Friday's Blogger Hop - April Fool's Day

I love Fridays for so many reasons but one of them is because it means it is time for the Book Blogger Hop hosted by Jen at Crazy for Books

Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs to read! So, grab the logo, post about the Hop on your blog, and start HOPPING through the list of blogs that are posted in the Linky list below!!

The Hop lasts Friday-Monday every week, so if you don't have time to Hop today, come back later and join the fun! This is a weekly event! And stop back throughout the weekend to see all the new blogs that are added! She gets over 200 links every week!!


This week's question comes from Jen herself!

 "Since today is April Fool's Day in the USA, what is the best prank you have ever played on someone OR that someone has played on you?"

I didn't have to think too long for this answer because my sons did this to me last year and IT WAS NOT funny! My twenty year old had gotten into a car accident on the 31st of March - I really didn't even think about the date until the 1st of April when my twenty-one year old called me in a panic and said, "Mom, Mom, Randy just got into another accident." He sounded all panicky and then I put two and two together and I said, "I'm not buying this Jared. This better damn well be an April Fool's Day Joke and It is NOT funny!" He figured out very quickly that it was not too funny.

The other one has to be- - and I don't have any idea why as children we think we are so smart -- every year I used to run into the house screaming, "Mommy, mommy, come quick...the dog had puppies!" Of course, she never came and the dog never had puppies.

Who came up with this holiday anyway?

Happy Friday to you all and I can hardly wait to hop and see all the foolish things people have done!  

Pondering with a Purpose - Giving

Welcome to Pondering with a Purpose - Thinking on a Thursday

This is a weekly hop that I started several weeks ago. The main idea behind Pondering with a Purpose is actually quite simple.

I am a writer - that is what I do.
Although I love blogging and hopping and following all the bloggers I found that I had not actually been writing a blog so I decided to create a hop where I would give a prompt and write about the prompt. My hope is that other bloggers would also write to the prompt and then add their blog to the linky list below and then hop to other sites and see how other people interpret that prompt.

I still believe this idea will catch on.....here are the previous prompts and blogs:
word Association
Beauty
Change
Detail
Edge
Friends and Followers

AND this week's prompt is                            Giving

I had always heard that it was better to give than to receive but I never really knew what that meant until I became a mother. But honestly that got old by the time my kids reach their teenage years. I mean really, how much giving is enough? You think that by that time they would start giving back, right? Wrong! I have heard that by the time they are in their thirties they finally figure it out. Heck, who knows where I'll be by the time they hit their thirties?

I actually ran across someone who I would like to spotlight about giving. Her name is Gale and her blog is Such Fun to Give.

I was so impressed with her site that I am going to be interviewing her in the near future.

I have also discovered in the past few years that I find myself happiest when I am doing things for other people - in my case it is working with the poor and homeless. I have a very good friend I work with and I think he summed it up best when he said, "I can look them in the eye and say, 'You are my neighbor, my friend, my companion.'" Because in reality, isn't that all any of us really want? To belong somewhere - to have our very existence validated. Don't we all feel better by giving, not receiving?

WOW Weekly 100 Words 3/30/11

It is Wednesday and although I am a little late it is time to join my friend Ruthi at Ruthi Reads for her weekly WOW of 100 words. This is where we talk about the books we are currently reading and share 100 words of that book so we can tantalize our readers.

WELL I have to share this with you: Have you ever read a book that stays with you throughout the day? I mean REALLY stays with you? I don't know how your days are structured, but mine are pretty rigid! I get up and go to work and by the time I get home I have to make dinner, go through my emails, do my blogging and publicity for the books, do the daily stuff that has to be done and then I get to settle down with a book - if, and only IF I am lucky! I mean.... let's be real - I have to get at least one hour of writing in a day.I have to get at least one hour of social networking in a day. I have to do everything else - so there is little time for reading --- but I am reading a book right now that has be CAPTURED - - It is  An Atlas of Impossible Longings by Anuradha Roy.

