Boy Who Reads: Granny is a Werewolf

ebook
Published 2012
ISBN13: 9781301518999
Source: purchased
Read: December 2012
Goodreads

I think Granny is a Werewolf by Rae Z. Ryans is a good book, because it has a mix of mystery and adventure. I really liked this book. I would recommend this book to kids 9 through 12 years old. I can not wait till the next book comes out.

The book is about a boy and a girl finding out that they are half werewolf. They are sent to their grandma's house for the summer. Their grandma is a werewolf. Read the book to learn more.

Buy the book at Amazon!

 
Girl Who Reads is an advertising affiliate with Amazon and IndieBound; a small fee is earned when purchases are made using the above links.
 

Meet the Author: Sherri Hayes

If someone would have told me growing up that I would one day be a published author, I wouldn’t have believed them. English was a subject I always struggled with in school, mainly because I wasn’t good at spelling. In school, especially elementary school, spelling was often lumped together with grammar and literature, and no matter how hard I tried, it would always drag my grade down. It was so bad, in fact, that my second grade teacher dragged my parents in two weeks into the  school year, and told them that I would most likely be held back because I couldn’t spell what were considered basic words in a second graders vocabulary.

As I got older, I learned to cope—adjust—to my difficulty spelling. Often times, I would realize I couldn’t spell the word I wanted to use, so I’d have to find a word that would mean the same thing, but was easier to spell. It was frustrating, not being able to express myself through writing the way I wanted to.

Two things saved me—My memory and my ability to express myself well through writing, even if I was handicapped by my lack of ability in the area of spelling. My memory not only served me well when trying to memorize those dreaded spelling words, it also helped me remember story and plot lines in books. It helped with studying for tests. As much difficulty as spelling has given me over the years, it also forced me to hone other skills that I didn’t have to work at so hard.

To this day, I have trouble spelling. I love interacting with my readers at events and book signings, but there is often that twinge of fear that I’ll be asked to write something that I can’t spell. The last thing a reader expects is for an author to have difficulty spelling. Most think of it as a natural thing that goes hand-in-hand with the other, but for me, it’s not.

I am grateful that I have been given this gift of being able to tell stories that so many readers love, but I am equally grateful for spell check, my beta, and my editors. I couldn’t produce the stories I do without them.

About the Author:

Sherri is the author of four novels: Hidden Threat, Slave (Finding Anna Book 1), Need (Finding Anna Book 2), Behind Closed Doors (A Daniels Brothers’ Novel), and a short story, A Christmas Proposal. She lives in central Ohio with her husband and three cats. Her mother fostered her love for books by reading to Sherri when she was a child. Stories have been floating around in her head for as long as she can remember, but she didn’t start writing them down until five years ago. It has become
creative outlet that allows her to explore a wide range of emotions while having fun taking her characters through all the twists and turns she can create. When she’s not writing, she can usually be found helping her husband in his woodworking shop.

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New Year! No new books

News:

For those who have accepted my 5 a week comment challenge, I'll be posting how well I did the past week on leaving comments on other blogs (a little accountability never hurts). I invite you to share your progress in the comments (then you can count that as one towards this week goal!).

Number of Comments: 8

Want to offer your readers an opportunity to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card and help spread the word about a great fictional memoir? Sign up for the Beat the Winter Time Blues Giveaway sponsored by Playing the Genetic Lottery author Terri Morgan. 

Authors who are looking for guest post features, I have several openings in all 3 features for February (as well as a couple in January). See "Review Policy" for description of the features or the side bar for the link to sign up.

My first review on 2013 posted on Saturday. For a light read, check out my review of Phone Kitten.

The Confessions Tour with J. B. Lynn kicked off TODAY. See all the stops here. The first LIVE event is TONIGHT at 8 pm EST on Ali Talks Live. Feel free to call in with questions or just to chat with J. B. Lynn.

I set my 2013 reading goal at 84 books (one more than last year). However, if this past week is any indication I won't make that goal. In my defense, I did finish proofreading a manuscript and start beta reading another. What is your reading goal for 2013?

The Indie Exchange will be hosting a Family Fiction Fest to highlight all the great children, middle grade, and young adult authors and book in February. We are looking for authors and bloggers (particularly classroom bloggers) to participate. Authors you do not have to blog on your own, there will be bloggers available to feature you on their blog during the hop. Learn more by joining The Indie Exchange Facebook Group.

