My Two Blessings

Renoir - Les Deux Soeurs It's been one of those weeks with James being sick all week and running back and forth to the doctor.  On top of everything else, he seems to have come down with a bladder infection.  We're waiting to hear back from the doctor on the culture results and what course of action to take next.  The last round of antibiotics didn't agree with him too well, but he's been holding down fluids for the past couple days.  He's at that point where he needs to eat but doesn't want to, but I managed to get him to eat some toast today.  With all the down time and waiting around the doctor's office I've managed to get a lot of reading in.    I immersed myself in the world of the Drake Sisters by Christine Feehan and basically read the whole series.  It is a paranormal romance series based on 7 sisters who control the elements. The series starts with the oldest sister's story - Sarah Drake in Magic in the Wind . It is a short novel...

A Hope Undaunted  By Julie Lessman  Back Cover :  The 1920's are drawing to a close, and feisty Katie O'Connor is the epitome of the new woman-smart and sassy with goals for her future that include the perfect husband and a challenging career in law.  Her boyfriend Jack fits all of her criteria for a husband--good looking, well-connected, wealthy, and eating out of her hand.  But when she is forced to spend the summer of 1929 with Luke McGee, the bane of her childhood existence, Katie comes face to face with a choice.  Will she follow her well laid plans to marry Jack? or will she fall for the man she swore to despise forever? A Hope Undaunted is book one in a wonderful christian romance fiction series Winds of Change which continues the story of the O'Connor children from the Daughters of Boston series.    The Daughters of Boston followed Faith, Charity and Lizzie. The Winds of Change follows their younger sister Katie in A...

Today is Elana Johnson's Great Blogging Experiment in which she has gathered writers from all over the blogosphere who will be posting about How to Write Compelling Characters.    I signed on to join in on experiment a couple weeks ago not knowing what life was going to throw in my path.   James has been quite sick, got terribly dehydrated and we've been running back and forth to the doctor for the past three days.   Fortunately he's feeling much better, hasn't thrown up today (yeah!) and is keeping fluids down - lots of pedialyte.   We're heading back out to the doctor this afternoon for a recheck.   I came online for a few minutes ago while eating my lunch,  blipped on my statcounter,  saw a bunch of folks dropping by from Elana's blog and said "what the heck?"    Honestly, I completely forgot about it.    Thanks for dropping by and when things have calmed down a bit, I'll be dropping by to check out y...

Canyon Bend - Courtesy Moodflow.com Journey's End I'm coming in for a landing, having reached the end of my Mind Voyages journey.  I've run out of gas, food and energy.   Was I successful, let's see   The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester (Hugo 1953)  Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury (Hugo 1954) Dune - Frank Herbert  (Hugo 1966)  The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein  (Hugo 1967) Spin - Robert Charles Wilson (Hugo 2006) A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller  - 1961 Hugo  Started and couldn't finish To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Phillip Jose Farmer  1972 Hugo Started & couldn't finish The Mists of Avalon - Marian Zimmer Bradley The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan  Something Wicked This Way Comes - Robert Heinlein www.wake - Robert J. Sawyer I successfully completed the moon voyage by reading 6 Hugo winners and the Mercury Voyage by reading two Robert Heinlein books.   It seems I did go to Pluto ...

The Poisonwood Bible By  Barbara Kingsolver Back cover:  The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959.  They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it--from garden seeds to Scripture--is calamitously transformed on African soil.  What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa. The Poisonwood Bible is an amazing story that makes you think.  Nathan Price, knowing nothing about the Congo or its people, is determined to start a church and save all the natives.  The story is told from the perspective of Orleana Price and her four daughters. The chapters alternate mainly between the four daughters. Rachel, a teenager who vain and self absorbed; twins Leah and Adah, bot...

  Alas and alack, I was not picked for the Notes from Underground contest.  Truthfully, I wasn't surprised since most of the folks who entered have been writing for years and years.   I think I entered more for the practice.  I remember years ago, going on job interviews for jobs that I really didn't want, and using them as practice.  The more you do something, the better you get.  I popped the safety bubble and entered.  The first times always the hardest is it not?  That first step.   The application was free form with no rules so here's my entry.   Pick Me! As I sit down to write this I’m reminded of elementary school.  We all have those moments which take us back in time. Those moments where you stand there, quiet and calm on the outside, nervous on the inside, trying not to squirm.  Your heart beating rapidly as the two team captains chosen by the coach, call out names.  You hope and pray you are not t...

BBAW Special Mystery and Suspense Package Giveaway The contents of the Mystery and Suspense Package Gently used paperbacks  The Cold Room - J.T. Ellison No One Left to Tell - Jordan Dane Sudden Death - Allison Brennan Kill Her Again - Robert Gregory Browne The Sinner - Tess Gerritsen Inside Out - John Ramsey Miller Please leave your name and email address in the comments.  The contest is open to U.S. Residents only, will remain open for the week and ends at Midnight on September 17th. The winner will be picked via Random.org and notified via email.

