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Showing posts from 2017

A Year of #RomanceNovels in #Review 2017

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alexstoneart - DeviantArt Well, since everyone else is doing it, I figured I may as well, also. I'm really in the mood to write, so there is that. I've gone through my Blog Posts for 2017 and have chosen each of the Romance Novels I rated highly for one reason or another. They are 5 and 4 1/2 star reviews only. Then Came You by Wendy Lindstrom (as an aside, this is a Book Two out of Eight, and although I thoroughly enjoyed this one and Miss Lindstrom's writing, I was startlingly disappointed in Book Six in this series, which wasn't written at all like this second novel in the series. The story itself was interesting and had purpose, but the writing had changed drastically... from thoughtful and educated to slipshod and rushed.) The Fall of Lord Drayson by Rachael Anderson (and I still look forward to reading Books Two and Three in the Tanglewood Series) Intertwine (House of Oak Book 1) by Nichole Van (also still anxious to

My 2018 #Resolutions via #MFRWauthor #BlogHop

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Hello and welcome back for the final installment of the MFRW Author Blog's 52-Week Blog Challenge . Well, we finally made it! It is Week 52, and our final challenge is: New Year's Resolutions For the past 20 or so years, I have made it a habit NOT to form any resolutions for a New Year. As fragile as my spirit has been, it serves me well to keep expectations at a bare to nil minimum, thus saving my soul from further damage and my psyche from further disillusionment. Instead, I've devised a more simple plan that involves me resolving to try harder, think clearer, and keep looking forward instead of back. When things go wrong, I've learned to let go and take a few deep breaths instead of becoming angry, sad, or in despair. I tell myself, "This is as good as it gets!" and submerge myself in all things fantasy to include binge-watching YouTube or Asian Dramas, reading my favorite novels, or just crawling back into bed until the doom/gloom feeling

The Blind Leading the Blind #MFRWAuthor #BlogHop Week 51

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to another MFRW Author Blog 52-Week Challenge, and with this being Week 51, the challenge posed is: Advice to New Authors . I laughed when I saw this week's challenge because I define myself as being a New Author! Well, maybe not technically, but most definitely literally because while I've been 'writing' since the 5th grade, I am only recently ePub established. It takes me far, too long to accomplish what others simply decide to do, do it, and keep going like it's supposed to work that way. #1 I guess I am my own worst enemy (in that regard and a few others), so advice-wise, it might be best for aspiring authors to dig deep down into their soul and decide if this truly is their life-long passion, and if so, grab it with gusto, confidence, and a willingness to slog through a number of dry spells, rejection issues, and unfavorable critique. #2 Study, study, and study some more as well. Write What You Know does

To Me, it's Huge #MFRWAuthor Week 50 #BlogHop

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It amazes me how quickly time seems to fly, what with there being just THREE WEEKS left of 2017! And because of that, I'm participating in Week 50: My Biggest Accomplishments , even if I have no idea what to say. Like with a few other posts we've participated in, this question can be answered a few different ways. My children. My Survival Skills. Reaching obligatory or privileged milestones. But, since we're all writers here, I guess I'll say my biggest accomplishment would be my having the guts to publish my own work to the world. It is a huge accomplishment for me because even now, after several years have passed since that first novel went public, I am still very much afraid to promote it or send it off to popular book bloggers for fear of rejection and harsh criticism, BOTH of which would throw me off my game and cause me to not want to ever write again. Not having the confidence to write again scares me far more than hearing a lot of n

A #review of Across the Ages, Book One, by Rashelle Workman

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Pages -  300  Publisher -  Polished Pen Press; 5 edition  Published -  December 21, 2014 Sold by -  Amazon Digital Services LLC Genre -  Time Travel Romance Series -  Across the Ages Book 1 of 2 Language -  1/5 Sexual Content -  2/5 Narrative -  1st P Ghosts are real. So is time travel. Eighteen-year-old Lucy Channing discovers this reality after her dead grandmother gives her a beautiful locket. As soon as her fingers brush the cold copper, Lucy is swept out of the nineteenth century and into the twenty-first. The first person she encounters is twenty-year-old William Godwin. He’s arrogant, exciting, and oh so handsome. After meeting, he agrees to help Lucy find her way home. Or into the nearest mental institution. She knows he must think her daft. But what the two uncover reveals more than ghosts and time travel. There are gods fighting to keep them apart. Disaster is around every corner. But Will and Lucy have discovered a love worth fighti

Bourbon Springs Series Vol. 3, Box Set by Jennifer Bramseth #review

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Pages -  963  Published -  April 28, 2017 Sold by -  Amazon Digital Services LLC Series -  Bourbon Springs Genre - Contemporary Language -  2/5 Sexual Content -  4/5 Narrative -  3rd P Welcome to the Land of Bourbon and Bluegrass… Welcome to Bourbon Springs, Kentucky… Books 7-9 in the Bourbon Springs Series box set includes: Bottled Bluegrass : Mack Blanton dreams of returning to Nashville to make music. Jorrie Jones is tired of practicing law in small town.  But after a chance meeting,  Mack can’t stop writing songs about Jorrie, and she realizes the attractions of small-town life in the form and voice of Mack. As they discover the simple gifts of love, will they spread their wings or choose to stay in Bourbon Springs? Toast and Char : She’s the love of his life. She’s also the woman he left at the altar. When Prent Oakes jilted Miranda Chaplin two years ago, he was sure it was over. Except Miranda has never been able to tell him to get out

