tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43872984584164842342024-03-09T21:45:58.845-05:00PrincessReviewsWhere everything is reviewed by a princess(or prince)!Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.comBlogger841125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-119714504152664962023-07-26T18:51:00.005-04:002023-07-26T18:51:52.803-04:00Demonglass<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh29MsqbXb3r9bKmFf9rDTF-tqr-dhDU24qy1w2vUb4oNc4wG5FF2tzxc1Go7bFxOuLCOPbZdWwxnX6Y1DVWtLD0fPE7bV4JrPn7Jvy8eb_FSE3yAh9Hwf2LLot2rl4FtZvYYxNKnP1f22VxF9OmkE_jWsxFxyfdkTqA5zf3NvF3X2Z7fjGswKcsUORVLn0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="213" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh29MsqbXb3r9bKmFf9rDTF-tqr-dhDU24qy1w2vUb4oNc4wG5FF2tzxc1Go7bFxOuLCOPbZdWwxnX6Y1DVWtLD0fPE7bV4JrPn7Jvy8eb_FSE3yAh9Hwf2LLot2rl4FtZvYYxNKnP1f22VxF9OmkE_jWsxFxyfdkTqA5zf3NvF3X2Z7fjGswKcsUORVLn0" width="160" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #201f20; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px;">Title:</span><p></p><p style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Demonglass</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: #fff0f2; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Author:<br />Rachel Hawkins<br /><br />Series:<br />Hex Hall, book 2<br /><br />About the Author (<a href="http://readingwritingrachel.blogspot.com/2004/01/about.html">Reading Writing Rachel</a>):<br /></span></span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">Rachel Hawkins was born in Virginia and raised in Alabama. This means she uses words like "y'all" and "fixin'" a lot, and considers anything under 60 degrees to be borderline Arctic. Before deciding to write books about kissing and fire (and sometimes kissing while on fire), Rachel taught high school English for 3 years, and is still capable of teaching you The Canterbury Tales if you're into that kind of thing.</span><br style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">She is married to a geologist, which means that they have incredibly strange dinner conversations ("So today at work, I wrote a chapter where killer fog, like, ATE PEOPLE." "Huh. Well, I was chased by an angry reindeer while trying to map parts of Norway." "Um...okay.")</span><br style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">Rachel also has a little boy whose main hobbies are playing video games, running around in circles, and plotting his Future Intergalactic Take-Over.</span><br style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;" /><br style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;" /><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px;">When not writing books, Rachel enjoys reading, travelling, and knitting (very terribly.)</span><span style="background-color: #fff0f2; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><div style="background-color: #fff0f2;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Book Summary (Goodreads):<br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch. That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (a.k.a. witches, shape-shifters, and faeries). But then she discovered the family secret, and the fact that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Turns out, Sophie's a demon, one of only two in the world-the other being her father. What's worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will either destroy her powers for good-or kill her.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">But once Sophie arrives, she makes a shocking discovery. Her new housemates? They're demons too. Meaning, someone is raising demons in secret, with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they're using Archer to do it. But it's not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fff0f2;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">I'd Recommend to:<br />Young (pre-teen or early teenage) fantasy fans looking for a quick read <br /><br />My rating:<br />3.5/5<br /><br />My Thoughts:</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fff0f2;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">This book was much easier to read than the past few books I've read. I enjoyed that aspect and read it in 2 days lol </span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fff0f2;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">I did think it was a bit boring and didn't really know what the plot was but as I mentioned, it was an easy read and it was also a nice escape. </span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fff0f2;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">When I first started reading this I was like "oh no I think this must be the second book in the series" but nowhere on either cover, the inside covers, the author bio, or any of the extra pages (not directly the story) including the copyright page (that normally lists all books in a series in their copyright date order) did it tell me which book in the series it was, just that it was part of "a Hex Hall novel". Because of that, I want to give it only 3/5. But even though it bored me, I did like it and would give it a 4/5 for writing so I compromised and gave it 3.5/5. I really wish I would have known it wasn't the first because at times it was very obvious I missed some big parts by not starting at the beginning, but she did do a good job of making sure I wasn't completely lost and that it was acceptable to start with the second book. I don't feel a very strong desire to seek out the third book except for the fact that I need to always finish what I start and I am interested to see which boy she ends up with. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;">Overall, it was a very quick and easy read and a good escape from reality so I would recommend the series to youngsters that enjoy fantasy worlds with witches, warlocks, demons, and vampires. </span></div></div>Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-34989026644896312972023-07-24T22:13:00.007-04:002023-07-24T22:13:57.859-04:00Chime<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8j6jizT94s71ZKWUAiJyxa_2pKIJgRl9wthUOtS1y9vAKlNQUIqrtd0-nDHhPwe-oeKODaPoLAdzXJeM_hlp0s8CBCyYlecnD64HYPN_Edmp5PMxfJUGc8tK4-XGKHdRTfurcIKsfV7U9YwvFq8uyyU8WPuwvt6MWDN2jyM9VCz17FTbok3_AG44-UNeh" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="321" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8j6jizT94s71ZKWUAiJyxa_2pKIJgRl9wthUOtS1y9vAKlNQUIqrtd0-nDHhPwe-oeKODaPoLAdzXJeM_hlp0s8CBCyYlecnD64HYPN_Edmp5PMxfJUGc8tK4-XGKHdRTfurcIKsfV7U9YwvFq8uyyU8WPuwvt6MWDN2jyM9VCz17FTbok3_AG44-UNeh" width="154" /></a></div><p></p><p style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:</span></span></p><p style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chime</span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Author:<br />Franny Billingsley<br /><br /><br />About the Author (Goodreads):<br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">While Billingsley's first novel, Well Wished (1997), was warmly received by critics, a year ago she was a virtual unknown within a publishing climate that regarded fantasy as a specialty genre. Today, her name is on the lips of booksellers and reviewers throughout the country.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Franny Billingsley was not always a writer. She graduated from Boston University law-school in 1979, and worked for 5 years as a lawyer — a profession which she “despised.” In 1983, Billingsley visited her sister in Barcelona, Spain where she was “entranced by a lifestyle in which people did not make a lot of money yet lived richly and artfully.” Realizing that she needed to change her life, Billingsley quit her job and moved to Spain with all of her favorite children's books. “Books like A Wrinkle in Time, Harriet the Spy, and The Narnia Chronicles seemed like the perfect antidote to hideously wearisome legal documents,” remembers Billingsley, who began writing children's books while living in Spain.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">When Billingsley returned to the United States, she took a job as the children's book-buyer at 57th Street Books, a major independent bookseller on the South Side of Chicago. “I worked at the bookstore for twelve years and I loved it because it helped me get back to the things that matter to me: people, ideas, and imagination. I wrote throughout this period. My early books were simply awful, but I did not let rejections and criticism stop me from writing. I worked hard at learning how to write and finding my strengths. It was not until I began writing fantasy that I found my voice. I believe that, ultimately, talent is less important to writing a good book than is determination.”</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Franny Billingsley lives in Chicago with her family and currently writes children's books full-time.</span><span style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><div style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Book Summary (Goodreads):<br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Before Briony's stepmother died, she made sure Briony blamed herself for all the family's hardships. Now Briony has worn her guilt for so long it's become a second skin. She often escapes to the swamp, where she tells stories to the Old Ones, the spirits who haunt the marshes. But only witches can see the Old Ones, and in her village, witches are sentenced to death. Briony lives in fear her secret will be found out, even as she believes she deserves the worst kind of punishment.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and mane of tawny hair. He's as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she's extraordinary. And everything starts to change. As many secrets as Briony has been holding, there are secrets even she doesn't know.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> they race against time to unravel their pasts in order to save their lives—and their futures.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /><br />I'd Recommend to:<br />Literally no one <br /><br />My rating:<br />2/5<br /><br />My Thoughts:</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Libba Bray was one of my favorite authors growing up and she wrote glowing reviews on the cover of this book so I thought it would be a good one. I was super disappointed to learn it was not. </span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">The first 2/3rds of the book had me wanting to quit and stop reading, but my "gifted and talented"ness requires me to finish something through once I've started it (unlike my grandmother who loves to leave things in my "Continue Watching" tab on Netflix) so I kept going, hoping it would get better. </span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fff0f2;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #201f20;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">The final 1/3 was actually great and if the entire book was more like the last </span></span><span style="font-size: 15px;">bit,</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"> it could've been a 5/5. </span></span></span><span style="color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">However,</span></span><span style="color: #201f20;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"> because it was the final </span></span><span style="font-size: 15px;">bit,</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"> I can't really talk about it without spoiling the whole thing. Is the first half/two-thirds of dreadfulness worth the ending? Probably not. Save yourself the time and pick a different book. </span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #201f20;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px;">After the story there was a Q&A section where the author said it took her over 6 years and several complete plot/setting shifts to write this novel, so that's probably why the last chunk was significantly different/better than the first bit. </span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div></div>Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-19641437774814717082023-07-13T21:23:00.000-04:002023-07-13T21:23:00.127-04:00Elixir<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRmvdavyBanpZrjMt4U3FxWPz8EpYGsiFtbmsFLXLh_o0p9vYM-hM_3fDuo0odBCPgg1yy1zm_B3L-aaYboCcRd3oAUEYecYZNIqxftB7NRWWOl52PNTXfuWpWmO0fjm4TFArgyKLmUIVnouY2EP7OwWO62Ht5eK65LCyl0YL0rCelwb78_eh2Lj9aF_h/s1000/7844725.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="667" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRmvdavyBanpZrjMt4U3FxWPz8EpYGsiFtbmsFLXLh_o0p9vYM-hM_3fDuo0odBCPgg1yy1zm_B3L-aaYboCcRd3oAUEYecYZNIqxftB7NRWWOl52PNTXfuWpWmO0fjm4TFArgyKLmUIVnouY2EP7OwWO62Ht5eK65LCyl0YL0rCelwb78_eh2Lj9aF_h/s320/7844725.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><p></p><p style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:</span></span></p><p style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Elixir</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Author:<br />Hilary Duff<br /><br />Series:<br />Elixir, book 1<br /><br />About the Author (Goodreads):<br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">Hilary Erhard Duff is an American actress, pop singer-songwriter and entrepreneur. After gaining fame for playing the title role in the television show </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">Lizzie McGuire</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">, Duff went on to have a film career; her most commercially successful movies include </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">Cheaper by the Dozen</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;"> (2003), </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">The Lizzie McGuire Movie</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;"> (2003), and </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">A Cinderella Story</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;"> (2004).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">Duff has expanded her repertoire into pop music, with four RIAA certified Platinum albums and over thirteen million albums sold worldwide. Her first studio album, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">Metamorphosis</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;"> (2003), was certified triple platinum and she followed it up with two more platinum albums, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">Hilary Duff</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;"> (2004) and </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">Most Wanted </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">(2005). Duff's last studio album, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">Dignity</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">, was released in April 2007 and was certified Gold in August 2007.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">She has also launched a clothing line, "Stuff by Hilary Duff", and two exclusive perfume collections with Elizabeth Arden. Duff and her mother were listed as producers for the movie </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">Material Girls</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">, As of April 2008, her upcoming films include the action thriller </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">War, Inc.</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">, animated comedy </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">Foodfight!</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">, and independent films </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">Greta</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">and Safety Glass</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span><span style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;">.</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><div style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Book Summary (Goodreads):<br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Clea Raymond has felt the glare of the spotlight her entire life. The daughter of a renowned surgeon and a prominent Washington DC politician, she has grown to be a talented photojournalist who takes refuge in a career that allows her to travel to the most exotic parts of the world. But after Clea’s father disappears while on a humanitarian mission, Clea’s photos begin to feature eerie, shadowy images of a strange and beautiful man—a man she has never seen before.