Sidekick Showcase [42] New Year's Resolutoin

Sidekick Showcase, previously known as 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! I will post my Sidekicks on Saturday, then whichever day during the week that you would like to post yours, you can put your link in on my page. 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 fit's in the week's topic

• Share a picture (if you can) 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

• The day of your post, put your link in below and grab the code for your post so you can see the others that post theirs throughout the week as well

For the rest of January we're choosing side characters who could use a New Year's Resolution or two! My first thought went to Adrian from Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy and Bloodlines world. There's the drinking and partying and flippant attitude. But I love him that way and I love his journey to better and worse times. So my real pick is someone I cannot stand. He had potential for a minute, but then I wanted him to be my best friend's boyfriend just so I could kick his ass. Nick from Kim Harrison's The Hollows (books 1&2 because I'm behind on the series, but I hear he just gets less likeable) needs some serious resolutions starting with staying away from demons and artifacts and ancient books and magic and curiosity and his own spineless personality. Basically he needs a personality overhaul, but a few resolutions might make him more tolerable and less ass kickable. Okay, so when I picture Nick I see him as a younger Sean Penn. I have no idea how Harrison actually describes him, but to me he's not straight up lickable, but he's still pretty appealing.

“The demon's eyes flicked to mine, his smile widening. "This is Nicholas Gregory Sparagmos's room," he said, and my breath caught. "Delightful, just delightful! What are you doing in Nicky's room, Rachel? Ooooh, he summoned you to the West Coast, didn't he? Did you kill him? Good for you for taking care of that little problem! I should give you a bunny. Where is he? Stuffed in a closet?" ~ Algaliarept, Black Magic Sanction, Kim Harrison”
― Kim Harrison

Georges Biard [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Think Out Loud [39] Name Calling, Terms of Endearment, & Other Bad Behavior

This week a twenty-something woman called me sweetie on the phone. There are times when terms of endearment are sweet, and times when they are laser beams into a person's skull. Guess which one I experienced. It got me thinking back on times when a few words, and one time one simple word, sent me spiraling into a total fit. 

Years ago on an exercise walk in my old neighborhood I crossed paths with a woman walking her dog. She took issue with me being on the same sidewalk and moved across the street. A minute later, a pit bull with no owner and no collar rounded the corner. I casually stepped into the street as if I didn't care the dog was only a block and a half ahead. Halfway to the other sidewalk, the woman with the dog yelled, "Lady, do not come over here!" Oh, did that piss me off. I can't remember exactly what I said, but it amounted to "Sure, I'll be a chew toy so you and your dog can get to safety." A second after my rant I looked back at her sour face and yelled, "And don't call me lady!"

Again, years ago when I was very pregnant with my oldest, a massive truck backed out of a driveway right in front of my car. I had to screech to a stop, so of course, I honked, but this time it wasn't to get pissy, it was to tell the driver his reverse lights were out. 

"Hey, your reverse-"

"Shut the F up, you F-ing C-word." 

"But your lights-"

He flipped me off.

I blame the hormones and the fact that the C-word is the worst thing to call a person, but I had to pull over because the asshole hurt my feelings. I looked at his crappy tan house, "Your house sucks and you're mean and you're going to a special hell for calling a pregnant woman the C-word." He was long gone, but I felt a little better.

My sister was teasing me (not unusual) and called me a lazy slut. 

"I am not lazy! You're a lazy slut."

"Sloth, Robyn."

"Oh. Still."

"You're okay with being called a slut." I shrugged. So slut was totally okay with me, but lazy got me riled.

How about you all? Do you have seemingly harmless trigger words? Have you been insulted and had no response until the person was long gone? 

Think Out Loud is an "anything you want to post" meme. Join us. We're cool people.

YA with a New Adult edge to it! robgirlbooks' review of Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

5 STARS! Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller stole my attention from the start with a character so full of flaws and beauty I just had to spend more time with her. Callie sees her world through a veil of jaded innocence. On one end, she's experienced terrible trauma due to a transient life with her mother, leaving her outlook on life a kind of loveless jagged knife. On the other end, she remains a loyal daughter to the one person in her life who should have kept her safe. And you glean all this in the first couple pages. I read this book at breakneck speed because after a tangle with the cops, Callie is rescued from her kidnapping mother and returned to her loving father. Now that she's living the life she always should have had, can she learn how to really live?

I loved traipsing through Callie's gritty world of pain and hope. She never had hope before, but slowly glimmers of possibility are revealed to her and her first reaction is always so pure, but it's her second and third reactions that get her into trouble. She's part exhilaration, part terror. She's lived eons in her seventeen years, and yet sometimes she's such a child. The family her mother forced her to leave behind is plain awesome. The town she returns to is plain cool. I want to go there, be adopted (sorry mom), and find myself a hot diver. Doesn't have to be Alex. Just because he's so beautiful, women of all walks of life stop and drool, so what, right? 

