RSS

Category Archives: Blog Features

features that started from my blog

TBR Tuesday – 30 Jun 15

Love Slave for Two: Reckoning
Author: Tymber Dalton

Purchased: 29 October 2012
Date Finished: 17 April 2015
Time on TBR: 901 days

Review: When I think back to my progression of reading through different genres of romance, Tymber Dalton figures fairly prominently in them. One of my first BDSM romances (The Reluctant Dom) was one of hers, as was one of my first m/m romances; I read my first romance featuring a disabled character (Cross-Country Chaos) and even ventured into the world of science-fiction romance with her. So when I realized that I had one of her Love Slave for Two books still stashed on the pile, I was excited to dig into it because I was a fan of the series. However, to my disappointment, this entry in the series just didn’t hold the same magic for me. There wasn’t the spark that I’ve come to expect from her books – to me, there was too much focus on the “suspense” aspect that just wasn’t what I was looking for at the time. Maybe because it had been a feature in all three of the previous books (aside from the prequel) and I was just tired of it. Don’t get me wrong, the romance/smexy bits between Nevvie, Adam and Tyler were as hot as ever – but the rest of the story was just ehh to me…

This entry in the series only got 2.5 stars from me, but considering I’ve rated the rest of her books in the 4 star range, I guess its ok to have a disappointing one now and then. Thankfully, I know that this is an anomaly in Tymber’s writing and I will continue to read her stuff in the future.

Dishing with Dee….I cut the cord

27 Jun

I’ve been talking about it for a while, but today I FINALLY made the jump and cut the cord, or is that cable – I cancelled my cable TV service. I’ve had cable for years, and every year the cost has been slowly creeping up, just a few dollars here and there, but when I looked at my cable bill this last month, I realized that I was paying over $200 (for internet/TV and phone) and probably only using one of three parts of the package (the internet). So while I was out running errands today, I swung by Best Buy and got an Amazon FireTV stick. This will allow me to access Hulu, Netflix and SlingTV, as well as all the TV shows available via Amazon Prime…then I called Comcast and cancelled my cable. I will admit, I was surprised how easy the woman on the phone made it – I’d heard these horror stories about people trying to cancel and honestly, I’ll withhold judgement until I get my bill next month – but it was fairly pain free.

So the current status of TV in my house – Hulu, Netflix, SlingTV (a basic package that has Food Network, ABC Family, Lifetime, a few sports channels) and Amazon Prime. I’ve gone frmo $217 a month to about $110 (not including my Amazon Prime that I pay on a yearly basis). Which means, more money for triathlon fun 😉

What about you – would you be able to take the plunge or have you already?

6 Comments

Posted by Dee on June 27, 2015 in Dishing with Dee

Tags: SlingTV

Radio Show Debut

12 Jun

Hey everyone! So I know many of you don’t follow my facebook page (but you really should – click HERE) – but last night I was lucky enough to be a guest on The Woman Show, hosted by Naomi Blackburn. Naomi has been a friend of mine for several years – we meet over a review for a book we were both eager to read that was totally spoiler-ific – and it was like a matchmade in book lover’s heaven.

One of the amazing things that she does (aside from reading like 500+ books a year) is works with authors providing guidance on how to build their business/brand, through her blog, The Author CEO.

Last night I was lucky enough to be a guest, along with Tracy Riva (http://tracyriva.com/) and Bennet Pomerantz (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bennetpomerantz) on her show, discussing what Book Bloggers look for when we receive requests from authors to review their books. We had a great discussion about our likes and dislikes – for example, Tracy really likes to see the cover of your book, whereas Bennet tends to be less drawn to the cover (FWIW, I fall roughly in the middle). We also had a great time talking about both good and bad experiences with authors who we have reviewed books for.

The radio show is available online – so I hope you listen and enjoy –

7 Comments

Posted by Dee on June 12, 2015 in Blog Features

Tags: Author CEO, Bennet Pomerantz, book blogging, Naomi Blackburn, Radio Show, Tracy Riva

TBR Tuesday – 09 June 15

09 Jun

Wicked
Author: Sasha White

Purchased: November 11, 2009
Date Finished: 14 May, 2015
Time on TBR: 2012 Days

Review:
I’m always amazed at the books that I find when I start digging through my kindle archives and what inspired me to buy a certain book at a certain time. Looking at my record for this one, I bought it while I was deployed to Iraq in 2009 and not long before I headed home – so I’m thinking it may have been a book that I bought to read on the flight and then likely got distracted (I mean, really, those flights SUCK for reading). And then forgot about it (like it seems I have for many books on my TBR). But I needed a book for a reading challenge that had a single word titled (and was at least 250pgs in length) and this was one of the first ones that I found while browsing my kindle archives that I have actually managed to catalogue on Goodreads so far. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize at the time that this was a book 3 in the series, and I didn’t really have time to go back and read the previous 2 books in the series, so I hoped that I could just jump on in and not be too lost.

