Foodie Fridays: Nano Win Reward – Daddy’s Donuts Kenmore “one of everything”

by in Foodie Fridays, For the Love of Donuts, Local Eats, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Nano Stats coming Monday – but I decided to reward myself with an immediate donut foray for accomplishing all my goals in November for NaNoWriMo and a challenge/reward to come in 2016 (stay tuned for what it is on Monday).

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My first reward for finishing both first drafts of my For the Love of Donuts Book 2’s was to buy “one of everything” from my new favorite donut vendor and local business Daddy’s Donuts in Kenmore.

20151204 Daddys Donuts Nano reward_one of everything (1)

I chose today as the big day and headed over when they open (8AM) but had to wait for their new machine to be setup, and Daddy himself (Eduardo) gave me a complementary mocha (how nice!) to enjoy while I waited.

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See how excited I am as I wait to ask for “one of everything.”

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Check out the ‘tip’ jar.

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And the donuts start coming out!

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Thanks Daddy’s!

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The guys at the office loved ’em!

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About my series, For the Love of Donuts, and the two books I wrote first drafts of this November:

The Optimist Sees the Donut (For the Love of Donuts Book 2) & The Pessimist Sees the Hole (For the Love of Donuts Book 2)

Author: Rachel Barnard
Genre: Young Adult

Synopsis

Their friendship has been the one unbreakable thing, the one certainty in their lives, but Nichole Adams and Vanessa Smith are developing into their own persons and their individual life dramas distract them from each other.

Vanessa has never had many friends in her life and even though she wanted to stay friends with Nichole, she met new people in college and is moving on. She has school, she has social activities, and a new group of friends even though she can’t seem to find the right guy.

Nichole is jealous of Vanessa’s ease of everything in the real world. Nessa has no trouble with jobs, money, school, or getting and going places. Nichole, on the other hand was preemptively kicked out of her mom’s house after graduating high school and has been floundering ever since. The only thing she has easy in her life is flirting and getting dates, or at least a guy that will let her crash at his house. Nichole doesn’t always have the best of luck with men.

Forever hopeful that things will change, Nichole still clings to the hope that Vanessa will come back to their friendship and be the best friend from high school that Nichole misses. When guy after guy doesn’t work out for her, Vanessa changes more and more of her personality to attract the right guy, drifting farther and farther from who she really is. Something’s gotta give and this story of how friendships get off track, lies become reality, and bad luck tails bad choices will bring you in and around the little town of Sarasota, Florida that you grew to love in book one of the series – Donuts in an Empty Field.

 

 

Book Review: The Soultakers (The Treemakers, #2) by Christina L. Rozelle

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The Soultakers (The Treemakers, #2) by Christina L. Rozelle

A Dystopian/Sci-Fi Adventure Novel published by A Spark in the Dark Press (12/03/14)

Summary:

Joy led the Treemaker children to the oasis, Zentao, in book one. They have settled in, but Joy is burdened with a terrible secret about the solace they thought they found and they must once again abandon this familiarity to find rest and freedom elsewhere.

 

Keywords:

Children, Orphans, Survival, Death, Exploration, Dystopian World, Polluted Air, Evil Intentions, AI, Motherliness, Help, Underground, Paradise, Fighting, Strength, Resilience, Spirit, Refuge, Power-Hungry, Keys, the Wall

My Review:

Joy is, once again, my favorite character. She is a hero and a mother to all the children. There is only one path for Joy in life, she must do or die trying and these are high stakes. Everything about Joy is exciting as she is solidly in the middle of a powerful adventure. Joy didn’t have to step up to be the hero, she already is everything a hero is, she is brave and willing to sacrifice to save those she loves. There are so many to save.

The villain in this book, book two of the series, is made more clear and given a visible personality and face. He is very evil. His depravity will make you cringe. He is stereotypical for a villain but made even more villainy and evil than your average bad guy who is power hungry and corrupt. The things he does in this book will make you shiver. Rozelle does a very good job of creating her villain and making him the most despicable person you’ve ever known.

