Character review and Q&A for Darynda Jone's Charley Davidson Novels

Posted by Read Drink and Be Bloggy

Those of you who know me outside of this blog will know that for the past year I’ve pretty much been obsessed with Charley Davidson and all things Darynda Jones. Aside from being the author of my favorite bad ass fictional character (Grim Reaper and Private Investigator extraordinaire: Charley Davidson) Darynda has also become a personal hero to me. Her writing; a mixture of comedy, sarcasm, ADD, and just the sweetest hint of a tender heart, has me searching my own technique and trying to better my own writing. The most amazing part? She actually responds to me! Anyone who has ever had an idol would understand how truly special that is. So instead of doing a review of her books I wanted to do something really special. Her writing stands on its own and needs no boasting. If any of you had any doubt about whether or not you should pick up her books, I’m telling you now you absolutely should. They’ll blow your mind (I guess I’ll boast a little for her). I wanted to write about her characters, because I could never do her stories any justice by trying to summarize them, also because (as I’ve already stated) if you have any sense you’ve already rushed out to buy your own copies of her books).

     Charley Davidson or Chuck, as I like to call her, is pretty much how I would describe the best womanhood has to offer. She’s beautiful (curvy in all the right places, 128lb, brown hair, and gold eyes!), funny (though not always intentionally), sarcastic as all get out, and yet she has the biggest heart (but that’s our little secret). She’s also a private investigator, which pretty much equals out to being a bad ass. Oh yes, and I forgot to mention: she’s a Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper, actually. She’s a giant beacon of gold light that calls those who haven’t crossed into the light, the other light, to her so that they may cross through her. The catch, there’s always a catch, sometimes they have a little unfinished business to attend to. This is why the stories are so interesting! The death of the departed is a total mystery, mysteries that Charley has to solve before they can cross. Charley usually gets a few bumps and bruises (and sometimes full out tortured) along the way, but with the help of Angel (a departed 13 year old gang banger), Cookie (best friend/neighbor/and assistant), and a myriad of other colorful characters she always gets her bad guy.
     On the flip side of Charley’s PI gig and her Grim Reaper gig there’s her own personal mystery; his name is Reyes Farrow. Aka, Rey’aziel, aka, smokin’ hot, aka the son of Satan. The song of Satan. Pretty much everyone Charley talks to about Reyes is terrified of him, but aside from the fact that he’s “supposedly” evil incarnate and has a total self surving sense of morals, he’s actually not a  bad guy. You wouldn’t catch me smart mouthing him (I happen to like my spin fully intact, thank you very much), but he’s beloved by his sister, for whom he endured physical and sexual abuse, and also adored by his best friend Amador Sanchez, his wife Bianca, and their two adorable children. For this reason I wonder what the ghosts are afraid of.

     True enough, Reyes was more than willing to use Charley to lure Earl Walker out of hiding, but he also pushes Charley to actualize her potential… something she really needs to figure out. It makes me giggle sometimes when I’m reading how little Charley thinks of herself. She’s so clearly a strong, powerful being, but that’s what humanizes her and makes her so loveable. She’s insecure, just like every other woman out there, and besides, if she knew what she could do Darynda may run out of stories to write, and that would be very, very bad.

     I do wonder, though, what happens when the portal to heaven and the key to hell get together. Not just to join forces, but, well… what usually happens when a key meets a lock (aka portal)? What sort of doors might their passion unlock?

     It’s definitely one of the best parts of the stories, the passion. I’ve written love scenes before but I’ve never written one that actually made my girly parts tingle. The shear heat between Charley and Reyes is unimaginable, they are so drawn to each other that the fact that Reyes is in jail and Charley doesn’t even know who he is at one point isn’t enough to keep them apart. Charley can hardly fall asleep without a tantalizing visit from Reyes (aka sex God): poor girl.  (At this point any of you ladies still wondering if you should buy these books should be opening a second tab in your browser to Amazon and ordering them, either for express shipping or immediate delivery to your reading device. You can also get the Audio book read by the wonderfully talented Lorelei King. Go ahead… I’ll wait.

     Okay, so now that that’s taken care of! Darynda agreed (because she’s awesome) to do a little interview with me. I had so many questions I wanted to ask her but, being that I need her to finish writing Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (available for pre order on Amazon.com), I tried not to ask all of my questions. Hope you all enjoy!!

