Thursday Bookish Things

  

Thanks to Tina at Mommynificent and Katherine at Katherine's Corner for hosting these wonderful link-ups!  Click on the buttons to see the other participants and link-up!

TT&HH is a meme hosted by Lexxie at (un)Conventional Book Reviews.  All y'all readers out there are welcome to share a food or drink related quote from a book you are reading or have read.  Click the button above to get the full details and to link up your post(s)!

~~~oOo~~~

SYNOPSIS

The bomber’s latest threat has thrown the Crisis Management Unit into chaos! As Lara Grant struggles to hold her fractured team together, she discovers a possible connection between this case and her own past--something she can’t reveal to anyone, especially now. Because when the bomber’s next target chooses to keep his secret, terror turns to an intimate form of torture, and anyone’s past can be used against them...

~~~oOo~~~

Thirsty Thursday

at approximately 76%...

"Xander was cussing out the coffeemaker a few minutes ago, Ty is on his way, Mercer is in Victoria's office and Nick is talking to Christina," she answered.  "And, by the way, I don't think she has gone home at all."

James dropped his bag at his desk and yawned.  "I'm going to go help my partner curse the coffee machine," he said, already walking away.

Jennifer grabbed her coffee cup.  She took a swallow before nodding her head toward Victoria's office.

"Mercer was here when I got in and told me to keep pursuing our list from BrainWave."  She sighed.  "It's a beast.  But I guess I shouldn't complain.  Without it we might have anything to go on."

"Don't worry, we can still complain," Lara said.  "Just quietly.  Or you know, at the coffeemaker."

~~~oOo~~~

Booknificent Thursday & Thursday Favorite Things

So far, I am really enjoying this series!  They call it a 'serial novel'.  It's one story told in 8 parts.  As opposed to a novel series, where there are separate stories linked usually by the MC; in Tough Justice: Countdown 2.3, it's all one case for the CMU (Crisis Management Unit) of the FBI.  A serial bomber is blackmailing the city's power players.  They go public with their past misdeeds, or he will set off a bomb.  (So far, three people have declined to go along, and 3 bombs have been set off, killing dozens of innocent people.)

The parts are nice bite-sized sections of the overall story.
The end of each installment leaves you hungry for more.

Fans of, say, Tom Clancy or John Le Carre (to name but two), will love this serial novel!

Thursday Bookish Post - Bai Tide by Erika Mitchell

  

Thanks to Tina at Mommynificent and Katherine at Katherine's Corner for hosting these wonderful link-ups!  Click on the buttons to see the other participants and link-up!

TT&HH is a meme hosted by Lexxie at (un)Conventional Book Reviews.  All y'all readers out there are welcome to share a food or drink related quote from a book you are reading or have read.  Click the button above to get the full details and to link up your post(s)!

~~~oOo~~~

BOOKNIFICENT THURSDAYS

  

SYNOPSIS

After the events of Blood Money, CIA case officer Bai Hsu is assigned to a high-security private school for what he’s told is an easy assignment. Just a few months after he arrives, a hostile operative with ties to North Korea tries to break in to a school event, with motives unknown.

As his investigation progresses, he unravels a plot that, if not stopped, will result in the untimely and murderous deaths of tens of millions of people. In order to stop the attack, Bai must recruit the one person he absolutely cannot trust in order to break into one of the most isolated, dangerous countries in the world.

Bai Tide is Bai’s greatest challenge yet. A mission that will take him from the windswept beaches of San Diego to a whiteout blizzard in the foothills of Pyongyang, and make him question everything he thought he knew about working in the field…and about himself.

Note:  I just finished reading Bai Tide and will review it on the blog as part of a TLC virtual book tour on February 6, 2017!

~~~oOo~~~

THIRSTY THURSDAY & HUNGRY HEARTS

The following quote from Bai Tide shows why even well trained spy types sometimes have trouble when they conduct operations in hostile territory.  It also describes two characters' breakfasts ... someplace that will probably never show up on Michelin's radar.

"She'd already thrown a few handfuls of oats into the trough by the time I joined her, neither of us feeling the need to speak as we worked to chew our breakfast.  We washed our oats down with cautious sips of frigid water until our stomachs registered they'd had enough.  Cindy draped a tattered saddle blanket from a dark corner of the barn around her shoulders, and we set off through the snow again, grateful to have slipped away before the villagers found us."