If you're looking for an emotional YA contemporary with an edge to it, give Where the Stars Still Shine a try. I have to push Doller's other book too because I still think about Something Like Normal. Both books have flawed characters that draw you in. They both pull at your heartstrings and show regular folk in hard situations. They're both sexy and raw. I only wish Doller already had a long list of books waiting for me to fall in love with because I'm sure I would.

Sidekick Showcase [41] Party Animal!!

Sidekick Showcase, previously known as 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! I will post my Sidekicks on Saturday, then whichever day during the week that you would like to post yours, you can put your link in on my page. 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 fit's in the week's topic

• Share a picture (if you can) 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

• The day of your post, put your link in below and grab the code for your post so you can see the others that post theirs throughout the week as well

This week's challenge is Party Animal. I wandered through my books on Goodreads until one person/neurotic vampire came to mind. Peter from Richelle Mead's Succubus books was turned at 40, so he's always going to have a receding hair line, wrinkles, and the body he had his last breath. And he is not cool with that. So combine all that with a male vampire version of Martha Stuart. Peter loves to throw parties. He lives (er, sort of) for special occasions. The holidays turn him into a hot mess! I wish so bad Mead would do a spin off of this series. I want more Carter, Roman, and the vamp boys Peter and Cody. 

"I ended up being only about fifteen minutes late for my friend Peter’s shindig. He answered his door before I could even knock. Taking in his billowing white hat and Kiss the Cook apron, I said, “I’m sorry. No one told me Iron Chef was being filmed here tonight.” “You’re late,” he chided, waving a wooden spoon in the air."

Mead, Richelle (2010-04-29). Succubus Blues (Georgina Kincaid) (Kindle Locations 4824-4827). Kensington Publishing Corp. Kindle Edition. 

"There had always been an unspoken mystery between Peter and me concerning which of us was the oldest of the mortals-turned-immortals in our little circle. Neither of us would openly admit our age, so we’d never really determined who had the most centuries. One night, after a bottle of tequila, we’d started playing a “Do you remember when…” sort of game. We’d only gotten back as far as the Industrial Revolution before passing out."

Mead, Richelle (2010-04-29). Succubus Blues (Georgina Kincaid) (Kindle Locations 662-665). Kensington Publishing Corp. Kindle Edition. 

Think Out Loud [38] Movie Disasters!

This is my first TOL of the year, and I was going to write about altruism and how I've been a total slacker about giving my time. But...that's not fun at all! Thankfully my sister and I fell into the past a few hours ago and started talking about bad movie choices. She took my mom to see Scream. My mom leaned over after the bloody opener, "I don't think I'm going to make it through the movie." My mom is not a horror movie girl. Just having World War Z under her roof (because I got it for Christmas) is unsettling for her. I laughed at my sister, maybe pointed my finger at her, but then I remembered a few of my movie faux pas. 

I was ten years old and a total movie nut. Luckily on Guam, one ticket bought you a double feature. So my sister and I went to see Beverly Hills Cop and some other movie. The other movie was totally wholesome, no nudity, no swearing, and very little violence. That's exactly how I worded it to my bigwig CPA stepfather who then took his clients to see ... Beverly Hills Cop because I mixed up the movie titles. Thankfully the shocked and appalled clients were racist, otherwise I might have felt bad. 

I was in second fourth grade (flunked first fourth grade due to my accident and dyslexia and possibly my bad attitude). My teacher who rocked even though her punishments were straight out of the Middle Ages took us on a field trip to see Red Sonja. I know, crazy! Anyways, I loved the movie so much. How could I not? First, I was at the movies and not stuck in class where no doubt I would spend at least one period on my knees holding up a bible on each hand. Second, Red Sonja had a sword. Enough said. So I told my dad how awesome the movie was. I mean I gushed about it. Did my dad hurry on over and bring the entire family with him? Yes, he did. Not a year has gone by where my dad forgets to ask me in a mocking tone if I have any movie recommendations for him.

I was nineteen and in college. My dad visited me in Hawaii. If you know me, then you know I was a pretty innocent kid. So when I saw a preview for Threesome, I really thought it was about three friends having fun. Wrong kind of fun!! Ugh. So, yes. I took my dad to see Threesome. Enough said other than to mention my dad leaned over after the movie, "Robyn, it's not really like that in college, is it?" I had no words. 

I plan to post more movie reviews this year. You are forewarned. If you haven't given this meme a shot, get on with it already. You'll be hooked. 

When life's kicking your butt, how about a theme song?