The society in this book, Alzenei, is much like the Capitol in the Hunger Games, much like Lord Daumier the villain is like President Snow. There was a detail in the Treemakers that really made me cringe, almost as much as the despicable scenes with Joy and Daumier where he shows his true nature and how evil he is to the very core. I wish that beauty wasn’t the same in this future/dystopia as it is in present day, that there was a different possibility. Lord Daumier wants Joy to be blonde haired and blue eyed. For their ‘special night’ she must be beautified with no body hair, lots of makeup, plucked, primped, moisturized etc, dressed up. Why can’t beauty be something different in this society?

I thought the big ‘twist’ could have been layered in better as it was very abrupt and hard to handle reading such a different thing entirely in the middle of the book. You get entranced in the main story and continuation from book one, plunging down the rabbit hole of Joy’s life until suddenly, poof, you’re somewhere else entirely. This is not a twist, it’s a different book and almost different idea into the middle of the Soultakers and took some time to get used to.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review

This novel was published by A Spark in the Dark Press on December 3rd, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.50

Links for more information:

Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/1HYTjRo
“The Rozelle Army” Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/68sS9
A Spark in the Dark Blog: http://bit.ly/1NmGJQl
A Spark in the Dark Facebook Page: http://on.fb.me/1JSEmWz
The Fansite of Christina L. Rozelle: http://christinalrozelle.com/
Twitter: Christina on Twitter (@CLRozelle)
Instagram: christina.l.rozelle

About the author:

Christina L. Rozelle

Christina L. Rozelle, author of the YA Dystopian-Scifi-Romance-Adventure, “The Treemakers,” is a mother of four currently residing in Dallas, Texas. She enjoys fiction that shines a light in the dark; has emotion, intensity, verve, depth, and truth. She writes what she’d love to read. Though her focus is currently YA speculative fiction, she dabbles in other genres as well, including adult speculative, fantasy, addiction/recovery fiction, and other general fiction. To find out more about her, as well as links to her other social media outposts, please visit her fan-site: http://christinalrozelle.com/

Book Review: The Truth About Mud – A ‘Mangleblood Rose’ Story (A YA Fantasy Adventure Novelette) by Christina L. Rozelle

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The Truth About Mud – A ‘Mangleblood Rose’ Story (A YA Fantasy Adventure Novelette) by Christina L. Rozelle

A Fantasy Novellette published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (01/19/15)

 

Summary:

“Oh crabapples, you’re the most atrocious troll I’ve ever seen in my life.” (Page 31).

Thistle has always wanted to cross the Mangleblood River, but as a troll and Mud she has been told not to. It isn’t until a crow steals her beloved nan’s medallion that she gathers the courage to defy her king and find a way across the river. Her friend Fane finds her as she searches for the way and joins her in the quest. Together they cross the river and find something so new that Thistle will lose herself temporarily in its shininess.

 

Keywords:

 Muds, Treasures, Kings, Journey, Magic, Fantasy, Gross, Breaking Orders, Independent, Friendship, Duty, Mascue, Femme, Different World

 

My Review:

There are a few themes touched upon in The Truth About Mud that are fascinating to read about in the context of a story about Trolls and Mud and a gross-out kind of environment that as humans we are entirely not used to. The world Rozelle builds is so unfamiliar to us that it is mesmerizing in its depth of uniqueness. The characters are Trolls and live a very different life than humans and Rozelle builds up their environment expertly to show how they live the way they do and what’s important to them in their world.

I found the ‘gender’ difference and the ‘species’ differences to be fascinating, especially as presented in a seemingly harmless fantasy world.

Mascues and Femmes I assume are similar to males and females as we would kind of know them in our human world. Mascues are masculine and tough, but also very gross and very troll-like. They train and are warriors. Femmes are feminine but also very gross and they have powers of enchantment. The author sticks with typical gender roles, but extends them beyond the norm for her world infested with boogers and mud and yucky things.

Treasures and Muds are two types of trolls that are separated by the Mangleblood river. The way Rozelle plays with stereotypes and prejudices of one species of troll with another almost mimics real world stereotyping.

This novel was published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on January 19th, 2015 and is available on Amazon here.

