So I was trying to do a post maybe once a week and have it be like a recap thing, but I've already failed at that. But at least I have a new post relatively soon after my last one. Shock and awe, I know.
So what all have I been up to?
I went to the pumpkin farm place two Saturdays ago. Berry Patch something something. Lauren had this conversation in her head where I agreed to go with her. I was informed of this the Friday before. When I told Mom, she said she wanted to go. So Mom and I had lunch at Olive Garden (Holy hell the Chicken Marsala was awesome! I want it again. Maybe for dinner.) then went to Lowes to look at doors and locks. Finally finally it was time for pumpkin farm adventure. Sadly, Mom was not feeling well by this point, so she went home and I was left going to the pumpkin farm with Lauren, Jake, and Kid. Ally was supposed to come, but yard sales and naps were preventing her from leaving when Lauren wanted to leave. Anyway, we all piled into the Kid Mobile and adventured to the pumpkin farm. Food and cider were consumed, hayrides ridden, pumpkins drummed (Kid was having much fun with the drumming of the pumpkins), and pictures taken. Ally, Paul, and Lucas showed up and we chatted. Then finally finally we left and I went home and took a nap.
Sunday after that, Ally and I had chinese at Mizu. Lucas knows who I am! This makes me happy.
Week was all work all the time. And I played Uncharted Waters. That game is kinda fun. Now that Jake made me buy a battle boat and some better guns and told me about candles and cones and such, Battle is a lot more fun. I still think Trader is my favorite. It makes me monies to buy stuffs for Battle and Adventurer. I just wish I had more stupid Guild Cards so I could switch jobs more often.
Saturday was lunch with Mom and Jimmy. We went to Red Lobster where it looked all closed down and stuff cause they were doing renovations. They were still open, so we ate. And I got made fun of again cause of how I eat. But it's okay cause we made fun of Jimmy lots, which is always a bonus.
Sunday was Amy's Birthday/Housewarming party. We had a B-Meal (unintentionally). Brunswick stew, baked beans, brisket, bbq sauce, (green)bean casserole, bread, and banana pudding. Everything that I ate was awesome. I'm not a fan of banana pudding, but those who consumed it made all kinds of happy, yummy noises. The Brunswick stew was awesome and a number of people have demanded the recipe, so once Uncle Scott sends it, I will make sure to pass it along to those who requested.
Monday was a (unknown to the IT crew) demo day (on production server with sort of real data) at a dealership, so of course everything that could go wrong did. It was awesome.
Tuesday was more drama, but luckily the majority of it took place before I was even awake this morning, so I didn't have to deal with much of it.
And there is your recap. Yay fun stuff huh?
Now to wait impatiently for my new doors and locks.
10.18.2011
9.29.2011
What is this? An update? No way!
Shock and surprise! I'm updating the blog. I blame Ally.
Anyway, so I decided to update the blog thing. It has new colors. I'm liking the pretty leaves, so they are staying, just in a different color. I updated the Author Blogs a wee bit, nothing major. Except you should go read them if you are bored or something. Especially Ilona Andrews blog. They are amusing and have snippets of awesome books. And because I got tired of keeping it updated in like 4 places, I added the spiffy Google Calendar widget thingy to the New Releases tab so you people can see the upcoming book releases that I keep track of. There's a few. I like that google calendar dealy so I can keep track of the releases. It's the easiest I've found so far. So yay. What else have I done? Oh, Lending Library. If you've borrowed books from me, you should be on that list with what you have swiped from me currently and what you have swiped in the past. This way, hopefully, I can keep track of who I've made read what and whether it was a yay or nay. I'm kinda starting to run out of things for you people to read. You lot are just too picky! "Yay for romance!" "Boo! Romance bad!" "Some romance okay, but not a lot. Just a little. Not too much. You know, that much and no more." "Action good!" (..well, you all seem to agree on that, so that's good at least.) "Vamps and weres and mages, oh my! Don't like that nonsense. Gimme normal people please!" "Normal crap is crappy and boring. I want Vampires! And Were-whatevers! And Mages! Oh my!" But yeah, if I missed something you borrowed (or failed to note that you were "enh' or "omg keep that horrid thing away from me!" about a book), please let me know.
