Out of the Box Blogs

Siblinghood of the World Award

This is our first nomination so a very special THANK YOU to Bibliomad for nominating us!

I know I’m just one of the three bloggers on our page but it’s my day to post so you get stuck with me. Here are the 10 questions Bibliomad asked:

  • What is your most treasured memory?

For me it’s sitting on my mothers bed, with my mom and sister, reading a book while they talk about anything. I’ve learned when dealing with my mothers cancer to appreciate the small moments. You never know if that’s all you get.

  • Press shuffle. What is the first song that comes up? What does it mean to you?

That’s awesome, The Monster by Eminen came up, which is funny since 90% of my music is hard rock. Everyone has weaknesses people!

  • What book did you have to read for school, yet you hated it? (If any.)

The Canterbury Tales, I’m sure it was hilarious in its time, but not my cup of tea honestly.

  • If you could only listen to one song for the rest of eternity, which would it be?

You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC. Loved it from the minute I heard it and it still never gets old.

  • What is the weather like whilst you’re writing this?

It’s about 85 degrees out and the sun is shining. No tradewinds though so everything is a little voggie from the Big Islands volcano.

  • If any one book character were to become a real person, which would you choose to do so?

This is a great question! Ben from Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series. Smart, snarky and has a dark past, sounds like bff material to me.

  • Which book character do you have the biggest crush on?

Vhishous from Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward.

  • If you could recommend one book to the whole world, which would you choose?

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. It has always been one of my favorites and its a classic so it can appeal to a broad audience.

  • What is your favourite holiday?

No favorites for me!

  • What is your dream holiday/vacation?

I have a list! I would love to visit South Africa, in fact all of Africa has been on my list for awhile. If it has to be somewhere I’ve been I loved New Zealand, I would love to go back there someday.

The official rules of this award are:

  1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link to their blog in your post.
  2. Answer the questions that the blogger who nominated you has provided.
  3. Nominate ten other bloggers (or up to 10).
  4. Create ten questions for your nominees and notify them of their nominations.

Our nominations are:
Clayton the Page Turner
Scifi and Scary
Records of the Ohanzee
Heron There & Everywhere
Vrushali21
The Bookish Khaleesi
Metallic Wolff
An Acquaintance with Letters
Read it or Not Reviews
Stacey is Sassy
One Book Two

Okay, that’s technically eleven but I know many of you are very busy writing books, or working or both so I figured I’d throw it out there and see who wants to try it. I also randomly picked a few names (though I’m eagar to hear your answers) so if you weren’t nominated and want to answer my questions,go for it!

My Ten Questions

  1. Who is your favorite author that’s alive? How about favorite author that is dead?
  2. Are you primarily a reader or a writer?
  3. What books are on your preorder list right now?
  4. If you could go live in the world written in a book what book would you chose? Would you still be human?
  5. If you could co-author a book with anyone who would you pick?
  6. If you had to write a biography about anyone, who would you write it about?
  7. If you had the choice between given lots of money but never being able to pick up a book again or being poor but having an unlimited supple of any book you want which would you chose?
  8. If you could build your dream library, where would you put it?
  9. What’s your favorite genre? Why is it so much better than the rest?
  10. Who’s your favorite bad guy/villain in a book?

Thanks again Olivia!

Books, great reads, Reviews

Somebody Killed His Editor by Josh Lanyon

Hey everybody,

Somebody Killed His Editor is a murder mystery by Josh Lanyon.  This is the first book I have read by this author and I found this book by way of an online book club I am in.  It is this month’s selection.  The detective is Christopher Holmes, a mystery writer whose sales are declining.  His agent told him to attend a small writer’s conference where the main speaker will be his editor.  He absolutely does not want to go, but he concedes to her request.  His agent has also told him to drop a new story idea to his editor that he does not have in his head yet in order to keep writing. Upon arrival, he finds a murdered body at the Lodge and is a leading suspect.  The next day, he finds another dead body! The search is on for the killer and the reason why.  Christopher is assisted by J.X. Moriarity, a writer who is an ex-cop.

What I liked about this book:  First, I love a good murder mystery and this one kept me interested.  It is a good little “whodunit”.  What surprised me most was the humor in the story, largely due to Christopher. This character’s internal banter is refreshing, at times self-deprecating, but quite humorous.  I do not expect to laugh during a murder mystery, but I did in this book.  There is a subplot of a romance between Christopher and J.X., but the author develops it slowly.  I thought the writing was tight in this book and the pacing of the story felt right. I believe I will be reading more by this author.

I was not crazy about the titling of the book and I thought the cover art was a bit too “cheesy”, but just put all that stuff aside and enjoy the story which is the most important thing anyway.  Pick it up—I think you will like it.

Happy Reading,

Debra

Out of the Box Blogs

$25 Amazon Gift Card

Hey you! Guess what? We are giving away a $25 Amazon gift card. Why? Because we can, and we think our followers are awesome. Seriously, that’s it. Already a follower? Bam! You just have to put in your info and you’re gold. Want to be? I don’t blame you, hey a free gift card is a free gift card, just hit that little tab on the bottom right hand side of our screen that just won’t stop stalking you. Don’t see it? That’s okay we have a backup plan, there is another one on the right hand side of the webpage.

Since rafflecopter and wordpress free don’t like to play in the same sandbox I’m going to have to give you a link…free stuff people!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/479697331/?

Books, great reads, Reviews

Snowflake Bay by Donna Kauffman

Hey everybody,

Snowflake Bay is a contemporary romance written by Donna Kauffman, one of my go-to authors.  This story is the second book of the Brides of Blueberry Cove series which is a follow-up series to the Bachelors of Blueberry Cove.

First of all, I am a sucker for books set in small-towns inhabited by wonderful everyday folks with hopefully a couple of quirky characters thrown in for fun!  Donna Kauffman is delivering that with this series set in Maine. The main characters are Fiona and Ben and they grew up together.  He was her brother’s best friend who had a crush on her sister.  Oh, nothing quite like unrequited love!  She is determined that he will not hurt her again and he, having never known he had hurt her, has finally noticed the grown-up Fiona and she is unsure what to do about it.  This book has plenty of emotion to go around but what I thought made it successful was that the angst between the characters did not come from some crazy misunderstanding that they have to work through.  What they have to come to terms with involve their future endeavors and the impact on them due to illnesses in immediate family and the obligations arising out of those.  That is refreshing in a contemporary romance story.  I think the author does a pretty good job of describing each of the character’s emotions with this. A solid story from Ms. Kauffman.

Happy Reading,

Debra