 

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.00

 

Links for more information:

Christina L. Rozelle’s Website

Twitter

Goodreads

Nano November: Week four in Review – Word count: 94,039

by in For the Love of Donuts, Local Authors, Local Events, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard

Donutauthor photocrest-05e1a637392425b4d5225780797e5a76

Total time spent: 8 hours and 50 minutes (530 minutes)

Total word count: 94,039 (30,262 in week 1 & 25,520 in week 2 &16,143 in week 3)

WIP Word Count Progress Reports:

The Optimist Sees the Donut – 43,591 words

The Pessimist Sees the Hole – 50,017 words

Café Connections (Aster & Tilde Book 1) – 64,136

Day 22: 11/22/15, Sunday

Location(s): NA

Noteworthy: I worked on Cafe Connections today. Will work on Donuts when I finish the first draft of this romance novel.

Money Spent: $0

Total time spent: 0 minutes

Total word count: 0 words

Day 23: 11/23/15, Monday

Location(s):

Noteworthy: I worked on Cafe Connections today. Will work on Donuts when I finish the first draft of this romance novel.

Money Spent: $0

Total time spent: 0 minutes

Total word count: 0 words

Day 24: 11/24/15, Tuesday

Location(s):

Noteworthy: I worked on Cafe Connections today. Will work on Donuts when I finish the first draft of this romance novel.

Money Spent: $0

Total time spent: 0 minutes

Total word count: 0 words

Day 25: 11/25/15, Wednesday

Location(s):

○ Early at work 7:30AM-8AM, 2063 words

○ After work 5PM-5:20PM, 1195 words

○ AFK in Renton 6:00PM-7:30PM. 4810 words

Noteworthy: Even though I’d spent a week off from writing this book, I was able to pick it right back up fresh in the morning

Money Spent: $16.14 on Sell Out Sliders and a wonderful artisan tea at the AFK

Total time spent: 2 hours and 20 minutes

Total word count: 8,068 words

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Day 26: 11/26/15, Thursday

Location(s):

○ At home 10:15AM-12:00PM, 4133 words

Total time spent: 1 hour and 45 minutes

Total word count: 4,133 words

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Day 27: 11/27/15, Friday

Location(s):

○ At home 9:45PM-10:00PM, 600 words

Total time spent: 15 minutes

Total word count: 600 words

Day 28: 11/28/15, Saturday

Location(s):

○ At home 10AM-10:15AM, 600 words

○ Neverending Bookstore 12:15PM-3PM, 3600 words

○ At home 4:20PM-4:50PM, 2566 words

○ St James Espresso 6:40PM-7:40PM, 2548 words

Noteworthy: I was pushing to finish the Pessimist Sees the Hole and worked hard to get to 50k in that book.

Money Spent: $3.23 for the special pumpkin white chocolate mocha from Brew in downtown Bothell and $3 ish for tea from St. James

Total time spent: 4 hours and 30 minutes

Total word count: 9,314 words

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Local Events to Get More Books! Si View Holiday Bazaar (N. Bend WA) and Maple Valley Holiday Bazaar (WA)

by in Free Valley Publishing, Local Authors, Local Eats, Local Events, Maple Valley and tagged , , , , , ,

Si View Holiday Bazaar in North Bend, WA
December 5th 2015 10AM-3PM
Cost: Free 
More Info

The Si View Community Center is holding its annual Holiday Bazaar on Saturday, December 5th, 2015 from 10am to 3pm. Si View Community Center, located in the center of North Bend, offers a quaint atmosphere that lends itself perfectly to this Holiday tradition. See some pictures from last year’s event here. Facebook event page here.

view

Maple Valley Holiday Bazaar in Maple Valley, WA
December 5th 2015 10AM-3PM
Cost: Free 
More Info

The Maple Valley Community Center is holding its annual Holiday Bazaar on Saturday, December 5th, 2015 from 10am to 3pm. Maple Valley Community Center, located in the center of Maple Valley, offers a quaint atmosphere that lends itself perfectly to this Holiday tradition.

Two equally quaint, equally fun local Holiday gift-finding bazaar’s! Please come out and show your support for small local businesses, say hi to the authors at their booth and get some books!

 

Book Review: The King of Average by Gary Schwartz

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The King of Average by  Gary Schwartz

A Middle Grade Adventure Novel published by Updrift  (10/07/15)

Summary:

“Here is your task: You must find our former king. Discover why he renounced the mediocracy. Return and swear you’ll never aspire to be any greater or less than expected and you shall be our new king.” (Kindle Locations 876-878).