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: "Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">When fate brings Clea and this man together, she is stunned by the immediate and powerful connection she feels with him. As they grow closer, they are drawn deep into the mystery behind her father’s disappearance, and they discover the centuries old truth behind their intense bond. Torn by a dangerous love triangle and haunted by a powerful secret that holds their fates, together they race against time to unravel their pasts in order to save their lives—and their futures.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /><br />I'd Recommend to:<br />Fantasy fans looking for a quick read <br /><br />My rating:<br />5/5<br /><br />My Thoughts:</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fff0f2; color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">I can't remember the last time I read through a book so fast. I only stopped to sleep because it was 2am. If I had started it sooner, I would have finished it in one sitting. </span></span></div><div style="color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The author of the book is listed as Hilary Duff with Elise Allen, so I was like I wonder how much is actually written by Elise Allen and just has Hilary's name on it, but reading it, it's definitely written by Hilary Duff and she did a great job. </span></div><div style="color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Everyone knows fantasy/supernatural/paranormal is my jam. However, I've never read anything like this before. The reviews on Goodreads seemed to hate the book and said it was unoriginal and a copycat of everything else at the time, but that wasn't my personal experience so I really enjoyed it.</span></div><div style="color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Not gonna lie, parts of it were super scary and I was not prepared for it. But maybe it was more scary because it was nearly 2am and I was in a dark house by myself. After all, it is for teens, not horror-obsessed adults. </span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">It starts off with the main girl, Clea, on a three-week vacation with her best friend. Her father had gone missing about a year ago and she was still struggling with it. Clea is a photojournalist, so when she gets home from her trip instead of dreaming, where she's haunted by possibilities of what could have happened to her father, she gets on her computer to go through the photos she took of the trip. It's there that she notices the same man in all of the photos, in all different locations. In one photo, he's even floating 100ft in the air! Confused as to what he might be, she takes photos of her own bedroom that she's currently in and he appears again in photos of her closet even tho there is no one in her closet. Yeah man, that's the scary part. </span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">After she notices him in the photos, she starts to have super vivid dreams of him. Unlike the nightmares about her father, these dreams are super pleasurable and now she wants to sleep all the time to be with him. But, she gets an opportunity to go on assignment in Rio, the place her father went missing. Of course, she wants to go explore his last known location to try to find out what happened to him! </span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">In Rio she sees the man of her photos and dreams! She chases after him and the story gets intense. </span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Oops I forgot to mention her father hired an international somebody or another to help protect her on her photojournalism trips, and they're super close even though they've only known each other for two years (in this life). He plays a really big role in this story as well.</span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">It was very interesting and action-packed. Like I said I literally couldn't put it down. </span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #201f20; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">However, the ending was a let down. I understand they left it that way so that you'd read the next book in the series (which will have to wait for me as neither my local bookstore nor any of the county libraries have a copy) but the ending focused way more on the love triangle then on her father's disappearance, which I thought was a major point of the plot. Goodreads also said the second one was far worse than the first but that it was good at providing a bit of closure the first one lacked, so once I get my hands on a copy, I will be finishing it (and probably the third as well). Let's hope Goodreads is wrong again and it's just as good as the first. </span></span></span></div></div>Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-3892606316627109982023-07-12T21:58:00.008-04:002023-07-12T21:58:57.435-04:00Ocean City Lowdown<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxm5N8AUnYwjydj2BdUKQIXsi1yEByOBNx0AfGM6e6W7LOVYXUayEl8kI6Y5yopxL9sn3vQEanlD8pL5FlJz6GkAsjT9x9jtxExnT4oAIAjvmfmv7LSx9d0up235XJjPuIpezQZpUwYYkgjfT5UlvLrw5Pk7Q-bKQqgMCUCmzxg_SXe_4bJ8mIL2Mxeuyo/s424/18073184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxm5N8AUnYwjydj2BdUKQIXsi1yEByOBNx0AfGM6e6W7LOVYXUayEl8kI6Y5yopxL9sn3vQEanlD8pL5FlJz6GkAsjT9x9jtxExnT4oAIAjvmfmv7LSx9d0up235XJjPuIpezQZpUwYYkgjfT5UlvLrw5Pk7Q-bKQqgMCUCmzxg_SXe_4bJ8mIL2Mxeuyo/s320/18073184.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div><p></p><p style="background-color: #fff0f2;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Title:</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ocean City Lowdown</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Author:<br />Kim Kash<br /><br />Series:<br />Jamie August, book 1<br /><br />About the Author (Goodreads):<br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">Kim Kash is the author of Ocean City Lowdown: A Jamie August Novel and the bestselling Ocean City: A Guide to Maryland’s Seaside Resort. She is a founder of the Greenbelt Farmers Market near Washington, D.C. Topics she covers as a freelance writer for range from federal government policy to yoga, food and travel. A few years ago, Kim and her husband sold everything and moved to the Middle East. She has since traveled to more than a dozen countries and has taken up sailing, diving, and rock climbing.</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><div style="background-color: #fff0f2;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Book Summary (Goodreads):<br /></span><span style="background-color: white;">Ocean City Lowdown introduces Eastern Shore Maryland reporter Jamie August, who has a talent for unearthing more than her editor wants and a weakness for Ravens jerseys and sparkly underwear. She is assigned to cover the grand opening of a big new housing development in Ocean City, Maryland. But instead of writing about wrap-around porches and rattan furnishings, she uncovers kickbacks and payoffs, blackmail and murder. Jamie's tenacity, smarts, and sheer recklessness—plus some smokin’ striptease dance moves—can get her out of some tight spots, but are they enough to save her from a psychopathic arsonist and two generations of corrupt real estate tycoons?</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br /><br />I'd Recommend to:<br />Retirees that move to the Ocean City/Ocean Pines area <br /><br />My rating:<br />4/5<br /><br />My Thoughts:</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fff0f2;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I love to support local authors and I love a good </span>mystery,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> so Ocean City Lowdown seemed like the perfect book. There are a lot of name-dropping of Ocean City places that I feel like older folks that have retired to the area would love to see in a novel. This book was first published in 2013, but some aspects of it seem much more dated. </span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fff0f2;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jamie August is a reporter for the local entertainment newspaper and was put on assignment to cover the opening of a new residential community. However, she wants to be an investigative journalist and wants to dig deeper into this community than just post a fluff piece. It doesn't sit right with her that the new community is on top of </span>marshland,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and she wants to get to the bottom of it. She starts digging and gets so close to incriminating evidence against the multi-</span>million-dollar<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>corporation<span style="font-family: inherit;"> and the family that owns it that they try to permanently silence her, several times. </span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fff0f2;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was a fun read and I appreciate that the "sexy bits" didn't have too many details (that's why I prefer Young Adult books over adult books even though I'm 26). </span>However,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> as an Ocean City local there were some little details that bugged me which is why I think it's better for retirees that have moved here rather than locals that live here. I feel like it ended very quickly and I'm still a little confused on the details of how it all went down; it had a big drama scene then cut to a few days later without really explaining what happened in that drama scene. But like I said, it was a cute story and I know Marylanders love seeing our state in writing so I'm sure many a Marylander will enjoy it. </span></span></div></div><p><br /></p>Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-33197397579981136492023-02-04T00:21:00.002-05:002023-02-04T00:21:20.218-05:00Eragon<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifHnNtNhsrljxjFX74ezoMo2HuH4A_H4yXbAoXrpzGo6L2HIrbsyurhNdNvJzz1DYuDoL5I4mK-z3FohrLwp792qMD4vbW0stztj6MPIcNAUj0PI9xnv-4EVtEW0-FUHcX1uMVWCW5lJvgFpaDXNBDNgnh3F3Jl3vgEsSO3bf3Snaz-fQh4WHxV3fRgQ/s451/113436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifHnNtNhsrljxjFX74ezoMo2HuH4A_H4yXbAoXrpzGo6L2HIrbsyurhNdNvJzz1DYuDoL5I4mK-z3FohrLwp792qMD4vbW0stztj6MPIcNAUj0PI9xnv-4EVtEW0-FUHcX1uMVWCW5lJvgFpaDXNBDNgnh3F3Jl3vgEsSO3bf3Snaz-fQh4WHxV3fRgQ/s320/113436.jpg" width="213" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifHnNtNhsrljxjFX74ezoMo2HuH4A_H4yXbAoXrpzGo6L2HIrbsyurhNdNvJzz1DYuDoL5I4mK-z3FohrLwp792qMD4vbW0stztj6MPIcNAUj0PI9xnv-4EVtEW0-FUHcX1uMVWCW5lJvgFpaDXNBDNgnh3F3Jl3vgEsSO3bf3Snaz-fQh4WHxV3fRgQ/s451/113436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvT6eWJ4ipXhiWOZ6oSai-jHfqleaCcR6M8sTi0p4sk7pM8h2FK8prHt5L3P2v9pOZzbFSOWy2LeqEPRZeNVyKFGYdkW81L35B6xFvCWhkF-lS3lkt-u2_LQvn1PnjG3Q5ZjVU_-97q_up4V9crdFI7oUzT57wjv9PnAuTR8QwIL-g0H-XudJH_qFp8Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="249" data-original-width="167" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvT6eWJ4ipXhiWOZ6oSai-jHfqleaCcR6M8sTi0p4sk7pM8h2FK8prHt5L3P2v9pOZzbFSOWy2LeqEPRZeNVyKFGYdkW81L35B6xFvCWhkF-lS3lkt-u2_LQvn1PnjG3Q5ZjVU_-97q_up4V9crdFI7oUzT57wjv9PnAuTR8QwIL-g0H-XudJH_qFp8Q" width="161" /></a></div><br /></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Title:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Eragon</span></p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />Author:<br />Christopher Paolini<br /><br />Series:<br />The Inheritance Cycle, book 1<br /><br />About the Author (Goodreads):<br />Christopher Paolini was born in Southern California and has lived most of his life in Paradise Valley, Montana. He published his first novel, <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/113436.Eragon" rel="nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none;" title="Eragon">Eragon</a>,</i> in 2003 at the age of nineteen, and quickly became a publishing phenomenon. His Inheritance Cycle—<i>Eragon</i> and its three sequels—have sold nearly 40 million copies worldwide. <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48829708.To_Sleep_in_a_Sea_of_Stars" rel="nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none;" title="To Sleep in a Sea of Stars">To Sleep in a Sea of Stars</a> </i>is his first adult novel.</span><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br />Book Summary (Goodreads):<br />One boy...<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />One dragon...<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />A world of adventure.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands.<br /><br />I'd Recommend to:<br />Fans of Star Wars; high school boys <br /><br />My rating:<br />4/5<br /><br />My Thoughts:</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">I liked the story/plot. I did not like the writing. </span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My friend, Justin, recommended this series to me as it's his favorite. I can see why; it's about a poor farm boy and he's a poor farm boy. Then the one in the story finds a dragon egg and suddenly becomes very important in the role of society. I'm sure when Justin was first reading </span>this,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> he could clearly imagine himself as Eragon. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm not really into dragons; I'm more into vampires/werewolves/witches but you can learn a lot about a person through their favorite book so of course I'd give it a read. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like I said, I liked the story. So much so that I'm currently reading book 2 in the series. My friend, Madison, heard they're going to make a tv series on the books and she's very excited. She said the movie was the biggest disappointment of her life and to not waste my time watching it after I'd read the books. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Honestly because of the writing style, I would have probably given it 3 stars if it weren't for how loved it is by my friends. This book is over 500 pages, which isn't a big deal except for the fact that there is no reason it was so long. Every little excruciating detail was written out which just drew out the pages. It also had several stopping points that would have been a good end for the book to have readers continue onto the next one; I don't think there was clear start and stop for the book itself and where it ended seemed like the author just went "oops I hit over 500 pages, might as well stop and make the rest another book!" because it didn't make sense to have it end there but not at similar points throughout the book. I don't understand what dictated the start and stop of book 1 vs book 2,3,</span>4, etc.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> This is also a young adult/children's chapter book but there were a lot of English words that I didn't know. There's also a lot of </span>made-up<span style="font-family: inherit;"> language words for the various factions - humans, elves, dwarves, magic, etc. - but the actual, real words were just as hard to understand at points and I'm a </span>full-grown<span style="font-family: inherit;"> adult. I think the plot could have remained the same with the writing toned back a bit. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This book reminded me a lot of the Star Wars movies. There's an evil Empire and Eragon has been chosen by his dragon to be a hero of society, but he's just a farm boy so he must be trained by the village storyteller, Brom. He travels across the Empire's lands, training in magic and fighting. Towards the end, he must take an injured elf to the Varden, the Rebel Alliance to the Empire. There were a lot of similarities, but on Earth and with dragons instead of in a galaxy with Wookiees. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I listed high school boys as part of the groups I'd recommend this book to because, although Eragon can be quite rude at times, I think it does provide a good role model type for boys transitioning into men. Eragon learns to do what is right, how to be stronger in all aspects, and provides insight on what it's like to go from an ordinary kid to someone that potentially holds a lot of power. I think this can be influential in a positive way to those reading it at the right time. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I would definitely watch a movie based on this book (I have seen all the Star Wars movies, after all), but not the one currently out as Madison said I shouldn't. I hope the tv show coming out does it justice. There are certainly enough details written out that the book to television writers don't need to improvise anything as long as they have the budget. </span></span></div>Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-78360607967539066792023-01-14T18:55:00.003-05:002023-01-14T18:55:36.749-05:00Halfway to the Grave<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmGNizCxNbxjBcIxXfGHKiGAJAA13HVvQANePAzW1z6K9oAnW7q3SnDw-DEUScth8MRSRIYgR-kxo7HTohc1GCPy3KQZfWKcngqxuJOAAKt7_qItq_tQpFRkJA39oiFRNBRX3UMmAdYbPANqb9xepXA2OtZAgfu20JXhl4iiqEEpbAAVnFSHXTDCCi9g/s475/1421990.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="287" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmGNizCxNbxjBcIxXfGHKiGAJAA13HVvQANePAzW1z6K9oAnW7q3SnDw-DEUScth8MRSRIYgR-kxo7HTohc1GCPy3KQZfWKcngqxuJOAAKt7_qItq_tQpFRkJA39oiFRNBRX3UMmAdYbPANqb9xepXA2OtZAgfu20JXhl4iiqEEpbAAVnFSHXTDCCi9g/s320/1421990.jpg" width="193" /></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Title:</span></span><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">Halfway to the Grave</span></p></div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Author: </span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Jeaniene Frost</span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Series: </span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Night Huntress</span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">About the Author: (Amazon)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the Night Huntress series, the Night Prince series, the Broken Destiny series, and the Night Rebel series. To date, foreign rights for Jeaniene's novels have sold to twenty different countries. Jeaniene lives in Florida with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking, and traveling - by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Book Summary: (Goodreads) </span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><i>Flirting With The Grave…</i></span><br style="font-size: small;" /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of these deadbeats is her father – the one responsible for ruining her mother’s life. Then she’s captured by Bones, a vampire bounty hunter, and is forced into an unlikely partnership.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In exchange for help finding her father, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs. She’s amazed she doesn’t end up as his dinner – are there actually good vampires? Pretty soon Bones will have her convinced that being half-dead doesn’t have to be all bad. But before she can enjoy her status as kick-ass demon hunter, Cat and Bones are pursued by a group of killers. Now Cat will have to choose a side … and Bones is turning out to be as tempting as any man with a heartbeat.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Format: Mass market paperback 358 pages</span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Age level: Adult</span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Price: $8.99</span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Link: </span></p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">http://www.jeanienefrost.com/books/halfway-to-the-grave/ </span></span><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">I'd Recommend To: Stay at home moms with a vampire fetish </span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">My Rating: 3/10 </span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">My Thoughts: </span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Honestly,</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> I did not like this book. I did finish it but I won't be reading the other 9 books in the Night Huntress series. I went into the bookstore wanting a vampire book, and while they had tons on werewolves and witches, not many vampire books to choose from. I was happy when I found this one, so I got it; probably should have read a few pages first. </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Cat is a half-vampire, half-human who hunts vampires because she was raised to believe all vampires are evil and deserve to die due to how her father treated her mother. One night, she meets a vampire who is 241 years dead, forever frozen at age 24. She's 22. He also kills vampires, but not all of them because he is one; he's a bounty hunter. He holds her captive for 5 weeks while he trains her to be a better vampire killer. Cue cliche beauty and the beast Stockholm syndrome, she thinks she loves him. There was only like one really descriptive sex chapter, but it was more than enough for me, no thanks. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">So back to Cat's mom and dad. Her dad was a just-turned vampire that raped her mother. The initial way that Bones, the 241 year old vampire, convinces Cat to train with him is that he would help her find her father so she could kill him. However, aside from making this initial agreement THAT'S THE LAST AND ONLY TIME THAT WAS MENTIONED. We learn no new information about her quest to find her father. Yes, a bunch of other adventure stuff with vampire killings happen, but not a peep about finding Cat's dad. Maybe that was done on purpose to get people to read the rest of the books in the series, but to me it was more like click-bait I'm not falling for. I don't need to know that bad; I just think it would have made a better, more interesting story. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">So then what fills the remaining 350 pages if not a search for her father? Well, turns out a big, bad vampire has been basically doing the vampire equivalent of a slave trade so they spend all of their time dealing with that and finding him to stop it, in between having intercourse. And in the end, something happens that's very Marvel/DC movie. I just think overall this plot was not very well thought out, or it's just really, really basic, filled with literacy/movie cliches that just don't fit the vampire fantasy genre. There's a lot of plot holes and jumps and things that don't make sense. I think Frost's editors really let her down and didn't do a good job, but I guess if it's been successful enough to have 10 books in the series maybe I'm in the minority. </span></p>Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-33138103308896797902022-06-14T18:42:00.003-04:002022-06-14T18:42:46.367-04:00And Then I Turned Into A Mermaid<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEDhl9Og4sUHq-Nlm05SQ-bONiUMgy3dmFtSKg7Wz0ykH-h5zAmqPt_yc-dnocdm3LW4QkamH5IhI8ivMG6DMc8se31IauM9QohGP4dK38sO1LvGu4IID5DGMIVW-V8k0wXmQ6vrsK7aZwzmPUmVIYOpvLkK2xn_VJGnJuXWeywLkIuMIKa4dxj2vF7A/s790/254546be-7399-4b84-a23f-d1e959744b77.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="790" data-original-width="790" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEDhl9Og4sUHq-Nlm05SQ-bONiUMgy3dmFtSKg7Wz0ykH-h5zAmqPt_yc-dnocdm3LW4QkamH5IhI8ivMG6DMc8se31IauM9QohGP4dK38sO1LvGu4IID5DGMIVW-V8k0wXmQ6vrsK7aZwzmPUmVIYOpvLkK2xn_VJGnJuXWeywLkIuMIKa4dxj2vF7A/s320/254546be-7399-4b84-a23f-d1e959744b77.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO8Nouj1-NqOCbVUcsqYf1zx5l_AVoP6gJ0MbW2KxylaFTj_2paO1S72Z-_2OW3plygtrZX5XtAp1LKgbl7Rh46jtiPDXfTboPqwma0ae7yZXNCf2nVX9Uxs0v_SqXtg6kJ9wyK3u0vbWTn0vJnNeEBcf8On9r8O9rvMOkHMhTdSWyoX6dz2Peh8sAvg/s550/image002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="367" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO8Nouj1-NqOCbVUcsqYf1zx5l_AVoP6gJ0MbW2KxylaFTj_2paO1S72Z-_2OW3plygtrZX5XtAp1LKgbl7Rh46jtiPDXfTboPqwma0ae7yZXNCf2nVX9Uxs0v_SqXtg6kJ9wyK3u0vbWTn0vJnNeEBcf8On9r8O9rvMOkHMhTdSWyoX6dz2Peh8sAvg/s320/image002.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /> Title:<p></p><p>And Then I Turned Into a Mermaid</p><p><br /></p><p>Author: </p><p>Laura Kirkpatrick</p><p><br /></p><p>Series: </p><p>And then I Turned into a Mermaid</p><p><br /></p><p>About the Author: </p><p>LAURA KIRKPATRICK is the pen name of author Laura Steven. She is part-mermaid, part-children's author living in northern England. Her favorite things are white chocolate, beach walks with her puppy, and hiding her tail from prying humans. In addition to her fiction, Laura is a journalist and screenwriter whose work has been featured in Buzzfeed. Visit her at laura-steven.com.</p><p>Book Summary: (Edelweiss+) </p><p>Some family secrets really make waves—just ask Molly Seabrook, newly thirteen and part-mermaid!</p><p>Molly Seabrook's dull seaside life is turned upside down when she turns thirteen and is let in on the family secret: she's PART-MERMAID. Molly isn't exactly thrilled. She already has to dress as a fish to promote the family seafood restaurant, and now this?</p><p>Growing up is hard enough without sprouting a fish tail in math class, or disguising your gills from the cute boy at the ice cream stand.</p><p>Format: Trade paperback 208 pages</p><p>Age level: 8 to 12</p><p>Price: $7.99</p><p>Catalog link: https://www.edelweiss.plus/?sku=1728214203&g=4400 </p><p>I'd Recommend To: Middle school mermaid lovers</p><p>My Rating: 9/10 </p><p>My Thoughts: </p><p>This was a very fun book to read! I could DEFINITELY see it being turned into a movie, and if it does I hope to land a part in it! It gives me big Lizzie McGuire vibes but make it mermaid. Although I'm over 10 years older than Molly (and the desired audience) I could still relate to Molly's mad-at-life attitude, her desire to fit in, and her friendship struggles. The universal relatability is a strong marker of a good novel as it means that it can find a meaning in a wide variety of audiences, not just the intended target. Who doesn't love reading about mermaids? </p><p>As a professional mermaid myself, I also think that some of Kirkpatrick's ideas on how mermaids transform/hide their tails, appearances when in mermaid form, etc, were also very interesting and definitely made sense in terms of being believable. I will be using some of the examples from the book the next time kids ask me certain mermaid questions! </p><p>If you are a big mermaid fan, don't let the "age level" steer you away from reading this easy-to-read novel. Sometimes you just have to have fun once in a while! </p><div><br /></div>Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-74836864833493036222022-01-07T10:54:00.006-05:002022-01-07T10:54:54.095-05:00Mob Museum, Las Vegas<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUigNq2A0K4BC96MyoXDxaF2B-U2fPqKV1G6fv0g9jk3zVLXiqR23KN-Q9wxcsmQo2c2Izc4hFMc6OKX_QfPXe33Y1YqtIhi3bqseca_dWU1aCFyMxCo1DXvnSKSkkbSAv5HdxzrLcBG7C/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="1052" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUigNq2A0K4BC96MyoXDxaF2B-U2fPqKV1G6fv0g9jk3zVLXiqR23KN-Q9wxcsmQo2c2Izc4hFMc6OKX_QfPXe33Y1YqtIhi3bqseca_dWU1aCFyMxCo1DXvnSKSkkbSAv5HdxzrLcBG7C/" width="320" /></a></div><br />The Mob Museum, located in Las Vegas, Nevada, is more than just a museum. Offering interactive experiences, such as the Crime Scene Investigator and Firearms Training, as well as having a Distillery and Speakeasy on premises make this a fun adventure for anyone. <p></p><p>There are three floors of traditional museum with displays, exhibits, and films exploring different pathways of organized crime, the most notorious crime lords, and public portrayal of such events. Drugs, murder, money laundering, animal poaching, human trafficking, and more will keep visitors interested in the educational components. You can do a self-guided tour, audio tour, or group led tour. </p><p>I did the Crime Scene experience and the Firearms Training experience. For the Crime Scene experience, you enter a laboratory through a door with a fingerprint on it. Inside, you complete several stages of forensics with an introduction to each to help you through. My favorite and the one I did the best on was the fingerprint analysis where you scan your own fingerprint and narrow it down by type and subtype until you get a close-ish match to a famous mobster in the system. Other activities completed during this experience included ballistics, where you match a bullet with another bullet fired from the same gun, crime scene mapping, examining DNA on collected evidence, and completing autopsy. </p><p>While the crime scene experience was informative, I found the firearms training experience to be much more fun as I did a lot better with that one. You enter into the "police academy" and put all your belongings in a locker and are given an officer belt. Then they take you into the training room where they give you a laser gun that is the same weight, shape, and feel as a real 9mm but shoots a laser instead of an empty or a bullet. They teach you the proper way to hold, shoot, and holster your gun and you practice shooting at a target before moving to the next room. 3 of my 4 practice shots were perfect and my final 4th shot was slightly lower. In the next room, you do a video game scenario with the same laser gun of a convenience store armed robbery. The guide is there to walk you through every step of the way if needed. Then you move to a similar video game style room of a private residence call. Finally, you move to a room with a live person where you need to deescalate the situation and get her to comply. My shots were spot on and it was nice to have the guide there to help tell me what to do. It was more personal than the CSI experience and I feel I did better at it which made me enjoy it more as well. </p><p>The third experience they offer is a distillery tour. The ticket package I purchased only allowed 2/3 experiences so I didn't do this one and therefore can't comment on it other than it exists, and I think you get some moonshine tasting at the end. </p><p>Once you finish exploring the museum, watching the films, and completing your experiences, head down to the basement where there's a hidden speakeasy to help take you back to prohibition era. If you're only interested in the speakeasy, you can enter through a side door to just come for the food and drink. I was there right around when the speakeasy opened for the day, so it wasn't popping very much. I recommend going later in the evening or at night. While the museum closes at a normal time, the speakeasy stays open into the night as a bar. </p><p>Overall, I had fun! If I had more time, I would've spent more time there, but I had to get to the aquarium for my other bookings. If you're in Las Vegas, definitely check out the Mob Museum and their Speakeasy. </p>Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0300 Stewart Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89101, USA36.1728198 -115.14123957.8625859638211537 -150.29748949999998 64.483053636178852 -79.9849895tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-66921386428992748242022-01-05T12:03:00.002-05:002022-01-05T12:03:56.724-05:00The A List <p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQOVD9lTDQO_RGSt5W6onUjuFOTvXLc-oTSHP9YGQ9AqHuJUeKxyZa8nOvqRQs1tphtVUma9zqRlXPqR04Ao_hP1zn34aCCSET5hqPMJVvl0dojGjXtd0sfRIPECCoKnZcyagv9I3-43B/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQOVD9lTDQO_RGSt5W6onUjuFOTvXLc-oTSHP9YGQ9AqHuJUeKxyZa8nOvqRQs1tphtVUma9zqRlXPqR04Ao_hP1zn34aCCSET5hqPMJVvl0dojGjXtd0sfRIPECCoKnZcyagv9I3-43B/" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">TV Show:</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The A List </span></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Channel:</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Netflix, originally on BBC </span></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Seasons: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">2<br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">New on:</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/07/01/the-a-list-season-3-everything-we-know-about-the-renewal-release-date-and-plot/" target="_blank">Summer of 2022 on Netflix, if renewed </a></span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Starring:</span><br style="background-color: white;" />Lisa Ambalavanar, Ellie Duckles <br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">I'd Recommend to...