13....lucky or unlucky.

Friday the 13th wasn't a bad day for me.  Saturday the 14th so far not so good.  I have 13 reviews to finish writing up.  Reading the books isn't hard however writing coherent book reviews that don't just say something lame... I Like...Good book...This book sucks a**...etc. is taking just a little bit more of my brain than I was planning on.

I would never say that this book sucks because reading material is entirely subjective.  There are always books out there that will tend to appeal to only certain niche groups.

So after I attend a wedding this afternoon I will head on home and finish typing my 13 late reviews.  Tomorrow while I am at Bob Dylan's concert I will read book 15 and get that review in on time.  I will say that I am glad that the Ides of August have no truly bad connotations because I could really use some positive news in my life about now.

Book Club Update:

While we kind of enjoyed Chelsea Handler's Are You There Vodka, It's me Chelsea? some of us felt that the humor was a little more negative than we preferred.  We each discussed our two favorite episodes from the book while we were enjoying our pedicures outside.  At least we were enjoying them until the wind kick up big time and we put everything away.  Our lone male Aaron was there as well (though he passed on the pedicure).

We decided to forgo a book for our next meeting we are actually going to a matinee.  Vampires Suck.  We are justifying it slightly because it is a parody (in part) of the Twilight series (which are books) and it looks like it will be fun.

Our next book is Over Her Dead Body by Kate White.  When we went to Hastings six weeks ago and found Baggage Claim we also found two copies of this hardback in the clearance bin for 99 cents.  We decided that it would be our budget find and those of us that hadn't picked it up at the first Hastings located it for the same price at a Hastings near where each of us lives.  The cheapest place that I found it online right now is Barnes and Noble.   It is the fourth book in the Bailey Wiggins series but we are hoping that it is one that will also stand on its own.




Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

Day One....Book One

I haven't received too many entries yet for my 31 books reviewed in 31 days.  So I randomly pulled one of my many books that I still haven't read out of a box.  The problem with them is these are books that I chose to buy so they are in my normal comfort zone for books.

She Went All the Way by Meggin Cabot was the book I grabbed.  I read it in fits and spurts today while doing other things.  This book is 357 pages long.

What better way to forget how hot it is where you are when you are reading about the heroine Lou Calabrese and hero Jack Townsend escaping from the bad guys in an Alaskan snow storm?

Lou, is a Hollywood screenwriter, who has just been dumped by her long time boyfriend. 

Jack Townsend  is one of Hollywoods leading actors.  His movies gross millions and women adore him.  However, his girlfriend just ran off and married Lou's boyfriend.

Now they are both stuck flying up to the latest film shoot together.  I don't want to give all the details away.  Otherwise why would you read the book?

This was an enjoyable summer read.  Perfect for taking out in the garden and relaxing on the swing while enjoying the weather with a cup of coffee this morning.





Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

Sneak A Peak

While we finish up Baggage Claim this evening I thought I would give everyone a heads up on the next book that we will be reading Are you there, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler.  Looking at the reviews people either really love it or really hate it. 
However since the book is for a theme evening...Pedis & 'tinis (Peditinis?) I figured a light hearted romp might be the way to go with the book.
I have even done your online comparison shopping for you.  Amazon is the cheapest of the main three.  If you are in Boise (or near a Hastings) though you should be able to pick it up at your local store for nearly the same price.  Double check that they will match their web price (gohastings.com) before you go in.

I will be bringing Crater Lake Vodka with me.  I think it is as good, if not better than Sky or Grey Goose at a more reasonable price.  You have to go to the web page through their main site and state that you are of legal drinking age.  Once you do watch their video and click on their drink recipes.  If you see one you like grab the ingredients (except vodka) and bring it with you. 

If you have another vodka that you absolutely must have bring it with you.  We can always do a blind taste test and see which one wins...That might be fun in itself.

As well as the Martinis we will be doing pedicures.  Bring your favorite nail polish with you for that part.  The book is only 264 pages so I think we will only need the one meeting for this book.

Anyway off to walk Kada.

Good Books, Good Wine Vodka, Good Friends What Could be Better?

If it's chicken it's beer....

First welcome to Laura, who is one of our new local regulars, and to Marti who was in town this evening and liked our book discussion so much that I lent her my copy for her flight home.  Yes I admit it.  I was bad I couldn't stop at page 120 like I was supposed to and finished the whole book.  Welcome also to Aaron (our only male so far) we hope to see more of you at these meetings.  Just remember Aaron don't trust Char when she tells you to say something about the book.

Just to give you an idea on how some of our book club meetings go.  First we talked about different odds and ends while we poured wine and decided to hold our discussion outside.  Then once we were sitting out there I explained my 31 books in 31 days contest.  

Aaron showed up with take-and-bake pizza, which he somehow managed to turn upside down so it had to be re-assembled.  It still tasted good though.  Along with this he brought a couple bottles of wine and some Twilight beer.Thank you.

 We decided one of our upcoming books is going to need to be something that goes well with Smores Martini's and pedicures.  Decision made Chelsea Handler's "Are you there, Vodka? It's me Chelsea"

While Char was in the house re-assembling the pizza with Aaron we were discussing how we wanted to handle the wine in the future.  With four of us two bottles was just a little more than we usually needed.  With 6+ we would be needing another bottle.

So the questioning began...Do we want to continue with a bottle each of a red and white? should we have a red or white theme for each evening?

"If it's chicken it's white...If it's a beefier read it's red.."  At this point Char comes back outside and  Michelle states " No, if it's chicken it's beer."  We all looked up at her (must have had dumbfounded expressions on our faces). Char asks, "Wait, what are we discussing here."

I think we will probably stick with the red and white combination with the third bottle being red for the first meeting of the month and white for the second.

I drank the AutoMoto Cab for the evening and really enjoyed it. Other comments should be coming sooooon.

As to the Baggage Claim by Tanya Michna there is a bet (from those that hadn't finished reading it) on whether either of the couples will work things out.  I just told them that at least one of them was right on their choices...But I wouldn't tell them which one.  I will post more thoughts on the book after all of us have finished reading it.


Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

Opera Idaho - South Pacific

Opera Idaho performed South Pacific outdoors at Idaho Botanical Garden. Their first performance was Friday evening and their second and final performance was today.

The weather for today's performance was clear and hot. 90+ degrees. Sunblock was a must for, the audience, the orchestra, and the performers.

Several people found shady places to wait for the performance to start.  Some of the favorites were the Meditation Garden and the path to the English Garden.

Willowcreek Grill and Raw Sushi were the caterers for the event.  I tried the 1/2 Pinchy  Roll (lobster and avocado) 1/2 Tuna Roll. It was the perfect treat for such a hot day.  Willowcreek's staff was absolutely great.

