Happy Holidays
Author: Ambrosia
The Sunday Salon #10
Happy Sunday once again everyone. It is that time where it is the end of the week and really the end of the weekend as well. How was your week? And did you have a good weekend as well? Mine was alright, aside from the fact that my husband brought home a bug and passed it on to me. I managed to get a few things done that I wanted to. One of which was a costume for the next Twilight convention (yes I am a geek).
The next was planning out some holiday themes for my Blog’s last night I made over Birth of a Notion, and today after I get a little bit of rest (I have given up on fighting my insomnia and am just rolling with it) I am going to be making over this blog for the holidays. I will be going back to my usual design when I am done not to worry! But I think it is a good idea to be festive! To have a little fun. If anyone has any recommendations of what colors for the holidays they might like to see I am open to suggestions in the comment area!
I was not successful in getting the husband out to see New Moon this week as planned. But have no fear I have planned a good one for Tuesday. I plan to tell him he must take me to the mall for some ladies essentials. He will never say no to me needing some essentials like that never mind I usually get them anywhere but the mall (to pricey at the mall). So here we go and tada my plan is going to work cause once we are there he wont be able to say no to seeing the movie.
So I am currently watching Laws of Attraction on TBS it’s a cute movie. I get a laugh over the British rock star and the Designer fighting over the Irish castle. I sure wish I could just up and get myself an Irish castle. There is the Irish side of it because I am Irish; there is the history side of it, because I love history. And than frankly how cool would it be to live in a castle?
Sure they are a PITA to upkeep. Expensive on the upkeep end too but come on it is a castle! Ah well a girl can dream right? So I have to laugh again now as I am writing the Lady Lawyer is talking to Mr. O’Callaghan about not being open on a Tuesday. That’s just amusing. But I have probably confused my readers now. *laughs* and I will sign off..saying again Happy Sunday I hope yours is going well!
Quotable Sunday #17
I am in a feline mood so today I will be using Kitty Quotes.
“In the beginning, God created man, but seeing him so feeble, He gave him the cat.”
– Warren Eckstein
– Warren Eckstein
“A home without a cat- and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat- may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title?”
– Pudd’nhead Wilson
“If animals could speak the dog would be a a blundering outspoken fellow, but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much.”
– Mark Twain
“A cat is more intelligent than people believe, and can be taught any crime.”
-Mark Twain Notebook, 1895
“I simply can’t resist a cat, particularly a purring one. They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent things I know, outside of the girl you love, of course.”
– Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field, Fisher
“Of all God’s creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.”
– Mark Twain Notebook, 1894
“You can keep a dog; but it is the cat who keeps people, because cats find humans useful domestic animals.”
– George Mikes from “How to be decadent
“Dogs come when they’re called. Cats take a message and get back to you.”
– Mary Bly
“For a man to truly understand rejection, he must first be ignored by a cat.”
– Anon
“I love cats because I love my home and after a while they become its visible soul.”
– Jean Cocteau
“There are two means of refuge from the misery of life – music and cats.”
– Albert Schweitzer
“There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat.”
– Tay Hohoff
” God made the cat in order that humankind might have the pleasure of caressing the tiger.”
– Fernand Mery
“There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat.”
– Tay Hohoff
“Cats are smarter than dogs. You can’t get eight cats to pull a sled through snow. “
– Jeff Valdez
Book Review: Summit Avenue by Mary Sharratt
“How can you weave a life from fairy tales?” Set in the Minneapolis and Saint Paul during the First World War, Mary Sharratt’s debut novel is the story of a young German immigrant, experiencing her spiritual and sexual awakening.
When Kathrin’s mother dies, Kathrin immigrate to America where she is reunited with her cousin Lotte and begins work at a mill sewing flour bags. Soon Kathrin meets the Jeliniks, the owners of a small bookstore. While Jan, a compassionate elderly man, loves his bookstore, his nephew John would rather see it reopened as something more profitable, a testament to the American dream of prosperity for which he so desperately hungers. Jan introduces Kathrin to Violet Waverly, who offers Kathrin a job typing and translating a book of fairy tales that her husband was compiling before he died. Violet invites Kathrin to live with her in her mansion on Summit Avenue, the richest neighborhood in Saint Paul. Both women, left wounded and alone in different circumstances, find increasing solace and warmth in each other.