New Treasure:   Allison of Piling on the Books   Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library I had the great pleasure of interviewing Allison of Piling on the Books, a new to me blogger who I never meet before.  I had fun perusing her blog and coming up with questions to ask her and learn more about her.    Your blog is 95% about books with enticing little tidbits here and there about your education in Library Science.  What made you decide to pursue being a librarian?         I'm that girl, you know, the one who, when you ask her questions, is always like, "Hmm.  I don't know... let me look it up for you!"  I love answering questions, and I especially love it when those answers take some effort.  I thought it might be nice to make a career out of it! Are you almost done with your classes?         I am all done!  I got my degree about thre...

Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series -  Charlaine Harris When I was introduced to Sookie Stackhouse in Dead Until Dark, (Thanks to BethFishReads ) I couldn't stop at the first book and devoured the whole series in a number of days.  Just giving away  Dead Until Dark would be such a tease, so for BBAW I am giving away the series, books 1 through 9.  You'll have to buy #10 Dead in the Family for yourself. I'm waiting for it to come out in paperback.   The package giveaway includes the gently read, paperback editions of Dead Until Dark Living Dead in Dallas Club Dead Dead to the World Dead as a Doornail Definitely Dead All Together Dead From Dead to Worse Dead and Gone Please leave your name and email address in the comments.  The contest is open to U.S. Residents only, will remain open for the week and ends at Midnight on September 17th. The winner will be picked via Random.org and notified via email.

 Monday—First Treasure We invite you to share with us about a great new book blog you’ve discovered since BBAW last year! Tell us why this blog rocks your socks off and why you keep going back for more. Last year I discovered Jackie's blog, Literary Escapism , the site for paranormal and fantasy book reviews.  She's been around since 2007 just like me, but you know it's just one of those things.  You don't find somebody or a blog that you really enjoy until you actually need it.  Synchronicity.  I started getting more into paranormal romances and voila I found Jackie.  She has one of those sites that I better have another browser window set to Barnes and Noble ready to download books to my nook or add to my wish list.   Her monthly newsletters are full of links to new releases, author websites, reviews, interviews, contests and covers to die for.   She also hosts a New Author Challenge full of fun mini monthly challenges with unique p...

It is going to be a busy week in the blogosphere with Book Bloggers Appreciation Week 2010 hosted by Amy of My Friend Amy and multiple blogger elves. Check out this interview with Amy on The Book Case on why she created BBAW.  BBAW is a huge blog party celebrating books, book bloggers, books, authors, books, writers, books, publishers, books, reading and ... Well you get it... Books!   And those who provide the books, review the books and read the books.  And they will be giving away books. Lots of them.  Even me.   I will be hosting two giveaways.  On Monday, the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series.   The entire series, books 1 through 9 will get given away as a package deal.  Once I read the first book, I just had to read them all, so couldn't just give away one.  It would be too much of a tease.    On Wednesday, I will be giving away a mystery and suspense package of 6 books, so stay tuned.  ...

What is Death? Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference in your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without affect, without the trace of a shadow on it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same that it ever was. There is absolutely unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All ...

Home Again By Mariah Stewart  Back cover:  Dallas MacGregor is living the Hollywood dream.  At thirty something she's an award winning actress bound for even bigger success.  But when her soon to be ex husband, producer Emilio Baird, is caught in a sex scandal, Dallas's charmed life turns tabloid nightmare.  Determined to shield her young son, Cody, from the ugly uproar, Dallas seeks refuge in sleepy St. Dennis, Maryland--the Chesapeake Bay town where her happiest childhood days were spent. Reunited with her boisterous great-aunt, Dallas wants nothing more than to leave her Hollywood days behind.  And when she crosses paths with local veterinarian Grant Wyler, her high school summer love, she finds that the spark is still there.  But Dallas's promising new life takes a troubling turn when she finds herself living a mother's worst nightmare--and Emilio storms into St. Dennis amid much fanfare, determined to play the hero.  But in the end ...

Today I have a treat for you. Father was reading my Writer's Digest  magazine and the Your Story Writing prompt generated quite a few sparks with him. He came up with a short story which he has given me permission to share with you all. The prompt : During your weekly housecleaning you find an unfamiliar cell phone in the cushions of your couch--but can't recall having any recent visitors. It rings. Assassin's Remorse Home at last. The dreaded red eye flight was three hours late. I haven’t slept in over 24 hours and something is wrong…very wrong. Where are my cats? They usually swarm at my feet, talking and trying to trip me as I head towards my bedroom. A fleeting moment of relief comes as I find the little furry creatures hiding under the bed.   Then it hits me…Am I alone?   A quick check reveals nothing and then my cats greet me in their usual way.   All is normal. The next morning is overcast and despite cleaning the house before my week long busine...

R eaders may be divided into four classes:  1) Sponges, who absorb all that they read and return it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtied.  2) Sand-glasses, who retain nothing and are content to get through a book for the sake of getting through the time. 3) Strain-bags, who retain merely the dregs of what they read.  4) Mogul diamonds, equally rare and valuable, who profit by what they read, and enable others to profit by it also.  ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge ~ Wow! August just flew by.  It was a fairly lazy month in which we read much, played lots, thought hard, wrote oodles, fought a little and loved gobs.   I read twice as many books than I usually do, though I have to admit some were fairly short novels.  I discovered Lori Foster's Buckhorn Brothers and immersed myself in the paranormal world of the Riley Jensen Guardian Series by Keri Arthur.   I fell in love the characters Clai...