I'm making a few changes in my life this year. Oh, I have no idea what these changes will be, but like a storm taking its sweet time to rage and thrash, a shakeup is coming. So it only makes sense I have a theme song. Think Ally McBeal and her dancing baby song (hooked on a feeling). The right song can really hit the spot. So I'm throwing out this challenge, monthly. Pick a theme song and then when you need a boost, or need a specific motivator, maybe a certain song inspires you to tackle your most dreaded chore like balancing your checkbook, choose that one. Maybe you're down and there's a song that always makes you smile, there you go. For January, I'm going for boost, smiles, dancing, fun. I need of that right now.

My pick is Best Day of My Life by American Authors. Gotta warn you, I love this song so much, it might remain my song for the whole year, but I'll pick new ones to add to the playlist. 

I posed this challenge to my mom and sister. My sister chose Pompeii by Bastille. My mom went with an old favorite, Mr. Jones by Counting Crows. 

Happy New Year, my awesome bloggers. I love you guys. How could I not?

Tiny little update here...I decided to create a youtube channel so I could create a playlist of everyone's picks each month. You can find January's playlist here.

Sidekick Showcase [40] Mrs. Claus

Sidekick Showcase, previously known as 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! I will post my Sidekicks on Saturday, then whichever day during the week that you would like to post yours, you can put your link in on my page. 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 fit's in the week's topic

• Share a picture (if you can) 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

• The day of your post, put your link in below and grab the code for your post so you can see the others that post theirs throughout the week as well

It's only fitting I salute an awesome female character for my last Sidekick Showcase of 2013. Mrs. Claus puts up with a lot and always has a hug or smile waiting for you (at least when I picture her). There is one character I can imagine being the woman standing by her man with wit, steel, and a core of sweetness, Eve Rosser from Rachel Caine's Morganville series. I know it might seem like a stretch because Eve is mega Goth and makes silver-tipped stakes in her free time and then goes on to stake vamps at any time, but underneath the cake of white face power and shiny leather thigh high boots is a sweetheart. I imagine her going all out at Christmas time and making everyone in the Glass House play along. If Michael thought he could get away with unwrapped half-ass presents, she'd correct his thinking on the spot. If Claire got depressed because she missed her parents during the holidays, Eve would take her out for some much needed shopping and fried food. If Shane stopped talking and stopped playing his games because he missed his sister, Eve would hug him and insult him at the same time, the perfect combo to cheer up that messed up boy. Eve is the go-to girl. Sometimes she gets weepy, but Mrs. Claus probably gets emotional all the time.

Happy New Year my awesome bloggers. You're cool people.

“Hey, Mikey? You get her hurt and I'll end you."
"You let anything happen to Eve and I'll do the same," Michael said. He'd just finished kissing Eve, too. "While you're at it, don't get yourself killed, either, bro."
"Ditto. And don't kiss me."
Claire cocked her head at him, exasperated. "Seriously, Shane? Ditto? That's the best you can do?"
Shane and Michael exchanged identical looks and shrugs. Guys.
"Let me show you idiots how it's done," Eve said, and hugged Claire fiercely. She kissed her on the cheek. "I love you, CB. Please take care of yourself, okay?"
"I love you, too," Claire said, and suddenly her throat felt tight and her eyes burned with tears. "I really do."
Shane and Michael watched them with identical expressions of blank bemusement, and finally Shane said, "So basically, it's what I said. Ditto.”
― Rachel Caine, Ghost Town

Think Out Loud [37] Bratty presents still count!

Do you all remember when I went to the romance writers' conference a couple months back? While I was there I snagged a pink nightshirt that said, "Cade slept here" in cursive on the front and "Trevor slept here" on the back compliments of super awesome author Lainey Reese who wrote the hot and steamy novel A Table for Three. The moment I saw the nightshirt I knew what I was going to do with it...put it in my mom's stocking for Christmas. As far as bratty moments go, it was my favorite in ages. Do not feel bad for her because this is the woman who stood next to 14 year old me in the Sydney airport after our bags were lost and the guy asked me if there was anything easily identifiable and do you know what she said out loud for everyone to hear? "Robyn, did you pack your vibrator?" I wasn't prim and proper even then because I have the table manners of a prison inmate, but I was an extremely innocent 14 year old! Just the word vibrator melted my face! So you see, I'm a brat for a reason. Have a great last week of 2013 everyone!

p.s. After shrugging off the shock of the shirt she told me maybe it will be a good omen. I almost took it back!

Merry Christmas!!

My mom used to put this picture up every year after Thanksgiving. I played an angel in the school play when I was in first or second grade. As the years went by she started putting it up before Halloween thinking she was so clever. You know, since I'm no angel, what a great costume. So here's six year old me wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas. I'm a lucky girl to be part of the blogging community and to call you all my friends. Oh, and if this picture doesn't scream cute holiday wishes to you, my five year old is in perfect agreement. He chose the cat below saying, "This is the cute picture."

Merry Christmas!!