10. My Week – When I woke up this morning, this is who was standing in my kitchen. I said to hubs, I love a hairy dude, but this might be overkill. His office has a big costume contest each Halloween, and since our six year old is going as Harry Potter, he decided to be Hagrid. I’m impressed because he bought his clothes from Goodwill and the beard and wig are from a viking costume. I think he stopped at the Starbucks like this….
9. The Nook Color was unveiled this week. It looks really nice…although I hear it is hard to read PDF’s off of it and hard to read outside. I think I am going to stick with my Kindle..maybe ask santa for the upgrade to the Kindle 3..but I will keep my eye on this Nook. Dear Author has a nice post on all the specifics.
8. Chloe Neill released the blurb for Hard Bitten, book four in her Chicagoland Vampire series.
Times are hard for newly minted vampire Merit. Ever since shapeshifters announced their presence to the world, humans have been rallying against supernaturals–and they’re camping outside of Cadogan House with protest signs that could turn to pitchforks at any moment. Inside its doors, things between Merit and her Master, green-eyed heartbreaker Ethan Sullivan are … tense. But then the mayor of Chicago calls Merit and Ethan to a clandestine meeting and tells them about a violent vamp attack that has left three women missing. His message is simple: get your House in order. Or else.
Merit needs to get to the bottom of this crime, but it doesn’t help that she can’t tell who’s on her side. So she secretly calls in a favor from someone who’s tall, dark, and part of underground vamp group that may have some deep intel on the attack. Merit soon finds herself in the heady, dark heart of Chicago’s supernatural society–a world full of vampires who seem to ready to fulfill the protesting human’s worst fears, and a place where she’ll learn that you can’t be a vampire without getting a little blood on your hands…
I LOVE this series. Can’t wait until next summer!
7. You guys, Paula Deen is trying to kill us. A lot of her food is awesome – I mean butter and heavy cream added to pretty much anything makes everything better. My hubs demands her coconut cake for his birthday and we dine on her cream of crab soup every New Years. BUT – she has topped herself. She has created something that will not only cause you to have an immediate artery clog, but vomit at the same time.
Peanut Butter Cheese Fudge – Velveeta, peanut butter, butter, confectioner sugar. Velveeta and fudge should never be spoken in the same sentence.
Paula Deen – you are so crazy!
6. Speaking of food, I discovered a wonderful baking blog this week (although it has been around for quite some time) – Joy the Baker. I made her Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts and omg..YUM!!
5. It’s me…Tori. :) I’m sure you all heard noises about the fiasco Marie Claire magazine had over their web-zine and the opinions of one of it’s bloggers, Maura Kelly. If you haven’t, dooode, where have you been?? Go hereto read Maura Kelly’s post. I, like thousands of other peeps, had a problem with Ms. Kelly’s thoughts on the obesity, television, and love.
I voiced my displeasure with Marie Clare and Maura Kelly in my WTHWEDNESDAY: IsMarieClare’sMauraKellyAnInsensitiveJerk?
While I applauded other bloggers and commenter’s for stepping forward and letting the magazine know that what they did was not cool…not cool at all, I was further upset and saddened to see the number of comments that morphed from hating her post to hating her. Really, folks. Do you not see the irony in telling someone you hate them and hope they die for writing a post about something they hate? Discussing an issue is one thing, but when we adapt the whole “mob” mentality and attack, we take the spot light off the subject at hand.
I can only hope that Ms. Kelly and Marie Clare takes a long look at this and learns something from it. And that we do to.
4. Awesome news from Molly Harper – there WILL be a fourth Jane Jameson book!!! I’m so excited. The first three in this series – Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs, Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men and Nice Girls Don’t Live Forever are some of my favorite books. Paranormal, light and hilarious. I have never laughed out loud so much.
3. Lovin’ Me Some Romance posted the cover of Vampire Instinct by Joey Hill out next summer. I love this series and can’t wait for this book. I think this is an interesting cover too…the more I stare at it, the more I like it.
2. Tori and I have decided we are going to switch our grading system to an ABCDF, rather than the 5 stars. The main reason is we can give out a B+, B, or B- so we are able to have a bigger range of grading. Yes, we could have added a 4.25 or 4.75, but I think the letters are just easier to read. We have the new grading system over on the side bar. Compared to our old system, a 5/5=A, 4/5=B, 3/5=C etc. I don’t think we will go back and put letter grades on our old reviews, we will just go forward with the letters.
We have also broken out our reviews by year, since our reviews by author page was getting quite long. Hold your mouse over the review tab above to take a look.
