Jen in Bookland

Day 30:  #BookBlogWriMo Wrap Up Wow, I can't believe it is the end of November already, which means the last day of BookBlogWriMo! Even though this month was incredibly busy for me, and adding this daily writing challenge made it just a tad more stressful, I am glad I signed up for it. I like the daily writing challenge and I am going to miss it tomorrow. I like just writing about random things that are book or blog related. And yes, I did type these up every day instead of writing them a chunk at a time and scheduling them out. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just wanted to get myself to write at least a little bit every day just as a personal challenge. Some days were harder than others because I was tired or busy or whatever and either didn't feel like writing or didn't have much time, but I still go it done. Some days were difficult because I didn't have much to say on the topic, but I still really enjoyed waking up and writing something. This ch...

Christmas in Venice: A Short Story Synopsis: Olivia's Christmas trip to Venice, Italy should be a holiday dream come true. But when she’ s confronted by a handsome Italian cop about her unattended luggage, she worries she won't even make it out of the Marco Polo Airport… Review: Christmas in Venice is a really short little story about Olivia and her adventures at the airport in Venice. She has come to spend Christmas with her cousin, but it is not that easy to get out of the airport and on to her fun. She does meet a good looking cop, and what happens was quite humorous. It was a nice, super short story but not really Christmasy like I was hoping. It is set at Christmastime, but doesn't have any of the Christmas magic I love. Still a good read and I might have to go read Midnight in Venice since this is the beginning of that story. Rating: ★ ★ ★1/2 Available on Amazon , Amazon.de , Barnes & Noble , and Goodreads

Day 29:  The Future of Your Blog The future of my blog? Well I think for one thing I am going to try and post more non-review posts. I have really enjoyed writing up posts for this challenge everyday and it made me realize I like writing about all things books, not just reviewing them. I will probably start posting books I am looking forward to and whatever else I feel like talking about that is book related. It won't be as often as this, and will just be whenever I have something to share, but it will be good to get a little more diversity. The problem I always had before is I didn't know what else to write about so now I have some ideas rolling around in my head that I can start in the new year. Also I think I am going to work on my blog layout some in the new years. There are a few things I would like to add or change about it now. Not much as I don't like the cluttered look, but just some small changes that will hopefully make my blog better. Also I am going t...

Playing Santa (Summer Beach Vets Christmas Romance) ~ Escape Down Under Synopsis: Escape Down Under this Christmas...and find love in Summer Beach, where cold noses touch warm hearts!  Holly stopped believing in Santa Claus long ago... until a house-sitting vacation in Australia rekindles the magic of Christmas. When she rescues a litter of abandoned puppies and meets a handsome veterinarian who captures her heart, she finds herself tempted to give up everything for a chance at love. The last thing billionaire Dr Nick Forrester expected when helping out at the animal hospital was to meet this pretty American. He knows that they belong together - but with malicious gossip and culture clash coming between them, can he convince Holly that all he wants for Christmas is her? Review: Oh Playing Santa was exactly what I wanted in a cheesy Christmas read. I love Hallmark channel's countdown to Christmas. I love there terrible Christmas movies that are just awful, but ...

Day 28:  Book Pet Peeves Pet peeves you say? What plot lines don't I like? Well let's see. For pet peeves I would say whiny characters. I cannot stand them. Those people who are all poor me. Those people who could easily fix whatever it is they just don't because they would rather moan and groan and complain. I cannot stand it. I am the do something!!! Kind of person. I love books with people who have horrible pasts they have to overcome, and they are not the people I am talking about. But then again those people are not usually mopey self centered people. They don't whine constantly. They are usually the people who just try and survive or move on. What else don't I like? Well I would say some types of books or plot lines. I don't usually like fairy books or faerie books or however you want to spell it. Not sure why. My first series I really enjoyed, though that was a few years ago and I don't remember what it was called. I didn't really know any...

