Mid-week update

I know I promised an interview with CJ Redwine today on Everybody Needs a Little Romance, but unfortunately it's postponed until next month... anticipation is the best seasoning, right? But I'm still there talking about one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. : )

http://everybodyneedsalittleromance.com/

Also, don't forget on Here Be Magic, we're having a huge Halloween giveaway! Week one is already gone, don't miss out on the fabulous prize for week two!

http://herebemagic.blogspot.com/

A Day in the Life: What's cooking?

What’s cooking?

Recently we celebrated my husband’s birthday. He’s quite the foodie. We watch several cooking shows together and he had a subscription to Food Network Magazine, which he loves!

When I asked him what cake he wanted for his birthday, he grabbed the magazines, picked half a dozen contenders (not just cake but pie and crumbles, etc) then asked me to surprise him.

After going through the recipes, and based on the look in his eye as he was pointing them out, I chose a peanut-butter-cream-filled cupcake with a chocolate ganache frosting and topped with a salty peanut garnish. A bit labor intensive...as compared to a plainer cupcake but oh-my-gosh so worth it.

But unbeknownst to him, I’d also decided to take cupcakes to soccer practice that day. My husband is a coach. So because it’s one of his favorite drinks, I created a raspberry lemonade cupcake. It’s a lemon cake with a raspberry filling and topped with a cream cheese/butter cream frosting.

I totally cheated with this one. It really couldn’t be easier. I blended box and homemade but if I didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t be able to tell. Serious yum!

So what's cooking in your home? Any recipes you'd like to share?

Facts, Fantasy, Fun: Book Review-Defiance by CJ Redwine.

I received this book as a wonderful ninja birthday gift and was in no way coerced, or expected, to write a review. Just sayin'

I don’t usually write reviews, mainly because I’m not very good at it. But every once in awhile, you read something that you just want to rave about. So rave I shall.

The first thing that struck me about Defiance is the gorgeous cover. A cover that I grew to like more as I read the book. It’s always been a pet peeve of mine when the picture on the cover doesn’t even look like the hero/heroine, but with Defiance, they captured Rachel Adams perfectly!

After reading only the first few pages, the reader is transported into a complete, actualized world. I actually went back and studied how the author did this. In very few words, the reader gets a sense of an entire civilization, history and way of life. Not only that, you also get an immediate sense of who Rachel Adams is and you want to get to know her better.

CJ Redwine wrote this book in first person. Even though much of YA is written in first person, I don’t care for it. Sometimes it puts you too close to the character. In this novel, it works. What I haven’t seen much  is a two-person first-person POV. Each chapter lets you know whose POV you’re in and I was grateful for this. It added depth to the story.

Rachel Adams wasn’t raised the way the rest of the girls in Baalboden were. Instead of learning how to be the perfect wife, she was training how to handle weapons, defend herself and track in the forbidding Wastelands that surround the small township.  When Jared, her father, doesn’t return from a mission across the Wastelands, he’s pronounced dead. But Rachel won’t accept it. She begins to plan how she’s going to escape the town and find her father. Logan McIntire apprenticed as a courier under Rachel’s father, even though his skill lies in inventing machinery.  He too wants to find Jared, but his biggest concern is how to keep Rachel safe. A monster, called the Cursed One, lives out in the Wastelands, killing anyone who crosses his path.

The antagonist, the commander and ruler of Baalboden, has his share of secrets. Secrets that cause him to hate Rachel and Logan. He wants something that Jared was carrying and will stop at nothing to get it.

I loved this book. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a fast-paced story with lots of adventure and just enough romance to keep in interesting.

All in all, I loved this book. To find out more about CJ--she has a sense of humor you can't help but love-- or read more about her work, visit her here. And next Tuesday, I will post an interview with CJ at Everybody Needs a Little Romance. Why not check out the blog now! 

Facts Fantasy Fun: Cover Magic

There’s this moment when you read the art department has your new cover that everything just freezes, your breath catches. This one picture represents the book that has taken you months or even years to write and perfect, or come as close to perfect as possible. 

It represents late nights, too much coffee, piles of undone laundry and dishes, pizza or cereal for dinner, hopes, dreams and yeah, you get the picture. And this one image has been created for you by someone else’s interpretation of your books. Heavy stuff. The time between reading the email and downloading the picture stretches as taut as my nerves. And...then...there it is.

I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever looked at a cover image and immediately loved it. Probably for all the reasons I’ve mentioned above. So I look, take it in, send it to my trusted web expert and my husband for their opinions, wait a day or two, take another look and love blooms. It helps that the art department at Carina Press is incredibly talented.

So... Are you ready?

What do you think?