Sunday Stealing: The Nasty 31 Meme, Part One

Cheers to all of us thieves!

1. What has been you longest love relationship? I guess that would be my current marriage...we just celebrated 7th wedding anniversary and when December 15 rolls around we'll be celebrating 9 years of knowing each other.

2. What was the last gift that you received? Hmmm, that would be the groceries that the Andersons bought for us...I consider that a great gift!

3. What do you spend your extra cash on? Extra cash??? lol Ok I waste money just like everyone else. Eating out is my biggest waste...I hate cooking in this tiny hot kitchen that I currently have.

4. If you could live anywhere would you live? Scotland...yup, love the accent the area and even the weather.

5. Who's your cell provider? AT&T thanks to my mom - nope I'm not wasting a dime on that, it's my birthday and Christmas presents every year.

6. What's your favorite mall store? Barnes & Noble...I've never been to one that's not in a mall and if there is one in a mall, I HAVE to stop there.

7. What's the longest job that you've had? (No parenting does not count!) Let's see...ummm...I guess I haven't found my true calling just yet. Although if I hadn't decided to be a stay at home mom I'd probably still be at Keystone doing property accounting.

8. If you won the lottery, who'd you call first? My husband...then my mom...then my friend Peggy.

9. If you won, how would you spend your money after investments? Buy us a house, new cars, pay off my mom's mortgages and car, buy Nate a car or let him keep mom's house where he's at now. Oh and let's not forget the damn student loans and credit cards...get those damn yokes off our necks.

10. When was the last time you went to church (or a religious house)? Well it's been a few weeks...might be a couple more. Depends on if we have company or not.

11. What's the biggest lie that you've heard? Goodness I can't think of which one to choose...all of them are from Chris' previous employer. Most recent is telling everyone that he paid Chris $2-$3 more an hour than he actually did...trying to make Chris look like a selfish dick.

12. When you go out with your friends, where do you go? I don't go out with my friends. Well occasionally Peggy and I go out to eat and that's usually Ponderosa although I think we'll rethink that one now. I love just hanging out at her house. I've met Amber at Barnes & Noble and we had lunch and hung out there - that was awesome too. Maybe someday soon I can do that again!

13. When was the last time that you cried? Oh my that was the day Chris called me to help him load his stuff...I was scared s***less.

14. What food do you hate? I can't think of anything I really HATE...no wait, repressed memory from childhood surfacing...that Chop Suey in a can that you get at the grocery store. My mom MADE me eat that stuff...I detest it...it isn't allowed to cross my doorstep ever! After that is this chicken casserole that the Andersons made that had green olives in it...without the olives it's ok but with them...blech!

15. What do you like best about yourself? I have low self esteem issues...I really don't know what I like best about myself. And honestly I'm not really talented at any one thing. I'm OK with lots of stuff but nothing stands out.

Review - The Game of Pawns

by: Leonard D. Hilley II

visit Leonard D. Hilley's blog here: http://deimosweb-hilley.blogspot.com.

Available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

Synopsis:
Pawns are Expendable . . .

Twelve execution-style murders have occurred in Newark, New Jersey, in less than a week. Each murder has a calling card - a red pawn on each corpse. Kat Gaddis and Lucian investigate the homicides and discover the last four victims were employed by GenTech, a company that recently merged with Mech Cybernetics. After FBI director Mike Carpenter shares evidence with Kat, they soon discover political ties and corruptions that place Kat's life in direct danger. New players emerge and what seems like serial murders suddenly becomes a struggle for biotech knowledge and power. Kat is thrust into their game - The Game of Pawns.

---

Look at that cover...yes this story uses chess references in the war of genetic research. I had a hard time keeping everyone straight in this one. There were 2 different companies with 3 different bad guys...of varying degrees of evil. They are all in a race to create super humans to be used as soldiers, assassins or prostitutes.

Morton the cat is back to help his friends...of which there's a lot going on in there as well. Lucian is helping Kat find the people responsible for the bad stuff in the previous book (almost gave that away!). And then Lucas is in Nevada with Lydia when she is kidnapped with the command of the worst bad guy. So while Kat is working with the FBI on the Pawn murders and Morton joins them, Daniel flies on to join Lucas and his friends in the hunt for Lydia. Being that it all has to do with genetic research paths will cross. Oh and you have to read just to find out what Kyle can now do.

This is the last book...so far. It was as different from the 1st two books as possible. The characters were the same, but the bad guys were different and the genetic creations were different and scarier. Also the central characters shifted, this was really mostly about Lucian and Kat.

I can't wait to see what he comes up with in the next one...there was a little hint left at the end. So now I just have to wait and wait and wait. Mr. Hilley - don't make me wait too long. :)

Review Guidelines

I am only one person, and while I do welcome guest blogs from authors of the books I review, I haven’t had a guest reviewer yet. That being said, it may take a few months for me to get to your book. I take my work seriously, but I have 2 young boys that get my priority.

My reviews will be shared on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, LibraryThing and Smashwords – if I can. Smashwords only lets you post a review if you have purchased the book and LibraryThing doesn’t have everything.