James is average. After finding himself in another world where there are talking goats and little birds, he is invited to apply to be King of Average. James fancies himself the most average kid in the world and thinks this a mighty fine plan. To be the King, though, he must go on a quest to find out what happened to the previous King of Average (now missing and why they need a new king). Along the way James will discover that he is more than just average, that he can be loved and appreciated, and that he is capable of doing exceptional things.

Keywords:

Average, Word Puns, Sarcasm, Quest, King, Other World, Talking Goat, Spying Bird, Friends, Challenges, Believing in Yourself, Epiphany, Secrets, Doubts, Self-Worth, Life Lessons, Adventure, Hilarity

My Review:

Gary Schwartz has written a delightful middle grade novel that is funny and fun to read for all ages. I know that I would have loved this as much as a younger reader as I’m enjoying it as an adult. As an adult I’m enjoying it for the language and puns. As a young reader I would have enjoyed it for the story, fun situations, and fun characters.

I love the little images throughout the story.

After the initial premise and plot was explained, the book got a bit boring because the immediate tension let up and only James’s goal of being King of Average kept the story going as he was constantly interrupted in his mission by the whimsicality of the funky characters and the oddness of the interesting setting.

This novel was published by Updrift on October 7th, 2015 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.25

Links for more information:

Gary Schwartz’s website

Goodreads

Book Review: Average Joe and the Extraordinaires by Belart Wright

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Average Joe and the Extraordinaires by  Belart Wright

A YA Adventure published by BWright Publishing (12/18/14)

Summary:

“Confusing the enemy greatly contributes to their defeat.” (Kindle Location 1375).

Joe is your average guy in everything but putting himself in harm’s way to save someone in need. When it comes to helping or saving others, Joe does not hesitate. When he sees ‘Beauty’ in trouble at the local Orangetown Pickers game, he jumps in to help. But Beauty is not your average damsel and she isn’t really in distress, but Joe came at the right time and she uses him to help her save a different damsel. In the days and weeks that follow Joe’s life will be anything but average because that one decision to jump in and be a hero puts him at the top of some not so nice lists, least of all with the local bullies at his school.

 

Keywords:

 Fairy Tale Adaptation, Contemporary Fairy Tale, Magic, Survival, Family, Love, Romance, True Love, Souls

 

My Review:

I loved Joe. He was weak. He was ignorant. He was clueless and hopeless and decidedly average but even average people can be heroes. Even average people can rise to a challenge and be extraordinary. Joe shows us that with determination and strong-mindedness, even in the face of cluelessness, one can do amazing things. And get caught. And get shot at. And stay calm. And be saved. Joe isn’t just one thing in this story but overall he doesn’t stop to think about helping another when the consequences for his own self could be severe.

The “Damsels” as they might be called were not your typical damsels in distress. Though Joe calls the first damsel Beauty and the name sticks, she is more than this nickname would lead you to believe. It is not her beauty that sticks out, it is her extraordinary abilities, her fighting spirit, and the way she is tough and kicks butt through it all. Dahlila was just as tough as Beauty though she did get herself more stuck in bad situations than Beauty.

The tech element in this book was fun and didn’t detract from the believability of the story. Why not have the good guy be extraordinary?

The humor in the writing style and dialogue and personalities of the characters made this book super fun to read. The scenes with the Bad Azz boys and Mod were particularly well done and funny as all get out. They were a cool spin to the typical high school bully in the cafeteria scene.

It’s fun to get the kick butt female’s story from the clueless male’s perspective.

This novel was published by BWright Publishing December 18th, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating:4.75

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Belart Wright’s Website

Twitter

Nano November: Week three in Review – Word count:

by in For the Love of Donuts, Local Authors, Local Events, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard | 4 Comments

Donutauthor photocrest-05e1a637392425b4d5225780797e5a76

Total time spent: 7 hours and 40 minutes (460 minutes)

Total word count: 71,924 (30,262 in week 1 & 25,520 in week 2) for 16,143 new words in week 3

WIP Word Count Progress Reports:

The Optimist Sees the Donut – 43,591 words

The Pessimist Sees the Hole – 27,955 words

Café Connections (Aster & Tilde Book 1) – 46,000 (14,472 words week 2, 8,640 words week 1 of Nano and 12k in October)