Animation for above created by Jesse Rissmiller

 ***I am in no way being paid by Darynda Jones or anyone else to basically worship the books I have mentioned here today, nor am I in any way paid by amazon.com (I just happen to have a Kindle - they didn't pay me either) to shamelessly promote Darynda Jones and her fantastic novels…. Did I mention that she has a Young Adult series coming soon?

Q&A with Darynda Jones


1.    Why does Reyes call Charley Dutch?

Reyes is not really saying the name Dutch. He is actually saying another word entirely, one from ancient Aramaic. Charley perceives it as "Dutch” because the Aramaic word kind of sounds like it. I can't remember the exact spelling, but it's something like, "du'tshe" and it means seeker since that's what she is: the seeker of souls. This information will eventually be revealed to her.

2. Will we ever discover what happened to Mr. Wong and why he is in Charley's apartment?

I honestly had no intention of explaining Mr. Wong. I just thought he was a neat, yet creepy, addition to Charley's odd life. Kind of like Great Aunt Edna's ashes that have become the family heirloom nobody wants, and they're passed from one generation to the next simply because no one knows what to do with them; yet, there they are. They look great on the mantel, though.

3. Are we meant to pronounce it you-bie or oobie, for Charley’s uncle and is it Swoops or Swoaps? (Cause I think I’ve been mispronouncing it in my reading)
I pronounce it you-bie, for Charley's uncle, pronounced with a long ū. But others say oo-bie, which is fine, too. And it is most definitely Swoaps for Garrett Swopes (just one “o”) with a long ō. In reality, it happens to be the family name of my best friend.

4. Why does Denise hate Charley so much?

Okay. The flippant, butthead answer is: Because Denise is an evil, vindictive b!*#h. The reasonable, intelligent (and somewhat psychoanalytical) answer is: Denise was a witness to Charley's abilities when Charley was a very young child. One situation in particular (a missing child) turned out to be extremely intense and disturbing. It's kind of a situation where people "kill the messenger." Charley's stepmother is an emotionally detached individual who resides in a shallow, superficial existence. It's more important to her that she, and the family, always "look good." Charley was, at the time, and continues to be a blatant reminder of reality, and it's a reality that acknowledges the scary, the unknown and sometimes the dark circumstances people find themselves in, i.e. death. Denise is unable to give sincere appreciation of and understanding to individuals who voice differing opinions, and by doing so, these individuals continually draw attention to the more socially inappropriate ideas and thoughts. That and Charley's a big fan of Motorhead. Denise totally hates Motorhead.

5. In First Grave, when Charley meets Reyes in the alley, Reyes is afraid of Charley: why was he afraid of her? Didn’t he recognize her?
When Reyes decided to follow Charley into our earthly realm, he chose to leave his spiritual world and consciousness behind. He was born into the flesh like any other child might be. He had to grow up in a human shell like the rest of us, and his complete understanding of who he was and who she was had to develop over time. Charley is not only a brilliant beacon of light (to the spiritual realm), she is something of a magnet. The first inclination is to often resist the very thing you are most drawn to.

6. In third Grave Charley goes to visit Reyes’ old apartment and it has turned into an abandoned building that homeless people are living in. I was wondering if there are a lot of abandoned buildings in New Mexico, and also why Ms. Faye stayed in the complex after it was no longer an apartment complex?

There are a lot of abandoned buildings in New Mexico. We have experienced many frontier booms in our long and illustrious past. We have abandoned cave dwellings, mission ruins and ghost towns, in addition to abandoned farmhouses, barns, mines, hospitals, schools, etc. They dot the countryside as you're driving, and take up residence in our communities, alongside the "living" establishments. All of these abandoned places provide a wealth of stories and possibilities to those with the unfettered minds and imaginations of the creative souls, like myself. Albuquerque, as well as other parts of New Mexico, has its fair share of homeless individuals and squatters that take advantage of these open, unused buildings. It seemed a natural choice to make. As for Ms. Faye, she's similar to other individuals I've known. Immovable objects standing against an irresistible force. They refuse to be moved regardless of the circumstances. They are too rooted into their place and choose to remain.
7. If Reyes didn’t really start realizing who he was until he was in prison, how was his incorporeal self able to tell Charley who she was when she was in high school? Is Reyes’ incorporeal self always an adult?

Okay, without getting too involved in a spiritual discussion, there is a theory that we are all spiritual beings. Our spiritual selves were in the spiritual realm waiting to be assigned into a corporeal body. At the appointed time, the spiritual body is manifested into the body of an infant and born naturally into our physical world. They are still themselves, but tamped down, and their awareness dulls with age. Periodically, awareness pops through at odd moments, such as a child being able to tell his mother about being a soldier in WWII or talking about what heaven was like before they were born on earth.