Alex Lundquist - Men's Ensemble warms up his vocals

Walking through the English Garden before the performance I saw that even the actors had found shady places to warm up their vocal chords or read through the score.

Brett Hamilton - who sang Emile de Becque

After the show I asked a couple people what they thought of it.

It was very nice.

Absolutely wonderful!

   








I am looking forward to the next time Opera Idaho decides to perform at Idaho Botanical Gardens. For information on their schedule and tickets check out their website.

Of course you can always check out Idaho Botanical Garden's website to see some of their upcoming Outlaw field concerts or their schedule of Thursday night Great Garden Escape concerts.

31 Books in 31 Days

So I am sitting out here enjoying our lovely weather at the moment. Trying to think of something fun and it hit me. I need to read MORE...I have been slacking off a little the last month or so.

Here's the deal. I need 31 books to read. I want to expand my horizons and find some more new authors.

Suggest your favorite Indie Author or any other author that has a book that would be a great summer read. Indie Authors can even suggest their own book. I'm easy that way.

I will post the book review the day after I read it. The review will include either the first name, last initial and city or twitter handle of the person credited with the submission.

Even though our group is books and wine I figured 31 days of wine might be a little much for me. Though I am always open to good wine suggestions and you will receive a grateful thank you for those.

Our twitter IwasIamIwillbe link is on the right of this page ( #31BookReviews).  Facebook - I was I am I will be - link is on the left side of this page.

Rules:
1) This contest is open to anyone 13 and older.

2) You must either "Like Us" on Facebook or "Follow Us" on Twitter.

3) For me to read 31 books in August I need to start gathering them. So submissions are open from now July 11, 2010 until August 15th, 2010.

4) I would prefer that the books be fiction but non-fiction is acceptable as long as it isn't a how-to manual or a true crime. No War & Peace, I don't think I could read that in a day.  500 pages maximum for book length.

5) In the event that I receive more than 31 book suggestions I will randomly draw for the 31 books for the month of August.

6) If your suggestion wasn't drawn for August it will be saved until the next month with 31 days. That would be October and I will run the contest again.

7) The only people who aren't eligible to make suggestions would be my relatives. I already know what they like to read and that wouldn't expand my horizons that much.

8) There will only be one prize awarded for the month of August. The winner will be chosen from one of the 31 books reviewed in the month of August.  That prize will be awarded on September 12, 2010. If you want to win it I must have a way to contact you. That would be the reason for the Facebook or Twitter follows.

9) Prize - One $20 gift card from your choice of one of the following retailers (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, or Starbucks)

10) Odds depend on the number of entries received.

Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

J.R. Rain and Peep Shows

I was....

At last count, I had 60 different jobs prior to writing full time. Probably my most interesting job was working as a squire at Medieval Times. Nothing says “manly” like running around in fake chainmail tights. Mostly, though, I worked as an insurance claims investigator and later as a private investigator.

I am....

My name’s J.R. Rain and I write mystery novels. Granted, my books are packaged to look like many different kinds of books, from supernatural romantic suspense to adventure thrillers, but at their very heart my books are always mystery novels first.

I will be....

...writing as many books as I possibly can. ;)

What prompted you to go back to some of your previous stories and redesign their covers?

My early covers were fairly pathetic, although I certainly did the best I could. (You can see an example of the first MOON DANCE cover on Amazon.com if you click on the “paperback” option.) Well, no one thing prompted me to redesign my covers, other my own driving need to put the best-looking product I could out there. Luckily, I came across a wonderful cover designer (Bren at bren@gotchacoveredbydesign.com), and she helped me find some book cover success. Hell, I would still be lost without her.

What issues have you had with the redesign?

Well, my cover designer and I work well together. I am open to her suggestions, and she’s quick to implement my ideas. I truly think that’s the best formula.

Did you design the covers yourself or hire a graphic designer?

I designed the covers to DARK HORSE and THE MUMMY CASE myself. Sometimes simple is best, especially for a murder mystery. But my paranormal mysteries needed some pop, and so that’s where I sought help. Bren happened to be a graphic design friend of mine who was looking to get into book covers--and I just happened to be a writer in search of a book cover designer. A match made in heaven!

How has this experience affected future cover designs that you are planning?

My future designs are up in the air. I suppose I should someday brand a style or a font for all my book covers, but I truly love having all my books look different. I like thinking that each cover is a minor work of art. So, to answer your question, my future plans are up in the air. Of course, when you work with a designer as awesome as Bren, well, there’s really very little to worry about.

I already know that the material that you write between the covers is great but other than word of mouth how do you promote your books to new readers?

I give live peep shows on the weekends. Kidding! (Or am I?) Well, I was on Amazon Kindle for over eight months before I started seeing any real success. I studied other successful writers and how they marketed their books and tried to emulate them. My best advice, though, is to think about following future market trends. If paranormals are hot, write one. If young adult romances are hot, then write one. Of course, put your own spin on the story and make it your own, but why not follow the hot trends? Doing so guarantees book sales. Oh, and publish your books ASAP on Kindle. I no longer even bother with the NY publishers. Tides are turning, and the new wave of publishing is ebooks. Surfs up.

Happy writing, and I wish you all a ton of success!

J.R. Rain

www.jrrain.com

Good Books, Good Wine, Good FriendsWhat Could be Better.

More on eBooks and their covers

I love twitter. It shows me fairly quickly that I am not the only one thinking of some of these issues. While I may come at most of my opinions from the view of a reader (who is slowly working on writing her own book), I enjoy reading blogs from people that are actually in the publishing business.

Such as Ivor Tossell's Globe and Mail article today.

I do firmly believe that e-books need good cover design. An interactive link to a dictionary for that word that you just can't understand in context. Even a hyperlink to the author (or publishers) website.

An interactive murder mystery would be extremely cool. Sort of an updated choose your own adventure. Sell the first chapter for 99 cents. At the end of each chapter your have 2-3 choices. If you choose the wrong choice but want to continue you have to buy the first chapter again. First person to correctly finish the book would win a prize. But, please don't attach video games to the story.

I have even noticed some authors are now having bands make music cds for their books. You can listen to the authors musical inspirations while reading your story. That could be a cool addition to a book if it came with the option to turn the music off when desired. Here you can use the two pronged marketing approach. Sell the band's music with "free" copy of the book or vice-versa.

Anyway it is already 60 degrees here and the day is to beautiful to be inside on the laptop. I am still pondering which e-reader to get. Love the battery life of the Kindle but love the color cover feature of the Nook. As much as I love book covers that may be the deciding factor. I can always recharge it in the car with an inverter.


Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

Book Review - The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey

In the land of 500 Kingdoms where fairy tales not only aren't just tales but are in fact events that occurred in the not so distant past how does one prevent "The Tradition" from taking control and causing the worst parts of the fairy tales to come true at the expense of the good people involved?

Well, if you are a fairy godmother by the name of Lily who has had the same kingdom Eltaria to watch over for 300 years then you use every trick in your fairy godmother book to try to make sure that events happen as they should and not as "The Tradition" would choose for them to happen.

Rosamund (Eltaria's princess) is being fought over by two very different princes. While at the same time her kingdom is besieged on all sides by others that want to control it.

With multiple fairy tales converging due to "The Tradition" read this enchanting story to find out which fairy tale prevails in the kingdom of Eltaria.

This is Ms. Lackeys 5th book in the 500 Kingdoms series. Each of the 500 Kingdom books is a pleasure on it's own but as with any series the more of the series you read the more understanding and enjoyment of the author's universe a reader is able to achieve.

Ms. Lackey's 500 Kingdoms universe is one I enjoy being drawn into each time I pick up another one of these re-imagined fairy tales.

Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

Never judge a book by its cover... part 2

Books and their covers. I am looking at two right now. Neither are books that I would have picked in the past. It used to be that I would look for the bodice rippers. You know the ones that had Fabio on them. This was before he couldn't believe it wasn't butter. Well there is something nice to be said about half dressed men on the cover of a book it doesn't improve the readability of the book at all.

The two books on the table next to me are Therapy by Jonathan Kellerman and The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge.


I am over half way through Therapy and need to have Daniel X's story read by Sundays book club. In fact I need to get back on track with reading my book a day.

Even though a book shouldn't be judged on its cover I still find some of the amateurish artwork (clip art, pre-made covers where you just change the title and author) that some of the independent authors use to be so unappealing as to pass over their books.

While designing a cover may not be easy it doesn't have to be expensive to hire a freelance graphic artist to do your cover design. It doesn't have to be fancy it just has to be your own. If I am scrolling through Amazon's kindle books I will see a picture of the cover, if it looks like a cover I have already purchased I will skip right over it.

Many authors are realizing this and taking the time to redesign their book covers from their first attempts. While it doesn't affect the quality of the reading material between the covers it does affect the readers perception of the quality of the the authors work.

And perception is everything when it comes to choosing a book. Whether that perception is based on the cover, the blurb on the back, or another readers recommendation that is how a reader will choose which new authors to read.

I've found something similar with Wine labels. I take my teenager wine shopping with me. She doesn't drink it but it seems she can look at a bottle and whether it is the label, the hue of the wine, or the weight of the bottle she always seems to help me add good wines to my collection. Not that they stay collected long because what good is wine if you can't drink it and share a bottle with friends


Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

Sun, Wine and Food at The Gardens

This last Sunday Savor Idaho was held at the Idaho Botanical Gardens. 28 Restaurants and 23 local wineries. Moya and her group did a great job of pulling this event together for it's second year.

We couldn't have asked for better weather. The event sold out on Friday, 950 people attending. Buy your tickets early next year. I felt bad that we had to turn people away because the event was sold out.

Unfortunately for me I was working the event and was too busy to try either the wine or food but everyone's comments as they left were positive and looking forward to next year. Next year I wont be working the event, I want the chance to enjoy some of my favorite wineries and restaurants. In fact, I think the entire book club should plan on making a day of it next year.

Camas Prairie Winery had a 2007 Idaho Huckleberry mead for sale... I wasn't able to buy it it since it had already sold out. The owner Stu is looking to retire and sell his winery...Here is an article with more information on that.

Another that sold out was Woodriver Cellars Port. There were several others that sold out as the evening ended so when you go next year buy your must have wines as early in the afternoon as possible. Several people were disappointed that they couldn't get all the wine that they had chosen to buy.

How can the day be bad though when Mai Thai, Brick Oven Bistro, Berryhill & Co, and Kanak Attack Catering & Ono Hawaiaan Cafe (just to name a few of the great restaurants) pair up with Cinder, Hell's Canyon Winery, Holesinsky Winery and Snake River Winery (again just a few of the many good wineries that were there).

Check out Savor Idaho's site for a complete list of everybody that was there.

I can't decide if a book would have actually made the day any better. Everyone that I spoke to was in such a good mood that even if I hadn't been working and had a book with me I don't think I would have actually even opened it up since talking to everyone was so wonderful.

BTW if anybody sees a bottle of that Camas Pairie 2007 Huckleberry Mead around let me know. I really wish I had been able to get a taste of it with all the wonderful comments that I overheard from some of the event attendees.

While Savor Idaho @ Idaho Botanical Gardens is over for another year don't forget that Great Garden Escape happens every Thursday evening. Bring a bottle of wine and your picnic dinner or purchase wine or handcrafted beer on site. You can even purchase dinner from Willowcreek Grill who will be on-site.


Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

Never judge a book by its cover... part 1

Never judge a book by its cover. Now however, maybe that should be never judge a book by its publisher. With so many authors choosing to go the independent publishing route our available reading material seems to have grown exponentially in the last year.

While I do believe that quite a few of the self published works out there are more of the vanity publishing style, as in no one but family and friends would willing read them. There are several really great authors that got their start through writing online fan-fiction. Some have been picked up by publishing houses (I was going to say real publishers but that doesn't apply anymore).

I have piles upon piles and boxes upon boxes of books. I know this because I have just finished packing everything up for a move. Out of the hundreds (thousands) of books that I own I could only find one small box of books (30-40) that I was willing to donate to one of the local charities. All of those physical books don't include the audio books on my computer or all the fan-fiction stories that I have read over the last twenty years.

When you walk into your local bookstore what draws your eye to a book? Is it the bright colors of background and title? The image on the front? Is it knowing which author you are looking for? Or is it a recommendation from the bookseller behind the counter?

With all the online purchases of books that are made how do we get those recommendations now? How do we find that new author? You know what I mean...that author that isn't part of Oprah's book club or some other celebrity endorsement.

The publishing houses have many ways of promoting their authors (and more funds than most independent authors). One way is to review the works of these authors on blogs (but who knows which blogs to go to for this? I hope that mine makes that blog list as it ages.) The main way is for us as readers to take a few minutes out of our day and post reviews on the online bookstores sites.

If you loved a book let other people know by recommending it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Borders websites. Yes I know there are other re-sellers but these seem to be the main three.

I am grateful to Zoe Winters for her guest blog post this last month and look forward to many more guest blogs from other independent authors. If you are an author willing to do a guest blog for our site please let us know. The only requirement is that each blog start with the following three sentences.