This book takes you on journey and introduces you to people that you cannot tear yourself away from. I started it on the plane coming home from Georgia on Sunday night and I am already on page 93. This is a portion where the 50 year old matriarch of the family is going crazy and she says things that she does not remember saying. From page 40:

The next day, as Amulya was dressing to go to the factory, Kananbala asked him, “You dandy, who’re you fucking these days? Is it a Brahmo lady in a georgette sari?” She turned away before the stunned Amulya could say anything, and went into the verandah. Amulya rushed after her. Nirmal was sitting at the dining table at the far end of the verandah, the Statesman crossword beside him, abandoned again without a single word filled.

“D you know what you said?” Amulya looked at her as if at a monster who  had sprouted four heads in a place of …

I hope you are all reading a book as tantalizing as this one.

Don't forget to check out my review of the Ice Princess!

The Ice Princess - Book Review

The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg is this author's debut novel in the states. It was actually written several years ago as she is a very popular author in her native Sweden.

This book starts off with a bang and never really lets the reader off the hook. It is filled with mystery, intrigue and a bit of romance. It delves into the world of money, poverty and infidelity as well. Lackberg weaves a very good story. It shows how a dark secret can slowly eat away at a person's heart and soul. The desire to set the past free unleashes a chain of events with unexpected results. Characters are described in a manner that reminded me of Charles Dickens. Lackberg is certainly worthy of her best selling status.

You cannot help but fall in love with her main character Erica - she struggles with her weight and promises herself she will start Weight Watchers - tomorrow. She is afraid of a commitment but is drawn towards love. A childhood love finds her and stumbles around as he investigates the crime - they are definitely drawn towards each other.

My only criticism of the story would be that Lackberg brings in auxilliary characters and storylines that do not add anything to her book. An example of that would be her thread about domestic abuse. This thread does not reach a resolution, nor does it ring plausible in the real world of abuse. She leaves the story line hanging. As an author who deals with that subject myself I am keenly aware when another author discusses it. The way it was discussed in The Ice Princess was too superficial and it probably should not have been in there at all.

As a book in whole it was a good read. The story moved along nicely, there were a LOT of characters and she handled them all neatly. I love reading how other authors described people! I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book. It was given to me as a member of "Free Press Blog Tours" on Book Bloggers

The Ice Princess
Camilla Lackberg
389 pages

Monday's Musings

Wow! I am late ..... again!
But I have a really really good excuse this week. I spent the weekend in Georgia with my daughter and son-in-law. I tried to keep up with everything via the internet - but our return flight was so heavily delayed that I sort of lost an entire day!
TODAY!

But - - I will get caught up.....
Make sure to check back tomorrow for my book review of The Ice Princess

Have a great week!

Friday's Blogger Hop 3/25

It is already Friday - my how this week seemed to fly by! Well, Friday means Book Blogger Hop hosted by Jen at Crazy for Books

Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs to read! So, grab the logo, post about the Hop on your blog, and start HOPPING through the list of blogs that are posted in the Linky list below!!

The Hop lasts Friday-Monday every week, so if you don't have time to Hop today, come back later and join the fun! This is a weekly event! And stop back throughout the weekend to see all the new blogs that are added! She gets over 200 links every week!!


This week's question comes from Mina who blogs at Mina Burrows:

"If you could physically put yourself into a book or series…which one would it be and why?"

This is really a very easy one for me - I have two all time favorite books and I would love to be a part of either one of them.

First is Gone with the Wind -

I am in love with that time period - having a degree in History specializing in the Civil War helps a bit I suppose - But this is such a spectacular story on so many levels - to think that someone could actually wake up one day and see everything they ever believed they would have was totally gone - (heavy sigh) - and Rhett - or Leslie - whomever Scarlett believed she loved - - I could wax on for hours - but I won't.


And my second choice has to be A Christmas Carol by Dickens.

I believe everyone of us needs to be reminded now and again to kick the Scrooge inside of us out. Getting visited by our own  inner ghosts would do most of us a lot of good!

Happy hopping!