Finished:

"My Blog Traffic Sucks!" details an easy-to-follow plan for getting quality visitors to your blog. The best part? You can easily do it with only 15 hours of work each week.

You'll learn how to: Understand the 4 habits of effective bloggers, Design a MWR blog that converts traffic, Network with top bloggers to build powerful alliances, Write awesome (search engine optimized) content, Execute a 7-step blog post promotion plan, Craft compelling guest blog posts that generate a flood of traffic, Get results with Twitter in as little as 30 minutes a day, Generate additional traffic using 6 BONUS strategies.

Blog traffic can be systematized. Just follow these eight-steps and you'll be on your way to getting 100,000 visitors! From Amazon

 Find My Blog Traffic Sucks! at Goodreads and Amazon

Reading:

What would you do if you could see into the future?

As a child, he dreamed of being a superhero. Most people never get to realize their childhood dreams, but Corrigan Bain has come close. He is a fixer. His job is to prevent accidents—to see the future and “fix” things before people get hurt. But the ability to see into the future, however limited, isn’t always so simple. Sometimes not everyone can be saved.

“Don’t let them know you can see them.”

Graduate students from a local university are dying, and former lover and FBI agent Maggie Trent is the only person who believes their deaths aren’t as accidental as they appear. But the truth can only be found in something from Corrigan Bain’s past, and he’s not interested in sharing that past, not even with Maggie.

To stop the deaths, Corrigan will have to face up to some old horrors, confront the possibility that he may be going mad, and find a way to stop a killer no one can see.

Corrigan Bain is going insane . . . or is he?

Because there’s something in the future that doesn’t want to be seen. It isn’t human. It’s got a taste for mayhem. And it is very, very angry. From Goodreads.com 

Fixer is not available until March 2013, but learn more about it at Goodreads.

Gen Y has been picked apart by analysts, statistics, and trend reports, which often portray 20-somethings in negative, one-dimensional terms like "entitled" and "whiners". In this thought-provoking new book that aims to dispel these stereotypes, journalist Hannah Seligson chronicles the lives of seven individuals who embody this generation, exploring their challenges and ambitions in vivid detail and sketching a picture, through their eyes, of what life is actually like for young adults. Through these first-hand stories, readers will discover the transformational effect this enterprising, open-minded, innovative, and diverse generation is having on society. From Goodreads.com

Find Mission: Adulthood at Goodreads, Amazon, and IndieBound.


How much reading did you get done this past week?

Girl Who Reads is an advertising affiliate with Amazon and IndieBound; a small fee is earned when purchases are made using the above links.

Confessions Tour with J. B. Lynn

Join us for the next 9 days as J. B. Lynn and the characters of her hilarious Confessions series visit various blogs. There are 2 LIVE events for YOU to chat with J. B. And, of course, an opportunity to win a signed set of this must read series. Keep reading to learn more...

About the Books:

Maggie Lee is not your average hitwoman. For one thing, she's never killed anyone. For another, after hitting her head in the car accident that killed her sister, her new best friend is a talking lizard—a picky eater, obsessed with Wheel of Fortune, that only Maggie can hear.

Maggie, who can barely take care of herself, is desperate to help her injured and orphaned niece get the best medical care possible, so she reluctantly accepts a mobster's lucrative job offer: major cash to kill his monstrous son-in-law.

Paired with Patrick Mulligan, a charming murder mentor (who happens to moonlight as a police detective), Maggie stumbles down her new career path, contending with self-doubt, three meddling aunts, a semi-psychic friend predicting her doom, and a day job she hates. Oh, and let's not forget about Paul Kowalski, the sexy beat cop who could throw her ass in jail if he finds out what she's up to.

Training has never been so complicated! And, this time, Maggie has to get the job done. Because if she doesn't . . . she's the mob's next target.

Take three wacky aunts,
two talking animals,
one nervous bride,
and an upcoming hit, got the follow-up
 to JB Lynn's wickedly funny
 Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman.

Knocking off a drug kingpin was the last thing on Maggie Lee's to-do list, but when a tragic accident leaves her beloved niece orphaned and in the hospital, Maggie will go to desperate lengths to land the money needed for her care.

