Archive for the 'Voracious Reader' Category

June 24, 2008 | Book One, Book Stuff, DA Series, Draven Atreides, Life in General, Miss Snitch Mondays, Movie Queue, Must-See DVD, The 4-1-1 on Me, Voracious Reader, Weekend Wrap-Up

Saturday morning, my BF and I attended a business mtg. I needed a consult and seeing as how my BF owns 20% of my company (she’s the V.P.), I thought she needed to be “in the know”. Afterwards, we were supposed to hit up a coffee shop and talk more business, but I wasn’t in the mood. So, instead we hit up Ross, where she bought me a most wonderful belated birthday gift: a Buxton Womens Laptop carrying case in Sage

sage.jpg

Isn’t it great? I love it. It’s to replace the one that got destroyed during a PMS moment.

Ahem

Moving on…we then moseyed on over to Chandler Fashion Mall to check out this new store called BareEscentuals. I wanted to check out their Bare Minerals line of make-up. All natural make-up. I’m all for natural. Their foundation even has SPF 15! That’s plus when you’re living in It’s-So-Damn-Hot-It-Feels-Like-A-Blow-Dryer, AZ. Seriously, I think they just need to change the name from Phoenix, AZ to Damn Hot, AZ. I just scoped it out, wanted to eyeball the products up close and personal. I didn’t buy anything, but I plan to.

We then hit up my other favorite place…The Body Shop, where I bought some Moringa Body Scrub.

Have you smelled this stuff? It’s absolutely wonderful. I happened to see it online and knew, without even smelling it, that I would like it. When I got a GC to this place for my birthday, I hotfooted it over there and bought the shea body butter. That was the first time I smelled it and I LOVE IT. My BF bought me some Perfume Oil in Sequin Sparkle as another birthday gift

It smells great. A very light floral scent. She thought the name sounded whimsical (my BF is pretty whimsical herself) and ended up liking the way it smelled. The fact that it was on sale for $2 (and I get a 10% discount with my card) was a bonus. Speaking of discounts…we came into the mall through Barnes and Noble. The plan was to hit up Starbucks and then check out that other store.

“As long as I don’t end up in the romance section, I’ll be fine,” I tell her.

We ended up sharing some kind of S’Mores treat (that really wasn’t all that good) and chatting for a little bit.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” she says.

And it was all over but the cryin’. I ended up in the romance section. Had no intention of buying any books because I’d just bought 7 books online at eHarlequin.

Until I saw these

And it was all over but the cryin’. Again.

I’ve read every book in Lynsay Sands’ Argeneau Vampire series except for Book One. I just got finished reading Books 7, 8 & 9. I hadn’t read these two yet. They were on my list. I couldn’t pass them up.

The next thing I know, I’m snapping them off the shelf and beating a hasty retreat to checkout.

“I really need to find my friend-” (lost in the New Age section, BTW) “—and get the hell outta here.”

That night, the hubby and I watched this movie

Breach, with Ryan Phillipe. Have you seen it? Very good movie. It’s based on a true story about an FBI agent wanna-be who was instrumental in getting his boss, Agent Robert Hanssen, convicted for selling secrets to the Soviet Union. Yeah. I know. Deep.

On Sunday, (more…)

Technorati Tags: Ross, Buxton, Chandler Fashion Mall, BareEscentuals, Bare Minerals, The Body Shop, Moringa Body Scrub., Sequin Sparkle, Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, eHarlequin, Lynsay Sands’ , Argeneau Vampire, Breach, Ryan Phillipe

June 24, 2008 | Book Stuff, Life in General, The 4-1-1 on Me, Voracious Reader

Girls Are Bitchy tagged me last week and I’m just now getting to it. Oops, my bad.

A book that made you laugh: Sex and the Single Witch, by Annette Blair.

*A book that made you cry: I’ve never cried while reading a book, but I always get a pang in my chest when something “misunderstood” happens between the characters.

*A book that scared you: I don’t read scary books.

