Thursday, February 26, 2015

PARTY!

My retirement reception was the best reception ever. 
The man who hired me,  became and remained one of my most steadfast friends, made the trek back to Statesville to celebrate with me. My surprise guest was my son. Since his school had been closed for two days due to weather,  and he has twin responsibilities, and lives three hours away, I didn't really expect him. When I saw the flowers from him and his lovely wife, I was certain he wasn't coming. Then I turned around and there he was, my baby boy.
I wasn't expecting many folks. (Not only was it frigid outside, but there were workshops going on and I'd received several messages from people who weren't going to be able to attend.) It turned out I was wrong there too. The number of friends and co-workers who showed up to wish me well both surprised and humbled me.
My Flowers

A Beautiful Handmade Gift
Tomorrow is D Day....

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Erin Fanning

I'm very pleased to have Erin with us today. Doesn't her book sound exciting and don't you love that cover? Here's a mini review:
In Blood Stitches, Fanning takes a unique topic and weaves it into a fun yarn. It has everything from magic tapestries to a man dressed like a candy corn. Things really start hopping when Gabby and her best friend Frank get spirited away to a demon ball where they must prevent an apocalyptic disaster.  Want to kick back with an entertaining adventure? Try Blood Stitches.
To read more-
 Blurb:
It’s called El Toque de la Luna—The Touch of the Moon. At least that’s how nineteen-year-old Gabby’s older sister, Esperanza, refers to the magical powers she inherited from their Mayan ancestors. Esperanza says women with El Toque weave magic into their knitting, creating tapestries capable of saving—or devastating—the world. Gabby thinks Esperanza is more like touched in the head—until a man dressed like a candy corn arrives at their Seattle home on Halloween. But “Mr. C” is far from sweet…

Soon, Gabby and her almost-more-than-friend, Frank, find themselves spirited away to a demon ball, complete with shape shifters—and on a mission to destroy Esperanza’s tapestries before they cause an apocalyptic disaster… And before it’s too late to confess their true feelings for each other.
Excerpt:
A gust of wind scattered leaves across the University of Seattle campus. My hair tangled over my face. New contacts tortured my eyes, and books weighed down my backpack. It didn’t matter. A tornado could have snatched me up. As long as it carried me home and put an end to the anniversary of the worst day of my life.

“Watch out, Gabby.” My best friend Frank thrust his hands deep into the pockets of his pinstriped suit. “We’re being followed by a giant candy corn.”

“Giant candy corn? Yeah, right.” If I turned around, Frank would laugh and say, “Gotcha”, or some other dorky thing. The mind-numbing boredom of Calculus I, our last class of the day, always set Frank off, making him zanier than usual.
 
“I mean it. We’ve got a candy corn on our tail.” Frank whistled a Lester Ruben song as he sauntered ahead.

“Okay, okay. Let me see this Halloween wonder.” If I didn’t give in, Frank would never leave me alone. I whirled, ready to hear Frank’s laugh, and almost ran into a man. His face glowed orange, like someone who’d spent too much time in a tanning booth, and he wore a white cap pulled down to his ears. A yellow scarf hid his neck and chin. For once, Frank wasn’t kidding. The man resembled a giant candy corn.

Shredded paper and a postage stamp poked out of his scarf, and a moon decorated an edge of the knitting, like one of my older sister Esperanza’s creations. It didn’t seem possible, but no one else I knew added garbage and a signature moon to their knitting. A wool coat covered the rest of him, except his face and steel-tipped boots.

“Sorry.” I jumped back.

Frank’s chuckles mixed with squirrels chattering in a nearby tree. Drizzle moistened my forehead, and a cold dampness seeped into my bones. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, like watching Esperanza unravel her knitting one stitch at a time to fix a mistake.
 About the author:
Erin Fanning spends her summers on a northern Michigan lake, where her imagination explores the
water and dense forest for undiscovered creatures. In the winter, she migrates to central Idaho, exchanging mountain bikes and kayaks for skis and snowshoes. She’s the author of Mountain Biking Michigan, as well as numerous articles, essays, and short stories.

