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.
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.
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:
And yes, that is an entire steamed/boiled stalk of broccoli.
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:
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.
Ghost Heart (The PSS Chronicles #3) by Ripley Patton
A Speculative Fiction/Paranormal Novel published by Ripley Patton (10/14/14)
Summary:
“I had been moving on blind faith and pure desperation.” (Kindle Location 338).
“Why would someone sit around waiting for bad things to happen? Action was better.” (Kindle Location 2347).
Olivia was left behind at the Eidolon, only to be captured by the CAMFers and the evil Dr. Fineman. He will torture and manipulate Olivia to get what he wants. Olivia tries to stay ahead of him, but at every turn he bests her. She will just have to wait for her rescue to arrive. But back at the Hold everything is chaos and things are falling apart.
Keywords:
Rare, Ghost Hand, Power, Hunted, Not Normal Teenagers, Hiding, Escape, PSS, Research, Friendship, Leader, Strategy, Romance, Love, Relatives, Plan, Reuniting, Lost
My Review:
Book three picks up where book two left off and the story has diverged because the original PSSers have become scattered. Jason and Passion are alone in the woods. Samantha and the Hold are off somewhere else. Olivia has been separated from everyone and is now at the CAMFer camp. Marcus is at the bottom of the lake. There is a lot going on to begin with and a lot of tension right from the start. A continuation of the climax and resolution from book two feeds right into the conflict buildup in book three.
I still love Olivia. In fact, I love her even more. I’m still on the fence with Marcus. Passion has become a strong character with her own personality and I love her too. Jason gets more time in this book as well and we learn much more about him than we ever knew before.
We learn more about PSS, especially Olivia’s ghost hand. The overall story arc is becoming clear as well. All the hints and setups in books one and two are most or partially revealed in this third book. But all is not over! I can’t wait to get my hands on book four and find out what will happen next!
This novel was published by Ripley Patton on October 14th, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 5.00
Links for more information:
We had fun last Saturday at St. James. I got to try their green power smoothie for the first time. It was delicious! Hope to see you at our next event!
Sheri implemented our new idea for showing prices – with number beads on our lovely new bookmarks!
Voodoo Donuts
Portland, OR
1501 NE Davis St, Portland, OR 97232
(206) 496-3670
Website: http://voodoodoughnut.com/
Review criteria:
Most popular donut at the shop: Bacon Maple Bar
Signature shop donut: Voodoo Doughnut
Most popular US donut: glazed
2nd most popular US donut: Boston Crème
Donut Hole: Not available
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What I tried:
Bacon Maple Bar, Portland Creme, Raised Glaze, Voodoo Doll, Lemon Chiffon Crueler.
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What to expect:
Expect to wait. If you want to get your hands on doughnuts faster, visit the Voodoo Too shop rather than the original or visit at a non-peak hour. There are Disney style gates to funnel customers inside and the menu is available online and on the wall and with representative doughnuts in display cases. It helps to know what you want ahead of time so you don’t stop up the line. Expect the employees to be fast and helpful. Now move along and enjoy your doughnuts.
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Perks:
You get to visit the infamous Voodoo Doughnuts. You get to try out some crafty and well-made doughnuts. There is more than one Voodoo to choose from. Doughnuts.
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Don’t Worry:
You’ll understand what to do when you get there as they are totally set up for large customer volume.
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My favorite:
Going to a place like Voodoo (Even Too) is fun in and of itself because it is one of the most well-known little doughnut shops in America. Voodoo is an experience. My favorite doughnut, thus far, is their raised glaze.
Omega’s Run: Book II of the Moon Forged Trilogy by AJ Downey and Ryan Kells
A Paranormal/Action/Romance Novel published by Second Circle Press (03/22/16)
Summary:
“If grace had a scent, it would smell like you, Ava.” (Kindle Locations 1836-1837).
Remus Reese was branded an Omega and thrown out of the largest Pacific Northwest pack. He is not completely lost, because he knows he wants to be a part of a pack again, but before he has a chance to convince another pack to take him in, a Hunter catches up to his trail. Ava, the Hunter with a chip on her shoulder, has a personal vendetta with Remus and will stop at nothing to bring him in, but when she finds out more about who she’s working for, will she ultimately change her mind about how much she despises Remus and the Moon Forged?
Keywords:
Wolf-Kind, Hunters, Murder, Harsh Laws, Violence, Fleeing, Fighting, Change, Healing, Pack, Omega, Anger, Determination, Revenge, Experiments
My Review:
The first chapter made me want to put this book down. There was violent sex between the main character of this book and some poor unwilling prostitute. How could I come to like our ‘hero’ if I despised him from the first chapter? I’m not sure what was going on with that first chapter, but it doesn’t fit with the rest of the book and the only way I could sympathize with Remus was to forget that he was the rapist from chapter one. The way Remus acts around Ava is also sometimes off-putting.
Besides the violence in the first chapter, I was hooked into Remus’s story and Ava’s involvement almost immediately. The plot was super cool and very well done, with elements from book one colliding together with a logic I didn’t see coming. The tension was held nicely throughout the story and there was no way I would put the book down after that first chapter.
This novel was published by Second Circle Press on March 22nd, 2016 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 3.50
Links for more information:
Rachel Author Barnard 