TJ and Rita's World: March 2012

Truth or Dare

Truth: What fictional character of the opposite gender steals your breath away?

Dare: I dare you to write a fan-fic short story where you meet this fictional character. Does everything go as you planned? Is he as suave in your story as you imagined?

My Truth

I’d have to say Adam Hauptmann from the Mercedes Thompson series, written by Patricia Briggs. If Adam Hauptmann were an actor, I’d say he has stage presence: his personality fills the pages. Even before we meet him for the first time, we get a strong sense of who he is when he leaves a note for Mercy: Keep your cat off my property or next time I’ll eat her. (My paraphrase because I don’t have the book in front of me.)

I’ve already read this series twice, but just talking about it, I’m ready to read it a third time. Good thing I own it!

Thankfully, I see a lot of my husband in Adam. They’re both badass and wild and untamable. Both werewolves. But that last one is a secret; don’t tell anyone.

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Truth or Dare is my own weekly meme. I have found that many of my favorite blog posts by book bloggers I love were the ones that they shared more about themselves. Book bloggers are so busy sharing about books that we get little time to know them. Truth or Dare is an opportunity to pause from our weekly posts and get to know each other.

Want to participate? Copy and paste my Truth or Dare challenge into your own post and then write your answer to my question or about the results of your dare. Be sure to post the link here...

Lucky 7 Game

The Rules:

Go to page 77 of your current MS.
Go to line 7.
Copy down the next 7 lines/sentences, and post them as they’re written. No cheating.
Tag 7 other victims …er, authors.

(Shamelessy borrowed from Victoria Scott's blog...)

From Daughter of the Goddess, a novella that is only 54 pages long. Sooooooo, I'm going to page 7 rather than 77. Just to set the scene, the priestesses pushed this girl Peaches into a bathing pool filled with oil, and she is now drowning:

She no longer wants to breathe, and the water is dark as she slips into the recesses of the pool. A light in the distance and she lifts her hand toward it, a farewell gesture.

I would have been useful. I would have tried.

The light creeps closer. A woman, smiling in the midst of the light, long hair floating in the water around her, reaches out a hand. Peaches lunges toward her, desperate to touch her.

As for my pick of victims:

Wendy Swore
Renee Miller
S.M. Carrera
Heather McCubbin
Lani Woodland
Melanie Marks
Evan Joseph

Review: Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale

Synopsis from Amazon:

Once upon a time, in a land you only think you know, lived a little girl and her mother . . . or the woman she thought was her mother.

Every day, when the little girl played in her pretty garden, she grew more curious about what lay on the other side of the garden wall . . . a rather enormous garden wall.

And every year, as she grew older, things seemed weirder and weirder, until the day she finally climbed to the top of the wall and looked over into the mines and desert beyond.

Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale teams up with husband Dean Hale and brilliant artist Nathan Hale (no relation) to bring readers a swashbuckling and hilarious twist on the classic story as you’ve never seen it before. Watch as Rapunzel and her amazing hair team up with Jack (of beanstalk fame) to gallop around the wild and western landscape, changing lives, righting wrongs, and bringing joy to every soul they encounter.

My Thoughts:

In this entertaining graphic novel, Rapunzel lives in the Wild, Wild West, and she's out to stop the evil witch Gothel who had locked Rapunzel in a tower.

Along the way she meets a boy named Jack, who carries a goose with him wherever he goes. Together, they travel the countryside together, savings towns, making friends, and helping people in need, as they make their way toward Gothel's villa.

What I love about this book is the interactions between Rapunzel & Jack. It's cute and sweet, and their arguments are hilarious. Rapunzel reminds me a bit of Pecos Bill with her amazing ability to solve any problem, but it is her strong, stubborn, kick-ass personality that completely made me fall in love with this book.

I'm already ordering the next book: Calamity Jack.

P.S. My kids have already started quoting this book. I think they have it memorized.

Truth or Dare

Truth: What is your secret fear?

Dare: I dare you to do the very thing you are afraid of. Fears are prison walls, and often the thing you are afraid to do is the one thing you are supposed to be doing.

