You Will be able to find my books in the Caymans!

Books & Books Grand Cayman

It was a pleasant visit and surprise when I visited this lovely bookstore while on vacation in the Grand Caymans!

As an author and avid reader I enjoy dropping into local bookstores when I travel.

In doing so, I purchase books and look for other books from my fellow authors who I've known throughout my publishing journey.

While visiting Books & Books I chatted with one of the employees as I was purchasing books and mentioned that I was an author. She immediately looked up my books and offered me her manager's information regarding them carrying some of my books there.

The truth is, I never even considered the thought that they would want to purchase my books, but talking to people and getting to know them makes a big difference in their support of you. As a person and an author.

Needless to say, I am honored that this wonderfully welcoming store will be carrying my books alongside my great friend and awesome author, Hugh Howey's Wool series.

Share with how unexpected opportunities have found themselves to you?

My character's always have these, it's nice when I do too!

Hercules with Dwayne Johnson aka 'The Rock'

Here ye! Here ye! The real Hercules has arrived!

Yeah I said it. And I meant every word of it. I've always loved Hercules. The idea of this hard as nails guy who has to find himself and fight against the obstacles placed in front of them.

My expectations for this movie was really really low. The last Hercules movie I watched I didn't even bother to review.

So...

The Blurb: (from IMdb)
Having endured his legendary twelve labors, Hercules, the Greek demigod, has his life as a sword-for-hire tested when the King of Thrace and his daughter seek his aid in defeating a tyrannical warlord.

My review:

It starts with the amazing story of why we should believe Hercules is the son of a god, delivered by his poor nephew while being tortured. Then it hits - action! Action! and more Action! Yes, if you are a testosterone starving action junkie that like a little sword play, arrow deaths wrapped up in a pretty good tale of deception - this is the movie for you. You will not be disappointed. I wasn't. However, the one reason I took off a star is because - hey, Hercules to me was kind of a handsome woman loving guy. Hey he is gorgeous and all. But poor Dwayne Johnson has yet again portrayed a mild and tasteful glance at romance in his movie. I give it 4 out of 5 cheers.

How To Keep Your Writer's Head in The Game

Yep, I remember this song from Disney's High School Musical. Loved it!

That's what we authors need to do - Get and Keep our Heads In The Game.

The one thing I do enjoy about writing is that I can do it anytime. Being a publisher means setting the schedule, deadlines, marketing approach and releases of books.

SET YOUR MIND TO A WRITE TIME

Getting up to write is a must. Many of us let life slip in and pull us away - but the call to creat our stories doesn't go away.

So set aside time to write. I know it sounds selfish but it's a must.

KEEP WRITING EVEN THOUGH EDITING AND RELEASING IS HARD

If you have other life constraints that make it difficult to release your books in the present year - just keep writing.

I'm finished 2 books and working on another at this time.

I still have the editing to do on the finished books but I needed this year to develop my projects since publishing books and promoting them take a lot of time and energy.

NOTICE YOUR rhythm

I realized that every other year I seem to go into 'Writers Binge' mode. It's where I really don't want to do anything but just write. I don't want to edit, beta read, promote or publish. I just really want to write.

This year is that time for me. The fever to write has over powered my desire to publish my books right away.

SO...DO YOU HAVE ON YOUR WRITER's Head?

Yep, I'm still WRITING!

Sometimes I can't believe it. The addiction, the calling, the hunger to write. To become someone else. To create. Well it never leaves me.

How about you? What's your passion?

Even though I have released a book this year, I have two finished and in the hopper just waiting for me to edit them.

No. Editing isn't my favorite thing to do - especially when life steps in and causes my ability to write, promote and publish multiple books a year.

Sooooooooo

I decided to just write a bit and edit at my leisure, which I must admit my editor is a bit worried about.

MY FACES OF WRITING

Now I'm in the YA Romance phase writing my new summer short (that was supposed to come out this summer - but hey, I'm a bit behind).

It will make it to next summer's release.


MORE GREAT STORIES TO COME!

