Monday, March 31, 2014

Books: All My Restless Life To Live ~ Dee DeTarsio ~ promo

Title: All My Restless Life to Live
Author: Dee DeTarsio 
Publication date: April 29th 2013
Genres: Adult, Romance

About All My Restless Life To Live

Life is a soap opera, especially for Elle Miller, who is a TV producer. (Ellen dropped the “n” in her name in hopes of finding a better ending for herself.) When her laptop crashes, she borrows her dead dad’s computer and gets way more than she bargained for.

As Elle tries to save her career with a storyline featuring a trip through Atlantis, she takes a trip to the Emmys, and finds herself in the middle of a romance between a real doctor and a hunk who just plays one on TV. Friends, family, and clues from “the other side” all help Elle figure out the difference between living the good life . . . and living a good life.

Add on Goodreads ~ Buy At Barnes & Noble ~ Buy at Amazon

About Dee DeTarsio

Dee DeTarsio is a graduate of The Ohio State University and lives in southern California with her family. She did not teach herself to read at an early age or write stories by the time she was in kindergarten. She was still wetting the bed and playing in the can cupboard.



Guest post by Dee DeTarsio

Why Guys Should Read Chick Lit 


What most guys don’t know, is that women’s fiction has a lot on offer. I don’t think I’m being presumptuous about the reading habits of XYs. My husband (who has earned his title of “beditor”) wouldn’t be caught dead reading *girl* stuff, unless I convince him otherwise.

His biggest complaint is that “women sure do think a lot.” That’s right, we do. Live and learn, hombres. What can guys learn from chick lit? Lots of cool stuff. Like women think it’s sexier for guys to fill up our cars with gas, than to play bongos on our ass. (See what we did there, it’s sing-songy and rhymes so guys can easily remember it.)

It’s not like men are from Jupiter, that’s why they’re stupider . . . (though if the planet fits!) This is just an open invitation to those he-men of the universe to take a ride on the chick slide. (That sounds dirty but maybe it will help attract their attention.) There are so many smart, fun women writers, it would be great if guys would read it and weep. For extra relationship-bonus points, they can share their feelings in a bedtime book report! And they all lived happily ever after . . .

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Swinging Saturdays #32 ~ The Book and it's soundtrack

Swinging saturdays is a musical meme hosted by Ice Cold Passion, to share our passion for music. The goal is to make a top 5 (or Top 10) for whatever genre or artist you like or get creative and share a theme based music top 5. For example a bookish soundtrack, funny songs, song to listen to on a rainy day top 5.

This week the book and it's soundtrack. Please note that these are non-official, these are the soundtracks I gave the books (well except The Twilight soundtrack, I think that was more Stephenie than me, but still it's really fitting. Also the one from Prelude is pretty obvious if you read the book).

1. Beneath The Surface ~ M.A. Stacie

Mika ~ Blame it on the girls ~ Pick up off the floor
The Prodigy ~ Firestarter

There were 3 main characters in this book, each one ended up getting their own song.

Blame it on the girls was Taylor's song. Taylor is CEO  together with his brother Kyran, of a big succesful company. He has it all but doesn't seem to notice nor appreciated. Blame it on the girls, describes a similar kind of men so that's why it became Taylor's song.

Dale just started a new job as Taylor's assistant. She's heartbroken and get's her heart broken yet again. Pick up off the floor is her story.

Kyran has a secret, to release all his anger and frustrations he fights, underground boxing it is.. Firestarter is a perfect song for when he is boxing.

2. Prelude ~ KaSonndra Leigh

Bette Midler ~ The Rose
Sniff sniff, this book was beautiful, so beautiful, that it brought me to tears. This song The Rose sometimes has the same effect on me.
I always get goosebumps and sometimes tears when I hear this beautiful amazing touching song. 



3. Blue Bloods ~ Melissa de la Cruz

Lorde ~ Royals
Blue Blood? Royals? Go figure! 


4. Divergent ~ Veronica Roth

Imagine Dragons ~ Radioactive
White Lies ~ Bigger Than Us
There's a line in Radioactive that hits the core of Divergent: "All systems go, the sun hasn't died".


5. Twilight ~ Stephenie Meyer

Well I'll let Stephanie explain this one!


So that's it for my Top 5!!!What is your Top 5 this week? 
Want to host Swing Saturdays next week? 
Send me an email: icequeensbookshelf@gmail.com. Would love to hear what kind of music you like!