Links







Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Love, Lattes and Mutant Release




LOVE, LATTES, AND MUTANTS

Sandra Cox
Cover Reveal and Release

Blurb: Finding love is hard, even when you aren’t a mutant.
Like most seventeen-year-olds, Piper Dunn wants to blend in with the crowd. Having a blowhole is a definite handicap. A product of a lab-engineered mother with dolphin DNA, Piper spends her school days hiding her brilliant ocean-colored eyes and sea siren voice behind baggy clothing and ugly glasses. When Tyler, the new boy in school, zeroes in on her, ignoring every other girl vying for his attention, no one, including Piper, understands why...
Then Piper is captured on one of her secret missions rescuing endangered sea creatures and ends up in the same test center where her mother was engineered. There she discovers she isn’t the only one of her kind. Joel is someone she doesn’t have to hide from, and she finds herself drawn to the dolph-boy who shares her secrets. Talking to him is almost as easy as escaping from the lab. Deciding which boy has captured her heart is another story...

Bio:
Multi-published author Sandra Cox writes YA Fantasy, Paranormal and Historical Romance, and Metaphysical Nonfiction. She lives in sunny North Carolina with her husband, a brood of critters and an occasional foster cat. Although shopping is high on the list, her greatest pleasure is sitting on her screened in porch, listening to the birds, sipping coffee and enjoying a good book. She's a vegetarian and a Muay Thai enthusiast.

Links:
($2.99 at) Amazon
($2.99 at) Barnes and Noble
($2.99 at) Kobo
Giveaways:
First prize:
A Piper-approved necklace and $10 Starbuck Card



Second Prize:
A Piper-approved bracelet


Or go to this addie to enter:



HOSTING TODAY: 
Lorelei Buckley 


~*~
Happy Birthday, Baby Girl
 

Monday, February 16, 2015

Wow. Busy Week.

It's going to be quite a week. Tuesday is the cover release, actual release and contest for Love, Lattes and Mutants. I'll probably leave the cover release up a week then on the 25th I'll be posting the cover release for Eric Fanning's Blood Stitches. After that posting will be back to normal...whatever that means.

I'll be working till the end of the month but my retirement reception is being held this Thursday. My boss-friend asked what I'd do when I woke up in the morning and didn't know what to do with myself. I told her I'd probably roll over and go back to sleep. Heh heh.

Did ya'll have a good Valentine's Day? I spent the morning getting my tax information together. sigh.
Let me know how you're doing. Have a great week!

~*~
Have you seen this one?

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Jupiter Ascending and Good Reads

Have you seen this one? Visually it was stunning. One of the reviewers described it as campy which  is a good description. It just wasn't my cup of tea. The hh liked it. If you've seen it, let me know what you think.
Spoiler alert: I did not find using a sanitary pad as a bandage and holding it up for the audience to be sure and see the blood on it particularly funny. Ewww.
~*~
I did read several novels I enjoyed. The Broker by Grisham gets full marks. Ithas been several years since I've read him and he hasn't lost his touch.

I also read Anna Soliveres Violet Storm. I hadn't read any of Anna's works before and thoroughly enjoyed it and plan on reading her again. What first drew me was the cover. Don't you love it?

I've purchased and can't wait to read 25 Roses by blogger bud Stephanie Faris. It's getting 5 star reviews at Amazon.

I recently read Erin Fanning's Blood Stitches. She'll be doing her cover reveal here  Feb. 25th.  So as not to give too much away just let me say, Ms. Fanning takes a unique topic and weaves it into a fun yarn.

Julia Barrett was kind enough to give me a gift certificate for Captured. I'm looking forward to reading this one.

Alex Cavanaugh has a new one coming in April that can be preordered.

And Pat Hatt and Shelley Munro had releases in January.

We're going to have to wait several months for The Secret Life of Fairday Marrow, by Jessica Haight and Stephanie Robinson but look forward to its release with great anticipation.

Another delightful little book I'm looking forward to reading is Genna Bean's Come Back Dear Sun.

So what's on your read list?