Snow-Kissed (A Novella) Synopsis: Florand takes us to a snow-kissed Christmas cabin for this heart-wrenching tale of love, loss, forgiveness—and hope. After the utter destruction of her marriage and her happiness, Kai knew it was better to shut herself away from the world than to hurt and be hurt. Holed up in her mountain cabin, she planned to spend her Christmas alone. Until her not-quite-ex-husband shows up as the first flakes start to fall. Now should she send him back out into the cold? Or can she be brave enough to let this winter snow bind them back together? Review: Woohoo! It is finally time for my countdown to Christmas! Every year I save up my Christmas books to start reading the day after Thanksgiving. It doesn't matter that I no longer live in the states I still like to wait until after the holiday to start my Christmas fun. First up is Snow-Kissed ! I have been holding onto this one for a while. Man Laura Florand can really write an amazing story. As...

Day 27:  Authors You’re Thankful For For those of you in the US Happy Thanksgiving! Today's topic? Writer I am thankful for. Who’s sitting at my dream Thanksgiving table? Can I just say that I am thankful for all the writers who write such amazing books? All those people who put their work out there for all of us to read. It is really amazing how many people have stories to share and how great a lot of them are. I am really thankful that I've had the time to be able to read so many amazing things. Does that sound lame? It is true. Book related that is what I am thankful for. So who would be at my dream Thanksgiving table? That is a hard one. The first thing to come to mind was to just make a list of my favorite authors. People who have written my favorite books. Then I thought about it and that doesn't really work really. Just because you wrote an amazing book doesn't necessarily mean I would want to hang out with you. So it is interesting to think about. I did ...

Available on  Amazon ,  Amazon.de , and  Goodreads Synopsis: I was getting ready to spend the single most important holiday of the year alone. Completely and utterly alone. That meant he wouldn’t be there Christmas Eve. No making Christmas cookies, or listening to my dad sing off-key while my mom bustled around wrapping last-minute gifts. No decorating the tree. No midnight Christmas kiss.  No waking up in Grey’s arms. We were actually going to spend our very first Christmas in different states. That was until Grey gave me the most unexpected gift of my life. Review: A Very Grey Christmas was a cute addition to the Kissing Eden series. It's a short read and you get to see Eden and Grey and how they spend their first Christmas together as a couple.  I must note though that at first Eden comes off as really whiny. I understand she didn't want to spend Christmas apart from Grey, but oh man. You don't need to be so whiny and tr...

Day 26:  Cheating on Books: TV & Movies TV and Movies is the topic for today. I will say I think I watch a lot of TV, but as I mentioned yesterday I almost never just watch TV. I have it on while I read and write blog posts and just do whatever I need to do. It's good background noise and I like it better than music for stationary tasks. My absolute favorites are really the only ones that I give my full attention to. I guess I will start with movies since I don't watch a lot of them. I don't like going to the movie theatre as I am cheap and they are way to expensive in my opinion. It has to be something that I really really want to see or something that I think would be better on the large screen. My husband, on the other hand, loves going to the movies so I do see a few in the theatre every year. He also put a lot on for lazy Sunday afternoons. As for what movies? Well I like a little bit of everything. Some favorites I can think of off the top of my head? Am...

Thanksgiving Night Synopsis: Richard Bausch calls this, his tenth novel, "a love comedy with sorrows." The story is set in the small Virginia valley town of Point Royal, where several of Bausch's other novels and many of his stories take place. It is 1999; predictions of catastrophe blare on the radio, and religious fanaticism is everywhere on the rise. The millennium is approaching. Oliver Ward and his divorced daughter, a young policewoman named Alison, and Oliver's two grandchildren become involved with Holly Grey and Holly's aunt Fiona, elderly ladies with a marked propensity for outlandish behavior. Holly's son, Will Butterfield, and Elizabeth, Will's second wife by that name, have been happily married for ten years but are about to discover how fragile happiness is. And in the middle of all of them is an old priest, Father John Fire, who is a good man, thinking of leaving the priesthood. He is called "Brother Fire" by ever...