Blended - Movie Review

Everyone nowadays knows what a 'Blended' family is right?

Well Adam Sadler has a way of making it so FUNNY you want to experience it.

Movie Blurb by Fandango: Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore reunite with Wedding Singer director Frank Coraci for this Warner Bros. romantic comedy about a terrible blind date that segues into a nightmare family vacation. Lauren (Barrymore) and Jim (Sandler) are two single parents just looking for love. In the wake of a blind date that turns disastrous, both agree that they're better off single. Just when Lauren and Jim thought they would never see each other again, however, their two families end up at the same African safari resort for spring break. Could it possibly be that their relationship is so crazy it just might work? Kevin Nealon, Shaquille O'Neal, Terry Crews, and Joel McHale co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

My Review:  I don't care what the critics say, this was a funny movie! No, not fall out your seat funny, but giggling all the way through enjoyable. Jim and Lauren are trying to get back in the dating game and not having good luck at it. Their first attempt was a botched up date together. However, with these two having a lack of attraction in the beginning, through funny circumstances they find their way to each other. It was cute and in typical fashion to Adam Sandler's previous movies, but hey, I enjoyed it anyway. This is a great date flick and I give it a 3 out of 5 giraffes.

Fairy Tales Have Been Retold a Million Ways-Sleeping Beauty's Dark Past

I have been SALIVATING while waiting for the RETELLING of Sleeping Beauty! So much so that I wanted to find out the skinny on the ORIGINAL story...boy was I HORRIFIED!!!!!

Who is the TRUE villain in this story? The PRINCE or MALEFICENT?

Disney's version:
A snubbed malevolent fairy casts a curse on a princess that only a prince can break, with the help of three good fairies.

The ORIGINAL story...of

Sleeping Beauty
Wise men warned the King from poison in the palace’s flax.  Princess Talia still succumb to the curse from the flax-spinning wheel.  The king placed her sleeping (or dead) body on a clothe and left her in the forest.

A rich nobleman was hunting and saw the abandoned body of Sleeping Beauty.  Instead of just 'kissing her' the CREEP raped her sleeping body, causing her to get pregnant.  Nine months later, Sleeping Beauty had twins (and named them Sun and Moon) and the forest fairies took care of them while Sleeping Beauty continued to sleep.  One of the children sucked out the poison splinter, waking their mom, Talia.

Months later, the nobleman CREEP returned to the woods where he found Sleeping Beauty  awake. The CREEP confesses his wrong doing and returns home to his WIFE! Eventually, after the CREEPs wife finds out, tells him she killed the kids and were feeding them to him, the wife is out of the picture and Sleeping Beauty and her abusive CREEP nobleman get married.

So What's the deal with ... MALEFICENT?

A vindictive fairy is driven to curse an infant princess only to realize the child may be the only one who can restore peace.

My opinion is, MALEFICENT scares me! They made her look like a female demon, much like the Disney cartoon version of her, but sooooo real. I can't wait to see it.

X-Men: Days of Future Past - Movie Review

THEY just KEEP getting Better and Better

Movie Blurb by Fandango: In order to prevent a grim future in which mutants and their human sympathizers are systematically hunted and killed by towering, unstoppable robots called Sentinels, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) travels back in time to change the course of history in this sequel that finds X-Men and X2: X-Men United director Bryan Singer returning to the helm.
The film opens in a dark and desolate future that was set in motion in 1973, when brilliant scientist Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) created a series of giant robots called Sentinels for the sole purpose of wiping out mutants, whom he claimed were a direct threat to the human race. Although initially programmed solely to target mutants, the Sentinels soon began eradicating humans who possessed the DNA to breed mutants, and eventually, any mortal mutant sympathizers. Desperate, Prof. Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) devise a plan to have Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) send Wolverine back to the year when Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) assassinated Trask -- it turns out that Mystique inadvertently accelerated the Sentinel program when she was subsequently captured by Sgt. William Stryker (Josh Helman), who succeeded at harvesting her DNA to make the robots more powerful than ever before.

