Feature and Follow [12]: Live and In Person!

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 blogs are: Mad Hatter Reads and The Fiction Conniption
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!

This week's question is: What blogger would you most like to meet in real life? Tell us about him or her.

There's no "most" about it. I have so many new friends from venturing into this wonderful world of blogging, I tell you what, if I ran into a person in the grocery line and she mentioned she blogged, I'd be her best friend. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but bloggers are awesome people. We click, click, click away to share our passion for stories and characters, to connect with other book people, to get away from the puzzled looks on our family's faces when we're outraged over the crap ending of a book we've been waiting a year to read. We're chatty, opinionated, crafty people. Basically we rock and I'd love to hang out with any book blogger. I will say that I was so lucky to stumble onto JC's Book Haven's blog to ask Jaclyn if she'd like to review my book, Soul Walker. We've become great friends. And from there, I met other bloggers I call friends.

Jaclyn @ JC's Book Haven (now co-starring Melody whose reviews I look forward to stalking)
Rivie @ Bookshelf
Brandee @ Bookworm Brandee
Jodie @ Aussie Bookworm
Lexxie @ [un]conventional Book Views
Kaykay @ The Creative Forum
Jennifer @ Donnie Darko Girl
GoFlashGo @ Read, Rinse, Repeat
Snuggles @ Rainbows and Books

If I didn't mention you, I'm a jerk and never forgive me....Or take pity on a girl with spacing out issues.
I'd also like to note that I'm dying to add more to this post. I don't want anyone feeling left out. (can you tell I had dodgeball teams issues as a kid?)

Think Out Loud [11] Favorite Summer Recipes

Rain, rain, go away! 

Riddles aren't working, so I thought some positive thinking might do the trick. I'm going to share a couple of my favorite summer recipes in hopes the universe will freaking pay it forward...to the soggy Pacific Northwest! (totally self-serving, I know)

rob's salsa (AKA Madre's salsa and Ted's salsa from Soul Bender)

Ingredients:

2 tomatoes

1 red or white onion

2 bell peppers

1 Jalapeno (optional)

3-6 lemons depending on size

fresh cilantro

garlic salt

1. Peeling the tomatoes: Boil a pot of water and place the two tomatoes in it for a couple minutes. You'll see the peel unraveling. Take them out and let them cool.

2. Onion time: I like using red onions because they're sweeter and offer great color to the salsa. I use at least half the onion. Reds also tend to make the salsa a bit spicy. Peel, run under cold water for a quick second, then cut in chunks for the food processor. Have a big bowl handy, this turns into a big batch. I like to blend separately, but if you want to go nuts and combine everything, have at it.

3. Here we go with the color: Cut and core the bell peppers and toss them in the processor next. This is also when you add the jalapeno if you want some heat.

4. Peel (and chop if you have to) the cool tomatoes. Add them to the thoroughly rinsed cilantro into the processor. (a little cilantro goes a long way)

5. Time for the zing. I like this salsa extra tangy. I use 3 or 4 big lemons or 5 or 6 small ones. Pour the juice  (watch for seeds) into the bowl with everything else and stir. 

6. Add about a tsp of garlic salt to start with. 

Stir, taste. Add more garlic salt or lemon depending on your preference. 

This salsa is amazing with nacho cheese Doritos. It's also great with fajitas, or plain old corn chips. There is a little dish that's kind of silly, but I love it so much. You crush a bowl of corn chips, add shredded cheddar cheese, and several spoonfuls of the salsa and stir. Oh my goodness!!!

Island style marinade and sticky rice

Low Sodium Soy Sauce (also comes wheat free)

2-3 lemons

1 onion

black or ground pepper

sugar

tiny hot peppers (optional)

medium grain rice + rice cooker

1. This recipe is made by the finger smacking approach, meaning you have to dip your finger in the marinade to test whether you have the right flavor. Start with a cup of soy sauce in a container. Consider making enough you can pour half into a bowl to spoon over the meet while you're cooking and then over your meat and sticky rice once the food hits the plate. 

2. Add the freshly squeezed lemon juice. Start with 1-2 lemons. 

3. Chop (don't mince) 1/4 of the onion to start. I prefer yellow onion for this version of island style marinade. It has more tang.

4. Add a tsp of sugar and a dash of pepper. 

5. If you're brave and have gloves, break out the tiny hot peppers. Good luck with that.

TASTE...tweak here and there, more soy sauce, more lemon, more sugar. You want tang with a hint of sweetness. 

