Book Bundles! Get Your Books!

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The End is Nigh

Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic Giveaway

Short Stories, Novellas, Novels And Samples. Brought To You By Craig A. McDonough, Author Of  “Toward The Brink” Series And Instafreebie.

Featuring Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams – Teenager MC takes on the mighty powers of the government but is sidetracked by challenges of the training  academy, the new boy, and her secrets.

Coming Soon! Historical Fiction bundle August 10th to August 20th

We have assembled a listing of free novellas, novels, and book previews covering the Historical Fiction genre. Click on the images to download the book from InstaFreebie. Happy Reading!

Happy 2 years Daddy’s Donuts!

by in Local Eats, Local Events, Rachel Barnard

Happy 2 year birthday to Daddy’s Donuts – our local Kenmore donut shop for fresh cake mini-donuts!

See my review of Daddy’s Donuts here.

Here are some photos of their party and the donut eating contest. I ate 9 mini-donuts (the same size they serve in a regular order) in less than 1 minute to beat out the competition.

 

Seattle Specific Saturdays: Local Fitness Club Review – Koko Fitness

by in Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , ,

Pros:

As a newbie to weight lifting and those infernal machines where you change the weight and hook up different attachments, having the workout planned out in advance for me was wonderful and made me a lot less nervous to step into the gym.

The workouts are timed.

The workouts can be personalized depending on what you are looking to get out of your workout.

Every time I went I didn’t feel crowded.

There is a helpful employee there during staffed hours.

Easy parking

Central Woodinville location

You can try this gym out

The equipment is new and clean and the building is clean as well.

Data is readily available for all your workout sessions – you get a historical view of what you’ve accomplished!

For example – look at what I did during my trial:

Cons:

The machines are still made for regular sized adults (I’m 5’2″)

The beginner sessions were not challenging for me

The timeout on the touchscreens kept getting in my way

It took the entire first session to understand how to track my progress with the technology

If you go out of turn/out of step, you’ve lost your workout

The price of membership

You’re still mostly working out alone (I like the group mentality)

Book Review: Final Life (The Transhuman Chronicles Book 1) by Rose Garcia

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Final Life (The Transhuman Chronicles Book 1) by Rose Garcia

A Young Adult Paranormal Novel published by Amazon Digital Services LLC (05/15/12)

Summary:

Dominique is the new girl in town. She thought having to move across the country during her last year of high school was bad enough, but lately she’s been having visions of a red desert accompanied by a bad feeling. The visions become more frequent and the feeling of foreboding gets worse. Is there something going on or is she just crazy?

Keywords:

Survival, YA, Action, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Science Fiction, Love Triangle, Friendship, Death, Moving, School, Psychics, Ouija, Fate, Chosen One, Afterlife

My Review:

There wasn’t much I liked about this book. It was written well enough to read until the end, but was full of issues. The love triangle setup was obvious and not very well put together. The tension just wasn’t there.

The plot was abrupt and rocky. The characters were thrust into the plot of the Pures versus the non-Pures.

I didn’t/don’t know enough about main character Dominique to identify with her before mysterious things start happening to her and I don’t really care. Dominique was a weak main character who seemed to do whatever she shouldn’t. The most emotion I got from her was her being worried about dying, but then she immediately sneaks away from her protector without a second thought.

The world building rules were not well defined and confusing. Some people know about the Pures and some don’t? The info dump between Dominique and her parents to explain what was going on was not very clever. Through this info dump we find out that she is The Chosen One, which is such a tired trope and not done well in this book at all.

This book is urban fantasy parading as contemporary fantasy romance. It was short enough and grammatically accurate enough to read all the way through.

 

This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services LLC on 05/15/2012 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 3.00

Links for more information:

Rose Garcia’s Website

Goodreads

Twitter

Foodie Fridays: Fitness Food Review

by in Foodie Fridays and tagged

In my quest to find the perfect protein bar, I stumbled upon this gem for $2.49 at my local GNC.

The Maple Glazed Doughnut Protein Bar.

Flavor: Decent. Not too sweet.

Texture: Smooth. Slightly chewy. Easy to swallow.

Eatability: Hard to finish the bar in one sitting, but half the bar is 110 calories and that is a fair amount for me.

Protein Content: 20G protein

Sugar Content: 1G sugar! The rule of thumb I read is you should get less than 6g of sugar in your 20g protein bar so kudos to ONE.

Other ingredients: I don’t know what all the ingredients are after reading through the ingredients list… I would like to have all natural ingredients in my protein bar ideally.

Value: At $2.49/bar I wouldn’t buy this item again as I don’t think I want to pay over $2/bar. I do think the flavor is decent and the texture is perfect and the amount of sugar per protein is ideal. If I could find a lower price point, I would definitely buy this one again, though I would like to find one without the list of chemicals in the ingredients.

Book Review: One True Pairing by Cathy Yardley

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One True Pairing by Cathy Yardley

A Romantic Comedy published by Swerve (07/25/17)

Summary:

Hailey works two jobs and then some to help make ends meet with her two sisters and their bookstore. Jake Reese is the hot TV actor who hides from his crazed fans in Hailey’s coffee shop. She doesn’t react like most fangirls, even though she loves his show. Her no-nonsense take care of problems attitude and his nature-loving sensitive sci-fi loving side go together. Jake needs to improve his social standing and Hailey needs something to boost the bookstore’s sales. It’s only natural that they pretend to date, but the attraction levels are through the roof.

