Happy St. Patrick's Day

I want to wish everyone the luck of the Irish today. We are having very warm, windy and dreary weather today. Don't forget to wear green and did everyone remember the time change this week?



I am trying to curl up with as many good books as possible as I took the week off to catch up with writing reviews and starting the our guest blogging and interviews.


Of course instantly life got in the way when a friend was admitted to the hospital for chest pains. Other minor things in life also kinda road blocked me into having a slow start this week. Needless to say here I am and I will spend the next few days catching up with the reviews and interviews.


Anyone visited your local library lately?


Mine has quilts displayed this month and I love looking at all the antique quilts from years past. We have a very good quilters guild here and every year you can see so many quilts at our local Katy Days so that is nice. I don't quilt I cross stitch but I LOVE quilts and wall hangings.


Anyway don't forget to have a bowl of Lucky Charms today.






LOL


Hugs,


Pamela

Review - If Books Could Kill

Title: IF BOOKS COULD KILL


Author Kate Carlisle

Large Print

Mystery Series

ISBN:-13:978-1-4104-2529-4



I wouldn't call this series a cozy because I think it has much more intrigue than a cozy mystery but if you like cozies you will probably love this series.



Brooklyn Wainwright is in Edinburgh attending the Edinburgh Book Fair when she runs into her friend and ex-lover Kyle McVee. He asks her to have a drink with him and then tells Brooklyn that he wants her to authenicate an orginal copy of a book written by none other than Robert Burns. The text could change British History and bring shame upon the monarchy. She is curious and takes the text but then while taking a nighttime tour of the city and going down places that would make a clautrophobic think twice she stumbles on a dead body. The man is Kyle and now she must decide who to trust and what to tell Inspector Angus MacLeod and who is this Derek Stone who keeps turning up right when she needs him?

There are a lot of book sellers and collectors who would love to have a book but before he was murdered Kyle had only told three people about the book. Brooklyn is one of the three.

Right when she has enough to deal with her parents show up with their very own guru because her parents are a cross between new age and hippies and they don't travel light between all the new age inclinations. Brooklyn hopes to stay a step ahead of MacLeod and a step behind her parents.

The clock is ticking and she is almost killed but in the end things get personal in more ways than one.

I love IF BOOKS COULD KILL and while the plot is a little mind blogging it's well worth the trip. Characters are exquiste and who doesn't love a reare book expert with something to prove?

I give this one a Bt or eight out of ten.

Pamela James

Perfect reading Weekend?

Good Morning/Afternoon Everyone,




Whether you had a nice long weekend or a rather short weekend I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Today let's talk about what a perfect reading weekend means to you? Is that you read a whole book or two in an entire weekend?

Does it mean laying on a beach reading or reading in the hammock? Sitting by a cozy fire leisurely reading while it snows outside or thunderstorms give meaning to a glowing fire or a candle burning?

What is your favorite setting to read by and what is your favorite reading weekend?



Mine is curled up on couch with the tv off and hearing the pitter patter of rain. To me, there is nothing really great about a rainy weekend except reading a good book. Now in the summer or spring (rain permitting) I try to sit in my yardswing and read one hour a day or evening. However we have a bunch of retired people who live in our "hood" and that is fine but it's the other 30% of the neighbors who live here that move in and out that give me pause to read outside as much as I used to because they either have small children, loud music or other less than stellar attributes. LOL so I will stick with the couch and rainy days for my answer to this question.

Okay your turn to tell us about your perfect or preferred reading weekend?



Page Turner Pam

Review - Deadly Vows

Title: DEADLY VOWS



Author: Brenda Joyce


ISBN: 13:978-0-373-77551-4


Genre: Historical Mystery Series


Paperback


Page count: 379






A nude portrait and Francesa Cahill's world crumbles. Lured away on the morning of her wedding Calder Hart, Francesca thinks that she can handle retrieving the nude portrait of herself and be back in time to marry Calder Hart. Predictably it doesn't turn out quite as expected because she is kidnapped and ends up missing her wedding.


Calder is furious and does believe her when she tells him she was kidnapped but escaped. Worse yet is the fact that the painting is still out there somewhere. Calder does agree to help her find the portrait and Rick Bragg also helps but Rick is Calder's half brother and they a turbulent relationship. So the hunt is on for the portrait and Francesca is trying her best to win Calder back.


Rick Bragg's own life is a shambles, Francesca wants to help Rick but she doesn't know how and besides they have to find that painting.


Dark deeds, bad seeds and old enemies come to light in the dramatic page turner.


The ending is well worth the wait and for an historical mystery this particular book reads more like an historical thriller. Pluse races, heart beats faster than you can turn the page and pace only picks up the closer to the end that we get you will be clutching your heart.


DEADLY VOWS by Brenda Joyce is extremely intruging and has all of the elements we have learned to love and respect from Brenda Joyce. She write a taunt and thrilling mystery that will satisfy any readers taste for adventure and intrigue.


********** (A)


Pamela James

Good morning Bloggers & Stitchers!

It's been a while since I wrote a stitching blog. Today is the day that I want to blog about cross stitch.


I love to cross stitch and actually with my life up in the air half of the time I need to cross stitch. It's a pleasure to create a project or picture and stitching give me a sense of completion.

Today I want to ask our stitchers if they have come across any "new to them designers or patterns"? Lately what are some of your favorite stitching projects?Do you have a cross stitch blog where we can see your stitching and are there other stitching blogs you can direct us to?



