Sunday Post #152

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It's a chance to share news ~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share new about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm tired.

After I posted last weeks Sunday Post I got a call from the nursing home my father's in. He fell and hit his head. They were sending him to the hospital to look at to see if need stitches. I rushed to get ready and met him at the hospital, he can't talk so I relay and help as I can. We were there all day. He ended up with two staples in his head and glue on his ear. Ugh. He seems to be doing well since then though.

I got Sheba's new antibiotic and she had a check up on Tuesday. She seems to be doing better, but she'll be on this antibiotic for a while to get through this skin infection. And thankfully she's not had a reaction to the antibiotic, she's allergic to amoxicillin and it's an ingredient in what she's taking.

I've visited the funeral home for the second Friday in a row. Family of family are passing away. There are just to many people leaving this world here at the end of 2016.

My Christmas tree... Is done! I finished it yesterday. I got out all that's going up for the holiday. I usually do more, but the energy and spirit for the holiday feels to be on the low side this year. It just doesn't feel like the holidays to me.

So, here's the story. Monday I put the lights on it, hoping to put bulbs on each day to get it finished. Well, the last strand of lights cause all the lights to go out. The plug was HOT. Swell. So we had to wait until Friday to get to the store to buy new lights. Yea. The lights we bought were white. The lights on the tree are white... a yellow ting of what use to be white, I didn't realize this until we got home with two boxes of the white led lights (because that's all anyone carries now). Ugh! I added one box to the bottom of the tree was very upset with it. I didn't like the completely different contrast. I needed something to break it up. So I used the second box and wrapped it around the tree to try to bring the two different lights together. I think it worked out rather well. The white lights remind me of a snow touch to the tree.

I thought about buying all white led lights for next year, but I really don't think I can look at all those bright white lights on the tree. This is just enough. But if it's going to be harder to find the yellow lights, I'm going to have to rethink my tree decorating in the future.

My work Christmas dinner was Saturday evening as well. It was lovely as always.

I have a list of things to get done for Christmas this weekend coming and personal items. I need to clean out my Dropbox as my special of having so much space is ending, I have emails to send out asking authors to join Mythical Monday (if you know of any please send them my way!), and other things I know I can't remember at the moment.

So it's been a bit busy around here, and more to do. Has your holiday season picked up as well?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Fit Booker:

Goal:  Workout in any form of exercise (or on Wii Fit) 2x's a week. (to feel better and hope to drop a few pants sizes)

How did I do last week... I got to the gym twice this last week (a miracle with this season!). I worked on lift machines.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What's Happening in Books:

Current Read:

Emergence: Humanity 2.0 edited by J.M. Martin
The Side of Good / The Side of Evil edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail

Content editing work.


Current Audiobook:
H.A.L.F.: The Makers by Natalie Wright

Current Podcast Book Listen:
Stonebriar Casefiles: Bad Alchemy by Laura Nicole Spencer (You can listen for free too!)

Finished Last Week: 

Nothing yet

Audiobooks from Audible:

Codename: Night Witch by Cary Caffrey
Riven by Sherry D. Ficklin & Tyler Jolley

Finished Podcast Book Listen:

Nothing yet.

~~~~~~~~~~

Last Week on the Blog:

Cover Reveals: (click titles to go to post & learn more)

Guest Posts:

Posts:

Spellbound in a Flash:
This week I didn't post with working on writing. Sorry!


Challenged Writers:
I shared my November NaNoWriMo update.

Around the Internet...


Reviews:

The Wind and the Void by Ryan Kirk

"Ryan's written words are smooth as they flow to create the fantasy realm full of worries. I was drawn to the blend of his writing and Andrew's seamless flow of words, envisioning the world and troubles that are on the horizon."


Under Her Skin by Margo Bond Collins

"Margo draws my attention in her blend of romance and story along with keeping the characters on track for what they are working toward."

The Secrets of Supervillainy by C.T. Phipps

"Oh the humor! I love all the one liners that reference so many different geeky items."

Podcast Review:

Mama Bitchstress Reviews:

GIVEAWAYS:

Dark Faerie Giveaway!

~~~~~~~~~~

This Week to Come on the Blog:

I have two reviews scheduled for you!
I have a giveaway hop coming up with two amazing audiobooks!

~~~~~~~~~~

Received Last Weeks:

For Review Consideration:

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
A space adventure set on a lone ship where the murdered crew are resurrected through cloning to discover who their killer was -- and the secret to their mission. 

It was not common to awaken in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood. 

At least, Marie Shea iv had never experienced it. She had no memory of how she died. That was also new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died, from illness once and from injury once... 

Maria's vat was in the front of six vats, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Pituitary, each clone waiting for its previous incarnation to die so it could awaken. Apparently Maria wasn't the only one to die recently.

Lost Girls by Merrie Destefano
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
Yesterday, Rachel went to sleep listening to Taylor Swift, curled up in her grammy’s quilt, worrying about geometry. Today, she woke up in a ditch, bloodied, bruised, and missing a year of her life. 

She doesn’t recognize the person she’s become: she’s popular. She wears nothing but black. 

Black to cover the blood. 

And she can fight. 

Tell no one.

She’s not the only girl to go missing within the last year…but she’s the only girl to come back. She desperately wants to unravel what happened to her, to try and recover the rest of the Lost Girls. 

But the more she discovers, the more her memories return. And as much as her new life scares her, it calls to her. Seductively. The good girl gone bad, sex, drugs, and raves, and something darker…something she still craves—the rush of the fight, the thrill of the win—something she can’t resist, that might still get her killed…

The only rule is: There are no rules.

Blue Blooded by Amanda Carlson
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
Jessica McClain is on the hunt for her destiny. She arrives in Baltimore to find that her quest has reached a dead end and only a note remains. Forced to do as it says, or die, Jessica and her crew must head overseas.

They arrive to discover Julian de Rossi, the Mediterranean Pack Alpha, is double dealing with a powerful goddess and Tally is still missing. With help from a divine source, they engage in an all out war—one that must end in a sacrifice. But is Jessica ready to pay the ultimate price?


Audio Books Requested for Review:

The Beast of the North by Alaric Longward
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
In this medieval dark fantasy action novel we follow thieves Maskan and Sand in their quest to survive the wrath of a king. The Nine Worlds have been sundered from each other and the gods during the goddess Hel’s War thousands of years ago, but in the land of Midgard the years have passed relatively peacefully. 

For Red Midgard, times are changing, however. The harsh, freedom-loving northern land faces the animosity of the mighty High King, but also a threat of war with its few allies, as King Morag is rumored to look for any reason to go to war with his allies. Maskan and Sand, thieves of Dagnar, discover a web of conspiracies to topple the king before it is too late, and soon, they have a good reason to tie their fates with those who would fight the king. 

But not all is as it seems, and layers of truths and lies make the road dark and dangerous. Our heroes must navigate very murky waters of betrayal, elemental magic, love, and loyalty to save their land and to find revenge. 



Purchased/Winnings/Gifts:

Book:

Audio:

Free Ebooks:

(On my Kindle and Nook App) Links to books under title. They may or may not be free at this time.

Children of the Different by S.C. Flynn
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
Nineteen years ago, a brain disease known as the Great Madness killed most of the world’s population. The survivors all had something different about their minds. Now, at the start of adolescence, their children enter a trance-like state known as the Changeland and emerge either with special mental powers or as cannibalistic Ferals. 

In the great forest of South West Western Australia, thirteen-year-old Arika and her twin brother Narrah go through the Changeland. They encounter an enemy known as the Anteater who feeds on human life. He exists both in the Changeland and in the outside world, and he wants the twins dead. 

After their Changings, the twins have powers that let them fight their enemy and face their destiny on a long journey to an abandoned American military base on the north-west coast of Australia…if they can reach it before time runs out. 

Children of the Different is a post-apocalyptic fantasy novel set among the varied landscapes and wildlife of Western Australia. 

The Harvesting by Melanie Karsak
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
It's all fun and games until someone ends up undead.

Layla Petrovich has spent her whole life running away from her hometown of Hamletville. Raised by the town's medium, and dubbed the "weird" girl for her fascination with swords, the last thing Layla wants is to go home.

But when she receives a desperate call to return just as a mysterious outbreak sweeps the country, Layla's instincts urge her to go. Good thing, because the dead are rising.

Layla, however, isn't entirely on her own. With her psychic powers growing, surely everything will turn out okay, right?

Not so fast. Just when Layla believes she might survive the apocalypse, a sinister and ancient force rises from the shadows to finish mankind for good.

Because the truth is, we were never alone in this world.

Over the Wine-Dark Sea by H.N. Turteltaub
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
Menedemos, the young dashing sea captain, and his helper, the scholarly Sostratos, are sea-traders from the Greek island of Rhodes. Fearless sailors, they will travel any distance to make a profit or to search for rich treasures.


While they trade in fineries such as wine and silk (and even, to the chagrin of many, peacocks), they live in dangerous times with pirates, thieves and barbarians. As if avoiding death by the hands of these miscreants isn’t enough (particularly the barbarians from an obscure town called Rome), they are also caught between the political intrigues of Alexander’s former generals.

Firefly by Jen Minkman
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
As decreed by the State, the Citizens of Ebrus are not allowed to:

Visit the ocean surrounding the Walled City. 
Ignore curfew and stay out after seven.