And yes our background is a bit darker and all the technical changes that have been made have been done by Fiction Vixen because I have no idea how to do it. Thank you!
1. This weekend we are carving pumpkins and trick or treating! I am diving into Inside Out by Lauren Dane (my first Lauren Dane book!!) Happy Halloween!!!!
"I said to hubs, I love a hairy dude, but this might be overkill." LMAO!
I can't wait to hear what you think of Inside Out. I love the Brown siblings!
Happy Weekend!
OMG…a new Merit & Ethan AND a new Dick & Jane book? Lord have mercy. 2011 is gonna rock!!
I love Paula Dean but I'm not eating ANYTHING that has Velveeta on it. Bleecchhh.
I want a new e reader. *pouts*
Love merit so much and I am so excited about the molly harper book. I love that series so much!
Julie – LOL..I have a hairy hubs..rawr! ;)
Tori – I know…I'm so freaking excited for the Jane book!!! And of course Ethan and Merit..and my boyfriend Catcher..rawr.
Deeds – I read all three earlier this year and enjoyed them soooo much. Really excited she is going back to write another!
Your hubs is such a good sport! Great costume!
I am very excited for the upcoming Merit and Jane Jameson reads! Thanks for the update!
Paula Deen is almost as bad as Burger King and KFC for trying to kill off her followers. I can practically hear my arteries hardening whenever I watch her cooking on TV!
Happy Halloween!
Yay more Harper :D Good news, and I must say your hubby sure has a great beard, lol
Christine – Paula Deen is like the fast food of home cooking. Ack.
Blodeuedd – It took him a long time to grow it ;)
ooo la la the darker background makes the pink stand out more – I like it!
I'm so excited there is another Molly Harper book woo hoo!!!
I know her food is bad for us but I love Paula Dean. I could watch her cooking show for hours. I know if I was a member of her family I'd be 300 pounds.
Stephanie G
Paranormal Haven
I have to admit I'd try the cheese fudge if somebody else made it for me. I know . . . I'm not right in the head.
It reminds me of the Sweet Potato Queen's Book of Love. The author of the book says that there are 3 main food groups–sweet, salty, and au gratin. :)
HAHA Love your Hubs' costume!!!!
SQUEEE!!!!!! Not only do I freaking LOVE the cover of Hard Bitten (especially comparing it to how far she's come in the art of the first cover) – all holding her sword, wearing her leather. But the BLURB, omg Merit and Ethan had better get it on again or imma be pissed!
And, I saw the cover of Vampire Instinct on Lovin Me Some Romance's blog, too, and while I am not familiar with the series, I think the cover is simply gorgeous.
Have a great weekend, ya'll!!
Mr. Smexy's costume is FAB! I hope he and the kidlet go out together. That is great! My hubs bought an afro wig and called it good.
Tori: Excellent post and follow up on the MC incident. I completely agree with you about the "hate mentality" that is circulating. *shakes head*
And YEA for the new grading system. A while back I started doing both… I keep my love STARS graphic, but also include a letter grade… Figured it would satsify both "types" of reviews!
The blog is looking great!
KC – me too..can't wait.
PH – I've actually never made something of hers I haven't liked. But…I'm skipping cheese fudge ;)
Eyre – if someone made it, I would have to take a bite..just to experience it. And I totally agree with those three food groups :)
Pamela – Merit and Ethan better be on the right track…I'm nervous
Jen – thanks!!
Love that pic of Kevin. That IS Kevin right? LOL. Enjoy your first LD book!!
I had (fortunately?) missed the Maura Kelley controversy the first time around, and have gone and read it. Ick. I agree, don't hate the hater, but I am also really, really sad. Obesity isn't an epidemic because it's so much fun to be fat. It's doubly difficult to live with this condition because there are so many people out there (including those of us with compulsive eating issues) who believe that obesity is a character defect rather than a symptom of a disease. We are not lazy people!
thanks for sharing this, it's food for thought (so to speak). Now, about that velveeta fudge….
Oh you're gonna love Inside Out! I haven't read it yet (it's pre-ordered for Lola, my Kindle) but I've read the first two books of that series and they were so, so good! You'll love it. Make sure you read Laid Bare and Coming Undone!
Velveeta and fudge is horrid enough, but with peanut butter??? Peanut butter cheese breath….*shudders*
lol @ Hagrid
puke @ Peanut Butter Cheese Fudge…
Mandi – your husband's costume is fantastic!
And the male model on the cover of Vampire Instinct….*drools* YUM!