Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 111

PRINCESS KANDAKE: Warrior by Choice...Appointed to Rule by Stephanie Jefferson

A terrific YA book. I was drawn to this at first because it's about a Nubian warrior queen. It's historical, an exotic setting, an incredibly tough chick. Being a YA, it's simple in its telling, but not overly juvenile, and it's full of morals and thoughts.


It's the story of young girl coming to terms and age with many things.

She doesn't want to be queen. She wants to be a warrior and at first she rebels against being a queen. It doesn't sit well with her, but then fate shows her she is meant for the position and through an adventure, she comes to terms with it and embraces her new path.

Nubia lets women be what they want to be. It doesn't discriminate against either sex. This was fantastic and I love how Kandake ends up sitting down with another group of people and she not only learns to use words over the sword when the situation calls for it, but also shows them women are just as good/strong/equal to men.

Besides her inner turmoil, the conflict is a series of attacks against their trade caravan. Who is the group? A misunderstanding leads to an adventure...there's a moral there. "Get the whole story before you act."

Kandake has to save her brother, prevent a war, fight, think on her feet, and stand up for women. There's horses, escapes, bows and arrows, and just a small touch of romance as Kandake develops feelings for a fellow warrior.

The ending wasn't overly pit-pat either. One conflict is resolved, but another looms on the horizon, and I also found myself wondering...if a story in the future for us regarding Kandake's sister. I sense a lot of things coming. Book two is also on my list.

I highly recommend this one. Five stars. I received this from the author in exchange for an honest review. Considering my theme is strong is sexy, this book is just a perfect fit here and I hope you all enjoy it too.

Tip From Tara: He Said, She Said.

Let's talk about said. Let's talk about dialogue tags. Look at this:

"How did you do in school today?" Mom asked.

"I think I did all right," Jesse said.

"Good for you. After your homework, you can go outside," Mom said.

"Thanks, Mom," he said.

Holy crap. One gets sick to death of that said, said, said. There are thousands of words you can use in place of said, not that I suggest using dialogue tags a lot. I personally like to throw a few action tags in there to set up the scene.

Some examples of dialogue tags:

jested
replied
murmured
stated
reassured
hollered
yelled
shouted
sobbed
retorted
informed
declared
announced
pleaded
teased

We can go on all day. Here's what I do with the above example:


"How did you do in school today?" Mom asked, glancing at Jesse from where she was preparing dinner over the stove.

"I think I did all right," Jesse replied with a shrug.

"Good for you. After your homework, you can go outside," she informed him.

"Thanks, Mom." Jesse grinned happily.

So, do a word search for said and replace some of them.

I've said my piece.

Interred by Marilyn Almodóvar Review & Giveaway

Interred (Chronicles of the Interred #1)byMarilyn Almodóvar
The cover was created by the amazing Devan Edwards of Nimbi Designs. 
Blurb
Time has never been an issue for Baxter Jacobs, but then she never knew she had the ability to Bend it.As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Baxter inherits a pendant that will change her life. Connected to the pendant is a dark and mysterious young man named Declan Ashdown. Trapped in a Time loop for the past 122 years, Declan needs Baxter’s help to escape. The only problem is, she has no idea how to do it.To acquire the power she needs to free him, she’ll become one of the Interred, those whose Magical abilities emerge as they come of age. When she does, she’ll discover that Declan isn’t the only one interested in the fact that she’s a Time Bender.As the Interment arrives, Baxter knows this will be no Sweet Sixteen. A vengeful relative and the ruthless Council are determined to control her. Declan’s powerful and charming descendant, Jack Ashdown, claims he can save her. She’ll soon have to decide who she can trust, and how to master her new abilities before Time runs out. Published by Iambe Books on January 22, 2013 Add it to your to-read list on Goodreads

My thoughts: Will def appeal to YA readers. The heroine is likable, yet has just enough imperfection to make her realistic, minus all that teen angst you usually find in a YA book. There's nothing cliqued or overdone about it. The time bending, the Warriors, the idea of being buried alive, the mystery surrounding her mother keep a reader on the edge of the seat. This being only my second foray into YA Fantasy, I confess I was confused more often than not. The glimmer ages...yet the glimmer surrounds Declan, the boy trapped in the stone and the heroine's helper, so why is it he could touch her at times but not others? Little things confused me as well as the time bending and magical group itself, BUT I must add that the heroine is just as confused, so in the end it was as though we were confused WITH the heroine and that worked. If she doesn't know the 411, how can we? ;)

A good, solid, entertaining read, that above all is unique. The author has a terrific imagination.