Thankfully, while this is a “series” they are only loosely combined – in that they are part of the Dungeon series, which is the club that individuals visit, but that the stories are all separate and can be read by themselves. I thought that the basis of the characters for Wicked – a divorce lawyer and Lara (who is actually very hard to describe character wise) was a great combo – the idea of the guy who needs dominance in his nightlife, because of the dichotomy in his day (sometimes having power, other times not). I found the suspense element of the story to be a bit of a let down – it just felt like it wasn’t really needed and I would have preferred to have seen more of a story between Karl and Lara, rather than the additional storyline – IMHO it just wasn’t really needed.

I’m intrigued enough by the series that I want to go back and read the previous two in the series (and its highly likely that I have at least one of them in the TBR pile somewhere). I gave Wicked 3.5 stars and will be definitely checking out more books by the author in the future.

TBR Tuesday – 26 May 2015

26 May

Ruthless Heart
Author: Emma Lang

Purchased: July 6, 2010

Review: I’ve been a fan of Emma Lang for years – mostly with the writing under her other name (Beth Williamson) – so I was surprised to find this book loitering on the pile unread – I guess I bought it in a one-click haze and then forgot about it (yeah, I have a tendancy to do this). I will admit that I do prefer her Malloy family series to this book, but that I did enjoy this one more than several of her most recent books – so it was a fairly solid read by her. And I will admit that I am a sucker for a well-written historical western – they are for me, one of my favorite genres – unfortunately, it also seems to be a genre that has fallen out of favor over the last few years. Specifically, in this one, I liked how the prim and proper Eliza and the rough and tumble Grady came together – it was a great meshing of characters with enough suspense to make it enjoyable, without overwhelming the romance side of the house. I’m intrigued enough that I want to check out the other books in this series.

How did you guys do this week – did you find any gems on your TBR?

3 Comments

Posted by Dee on May 26, 2015 in TBR Tuesday

Tags: Emma Lang, historical romance, robin l rotham, romance, sci-fi romance

Featured Author Friday – Kelsey Browning

22 May

featured author friday

Welcome back to Featured Author Friday! There was a bit of a delay in getting this one launched because my next guest author has been busy gallivanting the countryside with her writer cohort in crime on a Free Little Library Book Tour” So I wanted to give her some time to get home and (hopefully) put her feet up for a little while 😉 Please welcome Kelsey Browning! I discovered Kelsey through one of my other favorite authors, Jamie Farrell, when she posted about Kelsey’s new release on her facebook. The description intrigued me and before long, I had one-clicked away and added her books to Mt TBR! Her books are described as Sassy, sexy and sweet romances set in Texas (and of course, what kind you expect from an author who wears such awesome cowboy boots!)

kelsey browning Dee: What has been your favorite book to write so far?
Kelsey: That’s like asking which of my children is my fave. Oh, wait a minute, I only have one kid! 😉 Personal Assets was the first book I wrote from start to finish, and so it has a very special place in my heart. It did go through extensive content edits when it was acquired by Carina Press, and those edits taught me a ton. But as far as sheer fun, I’d have to say Designed for Love. I knew I would revisit Ashton Davenport and her wily little dog, Napoleon, in that story. Interestingly enough, the Texas Nights series was originally supposed to be only three books until I wrote Ashton into Running the Red Light. But once I wrote her as the antagonist of that story, I knew she needed one of her own! I had a ton of fun using Napoleon to torture Ashton’s love interest, Mac.

Dee: Who would you say your biggest writing influence is?
Kelsey: You ask the hard questions, don’t you? I think that’s changed over the years as I grow and change as a writer. When I started out, I probably would’ve told you I wanted to be Susan Elizabeth Phillips or Jennifer Crusie when I grew up. I kinda still do, but I read all over the place—from thrillers to nonfiction—to get inspiration these days. Especially since being an author isn’t just about writing anymore. In publishing now, you have to be an entrepreneur too. So I look to people like Dan Blank, Joanna Penn and other author-entrepreneurs for inspiration.

Dee: What is best writing advice you can give?
Kelsey: Just do it. Yeah, I know, people hate to hear that. But it’s true. Believe me, I’m one of those writers who has studied. I’m always looking for something that will make me a better writer. But at the end of the day (or in my case, at the beginning), you have to put words on the page. Fear will try to stop you (Steven Pressfield is brilliant at talking about resistance. Writers, read The Art of War for Writers stat). I’ve written well over 10 books and that fear plops down on me almost every time I sit down to write. Do it anyway.