My Truth

Someone, who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty, because they are family (not my husband—he thinks I’m wonderful) and I have to see them frequently, once hinted very strongly that the best thing I could do for my kids would be to walk away and never see them again. She pointed out all the things I did wrong and all that she did right, as if I should leave them in her care because she’s a better mom to my kids than I am.

Let’s just say that tore my heart out.

One thing I want more than anything is to be a good mom. The reason I became a writer and publisher is for my kids, so that someday I can be home every day. The reason I homeschool is for my kids because I love being a part of their education. The reason I take dance classes is to spend time with my kids…and because I love dancing.

My dream has always been to create a happy, beautiful home full of laughter and games and books and time to share with my kids. I wanted to teach them to be beautiful, responsible, capable adults.

My biggest fear is failing to be a good mom. And maybe I’m not perfect, but I refuse to walk away.

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Tree House Fun by WebbyGirl2

My daughter WebbyGirl2 (age 8) made this beautiful picture on the computer this morning. I'm not sure which I like better...the sunset or the treehouse.

Did you ever have a tree/club house? When I was 12, my best friend Jan and I scavenged some weather-worn wood and rusty nails from the woods. We battled the hot Texas weather, the snakes, and the scorpions to get what we needed, and then we architected and built our own club house. One large board was our ceiling, propped on one side by a six-foot fence and on the other by a barrel stacked with wooden crates. One wall was the fence of course, and the other was a blanket where we spray painted our club name:

The Acting Outlaws

On the sides, we propped boards up on bricks--the scavenged boards weren't quite long enough. Next year, we even designed a draw bridge entrance, which we never used because it was so annoying to drag the ropes through, so we just slipped in through the gap between the blanket and wall at the corner. For a secret escape route, we removed one of the boards from the fence and put in a hinge and a latch.

We planted flowers outside, which bloomed in spring and withered in the Texas summer. One year we had a garden--we planted radishes and potatoes. We decorated inside with pictures and scraps of cloth. Our club house was our castle, and I still cherish the memory.

Of course, the neighborhood boys snuck in and ransacked our clubhouse and left messages on our chalk board. We never figured out which boys did this. Hmm, I wonder if my brother knows.

What about you? Did you have a club house? Was it as magical for you as ours was to us?

Review: The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell

Synopsis from Amazon:

Twelve princesses suffer from a puzzling (if silly) curse, and anyone who ends it will win a reward. Reveka, a sharp-witted and irreverent apprentice herbalist, wants that reward. But her investigations lead to deeper mysteries and a daunting choice—will she break the curse at the peril of her own soul?

My Thoughts:

I loved this cover of the book and grabbed it off the library shelves without reading anything about it. My first thought was that my daughter would love this book. She devoured it that day and then begged me to read it to her.

I'm so glad I agreed to read it with her! This book is a treasure. The 13-year-old heroine is gutsy and determined, ready to give anyone a piece of her mind and willing to bend over backwards to help someone in need. She can't stand to see an unsolved puzzle and do nothing about it, and this tendency leads her into the den of a zmeu (a dragon or demon of the Underworld).

This book is an enchanting retelling of two fairy tales: Twelve Dancing Princesses & Beaty and the Beast. And even though this is an obvious retelling, it is still fresh and fun.

What's funny is that while reading this book allowed to Makani, I even got my husband wrapped up in the story. He told Kaylee to stop singing because he was listening to the story. Mwahahahaha! To think we ensnared TJ with a children's book!

Highly recommend this book for ages 10 to 14. Even more, I recommend this as a family read. You'll love it as much as your kids do...if not more.

Truth or Dare

Truth: What book is your guiltiest pleasure?

Dare: I dare you to pick up a book you would never have read in a million years.

My Truth

I have to pick I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter. Cammie attends a boarding school for gifted girls in training to be spies. Although they can calculate advanced trigonometry problems, can build bombs, and can speak multiple languages with any accent you want, one thing not on their curriculum is boys.