Fiction genres that I prefer are thriller, mystery, chick lit and paranormal. In non-fiction I do enjoy reading New Age/Occult, biographies, true crime, and history if it is well written and flows easily.

My reviews will be honest. If the book is great, I will say that. However, if the book is full of grammar and spelling issues, then even a great story will lose a star. It’s distracting to the readers. If you self publish, I think that is wonderful but you need to hand that book out to everyone you know with a red pen. (From Debora Geary – “hire an editor!”) If you can find an editor – do so, it really can make your book better.

My rating system is 1 to 5 stars. 1 being a very poor read and 5 meaning it was spectacular.

I will give every book I receive a fair chance. However, if the story doesn’t capture my interest after the first chapter I will not complete a review, and of course I will let you know. You may submit the first chapter and then send me the completed book if I am ready to review it.

The book must be published; I will not accept a book that I can’t also post a link on where my readers can purchase their own copy.

I will post a picture of the cover and a link – usually to Goodreads. I also link to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords (if applicable) to purchase a copy. Then I post a synopsis of the story from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. If there isn’t a synopsis available at these retailers, please provide one with your submission.
You may post my review on your website, but you must make it clear that it is MY review and link back to my blog.

If you submit a book before the release date, I will do my best to get the review finished near that date. Also please let me know if there is a blog tour that I can participate in with the release of your book.

I accept physical and e-format books. Kindle is preferred, but I can open any file you have.

Submitting a Book:
If you would like to submit a book to review, please e-mail me at lilwolfmama (at) gmail (dot) com. Please include the title, your name (author if different), genre, short synopsis of the story, format you’d like to submit. Don’t forget to include any important dates. Also if you want to sponsor a giveaway to my readers include what you would like to offer and if it’s for US only (continental or all) or open internationally. You may also let me know if you’d like to submit a guest blog following my review.

I ask the guest blog to be about your interests. Really, you can write about anything. I haven’t set up an interview questionnaire because what I’d love to see is the author give just a little bit of themselves to my readers. Some have written about the story, others have written about how they balance their family and professional lives. Keep it clean and anything goes.

If you do have a website or blog that you want to get my readers to, don’t forget to include a link with your submission. I will post it along with the links to purchase the book.

Products for Review:
I have accepted products to review and I have enjoyed writing that review as much as a book review. Use the same e-mail as above, tell me about the product, include a picture or a link to the website it is available at, and when you’d like the review completed. If I say no it will be because I just can’t use it, and that wouldn’t allow me to write a fair review.

Rating System

This book was about the worst thing I've ever read, I would rather read all the forms at the DMV.

Ok, this isn't the worst thing ever, but it's too close. Life is too short to waste time on this one.

There are a lot of problems with this story but the good outweighs the bad.

I really enjoyed this book. The story was great, but even though I enjoyed the story I'm not in love with it...just heavy like.

Love, Love, Love this book. This book will be getting a coveted place on my permanent shelf where I enjoy stories over and over again.

Review - Beyond the Darkness (Book II)

by: Leonard D. Hilley II

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.

See Leonard D. Hilley II's blog here-http://deimosweb-hilley.blogspot.com

Synopsis:
Three years after Daniel and the other survivors escaped the terrorizing, blood-thirsty shifters in Pittsburgh, his friends have moved forward with their lives, but Daniel cannot. He believes the conspiracies within TransGenCorp have not ended and more shifters exist.

Then Daniel receives a phone call from Lucas that bolsters his paranoia.

Lucas is being charged with murders he insists his clone committed.

Daniel soon discovers darker atrocities are emerging, which not only place his life in immense danger, but all his friends as well.

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First let me say thank you to Leonard Hilley II for letting me review the 2nd book in the Darkness series. I really enjoyed first book Predators of Darkness.

So the big question - did it live up to expectations? Oh hell yeah!

It's 3 years after those who survived were rescued from Pittsburgh. The main characters are trying to live happily ever after, but each of them has their own emotional scars to deal with. Daniel feels it the heaviest, the guilt and the fear that it isn't really over. I really felt so bad when he was right.

The biggest conflict with a character I feel is Lucas' clone - he has his own name in this book - Lucian. I love it! He's not really a bad guy, but he's controlled by bad people. I truly can't wait to see what is done with him in the final book.

I think you would be better off reading Predators of Darkness first, but if you don't Mr. Hilley puts enough back-story in that you wouldn't be completely lost if you started here.

Another 5 star winner. And I'm off to read the final installment. :)

Alternative Videos

I'm so far behind on my reading. The stress of the last week has been huge. But it's fairly resolved. Two toxic people are gone from our lives forever. Chris lost his job...for a day. He's now working part-time doing something he loves with lots of opportunity.

It's Saturday evening and I'm sitting in a Biggby with my life partner, and feeling the music. So I decided to share 5 of my all time alternative favorites. Songs that I met on the local college radio station years ago before I had CW.

1. Badly Drawn Boy "You Were Right"

2.My Chemical Romance "I'm Not Okay (I promise)"

3. Ben Lee "Something Borrowed, Something Blue"

4.The Living End "End of the World"

5. Green Day "Jesus of Suburbia" (this is a long one and not for the kids)