Archive | October 2013

A Sci-fi story that needs to be read

Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥ ♥♥

As the book opens, we meet Netty, a country girl growing up in the early 1900s. She had an uneventful life until she married Robert Doyle. He was a smooth talking, well-to-do man who surprised everyone by showing Netty attention. Her life was shattered around the time he broke her nose on their wedding night. A few years of brutal rape and abuse, Netty was finally able to escape to her parents’ home. Unfortunately, they were both dead.

While she makes her way in the remote country surroundings, she finds a woodland creature unlike any she has ever seen and it appears to be hurt. She names it Baby.

In reality, Baby is an alien. His contact with Netty heals her. Her scars disappear, hair grows, and skin glows. Life is good. So good, in fact, Netty chooses not to be concerned with the subtle changes to her body (changes that would freak out a person under normal circumstances).

After a time, she finds a drifter name Wil on her property. He was in poor health from being robbed and left for dead. Netty helps him to get well. He has no place to go and decides to stay with Netty and baby (he is not freaked out by the alien either). They make a nice, unconventional family.

The only thing still weighing over all of their heads is the monster of a person Robert Doyle, Netty’s husband. He is very influential in the community having much of law enforcement in his pocket.

I loved this book because it was a very different type of story. At times, I could not put into words my feelings for this story. Unexpected is probably the best way to describe this book. Some parts were extremely sad. Netty was an innocent victim of a malicious, greedy, powerful individual. Baby, the alien has the power to heal, but it is kind of difficult for me to understand its history.

This is the beginning book of a series which follows Netty’s story. This book does not end exactly with a happy ever after, but it is somewhat satisfying considering all that happens. I say that to mean, there was sufficient closure for me. But, I guess, by the end of the series, there will be a happily ever after ending. I am planning to read the rest of the books in the series. I do not usually like series, but this on was so unique that it has peaked my curiosity. The four heart rating has a lot to do with the fact that this book is like nothing I have read before. Bravo to the author J.K Accinni for her imagination.

You can buy Baby, Species Intervention #6609 on Amazon by clicking any of the links in this post

Starbucks

Oct28

I bought into the hype. I bought a Starbucks Hibiscus Berry cooler.
I read the description and thought it sounded healthy and trendy. Real fruit juice and whole blackberries shaken with Green Coffee Extract for a boost of natural energy, served over ice.
Ummm, yea. It was good in theory but execution was lacking flavor.
This drink had real promise with hibiscus and blackberries for the flavor base. In actuality, it tasted like water sweetened with stevia or some other sugar substitute. I do not mind water with fruit muddled in it. But I do not want ANY sugar substitutes!!!! If I want something sweet, I will add a little sugar, honey, or agave nectar. But most of the time, I drink water or unsweet tea because I do not like drinks that are too sweet.

This is what annoys me about a lot drinks on the market today. They say “no sugar”, but the neglect to say that they added something-like-sugar in its place. I do not care for stevia because I do not like the taste.

This review is more of a rant against sugar substitutes. I detest them.

She gives geek girls a bad name

Oct20

Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl ♥♥

Jamie is video game playing geek girl that gets transported 200 years into the past landing in Micah’s house. Micah is an Earl that is courting a woman who he thinks is respectable enough to draw attention away from the fact that one of his mistresses died from poisoning. It seems the sole reason for Jamie to be transported back in time was for her to love Micah the way he deserved to be loved.

That is the whole book in a nutshell. I did not read the blurb about the book, going solely on the cover to choose my purchase. My mistake. I was ill prepared for the time travel aspect. Getting over that, I proceeded to accept that and try to enjoy the book as best I could. No biggie.

The more I read, the more annoyed I was with Jamie.

She gave everyone a nickname. She insisted on calling Micah “Mike”. I do not like it when people do that. I think it is disrespectful.
I could not understand how it was that she did not like Micah one minute and then, just as quickly, she was in love with him.
She knows she is 200 years in the past, but she keeps making a big deal of the vast cultural differences as if she never read a history book. She wants Micah to treat her as a modern woman like that would not be as much of a cultural shock to him as it was to her.
Even though she was called a geek girl, she did not seem all that smart to me. Being a self-proclaimed geek (also part of a local Geek group), I want to say that being a geek is more than just playing video games all the time with no discernible social life.

