Kassandra Lamb's Blog, page 26

October 21, 2019

An “Off” Week Book Review: The First Time I Fell

Book Review: The First Time I Fell

by Kassandra Lamb

Yay!!! Garnet McGee is back!

We brought you all an interview awhile back with Joanne (Jo) MacGregor, author of The First Time I Died, and I told you how much I loved that first book in this new series.

Well, Book 2 is here, and what a treat. My review is below, and to celebrate the new book’s release, Jo is having a little contest, just for us.

The Contest The First Time I Died book coverBook 1 on Amazon

She’s giving away two e-copies of Book 1, the winners to be randomly picked from commenters on this post.

So let us know you stopped by with a quick hello...

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Published on October 21, 2019 22:18

October 14, 2019

Random Holidays in October

by Kassandra Lamb

Did you know that there are over 130 random holidays in October?

When we think of this month, the first holiday that comes to mind is on its very last day, Halloween. But if you go to the website https://nationaltoday.com you’ll discover all kinds of interesting special days this month.

photo by element5-digital-unsplash

There are the more serious holidays and “awareness” days of course, such as Yom Kippur (Oct. 8th this year), World Mental Health Day (Oct. 10th), and World...

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Published on October 14, 2019 22:57

October 7, 2019

When Your Garden Tries to Kill You

One of my houseplants, doing it’s darnedest to escape from my kitchen window sill.

by Kassandra Lamb

Gardening has never really been my thing. I don’t have a black thumb per se, more of a brown one. I unintentionally torture plants for a while, before they finally expire.

So I laughed out loud for several minutes when I read this delightful blog post by Barb Taub. I had to share it with you all.

My Garden Wants To Kill Me

by Barb Taub

I had a college roommate who talked to her plants. Her sid...

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Published on October 07, 2019 22:15

September 23, 2019

7 Life Lessons From My Summer Vacation

by Kassandra Lamb

Remember those essays we had to write in school…What I Did on My Summer Vacation?

Well, I went to Europe on mine.

It’s a trip that hubs and I had begun to plan multiple times (starting in 2015), and something always happened to derail the plan. So this year, we were determined.

The trip was all about seeing some sights we’d been wanting to see for years—which we did—but I also picked up a few life lessons along the way.

Lesson #1 — People can be family even if they don’t spe...
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Published on September 23, 2019 22:14

September 10, 2019

Killer Nashville

I’d been to two conferences this year and wasn’t about to attend another. Then this happened. Since I last attended, Killer Nashville has moved from Nashville proper to a hotel in an industrial park in nearby Franklin. No pedal pubs hooting by on the street! No sneaking out to hear music! I also found this new hotel/motel disconcerting with elevators where you’re on display like a bug. No fluffing your hair or wriggling in your dress to prepare for a grand entrance.

Don’t look down!

Even thou...

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Published on September 10, 2019 06:08

September 2, 2019

6 Things I’ve Learned About Labor — An Encore

aerial of crowded beach on Labor DayTraditionally, beaches are jammed full on the last big weekend of summer. (photo by John Murphy, CC-BY-SA 2.0 Wikimedia Commons)

Another Labor Day has rolled around. For many of us this is just another three-day weekend, an excuse to have a cookout or make a trip to the department stores to grab some bargains.

Or we may look upon this holiday as the bittersweet end of summer.

But the day was originally set aside to honor people who worked for a living (which is almost all of us). Back when th...

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Published on September 02, 2019 22:59

July 29, 2019

An “Off” Week Goodie: How To Write Multiple POVs Right

(NOTE: Our blog will be on hiatus for August. Please check back on September 3rd!)

by Kassandra Lamb

A couple weeks ago, I was a guest on Jami Gold’s wonderful blog for writers. I talked about my experiences writing the Kate Huntington mysteries with multiple perspectives, and what I had learned about how to write multiple POVs correctly. For writers, or for readers who’d like a peek behind the scenes regarding how we writers do things, here’s that post.

How To Write Multiple POVs Right

Once...

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Published on July 29, 2019 22:51

July 22, 2019

Do We Really Know the People We Know? (and a New Release)

by Kassandra Lamb

While writing my July 4th novella (which is releasing today, 19 days late, but, hey, it’s still July at least), I stumbled on an interesting and disturbing question. How well do we really know the people we know?

Unless we own a lie detector, how do we really know who we know?Unless we own a lie detector (and our friends and acquaintances are willing to submit to it) how do we really know the people we know? (photo by Marcin Wichary from National Museum of Crime & Punishment, Washington, CC-BY-2.0, Wikimedia)

When we meet someone new—a n...

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Published on July 22, 2019 22:04

July 15, 2019

Do You Really Know What’s On Your Plate? (And a New Release)

by Shannon Esposito

The murder victim in my new release, Pushing Up Daises (A Pet Psychic Mystery No. 5) is an infamous food critic who exposes local restaurants’ false claims—and flat out lies–about what they’re serving their customers. Unfortunately, seafood fraud is a real problem.

Is this really what you ordered? Seafood fraud is a real thing.

I always thought one of the perks of living in Florida was getting to eat fresh seafood, until I started doing research for this book and found out ninety percent of the seafood consumed in the US is imported...

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Published on July 15, 2019 22:36

July 8, 2019

Stay safe this summer: know the REAL signs of drowning!

by K.B. Owen

image via clker.com

Happy mid- summer, everyone!

With everyone hitting the pool/beach, it seemed a good time to talk about the real signs of drowning (they may not be what you think). I was really impressed by the video below that shows what it looks like.  I know I learned a lot, and I hope it’s helpful to you, too.

We human beings have a number of hard-wired, uncontrollable, instinctive responses (we had even more of them as infants), designed by nature to protect us:  we blink...

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Published on July 08, 2019 22:21