Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The Year 2013 for Me!

The year 2013 was a year unlike any other.  So here is a list of 5 things that happened to me and mine this year. 

1. One of the biggest things that happened was that I have been married for 3 years.  This surpasses my first marriage by two years.  We still fight every now and then and argue. But its the make ups and the good times that make it all worth while.  I love my husband and family with all my heart. 

2. We again got passes this year to both Disney and Universal but after trying to go to both we ended up sticking with Universal and that was a great choice.  We have had so much family fun going riding the rides and spending time together. 

3. My site as you have seen has gone through a few changes.  From templates to how I post. And of course it just had another one a few weeks ago.  I am learning so much more about HTML and hope to get even better in 2014! 

4. My site has also blown up with the addition of Keep Calm and Read On live web show.  We have gotten to talk with a ton of both huge and little authors.  And we have a great line up coming this 2014.  We so can't wait!  

5. Books!  It has been a cray cray year for getting books!!!  I have more than likely almost doubled my book collection!  I hope to do even more in the coming year!  Now all I need is a house! 

So as you can see I lead a pretty boring life. lol.  But here are 5 things that I hope to accomplish in 2014 and yes you can help me get there!

1. I hope to have my google+ circles up to match that of my Facebook likes.  Currently my Facebook is over 4,000 likes (this is as of Dec. 23)  So If you have liked my Facebook page but not added me to your circles than please do!  Ill add you back! 

2. More Print ARCs from other publishers.  There are still a few publishers out there that I don't get ARCs from.  I hope to add them to my list this year.  

3. More shows!  I hope to get to meet more authors!  Via BEA in May, or just book signings that are near me.  I hope to get to more of them!!  If.....OK WHEN I DO!! Ill be sure to post them here!  

4. Active!  I hope to be more active in my offline life.  I have already started walking twice a day.  Where I live we have a road that goes down a hill then back up one.  So we have been walking that twice a day back and forth one full time.  So far its been killing me.  But I hope to get even more active as the year goes by.  

5. Parks!  We haven't decided where we want to go next year.  We are still debating if we are going to go anywhere.  Right now it is me, husband, 2 kids, my mom, my grams. All living together dealing with the bills.  And well this winter my grams hasn't been doing so well and she will be turning the 90 this year!!  So we know that it will happen sometime. That she will pass on.  So we don't know if we want to spend the extra money going to one of the parks if we end up needing it to survive on.  It sucks and we will miss her dearly but its the truth.  And the truth sucks.  She is a touch old lady that we keep saying that she will outlive us all.  

So again you can see that this year I have a very short list of things we want to get done.  2014 is set to be a very interesting year.  Next up is my New Years Resolutions. 

1. I would like to get down back into the 100's I'm not assumed to tell you all that I am currently around 267lbs.  And its killer in the heat here in Florida.  So I'm trying to stay active and get some of it off!!

2. It would be neat to win the lottery (over 100,000) ya this one is more of a wish!  But hey! 

3.  Buying a house It would be nice to get all of the bills paid and be able to start thinking about buying a house. 

4. Get my girls active.  I want to get them off their phones and iPads and get them outside!!

5. Have another baby.  I don't really want to HAVE another baby.  But I would love to have the funds to adopt!! 


Monday, December 30, 2013

{Hightlight} the Forgotten Ones by @laurahoward78 with {Giveaway}


Title: The Forgotten Ones
Author: Laura Howard
Genre: New Adult Fantasy
Series: The Danaan Trilogy #1
Published: April 28, 2013

Allison O'Malley's plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she's been in love with for as long as she can remember.

What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison's mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn't trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother's sanity.









Laura Howard lives in New Hampshire with her husband and four children. Her obsession with books began at the age of 6 when she got her first library card. Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and other girly novels were routinely devoured in single sittings. Books took a backseat to diapers when she had her first child. It wasn’t until the release of a little novel called Twilight, 8 years later, that she rediscovered her love of fiction. Soon after, her own characters began to make themselves known. The Forgotten Ones is her first published novel.






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Sunday, December 29, 2013

4Blogoversary {Giveaway} Extra Extra! Entries!

4th Blogoversary Giveaway!

Photo: ITS COMING! My site will be 4 years old this Dec. 1st!  So what am I giving away?! Non other than 29 Print ARCS in 4 weeks of giveaways! So make sure you check out the site Dec. 1st for the first weeks post!
Hi didn't think you would see this again! Well I wanted to give everyone one last chance to enter!  So here is another look at all of the wonderful ARCs that are up for grabs and the rafflecopter to enter!

All entires will be counted as one!