I was not as annoyed with Micah but there were some holes in the story

Micah seemed to be too straitlaced to be considered scandalous
How he decided he was in love was another mystery for me. Halfway through the book, he declared in effect that would marry for duty and not love.

Jamie was an uncouth, brash, loser girl who needed to get her life together before she could think about falling in love. In my opinion, she was not over the breakup with her ex-boyfriend. Micah was an uptight earl who was unlucky in love because he was so stubborn. It is not that he was unlikable, but he was not that likeable either. By the time the story finished, I was indifferent to whether or not they would be happy.

The Tycoon’s Convenient Wife

Oct15

The Tycoon’s Convenient Wife – The Tycoon’s Convenient Wife ♥♥♥

Divorced Guy needs a wife to help him look like a family man while he is brokering a major business deal. Of course, he calls on Emily, his friend from university. Although she has been in love with him for 15 years, she initially was undecided about helping Guy in his situation. As she should be.

I like how Emily set boundaries for the relationship since she was trying to guard her heart. Guy seemed so adamant about never loving again. Emily made some snippy comments in a passive aggressive way when Guy was trying to convince her that a physical relationship would not hurt anything. Considering her emotional turmoil, I think she handled herself well.

The story is about Guy’s journey to figuring out that Emily had always been the woman for him. He took a 15 year emotional detour that armed his with enough baggage that helped him appreciate her even more. His cheating, but jealous ex-wife and two darling children also helped to add to the conflict of the story.

Overall The Tycoon’s Convenient Wife was a sweet story. The one thing that bugs me is that the story is this: Why is it that in these types of romances does the woman seem to put her romance life on hold since she cannot have the man she desires, but the man has relationships, gets married and has kids? But then he feels with some satisfaction that she held out for him. At least she was not a pushover to let Guy have is way because of her feelings for him. By the end though, I was okay with how everything turned out considering he was a basically a good man and great father who deserved to have a woman worthy of his trust and love.

Flynn’s on Maxwell Wine Tasting – June 2013

Oct7

Flynn’s on Maxwell Wine Tasting

A couple months ago, I went to a wine tasting at the newest wine and beer establishment in Greenwood SC. The couple that owns this store are passionate about what they do. The husband loves specialty beers and the wife loves good wine. With Flynn’s on Maxwell, they have an avenue to talk about their passion and explain flavored nuances of many libations that they have discovered.

I attend wine tastings because it gives me a chance to try wines that I would otherwise not buy. Over the years, I have found that I do not like many reds because they are usually too dry for me. I am an ultra sweet moscato or Riesling type of girl. However, I will try new red wines to see if I can find one that l like to drink.

The wines talked about here were ones that I tried during the June 2013 tasting.

Steelhead Pinot Noir – $14.18 – Dry wine with strong flavor. I was not a fan because I do not like dry wines. I felt like I had cottonmouth.

Decoy Pinot Noir – $21.32 – The aroma of this wine was better than the taste because it was dry too. The aroma was rich, full body with an earthy, leather, tobacco smoke flavor. I loved smelling the wine but the dryness took all the taste out of my mouth. All the people there that like dry wines were raving over this one though.

Joel Gott Pinot Gris – $14.58 – I could not verbalize what I thought of the flavors for this one. My nose caught hints of a sweet flowery fragrance, but my tongue did not taste what I expected based on the aroma. I think my mind was confused. This wine blew my mind 🙂

Folie a Deux Chardonnay Sonoma RRV – $15.93 – My favorite of this tasting session. It was light and fresh. I ate with some grapes. I wish I had had some strawberries though. It felt like summertime at its greatest.

Since everyone’s palate is different, the reason I do not like a wine could be the same reason another person wants to try it. If you like pinot noir wines, you might enjoy Decoy Pinot Noir. Like I said, the people who did like Pinot Noirs said it was delicious. If you are looking for a nice chardonnay, I do recommend Folie a Deux Chardonnay Sonoma RRV. It was really tasty.