Pondering with a Purpose - aka Thinking on a Thursday

I would like to begin by explaining what Pondering with a Purpose was originally intended for. I found myself following or hopping along on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays of every week. I had created my own weekly Monday Musings and I decided that I wanted to create my own hop for Thursday. My friend Ruthi helped me with my badge (poetic creation by abitosunshine). She also came up with the "Pondering with a Purpose". My idea was to give a prompt every week and have my friends and followers write to the prompt and gather other friends and followers to do the same. I added a linky list at the bottom and left it open for a week.
To see the first 5 weeks, here are their links: 1) Word Association,2) Beauty, 3)Change, 4)Detail, 5) Edge

This is week 6 and I am going to try something a little different.
I still want you to write to the prompt and add your post to the linky list below - BUT the prompt this week is:

 Friends & Followers

It is up to you to do what you would like with that prompt - remember - have fun, enjoy yourself, and add your post to the linky below.

I would like to introduce some of my old friends and followers to some of my new friends and followers (hence the reason for the early submission - some of my new friends are in Australia - it is already Thursday there):

First - Ruthi Cox aka Abitosunshine - she is the reason I have a blog and blog as much and as well (that's debatable) as I do - if it weren't for her - I would just be another unknown author. You can find Ruthi in a lot of places, here are two:



One of my new friends is Elizabeth from Silver's Reviews - I met her while hopping on Friday's -

and I don't know what it was, but I just felt so comfortable with her immediately. We have hopped back and forth every week since that first time.  Her blog has a peaceful ambiance and she and I seem to enjoy the same types of books.

Another old friend and follower of mine - actually Ruthi introduced us, is Cynthia - she has one of my favorite blogs:

And then there is this absolutely hilarious author from across the pond - Sooz - you really have to go check her out! I always love to see other authors when I am hopping along and she is great! 




I have a friend I haven't heard from in awhile. So I am going to add her to this list and send her an email. Heather from Buried in Books. Actually Heather helped me out a LOT. It was her suggestion that got me to start doing the Friday Book Blogger hop that has introduced me to all these new people. So Thank you Heather!
AND I cannot imagine putting this list together without mentioning Alison. She has over 800 followers! I was shocked when I saw that and she responded to me. It floored me. AND she comes to me every Friday still. Wow! I am still in shock every week. I really like her blog because it is so different from everyone else's. I love that she is so creative. You really should go check it out.

And the last of my new followers and friends I am going to add today is Evie - and the reason I am adding Evie is because when I wanted to grab her badge last Friday and I couldn't she actually came back to me and told me she had changed it so I could - now that's what I call a NEW friend! Go check her out!


I could probably add another ten friends here but I won't. I would love to see what all of you have to say about your friends and followers.
My your trip through the blogosphere let you encounter plenty of new friends.

Enjoy your week!

WOW Weekly 100 Words for 3/23/11

This is a weekly hop that is hosted by Ruthi Cox aka abitosunshine over at Ruthi Reads. It is a great way to find out what all your friends are reading and read just a tantalizing teaser from their books.

This week I am just about to finish the murder mystery The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg

The guilt could be divided up into equal bits and portioned out among the guilty. He did not intend to bear it all alone.

He looked at his hands. How he hated his hands. They carried both beauty and death—and incompatibility duality that he had learned to live with. Only when he caressed her had his hands been entirely good. His skin against her skin had driven away all the evil, forced it to flee for a while. At the same time they had nourished each other’s hidden wish. Love and death, hatred and life. Opposites that turned them ….



I am reading this book as part of Book Blogs Free Press Blog Tours. It is a great group that I belong to and I have had an opportunity to receive and review some really good books!

Next on my list is An Atlas of Impossible Longing - - Next week there will be a WOW weekly 100 words from that book!

Hope you are enjoying your book!

Monday's Musings - the first day of Spring

It might be the first day of spring where you live - but where I live we just broke all of the rain fall totals - and I lost all power. It is really strange and you realize how much we depend on electricity when it's gone. It went out right in the middle of my making dinner last night and it didn't come back on until 4:00 AM. You would think that would be great - we are just sleeping anyway - right? Well not so much! Can't finish cooking dinner! Can't see anything - we only have two flashlights. I tried to read by flashlight - not a really easy thing to do.

Of course the storm only got worse and colder and the heater didn't work either. Great way to realize how lucky we really are to have everything we have!