~~~oOo~~~

#WINTERSRESPITE

I'm also shelf-deep in the

so if you want to party with 68 other readers around the world at any point in the next 10 days, head on over (click the button) and sign-up!  There are no goals or levels that you do not set for yourself, just sharing the reading vibe goodness!

~~~oOo~~~

QUESTION(S):

Did you come here specifically for one of the memes?  Which one?

Are we friends on GoodReads?  If not, would you like to be? :O)

Thursday Bookish Things & Reading Challenge Confession

  

Thanks to Tina at Mommynificent and Katherine at Katherine's Corner for hosting these wonderful link-ups!  Click on the buttons to see the other participants and link-up!

TT&HH is a meme hosted by Lexxie at (un)Conventional Book Reviews.  All y'all readers out there are welcome to share a food or drink related quote from a book you are reading or have read.  Click the button above to get the full details and to link up your post(s)!

~~~oOo~~~

I just finished reading Perception earlier this evening.  Here's a picture of the book cover (linked to GoodReads), the synopsis and my HH quote.

SYNOPSIS

The PERCEPTION series is a YA dystopian romance that takes place in the not too distant future. A world scarred by climate change, natural disasters and impending wars, a society where scientific breakthroughs cause class divisions. Zoe and Noah explore the differences that bring us together or tear us apart.

The first book of the PERCEPTION trilogy, 17year-old Zoe Vanderveen is a GAP—a genetically altered person. She lives with other equally beautiful people who have prolonged life-spans in the security of a walled city on the water. Tragedy tears Zoe from her perfect world when her brother Liam goes missing. It turns out that the only man who can help her, is the one who she should trust the least.

Noah Brody is a natural who lives on the Outside. He leads protests against the GAPs and detests their contributions to the increasing class gap. He doesn’t like girls like Zoe, and he has good reason not to trust her, but drawn by motives he doesn’t yet understand, he helps her take on the Outside.

~~~oOo~~~

HUNGRY HEARTS

The fish cooked on the fire, and it smelled terrific.

I was starving, and I was pretty sure Zoe must be, too.  I flipped the fillets over on the grill and thought about that last kiss.  It was different than the one Zoe had surprised me with that morning in the car.

I felt fairly certain it wasn't just a test for her anymore.  We were making progress.

I placed the food on plastic plates and offered her one before sitting down on the log near her.  The fire crackled, bright against the darkening sky.  The flames cast warm light against Zoe's skin.  I refrained from a sudden impulse to reach over and stroke her face.

"This is really good," she said after taking her first bite.  "Is there anything you can't do?"

"Besides stay away from you?"  I shook my head while taking another bite.  I was flirting with her and by the smile that formed on her face, I could tell she knew it.

"I have a surprise," I said.  "Marshmallows.  Not exactly creme brule, but it works for dessert."

I took the knife out of the backpack and chiseled off the end of a thin tree branch.  I pushed a marshmallow onto the tip and handed it to her.  Zoe placed it over the fire.

"Tell me stories," she said as she rotated the marshmallow.  Its white skin bubbled to a sugary brown.

"You mean scary campfire stories?"

"No, the stores."  She stared hard at me.  "Our stories.  Did we always like each other?"

I stoked the fire with my marshmallow stick.  "Not really.  We kind of grew on each other."

~~~oOo~~~

And the confession?

Hello, my name is LuAnn and I am a:

Here's my (current so far) list as of yesterday:

1.  Dystopia Reading Challenge

2.  Monthly Keyword Reading Challenge

3.  Shelf Love Reading Challenge

4.  New Release Reading Challenge

5.  COYER Blackout Reading Challenge

6.  52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge

7.  YA Reading Challenge
8.  Paranormal Reading Challenge
9.  Follow the Clues Mystery Reading Challenge
10.  Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt Reading Challenge
11.  Color Coded Reading Challenge
12.  Read One Million Pages (Perpetual) Reading Challenge
13.  European Reading Challenge
14.  BetterWorldBooks Reading Challenge
15.  Book Challenge by Erin
16.  Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge
17.  Women Reading Challenge
18.  Purrfect Reading Challenge
19.  Cruisin' thru the Cozies Reading Challenge
20.  Let's Read Indie Reading Challenge

Upcoming Blog Series on Virtual Book Tours!

