Jenuine Cupcakes

https://www.facebook.com/notes/harlequin-teen/the-iron-knight-online-launch-party/10150319362609396 The Iron Knight Online Launch Party When :  October 24th 2011 Where: Twitter Who Will Be There : Julie Kagawa, Harlequin Teen & Special Guests! Evening Activities: Fun Giveaways Cool Iron Fey Chats with Julie Kagawa! Team Ash, Team Puck, Team Grim Games Exclusive Behind the Scenes Stuff! Super Special Announcements And More! Follow   @Harlequinteen for more updates!

I think I'm in Ash heaven... cupcake anyone? https://www.facebook.com/HarlequinTEEN?sk=app_103520946352747

SHOUT OUT 4 SHUT OUT! I was really looking forward to this book and was not disappointed in the least!  I was surprised however, to find that the story and the characters were not quite what I was expecting - they were better. (Btw, is it just me or does the cover model look a little like a young Liv Tyler?)   Lissa Daniels is dating Randy, the quarterback for their school football team who, along with his teammates is part of the long standing rivalry with the school's soccer team.  (I was a soccer player girlfriend in High School so I couldn't help but be Team Cash by default from the Intro page...my sincere apologies to Randy & the other guys.)  Lissa's tired of playing second fiddle to Randy's "boyeez" so she comes up with a plan - one which involves getting the guys from both teams to end the fighting/hazing by cutting them off, through a well organized sex strike.  She's convinced that since guys (all guys according to her) are only concer...

I was taking a much needed break from schooling and happened to jump on Twitter this morning & saw this link... notice what it says under Ash's picture (I had to read it twice to be sure I wasn't seeing things.   To say I was "happy" is an understatement, unless of course, screaming & frantically clapping fall under the description of "happy".  My boys came running to see what all the noise was about and were none too happy about there not being any blood, bug or furry rodent to rescue me from.  Doesn't matter because it just became the BEST DAY EVER! :D http://juliekagawa.blogspot.com/2011/09/day-with-ashpuck-contest-winners.html?showComment=1317046277926#c8562854599157621266

This was a great read! This is a fast paced story about, family, friendship, love, and the lengths we will go to in order to protect the ones we care about most regardless of the consequences. The only negative thing I can say about this book is that my "Trilodar (the ability to tell that a book is part of a triology and/or series) didn't go off until I was 3/4 of the way through it. I was not ready for this story to end yet! Imagine living in a world, our world where a) caffeine is illegal, b) chocolate is contraband c) water is so expensive it's rationed and d) anyone born in 1995 is old...like ancient, one foot in the grave, on their deathbed, old.  Insane, right?  (Especially the part about caffeine being illegal - feel free to shoot me now!) This is where the story of 16 yr old Anya Balanchine begins. The year is 2083, and the place is NYC.  Anya is the daughter of deceased, crime boss, Leonyd Balanchine whose family owns the Balanchine Chocolate Company....

We took a field trip to our local Science Museum today to take advantage of their homeschool days and had a great time with our friends.  We almost didn't go though. We brown bagged it and my friend that we carpooled with offered to take our stuff back to her car after we finished lunch but instead we stored our things in the cubbies in the lunch room.  We almost left after lunch. We ended up in the kids play room because that's where the way cool magnetic fishing is and the area is supposed to be for 8 yrs and under but they allowed my 11 yr old and my friend's 9 and 10 yr old in with their siblings anyway.  My friend suggested we take turns, one of us stay with the younglings while the other walk around with the elders but I declined.  We almost split up. While I was waiting for my friend to come back from a trip to the restroom with a couple of the kids and I was in charge of the ones still in the kid area (with the way cool magnetic fishing!) I noticed one ...

