Ruth Anne Benziger's Blog, page 22

Blogmas Day 1: Reflecting on December 2019

Welcome to Blogmas 2020!

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Today we reflect on last year and I share some posts on where I was a year ago. Let me tell you, a LOT can happen in a year. I’m planning on making similar posts outside of the regular blogmas posts. It’ll be fun to look back and see where we are next year.

Let’s get into the posts of 2019.

2019 Book Reviews

Last year, I met my reading goal before December hit and I pleasure read for the end of that year. Here are those reviews

Signs of the Seven Review

http://The Obsession Review

http://Last Christmas in Paris Review

2019 Poetry

Jolly to a Brave New Year by Ruth Anne Garcia

2019 Christmas Countdown

You’ll find recipes, poems, short stories, traditions, and more in these posts.

http://Day 5

http://Day 4

http://Day 3

http://Day 2

http://Day 1

Christmas 2019

2019 Posts



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Yearly Reading Goals



http://Goals and reflection

End of the year Gallary

http://Year in Pictures

Christmas Traditions

http://Our family to yours

New Year

http://End of year happiness

Looking to 2020

This year has been hard on all of us with COVID and quarantine. So, I hope the posts coming on the blog will bring you just a little bit of comfort and happiness this season.

I look forward to reading all the #blogmas posts this year.

Until next time,

Ruth Anne

2020 Reading Challenge Update

At the beginning of the year, I set a goal to read 150 books and I meant to stick to that number.

I even created a post of what I wanted to read for the year. If you’d like to see that list click here. Or you can check out the reading list I picked for the kids.

I wanted to read them all. I had a goal and then I went in a completely different direction. I got some of them in, don’t get me wrong. But l would’ve been happy to read what was on my list. Oh, well…There’s next year.

Like some goals, life got in the way. It’s the end of November and I’m sitting at 114.

[image error]My current reading challenge results

I’ve read all sorts of books over the year and I’ve enjoyed most of them. In my #blogmas posts I’ll have a few awesome lists of top 10 reads, top 10 authors, and a post on the #eoybooktag I’ll post a top 10 book review post as well.

I have a list of books that I plan to read for the end of the year.

These are just a few of what I’ve had on my list and I happen to have bought each of these. So, I’m excited to get to them.

I also have a HUGE list that I didn’t even make a dent in. Of course, we readers are guilty of doing this all the time. They will carry over to my 2021 reading list.

If you have recommendations, want to leave your book link, or know of someone coming out with a book, leave them below and I’ll check them out.

Blogmas 2020 Schedule

If you are participating in #Blogmas2020, I’m joining you this year.

Here’s what you can see from me this season:



Blog Posts Guest PostsBook TagsReading ListsAuthor ListsProduct Tags



Here’s what I have to offer this year:



LinksFree Kindle CouponsAutographed copy of Bleeding OrchidProduct discountsPersonalized Baskets



Here’s my #blogmas Schedule



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Let’s enjoy the holiday spirit!

50 Good Questions to Ask an Author

Ruth Anne Garcia

I thought a list of questions would be the perfect way for people to get to know me.

This list of questions was taken from Interview Questions

Here are my answers:

What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?

I haven’t had the honor of doing this, but I have a wishlist.

What is the first book that made you cry?

Charlotte’s Web.

What is the most unethical practice in the publishing industry?

Plagiarism

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

It energizes me and allows me to let my creativity flow. I also feel good about expressing my emotions. Writing never exhausts me unless there is a physical reason.

What are common traps for aspiring writers?

False Promises. Don’t listen to publishers who want to publish your work without caring about your work. There are too many who want you to spend money to get your work out there. But, you…

View original post 1,186 more words

Bleeding Orchid Sale!

Free ebook version

From 11/28-12/2 you can get my free ebook.

You can always get my book free with Amazon Kindle.

[image error]Sale!!

Enjoy this work of poetry.

Blogmas is coming! Be featured on my blog!

Hi, bloggers.

December is right around the corner and I’m seeking bloggers who would like to guest post for blogmas. I think it’ll be awesome to have fellow writers and readers post topics that you love.

I have a few people who are going to be doing some posts on topics like:

Celebrating the holidays in a year of loss



Top ten Black holiday movies



Best recipes for the holidays



Christmas Traditions in our family

I’d love to see what kinds of topics you come up with.

You can also pick topics that pertain to:

HolidaysBest ofPoemShort storyListsRecipesetc…

I’d love for you to have creative freedom. So, if you’d like to write a post, please let me know.

If you are a writer with a website and book links, please include them in your post. I’d love to support other authors. If you are a writer with no links, leave your social media accounts for others to follow.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving (If you celebrate) and I look forward to December.

Best wishes

Ruth Anne

Chocolate-Topped Rice Krispies Treats

Made by Ruth Anne Garcia and Reagan Sullivan



Ingredients

3 tbsp. butter

4 cups marshmallows

6 cups rice krispies cereal

1 bag chocolate chips or 2 1/2 cups chocolate chips

2 tbsp. (or desired) milk

Sprinkles of your choice

Instructions



Melt Butter in a small stainless steel pot. Add marshmallows until thoroughly melted. Cook on low heat in order not to burn the mixture. Add 2 cups of cereal at a time until completely mixed. Cool. HINT: Do not freeze. The mixture will be too hard to cut. Cut into desired square sizes with a knife. Melt chocolate chips in a pot until melted. Add milk until desired thickness. Coat tops of rice krispies. Sprinkle tops of krispies and cool. Eat!

Book Review: Loophole of the Gods, Part I: The Case by Lyle Milton

★The Deeply Immersive Psychological Technothriller for fans of Ex-Machina and A.I.★

Can a girl be murdered if she was never born? It’s a paradox at the core of a dangerous case, one that exhumes horrific memories for one private investigator.

