Quickie Post

I just wanted to let everyone know that this blog may be fairly silent over the next several days.  My bestest bestie in the whole world is coming to visit me this week and we'll be out doing all kinds of girlie stuff.  So, I won't have time to post anything. 

I will be back next week, though, and will give some new updates as well as post in a couple of memes.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I'll catch ya later!

Monthly TBR Pile Update: April 2013

I have a ton of books on my reading pile and this feature showcases the ones I've managed to knock off that pile during the month.  Or it shows books I've read period.  However you want to look at it.

This past month I ended up reading only one book on the pile and the rest I purchased and read straight away. 

Nearly Departed in Deadwood is the first book in the Deadwood mystery series by Ann Charles.  I've had this book on my Kindle for way longer than I'd like to admit.  So, at the beginning of April, I was in the mood for a light mystery and decided to give it a try. 

This 'try' resulted in me purchasing every single book in the series, including the first short story she released, and devouring every one of these books within a two week timeframe.  I am absolutely in LURVE with this series and would recommend it to anyone who loves murder mysteries with humor, ghosts, and spicy romance mixed in.  This series had it all and then some and the character development and world-building are phenomenal!!  Unfortunately, I will now have to suffer and wait for at least another six months or longer before the next book in this series comes out.  But I can guarantee that I will be downloading it the minute it becomes available!

As for other books, I've started reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin.  But I can safely say that I will not have that book finished by the end of April, so I won't include that in the books completed pile for this month.

What books did you read this month that you really enjoyed? 

Leave me a comment below as I'm always looking for new books to check out!

 

It's Saturday!

Good morning all!  It's Saturday and in just two days I'll be picking up my very best friend in the whole world from the airport to spend a week doing what friends do...sooo excited!!

With her coming to visit, that inspired the Muse and I to do a bit of Spring Cleaning this morning and I'm a bit exhausted now.  Fortunately, with no kids to worry about, the mess wasn't all that bad...clean bathrooms, vacuum, and dust for the most part.  But it can still be a bit tiring.  So now it's chill time here before we decide to do something else ambitious!

Just to give an update...I've finished edits for two of the authors that are signed on with Cressen Books.  Those manuscripts have been sent back to them to work on and if all goes well, we'll be publishing them within the next 6 weeks!!!  Between now and then, I'll be posting covers and such on the blog here so you all can see what's releasing soon.

So now it's back to working on edits for Starward (Galactic Dynasty #1).  We're about 40 pages away from being done with it.  Then we have to come up with a synopsis, finish the cover, and publish it!  Woot!!  I'm so excited to see this novel release as it's going to be an awesome beginning to an epic Sci-Fi/Adventure series that I hope readers will enjoy!

Then my next project will be to start working on edits for Prophecy Revealed (The Soul of Arial #1).  This particular story has evolved so much over the past couple of months that it no longer looks like what it originally started out to be.  But that's okay.  I think the evolution of this project has just made it even better.  This series will fall under the Fantasy/Mythology/Adventure realm (yeah, it covers different genres and doesn't fit into just one specific one).

Other than that, I've been writing on some different story ideas during these last couple of weeks of editing sessions just to keep the creative writing flowing.  I'm not sure if any of those particular stories will develop into something publishable, but you never know.  And, as some of you may have noticed, I've started participating in some bookish memes each week to add a little more spice to the blog.  For now, I'm participating in Teaser Tuesday, hosted by Should Be Reading, and Booking Through Thursday (blog is of the same name).  I've been enjoying these so far and hope to keep up with them on a regular basis.

And since I love to read and have gotten back on a reading trend again, I hope to post a monthly update of the books I've read during that month.  I did this for several months last year before I fell off the reading trend horse.  But now that I'm back in the saddle, I'll try to pick that back up again.

I guess that's it for now.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and I'd like to say 'Howdy' to the new followers!  I'll try to keep things interesting here!

Booking Through Thursday #2

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly bookish meme about (mostly) books and reading.

 

This weeks' questions are:

1. Do you read books about sports?
2. How about AT sporting events? (Kid’s soccer practice?)

 

I have read a couple of books with sports themes, mostly YA Contemporary or Adult Contemporary Romance.  Some I've liked, others not so much.  The sports theme doesn't do a whole lot for me even though I grew up playing sports and was a bit of a tomboy as a kid.  I guess I've kind of grown out of sports in general.

 

As for sporting events, I've never read at one.  There's too many distractions and you just can't get comfy enough on the bleachers or whatever you might be sitting on. lol  I don't have kids, but if I did, I would probably want to focus all of my attention on them anyway.

 

 

Have any thoughts or answers about the above questions? 

Leave me a link or comment below and have a wonderful Thursday!

 



Teaser Tuesday: A Game of Thrones

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

 

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

This weeks' teaser comes from A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin:

"My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind...and a mind needs a book like a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge." Tyrion tapped the leather cover of the book. "That is why I read so much, Jon Snow." - pp.123-124

I started watching the HBO series a couple of months ago and it put me in the mood to read the books.  So far everything seems to be similar which is a huge relief to know that Hollywood didn't deviate too much from the storyline.  I love Tyrion Lannister, both in the TV series and in the book, so it was only appropriate to quote him this time.

Have any of you read this series or watched the HBO version?  Let me know what you think of it and who your favorite character or characters are!

If you have a teaser, leave me a link below and I'll be sure to check it out!



 

Booking Through Thursday #1

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly bookish meme about (mostly) books and reading.