Author bio :
Marilyn Almodóvar is the author of a series of YA paranormal novels. Born in Ft. Huachuca, Arizona, Lyn is a lover of words whose reading tastes range from Victorian novels to the books of Stephen King. Her favorite past-times have always been reading and writing, two activities that let her escape to other worlds.

It was this love that propelled her to choose Theater and French as majors in University, with a minor in English Victorian Literature. Lyn lived for almost a decade in England followed by three years in France before returning home to the States. A self-confessed citizen of the world, she is fluent in English, French and Spanish, with basic knowledge of the Italian language.
Lyn could happily exist breathing the clean air of Narnia, trapped in a cupboard under the stairs with Harry, fighting alongside Captain Jack Sparrow, doing an internship in Torchwood, or traveling around time and space with the Doctor…as long as she can have Mr. Spock, Captain Kirk and Captain Mal as companions.Lyn currently lives in Central Florida with her French husband, English-born eldest son, and French-born youngest son. Her debut YA Novel, Interred, was published by Iambe Books on 01/22/2013. Fissure (Chronicles of the Interred #2) is scheduled for release on 06/22/2013.

Barnes & Noble
Amazon

Ways readers can connect with Lyn:

Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads
Pinterest
Blog
~     ~     ~Don’t miss out on the great giveaway (open internationally)! You could win a signed paperback, autographed tote bag, a pendant and pin inspired by the book, and lots more!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Louder Than Words by Laurie Plissner

I was drawn to this book due to the fact it features a disabled heroine: a young girl with hysterical (selective) muteness. Due to a car crash in which she lost her parents and sister, PTSD has rendered her speechless.


Wanting to keep people at bay, she uses a robotic voice, drawing lots of backlash and Stephen Hawkings jokes--even from teachers. She's an outcast, a misfit. I understood and sympathized with her.

And she has an incredibly LOL sarcastic humor and wit. I loved it and was all set to give this book a five 'til the hero really entered the picture.

At first I was perturbed by the "I can read your mind" thing. It was just too convenient. Personally, I would have preferred he love her, ROBOT VOICE AND ALL, than be able to talk to her without it. How do we know he really cares for her? After all, she can just telepath her thoughts. Would he love her so much if she was using her hawkie talkie every ten minutes?

Then, he did the inexcusable in my eyes. He told her he wouldn't be with her until she talks again. I don't care if it's selective muteness, she has a disability, and you must accept her for how she is. That would be like my husband telling me "I don't want to be with you until you can hear." I'm  deaf. Hello? How rude.

I enjoyed the coming of age tale, the heroine's wit, the mystery of her the car crash, but I did not enjoy or like the boyfriend. Yea, yea, he claims he didn't want to hinder her healing, but I never bought it.

So I both liked and didn't like this. I think a YA book should tell teenagers it's okay to be different. It's okay to be mute, deaf, crippled, whatever. Don't try to change yourself for anyone else. But this book to me sent the other and the wrong message: change so you can have a boyfriend!

I still enjoyed it overall, though. Three stars. I received this via Amazon Vine.

Strong is Sexy Woman of the Past: Clara Maass

She was a nurse in the late 1800s, one of the first to graduate from Newark German Hospital's Christina Trefz Training School for Nurses in 1895 at the age of nineteen. Within three years she was a head nurse. 
She served as a voluntary nurse in the Spanish American Civil War. She ended up in Cuba, where yellow fever was a raging epidemic. She and a few others voluntarily donated their very own lives for the purpose of finding the cause and manner in which the disease was spread. Volunteers only received a hundred bucks with an extra hundred added if they became ill. Now, as you can see, that would have bought quite a few stamps back then, but still... (stamp was made after her death, but you get my drift. I believe stamps were one cent in the early 1900s)
After her second infectious mosquito bite, she died, putting a stop to the human experiments on American subjects altogether. She was only 25 years of age. She was not the only one to die, but she was the only woman to die from this.
There is a medical center in New Jersey named after her and she was buried with full military honors for her sacrifice and service.
I must say, that seems awful brave to me, to give your life in the hopes of saving others, to sacrifice the chance of family, love, children.
Find more information on the following sites:http://www.aahn.org/gravesites/maass....