8. Will we ever learn what the dark shadow in Charley’s photos is, or are we meant to assume that it is Reyes?

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

9. If Reyes has been able to slowly remember who he is and his purpose in life, why hasn’t Charley been able to do the same?

Time will tell. Actually, Fourth Grave will tell.

   10. In Second Grave Charley’s friend Pari believes she was attacked by Rey’aziel, but Reyes said it wasn’t him, so who really attacked Pari?

While she had summoned Rey’aziel, when you open that door, anyone or anything can step through it. It was a demon.

11. Where do you find your chapter opening quotes?
All over. Everywhere. Sometimes they're gifted to me from other people. I collect them now like some people collect stamps.

12. In Third Grave Ronald (the departed clown) could see Charley in her human form before he passed on, Charley mentioned that he should have gone into the “other” light and was curious why he saw her. Will we ever find out why Ronald was able to see Charley, or was this a fluke?

The first draft of Third Grave had a more detailed story regarding Ronald the clown. In that version of his story, I was able to provide more answers to his circumstances, and his place in the story held more meaning. By the time I finished writing Third Grave, it was a hefty piece of literature, and I had to trim quite a bit. His story had to be trimmed down, without totally destroying the scene or the whole of the book. Maybe one day, those answers will appear on my website. There's a page where I post deleted scenes. I’ll try to post that one day.

13. In Third Grave Rocket would not let Charley enter the asylum because he had “company”, will we ever discover who this company was?

I may have cut that, too. It was simply the little girl, Strawberry Shortcake.

14. Will we ever learn the whole story behind Rocket and his sister, Blue?
Eventually. I'd like to tell more of his story, but it is difficult to fit in everything that I want to say. That is my predicament with every book I write. There's too much to say and not enough room.

15. The nun that turns out to be Mistress Marigold seems to know a lot about Charley and possibly what she’s capable of, will they be playing a large part in her future?

I did not originally intend on Mistress Marigold being a repeat character. She was to serve a very particular purpose and then go away. I am currently having to rethink that decision. It's just a matter of what purpose she will continue to serve and how to fit her sequences into the other books. There is honestly just so much stuff to fit into what turns out to be a relatively small amount of room. Saying all of that, I now will say that Mistress Marigold does not hold any particular power. She's not a supernatural being. She's a very human woman who was born with the ability to hear the conversations of angels. She is totally eavesdropping on heaven and that's it. Oh, and she's a tattletale. Is there such a thing as godly gossip?

16. Will we be seeing any more from Elaine Oaks?

Abso-freakin'-lutely! That particular nut is too juicy to throw away just yet.

17. I keep feeling like there’s something hinkey about the way the US Marshalls found out about Kim, I wont ask you to give anything away, but is there a good reason my spidey sense is tingling?

Kim is not gone from the stories, at this point. She plays a role in future books, especially number four. More will be revealed in due time.

18. You hinted that there might be something going on with Kim, when Charley goes to visit her in Third Grave, will we find out what this is? Is it more than just about Reyes?

More will be revealed in due time. There is definitely something going on. I’m just not sure when it will be revealed. I was hoping her story would be in Fourth Grave, but I already have so much going on. I'm still trying to decide what can go in and what needs to be cut, and it's such a hard decision to make, dernit! I'm not purposely being difficult or deliberately vague. Sometimes it sounds cleverer than, "I don't know.”

19. What is this huevos rancheros, and where can I get some??

Lady! My stars in the heavens, you have not lived until you've had huevos rancheros. I don't know where you could get some. Is there a Mexican restaurant anywhere near where you live? If so, that's the place to start in your quest for huevos rancheros. Generally, they are Mexican breakfast dish of eggs served on top of either a corn or flour tortilla then topped with red chile sauce, salsa, refried beans, pretty much anything you want on top. Red sauce is made using dried red chile, the kind you see in the decorative ristras. Green sauce is made from the fresh, roasted green chile. That is poured over the tortilla with your eggs on top. It's awesome. If you can't find a restaurant to make them for you, you could locate the ingredients in a store or online, and make your own. They are to die for. Pretty much anything with red or green chile is to die for. (Caveat: these chiles are NOT jalapenos or bell peppers or anything like that. They are genuine chiles and do not go by another name.)

