Saturday, September 10, 2011

Sunday Stealing: The Lower 40 Meme, Part One

Cheers to all of us thieves!

1) Who is the last person you high-fived? CW...rather than kissing him goodbye in front of all the bigger kids at school. He is growing up way too fast for my taste.

2) If you were drafted into a war, would you survive. If I was drafted into a war we must be really desperate!

3) Do you sleep with the TV on? Yes, I used to do that all night long when I was single. I don't like being alone at night.

4) Have you ever drunk milk straight out of the carton? We do it regularly, but from the jug not carton. Cartons of milk are way to expensive and don't last long in a family of 4 with 3 boys.

5) Have you ever won a spelling bee? Never been in one, and I don't think I would win. I need to write down a word; the part of the brain required to spell out loud is damaged in me apparently.

6) Have you ever been stung by a bee? I don't know, hornets yes...I hate those nasty buggers!

7) How fast can you type? about 70wpm on a good day.

8) Are you afraid of the dark? Yup, I jump into bed and I really can't look in a mirror in the dark...thanks to my friend's mom when I was 9!

9) Eye color: Blue

10) Have you ever made out at a drive-in? Not lately, I remember seeing Ghostbusters when I was little and then my brother and I were to go to sleep and my parents watched Tootsie...is that right? Yes, that is correct.

Speaking of Dustin Hoffman, I recommend watching Little Big Man. It's one of my favorite comedies.


11) When was the last time you chose a bath over a shower? Yesterday, give me an hour and I'll take a book into the tub.

12) Do you knock on wood? Yup, never tempt fate!

13) Do you floss daily? Is my dentist reading this? Then yes, of course and I brush 3 times a day too! ;)

15) Can you hula hoop? Oh god no!

16) Are you good at keeping secrets? Yes, I'm also good at minding my own business. Which I think sometimes makes me seem aloof, if someone wants to share something with me, I will listen but I don't always get nosey. But back to the question, yes I can keep a secret. I love to listen to gossip but I don't share it very much.

17) What do you want for Christmas? A comforter so I can save my quilts, comforters for the boys so they can be warm. Oh and a Kindle because I just do!

18) Do you know the Muffin Man? Yes I know the Muffin Man, who lives on Drury Lane.

19) Do you talk in your sleep? I don't know, I don't think so.

20) Who wrote the book of love? Aphrodite? Ironic that her personal life was as messed up as anyone else on Earth.

Friday, September 9, 2011

The Kitchen Daughter

by: Jael McHenry

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Synopsis:
After the unexpected death of her parents, painfully shy and sheltered 26-year-old Ginny Selvaggio seeks comfort in cooking from family recipes. But the rich, peppery scent of her Nonna’s soup draws an unexpected visitor into the kitchen: the ghost of Nonna herself, dead for twenty years, who appears with a cryptic warning (“do no let her…”) before vanishing like steam from a cooling dish.

A haunted kitchen isn’t Ginny’s only challenge. Her domineering sister, Amanda, (aka “Demanda”) insists on selling their parents’ house, the only home Ginny has ever known. As she packs up her parents’ belongings, Ginny finds evidence of family secrets she isn’t sure how to unravel. She knows how to turn milk into cheese and cream into butter, but she doesn’t know why her mother hid a letter in the bedroom chimney, or the identity of the woman in her father’s photographs. The more she learns, the more she realizes the keys to these riddles lie with the dead, and there’s only one way to get answers: cook from dead people’s recipes, raise their ghosts, and ask them.


The cover art is phenomenal on this one. It's a mesh bag holding red peppers, but it's shaped in a way to look like a tank top on a woman. It feels comfortable.

I knew before reading that this is a book about a young woman with Asperger's Syndrome, but I was shocked to see that she had no idea. Her parents had always told her she had a "personality" and sheltered her probably more than they needed to.

She loves to cook and is actually great at it. She makes her Nonna's bread soup for comfort during the wake after her parents funeral - all the people touching her and talking to her just push it too far. She flees to the kitchen and finds her Nonna's recipe and when she makes it, her Nonna comes to the kitchen. And that starts the journey...she makes a person's recipe, a recipe written in their own hand, and the ghost of said person shows up.

In doing this, Ginny starts a journey where she learns secrets in her family she never would have guessed. When she finds a letter of apology from her father to her mother along with pictures of a strange woman, she thinks he had an affair. The truth is so far from that mark...it rocks her to her very core.

She gets diagnosed with the syndrome, and being so smart she takes the advice of her doctor and makes her way out of the house and into life. Proving to herself and her sister that she really can make it on her own. And maybe someday she really will get married and have children of her own.

I think this book also highlights the dangers of refusing labels. Yes labeling can be bad, but when you avoid it too much, you can miss out on the help your child may need. Ginny's mom wouldn't let the teachers label her, but in doing that Ginny never got the extra help that would have allowed her to fit in more and function outside the house.

