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.

  1.  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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

  1. Micah seemed to be too straitlaced to be considered scandalous
  2. 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.

Keeping secrets makes for lonely times

Oct5


Nicholas: Lord of Secrets ♥♥♥

After reading Darius, I was interested in the story of Nicholas (Nick) and Leah.

Nick has the obligation to do his duty to marry as an earl’s legitimate heir. His father is ailing and he promised to wed soon. Meanwhile, Leah is suffering the wrath of her father who intends to sell her to any depraved lecher with funds.

Knowing of her plight, Nick sets in plan motions to extricate Leah from her father’s control. Leah is grateful but wary of Nick’s assistance. He makes it very clear that he could not have any type of physical relationship with her. He was attracted to Leah but I was confused as to why he was so adamant not to do the deed with her.

The story was interesting enough to keep my attention. I liked Leah because she was a strong resilient character with common sense. She was forthright and asked questions. On the other hand, Nick’s decisions at times left much to be desired. He withheld a lot of information in hopes of evading rejection. His efforts had less than the desired effect because his actions came across as confusing.

Overall, I liked the story. It shined because of all the great supporting characters that helped Nick to see how ridiculous he was being. In the end, revealing his well kept secrets cleared up a lot of the confusion. I begrudgingly admit that I understand why Nick did what he did, although I do not agree that was the best way to go about it. Fortunately for him, Leah was a very understanding wife.

I recommend reading Nicholas: Lord of Secrets. It is long, so be prepared to spend the entire afternoon reading. The story stands well on its own, but read Darius: Lord of Pleasures first to get a better picture of the people involved.