Anyway. How about some real stuff now. What has I been doing lately? Excellent question. Here is an answer.
Last weekend was Birthday Weekend. Friday night, I played designated driver for Randall and Jake for the celebration of Randall's birthday. I had headache, but I'm bad at saying no to people when they ask me to do stuff for them. So, we went to the place with the beer. Bedoe's. Food was enh. As I was DD (and don't drink anyway), I didn't have alcohol. The boys appeared to enjoy themselves, so we will call that a success.
Saturday was supposed to be Mom's day with lunch and whatnot for the slightly early celebration of her birthday. But she felt bad and Amy wanted to do gathering Sunday, so that was postponed.
Saturday night was dinner and book exchange with Ahmed. Seriously running out of books for him. Except for the In Death series. There's like 33 of those things and he's only on like 10 or whatever.
Sunday was Mom's Gathering and Ryan's Party. Sadly, they were at pretty much the same time. So I helped Lauren a bit with Publix going for the cake and such. Then I ran away to Mom's for Gathering of Family and Awesome Low Country Boil Food. I had fun. I brought Amy books too. She was very "Yay!" She didn't bring me books. I was very "meh". Mom got food and gathering of family and much love on her birthday. Awww. Then I left and ran away to Lauren's for Ryan's Party. I missed the food (and Matt and Jenny and Kids), but was there in time for cake. I ate cake, laughed at Lucas and Kid, said hi to people I've never met and people I sorta knew and people I haven't seen in a while and people I saw like an hour ago, laughed at Lucas and Kid some more, then ran away home where the crazy people didn't follow me. I read my awesome new book of awesomeness. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
So that was the weekend. Much more fun and exciting than my normal weekend.
And I've run out of things to talk about. So that's all you get.
Anyway, so I decided to update the blog thing. It has new colors. I'm liking the pretty leaves, so they are staying, just in a different color. I updated the Author Blogs a wee bit, nothing major. Except you should go read them if you are bored or something. Especially Ilona Andrews blog. They are amusing and have snippets of awesome books. And because I got tired of keeping it updated in like 4 places, I added the spiffy Google Calendar widget thingy to the New Releases tab so you people can see the upcoming book releases that I keep track of. There's a few. I like that google calendar dealy so I can keep track of the releases. It's the easiest I've found so far. So yay. What else have I done? Oh, Lending Library. If you've borrowed books from me, you should be on that list with what you have swiped from me currently and what you have swiped in the past. This way, hopefully, I can keep track of who I've made read what and whether it was a yay or nay. I'm kinda starting to run out of things for you people to read. You lot are just too picky! "Yay for romance!" "Boo! Romance bad!" "Some romance okay, but not a lot. Just a little. Not too much. You know, that much and no more." "Action good!" (..well, you all seem to agree on that, so that's good at least.) "Vamps and weres and mages, oh my! Don't like that nonsense. Gimme normal people please!" "Normal crap is crappy and boring. I want Vampires! And Were-whatevers! And Mages! Oh my!" But yeah, if I missed something you borrowed (or failed to note that you were "enh' or "omg keep that horrid thing away from me!" about a book), please let me know.
Anyway. How about some real stuff now. What has I been doing lately? Excellent question. Here is an answer.
Last weekend was Birthday Weekend. Friday night, I played designated driver for Randall and Jake for the celebration of Randall's birthday. I had headache, but I'm bad at saying no to people when they ask me to do stuff for them. So, we went to the place with the beer. Bedoe's. Food was enh. As I was DD (and don't drink anyway), I didn't have alcohol. The boys appeared to enjoy themselves, so we will call that a success.
Saturday was supposed to be Mom's day with lunch and whatnot for the slightly early celebration of her birthday. But she felt bad and Amy wanted to do gathering Sunday, so that was postponed.
Saturday night was dinner and book exchange with Ahmed. Seriously running out of books for him. Except for the In Death series. There's like 33 of those things and he's only on like 10 or whatever.
