Thursday, April 3, 2014

Review - Dancing With Dragonflies



Dancing with Fireflies
A Chapel Spring Romance, book 2
By Denise Hunter
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pub. Date: March 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-1401687021
Pages: 352
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/dhunter
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/uJ6OD

Review:

Typically when I'm in a bookstore (well, Walmart), I only look for certain authors I have read before and avoid any new authors, but since I have started blogging I have been introduced to many other authors, including Denise Hunter.

In this sequel to last year's Barefoot Summer,  Jade McKinley finds herself returning to her hometown of Chapel Springs, Indiana, as she doesn't have anywhere else to go. She is also completely broke. Plus, she is pregnant!

Jade's family is more than surprised to see her return from the big city after only a year. She doesn't want to them to know about her upcoming bundle of joy.

The Chapel Springs mayor, Daniel Dawson, grew up with the McKinley family and has also had a crush on Jade, whom he has always called "squirt," though she had never thought of him as more than a honorary brother. After running into Jade again, those old feelings for her return.

Review - Maybelle in Stitches



Maybelle in Stitches
Quilts of Love Series, Book16
By Joyce Magnin
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Pub. Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1426752803
Pages: 240
Buy Link: Paperback
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/JMagnin

Review:

I have had the privilege to read several installments of the

Quilts of Love Series this year. No, I'm not a quilter, actually I don't even know how to run a sewing machine, but I have plenty of quilters in my family, so I do respect the hobby. I do love reading almost any kind of novel, which is one of the reasons why I first signed up to read the Quilts of Love Series.

The 16th installment, Maybelle in Stitches, is set during WWII and is centered on Maybelle Kazinski. Her husband, Holden, was called off to war, so she finds herself working at the Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock in Chester, Pennsylvania as a welderette. A woman working in a shipyard may seem a little odd at first for 1943, but many women during the war had to get jobs to support their family while their husbands were fighting overseas.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Editing: Necessary or Not?


This past Monday, I was a guest on the Stories for Children radio show hosted by the World of Ink Network.

Although the main topic of the show was about children’s books, we went off onto a tangent about some of the differences between Indie writing and writing published by large publishing houses.

One difference that you will often see is a difference in editing.

Editing has clear goals. In my mind, editing is the process of:
  1. Eliminating any typos, grammar, and spelling issues.
  2. Directing the writer to place the ideas in a more organized fashion or suggesting other organizational changes
  3. Pairing down copy so that the idea can be presented in the fewest words possible, or at least, to clarify the point of the story.  


Some Indie books are amazingly good and are actually better than many of the books published by big-name publishers. I personally love The Woodlands series, and think it is better than Divergent, and possibly even The Hunger Games.

 But on the other hand, some Indie books are published with sloppy errors that make them challenging to read- possibly due to the lack of a qualified editor.

I have read numerous books with typos, spelling issues, convoluted plots, unnecessary content, and a host of other issues that you would not see in a book published by a larger publishing house (usually).

However, some of these slightly-awkward books had amazing and unique plots that I very much wanted to read about.

So, the question we were left with in the show, and what I have still yet to decide an answer for, is: Is it worth overlooking the editing issues if the story is good?

My initial instinct is to say no; simply because, a person who cares about their writing should be determined to present it in the best way possible. I suppose it is sort of like showing up at a business interview in a rumpled suit. The candidate may be qualified for the position, but a rumpled suit shows a lack of care that will probably convey to the interviewer a lack of care about the position.

But on the other hand, if the interviewer (or book publisher), selects someone (or a book) who looks better, that person could lack the substance of the first candidate.

So, in the end, I guess I believe that if a story is good, both the author and the publisher should be responsible for ensuring it is presented in the best light. What errors the author misses the publisher should address. After all, it is their name on the book, too!


What do you guys think?



Brenda is a fellow book-lover and coffee-addict. She is a freelance writer, punctuation nerd, and grammar enthusiast. Her favorite book genres are Science Fiction, Fantasy with a Twist, and Dystopian. Brenda blogs about books, writing and more at Daily Mayo. Find her here on CaW for Writing Tips Wednesdays the first Wednesday of every month.

Follow Brenda on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to updates from Daily Mayo to keep up with all the exciting things in her life; ranging from drinking coffee to get through the day to drinking coffee just for fun.

