Rae Lori's Blog, page 23

After bingeing on Starbucks seasonal drinks, Hallmark channel winter movie marathons, a Twilight Zone marathon and some epic crocheting, I'm still in awe that we are now in 2014. A lot happened this year that I'm very thankful and blessed to have experienced. I got married, moved across country not once but twice, got settled into married life, received some wonderful awards and read some awesome books. I also had a chance to re-evaluate my writing life and set some new career goals. Most of all was time management.

Being on my own, it was easier to devote time to many things I wanted to do but becoming a wife divided my time to take care of the household along with writing and reading. It's an interesting process and nothing at all what I had in mind before entering but it's been a great blessing, a grand adventure and a fun experience. I'm looking forward to experiencing more!

On the writing front, I have been on a bit of a hiatus but I am coming back! After a missing pages mishap, the pages were found, I'm continuing a book and I made a goal list for this year. For 2014, I want to stretch my writing muscles a bit. If it's anything I've learned after 20 some odd years of writing is that 1) the writing process is an every changing learning experience, 2) I'm always striving to write the next story better than the last and 3) a break is necessary to keep doing what I love.This break really helped recharge me and I'm ready to start putting down these ideas swirling around in my head. This year, I'm excited to try some new genres I never wrote in before but want to share via the characters currently taking up space in my mind. Some new books will naturally be under Rae Lori but I'll be writing under other various pen names of which I'll chat about in my newsletter.

More on that later, but on the reading front I'm looking forward to kicking up my reading goals this year. Life was too crazy to keep up with everything I wanted to read in 2013 and my TBR pile has suffered (sorry pile). Audiobooks are my friend though and I'm going to try to get some of my reading list books in audio format. I didn't get to review every book I planned to review so I still have some of those books to look forward to soon. A couple of flash reviews for books I really enjoyed:

Phantom by Laura Deluca - I really enjoyed this YA spin on the Phantom of the Opera. I'm a HUGE fan of the play and plan to read every incarnation in written format of the play and this got me off to a great start. Ms. DeLuca penned a nice tale featuring YA characters putting on the play for the school. Things get creepy when accidents starting happening on the set to coincide with certain events in the play. This book kept me guessing until the end and even when I suspected a few of the characters, some I actually hoped wouldn't be the killer because they grew on me so much! I must commend Ms. DeLuca on her characterization because she really made them stand out with their own personalities. Something I'm a pretty big stickler for and don't find done well in many books today. This one went on my keeper and recommendation shelf. It kept me entertained and sane during my traveling exhibitions this year.

The Art of Steampunk, Revised Second Edition by Art Donovan - As a new reader and viewer of the Steampunk genre (aside from Jules Verne and the like), I didn't know much about today's Steampunk culture but I've been wanting to dive into it both on the writing and reading end. As a writer, I souped this book up while researching the genre. The gorgeous pics of Steampunky aesthetics and gadgets really inspired me. I loved the creativity of the clothes especially and I appreciated the small write-ups geared toward newcomers to the world. There's even a 'What Is Steampunk?' article within to learn more. I recommend this book for folks like me new to Steampunk but also for art enthusiasts who love some awesomely creative pieces of artwork.

Thanks to the author and publisher for letting me read their wonderful books.

I hope everyone out there on my list and everyone who happens to stop by the blog has a wonderful, healthy and prosperous 2014.

Silver-White by Shawn Underhill

“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
~ Robert Frost

*Evie’s family has been holding out on her …

Big time.

On an unexpected visit to her grandparents’ house in New Hampshire’s secluded North Woods, the sixteen-year-old literally runs into the truth of the long-hidden family secrets, and finds herself thrust without warning into the clandestine world of the Great North Pack—a wild and exhilarating world of rugged beauty, heart-pounding adventures, and long nights running under a sea of stars … but as she’s set to discover, a world also fraught with potential dangers lurking in the shadows.