Dee: If you could cast your book as a movie, which book would it be and who would have the starring roles?
Kelsey: Nancy Naigle and I would love, love, love to see The Granny Series books (Southern, humorous women’s fiction) made into movies. We say these gals are just like Dirty Harry, only over-50, female, and from the South. Early on, I was told my writing was too “over the top,” meaning I wrote crazy scenarios. Well, when it comes to our Granny Series characters—Lil, Maggie, Sera, and Abby Ruth—we can let our OTT freak flag fly! Hmm…so who would I cast for these roles…
Lillian – Annette Bening
Maggie – gosh, Maggie’s hard for some reason. Maybe a Sigourney Weaver/Melissa McCarthy mix
Sera – Michelle Pfeifer
Abby Ruth – a Jamie Lee Curtis/Jane Lynch combo

Dee: If you were a character from the Wizard of Oz – which one would you pick and why?
Kelsey: Well, I played the wicked stepmother in my fourth grade class’s production of Cinderella. But I was seriously typecast. 😉 That being said, I’d have a heckuva lot of fun playing the Wicked Witch of the West. I want to be one of those people who loves being nice and sweet like Glinda. But in reality, my finely honed sense of snark just won’t allow me to be that way. What can I say? It’s just too damned fun to be the bad girl. 🙂

Find Kelsey on Social Media
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Pinterest

Buy Kelsey’s Books
Texas Nights
Personal Assets (Texas Nights Book 1)
Running the Red Light (Texas Nights Book 2)
Problems in Paradise (Texas Nights Book 3)
Designed for Love (Texas Nights Book 4)

By Invitation Only
Amazed by You: a contemporary holiday romance (By Invitation Only Book 1)

The Granny series (with Nancy Naigle)
IN FOR A PENNY (The Granny Series Book 1)
FIT TO BE TIED (The Granny Series Book 2)
In High Cotton (The Granny Series Book 3)
Always On My Mind: A Jenny and Teague Novella (The Granny Series Book 1)

And it wouldn’t be Featured Author Friday without a giveaway – so comment below for a chance to win a Kelsey Browning book of your choice. Entries will be open until Friday May 29th!

5 Comments

Posted by Dee on May 22, 2015 in Featured Author Friday

Tags: contemporary romance, Kelsey Browning, romance

TBR Tuesday – 19 May 2015

19 May

Alien Overnight
Author: Robin L. Rotham

Purchased: December 6, 2012

Review: I’ll admit that I find most sci-fi type romances hard to get into because normally the world building is lacking, but i found that Ms Rotham did a good job of balancing both story development and world building in a relatively short book (less than 250pgs). It does seem that the theme of aliens needed sexual recruits in a common one in this genre (this is at least the third book I’ve read that used it as a story basis) – although the various authors try to tackle it in different ways. The story had some funny portions, as well as some more serious, but you could also see where this was a relatively early work by the author (the writing was a tad patchy at times). While I only gave this story 3 stars, I’m intrigued enough that I want to look at continuing the series in the future.

Dishing with Dee…post triathlon weekend thoughts

11 May

It was a long weekend in my neck of the woods – I had planned on swinging by and posting something, but as usual, I got distracted and failed big time…lol. This weekend was my first triathlon of the season – a half ironman in Lake Anna, Virginia. For non-triathlon types, a half iron is 1.2 mile swim; 56 mile bike and then 13.1 mile run for a total of 70.3 miles (and yes, I’m insane enough to do these things not only once or twice, but multiple times…). Let’s just say my weekend didn’t go as planned, starting with a series of events on Friday night that just fustrated and distracted me and I left that affect me down the road. While I wasn’t happy with how I did, I know that I was successful in the simple fact that I finished – I may not have been fast, in fact, I think I was slower than a turtle in peanut butter at times – but I persevered when I just wanted to quit on the run. 7hrs 23min and some odd seconds later – I finished – and I know that I can only go up from there.

But I had a funny thought while I was driving home the other day – we are always taught to not ask a woman what her age or weight is, but in triathlon, we proudly walk around with our age written on our legs (unless you are doing the relay’s because then you get an R).

kinetic half

5 Comments

Posted by Dee on May 11, 2015 in Dishing with Dee

Tags: kinetic half, triathlon

Dishing with Dee….Outlander

07 May

I’ve been a fan of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series for years – i think my mom originally handed me book 1 when I was about 15 (her version was called Cross-stitch, rather than the more common Outlander) and I devoured it. Thus launching an obsession with the series. When it was announced nearly two years ago that Starz was going to be making it into a TV show, I was excited as the next person. I mean, I had reservations – would the person they picked for Jamie live up to my imagine (thankfully, yes he does); how will they handle key scenes (like the spanking one). I sought out online facebook groups of fans dedicated to the show and participated frequently…

Then, something unintended happened…I found myself losing interest. i love the show and the work that Ron Moore and his crew are doing, the cast is brilliant and yet, I find myself not wanting to sit down and watch the episodes as they air; leaving them sometimes for weeks upon end before I end up watching. Here is my confession, I didn’t watch episode 8 (which originally aired in December) until right before the second half of the season started back in April. It’s not that the books have spoiled me, but as I started thinking, I think its been my interaction with the other fans. Yes, I know, some of you are probably saying, don’t let other’s enjoyment/dislike ruin your experience, but even if i try to avoid it, it has a profound effect.

