With the extra lemon juice I made some super bitter lemonade!
Thunderclap It – Indie Marketing – Donuts in an Empty Field Upcoming Release
Feel the thunder of thousands of people posting the same thing at once!
Definition of Thunderclap as Rachel sees it: A marketing technique wherein authors fill out a campaign on thunderclap to have a simultaneous posting release to Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr. Thunderclap is much like Kickstarter in that you HAVE to have the minimum amount of supporters for the thunderclap to release.
I’m not to my minimum yet and would kindly ask my blog readers to check out my campaign and pledge their support.
Wildlife Wednesdays: The Seattle Skyline (Tourist Edition)
Where do you go for the best Seattle skyline photo op?
Book Review: The Human (The Children of Wisdom Book 3) by Stephanie Erickson
The Human (The Children of Wisdom Book 3) by Stephanie Erickson
A Fiction Novel that will be published (03/06/2016)
Summary:
This woman is like no human I’ve ever encountered. (Kindle Location 1417).
Michaela the Reaper has been captured during her latest Reaping of a Surprise. Did the child make it to heaven or has the human intervened in Fate once again? Even the Fates know the true evil behind the snipped threads and innocent souls trapped in hell and their bent on fixing things and rescuing Michaele.
Keywords:
Fate, Life, Death, Order, Chaos, God, Humans, Immortals, Love, Friendship, Heaven, Earth, Hell, Tapestry of Life, Demons, Escape, Capture, Humanity, Morals
My Review:
The flow of knowledge and understanding about the plot are finally revealed! The plot is clever and integrated well into all three books. The pacing is slower than your average novel and care is taken at all plot points to really dig into the action. Tension was never very high, but the book will keep you reading. Nothing was very surprising, but the book (and series) were still satisfying, kind of like a well-known fairy tale where you know there’s going to be a happily ever after, but you want to read about the journey anyways.
Every time God was mentioned or seen was interesting as he is portrayed as very human. He wears clothing and goes by the gendered pronoun “he.” His handwriting is not perfect, nor are his words always perfectly understandable. In everything, what is God doing? He’s like the mysterious wizard behind the curtain, not really part of the adventure, but the voice of wisdom all the same.
The only note I had on the book was that Shiloh did not act like a child, but like a 1000 year old soul, which seemed rather odd.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author and this is an honest review.
This novel will be published 03/05/2016 and will be available on Amazon.
TL;DR Star Rating: 4.25
Links for more information:
Miscellaneous Mondays: Amazon Books! Seattle
Speaking of books… Have you supported my thunderclap marketing campaign for the release of Donuts in an Empty Field? Please check it out and support it!
Weekend Writing Warriors – Donuts in an Empty Field #WeWriWa
Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts!
Donuts in an Empty Field is a contemporary, realistic fiction, and Young Adult novel about two best friends, the local food challenge, and letting go of anger.
This excerpt is from chapter one, the beginning of the book.
We haven’t opened this room in five years.
“Are you sure you’re up for this, Vanessa?” Mom asks.
I nod, but I’m not ready. How can I deal? Dad could be alive if he hadn’t tried to be a hero.
I glance back at Mom and take a deep breath before I grab the office doorknob, turn, and push.
The smell hits me. Stale. Humid.
This is not how I remember Dad.
Vanessa and her Mom have to clean out Dad’s office. It’s been four years since he died. What will it take for Vanessa to get through her grief and to move on, living it up as a teenager in Florida with a wild-child best friend?
Purchase the book HERE.
Local young adult writer, Rachel Barnard, will release the first novel in her young adult For the Love of Donuts series titled Donuts in an Empty Field with Life’s a Book Publishing, June 3rd, 2016 (AKA National Donut Day). Pre-order your copy HERE.
Letting go of anger is life’s greatest challenge.
Vanessa hasn’t been the same since her father’s death. A hero until the end, he died saving a restaurant owner’s son from a burning building. Nessa blames the boy, but her best friend Nichole thinks it’s time to let go of the past. In a last ditch effort to break Nessa’s obsession, Nichole hopes signing up for the local food challenge will bust her out of her shell. A single choice defines the road ahead for Nessa. Doing the right thing isn’t easy, but living with the consequences of doing nothing might be worse.
