Category Archives: chit chat

Bout of Books Day 1: Fictional Travel!

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Today’s challenge is to list 3 to 6 books of fiction that take place in countries other than the one you currently reside in. Some countries are easy to find books set in them, but possibly the more challenging of picks will be the ones that intrigue the most. All you need to do is list the books of choice on your blog, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube, etc., and display them how you wish. BE CREATIVE! Then come back here and link up your results, and then visit other participants’ blogs and social media link-ups and see what books they chose for the challenge.

Challenge is hosted by Between Library Shelves

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My choices are:

*Stormdancer by Jay Krostoff (Japan)
*The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop (Terreille, Hell and Kaeleer Fantasy realms)
*Bride of the Water God by Mi-Kyung Yun (Korea)
*Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko (Russia)
*A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (England and cross dimensional worlds)
*Something From the Nightside (Alternative London)

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Bout of Books 14: Day 1 Goals.

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I’m so excited to be participating in my first ever Bout of Books. I’m really looking forward to all the challenges and twitter talks and connecting with other bloggers as we all get together to do this read-a-thon.

My main goals:

1. Participate in the daily challenges.
2. Take part in the twitter talks (I’ve set alarms on my phone since we’re in different time zones)
3. Read 7 books off of my August TBR pile.

Read:
What’s Left of Me Kat Zhang
The Iron Thorn Caitlin Kittredge
Sweet Home Tillie Cole
Deep Blue Jennifer Donnelly
Bared to You by Sylvia Day
Sweetest Treat by A.R. Von
Stardust by Rue Volley

4. Read the following manga:

Drug & Drop by Clamp
Gangasta. v. 5 by Kohske
Dogs: Bullets and Carnage v. 9 by Shirow Miwa

I’m really hoping I can get everything accomplished. I know I may have set the bar a little too high, but I want to challenge myself.

Bout of Books 14 Sign Up!

Posted in Bout of Books 14, chit chat by

I’ve been curious about Bout of Books since round 12 when it started showing up in my twitter feed/blog feed, however I missed the sign ups for it. I did the same thing with round 13–BUT I am signing up this time! Here’s some more information about it.

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The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 14 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team.

Bout of Books

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I’m adding my link. Are you going to sign up? Let’s be reading buddies!

August TBR pile!

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One of my goals for this month is to really get back into the swing of reading and blogging about what I read. So I figured the best way to start that out is to pick a few books as a pre-assembled to read list and work off of that rather than staring at my overloaded shelves and thinking “I have nothing to read so I’m going to go buy another book”.

This is my list for August (hopefully to be completed by August 31st) and if I read more, I’ll certainly blog about them and bring them up again in my monthly wrap up.

1. What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang. I bought this for a swap partner, and then I ended up falling in love with the synopsis–and I received it as book mail as well.

2. The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge. I had this on my wishlist for the ninjabook mini summer swap, and I got it and the two companions.

3. Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius. I won this off of a blog contest and I’m really excited to read it. The blogger had nothing but great things to say about it.

4. Tell The Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. One that was on my wishlist forever and a swap partner got it for me.

5. Countdown City by Ben H. Winters. I bought this and The Last Policeman at the same time, and I loved The Last Policeman—I just hadn’t gotten around to Countdown City.

6. Sweet Home by Tillie Cole. I actually met Tilly at the Emerald City Author Event 2014, and she signed this for me (I’ll show the inscription when I post the review), and I really want to read it. I’m in love with the cover.

7. Gangsta volume 5 by Kohske. I’m a few volumes behind and I need to get caught up because I love this series so much.

8. Dogs Bullets and Carnage vol 9 by Shirow Miwa. I was in B&N last night and saw that volume 10 had finally been released, so I really tossed this on here so I can get caught up.

9. Drug and Drop Vol 1 by Clamp. Again, I saw that volume 2 was out and I really needed to read volume 1.

10. Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly. This is another one that I picked up for a swap partner and ended up on my own wish list.

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That is my TBR list for August. Please share yours with me! I’d love to see it. If you’ve read anything on my list, let me know how you liked it.

Top Ten Tuesday: Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke and Bookish. Each week the bloggers at The Broke and The Bookish put out a topic, and discuss their top ten options for said topic. This week’s Top Ten is: en Books That Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters (example: features minority/religious minority, socioeconomic diversity, disabled MC, neurotypical character, LGBTQ etc etc.)

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clouds10 Ms. Marvel
Kamala Khan is an ordinary girl from Jersey City — until she’s suddenly empowered with extraordinary gifts. But who truly is the new Ms. Marvel? Teenager? Muslim? Inhuman? Find out as she takes the Marvel Universe by storm! When Kamala discovers the dangers of her newfound powers, she unlocks a secret behind them, as well. Is Kamala ready to wield these immense new gifts? Or will the weight of the legacy before her be too much to bear? Kamala has no idea, either. But she’s comin’ for you, Jersey!

Featuring Ms. Marvel because she is a Muslim character, a strong female lead, and a character that holds tight to her values and strong upbringing.

clouds09 Gangsta.
In the city of Ergastulum, a shady ville filled with made men and petty thieves, whores on the make and cops on the take, there are some deeds too dirty for even its jaded inhabitants to touch. Enter the “Handymen,” Nic and Worick, who take care of the jobs no one else will handle. Until the day when a cop they know on the force requests their help in taking down a new gang muscling in on the territory of a top Mafia family. It seems like business (and mayhem) as usual, but the Handymen are about to find that this job is a lot more than they bargained for.

