Sony eReader & Travel Contest Entry

So, I thought I would enter into the Sony eReader Travel contest held over at The Vacation Gals website. The task was to write a creative, witty postcard of your dream destination and include where you are and what you brought to read. Please VOTE for my entry HERE! Once a day please!

And in honor of National Poetry Month, my entry was in poetic format. However, the formatting of the postcard stripped my poetic structure. You should get the hint anyway. If not, here's how I wrote it:

Pink blossoms of snow
contrast against the backdrop of
Osaka's ancient royal gardens.
It awakens memories
of an old Japanese tale
forever safe in electronic ink,
Under the Cherry Tree.
Clutching my eReader slightly tighter,
willing myself to remember
Beneath a canopy of pink rain
kissed by its fragrance
leaving swirls of cherry down
as I walk away.

Wishing you were here.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling Review

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My 8 year old son began reading this and lost interest rather quickly. When I picked it up to read it I could understand why. It is written in period language. I am not sure even a girl of the same age would find this an easy read. Maybe it's the age. Maybe had my son been a bit older, say 10 or 12, it might have been more interesting. Aside from that, I really did enjoy the book.

I rather enjoyed the language of the book. The author did a very good job with the style of the period. It was proper, as any refined and educated girl would be expected to be.

The story is about a 15 year old girl who just graduated from Swanburne Academy. As governess, she quickly learns the truth about the "wild children" of Ashton Place and vows to treat them and educate them like children should be. She has a grand task ahead of her and shows just how exceptional a teacher she is by books end...but there is more to the story.

I knew from the beginning that this was a series of books, but did not realize that the story itself would not be finished in the first book. So, be warned, you may want to get the second and third book lined up for when you are done with the first!



View all my reviews

Stampede! -- A Poetic Book Review

Stampede!: Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School by Laura Purdie Salas

My rating: 3 of 5 stars




A children's poetry book
about an entire school year
From start to finish
the allegories quite dear

where else could you see
children all around
running and playing
situations abound?

From stampeding elephants
to swarming like bees
the kids swoop like sparrows
and swing like monkeys

A whirlwind of laughter
to hearts ever breaking
eighteen poems you'll remember
and keep your sides aching

Kids will see that
all their woes and fears
happen to everyone at some point
in their school careers

Adults will reminisce
of their school days past
brought vibrantly to life
the memories ever last



View all my reviews

Second Crusader Challenge

The Challenge:

Write a flash fiction story (in any format) in 100 words or less, excluding the title. Begin the story with the words, “The goldfish bowl teetered” These four words will be included in the word count. 

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional, and not part of the judging criteria), see if you can write the story in your own genre (eg if you’re a horror writer, write a horror story; a romance writer, a romance story, etc).  (want to read more? visit Rachael Harrie's Blog)


My Entry:

The goldfish bowl teetered
          tumbled and toppled
Oh dear! Oh my!
  bumbled and boppled


What to do? What to do?
  flailing and flapping
grasp this! grasp that! 
          whirling and wobbling


I only made matters worse 
  smacking and smashing 
off the table top
  battered and bashing


The goldfish paniced inside
  splishing and splashing
This way and that! 
  darting and dashing

I watched it dance, spellbound 
  coiling and circling
Round and round it went 
  Whirling and waltzing


Hypnotizing 
          mesmerizing
                    fascinating
  captivating
                    Watching it 
  careen and plunge
Thwack!

#FridayReads

A few weeks back, I noticed a few of my Tweeple (twitter friends) posting what they were reading along with a hashtag of #FridayReads. It has always been fun to see what different people are reading. It is an insight into their likes, dislikes, and possibly character.

And it is a great way add new books you are unfamiliar with to your personal library.

I started reading at an early age. I can remember sitting down at the kitchen table when I was in kindergarten and reading my books out loud to my mother. Being an only child, growing up in a relatively closed neighborhood, children my age seemed to be very scarce. Also, moving around a lot and traveling long distances, I needed to busy myself with things that would pass the time. Books, were my escape, my time travel, and my companions.