20. Will we ever find out why Reyes didn’t fight harder to keep himself out of jail? Was it simply so that Kim would believe that Earl Walker was dead?
Well, he is stoic, and he is a man and, similar to the 300 Spartans standing against the thousands of Persians, stoics tend to carry the brunt of the battle on their shoulders. The greatest of his sacrifice was for Kim.
Category: 6 comments

And I digress...

Posted by Read Drink and Be Bloggy
    
     I feel sort of silly following up such an important post with a “Drink” post, but here it is.

     I’ve recently tried two new wines: one is Yellow Tail’s Sweet Red Roo. It’s a red wine with Berry flavors, chocolate and vanilla finishing. It’s SO sweet! I think it would go really well with strawberry short cake or cheesecake, definitely a “girls night in” kind of wine.

     The second is a Pinot Nior that I tried at Cheddars. First of all, for those of you who live in Colorado you have to check out Cheddars, I have never eaten there and not been 100% satisfied. Fantastic burgers, wonderful salmon, delicious chicken and shrimp, and the best part is that it has a meal for every budget!! If you do not live in Colorado you must look in to seeing if you state has Cheddars, yeah, it’s that good. And while you are at Cheddars check out the Estancia Pinot Nior. It’s got blackberry and black cherry as well as a hint of plum with a very smooth vanilla base. Absolutely worth the 8$ for a single glass, it is by far the most smooth red wine I’ve ever tasted!

     In June I should have a HUGE list of new wines for you all to try. They will all be California based because that’s where I will be for my brother’s wedding. I also hope to have some fabulous photos to post. Oh! On that note… any diet advice should be left in my comments box, because I’m determined to lose at least 15 pounds before the wedding. It’s not impossible. Before getting pregnant I had lost 40 pounds in about 6 months or less. Of course now having had James it’s much more difficult to lose!

   Keep reading, and if you drink or read anything fantastic please let me know if you’d like to do a “Guest Post”!
Category: 0 comments

Hate

Posted by Read Drink and Be Bloggy

     Today I felt like I needed to write a blog that has nothing to do with reading or drinking. True, last night’s episode of Glee may have been a bit predictable; after all with a show about teen angst it’s only a matter of time before the all too real issue of teen suicide comes up, but I think it’s important to address just the same.

     Teen suicide has been on the rise and whether it’s from more bullying or social media being so prevalent in today’s society or simply the fact that kids just don’t know how to deal with their emotions anymore, it’s still a huge concern. I’ve even heard it said that kids are committing suicide simply for the drama of it; because of social media being the way that it is suicide videos are now also viral videos, it’s entirely possible that some kids, in rare cases, take their own lives because they feel like it’s the only way to get their message out and be heard.  I honestly don’t even know how to respond to these statements, although sometimes I’m afraid they may be true. Death is a powerful message and I know from personal experience that it can sometimes be used as a weapon to try to make the focus of their pain feel pain in return, to feel bad for what they have done.

     As adults in this world we have a responsibility, not only to teach our children that it is not tolerable to bully others, but also that taking your own life is never an option. It’s paramount that children know growing up that someone understands them, that there is love and understanding despite the hate that they may feel from others, that there will always be arms to hold them and words to back them up and, most importantly, that there will always be a safe haven. Even if these children don’t feel love from their parents or from children at school, they need to know that there are people out there who love them no matter who or what they are.

     The best way I can think of for this to happen is for everyone to lead by example and practice tolerance and understanding. Hate is a worldwide issue and it is a powerful one. Hate isn’t just words thrown around at the gay kid or the chubby girl in the halls, it isn’t just lowering your head as you pass a person of another race as they walk by, or yelling racial slurs at a driver that makes you angry. Hate spurs wars and breeds from generation to generation and it’s time for it to stop across the board. True, we can’t stop others from hating us, but we have to stop hating them back. It’s so easy to get angry at being misunderstood and hate them for their hateful words, but it only makes us as bad as they are. I’m not saying to grab your local bully and give them a big squeezey hug, but realize that the hate they feel has most likely been breed into them or instilled in them from infancy. That’s why it’s so important for us to teach our children not to hate. We have to watch our mouths every moment, because even if we don’t always mean what we say, even if it just comes up in anger, if our children hear us say something hateful they will remember it and they will repeat it. And since we can’t change the world and we can’t make people love us or respect us, and our programs are only as strong as the people they reach, we have to teach our children that not everyone is going to like them, and that the world can be cruel, but the world can also be a great place and an understanding one. We have to teach them that there is always someone else who is going through the same thing. Get the word out any way that we can to just hold on.

