Think Out Loud [13] Summer

I spent my summers in Iowa with my grandma. 

Since I was a little girl June through August meant 

Soft serve ice cream

Perfect old lady hugs

Fried Chicken and potatoes 

An ancient green rotary telephone

My Aunt Dodie's sweetheart dog 

Meandering rock roads and broken down barns

Empty pop cans in ditches we had to run out and grab

Heated games of Pitch and Cribbage

Bad TV reception and only one channel...

Days of Our Lives, the Waltons, Wimbledon 

Pool hours

Sunburns

Black clouds and awesome thunder storms

No off switch to a beloved police scanner

Porch swings

My first kiss

My first heartbreak

Rolling hills and deer signs

Glossy corn and soy bean fields

 John Deer tractors

Matted down hat hair

Cute farm boys who heard I was a "good girl"

The best hugs. 

My grandma as hard as she was because she deserved to be hard with her dad dying of the Spanish Flu when she was just a girl, then her husband walking down the basement stairs and ending it all with those mint green walls surrounding him, my grandma wasn't a sweet lady. But she always had mini-marshmallows and potato chips in her cupboards. She smelled like Halls cough drops. She was small and soft and never seemed to sleep. She refused to tell me stories about my grandpa, but she taught me to cook and sass and give the perfect stink eye. She survived my asshole phase called Fourteen Year Old Girl. I miss her like crazy. I'm going back there without her open arms to greet me. Without her small footsteps I always followed no matter how "grown up" I got. My first trip back there without her. I'll visit her stone, my grandpa's and Aunt Dodie's too. I'll listen to the wind. Tell my boys to knock it off. Gracefully take the tissue my mom knowingly hands me. I'll cry. Maybe drive by the pool and ice cream shop. I think the peonies will be blooming. She always had a thing to say about pretty flowers.

Think Out Loud is one cool meme. Share whatever you like. There are no rules, no theme, just you and what's on your mind. I'll be taking a break from posting until the end of June. I'll still stop by for a visit and comment here and there and you can always reach me by leaving a comment or emailing me.

Happy June for all of us!!

Sidekick Saturday [20] My Way or the Highway!!!

Sidekick Saturday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted here by Jaclyn at JC's Book Haven. There are many secondary characters that are as great as the primaries. In some cases, the sidekicks actually steal the show and you like them better than the heroine or hero. Maybe they didn't have enough page time for how great they were. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Choose a sidekick *or someone other than the hero or heroine* that you would like to put in the spotlight that fits in this week's type
• Share a picture (if possible) and information about the character
• Give the title and author of a book the character can be found in
• Please don't include too many spoilers when describing why the character is such a great sidekick
• Put your link in the Linky thing and comment

June 15th - Unlucky
June 22nd - Villain among Villains
June 29th - Cocky

This week's sidekick challenge is "My Way or the Highway!!" 

I immediately thought of Oliver from the Morganville series, but it's more like my way or my fangs when it comes to that old vampire. Then I thought of Gale from The Hunger Games trilogy. I always felt he had one stance and would never consider any other way of thinking/living/fighting. But I settled on a character that might have actually said those words...(The Host minor spoiler alert!) Jeb Stryder from The Host. Jeb is a craggy old man. Whatever he did in his life before Mel/Wanderer met him established the old man as the boss. If you disagree you can leave. If you disagree badly, you can leave existence. William Hurt plays Jeb in the movie version, but to me, the actor is too pretty, even as a bearded old man.

Now for my own sidekicks. My mom's first thought was Kinsey Milhone from Sue Grafton's alphabet mystery series...A is for Alibi....Granted Kinsey is a main character, but my mom is so right about her. She loves her independence. She's accepting in a nonjudgmental way, but she's discerning in a total "my way or the highway" kind of way. Then my mom thought of Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, again another main character, but mysteries and thrillers don't often have as many sidekicks as paranormal reads have. If anyone is trigger happy about walking away or pushing you away it's Lisbeth, our favorite damaged Goth, hacker, tattoo chick.

Shannon jumped right in with Jerome from Richelle Mead's Succubus Blues. Imagine a demon who looks exactly like the 80's version of John Cusack. He's the head boss of all the supernaturals in the Seattle area (he might cover more area, I just can't remember). Jerome reports directly to hell. Guess how willing he is to negotiate.

The conversation with my sidekicks (namely my sister) was light on arguments, but I did cut them off when they started naming characters from my upcoming books. We'll see if that was an effective deterrent.

Feature and Follow [13] I'm a series quitter!

This is a weekly blog meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read.

