Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 153

Be Brave, Be Strong: A Journey Across the Great Divide by Jill Homer

I am in awe of this woman... not only can she write a good yarn, but her story is amazing. I mean how many of us would ride a mountain bike from Canada to Mexico in rain and over 11,000 foot mountains in just 24 days? With only two outfits and a bag of junk food and a sleeping bag?

Jill Homer did. It's called the Tour Divide and she did it in 2009.. first try. Her narrative begins in Alaska with her long time boyfriend suddenly calling it quits.. and whereas most women would curl up and cry about it, Jill decides to keep going. It's not easy and she doesn't even realize she's going to do it practically till she's at the starting line, but she does it.


She faces bears, rides next to antelope, talks to cows, has flat tires, deals with a broken gps, braves mud and mud and more mud, climbs and climbs and climbs, wrecks, bangs up her knee, lives off sour patch kids candy half the time, runs out of water, loses her breaks in Colorado (YIKES!!!), and even deals with food poisoning and a hurt friend. But she still does it.. she makes it. 


Along the route, she contemplates giving up... but numerous things keep her going, the desire to outdo her ex boyfriend, the fear of public humiliation... 


What I really liked about her story besides her bravery, determination, and gumption is how amazing some people were along the way.. Perfect strangers offered her food, drink, board, opened their homes to her. It's amazing and touching how many people are willing to help others still today. I loved how Ms. Homer acknowledges each and every one of them. I also enjoyed the parts with John, a fellow rider. I wondered what would happen there...


A very good book. My only complaint is at times it was too much repetitive detail. Just too much at times about everything she ate and the details of the trails. At times, I found myself skimming over that stuff.. just wanting to find out what happened next. 3.5 stars.


Laugh out loud moment: "At mile 62, my throat was dry and my drinking bladder still empty, but my own bladder was completely full. The organ bulged and pressed against my abdomen until I was certain I could feel urine leaking out of my eyes. If it was only a need to pee I might have strongly considered just letting it go - after all, I was already drenched in sweat and wetting my shorts in that manner wouldn't be that much different. But there were other way I needed to relieve myself, too, way that I didn't want to end up in my shorts.." (Wouldn't you know, that's when  a vehicle ends up driving by! LOL)


Favorite quote: "I only had myself to rely on in the end. I had to truly trust myself when the going got tough. And when the going did get tough, I dug deep inside myself and I persevered. I had been brave on my own. I had been strong on my own."


Found an awesome picture of Jill Homer on this website.. it's of her at the finish. Check it out. http://www.rocbike.com/2009/07/07/jill-made-it/

I won an ebook of this on LibraryThing Member Giveaways.

Contest and Giveaway Winner

Bren Austin has chosen a winner for the Men, Murder, and Margaritas Title contest.. and that winner gets a signed copy of the book!!

The winner is.. Lady T who suggested "Cruises, Cutthroats, and Cosmos."

Honorable mentions: "Ships, Sirens, and Sangria" and "Models, Mayhem, and Mimosas."

Lady T, I am emailing you for your snail mail address.

Life, Love, and a Polar Bear Tattoo by Heather Wardell

This was one of those kindle freebies that simply caught my eye, partly because of the title. I love tattoos and I think polar bears are cute as hell. And the cover is cute too.. and it was free! However, I didn't expect much from it as my experience with the kindle freebies hasn't always been great.. Boy, was I surprised.

It was one of those weeks in which nothing I picked up held my attention very well.. and I kept coming back to this one. I first read a few pages just to see if it was worth even keeping on my kindle.. and I just kept going. I was hooked by the first person narrative, the honesty, the realness of the heroine, Candice. I also like the writing style, the flow, and I could totally related to what was happening.


Candice has been married to Ian for two years. Like all husbands, Ian occasionally says something hateful to her.. and we all know that once you say it, you can't take it back. Sometimes, we sting from the words for a few days and sometimes.. we never forget. Due to the death of his parents and his blaming Candice for it, Ian crosses that line, says something hateful, and Candice can't get past it. 


To add to an already volatile situation, Ian is leaving for a month... and Candice's ex boyfriend ends up being her latest client in the restaurant business. And this guy.. makes her feel hot, desired, special, wanted... He makes her feel the way all of us wives wish we felt. And the temptation to stray, to break her marriage vows is great.


But, this amazing man wasn't always amazing. He has hurt her before. Can she trust him this time? Or can she forgive Ian and fix her marriage? 


Did I mention this man is also a client? There could be a job loss here if things go too far.


Really, really, really enjoyed this. Candice is real. She has everyday thoughts and problems and desires that all women have. She's not perfect and she makes mistakes. She also adds bits of humor to her narrative.


