Tgif #9: Follow Friday and Book Blogger Hop, Yay!

This week's featured blogger is Marla @Starting the Next Chapter.

And this week's Follow Friday question is...
"Keeping with the dystopian and apocalypse theme that seems to be running rampant on parajunkee.com, I have one very hard question for you: If you were stocking your bomb shelter, what books would you HAVE to include if you only had space for ten?"
This is such a difficult question! There are soooooo many books that I would want to bring with me, but if I could only choose 10, I would bring the following:
1. The Vampire Chronicles ( Books 1-3) by Anne Rice - I read this series when I was 11, and since then, I have been totally obsessed with vamps. I also get to cheat a bit here because I have a single volume that includes the first three books in the series, so technically it's one book, speaking in physical terms. Hard times require creative thinking!2. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner - my all time favorite book and author! It's such an intense read and every time I read it, I find more interesting themes and imagery that I hadn't noticed before. 3. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction by Richard Bausch - The most amazing collection of American short stories! This book could keep me occupied for decades. 4. Breaking Dawn (Twilight Series, Books 4) by Stephanie Meyer - although I absolutely love the entire series, this was my fav.5 - 6. Shift & Alpha (Shifters Series, Books 5 & 6) by Rachel Vincent - again, love the entire series, but these are my favs. 7 - 8. Iron Kissed & Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson Series, Books 3 & 4) by Patricia Briggs - I know it sounds weird that I keep picking random books within a series, but I'll never forget what happened in any of the other books, so I might as well bring my favorites :)9 -10. Friday Night Bites & Twice Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires Series, Books 2 & 3) by Chloe Neill - I would have brought all three in this series but I could only take 2 more books :( Oh well, these are more than enough to satisfy my Vampire craving. 

This week's Book Blogger Hop question is..."Summer is coming quickly - what 2011 summer release are you are most looking forward to?"
I'm not sure exactly when summer begins, so I'll just go with the next upcoming release that I am just dying to read - Hard Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires #4) by Chloe Neill. I just can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this book! Her last book, Twice Bitten, left me craving more of those sexy vamps. Ahhhhh, May 3rd can't come soon enough!


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Thinking on Thursday #4: Don't Think, Just Write

After asking for some advice about the novel I am currently working on, several wonderful writers have more or less told me, "Don't think, just write." I thought it would be fun to include my followers in this new non-thinking approach to writing, so I came up with an idea. Here it is...

Fill in the blanks with the first word that comes to your mind. Don't THINK about it, just read the prompt and fill in the blanks with THE FIRST WORD that pops into your head, regardless of how silly it may sound. Trust me, it will be a much more interesting outcome if you don't over-analyze it :) Just respond to this post with your words and I'll retype and post the finish products later in the week. I can't wait to read them (and hopefully laugh a bit as well).

The  (1)            vampire stared at me and licked his (2)           . There was so much (3)            in his eyes, I had to look away before I (4)           . At that very moment a feeling of (5)            washed over me and I fell to the ground. I heard a (6)            coming from the bushes behind me and took a (7)            glance over my shoulder. Before I could refocus my vision, something tore through the bushes and attacked the vamp. I stopped breathing for a moment after realizing it was a (8)           . It's (9)            were huge and it moved like a (10)           . They were distracted, focused on the fight. I quickly sprang to my feet and ran into the darkness. 

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Music Monday #5: New Favs & Songs That Make Me Smile

Had a wonderful Easter weekend camping with my hunny and my family, just sitting back, relaxing, a listening to some great tunes. Here are some of my new favs mixed with some songs that always make me smile. Enjoy!Rolling in the Deep by AdeleTill the World Ends by Britney SpearsPretty Girl Rock by Keri HilsonThe Ballad of Curtis Low by Lynyrd SkynyrdJamin, One Love, Could You Be Loved, Everything's Gonna Be Alright, Get Up Stand Up, Stir It Up, Is This Love, & No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley (As you can see, I heart Bob Marley)

And since I can only find partial Swamp Pop songs on Playlist.com, here are a few links to some great Swamp Pop stations on Pandora.com. 

Swamp Pop 1

Swamp Pop 2

Mathilda, My Favorite Swamp Pop Song

Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the Sweet, Sugar, Soy Giveaway is...

BRANDI @ DO NOT DISTURB MY BOOKS!

Congrats B Rob! Hope you enjoy your goodies!

Writing on Wednesday #4 - Big City Settings

I'm working on my very first novel (Yay!), an Urban Fantasy set in New Orleans, and I'm totally loving the writing experience, but I'm sort of stuck. I was wondering if any other writers out there have had the same type of difficulties with their novels as I am having with mine.  I had first planned on a trilogy, but after I finished outlining the entire story, it looks like it will be a 4 to 5 book series - okay, no problem there. I jotted down some ideas about my protagonist and other major characters, got down the intro and first thousand words with ease, then of course I started having problems. So, I stepped away from the computer and developing my characters on paper - no problems there. But when I started thinking about the setting of individual scenes, I started panicking. 