Separate the marinade so you have enough in a container for your meat, tastes amazing with beef or chicken. Let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour. Longer is better. You can either BBQ, broil in the oven, or saute in a pan. Sauteing is the only way you can use the marinade the meat soaked in, otherwise, you have to dump it and use the uncontaminated portion during the cooking process and after when preparing your plate.

Almost forgot the sticky rice. Rice cookers are so cheap and easy, I'm only a pro at making sticky rice with one. So here it is (it's so easy, I feel silly telling you). Pour however much rice you want into the cooker pot. Rinse it (not sure if this is a must, but my mom taught me this way). Level the rice by gently shaking it out, then add water. You use your finger to measure a single finger notch above the leveled rice. That's it, a single finger notch is the trick. Told you it was silly.

No rules, just what's on your mind. Join Think's awesome Think Out Loud meme!

robgirlbooks' Flash Review Marathon (part 3) Oregon Zoo

My reviews tend to go on and on with fangirl love. I thought I'd try something different. This week I plan to share speedy blogger love that spans books, movies, and even a zoo.

Oregon Zoo is 64 acres of awesomeness. We drove down from Washington to Portland, Oregon. My 4 yr old couldn't wait to see the hippos. I really wanted to catch the flamingos. My eleven year old couldn't wait to get the special car toy that accompanies road trips. We expected 72 degree weather. It was 89. Yikes! We started off with easy directions from the website and then excellent road signs directing us to the alternate lot since the main one was full. The prices are great since it's such a big zoo. Then we walked for four hours, moving from one exhibit and habitat to the next. Eagles so close I couldn't believe how big they are. Polar Bears swimming and lazying around. Turtles and sea otters. Two mountain lions (wow, those guys are HUGE). Lions, tigers, leopards. Oh, bears. We saw bears and of course hippos. Giraffes (my mom's favorite). Flamingos, much smaller than they look on TV. My favorite by far has to be the bats. Oh man, they were huge and all wrapped up and hanging there. I could have stayed there for hours. Oh, oh, we saw an anaconda. Sheesh. There was a room so hot and humid I have no idea what was in it. I walked right through without stopping. After hours of walking (and at a brisk pace) we still didn't see everything. If you can fit Oregon Zoo into a trip to the Pacific Northwest, do it.

As a little side note, I'd like to thank my friend and fellow author/blogger, Cat McHahon, for posting her video of Oregon Zoo because I caught it on Google+ and planned our trip that very weekend.

robgirlbooks' Flash Review Marathon (part 2): Epic, Iron Man 3, Blood and Chrome, The Host, and How to Train Your Dragon

My reviews tend to go on and on with fangirl love. I thought I'd try something different. This week I plan to share speedy blogger love that spans books, movies, and even a zoo.

MOVIES!!
How to Train Your Dragon (animated movie): 4.5 STARS. My 4 yr old and my 11 yr old both love the whole dragon, underdog kid, snarky sidekicks bit. I loved the wonderful blend of drama and humor. After I put the kids to bed part way through the DVD, I finished the movie alone. I had shows waiting for me, but I couldn't wait to finish this one. That's how good it is. The reason for the missing .5 star has to do with how awesome they wrote the girl in the story only to have her kiss the boy just because she's a girl and he's a boy. The movie didn't need the kissing scenes even as short as they were. The TV series Dragons: Riders of Berk is based off the movie and it's even better.


The Host (movie): 4 STARS. It's very difficult to have a character in a movie have regular back and forth conversations in her head. It took time acclimating to that part of the story. Some of the casting was off for me. Ian was spot on. The special effects were excellent, especially the way the souls looked. I found the Seekers' silver cars and clothes distracting. And a few of my favorite parts of the book that gave Wanda depth were stripped from the movie. But I'd see it again and I love the effort and I love the main characters.


Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome: 4 STARS. I am a huge fan of the modern version of Battlestar Glactica. Luckily my public library has the entire series including the BSG NBC miniseries that started it all and Razor, which was just plain hardcore. I wish Blood and Chrome took after Razor, because it needed more of an edge (oh, ho, ho, get it, edge). Still, young Adama was spot on. I loved his arrogance and dead set belief in what is right and wrong. I loved that people didn't drop at his feet like he's some prodigy god. I thought some parts were predictable, then my guesses would be wrong, not predictable at all. There was a horror movie scene involving a cave I thought was silly instead of scary. We want a battle with the toasters, not Saturday horror TV night. It's very possible I'll watch anything BSG and company come up with, but I hope for the next venture they shoot for more...something, magic maybe because to me the series was plain magical.

