Sunday, August 24, 2014

Two Spaces vs. One Space



I am sure most of you as have I, have been seeing  a lot of articles lately on the use of punctuation marks at the end of a sentence.  Should we put two spaces or should we put one?

I grew up during a time of transition with typing. We had a typewriter and a black and green screened computer. By the time I had graduated high school typing your papers was still not mandatory and not everyone had computers in their homes.  By the end of college it was ingrained in me to put two spaces after the ending punctuation or risk the wrath of the red pen losing points.

Some of the articles I have read state the two space rule was originally used because of the spacing with typewriters.  There was just not enough room to separate sentences from looking like one big run on.

Now with computers we can use many different fonts and are able to change spacing.  So it brings up the thought should we still be using two spaces?

I'm not sure if I'm completely sold on it yet. What do you all think?


Here are some links to articles regarding this topic:
http://www.mla.org/style/style_faq/mlastyle_spaces
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/typespacing/a/onetwospaces.htm
http://grammar.about.com/od/punctuationandmechanics/f/How-Many-Spaces-Go-After-A-Period.htm


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Featured Fiction: A Suitable Wife & Her Unexpected Family by Carol Burnside

 

One of many things I love to do right now is beta/arc read for authors. I have come across some great reads as well as "talked" with some great people.  Carol Burnside is no different. She's a very sweet person with a great grasp of family and real life issues.

A Suitable Wife & Her Unexpected Family are books 1 & 2 respectively in the Sweetwater Springs series by Carol Burnside. Each book builds off of the previous ones as far as character's used for story lines. You get to see how some of the wonderful secondary characters from previous books are dealing with their own demons and check in with your favorites. That's a win in my book especially with series that get over 3 books in it.

Book Blurb:
Sam Moreland is desperate to keep his daughter out of the clutches of her abusive mother seeking custody. He resists legal advice to provide the court with a complete family unit because past relationships have soured him on love.
Though she yearns for children, Rosie Baxter knows a failed pregnancy has likely left her barren. She remains single rather than bring her problems into a marriage and concentrates on her business with its financial woes.
A temporary marriage pact means Rosie provides Sam with the illusion of family in return for an influx of cash into her store. But kisses for show become all too real. When outside threats shake their growing bond, each must trust the other with their darkest secret or lose their best chance for love and happiness.
 
Warning: This book contains a heated tryst in the kitchen, a cricket choir, conniving exes, and big family gatherings. Do not read if you are allergic to tall, dark and handsome men with sweet baby girls or determined red-haired women with strong maternal feelings. The author makes no guarantees against sudden urges in the reader to move to a small southern town.

 My thoughts on A Suitable Wife (Book 1 in series): 
This is book grabs your heart and doesn't let go. There are questions I hope will be answered in the future books but I over all liked it. It's an emotional read that has you pulling for them both. Controlling and desperate ex's team up to try to break them down. There is joy and sadness that takes you through this emotional journey. The reality of their situations hit them hard and they are two great characters with some gumption to them. I loved both of them. The way this is written you can feel their pain in your soul.  The writing is wonderfully done. I enjoyed this book very much.


Book Blurb:
Former bad boy, Travis Baxter, has a reputation to live down, a job to do fast, and one woman he can’t seem to avoid. He’s starting a 24/7 renovation flip on Claire’s beauty salon when a surprise appears at his door . . . a three-year-old son. Immediate custody brings Travis a major problem. He needs a nanny.
Claire Larkin glimpsed a rare and appealing side of Travis during one ill-fated date, but her personal policy is no involvement, no strings. Not even a pet until she’s pronounced cancer free. With free time until her salon is done, Claire pitches in to help the grieving little boy and stunned father. Despite her best efforts to resist, she and Travis succumb to their attraction.
When it appears Claire’s cancer has returned, she pulls away and Travis is faced with a seemingly impossible decision. Protect his son from another loss or support the woman he’s come to love?

Warning: This book contains hair salon gossip, hunky construction workers, sex in the shower, sudden humor and it might tempt you to gorge on pizza and brownies. Even so, at certain points the reader may wish to keep tissues handy.

My Thoughts on Her Unexpected Family (Book 2):
This was a beautiful story that deals with the raw emotions linked to trials and tragedy that happens in real life. The tissues were ever present for me. I was on an emotional roller coaster from start to finish. This series does not avoid tough topics and situations that most people experience and does so in a way where you feel like your own heart is being wrenched out of you! Travis and Claire are perfect for each other and embrace their new relationship with a push-pull. He wants to push her and she wants to pull away to protect him. They deal with their new bumps as a team that is cohesive but believable. Travis has matured from his player ways while Claire learns to let people in to the real her. They help each other become better versions of themselves. Another great, well crafted story in this series.