Sunday was Mom's Gathering and Ryan's Party. Sadly, they were at pretty much the same time. So I helped Lauren a bit with Publix going for the cake and such. Then I ran away to Mom's for Gathering of Family and Awesome Low Country Boil Food. I had fun. I brought Amy books too. She was very "Yay!" She didn't bring me books. I was very "meh". Mom got food and gathering of family and much love on her birthday. Awww. Then I left and ran away to Lauren's for Ryan's Party. I missed the food (and Matt and Jenny and Kids), but was there in time for cake. I ate cake, laughed at Lucas and Kid, said hi to people I've never met and people I sorta knew and people I haven't seen in a while and people I saw like an hour ago, laughed at Lucas and Kid some more, then ran away home where the crazy people didn't follow me. I read my awesome new book of awesomeness. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
So that was the weekend. Much more fun and exciting than my normal weekend.
And I've run out of things to talk about. So that's all you get.
10.26.2010
Review: Grave Witch
Grave Witch by Kalayna Price
Book 1 in Alex Craft series
Summary Deal :: Alex Craft is a completely broke (unexpected expenses involving her dog PC and his broken leg) grave witch who reluctantly accepts a job from her estranged sister (the family did not approve of Alex's grave witchery, so Alex got the boot) to help clear her father's name in the murder of the Governor. Coincidentally enough, her father was Lt. Governor and is now Governor since the old Governor was conveniently killed. Anyway, job gets taken and as a pseudo-bribe to a detective friend to get her in to see the Governor's body, she agrees to raise the shade of a victim of a serial killer to shed some light on the stalled case detective friend has. That's when everything goes wrong. Governor's body is all kinds of resistant to grave magic and doesn't even look dead to her grave sight like everything else does, not to mention all the crazy glyphs on the body nobody but Alex can see. Oh, and the serial killer victim's shade? Well, the soul had been practically shredded to nothing. When Alex finally gets the shade up, the shade is all kinds of not sane and ends up infecting Alex with a soul sucking spell of Not Goodness. And it goes downhill from there. Kidnappings (Falin to the rescue), assassination attempts (Death, instead of collecting her soul, pushes her out of the way to save her, which is totally Not Done), more kidnappings (again with Falin to the rescue, though she does do a good job of rescuing him back), messed up riddles, and, maybe the worst of them all, being followed by the press are seriously stressing poor Alex out. Not to mention preventing her from getting paid.
Major player break down :: Alex Craft, grave witch (think necromancer) and magic-eye (private investigator that generally "investigates" by raising a shade and asking it what her client wants to know). Death, a soul collector who pops in and out of Alex's life, much to her annoyance. Falin, cop in charge of investigation that Alex is reluctantly pulled into. Tamera (medical examiner), Holly (assistant DA), and Caleb (fae landlord) are Alex's best friends. PC, Alex's Chinese Crested dog who's responsible for Alex's sudden cash flow problem. And though he's not a major player, he is probably my favorite non-main character in the book: Fred, the stone gargoyle who claims Caleb, Alex, and Holly's front yard as his territory.
Classification :: Urban Fantasy. It sways from dark(ish) to medium, so we'll call it medium dark leaning towards the darker end.
Action/Romance :: Definitely an Action type of book. Lots of "let's try to kill/enslave/trick/kidnap people" moments. There is Romance as well. There's a whole triangle thing going on with Death, Alex, and Falin. It doesn't get resolved in this book, but I'm partial to Team Death. Falin is a pretty cool character and I could go either way on who Alex should end up with. But I've always been partial to Death/Reaper/Soul Collector type characters for some bizarre reason, so yeah. Team Death for me. (Which sounds so weird, but meh.)
Overall Opinions :: I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure what to expect going in. I saw the book in the store and the cover drew me. But I was already at my limit for books that trip, so I couldn't get it. I forgot about it until I saw it pop up in a passing mention on some blog I was reading (like "oh, new book for person, yay for release!" kinda thing) and it reminded me I wanted to look it up. Then I forgot about it again until I decided I needed something to read and I didn't want to read what I already had so I decided that I wanted this book and I wanted it asap. Which is not weird for me, sad to say. So yeah, I had no expectations going in, but I was very happy with the book.
Rereadability :: Definitely. I very much enjoyed the book and even though I know what happens, I already want to read it again. It was a very good book.
Getting Next Book :: Definitely will be getting the next book. Grave Dance is supposed to be released sometime in Summer 2011. No concrete date yet, but I'll definitely be watching for it.