I've just read this entire series in the past 24hrs and have really enjoyed it!  I'm glad I had all three to read because I don't think I could've stood it if I had to wait years to find out what happened.  They tell a story of lifelong friendships, first loves, heartbreak, loss and the strength of family bonds. In Book 1, "The Summer I Turned Pretty", we meet 15 yr old Belly Conklin (real name Isabel), her brother Steven and their friends Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher.  They spend every summer together at the Fisher's beach house at Cousins Beach with their Mom's, Laurel and Susannah "Beck" Fisher who are lifelong friends. Belly, having grown up with "Beck's" boys has always been plagued by being the "little sister".  They've teased her, picked on her, done all the things that big brothers do and she's certainly done her fair share of annoying things to them, like being a tattletale or pouting just to get...

Wow, I started this book at 9pm and finished it at 1am.  I just couldn't put it down!  This is a beautifully written story about one girl's journey through family tragedy, love, loss and living with consequences of the choices we make.  Miranda, or "Rand" also learns some tough lessons about friendship, forgiveness and what it means to truly live life as yourself and not anyone else. Definitely a MUST read!

This was a refreshing and humorous take on the recession.  Big city girl, Corrinne is forced to relocate to a small town because Daddy gets laid off and "Madoffed" at the same time.  She is a sassy, spoiled high school freshman who gets a major reality check when she heads to Texas with her brother to start her sophomore year at (gasp!) public school!  Gone are the designer clothes, parties, endless shopping sprees with Daddy's credit card and paid servants she's used too. She has to learn to eat real food - like with actual carbs, (the horror) and do things for herself (that pancake ain't gonna serve itself). While in Broken Spoke, Texas aka The Middle of Freakin Nowhere, Corrinne meets some interesting people with strange names.  Kitsy, the head cheerleader is her only female friend but she's sweet and goes out of her way to make Corrinne feel welcome.  Hands is Kitsy's boyfriend and the quarterback for the football team and let's not forget, foo...

First, let me say that I don't like giving a negative review of anything, especially something like a book because I know there's a person (an author) behind it but I also have to be honest and say I just did not enjoy this book.  I enjoyed "Halo", beautiful cover and all and was looking forward to reading this one but was disappointed.  Maybe it was because Bethany spends the majority of her time in Hades aka Hell (all the heat, sadness and tortured souls does get a little depressing after a while) or maybe because I just wasn't as into the storyline like I was with "Halo", Idk.  There's a really slim chance it could be because there was a lot less of Xavier but I can neither confirm nor deny that.  I know the writing itself isn't stellar but I'm OK with that. I liked the lightheartedness of "Halo" and I guess I kind of expected a lot of the gloom and doom of Hades but I sure hope the third book, "Heaven" will be jus...

Thanks again to NetGalley! I enjoyed this story which follows Cordelia aka Posey Osterhagen and Liam Declan Murphy (dark hair, green eyes, gorgeous - nuff said), the guy who broke her heart in High School and who comes back into her life 16 yrs later poised to do it again. Posey is back living in the town that she grew up in and she has almost everything in life she wants, a home, a successful business, a boyfriend but then Liam Murphy comes waltzing back into town and everything changes. He's the guy all the girls wanted and she crushed on (BIG TIME) through most of High School but he's also the one who ruined Prom for her. (way to go Liam!) Try as she might, she can't seem to fight those old feelings (the good, the bad, the lustful) that pop up every time he's around but neither can the other women in town who continue to throw themselves at him just like the old days. (These women are pathetic enough to make the legendary Tom Jones jealous). One of the things th...

"Divergent" was my FAVORITE book of 2011!  I've told anyone and everyone about it and it's my number one gift choice when it comes to birthdays.  I'm even considering going as Tris for Halloween if I can come up with a costume idea. Too much?  Nah. To say I'm "looking forward to" "Insurgent" is an understatement.  So when I heard the cover was being revealed yesterday I was both excited and a little nervous but then, I saw it... To a true Divergent, this is more than a cover.  It's a work of art.  It's clues!  It's a thing of beauty really and I'm a sucker for a beautiful cover!   There's the Amity tree!  Did you see the TRAIN?!  Gasp!  I would kill to have an ARC of this book!  OK, so killing is bad, I know this.  But, I'd be willing to fight for one, Dauntless style of course, considering that's the faction I keep coming up with every time I take the FB quiz.  :D (Side note: I've gi...