Maybe I'm over-thinking, maybe the perfectionist in me is standing in my way, but I'm having an issue with deciding on where all these amazing, action packed, and romantic scenes are going to take place. I chose to set my first series in New Orleans because I absolutely love the city, and more importantly, because although this story is an urban fantasy, I want it to be as real as possible and New Orleans culture is what I know. There are so many amazing places within this huge city, so how do I decide where to draw the line? I obviously can't have the characters visit every single bar, restaurant, and street corner, but how do I choose? Anyone who has spent a few days in the city can surely understand the problem I am having here, and for those of you who have not been to the city, let me explain.
New Orleans is broken down into several sections, and within each section there are smaller sections, and those smaller sections are broken down even further, and so on. Each part of the city is unique and full of amazing sights, and many of these places are very dear to my hear, but I just can't include all of them in my story. What's a girl to do? Do I choose my most favorite places? Or do I chose locations with names that everyone knows? Most non-natives are familiar with the French Quarter, so should most of the action take place there? Or should I go out on a limb and take the action to the S. Carrollton area, or the Lakefront, or the CBD, or New Orleans East? Ahhhhhhh, so many places to choose from. 
Any advice? 

My Apologies

Just wanted to let all of EYO's followers know that I am still alive and breathing. It's been a hectic couple of weeks, and I've so busy with my novel and trying to recover from this darn cold that I haven't really had time to update my blog. I hope to have some interesting posts and a giveaway later this week, so keep your eyes peeled! 
Again, my apologies for my recent lack of blogging. I promise that I will make it up to you!
Thanks for following EYO!

Tgif #8

Follow Me Friday & Book Blogger Hop! Yay!

And now for the Follow Friday Fun! This week's question is...
"Do you have anyone that you can discuss books with in real life? Tell us about him or her."

I only have one person whom I regularly discuss books with, and yes it is sad but true. I actually just convinced my boyfriend to start reading (he is sooooo not a reader, lol) and I'm super proud of him, but he's not into the genre that I read (paranormal romance/urban fantasy) so trying to discuss a book with him is like beating a dead horse, absolutely pointless. My dad reads a lot, and we discuss some books, especially controversial ones that challenge religion, but he's the strong and silent type of man so it's hard work to get anything out of him. So, anytime I want to discuss a book or get an opinion about the novel I'm working on, I holla at my bestest bff, Brandi @ Do Not Disturb My Books. She's actually the reason I started reading again and blogging. We read the same genre of books, recommend books to each other, and have the best book convos. If Brandi were not my partner in crime, my brain would have turned to mush by now, lol. Love ya B-Rob!

This week's prompt is...
"Pick a character from a book you are currently reading or have just finished and tell us about him/her."
At the moment I'm reading Meridian by Amber Kizer, the first book in her Fenestra series. The protagonist, Meridian, just turned sixteen and has to deal with a life-altering change. She's sort of weak and timid, doesn't have any friends, and has been surrounded by death her entire life. If I go into more detail about her character I'll be giving away too much information about the book, so I'll let you find out more about her by reading the it for yourself. This book is definitely a new take on the paranormal. Amber Kizer's ideas are fresh and unique and will definitely keep you interested through the entirety of the series. 

I Love Book Covers!

I'll admit it, I'm a book cover addict, and lately I have been seeing lots of beautiful covers. Here are my top 5 cover designs...#5#4#3#2and now for my favorite cover of the moment,#1
What are your favorite covers? 

Top Ten Tuesday #3

 TOP TEN THINGS TO DO ON MY DAY OFF

1. Work on my novel, yay!

2. Read, read, read.

3. Play with my dogs.

4. Tan (I look so much better when I'm tan!).

5. Organize my walk in closet (it's like heaven).

6. Organize my new office (it's beautiful).

7. Paint.

8. Hop around blog's I'm following.

9. Watch Law & Order SVU reruns.

10. Cook something new.

What are your top ten things to do on your day off?

Review of Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen; First Edition edition (August 31, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061985848
ISBN-13: 978-0061985843

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION (from Amazon.com)
Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours.

But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

MY REVIEW

Paranormalcy was an absolutely amazing book and a unique take on the paranormal. I'm a huge fan of books with strong, stubborn female protagonists, and Evie's character was exactly what I was looking for. The story was fast-paced and full of excitement, suspense, and innocent romance. Kiersten White has a gift for making the unbelievable, well, believable. In her debut novel, she manages to beautifully overlap fantasy and reality. By creating the IPCA, a government agency which regulates paranormals' behavior, she brings both worlds together and introduces an array of new, unique characters while also giving the reader a new perspective on the typical paranormal folklore. 

What I enjoyed most about Paranormalcy were the unique characters Kiersten White created. Evie is by far one of my favorite female characters, a strong, stubborn, pink loving, taser-happy teenager who doesn't quite understand who she is or where she belongs. She's sort of stuck in the middle of normal and paranormal and can't really decide whether her ability to see through all paranormals' glamours is a gift or a curse. She feels out of place amongst humans and paranormals, and feels that she doesn't really fit in anywhere. And until she meets Lend, an adorable teenage shape-shifter who instantly steals her heart, she hasn't had any type of normal teenage relationship. Most normal teens would do anything to get out of doing homework, going to school, and having quiet family dinners at home, but Evie never experienced any of those things and would kill for a day in the life of a normal teen.  This book made me think about the simple things in life that we so often take for granted and I now have a much greater appreciation my wonderfully normal teenage and young adult experiences. 