Back to my normal musings: Saturday was great - There do seem to be more people on the streets - if you're new to my blog - I spend Saturday mornings with the Missionaries of Charity and go to Downtown Los Angeles and feed the homeless. I partner up with one particular Brother - Ben Harrison and we have a route we take. - We found several more women this week - and it is really tough on women to be out there alone. Of course we handed out food and iced tea, but we also had blankets, tarps and socks as well. When I returned home caught up on a few things that had been neglected and curled up with a good book.

Sunday morning the storm was threatening to come in so I went grocery shopping and decided to make some homemade soup - I was going to make Cream of Broccoli. Wouldn't you know it - the power went out right as I was going to use the blender! Oh well, looks like I know what we're having for dinner tonight!

How was your weekend?

Shop Hop Saturday - March 19, 2011

Today is Saturday and that makes it Shop Hop Saturday - the day that I get to join my friend Ruthi over at

abitosunshine.





This is a weekly hop by Ruthi Cox aka abitosunshine at Poetic Creations by abiosunshine. It is a hop where we get to boost each other along to say what we have done in the past week about our business ventures and what our plans are for the next week. It is sort of a booster club for those of us with online businesses.

I usually start my Saturday Hop by talking about my Real online business but today I am starting with something else! My Books!

The new cover has been designed and today is its unveiling:  Tell me what you think!:

If you are interested in reading a review - there is one posted on my friend Cynthia's blog The Wytch's Mirror

Now I will talk about my online business Reviews4Reviews.

I actually did something this week that I had been planning on doing for several weeks. I created a lensography on Squidoo

where all the individual lenses for the authors are featured. That way if someone happens upon us they can see everything in one place.

I had a very productive week and I also gained new followers this week on my weekly Friday Book Blogger hop that I participate in.

How was your week?

Book Blogger Hop - How many do you read?

Happy Friday and that's means it is time for Book Blogger Hop! This is a weekly event hosted by Jen at Crazy For Books. Every week a different question is posted and people join the link and then hop through the blogosphere and get to know each other.

Jen this is so much fun and thanks for doing it!

This week's question comes from Somer who blogs at A Bird's Eye Review (her blog design is ADORABLE - check it out!):


"Do you read only one book at a time, or do you have several going at once?"

I only READ one book at a time, but I am also writing one as well - so I guess that means two books? I find that as I pick up the book to read sometimes I get myself confused and have to go backward. The greatest part about reading a good book though is I get Great Ideas about the book I am writing. Right now I am reading the Ice Princess - and will post my review for the Free Blog Tour on Book Blogger.

I can hardly wait to see everyone else's answers! Happy hop day!

Squidoo Hop for St. Pattys Day

 

Happy St. Patty's Day to all.....

I actually finally made the Lensography for Reviews4Reviews - I am so happy!

Included in that lensography are the update lenses for Paul Chisolm and D. Allen Jenkins. The only new lens created was for Mark Pogodozinski.

That's about it!

In Dreams Giveaway Winner!

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone!

Today is the day for the winner of the In Dreams Giveaway to be announced!

Random.org came up with the number 10! and that lucky person is Cynthia at csescapes. So Cynthia a copy of In Dreams is on its way to you right now!

Keep checking back here for more giveaways!

Pondering With a Purpose - St. Patrick's Day '11

Happy Thursday and welcome to another Pondering with a Purpose - Think..think..think on Thursday. This is the blog hop where you get to let your creative juices flow because after all I am an author and writing is what I do. I created this hop because as I went from day to day and hopped through the blogosphere I felt like something was missing - for me - and I wanted to try a new hop where I would give a prompt and my blogger buddies would try to get creative and hop along. It is nothing to get stressed over. Just relax and enjoy yourself. It can be silly or not. Poetry or story - heck it doesn't even have to make sense -- it can even be a picture!

So to recap the first four weeks - we had word association, beauty, change, detail, and now for this weeks' prompt:

Edge

You can use it as a noun or a verb or an adverb - you can get 'edgy' if you want -- remember, have fun!