Here are the general rules to Follow Friday:
1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers - This week's feature is: Rainy Day Reads and Read.Sleep.Repeat
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!
8. If your new to the follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!
This week's question is: Have you broken up with a series? If so, which one and why?

I'm not proud at all, but I'm a quitter. And only when it comes to books and TV shows. You can win me over again, but if you piss me off like when Booth told Bones (in the Fox show, Bones) he loves her and she acted like a complete wuss and broke our hearts I quit that show so fast. I do the same thing with books. (Don't be sad if I bad-talked a beloved series of yours...please?)

I loved the first three books in the Drake Chronicles by Alexandra Harvey. Then the tone and direction completely changed. The first one remains in my reread stack because it's that fun.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick was exciting and Patch had me smitten. I couldn't wait for the next one. Sadly, the characters lost their zeal and I started saying mean things to Nora.




Evermore by Allyson Noel hit the angsty forbidden love in a big way. Oh, I loved this book. I made it through the first three and the love was still forbidden and angsty! We had a painful triangle and a best friend I hated. I couldn't pick up the next book, but the first one remains a favorite.


House of Night lost me with Chosen, book 3. I was so upset about a particular scene with a faculty member that I packed them up and gave them back to my sister. I still want to hit the book a couple more times. Grrh, I did not like that storyline at all and it wasn't needed. And it wasn't handled well. Nope.


Evernight by Claudia Grey is awesome. I loved the surprises and the developing romance between opposing sides. I thought the storytelling was fantastic. Then the second took a few detours that veered the story offtrack for my liking. 



Sookie! Oh goodness, I stopped at the hot pink book, 11 maybe? This one I might go back to despite the very mixed reviews on the final installment. So I thought I could pretend the series ended with the person I chose for our mind-reading barmaid, but delusions are tricky when you're trying to create them on purpose. I know the freaking truth!

Think Out Loud [12] Butterflies and Earthquakes

Everyday, twice a day, I wait at the same light. I almost never catch it, and I'm usually looking in my rear view mirror trying to figure out a way to keep siblings from tearing each other apart in the car. I'm usually not looking around, but today I looked around and caught sight of a butterfly. A solitary beautiful butterfly. I followed its path as the bickering in the backseat disappeared, until my eyes met with the woman's in the car next to mine. She was doing the same thing. We stared at each other in recognition. We both realized we shared this moment of silent joy. I celebrated that of course by laughing out loud. My mind instantly shifted to the last time I connected with a stranger with just one look. August 8th, 1993, Guam, weeks before leaving home for college.

My mom and I went to Safeway to buy Baileys and garlic bread. I know, weird combo. On the islands you often have to hit several different stores to complete your grocery list. I was standing in front of the wine coolers when a rumbling sound made the bottles rattle. I thought it was insane for Safeway to be moving equipment big enough to shake the concrete floors. The groaning and rumbling continued. I looked around and found a man ten feet way. Then the bottles exploded. I caught his eyes again. "We're having an earthquake," I said stupidly. A huge one. We stared at each other for another long second. The floor yanked sideways so hard the lights above were breaking. My brain took over and insisted I find my mom. So I wandered the isles of booze looking for her. I have no idea how I remained on my feet other than the explanation why drunks rarely are hurt in accidents. I was in such a shocked state I was completely relaxed.

Then I found her. She slipped right in front of me surrounded by broken liquor bottles and wearing the same thing I was wearing, a sundress and flipflops (we call them zories on Guam). "You have to get up, Mom." "I can't!" She was sliding around in the booze. Then I saw her toe bleeding. "You can't be in that glass, Mom." "Robyn!" She was trying to snap me out of it. "No, mom." I bent down, and with my hands secured under her arms, I picked her up like she weighed nothing until her eyes looked down on me and her feet dangled above the shards. I couldn't let her be hurt again. "Put me down! We have to take cover. The windows are going to break!" I looked at the wall of windows. "No, I can't let you get cut again." "ROBYN!" That did it. I set her down. She grabbed my arm and we used a grocery cart to guide us to a checker stand where we folded ourselves in the small space the checker person stands when she rings up your order. The ceiling was coming down. Glass was exploding left and right and I had unknowingly strained all my muscles fitting myself into that tiny space with my mom, and maybe lifting a grown woman above my head.

The earthquake registered at 8.2 for over a minute. I shook for hours after. I still remember that moment with the man when the bottles exploded in front of us. A stranger experiencing the biggest shock of his life at the same time I was. I had no idea Guam sat on an insane fault line. Eighteen years of small and medium earthquakes that were just kind of cool, then this. And I shared that moment of awe and terror with this guy.