Book 1 in Alex Craft series
Summary Deal :: Alex Craft is a completely broke (unexpected expenses involving her dog PC and his broken leg) grave witch who reluctantly accepts a job from her estranged sister (the family did not approve of Alex's grave witchery, so Alex got the boot) to help clear her father's name in the murder of the Governor. Coincidentally enough, her father was Lt. Governor and is now Governor since the old Governor was conveniently killed. Anyway, job gets taken and as a pseudo-bribe to a detective friend to get her in to see the Governor's body, she agrees to raise the shade of a victim of a serial killer to shed some light on the stalled case detective friend has. That's when everything goes wrong. Governor's body is all kinds of resistant to grave magic and doesn't even look dead to her grave sight like everything else does, not to mention all the crazy glyphs on the body nobody but Alex can see. Oh, and the serial killer victim's shade? Well, the soul had been practically shredded to nothing. When Alex finally gets the shade up, the shade is all kinds of not sane and ends up infecting Alex with a soul sucking spell of Not Goodness. And it goes downhill from there. Kidnappings (Falin to the rescue), assassination attempts (Death, instead of collecting her soul, pushes her out of the way to save her, which is totally Not Done), more kidnappings (again with Falin to the rescue, though she does do a good job of rescuing him back), messed up riddles, and, maybe the worst of them all, being followed by the press are seriously stressing poor Alex out. Not to mention preventing her from getting paid.
Major player break down :: Alex Craft, grave witch (think necromancer) and magic-eye (private investigator that generally "investigates" by raising a shade and asking it what her client wants to know). Death, a soul collector who pops in and out of Alex's life, much to her annoyance. Falin, cop in charge of investigation that Alex is reluctantly pulled into. Tamera (medical examiner), Holly (assistant DA), and Caleb (fae landlord) are Alex's best friends. PC, Alex's Chinese Crested dog who's responsible for Alex's sudden cash flow problem. And though he's not a major player, he is probably my favorite non-main character in the book: Fred, the stone gargoyle who claims Caleb, Alex, and Holly's front yard as his territory.
Classification :: Urban Fantasy. It sways from dark(ish) to medium, so we'll call it medium dark leaning towards the darker end.
Action/Romance :: Definitely an Action type of book. Lots of "let's try to kill/enslave/trick/kidnap people" moments. There is Romance as well. There's a whole triangle thing going on with Death, Alex, and Falin. It doesn't get resolved in this book, but I'm partial to Team Death. Falin is a pretty cool character and I could go either way on who Alex should end up with. But I've always been partial to Death/Reaper/Soul Collector type characters for some bizarre reason, so yeah. Team Death for me. (Which sounds so weird, but meh.)
Overall Opinions :: I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure what to expect going in. I saw the book in the store and the cover drew me. But I was already at my limit for books that trip, so I couldn't get it. I forgot about it until I saw it pop up in a passing mention on some blog I was reading (like "oh, new book for person, yay for release!" kinda thing) and it reminded me I wanted to look it up. Then I forgot about it again until I decided I needed something to read and I didn't want to read what I already had so I decided that I wanted this book and I wanted it asap. Which is not weird for me, sad to say. So yeah, I had no expectations going in, but I was very happy with the book.
Rereadability :: Definitely. I very much enjoyed the book and even though I know what happens, I already want to read it again. It was a very good book.
Getting Next Book :: Definitely will be getting the next book. Grave Dance is supposed to be released sometime in Summer 2011. No concrete date yet, but I'll definitely be watching for it.
10.25.2010
I won!
Holy crap! I won something! I never win anything! And I won!
So, Meljean Brook did a Steampunk Romance week thing on her blog where she posted reviews for different books in the genre. (Her book, The Iron Duke, came out recently, which is what prompted this whole deal.) And she did a giveaway on each of the posts for whatever book was being reviewed. And I totally won a book!!!
*dies*
I never win! Never ever! But I won!
*dies again*
Ahem, okay, I'm better now. Really.
I won Cold Magic by Kate Elliott. Aren't you excited? I'm excited. I can't wait to read it. It was my top 3 favorites of all the books she reviewed. And I won it!
*dies again*
So, Meljean Brook did a Steampunk Romance week thing on her blog where she posted reviews for different books in the genre. (Her book, The Iron Duke, came out recently, which is what prompted this whole deal.) And she did a giveaway on each of the posts for whatever book was being reviewed. And I totally won a book!!!