This is exactly the kind of story that I love. And I especially loved Ginny because even though I have never been diagnosed with asperger's syndrome, I can relate to her difficulty with people. I'm not big on touching and I never know the right thing to say or do. Ginny really touched me...this whole story and all the characters touched me.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

How to Dump Your Boyfriend in the Men's Room

(And Other Short Stories)
by: Sibel Hodge

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.


Synopsis:
A collection of five humorous short stories – what I like to call true fiction. Are you ready to find out “how to dump your boyfriend in the men’s toilets”, why “yoga is bad for your house”, what the “S-Word has to do with your lady garden”, why you need to “follow that goat”, and whether “kismet” does really exist?

Cute cover! It's one of the reasons I enjoy chick-lit, the colorful and cartooney covers.

Now Sibel Hodge mentions in the Author's Note that these books are unrelated. Some are true and some aren't...that's the clue! I forgot because they are all written from the 1st person. I was 3 stories in and feeling really confused before I remembered. So - just letting you know up front, read each story as it's own separate work.

The stories themselves are all quick and fun. I think I loved the Yoga is Bad for you House story best. She is too impatient to do the more difficult poses and ends up blasting her foot through the wall. Turns out for the best as the living room is redecorated due to their inability to find matching paint during the repair. lol

Right now this e-book is 99cents, not a big investment. And it also has chapters from a few of her other novels as a special preview.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Bedbugs

By: Ben H. Winters

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Synopsis:
FOR RENT: Top two floors of beautifully renovated brownstone, 1300 sq. ft., 2BR 2BA, eat-in kitchen, one block to parks and playgrounds. No broker’s fee.

Susan and Alex Wendt have found their dream apartment.

Sure, the landlady is a little eccentric. And the elderly handyman drops some cryptic remarks about the basement. But the rent is so low, it’s too good to pass up.

Big mistake. Susan soon discovers that her new home is crawling with bedbugs . . . or is it? She awakens every morning with fresh bites, but neither Alex nor their daughter Emma has a single welt. An exterminator searches the property and turns up nothing. The landlady insists her building is clean. Susan fears she’s going mad—until a more sinister explanation presents itself: she may literally be confronting the bedbug problem from Hell.


Remember those Quirk Books that literally redefined the classics of Sense & Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice by adding sea monsters and zombies? Ben Winters even wrote/rewrote Android Karenina...which I did enjoy as much as I did the classic Tolstoy version.

Anyway here is a book he wrote all by himself. A thriller with bedbugs at the core of the plot. It was heart-wrenching watching Susan lose her sanity inch by inch. No one close to her believed she had bedbugs but then people farther away started shutting her out just in case. I have heard they are making a comeback so that made this book extra creepy. You will get itchy reading it. And I don't recommend reading it in bed.

Fast paced, well written, and most important very scary. Characters are all well developed and either likable or creepy...whatever they need to be. Susan finally finds and ally who comes to her aid after Susan loses it and attacks her husband. The "exterminatrix" comes to her aid, and when Susan tells her what she did the lady laughs and says "Well, you know, infestations place extraordinary strain upon a relationship."

Great ending that will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end. I'm so very grateful to Quirk Books for letting me read this one.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Sunday Stealing: The 20 Questions of Doom Meme

Cheers to all of us thieves!


1. Do you believe in Heaven? I'm not sure. My beliefs aren't very stationary, I probably change 20 times a day. So who knows...maybe, maybe not.

2. Have you ever come close to dying? Not so far, thank God!

3. What jewelery do you wear 24/7? I had a simple wedding ring until I lost a diamond chip. Now nothing.

4. Would you ever consider having plastic surgery? I have had it, nothing silly I actually had a doctor prescribe it to help with my back, a breast reduction.

5. What do you wear to bed? Usually a nightgown and boxer shorts.

6. Have you ever done anything illegal? Oh like I'd tell you!

7. Who was the last person that you touched? My youngest son...

8. Where did you eat last? This tiny diner in town, not that great. I'm at the Anderson's now and I'm looking forward to dinner.

9. Besides your own blog, are there any that you routinely read but never comment on? Yeah, I try to comment, but I am always reading. Check out the sidebar to the left.

10. Ever been involved with the police? Nope...well except for that time I ran away from home. And the car seat inspections.

11. Do you talk in your sleep? How would I know???

12. Now a celebrity fantasy. Who would you take on a ménage à trois for a dirty weekend? LMAO - well...Russell Brand.

13. Do you feel that you’ve had a truly successful life?

14. Where do you wish you were? I'm happy where I am, I wish my husband were with me, though.

15. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance? Nope, never even been inside of one. I'll keep it that way, thanks.

16. Is there any type of dancing that you love to do? belly dancing is fun.

17. Last gift you received? cash...for my birthday

18. Last sport you played? bowling? Even that's been ages and was played for fun. I've never really been on a team.

19. Last place you went on holiday? Oh a cruise 6 yrs ago that my grandparents paid for. Nothing since.

20. Current Song? Dirty Dancing soundtrack.
MyFreeCopyright.com Registered & Protected