Behind a Lady's Smile (Lost Heiresses, Book 1) by Jane Goodger #review

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Print Length -  250 pages Publisher -  Lyrical Press Published -  August 18, 2015 Sold by -  Penguin Random House Publisher Services Series -  Lost Heiresses, Book 1 of 3 Genre -  Historical, American West and Victorian England Amazon -  Kindle Link Language -  4/5 Sexual Content -  3/5 Narrative -  3rd P It’s one thing for a girl to lose her way, quite another to lose her heart… Genny Hayes could charm a bear away from a pot of honey. But raised in the forests of Yosemite, she’s met precious few men to practice her smiles upon. Until a marvelously handsome photographer appears in her little corner of the wilderness and she convinces him to take her clear across the country and over the seas to England, where she has a titled grandmother and grandfather waiting to claim her. On their whirlwind journey, she’ll have the chance to bedazzle and befuddle store clerks and train robbers, society matrons and big city reporters, maids and madams, but the

The Accidental Mistress (Mistress Trilogy, #2) by Tracy Anne Warren #review

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Pages -  370  Publisher -  Ballantine Books Published -  November 27, 2007 Sold by -  Random House LLC Kindle -  Amazon Link Series -  Mistress Trilogy Genre -   Historical, Victorian Language -  0/5 Sexual Content -  3/5 He will expose her masquerade, but she will expose his heart. To escape an arranged marriage, spirited Lily Bainbridge has staged her own death, and, disguised as a boy, she fled to London and a life of freedom. Yet her plans to live masquerade as an independent widow are thwarted by an encounter with a powerful and dangerously attractive marquis who wants to make her his mistress. Lily is afraid that if she gives him her innocence, he’ll steal her heart. Having agreed to a marriage of convenience to honor his family duty, Ethan Andarton, the Marquis of Vessey, has no intention of abandoning his rakish ways. Then fate intervenes in the guise of an impetuous young lady–a woman bold enough to scheme her way to London, who tempts h

Tweaking Recipes Equals True Love #MFRWAuthor #BlogHop

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Hi, everyone! Welcome back for another installment of the MFRW Author Blog 's 52-Week Blog Challenge. This is now Week 49 of the challenge, and today's topic is: A Favorite Recipe  Having not grown up in a Betty Crocker type environment, although my mother did use her cookbooks from time to time, she just wasn't of a mind to allow her two daughters to help out around the house... least of all in the kitchen. That's right, folks! Me and my older sister were responsible for our sides of a shared bedroom and that was it. Ma did all of the household chores because that was her way: HER way and no other way, in other words. When I left home, I did my fair share of cooking and turned out (if you don't mind my saying so) to be a rather decent cook. As for baking, well, the simple answer is no. Gas or electric stove, my cookie bottoms burn, my cakes sink, don't rise, or taste 'off' in some way. As for yum-yum's, I'll tell you tha

I Wish I May, I Wish I Might #MFRWauthor #BlogHop

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Hi, everyone! This is now Week 48 of the MFRW Author Blog 52-Week Blog Challenge, and today's topic is: 5 Things on my Bucket List Starting with honesty (as usual), I don't particularly possess a Bucket List and I don't really care for the term Bucket List. It sounds ugly. I get what it means, though, but think it is a stupid choice of words is all. Now I need to keep thinking about what to say in 5 different ways to be able to participate. Outlandish 5. Winning the Lottery 4. Traveling the Globe 3. Owning my Own Island 2. Being a Best-Seller 1. Staying Healthy until at least 70 (so I can keep writing) Realistic 5. Being in Alaska on December 21 to see a 24 hour night and again in June for the 24 hour day 4. Publishing a Novel that a lot of People really enjoy Reading 3. Building my Dream Writing Space 2. Swimming in Lake Ontario (the only Great Lake I have yet to set foot in) 1. Spending New Years Eve in NYC Hope this wasn't too bor

My (expletive) Thoughts on Failure

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Yeah, pretty harsh if I do say so myself. I'm frustrated, though, so (for me) it's natural to get all worked up, want to break things, and just shout every cuss word known to man. Like, F*ck you, stupid *sshole Video Editing software for SAYING you convert files but then don't. But, that's not MY fault, it's theirs! They are liars who trick people like me, who don't know sh*t about editing, into thinking they are getting what they need only to find out they aren't. And, kiss my fat *ss, Video Editing Software, for showing me how to insert clips and audio, but then when I go to upload the file to YouTube, YouTube tells me, "Nuh-uh! All this is is an Audio File. Click here to find out how to add Video to your... um... video." Right. Like, the 3+ hours I just spent working on what I know was VIDEO with audio added wasn't actually video? Again, that wasn't ME being a stupid *ss but the software. The piece of sh*t Vide