If you’re looking for dessert, this prepper selection is perfect for you! It has a TON of sugar and is super sweet
All About the Donuts: Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1) Publication Day June 3rd!
But Why Donuts? Why did I write this book and who should read it?
Why would someone pick up and read this book?
Donuts in an Empty Field is for a young adult audience, specifically teenagers or emerging adults who want to read about a protagonist who’s working through grief and how to be a best friend amidst personal issues. This book is also a fun insight into the teenage mind and what really goes on after school.
What does this book say about society?
Grief is very personal and others can’t and won’t always understand how you are healing or what you need to heal. Sometimes teenagers act out for a reason, and in Vanessa’s case, she has a lot of things on her mental plate and she needs help. She needs a best friend to help her interact with the world sometimes.
What can someone learn from this book?
Letting go of anger is life’s greatest challenge. How can Vanessa let go of her anger toward this boy who caused the death of her Dad? How can anyone let go of what some might call righteous anger? What does it mean to move on and live your life, even after something like the death of a parent happens? Those who read Donuts will be able to better understand and potentially answer these questions.
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Donuts in an Empty Field is a young adult novel about two best friends, the local food challenge, and a mysterious bucket list. The more that main character Vanessa fails the food challenge, the more she takes it out on the boy she blames for her father’s death because letting go of anger is life’s greatest challenge.
Available June 3rd, 2016 (aka National Donut Day).
Book Review: Architects of Destiny (Cadicle #1): An Epic Space Opera Series by Amy Duboff
Architects of Destiny (Cadicle #1): An Epic Space Opera Series by Amy Duboff
A Space Opera/Science Fiction Novel published by BDL Press (04/17/15)
Summary:
Cris Sietinen was born into privilege as the only heir to a High Dynasty, but all he wants is to be his own person. He sneaks off in the night and joins cargo ship Exler’s crew as navigator. What he sees opens his eyes and when the Tararian Selective Service invite him to train with them, he accepts. With newly discovered abilities in telekinesis, Cris, is the student with the most potential.
Keywords:
Space, Travel, Ship, Navigation, Technology, Telekinesis, Worlds, Dynasties, Privilege, Power, Learning, Priesthood, Heir, Romance, Love, Friendship, Training
My Review:
The first half of the book reveals very little about the main character or the plot. The book very well could have started when Cris begins his new training with the TSS, but I guess then there’d be no book because this novel is only 168 page to begin with.
There’s hardly any tension and barely any buildup to a climax or an ending. The romance has no tension and the entire relationship between Cris and Kate was fed to the reader in very few words until they were already in love and ready to get married. Where was the romance?
Sometimes the personal thoughts sprinkled throughout are too much and get in the way of the narrative – they pull the reader out of the story. At times, they feel like they are a crutch because the personal thoughts constantly tell us how Cris is feeling without letting the reader come to any of the conclusions for themselves.
When Cris joins the TSS there’s one paragraph that speeds through a description of his training and testing and that’s it. There are more examples of telling where the showing would be powerful and reveal much about the character.
This story should have been labeled a prologue to the series and cut down to a chapter to precede the real story. There is a lot of potential with the world the author pieced together and the political structure she set up, but overall her characters were shallow, the action nonexistent or random, and the romance breezed over.
This novel was published by BDL Press on April 17th, 2015 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 3.25
Links for more information:
How Many Reviews Does it Take? Goodreads Top Reviewer!
Two Bookish Events Today at St. James Espresso, Kirkland WA
Tiffany Belcher Author Signing in Kirkland at St. James Espresso
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Saturday, April 23, 2016 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
St. James Espresso
355 Kirkland Ave, Kirkland, WA (edit map)
Come and join Tiffany Belcher for book singings at St. James Espresso in Kirkland. This is such a great coffee shop and Tiffany Belcher is a cool author.
From Tiffany’s website: http://sarasupernatural.tateauthor.com/
Tiffany A. Belcher currently works as a medical assistant for an outpatient orthopedic clinic in Bellevue, Washington. She is a loving mother to three beautiful daughters. She works hard and is extremely busy, but always finds time to spend with her family. Tiffany enjoys coffee, good food (sometimes bad food that tastes good,) going to the beach, writing, snowboarding, and working out.
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Foodie Fridays: Prepper Food Review – Pad Thai from Backpacker’s Pantry
In a blind test taste, I’m not sure I’d come to the conclusion that this was Thai food… But it didn’t taste that bad. As long as you mix everything really good so you don’t get a mouthful of odd tasting peppers, it tastes decent. If you don’t swell it enough, the noodles will be al dente and have a slight crunch to them.
All About the Donuts: Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1) Publication Day June 3rd!
Where will you be June 3rd?