About the Author

 








Carol Burnside is an award-winning author of the Sweetwater Springs series of “sizzling romance with heart and humor.” Her personal second-chance-at-love story resulted in a marriage to her high school sweetheart of thirty-plus years. Also published in short stories, Carol’s novel length manuscripts have placed in numerous contests and won several, including the prestigious Maggie Award for Excellence.
Writing as Annie Rayburn, she produces soft sci-fi and lite paranormal erotic romances which have been favorably received. Talk about cross-genre! Enjoy excerpts, review snippits, and more about her sexy Crainesian characters on her website  or connect with her on www.PetitFoursAndHotTamales.com.
Connect with her via: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Newsletter / Goodreads / Pinterest / Google+


Sunday, August 17, 2014

One Day...



One day I hope to write my own children's picture book. I even have the name of the character. That's about where it stops. :-) I need to really iron out what the character is and where exactly I want them to go. As much as I love adult fiction I could never write it. Yes I have a ton of ideas for adult fiction but my execution would be severely lacking.

I've always loved children's picture book and the simple but important messages they share with readers. So I have been researching for some help on getting my small idea started and turned into a book. Hopefully one day I can achieve this goal. I have other writing/book related goals that are more towards the editing side of books in the near future but as far as writing goes this is where it starts.

How did you get started in writing? What tips do you have for the first time writer?

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Featured Fiction: Beginning with Forever by Lan LLP




Hi everyone this is the first in the Featured Fiction posts for this blog! The wonderful Lan LLP agreed to let me feature her and her book Beginning with Forever :-)

Beginning with Forever by Lan LLP is a Contemporary Romantic Suspense. It is the first of three books in the Forever Series.



Book Synopsis:

Love isn’t easy to forget even if you’re determined to never feel it again. It has a way of finding you when all hope is gone, resurfacing tender emotions you’ve buried deep in your core because the pain of acknowledging them is too much for you to handle.
Carson Bradley, CEO of a powerful, pharmaceutical corporation, will soon discover that his heart hasn’t really been dead for the last fifteen years since his first love passed away. He just hasn’t met Lillian yet. She’s a humble, young medical student whose heart is kind and generous enough to heal the sick as well as his broken heart. When their paths cross at an unlikely place thousands of miles away from home, they both realize that fate has brought them together, and Carson will never let anything or anyone tear them apart. He knows how desolate life is without love and refuses to return to that dark place again.
Lillian enters Carson’s world with the purest intention of loving him with all her heart, but discovers that his volatile world will alter her uncomplicated life indefinitely. Regardless of what obstacles are thrown in their path, Lillian and Carson will endure them all to hold onto their forever from the beginning to the end. 


My thoughts:

Let me tell you how pleasantly surprised I was with this book! It is not the normal cookie cutter Alpha Rich meets Average Virtuous Jane :-) The heroine, Lily, is funny, real and ambitious. I felt she was no push over and did not back down from her own dreams/ambitions and lose herself to Carson completely. The male lead is wonderful. He's full of emotion and not one dimensional. I am excited for book 2 in the series which is called Finding Our Forever. The author also happens to be a pretty cool person as well. Take my word on it :-)


About the Author: 

Lan LLP 












Over a year ago, I decided to pick up a pen and jotted down the first sentence of my vivid imagination. Those initial words were the seeds that grew into my romance book, “Beginning with Forever.” With all my heart, I wrote, rewrote, edited, re-edited and now, I’m finally ready to share it with all of you. My one and only aspiration for this book is to have readers embrace my story and characters with their heart. If I can make someone laugh till their gut hurts, hate the villain with vengeance, cry till their eyes dry out, fall in love all over again, and drool over the hero or feel any other emotions, than I’ve succeeded my goal.
I’m the sappiest person in the world when it comes to romance. I believe in love at first sight, Prince Charming or in my book, Mr. Hot Billionaire, and happy endings. In my heart, every women deserves all three, and they will when they lose themselves in my books. Your fantasy can become a reality with just the flip of a page, so come join me.



You can contact the author through the following ways: 



Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22647616-finding-our-forever



Twitter: https://twitter.com/LanLLP


Make sure you head on over to Amazon and purchase Beginning with Forever :-)

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Under Construction :-)

Please bare with me as I get this site up and running.

This week I have been busy with books in a great way! I plan on featuring some of those wonderful books I've been blessed with being able to beta or ARC. The authors have also pulled on my heart strings as I have "met" some pretty cool people that I like just messaging.  Also throw on my plate a power point presentation I need to do and my daughter's birthday :-)

This weekend things will be better. Just hang in there :-)


Sunday, August 10, 2014

Thunderlight Cover Reveal- June 25, 2014

***Please note this is a review I originally had done that posted on my parenting/lifestyle blog. I am re-posting for the first post of this book blog***


Some of you may know that I have been doing some beta reading and reviewing for authors. This is the second in The Dragonian Series and I had the pleasure of being reviewing the first book Firebolt. I am not normally a fantasy reader but I really liked the first book and am very excited to read the second. Today is cover reveal day for Thunderlight Book 2.  After learning more about Thunderlight enter to win some great Thunderlight swag!



