Thursday, May 30, 2013

Heroes & Villains - Yes it's Still Happening


It’s Thirsty Thursday! Well… it’s Thursday in the least and what does that mean exactly? Uh, hmm, nothing really except it’s exactly a week from the Heroes & Villains Blogfest!! Whoop whoop!


Do you have your Hero thinking cape on? (Yes, I meant that)
How about your evil Villain scheming wheel spinning?

·         On June 6th post who your favorite Heroes and Villains are.
·         You may list as many, or as little, as you like.
·         Be creative with it: videos, art, pictures, lists, etc.
·         And most of all - HAVE FUN!

We are super excited and look forward to all of your posts!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Express Yourself - Author Quotes

Express Yourself is a weekly Meme hosted by my friend Jackie and myself. We do this every week to learn more about our fellow bloggers and so far we have met some very talented and wonderful people!
This weeks question is: What are some of your favorite Author Quotes?
And yes, I have quite a few I adore.
“Forget your personal tragedy. We are all bitched from the start and you especially have to be hurt like hell before you can write seriously. But when you get the damned hurt, use it-don't cheat with it.”
—Ernest Hemingway

“The first duty of the novelist is to entertain. It is a moral duty. People who read your books are sick, sad, traveling, in the hospital waiting room while someone is dying. Books are written by the alone for the alone.”
—Donna Tartt (author of The Secret History and The Little Friend)

“The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself. You must see the writing as emerging like a long scroll of ink from the index finger of your right hand; you must see your left hand erasing it.”
—Margaret Atwood

“All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.”
—Ernest Hemingway

“At nineteen they can card you in the bars and tell you to get the fuck out, put your sorry act (and sorrier ass) back on the street, but they can't card you when you sit down to paint a picture, write a poem, or tell a story, by God, and if you reading this happens to be very young, don't let your elders and supposed betters tell you any different. Sure, you've never been to Paris. No, you never ran with the bulls at Pamplona. Yes, you're a pissant who had no hair in your armpits until three years ago - but so what? If you don't start out too big for your britches, how are you gonna fill 'em when you grow up? Let it rip regardless of what anybody tells you, that's my idea; sit down and smoke that baby.”
—Stephen King

“You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it.”
—Neil Gaiman
Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Uprising (Children of the Gods #2) by Jessica Therrien

Today is the Virtual Launch Party for Uprising (Children of the Gods, #2) by Jessica Therrien!! I'm so excited to be a tiny part of this party.

If I could choose any supernatural power, I think I would like to control the weather. I could wield a lightning bolt whenever I wanted, or cause a flash flood to wash my enemies away. Yeah, that sounds pretty cool to me. Call me Supremous! LOL.


Title: Uprising (Children of the Gods #2)
Publisher: ZOVA Books
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 384

Synopsis:

Jessica Therrien follows up her bestselling novel OPPRESSION with UPRISING, the second book in the Children of the Gods series.

OPPRESSION, translated and sold around the world, was one of the best selling YA novels of 2012. UPRISING continues the story of Elyse, William and the Descendants.

Elyse has been in hiding for most of her life. Only now she’s hiding with William, and she knows who she’s hiding from. The Council wants a child Elyse and William have yet to conceive, a child who will be the next oracle, and who will provide the final piece to a plan Christoph has been organizing for years. Charged with leading the rebellion against Christoph and his Council, Elyse feels well out of her depth. But she has good friends and strong allies who are willing to fight with her to the end, regardless of how far they have to go, and how many lives will be lost in the process. They have one goal: to live freely and openly with the rest of humanity, out from under The Council’s oppressive rule. The stakes could not be higher for Elyse and the Descendants longing for freedom. They'll have to learn to fight if they want to stand up against The Council, and to find allies in a world ruled by their enemies. The hardest part of waging a war is knowing who to trust. Elyse knows their uprising will change the world. She doesn’t realize it will change her, too.

Author Links:

Links to Oppression (Children of the Gods #1):

Links to Uprising (Children of the Gods #2):























Bio:

Jessica Therrien is the author of the young adult paranormal fiction series Children of the Gods. Book one in the series, Oppression, was published by ZOVA Books in February of 2012 and became a Barnes & Noble best-seller shortly after its release. The second book in the series, Uprising, will be available in May of 2013.