 

As my previous post mentioned, I've gotten back into a reading frenzy again.  So, I wanted to join in a couple of weekly memes for fun.  I found Booking Through Thursday and decided to go with this one for a Thursday bookish meme.  I'll try to keep up with this meme on a regular basis and who knows...maybe it will generate some interesting conversations!

 

The question for this week is: Do you read any foreign languages? Do you ENJOY reading in other languages?

 

Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal

by J. K. Rowling

I don't claim to be fluent in Spanish (waaaay far from it), but I had this brilliant idea that since I'd already read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in English, that maybe I could try to read it in Spanish.  Unfortunately, I didn't get very far.  But this book is still on my shelf and maybe someday I will give it another try.  This was my only attempt to read something in another language and I doubt I'll try again.  But, anything is possible!

Do you read any foreign languages? 

Leave me a link if you're participating in this meme or leave a comment below answering the question! 

And have a great Thursday!

 

 



Insatiable Reading Trend

I love to read!  It's the next best thing to writing.  Well, that and chocolate and other things I won't mention here. lol

Anyway, as much as I love to read, I sometimes go through dry spells where I won't touch a book for months.  And it just so happens that I was going through one of those dry spells towards the end of last year, beginning of this year.  But then one day, I picked up Nearly Departed in Deadwood by Ann Charles and suddenly my reading passion is back with a vengeance!  Yay!!

Since picking up that book, I've read every book in the series up through book 4 (actually I'm about 30 pages from the end of that book which I should finish today, but I'm counting it as having read all the books) and that includes the short story she released not long ago to compliment the series.  This woman has astounded me...seriously!  Sure, it's your basic murder-mystery, but she's thrown in ghosts, a middle-aged single mother of twins, a crotchety old man that has sex on the brain constantly, a Dirty Harry style detective, and a smokin' hot alpha male for the heroine to lust after.  Add in all the humor that mixes so well with the story and it's no wonder I have devoured this entire series within two weeks!  Ann Charles, you are a goddess of humorous, ghostly murder mysteries!

As I mentioned during that ramble, I'm about 30 pages away from finishing the last book in the series (please, please, please let there be more books in this series) and I realize that my reading frenzy is just getting started.  So, I was pondering what to read next.  Enter George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.  Game of Thrones anyone?

Yeah, I got hooked on the HBO series and decided I needed to read the actual books.  I was curious as to whether HBO kept fairly close to the plot line or if they went their own direction with it.  From what I've heard, they stay pretty close with the storyline, but I recognize that there's so much going on behind the scenes that you can't fit it all into an hour episode.  So, with my sudden craving for all things Game of Thrones, I ordered a box set of the first four books which arrived in the mail yesterday...woot! 

So, to answer the question of what I'll be reading next....A Game of Thrones....hopefully starting tonight!  I plan to envision Peter Dinklage every time Tyrion Lannister makes an appearance in the book.  I'm completely in love with this character and feel that Peter Dinklage does an astounding job in the HBO series!

Anyway, I guess we'll see how long this latest insatiable reading trend lasts and I'll be sure to share my thoughts on books that I find worthy of expounding on!

Starward Cover Reveal

I'm deep in the middle of edits for Starward (Galactic Dynasty #1) but I wanted to take some time to share the beautiful cover with you all:

Isn't it pretty?  The cover will actually wrap around to the spine, so some of what appears to be extra space on the left side is actually where the spine will be.

I'm so excited to share this with everyone and can't wait for the book to release!  I'll definitely keep everyone posted as the release date grows near.  Until then, keep your eyes peeled for more about this upcoming Sci-Fi/Adventure release...it's going to be an awesome journey!!

Starward....And Beyond

Good morning all!  You've probably noticed the silence here over the last week or two and I promise I have a good reason for that. 

Final edits have begun on Starward (Galactic Dynasty #1) and the first four chapters had to have some major additions and re-writes.  So, my fingers have been glued to my keyboard trying to make those happen.  And let me just say that the additions and re-writes were well worth it! 

So, we're now into the second part of the book and things are shaping up nicely. We should have Starward completely edited and ready for publication within.....hopefully.....the next month or so. *crosses fingers*  I'll know more as things progress and will definitely keep everyone posted.

And speaking of Starward, a lot of discussions have been taking place between me and the co-author, E. M. Lohr, (who is also my Muse and my wonderful hubby) about overall series direction and how we want to see the subsequent books play out.  Which has actually led me to begin writing the first draft of Book 2 in the Galactic Dynasty series.  We don't have a title for the book yet...that probably won't come until we've written at least half of the first draft.  But, it has started and I'm extremely excited to see how the characters are going to continue to tell their story!

Edits have also begun on Prophecy Revealed (The Soul of Arial #1).  Did any of you see something strange in that sentence?  Yep, the book that was originally titled The Soul of Arial has gone through some structural changes.  An overall series concept revealed itself to me about three weeks ago and I've been working on fitting the book into this new concept.  Here's how I sort of see it playing out: The Soul of Arial will actually encompass 5-6 books total spanning three very different realms that Arial has to travel through to reach her ultimate destination. 

I know that probably didn't reveal a whole lot about the series, but I'd rather not reveal a lot right now.  Things are still in the works, but as Prophecy Revealed comes closer to being complete and ready to publish, I'll be sharing a lot more about this particular series with you.

Have I forgotten anything???  Probably, but these two particular pieces of information were the most important that I wanted to share at the moment.  I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the return of Spring!  I know I'm looking forward to seeing things in bloom again!

Adios for now!