I was.......
I am........
I will be...

So in keeping with that here is my own for today (it changes regularly)...

I was a drone (playing tetris) in the electronics industry.
I am a full-time student and mother.
I will be me (whoever that ends up being as I grow in my own mind).

I got a little sidetracked so I will post more thoughts on book covers and independent publishers next week.

Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

Living Indie

I was stuck on a hamster wheel.

I am off that wheel as an indie author.

I will be successful.

After four years of waffling and wondering 'what if,' I finally made the decision to go indie. I self-released my first novella, Kept, in November of 2008. So many people think self-publishers 'failed' at traditional publishing. But that's like saying I failed at becoming an ice skater. Or a prima ballerina. Those weren't really life goals I was going for.

This isn't to say that I never had a dream of being NY pubbed. I did. But then I learned more about it. The more I learned, the less appealing it became. I can't say I really made much of an effort. I think if I had, I'd be talking about my “first sale” right now. But I'm instead talking about how much I love being indie.

NY was unappealing but not just because of long odds. Indies eat long odds for breakfast. I'm not scared of that. It was because there was so much outside my control in the traditional system of publishing. Things which could stand in my way of success.

If I'm going to fail, I'm going to do it based on my choices, not based on a stupid title or cover someone in the marketing department okay'd. Originally the idea was to release a free/low cost novella in order to build platform so I wouldn't be screwed later with a trad publisher and little time to sell on shelves.

As I got into it I loved it so much that now I'm not interested in a NY publisher. I like what I'm doing.

My dreams transformed from being about being “accepted” by a “real publisher” to succeeding as an indie and building my own readership. My emotional state went from depressed and anxious to excited and happy... energized by what I'm doing and the possibilities.

I'm especially excited by the opportunities starting to open up in ebooks. Kept has sold almost 6,000 copies on Kindle, 1,000 of which happened this month. (So the build has been slow but I'm just starting to see some real fruit from my efforts.) Kept has reached as high as 209 in the overall Kindle store and Claimed, the second novella, has reached 444. (Out of 500,000 books.)

So far the biggest obstacle has been the naysaying and stigma. However, anything worth doing is going to be controversial to someone. And the more I start to succeed, the less I care what people who would rather let their words rot away in a drawer think about me. It often strikes me as either vanity or fear of rejection from “real readers.”

Who cares if I have a “real publisher?” I have real readers. And the readers are the only thing that matters. Commercial publishing has obscured and twisted the original goal of publication to begin with. To be read. To be heard. And hopefully to make money from it so you can afford to keep doing it.

A new challenge I'm facing is having to get cover art for my novella anthology, Blood Lust, redesigned because of a mistake on my part. But it's a learning experience. I'll get the redesign and carry on. I'm also in the process of preparing a podcast of Blood Lust and will soon be doing rewrites for the next book.

If you're interested in checking me out, Kept, Claimed, and Mated (The novellas in Blood Lust) are all available in ebook on Smashwords.com and Amazon Kindle for 99 cents. Though Kept can also be picked up free from my site in PDF: http://zoewinters.wordpress.com/kept/

I don't consider myself to have reached the pinnacle by any stretch, but I have started to do well enough that I'm looking less and less like a crazy person for what I've been saying about indie authorship for the past year and a half now. And crazy can only get you so far.

Zoe Winters

http://www.zoewinters.org

You learn something new everyday

In the past I have always considered authors works either short stories (more than one story per book) or books.  Today I was informed of the term novella.  I had heard the term before in theory but, had never actually thought to apply it in reality. 

So of course whenever I learn something "new" I have to do some research (wikipedia is always a good place to start) and figure out how I should use it in the future.  Definitions seem to vary greatly across genres for the word count associated with each of these terms.

I decided to use the SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) Awards site as my guide for the word count of each of the stories that I review from this point on.

Literary terms:

• Short Short < 1000 words
• Short Story between  1,000 and   7,500 words
• Novelette    between  7,500 and 17,499 words
• Novella       between 17,500 and 39,999 words 
• Novel          > 40,000 words

So how do you figure word count?  Turns out that your word program doesn't necessarily count right. What-is-a-word by Chuck Rothman explains it fairly well.

So if we figure 10.5 words per line and 28 lines per page we get 294 words per page.

So for my purposes:

• short short  <  3.5  pages
• short story  <   25  pages
• novellette    < 59.5 pages
• novella        < 136 pages
• novel           > 136 pages 

I learned even more than that though. 

A short story is often in narrative format.  It contains a limited number of characters, covers a short time duration, usually has a single setting and a single plot.

A novella is more complicated than a short story but usually contains no chapters, a single viewpoint, and does not usually contain subplots.

Both a novella and a short story are designed to be read in a single sitting.

Since I always want to learn more this was a great lesson learned.


Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

Book Review - Alison's Wonderland - Edited by Alison Tyler

If well written Erotica is not your thing you may want to skip this review.  Alison's Wonderland is very much an adults only playground.

I have mentioned previously that I am addicted to well written stories.  Erotica is no exception  to that.  To me the mind is a person's main erogenous zone.

Every one has their own tastes in erotica and while some may prefer straight male-female interaction, others may like three-somes or more-somes.  From vanilla to BDSM each person has their own particular flavor or kink that touches that erotic hot spot in their mind.

A lot of times as a reader I will buy a compilation of erotica and after reading through twenty to fifty stories realize that only about fifteen percent of them push my buttons just the right way, twenty-five percent are enjoyable, and the other sixty percent are a one time read if that. (Not a scientific study just personal experience)

Since this is not an adults only area of blogspot I will not be going into detail on any of the stories.  However, I will say this.  I made a chart of the stories and marked which ones I loved, which ones I liked and which ones just didn't do anything for me.  Now, even that last group was well written they just weren't related to any of my particular kinks.  Out of these twenty seven stories, seventeen are ones that I would enjoy reading many more times, seven are ones that I will probably read again, and only three were ones that I would chose to skip over.

Alison's Wonderland edited by Alison Tyler will be hitting bookshelves this July.

If you have ever wondered what would happen if Little Red Riding Hood ran into the Big Bad Wolf after a bout of car trouble give Wolff's Tavern by Bella Dean a read.

Want to know what really happens to Cinderella after marriage? - After the Happily Ever After by Heidi Champa

How about if one of the three Billy goats taught the troll a lesson? - The Three Billys by Sommer Marsden

What if a Cupid who is into bondage and likes being called Sir meets his Psyche online? - Cupid Has Signed Off  by Thomas S. Roche

I couldn't decide whether this story was about Sisyphus or the little girl who cried wolf one too many times.  Either way they both reached their happy ending.  Check out Benjamin Elliot's story An Uphill Battle and let me know which you think it was based upon.