Review - Tom & Jerry Slippers


Tom & Jerry Slippers
Made by: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment & Turner Entertainment


Retail:

Men's Large (8-11) - $24.95

Where To Buy:

BunnySlippers.com

Description:

Who knew epic, long-lived rivalries could be so comfortable? These Tom and Jerry slippers feature the faces of TV's most famous cat and mouse duo. Each slipper captures the character's face in high-quality detail complete with protruding whiskers, fluffy ears, and mischievous grins.

Review:

I know many kids probably had a pair of bunny slippers or a pair of slippers featuring their favorite character, but I don't recall ever owning a pair of slippers until I was given a pair of Tasmanian Devil slippers when I was a teenager as a Christmas gift. At the time I had lost all interest in anything animated related, so the slippers where shoved into a closet and eventually lost over the years. Now, as an adult, I have embraced my childhood and I have started collecting my favorite Saturday morning cartoons on DVD. I even own a few T-shirts with my favorite characters on them, like TMNT, Grumpy the dwarf, Garfield and Thundercats.

Using Technology to Market Your Business

The world of advertising and marketing is changing at a rapid rate. You have to grow and adapt to the change in order to stay competitive. It doesn't matter if you are already tuned in to the new ways of gaining new customers or if you are completely out of the loop when it comes to the simple ways in which marketing has changed over the past decade, you can learn more about the new ways to market and gain new customers, as well as up the interactions that you have with existing customers. This article will talk about utilizing social media, digitizing punch cards, and the technology of a lead capture app.

Social Media

The new 'word-of-mouth', social media, is imperative to the growth of a company. No longer do businesses have to rely on neighbors recommending  the company or hoping that the water cooler talk drives new customers to a particular business. Using social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Foursquare, and more can do all of the word-of-mouth work for you, and in an exponential way. There are companies who specialize in getting you more 'likes' on Facebook, more 'retweets' on Twitter, more 'check-ins' on Foursquare, and so much more. If your company has not entered the world of social media, now is the time to do so.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

DVD Review - Power Rangers: Seasons 13-17




Power Rangers Seasons 13 - 17
Starring: Various
Studio: Shout! Factory 
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Retail: $129.99
ASIN:  B00HNGC5FC
Running Time: 3300 minutes
Rating: TV-Y

Purchase Links:



Description: 

Five Complete Morphenomenal Seasons In One Limited-Edition Collection! 


The world’s favorite children’s action-adventure series returns with five more astonishing seasons, including the fan-favorite Power Rangers S.P.D. and the explosive Power Rangers Mystic Force, Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, Power Rangers Jungle Fury and Power Rangers RPM. Join your favorite Rangers as they take on evil unlike anything the universe has ever seen!

This limited-edition collection contains all 166 episodes and comes packed with hours of bonus features, including retrospective featurettes celebrating the Power Rangers with brand-new interviews with members of the cast and crew, archival material, and more!


Review:

Its hard to believe the Power Rangers franchise turned twenty-years-old this past August and is currently in its 21st season with Power Rangers Super Megaforce. The premise of a group of teenagers becoming superheroes wearing tights and using giant robots, Zords, to fight giant monsters might have seemed a little silly at first, but the series caught on quickly and has continued to bring in new fans with every new season (well series). The franchise actually uses scenes, costumes, monsters and Zords from the Japanese tokusatsu Super Sentai franchise.

Similar to other children programs, only a handful of episodes (four or five) were released on single VHSs or DVDs or the year, but there has never been an entire full season actually released. Even the complete series of Power Ranges Samurai was missing a few episodes. Fans finally got their wish when Shout! Factory began releasing box-sets and individual season-sets in late 2012.

Being released today is the limited-edition box set of Power Rangers Seasons 13-17, featuring 166 exciting episodes on 21 DVDs and includes a 48-page booklet. As an added bonus, exclusively for this box-set, is a bonus disc, featuring:

5th Anniversary Giveaway - $50 Amazon Gift Card!



No, this isn't an April Fool's Day joke!

I first started blogging five-years ago today. To celebrate my blog's five-year anniversary, I'm giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card (will be sent to winner via email). Giveaway ends April 30th!

 
Update:

I'm having problems with the Rafflecopter widget, so I have to pick the winner manually. 

The giveaway winner is:

Beverly P.