Although Violet can offer Kathrin love, compassion, and a glimpse of the dizzying heights of wealthy upper-class grandeur, she cannot fully disguise the painful secrets hiding behind the glitter. As Kathrin comes closer to the heart of Violet’s mysterious past, she discovers that life, like a fairy tale, is often based on illusion.
From the woods of old world Germany to the north woods of Minnesota, Kathrin’s journey is one of discovery.
Well this is not a book I would have ever picked for myself naturally. Even though it’s a Minnesota book Yay. I wouldn’t have. And well honestly I don’t think I learned anything from reading it. I picked it for the historical challenge. To finish the challenge and I was having a hard time finding books set in my area. This one came up in a search and I chose it.
But onto the heart of the review. I did not really care for this book. I couldn’t get into the characters; I couldn’t really get into the plot. It rambled on without any true big purpose. So that’s all I can really say about it. I don’t recommend it. I almost didn’t publish this review, but part of my challenge is reviewing all my books I read. But this one won’t be published on any of my other publishing sites. Save your time find another book.
Saturday Sanctuary #5
The Saturday Sanctuary will be a Weekly Writing Post. I will ask something or give a topic. Sometimes it will be short, sometimes it might be longer. The idea is just to write! So others can read. I thought it would be a great idea for a Book Blog to do something about writing. We are bloggers after all so we must have some enjoyment of writing too! So hop on in and Join the Saturday Sanctuary, grab our link and our picture and post your replies here. Make sure you visit others blogs out there and leave comments. Mostly have fun.
What has been your favorite book of the year?
This is a hard one for me because I have read a lot of good books this year. And some not so great books as well. But I think if it came right down to picking a very best book of the year, I think I would pick Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts. It was a touching and emotional story that ended on a note that wasn’t happy but wasn’t fully sad either. It was just a good gritty real book.
2010 YA Challenge
Yes I am addicted to Challenges. *laughs*
1. Anyone can join. You don’t need a blog to participate.
–Non-Bloggers: Post your list of books in the comment section of the wrap-up post. To learn how to sign up without having a blog, click here.
2. There are four levels:
–The Mini YA Reading Challenge – Read 12 Young Adult novels.
–Just My Size YA Reading Challenge – Read 25 Young Adult novels.
–Stepping It Up YA Reading Challenge – Read 50 Young Adult novels.
–Super Size Me YA Reading Challenge – Read 75 Young Adult novels.
3. Audio, eBooks, paper all count.
4. No need to list your books in advance. You may select books as you go. Even if you list them now, you can change the list if needed.
5. Challenge begins January 1st thru December, 2010.
6. When you sign up under Mr. Linky, put the direct link to your post where your Young Adult novels will be listed. Include the URL so that other viewers can find this fun challenge. If you’d prefer to put your list in the sidebar of your blog, please leave your viewers the link to the sign up page. Again, so viewers can join the challenge too.
I will be doing the Mini Challenge just so I make sure I can keep up with all my challenges.
1 / 12 Books. 8% done!
1.Tempted by P.C & Kristin Cast
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Update to 2010 Historical Fiction Challenge Post
I updated the 2010 Challenge and added a Mr. Linky so it will make for easier sign up! 🙂
2010 Historical Fiction Challenge
Book Review: Hunted by P.C & Kristin Cast
What if the hottest guy in the world was hiding a nameless evil, and all he wanted was you? At the start of this heart-pounding new installment of the bestselling House of Night series, Zoey’s friends have her back again and Stevie Rae and the red fledglings aren’t Neferet’s secrets any longer. But an unexpected danger has emerged. Neferet guards her powerful new consort, Kalona, and no one at the House of Night seems to understand the threat he poses. Kalona looks gorgeous, and he has the House of Night under his spell. A past life holds the key to breaking his rapidly spreading influence, but what if this past life shows Zoey secrets she doesn’t want to hear and truths she can’t face?