Aside from her Children of the Gods series, Jessica’s work can also be found in a published collection of flash fiction stories called Campaigner Challenges 2011. Out of over 350 submissions her story, The Soulless, won first place for people’s choice and fourth place in the judging round of Rachael Harrie’s Writing Campaign Challenge. Her story, Saved, is also available as part of the anthology.

Jessica currently lives in Chula Vista with her husband and is working on book three in her Children of the Gods series.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Let's Celebrate TGIF

I sat down to type out my tribute of celebrations hosted by VikLit and along the way I was sidetracked. Go figure. Then I sat here some more trying to comprehend why I was here in the first place and remembered I was to blog about my little triumphs this week. *face palm* It's been one of those weeks. TGIF. People. TGIF.

I don't know if they are all celebrations but I will just tell you what I've been up to - kind of like my little dirty diary entry except I'll leave out all the perverted stuff. I know - what fun is that.
  • This week a co-worker had her baby and the kids and I went up to see her and him. His name is Camden and he is about the most adorable thing you've ever seen. You know how some babies are just NOT cute whatsoever. Well he is actually very adorable! My little "baby" cried cause she wanted to take him home and then asked me to have one. Ummm, no, that ain't gonna happen! Nadda, zip, zilch!
  • My 13 yr old daughter had her braces adjusted and her overbite is corrected but now she has a slight underjet-or-something-or-other. You know how some kids just have to pull their teeth together with those rubber bands, well she has to make a "box" on one side of her mouth with a rubber band that loops through these metal brackets and then on the other side she has to make a "triangle". These rubber bands are called "Rabbits". So strange, and apparently very difficult to put them on which I hear about constantly. She is in this filming class so besides eating and brushing her teeth, she takes the rubber bands off for filming also cause she can't open her mouth very far to talk (which I like - lol) and she needs to talk for her filming class. Blah, blah, blah... you get the point.
  • I've been on this diet for a month and a half and I've lost inches but not many lbs. and I'm ok with that but these shakes tastes like a$$. Not that I know what behinds taste like, I'm just assuming. *takes a sip - shutters with disgust*
  • When driving to work this morning the sun was starting to rise which is very strange for the time I come into work. That is the first time its happened and I don't like it one bit. I'm quite nocturnal that early in the morning and would presume to keep it that way. I kept looking at my dash clock assuming I was running late to work.
  • I'm going muddin', 4 wheeling style tomorrow so I'm super excited about that!  
  • And the other day I took about 50 shutter pictures of my daughters horseplaying and they were cracking me up. I'm going to put them into a Shutterfly book. Here are just a few...
 The oldest one starts it but the little one usually ends it. Lmao!
     

    Oh you're smilin' huh
    Well we'll put an end to that

     

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Secondary Characters Bloghop

Today is the Secondary Characters Bloghop hosted by Rachel at Writing on the Wall along with her co-hosts Theresa Paolo, Kelley Lynn, Jessica Salyer, Jenny Morris, and Suzi Retzlaff.
The whole point of the bloghop is to share your favorite Secondary Characters from books and/or films.

All of my faves come from novels.

Let the fun begin!

Aphrodite LaFont - Former hag from hell and Zoey's (main character) enemy in the first book. Oracle and Prophetess and love interest to Darius, over time she becomes a “friend” of the nerd-herd. Drips with sarcastic and cynical slurs, slams, and put-downs; tongue-in-cheek personality, she stands out as my all-time favorite character from the House of Night series and maybe even EVER.

"My cat is not insane, she's just a really good actress"
"Hey, Venus, I have two words for you, Re. Bound. Good luck with that"
"Oh for craps sake. You're not dying again, are you? It's seriously inconvenient when you do that."
"Dorkamese twins"
"Nerd herd"
“Oh for shit’s sake. This isn’t Hogwarts,”
“Well, that’s a miracle. Someone call the Vatican,”


Kat – A spunky character where, if there is any ‘insta-girl-love’ in Alice in Zombieland, it’s between Kat and Ali (main character). Kat immediately decides that Ali is going to be her new best friend – might even make top spot, and you really see these two characters love each other through the book. Ali is continually honored by how amazing of a friend Kat is all while she feels guilty for the things that she’s keeping from her. Another chick that doesn’t take any crap and throws out verbal assaults with her sarcastic and cynical verbiage. She ranks a close second to Aphrodite.

