Talkative Tuesday 11/30/10

Yay for Talkative Tuesday! Today I'm introducing you all to my very dear friend Melissa over at 1000+ Books to Read. Mel is the one true person who re-sparked my interest in reading back in February of this year. After pointing me in the direction of the Sookie Stackhouse series, she turned right around and sent me towards Anita Blake & my love for reading was ignited again.

Taking her love for paranormal, mystery, fantasy and YA then turning it into something everyone could be excited about is what actually inspired me to start voicing my opinion & my reviews. She's honest, to the point & doesn't have a problem telling you exactly what she does & doesn't like.

Recently she has started multiple give aways & has had authors reaching out to her to review their books. So please help her fan base grow & hop on over to her Facebook page!

Post-Turkey day talk....

Yep, it happened again! Ate too much, again.....even drank, but spending that much quality time with great friends so totally worth it. All in a matter of 3 days we (and when I say we I mean everyone else) went through 2 turkeys, a ham, people got first time tattoos, 3 enormous bottles of vodka didn't make it back, about 8 bottles of wine are gone, a beer pong table was violated (see below), and an industrial size package of red cups magically disappeared...

All in all it was an amazing Thanksgiving weekend. I spend it with the people who truly mean the most to me & surprisingly we all still like each other. Now back to the grind & working hard on my blog. I'm trying to find ways to reach out to editors & publishing companies to receive more books to review. Plus I'm going to start posting older books that I've read, just so I have more reviews on here.

Happy Monday everyone!!

Pre-turkey day talk

Every year I have to inform myself that I WILL not over eat....Needless to say each year I fail. This year I WILL not over eat. I have put in too much hard work at the gym over the last 2 months to just stuff myself to the brim, and gain 5 pounds back.

It all calls to me though...the turkey, stuffing, mashed taters, yams, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls, fruit salad (yes here in CA I have fruit salad). It's like the combo from hell, I swear. "Oh I'll just have one more serving of this," then that leads to 2, then 3. I swear sometimes I have absolutely no self control, lol.

Thanksgiving though is one of my favorite holidays, right behind my birthday & Christmas :)....we spend Thanksgiving with our second family, which is a close knit group of 3 other couples and all their kids. The really fun part is after dinner we all play games, like Guesstures, or Scatagories, something that will make us all laugh at each other until our sides hurt. Or at least it makes me laugh at them until my side hurts, lol.

Hope you enjoyed the little bit of in site I gave you about how I have no self control & I laugh at my friends until it hurts ;) Have an amazing Thanksgiving, don't go into a Turkey coma, enjoy the company that is around you and let the ones who aren't around you know you're thinking about them. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Talkative Tuesday 11/23/10

Talkative Tuesday, Thanksgiving edition!

Welcome everyone, I hope your short work week is flying by like mine is. Though I'm not doing all my weekly blog posts this week, I felt that this one was a must.

For this edition of Talkative Tuesday I'm featuring Siobhán & her amazing site Love Fantasy-Scifi Novels. Just starting the site in June, her Facebook page has gained well over 1,200 followers and is growing each day! She mainly started doing YA stuff, but has recently branched into adult novels too. Always upbeat & truly excited about what she's doing, Siobhán seems to truly enjoy her reviewing as well as making sure she's up on all the latest publishing news. Stop by & tell Siobhán hi, like her blog & her FB page! Hope you enjoy her efforts as much as I do. Enjoy!

Turkey Week

Happy Turkey week all, and to those of use who celebrate it, Happy Black Friday week!

This week sadly I will not be posting very much, simply due to the fact that it's a short week. Family is rolling in from out of town, and some of my best girl friends are gearing up for the madness that happens during the wee hours of the morning the Friday after Thanksgiving! I hope that everyone has an amazing week & holiday! I'll be sure to let you all know which post will be my last :)

Fresh Face Friday 11-19-10

Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy Friday!! Hope that everyone is enjoy their Friday before the holiday week ahead. This week I have an amazing author to introduce, but on a down note this will be the last FFF until I return from vacation on 12-3-10 :(

Today I'm sort of re-introducing Joann I. Martin Sowles who's the author of Laney, the first book in The Brookehaven Vampires series. A while ago, before I started FFF, I had given Joann a shout out & made sure you guys checked out her page. Since then Laney has been published and received nothing but fabulous reviews. Though I have not had a chance to pick up a copy of Laney, reading what I have makes me want to just sit through a whole day & never put it down. Joann's writing is great and she is currently working on a sequel! Stop by The Brookehaven Vampires website to get your sneak peak at Laney, or drop by their Facebook page to check her out too!

Talkative Tuesday 11/16/10

Have you ever just wanted to escape? I mean lose yourself in a different world, because what you're reading seems to paint a vision in your mind that you want to leap into? Believe me you're not the only one who feels this way from time to time... 

