Sandy Point State Park

A few more photos from Sandy Point State Park.  And yes, no more black and whites for Sprite.

Moody

I finally was able to download some photos I took last month at Sandy Point State Park on the Chesapeake Bay.  And I immediately started to play with filters on one shot that stood out to me the most.  It is funny how taking a color photo and using a filter to turn it into a moody black and white photo can change the tone and mood of a photo.

I am still debating which version I like the most.  Please chime in and tell me which one you like better.

The Bachelor Auction

This is a book review for a new to me author named Rachel Van Dyken‘s new book The Bachelor Auction.

The Bachelor Auction is the first book in what I am happy to say will be a series called the Bachelors of Arizona.  The tag line for this book on the author’s webpage is “Cinderella never had to deal with this crap.”  And that tagline is a perfect description for this first book in this new series.

This is a variation of the Cinderella fairy tale retold with a modern twist.  Jane is running her own cleaning business while living with her two older sisters who greatly take advantage of her.  Jane is trying to honor her father’s last wish to keep the family together while running the cleaning business her father started.  Her sisters are both lawyers who expect Jane to take care of all of the household bills, the cleaning, and cook for them.  Jane dares to break out one night and goes out and meets Brock.

Brock is the Prince Charming in this wonderful story. Brock and his younger twin brothers were raised by their grandfather after the untimely death of their parents early in their lives.  Brock has always been the responsible one who always does what his grandfather wants simply to avoid disappointing his grandfather.  But this has led to the twins calling him Boring Brock.

Brock is the grandson running his grandfather’s company, although his grandfather is still in charge.  Brock’s grandfather requests a meeting with him and than surprises him with an announcement that he will be marrying and that he is about to be auctioned off in a bachelor auction.

And this is where the fun really begins. Jane and Brock meet at a party right after this meeting and well yes, true to the Cinderella fairy tale, Jane loses her shoe.  Except that it is a plain old boring black pump. Brock falls for Jane or rather Plain Jane as she calls herself.

Following along with the fairy tale, Jane returns to her every day life.  Until she receives a job offer to clean and reopen a ranch house that she can’t refuse.  Figuring that this is a chance to make some changes in her life, she takes the job offer never expecting what follows.

This is a fairly fast paced story line with fairly well developed characters. Some of the characters are not as well developed as Jane’s and Brock’s but hopefully they will develop in the next book.  This is a wonderful read and I am looking forward to reading more from Ms. Van Dyken soon.

I hope that you will give this book a shot and fall in love with it like I have.

You can find the book to purchase on several platforms. This book is currently only available as an e-book.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

iBooks

Google Play

Kobo

If you decide to give this book a chance like I think you should, please mark it on GoodReads as a Want to Read.

RAFFLECOPTER Contest

There is a wonderful contest being run by the publisher for a chance to win a free digital copy of the book on Rafflecopter.   http://bit.ly/2cBHPed   

Author Information

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I was provided with an advance copy of this e-book by the publisher in exchange for a fair unbiased review.

 

 

My Christmas Fiance Review

Yet another book review. I am a fan of books that place in En Zed and Serenity Woods is a talented author based in New Zealand.

My Christmas Fiance

 

 

This is the start of a new series by Serenity Woods. The story is set in En Zed like all of Ms. Woods’ books.

The story telling in this new series alternates the male and female viewpoint so it is equally balanced. If you are not comfortable with this style, give it a chance since it does provide insight into both characters.

Stratton has found himself in the position of needing to get the message through to his former fiancee that they are done and over. The only idea he can come up with is to hire a fake fiancee to attend a holiday ball and he tasks the assignment of finding a fake fiancee to his personal assistant, Meg.

Meg is dealing with her own issues of trying to escape from her former partner who turned abusive. She and her son have moved across the country and started a new life while trying to hide. So when her partner tracks her down and Stratton witnesses the encounter, things take an interesting turn. Instead of the escorts that Meg has found for Stratton to interview for the fake fiancee position, Meg finds herself in the position of being Stratton’s fake fiancee.

Both Meg and Stratton figure that being each other’s fake fiance will cause their former partners to get the message that things are over. And that is when the fun begins since both are attracted to each other yet refuse to admit it. The twists and turns of both Meg and Stratton figuring out that they are in love with each while not wanting to admit it make for a fun read.

I did receive an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. Even without receiving the ARC, I would still be leaving a positive review of this book.

The Trouble with Mistletoe

Today is the release day for a new book by Jill Shalvis in her Heartbreaker Bay series.  I am lucky enough to be part of her review team which means that I have had a chance to read this book early.

The Trouble with Mistletoe

Any book starring a meezer is a 5 star book for me.  Meezers aka Siamese cats are highly intelligent, opinionated, talkative, and not afraid to remind you of who is in charge of your life ——> them not you.

The humans in this story are Willa who grew up as a foster child and managed to find herself a career working with animals as the owner of a pet store and all around pet wrangler.  Willa is always trying to rescue everyone while trying to not allow herself to commit.  Keane Winters has his own issues with dealing with taking care Petunia aka Pita for an aunt, dealing with parents who need rescuing without it seeming like he is rescuing them, and his own business of renovating and selling houses around the San Francisco Bay area.

Keane and Pita (his affectionate name for Petunia) are off to a troubled start when Pita lands his lap since his aunt needs some help.  Meezers are very particular and do not like change too well.  Everything in their world needs to be its place and their needs come first.  Pita makes her dislike of these changes well known to Keane in ways that only a Siamese would do. 