*A book that disgusted you: Haven’t read one. Yet.

*A book you loved in elementary school: Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein.

*A book you loved in middle/junior high school: The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton. I remember out Humanities teacher reading that book aloud to us.

*A book you loved in high school: I was reading adult romance books by then, so I guess you could say I loved the Loveswept line.

*A book you loved in college: Justice and Her Brothers, but I don’t remember who write it. I took a Children’s Literature course at community college and had to read a childrens book. I chose that one and liked it.

*A book that challenged your identity: NA

*A series that you love: The one I’m currently writing. LOL

*Your favourite horror book: Don’t read scary books.

*Your favourite science fiction book: Not a big fan of sci-fi books. The channel, on the other hand, is a different story….

*Your favourite fantasy book: don’t have one.

*Your favourite mystery book: It’s more like mystery/romance, but I liked the SG-5 series by Alison Kent. Adult romance, of course.

*Your favourite (auto)biography: My Sergei by Olympic ice skater Katerina Gordeeva. I am a HUGE ice skating fan, particularly pairs, and this was about the young Russian pairs team of Sergei Grinkov and Katerina and how she met her husband. He died on the ice during practice, at the age of 28, from an undetected heart problem. They were an awesome team and I was devastated when he died.

*Your favourite “coming of age” book: don’t have one.

*Your favourite classic: The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton.

*Your favourite romantic novel: LOL. Oh, lord. I don’t have a favorite book, just authors: Carly Phillips, Alison Kent, Jill Shalvis, Sandra Hill (her Navy SEALs series), Lori Foster

*My favourite book (non-fiction): My Sergei, Katerina Gordeeva. I don’t really read a lot of non-fiction.

*My favourite short story(ies): don’t have any.

It’s going to seem like I don’t read at all, but I truly am an avid reader. Of adult romance books. LOL. Some YA (I know, odd that I write it, but don’t often read it). I rarely step outside the romance-induced haze.

Technorati Tags: Girls Are Bitchy, Sex and the Single Witch, Annette Blair, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein, The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton, Loveswept, Justice and Her Brothers, SG-5, Alison Kent, My Sergei , Katerina Gordeeva, Carly Phillips, Alison Kent, Jill Shalvis, Sandra Hill, Lori Foster

June 3, 2008 | Book One, Book Stuff, DA Series, Draven Atreides, Life in General, The 4-1-1 on Me, Voracious Reader, Weekend Wrap-Up

Thank you Draven for announcing to all and sundry that I’m done with revisons. Brat. Trying to upstage me or what? Yes, I finished a day before the deadline. Yes, I have to type it up the rest…still. Yes, it’s the first draft. Yes, I will be trolling the streets internet for teen readers. And yes (knock on wood), hopefully I won’t want to throw my laptop out the window when I get the second report.

Because the first one didn’t make me want to throw my laptop out the window…but curl up in the fetus position on the floor, whimper, and panic for a good 2 hrs.

And then I got over it.

So, over the weekend I didn’t do anything but read. Seriously. Nothing. But. Read.

“Shouldn’t she have been typing up revisions?”

YES, GODAMMIT! I have every right to do the Snoopy Dance for a few days, don’t I? I think I’ve panicked and slaved enough over this book that I deserve a wee bitty break.

As Draven so aptly put it, my middle name really is Procrastination, not Celise. So shut the hell up and leave me alone.

Moving on…a week or so ago, I’d gone to Barnes and Noble and picked up about 5 books (4 of which were my usual monthly Harlequin Blaze fix). Then I went to BN.com and ordered 4 more:

from l-r: Superb and Sexy by Jill Shalvis, Wild for Him by Janelle Dennison, Hot Date by Amy Garvey and Not Another Bad Date by Rachel Gibson.

