I Think I Finally Figured It Out!

I am now reading this...just because I want to! Look at this yummy cover! It is filled with many many totally dysfunctional characters! I am reading this absolutely positively guilt free! I am doing a very happy dance! I don't have a review due until Nov. 18th! It actually helped me to organize books and date them. I don't know why I didn't do this before. Oh yes...wait a minute...I know why...I was too unorganized...too irresponsible...too excited about books to tackle this in a responsible matter. But...not any more! This book is a family book and has started off really wonderfully. It reminds me just a bit of The Three Weissman's Of Westport and I loved that book.




Last night was...date night! I have a tidy little stack of Groupons...one for this restaurant...Moro...we have never been there before and it was fun!
I liked the feel...the atmosphere...the vibe of Moro's...and it has small plates! I love small plates...we had house made mozzarella with stuff on it, I had yummy fried oysters on top of greens and avocado...Den had foie gras...then he had lamb...a rack in fact...for dinner...while I had another small plate of gnocchi with cauliflower. It was perfection until we opted for dessert. We rarely do dessert and if we do we split...but not last night. Den had chocolate pecan pie with house made vanilla gelato and I had a s'mores concoction...so good but way too much. We were expecting small bites again but...dessert was a BIG BITE! A really big bite of yumminess! Plus my Groupon was $30.00 for $60.00. Pretty cool, right?







Happy Saturday!

A Fabulous Contest For You...My Lovely Friends!

I loved this book! It was sad, sweet, heartbreaking, thought provoking, amazing, and made me think about this whole life after death thing in a totally different way. It is also about choices, forgiveness and love. Oh...and...it is a beautifully written magnificent fantasy! I loved the time I spent reading this book! Clicking on my Goodreads widget will take you to my complete review.



Thanks to James...the author and Katie...Penguin Books...I have a lovely copy to giveaway. Just comment and make sure I can find you! I will end it next Friday.

Just one more Booklist Blurb about the book!



And one amazing note about the author...I had no clue that he lives near me! He has even offered to speak to my book club...and now I am kicking myself that I don't have one! Friends of mine have one and they are always asking me to join and I always say no...they meet in the afternoon and my idea of a book club is nights with wine and cheeses. So...a missed opportunity...but I am coming up with a plan!


Even though authors are my rock stars...I have assured him that I am normal and calm...but who knows...I could run into him at Starbucks or the apple cider doughnut place or even at the ladies who randomly bake French bread! I shall be keeping my eyes open!

Happy Friday!

Odds And Ends!

My sister Paula is in London...vacay with her husband...she looks cold!




My brother John is in London, too...he will live there for 9 months!
Exactly 1/2 of my siblings are in London!
I find that so funny!
Now...look at this...it's on a site called Inhabit...I want this bubble...wouldn't it be a perfect reading spot? Outside, bug free, and cozy! I really want this!




And...I organized every review book I have today...everything is recorded and dated so that I know what I am doing! It's time to get serious about this...sort of...lol...
I have two more pages like this...pages and pages of dates and egalleys and real books!
Oh me oh my! What have I done?




Look at this! Right here! Neatly stacked books! Ready for reviews! Dated and doable!


The books that just appeared! Categorized under "someday".


There is really a method to my madness...books that I need to review are dated...so that there really is time to read some of my own books...in between! I think this is really going to work...I have sort of been loosely doing it for the last two weeks...and if a book is late...it's late...it gets reviewed late...or not at all. I am over the excitement and I have way too much to read.

I feel...very organized?

Tonight is Nostalgia Dinner Night!

Sloppy Joes!

These are from Simply Recipes. My mom made hers from scratch and these are similar to hers. We are having oven fries...sweet and white potatoes and Vlasic sweet baby gherkins...this menu is set in stone!
Maybe pudding!



Off to read...must stay on my schedule...it feels so good to be this organized...unless something happens to mess me up...like...hmmm...Kindle preorders or a tempting galley...not looking...not even looking!