Subscribe to Rachel’s newsletter to receive important updates and promotions, if you haven’t already. Signup HERE
Come celebrate the awaited release of the first book in the For the Love of Donuts series – “Donuts in an Empty Field” by Rachel Barnard, Online Here
Don’t forget: Enter the free raffle to win neat goodies HERE
Add the book to your Goodreads shelf HERE
All About the Donuts: Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1) Publication Day June 3rd!
Alright Daddy’s Donuts Friends & Family…. In honor of National Donut Day ( June 3rd) We are going to do a really fun Contest with the help of our friend Rachel!!!
💥 Contest: All you have to do is inbox us with a 250+ word paragraph about what you love about donuts!!! ( This should only be about your love for donuts in general)
https://www.facebook.com/DaddyDonutsbothell/
Contest winner will be picked by Rachel and announced June 3rd and could possibly make it into her next donut book!!! Good Luck!!!!
⭐️Prize: ⭐️
A Giant basket of goodies!!!! $20 gift card to Daddy’s, selfie stick, donuts socks, coffee, perfume, a time turner, donut keychain pieces, and a fun book of challenges
Local young adult writer, Rachel Barnard, will release the first novel in her young adult For the Love of Donuts series titled Donuts in an Empty Field with Life’s a Book Publishing, June 3rd, 2016 (AKA National Donut Day). Pre-order your copy HERE.
Letting go of anger is life’s greatest challenge.
Vanessa hasn’t been the same since her father’s death. A hero until the end, he died saving a restaurant owner’s son from a burning building. Nessa blames the boy, but her best friend Nichole thinks it’s time to let go of the past. In a last ditch effort to break Nessa’s obsession, Nichole hopes signing up for the local food challenge will bust her out of her shell. A single choice defines the road ahead for Nessa. Doing the right thing isn’t easy, but living with the consequences of doing nothing might be worse.
Don’t forget to subscribe to Rachel’s newsletter to receive important updates and promotions, if you haven’t already. Signup HERE
Come celebrate the awaited release of the first book in the For the Love of Donuts series – “Donuts in an Empty Field” by Rachel Barnard, Online Here
Don’t forget: Enter the free raffle to win neat goodies HERE
Add the book to your Goodreads shelf HERE
Book Review: Space Tripping With The Shredded Orphans by Sonya Rhen
Space Tripping With The Shredded Orphans by Sonya Rhen
A Science Fiction/Humor Novel published by Amazon Digital Services (01/05/14)
Summary:
“Better-Than-Meat ™ loaf, sunken squid sub, and coyote cactus pie.” (Page 122).
The Shredded Orphans band is set to perform in another galaxy. No problem. Their ship, the Verity Aquinas, and their navigator Justice will take them straight to the city and performance venue, but After mechanical issues and the disappearance of some very important navigation charts, they land on the planet in the middle of nowhere. Certain that they can find the city if they walk in the right direction, the Shredded Orphans head out in search of civilization.
Keywords:
Spaceship, travel, band, space creatures, rock concert, trapeze, advanced technology, fashion, walking, lost, different species, slaves
My Review:
The little world details are the treasures that kept me reading, such as names of items, trademarked things, and chapter titles. The sci-fi world building details were stupendous and very imaginative.
This book reminded me a lot of Feed by M.T. Anderson. The Shredded Orphans and Feed both have that young person abandon with a carefree attitude. Both main characters in Shredded Orphans and in Feed feel invincible even in the face of problems – like dehydration and death in the middle of a deserted planet. The humorous dialogue and character interaction in Shredded Orphans are also similar to Feed, including some world building dialogue and slang/language, though it was not as far out as Feed.
The book did meander, just like the shredded orphans do in the beginning of the book. This adds to the plot wandering and randomness to the story. The book gets funnier and funnier as you get to know the characters.