In addition to the stories I mentioned there are twenty-two more.  Cinderella needs a shave in one and there are a couple different stories based off of Rumpelstiltskin. Who knew a grumpy dwarf could inspire such lusty thoughts, to reach paper, for others to enjoy?

Whether you keep your collection of erotica out openly on your bookshelf, or hide it in a box in the dark corners of your closet Alison's Wonderland is a must have for your personal library.


Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

Story Review - Kept by Zoe Winters

It is amazing how life can throw things at you.  Somehow last week, I know it was through twitter but can't for the life of me remember how, I found another paranormal author that was enjoyable to read.

Zoe Winters has created a world in which other paranormal creatures buy Therian (shifter) blood.  She was nice enough to post one of her short stories novellas to the web.

Isn't that something like a drug dealer...Give a free sample to hook your customer and you have an addict for life.  The theory works well with her writing.  I had my sample (an approximately 80 page short story novella) and I am ready for my next fix.

I will admit it.  I have a problem. I am addicted to the written word, as long as it is well written.

Kept is well written.  Ms. Winter's book is due out soon.  Spring/Summer 2010 entitled Blood Lust (The Preternaturals Book One). The book consists of three short stories novellas linked to each other.   At this time the first of those stories is located on Ms. Winter's site as a free download.

KEPT:
As a cat therian (shifter), Greta's blood is already sought after to enhance  spells and potions, but due to a quirk of her birth, her blood is potent enough to kill for.  When her tribe plans to sacrifice her, Greta must ally herself with Dayne, the dangerous local sorcerer, and the only person strong enough to protect her.

Kept was an interesting story. Enjoyable and yet another take on the paranormal/preternatural. Greta (therian), Dayne (sorcerer), and even Minx made an interesting set of characters to read about.  Ms. Winters is even working  on establishing some background and legends into her story."She’d read legends about therians born in their fur and having extra powers, but she’d always thought they were just stories."

Kept is definitely written for the Adult reader and not the YA market.  I look forward to reading the other two stories; Claimed and Mated; in her book, Blood Lust, when it hits the market.





Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

Book Review - Moon Dance by J.R. Rain

Lately, I had been thinking that vampire stories were overdone.  I have my favorite authors in the genre and honestly wasn't looking for anymore.  It seems that authors don't want to write about normal people anymore.  The stories all seem to have vampires, witches, wizards, and zombies in them. I was looking for an author that wrote normal stories not paranormal.  Spies, police officers, detectives, these were the heroes that I was looking for.

I first ran across J.R. Rain's work on myspace.  I had a friend request waiting in my inbox.  I accepted and went to look up his work.  Wow, what an impressive list of reviewers, what could my thoughts possibly mean after so many great authors have said such positive things about his work.

While I was debating which book to start with for our book club I got the opportunity to read Moon Dance.  I have never been overly impressed with first person fiction, with a few notable exceptions. Maybe, because I never felt like I could become the character.

Right there Mr.Rain's story had two strikes against it.  Strike One - Main character is a vampire (paranormal).  Ball One - Detective.  Strike Two - First Person narration.  The count was 2-1 and I was waiting for that third strike to fly directly over the plate and pound into the catchers mitt, instead Mr. Rain's story connected directly with the ball (my mind) and knocked it out of the park.  

Mr. Rain managed to make me fall so far into the character that I couldn't put the story down once I started reading. I laughed at the reference to The Greatest American Hero and remembered sitting in front of the TV to watch it as a child.  I even cried during some of the scenes where Samantha Moon was upset.

Samantha Moon is a fairly new vampire. She is just an everyday woman trying to juggle a husband, her children, and working out of her home as a detective.  This story shows us how she copes with these normal challenges while coming to terms with the fact that she is indeed a vampire.

With a teaser like this how can a book fail to pull a reader in.

Blood....
I ripped open his flannel shirt, buttons pinging
everywhere. His chest was awash in a sea of caked red.
The hole in his chest was a dark moon in a vermilion sky.
His blood would contain alcohol, as he had been
drinking. I didn’t care. The blood would be pure enough.
Straight from the source. The ideal way to feed. Then
again, ideal was relative. Ideally I would be feasting on
turkey lasagna.
I dipped my head down, placed my lips over the massive
wound in his chest, and drank....


The visually compelling way that Rain writes was pure enjoyment to read.  As shown above the sky wasn't just plain every day red it was a vermilion (brilliant scarlet red) sky.

After finishing this I wanted to know more.  More about Mr Kingsley Fulcrum, more about Randolph ,more about Detective Sherbert, and more about Fang.  I just wanted to know so much more about this fictional world that had managed to pull me so completely in.

I bought Teeth as an ebook. This short story is a little bit more information about one of the characters that inhabit Samantha's world.  The story is very well written and I wont say any more than that because I am still a little bit confuzzled and bemused by it.

I am eagerly awaiting Vampire Moon the next book in Samantha Moon's life that J.R. Rain has coming out soon.   

While I await that book I will be adding some of Mr. Rain's other stories to my library.  Check out his site at jrrain.com.

Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends What Could be Better.

Semi-Rant: Self Publishing

Please oh please for the sake of my sanity;  If you are going to self publish have someone else proof (beta) your work before you do so.

I have read several stories lately and just because it is free doesn't mean that it is good.  It doesn't mean that it is bad either.  However, one would think that if an author was going to go to the trouble of publishing and promoting their work that they would take the time to make sure that the glaringly obvious errors are removed first.  Remember that you only get one chance to make a first impression.  As an author you want it to be a good one or at least not one where the reader is asking the following question:

Can this author even read or spell?

Simply changing  the spelling of a word from two (to) too or even to, changes the entire meaning of the sentence.  While spell check may be your friend it tends to miss correctly spelled words used incorrectly. 

The vile viol player drank poison from a vial.  (Correct usage)

I actually haven't noticed any stories that have mixed up these words but then how often do we use any of the three anymore.

He bore down on her bare naked body on the bear skin rug.  (Correct usage)

Her bear naked body is a phrase I am tired of seeing in any story.  A bear is a four legged omnivorous mammal.  If she is naked than she is bare naked.

She tried to emulate the movie Wickerman by immolating her ex-boyfriend. (Correct usage)

I am tired of reading stories where Sue is trying to immolate her best friend.  I keep expecting Sue to reach for the torches and instead she is trying to copy (emulate) her best friend.