“Actually it’s just a matter of time before I feed your balls to my dog.” In an aside to me, she said, “Remind me that I need to buy a dog.”
“U thinking what I’m thinking? Dark alley, brass knuckles & prison rules.” (in a text)
“One time frosty left me two seconds after we finished, just kind of pulling on his clothes as he jumped out my window, and I was like, are you freaking kidding me with this, but of course he couldn’t answer because he freaking wasn’t there!”
“Don’t make me slap you out of your crazy.”


Luna Lovegood - Ravenclaw student one year younger than Harry in the Harry Potter series. She is described as having straggly waist-length dirty blond hair with grey eyes. Her father, Xenophilius Lovegood, is the editor-in-chief of The Quibbler. When Luna was only 9 years old, her mother died while performing spell experiments. Luna witnessed the accident, which enabled her to see Thestrals. Luna is at first socially isolated at school, but she appears to have the rare quality in that she cares little about what others think of her. She is unique and quirky. After school Luna pursues a career that is the wizarding equivalent of a naturalist. She also accepted that some of her father's beliefs were, after all, not so true. She married a fellow naturalist named Rolf, the grandson of Newt Scamander. Luna and Rolf had twin boys, Lorcan and Lysander. After Harry and Ginny are married, they name their daughter Lily Luna.

"A Wrackspurt - they're invisible, they float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy," she said. "I thought I felt one zooming around in here."
"Mistletoe," said Luna dreamily, pointing at a large clump of white berries placed almost over Harry's head. He jumped out from under it. "Good thinking," said Luna seriously. "It's often infested with nargles."
"I've been able to see them ever since my first year here. They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am."
"I enjoyed the meetings, too. It was like having friends."


Ben – 6’4”, he is a gentle giant with Autism, often called “the smartest person” in the second installment of the Ashfall series, Ashen Winter. His specialty – military weapons, tactics, and lingo. The part that stuck out the most is when Ben helped a man, his wife, and their son get a better strategic stance (field of fire) when wanting to kill Ben, his “Sister Unit” Alyssa, and Alex (main character). I laughed and so did the characters. Mike Mullins did a great job with Ben and highlighting that Autism isn’t a crutch.

“That is an easy tactical problem,” Ben said. “Prepare an ambush. Use the unknown persons want as a lure. Would the Sister Unit suffice as a lure?”
“Their tactical position is excellent,” Ben replied. “We could take cover on the opposite side of the truck, but if we climb the snow pile or move down the road in either direction, we’ll enter their field of fire.”



Thomas Sabin – The geeky kid in school with a dry sense of humor and an uncle who is into voodoo, has a thing for Carmel – the IT girl.  Thomas and his grandfather are an important part in solving the mystery behind, not only Anna, but the stuff going on with Cas (main character) too – and let’s not forget he is integral in saving Cas in Anna Dressed in Blood series.
He reminds me of Shaggy from Scooby Doo.



Also, the 3rd annual YA Crush Tourney has begun. The YA Sisterhood has 4 bloggers helping out with the nominations:

@PageTurnersBlog http://t.co/FLAQqWw2WT
@StaceyONeale http://t.co/KjEerPBJvV
@FictishDelish http://t.co/AOyaCfXgQg
@StuckInBooks http://t.co/LXHjXL4K2d

Go post your 6 favorite male YA crushes!


Monday, May 20, 2013

Express Yourself - Reading

Happy Victoria Day to my Canadian followers!

This week's Express Yourself question is: What are you Reading right now? It can be anything.

Jackie and I know that life gets busy but there is always room to read a little. And by reading we don't mean a full length novel. You can be reading comics, mags, novellas, etc.

So what has been keeping my mind busy?

Lots!


