Under the guise of comfort, or habit, or laziness, I default to staying indoors. I wonder if there’s more to it, now that I am putting my personality under the microscope. To be honest, it feels safe to stay inside. No way that I’m going to get hit by bus from my couch. There’s always…
Tag: book blog
The Collector’s Society Review
After years in Wonderland, Alice has returned to England as an adult, desperate to reclaim sanity and control over her life. An enigmatic gentleman with an intriguing job offer too tempting to resist changes her plans for a calm existence, though. Soon, she’s whisked to New York and initiated into the Collectors’ Society, a secret…
The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (As Perfected by Quarantine.)
The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (As perfected by quarantine.) Ingredients: 1 cup unsalted butter 3 cups All-Purpose flour 1 cup light brown sugar (not dark brown) 1 cup white sugar 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp almond extract (1/2 tsp if you’re sensitive to the taste of marzipan) 2 eggs ½ tsp baking powder…
Three Mages and a Margarita Review
Three Mages and a Margarita is a book about a redhead with a temper problem (in Canada of all places, ha!). She is employed as a bartender to pay rent, which works right up until a customer says something stupid (every week or so). Finally, she applies to work at a bar in the seedy…
The “Book Nerd Rainy Day” Cocktail
Book Nerd Rainy Day Cocktail (Aka, The Earl Grey Masterpiece) Ingredients . 2 oz gin . 3/4 oz lemon juice . 1/2 to 3/4 oz earl grey simple syrup depending on desired sweetness (see recipe for instructions on how to make this) . (Optional) 1/2 of an egg white Simple Syrup Steep earl grey tea…
Where not to dump a body (for perfectly theoretical reasons relating to writing murder mysteries and not at all for actual murderers who want to elude the police “Hear that NSA?”)
So you decided to get on the FBI’s watchlist to read about dead bodies. Go you! It’s not like we can board a plane anyhow right now, right? Right. In order to explore where NOT to dump that theoretical corpse, first we need to address the common dumping ground stereotypes: 1. Water A man (let’s…
Zoom Backgrounds for a Chaotic World
Download with impunity! -Annalise
Revolution Review
Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And her father has determined that accompanying him to Paris for winter break is the solution…
Indie Interview Series: Barbara Mealer on Marketing and Her New Novel
This may sound strange, I ran away from home when I retired. I’m originally from Titusville, a small town in PA. I ended up in Sunrise, FL (a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale) via TN and WI. I liked Florida for about four of five years, then I was so over it and the 24-7 life…
Indie Author Interview Series: Joy Lynn Goddard
Joy Lynn Goddard is one of Canada’s top novelists in the young adult genre. Drawing from her experiences as a teacher, she has written a picture book, a middle-grade novel and five coming-of-age novels, beginning with the award-winning Daredevils. Inspiring readers, her characters face issues that are relevant today—cyber-bullying, peer pressure, blended families, mental illness and…
Indie Author Interview Series: Peter Martuneac
I’m Peter Martuneac (that’s a Romanian name, in case you’re wondering). I’m a husband, father, Boilermaker, Marine, and now a writer! “His Name Was Zach” was my debut novel earlier this year, over the summer I wrote a short story prequel called “Abby: Alone”, and my work-in-progress is a sequel called “Her Name Was Abby”,…
Indie Interview Series: Nikita Gupta Interview
Nikita is an author, blogger, and entrepreneur. Nikita is globally known for her multicultural lifestyle blog, Growing Up Gupta (www.growingupgupta.com). In which she and her husband, Sachin, share stories of interracial/intercultural dating and marriage, multiracial and multicultural parenting, fusion recipes, and more. Growing Up Gupta led them to author Habits of Successful Career Nomads and…
Indie Author Series: Nomita Khanna Interview
Award-winning author Nomita Khanna has debated on stage to win trophies, conducted summer camps for children, splashed oil-paint on canvas, crocheted caps and mittens for toddlers, and written stories for Femina, a leading magazine in India; all in an endeavor to create things. She makes her home in India with her family, a sizeable…
A New Take on NaNoWriMo Featuring Indie Authors
Happy NaNoWriMo everyone! Yes, it is officially November 1st, the first day of that much beloved but grueling annual writing challenge to put 50,000 words on paper that we all start and, hopefully, all finish. I love participating in NaNoWriMo, as I have for the past nine years. However, this year, I am trying something…
A College-Friendly Spanish Recipe (aka cheap and easy to clean up)
Who doesn’t love to cook an easy and incredibly inexpensive meal, and have it turn out absolutely delicious? Who doesn’t love when that meal happens to come straight from Southern Spain, an authentic dish that stood out for me during my time here in The Valencian region for one simple reason: It sure as heck…
Rosemarked Review
Author: Livia Blackburne Publication Date: November 7, 2017 Buy Now on Indiebound When Zivah falls prey to the deadly rose plague, she knows it’s only a matter of time before she fully succumbs. Now she’s destined to live her last days in isolation, cut off from her people and unable to practice her art—until…
The Problem with Modern Middle Grade
I don’t normally read a whole lot of middle grade. Even as a middle grader the genre annoyed me. Writers (or the people who buy the books) often look down upon middle grade audiences; oversimplifying everything, and giving the main character a voice that would better suit a small child rather than a pre-teen. Even…
The Reader (Sea of Ink and Gold) Review
Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is brutally murdered, she flees into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her to hunt, track, and steal. But when Nin is kidnapped, leaving Sefia completely alone, none of her survival skills can help her discover where Nin’s been taken, or if…
The Book of Dust
Publication Date: October 19, 2017 Author: Philip Pullman Buy Now from Indiebound The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman had so much potential. The world he had created decades ago with The Golden Compass was already fully fleshed out. He had a dedicated following of adults and teens who had grown up with his…