Upon arriving in the past, Wolverine quickly seeks out a much younger Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), as well as Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and Quicksilver (Evan Peters), and together they help break a young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) out of a heavily fortified prison cell hundreds of feet beneath the Pentagon. Meanwhile, with the help of Havok, Ink, Toad, and Spike, Mystique is already moving in for the kill. Although Wolverine, Beast, Charles, and Magneto manage to thwart the assassination, Charles and Magneto once again find themselves at odds after the latter attempts to alter the plan at the last moment, creating a mass panic during a post-Vietnam War peace summit in Paris. And Dr. Trask, still fuming from having had the Sentinel program rejected by Congress, takes his proposal directly to President Nixon (Mark Camacho), laying the groundwork for an even darker future than the one Wolverine was sent back to prevent. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

MY REVIEW - Oh my gosh! Have they figured out how to make kick butt movies or what? I have to admit, I've seen ALL of these comic book based movies. And the first few attempts were just okay (at best). But this year, they must've gotten some good writers working on these. Let's just say, it's got action, character development, did I say action? Yep, lots of that. Family went to see it and we can honestly say - we didn't want it to end. The flipping forward and backward in time was WELL done! Bravo! Marvel. We all gave it a 5 out of 4 well because we just felt that they put a lot into this movie.

GodZilla - Movie Review

Hhmmmm.

GODZilla

I really have a history with this creature.

When I was a little girl, I would RUN home to see this show. Yeah, it may have been a man dressed up in a suite, but hey, it was a monster that ripped up streets and fought off BAD Monsters to save us, each and every day.

NOW MY THOUGHTS ON THE MOVIE

The blurb:

The world's most famous monster is pitted against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence.

Director:

Gareth Edwards

Writers:

Max Borenstein (screenplay), Dave Callaham (story)

Stars:

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston


MY REVIEW:

Okay, I admit I had pre-conceived notions about this movie. So I headed off to this with my movie guru hubba and my entourage of teen and tween reviewers. It started with a bang. Yep, I was captured at 'hello'. Then they started building a distorted storyline around the scientist who lost his wife in a blast and the son. It was alright, but there could've been a better woven tale. It was hard for me to really connect with the characters, not because the acting was bad, but because the writing didn't have that much depth. But. I did not care because I knew without a shadow of a doubt that there was going to be a major monster smackdown fight coming. All Godzilla shows had that, it's what I ran home to watch everyday. Then it happened. The monsters started fighting then 'cut!' boring story part butts in. So the amount of fighting they did was minimum based on what I expected from my old days of Godzilla. Or maybe it just seemed long since I was a kid. Who knows, but with that I add. It was a decent movie. Enjoyable, kept my interest, although my younger kid started to get bored midway in. Out of 5 monsters we voted on a 3 roars.

Disclosure In Books

I DID NOT KNOW THAT WAS IN THAT book!

So, how many times have you picked up a book, started reading and was shocked to find out that some SAUCY things were taking place in your Middle Grade or Young Adult book that you were not prepared for.

I HATE THAT!

There were so many books I purchased for my daughters and sons that we read outloud only for me to find out that the back cover did not warn me that there were 'adult themed' topics in my teen or tween books.

THINK BACK

Now thinking back to when I was a teenager, I realized that my dear mom didn't do much in the way of observing what I read. I was 13 yrs old reading Stephen King and every Harlequin Romance I could get my hand on. (tsk tsk)

FAST FORWARD

But my teen daughters are really picky about what should be in their reading and they don't like horror or the adult romances that their mom liked sneaking to read.

BE HONEST MR. PUBLISHER is WHAT I SAY

I appreciate when books disclose what's in them. Let me know if there is adult material (aka - a teen pregnancy in my daughter's YA book - yep that happened). Or a graphic gay relationship in another (yeah, I'd like to know about that in advance - because if it's not my thing, it's not my thing). Sorry, but I too, know we should note violence, but if it's a book about fighting to get out of something - that's pretty much implied. Those other types of shockers above, I rarely see noted in the back cover blurb.