</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Young Adult/Teenage SciFi Fans</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Pretty Little Liars fans <br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">My Rating:</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">4.5/5</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">My Thoughts:</span></span><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Mia is used to being the popular girl, but at Peregrine Island's Summer Camp, there's a new "it" girl in town - Amber. Something doesn't seem quite right about Amber, and the island seems to hold an awful lot of mysteries, including what seems like a human tooth growing from a tree and a ghost in one of the cabins. With no cell service and no ferries back to the mainland, Mia needs to find a way off the island before Amber gets to her. </span></span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Honestly this series was super confusing at times. However, those unanswered questions had me wanting more at the end of each episode and I definitely binged this series! I was on the edge of my seat. The Netflix thumbnail has a girl with glowing purple eyes, so I wanted to see what that was all about (it doesn't show up until the second season). The episodes create a lot of questions that do eventually get answered by the end of season 2, so there's not really much I can say without giving it away. This series did remind me of Pretty Little Liars and contains some similar themes and has those same dark tones. If you like Pretty Little Liars, Riverdale, the Vampire Diaries, etc, then I definitely recommend you check out The A List on Netflix. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you've seen the A List, let me know your thoughts about the show in the comments! </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #767676; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div>Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-77696303904615336022020-06-24T15:46:00.001-04:002020-06-24T15:46:04.801-04:00Kind is the New Classy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj45sNhgy8DAHO06DRkXTLJdBb8_y6jHRHXz1d3No3GMRrQ4CuCG5CHxKLudhV3SRhBetfVtxvNqqlmSBwJszTtG7yw6jXBLVmAuXZBfTWqlagKJhnUR5rpusyCKIUfcNmZFXuPblThX1SF/s1600/416FA31lzjL._SX331_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj45sNhgy8DAHO06DRkXTLJdBb8_y6jHRHXz1d3No3GMRrQ4CuCG5CHxKLudhV3SRhBetfVtxvNqqlmSBwJszTtG7yw6jXBLVmAuXZBfTWqlagKJhnUR5rpusyCKIUfcNmZFXuPblThX1SF/s320/416FA31lzjL._SX331_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Title:<br />
Kind is the New Classy<br />
<br />
Author:<br />
Candace Cameron Bure<br />
<br />
About the Author: (Amazon)<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Candace Cameron Bure lights up the entertainment industry as a role model to women of all ages, reaching millions of fans. She is an award-winning actress and producer, New York Times Best-Selling Author, wife, and mother of 3.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Candace is currently performing as the lead in the third season of Netflix's Emmy nominated original comedy series Fuller House where she reprises her role as D.J Tanner. Fuller House celebrated multiple wins for People's Choice Awards, Teen Choice Awards, and Kids Choice Awards for Seasons 1 & 2. Candace took home the win at the Teen Choice Awards for "Best Comedy TV Actress" two years in a row. Candace recently made her directorial debut on an episode of Fuller House Season 4, which will release this December.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">On ABC Network's long-time running talk show The View, Candace wrapped her second season as co-host in December 2016. Candace and her co-hosts were nominated both years for a Daytime Emmy Award, and the show itself also received yet another nomination for Outstanding Talk Show.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">A woman of many talents, Candace released her fifth and sixth book in 2018, Kind is the New Classy: The Power of Living Graciously, and her first children's book Candace Center Stage. Her third book, Dancing Through Life: Steps of Courage and Conviction chronicles her journey of self-discovery that came by leaping out of her comfort zone on season 18 of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. It includes the highs and lows, the roadblocks, and the personal victories that she experienced while competing on the show.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Candace is both outspoken and passionate about her family and faith. Candace and her husband, former NHL star Valeri Bure, have been happily married since 1996. Together with their 3 children, Natasha, Lev and Maksim, they split their time between Los Angeles and Napa Valley, California which is home to their highly rated boutique wine label, Bure Family Wines.</span><br />
<br />
Book Summary: (Amazon)<br />
“The world has a way of defining you if you don’t know who you are before you get out there.” —Candace Cameron Bure<br />
<br />
As a woman in today’s world, you know what it’s like to feel pressure on all sides from clashing cultural expectations. How can you stay true to who God has uniquely created you to be in the face of the script you’ve been given? What’s more, how can you stand your ground with grace?<br />
<br />
The classy confidence you know and love—whether it’s on set at Full House or Fuller House, Dancing with the Stars, The View, or Candace’s Hallmark films—is no act. But it hasn’t come easy. In fact, learning to stay true to herself with grace has been one of the biggest fights of Candace’s life.<br />
<br />
The secret, she has learned, is kindness: it’s classy, unexpected, even counter-cultural, and ultimately wins the day.<br />
<br />
In Kind Is the New Classy, Candace reveals the thought patterns and practices that have empowered her to stay centered in who she is while practicing radical graciousness toward others. Whether you’re navigating major life choices, questions of calling and career, relationships, or personal goals, this book will show you how to:<br />
Keep your cool under pressure<br />
Respond to criticism with grace<br />
Stay grounded yet go places in life<br />
Stay true to who you are despite the expectations of others<br />
Stay centered in what ultimately matters the most<br />
Kind Is the New Classy is your permission to go off-script, to say goodbye to society’s “should’s” and to step into a new way to flourish as a woman today.<br />
<br />
I'd Recommend To:<br />
Christian Women<br />
<br />
My Rating:<br />
10/10<br />
<br />
My Thoughts:<br />
LOL the theme of this year must be reading books that I planned to read a long while ago but never got around to but now I can read them! I received this book back in 2018, which is a lot more recent than Watersmeet but still two years overdue. I'm a huge Candace Cameron Bure fan so I ordered the signed copy, and she signs her name the same as me - with a little heart above her name.<br />
Anyways, I'm not one to annotate in books but I found myself highlighting a lot in this book - here are a few examples:<br />
"...kindness have been shown to stimulate the production of serotonin, the chemical that calms us down and makes us feel happy. Kindness also produces endorphins, the chemicals that make us feel pleasure. And kindness produces oxytocin, which makes us feel calm, promotes social bonding, increases trust and generosity, and helps our bodies fight disease by strengthening our immune system" (pg 87)<br />
"the ones who show kindness out of concern for others - have 23 percent less cortisol, the stress hormone" (pg 88)<br />
"When our gifts align with our purpose, we feel fired up too. ... Those are stirrings, I believe, that are worth listening to. Those are the stirrings of the Spirit" (pg 107)<br />
"God is an ambitious God. His ambition is as holy as it is wild: to save the whole world" (pg 109)<br />
"...the gardener who prunes the branches so that the garden can grow according to His good design" (pg 211)<br />
This book is very in-powering (a phrase used in the book if you don't get what I mean by in-power vs empower). Candace uses her real life examples to basically show how you can help find your purpose then use that purpose to live your best life, all while staying kind to those around you and yourself. While reading this book, I realized I'm already a lot kinder than I thought as well as areas I definitely could improve my kindness; I also realized how I can use my passions of the water and the animals in it to better serve God - by sharing that beauty and amazingness that He created with others. I see God the most while I'm under the sea, with the humpbacks and the whale sharks and the sea turtles and the minnows, so I want to be able to share that with others as well, which inspired me to take the leap to put my Mermaid Camp plan into action rather than having it just stay a "maybe, one day".<br />
I also now actively search for ways I can be MORE kind. For example, while I was reading this book I was dealing with a "Karen". I'm a lifeguard at the pool and it's been cold, so while people will come sit in the sun, they don't really get in the water (which frankly, I don't get because the beach is less than a football field away from this pool so if you're just coming to the pool to sun, why not go to the beach? But people are crazy). Anyways, it's real windy at the pool because it's in a wind tunnel between a bunch of condo buildings. So this couple came and sat right next to my lifeguard stand because the stand partially blocked the wind. Sitting there for 9 hours a day, I need some music to keep my mind sane, so I have a small speaker next to my lifeguard stand that you can only hear if you're within about 20 feet of it. The days leading up to this, I put on several different stations to see if I got any feedback from anyone, and the day before I had on the Margaritaville station; three different families told me that they loved the music I had on that day! So this day, I had the Margaritaville station on again due to the positivity I received from it. So this lady that sat right next to my chair comes up to me and says "I really hate to be a Karen, but I hate music so can you please turn it off. If it wasn't so windy we'd sit over there but it's just too windy". Being the nice person I am, I turned it off, figuring they'd only stay a few minutes because it was so cold and nasty out. This couple ended up staying for 5 hours!!! Every time I would think to myself "I'll give her 10 more minutes then I'm turning my music back on" I remembered to practice my kindness and my patience, as this was happening literally as I was reading this book. So I persevered and lasted the whole rest of the day without music, which was actually like painful for me but it showed kindness to this lady. Now I think to myself "wait. How can you be more kind?" when I'm in a situation that will try to test me. So far, it's been working (mostly. I'm still struggling w my grandmother because she's so harsh).<br />
So overall, I really like this book as it's really helped me to become a more positive, kind, and purposeful person. At the end of every chapter there's a "Your Turn" section where she puts into simple, easy steps how you can practice being kinder and classier. If you don't want to hear talk about God, this isn't the book for you, but if you like God and want to make your life just a little bit better, I'd check it out. My mother is next to read this book! She's hoping it will help inspire her and give her a more positive outlook on life - I think it just might.Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-47270162519746323562020-06-17T15:06:00.002-04:002020-06-17T15:06:29.568-04:00Watersmeet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Title:<br />
Watersmeet<br />
<br />
Author:<br />
Ellen Jensen Abbott<br />
<br />
Series:<br />
Watersmeet, book 1<br />
<br />
About the Author: (Amazon)<br />
Ellen Jensen Abbott thinks that life would be perfect if she could move to the White Mountains of New Hampshire where she grew up. Until she can convince her friends and family to join her, she's content to be writing, teaching English at the Westtown School, and living in West Chester, PA. Her debut novel, Watersmeet, was an IRA Young Adult Award Notable Book, and was nominated for YALSA's Teen Top Ten. The sequel, The Centaur's Daughter, is "fast paced and full of romance, suspense, and adventure and handles prejudice and acceptance in thought-provoking ways," according to The School Library Journal.<br />
<br />
Book Summary: (Amazon)<br />
From her birth, Abisina has been outcast--for the color of her eyes and skin, and for her lack of a father. Only her mother's status as the village healer has kept her safe. But when a mythic leader arrives, Abisina's life is ripped apart. She escapes alone to try to find the father and the home she has never known. In a world of extremes, from the deepest prejudice to the greatest bonds of duty and loyalty, Abisina must find her own way and decide where her true hope lies.<br />
<br />
I'd Recommend To:<br />
Fans of fantasy & Ren Faires<br />
<br />
My Rating:<br />
8/10<br />
<br />
My Thoughts:<br />
Well, this book review has been 11 years in the making. You ever already have a big list of books to read, then get another, then life gets in the way and you end up not reading any of the ones you previously had, nor the new ones you've acquired? Yeah I guess that's what's happened here... I received this ARC back in 2009 and planned on reading and reviewing it right away, but then came high school, then college, then the real world, and I guess it just got put on the back burner, and I'm so sorry Ms. Abbot! BUT I've finally read it thanks to our extra long time-out due to Coronavirus, and now I'm ready to read the next two books in the series.<br />
Want to hear something else that happened in my long journey of reading and reviewing this book? I was on a kayaking adventure and planned to kayak to a little beach and sit and read on it, but the weather took a sudden turn for the worse and although the kayak never flipped over, my bag and everything in it was SOAKED so poor old Watersmeet not only really met the water but then took about a month to dry out enough to wear I could read it again! It's certainly been a wild ride but here we are, finally having read the book and now I'm ready to review it for you.<br />
Okay, so.<br />
This is a story of Abisina, a girl with copper skin and dark hair. Because she's not blonde hair, blue eyed (like myself), she's considered an outcast in her village and the only thing that literally saved her life when she was born was the fact her mother is the village's healer and the town elder owed her a favor. But now an ancient evil has come to down, planning to kill everyone basically. Unfortunately, Abisina's mother is one of the many lives he takes, but thanks to the help of few kind humans and dwarves, Abisina is able to make it out alive and start on a journey to a town called Watersmeet, where her father is the man in charge. Finally! She makes it there! But she comes from a town that thrives on hate and exclusion, and Watersmeet is the exact opposite - Watersmeet is a place where all are welcomed and accepted. Can Abisina unlearn the teachings of her past village and come to accept and love the creatures of Watersmeet? Although it took me even longer to get to this book than it took Abisina to make it to Watersmeet, the timing of reading this couldn't be any more perfect. We are all facing the exact same situation Abisina was put in - here in the United States, we are a country divided. Hate and racism fueled by fear run amuck in our country, just as they did in Abisina's home village of Vranille. We are at a turning point in history, for one way or another; will the American people choose to continue living in fear and hate or will we learn to love and accept one another as Abisina must learn to do in Watersmeet?<br />
