Thanksgiving is only one week away. While it's a wonderful holiday to spend with your family and friends, it can also be a stressful one, especially if you have to travel a long way just for a turkey dinner.

In this post, I'm featuring 5 fun apps (and games) that will help kill the time till Thanksgiving Day.

Available on Google Play is the Android App "The Simpsons: Tapped Out." While the game is several years old, don't let the age fool you, as it's just as fun as ever. In the game, you can create your own version of Springfield using characters and buildings. The game is updated regularly with holiday-themed content.

Another game app that's been around for awhile is Star Wars: Commander. The war-strategy game let you play for either the Rebels or the Empire. You get to build a base, weapons, ships, and train soldiers. Then you can attack other players' bases. It's the perfect game app for any Star Wars fan!

Available on Google Play and the App Store, is one of the newer apps on my list, titled "Ask Bongo." What is Bongo? Well, Bongo is a super intelligent monkey from the shores of Borneo. Bongo knows everything about everyone and anything! So, just Ask Bongo anything you want to and get an answer.

Being released on December 4th is the supernatural novel The One Apart by Justine Avery.




The author has taken a few minutes out of her busy schedule to talk about her new novel "The One Apart."


When did you become interested in storytelling?

When I was seven years old, I hadn’t even “found” the first genre that would help me fall in love with reading and turn me into an avid reader for life (the genre was stories of girls my age with horses and ghosts—don’t laugh!), but my 2nd grade English teacher asked all of her students to write a new story every single week. Mine were all true, from whatever adventure I had that week or interesting thing I witnessed, but the teacher praised my stories the most and begged me to read them to the class each week. I guess that made me realize I had a knack for telling a story, or at least spotting what makes real life most interesting.

What was your first book/story published?

My very first stories published were travel articles for print magazines—a long time ago. My first fiction story published was Last Shot, published as a single on Amazon: a very dark, psychological tale about a man trying—and failing—to successfully commit suicide, over and over, and how he changes in the process. It’s intense, but ultimately a comedy.

What inspired you to write The One Apart?

It was time to finally sit down and write a novel-length story, whether or not I felt ready for the challenge. I picked up the first few pages I’d already written for a story I knew was going to be “a long one,” based on one sentence I woke up with one morning: “he remembered everything.” I knew the main character remembered things he shouldn’t, things that surprise him, things that might make other people upset, and I started writing to discover what all those mysteries were. I hoped to at least get to 50k words, but the story ended up requiring 117k words to tell it!

What character in The One Apart is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

Tres, the main character, is probably most like me; I think he’s like all of us. He has very specific struggles and gifts, but when it comes down to it, he’s just someone trying to find his place in the world, to fit in with everyone around him, to discover what makes him different but not wanting to be too different. He wants to belong, and he wants to know what he’s supposed to do with the life he’s been given. He’s not afraid to change his mind or his direction, try different things, and explore different things in finding his answers.

What is your favorite part in The One Apart?

Avon Inspire; 272 pages; $12.99; Buy Link; Blog Tour

Now available from Avon Inspire (an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) is the third book in The Amish Of Hart County, titled The Gift by New York Bestselling Author Shelley Shepard Gray.

The novel centers on Susanna Schwartz, a young woman who's excited to be spending Christmas with her family on their new farm in Hart County. Well, that is until a series of accidents occur. Sounds of gunshots causes her buggy to overturn, and her little sister falls through a wooden bridge into a creek. Are these accidents just 'accidents'? Or is someone trying to harm them?

The other main character is Neil Vance (aka- Susanna's possible love interest). His family loss their farm and his father blames the Schwartzs, though they're not at fault.

Neil believes the accidents that are happening to the Schwartzs are just accidents, but Susanna's father thinks otherwise, as he believes the Vance family is involved.

Bethany House; 384 pages; $15.99; Amazon

I meant to have this review posted yesterday, but I'm under the weather with the flu, so my plan is to write this post and a couple of other posts (that were meant to posted today) tonight.

Anyway, I'm reviewing The Promise of Dawn, book one in the Under Northern Skies series, by Lauraine Snelling. The novel centers on Rune and Signe Carlson, a poor married couple living in Norway who receive a loan from a relative, Einar Strand, for passage to the United States. Upon arriving in Minnesota with their three sons, they quickly learn that Uncle Einar and his wife, Gird, are difficult to get along with. To pay back the cost of their voyage, they have to help clear the family's land.

Rune and Signe both dream of owning their own land and building their own home, but as long as their in debt to the Strands, their dreams will never come true.

Now available from Copperfield Press is the historical-paranormal romance Her Dear & Loving Husband by Meredith Allard.





When did you become interested in storytelling?

I started writing stories in college. I read David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, and I decided I wanted to write stories that were entire worlds unto themselves.

What was your first book/story published?

My first story published was called “Keats House” in a journal called Moondance in 2003. Her Dear and Loving Husband was my first novel published in 2011.

What inspired you to write Her Dear and Loving Husband?

I had read the Twilight books and watched True Blood and I began wondering what it might be like for a vampire who loses the only woman he’s ever loved.

What character in Her Dear and Loving Husband is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

James is most like me because he’s very bookish and very loyal. The character least like me would be Kenneth Hempel, the reporter out to prove that James is a vampire. Kenneth isn’t very generous or understanding.

What is your favorite part in Her Dear and Loving Husband?