Sandra Nachlinger's Blog, page 25

Bluebonnets!

I'm over at Smart Girls Read Romance today, blogging about bluebonnets. Stop by and learn about the legends surrounding Texas's state flower. 

Here's the link: Smart Girls Read Romance

Silver Sneakers - Saturday Snapshots

Five or six months ago, I decided it was time to start a regular exercise program again. For years I'd participated in Jazzercise, Aquasize, and/or Step Aerobics, but since moving to the Pacific Northwest, my only exercise has been walking. With so much time spent at the computer, I knew I'd better start moving while I still could.

So, after doing a little research, I found a Silver Sneakers class at my local senior center. It seemed like the perfect starting place for someone who hadn't been to a gym in ten years. I was right. It's great! The class consists of a variety of people with varying degrees of fitness. Everyone works at his or her own pace, using equipment provided by the facility. I always work up a sweat.

Here are the instruments of torture we use.


We refer to this chart to assess how hard we're working.

I've increased the weights I use in the workout from two pounds to three pounds, which isn't a lot but it's an improvement. Speaking of pounds, I haven't lost any weight, but I do have more upper body strength and stamina. I've also met a lot of nice people. The classes are actually fun.
Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, click HERE or on the box below.  
To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

The Time In Between - The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings on Friday

The Time In Between by Maria Dueñas has it all - mystery, intrigue, history, exotic settings, romance, and a strong female protagonist, set in the years leading up to World War II. This book grabbed me and wouldn't let go!
     As someone who sews as a hobby, I also enjoyed reading about the main character's profession as a seamstress and the styles women wore during that era. The author lists an extensive bibliography at the end of the book, which tells me she did a mountain of research. It shows in the detail. I highly recommend this book.
FYI: Billed as "Spain's Downton Abbey", the book was made into a miniseries. Subtitled episodes are available on DramaFever and Hulu's Drama Fever Channel. 

Book Beginning:
     A typewriter shattered my destiny. The culprit was a Hispano-Olivetti, and for weeks, a store window kept it from me. Looking back now, from the vantage point of the years gone by, it's hard to believe a simple mechanical object could have the power to divert the course of an entire life in just four short days, to pulverize the intricate plans on which it was built. And yet that is how it was, and there was nothing I could have done to stop it.

The Friday 56 (two sentences from Page 56 in my trade paperback):
     I discovered that there are substances you can smoke or inject or snort that will jumble your senses, that there are people capable of gambling away their mother at a baccarat table, and that there are passions of the flesh that allow for far more combinations than just those of a man and a woman horizontally on a mattress. I learned, too, that there are things that happen in the world that my dim education had never touched upon: I found out that years earlier there had been a great war in Europe, that Germany was being ruled by someone called Hitler who was admired by some and feared by others, and that someone who one day occupied a given place with a feeling of permanence could the following day vanish in order to save his skin, to avoid being beaten to death or ending up in a place worse than his darkest nightmare.

Genre: Historical Fiction / World Literature (Spanish & Portuguese)
Book Length: 609 Pages
Amazon Link: The Time In Between



Synopsis:
     The Time In Between is a word-of-mouth phenomenon that catapulted María Dueñas, a debut author, to the top of Spain's bestseller lists.
     This sweeping novel, which combines the storytelling power of The Shadow of the Wind with the irresistible romance of Casablanca, moves at an unstoppable pace. Suddenly left abandoned and penniless in Morocco by her lover, Sira Quiroga forges a new identity. Against all odds she becomes the most sought-after couture designer for the socialite wives of German Nazi officers. But she is soon embroiled in a dangerous political conspiracy as she passes information to the British Secret Service through a code stitched into the hems of her dresses.

                

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) 
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Twitter: @SandyNachlingerFacebook: sandy.nachlinger

Jewel - Teaser Tuesday and First Paragraph / First Chapter

Jewel by Bret Lott is an engrossing and beautifully written story. The author delves deep into the main character's fears and dreams, and he does a great job of portraying the reality of the Deep South in the 1940s and 1950s, especially regarding treatment of children with Down's Syndrome. Jewel is a book I won't forget.

First Paragraph:
     I was born in 1904, so that when I was pregnant in 1943 I was near enough to be past the rightful age to bear children. This would be my sixth, and on that morning in February, the first morning I'd known I was with child, I'd simply turned to Leston in bed next to me, the room gray from a winter sky outside the one window, that sky not yet lit with the sun, and I'd said, "There'll be no more after this one."

Teaser (from Page 80 in my hardback copy):
     But I let that fear hole up inside me until February, praying each day something might happen: that my baby would smile up at me when she came to, that she would roll over, that the sound of a baby's laugh might escape her and make its way into the house.
     Nothing came. Now she was five months old.

Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction / Family Saga
Book Length: 358 Pages
Amazon Link: Jewel
Author's Amazon Page: Bret Lott

Synopsis:
In the backwoods of Mississippi, a land of honeysuckle and grapevine, Jewel and her husband, Leston, are truly blessed; they have five fine children. When Brenda Kay is born in 1943, Jewel gives thanks for a healthy baby, last-born and most welcome. Jewel is the story of how quickly a life can change; how, like lightning, an unforeseen event can set us on a course without reason or compass. In this story of a woman's devotion to the child who is both her burden and God's singular way of smiling on her, Bret Lott has created a mother-daughter relationship of matchless intensity and beauty, and one of the finest, most indomitable heroines in contemporary American fiction.


Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!Link at  ADailyRhythm.com



First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.Link at  BibliophileByTheSea




Twitter: @SandyNachlingerFacebook: sandy.nachlinger

Texas Capitol Ornaments - Saturday Snapshots

Over the years my husband's sister has sent our family special Christmas ornaments to remind us of our Texas heritage. Each item relates to the Texas State Capitol.
[Click on photos to enlarge] 


The Texas Goddess of Liberty ornament from 2006 represents the 16-foot-tall statue that crowns the capitol building. 



The 2004 ornament is a replica of the interior of the capitol's dome.



This year's selection "...pays homage to the most iconic Texas image ... the Lone Star."



Each ornament comes with an explanation of its significance (click to enlarge)


We're delighted to receive these ornaments every year and think they add interest and a sense of history to our tree. Thank you, Judy! 


Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, click HERE or on the box below.  
To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

The Locket - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

The Locket is one of those books that made me stay up later than I wanted one night because I absolutely HAD to find out how the story ended. My heart ached for Michael Keddington, and I wasn't sure if the innocent man would go to jail or be exonerated. Since this is not a romance, a happy ending was not guaranteed. Now I've discovered that this is the first book in a trilogy. Guess there will be more late nights in my future.
FYI: This author also wrote The Christmas Box.

Book Beginning (Prologue):
     There are those who maintain that it is a shameful thing for a man to speak of sentiment, and the recounting of a love story must certainly qualify as such. But if there is virtue in stoicism, I do not see it, and if I haven't the strength to protest, neither have I the will to conform, so I simply share my story as it is. Perhaps time has thinned my walls of propriety as it has my hair.

The Friday 56 (from Page 156 in my hardback copy):
     As I watched her go it was like one of those dreams where you open your mouth to scream but you can't. Then a voice inside of me said to let her go - that if I really loved her, I would let her find something better, something whole and new that she could build a whole life around.

Genre: Literary Fiction / Family / Spirituality
Book Length: 361 Pages
Amazon Link: The Locket
Author Website: Richard Paul Evans

Synopsis:
     After the death of his mother, Michael Keddington finds employment at the Arcadia nursing home where he befriends Esther, a reclusive but beautiful elderly woman who lives in mourning for her youth and lost love. 
    Michael faces his own challenges when he loses his greatest love, Faye. When Michael is falsely accused of abusing one of the Arcadia's residents, he learns important lessons about faith and forgiveness from Esther -- and her gift to him of a locket, once symbolic of one person's missed opportunities, becomes another's second chance. 

                

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) 
Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)


Twitter: @SandyNachlingerFacebook: sandy.nachlinger

Doublesight: The Journey Back - Teaser Tuesday and First Chapter / First Paragraph

I've read quite a few fantasy and science fiction novels and short stories over the years, but The Journey Back is my first venture into Kindle Worlds' fan fiction. It won't be my last. I enjoyed Darcy Carson's story so much that I'm looking forward to reading more of her Doublesight tales in the future.

Here's the First Paragraph:
     The road back is never the same. A fact Korban was fast learning. The last time he had traveled the heavily rutted road he'd been delirious, trussed up like a hunter's kill, and tossed into a wagon with a blanket smelling of horse thrown over his body so none would catch sight of his departure.

Teaser (from 25% on my Kindle):
Oh, sure, throwbacks and gargoyles were dangerous, especially those who ate human flesh. But, not all gargoyles were bad.

Genre: Fan Fiction - Science Fiction & Fantasy
Length: 40 Pages
Amazon: The Journey Back
Also by Darcy Carson: The Trouble With Mother

Synopsis:
Human only Korban returns in The Journey Back where he learns everyone has a secret, After surviving the dreaded fire death disease, he arrives at Castle Weilk where he was raised by his uncle, the king, after his parents were murdered. He suspects the king knows the doublesights had something to do with his recovery. Knowing he is no longer welcomed, he leaves for his ancestral home to find answers that have plagued him over the years. Along the way attempts are made to kill him, but a childhood doublesight friend saves him . . . not once, but twice. Once home, Korban learns the truth about a decade old mystery about his parents that will change the course of his life.