  Thank you to NetGalley for this arc of "Geek Girl".  (For some reason goodreads is showing the old version that was previously released but this is not the version I read.)  In this book, author, Cindy C. Bennett takes us on a young girl's journey through incredible pain and misunderstanding to her discovery of her true self worth, love, forgiveness and hope. Jen, (love her name, btw) a self imposed outcast at her current high school is a girl on a mission, to see if she can turn geeky Trevor, to the dark side. She makes a bet with her two BFF's, (and twins) Beth and Ella over lunch one day and what's her prize if she can pull this off?  They agree to pay for another lip piercing. Sounds um, fun, right?  (guess there's no cookies on this dark side, just piercings) Well, in their world, whoever has the most piercings, the worst attitude, parties the hardest or has the most overall disdain for anyone not like them is coolest. To each their own.  ...

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Genesis 50:20    Love Prevails.  God Wins.

Everyone knows about "Stranger Danger".  Even if you had totally slack parents, you at least got the info from a teacher at school - don't talk to strangers, don't accept candy from strangers and don't, under any circumstances, accept a ride ANYWHERE from. a. stranger!  Breaking any of the Stranger Danger rules always results in immediate death. Always. Every once in awhile I like to remind my kids of the "Stranger Danger" rules just to be sure we're on the same page.  I did just that yesterday at Target.  We had to wait out the first of several torrential downpours inside before continuing on to the next store.  My kids were all ready to go home and play with their new Lego sets and tried repeatedly to talk me into dropping them off first but I wasn't buying it.  Tired, frustrated and at the end of my patience with them, I told them for the final time, "No, we're going to finish our grocery shopping." Apparently, this wasn'...

"Saving June" is a beautifully written story full of raw emotion and smooth flowing dialogue.  Harper Scott, is the sister that just doesn't measure up in her family at least not the way her older sister June does.  June's always been the sister everyone loves; she's prettier, smarter, nicer, more likable, just plain better.  Harper has always wanted to be June and while they used to be close when they were little, they aren't anymore now that they're teenagers but when June commits suicide, everyone still looks to Harper for answers.  She doesn't have any answers but knowing that June dreamed of moving to California one day, Harper decides that maybe a road trip to scatter her ashes there will not only help relieve some of the guilt she feels but will also help June find rest. Harper enlists the help of her best friend Laney on this road trip and they also have an uninvited guest - Jake.  Jake is a stranger to Harper but someone who claims to hav...

Another great read by Karen White!  This book is a few years old (now) but still one that boasts of true love and friendship, romance, and finding out what we're truly made of.  It's also a story about discovering that it's not always blood that makes you family but a willingness to "show up" and just do your best that bonds you to another person. Jillian finds herself returning home to her grandmother's house on Pawley's Island, South Carolina, 8 months pregnant, divorced, with her 7 year old daughter Grace in tow.  She's faced with living a life she never expected nor wanted and even though she hasn't been back in years, she's always felt like this house, this island was "home".  She hopes that being back will bring some peace to her life and give her the fresh start she so desperately needs.  Little does she know she'll be forced to relive old fears and open wounds she thought were long forgotten. She used to spend every ...

Julie Kagawa, the amazing, incredible, author of "The Iron Knight" is holding a contest for a signed ARC of the final book in the series and the rules are simple, tell what you (me) would do if you could spend one day with either Ash or Puck and keep it G-rated.  (As much fun as Puck is, I'd be afraid of the mess I'd be left to clean up after he left.)   Considering Ash had my vote at his first icy stare, I have to go with him.   My one day with Ash = Ice Prince + Queen of Icing = Day made in Cupcake Fey Heaven! :D Our day would begin with a staring contest.  Why? Well, have you read the books?!  The Ice Prince is beautiful in all his frosty self!  He would be giving me that icy stare of his, making sure I knew he was Prince Ash. (Ha! Like I could forget.)  I would be staring back at him to make sure he was real. (There might be pinching involved too.) I'm a cupcake fanatic and have...