These arrived on Friday, so needless to say, my addiction was satisfied. I read two books in one day, one of them being Jill’s book (I love her books) and I stayed up until 2am finishing hers. You should feel privileged, Jill. Really she should. For me, reading two books in one day is not unheard of. If I had just been reading the Harlequin’s I probably could’ve fit in three on Saturday. But Jill’s books are a bit bigger. But it was so good, I didn’t want to put it down. Hence the reading until 2am.

I swear, if I was a rich girl (humming Gwen Stefani song here), I would read all the time, write on creative-time and travel in between.

So, how was your weekend?

Technorati Tags: Snoopy, Barnes and Noble, Harlequin Blaze, Superb and Sexy , Jill Shalvis, Wild for Him , Janelle Dennison, Hot Date , Amy Garvey, Not Another Bad Date , Rachel Gibson, Gwen Stefani

October 30, 2007 | Book Stuff, Life in General, Voracious Reader

I was over at BookDivas yesterday and they were gossiping about this new place called BookSwim. It works like NetFlix (same concept), but it’s for books. It’s like going to the library, but never having to leave your home! And if the books you want aren’t part of their catalog, all you have to do is request it and they’ll buy it. Just for you. Go check it out.

I’m sold.

October 19, 2007 | Book Stuff, Calendar of Events, Life in General, Voracious Reader

We’re reaching the home stretch, people. It’s Day Six of Teen Read Week and today is our final book review: SCARY BEAUTIFUL by Niki Burnham. Enter to win a free copy of this book by answering a question at the end.
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BLURB:

Chloe Rand’s life is great.

She has a serious boyfriend, she’s about to start her junior year of high school, and she has a tight group of girlfriends. But when her boyfriend moves across the country and decides the long-distance-relationship thing just isn’t for him, Chloe’s devastated. Worse, she soon learns that when you’re the prettiest girl in school and totally unattached, everyone starts treating you differently. Girls don’t trust you, guys aren’t sure what to make of you, and everyone assumes you’re either spoiled, dumb, or both.

Chloe realizes that she’s been living the last few years in a bubble and decides to do something about it. But when she falls for Billy, a total geek, will it make her situation better…or worse?

Scary Beautiful

A Romantic Comedy for every girl

who has fallen for the wrong guy

Every school has a girl like Chloe. She’s pretty, popular, both envied and hated, dates a jock, and hangs with the so-called Beautiful People.

Then it all kinda goes to hell when her BF moves away.

And that’s when things get interesting.

Reading SCARY BEAUTIFUL was like reading the “grass is always greener on the other side” cliche. Greener pastures bring that of seeing life thru the eyes of one of the Beautiful People. Plain and simple, I liked this book. It’s easy for us nice-looking folks to pass judgement on the pretty people. It may seem like they have it all, that everything is coming up roses. But they don’t, and it’s not.

The plot was along the same lines as those 80’s classic movies where the popular/pretty girl ends up with the geek/not-so-popular guy: Valley Girl, Can’t Buy Me Love, Love Don’t Cost A Thing, Weird Science, Sixteen Candles.. I liked the fact that Billy was a regular guy, a smart guy, a working-class dude who works at a most awesome place called Woo Woo Pizza (LOL. Gotta love it). And who possess what Gaby refers to as a “rare hotness”.

All in all it was a great story, with the only minor setback being no real physical description of Chloe.

Scary Beautiful Review: 4 1/2 Bookmarks

Check out Niki’s other books at her website
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WIN A COPY OF SCARY BEAUTIFUL BY ANSWERING THE FOLLOWING QUESTION

Have you ever fallen for the wrong guy? Tell us what happened. Inquiring minds want to know.

THE RULES:

~ ONE ENTRY PER PERSON
~ Post your answer in the Comments Section
~ Name will be drawn and posted on the Fun Stuff page on my Sunday Oct 21st. Be sure to check back.
~ If no one enters today, the prize will roll over to tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: Teen Read Week, SCARY BEAUTIFUL, Niki Burnham, Valley Girl, Can’t Buy Me Love, Love Don’t Cost A Thing, Weird Science, Sixteen Candles