HerStory Giveaways...See What's Coming

On the HerStory blog, we've already announced that we shall be giving away some fantastic empowering women prizes with the release of HerStory. We've received a donation of a Strong is Beautiful T-shirt from Keira's Kollection and now we have a terrific companion for that shirt...


A pair of incredible earrings donated by Cathy from Etsy.


So one very lucky winner will read her HerStory book, feel empowered, then don her Strong is Beautiful T-shirt, topped off with these fantastic HerStory earrings that sparkle one side and have a message on the other side: the greatest story never told.


Only, we're telling it, the authors of HerStory. We are telling it.


Cathy has a variety of items available in her Etsy shop Yesware. She also has a FB page.


She says she offers "Individually hand-pressed high-quality pinback buttons and my original Altered Art Jewelry is finished with brass, gold-plated, or silver-plated findings and top-quality multi-faceted acrylic rhinestones. Available in a wide array of styles, funky themes, and designs."


Let's thank Cathy by giving her some page likes and sharing the excitement. Be sure to follow the HerStory blog to be the first to catch updates and chances to win this incredible stuff.

Lacey Wolfe Talks About the Naked Truth of Stripping

To the average person, being a stripper isn’t exactly their ideal job. Or at least a woman stripper. It seems there is a difference between men and women who strip, but I’m not going to get into that right now.
In my latest novella, The Naked Truth, Abigail is a single mother. In order to provide the best life for her daughter, she strips. It might not have been what she grew up dreaming of doing, but what can a girl do when a man is willing to toss money at you just so you take your shirt off? I would imagine in some ways it might make the woman feel empowered. Instead of work deadlines, all she has to do is show her breasts and grind into a pole, and money is made.
So why do we usually look down on such a profession? If there wasn’t a demand for it, it wouldn’t exist. If the patrons that visit these places weren’t willing to drop high amounts for a simple lap dance, then it wouldn’t be happening. But the fact is, men love women and their bodies. And women love to feel appreciated.
I’m not a stripper. I don’t think I’ll ever be that confident in my body to do that as a job. I would imagine the women doing this for a living have to be strong women. Most people don’t even like getting naked for their significant other, yet these women can get on stage, under bright lights, and entice their audience. That alone leaves me with respect for them.
In The Naked Truth, even though this wasn’t Abigail’s dream job, she also wasn’t willing to take slack from the hero of the story, Josh on her profession.
To learn more about Lacey Wolfe and The Naked Truth, visit: www.laceywolfe.com

Blurb:

It’s amazing what one can find in strip clubs…

Josh Carter gets the shock of a lifetime when he shows up at a place of ill repute for a business meeting and sees the one that got away gyrating on the stage. Abigail Reese—the girl with so much potential, the girl that took his heart along with his body one night long ago—what brought her to this level?

Though stripping is not what Abigail set out to do, it’s putting food on the table and a roof over her daughter’s head. But just how much can she reveal to Josh without risking it all?

When Josh causes Abigail to lose her job, she has two choices: come clean about her past and her situation or push him out of her life as quick as he came into it. It’s up to her…only she has to think of her little girl too.
Buy Links: Amazon / All Romance / Nook
Thoughts? Leave a comment for Lacey.
About the Author:Lacey Wolfe has always had a passion for words, whether it’s getting lost in a book or writing her own. From the time she was a child she would slip away to write short stories about people she knew and fantasies she wished would happen. It has always been her dream to be a published author and with her two children now of school age, she finally has the time to work on making her dream come true.

Lacey lives in Georgia with her husband, son and daughter, their six cats and one black lab who rules the house.

You can find Lacey at the following places:
Website / Facebook / Facebook Page / Twitter / Pinterest

Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Roberta Wendall

Book: Confessions of a Corporate Slut
Author: Jacqueline Gum
Heroine: Roberta Wendall