Friday, March 28, 2014

Books: Sunset Rising ~ S.M McEachern ~ promo
















Title: Sunset Rising
Author: S.M. McEachern
Series: Sunset Rising #1
Publication date: November 12th 2013

About Sunset Rising

February 2024:
Desperate to find refuge from the nuclear storm, a group of civilians discover a secret government bio-dome. Greeted by a hail of bullets and told to turn back, the frantic refugees stand their ground and are grudgingly permitted entry. But the price of admission is high.

283 years later… Life as a slave in the Pit had never been easy, but for seventeen-year-old Sunny O’Donnell it was quickly careening out of control. Her mother was killed in the annual spring Cull, leaving her alone with a father who decided to give up on life.

It’s not that she blamed him for grieving, but if they didn’t earn enough credits to keep their place inside the Pit, they would be kicked out into a world still teeming with radiation. That left her to earn the credits for both of them. It didn’t help that her boyfriend, Reyes Crowe, was pressuring her to get married and abandon her father.

Sunny didn’t think life could get any worse, until she was forced upstairs to the Dome to serve and entertain the elite at a bachelor party. That's where she met Leisel Holt, the president's daughter, and her fiancĂ©, Jack Kenner. Now Sunny is wanted for treason. If they catch her, she'll be executed. She thought Leisel's betrayal was the end for her…but it turns out it was just the beginning.

About S.M. McEachern

S.M. McEachern (also known as Susan) comes from the rocky shores of Canada’s East Coast.

As a resident of Halifax during her early adult years, she attended Dalhousie University and earned an Honors Degree in International Development Studies with a focus on ocean development.

Throughout her academic studies and early career, Susan had the privilege to work with many developing countries on resource management projects. Becoming an author has been a lifelong dream for Susan. “Sunset Rising” is her debut novel and the first of many she plans to write.


Guest post by S.M. McEachern


In the (un)Likely Event of an Apocalypse

The Apocalypse. The end of civilization as we know it. Maybe even the complete annihilation of the Earth.

The thought is terrifying and has fascinated generations for decades. There have been thousands of predictions on how, why and when the world as we know it will come to an abrupt end. It’s the stuff that blockbuster films and best selling novels are made of (mine included!). But could an apocalypse actually happen? What are the odds? And more importantly, can the human race survive the end of the world? As the author of a post-apocalyptic series, I’ve actually done some research on apocalyptic scenarios and here are a few of my thoughts:

Nuclear War: Anyone who has read my novel, “Sunset Rising”, knows nuclear war is my apocalypse of choice (I say tongue in cheek). Consider the domino effect of just one nuclear explosion set off above a city: a) buildings and dwellings leveled and set on fire; b) the instantaneous death of anyone inhabiting the city; c) as the city is engulfed in flames, oil and gas stores (in vehicles and tanks) explode; e) the cloud from the firestorm rises into the atmosphere, blocking out the suns rays—the beginning of a nuclear winter; f) radiation fall-out. One nuclear warhead exploding over one city has the capability to wipe out millions of people.

There are more than 17,000 known nuclear weapons in the world, many of which are more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

In the (un)likely event of a global nuclear war, you might want to be digging out a bunker in your backyard and stocking it with canned food and clean water… In the meantime, you can join campaigns and groups dedicated to abolishing nuclear weapons globally.

Earth hit by an asteroid: How big does an asteroid need to be to cause global destruction? NASA says anywhere from 1 to 2 km in diameter and up will likely end civilization. Regional damage at the collision site would cause the most immediate destruction, but it’s the resulting “impact winter” possibly followed by an “ultraviolet spring” that would end life as we know it. For comparison, the asteroid responsible for the mass extinction of the dinosaurs was approximately 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter.

So what are the odds of Earth suffering a meteorite impact? Pretty good, actually. Asteroids have collided with our planet in the past so there’s every reason to expect it will be hit again. In fact, on March 5, 2014, a meteor approximately 98 feet in diameter—big enough to cause regional damage—passed between the Earth and Moon.

In the (un)likely event of a meteorite impact, those people who already have a bunker dug-out to survive the nuclear war have the best chance for survival. Although, if you live in a coastal area subject to tsunamis from the event, forget the bunker and head to high ground. If you’d like a heads-up before the big bang, check in with the “Near Earth Object Program” here: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/

Zombies: Can a zombie apocalypse actually happen?! The movie, “I am Legend” made it somewhat believable since people were turned into zombies via a rabies-type virus. And here’s the other thing that makes “I am Legend” mind-blowingly scary—the zombies could run fast! Biologists keep warning us we’re overdue for a pandemic. Could the zombie flu be the next one?

In the (un)likely event of a zombie apocalypse, you’ll need to be in good physical shape, know how to use a rifle, and make sure you’re a fast runner…or at least faster than your mate ;)

Well, those are just a few ways our civilization could suffer an apocalypse. Are you prepared?