I have been checking out some of the free stories that OmniLit has to offer trying to find more new authors to follow.  There will always be authors that I will go out and buy their books at full retail just to get my hands on them.  Laurel K Hamilton (Gentry series), Karen Marie Moning (Fever series), Jim Butcher (anything he writes) being just a couple of them.  I buy anthologies that include some of my favorite authors so that I can get exposed to some new authors.  I am not willing to put out eight dollars or so for a paperback of an unknown author unless it has been highly recommended by someone I trust.

When I found OmniLits freeebies I was excited that here were some excerpts and short stories from some authors that I hadn't heard of.  I read several that were passable (each of the stories was between 20-40 pages) and several that just outright sucked ass.  There were one or two gems in the mix and I will be reading more from those authors.  In fact I already went and bought another ebook by one of the authors.  Though I wish I had realized it was only another 35 page story before spending six dollars on it the story and plot were well thought out and written.

But you know what I find worse than self published authors with these mistakes?  I absolutely get pissy when I have bought a real book (real book vs ebook vs fanfiction...discussion for later maybe) at an actual brick and mortar store (or online) and I get to reading it and find the same sort of idiotic errors in it.  If a publisher wants to continue selling me books they had better take the time to have someone proof reading them for stupid errors.  Heck, send me a copy (efile or whatever) and I'll proof it for you.

Even the best authors have issues.  One of Ms. Hamilton's books went out with the phrase "insert here" as the inscription on a ring.  If I remember right she was trying to think of the right phrase to inscribe and somehow it didn't get inserted into the book before it went out.  In the end this is a funny slip up but if I had been reading her work for the first time I might not have been willing to read her stories again.  Which would have been a shame because she writes very well.  I just wish that one of her book tours would make it to Boise, Idaho so that I could personally thank her for the many hours of enjoyment her books have given me.

I have a couple of my own stories in the works.  I figured I had better start writing since I keep changing the plot lines of the books as I read them.  Sometimes I have been finding a secondary character much more interesting than the authors main character.

I know my weaknesses when it comes to writing.  My mind gets ahead of my typing (or writing) and sometimes details that are in my head don't end up on the computer screen (or paper) like they should.  This causes "magic moments" where the reader is left wondering how my character managed to get from point A to point B.  (No tele-portation didn't happen, doesn't exist in this story).

My grammar usage isn't always spot on either.  I can never remember whether the comma (period) goes inside the quotation marks or outside of it.  If I ever get to the point that anyone other than my critique group sees my work I will have someone else read it before I even think of sending it off to an agent, publisher, or try self-publishing.

I will continue looking for my next batch of favorite authors.  Just please, don't make me claw my eyes out from obvious mistakes in the mean time.  If so I will be listening exclusively to audio books since I don't think I would find learning braille at this time in my life the easiest thing.

Audio books are great but some books are just meant to be read.



Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends
What Could be Better.

Book Club - We Double Dog Dare you to enjoy a good book

Our wine this evening was a Double Dog Dare White Zinfandel.  We have two more meetings scheduled to continue PP&Z.


Tonight the discussion started with some of our favorite quotes that we have read so far.  We each put three quotes in the pile and everyone had to guess which character said those words.


Char kicked some serious ass here. See if you can figure out who said which quote:

• "on the contrary, I find that balls are much more enjoyable when they cease to remain private."
• "If only words were capable of beheading a zombie," she thought, "I would presently find myself in the company of the worlds two greatest warriors."
• "Oh, I heard you before but I could not immediately determine what to say in reply"
• "Miss Bingley, the groans of a hundred unmentionables would be more pleasing to my ears than one more word from your mouth.  Were you not otherwise agreeable, I should be forced to remove your tongue with my saber."
• "Spoken like one who has never known the ecstasy of holding a still beating heart in her hand."

We discussed Mr Darcy's character further and introduced discussion on both Mr. Collins and Mr. Wickham's character as seen so far.

We wanted to know whether the private that was flogged performed his "base" acts with a fresh headless zombie or one that had been rotting away for awhile.  Either way it was very much a WTF? moment in reading by more than one of us.

We are all greatly enjoying this book and several of us are having a hard time pacing our reading so that we don't finish it all at once.  Restraint is good.

Comments on our evenings wine.

Double Dog Dare

White Zinfandel

Michelle - Very enjoyable, smooth, nice level sweet tart were equally balanced.
Char - Enjoyable to the palate.  (She was just trying to sound snooty there.  It didn't quite work when we all laughed but those are her words.)
Liz - It tastes the same as other white/blush wines.  (I told you we weren't connoisseurs.)
Ann - A touch of sweet.  Nice and mellow.

Our next meeting will be May 2nd.  Read through page 207.  Also in keeping with audible.com's tweet.  If you were to write a book who would you want to narrate it we have set up our next activity.

**Write a micro-plot of a book with the genre and title, then tell us who you would pick to narrate this story.


Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends
What Could be Better.

Supposed to be:

I am supposed to be reading Sheri S. Tepper's book The Visitor.
I am supposed to be reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombie's for the book club.
I am supposed to be reading and critiquing two papers for English class and two papers for my daughter.
I am supposed to be cleaning house.

What I really want to do right now is write and play with pictures.  I guess I need to prioritize. 
I will load the dishwasher and washing machine.  While those are running I will read my daughter's papers.  Then I will read PP&Z followed by preparing the thought provoking questions (ok some are probably lame) for our meeting Sunday.  Afterwards, I will start reading The Visitor and the two papers for class.

Now that I have them written down I must do them.  So for the next 30 minutes I will be away from my computer.  Though I will have it playing Pandora for me.

Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends
What Could be Better.

To Kindle or not to Kindle?

I have been thinking about this off and on since these electronic book readers were first introduced.  I don't mind reading stories off of my laptop. But, would I really want to read a majority of my books as electronic text?

I love the feel of the paper as I flip through the pages. I enjoy the different fonts that publishers choose to use.  I like glancing at my bookshelves and seeing a physical manifestation of all the books I  have read or the books that are still waiting for me to get to them.  Each book has a personality based on such simple things as color, size, cover design, and even the author's name.  Do I want to lose all those sensory feelings to a single device?

As much as I love the convenience of my mp3 player it just isn't the same as pulling the CD from it's case and reading the liner notes.  Or the memories of each different format that I owned the music in originally.  The record, the 8-track, the cassette, the cd, and then finally the mp3 version of that same music.

Of course an advantage of mp3s is that I no longer have to worry about an 8-track or cassette flying out my car window to shatter on the pavement.  I know that I shouldn't place things on the dash it only took about four or five times of replacing Bonnie Tyler's Faster than the Speed of Night before I quit doing that.

In the long run will one of these devices save me money, or will I continue to buy a tactile copy of the book.  What happens if I go camping?  How long is the battery life?  Sure I can store a couple hundred (?) books on this device, and it weighs about the same as a single book, but what good would that do if I was camping for a week if my battery died?