Iron Man 3: 5 STARS. AWESOME!!! Tony Stark is my favorite arrogant, genius, billionaire superhero. His snark is always spot on. The mystery part of the story isn't such a mystery, but how Tony overcomes certain challenges is a treat to experience. The best aspect of the story comes in the form of sidekicks. Tony can't do it alone this time and he's not very graceful about it. Oh, the other best aspect is the seamless blend of special effects and acting. Sometimes you get these huge comic turned movie blockbusters that spend all their focus on mind-bending battles, car chases, and explosions. We get all that, but we get the fantastic script too!

Epic: 4 STARS. I went with my 4 yr old, my 11 yr old, my mom, and my sister. The previews were excellent (weird to mention, but they helped turn bouncing restless boys into eager moviegoers). The movie starts off with an oddball looking man running through the forest like a crazy person. The boys loved it. The animation was brilliant, especially in terms of nature and animals. The creators put a lot of attention into the three legged dog, maybe thinking the little beast would be a comedic anchor. Same with the snail and slug, and those two were great. They made me laugh the most. Sadly, the best scenes are in the previews I caught on Youtube. The storyline had heavy moments and scary moments. At one point my oldest was on the verge of tears and another time my youngest curled into my arm because it was too scary for him...but normally the 4 yr old loves scary. I thought it was fun, sometimes scary, and thoroughly captivating. Okay, and I really wish Pitbull's character Bufo broke out in song because I love him!

robgirlbooks' Flash Review Marathon (Part 1) The Hollows book 1, Bloodlines 2 & 3

My reviews tend to go on and on with fangirl love. I thought I'd try something different. This week I plan to share speedy blogger love that spans books, movies, and even a zoo.

BOOKS!!
The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead: 4.5 STARS. Jill is dating a human boy. Awesome Eddie and what the hell Angeline continue to act as guards and high schoolers, which just gets weird sometimes. Sad Adrian is even sadder because his ex-girlfriend's lover (yeah, I said lover) is in town to figure out this whole Strigoi turned back into Moroi business. And you have Sydney who has magic in her just dying to turn her into the worst alchemist of all time! I love the faster pace and funnier banter in the second installment of the Bloodlines series. I laughed out lout and maybe got a bit teary. In the midst of revelations and a setback or two, I discovered I actually like Sydney. Finally!

The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead: 4 STARS. I know, everyone LOVES this installment of the Bloodlines series, but there were a couple things that made me talk back to the book and not in a "hey, how you doin" kind of way. The Marcus storyline and the Angeline storyline both fell flat for me. Mead seemed to let both build up and then peter out. There were times Sydney acted completely out of character or at the very least made me step out of the story to rationalize her actions in order to keep the peace. It also wasn't as funny as book 2. And yet I give it 4 STARS because Adrian and Sydney and their back and forth are just so awesome. They couldn't carry the whole book for me, not when Mead designed this series as an ensemble type deal, but still they were the entire show, that and the magic use.

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison: 4 STARS. I never thought I was the type to fall in love with a pixie, but holy goodness, Jenks is the most entertaining character I've come across in a long time. He's four inches of hostility and hotness. I know, weird. Rachel is a witch with chip on her shoulder and I respect that. Her world of friends is limited to Jenks and a vampire named Ivy. Ivy keeps tossing her thrall around. Rachel keeps alternating between terror and rapture. The world Harrison created was so elaborate and complete I had no idea what was coming and I couldn't wait to find out. The reason for the 4 STAR rating instead of top billing is the lack of romance. There's a wish-washy bit of batting eyelashes and eyeing of physiques, but that's it.

Sidekick Saturday [18] Bad Guy Turned Good! (no spoilers-promise)

Sidekick Saturday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted 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 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

Jaclyn picked a doozie for this week's Sidekick Saturday challenge. I can't read her pick or Lexxie's or Aussie Bookworm's! So here's my bad guy turned good. No spoilers-promise.