I absolutely loved all the magical creatures in this book - centaurs, dwarves, fairies, minotaurs, uberwolves, fawn, humans. It had me dreaming of being in such a magical land at night when I was alseep. I would LOVE to be able to go to a place like that in real life, and the past few years I've been working at Renaissance Festivals where people do dress up and act like such creatures, which is why I'd highly recommend this book/series to rennies.<br />
There is a final battle that I feel was really rushed compared to the rest of the book, and I understand it's about the journey not the destination, but I just feel the length of the time in Watersmeet and the battle were not properly proportionate to the time in Vranille and on the trek to Watersmeet. Additionally, there were a few times when the language used was a word I had never heard of and had to look up to understand the meaning of the sentence, and I'm now 23 so I think if I were 12 like when I was supposed to originally review this book, that problem would've occurred even more. Because of these reasons, I'm ranking the book only an 8/10. However, I definitely still recommend people read it and once I find more time I will totally be checking out the 2nd and 3rd books in the series.Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-60739165487096440592017-09-29T23:07:00.000-04:002017-09-29T23:07:13.732-04:00STONE HORSES <img alt="Image result for stone horses band" src="https://i1.wp.com/rockallphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/stone-horses-1.jpg?fit=480%2C480&ssl=1" /><img alt="Image may contain: 4 people, people standing and sunglasses" src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/19149057_418851868513868_2991571443551468808_n.jpg?oh=6f87c0520224e4406e7b73606ced26b9&oe=5A540DA4" /><br />
<br />
STONE HORSES is a new band local to the DC/Baltimore area.<br />
They've recently had an EP come out, and tonight is actually my first time listening to it because I'm an awful fan. But I gotta admit, I'm impressed. A great band of guys with some great new music.<br />
Most of the band is comprised of members of Charm City Devils, a relatively well established rock band, so it's no surprise the album literally rocks. But (again because I'm an awful fan) the new album really did impress me and go above my expectations.<br />
The album is made up of 6 songs (at $5.99 that's less than $1 a song - what a deal!), but I'm just gonna talk about my top three.<br />
My number one favorite on this EP is Flirting with the Devil, track five. Honestly it sounds like a The Pretty Reckless (my favorite current band) song, and in fact I started playing "Take Me Down" (The Pretty Reckless) on top of "Flirting with the Devil (STONE HORSES) and I think I made something because it's insanely good and works together extremely well. Okay, let me specify - not the entirity of "Take Me Down" just the beginning of the "sign with the devil" part until the end over just before the 3 minute mark of "Flirting with the Devil". Don't go stealing my ideas now, though. But yeah, it works and it sounds good and usually I get really mad when songs are too similar, but in this case I really like it. Maybe it's because I love both bands (my uncle calls me a groupie for both of them, but if ya look up the definition of a groupie I am not). But no matter the reason, "Flirting with the Devil" is definitely a great song. So kudos to the band.<br />
I can't quite decide on the order of the next two in terms of my favorites, but they sound quite different from each other, which showcases the band's range and flexibility quite well. So I'm just going to go in order on the album.<br />
Up first is track number three, "Weiland". I'm guessing by the title it was probably inspired by Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots, but I have to admit my STP knowledge is extremely lacking so if it really is I couldn't tell ya. However, I absolutely love the rhythm of it. It's just a fun song. It reminds me of the early 2000s but a lot of times when something reminds me of something everyone else doesn't see it so take that with some salt. I don't wanna use the term vibes because I'm going to use that in my next song analysis but it really does just have some great vibes that, like I said, are just fun. It doesn't sound like anything else on the album (in my opinion), which is another reason it immediately stood out to me. I dig it.<br />
The other song I really liked was track six, "Roads". "Roads" is the last track of the album and it's a song that I would totally jam out to in the bath. Like some snake charming, totally relaxed hand feeling the music waves in the air type stuff. Also, fun fact, when my dad first bought the album (way before me because I suck) he played all the song previews and the dog even really felt this one. So I guess more of a dog charming than snake charming song, but still it just gives out those vibes. This is a song you have to close your eyes and just go with the flow. Let the music move you (and your head). Unfortunately, because of how intensely the music chills (relaxes) you, it kinda makes the lyrics and vocals tune out a bit but the instrumental vibes more than make up for it. Now that I'm typing all this out I think "Roads" is my second favorite as it moves you. Isn't that what music is supposed to do?<br />
<br />
You can buy the EP on iTunes and check out STONE HORSES on Spotify and other streaming sites. Don't forget to request them at your local rock radio station as well! They've also been featured on Sirius XM Octane and the Nikki Sixx show!<br />
Want to see them live? Here's some of their upcoming concert dates:<br />September 29, 5:30pm Breakaway Sports Lounge, Hagerstown, MD<br />
October 6, 8:30pm, Metro Gallery, Baltimore, MD<br />
October 8, 4:20pm, Fells Point Fun Festival, Baltimore, MD<br />
<br />
Check them out on social media at the links below.<br />
www.stonehorsesmusic.com<br />
https://www.facebook.com/StoneHorsesMusic/<br />
http://instagram.com/stonehorsesmusic<br />
https://twitter.com/StoneHorsesBand<br />
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjD-FxijX7B9iCHdA6Eim8g<br />
http://bandsintown.com/stonehorsesTasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-37727469156063294972017-09-27T21:29:00.000-04:002017-09-27T21:29:18.097-04:00The Unraveling of Avery Snow<img alt="The Unraveling of Avery Snow (Past Lives Series Book 2) by [Sloat, Christy]" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41LMoZc4SPL.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Title:<br />
The Unraveling of Avery Snow<br />
<br />
Author:<br />
Christy Sloat<br />
<br />
Series:<br />
The Past Lives, book 2<br />
<br />
About the Author (Amazon):<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Christy Sloat is a SoCal born girl who resides in New Jersey currently with her husband, two daughters and Sophie her Chihuahua. Christy has embraced the love of reading and writing since her youth and was inspired by her grandmother’s loving support. Christy passes that love of reading, writing, and creativity to her daughters, family, and friends. When you do not find Christy within the pages of a book you can find her being mommy, wife, crafter, and dear friend. She loves adventurous journeys with her friends and can be known to get lost inside a bookstore. Be sure to venture into her Past Lives Series, The Visitor’s Series, and watch for many more exciting things to come. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Check out her website www.christysloat.com</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Blog http://christysloat.blogspot.com/, Facebook: Christy Sloat Author www.facebook.com/christysloatauthor. Twitter: ChristySloat</span><br />
<br />
Book Summary (Amazon):<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">As Avery Snow settles into her life and relationships with those around her, she fights to forget her past lives. All of which she spent with Landon, who still has no recollection of who she really is. It seems better that way. Even though she still feels a draw to his soul, she chooses to ignore it.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">For now everything is fine. Her boyfriend, Dallas, has opened a new restaurant. Her friends, Ianni and Kerri, are settling into their lives as well. But when news of a new Dark Guide is revealed, Avery is forced to start thinking about the life she truly leads. One that is very abnormal. One she is desperate to forget. This Dark Guide is determined to make Avery pay for the death of someone she held dear.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now Avery’s life has gone from seemingly perfect to falling apart. What will be at stake next? Her life? Her love? And who will be there in the end to help her up off the ground? </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Even the strongest love can unravel. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Will Avery be able to hold it all together, or will she just let go?</span><br />
<br />
I'd Recommend to:<br />7th-10th grade girls, Hallmark fans<br />
<br />
My Rating:<br />
4/5<br />
<br />
My Thoughts:<br />
Well. Although the last book (see my review of the first book in the series <a href="http://5678princessreviews.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-many-lives-of-avery-snow.html" target="_blank">here</a>) did have it's fair share of romance, it had an even amount of paranormal. I'd say about 35/65, romance/paranormal for the first book. This one, however, did a complete turn around being about 70/20/10, romance/paranormal/boring fluff. That's not to say it wasn't a good book; it just went in a different direction than the first.<br />
In fact, it was such a good book that last night it (or the heat) kept me up so I gave in and just finished the book. I spent $4 to finish the book in a day. Oh well, guess it was one I couldn't put down.<br />
I also realized that the reason the first book had some errors and the overall style/flow was juvenile was because this book (and series) was purposefully styled that way to better give off the impression that you are directly in Avery's thoughts, like I sometimes do with my blog posts (especially on my <a href="http://tnhaightstudyabroad.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">travel blog</a>). I'm not sure why I didn't quite realize that in the first book, but as it became apparent to me in this one it made more sense and bothered me less.<br />
In terms of the story line, you can tell from the beginning that Dallas and Avery's relationship is falling apart. Honestly, I was rooting for Landon since Avery met him and it was about time Dallas and Avery realized they weren't meant to be. If you're reading this book, I assume you read the first and know that Dallas is the reincarnation of Garrison, a man that killed himself in Avery's past life because she chose Landon over him. I thought that the reason Avery was staying with Dallas in this life was to make sure he didn't have the same reaction, so when they finally ended it, I was relieved. Many events led up to that though that had me pretty mad at Avery, so much so that I almost started with a review last night while only halfway through the book (I didn't though and now I've forgotten what I wanted to type). But the ending honestly did surprise me so that's a good plot twist, since I could pretty much see the other ones coming from a mile away.<br />
It was a good ending though. I am pleased. Hopefully I will get to sleep tonight.Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-27498281292099714112017-09-25T12:15:00.001-04:002017-09-25T12:15:26.115-04:00The Many Lives of Avery Snow<img alt="The Many Lives of Avery Snow (Past Lives Series Book 1) by [Sloat, Christy]" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51mWZMe1vBL.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Title:<br />
The Many Lives of Avery Snow<br />
<br />
Author:<br />
Christy Sloat<br />
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Series:<br />
The Past Lives, book 1<br />
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About the Author (Amazon):<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Christy Sloat is a SoCal born girl who resides in New Jersey currently with her husband, two daughters and Sophie her Chihuahua. Christy has embraced the love of reading and writing since her youth and was inspired by her grandmother’s loving support. Christy passes that love of reading, writing, and creativity to her daughters, family, and friends. When you do not find Christy within the pages of a book you can find her being mommy, wife, crafter, and dear friend. She loves adventurous journeys with her friends and can be known to get lost inside a bookstore. Be sure to venture into her Past Lives Series, The Visitor’s Series, and watch for many more exciting things to come. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Check out her website www.christysloat.com</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Blog http://christysloat.blogspot.com/, Facebook: Christy Sloat Author www.facebook.com/christysloatauthor. Twitter: ChristySloat</span><br /><br />
Book Summary (Amazon):<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Avery Snow led a boring, no thrills life. After her father left the family when she was young, Avery’s mother died when she was only twelve, leaving her all alone except for her Aunt Paulina. Now, at twenty-six, Avery is very used to being lonely.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">She enjoys her job at Sunrise Estates, it’s the one place where she doesn’t feel left out. Her boss, Kerri, is her best friend and Lucy O’Shea, a resident at the home, is a good friend to her as well. The night Lucy dies in Avery’s arms she delivers a haunting message to Avery. She tells her that there is a man looking for her from a past life. And he will stop at nothing to have her.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now Avery is unable sleep for more than a few hours, her dreams are keeping her awake. She is too terrified to sleep for the dreams are too vivid and too real. The only catch? She cannot remember what they are about. Until her Spirit Guide, Ianni, comes to help. Ianni shows Avery her past lives and tells her about the man who is stalking her soul. Now Avery remembers every life she has ever lived and she remembers the man she shared them with. He will not give up until she falls in love with him. The problem is Avery is in love with someone else. Ianni must help keep Avery from making the wrong choice. One her soul doesn’t want. She also must keep her safe from the Dark Guides who are after Avery.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now Avery must make choices she never has before. This once lonely girl is now surrounded by Spirit Guides, psychics, Demonic Angels and two men fighting for her love.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Do you believe in reincarnation and a love that can last lifetimes?</span><br />
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I'd Recommend to:<br />
7th-11th grade Supernatural fans<br />
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My rating:<br />
4/5<br />
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My Thoughts:<br />
The storyline in this book was very compelling, and I must admit, after I finished I immediately spent the $3.99 to buy the second book in the series.<br />
There were some grammatical and formatting errors that were a bit distracting, but maybe someone with not as much schooling wouldn't notice.<br />
I have to admit that I have clearly been slacking on my reading for a few years now (yes, it wasn't just the reviews that stopped - the reading also stopped), but for some reason I was drawn to reading this book and now I think I will get back into reading and reviewing; so thank you to this book for helping me remember reading is enjoyable.<br />
Anywhos, onto the specifics of the book.<br />