MY RATING

Movie Monday #4

  
I was flipping through the channels last night and came across a few movies I had never seen before - I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry starring Kevin James & Adam Sandler, Max Payne starring Mark Walberg, and Wanted starring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, and Angelina Jolie. 
I can't believe this was the first time I saw these movies - each one of them was absolutely amazing and I recommend that all of you put aside some time to have a movie night and watch all three of these wonderful films. I'm a sucker for a good comedy, and Chuck and Larry had me laughing for hours. I also love action packed, suspenseful films, and Max Payne and Wanted definitely lived up to my expectations. 

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (from Amazon.com)
It's crude and sometimes awkward, but there's a gleefully subversive movie lurking inside I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. By virtue of a tooth-grinding contrivance, two manly Manhattan firefighters, Adam Sandler and Kevin James, must move in together and pretend to be gay; after seeing life from the other side, they learn something about tolerance. Sandler is the obnoxious, aggressively offensive womanizer, while James plays a widowed dad worried about his effeminate son. Nothing is too surprising about the way this works out, except for the film's unabashedly gay-rights fervor. It's one thing for a sensitive art-house movie to preach to the choir, and quite another for Sandler to speak to his multiplex audience on how uncool it is to use a homophobic slur. Ham-handedly directed and almost proudly sloppy, Chuck & Larry wins points for remaining defiantly rude; a nicer movie wouldn't have been as effective. There's a hilarious supporting performance by Ving Rhames, and Jessica Biel brings her Kim Novak-style glamour to a truly unbelievable character. Rob Schneider and Richard Chamberlain (two names not generally brought together) are amusing in small roles.
Max Payne (from Amazon.com)
Any film based on a first-person shooter video game should, as a rule of thumb, be full of epic shootouts on a level equal to Sergio Leone or the Wachowski Brothers, and in that regard, Max Payne is an unqualified success. Mark Wahlberg also lives up to the game's pedigree by brooding mightily as the title hero, a big city detective mourning the murder of his wife and child. Revenge is, of course, Payne's ultimate goal, and with the assistance of slinky Russian hitwoman Mila Kunis, he dishes it out in elaborate set pieces overflowing with gymnastic gun play. Viewers seeking just that and nothing more will get their money's worth from John Moore's film adaptation, and most likely be impressed by its fashionably gloomy art direction and cinematography. Those seeking a bit more than gunpowder and gristle will find Max Payne utterly derivative of a half-dozen better films (Christopher Nolan's Batman films, most notably) and violent to the point of cartoon absurdity. They may find some refuge in appealing supporting turns by Donal Logue and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as diametrically opposed cops and Beau Bridges, who offers his usual roguish charm as Payne's former superior.
Wanted (from Amazon.com)
As the impresario behind gravity-defying Russian blockbuster Night Watch, it's inevitable that Hollywood would come calling for Timur Bekmambetov. With a studio budget and an international cast, including two Oscar winners, Timur cooks up a Hong Kong-styled actioner bursting with fast cars and big guns. Our unlikely hero is mild-mannered Chicago accountant Wesley Gibson (Atonement's James McAvoy), whose father died when he was a tot. Wesley never learned to stand up for himself, and his girlfriend, boss, and best buddy all take advantage until the seductive Fox (Angelina Jolie) rescues him from a sharpshooter named Cross (The Pianist’s Thomas Kretschmann). After which, she whisks him away to a mansion on the edge of town to meet the other members of the Fraternity, where leader Sloan (Morgan Freeman) informs Wesley that Cross, a rogue agent, executed his father. Sloan believes Wesley has the goods to take him out, so he undergoes the Fraternity's brutal training regimen (Marc Warren and Common dish up some of the abuse). When he's ready, Sloan sends him out to fulfill his duty, but matters become complicated when Wesley finds out someone isn't telling the truth, leading our former milquetoast to exact an elaborate revenge. For those who've been following McAvoy's career to date, Wanted will surely come as a surprise. In adapting Mark Millar's comic series, Timur offers buckets of blood and a smidgen of depth, but fans of The Matrix and Mr. and Mrs. Smith will want to give this one a look.

Tgif #9!

Follow Me Friday & Book Blogger Hop, Yay!


And this week's Follow Friday question is...
"DO YOU JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER?"

How odd, I just talked about this earlier today in my For the Love of Covers post. If I've heard great things about a book but the cover isn't so attractive, I'll still purchase and read the book. But if I'm browsing around a book store and can't decide between two or more books that I have never heard of, I'll always choose the one with the prettiest cover. Hey, even if I don't like the book, it wasn't a total waste because I'll have a beautiful cover to display on my shelf, lol. I'm also drawn to certain types of covers - Simple designs are my favorites, and I love dark colors, especially deep red, black, and midnight blue. I think Gothic art is absolutely beautiful and I'm sort of addicted to those types of covers at the moment.

Here are a few covers that I am lusting over...
         



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