YOUR THOUGHTS?

The Amazing Spider Man 2 Movie Review

I Love me some Spidey! But...

I didn't expect to love this version of Spiderman. I really thought it would be a big ole' redo. So boring. BUT, but , but...

Okay, let me back up and give you the overall picture.

Blurb (Fandango and IMdB): Peter Parker runs the gauntlet as the mysterious company Oscorp sends up a slew of supervillains against him, impacting on his life.

The web-slingin' wall-crawler hits the screens once again in this follow-up to Marc Webb's 2012 reboot of the series. Andrew Garfield returns as Peter Parker, who squares off against the villainous Electro, played by Jamie Foxx.

As the film opens, we find Richard (Campbell Scott) and Mary Parker (Embeth Davitz) stealing away with some crucial Oscorp files while leaving young Peter in the care of Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben. Flash forward about a decade, and Peter (Garfield) is swinging into action as Spider-Man; having successfully thwarted the hijacking of an Oscorp truck by notorious Russian criminal Aleksei Sytsevich (Paul Giamatti), Peter ditches the costume just in time to meet up with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) at their high school graduation. Despite his deep love for Emma, however, Peter remains haunted by his promise to her late father not to get emotionally involved with her for fear that she could be targeted by Spider-Man's enemies.

Meanwhile, young Harry Osborne (Dane DeHaan) inherits OsCorp and a deadly retrovirus from his father Norman (Chris Cooper), and brilliant but timid OsCorp scientist Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) gets infused with a powerful dose of electricity while attempting to fix a faulty power circuit in the lab. Upon regaining consciousness, Max discovers that he has the power to harness electrical currents - the higher the voltage the more powerful he becomes. When a battle with Max in Times Square shorts out Spidey's web-shooters, Peter goes to work on developing a more reliable model of his signature weapon while Harry grows convinced that Spider-Man's blood is the key to his survival. Later, villainous OsCorp chairman Donald Menken (Colm Feore) steals the company out right out from under Harry, driving the vengeful youth to break Max -- now Electro -- out of the heavily-guarded Ravencroft Institute for a two-pronged attack on Menken and Spider-Man. The stage for that battle is set when New York City goes dark just as Peter declares his love to Gwen, plunging the wise-cracking web-slinger into a fight that could forever alter the course of his life. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

My Review: Well talk about pleasantly surprised. I truly believe these comic book guys are learning to write and script better movies. This was another one that totally exceeded my originally low expectations. I have to admit though, I have a soft spot for Spidey so yeah, I was going to go see the movie anyway. My husband was really skeptical but of course my kids were super on board to go see this one. I have to say though, the actor who played Spiderman has grown into the role. In the first movie it seemed like he and Spiderman were still trying to figure each other out. However, in this movie, he bought his 'A' game and he had to because if he didn't both villians would've stolen the show. The actor who played Harry was really good and I felt for him, really I did - til he turned bad. Yet, he didn't really have a choice now did he? Now with Electro - wow! Jamie Foxx totally nailed his character to the wall. The duality of his character was there, only we didn't really get to see it develop since so many other things were going on. I really enjoyed this version of Spiderman and will add it to my playlist at home. I took a vote from the family and all of us agreed on 4 out of 5 webs for this baby.

Beautiful Stranger by Alicia Kat Vancil

COVER REVEAL TIME!

The Marked Ones Trilogy Book 0.5

Beautiful Stranger releasing May 21st!

Patrick Connolly is about to get the one thing he has always wanted…kinda.
We all have that one thing—that one thing we wish for on every first star of the night. Wealth. Fame. Love. For geeky artist Patrick Connolly, it is the attention of his beautiful and seemingly unattainable classmate Nualla Galathea. There’s just one problem—he’s got less than a snowball’s chance in hell, and that’s being generous.

However, when a heated argument erupts in the halls of Bayside Academy forcing Patrick and Nualla’s paths to collide, Nualla surprisingly jumps at the opportunity to be his date. Patrick may think his wish has just come true, but this gentle boy will need more than artistic talent to combat the deadly secrets lurking behind his dream girl’s veil of normality. Like the fact that she isn’t even human.

