Happy Father's Day

Me and My Dad

James and John

Happy Fathers day to the special dads in my life!

Congratulations to my Nephew

Attended my nephew's high school graduation in Texas. He's a cutie and always been a bit extra special to me since I was my sister's birth coach and was there when he was born. He'll be studying engineering with a minor in Math in college. 

Dallas World Aquarium

My sisters, one of my nieces and I had a girls day out and went to the Dallas World Aquarium while I was in Texas for my nephew's high school graduation.  It was the neatest place with a rainforest, plants and animals from Mayan folklore.  They even had dancers doing a mayan dance.  It was a lot of fun.

Albino Alligator

Black Jaguar

Carpet Anemone

Japanese Spider Crab - right out of a sci fi movie. It was huge.

Feeding of the Sharks

Rain Forest

Sea Dragon

Needlenose Shark

Fish - don't remember the name but beautiful

Mayan Painting

Owl

Red Flamingos

7th Grade - check!

It's official. James has finished 7th Grade. James says "part one of Junior high complete. Mission achieved."

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy mother's day!  Since I became a mother, I've learned that a mother's love is unconditional (or should be)  When my son was little, we used to read Lisa McCourt's I Love You Stinky Face and it's one book I never could get rid of.  The binding is taped together now because of how often we read it and to this day the sentiment in the story has stuck with us. Even though my son is now 13, he still ends the day with 'Mom, I love you no matter what.'   

Yesterday we went to Marshall Gold Discovery Park and explored, learning more about the gold rush and visiting the spot where James Marshall first discovered gold.  

 James Marshall learning about James Marshall

Happy Mother's Day!

April Wrap up - Spring makes its own statement

I'm so happy to bid adieu to April.  It's been a month of stress with taxes, lessons, fixing cars and cats, standardized and developmental testing which is why it's been so quiet here on the blog.  I'm optimistic May is going to be a lot less stressful since have four more weeks of lessons left and we are winding down 7th grade. Plans are in the works for a fun family gold mining trip and my sister and I going to Texas for my nephew's graduation while the guys have their own fun time at home. 

I've spent most of my free time with my head buried in a book and have been on a urban fantasy / paranormal kick. I discovered several new to me authors and read through all of Faith Hunter's Jane Yellowrock series.  Checked out Kelly Meding's Three Days to Dead, and Illona Andrews' On the Edge and delved into the 2nd book in Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series One Foot in the Grave.   Finally got around to finishing the Larisa Ione Deliverance series about the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypses. 

Immersed myself in Christa Faust's hard to classify paranormal noir pulp fiction detective story Money Shot.  Went back and listened to Patricia Brigg's Mercedes Thomas series books 1 through 6 (awesome in audio) before reading her newest book Frost Burned.   Nora Roberts hits it out of the park as always with her latest Whiskey Beach.  I feel in love with Menna Van Praag's magical story The House at the End of Hope Street and discovered a new magical England through Alex Verus story in Benedict Jacka's Fated. 

I started a readalong of 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami with my 52 Books group and unfortunately I got sidelined when discovered my copy had missing pages.  Presently waiting for my replacement copy which should be here any day now.   

What's on the nightstand for May?

A few are calling my name including Stephen King's The Dark Tower IV Wizard and Glass, Joe Hill's NOS4A2, Dean Koontz's Odd Apocalypse plus Cold Fire,  Graham Moore's The Sherlockian, as well as Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits and Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.  A rather eclectic mix with a few more paranormals thrown in here and there.

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."  ~John Quincy Adams

Cheers to a happy, less stress, more carefree May.

TLC Book Tour: Untold Damage by Robert K. Lewis

 
Synopsis:  Estranged from his wife and daughter, former undercover cop Mark Mallen has spent the last four years in a haze of heroin.  When his best friend from the academy, Eric Russ, is murdered, all the evidence points to Mallen as the primer suspect.  Now Mallen's former colleagues on the force are turning up the heat and Russ's survivors are asking him to come up with some answers. But if he wants to serve justice to the real killer, Mallen knows he'll have to get clean.  Turning a life around is hard work for a junkie, especially when a gang of low-life thugs wants him dead.  Bruised, battered, and written off by nearly everyone, can Mallen keep clean and catch a killer?



Untold Damage is a dark and gritty murder mystery and once I started reading it, didn't want to stop, even though it had me cringing at times with the graphic descriptions of heroin use.  The main character, Mark Mallen was an undercover cop, and after getting addicted to heroin, is released from the force.  He has hit rock bottom and his only thought is his next hit.  Reality comes crashing down on him when Eric is killed and he is framed for the murder.  Plus two enforcers from the drug gang he's infiltrated have discovered his identity and they are out to get him.  The story is fast paced, action packed and will leave you reeling as you root for Mark to redeem himself. 

Thank you to TLC book tours for asking me to be part of the tour and Robert K. Lewis for creating the story of Mark Mallen.  Find out more about Robert by visiting his  website or follow him on his blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

Be sure to check out the previous stops on the tour.

Pages:  288
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Released:  April 8, 2013
Setting: San Francisco 
Rating: 4