Roberta Wendall has already succeeded in a male dominated world before she meets the man she marries. For all the reasons that women STILL do, she gives up her career to become a corporate wife… an undervalued, unpaid position. Anyone who knows the last names of Spitzer, Sanford or Woods will recognize the story. The main character Roberta puts a mirror up to society and anyone who has familiarity with the corporate world and the culture of success will find something on nearly every page that rings true.
What makes her sexy ( besides a killer set of gams) is her ability to maneuver a sea of testosterone with humor and grace. While Confessions of a Corporate Slut deals with the complexities of the life of a corporate wife, the backdrop is based in a corporate environment and highlights the unique way it colors the professional woman and her view of marriage.
Blurb:In Confessions of a Corporate Slut, Roberta conquers a bare-knuckle, male-dominated industry and achieves unparalleled success as an overachieving sales pro, entrepreneur, and corporate manager. But something is missing in her life. Marriage. Family. Purpose.
When Roberta finds love, she is oblivious to the astronomical losses she will sustain-including pride, self-esteem and money-the tradeoff she makes to help her CEO husband push his manufacturing company to the pinnacle of its industry. When Roberta moves out of the family home at seventeen, her only working experience is a $1.35 gig at Dairy Queen. Unqualified and underage, she cajoles her way into managing a new restaurant and bar. Eventually she realizes the sales profession offers the best way to maximize her income, so she hits the road in hose and heels and a fifty-pound sample case of glassware, stir sticks, and beverage napkins. Little did she know her success would someday propel her into the unfamiliar role of the ideal corporate wife.
Roberta is the polar opposite of a victim as she faces each challenge with her trademark mixture of spunk and grace. Her wry sense of humor intertwines with conflict, weaving a tapestry rich in humor and irony. Inspired by a true story CONFESSIONS OF A CORPORATE SLUT, is a tale of ambition and failure, a tale of emotional connection and disconnection , of support and about-faces , of fear and loathing, of love and hate. And a story that is all too often being played out in today's corporate culture.
Buy here

HerStory Pre-Release Party & Giveaway

In ancient times, women were regarded as sacred. They were thought to hold the mystical power of creation—responsible for the continuation of our species. With the rise of Science and Religion, these myths were dispelled and their plight began.

HerStory: Fiction Honoring Women’s History Month is a collection of Flash Fiction and Short Stories from today's top authors featuring female characters that exemplify strong strength of mind, body, and character. Some of these tales are based on real people while others are purely fictional. However, all are standing up for themselves and what they believe in.

Grab yourself a glass of wine or favorite hot beverage and get comfortable as you read about the lives of women who will light the fire in your soul.

One lucky winner is going to receive an ebook copy of HerStory when it hits virtual shelves in March. To enter just fill out the rafflecopter form below. This giveaway will end on 2/20/13. The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hooked by Liz Fichera

"The boys had expected me to fail--wanted me to fail. I'd sensed it. And I wasn't about to give any of them an ounce of satisfaction."


This novel is about a strong young Native American girl (Fred) who loves to play golf. She's good, so good that the high school team coach practically begs her to be on the team...but the boys don't like it.

HUGE class difference. She lives on a reservation. Her mother works in a restaurant. Her father tends the very grounds her teammate's fathers pay to play on. She's the only girl on the team. She replaced a loser kid named Seth... There's a lot of animosity aimed her way, but this girl lifts her chin...well, she does stare at the ground a lot and I wanted to tell her stop it, but I also understood...and plays a damn good game, even when  her arm is about to fall off due to a little sabotage incident.

I expected more struggling to be accepted in a male dominated industry than romance, but I got more romance. I don't mind a good teen romance at all, but I really don't care for the love interest in this.

This guy, Ryan, is a wuss. He just sits there and lets his friends bully Fred, talk smack about her, call her names, make fun of her, and he doesn't have the balls to do anything. He sits there and smiles. I don't care if it's a half smile, if you just sit there and let your friends be nasty, you are no better than them. And yet Fred likes this guy? I get he has a rough home life, but so does 75% of the country. It doesn't give you a free pass to be a jackass.

Not until 82% does this guy show any promise and even then, he refuses to snitch on his evil best friend bugged the heck out of me. If he had said something the first time, his friend wouldn't have a second chance to go after Fred...or a third. Even as the book ended, I questioned just where this guy's loyalties lay. I felt he should have told the truth to prevent what happened next.

That's my only complaint besides I would have liked the mother's issues explained. She's hateful, mean, bitter, and I wasn't sure why. Felt I was missing something there. I did not like Ryan and to enjoy a romance, you sorta need to like the hero. But the golfing, the reservation, and the heroine herself I really liked. I also felt the switching back and forth in narrative was well done, not jarring as it could have been. Fizchera knows how to write. Though I didn't LOVE this one as I did her other two, I did like it. She's still on my watch and read list. I must commend her for for tackling all the different issues and story lines she does.

There were other characters in this novel I liked. Trueblood, Hank, Sam. I'd like to read more about Sam. Something really drew me to him. Matter of fact, I was honestly hoping Fred would choose him, not Ryan. LOL

Three stars. Very entertaining YA read. I received this from Netgalley.