Literary Escapism is your perfect get away then. With an endless reference of amazing fantasy & paranormal books, series & authors, it seems like the perfect place to get new ideas when you don't know what to pick up & start reading.  Founded in December of 2007 by Jackie a SAHM of 2 who loves to read, today she has an amazing following & a fantastic crew to help her out. Please stop by and enjoy all of Jackie's hard work. The site is amazing & she has truly poured her heart & soul into it. Or make sure you stop by their  Facebook page & "Like" them!

Mashup Monday

Mashup Monday is an awesome idea that I've had in my head since this blog of mine became a reality. Along with a helpful idea from my friend Debbi, it has spiraled into something that I think could possibly be amazing & fun.

Each Monday I will give you the name of 2-3 characters, a place, then it's up to you to decided if there's a bad guy, what's going on & basically create your own short story. I will give you until noon on Sunday to submit your short stories to takingitonebookatatime@yahoo.com. After reading each submission I will pick the one that happens to catch my eye & feature it on the blog during the next MashUp Monday. Sounds like fun right?

Ok so for the first official MashUp Monday here are your ingredients:

Characters
Boris
Carina
Sam

Location
China Town, San Francisco, CA

Have fun! Make it as long or as short as you'd like, there's no minimum or maximum. As I experiment more with this the places & names may get funnier or more serious. I can't wait to read what you've thought of.

Fresh Face Friday 11-12-10

TGIF! You all know what that means, another edition of Fresh Face Friday! First I would like to thank everyone for the wonderful response to last weeks FFF, it was amazing & far beyond what I expected. Now onto this week!

In author Lavinia Thompson's debut novel she has created a fantastic world full of witch craft, love & unseen twists. Spellbound by Fire is her debut book, and the first in the Spellbound series. Lavinia has been seriously writing since the age of 13, the now 21 year old has turn something that she has treasured into an amazing story she wants everyone to experience. After reading the first chapter of Spellbound by Fire, I am highly anticipating the rest of the book. The main character is a spitfire, which I love, and you can tell she likes a little bit of the dramatic! For a sneak peek & to learn more about the author & her series please stop by her Facebook page and check it out!

(here's a little of the synopsis, enjoy!)
Never again: those were the two words every innocent witch waited to hear after the nefarious Black Guards took over the country of Nevermore, savagely hunting and torturing witches for 35 years. Twenty year old Janey Black never thought they would rip through the little village of Tia Justace, but they did just that.

Author Stacey Kennedy Giveaway!

Want a chance to win The Willow, The Wicked, and The Devil’s Kiss from The Magical Sword series, plus An Everlasting Bite~ The Blue Bloods Book One?  Here’s your chance!! The contest ends at midnight on November 15th, so head on over to Stacey Kennedy's Blog and enter to win! Good luck!

Talkative Tuesday 11/9/10

After the great response last week, I'm hoping that today will be just as amazing! This week I'm featuring truly one of my favorite blogs out there, Paranormal Haven. Run by 2 great friends, Stephanie & Athenna,  who love to read Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy & YA.  One of the main things that drew me in is that they're truly honest when it comes to the books they review & the suggestions that they give. In my mind the bar has been set high by these two, and I can only hope that some day my blog is running as smoothly as theirs. Plus having that many followers wouldn't be bad either. ;)

So please stop by either their website, http://www.paranormalhaven.com/, or add them as a friend on Facebook. I'm telling you their site won't let you down, and will introduce you to some amazing authors!

Monday.....

Hope every ones weekend was AMAZING! Mine was pretty good, spent quality time with my best friend who was in town. No, we did not get into THAT much mischief, but where would the fun be if slight mischief wasn't involved? :) See, we don't look like we're causing trouble....right?

Now it's Monday...and I'm thinking my Monday has decided to become bi-polar. As I'm sitting at my desk, trying ohhhh so hard to concentrate on work, I'm finding myself drifting. Torn between committing myself to one task. Starting, stopping, starting stopping. Ugh! Need to find the focus that I seemed to have at one point. Anyone one have some I can borrow?

Now, HAPPY MONDAY! Just believe it's a happy Monday, and it will be! :)

Fresh Face Friday 11-5-10

Happy Fresh Face Friday! This week I happen to be even more excited then usual, because I have the pleasure of introducing everyone to an author that was actually recommended to me by my friend Debbi. She told me that I would love him, that his writing would be something that was right up my alley. Man was she right.

May I introduce, T.S. Worley. Currently he's in the process if getting his first book, Cross, published, and I for one can not wait to read the rest of the book! Reading through his excerpts I never would have guessed that he didn't have prior publications out there. He has the wording of a seasoned author & was able to captivate me with the first few lines. So please stop by his facebook page and read for yourself. I promise you'll be impressed & be counting down the days until his book comes hot off the assembly line. 