Three times a week in October and early November 2016, I will be having a blog series featuring tips from a variety of experts who have participated in numerous blog tours in the past.

• Mondays will feature Authors
• Wednesdays will feature Book Bloggers/Reviewers
• Fridays will feature Virtual Book Tour Operators!

At the end of 2013, I 'rediscovered' reading for my own pleasure.  For years before that, most of my reading had either been to/with my children or for a class.  I also discovered these things called "Reading Challenges".  And about that time, I switched from considering myself a 'mommy blogger' to a 'book blogger'.

Of course, the next thing I came across was a phenomenon called a 'virtual book tour'.  An author will contract with a tour operator to line up a number of book bloggers to participate in a series of reviews, guest posts, author interviews and the like.  Blogger-reviewers are provided with a copy of the book (paper or ebook) to review and agree to post on their assigned day.  Authors get potentially a lot of exposure for their new works in a relatively brief period of time.

So, this series is my way of 'deconstructing' a virtual book tour to see what makes it tick.  There will be a lot of good information coming your way starting in a little over a month.  Y'all are definitely invited to follow the series and leave comments for the featured guest in each installment!

I'm also sharing today with:

  

Tuesday Books and Talk - May 10, 2016

This is week 4 of the Between the Lines series, hosted at Katherine's Corner.

Between the Lines features bloggers 'of a certain age', or in other words, 50+, whom you should be following, niche or no!

~~~oOo~~~

Thanks to Jenn for hosting Teaser Tuesday at her blog, Books and a Beat. Thanks to Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea for hosting FCFP. Click on their buttons to get all the details, to see what books others have found and to join in the fun!

My next review up is for an anthology, called, Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries, so I'll take the Tuesday bookish info from the first full-length book in the group, called, "Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun", by Lois Winston.  Here are the covers for the anthology and the book, respectively:

  

FCFP TUESDAY

I hate whiners.  Always have.  So I was doing my damnedest not to become one, in spite of the lollapalooza of a quadruple whammy that had broadsided me last week.  Not an easy task, given that one of those lollapalooza whammies had barged into my bedroom and was presently hammering her cane against my bathroom door.

TEASER TUESDAY

This is from location 427 in the MOBI file of the anthology:

Why is it that guys with wrinkles look sexy, but when women get wrinkles, they just look old?

And why on earth was I thinking of such things when my life was turning to week-old crap?  Maybe my brain decided I needed a shot of serotonin to give me a brief respite from the more pressing problems of newly acquired poverty and how to avoid being fitted for cement Manolos.

~~~oOo~~~

Reading challenges, read-a-thons and blogging link-ups.  Three things I love!  I participated in the following last Tuesday, but had already finished the post so I didn't add the graphic.  I know.  Forgive me. :O)  So I'm making it official!

Thanks to Keri Lynn at Our Pretty Little Girls for hosting this link-up!  (Actually, it's hosted on a baker's dozen or so of blogs, so I guess I'll have to rotate where the link goes each week.  That's actually a 'note to self' because sure as shootin' I'll forget.

Since this is the first 'official' link-up for me, I thought I'd add a little bit about how I found Tuesday Talk and why I've gone back.  So sit back and relax.  Get a drink if you're thirsty.  I'll wait.  (No worries, it won't be that long a story.)

Katherine at Katherine's Corner is running a multiple week series on bloggers who are 50+.  Since I myself am 50+, I think it's a swell idea!  But I have met some really nice women and bloggers in the last four weeks and I truly am grateful to have some new bloggy friends.  (Nothing against younger women and nothing against the men...it's just nice to know have some women acquaintances who know that when someone says "911" they are not necessarily referring to the emergency services telephone number.  But I digress...