So basically Avery and Landon are soul-mates that have found each other in all their past lives and have once again, this time due to fate, have found each other. However, in their second lives, they were in love with other people and ruined their relationships to be with each other. This time, Avery is in love with Landon's cousin, Dallas (who may or may not be the reincarnation of her old love from the second life). Together, they must all come together, along with some angels, a watcher, and Avery's deadbeat dad, to defeat the demons trying to take Landon's soul.<br />
Avery is so distraught by her dreams that she doesn't sleep much. Her family and friends are becoming concerned. Then she finds out about all this supernatural stuff and, well, life gets interesting.<br />
The story was relatively fast paced and I read it pretty much all the way through, only stopping to sleep.<br />
What really got to me was the theme that souls can connect with each other in their dreams. I've always believed that and this book, although obviously fiction, laid out a very believable explanation of the paranormal world around us. I won't go into much detail for fear of either spoiling the book or sounding crazy myself, but if you have any interest in that kind of thing, I recommend giving the book a read. It's quick and easy and will leave you wondering.<br />
The ending is not how I would have ended it, but it ended in such a way that I needed to know what would happen next, so I bought the next book. I never buy books; I just collect the free ones. But knowing the next sequence of events was apparently worth $4. Must be a pretty good first book then. Go pick it up.Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-40923618066585785692016-02-12T22:28:00.000-05:002016-02-12T22:28:11.176-05:00D.M.K.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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D.M.K. (Dunbar,Merrill,Karl) is a relatively new rock band composed of singer Scott Dunbar, guitarist Ted Merrill, and drummer Brian Karl, often with bassist Percy Trayanov.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drummer Brian Karl, Bassist Percy Trayanov, <br />me, Vocalist Scott Dunbar (from left to right)</td></tr>
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I had the privilege of watching D.M.K. perform last October in Baltimore, Maryland. The energy in the room was through the roof. Unfortunately, it wasn't a packed event, but with the high level of excitement, it was easy to believe it was. Guitarist Ted Merrill is a local Marylander, so that only added to the excitement in the room. In addition to the vivacious audience, the passion and love of music held by the band was unmistakable. Vocalist Scott Dunbar showed more love for his band, supporters, and fellow musicians than I've seen in a while. It is clear he is living his dream and doing what he loves most. Combine Dunbar's spirit with the talented work of the instrumentalists and you get a memorable show with a great band.<br />
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Check out their Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DMK-352247551604844/?fref=ts" target="_blank">here</a>, and look for them on iTunes!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">D.M.K. performing at Baltimore Soundstage on Oct 25, 2015</td></tr>
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For those of you wishing to see D.M.K. perform live for yourselves, you're in luck! Here are their upcoming tour dates, with more constantly being added, so be on the lookout for them. </div>
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2/20/16 with Tester at the Tavern in Framingham, MA</div>
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3/3/16 with Y&T at Soundstage in Baltimore, MD</div>
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3/11/16 at Gussy's in Astoria, NY</div>
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3/25/16 with Danger Danger at Mexicali Live in Teaneck, NJ</div>
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4/15/16 with Enuff 'Z Nuff at Elmhurst, NY</div>
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Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-22211581687854420012015-12-14T00:30:00.000-05:002015-12-14T00:30:02.370-05:00Sea-less Surfing<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Technology is always evolving; we see it in our smartphones, our electric cars, and our tablet laptop hybrid concoctions. But it's not just our cool toys that are developing technologically, our environment is too. Large ponds that are actually wave pools are popping up with man-made waves big enough to surf. This advancement will not only change the rules of the surf, but could go on to change the Olympics in time for Tokyo in 2020. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">There are three important positions that can be taken when exploring this new trend - technological, business, and the surfer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Wave pools are a popular attraction at many theme parks and have been for many years. However, now there is the capability of creating actual ocean-like waves, with no time for flat-spells, constantly and consistently - two things you're not likely to get in the real ocean. Each wave only takes about 90 seconds, so there's plenty of time for plenty of rides. Four major technology companies in this area currently are set to compete for head title of this new sensation within the next two years. Surf Snowdonia and Wavegarden currently lead the pack. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In August, Surf Snowdonia opened to the public bringing about the reality of this being a serious business venture. They almost reached their maximum capacity every day it was opened for the first two weeks. Drawing in $30-70 a surfer, it shouldn't take long to profit off of the $7 million expense to build the creation. Once they perfect the barrel wave technology, profits and customers will only increase. Another park is planned to open next year in Austin, Texas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This idea definitely draws in surfing fans from around the world. It' a great way to learn how to surf for beginners, yet provides constant waves for pros. However, it isn't the ocean. It lacks the saltiness of the sea, the marine life, and the overall depth and danger associated with riding a huge wave in the middle of the ocean, far from land. Paul Evans, editor of Surf Europe Magazine, for example, is not at all excited about the idea of a perfect wave pool. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">What Evans and the article seem to overlook is the fact this could very well be game changing for the world's view on surfing as a sport, as well as giving new hope to land-locked people. With this technology, waves are always available, making it now eligible to be an Olympic sport. People who have always wanted to try to surf yet live nowhere near the water's edge now have the opportunity to learn and try to surf, almost quite literally in their own backyard. This technology has opened up the world of surfing to the entire world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Wave creating and wave riding technology has been previously introduced by many parks, but neither have quite perfected it. Thanks to Wavegarden and Surf Snowdonia, we are closer than ever before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-perfect-wave-rolls-into-the-uk-with-an-eye-on-the-olympics-2015-09-01" target="_blank">MarketWatch Article</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">*This post was originally published on my Info System class's blog</span></div>
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Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-92174536137274701862015-12-10T00:30:00.000-05:002015-12-10T00:30:02.868-05:00SkyTruth leads to SeaTruth<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Image from Wall Street Journal via Google Images</td></tr>
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<br /> Illegal fishing, sometimes referred to as pirate fishing, is a huge problem throughout the world, but with new satellite technology, it is becoming easier to catch these criminals at sea. SkyTruth has come up with a way to determine if vessels tracked via satellite are illegally hunting fish.<br /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from dw.com via Google Images</td></tr>
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National Geographic gives readers an insight on the history of SkyTruth, the technology behind it, and the limits or problems the technology currently faces.<br /> In 2012, SkyTruth used satellites and radar to find the ship responsible for an oil spill off Angola by noticing a white dot at the end of a black stretch on the images. Eventually they realized they could use this same detection system to look for pirate fishermen, and teamed up with Pew Charitable Trusts to help. This partnership ended up involving Google and Oceana as well, creating a website called Global Fishing Watch, allowing advocacy groups, fisheries, and governments to view the same information as SkyTruth.<br /> This data is made available because of the Automatic Identification System, or the GPS used by the ships. Originally, this data was intended just so ships wouldn't run into each other or could help vessels in danger. SkyTruth figured out the normal patterns of a ship's movement and can therefore now determine what a given vessel is up to - including illegal fishing.<br /> Unfortunately, there are some loopholes. Some vessels only send up a signal when they are halfway through their voyage, and some transfer their illegally caught fish to other vessels. Some avoid the Automatic Identification System completely! These activities limit the complete accuracy of Global Fishing Watch and allow some ships to slip under the radar. Because of this, SkyTruth is now working on an even more advanced tracking system, a "vessel story", similar to a credit card log. Until then, they are still advancing the Global Fishing Watch website, and hope to make some of its information available to the public in the future.<br /><br /> The article also mentions drones are being used to also collect data and track illegal fishermen, yet they never dive into the drone aspect. It also mentions the White House plans to do something about this, but doesn't mention what. That would be an interesting and informational addition to the already informative article.<br /><br /> According to National Geographic, 20-32% of the wild-caught seafood imported into the United States ends up coming from pirate fishermen. This makes the information relevant to readers; it's where a lot of seafood is coming from! To bring this attention to more readers, this should have also been developed a bit more so more people understand the importance of this issue. It provides a serious question to ponder as well. If illegal fishing stops or is no longer as common, will people in the United States still have the same amount of seafood available to them?<br /><br /><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/150615-skytruth-pirate-fishing-illegal-big-data-ocean-conservation/" target="_blank">National Geographic Article</a> <br />
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*I originally published this article on my Info System class's blogTasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-61147493750416733772015-12-08T00:30:00.000-05:002015-12-08T00:30:04.022-05:00The2Tails Mermaid Tails<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizkDKz4nuSd7PWk80al_U5RkFOQ_rWrag-N5WV0VvjI7LTHY2FxKT7l8SpxVMHpTI3aP7NC68aI5wDRl6nEhszOpJkGNtzeHpS9W__UNJa03uFdPNFRmaUg2Gknky9acTnIvkGMfv0j8zF/s1600/IMG_2495.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizkDKz4nuSd7PWk80al_U5RkFOQ_rWrag-N5WV0VvjI7LTHY2FxKT7l8SpxVMHpTI3aP7NC68aI5wDRl6nEhszOpJkGNtzeHpS9W__UNJa03uFdPNFRmaUg2Gknky9acTnIvkGMfv0j8zF/s320/IMG_2495.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Have you ever wanted to be a mermaid? Don't lie; I know you have. Or at least, you know someone who has. Still does even! But...how? Isn't it impossible? After all, at first glance, you do appear to be...a mere mortal...a human. With legs. Yuck, what good are they? All you want is a beautiful tail to help you swim in the sea. Well my dear, your wish has been granted.<br />
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For a while, I searched near and far for affordable mermaid tails. I was fine with not necessarily buying one of my own, so long as I got to spend a day as a mermaid somewhere. Turns out, buying my own was actually the cheapest way to go! The2Tails.com provides affordable, swimmable tails for all mermaid fans! They have a variety of sizes, from children to curvy adult. Oftentimes, they have sales and giveaways on their Facebook page as well.<br />
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Send in your pictures of you in their tails and you might even be featured on their sites!<br />
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Of course, the pictures weren't the only thing that interested me about my mermaid transformation (although, let's be honest, they played a major role). I am also a huge water baby, so getting in the water and swimming around was pretty much a must. As a child, you often swim like mermaids or dolphins, imagining what it'd be like to swim under the sea and live like that.<br />
Thanks to the monofin-ed tails, that experience can be a reality. Like flippers, but together as one, the monofin provides powerful kicks to those who try it. It's really quite amazing. One kick can save so much energy and propel you so far, it's an amazing feeling. But be careful, though helpful, they are not a magical device that can make the non-swimmers professional. If you cannot swim, DO NOT try swimming in your fin as it will only be more difficult for you and could end in disaster.<br />
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*Photographs taken by Helios PhotographyTasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-50328613247472834532015-12-07T00:30:00.000-05:002015-12-07T00:30:03.139-05:00Cruising on the Wi-Fi Waves<div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px; text-align: center;">
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<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">Smartphones, smart watches, smart boards, now smart ships. Cruise ships, that is. For any of you who have previous traveled aboard a vessel of the sea, you know the struggles of on-board internet. Super slow speeds, practically dial-up, on the few computers in the "library" room keep ships stuck in the late 20th century. Well, not anymore. Royal Caribbean has announced their new SmartShips and Carnival has announced their new "Got Wifi?" campaign, with other cruise lines quickly following the fleets.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">Fortune magazine does a good job of mentioning three key points to this new innovation incorporated into the ships - a step toward the future, new customer opportunities, and customer satisfaction. Faster wi-fi is the key to these upcoming successes in the cruising industry. "O3b Networks, a company that provides ship-to-shore communication systems, started working with Royal Caribbean back in 2011 to upgrade its internet connections. It developed a new type of high-throughput satellite which quadrupled connection speeds, according to Steve Collar, O3b’s CEO". These new speeds transport cruising from a pre-connected time into the current era. Because of the new internet availability found on board, businesses can now take their business conferences, training, and other trips via cruise ships without losing connection to the business world they need to stay connected with while on the trip. Whether this be via internet communications or simply business workers working on the vacation, it means many new customers for cruise lines. But business workers aren't the only new clients gained; millennials that can't seem to be separated from their connections can now stay connected while cruising, opening a whole new world to them. With wi-fi so readily available now, people stay connected to social media, posting and sharing how much they're loving their cruise-cation, thereby promoting the cruising company and expanding their customers in that aspect as well. After a few trials of the new wi-fi systems were imposed, customer satisfaction jumped 50% because of the connections now available. Such improvement shows wi-fi is a strongly desired aspect of life nowadays, and now not only is it readily accessible from the seas, but the accessibility and connectivity are ever expanding and increasing to support the high demand of the quick-paced connected world we live in.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">Unfortunately, the Fortune article fails to mention the losses this new implementation brings forth. It also focuses only on the wi-fi aspect although it is clear more advanced technologies are involved in the new smart ships emerging.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">While it is true that this is a major step for cruise lines and cruise-goers, the importance of escaping the prison of a strong cellular or internet connection shouldn't be given up so easily. The world is full of natural beauty, and cruises are certainly a great way to get to experience a lot of that beauty, but if your nose is in your phone 24/7, why bother going on a cruise when you could do the same thing from home?</span><br />
