Wednesday Reads and Binge-Watching Update

Hey lookee! I finished a book. Here’s what I read the past week:

Book #48

Dates read: August 9-22
Title: “The Sumage Solution”
Year of publication: 2017
Author: G.L. Carriger
Genre: Paranormal (M/M) romance
Series: San Andreas Shifters #1
# of Pages: 305
Paper or plastic: Trade paperback
How obtained: Purchased
Blurb from book: Max fails everything – magic, relationships, life. So he works for DURPS (the DMV for supernatural creatures) as a sumage, cleaning up other mages’ messes. The job sucks and he’s in no mood to cope with redneck biker werewolves. Unfortunately, there’s something oddly appealing about the huge, muscled Beta visiting his office for processing.
    Bryan AKA Biff (yeah, he knows) is gay but he’s not out. There’s a good chance Max might be reason enough to leave the closet. If he can only get the man to go on a date. Everyone knows werewolves hate mages, but Bryan is determined to prove everyone wrong. Even the mage in question.
My thoughts: It was an interesting read, but not what I was expecting. I was also a bit confused with the world and felt it lacked explanation. At least it did for this old brain of mine.

The Vampire Diaries binge-watching update: I’m in the middle of season 4. In fact, I might finish that season today. Chug, chug, chugging along.

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Taking a Break

What with getting ready for Dragon Con (watching The Vampire Diaries), hosting Sizzle and Sass this week, and finishing my short story for my newsletter, I think it's in my best interest to take a blogging break.

Unless I finish reading the book I'm reading before Wednesday, in which case I'll post Wednesday Reads. Those are easy to write (and don't take all that much brain power).

Friday I leave for New Jersey so I can attend my family reunion on Saturday. Looking forward to that, although keeping up with the Sizzle and Sass page will be a little difficult. Must schedule some posts ahead of time (so glad I can do that!). 

Anyway, I'll be back. Just don't know when.

Eventually life will slow down. Right?

Happy Monday & Happy Eclipse Day!! Are you in the totality zone? I'm not. But I believe I will be in 2024. I should still be around then. :)

Stacy

Wednesday Reads, Still Watching, and My Rights

Binge-watching can really be time-consuming. Second week into The Vampire Diaries and I started season 3 yesterday. Nothing much else is getting done and you know what? I’m okay with that. I’d like to think I’ll really be prepared for the fan panel at Dragon Con.

Or at least not look like an idiot sitting there.

I’ve forgotten how much I really loved that series, though. And vampire stories in general. I’ve seen scenes and wonder, “Did I get my idea from that?” It’s highly possible.

Anyway, I did finish a book! Here’s what I read the past week:

Book #47

Dates read: August 2-9
Title: “Pretty Girls”
Year of publication: 2015
Author: Karin Slaughter
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Series: N/A
# of Pages: 573
Paper or plastic: Mass market paperback
How obtained: Free at RT17
Blurb from book: It’s been more than twenty years since Claire and Lydia last spoke. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother dating an ex-con, struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the disappearance of their sister Julia two decades earlier—and the shocking murder of Clair’s husband brings the horror and heartbreak of the past roaring back into their lives.
    The vanishing of a teenage girl and the killing of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: What could connect them? As they form a wary truce, the surviving sisters unearth the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago…and find the astonishing truth where they least expect it.
My thoughts: Goodness. Karin Slaughter was at RT so I thought maybe this book would have some romantic elements to it. Nope. Not a bit. And you know what? It didn’t matter. I became riveted to the grisly story. And it is grisly.  

Good news! I got my rights back from Kensington for My Sunny Vampire; Bite Me, I’m Yours; and Ghostly Liaison. Those books are no longer for sale until I get them re-released. I’m getting the cover for Ghostly Liaison first, since I’d like the first book out when I release the second book. Then I’ll concentrate on getting my vampire books back out there.

It’s gonna be a lot of work after Dragon Con (because I’m sure I’ll be watching TVD until then) when I switch my attention over to getting them back into circulation. I just hope it doesn’t take long. I need to get back to writing eventually!

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Cover to Ghostly Interlude

It’s a blatant self-promotion post! Yay!

Can I call this a cover reveal if I’ve already revealed it to my newsletter subscribers?