*dies*
I never win! Never ever! But I won!
*dies again*
Ahem, okay, I'm better now. Really.
I won Cold Magic by Kate Elliott. Aren't you excited? I'm excited. I can't wait to read it. It was my top 3 favorites of all the books she reviewed. And I won it!
*dies again*
Review: Manhunting
Manhunting by Jennifer Crusie
Summary Deal :: Kate is lonely and not happy with her life and wants to get married since she's tired of being alone. Her best friend convinces her to come up with a plan and sends her off to The Cabins to find a husband that matches the qualifications of the plan. There, Kate has horrible luck on the dating front. Dates end up in the pool (she was sober when she pushed him), has a heart attack on the golf course (totally not her fault, she was only intending on catching him cheating at the game), stabbed with a fork (guy was coming between her and some excellent mashed potatoes and gravy), kicked by a horse (that was completely the horse's fault), and fell down a steep incline while hiking (guy was not paying attention). But she makes a number of new friends. Including Jake, who so does not fit in Kate's plan. But that's probably a good thing.
Major player break down :: Kate, who's looking for a husband that fits her plan. Jessie, Kate's best friend who helped her make the plan and sent her to the Cabins to implement it. Penny, the girl in the adjacent cabin, who's there for a last round of dating before getting married in a month. Jake, the resort handyman who enjoys his "fishing" time on the lake every morning. Will, the resort owner, brother to Jake. Nancy, owner of Nancy's Place, local bar in town. Ben, Nancy's husband and Jake's pool playing buddy.
Classification :: Humorous Romance. This is a romance type book, but it was hilarious. I spent the vast majority of this book laughing out loud.
Action/Romance :: It's a romance, so the whole point of the story is to get Kate together with Jake. There's no Action (of the car chase/explosion/fight scene variety) but there are a few love scenes (nothing too graphic though).
Overall Opinions :: This book was freaking hilarious. I love it. The phone conversations between Kate and Jessie are great. Kate's interactions with her dates, Penny, and especially Jake are hilarious.
Rereadability :: I reread this book all the time. I got the eBook and recommended it to Mom when she was looking for something and read. So she bought the dead tree version. Since she doesn't reread books, I now have the eBook and dead tree versions and both get reread all the time.
Summary Deal :: Kate is lonely and not happy with her life and wants to get married since she's tired of being alone. Her best friend convinces her to come up with a plan and sends her off to The Cabins to find a husband that matches the qualifications of the plan. There, Kate has horrible luck on the dating front. Dates end up in the pool (she was sober when she pushed him), has a heart attack on the golf course (totally not her fault, she was only intending on catching him cheating at the game), stabbed with a fork (guy was coming between her and some excellent mashed potatoes and gravy), kicked by a horse (that was completely the horse's fault), and fell down a steep incline while hiking (guy was not paying attention). But she makes a number of new friends. Including Jake, who so does not fit in Kate's plan. But that's probably a good thing.
Major player break down :: Kate, who's looking for a husband that fits her plan. Jessie, Kate's best friend who helped her make the plan and sent her to the Cabins to implement it. Penny, the girl in the adjacent cabin, who's there for a last round of dating before getting married in a month. Jake, the resort handyman who enjoys his "fishing" time on the lake every morning. Will, the resort owner, brother to Jake. Nancy, owner of Nancy's Place, local bar in town. Ben, Nancy's husband and Jake's pool playing buddy.
Classification :: Humorous Romance. This is a romance type book, but it was hilarious. I spent the vast majority of this book laughing out loud.
Action/Romance :: It's a romance, so the whole point of the story is to get Kate together with Jake. There's no Action (of the car chase/explosion/fight scene variety) but there are a few love scenes (nothing too graphic though).
Overall Opinions :: This book was freaking hilarious. I love it. The phone conversations between Kate and Jessie are great. Kate's interactions with her dates, Penny, and especially Jake are hilarious.
Rereadability :: I reread this book all the time. I got the eBook and recommended it to Mom when she was looking for something and read. So she bought the dead tree version. Since she doesn't reread books, I now have the eBook and dead tree versions and both get reread all the time.
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