Question of the week: When you step out of your USUAL genre what do you like to read? Best books in that genre?

My Answer: I don't have an usual genre that I read. I read kid books, YA books, Science-fiction, Mystery, Romance, Christian, Historical, Crime, and Non-Fiction. 

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The 10th installment in A House of Night series picks up where Destined ended, with the High Council finally finding out that the High Priestess Neferet is nothing but pure evil. Neferet has broken all ties with the Tulsa's House of Night. This of course takes a lot of weight off Zoey Redbird's shoulders, who already has enough problems to deal with. Neferet wastes no time with her schemes and she sets fire to school's stables. Two innocent felines die in the fire. Or were they killed by someone else?

Lenobia barely has time to mourn for Dragon's losses as she keeps seeing her lover Martin (whom died many, many years ago and appeared in Lenobia's Vow) in her dreams. Or are these signs? She starts to suspect that her new horse-keeper, Travis, (who was hired by Neferet) may possibly be Martin reincarnated.

Things couldn't get any worse. Right? Think again!

When I was in elementary school, we had a newsletter. I don’t remember why, or how it started, but in that newsletter, I published a serial called, “The Hidden Door.” I wrote exactly two episodes of that serial, but it was published and I felt very proud of that.

I’d like to say that I was inspired to be a storyteller when I saw “Star Wars” for the first time. That was it for lots of writers who were kids in the 70s. That just didn’t happen to me. All I know is that for as long as I can remember, I’ve told stories. Most of the time, I don’t think anyone was listening to me, and I was told by one of my college professors, whom I looked up to, that I wasn’t one of his choices for what he called “talented” writers, but I kept writing or telling stories.

I wrote lots of short stories I studied acting in high school and I loved that. I acted throughout college and I even joined a relatively popular improvisational theatre in Los Angeles after I move out there in pursuit of a career telling stories for film and television. I had a knack for dialogue, both writing it and delivering the lines myself, but I didn’t have the look of a Hollywood star, so I just kept writing. One day, I started getting work as a ghostwriter, which meant that I wrote the story and someone else got the credit. As frustrating as it was, I was happy to be writing a story, so I did it some more and I started helping other people to improve their own stories and although I never got “big,” break, I was getting paid to write and that was really, really cool!

I left Los Angeles for Arizona after I was married (to another writer) and had our first child, but the need to tell stories remained. Understanding that the “big” break would not come until I stepped away from screenplays and turned toward novelizing my story ideas, I did what I always did… I kept writing stories.

The Witch’s Dream 
The Order of the Black Swan #2 
By Victoria Danann 
Genre: Paranormal Romance / Paranormal Adult Fantasy / Urban Fantasy 
Publisher: 7th House 
Date of Publication: October 14, 2012 
ISBN: 978-1-933320-56-4 
ASIN: B009LXOKQW
Pages: 260 (5×7 book) 
Word Count: 97,000 
Purchase Links: Amazon  Smashwords 

Book Description: 

He was left behind when Elora Laiken made her choice. Now he’s had it with love, but a transplanted witch who happens to be the world’s best tracker hopes she can change his mind.

The Witch’s Dream begins with B Team on loan for temporary assignment to Black Swan headquarters in Edinburgh where they are supposed to fill in for stretched-thin resources and assist with a werewolf issue. They’ve been given permission to stop in Ireland for a few days and help Ram and Elora celebrate their handfasting at the palace in Derry.

When they reach Edinburgh, the afterglow of an elftale wedding quickly turns all business. A simple werewolf sanction becomes a diplomatic issue requiring the one thing Elora doesn’t have – finesse. A missing person report turns into a demon abduction. From New York to Ireland to Edinburgh to Siena to the Texas Hill Country to Napa Valley. From promises to rages to hunts to epiphanies.

This is a story that proves that love can find you when you’re least expecting it – even when you’re far, far from home.

Review:

Sometimes sequels can be a bit of a disappointment, but Victoria Danann has written an intriguing sequel that surpasses My Familiar Stranger. In this sequel, Elora Laiken is planning on marrying the elf Rammel Hawking (who are both part of The Order of the Black Swan) in Ireland. She may think that life is going to be easy for them, but situations occur, the paranormal kind, that changes her plans as it seems that werewolves are howling about.

The B Team (I guess the A-Team are busy. lol!) are assigned to eliminate the problem, but it isn't as easy as they hoped it would be. Poor Storm is still pining over losing Elora to Rammel for the first half of the book, but then he meets a lovely witch named Lithia. Here's a shocker, Lithia's father just happens to be an incubus!

The Casual Vacancy
By J. K. Rowling
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 978-0316228534
Pub. Date: September 27, 2012
Pages: 512

Review:

J. K. Rowling is one of the most successful writers of all time due to her Harry Potter franchise becoming a worldwide phenomenon. I was a bit surprised when she announced that she was writing an adult book instead of another children fantasy series. The moment she made the announcement the pressure for success was on her.

Every fan, every reader, and every critic are expecting another Harry Potter, but in reality what we get is a small town drama with a bit of dark humor mixed in. The book is getting mixed to negative reviews from critics and fans because of the sudden change in genre. J. K. Rowling warned everyone that she was writing a different kind of book.

Why is everyone so disappointed?

Let me tell you the plot of The Casual Vacancy.

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.