Call in sick more than three times a year.
Sing.

A short, dystopian story about the spirit of Christmas.

Oracle: The Project Files by Kelly Meding
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
Dr. Dean Frey is a man of science. His lifelong desire to create a better future for mankind has led him to the prestigious, and highly mysterious, Wilderness Institute of Scientific Research & Technology, as the head of their Robotics Engineering department. Building on the research and designs of others before him, Dean’s own genius culminates in the successful creation of Anthony—the first fully-automated, free-thinking android prototype. And now Wilderness wants to sell Anthony to the military. 

Unwilling to allow his achievement to become weaponized, Dean reaches out to a former Wilderness employee with the resources to help him steal Anthony and relocate them both to safety. He’s put into contact with the very secretive Nick and Olivia, who ask for one simple thing in return: trust us, no matter what you see or hear. Blind trust isn’t in Dean’s cautious nature, but he has no other choice. 

For telekinetic Olivia, rescuing a fellow Psion from a life of imprisonment and experimentation is one of her favorite things. Being paid is nice, but she’ll do the job for free, if it means giving Wilderness the finger. When Olivia’s reclusive mentor solicits her and her telepathic partner Nick’s help in smuggling a very special Project out of Wilderness, they jump at the chance to infiltrate their former home and do some internal damage to the institute that created them.

With their combined knowledge of the facility, breaking Anthony out of Wilderness should have been easy—but Olivia learned a long time ago to never underestimate her enemies, or the lengths they’ll go to retrieve what’s theirs. And this time, the price for stealing the Project may be more than she’s willing to pay.

Note: Part 1 of The Project Files duology. This book does not end with a cliffhanger.

Playing with Fire by Sherry D. Ficklin
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
One brilliant young hacker.
One experimental government aircraft.
One chance to keep it all from going up in flames.

Still recovering from her troubled past, Farris is no stranger to change. But when the military transfers her father across the country to an experimental aircraft squadron, settling in to a new life is the least of her problems. As a series of apparent computer glitches threaten the security of the fleet and the blame falls on her father, she decides to put her computer skills to use digging up the truth. Soon she’s drawn into the perilous world of a hacker who is determined to ground the fleet—at any cost.

When all signs lead to someone close to her as the mastermind, Farris will have to burn more than bridges to get to the truth. She will have to risk her fragile new life to uncover the identity of the cyber criminal before they can escalate from harmless tampering… to all out murder.

Meridian Six by Jaye Wells
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
Meridian Six remembers the days before the Troika enslaved humans. She also remembers her mother, a freedom fighter murdered in the final battle between humans and vampires. But it is her mother's final words that have haunted her: 

Red means life.

In the years since her mother's death, she has been used as both a propaganda tool and a blood slave by the Troika. She's withstood their indignities because the alternative meant bleeding out in a blood camp. But their abuses finally go too far, and she decides to run towards freedom and her mother's red light.

On the other side, she finds the Sisters of Crimson. They help her just as her mother promised, but they also hand her to the human rebels. The vampires used her famous name to keep human slaves biddable, but now the humans want to use it inspire a revolution.

When the world is at war, freedom is a luxury paid for with blood.

Perception by Lee Strauss
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
Eternal Life is To Die For.

Seventeen year old Zoe Vanderveen is a GAP—a genetically altered person. She lives in the security of a walled city on prime water-front property along-side other equally beautiful people with extended life spans.

Her brother Liam is missing.

Noah Brody is a natural who lives on the outside. He leads protests against the GAPs and detests the widening chasm they’ve created between those who have and those who don’t. He doesn’t like girls like Zoe and he has good reason not to like her specifically.

Zoe’s carefree life takes a traumatic turn. She’s in trouble and it turns out that Noah, the last guy on earth she should trust, is the only one who can help her.

PERCEPTION is a (SF/mystery/romance) Young Adult novel that takes place in the not-too-distant future in a world changed by climate extremes, natural disasters and impending wars, and where scientific breakthroughs cause class divisions—both financially and philosophically. It explores the clash between faith and science and how differences can separate us as enemies or ally us together. And in some cases, even in the midst of betrayal and personal crisis, there’s room to fall in love.

Must Love Mistletoe by Christie Ridgway
PICK UP AT AMAZON
Goodreads Synopsis:
Bailey Sullivan can't stand Christmas, even though her family's business is a store specializing in the perfect holiday. But now her hometown's chief supplier of rooftop Rudolphs and treetop angels is in danger of going under--and it's up to Bailey to save the shop.

She has it all planned: She'll arrive on December 1 and be gone by Christmas. Plus there's always spiked eggnog to ease the pain. But "Humbug" Bailey's not the only one home for the holidays. Finn Jacobson, legendary local bad boy turned Secret Service agent and Bailey's long-lost high-school boyfriend, is once again the boy next door. Only this time he's all grown up, and the sparks are flying faster and hotter than ever!

Bailey believes in true love about as much as she believes in Santa Claus. But as the holiday draws closer, she's starting to think about one thing she'd like to find under the tree... 


Free Audio Books/Stories:

~~~~~~~~~~

Reviews to Come:

Soulless by Skyla Dawn Cameron

The Sentinel by Chris Lester

The Muse by Chris Lester
Metamor City: Making the Cut by Chris Lester
Metamor City: Whispers in the Wood by Chris Lester

Lex Talionis by Starla Huchton

Spark by Starla Huchton
Heir to Kale by K.L. Bone

Tales from the Archives Vol 4 #5 - Old Sinner's Bones

The Death of Dulgath by Michael J. Sullivan

Codename: Night Witch by Cary Caffrey

Riven by Sherry D. Ficklin & Tyler Jolley