The End

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Books: Perfectly Broken ~ Prescott Lane ~ promo


Title: Perfectly Broken
Author: Prescott Lane
Kind of story: Standalone
Publication date: March 2014
Publisher: Self published
Number of pages: 279 p.
Age category:  Adult
Language: English only




About Perfectly Broken

Even after years of trauma therapy, Peyton still believes she’s broken. She has little desire to date or show off her natural beauty, content simply to hang out with her best friends and run her pie shop in New Orleans.

But her world turns upside-down when a handsome architect and self-confessed player shows up in her shop and thinks she’s perfect, much more than the usual hook-up. While Peyton does her best to resist his charms, believing she could never be enough for him, she can’t deny the obvious heat between them.

With Reed determined to have her, Peyton must decide whether to continue to hide behind her apron and baggy clothes or take a chance and share her scars with Reed, a man with a playboy reputation and scars of his own — a dark past he can’t possibly share with Peyton, not after learning the horrors she’s endured. But if they can find a way to trust each other, and themselves, they just might be able to heal, to save each other, to live perfectly broken together.




About Prescott Lane



Prescott Lane is originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, and graduated from Centenary College in 1997 with a degree in sociology. She went on to Tulane University to receive her MSW in 1998, after which she worked with developmentally delayed and disabled children. She currently resides in New Orleans with her husband and two children.

Facebook ~ Twitter



EXCERPT

Dr. Lorraine closed the chart again.  “Listen up!” she barked, startling her young patient.  “I know the game you play.  Reed doesn’t, so he left not realizing this is what you do.  Someone gets close to you, or you open up a little bit, and then you get scared, hide, look for a reason to push them away.”  Peyton’s eyes began to tear, and Dr. Lorraine handed her another tissue.  “The scared girl laying on the dirty ground helpless after losing her innocence.”
 “Sometimes it’s better to push people away, so you don’t hurt them,” Peyton said, “and they don’t hurt you.”
 “Bullshit!”
 Peyton shook her head.  “I’m never going to be whole again.”
 “That’s bullshit, too.  I won’t have talk like that, Miss Peyton.  I just won’t have it.”  Dr. Lorraine cocked her head to the side.  “It’s time for a change in direction -- a serious change of direction.  This is what we are going to do.  You made a lot of progress with Reed – lots of good oral and other stuff.  But now you’ve cut him off, and I see you backsliding.  I don’t like to see it.  I won’t allow it.”  She stroked her chin then cracked her knuckles in preparation for some great declaration.  “I’m prescribing a little retail therapy.” 
 “What?” Peyton cried.
 “Yes, that’s what I’m prescribing.  You get that friend of yours, Quinn, and hit the shops – Canal Place, Magazine Street, St. Charles Avenue, wherever,” Dr. Lorraine ordered, her whole body bouncing.  “I don’t want to see you in those sad, baggy ass clothes anymore.  Just looking at them, they mess with my head, and they screw up my whole day.  You ever think about how they make me feel?”
 “No,” Peyton said with a laugh.
 “Makes me sad.  I hate them.  So I want new shoes, clothes, athletic wear, undergarments!  Everything new.  Got it?”
 “How is this therapy?”
 “Honey, you’re hiding again.  You’ve flipped your sex switch back to off, and I’m not about to let it hibernate in some frozen tundra again for years.  We’ve worked too damn hard.  You need to get in touch with your sexuality without a man helping you do it.  You have to do it.  And clothes are the perfect place to start.”
 Peyton shrugged.  “I don’t feel like it.”
 “You don’t feel like it?  Tough shit!  I didn’t feel like getting my pap smear last week, but I did.”
 Peyton smiled.  “It just seems like a waste of time and money.”
 “Well, if you don’t want to do it through clothes, I can prescribe something else.  Maybe a pole dancing class?”
 “I don’t think so.”
 “Or daily masturbation?”  
 Peyton rolled her eyes.  “Fine, I’ll get the clothes.”
 “Good,” Dr. Lorraine said, writing in Peyton’s chart, as if filling out a prescription to take to the drugstore.  “Among other things, I want you to get some power panties.”
 “Power panties?”  Has she been talking to Bret?
 “Sexy underwear,” Dr. Lorraine said, still writing.  “They can make a woman feel very powerful.”  She put down her pen and looked at Peyton.  “When a man wants to be taken seriously, he usually wears a red tie.  Ever notice that in presidential debates?  Lots of red ties.  Red is the color of power.”  Dr. Lorraine waved her hand and snapped her fingers.  “So get yourself some red panties, girl!  Take back your power!  Do it for yourself!”  She handed Peyton her prescription.
“I didn’t realize my power was in my underwear.”