Whenever I think of the word edge two totally different images come to my mind. One is the edge of a pie crust, because I can never get it right! No matter how hard I try, or how long I take to make the crust perfect, something always goes wrong. It falls while it cooks, or it burns, or the worst part is when it falls into the pie - like how does that even happen? I think it is Betty Crocker laughing at me - I really do!

The other image - and this one is much more poignant, especially this week, is when I was in college I took a ride up the coast of California with my then boyfriend and it was amazing to see how the road was really on the edge of the world. We seem to forget how close land and water really are to each other and how there really is an edge there. I know that most of the people who read my blog are not from Southern California and have not grown up next to the beach, and honestly I have never lived in a land-locked state so I don't know what it would be like NOT to have the beach near by. Don't get me wrong - I NEVER go in the water - it's just the fact that it's there - and again, even more so this week. The edge between calm and calamity is very fine.

What are you thinking about on this Thursday?

WOW Weekly 100 Words 3/16/11

Welcome to Wednesday!





I am hopping along with my very good friend Ruthi aka abitosunshine! She has a Weekly WOW of 100 words. This is where we get to share what we are reading.

I have been reading the Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg

- for book bloggers - I am a member of the free blog tours and I have to say that this book is really good! I can't wait to write my review!

But for this week I am sharing 100 words from pg 76 - this is a really tense moment in the book:

The intruder was searching the bedroom. It sounded as if he or she were doing about the same thing Erica was doing before she was interrupted. Drawers were pulled out, and Erica knew that the wardrobes were next. Her panic rose. Beads of sweat formed on her brow. What could she do? The only solution she saw was to squeeze as far back behind the clothes as possible. She was lucky to have stepped into a wardrobe with several long coats in it, and she cautiously squeezed in among them and draped them in front of her. She hoped the…..


I am also about to start An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradah Roy - just the summary looks great.

Check this out:
Roy's impressive American debut covers multiple generations of an Indian family from the turn of the 20th century to India's partition. Three distinct sections revolve around Amulya, who runs an herbal medicine and fragrance business; his mentally ill wife, Kananbala, who spies on the goings-on of her English neighbors from the room Amulya keeps her locked in; their sons, Kamal and Nirmal; their wives; Nirmal's daughter Bakul, whose mother died in childbirth; and finally Mukunda, an orphan that Amulya helps support, at which point Nirmal brings Mukunda home as a companion for Bakul. Tales weave backward and forward, and characters wallow in their longings, occasionally taking action; Mukunda and Bakul form a lasting bond that doesn't change with their circumstances. The book unfolds in third person until the final section, when Mukunda steps in as narrator to provide a welcome personal perspective on years of events. Roy is especially good at sensory description, making the sounds, smells, and feel of Bengal come vividly to life. Cultures may differ, but longing and love are universal. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Monday's musings on a Tuesday

Okay... I know I am a day late. But better late than never... right?

I like to do a Monday's musings and wrap up my weekend so I can start my week off right, only my weekend started with a migraine and it did not really go away until late Monday afternoon - hence Monday's musings on a Tuesday.

Saturday was spent doing what I love to do with the Missionaries of Charity, even with my headache! Only this week something extraordinary occured. We were almot out of food and there was this man at the park behind a wrought iron fence. Ben pulled over and I asked him if he wanted some sandwiches. He said yes so I poured him some tea and grabbed two lunches for him. I could not get them through the bars so I stood on my tip-toes and reached over the top and he grabbed them. As we made eye contact it was as if I had seen those eyes before. Pale blue translucence. He thanked me and I walked back to the van, as I got in I looked over towards him and we both waved good-bye. Earlier in the route we had seen an 80 year old woman - now really 80? What is going on here?

Sunday I kept a pretty low profile - grocery shopping with Michelle and housecleaning.

Monday I ended up nursing the migraine - but the best news of all is that the cover art is finally being done on Disrupted Lives! and a HUGE Thank you to Cynthia from The Wytch's Mirror for the best cover design idea. The artist said it will save him time trying to figure out what I want!

So that about wraps up the end of last week....what did you do?