Day 25:  How You Deal with Book Hangovers My husband always asks what my topic for writing these is and last night I mentioned that today is how to deal with a book hangover. I said this and it was like crickets chirping. "What is a book hangover?" I tried to explain to him, but as he is not a reader I don't think he really got it. It was pretty funny. Anyways how do I deal with a book hangover? I'm not sure. I am trying to think what I did the last time I had one. I think the last one for me was Beauty & the Mustache and I left on vacation for a week of backpacking in the mountains with no books or electronics the next day. That worked really well. Getting out into nature for a bit. I might do that in the future, take a walk and hang out at the park for a bit. We shall see. Before that? Well I might watch a TV show without doing anything else for an episode or two (normally I am reading or writing or something while the TV is on. For example I am watchi...

Available on Amazon , Amazon.de , Barnes & Noble , and Goodreads         Synopsis: They say there's a fine line between love and hate. There is. I married a douchebag. I didn't know it at the time. He came in like a handsome stranger and blew me off my feet. I fell madly in love, like the naive girl I am. Then he left me high and dry. Turns out, I was nothing more than a business plan for billionaire playboy, Marcus Tandem. He needed to be married in order to obtain his grandfathers business, and I was the poor victim in his path. I believed in what we had, until the truth reared its ugly head. I never meant anything to Marcus. Not a damned thing. With my world spinning on its axis, the girl I once was has long since died. Instead he left me as this empty, emotionless shell. I may have made a vow before God to love and cherish him ‘Til Death do we part, but it’s time for me to give back to Marcus, exactly what he gave me....

Day 24:  Reading Cave Fantasies Growing up we had a bay window in the living room. I always wanted to turn that into a window seat and just sit and read all day, but alas it was not to be. It was kind of falling apart on the outside so we couldn't put a lot of weight on it and it wasn't fixed until much later in my life, but that has always been as ideal reading space for me. Whenever I see a castle or a house with a turret I think about how amazing it would be if it was just a giant window seat inside and I could sit there all day. But then I actually think about sitting in a round room all day it I don't think it would really work that well, but the idea is perfect. So that is why the bay window would have bee great. I could have sat up and leaned back against the one side, or lying down, or whatever. Perfect. Even better would be some kind of window box in a corner of the house. Just windows on all sides, except the bottom. Nice fluffy cushion to sit on and lot...

Available now on  Amazon * Amazon.de *  Goodreads Synopsis: Once upon a time, a good girl who wanted to be naughty, met a naughty boy who wanted to be good...  Beth Pierce, is the Director of Fundraising for her older brother's new legal non-profit. She spends her weekends fighting off lecherous men at charity galas and her weekdays trying to hide her attraction for a certain sexy young attorney in her office.  Mark Patterson, is the object of Beth's desire. He spends his weekends having casual encounters with women and his weekdays trying not to think about how gorgeous, smart, and sexy Beth is. Because not only is Beth his colleague, she's the younger sister of one of his closest friends.  When Mark is assigned to escort Beth to those weekend galas, they both quickly realize that things could get very interesting. Will Beth be as naughty as she would like to be? Can Mark be as good as he wants to be? Even if they...

Day 23:  Book Boyfriend Criteria Book boyfriends are often times kind of an odd thing for me. Does this mean boys that I would want to date in real life if I were single? I love a lot of boys in books, but usually I love them for the girls in said books. Not so much for myself. Like Dom from The Chocolate Touch by Laura Florand. I love Dom, love him so much, but not for me. I love him with Jamie. But I do have a couple book boyfriends that would be for me so I guess I will describe them a bit. It is hard to put together a list of what my ideal would be as I have dated guys who if you forced me to make a list they would have fit it perfectly and it just didn't work out. I am still friends with them, but it was never romantic even though they would have checked all the boxes. So I like characters. It is easier to say this person, he is what I want instead of pieces from a, a bit from b, and a tad from c to make this guy cause that doesn't really work for me. First up is t...

The Ghost at the Table: A Novel Synopsis: Strikingly different since childhood and leading dissimilar lives now, sisters Frances and Cynthia have managed to remain "devoted"—as long as they stay on opposite coasts. When Frances arranges to host Thanksgiving at her idyllic New England farmhouse, she envisions a happy family reunion, one that will include the sisters' long-estranged father. Cynthia, however, doesn't understand how Frances can ignore the past their father's presence revives, a past that includes suspicions about their mother's death twenty-five years earlier. As Thanksgiving Day arrives, with a houseful of guests looking forward to dinner, the sisters continue to struggle with different versions of a shared past, their conflict escalating to a dramatic, suspenseful climax. Review: I really like reading/watching holiday specific things. This year I realized I should search for Thanksgiving books as I don't normally read the...