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<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;" /><a href="http://fortune.com/2015/10/15/cruise-ships-tech-wifi/" style="background-color: white; color: #771100; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Fortune Article</a><br />
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*I originally posted this article on my Info Systems class blog; is251loyola.blogspot.comTasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-20581390518265804972015-12-03T20:54:00.000-05:002015-12-03T20:55:03.280-05:00The Elephant Pants <a href="http://mbsy.co/cRGsH" style="border: none; outline: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="266" src="https://ambassador-api.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/marketing/11722/2015_11_06_14_20_59.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvu7g_Lc6NVVQUA8J5apkjZXnWkl2lQbeYqFkvEYSiSMsogVK1hsPYmSS0tsDD3djmELq2zlU0O0NMqQcotcdsuIW-pLhVFsFJ5gqbZWaxAFNwRP9gIV1fToqPeg0L8wzmyVhOSm6WRf2J/s1600/IMG_3959.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvu7g_Lc6NVVQUA8J5apkjZXnWkl2lQbeYqFkvEYSiSMsogVK1hsPYmSS0tsDD3djmELq2zlU0O0NMqQcotcdsuIW-pLhVFsFJ5gqbZWaxAFNwRP9gIV1fToqPeg0L8wzmyVhOSm6WRf2J/s320/IMG_3959.JPG" width="240" /></a>With the holidays quickly approaching, everyone is scrambling around trying to find the perfect gift. Well, look no further! <a href="http://mbsy.co/theelephantpants/20125952" target="_blank">The Elephant Pants</a> makes the perfect gift for anyone! A portion of all sales made through the clickable link (just click on the top or bottom pictures or "<a href="http://mbsy.co/theelephantpants/20125952" target="_blank">The Elephant Pants</a>" in the previous sentence) go to the African Wildlife Foundation to help raise awareness to elephant poaching and attempt to prevent it. When you order <a href="http://mbsy.co/theelephantpants/20125952" target="_blank">the Elephant Pants</a>, you are helping to save the lives of many African elephants.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4W1oeum5ZIGYajXh5bLQ2BYnJvP5L1_3pw1d3YSqNAMlGbKPnVxitsYXUBDyq4IjfzkQqu-xY9QBaDGaTCHBUz9HQbLIllQ-el49Al5SrS5hRTaUd5fc2RIXcHGvNu-5piSqNVLgQ2Y_k/s1600/IMG_3977.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4W1oeum5ZIGYajXh5bLQ2BYnJvP5L1_3pw1d3YSqNAMlGbKPnVxitsYXUBDyq4IjfzkQqu-xY9QBaDGaTCHBUz9HQbLIllQ-el49Al5SrS5hRTaUd5fc2RIXcHGvNu-5piSqNVLgQ2Y_k/s320/IMG_3977.JPG" width="240" /></a>So far, $143,419 has been donated to the African Wildlife Foundation through purchases made by customers. They also are very supportive of other causes as well; for Anti-Bullying week they had an anti-bullying campaign completed by the many ambassadors and workers of the company. They've also teamed up with Hmong Hill bags in support of education in third world countries. <a href="http://mbsy.co/theelephantpants/20125952" target="_blank">The Elephant Pants</a> is truly a company that cares about many charitable causes and does it's best to help others.<br />
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You don't want harem pants? No problem! <a href="http://mbsy.co/theelephantpants/20125952" target="_blank">The Elephant Pants </a>also sells tapestries, bags, rompers, shorts, shirts, and leggings! Portions of ALL sales, not just pant sales, go to the African Wildlife Foundation! Some items even help other causes as well. In October, a portion Ruby and other red pants went to breast cancer research, for example.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipCutnDoVWiLINe6hssheZrVMq7uB1sucCFn5FWHY1XjiuPr5Kt-Pidot833bECx8Q8puD5JJkDyFh94iIK1lpDgnsIfdnSMS70Z1AkjLsTR8ReRzJLeaClokVnYbXFDD0zjKpiLPiKFhT/s1600/IMG_3552.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipCutnDoVWiLINe6hssheZrVMq7uB1sucCFn5FWHY1XjiuPr5Kt-Pidot833bECx8Q8puD5JJkDyFh94iIK1lpDgnsIfdnSMS70Z1AkjLsTR8ReRzJLeaClokVnYbXFDD0zjKpiLPiKFhT/s320/IMG_3552.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
If you're stuck on what to get someone for the holidays, browse <a href="http://mbsy.co/theelephantpants/20125952" target="_blank">The Elephant Pants</a> before you freak out anymore.<br />
Oh, and tell your friends.<br />
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PS. Sizes come Standard, Large, and Children's so that's one less thing to worry about!<br />
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<a href="http://mbsy.co/cRGsH" style="border: none; outline: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="https://ambassador-api.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/marketing/11722/2015_11_03_14_55_59.jpg" width="301" /></a>Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-76526239376722572412015-03-14T22:38:00.003-04:002015-03-14T22:38:24.738-04:00Suzanna Linton Guest Post<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">"Quitting My Day Job to Live the Dream"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
one of the few romantic comedies I enjoy, <i>When Harry Met Sally</i>,
Harry (Billy Crystal) says to Sally (Meg Ryan), “I came here tonight because
when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you
want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">That
pretty much sums up my decision to leave my day job and write full time, with
me as Harry and my writing as Sally. However, this is a blog post, so maybe I
should elaborate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">My
day job was working part-time as a library assistant for the Reference
Department of my local library. My job consisted in helping people sign into
their email, answer phone calls, and research some of the most random questions
in the history of man. And, every now again, I looked up a book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">From
a writer’s standpoint, it was a dream job. I only worked half a day, leaving me
entire afternoons or mornings to write, and when I did work, I had a front row
seat to human nature. (Seriously, the best way to know someone’s true nature is
to see how they treat their waiter. Or, the library assistant at the Reference
Desk.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">However,
as time went by, I grew increasingly discontent. It was a mix of not being
suited for customer service work and office politics which often left me on the
firing range no matter what I did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
my writing life, I was trying to get an agent or publisher to take notice of
<i>Clara</i> and having zero luck. So, in a fit of frustration, I
designed a cover, formatted the manuscript, and published it on Smashwords.
Then I started learning what being an independent author was all about. I discovered
I had, essentially, jumped into the middle of the major battle of a
role-playing video game without knowing how the controls worked. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
I scrambled through a crash course on author platforms, things at work
continued to deteriorate, not only with the public but also with my fellow
coworkers. My panic attacks and bouts of depression, though lessening in
frequency and magnitude thanks to medication and therapy, led to
misunderstandings and missed work. A change needed to happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">One
Friday last year, I managed to offend the same coworker for the third week in a
row. As I sat at the desk with the tension between us charged enough to set hair
on fire, I thought to myself, “I could be writing a blog post right now. I
could be promoting <i>Clara</i>. I could be doing any number of
things I need to be doing if this whole indie author thing is going to work.
Hell, I could be reading and it would be better time spent than this.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
was my “Harry” moment. I realized that I wasn’t going to get any better at
customer service and it probably didn’t matter that we were getting a new
library director. Even if things turned sunny and I was given a position away
from the Reference Desk (something I had been trying to do for months), I would
still be discontent because I would not be doing what I was meant to do. And,
perhaps, that discontent was part of the root of my problems with depression
and anxiety.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">On
that following Monday, I put in my notice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Eight
months later, I'm still doing what I love. The rest of my life has started.
And, I find myself to be a very different person and very different writer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Firstly,
I'm more confident. When working at the library, I was never sure if what I was
saying would be taken well or what sort of person was about to call or approach
the desk. But doing what I love and what I know I'm good at, I feel more
confident about what I'm doing. I feel more sure. I rarely have panic attacks
and haven't had a severe case of depression in months.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Secondly,
I'm more committed. When I worked at the library, I couldn't wait until the
next break or the moment I could go home. However, now, my husband has to
threaten to take my phone or laptop away from me. I love what I'm doing, so I
look forward to getting to work in the morning and it's hard for me to leave it
at night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally,
I'm more serious about my writing. That's not to say I wasn't serious about it
before but I have time now to act out that seriousness. I have the time to
study writing, read books and articles, and practice through exercises or
journaling. Beforehand, my days were taken up in working, housework, and other
activities. What time I had for writing was limited.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes,
there is a measure of uncertainty. Sometimes, I worry finances might force me
back into the realm of the day job. Yes, sometimes I get depressed or a little
anxious over a current project. But I still love it. I have a second novel out,
<i>Willows of Fate</i> and I am so excited about it. I wouldn't
change a thing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
rest of my life has started. I am living the life of a writer. And that is
enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-62663102059856358422015-02-18T01:00:00.000-05:002015-02-18T01:00:02.407-05:00Landfall Giveaway! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One lucky winner to receive an eBook copy of Landfall by Joseph Jablonski! </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41b1o6m4JKL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41b1o6m4JKL.jpg" height="320" width="206" /></span></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Landfall-Joseph-Jablonski/dp/0991344383" target="_blank">About the Book: (Amazon)</a></span></b></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-bottom: 14px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Forty years ago, a young woman was murdered aboard an American freighter. Now, her children are grown and they want answers. Jake Thomas is the only one who can tell them what really happened.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But after a lifetime at sea, Jake has finally settled into a new marriage and a comfortable retirement. He’s afraid that digging up the secrets he’s kept buried will undo everything and lead him to a truth he doesn’t want to face.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In this riveting story-within-a-story, Jake’s peaceful routine in Portland, Oregon, stands in stark contrast to his early days as a merchant seaman in Subic Bay, when he set off on a journey to discover his dark side. A journey that hasn’t yet ended.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like Joseph Conrad, Joseph Jablonski has created a story set at sea that is as much a careful observation of human nature and a powerful condemnation of war as it is a fascinating sea story.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">About the Author: (Amazon)</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; margin-top: -4px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 19px;">Joe Jablonski passed away suddenly in May 2014 from natural causes. He left behind several unpublished manuscripts including LandFall. His wife, Darlyn Jablonski, and son, Peter Jablonski, are very excited to have published LandFall posthumously as one of Joe's great aspirations was to get more manuscripts published (prior to LandFall, Three Star Fix was published in 2008 and Pirate Nights, a NY Times Op-Ed piece, was published in 2013).</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #333333;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; line-height: 19px;" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 19px;">Joe grew up in Nebraska, graduated from the US Merchant Marine Academy in 1970, then pursued a career in the merchant marines. He rose to the top of the ranks and retired after sailing several years as Captain of APL's MV President Kennedy containership in 1998. Joe was a lover of life. He loved dinner parties, travel, tennis, scrabble and adventure. He passed away suddenly and is greatly missed.</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; line-height: 19px;" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 19px;">We are very grateful to Michele Orwin of Bacon Press Books and we hope that you enjoy LandFall.</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; line-height: 19px;" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 19px;">Peter Jablonski and Darlyn Jablonski</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<b><i><u><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">What to Win:</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">E-book Copy (mobi or epub) of Landfall</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><br /></span></span></span></u></i></b><br />
<b><i><u><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">How Many Winners:</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">1</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><br /></span></span></span></u></i></b><br />
<b><i><u><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Entry Requirements:</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Follow PrincessReviews</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><br /></span></span></span></u></i></b><br />
<b><i><u><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">How to Enter:</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Leave a comment WITH YOUR EMAIL (so we can contact you if you win) and what type (mobi or epub) you prefer</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><br /></span></span></span></u></i></b><br />