Not that that many subscribers have SEEN the cover. They would have had to open the newsletter to do that.

So, whether or not this is a “reveal,” I am now sharing the cover to Ghostly Interlude.

Isn't it pretty? I don’t have a release date yet. I’m not comfortable setting that date until I get the book back from my editor. Once I get more comfortable that it’s close to being finished, I’ll put the book up for presale. I’ve never done that before, so it’ll be interesting to see if it does any good. It certainly can’t hurt. Right?

So, for some more blatant self-promo, here’s the blurb:

Maggie Russell—legal assistant by day, horror writer by night—gets the scare of her life when she wakes up in a strange café without any idea of how she got there. But if she tells anyone about her sleepwalking escapades, she could lose her grandmother’s house, and she’d fought so hard to keep it.

Dean Parker is a private investigator whose office is next door to Maggie’s law firm. He’s been eyeing the pretty brunette ever since she started working there, but getting involved with anyone isn’t in his game plan. When he finds out she’s been having sleeping problems, he suspects her money-grubbing cousin is involved. Instead, he discovers something worse: a ghost is living with Maggie and it appears another may be possessing her.

Dean is determined to help Maggie rid her home of the uninvited guests. He just never figured his attraction to her would be reciprocated. Keeping his distance is no longer an option, though. If he fails, Maggie could very well be possessed forever.

And if the blurb’s not enough, here’s the UNEDITED beginning of Ghostly Interlude:

Something poked Maggie in her shoulder and she swatted it away. Time to have a serious talk with her cousin about boundaries and if that didn’t work, she would finally install a lock on her bedroom door.

“Ma’am, wake up. You have to go.”

Ma’am? That didn’t sound like Erica because, well, Erica wasn’t a guy. So what was a guy doing in her bedroom? Maggie bolted upright and blinked as the bright room came into focus. Better question: Where was her bedroom?

Keep calm. Keep calm. You’ve just been sleep walking. Again.

The mantra did nothing to keep her heart from racing. Probably because every other time it had happened she’d woken up at home. Not at some strange café.

Dirty dishes littered the table before her. God. She was eating in her sleep now? Should she be thankful she wasn’t wearing her pajamas? She apparently had the sleep-sense to put on a sweater and jeans.

The person who’d poked her was actually a waiter, and a young one at that. He couldn’t be more than twenty. “Here’s the check. I have to close up.”

“What day is it?”

“It’s seven. We’re closing.”

She grabbed his arm. “Not time. Day. Day!”

His eyes widened and he shrugged free. “Sunday?”

“Sunday?” No. No-no-no. That couldn’t be. She’d lost two days. Two freakin’ days! Who slept-walked for two days?

So… if you made it this far, how did you like the cover? How about the excerpt? Intriguing enough to read more? I sure hope so!

Happy Friday!

Stacy

 

No Wednesday Reads Because...

I’m reading a really good book, but it’s long (573 pages) and I’m now spending my days binge-watching The Vampire Diaries, so it’ll be awhile before I finish the book.

And I’m certainly not getting any writing done. Priorities!

But I’m amazed at how much I remember of the first season of TVD. So much so, that I thought some of the characters showed up in later seasons. Wrong! Maybe my memory isn’t as bad as I thought.

I’m having fun watching the episodes again. Especially now that I don’t have to zip through commercials. I swear, The CW shows more commercials than any other network. Each episode of TVD is 40 minutes long. That’s 20 minutes of commercials when it airs. This is why I record all shows.

Well… except for sports. I do watch those live.

Recently, Spectrum changed our “bundle” package by taking out all the movie channels and charging us separately. I don’t know what kind of “bundle” that left us, except phone and internet. But I wasn’t about to pay $59 for channels we rarely watch, so I called and cancelled that portion. I’d probably quit cable altogether, but we like our sports and face it, TV is easier to record and watch than downloading from some internet site (especially when our internet is wonky at times).

So… How often do you read really long books? Do you like them long? I prefer long to short, but sometimes those thick ones will cause me to hesitate picking it up. I like time to read those books (because they tend to be complicated reads due to many story lines) and if I see I won’t have time, then I’ll find something shorter. But in this case, I guess I forgot I wanted to watch TVD (and have little time to get the series watched). Ooops.