Tony Giodone from the Tales of Sazi books by C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp (now the team go by Cat Adams) is a hitman for the mob turned werewolf. He meets Sue Quentin and decides to make his life more complicated by falling in love with a complete innocent. This is a straight up paranormal romance series. Sue verges on being wussy, but there is still something about her I find compelling. Tony's POV is sometimes shocking, which I guess is the draw. The Sazi books tend to conform to a bit of old school romance storytelling, and I still love this series. Tony is a jerk. He has almost no morals. And the evolution of his character happens slowly over the entire series. He bares his teeth often, loves his shiny guns, and fights much bigger dogs because that's all he knows how to do. He makes several appearances throughout the series. I love some books more than others and next year we get a new story arc. hehe.
"I'm an assassin. A killer-for-hire. If you have the money, I'll do the job. I like puppies, kids and Christmas, but I don't give a shit about your story-or your problems." (Hunter's Moon, ch. 1)

Oh boy. My sidekicks jumped in with the same answer to this week's challenge. And they're both from my Touched Girl series. Those who have read the books know exactly who they picked, so I'll leave it at. But I will share the conversation I had with my sister.
"Shan, time for this week's sidekick challenge."
"I have a quote."
"Wait."
"No, I have a quote for this week's sidekick."
"Shannon, you don't even know the theme yet."
"Robyn, I have a damn quote."
"Okay."
.....(I guess I was supposed to write the quote down)....(I do know it's from First Grave on the Right)
"Isn't that funny?"
"Yeah, but the theme is bad guy turned good."
"Oh."

(I will update this post with the quote.)

Think Out Loud [10] Worst First Dates

I've been thinking about dating and how I do not have the best track record in this area.

High school, hot guy friend Marcello asks me to the Valentine's Day Ball. He's Italian and tall and a total player. I'm crushing hard on a different boy and we're only at the mild flirting stage, so I say yes to the dance. Enter an all day car wash, a bathing suit, and a stupid girl. My back was burned so bad it blistered all over, but my mom told me you never back out at the last minute. I went to the dance, severely pink faced and very grumpy. My first words to my amorous friend? "Touch me at all and I'll kick you in the nuts." The date was a big fat bust...totally my fault.

College, cute boy at my favorite coffee shop gets to talking to me and then asks me out. I give him my address...because really, I had no concept of reality. He knocks on my door only a few hours later. Holy goodness. He's wearing a dress. On our date. A dress he must have bought at Ross the same time I did because it looked just like mine, only without the tights. Soooo he took me to a lesbian bar. We went out several times after that, but I let him have at my closet first.

College again, neighbor with bright green hair asks me out. This one should have been obvious, but I really loved the particular green he chose, think Manga and anime. He was straight out of a Japanese comic! And I was an artist and stupid. This is him in the car after hours of revealing the Manga color was not a coincidence, "If I had to have sex with any guy it would be him." Him being his best friend whose house we just had to stop at on the way home. 

I've learned a lot since I was a kid, like not handing out my address to a total stranger. And not deciding to go out with a guy just because he chose a pretty green color to dye his hair. 

How about you, what have you been thinking about? Join Think's meme and have a chat!

A Game of Tag!

Tag! You're an Author and You're "IT"

You may know this game, but not played in quite this manner before. So, Tag an author who is now "IT”. To play this game you have to share your Work in Progress (WIP) or it's a smacked bottom and straight to bed with no supper! Kaykay at The Creative Forum tagged me, and these are the rules:

· Give credit (including URL/link) to the person or Blog that caught you and  who made you "IT" I was caught fair and square whilst running away.

· Play by the rules - no pinching, kicking, spitting, Chinese burns, crying and definitely no tantrums! Which also means you must post the rules.

· You must answer 10 questions about your current WIP, no matter the genre, because possibly we may like to get to know each other a little better (to be honest it's only 9 because as the 10th question is really only the next step)

· List 5 other authors or Bloggers with their hiding places (URL/Links) so that they can be chased down and made "IT" so we can all go home now we've finished playing. Go in, eat supper, and check out THEIR books.

Q 1) What is the title (or working title) of your book?

Shadow Town 
Q 2) What genre(s) does your book fall under (or land near really!)?

Paranormal Romance

Q 3) What actors would you choose to play the characters in the film version of your book?

I can't cast my own characters without my Beta readers describing my picks as "interesting."