When Cammie meets a boy in town, she believes he must be a counter agent. Together, she and her roommates tackle the problem spy style—lots of hacking, sneaking around, and digging through trash—which all leads to Cammie’s first kiss.

Certainly not high brow entertainment, but definitely a fun read with a flirty love story.

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Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Synopsis from Goodreads:
At age 16, Rhine Ellery has four years to live. Thanks to a botched effort to create a perfect race, all females live to age 20 and males live to age 25. On the cusp of her 17th birthday, Rhine attempts to flee, but what she finds is a society spiraling out of control.

My thoughts:

I WANTED to like this book. I've heard so many people raving about it that I expected to love it, but instead, it just made me angry.

First off, I couldn't connect with Rhine. I thought she was selfish to want to run away rather than to fight to make things better. People depended on her, and watching her lie to Linden and plotting to leave her sister wives angered me.

Why was Gabriel better than Linden? Linden was intelligent and considerate and tender. Well, I guess I wouldn't really want to be married to a man who has two other wives, but somehow author Lauren DeStefano made it seem normal and natural. It didn't bother me in the least bit.

So I liked Linden and I thought he deserved a better chance than Rhine gave him. It broke my heart to think how hurt he would be to find her gone in the morning.

And I hated the idea of her sister-wife being left to the mercies of Rhine's father in law. Too naive, the youngest of Linden's bride wouldn't know how to stand up to the master of the house and protect herself and her baby.

Doggonit, Lauren DeStefano made me care!!! I wanted to see good things happen. I wanted to see true bonding between Rhine and her companions. I wanted her father-in-law to be stopped!

Instead, she got that selfish escape she wanted, and I'm not sure I want to read the next book.

Truth or Dare

Truth: What is one thing you regret?

Dare: I dare you to take one step toward living out your regretted dreams.

My Truth
I regret how I managed my money while I was in my twenties. I didn’t contribute to the company’s 401K plan in order to save for retirement. I didn’t save money at all. I could have bought a house and gotten a roommate. So many things I could have done differently in order to prepare for marriage and children, but money had no real importance until I had mouths to feed and little bundles of love to clothe.

Most of all I wish I had financial independence. If I had taken wiser care of my income at the beginning, I wouldn’t have to work a day job while running a business at night. I’d have more time for my family. More time to relax and be more a part of homeschooling. More time to write.

At the same time though, I have no car debt, no credit card debt, no medical debt—just rent, utilities, food, education (for homeschooling), and our publishing business...oh, and two student loans. The last 7 years, we worked hard to pay off all our debts to get to this point.

And someday we’ll buy a house and I’ll quit my job to focus on writing and publishing.

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Rita's March Blog Hop + Big Prizes

This is a month of wonderful things for me. Two of my daughters have birthdays this month (Kidlet #2 will be 8, and Kidlet #3 will be 6...I can't believe their not babies anymore!), and I am celebrating the re-release of Tears that I had pulled a couple months ago. And I'm hoping that before this month is over I'll release the Daughter of the Goddess eBook.

So much for me to celebrate, and I want to share the joy with all of you!

I am giving away 5 $10 Amazon gift cards.

If we sell at least 500 copies, I'll also give away 2 $50 Amazon gift cards.

If we sell at least 1000 copies, I'll also give away a Kindle Fire!

Transcendent Purchase Information
Paperback: $10.99
Kindle: $2.99
Nook: $2.99

Tears Purchase Information:
Paperback: Coming Soon!
Kindle: 99 cents

Contest Details:

No purchase necessary to participate, but the more we sell, the bigger and better the prizes.
US & Canadian Residents Only
Starts March 5th and runs to March 31st
Winner(s) will be announced by April 7th

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you are interested in this blog hop, you can jump in at any time during the month. Here's what you need to do:

Write a post about what you are celebrating this month.
List what you are giving away to end on March 31st.
Include the following linky script at the bottom of your post:

<script src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=aa957944-4f21-4ea8-8bae-7c10431916f3" type="text/javascript"></script>
Register your blog on the linky at my blog.