I was at first disturbed by the sexism and female stereotyping Lix displays toward Ophelia (the signature female in the first half of the book). She says no and he continues to flirt. He touches her inappropriately without permission. When Ophelia wants to help build using a hammer she is asked to instead help make food (this doesn’t mean she listens, of course). The first questions that people ask of her upon meeting her include whether she has a boyfriend. Lix tries again to get with Ophelia after they’ve been drinking. Chitto was able to sway my opinion. Chitto is “sexless” and from a special and different planet. At first, Chitto said something that I didn’t like about not wanting to be a woman (by having long hair), but later Chitto showed that he could be both man and woman (as a gender), but simply preferred being a man and not because women were inferior or anything. Chitto, actually, is fairly humorous and great for the addition of an LGBTQ aspect to the book. “…if you are going to give my name a gender identity, but in my race we never use them.” (pp. 212-213).
This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services on January 5th, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 3.75
Links for more information:
Foodie Fridays: Meal Prep – Salad in a (Mason) Jar
How do you do lunch at the office?
All About the Donuts: Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1) Publication Day June 3rd!
I’ve spent time watching movies as research. No joke! Donuts is all about young adults, how they interact, and what crazy things they do so I wanted to immerse myself in books and movies about teenagers. I love movies, so this research was super fun! Here are some of the movies I got to watch. What movies do you think represent teens and teen culture?
Mean Girls – So good! The only part I had trouble with was how ‘dumb’ they made Karen Smith’s character and how ridiculous they made Regina’s mother. There are so many good quotes from this movie and such great dialogue and character interaction. It may not be an entirely accurate depiction of high school, but it’s one of the best representations of the New-Girl-Made-Popular trope. The movie is chock full of teenagery goodness (and badness).
Clueless – A classic, even though it’s getting up there in age (21 years old!). The slang is regional (California), but oh so adorable. Cher is a great main character/narrator and shows a bit more introspection than your average teenager. This movie also showcases the New-Girl-Made-Popular, though I think Tai is a bit more ‘clueless’ than Cady.
Brick – If you want teenagers that act like adults, then you’ve got them in this fast-paced unusual-dialogue-filled film about the underworld of high school. I recommend putting on the subtitles to catch all the wonky phrases they say. This movie is clever and satisfying with its complexity.
Prom – I threw in a Disney movie to fill out my “what does our entertainment culture think about teens when the movie is geared toward pre-teens” category. This movie had the most overdone dialogue of the bunch. I liked how it contained multiple storylines and it was fun to make fun of the cheesiness while watching it. Prom was never as big a deal in my life than in this movie.
Easy A – My editor recommended this one and I was all too happy to re-watch it. Emma Stone is great in this movie and even though it portrays an even more ridiculous version of high school than Mean Girls, it is fun to watch. As a play on the Scarlet Letter, Emma Stone is a character that gets caught up in a rumor. The parents in this movie are super duper hilarious and the comedy in the movie is spot on, even if the teen promiscuity is a bit over the top (even if it’s only a rumor).
4-Film Favorites – This was a throw in because who can’t turn down a good deal when buying movies? I have only watched What a Girl Wants thus far and was not impressed with this modern Cinderella-esque rendition. It was rather generic, though Amanda Bynes has such a lovely and bubbly personality in this movie. Also, she’s in England and who doesn’t love a good English accent?
Local young adult writer, Rachel Barnard, will release the first novel in her young adult For the Love of Donuts series titled Donuts in an Empty Field with Life’s a Book Publishing, June 3rd, 2016 (AKA National Donut Day). Pre-order your copy HERE.
Letting go of anger is life’s greatest challenge.
Vanessa hasn’t been the same since her father’s death. A hero until the end, he died saving a restaurant owner’s son from a burning building. Nessa blames the boy, but her best friend Nichole thinks it’s time to let go of the past. In a last ditch effort to break Nessa’s obsession, Nichole hopes signing up for the local food challenge will bust her out of her shell. A single choice defines the road ahead for Nessa. Doing the right thing isn’t easy, but living with the consequences of doing nothing might be worse.
Don’t forget to subscribe to Rachel’s newsletter to receive important updates and promotions, if you haven’t already. Signup HERE
Come celebrate the awaited release of the first book in the For the Love of Donuts series – “Donuts in an Empty Field” by Rachel Barnard, Online Here
Don’t forget: Enter the free raffle to win neat goodies HERE
Add the book to your Goodreads shelf HERE
Rachel Author Barnard 