It wasn't until I started college that I took an hiatus from reading for pleasure. Once I graduated, I got married, and seeking out my career path consumed me. My Muse seemed to have taken an extended vacation. I didn't realize she was gone until 20 years later. That's when I received my e-reader. Once I got that, and got back into reading, my Muse decided to visit briefly--to check in on me, so to speak.

I've now finished the entire Sword of Truth Series, and was at a loss of what book I was going to read next. Then, I found #FridayReads and a whole slew of other readers all telling me what they were reading. This is one way to get recommendations and to see what is popular each week. Now I am a reviewing member of GoodReads and LibraryThing, and sometimes, just sometimes, I win new, or about to be released books (in exchange for reviews of course).

Since I received my Sony e-Reader over a year ago, I have gotten back into reading. Which, in turn, has gotten me back into my writing. Without books, I would be lost. Stephen King has said "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that." And it really is as simple as that.

If you want to read more, you can visit the FridayReads Blog. And I would like to invite you to join in on Twitter or Facebook and help promote it, or just tell us all what you are reading! And don't forget, it's every Friday, every where in the world!

Cat Secrets Review

Cat Secrets by Jef Czekaj

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


So, you want to know all about cat secrets? You have to read this book! This is the only book that will tell you! But you must pass their tests before they will reveal their secrets. Do you have what it takes?

Oh the fun of 2nd person point of view. Jef Czekaj really gets the reader into the book and each page is leaving you wanting more. Would make a great read to little ones to get them trying to act like a cat!



View all my reviews

Future Imperfect Review

Future Imperfect by K. Ryer Breese

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Product Description

Ade Patience can see the future and it's destroying his life. When the seventeen-year-old Mantlo High School student knocks himself unconscious, he can see days and decades into his own future. Ade's the best of Denver's "divination" underground and eager to join the heralded Mantlo Diviners, a group of similarly enabled teens. Yet, unlike the Diviners, Ade Patience doesn't see the future out of curiosity or good will; Ade gives himself concussions because he's addicted to the high, the Buzz, he gets when he breaks the laws of physics. And while there have been visions he's wanted to change, Ade knows the Rule: You can't change the future, no matter how hard you try.

His memory is failing, his grades are in a death spiral, and both Ade's best friend and his shrink are begging him to stop before he kills himself. Ade knows he needs to straighten-out. Luckily, the stunning Vauxhall Rodolfo has just transferred to Mantlo and, as Ade has seen her in a vision two years previously, they're going to fall in love. It's just the motivation Ade needs to kick his habit. Only things are a bit more complicated. Vauxhall has an addiction of her own, and, after a a vision in which he sees Vauxhall's close friend, Jimmy, drown while he looks on seemingly too wasted to move, Ade realizes that he must break the one rule he's been told he can't.

The pair must overcome their addictions and embrace their love for each other in order to do the impossible: change the future.

My Review:

I won an Advanced Uncorrected Copy of this. I will ignore those grammatical errors which I saw, which weren't too many, and reserve judgement. :) (I'm sure the copy editor will catch them before release)

So, on with the review.

Written for the young adult audience, the language used was quite unique to me. I've never really read a book that went directly into the head of the person and pretty much read like he spoke. For me, this was an interesting experience. I am one who tries to write proper. It was instilled in me through my career at school and one thing I have a hard time breaking away from. So, to read this as if someone were talking to me directly, telling the story in his own voice, was different for me. However, I did find it quite easy and quick to read. It was like I had sat down with Ade and he told me his story.

The story itself was also interesting, taking a new twist on addiction and learning to live "clean". It did seem to have all the basic elements of the addiction and clean up process, at least that I could see. I've never experienced it myself, but I was totally into the whole story wanting to help Ade and his quest to clean up his life. Or, at least, it was an interesting ride through his trials of learning to live in the here and now, and not some distant future.

I think this would be a good book for the early adult audience as it does incorporate the addiction aspect as well as some sexual situations and adult words. However, it was quite tactfully done with much left to the imagination, rather than the "in your face" visuals.

View all my reviews