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Getting Sick at a Con and some GREAT News

Wouldn’t you believe it? I’m not at Rust City Book Con for one day and I come down with another cold. I can’t even blame this on con crud because I might have left the house with this cold. I had thought it was just my allergies being my allergies ignoring my pills.

Because my allergies tend to do that.

But no. As I drove closer to Detroit, the scratchier my throat became. Not a good sign. Luckily, the scratch went away. Not so lucky, the running nose and coughing took over. Finding cold medicine became a trick, since I didn’t want to drive in that crazy town (traffic was unreal) and there wasn’t ANY store within walking distance (I tried). I discovered the hotel sold Nyquil pills. $5 for 4 pills. Expensive, but Yay! I’d been sure I was saved.

I wasn’t. Those pills didn’t help all that much. Oh, they dried me up all right, to the point of clogging my nose. I couldn’t breathe! I don’t care what anyone says, the liquid stuff is better (I came home and took some Nyquil and it worked wonderfully).

Even though I became sick (I’m sooooo glad I packed lots of Kleenex packs—sure came in handy), I tried not to let it get to me too much. I did have a good time (and my friend liked it so much she wants to go back next year). Actually sold two books (which is two more than last year).

I still wish more people would have attended the book signing (which was open to the public). That’s something Jackie will have to work on.

Other than that, Jackie did and OUTSTANDING job of running this convention. I’ve never seen anyone work so hard just to make sure everyone had a good time.

And if it weren’t for my cold, I might have been able to enjoy more than I did.

Here’s my GREAT news: Hubby’s PET scan came back clean. No cancer! Of course, that’s what last year’s PET scan showed, so to be safe, he’ll have another PET scan in six months. Hubby is doing great though. He’s gained back some of the weight he lost, but is hoping he can stay at the weight he’s at now. He doesn’t want to gain it ALL back. So he’s back to walking after work (he’s up to 8 miles, but says he’ll stick with that number for awhile—before he walked 10 miles a day). I doubt I’ll ever walk that much. I’m lucky to get in 4 miles and my pace has really slowed down. Can’t blame that on my heart, though. Nope. It’s all due to my stupid arthritic knee.

Getting old sucks.

So…  Why do we get sick at the most inopportune times? Is there ever an opportune time? Hmmm…

Happy Monday!

Stacy

Wednesday Reads

Here’s what I read the past week:

Book #46

Dates read: July 25-31
Title: “Wolf Tales 12”
Year of publication: 2011
Author: Kate Douglas
Genre: Erotica
Series: Wolf Tales #12
# of Pages: 366
Paper or plastic: Trade Paperback
How obtained: Purchased
Blurb from book: Gifted with exceptional strength and extraordinary sensuality, the shape-shifting Chanku have learned to survive on their own, far away from their one time home in the mountains of Montana. But as the years pass, the packs begin to long for one another, for the incredible passion they enjoy together and for the erotic pleasure they find only with their own kind…
    It is then they hear Anton’s call. He has learned even more about the fascinating past of the Chanku. And the young girl, Lily, has made the most astonishing discover of all…
    The time has come for all Chanku to come together as one, to reclaim their primal past and to enter an amazing future that no one ever dreamed. Their epic journey is over, and least for now…
My thoughts: I wasn’t all that impressed with the last few books in this series, so I hesitated to read this. But I did and glad I had. Lots of stuff is packed into this (with lots of sex, can’t forget that!), making it longer than the others in this series. But it is a nice ending and I enjoyed the story.

I still have to pack my clothes, but I think I’m ready for the Rust City Book Con. When I get back from that on Sunday, then I have to start thinking about Dragon Con. I need to start binge-watching The Vampire Diaries (since I’m on the fan panel), and take lots of notes. Must remember to take notes! I can’t afford to procrastinate there. The Vampire Diaries lasted for 8 seasons! I still need season 8, but I’m not even sure I’ll get through seven seasons before the end of the month. It’ll be fun trying, though. J

So… How do you decide which book to read next? Do you look at your stack and see which one grabs you? Or do you have a specific list you’re whittling down? Me, I tend to look at my stack. Unfortunately the books on top get my attention first and I always put the newest purchase on top. Hmmm… Maybe I need to change my strategy there.

Happy Reading!

Stacy