Featuring Disabled main characters– one being deaf, the other missing an eye. The cast of this manga is racially diverse. There’s some really interesting themes also running through the entire series.

clouds08 Teeth
Rudy’s life is flipped upside-down when his family moves to a remote island in a last attempt to save his sick younger brother. With nothing to do but worry, Rudy sinks deeper and deeper into loneliness and lies awake at night listening to the screams of the ocean beneath his family’s rickety house.

Featuring Some deeper, seedier themes that are handled very well. A bisexual character.

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Exciting news!!

Posted in Book release, chit chat by

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If you’re looking for stories of “happily ever after”, continue onward. Warm and fuzzy tales of love won’t lie within these pages. These dark accounts incur greed, anger, hostility, murder, revenge, and creatures that go bump in the night. Be forewarned—there will be blood, and you may need to check under your bed before going to sleep. Darkness awaits.

If you’re a fan of horror/creepy fiction then I’ve got an anthology for you! This was published July 18, 2014 and it features a short story by me, Southern Cross. The story takes place in small town–anywhere, and Melody returns to home to the farm to celebrate her 21st birthday with the woman who raised her. What should have been a laid back, easy day turns into the fight for her life as long hidden secrets come to light and she’s terrorized by things that go bump in the night.

In addition to Southern Cross, there are 26 other stories guaranteed to chill and thrill.

It is currently on sale on Amazon for .99!! On Amazon: http://www.smarturl.it/DarkLightFour

Emerald City Author Event!

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Yesterday I spent the day up in Seattle with my friend Jenny, and we went to the Emerald City Author Event. I heard about this through Facebook, the event link just showed up in my feed, and I decided to go. This is my first book signing type of event and I was really excited (plus it was an excuse to go to Seattle.) It was really neat and I got to meet and talk with a bunch of authors.

I bought quite a few books, and I can’t wait to get into them. Look forward to reviews on all of them. I also got information about another book signing event next month, and I’m super excited about that one too. I have more of an idea of what happens at these so I know what to bring (a backpack for sure) and more books. I bought five books before the event and ended up purchasing three more at the event. I’m glad I went and I’m looking forward to the next event.

Sunday Rundown

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Another week has come and gone. I’m really tired, and looking forward to a fresh start come Monday. The last couple of days have been not a lot of fun ( I got really ill Thursday night and Friday morning) so most of Friday I slept. Yesterday was super busy as I had to get caught up on everything. I also went on a haunted ghost tour, and went out with some friends. Today I ran some more errands, and in a few hours I’m going to go see Captain America. I’m so excited–Chris Evans is so very swoon worthy.

A couple glimpses of what I’ve been up to. 🙂

 
Meet Edgar the Elephant! I took my Girl Scout troop to a ceramics painting place, and I picked up their masterpieces Saturday. Edgar is mine. Also pictured: Backstreet Boys concert tickets!! I’m going with my two best friends, and it’s going to be  a little insane.

 

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Back from semi-hiatus.

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Hi everyone, I took a semi-unplanned hiatus. I had a few things going on and managed to get myself into a funk that I couldn’t shake. I’m not entirely out of it, but I’m starting to feel better. I thought I’d come on today and talk about what I’ve been up to.

Cookie season has finally wrapped up. I’m a Girl Scout leader, and this year was our troop’s first year selling cookies. I’m really proud of them, they did great, and are excited to do it again. My co-leader and I on the other hand are more than happy to wait for a bit before taking anything on like that again. I spent most of the time after that hiding out, and catching up with friends. Sadly, my reading suffered. I plan on reading a lot this week and getting caught up and getting some great reviews up for you all.

One thing that was a positive this week actually showed up yesterday. I like to do a lot of crafting and trying out new things. I’ve found that I really enjoy making soap. I do melt and pour right now, but soon I’ll start making cold process soap. A couple of months ago, I signed up for Bramble Berry’s soap swap. Bramble Berry is a company that sells tons of soaping supplies. I signed up to create twelve bars of melt and pour soap (I used a Champagne and McIntosh Apple blend), and yesterday I got my return soaps! I ended up with twelve beautiful bars in return, from twelve different soapers. I gave my mom two of the bars because I wasn’t too keen on the scents (one was anise, and the other lavender.) I’m really excited to use them all, and one of them has already been put into my bathroom. The scent on that is cranberry chutney, and it’s such a delicious warm fruity scent.

Here’s my box! I’m super excited. I should be getting another swap box later this week, as I joined up the Chaotic Goddesses Mug-o-comfort swap.

I’ve also become a moderator for a group on Goodreads. The Psychological and Thriller group. Our book of the month for March is Dark Places by Gillian Flynn and I’m loving it so much. I’ll have a review of it up once I’ve finished and wrapped everything up on the goodreads front. I have also been going through manga as though they’re candy. I got hooked on the series Bleach, after putting it down a couple years ago. I’m blown away by the story arcs and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

How was your week?