Keywords:

Actor, Snoqualmie, Issaquah, Bookstore, Geeks, Convention, Fans, Romance, Family, Loyalty, Sex, TV Actor

My Review:

This is not the book to pick up late at night because you won’t be able to put it down. The storytelling is seamless and the plot is very well thought out. The second half became a little predictable, but I enjoyed every word of it. Every scene, every word, and all the descriptions were perfectly written and perfectly placed. Every detail was necessary.

The romance played out just the way I wanted it to – chance meet, mutual initial attraction, spending lots of time together to fall for each other. It was the best of the best romances.

Jake and Hailey were so detailed and their personalities full and alive. I loved being in each of the characters’ heads and watching them make mistakes and get in over their heads.

This novel was published by Swerve on July 25, 2017 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 5.00

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Cathy Yardley’s Website

Book Review: The Inventress by Mary Victoria Johnson

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The Inventress by Mary Victoria Johnson

A Young Adult Steampunk Mystery Novel published by Fire & Ice Young Adult Books (07/18/17)

Summary:

Kay Ross, daughter of one of the most hated families in England, hasn’t been able to make many friends. Domino is her only friend. Domino is the genius and the inventor, but she doesn’t always tell Kay all her secrets. Her new invention is going to be the grandest of them all, but she never gets to show the world. The same day Domino lets Kay in on her new security camera invention and lets Kay take her to a society ball, she is murdered. In order to figure out who is to blame, Kay will have to find out more about her own family history and what on earth Domino was inventing.

Keywords:

Steampunk, Mystery, Death, Murder, Friendship, Loyalty, Family, Rivalry, Inventors, Socialite, England, Past, Challenges, Enemies

My Review:

Slow to start, this story soon wound me up in its intrigue. I desperately needed to know what happened to Domino. The more that Johnson expertly showed me the past friendship between Domino and Kay, the more I was sucked into the story. Domino is more than just an inventor – she puts up with Kay and her moods. She would never harm anyone and doesn’t believe in weapons. Who killed Domino? And why? Kay will stop at nothing to figure this mystery out.

I absolutely love stories that have strong friendships and interesting character details. Kay is closed off from her world, choosing to become what those around her think she is – the same power-hungry money-hungry person as her parents.

The steampunk elements were subtle throughout the novel. They were woven into the details of the world. At times, I got a strong historical fiction vibe from when Kay had to dress up to go to society affairs, but for the most part the story centers around Kay and her need to solve Domino’s murder. Everyone is a suspect and the only clues left behind are Domino’s latest invention and a slow trail that keeps including Kay in the mystery.

Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of this novel. This is my honest opinion.

This novel was published by Fire & Ice Young Adult Books on 07/18/2017 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.75

Links for more information:

Mary Victoria Johnson’s Website

Goodreads

Twitter

Annual Book Party at Neverending Bookshop Aftermath!

by in For the Love of Donuts, Local Authors, Local Events, Rachel Barnard and tagged , , | 2 Comments

What a fun party!

I had all my books, donuts, a coloring station, and new special donut soaps at my party! Thanks to Dreamy Suds for specially making those beautiful donut soaps! Check out photos from the event below. Remember my event from last year? Did you miss out this year? Come next year when all my donuts books will be available or see me at any upcoming event.

Photo taken by fellow author Stephanie Larkin

Photo taken with fellow author Stephanie Larkin

Debuting my new coloring books – I still have some adjustments to make on them

Thanks, Donna for giving me my cool blow up donut!

Donuts from Countryside – not the greatest donuts I’ve ever had

My lovely standup sign that Paul made for me

My entire setup

 

Book Review: Paper Cranes (A Fairytale Twist Novel) by Jordan Ford

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Paper Cranes (A Fairytale Twist Novel) by Jordan Ford

A YA Contemporary Romance Novel Published by Amazon Digital Services (6/16/17)

Summary:

“I know it must seem odd sometimes like we’ve never really fit into this world. But there’s magic in words and storytelling. I’d be lost without books, Tristan. They’ve kept me afloat through my darkest days. Escaping into another world full of love, enchantment…heroes. It keeps me breathing.” (Kindle Locations 1450-1452).

Tristan decided to live with his dad when his parents divorced because his mom had someone to come home to and his dad did not. Tristan feels more and more burdened taking care of his dad. He doesn’t want to participate in school or be social and would rather be the typical morose teenager until he meets the girl in the tower next door, Helena. She is straight out of a fairytale with her mild English accent, proper English, and romantic notions.

Keywords:

Puppy Love, Tower, Fairy Tale, Paper Cranes, Wishes, Quirks, Poetry, English Assignments, Love, Romance, Divorce, Teenagers, Dreams

My Review:

Tristan, outside of Helena feels incredibly real and like sullen teenager, but with Helena he is full of puppy love. Most of this book was focused on the ridiculous and hard to read over-the-top puppy love. Helena never felt real to me and she was a flat character and though Tristan idolizes her and her unique ‘personality’ she felt unreal and exaggerated to me.

Tristan is incredibly dynamic. He’s your typical broody teenager, but his backstory is rather interesting. Every moment we were in his head as he interacted with his dad or his mom, I was engrossed in the book.

The plot was quite predictable, a bit dull and unremarkable. If only more of the book was devoted to Tristan, it would have been a much better read.

This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services on 06/16/17 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 3.25

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Jordan Ford’s Website