Day 22:  #ShowMeYourShelves Alright here is a not very good photo of my bookshelf. As in one. Singular. Sad. There are not actually that many books on it. I used to have shelves and shelves full of books I loved, but then I moved half way around the world and had to give them all up. So now I only have the left two cubes in the second row (my fiction books) and the right cube in the third row of books (my non-fiction books - my backpacking/hiking guides and infos and stuff like that). There are sheet music books in the bottom right two cubes, and the second from the right cube in the third row, but they are my husbands. If there were more places to buy cheap books here (like a dollar) I could fill them up again, but oh well. I read more ebooks now anyways. I still love paper books though. Slowly I shall build my collection once again.   My Kindle shelves are not anything to speak of either. I don't really organize my ebooks. I have two folders - one is cookbo...

To Kill a Mockingbird Synopsis: The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic. Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbirdtakes readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Review: To Kill A Mockingbird was my book club book for this month. I had never read it before and I see now why it is such a classic. It was a great read. It is simple and easy to follow, but written in such a way that it entertained me from the first word until the last. Just a really great story. I was surprised that the story was not as much about black vs white as I had thought going into it. Before r...

Day 21:  #FlashbackFriday – Your First Reviews Oh man, my first reviews. I haven't look at these in forever. Here are links to my first 10 reviews. 1.  Worst Week Ever by Liza O'Connor 2.  Him by Carey Heywood 3.  Crazy Beautiful Love by J.S. Copper 4.  You Against Me by Jenny Downham 5.  Two Thousand Miles by Jennifer Davis 6.  Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins 7.  Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins 8.  Forbidden by Syrie James and Ryan M. James 9.  Unteathered by Katie Hayoz 10.  Killer by Stephen Carpenter Wow, going back and looking at these reviews...they are not very good. Most of them are just I liked it/didn't but not much of why. The books I remember I really enjoyed I kind of want to go back and re-write. Yeah. I definitely feel like I have gotten better at writing reviews since then. I don't often go back and read them, so this was quite interesting. I didn't think I ha...

Today is the day! Sugar Rush, Friend-Zoned #3 is out now! You get to read Max's story!! Yes! Can you tell I am excited? I loved the first two books, so I was really looking forward to reading this one. Keep reading for my review and a chance to win your own copy of this amazing book! Synopsis: Max Leokov has watched the people around him find love. At one point in life, he not only wanted that, but lived for it. He loved once. He loved with all his heart. His heart broken, he was left to care for his young daughter. He deserves a second chance. Helena Kovac has spent years studying. She has worked her ass off to get her degree. She doesn't have time for love. Hell, she doesn't have time to mess around, even. Books and work are her life. Everything else comes second. When Max and Helena join forces to help his daughter, Ceecee, they are shocked at the spark between them. A cynic. A workaholic. When love hits, it hits hard. ...

Day 20:  #TBT – Best Books of 2014 So I am not actually going to do this one today. Why? Well I like to make a list at the end of the year of my top reads for the year. Since it is almost Dec that would just be a bit repetitive so if you want to see my list check back on Dec 31st!

Today is release day for A Very Grey Christmas ! I am excited about this one. I loved the first two books in this series so I am excited for another story of Eden and Grey! Available on  Amazon ,  Amazon.de , and  Goodreads Synopsis: I was getting ready to spend the single most important holiday of the year alone. Completely and utterly alone. That meant he wouldn’t be there Christmas Eve. No making Christmas cookies, or listening to my dad sing off-key while my mom bustled around wrapping last-minute gifts. No decorating the tree. No midnight Christmas kiss.  No waking up in Grey’s arms. We were actually going to spend our very first Christmas in different states. That was until Grey gave me the most unexpected gift of my life. Prior Books in the Series (click title for my review): Kissing Eden Available on  Amazon ,  Amazon.de ,  Barnes & Noble , and  Goodreads Loving Eden available on  ...