Shop Hop Saturday 3/12/11

Today is Shop Hop Saturday with abitosunshine

This is a weekly hop by Ruthi Cox aka abitosunshine at Poetic Creations by abiosunshine. It is a hop where we get to boost each other along to say what we have done in the past week about our business ventures and what are plans our for the next week.



I try to start each week by talking about my online business Reviews4Reviews.

I have added a few new lens on Squidoo
and talked about them on our blog

Burt the most exciting this this week had to be my author chat on Gather.
It went really well and I think I might have actually sold some books.

Disrupted Lives is getting closer to the finish line - just waiting on the art department.


And that's about the gist of my week!

Blogger Hop - Books to buy 3/11/11

It's Friday and that means it's time for the Friday Book Blogger Hop! 

If you're new to this - The Book Blogger Hop is sponsored by Jen at Crazy For Books, and it is a chance to hop around the blogospher and meet other bloggers. Every Friday there is a new question and after you write a blog and answer the question you go add your link the linky list and read other answers.

This week's question comes from Ellie who blogs at Musings of a Bookshop Girl:

"If I gave you £50 (or $80) and sent you into a bookshop right now, what would be in your basket when you finally staggered to the till?"

I really had to think about this question before I answered it and then it became so obvious to me I laughed out loud.

The very first book I would but in my basket would be a hard cover version of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. Not only is this my absolutely favorite book, but I had a copy once upon a time and I lost it.

1.  Gone With the Wind - 16.99

2.  The Grapes of Wrath - 30.00

3.  Little Women  -              5.00

4.  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  $13.50

This might seem like an odd list to most of you, but I truly believe that as an author this is so much to learn from the classic authors!

Have a great week and I'll see you on the hop!

Squidoo hop 3/10/11

Every week Marsha at Marsha's Spot hosts a hop where we get to talk about Squidoo lenses that we either just made or want to highlight for the week.

I was disappointed last week because Marsha didn't host her hop and I had made my first lensography and more importantly than that I had actually created a lot of lenses that week. But I am going to concentrate of this past week instead.

I created a couple of new lenses for Review the Author - there is one for John Allen, one for Deanna Lee Warren, and one for Sandi Perry. My next big project will be to create a lensography for Reviews4Reviews.

Oh and I created a What's your favorite Television shows? as my first lens created for a quest. It was a blast!

For now I am enjoying my dual life in blogspot and Squidoo - but it is a lot of work!

That's about it for this week.

Pondering with a Purpose 3/10/11

 

Welcome to Pondering with A Purpose --- What I like to call Thinking on a Thursday.  

I started this hop because as I was blogging and hopping and following all these great people on the blogosphere I felt like there was something missing....something missing for me. I am a writer - that is what I do, and I felt like with all the other things going on I wasn't doing that so much anymore on my blog - so I decided that one day a week I was going to do that and hopefully some of my friends would hop along with me. I'll give a prompt and then write about it and you can do the same. After you post your blog on the prompt - add it to the linky and we can all come read what you wrote.

It can be poetry, bullet points, a picture, a story, anything you want it to be - there is no pressure....just have fun!

This week's prompt is:  When I was a kid I always heard "The Devil's in the Details" 

I want you to write - in detail - about something (I'm just going to leave it there)

The long eyelashes can be seen in her profile. So long that even as a child people commented on them. With a sly grin she'd always say thank you, but never understood what for. That was until the teenage years. Still they curl up, but that's not the secret to her beauty. I walk the hall and look at the pictures. One for each year. The smile, the impish smile with the lips turned up unevenly, and the twinkle in her eye - the green eyes. The next year she might be a year older, but the smile and the eyes are the same. And then I notice as I look at her in profile today, she has the long curled up eyelashes, the impish smile and green eyes - and you know what is the most amazing thing about it all? She doesn't even realize how beautiful she is.

Wow Weekly 100 3/9/11

Happy Wednesday everyone which means it is time for the

This is a weekly hop sponsored by my very good friend Ruthi at Ruthi Reads 
we all share what we are reading and talk about the book and put 100 words down to entice other people to read the book.