Q 4) What is the main outline for your book?
Damaged, foul-mouthed nineteen year old Maggie Lane manages the weirdest estates ever. She's always been weary of the majority of the residents she calls Shadows, then Damon Charles moves in. She wants more than anything to be on the other side of her painful past and finally experience love, but not with a Shadow. Too bad because her life is about to take her back to her past to unravel the ultimate question, why? The answer will shred her world as she knows it.

Q 5) Will your book be Indie published, self published or represented by an agency and sold to a traditional publisher?

Self-published.

Q 6) How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Three weeks.

Q 7) What other books in this genre would you compare yours to?

Morganville meets Succubus Blues, then throw in a dash of the Kinsey Millhone mystery series 

Q 8) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

The character that became Maggie Lane sat on my shoulder for a while before I found the right storyline for her. My college best friend had this edge when I first met her. I was a total kid who danced around and talked to too many strangers. She said the "f" word with feeling and flipped people off like she still lived in New York (and we were in Hawaii). 

Q 9) What else about the book might pique the reader’s attention? 

There's adventure, snark, and steamy romance. 

Q 10) Thank goodness!! Phew I've ran as fast as I can and these are the author's I've caught (and any who don't have a Blog of their own are welcome to have a sleepover at mine and post their answers here)
Jennifer @ Donnie Darko Girl
E.J. Wesley @ The Open Vein
Rivie @ Bookshelf
Jennifer Anne Davis (author of The Voice)
Amber @ Book Geek Speaks

Hey, if you're a writer/aspiring writer and want to play, drop me a line and I'll tag you. No one gets excluded on my watch...on purpose.

Sidekick Saturday [17] LOYAL!!

Sidekick Saturday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted 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 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

I'm so excited about this week's challenge because I can finally cast Marshal from E.J. Wesley's Moonsongs series. A few months ago I won Blood Fugue and Witch's Nocture in a giveway. I fell in love with the novelettes and quickly bought Dark Prelude, book 3 when it came out in April. Jenny is the star of the show, but she's nothing without her best friend Marshal. He's amazing, annoying, outspoken, funny, and of course LOYAL. Jenny's life takes a dramatic turn for the bizarre in book one, and Marshal is right there by her side. Here's a tidbit of a character interview I did with Jenny and Marshal last month when I reviewed Dark Prelude (which I gave 4.5 STARS).

Marshal, if Jenny gave you carte blanche with her style, what would you change?

Marshal: *claps hands together and turns to Jenny* First is the hair—the purple faux-hawk was cool on Joan Jett in like 1984 or something.

Jenny: Hey, I thought you said it was alternative chic? And Pink’s look isn’t that far off, so don’t act like I’m the first—

Marshal: *clears throat* My question! As I was saying, ditch the hair, the cargo pants, the tacky videogame t-shirt that I totally don’t get, the—well, everything. We’d give her a shoulder length bob with angles sharp enough to cut tomatoes, a skirt to show off those long legs, and maybe something sleeveless to accentuate her shoulders.

Jenny: *glares*

Marshal: What? You have pretty shoulders. If you didn’t dress like an angry tarp, people might actually notice. When you aren’t running around the house in your underwear that is.

Jenny: See the sharp, pointy tool in my hand? That’s what I think you should notice.

I'm pretty sure without Marshal to argue with Jenny would start attacking random people in her Texas town, not with her scary tomahawk, but with that brazen mouth of hers.

Now for my own sidekicks. My wonderful mother chose Jared from Soul Walker (which I wrote). Jared is amazingly loyal. Sheesh, the guy will even damn himself seeking revenge if you get yourself murdered, he's that loyal. He might fall for your girl, but don't quit on him for that because he never quits on anyone.

Sister time. I was all prepared to give Shannon snark. I called last night so she had time to think about it, but I heard her eager voice while I talked to our mom. I knew something was up immediately. Then she hopped on the phone. "I have a pen, Shan. Go on with your Kelly Meding selection." She laughed, but I grew up with that laugh. "I choose Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley." Shit. She knows Harry Potter is book blogging gold. She knows you never get the wrong answer if you tap into that treasure chest. Sneaky. I had nothing...for all of twenty seconds. "Okay, I'm ready for your quotes." "You are such a shit, Robyn." I'm nodding, but still on the phone and laughing. I almost never contribute quotes to the posts because I'm a library girl and don't have immediate access to the books. I tell her it was a low blow going with Harry Potter. She agreed, but told me I deserved it.