Check out these other blogs for more chances to win:

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Synopsis from Amazon:

Mara Dyer doesn't believe life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong.

My Thoughts:

I loved everything about this book. The characters seemed so real. The plot so intense. From page one, it hurt to put the book down, so I ended up reading it one sitting...until 3:48 a.m. when I finished the last page. Unfortunately I have to work today. :-(

Mara's perspective was amazingly written. She was a mixture of cold sarcasm and warm caring, and the blend of what was real and what was imagined/hallucinated/dreamed was expertly done.

Noah was...intense, sexy, fascinating, and caring. The interactions between Mara and Noah contained some of the best dialog.

Watching the pieces unfold as Mara discovers what really happened was amazing. I think the ability to put an intricate plot together like this takes genius. I'm hoping that it will rub off on me through osmosis. I'd love to be able to write like this.

Biggest complaint is that at the end, I wanted to shake some sense into Mara, but my hands wouldn't phase into the book no matter how hard I tried. "No, don't do it," I screamed at her several times. She didn't listen to me.

I hate it when my fictional friends ignore my offered wisdom. Maybe they'll start listening when I start listening to my own advice. I could see me doing some of the same things.

On the other hand, I'm happy to see that there is another book. I had thought this was a stand alone, and really, I loved the characters too much to want the story to end so soon.

I'll definitely be asking my husband to read this one. This is just the kind of story I'd love to discuss with him.

Congratulations to the Kindle Fire Winner!

And the winner is Cindee!

Congratulations!

Because we only sold 512 copies, I am only giving away one Kindle Fire this month. Stay tuned and I'll have another giveaway in March.

I want to thank everyone for the wonderful comments. You touched my heart. It's a joy to be a giver when I have all of you to give to.

I want to join the Bloggiesta!!!

Three days of learning about blogging! March 30th to April 1st!

Some of the events in this bloggiesta include challenges on improving your blog, making a to-do list, and connecting with other bloggers. I could always be a better blogger. I have so much to learn.

Sign up HERE as either someone to teach or as someone to learn!

Truth or Dare

Truth: Tell me about your first kiss with the love of your life or about your first kiss ever.

Dare: I dare you to kiss that special someone. Been in a long term relationship? Well a kiss is just what you need to add some spice. Not in a relationship? Well maybe it’s time to be a little brave and give a kiss to the one you’ve got your eye on. If you feel a little shy, a friendly kiss on the cheek is enough.

My Truth

TJ and I had known each other for at least 6 years before we started dating, and then for the previous 2 years before dating, we were great friends. Together, we went to concerts, movies, and the zoo. Usually we planned these things with friends who often baled on us at the last minute. We took long hikes and talked for hours about books.

I thought about all the reasons why we were too different to date, and he told me that I wasn’t his type. The fact that we both thought why we shouldn’t get together was a good indication that we were thinking about each other at all. We were opposites in so many ways.

One Saturday night just before Labor Day, we went camping in Kentucky with friends. Sitting around the fire, we were laughing and joking, and he drank a whole bottle of Jim Bean Black just to get up the courage to kiss me. After the kiss, he passed out and didn’t remember anything much in the morning. Two days later he left for a college class trip to Yellowstone National Park, and we didn’t talk for weeks.

With another friend of ours, I went to pick him up from the airport on his return, and my hands shook with nerves. One of my closest friends had kissed me, and I didn’t know how to respond.

Eleven years of marriage and three kids + one cat later, I think we figured it out. We still talk about books, still love concerts and movies and zoos, still take long walks in the park when we have time.

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Want to participate? Post the link to your truth or the results of your dare...

Pages

Truth or Dare

Lucky 7 Game

Review: Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale

Truth or Dare

Tree House Fun by WebbyGirl2

Review: The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell

Truth or Dare

Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Truth or Dare

Rita's March Blog Hop + Big Prizes

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Congratulations to the Kindle Fire Winner!

I want to join the Bloggiesta!!!

Truth or Dare

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