But the drug kingpin is the least of her worries. Maggie's aunts are driving her crazy, her best friend's turned into a bridezilla…and a knock on the head has given Maggie Dr. Dolittle abilities—she can talk to animals. Unfortunately, they talk back.

It's just another day in the life of this neurotic hitwoman…

Tour Schedule:

Jan. 7 Hear from Patrick at Modokker Book Picks (Review of book 2)
Jan. 8 Let's Talk Family at Alchemy of Scrawl
Jan. 9 J. B. discusses Creative Obsession at Bunny's Reviews
Jan. 10 An Interview at Jess Resides Here
Jan. 11 Advice from a Lizard at SM Johnson Writes
Jan. 12 Learn how characters are like OLD FRIENDS at Living, Learning, and Loving Life
Jan. 13 Maggie shares her resolutions with Mom with a Kindle
Jan. 14 Meet Maggie's friends at Alli's World
Jan. 15 Is Maggie nuts? Find out at Keeping Up with the Rheinlander's

Live Events:

Monday, January 7 at Ali Talks Live (8 pm EST): Listen to the archive
Thursday, January 10 at Goodreads for a LIVE author chat. Post your questions now!

About the Author:

Besides being a writer, JB Lynn is a compulsive reader, a runner (of sorts), an enthusiastic cook (who doesn't get the appeal of the Food Network), and someone who has an irresistible urge to eavesdrop at all times.

JB has a great love of her husband, dogs, coffee, purple ink, spiral notebooks, running gear, hot showers, and '80s music. Given enough time, all of these things will eventually show up in her books.

Links:

Website: www.jblynn.com

Publisher: http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/38895/JB_Lynn/index.aspx

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jb_lynn_author

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jb.lynn.14

KILLER CHICKS (blog): http://www.killerchicks.org/

Buy the Books:

Book 1: Amazon, IndieBound, B&N
Book 2: Amazon, IndieBound, B&N

Giveaway:


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Girl Who Reads is an advertising affiliate with Amazon and IndieBound; a small fee is earned when purchases are made using the above links. A paid publicity package was purchased by the author from GWR Publicity.

Related articles

• Confessions Book Tour with JB Lynn (alchemyscrawl.com)
• Ali Talks Live with JB Lynn (alisbookshelfreviews.blogspot.com)
• Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman book tour and giveaway (frellathon.com)

A Fluffy Read: Phone Kitten by Marika Christian

Phone Kitten by Marika Christian
ebook, $2.99
Published: September 2010 by BooksBNimble
ISBN13: 9780982999769
Source: Author
Read: December 2012 
Goodreads

Every year as the Christmas holidays approach I get this overwhelming desire to read chick lit. I guess it is the romance around the holiday - all the jewelry commercials and winter weddings. (Oddly, around Valentine's Day I seem to be repulsed by the thought of reading romance novels). On the first day of my break from the day job I scanned my list of books and alighted on Phone Kitten by Marika Christian. A fellow blogger had favorably reviewed it recently so it was an easy choice to make.

Emily is a nobody, and worse, she is invisible. She has decided that she no longer wants to be invisible and attempts to fulfill her dream of being a journalist at the St. Petersburg Times. However, like many insecure people, she hasn't chosen her confidant wisely. The day ends in disaster, yet it puts Emily on a whole new path to self-discovery.

I think many people will relate to Emily. Even if you were never a member of the "chub club", most of us have felt unpopular, unnoticed, unliked, etc. at one point or another. With it being a new year, a time when many are implementing (attempting to at least) change, Emily's journey to "make something" of herself will resonate well with the reader.

I found Phone Kitten to be amusing and looked forward to getting back to the story each day. Like any good chick lit it was a quick read and perfect for the start of my holiday break.

It reminded me a bit of J. B. Lynn's Confession series, but not as funny and a bit heavier on the romance. Marika Christian found her own perfect combination of humor and romance, though. And while the story is focused on Emily, the secondary characters are fully developed. Plus the story isn't predictable as chick lit sometimes tends to be. I was undecided until the very end about whether the Latino hottie from history class was the real deal or setting her up.

Phone Kitten was a fun read and if you are looking for something light but still with some meat to it, then this is a book you should pick up. I will definitely be looking for future books from Marika Christian.