Monday, March 24, 2014

My favourite place to blog

Today I want to share something fun, well at least I thought is was really funny. I want to share a picture of what my desk looks like on a saturday afternoon, when I am preparing posts, looking for new books and what not! Here it is!


























Well in the left corner you see a little bit of my printer, on top of which lies a book about digital drawing and my agenda (with a cute cat on the cover).

The two open books are my notebook and my paperback copy of Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (which I finished on sunday).

Then there is my Raboreader (for banking),  pen and of course more paper to write stuff. And of course the best B-day present I ever got! My kindle!!!

The paper next to my wallet is my TBR-monster! A real big monster! I made a checklist of my TBR and still don't know were to start!

Right, maybe I should explain the two laptops now. The one to the left, is my old one, it still works fine as long as you leave it in one place, I can't pick it up without it almost falling apart. So why keep it then? Well this is my music/tv/movie computer. While I am working on my blog or want to relax I usually put something on either a movie, TV-series or music. As you can see I was listening to some music when I took this picture!

Then there is my new baby, my Macbook! Yeey I finally made the switch to Apple. I am still getting used to it, had to figure out a lot of things in the beginning and I am still not comfortable with working in Pages and Numbers (tips and tricks are always welcome!).

In between the laptops, my morning cup of coffee, and one of the two speakers, providing me with a great sound. I bought these speakers when I lived in Canada, paid about $25 for them and they were totally worth every penny!

So that's it, what does your desk look like when you are blogging??? Feel free to leave a comment!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Stacking the shelves # 13


Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! This is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and anyone can get involved!

Note: Click on the cover and it will take you to amazon for more information. Please be aware the prices might have changed.  

Bought


Freebies


Dvds bought

I wanted to show you some other great stuff I have gotten lately, since I am not only a book lover, but also a lover of movies and TV series. So here is what is crowding my tv-series/movies shelf.

Supernatural Season 1 (I've already seen it but I just had to own it.)

City of Bones (I am currently reading the book which is awesome!)

Safe Haven (I have read the book, really recommend it if you haven't read it yet! Beautifully written.)



This is my new notebook, my old own is almost full so I needed a new one. Pretty, ain't it? I use notebooks to write down the outline for my reviews, thoughts while reading the book and ideas and articles for my blog.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Swinging Saturdays #31 ~ Run! until your longs give out


Swinging saturdays is a musical meme hosted by Ice Cold Passion, to share our passion for music. The goal is to make a top 5 (or Top 10) for whatever genre or artist you like or get creative and share a theme based music top 5. For example a bookish soundtrack, funny songs, song to listen to on a rainy day top 5.

When the Olympic Games were on TV, I wanted to do a sports top 5, with song about sports. Turns out this was really hard, the only things I came up with were the band "The Baseballs" and "Hockey. And that one song: " I don't like cricket". Apart from Hockey, these are non-Olympic sports. Then running, which is an Olympic sports, came to mind. I search in my computer and found about 88 songs that had "run" in it, or a variation on the word like: running, runaway.
The songs vary in genres so much that it made a really great top 10. So here it is!

1. Amy MacDonald ~ Run



2.Acda en de Munnik ~ Ren Lenny Ren

This when you translate run to Dutch you get ren! Which means the same. The title in this case: run Lenny run. This band is quitting, it's too bad because the are only the greatest dutch sing band ever!


3. Bruno Mars ~ Runaway baby

He's a genius!


4. Epica ~ Run For A Fall

Also a Dutch band, every time I hear this I get goosebumps.

5. John Fogerty ~ Run Through The Jungle

What's a top 10 without some classics?


6. Jay-Z, Kayne West, Rihanna ~ Run This Town Tonight

I am aware that this is another kind of running of course but I just love this song!


7. Live ~ Run To The Water

The video quality sucks but the music is great. Another one of those legendary bands!


8. Burning Spear ~ Run For Your Life

This is really relaxing!


9. The Downtown Fiction ~ I Just Wanna Run

Just found this band on my computer and I must say I really liking what I have heard so far.


10. Snow Patrol ~ Run

Let's finish this top 10 with the greatest song of all. I just can't put in words how much this song means to me and how beautiful it is!

Buy the albums here ~ Koop hun albums hier:




So that's it for my Top 10!!!What is your Top 10 this week? 
Want to host Swing Saturdays next week? 
Send me an email: icequeensbookshelf@gmail.com. Would love to hear what kind of music you like!