The main three devices seem to be the  Kindle from Amazon, B&N's Nook device, and Border's has the Sony Reader.


What I would like to know from my
readers that have used each of the devices are what pros and cons have you discovered with your choice?

In the meantime I will continue to ponder on how important is it to be able to flip to the next page and see the progress I have made with the book.


Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends.
What Could be Better?

Book Review - Every Night I'm Yours

Good Read

Christie Kelley has published a couple of books since this one first came out.


A WOMAN YEARNING FOR A TASTE OF THE FORBIDDEN…
Buffalo Soldiers rip At twenty-six, aspiring novelist Avis Copley intends to wear spinsterhood as a badge of honor. But when she discovers a volume of erotica that ignites a searing fire within her, Avis realizes just how much she doesn’t know about the actual pleasures of the flesh. Determined to learn more, she devises a daring plan…

A MAN READY TO TEACH HER MUCH, MUCH MORE…

The Battle of Midway download

Avis chooses Emory Billingsworth, a fellow novelist-not to mention a beautiful specimen of manhood-to instruct her in carnal pleasure. But when the brash earl of Selby, Banning Talbot, a man she has known for years, unearths Avis’ true intentions, he claims she’s made a dangerously bad choice. Volunteering his services for one wicked night of reckless, abandoned passion, Banning promises he will satisfy all of her deepest longings. Yet Banning cannot begin to imagine the effect his willful, voluptuous, and very eager student will have on him-or how far an innocent lesson in desire can go...

I found the idea of an innocent Victorian lady finding a book of erotica to be intriguing.  The book is a basic formulistic Regency romance.  This is not a bad thing and is not meant to be a criticism.  There are rules in the world of romance.  The author must have a heroine who is just interesting enough to make the reader care about what happens to her.  However, the author can't make her to much of a Mary-Sue.  She needs to have some flaws.  Something in her background that is doled out a little at a time.  This again helps keep the reader intrigued.  The same sort of rules apply to the hero.  He has to be just distant enough to make him intriguing with a slight hint of something in his background to make him possibly dangerous.  However once again he must have a flaw or some secret in his past that the heroine helps him overcome.  The villain has to be written so that he has no redeeming qualities. 

For the most part Ms Kelley followed these rules.  The only issue that I truly had with Avis was how contrived her shooting skills seemed to be.  There was a  little bit of information about her knowledge of fire arms that seemed to come out of nowhere and was never utilized or explained better. I found Talbot's character to be well written and intriguing.  Emory's character was interesting.

While the book may not qualify as the best book I have ever read it is definitely far from the worst. I enjoyed reading it  The sexual scenes are not so graphic or frequent as to make the book unreadable for those that would rather skim over those parts. 

I look forward to reading more of Ms Kelley's books particularly Every Time We Kiss in which we get a chance to know more about Lady Jennette Selby who was introduced in Every Night I'm Yours.

Every Night I'm Yours is a 348 page paperback. Overall it took me about three hours to read.

Ms. Kelley's website is Christiekelley.com

Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends
What Could be Better.

Book Club - Prizes

Ladies,

Due to my wonderful planning and brilliance, ok I'll admit that it was more like sheer dumb luck, I have won us a prize from Penguin Books through their twitter feed.

Now since I won it through our book clubs twitter feed I figured that I should come up with some way to give each of our book club members a chance at owning this autographed copy of The Girls From Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow.  Penguin books even has a book discussion ready for us to start from
 if we chose this as one of our featured reads.

The author and some of the Girls from Ames themselves will be part of a live chat at Penguin Books Water Cooler this coming Wednesday, April 14th @ 3:00 pm MT.

I have another autographed book that will be part of a future contest as well.  Annie Proulx was here in Boise several weeks ago and I attended one of her readings. If you don't know who she is here is a hint:

• She wrote a little book that was made into a major motion picture starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger.

Ms. Proulx had one complaint about the movie.  The actors were much to handsome for how she imagined her characters to be. 

So while I try to come up with a good way to figure out who gets to keep this book on their bookshelves keep reading.

Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends
What Could be Better.

Book Club - Oh Ladies

I've texted you all to come look at another "assignment" for next weeks meeting.

• Have a list of your favorite books, authors, quotes ready.
• If possible have your worst read ever written down and why you felt that way.
• Write down your favorite wines, include a general description of what you like in wines
  
  • Reds, Blushes, Whites, Dessert, Champagne, Sparkling, etc
  • Are there any particular words that you have noticed in a wines description that tend to cause you to try it.
• If you don't like (or can't drink) wine let us know what you prefer to drink when snuggling up with your favorite book. 

Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends
What Could be Better.

Movie - Babies

I know I said this would be a book review site and it really will be in the long run.  However since this is my blog if I find something else that might be interesting (no politics, religion, or celebrities I promise) I will be posting it here.
I have a movie trailer for you all to check out.  No it isn't my normal type of movie.  Not scifi or even action/adventure, however it looks like a really nice feel good movie coming out for Mother's Day.  I might even tell my brat (I do love her but it has been quite a while -17 years- since she has been this cute) that this is what I want to do for Mother's Day. A nice relaxing breakfast followed by this movie.



After you watch the trailer please take the time to enter a picture of your sweetie pie in the Babies contest below.



I mentioned in a previous post that one of the companies that I do WOM (Word of Mouth) advertising for is BzzAgent.  BzzAgent has given me the opportunity to have an advance peek at some of the promotional materials for this movie.  In exchange for me sharing with all of you, each time one of those links is clicked I earn points towards a drawing of some really great prizes.

While I may not have a little one anymore and don't need a years supply of diapers I do know a very special young lady that would be able to use any of the baby related prizes out there.

So help me count down to both the movies release and Mother's Day.


Don't forget to call your mom and grandmothers and tell them you love them.

Book Club - April 4th 2010

Our goal for this evening was to read the first 8 chapters of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for tonight's meeting. Luckily that is only 36 pages. We all have lives and a couple of us are college students with a lot of other books on our to read list. 

We had a lively discussion based on some questions put together before hand.

• How did the ladies describe Mr Bingley when they spied him from the window the first time?

• How did Lady Lucas describe him?

• From what you have seen of him so far what is your opinion of Mr. Darcy? (Forget the original book) How has he been described by the other characters?

• What do the characters call the zombies? Do we know why this is?

• How many variations of Elizabeth's name have we seen so far? How else is she referred to?

• How many characters have we been introduced to so far? What are their names?

                (Hint: We came up with 23)

• What fighting styles have been mentioned so far?

               (Hint: We came up with 5)

We also did an activity where we each re-wrote the notes on page 25 and 26 using more modern language.