Jesse Davenport’s daughter ‘Lainey’ reveled in her life as an undergrad, and her bright eyes lit his hopes for the future. However, all hope died when she was brutally slaughtered and he was thrown in jail and put on trial for the murder of her killers. He escaped conviction, but not the public fear, suspicion, and morbid curiosity. So, he built thick walls around the remains of his life, isolated with his all-consuming grief, shielding himself from the world.

When the world comes knocking with sledgehammer—a copycat case of Lainey’s murder—Jesse’s walls are obliterated as Dr. Nicoletta Albescu, bereaved mother of the current victim, goes to great lengths to manipulate him into taking her case. And, take it, he does. However, as he tracks down her daughter’s killers, these questions dog him: Who is Dr. Albescu really? Why did she bring him this case? How can this be a murder case if the girl was never alive? And why did her killers copy Lainey’s murder?

Jesse ultimately learns that absolutely nothing, present or past, is what it seems, leaving him struggling against his steady descent back into hell, where he discovers that Dr. Albescu isn’t the only “god” he must overcome. Some gods are trying to stop him. Some gods seek to control him. But others…

They intend to kill him.

Can Jesse maintain his grip on sanity while solving the case, and keep himself and those around him from ending up dead?

My Thoughts

Jesse Davenport is a man who lost it all years before and a woman who is in a unique but strangely familiar circumstance enlists his help for Justice. A copycat of his daughter’s rape and murder is said to have done the same to Nicolette’s daughter. The catch, her daughter isn’t technically a person, according to the law. As a private investigator, he reluctantly takes the case because he was manipulated into it and many suspicious circumstances surround him after agreeing. His life is in danger, his family is in danger, and he’s got a lot of questions.

Jesse’s journey to find the truth to who Dr. Albescue truly is becoming complicated really quickly.
I absolutely liked Jesse because he was a raw and real character with plenty of flaws. The case was really interesting to follow, many times, I became as frustrated as Jesse in wanting to know the answers.

Milton uses unique sound effects and such that appeals to the reader. It helps the experience and keeps you well into the story. I found it aided in the emotions and when intense things happened, it only deepened the enjoyment. Milton is a great storyteller who created great characters and an engaging storyline.

Book Review: Heaven and Earth (Three Sisters Island #2) by Nora Roberts

Ripley Todd just wants to live a quiet, peaceful kind of life. Her job as a sheriff’s deputy keeps her busy and happy, and she has no trouble finding men when she wants them – which, lately, isn’t all that often. She’s perfectly content, except for one thing: she has special powers that both frighten and confuse her, and though she tries hard to hide them, she can’t get them under control. Distraction soon arrives in the handsome form of Mac Allister Booke – a researcher who’s come to investigate the rumours of witchcraft that haunt Three Sisters Island. Right from the start, he knows there’s something extraordinary about Ripley Todd. It’s not just her blazing green eyes and her sultry smile. There’s something else. Something he can detect, but she’ll never admit. Fascinated by her struggle with her amazing abilities, he becomes determined to help her accept who she is – and find the courage to open her heart. But before Ripley and Mac can dream of what lies in the future, they must confront the pain of the past. For the island shelters centuries of secrets – and a legacy of danger that plagues them still.

My Thoughts

The second in the Three Sisters Island trilogy centers around Ripley’s story. She’s the deputy in town and works closely with her brother Zack. When scientist and paranormal seeking MacAllister Booke comes into the story, it grabbed me. He’s endearing, to say the least. His clumsiness, forgetfulness, and overall distractedness really makes him relatable. He’s engaging and puts up with Ripley’s temper and melts the ice around her into a warmth that you didn’t know was underneath.

In the Three Sisters legacy, we see Ripley’s connection to the past.

“There was something hungry out there, something that wouldn’t be sated with a tidy, home-cooked meal. Couldn’t they feel it? It wanted blood, blood, and bone, death, and anguish. It craved sorrow.” -Nora Roberts Heaven and Earth.

The connection of the three can be the only one to protect from what lays dormant. It’s out for vengeance and do what it will to win. Love and the three work together to dispel evil.

I can’t wait to read Mia’s story next.

Book Review: Dance Upon the Air (Three Sisters Island #1) by Nora Roberts

When Nell Channing arrives on charming Three Sisters Island, she believes that she’s finally found refuge from her abusive husband–and from the terrifying life she fled so desperately eight months ago…

But even in this quiet, peaceful place, Nell never feels entirely at ease. Careful to conceal her true identity, she takes a job as a cook at the local bookstore cafe–and begins to explore her feelings for the island sheriff, Zack Todd. But there is a part of herself she can never reveal to him–for she must continue to guard her secrets if she wants to keep the past at bay. One careless word, one misplaced confidence, and the new life she’s created so carefully could shatter completely.

Just as Nell starts to wonder if she’ll ever be able to break free of her fear, she realizes that the island suffers under a terrible curse–one that can only be broken by the descendants of the Three Sisters, the witches who settled the island back in 1692. And now, with the help of two other strong, gifted women–and with the nightmares of the past haunting her every step–she must find the power to save her home, her love…and herself…

My Thoughts

Nell Channing starts a new life on Three Sister’s Island. A place that calls to her. Hiding from her past, she strides towards working hard to build a life she’s always wanted. Meeting Mia, Lulu, and Ripley, she finds friends. Sherriff Todd is intrigued by her and that puts her back up. But Zack Todd has no intention of letting her get away. In starting fresh, Nell learns she’s got some magic up her sleeve. The thing about starting fresh in a new place is that sometimes the things we are outrunning, they sometimes catch up to us. We must fight for the things we fear and Nell does just that. I’m looking forward to reading the new adventures in this trilogy.