To Read, or Not To Read

The Rim of the Grand Canyon I’m puzzled by people who put limitations on their lives.   And more puzzled when they boast about it. “I’ve never been outside  X (insert town/county/ state)” they say proudly as though people who travel are denying their roots.   “I’ve never read a book in my life.” They boast as though that makes them salt-of-the earth. “Pop music is rubbish.”  They sniff as though that means their musical taste is impeccable. I’d have thought that life flings us enough limitations without inventing more             They remind me a woman I met on the rim of the Grand Canyon .     We were travelling in the western U.S.    We’d been to Yosemite, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley and our eyes were sated with beauty.   Next stop the Grand Canyon .   But we hadn’t booked a room and as it was the start of the tourist season we feared that the hotels would be full and we’d have to keep driving.    We drove all day and at last began to see signs saying “Viewing Ar

Title: Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times Author: Jennifer Worth Publisher: Penguin Published: August 29, 2012 Paperback, 340 pages ISBN: 978-0-14-312325-5 Genre: Biography/Memoir Source: Publisher Goodreads Summary:  Jennifer Worth was just twenty-two when she volunteered to spend her early years of midwifery training in London's East End in the 1950s. Coming from a sheltered background there were tough lessons to be learned. The conditions in which many women gave birth just half a century ago were horrifying. My thoughts: One night a few months ago, I had insomnia. I was awake at some ungodly hour of the morning searching for something to watch on television besides infomercials. I came across a show on PBS called Call the Midwife . This isn't a show I normally watched, and I've never really been interested in midwifery before. However the episode I watched was really interesting. The next day I found myself trying to find out m

Title: Double Click Author: Lisa Becker Publisher: Ebookit.com Published: March 29, 2013 E-book ISBN13:  9781456614492 Genre: Contemporary Fiction Source: Author Goodreads Summary: Fans of the romantic hit Click: An Online Love Story will enjoy another voyeuristic dive into the lives of Renee, Shelley, Ashley, Mark and Ethan, as Double Click picks up with their lives six months later. Are Renee and Ethan soul mates? Does Mark ever go on a date? Has Shelley run out of sexual conquests in Los Angeles? Will Ashley's judgmental nature sabotage her budding relationship? Through a marriage proposal, wedding, new baby and unexpected love twist, Double Click answers these questions and more. Readers will continue to cheer, laugh, cry and cringe following the email exploits of Renee and friends. My thoughts: Double Click is the sequel to Click: An Online Love Story.  These two books are told through a series of emails between four characters: Ashley, Renee, Shelley and

1. Please tell our readers about your book,  Marcie .   Marcie is the story of Kate, a teenage girl who loses her mother, Marcie, unexpectedly and mysteriously. Kate didn’t have a healthy relationship with her mother before she died, so Marcie’s death causes her not only to investigate the bonds of motherhood, but the curious nature of her mother’s accident as well. The book spans the course of several years and includes flashbacks, which help to release family secrets and shed light on what really happened to Marcie.   2. The story is based on your own mother's experience. Why did you feel the need to tell this story? My middle name is Marcella. When I was old enough, I learned it was my grandmother’s name. I grew up being shown photos of this woman who felt so close to me, but who I never met (and I somehow got the sense that my mom didn’t have a very loving opinion of her.) Throughout the years of learning my family history and the epic story of Marcie’s death, I lea

My book, Wonder Light: Unicorns of the Mist takes place on a mist-shrouded island off the coast of Washington State. My family loves to explore the Northwest coast, and our trips to Deception Pass State Park inspired me to write Wonder Light . Here’s a quick guide to some of my favorite parks in the Pacific Northwest. I hope they spark your interest in our beautiful wildlife and unique history, and maybe ignite your imagination too! ·          Deception Pass State Park, Whidbey Island, WA With rocky shores shrouded in mist and crashing waves that threaten my main character, Twig not to come any nearer, the fictional Lonehorn Island hides powerful secrets—secrets that, if discovered, will change the island and everyone on it forever. There, jagged rocks and cliffs rise from the beaches. Red-barked Manzanita trees and juniper cling to the rocks along the edge of the island, but the foliage quickly transitions to thick evergreen woods. All this was inspired by the landscape at