About Kindle Worlds:
Kindle Worlds is a place to publish fan fiction inspired by popular books, shows, movies, comics, music, and games.


Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!Link at  ADailyRhythm.com



First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.Link at  BibliophileByTheSea




Twitter: @SandyNachlingerFacebook: sandy.nachlinger

Fever Season - The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings on Friday

     It's fun to step outside my usual genre and read something completely different, and that certainly applies to Fever Season. The protagonist in this story is "a free man of color" (Benjamin January), living in New Orleans in 1833, not long before the War Between the States. He is a physician and a musician, but his life is filled with uncertainty because of his race. 
     The story fascinated me, and I learned a lot about the realities of that time and place while being caught up in the mystery. Fever Season is the second book in the thirteen-book Benjamin January series. 

Book Beginning:
     In fever season, traffic in the streets was thin. Those who could afford to do so had left New Orleans with the ending of Lent; those who could not had all through the long summer hurried about their business as if Bronze John, as they called the sickness, were a creditor one could avoid if one kept off the streets.
     Midday, the molten September heat raised steam from the water in the French town's cypress-lined gutters and the rain puddles in the soupy streets. Mephitic light filtered through clouds of steamboat soot from the levees and gave the town the look of a grimy but inexplicably pastel-walled hell. Only those whose errands were pressing walked the streets then.
[Can't you just feel the oppressive humidity and the fear of yellow fever?]

The Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle):
He felt a little safer, this close to New Orleans, but never ceased to listen before him and behind. Each time he heard the crunch of hooves approaching from either direction he quickly left the oyster-shell pathway and waited in the woods until whoever was passing him had vanished from sight.

Genre: Mystery / Historical
Length: 417 Pages
Amazon Link: Fever Season
Author's Website: Barbara Hambly

Synopsis from Amazon:
     Benjamin January made his debut in bestselling author Barbara Hambly's A Free Man of Color, a haunting mélange of history and mystery. Now he returns in another novel of greed, madness, and murder amid the dark shadows and dazzling society of old New Orleans, named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times.
     The summer of 1833 has been one of brazen heat and brutal pestilence, as the city is stalked by Bronze John—the popular name for the deadly yellow fever epidemic that tests the healing skills of doctor and voodoo alike. Even as Benjamin January tends the dying at Charity Hospital during the steaming nights, he continues his work as a music teacher during the day.
     When he is asked to pass a message from a runaway slave to the servant of one of his students, January finds himself swept into a tempest of lies, greed, and murder that rivals the storms battering New Orleans. And to find the truth he must risk his freedom...and his very life.
FYI: This versatile author has written fantasy, romance, science fiction, mystery, and vampire stories. 
                



Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) 
Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)


Twitter: @SandyNachlingerFacebook: sandy.nachlinger

Beach Trip - Teaser Tuesday and First Chapter / First Paragraph

     With all the cold, rainy weather we've been having here in the Pacific Northwest, I've turned to beach stories as an antidote to the dark days. Beach Trip by Cathy Holton did that job well. The story of four friends reuniting at a North Carolina beach house captivated me from the opening all the way to the satisfying ending. The story switches between the women's college days (1982) and their reunion (2005), and covers the years in between. The author's sense of humor kept me smiling.
     I'm picky about formatting and the craft of writing, and while I didn't see any grievous errors, I felt like the editors at big-time Ballantine could have done a better job for this author. But having said that, the things I noticed didn't prevent me from enjoying this engaging story.

First Paragraph:

Spring of 1982
Bedford University
Mount Clemmons, North Carolina

     Lola was engaged to Briggs Furman, so her roommates were stunned the evening she came home and told them she was in love with a boy named Lonnie. They sat around in various poses of disbelief and concern, watching Lola and Lonnie, who stood, arms entwined, in the middle of the living room. Lola had leaves in her hair. This was six weeks before they were all set to graduate from college and go their separate ways into the wide world, and no one had suspected Lola of a secret love affair. Least of all Briggs.

Teaser (from 36% on my Kindle):
Once he realized Annie was on the Pill and there'd be no repercussions, no squalling babies or homicidal parents to contend with, Mitchell took to sex like flies to roadkill. His words. There was nothing of the romantic poet about Mitchell Stiles.