Beautiful Stranger is a Marked Ones novella that is approximately 20,000 words long.

Goodreads link

About the Author

Alicia Kat Vancil grew up in the heart of Silicon Valley where she amused herself by telling stories to anyone around her—her family, her friends...random strangers. Eventually she actually started writing those stories down instead of just spending hours hanging out in fake Ikea living rooms and telling her friends about them. Somewhere amongst all the character-torturing and epic explosions she managed to get a BFA in Illustration from the Academy of Art University and open a graphics studio (Multi-tasking for the win!).

Kat still lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two very crazy studio cats, and nine overfull bookcases. And when not running a muck in the imaginary worlds within her head, Kat can usually be found performing, watching anime, or hanging out in Twitter chats.

Twitter | G+ | Pinterest | Wattpad | Goodreads | Amazon | Website 

The Power by Jeff Kennedy!

The Power 

Blurb

What would you do if you had the power to heal but it only brought you personal destruction and ruin? Would you still use it?

When a street shaman meets a horrific demise on Dr. Austin MacLean’s ER table, Austin soon discovers a raw and irrepressible power. But when this power inflicts traumatic effects on three chronically ill children, families rush to accuse him, his colleagues condemn him, and the police begin to investigate in this affluent New Jersey beach town....and so do others when the children begin to show inconceivable progress.

Dara Kleows, a local reporter, is the first to connect the children’s gradual healings back to Austin. The two develop a deep bond but Austin remains uncertain as to what this beautiful woman wants. Is she just after a story, or more? There are those who covet Austin’s “power” and at any cost, while Dara is more concerned by Austin’s headlong march toward his own perdition.  

Excerpt

When Austin looked up, he thought he saw a faint corona flicker around DJ. It started growing ever-brighter, and he tried to step back but was pulled closer by some indelible force—an atmospheric hollow drawing his humming body into the eye of an invisible storm. An ear-popping decompression was followed by an overpowering energy surge, his brain and muscle masses engorging with a metamorphic euphoria. Experiencing that spine-chilling “conduit” feeling, he swore as if he were about to be struck by some unseen force. And when DJ looked up, Austin sensed the imminent electrical surge was meant for the boy.

Author Bio

Jeff Hennelly now lives in Chester Springs, Philadelphia, PA. He’s been in the medical device business for over 20 years and has worked with hospitals, clinics, and alternate care facilities from Palo Alto to Prague. His articles and short stories have appeared in numerous trade magazines and journals. He is represented by Eric Myers of the Spielman Agency in New York. His novel, THE POWER was published on Amazon in June, 2013. Look for his new novel, THE 95 PERCENT in 2014.  

JEFF's CORNER

My first objective in writing is to tell a compelling story. My second, third, and forth objectives are to make readers laugh, think, and cry. And though all four are highly subjective, my goal in writing and in relentlessly editing is to accomplish all four.

Perhaps the reason why I’m such a demanding writer is because I’m an exacting reader. It may just be my ADD, but for every twenty books I start, I might finish one. Reading takes serious time and I (like most adults) no longer have the time to spend hours with a mediocre book. It must be a spellbinding story with an amazing voice. Otherwise, I’ll wait for the movie, reach for another book, or (to you I will confess) start playing Candy Crush or even pick up my remote. Tisk tisk!

So my goal is to deliver a riveting story with a captivating voice. And as much as I know my stories and voice are not for everyone, know that with each page I’m laying down my heart and my soul. I owe as much to you the reader and hopefully to myself.  

BUY LINK

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Spellbinding-Medical-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00DMHG2RS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396810058&sr=8-1&keywords=the+power+jeff+hennelly

Giveaway

In order to enter to win one of two $5.00 giftcards or a copy of The Power put in the blog comments what you would want your super power to be if you could have one. If you tweet the Amazon link you get an extra entry. Make sure you post your Twitter username in your comment if you do!