Praise
"Simply put, this book was amazing. I've read more fantasy novels than I can count, but this one is certainly one of the best. The heroine isn't some wishy-washy pansy that screams at everything, and the focus of the story isn't on some unbelievably beautiful teenage girl who suddenly becomes the biggest, baddest member of her species falling in love with some big, bad, sexy member of her newfound species. It's about a girl becoming something she never knew existed, finding her place within the pack family she values more than ever before, and an age-old feud that threatens everything she loves." ~Morgan

Purchase ~ just .99 cents Amazon Kindle

Author Shawn Underhill Shawn is a part-time writer from New Hampshire, where he spends his free time hiking in the mountains, camping, racing dirt bikes, or anything else that keeps him outdoors. Dogs are his very favorite people. He is also the author of the novel All Things Different.






Goodreads * Facebook * Twitter

BookBlast $100 Giveaway
$100 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 12/31/13

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Apologies to this late posting of the winners from the Spooktacular Hop! As usual, life got nutty and I'm now only able to have more than a few moments at the comp.Thanks to all who entered and shared their fave things about November. Time went by too fast and it's almost full on winter. Here on the west coast, the weather is already dipping into the 40s so it's been a bit chilly! A big hi and hugs to my fellow pumpkin addicts out there. Trader Joe's needs to have more than one month for us pumpkin nuts to enjoy the flavored goodies. Thank goodness for Vons!

Anywho, on to the winner! The random number generator spins...

Congrats to the winner
Kat
for winning the paperbacks A Kiss of Ashen Twilight, the newest book in the Iron Fay series The Iron Traitor and the ebook for Within the Shadows of Mortals!

Stay tuned for more blog hops and giveaways.

 




Unstoppable by S.R. Johannes 




After everything that has happened, Grace goes to the Everglades to live with her grandmother, Birdee. Even though she is now home-schooled by her bird-obsessed grandmother, the move gives Grace time to relax. She learns to scuba dive and starts boating with old man Rex, Birdee’s casual friend/boyfriend.

One day while out in the marshes of the Everglades, Grace rescues an abused Florida panther, currently on the endangered list. The more she dives into the animal’s horrific condition, the more she ventures into the underground world of the roadside zoos that run rampant in Florida with a total disregard for the law. Eventually, she stumbles upon one large roadside zoo filled with a variety of endangered and illegal animals.

Before she can gather evidence and report her findings to the authorities, she is kidnapped by the ruthless owner and dragged deep into the Everglades for a hunting challenge. Only this time, Grace is the prey.

During a sick game of cat and mouse, Grace is offered one chance at survival. With a one-hour head start and very little supplies, time and skill are now all that stands between the hunter and the hunted.     












Author S.R. Johannes



S.R. Johannes is the award-winning author of the Amazon bestselling thriller series, The Nature of Grace. Johannes is currently repped by Lara Perkins at ABLA. For foreign rights on the Nature of Grace series, contact Jennifer Custer at AM Heath (London).



S.R. Johannes is the YA advisor of ALLi and a winner of the 2012 IndieReader Discovery Awards (Young Adult category) as well as a Silver medalist (2nd place) in the IPPY awards for YA Fiction. She was also nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year (Young Adult category), a Finalist in The Kindle Book Review’s Best Young Adult of 2012, and a YA Finalist in the US Book News Best Book of 2012.




After earning an MBA and working in corporate America doing marketing for over 15 years, S.R. Johannes traded in her expensive suits, high heels, and corporate lingo for a family, flip-flops, and her love of writing. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her dog, English-accented husband, and the huge imaginations of their little prince and princess, which she hopes- someday- will change the world.





Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Newsletter | Bilan Inc










Book Blast Giveaway



$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 12/5/13
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the authors. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Such a provocative title for a very informative book but I love it!



It's strange how life changes in such a short amount of time. Before I got married, I said I would never become domesticated and now I usually spend my days rushing around the house doing laundry, cooking meals and cleaning. My husband has an aversion to anything veggie and green (something he's had since he was very young) and I come from a family that has been on a natural, healthy and clean eating kick for the past few years. My husband was a fast food junkie in a state where lard is considered an essential ingredient in the daily diet. What's a gal to do?