Deception (Defiance, #2)The Enchanter Heir (The Heir Chronicles, #4)Scorched (Scorched, #1)Victoria RebelsA Need So Beautiful (A Need So Beautiful, #1)Linked (Linked #1)Breaking Glass Emilie and the Hollow WorldFallen Angel (Fallen Angel, #1)Doll BonesThe Burning Sky (The Elemental Trilogy, #1)Mercy (Mercy, #1)

Extracted (The Lost Imperials, #1)Twinmaker (Twinmaker, #1)BlackoutNantucket BlueDeath, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie GarciaHow to LoveBrokenThe Chaos of Stars
Hideous Love: The Story of the Girl Who Wrote FrankensteinPerfect Ruin (Internment Chronicles, #1)CriminalThe Woken GodsMy Sort Of Fairy Tale Ending (My Very UnFairy Tale Life #3)A Radiant Sky (A Beautiful Dark, #3)Thornhill (Hemlock, #2)Abandon (Abandon Trilogy, #1)
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Saturday, December 28, 2013

Are You Being Hunted? {Review} Hunted by @ElizabethHeiter {Giveaway} thanks to @HarlequinBooks



Hunted
Release Day is Dec. 31!     Preorder Now! 
Series: The Profiler
Terror stalks a small Virginia town.

FBI rising star, criminal profiler Evelyn Baine, knows how to think like a serial killer. But she's never chased anyone like the Bakersville Burier, who hunts young women and displays them, half-buried, deep in the woods. As the body count climbs, Evelyn's relentless pursuit of the killer puts her career - and her life - at risk. And the evil lurking in the Burier's mind may be more than even she can unravel.

Terror is closer than she thinks.

The Bakersville Burier knows he's got an FBI profiler on his trail. He knows who she is and where to find her. And he's biding his time, because he's planned a special punishment for Evelyn. She may have tracked other killers, but he vows to make this her last chase. This time it's her turn to be hunted!                                       

@ElizabethHeiter


Biography

Vist Amazon's Elizabeth Heiter Page

ELIZABETH HEITER likes her suspense to feature strong heroines, chilling villains, psychological twists, and a little romance. Her research has taken her into the minds of serial killers, through murder investigations, and onto the FBI Academy's shooting range. Elizabeth graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in English Literature. She's a member of International Thriller Writers and Romance Writers of America.







                                           
                                     
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA                                                                                        
Pages: 368                                                               
Format: Print ARC                                                                                         
Rating: 4 Stars                                                                
Age Recommendation: Adult  

This one is a solid 4 Stars for me.  Although it was a little outside my comfort zone.  Fans of mystery thrillers will love this one!  Hunted from the cover to the last page will keep you on your toes!  A few things were predictable but, thats ok.  Evelyn Baine was such a great protagonist and this was just a great read.

"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."
So why not click here and enter my Comments Giveaway!
Disclaimer: Thanks to Goodreads and Amazon for the book cover, about the book, and author information.
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Are You Pure of Heart? {Review} Cruel Beauty by @rosamundhodge {Giveaway} thanks to @harperteen


Cruel BeautyTitle: Cruel Beauty                                              
Author: Rosamund Hodge                                            Publisher: Balzer & Bray                                                    Release Date: Jan 28, 2014                                    
Pages: 352                                                              
Format: Print ARC/eARC                                              
Source: Edelweiss                                                
Rating: 5 Stars                                                             
Age Recommendation: Upper Teen                                                                                                                   Description: 
Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

About The Author

@rosamundhodge

Goodreads | Website |  Twitter | Facebook        



Rosamund HodgeI love mythology, Hello Kitty, and T. S. Eliot. My debut novel, CRUEL BEAUTY (a YA fairytale fantasy, where Greek mythology meets Beauty and the Beast), is due out from Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins in Winter 2014.


Rating: 5 Stars   
This book wins our Beautiful Cover Award!
I thought Cruel Beauty was just a retelling of Beauty and the Beast but it is so much more. This one has subtle and not so subtle hints at the Beauty and the Beast correlation. The author did an amazing job weaving in Greek Mythology, Demons, Magic and more in this twisting stand alone that I wish was a series.  This has got to be one of the best and weirdest books that I have read this year. Now don't worry there is no insta love here folks. But, there is one of the weirdest love triangles that I have ever read.  But, don't let that scare you off.  I think fans of Warren from the Shatter Me series will love Ingifex (very odd name) in this one! The only thing that I would like to add to this one is that the age group for this one I would put at older teen. But, to wrap this one up Cruel Beauty is a haunting tale of what you would sacrifice to save those you love, what you would give up and what you would fight for. And it leaves you with the question of Are You Pure of Heart?

"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."
So why not leave one or two

From the Back Cover


From the Back Cover

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom—all because of a reckless bargain her father struck. And since birth, she has been training to kill him.
Betrayed by her family yet bound to obey, Nyx rails against her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, she abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, disarm him, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.
But Ignifex is not what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her. As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. But even if she can bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him?
Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the BeastCruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.
Disclaimer: Thanks to Goodreads and Amazon for the book cover, about the book, and author information.
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