When at the gym, she loses the chance to use a treadmill, "I decided on the next best thing, a machine that seemed to resemble cross-country skiing..... From the moment I climbed on board, I was like a cat on a hot tin roof. Wearing roller skates. Blindfolded. When I hit myself in the face the first time with the pole, I stunned myself for a second, but that the fifth collision I hardly noticed."


Seriously, fess up, ladies. We've all done that. :)


Quibbles: 1. Her emails to Ian told us a lot about she was feeling.. but where was Ian's emails? I wanted to see what she was responding to. 2. Too much crying at times. Though understandable, it was still irritating at moments.


Four stars and I "bought" this on Amazon Kindle. 

Men, Murder, and Margaritas Title Contest! Win a Book!

Okay, the author of Men, Murder and Margaritas, Bren Austin, and I are doing a little something different. It's a giveaway... but you gotta work for it. And before you immediately groan, huff, sigh, and click on that little x in the upper right corner, hear me out first. It's going to be a fun contest!!!

First, some quick feedback. I reviewed this book and really enjoyed it. (If you missed my review, I will be posting the link at the end of this post) Upon conversing with Ms. Austin afterwords, she disclosed to me that there is going to be a sequel.. and then a third one.. Men, Murder and Margaritas is just the first in a series! 


So the contest is... come up with potential titles for this great series. Let me give you an idea of what Ms. Austin is looking for. The tentative title for the second book is Dancers, Danger, and Daquiris. The third book involves a cruise, models being killed, and of course, some kind of drink....


Don't be scared! Post a comment with your title ideas and be sure to to leave a way for me to contact you. The winner gets a signed copy of Men, Murder, and Margaritas! And who knows.. perhaps the winning title may actually be used!


Here are samples I came up with....


Cuties, Crime, and Coladas
Hos, Hacking, and Happy Hour


Seriously, see what you can come up with, share, and let's all have a good laugh! Last day to enter is June 22nd.


For those that missed my review: Men, Murder and Margaritas

Giveaway Winners

Little Jazzy postponed her next shopping trip just to choose the latest giveaway winners from her food bowl. We had a total of ten entries, 3 here and 7 via goodreads. Blogger has been acting up and making it difficult for people to leave comments. I'm sorry about that.


The winners are Meredith M and Joann B. Ladies, I'm contacting you for your snail mail addresses. I will then forward that information on to the publisher who will be sending each one of you a copy of Sisters of the Sari. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

A Great Place for a Seizure by Terry Tracy

As a woman also wearing the brand, "disabled," I was eager to read this book. It's a fictional tale, the life of a Chilean American girl whose life is dramatically changed forever at the age of 14. No, it's not drugs, alcohol, or divorce. It's epilepsy. Mischa is afflicted with seizures. They come out of nowhere, they are sometimes tiny and barely noticeable and other times, huge resulting in bruises, chipped teeth, appalled bystanders... "During that time every table corner was knife, the floor was a sledgehammer, and each step was a cliff.."The book has an amazing start. I enjoyed the parts with Mischa as a young girl moving from Chile to America, visiting numerous doctors. I enjoyed her sarcasm about her affliction, her witty thoughts about a Frenchman coming up with petit mal and grand mal while eating pastries. I also liked how when first faced with prejudice regarding her condition, she stands up for herself. When told, "I think you should pull out of the race for student body president. You are epileptic and that would interfere with the job," she says she's running anyway...
Later, as an adult, she deals with people that either baby her after a seizure or look at her with disgust. At one place of employment, they even contemplate denying her health insurance. When she goes to college, her roommate reveals that "I was forewarned by the college. They wrote a letter asking me if I was comfortable having a roommate with a disability." 
Mischa doesn't feel she has a disability... this is rampant throughout the novel. It raises the question: What exactly is a disability and who has the right to brand others as having one?
Mischa carries on with life, however, she has romances, deals with the death of her mother, travels to Guatemala, England, works with a former president.... 
I have some quibbles, however: 1. For some reason, the writing style suddenly becomes a LOT of telling rather than showing once it reaches the point where Mischa is working with a former president. When she starts work for a human rights organization, it gets pretty bad with that. LOTS of explaining, little experiencing. Up till this point, it was great. 2. Characters I couldn't care less about began entering the book. Examples: A priest that likes barbecue. Clarissa and Christopher... I didn't feel they impacted the novel enough to be included. There is paragraphs about these people and I was like, "why?" 
Thus, three stars. I liked it, especially the parts about life with epilepsy, the incompetence of doctors just switching her from medication to medication, the risks of having seizures anytime anyplace, the reactions from those around her. I found it very enlightening.
I recieved this in ebook format from the author.

