphame's hottie mate from the first book) she was my favorite character. I loved her strength and sarcasm in the first novel and was astounded by her compassion, and endurance in the second. And I don't think I have to tell you but I do greatly enjoy a strong woman novel (it's the feminist in me). I really believe that Ms. Cast has hit a grand slam with this series and I hope she continues to develop it (as she did her House Of Night Series) I know I'm a pins and needles after that cliff-hanger ending shes left the readers on the last few pages of the novel! And I am certainly craving more Partholon and more P. C. Cast!!!


LOL=Lots Of Love

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Author of the Month: P. C. Cast

Every month I like to take a little time in between reviews and meme's to recognize some of the great authors who make reading such a joyous experience for me! This month I have chosen ( haha no pun intended) P.C. Cast the author of The House of Night series (of which I am obsessed) and her new Partholon Series. But before I begin pouring on the praise for this lovely lady let me give you her bio:

P.C. Cast was born in the Midwest, and grew up being shuttled back-and-forth between Illinois and Oklahoma, which is where she fell in love with Quarter horses and mythology (at about the same time). After high school she joined the United States Air Force and began public speaking and writing. After her tour of the USAF, she taught high school for 15 years before retiring to write full time. Ms. Cast is a New York Times Best-Selling Author. Her novels have been awarded the prestigious: Oklahoma Book Award, YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, the prism, Holt Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, Booksellers Best, and the Laurel Wreath. Her books include (in no particular order): The House of Night Series (Marked, Chosen, Betrayed, Untamed, Hunted, Tempted, and Burned so far...), Partholon Series (Elphames Choice and Brighids Quest), The Divine Series (Divine by Mistake, Divine by Choice, Divine by Blood, Divine Beginnings), Nocturne Silhouette Series (The Avenger). And hopefully more to come!!! Ms. Cast lives in Oklahoma with her fabulous daughter, her spoiled cat, and her adorable Scotties! For more info check out her website here!


P.C. Cast makes my imagination soar, she takes her novels to great lengths. I swear you can use all five senses as you read I can see it, feel their emotions, taste triumph and defeat, smell the wide open plains or hidden groves, and hear the distinctive voice of each and every character. She truly amazes me with her writing style and I cannot wait to read more from this wonderful woman. I feel that every time I open a P.C. Cast books I am a child on Christmas morning waiting to tear through my new present. This is what makes her an amazing author and I just wanted to say thank you P.C. for making my imagination soar to new heights!


LOL= Lots Of Love

Monday, May 3, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. And I apologize for the lapse in blogging but I burnt my hand terribly at work using hot sugar/caramel, an I've just today been cleared to use my hand again. But in lighter news this week I'm reading Burned (*squeals* with excitement) by P. C. Cast + Kristin Cast. This is I think the seventh book in The House Of Night series and I have been impatiently waiting for it. I am currently devouring it totally in my invalid state and I have to graciously thank my sister Rachel over @ The Book Wars for buying it for my birthday! But enough blah, blah, blah I know y'all wanna just get to the teaser so here it is:


"There was an explosion of cold white light that gave Stark the creepy image of a freezer door opening to expose dead flesh. Blinking, his eyes traveled down, and what he saw in front of him shocked him to his very core."



~pg. 249 Burned by P. C. Cast + Kristin Cast



Whats really funny is this is exactly where I've left off. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm going to finish the book tonight because well I'm kinda obsessed with this series and the Authors! So for now I'll leave you with that but I probably be posting a review as soon as I finish so I don't forget all the juicy details that you'll wanna know. Since we already know it's gonna be a wild ride!

LOL=Lots Of Love


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