Day 15: 11/15/15, Sunday
Location(s):
○ Daddy’s Donuts 8:20AM-9:10AM, 1762 words
○ CountrySide Donut House 9:30AM-10:45AM, 2547 words
○ Factory Donuts11AM-12:15PM, 1672 words
○ Neverending Bookstore 1:15PM-3PM, 2180 words
○ Top Pot – Bellevue 3:30PM-4:30PM, 2160 words
Total time spent: 6 hours and 5 minutes
Total word count: 10,322 words

Day 16: 11/16/15, Monday
Location(s):
○ Work 7:35AM -7:55AM, 1066 words
○ Work 12:40PM -12:50PM, 530 words
○ Spinderella before class 5:45P-5:55PM, 643 words
Total time spent: 40 minutes
Total word count: 2239 words

Day 17: 11/17/15, Tuesday
Location(s):
○ Work 7:35-8:15AM, 2484 words
○ Work during lunch 12:20 – 12:35, 1098 words
Total time spent: 1 hour 5 minutes
Total word count: 3582words

Day 18: 11/18/15, Wednesday
Location(s):
Noteworthy: I chose to spend today working on my romance novel after getting critiques yesterday from my group on an earlier chapter.
Total time spent: 0 time
Total word count: 0 words

Day 19: 11/19/15, Thursday
Location(s):
Noteworthy: I worked on my romance novel again! Doing super well on that novel and can’t “put it down.”
Total time spent: 0 time
Total word count: 0 words

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Day 20: 11/20/15, Friday
Location(s):
Location(s):
Noteworthy: I worked on my romance novel again! Doing super well on that novel and can’t “put it down.”
Total time spent: 0 time
Total word count: 0 words

 

Day 21: 11/21/15, Saturday
Location(s):
Location(s):
Noteworthy: I worked on my romance novel again. I’ve decided to finish this book and then go back to donuts
Total time spent: 0 time
Total word count: 0 words

Book Review: Ride the Wind: A Flipped Fairy Tale (Flipped Fairy Tales Book 3) by Starla Huchton

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Ride the Wind: A Flipped Fairy Tale (Flipped Fairy Tales Book 3) by Starla Huchton

A Fantasy/Fairy Tale Adaptation published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (11/02/15)

Summary:

“It’s not about pursuing adventure, so much as seeing the adventure life already is.” (Kindle Locations 892-893).

Lukas is raised to be compassionate and when his mother tells him he needs to care for a magical injured Elk, he only pauses briefly. He promises his future to saving the creature and his word is a bond. Given a second chance to love blindly, will Lukas be able to wait in the dark or will his curiosity and worry get the best of him?

 

Keywords:

Wind, Power, Fairy Tale, Princess, Evil, Confinement, Complicated, Trust, Dark, Care, Promises, Strangers, Romance, Love, Loyalty, Family, Second Chances

 

My Review:

This flipped fairy tale features the prince and his story as he meets the ‘princess.’ I always want the princess story, but I was pleasantly surprised by the boy’s perspective. This is probably because he isn’t the stereotypical loud mouthed, boisterous, save everything in sight overbearing prince. He is a real person who was raised to be compassionate and motivated. He is sheltered, which adds to his odd behavior at times or how willing he is to jump into a ‘forever’ scenario, but he is also grasping at his second chance.

Both the prince and princess have believable and full back stories that contribute heavily to their current situations. The princess Erata and the Elk come from somewhere, they aren’t simply a Rapunzel from the tower. They came from a life before the magical house. They made mistakes to get to where they are now. Even the Prince has made his own mistakes in the past.

I only thought it was mildly odd that the creature in the story was an elk. There are dragons and such and one of the main characters is an elk? It fits when you think about the setting, but is still odd to visualize.

The romance, like any fairy tale, was glossed over. The prince was immediately enamored by Erata, even without seeing her though her main personality trait was timidity (although she saves him from poison). He falls in love hard for her and she timidly for him. I didn’t get as much of an ‘aw’ from their romance but as it has its roots in a fairy tale, having a typical head over heels love at first -sight- romance didn’t seem that far from the norm.

This novel was published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform November 2nd, 2015 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating:4.00

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Starla Huchton’s Website