Men, Murder, and Margaritas by Bren Austin

Men, vibrator batteries, pasties, thongs, pole dancing, a sexy sheriff,sin, and psychotic female serial killers that kill unsuspecting rich bachelors are just some of the numerous hilarious topics that the three leading ladies of this novel discuss over their nightly margaritas.

Cari Paris is the blonde and no, she's not dumb. She's actually quite savvy as she slowly uncovers clues leading up to a woman scorned turned serial killer, dubbed the Carnation Killer because she always leaves that particular ugly flower by her victim's dead body.  "When a guy gives you carnations, it means he just wants to get laid and doesn't want to spend too much money to get you on your back." 


Her friends, Tracy and Kathi are assisting her. Tracy steals the show somewhat with her witty comments and brutal honesty about church, sex, food, and boobs. "If men were killed for stupidity, there wouldn't be too many left to choose from." (Can't remember which chick specifically said that, but I love it.)


Kathi is more in the background, but her character is crucial for laughs. She goes home every night and does sexual favors for her husband in order to get an inground pool and a couple of cabana boys installed in her backyard. (Seriously, you gotta read it to understand..)


And I've gotten way off track here. The case: An article talking about the state's most eligible and rich bachelors was published in a magazine. Cari and Tracy work for an advertising agency that is hosting an eligible bachelor auction. Problem is... one by one, their bachelors are winding up dead or married (apparently the men can save their lives by rushing to the altar). If they don't find the killer soon, they won't have any bachelors left to auction! But as the women get closer to figuring out who the killer is, those pesky blue carnations are left at their doors... are they next to die, despite the fact that they are the killer's usual choice of victim?


To make it all juicier, Cari and Tracy both end up dating two of the handsome bachelors! 


I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It was funny, witty, cute, and I laughed my butt off too many times to mention. Especially over the "tamponing a dead body" episode.


Five stars and I received this from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Precious Norman Honor by A.L. Stumo

Maud is an eleven year old girl in medieval times. The castle she serves in is under siege by King Henry's men. Her master, an earl, is away muster more troops to his cause. Maud's father has been instructed not to let the king have the castle. Thus, families, children, and all that serve the earl are barricaded within its stone walls while the King's army throw stones and arrow over it.

It's really kinda funny, actually, all these grown men just throwing rocks at each other, until someone gets hurt, that is..

Maud has problems with all this.. She's bored. She wants to look over the walls and see the soldiers, see the army, and the catapult. But all the adults tell her no over and over again. There were moments while reading this when wondered if the entire novel was just this eleven year old girl wanting to climb the tower.. She is obsessed with climbing the tower to the point that it gets a bit irritating, but this is a YA novel.

There's more going on though.. There's the very real threat of running out of food. There's an earl that doesn't appear to be coming back. Maud has a sick friend. And it seems some of the men think they are better than the others... Soon there's Norman vs Saxon rivalry right within the castle. Tensions run high. Just where is the battle? Outside the castle or in?

Quibbles: I don't think I've ever said this before, but this would have been better with a male hero, from a male POV. Maud goes nowhere but the kitchen, the hall, the garden, and back to the kitchen. She's allowed to do nothing but pull weeds, chop vegetable, serve food, and mess with wool. At times, this makes for very dull reading. Had it been told from a male POV, granted, the boy would never have left the castle grounds either, but at least he would know what was going on outside of it and be able to see outside the castle walls and in turn, so would the readers. Plus, he'd be flinging rocks and dung. Much more entertaining than pulling weeds.

If I was an eleven year old, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. It does capture the medieval way of life very well and from an eleven year old's POV. Not bad. Three stars.

I received this in ebook format from the author.

How I wrote my first novel. . . Ride for Rights

Hey all! Just a short note to let you know that today, I'm over on Teen Word Factory, a blog for teen writers and readers talking about how I penned Ride. Please stop and check it out! I know comments are difficult to leave lately and for that, I apologize. It's a blogger thing. :(


So, come read about How I wrote Ride for Rights.

Sisters of the Sari Giveaway

I read this book a few weeks ago and loved it. I'm pleased to announce that the publisher is permitting me to host a giveaway for it. Two copies, U.S. residents only. Please leave a comment by June 14th and be sure to provide an email address or a way that I can contact you should you win. Jazzy, the Japanese Chin will choose the winner from her food bowl on that day, at her convenience.

If you missed my review for this great book, check it out! My Review of Sisters of the Sari