One of the bloggers who was featured in the same week as me, is Michelle at Grammie Time.  When I visited her blog as part of the tour, I found out she linked up to "Tuesday Talk".  And, link-up aficionado that I am, I stalked followed her and the rest is history!  (Or is that herstory?)

(And I actually found another link up while I was visiting Tuesday Talk links, but that's a story for another day.)

Between the Boards - Bloggers Over 50

Many thanks to Katerine from Katherine's Corner blog for coming up with this series.  I didn't grow up with the Internet, like kids do today.  But I've been on it since the days of 286 processing speed and amber or green colored text on a black background.  No pictures.  No videos.  No Facebook time suck.

On the other hand, the Internet is responsible for me being where I am today.  I met my husband online during the Internet Stone Age in an RPG (role-playing game).  My character was a vampire and his was a shaman.  That was in 1993.  We met face to face for the first time in March of 1995.  And six days from now we will have our 19th anniversary.  And we have three children, all of whom know more about computers than I do.

If you notice #3 above, that's me! :O)  You can click on the "Between the Lines" banner above and go to Katherine's Corner to see a little bit about each of the bloggers behind the blogs listed above.

When I was little, I used to think about what age I would be in the year 2000...it was 38 for most of the year.  That sounded so old!

Then, my father passed away when he was 47, during my senior year in high school.  As I neared the age of 47, I thought a lot about the 'rest of my life', however long that might be.  Now, I've been on the Earth seven years longer than my father.  He would be 85 this year, if he had lived.

Back Porchervations started out as a 'mommy blog' in July of 2007.  I did not post with any kind of regularity.  Sometimes the gaps were months at a time.

But then, at the end of 2013 (cue the movie music), I 'discovered' reading challenges.  Now, I hadn't read for pure pleasure for y.e.a.r.s.  Most everything I read was either for a class at college, a job, or for one of the kids.  I joined way too many reading challenges for my own sanity, and in 2014 I was off to the races.

Secondly, I discovered that sometimes, authors offered one of their books free or low-cost on Amazon and other online retail booksellers.

Last, but so very very far from least, there were things called 'virtual book tours', where you could sign up to review books on your blog and get a copy of the book to read.  I've gotten so many print books, my husband had to build more bookshelves for me!  And e-books?  Oy!  I'm surprised my Kindle hasn't had a stroke, and that's all I'm going to say about that!

Then there are sites like "NetGalley" and "Edelweiss" that offer books in exchange for reviews.  Sometimes they are just available for the asking, and other times you have to wait to be approved.

Recently, I've begun looking at ways to 'monetize' my blog, joining some affiliate programs and the like.  I'm probably average at Social Media, but you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Bloglovin', GoodReads, Instagram, Tumblr and probably a few others that escape me at the moment.  The one thing that truly mystifies me about blogging and websites is SEO.

So, tell me a little about you!

Five Things That Make Me Happy Right Now

Today's prompt:  What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?

1.  My faith

One week after my last pregnancy test came back positive, I started bleeding at work.  The ER doctor refused to believe I was pregnant, even though I had had a confirmation from my ob/gyn the day before.  So while they were doing a blood test, I lay there thinking, "What am I supposed to hope for?"  That I wasn't pregnant after all?  That I was and may be having a miscarriage?  What happens if they baby has problems?  I had used the 23rd Psalm countless times in the dentist's chair to calm myself and tried it again for this situation.  Then I prayed.  I made the decision to accept whatever happened, knowing that I could get through it with God's help.  The moment that thought passed, I felt the sweetest peace I have ever known in my life.

2.  My husband.

We originally met online in a role-playing game.  He was a shaman; I was a vampire.  We decided he would come out to Salt Lake City to visit for a week.  He never really left. :O)  We've had our ups and downs, but I believe we were made for each other.  

3.  My older son.

Even though he crawled across the phone (which was on the floor) at 7 months of age and somehow dialed 911; even though he deleted Windows from our computer when he was 1-1/2 years old ... yes, he's my evil genius.  He's smart as a whip and has never really given us serious grief about doing his share around the house.  He even goes up on his Papaw's roof to keep the gutters clean.  And he will still hug his old Mom in public.  He is 17 years old.  When his sister was born, he got mad at the NICU nurses because they wouldn't let him take her home so he could take care of her.