Frenemies By Patty Blount What are my favorite frenemy pairings? This is such a tough question. The Sherlock Holmes stories present the bizarre Holmes/Moriarty relationship. Holmes is brilliant but Moriarty may be even more so and if it weren’t for his determination to control, to destroy, I think Holmes would dump Watson in a New York minute, sign Moriarty on as his partner and open a business together. In The X-Files , the Cigarette Smoking Man was evil and cold and deadly yet moved behind the scenes to not only manipulate Mulder but protect him when he could, even going so far as to save Scully from the cancer that was killing her. Mulder, so dedicated to pursuing the truth, can’t exist without the Smoking Man, one who knows the real truth. And the Smoking Man needs Mulder to help him spread the version of it he creates. It’s all about balance. The X-Men movies show a complicated relationship between Professor Xavier and Magneto or Eric. The two had been d

Characters Behaving Badly by Samantha Durante, author of the Stitch Trilogy Sometimes… characters just won’t do what you want them to do. I guess this is the problem with a well-developed character – she is no longer an object under your control, she’s a living, breathing person with motivations and thoughts and feelings all her own. And sometimes, even when she’s supposed to be the big, tough heroine of your story, she just doesn’t want to be. And we – as the readers – just have to deal with it. I know, I know. I’m the author – I’m supposed to make my characters do what I and the readers want them to do. But unfortunately, that’s just not the way the world works. Wouldn’t we all love it if everyone did what we wanted them to do? I certainly would. But to be true to my characters, sometimes I have to let them dictate where the story goes, even if makes my readers boil over with frustration. I ran into this problem in Shudder. There’s a point in the story where the m

Title: I Dream of Danger (Ghost Ops #2) Author: Lisa Marie Rice Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks Published: July 2, 2013 E-book ISBN:  13:  9780062121837 Genre: Romance Source: Edelweiss Goodreads Summary: When Nick Ross disappears from Elle Thomason's life, she is certain she'll never see the man she loves again—except in her dreams. Ten years later, as a respected researcher breaking new ground in psychic phenomena, she sends a desperate call for Nick's help. One by one, her colleagues have started disappearing . . . and Elle knows she's next. An elite soldier, Nick never meant to hurt Elle, duty kept him away—and then she vanished. Now troubled by unusually vivid, disturbing dreams of Elle in danger, Nick will rescue the only woman he's ever wanted and bring her back with him to Haven. Though powerful men are after Elle and her special abilities, Nick will die before leaving her side again. My thoughts: I Dream of Danger  is the second boo

Summer is my favorite season!  I grew up swimming in a local lake and it still doesn’t feel like summer until I’ve gone swimming in that lake.  J  It is a small, but very deep, spring-fed lake so the water is really clear and the top twelve inches gets really warm in the middles of the summer. Heaven!  But we also go to another (bigger) lake and jet ski and wake board too, and I love that!  J Kiki Hamilton is the author of The Faerie Ring series.   Book Three: THE SEVEN YEAR KING   - Coming September 17 th   You can find out more about her and her books by visiting:  http://www.kikihamilton.blogspot.com/ and  http://www.thefaeriering.com/

Book One: Small Town Superhero is about a boy whose life is turned upside down after a horrible accident tears apart his family and forces him to live with his relatives. Kelson  struggles  with the move to a small farming town where he becomes the target of the town’s gang. When circumstances turn dangerous, Kelson is forced to risk everything to save the town and the girl who changed his life and captured his heart. Small Town Superhero has a fresh voice and frank point of view that draws you into Kelson’s life and helps you understand the boy who is fighting to overcome challenges made by both his decisions and the circumstances of a town struggling to face its past. Book Two: Book two in the series, The Small Town Superheroes follows Kelson and his new partner as they fight to protect their town under the guise of the Black Rider. Kelson struggles against the demons of his past and the pain of new heartache as he fights to hold onto the simple life he has come to t

Guest Post and Giveaway from Dulaney-Glen Authors of Unexpected We are Dulaney-Glen (K. Dulaney and J. Glen). We are sisters that have just self-published our debut novel, Unexpected. We have spent the last year bringing our book to life and we are so proud that we accomplished something that has always been a dream of ours. We are excited to share our work with others, and have them share in our love for the characters. Although we are sisters, we are as different as night and day. We both share in the passion of writing and creating a story, but our vision for the story differs at times. Dulaney is very “happy ending” and “lovey-dovey”, while Glen is “emotional” and “raw”. While difficult at times, we feel that our differences and challenges help us create a well-rounded, realistic story. So for this post, we wanted to let everyone see the difference in our tastes and personalities. Glen chose to pick her top 5 romantic movies and Dulaney chose her top