National Donut Day is the first Friday in June
Local Seattle area events for National Donut Day and Beyond – Have you heard of a cool local donut shop celebrating National Donut Day or another awesome local Seattle area event? Let me know and I’ll add it to my list!
Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show
Bellingham Scottish Highland Games
Blacklight Slide at the Washington State Fair
Book Release Party for Donuts in an Empty Field!
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Letting go of anger is life’s greatest challenge.
Vanessa Smith hasn’t been the same since her father’s death. A hero until the end, he died saving a restaurant owner’s wife and son from a burning building. Nessa has always blamed the boy, Ben, for her loss, and her thoughts are consumed with ways to make him as miserable as she is.
Nichole Adams knows Nessa can never heal until she learns to let go of her hatred, but bringing back her best friend is proving more difficult than she could’ve imagined. In a last ditch effort to break Nessa’s obsession, Nichole hopes signing up for the local food challenge is just the thing to 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.
Book Review: Sara Supernatural-Half a World Away by Tiffany Belcher
Sara Supernatural-Half a World Away by Tiffany Belcher
A Middle Grade/YA Fantasy Novel published by Tate Publishing (01/19/16)
Summary:
Sara is back! She has lots of plans for a summer full of fun with Chris, her magical partner from book one, but alas his family is moving him across the world. An intriguing set of twins Sara’s age moves into Chris’s house and they want to be friends with Sara, but there’s something altogether not right about these two girls. Chris told Sara not to use her magic while he’s away, but she can’t just sit on her butt and do nothing when the twins and Jessica gossip behind her back about her. She must get to the bottom of what is really going on.
Keywords:
Magic, wishing, powers, female main character, lessons learned, school, immaturity, selfishness, greed, fitting in, twins, mysterious neighbors, evil plot, friendship, invisibility
My Review:
The best part of this story was the mystery with the twins that was continued throughout the book. I wanted to understand what was going on and I was super ready for the big reveal at the end! The twins were dynamic and kept changing their tactics. They were odd, yet almost fit in most of the time. They were socially awkward until they did something exactly like a teenager would, like gossiping and spreading rumors about Sara’s friends.
I loved how Sara was uncertain about the twins. She didn’t just believe their intentions and words, but she didn’t completely disregard them as friends. She kept them at arms’ length the entire time, taking what they said with a grain of salt, just like the clever teen she showed us she was in book one. But Sara isn’t perfect and her fault lies in trying to solve all her problems herself, getting deeper and deeper into trouble.
Sara’s two friends were also well written. The story had less of Chris than book one, but I didn’t mind because I was caught up in the mysterious twins and Sara’s rapidly growing problems.
I was surprised at the amount of dropped and missing words in this book. More than a handful of articles were missing from sentences, but the writing was still very readable, despite these typos.
This novel was published by Tate Publishing on January 19th, 2016 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 4.25
Links for more information:
Foodie Fridays: My Favorite Meal Growing Up – Lemon Chicken
And yes, that is an entire steamed/boiled stalk of broccoli.
All About the Donuts: Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1) Publication Day June 3rd! – Contest
Want to be featured in the second edition of Vanessa’s Book of Awesome Things? Submit your vignette, opinion piece, essay, or short story with the theme of “donuts” to rachel.author.barnard(at)gmail(dot)com
Submissions should be between 250 – 2500 words.
The contest winner will win the following:
- Their piece will be featured in the next version of Vanessa’s Book of Awesome Things
- Donuts swag bag, including the original edition of Vanessa’s Book of Awesome Things
Vanessa’s Book of Awesome Things already features:
The Food Challenge,
Tips to Help You Win a Food Challenge,
10 Challenges at 10,
Facts About Corgis,
20 Challenges at 20,
The Secret of Tree Beach,
Fat Boy Run,
30 Challenges at 30,
Your Local Hangout,
40 Challenges at 40,
Reasons to Bask in a Sea of Puppies,
50 Challenges at 50,
Kale is Not a Curse Word,
Doughnuts Recipe,
Object Scavenger Hunt,
Photo Scavenger Hunt,
To Do with Donuts, Yes or No?,
Top Ten Worst Donut Flavors,
Top Ten Donuts You Have to Try,
For the Love of Donuts Books,
Donuts in an Empty Field Chapter One,
About the Author
Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1)
Letting go of anger is life’s greatest challenge.
Vanessa Smith hasn’t been the same since her father’s death. A hero until the end, he died saving a restaurant owner’s wife and son from a burning building. Nessa has always blamed the boy, Ben, for her loss, and her thoughts are consumed with ways to make him as miserable as she is.
Nichole Adams knows Nessa can never heal until she learns to let go of her hatred, but bringing back her best friend is proving more difficult than she could’ve imagined. In a last ditch effort to break Nessa’s obsession, Nichole hopes signing up for the local food challenge is just the thing to 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.
Rachel Author Barnard 