Dragon Fate by J.D. Hallowell Genre: Teen & YA Fantasy Series: War of the Blades Publisher: Smithcraft Press Find the Author on Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook “I know the difference between a bird and a dragon. I was raised in a kingdom that is unfortunate enough to have three of those damned beasts in residence.” ~location 1839 on my Kindle (27%) Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat. To play along just do the following: Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO […]
Category Archives: reading
TBR (To Be Read) Challenge!
I don’t know about you, but I have about a meeellion books on my TBR (To Be Read) shelf. How can I not? New and interesting books are constantly being released. If that’s not enough, I belong to several book groups, and the people there are always talking about… books. (I know, weird, right?) “Recently finished Schafer’s most excellent Shattered Sigil’s trilogy, it’s a great character-driven fantasy tale, with wondrous landscapes…” “About 50% through Morning Star (by Pierce Brown) and it’s been totally rocking my world!” “I am reading The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1) by Brandon Sanderson. […]
Your Hoard: How to Care for Your Books
When I was a fledgling my wonderful mama taught me a lot about cleaning, but I do not recall a lesson about how to care for your books. Dishes, bathrooms, bedrooms, laundry, cooking—yes. Books? No. Maybe it was obvious to her. Or maybe she was so busy enjoying her stacks and boxes of books that it just slipped her mind. Or maybe I’m taking my book obsession to new heights. But really—how do you care for your books? They look marvelous lined up on the shelves, but I don’t have a magical force field to keep off all the dust. […]
Drop Everything And Read!
This weekend (April 12th) marks the birthday of beloved children’s author Beverly Cleary. Her books have been delighting children for over 60 years—She first wrote about D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) in her book, Ramona Quimby, Age 8. When Cleary received letters from children taking part in “Drop Everything and Read” activities it inspired her to give Ramona the same experience. “Drop Everything and Read” programs have taken off nationwide since then—some of them spanning the entire month of April. In the fall of 2002 Barnes & Noble did a fabulous interview with Ms. Cleary. You can read it […]
10 Reasons to Read
A never-ending reservoir of stories lies waiting for you to dive in. Literacy is incredibly powerful! Let me give you 10 reasons to read…
More Good, Clean Reading
Are you one of those people that loves to read but hates trying to disinfect your eyeballs after they’ve been exposed to blood, guts, profanity or sex? Yeah, me, too … And I have good news! As the hunt continues for providers of “clean” fiction, more sites and blogs are cropping up. This time I’d like to introduce you to Clean Indie Reads: The goal of this site is to connect writers from across the fiction genre spectrum with readers who want to discover something great. Specifically, it is to find independent authors who are writing fiction that would generally […]
Stuff Your Kindle!
It’s the day after Christmas! Are you stuffed full of turkey? Family? Joy? There is nothing in the world like the energy that comes when my family gathers to celebrate this joyous season. I like seeing the way the idea of the gift-giving has evolved in my grown children. They’re looking for more than the easy solutions and searching a little deeper, sifting through the possibilities to find gifts that mean something. They’re using their hearts. It makes Christmas different than it used to be when they were small. Sometimes I miss the eager, childish excitement—but that’s what grandkids are for, right? […]
Care and Feeding of Authors
Traditionally, publishing houses were the ones to discover and nurture notable authors. With the shift to indie publishing, the responsibility falls upon the reader themselves. Isn’t it cool? You have the power! “After conducting more than 250,000 interviews about reading behavior since 2004, Codex has found that a major shift has taken place in discovery in the past two years, as digital books have become a significant part of the book world. Two years ago, 35% of book purchases were made because readers found out about a book in bricks-and-mortar bookstores, the single-largest site of discovery. This year, that figure […]
Julie Forward DeMay, The Cell War Notebooks, and the Power of Words
Today, January 31st, is IndiesForward day – a special blogging event dedicated to spreading the legacy of Julie Forward DeMay and her touching memoir, The Cell War Notebooks. What would you do when faced with a battle for your life? Author, photographer and creative spirit Julie Forward DeMay took on her fight with cervical cancer like she was playing for the new high score in her favorite video game, Asteroids. Inspiring, witty, beautiful and brutally honest, The Cell War Notebooks is a compilation of the blog Julie kept during the last seven months of her life. It’s a powerful read […]