I am actually between books right now -- waiting for two books to arrive in the mail. So - I am going to share 100 words from the book I just finished:

Forever Becoming

This was a great book for fantasy lovers!

Here is my excerpt: 

“Wow. You’re good at reading a map! The camper praised.

“It’s a gift.” With a wink and a thanks, they were off again. “She couldn’t see you because you’re really not here. It’s like totally bizarre and I don’t have the rulebook for being in the spirit body, but I got some stuff I know.

“When I was in the institution, I was like fed mush and spent almost all my time tied to a bed. They like puzzled over why I didn’t lose muscle tone and weight in general, like all their other patients. I got my exercise …

Next week I hope to have started The Ice Princess --- it should be here any day now! I am reviewing that for the book blog free book tour group. I will keep you posted as the reading progresses!

Until next week.....keeping reading....and writing.....

Mondays Musings - first Monday in March

Happy Monday Morning to all.

I woke up to a gray and cloudy day in Southern California. The weatherman says it will be off and on showers all day. But that's okay because I like the rain!

Only in Southern California can you go from 75 degrees on a Saturday to cold and windy on Sunday to overcast and raining on Monday -- now who says we don't live in paradise?


Well...back to the Monday musings....

The weekend:  Saturday morning went well, but it seems like there are more and more displaced people. I know the news says the economy is getting better and the recession officially ended in 2009 - but you try to tell that to all the people who still don't have work. We saw 4 new people we had never seen before this week and I am sure that for every new person we find there are 5 or 6 more that we don't even know.  For those of you who are new to my blog - Every Saturday morning I go to Downtown Los Angeles and feed the homeless.

Sunday - I had time to catch up on quite a few things! I spent time writing Skewered Halo and did some much needed house cleaning.

I have decided that this is going to be a great week!

Shop Hop Saturday 3/5/11

Today is Shop Hop Saturday with abitosunshine

This is a weekly hop by Ruthi Cox aka abitosunshine at Poetic Creations by abiosunshine. It is a hop where we get to boost each other along to say what we have done in the past week about our business ventures and what are plans our for the next week.




I always start off by discussing my online business - but today I am going to discuss my website: Brendayoungerman 
I have done a complete makeover of the site and am really quite pleased with it - I'd love for feedback!

NOW: for Reviews4Reviews 
I added a brand new feature: Author of the Month on our blog

and followed that up with a new lens on Squidoo

And that's about the gist of my week!

Book Blogger Hop - 3/4/11-3/7/11

Welcome to Book Blog Hopper for March 4-March 7, 2011

This hop is brought to all of us by Jen at Crazy for Books.  This week's question is:

 "Who's your all-time favorite book villain?"

That question was suggested by  Mia at Girl About books

This is a really hard question . . . and I mean REALLY hard because I normally root for the bad guys! Wow! The absolute first person that popped into my mind is Cruella Deville - I have no idea why but she is the one! And yes, I know she is a cartoon character - I also adore Tom from Tom and Jerry - not real again --- I know!

So if we're talking novels -- Rhett Butler jumps up at me - and then I have this huge discussion with my subconcious with -- is he a villian? Or is he a hero? Now that conversation could actually go on for quite a while - - What do you think? Rhett Butler - - good or bad?

Pondering with a Purpose 3/3/2011

Welcome to the third Thinking on a Thursday....Pondering with a Purpose

I started this hop because as I went through the blogosphere hopping from blog to blog I realized that everyone has their own special niche and some are incredible! I am a writer - that's what I do. Every week I will provide a prompt and you can grab the prompt and post a blog and come back and join the linky so we can all read your blog too! There is no specific format for your post - you can write a poem, prose, story, fiction. You can even post pictures if you're more comfortable with that.

Pondering With A Purpose

3/3/11 Prompt

As a caterpillar changes into a beautiful butterfly this week’s prompt is all about change. I want you to think about you and your life as you know it right now. If there was ONE THING YOU COULD CHANGE what would it be? It can be a moment in time, a physical feature, an argument you had . .. Anything you would like.

After you’ve written your blog, come back and link it here so everyone can come read it!

Thanks for hopping along.