Take for example, and I didn’t know this, but for the second half of the season Starz has opted to make the new episode available on demand prior to air time – at like 2am the night before. That is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but personally, the thought of getting up at that ungodly time of morning to watch and episode, in an effort to avoid being potentially spoiled is just distastful to me. I will say that for the most part people are careful about spoilers when they do watch the early release version, but its hard to avoid them completely, unless (as I was advised), I stay off Facebook and out of Outlander groups…that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth – I can understand avoiding after the show has aired officially, but for an early showing…not so much

As of right now, I haven’t even started to watch the second half of the season – which is now in the 5th episode and rapidly approaching the end of the book…hopefully, I can once again find enjoyment in the series, but I’m worried I won’t…

2 Comments

Posted by Dee on May 7, 2015 in Dishing with Dee

Tags: Diana Gabaldon, Outlander, Outlander series, Ron Moore

Dishing with Dee….GNO (the May edition), AKA, I have very sneaky friends

06 May

So it took me a little while to get this post up, mostly because I failed epically in the taking photos aspect and had to hit up some of the participants to see if they had any from our awesome GNO evening. Sub-title of this, should be, I have some very sneaky friends who probably need careers in the spy industry. the plans for GNO started out like they do every month – the 4 (or 5) of us getting so busy that we forget until a few days prior; Jamie setting up an invite on Facebook (even though we had been smart enough to do that the previous month) and finally settling on a place – previously, we’d done a chocolate bar and then a farm to table type place, so for May we decided on Sushi. I will admit that i’m relatively new to the sushi eating world- its only been a couple of years since I tried it, but when I do manage to drag friends out with me to have it, my goal is to always try something different – so I was excited to have a group of people going with me. Fast forward to Saturday night, and after a hectic day of workouts, errands and an insane desire to skip because I was so exhausted, followed by a hike from the metro – I showed up at MoMo Sushi in Old Town Alexandria.

As I walked up the stairs to the restaurant, I realized that there was not only 1 but 2 extra people at the table from our normal group. I knew about the one (a friend bringing her sister who was in town), but the second was a total surprise and thus the comment about my sneaky friends. An author that I love (Kelsey Browning) had been touring the country as part of a Free Little Library tour with her writer cohort in crime and she just happened (magically of course) to be in the DC area on the same night as our Girl’s Night Out (funny how those things work out right?). And Jamie in all her secret squirrel wonder had invited her along as a surprise for me (because I had been asking her when Kelsey was going to be here). I’m amazed that none of the people spilled the beans…I mean, that was some serious secret keeping…lol! Not long after that, we were joined by our pseudo party-crashers (they were expected, we just didn’t know when), Kimberly Kincaid and Avery Flynn – both authors who I totally fangirl over, if you have read my reviews of their books). Avery even managed to get a selfie with all of us in the picture – which took some considerable skill since she didn’t even have a selfie stick!

Of course, it wouldn’t be a sushi meal without a funny sushi story – which of course, revolves around me being an idiot/nearly choking on a piece of sushi. but first, an awesome sushi picture (this wasn’t my roll, because I ate it too quickly to take a photo) – but mine was as visually pretty as this one that Kimberly and Avery shared. but back to the funny sushi story – although, I can safely say, that is wasn’t actually my fault…I blame it all on Kelly! There I was, sitting innocently next to Kelsey, working on my Spider Roll (which was awesome BTW). Jamie/Kelly and Kelsey had just gotten done talking about kids antics and a comment had been made about people and how they deal with visual sighting of half eaten food. But back to the story, I had literally just managed to pick up a delicious piece of sushi from my roll and shove it, in its entirely into my mouth when Kelly turned to me and asked me a question about the shrimp in the roll, I think, whether it was tempura shrimp. For some reason, this was insanely funny (i have no idea why) and I started laughing, while I had a piece of sushi in my mouth. Comments were made about people being waitresses in former lives, because of their ability to ask questions as soon as you try to eat. In the meantime, I’m laughing so hard, I was trying to not choke on my sushi or spit it up into somebody’s lap and the folks down the other end of the table were trying to figure out what I was laughing about. Never fear, I did survive both the laughing bout and the piece of sushi.