<b><i><u><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Who Can Enter:</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">anyone (international)</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><br /></span></span></span></u></i></b><br />
<b><i><u><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">When to Enter:</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">Feb 18-28, 2015 </span></span></span></u></i></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><u>G</u></i></b>ood luck! :)</span></span>Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-71000005799699379832015-02-17T21:07:00.000-05:002015-02-17T21:07:11.492-05:00SwitchNote<a href="http://www.switchnote.com/index/index/f7149da1493a11e" target="_blank">Get paid for your notes on SwitchNote! </a><br />
If you're a college kid like me, you know the struggle is real when it comes to money. Well, <a href="http://www.switchnote.com/index/index/f7149da1493a11e" target="_blank">SwitchNote</a> is a great solution! Just for uploading notes you should already be taking anyways, you get points. Points are then eligible for giftcards, discounts, and giveaways. Points are super easy to earn and get you things, fast!<br />
For example, an Amazon eGiftCard is only 50 points! So is a Starbucks $5 code. Bigger things cost more, like a $100 Visa Giftcard is 4000 points, but a $100 Restaurant.com giftcard is only 2000 points.<br />
Like I said, getting points is super easy! Each document you upload is worth 10 points. Refer friends and get 50 points per friend. And when people download your notes? Another 10 points, per download! Sweet!<br />
Not only will you be doing well in the points department, you'll be doing well in school too by taking good notes so others will want to download them. It's like two birds with one stone - except you're supposed to be taking notes anyways so is there really even a stone? I dunno but anyways, you should totally join <a href="http://www.switchnote.com/index/index/f7149da1493a11e" target="_blank">SwitchNote</a>! It's free, easy, and fun when the points start pouring in! Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-16000980132324876832015-02-14T01:00:00.000-05:002015-02-14T01:00:02.442-05:00Jassy de Jong Guest Post <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Jassy de Jong, author of Drowning, has provided a guest post for readers. You can read it below:<br />
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<span style="color: red;">I confess... I love Valentine’s Day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Some call it over-commercialized. I say that’s just as well. Thank goodness for all those entrepreneurs out there, designing cards with hearts and glitter, and making teddy bears on sticks and ruby pendants and chocolates with red wrappers, and growing long stemmed roses. I mean, what would we give as gifts otherwise? Easter eggs? Pumpkins?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Some call it schmaltzy. Well, what do you expect? It’s a day celebrating love. Soppy, doting, romantic, couply love. It’s all about hand holding, intertwined fingers, long, deep gazes into each other’s eyes. It’s about saying, “You’re so amazing,” and getting the answer, “No, you’re so amazing, and then saying, “I’m so glad I met you,” and hearing, “No, I’m so glad I met <i>you</i>. Here, have some more champagne.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">I googled the origins of Valentine’s Day... I had a confused idea it was something to do with a saint rescuing a lot of animals, which sounded loving and very appropriate for a day filled with so much caring. But I found out I was wrong. The animal rescuer was St. Francis of Assisi and his celebration day is on October 4.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Valentine’s Day doesn’t quite have the romantic roots I hoped it would. The ancient Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia from February 13-15. During this time they sacrificed a goat and a dog, and then, while drunk and naked, whipped the women with the hides of the slaughtered animals. Say <i>what</i>? I’m struggling to see the romance in that. Apparently the women believed that a good beating made them more fertile, so they eagerly lined up for their punishment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">There was a matchmaking lottery as part of the festivities, where names were drawn out of a hat. If the match was right, the couple would get together for the duration of the festival.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Of course, it wouldn’t be ancient Rome if there weren’t some executions involved. History tells us that Emperor Claudius II executed two men, both called Valentine, on February 14<sup>th</sup>, during different years of his reign. Why on the same day? Who knows? But as a result, the Catholic Church began commemorating this day to honor their martyrdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">It seems a big leap from whippings and slaughterings, to restaurants with elegantly designed menus featuring oysters, with tables set up for two. But seriously, aren’t we lucky in today’s modern times to be able to unwrap a carefully chosen gift while waiting for our heart shaped chocolate mousse to be served, instead of watching somebody flaying a dead goat before they start flogging us with the skin?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Valentine’s Day. It’s all about gratitude.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Oh, and love, of course.</span></div>
Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4387298458416484234.post-84392883250249131652015-02-08T13:25:00.000-05:002015-02-08T13:25:19.089-05:00Drowning book review <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“The word love is open to
interpretation. And to abuse” (de Jong 162).
This one sentence so perfectly sums up the entirety of Jassy de Jong’s
new romantic drama, <i>Drowning</i>. With a great romantic storyline about a
strong woman who allows herself to be saved from abuse, relatable characters,
and an intense discussion about abuse, <i>Drowning</i>
by Jassy de Jong makes for a good read.
However, the erotic nature takes away from the plot and distracts the
reader at times, putting other romance novels above it on my list of suggested
reading books. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I
should have realized the content of the novel given that it is labeled as
“erotica” along with romance and drama, but I did not know what that meant and
didn’t take the time to look it up. Now
I know. So I am warning all future
readers – be prepared to read that type of content or you probably won’t want
to read it. However, the plot almost
makes up for the sexual – and masturbation – scenes and it can be a good
read. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> It all started on a trip to South Africa for a
photoshoot. Driven off a bridge by a
major flood, New York photographer Erin Mitchell is lucky to have
survived. Although she is only alive due
to Nicholas’s rescue with resuscitation, all her husband, Vince, can worry
about is his precious pictures for <i>Vogue</i>
magazine. Now stuck on the wrong side of
the bridge with the wrong man, she is drowning yet again – this time in her
thoughts and desires about lust and love, right and wrong. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jassy
de Jong knows her setting well, being that she is from South Africa herself,
and it certainly shows. Although the
majority of the setting takes place at one high-end getaway, the resort has all
the major perks of the safari life in Africa, which is one of the reasons it’s
so luxurious. While learning about
temptations, tribulations, and abuse, one might learn a thing or two about
South Africa and the safari animals too.
De Jong also understands the importance of living every day like it’s
the last after she was hijacked at gunpoint in her own driveway, and she brings
that attitude to the forefront when it comes to Erin about halfway through the
book. She definitely did a great job incorporating
her own life into the story, something that probably doesn’t come as easily as
it sounds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Nicholas de Lanoy, Erin’s charming and mysterious savior,
evokes feelings deep inside Erin that she can’t seem to shake, bring up issues
of temptation and right or wrong – a great strength for the novel. Although she believes he is a “serial
womanizer” (de Jong 127), there is a mutual connection drawing them into each
other. Struggling with staying faithful
to her husband – whom she has only known for six months and has been married to
for three of those six – Erin decides a weeklong no-strings fling might suit
her well. While most may not cheat on
their still newlywed husbands, the temptation of a straightforward request “to
take [Erin] to bed” and “to satisfy [her] sexually” (35) given by the “sculpted
lips” with “the blaze of pale blue eyes” and “the warm touch of a strong hand”
(22) is enough to confuse any girl. As
it is, Erin doesn’t know how she feels, nor what to do (127) but she keeps
fantasizing about her handsome rescuer.
Knowing how wrong she is, she “[shakes her] head briefly, hoping to
clear these dangerous, intruding thoughts” (128) much like one might do to
shake other sinful temptations from one’s mind. The enticements and lures alludes to a more
religious meaning right below the surface of the text, but as Erin gives into
temptation and ends up happy in the end, the novel either loses this subliminal
message of temptation or is saying that sometimes it’s okay to give into
temptation. Reviewer Marienela believes
“though, there is no mention of religion in this book, author Jassy de Jong
skillfully tackles this philosophical question” of whether or not one should
give into temptation (Marienela). Erin
struggles with what she should do – to give into Nicholas and break her vows
with Vince, or to stay loyal to her husband and ignore her heart. Nicholas is the temptation and the struggle
between giving in or not is a major point in both the plot and in Erin’s life,
making this undertow of temptation a great strength for the novel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Erin reaches out to her best friend, Samantha, for help
on what she should do in regards to Nick and Vince. Samantha, even though she is not a main
character <i>per sé</i>, portrays perfectly
any girl’s best friend. She is honest,
caring, and loyal. Before Erin reaches
this realization herself, Samantha is kind to inform her that she “think[s]
Vince is a prick” and “his behavior is alienating [Erin] from [her] friends”
(de Jong 153). Samantha is the desirable
type of friend everyone deserves and everyone needs. She makes the story realistic. She is the one tying Erin’s magical and
mystical world at the gorgeous Leopard Rock to real life, despite the often
brought up fact that Vince is on the other side of the bridge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> With the help of Samantha and the polite but aggressive
Nicholas, Erin slowly comes to the realization that Vince is abusive, a key
climax of the book and a point that brings up some much needed meaning to this
story. As if the bruises on her arms and
hip, put there by Vince’s mad jealousy, aren’t enough to immediately suggest
his brutality to her, she is so engrossed in the famous photographer that she
does not recognize nor realize that she is a victim of abuse. After all, Erin believes that Vince isn’t an
unintelligent man; surely he would know better than to let his temper get to
him and hurt his wife? Clearly not. Maybe that’s why Vince’s previous marriages
did not last. Once abusive, always
abusive. As she thinks about it, Erin
recalls several incidents where Vince has abused her. She even had to go to the Emergency Room due
to injuries caused by him, yet she had “forgotten those incidents – or made
[her]self forget – believing them or perhaps wanting them to be incidental,
unimportant blips on the radar of Vince’s and [her] relationship” (de Jong
178). Nicholas identifies her abuse
before she does, relating it to his mother’s.
As a child, Nicholas dealt with his father abusing his mother. He understands “abuse in any form is
absolutely unacceptable. It is a crime” (180) but still Erin defends
Vince. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">These
few pages discussing domestic violence brings forth a message that should be
developed and explored more throughout the book. Unfortunately, although a main character
trait of Vince Mitchell for the duration of the book, it is only deeply, or
even mildly deeply talked about on about seven or eight total pages of the
entire 236 page novel. Yes, Vince is
abusive and it’s obvious to all but Erin for the longest amount of time. Yes, subconsciously Erin knows the abusive
nature of her husband which prompts her decision to have an affair with the
well-respected, compassionate and caring Nicholas. These rivers flowing just below the surface
of the words on the page are not enough however. The few pages actually discussing the
heartlessness of abuse should have been much more prominent throughout the
entirety of the novel. It is a major
issue and needs to be more majorly discussed, both within society and within
the pages of a book, even that of a romance, such as <i>Drowning</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> The main characters of Erin, Nicholas, and Vince appear
to be extremely relatable due to their depth and how dynamic they are. It is these people – the ones who can easily
relate to the main characters – who should pick up <i>Drowning</i> and read it. <i> </i>It is easy to see how victims of abuse,
near-death experiences, or people who simply fall in love too quickly may
relate to Erin. Should a person have
been involved in a love triangle or experienced any type of temptation even
remotely similar to the temptation Erin has experienced, he or she shall also
greatly relate to the lead character. Even
people that have just chosen to live life to the fullest everyday can relate to
this fierce female. Nicholas represents
all who are victims of growing up in dysfunctional households, especially those
also containing abuse. The need to hide
his childhood and, in a sort of ripple effect due to habit, most of his
personal life, stems from the fact his childhood was, well, horrible. The fact that he is drop dead gorgeous just
adds to the plot for those who cannot personally relate to him and brings the
much needed sizzle into this love triangle.
I highly doubt anyone like Vince will be reading <i>Drowning</i>, unless forced to by a counselor. Nonetheless, should any abusers, or any
extremely vain, jealous, and heartless people at all, decide to pick up <i>Drowning</i>, they will apprehend that they
are Vince.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> I especially recommend this novel to victims of abuse,
whether currently in an abusive situation or previously engaged in one. It gives a sense of community and belonging
to other abuse victims where they can see they are not alone in their
struggles. However, it shall be warned that this book contains very explicit
content and that should be kept in mind.
I definitely do not recommend this to anyone younger than a high school
junior, no matter his or her situation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Overall,
I would give <i>Drowning</i> a 5.4 out of 10
due to good storyline, good incorporation of the author’s life and therefore
good relatability, and the writing style (not difficult to read at all, but not
written for youngins), but am taking points away for the fact it could be more
captivating. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Refrences<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">De
Jong, Jassy. Drowning. ARC ed. New York: Astor + Blue, 2014. Print.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Marienela.
"Book Review: Drowning by Jassy De Jong." Marienela. N.p., 22 Oct.
2014. Web. 26 Jan. 2015.
<http: book-review-drowning-jassy-de-jong="" www.marienela.net="">.<o:p></o:p></http:></span></div>
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Tasha Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09416773714910372995noreply@blogger.com0