If there was one thing I could change it would have to be way back in 2000 I moved into a new home with my three kids. We literally went from a 900 square foot house to a 2300 square foot house. My kids called it their mansion. We had a pool, two stories, air conditioning, a garage that led into the house – it really was our mansion. We were able to do this because my grandmother had passed and left me a bit of money for a down payment. Any way, I digress…. I realize now that moving changed all of us. I had to work longer hours, my kids started impressing their friends, my oldest felt alienated and the fun we all had together just slipped away.

The memories they have of their childhood does not include the little house we shared for seven years but only the 'mansion.' I suppose that is the way memories work, you remember the good and not the bad - after all who wants to remember eating macaroni and cheese, or rice and beans every day? Or having the electricity turned off? But I think that having all of that happen made us a stronger unit, to them it is just a faded (gone) memory.

Slowly each one of my children moved out and as soon as I was alone I had no need for such a large house. I sold that house and moved into a smaller one, by the water. I think they are a little mad at me for selling their ‘home.’ But to me, home is really all about where your heart is – and my heart isn’t in that mansion – it’s wherever my kids are.

Book Giveaway - In Dreams by Deanna Lee Warren

Fiction With A Purpose - Book Giveaway

 Book Giveaway Rules

Contest Ends March 16, 2011  Midnight PST

Winner chosen through Random.org

MANDATORY ENTRY:

YOU must follow Fiction With A Pupose (FWAP) blog via Google Friend Connect (GFC).

Leave your GFC Folllower name in the comment section.

**********
US Only

EXTRA ENTRIES: You must leave a separate comment for each entry!

1. Follow me on Twitter @ Byoungermanbook and leave your Twitter link in the comment section.
2. Visit Deanna on her website http://www.freewebs.com/deannaleewarren and leave her your link on her visitor page. Again leave a comment here stating that is done. I will be checking.
3. Twitter this giveaway and leave your tweet status link in the comment section.
4. Snag my FWAP blog badge and add it to your blog. Leave your blog link where I can find it in the comment section.
5. Follow my Reviews4Reviews.com blog via GFC - again, leave your GFC Follower name in the comment section.
6. If you have posted a book review of any of my novels on your blog, leave the link to your review post in the comment section. (A separate comment for each of my 5 novels you may have reviewed.)
7. Write a blog post about this giveaway and leave the post link in the comment section 3 times for 3 Entries!

The winner will be announced on this site on March 17, 2011, and you will receive an email from me . If I do not hear from the Winner in 48 hours, a new winner will be selected.

CSN $50 Giveaway Winner

I spun the dial on Random.org and the lucky number was 36!
So I went to my comments and it was Ruthi aka abitosunshine and her comment about the review of Public Lies. But not to worry out there!
I will be doing another giveaway this Week!

I am going to giveaway books!

Happy Wednesday to you all! And thank you all to my new followers!

Brenda

Wow Weekly Post - 3/2/11

Happy Wednesday everyone which means it is time for the

This is a weekly hop sponsored by my very good friend Ruthi at Ruthi Reads 
we all share what we are reading and talk about the book and put 100 words down to entice other people to read the book.

Well this week I finished a book! It was In Dreams by Deanna Lee Warren. You can check out my review on my other blog: Reviews4Reviews where she is the Author of the Month.

Anyway, here are my 100 words:

He felt tired tonight, not just physically, but tired of the continuous dinner parties his wife had, and tired of the tedious dinner conversation, the never-ending cocktail parties, but most of all he was tired of the sound of his wife’s voice. He longed to be back on his ranch. He knew Tucker was taking good care of the ranch and of his horses, but he wanted to be home more, his home. This wasn’t where he belonged, but there wasn’t much he could do. He was going to be a father. He had given up traveling, and Linda’s father…

That is from Chapter 12: Betrayal - - This is a Really Good book - I might just have to have a book giveaway - I sort of have 2 copies -- so I will do that - have a book giveaway - that is if someone helps me set it up.

So...keep posted for that.

Now, I am looking for a new book to read while I wait for the next book from the blog tour to arrive The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg. Anybody read it?

That's about it for me and the WOW -- have a great week!