The library loves me - or is it, I love the library.

I can't read more than one book at a time unless one of them is an audio novel. Out of this bunch sitting on my desk, I am currently reading The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey.

So, what are you reading?

Friday, May 17, 2013

Best/Worst Movie Blogfest & Monster Madness Day 7

Remakes added more for my viewing pleasure

The Best and Worst Movie Remakes Blogfest is today. Hosted by:
Alex J. Cavanaugh 
Stephen Tremp
Father Dragon Al 
Livia Peterson 
  



Remakes – Best
  • Cape Fear
  • Clash of the Titans
  • The Crazies
  • Dawn of the Dead
  • 3:10 to Yuma
  • Let Me In
  • Little Shop of Horrors
  • Oceans Eleven
  
I enjoyed these, don't get me wrong, but they didn't add anything.
My expectations were high and I was disappointed.


Remakes – Worst Should-Have-Left-Well-Enough-Alone
  • Arthur
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
  • Footloose
  • House of Wax
  • Karate Kid
  • The Omen
  • Red Dawn
  • The Wolfman


Best Song Remake: Shinedown version of Simple Man, however, I don't like it any better than the original.
Worst Song Remake: Don't get me wrong, I like Rap and R&B but it really bothers me when an R&B or Rap artist butchers a classic. Instead of splicing bits and pieces of the original... can you just cover the whole dang song?!
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Today is the last day for the 2nd Annual May Monster Madness! Hosted by Annie Walls and her blogger buddies, Emma @ Little Gothic Horrors, and Ked @ Something Wicked this Way Comes.

How does May Monster Madness work? Well, it's a blog hop featuring posts about monsters! Anything you can think of as long as it has something to do with monsters... and I'm sad to see it go. :`(

   
This week I featured:
Saturday, May 11 - Urban Legends
Sunday, May 12 - The Descent creatures
Monday, May 13 - Mutants
Tuesday, May 14 - The Creeper
Wednesday, May 15 - Vampires
Thursday, may 16 - Zombies
Today my monster post is more on the "haha" side.

  

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Celebrate the Small Things over at VikLit is also here today...

What I'm celebrating this week...
  • My husband won tons of mullah at the slots last Friday night. He had a great birthday!
  • Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne is a great read! I highly recommend it. Book 2 Monument 14 Sky of Fire will be released soon!
  • Started reading The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Have a great weekend! Watch a few good remakes, listen to some music, read a book, and keep the monsters at bay!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

May Monster Madness - Day 6

Today is Day 6 of the 2nd Annual May Monster Madness! Hosted by Annie Walls and her blogger buddies, Emma @ Little Gothic Horrors, and Ked @ Something Wicked this Way Comes.

How does May Monster Madness work? Well, it's a blog hop featuring posts about monsters! Anything you can think of as long as it has something to do with monsters... crafts, lists, movies, funnies... anything!

Yesterday vamps stopped by to suck. My. Blood. Or more likely rip my guts out through my mouth. Today my guests only want me for my brains - pity.

Zombies. Started out as a voodoo legend, now they have taken over pop culture by the masses, as mindless, killing machines. Zombies are meant to swarm, and swarm they have. From comics, to movies, and now primtime television. Ever since I watched Dawn of the Dead (2004) I am obsessed. I have watched all the original Romaro movies, and LOVE all the remakes, new films, comics, novels, and TV. 28 Days/Weeks Later, Dawn of the Dead, This is Not a Test, The Reapers are the Angels, World War Z, The Walking Dead, etc.


(Dawn of the Dead) Nobody ever said being a zombie was an attractive job.

(28 Days Later) These SOB's could haul ass. Let's hope if a zombie apocalypse does happen, we get the shambling version. 

(The Walking Dead) Ah, an attractive group and much slower than the ones above.

Just a few of the Zombie novels I have read. Most of these are only one part of a series which I was not going to paste them all. My zombie "READ" list is forever long and ranges from horrible to drop dead awesome!






Which zombie flick is your favorite? Have you read any good zombie books?

Tomorrow - Last day of May Monster Madness with a few posters and Best/Worst Movie Blogfest.