I finished my BOOKS by Hinzeit cross stitch piece and lately it is my favorite piece. However I have some patterns coming from ABC stitch therapy that I imagine will fit my mood soon. Currently I am stitching on a surprise piece for a couple of friends. So can't discuss my current WIP as they read this blog.LOL



So I wonder what is your stitchy question today? Maybe someone here can answer it if you ask???????

Okay I am going to open a pepsi and after housework I am going to sit down and work on the surprise projects. After that I have a sampler I am stitching that I will get back to then tonight I hope something good will be on tv.

Hugs,

Pamela

Movie Review - Amelia

Title: AMELIA



Headline stars: Hillary Swank & Richard Gere






Ameila Earhart is from Kansas and she wants to fly planes. She does indeed start a career in avation and flies planes.






In this movie Ameila works her way up the career chain one flight at a time. She loves flying planes she loves being in the air and has never felt such freedom. When George Putnam the world renowed publisher comes to Ameila with a deal she does take the deal but with reservations. We Ameila making compromises for her career. We find her a wife to George and she is a lover to another pilot. Ameila lives life on her own terms and she does it with clarity. For every choice she makes she is willing to suffer the consequences. She sees the world from the skies and no matter the weather Ameila takes her landings as they comes.






This is a movie about a woman who was before her time and quite possibly the word "NO" never set her back once in her lifetime. It's not only about Ameila but also the men in her life and about character. Her character was that Ameila never met a challenge she didn't like and rise to conquer but I think watching this movie the Ameila's worst fear is probably that of bordum. She never wanted to be bored, have anyone take her for granted and she never wanted a routine life.


What she believed in most of all is that women SHOULD pursue their dreams and they might have doubts but that should never stop them for we all have doubts.


At the end of the movie it is quoted that "Dreams should never have boundries" I think that about sums it up for me.


No matter your age, your health, your lack of money or status.....do not ever let anything or anyone stand in the way of your dreams.






I really liked this movie but I do have to say I wish I had liked it just a tad more so I am giving it a a respectable 8 out of 10.


Hugs,


Pamela

Guest Blogger - Alice Duncan

Oh, boy, it’s been another wonderful month (well, except that my printer died, but that’s the only bad thing that happened). Not only did the Scottish Deer Hound win the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, but I had my annual physical and my doctor said I’m perfect. I’m serious. She said I’m perfect. Of course, she was reading the results of my blood work, etc., when she told me that. When I asked her how come I’m in pain and tired all the time, she told me it’s ’cause I’m old. Well, there you go. I already knew that.




Still and all, it’s been a good month, with much more magic than mayhem going on. The most fabulous and magical thing to happen in February was that Diane Levin, a woman I know only through the mystery readers’ list DorothyL bought herself a Kindle 3. What’s so special about that, you might ask. Well, I’ll tell you: DIANE SENT ME HER KINDLE 2!!! Is that the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for a perfect (remember what my doctor told me) person, or isn’t it? And I LOVE my Kindle (I never thought I’d see those two words together). Then two other marvelous friends, Debra Hosey and Robert Jablon, gave me Amazon gift certificates! I tell you, every time I despair of the world, people like Diane, Debra and Robert (whom I call Jablon. Can’t help myself) show me there are still terrific, fabulous, and kind people in it. The reason I’m so jazzed about my Kindle is ’cause, in spite of my perfect health, thanks to hideous arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome, I can no longer hold books. Honest to God. Is that ironic, or what? A novelist who can’t hold a book. Sheesh. But the Kindle is so light and bright, I can just balance it on a dachshund and read until my eyes go buggy. Magical indeed.



And then Bitsy, my adorable longhaired black-and-tan foster wiener dog found a new and wonderful home with some delightful folks in Albuquerque, and my latest foster wiener, Hot Dog, is not only dashingly handsome, but he’s a sweetie-pie. He and Scrappy make me laugh when they play together. I love things (and dogs) that make me laugh. So what if he chews up the occasional magazine and leaves its guts all over the house? He’s just a little kid.



On the book front, PECOS VALLEY REVIVAL went back for a second printing, and my books on Kindle are selling like . . . well, perhaps hotcakes is an exaggeration, but at least they’re selling. This is a Very Good Thing, ’cause I need the money. And then I got an independent editing job. I have a book-doctoring service (you can read all about it on my website: www.aliceduncan.net), but still, this was an out-of-the-blue thing. Mind you, it’s a thousand-dollar job and I’m getting $250 for it, but beggars, as we all know, can’t be choosers. Besides, it’s MONEY!



I also found out that Kirkus is going to review FALLEN ANGELS, my May 2011 release, and that’s nice, too, even if they trash the book. I mean, Kirkus is reviewing my books! How cool is that? Kirkus piddled all over PECOS VALLEY REVIVAL, but at least they paid attention to it. With any luck, maybe another one or two of the Big Four (Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal) will review it, too. Hey, a girl can dream. Even if she is old.



Not only all of that, but the cover art for GENTEEL SPIRITS (July 2011) is fabulous, and both of my daughters are going to be living here in Roswell! I can hardly believe it. Robin will be here March first, and Anni’s been here for a couple of months. We haven’t been together as a threesome for over a year! I mean, heck, we pretty much grew up together, you know? I was so young and dumb when they were born, yet we all survived their childhoods and are now a very tight trio. And we’ll be together again! I’m so excited, I can hardly stand it. Definitely something magic going on here 



Oh, and don’t forget to enter my monthly contest. Just send your name and home address to me at alice@aliceduncan.net . I’ll be giving away a copy of HIGH SPIRITS and a copy of SIERRA RANSOM! Wow, Whatta deal.