Possession (Blood Ties Book #2) - By Jennifer Armintrout

My father always said fear was a weakness. Well, that's easy to say when you don't have to worry about vampire slayers or holy water. I hate fear, but undead life goes on. In the two months since I was attacked in the hospital morgue and turned into a vampire, I've killed my evil sire, Cyrus, fallen in love with my new sire, Nathan, and have even gotten used to drinking blood. Just when things are finally returning to normal -- as normal as they can be when sunlight can kill you -- Nathan becomes possessed. And then he slaughters an innocent human. Now it's my job to find Nathan before the Voluntary Vampire Extinction Movement does, because they're just waiting for an excuse to terminate him -- and anyone foolish enough to help him. But it gets worse. It turns out that Nathan's been possessed by one of the most powerful and wicked vampires alive -- the Soul Eater. And who knows what vile plan he's concocted?
With the Soul Eater and my possessed sire on the loose, I have a lot to fear. Including being killed. Again.
(borrowed from jenniferarmintrout.com)

Following the first book in the series, The Turning, Possessed was slightly all over the place for me. In the first book every thought, scene & emotion came from Carrie, in this book they came from Carrie, Max, Bella, almost every other character in the book as well. I can understand to make a story come together and make the bigger picture work you need to P.O.V. of all some of the characters, but not all of them. Jennifer still did a good capturing my attention with Carrie & Nathan's relationship. The emotion that those two share made me cry at the end of the book. There are times when I just want to slap Nathan, make him realize what he's got in front of him. Men, I swear.

Honestly, I wish that I was as excited with this review as I was with the last one, but for some reason I'm not. Might have to do with how the book ended....not sure. Maybe it was that I needed a smidgen more steaminess? Hmmm. Regardless I will still recommend this book, and yes, I will read the next book in the series. For the moment though, I think I need a break from Blood Ties. That way my mind can recharge, and I'll be beyond excited the next time I pick the series up.

Roller Coaster of a day

Have you ever just had one of those days, that goes up, then down, then back up again? Well that's exactly how this has gone, started productive, then motivation left. Received heart breaking news, then suddenly my spirits were up again. Strange how you can have so many highs and lows in just one day.

Well sorry but with the roller coaster I've been in today, I don't think my mind can process anymore then what I've written. Tomorrow I'm hoping for a review.....hoping.

Talkative Tuesday 11/2/10

As most of you may know since starting my blog I have been trying to meet new authors, established authors, editors, basically anyone who I can help out by spreading the word about their work.

Now I have decided that Talkative Tuesday is going to be dedicated to introducing you all to a great & wonderful blog of my choosing. So some of you may be asking, "won't that just take away from your blog?", my answer to that is, well yeah, maybe it will. To me it's not about just my blog, my stuff, I am trying to introduce people to someone or something out there that they never would have had a clue about. There are SO many great blogs out there, paranormal, mystery, fiction, historical, fantasy, erotica, the list goes on, and on. Point is I am willing to be the person that connects people who might only read mystery and introduce them to paranormal. Or maybe for all you who only read fiction there might be a little devil in you waiting to be brought to the surface by an amazing erotica book? The possibilities are endless!

Soooooo, now for my introductions! This week I'm going to start out with one of my personal favorite blogs out there, Bitten By Paranormal Romance.

They review not only paranormal romance, but erotica as well. I love the way they rate their books, not only by story line, but by how much steaminess is in them too! Come on, sometimes all just want to know how much sex there's going to be in a book, and they break it down for you. Since they started their blog in 2009 their followers have grown & their reviews have evolved. (Like all of ours do) They truly involve you however they can, by taking suggestions and listening to request. So drop by their site & see if you like it, or check out their Facebook page too. Enjoy!

Halloween Aftermath

Oh MAN, that's all I have to say about this weekend! After having an awesome Halloween party at the Hernandez Ranch, this is what we all woke up to.....

and this

and finally this...

There were a couple of people who stayed up all night and caution taped the whole house, and yes that's plastic wrap on the ceiling fan. Poor easy-up it has seen better days, but it was all ok thankfully with all this fun, no one was hurt. Great times were had by all, and I think we might even try to do it again next year....maybe :)



Though I had a great time with my friends, and some much needed adult time I will admit it....Yes! Yes I feel guilty that I neglected my blog, my facebook, & my twitter all weekend....oh and my books. Taking time out to do something else usually is fine with me, but I still feel bad that I didn't even put an update on anything...now I'll be making up for lost time, and gettin' my booty in gear. After posting all my pictures from our Halloween party (100+), I'll be posting about some new blogs that I've found. Still thinking of the what to call the event, but if you have any suggestions I am more then open to hear them!

Hope you and Monday are getting along, and I will be talking to everyone soon!