4.  My younger son.

Also very intelligent, he processes things differently from most people.  He never showed much interest in reading until his Grammy got him a Kindle for Christmas one year.  Now we can hardly get him to stop!  And he has one of the biggest hearts I've ever known in a human.  He makes sure everyone gets a fair share, even if it means giving up some of what is his.  And I wish I could speed up my hearing because he could give the world's fastest talker a run for his money.  If someone in the family is having a rough time, he'll come and tell his father or me, saying that he is worried.  And he just turned 16 so, "WOOHOO!  We have four drivers now when we make the trip to Texas every year!"

5.  My daughter.

She is my miracle baby...my "HARBOR CHICK"!  (The term is taken from Ghostbusters II when they are walking through NYC inside the Statue of Liberty.  Egon is worried that the stress will cause the statue to crack and Bill Murray's character says, "Don't worry.  She's tough.  She's a HARBOR CHICK!")  DD came into the world 2 months early.  They told us to expect her to be in the NICU for 2 months (or her original due date).  We had two gentlemen from our church come into the NICU when she was 2-3 days old and give her a blessing.  She wound up getting to come home when she was 22 days old (just over 3 weeks), and she was still slightly under 4 pounds.  The doctors said she was "just too healthy and they needed the space".  I was thrilled because having to go home from the hospital and leave her there has been, BAR NONE, the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

~~~oOo~~~

Also sharing at:  

     

In Pace, et Unus

  

TONI ASKS, "HOW DO YOU FIND INNER PEACE?"

I find a lot of peace in solitude.  Not that I am anti-social, but with a small-ish farmhouse, one husband, two teen-age sons, one tween daughter, 3 cats, 4 adult dogs and 10 puppies, cut a woman some slack!  Sometimes I just have to get away from all that noise!

Meditation helps, but given the circumstances, at times it is difficult to quiet the mind sufficiently for meditation to work.  At those times, my mantra becomes "It won't last forever."

At other times, repetitive chores, or craft projects etc. can help shift my mind to the 'zen channel'.  Anything that involves the hands, especially, is good for this effect:  sewing, knitting, working with polymer clay and doing dishes by hand.  Walking helps as well.

It's almost like pulling a "Scarlett O'Hara" and saying that I'll think about that another day.  A conscious decision to put something on the back burner of my subconscious and work on another project for a while.  Have you ever been missing an object and you look and look but cannot find it?  Then when you stop looking for it, the item 'magically' appears?

How do you quiet your mind?

Today, I am linking up at Thursday Favorite Things blog hop at Katherine's Corner blog:

Friendship Friday - New Challenges and Giveaways

It's time for Friendship Friday, y'all!  Use the button above to link up with some great blogs!
Enter the "With Love Giveaway" at Katherine's Corner by February 28th for seven (7) great personal care and decor prizes!

It's a chocolate giveaway - 'nuff said.  If you enter and win and feel compelled to send me a piece of chocolate as a thank you, I will ever-so-graciously accept. :O)

Alex Cavanaugh has always got something going at his blog to engage other blogger-writers.  His latest, is a super easy blogfest where you list your top ten favorite movies in a post!  Slated for March 18th, 2013, click the link above to join the link!
I found many, many, MANY interesting hops and fests this week, and have listed those in which I will be participating in my right sidebar, in chronological order.  Check them out.  Join the ones that reach out and grab you.  "See" you round the blogosphere!

Happy Friendship Friday!

My Favorites

1.  Favorite Movie - Henry V (Brannagh version)

2.  Favorite TV Show - NCIS

3.  Favorite Author - William Shakespeare

4.  Favorite Color - Purple

5.  Favorite Car - Jaguar XJ-S

6.  Place I Most Want to Visit - Scotland

7.  Favorite Dessert - (tie) cheesecake & baklava

8.  Favorite Supernatural Character Type - vampire

9.  Favorite Bible Verse(s) - Psalm 23

10.  Favorite Soft Drink - Coke Zero

What are your favorites?