Think Out Loud is a meme like no other. Whatever is on your mind, big or small or in picture form, join us, share.

Ghosts of War, Demons of Right Now: robgirlbooks' Review of Another Man's Moccasins by Craig Johnson

Another Man's Moccasins (Walt Longmire # 4)
by Craig Johnson
Published by Penguin Press (5/26/09)
336 pages
Borrowed from the Library
5 STARS!!!

Walt Longmire is sheriff of Wyoming's Absaroka County. It's an election year, but it's always an election year for a sheriff. Demons come back to haunt Walt when a Vietnamese woman is found dead, a body drop, which means he's got himself a cold case from the start. With flashbacks from his days in the Vietnam War and a confounding mystery on his hands, the only thing left to knock him flat on his butt is a befuddling and fumbling romance.

This is my favorite Walt Longmire book yet. I've never read a story with war flashbacks before and I loved the way Johnson wrote those scenes. I've seen so many Vietnam War movies, I don't know why. And I felt like I was sweating right there along side Walt. The best aspect of the flashbacks is that they were a surprising glint into Walt's inner workings. We've seen glimpses of his temper. We've seen moments of a cold heart when the crime called for it. But we've never seen a dumb, hardheaded, short tempered Walt. I loved it! And they really didn't add to the mystery by way of answering any questions. The mystery itself pissed me off. I couldn't guess. Oh, I was suspicious, but I was just as dazed as Walt. Johnson is that good! I will say that there wasn't as much humor in this one as the previous books. I think because the self-reflections took him straight to a war time memory. One of my favorite things about Walt is his take on the world. We didn't get that as much because his take was turned upside down with the dead girl uprooting too many memories. And still I loved this book so much. I'll read it again. I wish I owned it.

Sidekick Saturday [19] Comedic Relief!!

Sidekick Saturday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted here by Jaclyn at JC's Book Haven. There are many secondary characters that are as great as the primaries. In some cases, the sidekicks actually steal the show and you like them better than the heroine or hero. Maybe they didn't have enough page time for how great they were. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Choose a sidekick *or someone other than the hero or heroine* that you would like to put in the spotlight that fits in this week's type
• Share a picture (if possible) and information about the character
• Give the title and author of a book the character can be found in
• Please don't include too many spoilers when describing why the character is such a great sidekick
• Put your link in the Linky thing and comment

June 8th - My way or the highway
June 15th - Unlucky
June 22nd - Villain among Villains
June 29th - Cocky

This week's challenge is COMEDIC RELIEF!!!

I had Shane Collins from Rachel Caine's Morganville series all picked out, but then I went through my sidekick posts. Yikes! I have given this series a whole lot of love. There is a sidekick I just discovered...Jenks from Kim Harrison's The Hollows. I have a feeling he's going to be chosen over and over for whatever I can make work. He's a four inch hostile pixie. He's awesome. He's mean. He's the most loyal guy/creature/friend you could have. And boy does he have an attitude. I recently finished book 1, which means my quotes are limited. There was this scene with honey that was so funny. Jenks went nuts over it. Then he got drunk after flittering in and out, stealing pixie handfuls of the stuff. A drunk pissy pixie. Ha! He's also total eye-candy (mini-eye candy) and has a trough full of kids. Oh, if I were to cast an actor for this, I think it would be hilarious to see Ryan Gosling in flamboyant clothes with a fiery attitude. (I confess to casting Ryan often.)

“You think my kids just popped out of the ground?”
― Kim Harrison, Dead Witch Walking

Sadly, I did not get to go to lunch with my own sidekicks so we could chat about our picks. My youngest came down with the stomach flu. My sister did call and quickly tell me she chooses Cookie form First Grave on the Right. She said Cookie is even funnier in book 2. I guess Cookie is the opposite of cool under pressure. When the chips are down, expect Cookie to knock over a plant, reveal whatever big secret she's supposed to keep, and I'm not sure what else since I haven't read the series...yet. It's on the TBR list. My mom is still chewing on this one, or she forgot because the sun is finally out in Tacoma, Washington and she's in the garden. I'm sneaking computer time while the little one naps.

Small amendment: My mom chose Betsy from my Touched Girl series. Then my sister piped in with her suggestion from my books and I said back through the phone to my mom, "Too late!" See, Shan keeps adding to her picks. Then my mom started suggesting characters from future release books that I haven't published yet! So my sidekicks have lost their way a bit.