Genre: Women's Contemporary Fiction
Book Length: 433 Pages
Amazon Link: Beach Trip

Synopsis:
     Mel, Sara, Annie, and Lola have traveled diverse paths since their years together at a small Southern liberal arts college during the early 1980s. Mel, a mystery writer living in New York, is grappling with the aftermath of two failed marriages and a stalled writing career. Sara, an Atlanta attorney, struggles with her own slowly unraveling marriage. Annie, a successful Nashville businesswoman married to her childhood sweetheart, can’t seem to leave behind the regrets of her youth. And sweet-tempered Lola whiles away her hours—and her husband’s money—on little pills that keep her happy.
     Now the friends, all in their forties, converge on Lola’s lavish North Carolina beach house in an attempt to relive the carefree days of their college years. But as the week wears on and each woman’s hidden story is gradually revealed, these four friends learn that they must inevitably confront their shared past, and a secret that threatens to change their bond, and their lives, forever.


Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!Link at  ADailyRhythm.com



First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.Link at  BibliophileByTheSea



Twitter: @SandyNachlingerFacebook: sandy.nachlinger

Rawhide 'n Roses - First Chapter / First Paragraph and Teaser Tuesday

When life gets busy, I've found that's a great time to read short stories. Right now, that means the book of choice is Rawhide 'n Roses, a Western romance anthology. This book features historical and contemporary short stories by some of my favorite authors (*listed below). So, when I need to take a break, I do as the Amazon page for this book suggests: grab my favorite drink, sit back and enjoy!

I've taken my First Paragraph from "Marrying Jenna" by Charlene Raddon:
Park City, Utah, 1879
     Marshall Branch McCauley leaped from his horse and looped the reins over the railing of the stairway to the family's second floor living quarters. He took the steps two at a time. No matter what, he could not be late for his wedding; eight months it had taken him, after Jenna had finally accepted his proposal, to get her to name a date.

Teaser (at 32% on my Kindle, about halfway through "Marrying Jenna"):
     "Jimmy John, put your gun to Jenna's head," he ordered. Once the boy obeyed Arch called out, "That you in there, McCauley?"

Genre: Western Romance (Anthology)
Book Length: 146 Pages
Amazon Link: Rawhide 'n Roses

Synopsis:
Saddle up your horses and head out to the heart of the Wild West in this collection of short love stories by authors of Western Romance from all over the country and around the world. Whether your passion is historical or contemporary, there's something inside for everyone.

*Contributing authors:
Gold Mountain by Alison Bruce
There's more than one way to mine for gold, as May Travers well knows, and Marshal Ben Jessup is about to find out.
A Gentle Touch by Celia Yeary
Adam Taylor tames mustangs with a gentle touch, but would the same method calm a frightened abused woman?
A Midnight Clear by Simone Beaudelaire
A lonely widow finds a new opportunity for love during an icy Christmas in modern-day Wyoming.
Houston McClintock by Caroline Clemmons
Houston McClintock is on his way home when an attack by vicious robbers redirects his life onto a surprising path to love and fulfillment.
Marrying Jenna by Charlene Raddon
Branch McCauley and Jenna Leigh-Whittington's wedding day arrives at last, so why is Jenna riding hell-bent out of town wearing her wedding dress and a gun belt? Something's up, and it doesn't look good. Will the wedding ever take place?
Connie’s Gift by Rain Trueax
The gift of second sight, which Connie no longer believes she possesses, becomes a deadly threat to her and the man she loves.
Stable Hands, Stable Hearts by Chad Strong
When 17yr old Scott thinks he spots the girl of his dreams, will his feelings for her distract him from winning?
Gunslinger's Angel by Margaret Tanner
Gunslinger Cal Devereaux is saved by an angel, but is she a heavenly creature or a warm blooded woman?
Petticoat Patrol by Susan Horsnell
When a man has no son, he calls on his daughters to help protect his ranch.
When Love Arrives by Carol A. Spradling
A stowaway's past and future collide on the Santa Fe Trail.
Bluffing the Marshal by Paty Jager
Nellie Preston not only wants to keep her brother from hanging, she wants to become the marshal’s wife.
The Lawman’s Lady by Lyn Horner
A prickly schoolmarm sets a handsome lawman’s teeth on edge until the day he starts to wonder what she’d look like without her specs and with her hair down.
Yellowstone Proposal (A Yellowstone Romance Series Short Story) by Peggy L. Henderson
Willing to face dangers only told in legends, Evan risks everything to find the woman who captured his heart.
Much Ado about Misfires (A Hearts of Owyhee short-short story) by Jacquie Rogers
A cowboy on rollerskates and an old flame with a new beau—can Reuben lasso the woman he loves?
Destiny’s Kiss by Cheri Kay Clifton
She gave up life in the present to find her destiny in the past.


Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!Link at  ADailyRhythm.com



First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.Link at  BibliophileByTheSea



Twitter: @SandyNachlinger
Facebook: sandy.nachlinger