Buy the book at Amazon

Girl Who Reads is an advertising affiliate with Amazon and IndieBound; a small fee is earned when purchases are made using the above links. A free book was received from the stated source in exchange for an honest review, no compensation was received.

Related articles

• Phone Kitten by Marika Christian (abshepherdsreinventedreader.blogspot.com)
• Holiday Romance: Dating Mr. December (girl-who-reads.com)

D. Kai Wilson-Viola: Revolution - not resolution (guest post)

I've been making resolutions for as long as I can remember, but I've never quite managed to stick to them. Come close - people that know me are always using sentences like 'I don't know how you do it' when referring to my work, but I'm about to let you in on a secret.

I am a perfectionist. I push myself far too hard and for the last three years, I've been punishing myself. For what, I'm not sure, but I always set up goals that are too difficult for a normal. Perhaps it's because I don't like being bored. Perhaps it's because I spent the last four years (to 2011) in a degree, which meant every minute was filled and then I had a crazy amount of time that I had to find slots for. All I know is that this year, I had to change. I don't want to spend another day hurrying up and waiting - putting myself through a wringer and basically making it difficult to get on with my work. So I decided…

Revolution.

In everything I do. Absolutely everything.

I'm not going to promise to read more. I'm not going to promise to review more - I can't fit that in right now - what I need to do first is overhaul everything else first.

Revolution in exercise - I'm going to stop signing up for a gym and I'm going to use the kit we have here - that is, a Kinect and some games. It's a start, until I get back to being fit enough to road run, which I love.

Revolution in writing - no more sitting on my work. It's as easy as that.

Revolution in blogging - more, more, more.

Revolution in marketing - oh, this one is going to be fun - and this one is the huge surprise. It involves two books, and a whole new perspective on something that I consider my speciality though.

Revolution in my home - I work FROM home, but the house looks like no one cares. With two teens and two adults, I'm not entirely surprised, so part of the exercise revolution is cleaning the house. I mean *really* cleaning.

Revolution in my perspective - I'm not very open about the struggles we've dealt with this year. Multiple miscarriages, my youngest going to a specialist school, bills, and problems with the house like you wouldn't believe, hospital stays….the works. And Last year, I dwelled. I was always behind. I was *always* making excuses. My books got bumped to not only 'back burner' but back yard, next door. My stuff came last because I wanted to make sure I was serving everyone I worked with, but a heck of a lot of that was volunteering. And I love helping out, but it's just not practical to do full time. Not without my own books, and my own writing and reading coming first. It's selfish, but that's the biggest revolution. Being nice doesn't mean being everywhere and doing everything.

You might wonder, 'what's a writer doing talking in such vague terms? Why's she talking about intensely personal stuff?'

You might wonder what exercise and my house being a bit dusty and the washing pile coming up over my ears is important to anyone other than me. But the thing is, writers are dancing around trying to balance everything. And for those of us with families and houses will know exactly what I'm talking about. Revolution is a bit difficult though when you're 34, trying for a baby (and failing - I blog about that, when I'm not bawling my eyes out). But I need to do this, because I'm going to destroy myself otherwise.

The irony of this? I don't have a book out under my own name. I do lots of work for other writers, but I've not even added 'promoting my debut novel' into the mix. Revolution - that happens this year too, and I bet my life will change.

And then I thought - why isn't everyone else doing revolutions rather than resolutions? Causing an uprising in their world, big or small? Because there's really nothing stopping you.

About the Author:

Kai really is 34 (though she often feels 15), trying for a baby, and hoping this year will be an improvement on 2012. When not pressing the big detonation button on everything in her life, she can be found blogging at http://authorinterrupted.com, and starting two new blogs at http://babymakes.me (where she talks infertility and knitting baby stuff) and http://forensiclinguistics.com, where I go all geeky about language.

Her first book will be out soon, and is called Glass Block. That's a whole other (54 book) story in itself.

The views, beliefs, and opinions expressed by guest post authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views, beliefs, or opinions of Girl Who Reads.

Related articles

• Meet the Author: D. Kai Wilson-Viola (girl-who-reads.com)
• Elliot Calls an Executive cast meeting - (Fourth-Wall Friday) (cabingoddess.com)