On the run and holed up in Tulsa’s Prohibition-era tunnels, Zoey and her gang must discover a way to deal with something that might bring them all down. Meanwhile, Zoey has a few other little problems. The red fledglings have cleaned up well–they’ve even managed to make the dark, creepy tunnels feel more like home–but are they really as friendly as they seem? On the boyfriend front, Zoey has a chance to make things right with super-hot ex-, Erik, but she can’t stop thinking about Stark, the archer who died in her arms after one unforgettable night, and she is driven to try to save him from Neferet’s sinister influence at all costs. Will anyone believe the power evil has to hide among us?
And another installment of the House of Night series does not fail to bring you further into the story. Just when you think Zoey Redbirds life can not possibly get any more dramatic it does. But the way it is written does not seem to over the top.
When we last left Zoey and her friends the red fledglings were on her side, and the House of Night suddenly was not, Neferet had raised the immortal Kalona from his earthly binds, and they along with Kalona’s sons the Raven Mockers have taken over the House of Night and turned everyone into “pod people” as the twins are prone to saying.
And beyond that we have three men back in Zoeys life, Erik Heath and Stark oh my. The way the Casts’s have written this series keeps you wanting the next one. It is hard to draw yourself away from the mixture of typical teenage drama trouble, and the other worldly issues of being a fledgling trying to become a Vampyre. And not only are you a fledgling but the most powerful Marked fledgling of the known history of Vampyres.
If you enjoy the series you will Love Hunted and be eager to get to the next book. If you have not yet started this series, I once again recommend it. The blend of Vampyres and school make for a fantastic setting. And while I have said before its Harry Potter meets Twilight, I do say it with the best of love.
Friday Finds #22
From the pen of legendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy comes an unforgettable true story of
royalty, passion, and innocence lost.
Born into an impoverished branch of the noble Howard family, young Katherine is plucked from her home to live with her grandmother, the Duchess of Norfolk. The innocent girl quickly learns that her grandmother’s puritanism is not shared by Katherine’s free-spirited cousins, with whom she lives. Beautiful and impressionable, Katherine becomes involved in two ill-fated love affairs before her sixteenth birthday. Like her cousin Anne Boleyn, she leaves her grandmother’s home to become a lady-in-waiting at the court of Henry VIII. The royal palaces are exciting to a young girl from the country, and Katherine ?nds that her duties there allow her to be near her handsome cousin, Thomas Culpepper, whom she has loved since childhood.
But when Katherine catches the eye of the aging and unhappily married king, she is forced to abandon her plans for a life with Thomas and marry King Henry. Overwhelmed by the change in her fortunes, bewildered and flattered by the adoration of her husband, Katherine is dazzled by the royal life. But her bliss is short-lived as rumors of her wayward past come back to haunt her, and Katherine’s destiny takes another, deadly, turn.
Everyone thinks they know the real Gordon Ramsay: rude, loud, pathologically driven, stubborn as hell.
Now, for the first time, the world’s most famous—and infamous—chef tells the inside story of his life: his difficult childhood, his father’s alcoholism and violence, his brother’s heroin addiction, his short-circuited soccer career, and his fanatical pursuit of gastronomic perfection—everything that helped mold him into the culinary talent and media powerhouse that he is today. He also dishes the dirt on the rich and famous, and takes you behind the scenes of some of the great restaurants.
Honest, outrageous, and intensely personal, Roasting in Hell’s Kitchen will not only change your perception of Gordon Ramsay but that of the cutthroat world of haute cuisine as well.
Friday Firsts #1
The first line can make or break a reader’s interest. Just how well did the author pull you in to the story with their first sentence? To participate in this weekly book meme is extremely easy.
Grab the book you are currently reading and open to the first page.
Write down the first sentence in the first paragraph.
Create a blog post with this information. (Make sure to include the title & author of the book you are using. Even an ISBN helps!)
Did this first sentence help draw you into the story? Why or why not?
Link back to Well-Read Reviews in your blog entry.
Come back to this blog post, hosted on WellReadReviews.com and add your direct link to Mr. Linky! ** Very important!
It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind. ~ Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K Rowling
Well I have to say I just picked up the book after finnishing another, so that I could post this Meme. And honestly it has pulled me in. I am curious what the Prime Minister is reading, although I imagine it might be about magic. But there is only one way I can be certain. And that is to keep reading.