Enter The Sneaky Chef! Not only an answer to kids who don't like eating veggies but also husbands who consider yogurt not even worthy of an appetizer or snack.



The Sneaky Chef offers wonderful recipes and manly favorites foods such as ribs, hamburgers, fried chicken and fries to cocktails, cocoa, pancakes, waffles, french toast and everything in between. There also quick fixes to store bought foods that will add nutrients where there was none before. The trick is in the previously prepped purees (say that three times ;)) that include all kinds of colorful veggies that would normally send the enemy of veggies running from the room screaming. The purees change the texture and integrate themselves into normal food so that the nutritional value is still there, the foods look good and taste good. So far I've tried the ribs, changed up store bought baked beans and plan to try homemade turkey burgers and fries with some more baked beans in the next few days. My husband and family loved the ribs and my mom even gave me some tips on how to kick up the taste a bit more. The recipes can be a great starting point for the creative chef who wants to make the dishes all their own. :-)



Ms. Lapine also offers some great info on each of the veggies used in the purees, their health values and some great sneaky chef advice (for instance, if you want to grill outside and keep the flies away, plant some basil herbs around the grill because they hate it!) along with some background info on men and food.



I can't recommend this book enough. I'm having a blast trying different recipes. It's also giving me ideas to use the purees in other meals and with each tasting, I'm sure to nail it in the coming days. In the meantime, I'm having a great time testing them out.



Learn more about the Sneaky Chef books!

http://www.thesneakychef.com/

https://twitter.com/sneakychef



More Sneaky Chef Books

http://www.amazon.com/Missy-Chase-Lapine/e/B001JSE40E/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Come one, come all you readers and writers! SORMAG is hosting their annual online conference with all sorts of wonderful goodies, panels for writers, meet and greets, live chats and door prizes for attendees. I'll be on a few panels chatting about the ins and outs of writing, editing, creating an ebook and answering any writing q's you may have. There's just a few days to register so hop on over to the link now! The best part? You don't even have to leave your home and it's free!



Tell em Rae sent ya!



Learn more about the conference here: http://sormag.blogspot.com/2013/10/sormags-online-conference-2013.html



Register here: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?llr=csjjaccab&oeidk=a07e89x46n0329200d8

Autumn Boulevard by GiniMiniGi

“The wind outside nested in each tree, prowled the sidewalks in invisible treads like unseen cats. Tom Skelton shivered. Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows' Eve. Everything seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet. Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like the plumes of funeral parades. From kitchen windows drifted two pumpkin smells: gourds being cut, pies being baked.” ― Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree

I've been enjoying my October as of late, which makes this a little bit of a late post into the month. Although I'm not usually a fall girl, I can't help but get into it this time of year. I usually love the warm heat and beachy weather that summer offers. Tank tops, shorts, summer dresses and sandals are my clothing of choice but the cool, spicy autumn weather is inspiring me in so many ways. I'll never give up my tanks, but I'll compromise with a nice, soft pair of pajama pants and a soft blanket to cuddle up in. Perfect for losing myself in the stories I pen and the books I'm currently thumbing through. Aside from the books I'm currently reviewing, I loaded up my reads for the month along with a ton of different kinds of pumpkiny goodness to satisfy my highly addictive palate (thanks to Trader Joe's - their pumpkin products for this month are insanely irresistible).





Every year I try to read Ray Bradbury's October Country and this month I'm definitely diving in. I'm also indulging in some episodes of Ray Bradbury Theater that I missed the first time they aired. On my headphones are episodes of the old scary The Creaking Door radio shows as well as The Haunting Hour. And how can I leave out some great old black and white classic shows such as Boris Karloff's Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the never goes out of style The Twilight Zone. 




TCM's Friday Spooklight offers some awesome horror classics at the end of the week throughout October. I'm dying for my favorite yearly watches of Tod Browning's Dracula and James Whale's Frankenstein. I'll even toss in some of The Mummy and Wolfman for goodness. ;-) The channel is also showcasing one of my favorite versatile actors of all time every Thursday: Vincent Price.



