Wednesday Reads

Looks like I read a lot, but I didn’t. Not really. Must be the timing. Here’s what I read during the week:

Dec 4: “The Down Home Zombie Blues” by Linnea Sinclair, a sci-fi romance. Blurb from Goodreads: A dangerously sexy space commander and an irresistibly earthy Florida police detective pair up to save the civilized galaxy . . . but can they save themselves from each other? Bahia Vista homicide detective Theo Petrakos thought he’d seen it all. Then a mummified corpse and a room full of futuristic hardware sends Guardian Force commander Jorie Mikkalah into his life. Before the night’s through, he’s become her unofficial partner—and official prisoner—in a race to save the earth. And that’s only the start of his troubles. Jorie’s mission is to stop a deadly infestation of biomechanical organisms from using Earth as its breeding ground. If she succeeds, she could save a world and win a captaincy. But she’ll need Theo’s help, even if their unlikely partnership does threaten to set off an intergalactic incident. Because if she fails, she’ll lose not just a planet and a promotion, but a man who’s become far more important to her than she cares to admit. I got this book free from the RT Convention. They gave away a flash drive containing something like 300 books and this was one of several that interested me, mainly because I enjoyed Sinclair’s Dock Five Universe series. Well, this book is way better. Don’t let the “zombie” name fool you (like it did me). They’re called zombies, but are actually alien creatures. Lots of action in this book. Good romance, too. And it’s set during Christmas (couldn’t have planned THAT any better!). I’m not a huge sci-fi reader, but could come to love the genre with books like this.

Dec 5: “Ho Ho Honeybun” by Sam Cheever, a novella of the Honeybun Fever series. Blurb from Goodreads: Dolfe Honeybun broke up with Blaise Runa because her party girl ways were driving him to distraction. Unfortunately, out of sight does NOT mean out of mind. And when his favorite party girl sees something she shouldn’t and finds herself being chased by a cold blooded killer… reason shuts down and Dolfe’s heart takes over. If only he can get to her in time! This was an impulse buy. I read an excerpt, saw the Santa hat on the cover and thought, why not? I needed a short book to help me reach my goal of 90 books read (which, I’m sad to say, I will probably NOT reach this year). While this novella is part of a series I’ve never read before, I didn’t need to—I was never lost in that regard. A lot of action happens in this book, but not as much sex as I assumed (even then, it wasn’t exactly at a good time in the story). Once I got past the farcical names (e.g. Honeybun and Whatsnoggin), I became wrapped up in the story and I might be intrigued to read the rest of the series if I didn’t already have so many other series/authors/books to read.

Dec 9: “Reckless” by Jessi Gage, a paranormal romance. Blurb from Goodreads: Divorced construction worker Derek has anger management issues. Acting rashly on the freeway, he causes an accident. His truck escapes unscathed, but he can’t say the same for his conscience. Visions of the wreck haunt his dreams, but they’re always followed by the sweet caresses and soothing words of a beautiful woman who calls to everything male in him. Cami assumes she is dead. With no memory of her past, all she knows is endless fog and the occasional visit to a darkened bedroom where she comforts a man battling nightmares. When she wakes in a hospital bed and regains her memory, she assumes the ruggedly-handsome Derek was no more than a figment of her concussed mind. As Cami recovers, she learns that Derek is not only real but also the driver charged with causing her accident. She should be furious with him, but their inexplicable nights together showed her a tender side beneath his rough exterior. Will she let one reckless mistake drive them apart, or will forgiveness have the right of way? A different kind of paranormal romance (okay, maybe supernatural, then?) and I enjoyed it very much. Nothing better than reading a book that captures your attention. Unless, you have work to do. Hmmm… Oh well. **shrugs**

So… Do you like reading holiday stories during the holidays? Or does it even matter to you? It doesn’t matter so much to me, but it’s nice when I do. Kind of puts me in the spirit, I guess.

Happy Reading!

Stacy

It Was a Good Season

Unfortunately, it didn’t end with a win. Wayne High School became the runner-up in the Ohio HS Division I Championship game. I really thought they could win this year. It’s not easy beating those private schools (Lakewood St. Edward won), but we beat last year’s champion (yep, private) just to get to this year’s game. It wasn’t meant to be, I guess. We can hope for next year, but so many are graduating this year. You never know, though.

However… Did you see??? The Ohio State Buckeyes were ranked #4!!! I swear, I screamed when I saw the results. I didn’t think they’d make it. Didn’t think they’d get the votes. Surprise!! They will play in the Sugar Bowl against #1 Alabama. Let’s go Bucks!

See, it doesn’t take much to get me excited again.

I would show you the pictures I took at the game, but my connection to the Internet is funky at best at the time of this posting and it was taking FOR-EV-ER to bring up a photo. I'd blame it on my computer, except my husband was having the same difficulty. Anyway, you aren't missing much. It was freezing (okay, 39 degrees, but close enough!!) and I only took four pictures (all before the game started).

So…what are your plans for this week? I want to write and break through this wall I apparently built.

**CRACK**

**POW**

Yeah, I’m ready!

Have a great Monday!

Stacy

Pictures of my Accomplishments

Whew.

I was busy yesterday. All because I was avoiding decorating the tree. But I did decorate. Here's the proof:

I took pictures of both sides. Can you see the Steelers ornaments?

