Smitten Image
By Pam B. Morris
Publisher: Crimson Romance
ASIN: B008DVLINQ
Pub. Date: July23, 2012
Pages: 233
Buy Links: Amazon, B&N, iTunes


Review: 

Set in the year 2039, Lily Barnett is a skillful (but ditzy) painter when she is not searching for her keys or whatever she has misplaced. She fears that she'll never find true love in the great city of New Chicago. Lily desperately wants to find love. She day dreams about the man in her painting jumping off the canvas and sweeping her off her feet.

One day she stumbled into a magic shop looking for something to cure her aching heart. She sets her eyes on a love potion and eagerly guzzles it down without even learning about the side effects.

Lily's neighbor and best-friend, Daniel Harris - who is also the building manager, desperately falls for her quirkiness. He has been in love with her for years, but has never told her because he is hiding a dark magical secret of his own.

October is nearly half way through and I can already smell the Halloween candy. Besides from trick-or-treating, kids look forward to having a Halloween party, normally thrown by the room mothers/fathers. Typically a school Halloween party consists of  the kids receiving a treat bag, watching a family-friendly movie, and playing a few games, such as guessing the amount of candy corn in a jar; bobbing for apples; or playing candy wrapper relay races.

Recently I had the opportunity to review the Halloween Party Games Pack that retails for $19.95. There are forty games that are mostly aimed for kids, but a few are more for teenagers and adults, such as Twisted Horror Movie Titles; Stephen King Books and Movies Titles Trivia; Who's The Bad Guy? Trivia; Horror Movies Crosswords; Teen Twilight Crossword; Scary Synopsis Horror Movie Trivia; and Halloween Newlywed Game Questions. 

There are great games include in the pack for elementary/middle-grade Halloween Parties such as Pin the Head on the Monster; Halloween Coloring Pages; Crafty Pumpkin Decorating Ideas; Werewolf Spot the Difference; Halloween Costume Word Search; and Halloween Synonyms for Kid. 

My favorite games from this pack are Twisted Horror Movie Titles and Who's the Bad Guy?, in which I knew all the answers. All the games are printable, so you can make copies of the games at your school, office, or even in your own home.

Guest Blog Host: Soon Remembered Tales
Question of the week: With Autumn upon us and Halloween drawing near, what books remind you of fall? What ones do you enjoy reading that are about autumn?

My Answer:  I would have to say it would be the books titled "Halloween Party," "Halloween Night," and "Halloween Night II," all written by R. L. Stine.

The Car Thief
By Theodore Weesner
Publisher: Astor + Blue Editions
ISBN: 978-1-938231-00-1
ASIN: B00822MZEM
Pub. Date: April 2012
Pages: 400

Review:

Set in Detroit in 1959, sixteen-year-old Alex Houseman is still dealing with the fact that his mother left his father for another man and took his young brother, Howard, with her. Since his parents divorce, his father has been working the night shift at the local Chevy Plant and has become an alcoholic. Alex has been getting in all sorts of trouble. Most recently he has started skipping school and he just stolen his fourteenth car. He gets caught and is sent to a juvenile detention center.

The Car Thief was originally published back in 1972 and was re-released earlier this year. I received a free ARC of the book several months, but the book got shoved around and I just finish reading it today. The book started out slow for me, despite the fact that it is beautifully written, but eventually the story grabbed a hold of me. I kept thinking about how Alex reminded me of myself when I was that age. I didn't get arrested or thrown into a detention center, but I felt lost and confused as Alex was.

With the football season just starting, many fans like to tailgate in the parking lot. Let’s face it, the prices at the grocery store are getting higher every week and that's not counting the proper equipment and accessories needed for the event.

PeachSuit.com is a family owned and operated business since 1981 that provides Hotel Supply and Equipment; Bar Supplies; Hospitality Supplies & Hotel Catering Supplies; Janitorial Supplies; Outdoor Furniture; and Restaurant Equipment. The company is currently having some great deals for the tailgaters, such as coolers, blue ice packs, grills, and Red Solo Cups.

Saved By The Bell: Season Five
Starring: : Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mario Lopez, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies, Elizabeth Berkley, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen
Studio: Lionsgate
ASIN: B0009KQP96
Release Date: July 19, 2005
Running Time: 550 minutes

Yes, I was one of those kids that would run home everyday after school so I could watch the reruns of Saved By The Bell. One channel aired back-to-back episodes and at the same time another channel would air one episode. All my classmates watched the series and even my parents would watch on Saturday mornings.

After the series had filmed its last episode in which the characters had their high school graduation, NBC ordered more episodes. Actresses Tiffani-Amber Thiessen (Kelly Kapowski) and Elizabeth Berkley (Jessie Spano) had already moved on to film projects are were not available to participate in new episodes. Therefore a new character was created - Tori Scott (played by Leanna Creel).

Just like the two previous DVD sets, the episodes are out of order, going more by the syndication order. That's why the characters look older in one episode and a lot younger in the next. A few episodes have Jesse and Slater as a couple, but they broke up during season four!

The new student Tori becomes Zack's girlfriend and befriends Screech, Slater, and Lisa, but for some reason she never meets Kelly or Jesse. As I stated above the actresses who played the parts didn't return, but there names could have been mentioned more often. Continuity errors? Or were the characters Jesse and Kelly doing something else when Tori was around? After almost twenty years it is still a mystery to me.