It's enough to make a summer girl into an autumn one. ;-) I've loaded up on tons of pumpkin bread and coffee recipes and I can't wait to try them out. I'm still trying to make the perfect cup of Pumpkin Spice Latte (in between Starbucks visits) but for now I'll settle for a nice hot cup of pumpkin spice tea. Perfectly captures autumn in one amazing, comforting cup. As morning nears now, there's already a cold chill in the air and I'm dying for a cup.



Keep those great entries coming on as the 4th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop is still ongoing til the end of the month! I'm enjoying seeing everyone's favorite things about October.



Time to wrap myself in a warm blanket and grab my cup before I get back to reading!



For a feast of visuals showcasing all things autumn, check out this awesome tumblr page called The October Country.

If You Like...


Thanks to Heather over at The Galaxy Express for inviting me to participate in this awesome multi-blog event!



I'm always up for anything to help readers discover some great books in the SFR genre. This week, myself and other bloggers will be posting popular SFR books that you made have already read and some similar books that you may not have heard of yet. Along with some adult titles, I'll be posting some YA books for folks like me who love a good YA yarn (no matter what age you are). So kick back and grab your TBR pile and get ready to load up some titles!



If You Like the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA series, read Clare Dargin's COLD WARRIORS







Similarities: Space Opera setting, military sci-fi, face paced action, hard nosed heroes







If You Like Beth Revis's ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (YA) series, read Aubrie Dionne's COLONIZATION (YA) series










Similarities: Space travel goodness, lovingly described spaceships, young love, heroine centric, head strong heroines, mystery elements






If You Like Tanith Lee's SILVER METAL LOVER read Jaclyn Dolamore's MAGIC UNDER GLASS (YA) 









Similarities: Android/Automaton heroes, young heroines, coming of age themes, otherworldly worlds







If You Like J.D. Robb's NAKED IN DEATH read Rae Lori's CIMMERIAN CITY




 
Similarities: Mystery/thriller elements, a touch of romance with a mysterious hero, crime elements, a familiar yet futuristic city setting



Check out some more 'If You Like...' selections from some of my fellow bloggers and authors http://www.thegalaxyexpress.net/2013/10/discover-new-sci-fi-romances-with-if.html



Happy reading!

It's that time again for the spookiest hop of them all! I'm already gearing up for the spooky month with a ton of classic horror movies, some great October themed books (hello Ray Bradbury!) and my own stories to tie into the paranormal/dark fantasy themes.


For this hop, I want to share some reading goodness with my readers. As you know, I'm a huge Iron Fey series fan and the newest book in the series is coming out at the end of this month, The Iron Traitor, and I want to give away a paperback copy along with copies of my Ashen Twilight novels A Kiss of Ashen Twilight (paperback) and Within the Shadows of Mortals (ebook).






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Giveaway Details:

To enter, toss me a comment down below telling me about your favorite thing about October and you will be entered right away!



Optional Extra Entries:


+1 Follow this Blog

+1 Be or become my friend on Goodreads

+1 Follow me on Twitter

+1 Friend me on Facebook




Last Day to Enter is 10/31/2013

Recently I posted about Grammarly and I've been testing them out on my browser. It's kinda cool because when I highlight a word, it gives me the meaning and sometimes a synonym for it. Not bad for a free browser plugin. Now I found out some more cool news about the folks at Grammarly. It looks like they are putting together the largest group of authors to collaborate on a novel. Details are trickling in but from what I read, each author will add about a 500 word section to the novel.



There's a survey on the site to see if the protag should be male or female with a first, second or third person narrative and also some theme ideas we all would write about. I signed up and they are still taking entries for anything who would like to sign up. Each year I try to do NaNoWriMo (even if life sometimes gets in the way), sometimes with a twist (like Rebel Nanos, woo!) and this sounds like it will be a complete blast. If any other writers out there want to give them a try, check out the GrammoWriMo blog entry for all the info and for the sign up form. If anyone joins, please let me know! Maybe we can get a group going on the NaNo site. Don't hesitate to throw me a friend req as well!