 

But before I tackled trimming the tree, I paid the bills and then decided to clean out my file drawer. Man, I had some statements that went back to 1998! They're all in the basket for the shredder (which is another project ahead of me, but ain't happening anytime soon) and my drawer is much roomier (I couldn't even close it before).

See.. there are some things I will clean to avoid. I would have written, but then I NEVER would have gotten the tree decorated.

And if I was following my Subject Post, there would be a picture of my shredding pile (or even my file drawer), but, uh... no. Some things are not meant to be shared!

On Wednesday night the hubby and I moved our new chairs into the family room. Right now they are side by side, but only because we don't know what to do about the vent (or if my husband wants his chair over it). The plan was to put a table between the two chairs (a table we still have to purchase) so there's a place for the remotes and Kleenex, but that pesky vent is kind of killing that plan. We'll see.

Just ignore the mess on the table.
We have a few laptops, that's all. :)

Anyway, aren't the chairs pretty? I'm not used to sitting so high and the chairs aren't any higher than the couch was. Guess that tells you what state our couch was in, huh?

I don't know if she reads my blog, but Happy Birthday, Mary! Mary is our dear friend who loves to cook for us (and we love to eat her cooking). But tonight we'll be meeting her at a restaurant to celebrate her birthday.

We have the big game to go to tomorrow (Wayne plays in the State Championship game). I'm so excited. It's a day game this time (3:30pm), so hopefully it won't be as cold. Well, it won't FEEL as cold if the sun is shining, so I guess I hope the sun is shining! It's supposed to rain in the morning, so we'll see.

So... What are you excited about? And "Christmas" is a valid answer!

Have a great weekend!

Stacy

No Wednesday Reads, but My Sunny Vampire is FREE

I would LOVE to say I finished my current reading project—because that book is, like, SUPER good—but I’m behaving and concentrating on my writing instead, so no books to report this week.

I noticed on Monday that the digital version of My Sunny Vampire is FREE on Amazon, B&N, and Kobo, so if you don’t have a copy yet, now would be a good time to get it because it won’t be any cheaper (duh!). Links are located on the book tab above.

I didn’t know MSV was going to be free and I don’t know how long the sale will last. The book is currently ranked in the 50s (on Amazon) for free downloads in the paranormal romance category. Not too shabby, I guess. I hope it generates sales for Bite Me (or even more reviews for MSV—sadly, it lacks many of those), but only time will tell.

Out of all the non-writing projects I had planned for Monday, I completed all but decorating the Christmas tree. It’s assembled, so I’m not a total slouch. And I would decorate it today except our old couch will be removed (finally—yay) and I won’t be able to put the chairs in the family room by myself (yeah, I go to the gym, but I’m not THAT strong). So, it’s best to leave the tree bare for now. Less chance of breaking an ornament. Looks like I’ll be decorating tomorrow.

In the meantime, I’m writing on the breakfast table. Something I don’t normally do. If I end up being more productive there, I might have to re-think my writing process.

Yesterday I managed to finally add some words to Ghostly Interlude. I’d been nervous getting back to it since I hadn’t touched it in a month. Nervous for no reason, it seemed. It felt good to write. Hope to get even more words added today. I’ve decided to kind of skim over the difficult scenes and write on. And when I say difficult, I mean I have a slight IDEA of what the scene should entail, but I’m still trying to figure out my character’s back story, so until I get a firm grasp on that, the scene is only a note. Hopefully, I don’t get myself into a mess doing this, but it’s better than staring at a blank page. Plus, I want to write. Writing always helps me figure out my characters, especially when they’re talking on the page.

So… How’s your week going so far? Good, I hope!

Stacy

We’re Going to State!

That’s right! I’m finally getting my chance to see the Horseshoe! Wayne won the Division I, Region 2 final and will be in Columbus to play the State Championship game this Saturday. Whoo hoo!

Last Saturday’s game was a nail biter, that’s for sure. Well… I would have bitten my nails if I weren’t wearing gloves. Lead changed hands several times during the game and with 5 minutes left we were tied. Lucky for us, we scored with less than 2 minutes left. Even luckier, we intercepted a pass (intended for the end zone) with 25 seconds left.

This is Wayne’s third trip to State. We’re hoping three time’s the charm! Let’s go Wayne!!

* * * *

I sent Blind Temptation to my editor on Friday, so I’m all set to get back into Ghostly Interlude. But first…

I’ll be sending out Christmas cards today (decided on the short story) and wrapping/shipping presents to my parents. Wanna mail those things early, while I can do it cheaper! Last year I was stupid; won’t do that again. After that, I’ll put up the tree (after I move the table and clean the area). Then tonight, I’ll get someone (son/husband?) to help bring up the decorations from the basement (the box is too big for me to carry by myself).

That tree WILL be decorated tonight. And once it is, I can stop stressing about the holiday and settle in to write.

Except…we have these two chairs we bought (to replace our couch in the family room) that need to be unwrapped and assembled (well, the legs need to be added—this is what happens when you refuse to pay the $99 delivery fee). The chairs are currently taking up space in the living room (good thing we don’t use that room all that often) until we get the couch removed (which we will donate to a charity).

I’m hoping that doesn’t take long. And then I’m hoping it doesn’t take long to get used to writing in the new chair. But the chair will be mine. Mine, mine, mine!

I’ll be sure to post pictures after it all happens (tree AND chairs).

So… 35 years ago today I said “I do.” Do we look young or what?

Have a great Monday!

Stacy