Keane walks into Willa’s shop just as she is finishing up bathing a batch of 6 puppies.  He is desperate for some one to watch Petunia during his work hours and is hoping that Willa will board the cat.  And this is where the fun begins.  Willa remembers Keane from way back in high school but he doesn’t remember her. 

This book is a wonderful fun read with Petunia leading, okay dragging, these two humans to their happily ever.

This is book 2 in the new series Heartbreaker Bay series by Jill Shalvis.  And like all of her books, this one is easy to read on its own.  So settle down in a comfy chair with your favorite beverage and lose yourself for a few hours and enjoy the antics of this lovely world.

First Signs of Autumn

I moved recently to a much smaller town and today I took a walk around town.  The first tale tale signs of autumn are starting to be visible

Dipping My Toes …

Dipping my toes back into the blogging universe again.  It is time to dust off this blog and start blogging again.  Although this time it will be a mix of knitting, spinning, and book reviews.

Just Stop Me by Rosalind James

<a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27814216-just-stop-me&#8221; style=”float: left; padding-right: 20px”><img border=”0″ alt=”Just Stop Me (Escape to New Zealand #9)” src=”https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1451457122m/27814216.jpg&#8221; /></a><a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27814216-just-stop-me”>Just Stop Me</a> by <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6536019.Rosalind_James”>Rosalind James</a><br/>
My rating: <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1491130031″>5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
You know how you start a book and don’t want to put it down once you start reading it? And once you realize that it is about to end, you don’t want it to end? Okay, this is true of all well written books but even more so with Just Stop Me. <br><br>First of all, Iain’s physical description makes me immediately picture Richie McCaw. Than the story starts with his fiancé leaving him at the alter and she is a member of the Silver Ferns, you have no choice but to think of the All Blacks recently retired captain, Richie McCaw.<br><br>The story starts out with Iain waiting for his mum to arrive back to En Zed from a trip to the UK to visit his sister. His mum has a huge heart and traded her seat that Iain paid for so another mother and her children would be more comfortable on the long flight. And his mum find another stray to take under her wing because she switched seats as well. Iain isn’t too pleased to discover his mother has not only taken this stray under her wing but she has hired her to look after his grand dad.<br><br>Nina looks like a waif who has escaped from a bad place. And there is an element of truth in that she has escaped from almost marrying the wrong man. A man who thinks because he is a prince, anything he says goes and the word no does not apply to him. Nina was engaged to him because it seemed like the thing a successful model would do. After all doesn’t every woman want to marry a prince? But after having second thoughts and telling Matthias that she will not marry him, she takes the steps she needs to escape from this gilded cage. (Obviously he doesn’t listen to her.)<br><br>Since there is no commercial air flights to Antartica, Nina ends up heading to New Zealand which turns out to be one of the best decisions she has ever made. On the flight from London to Auckland, she meets Iain’s mum, Carmella and everything is set into play.<br><br>Nina has never cooked or cleaned or done laundry or any of the basic things most of us do without a second thought. She has always been a model managed by her own mother so never has had to do ordinary things like basic household. But she wants to hide away and start over so working as a care giver to Iain’s grand dad sounds like a great idea to her since it includes a place to stay.<br><br>Iain is taking some well deserved time off from the All Blacks and has been planning to spend some time with his parents and grand dad at their home near Nelson on the South Island. With Nina being there, he is hooked and plans to keep a close eye on her.<br><br>Not wanting to give away too much but the beauty of the South Island at times steals the scene. As well as does Arthur, Iain’s grand dad. Iain’s parents are just as much a major part of the book and plot line. It is actually rather nice to see the issues his parents are having and how they chose to resolve them. Many books tend to focus solely on younger romantic partners and them finding their HEA. This book has a long standing relationship going through some adjustments as well. Plus how some one decides to continue on after their life partner has died. <br><br>The explanation of a relationship by Iain from his grand father’s words is wonderful and worth reading just for this alone.<br><br>If I write much more in this review, I will spill all of the juicy details which means that you won’t want to read the book.<br><br>Full disclosure – I was provided with an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for a honest fair review. Although I would buy this book because well hot rugby players are involved!
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<a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1451492-mia”>View all my reviews</a>

Changing Seasons

It seems like Mother Nature has finally decided that we shall get some rain and much cooler temperatures.  It was lovely being able to have the windows open overnight for sleeping and it getting rather cool for early September around here.  As a knitter, I do love the cooler weather since it means time to grab a shawl or put on a pair of hand knit socks.

The colors of fall are not colors that I tend to gravitate towards since I do not look good in most shades of orange or yellows.  But this year, it seems like my knitting is matching up with the season.  I was given the opportunity to test knit a shawl for a designer I happen to like and I challenged myself to work outside of my normal color range.  The colors I ended up with are very not me but very fall like with golds, oranges and burgundy.  Okay, I do like burgundy since it is a red.  But will I wear the shawl once it is completely done and blocked? Hard to tell at this point.  But I do happen to know someone who loves these particular colors so it may end up being mailed off to her as a gift.

Even my knitting matches the change of seasons

Even the flowers I am seeing at my favorite early morning farmers market downtown reflects the change of the seasons happening slowly.

Oranges and greens seem to mark the start of the change from summer to fall

Hints of Fall

I am starting to see hints of fall in the items seen at the local farmers’ markets.  Baby butternut squash are my current favorite.  They are the perfect size for a single serving.  I can’t wait for the current heat wave to break so I can roast one of these lovelies.

The moon late at night has been orange.  Hard to capture but this shot reminds me that All Hallows Eve will be here soon.