Here are the original notes:

The first note is to Miss Jane Bennett from Miss Caroline Bingley

MY DEAR FRIEND,
If you are not so compassionate as to dine to-day with Louisa and me,
we shall be in danger of hating each other for the rest of our lives,
for a whole day's tete-a-tete between two women can never end without
a quarrel. Come as soon as you can on receipt of this, provided the
road is free of the unmentionable menace. My brother and the gentlemen
are to dine with the officers.
Yours ever,
CAROLINE BINGLEY

This second note is from Miss Jane Bennett to her sister Miss Elizabeth Bennett

MY DEAREST LIZZY,
I find myself very unwell this morning, which, I suppose, is to be
imputed to my being set upon by several freshly unearthed
unmentionables during my ride to Netherfield. My kind friends will
not hear of my returning till I am better. They insist also on my
seeing Mr. Jones-therefore do not be alarmed if you should hear of
his having been to me-and, excepting a few bruises and a minor
stab wound, there is not . much the matter with me.
YOURS, ETC.

How would you write either/both of those messages today? Feel free to add yours into the comment thread where ours will be going.

I chose Jargon 2006 Pinot Noir for tonights meeting because what better wine could I have picked to start this book club with. Jargon noun - any talk or writing that one does not understand. Our goal with this book club is to gain a better understanding of some of the books that we read.

It gets even better. When I went to Jargon Wines home page they had this lovely little question. "Have you ever found yourself in the wine aisle, paralyzed, practically zombified by all of the choices, fancy packaging, critics’ ratings and pretentious wine-speak?"

Personally I am not a huge fan of red wines. This one had me pouring a second glass. I will be re-stocking it in my wine rack the next chance I get.

None of us ladies claim to be experts on either wine or literature we're just going to tell you what we like or don't like as the case may be. This is our twice a month meeting where it is okay to show up in sweats and no makeup and just be ourselves.

Two weeks ago when we discussed setting up a book club we had Pure Evil Chardonnay (link not available at this time) and Vampire  Cabernet Sauvignon wines. I don't remember the years but if I find out I will update this. (Sorry Michelle the Chardonnay really is out of stock if I find it somewhere I will let you know.)

My two favorite places to get wine in Boise are CostPlus World Market  and the Boise Co-Op.  Both of these locations have an excellent selection and CostPlus seems to get the Vampire and Evil wines in for Halloween.  Tip: Start asking early when they will be getting the shipments in.  The Vampire wine disappears from their shelves quickly.

The ladies that drank the wine this evening promised to put their thoughts in the comment section below.

For our next meeting we are reading through chapter 22. We will also be writing  2-3 quotes on 3x5 cards. (quote on the front, speaker and page number on the backside)

Good Books, Good Wine, Good Friends
What Could be Better.

Book Club - update

While searching for more information on our current read I found this interesting site. It actually offers lessons on how to read a book critically along with discussion questions for different books that we might choose from in the future.

Critical Reading Lessons

Two more days. I am going to bring some ideas for discussion topics that I am borrowing from the above site. One of the suggestions is to do a compare/contrast with the original Pride and Prejudice. It has been quite a while since I read that and I am sure at least one of us hasn't ever read it but I could be wrong.

Book Club - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Ladies guess what I have in my hot little hands....
Come on one quick guess.
Amazon delivered quickly. When I placed the order Amazon offered me a one month trial on the Prime membership. Two day shipping included on any order I place for the next thirty days. Perfect. Ordered the books Monday (late after 10pm) and had the books in my hands by 12:30 Wednesday.
So we are on for Sunday.
Good friends.
Good food.
Good wine
and A Good Book
Hopefully it will be a good book since it made the New York Times Best Seller List.
What more could a lady ask for? (Sorry no 6 foot tall Greek gods to join us)

Books - Stephanie Meyer is releasing a new book

Since several of my friends are HUGE Twilight Fans I thought I would post this.

The book will be available as a hardback June 5th (click the image to the left to pre-order) or as a free online download The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella from NOON June 7th until July 5th.

While I enjoyed the first four books and will be buying this book in hardback to have the complete set, I don't find myself obsessing over the characters like certain friends I have do.

I didn't read any of the books until after I saw Twilight in the theater with one of my friends. My teenager has absolutely no interest in the books (she finds Bella to be to whiny) so they weren't even in my house.

I immediately went home and ordered all four books. After I received them I read one book each day for four days. In fact I have read them all around five times now. That doesn't mean I can quote lines from the books or describe what Bella was wearing in a certain chapter it just means that I found the books to be a pleasant read. I didn't dissect them to try to prove that Bella and Edward had an abusive relationship. I just read them with respect for the author who composed this series of works based on a dream that she had.

I have had several dreams that I thought would make great books. However I have always had two problems with them.
1) The really good ones fade and just leave an impression upon waking
2) I have never had the confidence to write my books beyond the first two-three chapters. (and I have never let anyone read my writings until this last year.)

Having said that I was surprised while watching New Moon that I actually found Jacob a much more interesting character. While I enjoyed his character in the book I never actually found myself hoping that he would win Bella away from Edward.

If I had seen all of the movies first I would be rooting for Jacob big time. It makes me feel old to know that Taylor Lautner is only four months older than my daughter. If I was my daughter I would seriously be crushing on him. But I am not. George Clooney, Vin Diesel, and Adrian Paul are more my speed. Though I will admit that when I was her age I was crushing on Sean Connery (Highlander era not James Bond era.) I am just now realizing that he was in his late 50s when those movies were made. I have always found older men to be much more interesting than the younger ones.

I think of all the characters introduced in Ms Meyer's books the one I would like to read more about would be Jacob after the events of New Dawn. But in the meantime I will read Bree's story in the midst of all my other reading that I have lined up.

Book Club

Some really cool ladies and I decided to form a book club. We are meeting twice a month to discuss our current read. If any of you are in the Boise area and interested in reading and discussing with us let me know.

I thought we had picked out our first book and was just getting ready to place the order when I ran into a small dilemma. Which one? It seems that the sequel/prequel?? comes out tomorrow. Should we start with the first or the second book? Was the first book good? Any comments?

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith



I think we should start with this first one and since the publisher was nice enough to post the first three chapters online I figured I would give you ladies the link so that we can start reading while certain people who actually have a life go somewhere for spring break (I'll allow you to remain nameless I guess) and I'll place the order with Amazon Thursday. Let me know if you ladies want the book by Hockensmith first instead.

The first three chapters are posted here at Irreference's website

The book hitting the shelves tomorrow is:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of The Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith





Another book by the same publisher that might be a fun read.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H Winters