Title: Thunderlight
Series: The Dragonian Series, book 2
Genre: young adult fantasy
Publisher: Fire Quill Publishers
Release Date: 21 November 2014




Book Description:
Vibrant, scale swathed wings… Abilities that can be harnessed by a chosen few… Dragons…
All this may seem like old news, but for sixteen year-old Elena Watkins the world of Paegeia is not finished revealing all its secrets. During a summer break intended for relaxation, she discovers that her harrowing adventure to retrieve the King of Lion sword wasn’t the destiny foretold by the cryptic Viden, a dragon with the ability to see a person’s true fate. The words inked onto the page of the mysterious Book of Shadows remains black and Elena must return to Dragonia Academy to discover their true meaning.
Upon her return to the magnificent castle she has to face a challenge of a different kind, keeping her boyfriend Lucian McKenzie, the Prince of Tith and love of her life, away from the dangerous new student, Paul Sutton. As a Wyvern, Paul has made it his mission to claim Elena as his rider but he is proving to be more perilous than at first glance.   
Everyone knew that Wyverns were bad news, and just as evil as the darkness that lurked inside Blake Leaf, the Rubicon forced to fight against his inner nature every day. But Elena can see a small light lurking in the darkness, a destiny still unfulfilled; to prove that Wyverns can be claimed. 
Will Lucian’s dark secret about Wyverns and Elena’s need to prove their true nature cause their love to be torn apart? And which of Elena’s friends will be sacrificed this time if she is wrong?



Excerpt:
Chapter One
Castle of Etan
Anger, betrayal, and hate turned my stomach acid, it consumed my mind and I watched as bottles, papers and books on the desk, flew off and crushed to the floor.
A maid rushed to my side. She didn’t say anything, but her eyes reflected fear. The dustpan in her hand trembled as she started to sweep up the jagged shards of glass. Rising from the floor she began to straighten the books that had fallen to the floor in a heap. Every few seconds I would notice her eyes dart nervously in my direction as if a mere breath would make me lash out as her with my outstretched hand.
I touched her face gently until my hand reached her neck, tightening slowly as my anger began to rise once again. My grip tightened around her soft, shapely neck as I lifted her up from her position on the floor at my feet.  Listening carefully I could hear her heart fluttering like a bird trapped inside a cage.
“How did I become this way?” I thought, giving voice to my reality softly.
She just stared at me with round, brown unblinking eyes. Her eyes were sunken deep into the surface of her face and her cheek bones were sharply defined.
Looking at her sullen face made me feel worse.  I lifted up my other hand and struck the woman hard across her cheek.
A cry left her mouth and I threw her from me as if she weighed nothing. She skidded across the floor landing in a heap against a wall of cold, unforgiving stone.  If I was a dragon I would blast fire, redeem this wretched place to a pile of insignificant ashes.
Two other maids, hearing the startled cry, rushed into the room. Their eyes were wide as they took in the room and the immobile heap near the far wall. “Sorry, me lord,” the older one said. “She’s new, we will train her better.”
They picked up the maid who had come too and begun sobbing. She clutched the side of her face, cover the huge red hand print where I struck her.
I nodded. The old maid knew her place well, although I still didn’t care for her name, she knew where she stood.
I plunged myself down onto the chair and closed my eyes. A silent roar growled inside of me lighting a fire of rage deep in my core.
The girl had made it.
The Rubicon saved her life, so a part of him was still fighting me. I could still see her eyes searching mine. They bore into my soul, seeking answers. How was this possible! The wall wouldn’t allow any human to go to the other side.
Albert’s laughter echoed inside the castle; a startling reminder that good would always win. He would pay dearly for this. I would find a way, but I promised she wouldn’t live much longer.
I got up, rubbed my face hard and let the emotion of my anger escaped my lips. The rage that emanated from deep within me overpowered the haunting laughter and echoed throughout the entire castle.
“Master,” Cain’s voice interrupted my thoughts.
“Speak my loyal servant,” I said out loud. “What is the news?”
“Everything is in place. We won’t fail you,” his voice said in my head.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and let it out hard. “We’ll see.”


About the Author 

 Adrienne Woods was born and raised in South Africa where she still lives with her husband and two beautiful little girls. When she’s not dabbing into all sorts of genres, written under various different pen names, she’s busy being a mother, and a loving wife. Family always comes first and her hobby has to wait till she gets a chance to write.





You can reach her at:

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