What is your go to Nostalgia Dinner?

Why I Am Incapable Of A Reading Plan!

Finished this...I had no clue that I was going to read it...it was on the top of my real book review stack...so I grabbed it...finished it just now...it was sad, spiritual, fantastic...I loved it!
I am still thinking about it...I am trying to snag a copy to giveaway so I will chat more about this on Friday!


Reading this...yummy...based loosely on Alice In Wonderland...


Although my reading plans pretty much bite...I did make a schedule of all egalleys that I have and the dates they expire...this is my outline...and in between these I am reading all of my real books for review...those sent in surprise and my Amazon Vine ones...the only books I should not read right now are my own...the ones I still buy for me...I really shouldn't read any of my own books until Valentine's Day!
But I will cheat for sure!

What really helped was the books that expired during the hurricane and the ones I lost when my reader crashed...

Kind of a good thing!

Off to buy noms for dinner...we are supposed to get snow! This afternoon!
Lucy and I have hoodies ready...the second the first snow hits...we are heading outside...

Happy Snowy Wednesday?

Loved This Book!

For some reason...when my world is just a bit out of order...I crave Fantasy!

Den has been sick...he is on the mend now but he had flulike symptoms all week end...fever and chills and no appetite and lots of coughing...and the antibiotic he is on made him sleepy during the day and restless at night. Fun plans were cancelled and we really just stayed in. And did...nothing at all. I read and we caught up on TV.

So...this book was perfect! I know it's been around for a while and a third one is coming out soon...which I was given for review...and it was perfectly wonderful to get lost in this adventure while feeding my guy lots of chicken soup! I don't think you have to read all three in this order but it's just not possible for me to read things out of order...




The Native Star
By
M.K.Hobson

My" in a nutshell" summary...

Magic, mayhem, mystery! Maybe a bit of madness?

My thoughts after reading this book...

OMG...I lovelovelove Emily! Picture this...if you will...it's the Wild West...but witches and warlocks live among the ordinary people and ordinary people go to these magical people for help with life, love, fortunes. San Francisco is full of magic...oh...zombies are around, too...they are sort of conjured up to work in the mines...

Ok...I already mentioned that I loved Emily...I am equally fond of Dreadnought Stanton, too...the warlock...the sarcastic warlock...who is helping Emily with her "problem".

Anyway...Emily has...this rock embedded in her hand...and is sought after by tons of really bad types...who would cut off her hand to get to this rock called the native star. There is adventure and excitement and magic and lots and lots of very bad guys whose names cannot even remotely be pronounced...but it is ever so exciting. It's a marvelous steampunky story! There are aberrancy hunters and black exungers and Mantic Anastamosises...or Anastamosisi? And much much more! Just the fact that I know what a transmortational portational device is...hmmm...kind of amazing!

Plus it's a love story, too!

What I loved about this book...

I so loved the plot and the varied settings...Stanton and Emily...loved them...and I loved Stanton's two huge black horses!

What I did not love...

The huge monstrous confusing words that are necessary to a book like this...my meticulous mind labored with their pronunciations!

Final thoughts...

I found this to be an amazing adventurous fantasy...if you love this genre...you will love this book...and the two that follow it!

I will be reading this...


and this...


Happy Tuesday! Tonight is Sushi Night! Yum!

Literary Blog Hurricane Giveaway Winner!

Zsuzsanna Tamási-Tóth is the winner but I have no way to reach her unless she contacts me...I will wait til Thursday and if I don't hear from her choose again!

Still reading this...it is so good and such an unexpected thrill...magic and mayhem and horses and an unforgettable delightful character named Emily! I needed this book...I love this kind of earthy fantasy!



Chores, tasks, house stuff first...then an afternoon of reading!

No idea of what to make for dinner...need to food shop...need to do laundry...need lunch with my girls!

Happy Monday!