     Sometimes I feel so hopeless, like there’s no way for me to change the future of this world. How can I change the world my son will grow up in if I can’t even get those closest to him to realize their own hateful beliefs, or their own close-mindedness? But I look into my sons eyes and I know I have to try.

     I sometimes feel responsible for the death of a friend of mine. He wasn’t bullied into killing himself but I think he didn’t see any other way out, and he was angry and depressed and if I hadn’t ever stopped talking to him, if I hadn’t played petty games that destroyed our friendship I could have been the person he called to talk him out of killing himself. The truth is that someone in his life should have known, and someone, anyone, should have stepped up sooner and recognized that he was unstable and needed help long before the situation that took his life ever happened. We need to all take this outlook on life. Even if you don’t know someone very well, if you see them hurting or suspect that they may be drowning, take the time to reach out to them. Let them know that you are there for them. Let random people every single day know that you are there for them. Smile at the people as they pass you on the street, even if they think you’re completely insane for being a beaming smiling idiot, smile at them anyway because on a day when they are feeling super depressed that one smile may just make the slightest bit of difference.

     So that was my soap box, I hope you can find it inside yourselves to displace even the smallest amount of hate from your hearts, because it does make a difference.
Category: 3 comments

People on a Train

Posted by Read Drink and Be Bloggy
Just a random short I came up with after watching part of Remember Me... had to shoot it down before bed.

     There was a clown on the train. His head lolled back rocking slowly with the motion of the train, his mouth slightly agape with the deep slumber of too many hours worked the night before. I wondered, half interested, how long he’d been up and what kind of party needed a clown that he’d still be in his face paint on a five am train.
     The woman whose chair shared a back to mine was humming softly to a song that played from her baby pink mp3 player, and I couldn’t tell from the humming if her voice would be any good at a decent volume. I imagined her in a red sequined dressed belting out a melody in a dilapidated theater down town with bums and other various vagrants listening at the back door; huddled around a burning trash bin for warmth.
     A teenager a few rows down from me held a pair of drum sticks in his hands and oversized noise reducing head phones over his ears. His dread locks swung as he beat on the chair in front of him, much to the annoyance of the old man trying to read his news paper whose seat affixed the teen’s imaginary drum.
      I allowed my body to sway with the rhythm of the train, letting it rock and lull me as I imagined lives and stories for every passenger. The motion of the train like a sweet, familiar bass line in a song everyone knew deep in their souls; a song for travelers and commuters alike.
     I sighed as the rhythm slowed, the beat simmering to a gentle boil as the train pulled in to its station. The doors opened and it was time to leave all of my new imaginary friends, the people I’d met but never spoken to, the people I’d probably never see again.
Category: 5 comments
Posted by Read Drink and Be Bloggy

Hello, Readers, so sorry for the hiatus. My son has been very sick this past week. I hope to be back posting very soon! Love you all… If you have had any good new reads or any new drinks please let me know in the comments! I have recently tried the Blond coffee from Starbucks… I will admit so far I am not a big fan, but then I brew my coffee very differently from their typical instructions and haven’t had a chance to really play with the Blonds yet (tehehe). I typically brew the Starbucks Caramel or Vanilla coffee.



Keep reading Bloggers!
Category: 2 comments

Just a Quickie...

Posted by Read Drink and Be Bloggy

     So, there was some hoopla last night by the readers and audio listeners alike when a tiny little mistake made itself known to the fans… Swoops dies! My copy didn’t have this ending, so when I saw on Facebook people talking about a character dying I was floored… WHAT”S GOING ON?!? I wrote. No one responded, naturally, so I just finished my book and began preparing my review. I saw it this morning, the explanation from Darynda saying she realized “instead of raising the stakes, I accidently wiped them off the page.” (From her interview with Wicked Little Pixie). In any case, I’m really glad Swoops didn’t die, even if he would have still been in the book he’s that sexy little nudger from the sidelines giving Charley (or Chuck as I like to call her) little, teeny, tiny doubts about her future with Reyes. I have Big, BIg, BIG things to say about this in my upcoming review, but for now I have a question for you readers. (Thanks Kristin for the light bulb!)

     I want to hear about the characters you love, how they died, and how it made you cry. The one that really stands out for me is Tonks and Lupin from Harry Potter. I had always been in love with those characters from the minute I read them, and it’s always been a sore spot for me that their parts in the movies got cut up so badly. That aside, I balled my eyes out when they died. Other characters deaths that made me shed a tear: Dobby (from Harry Potter), Dumbledore (from Harry Potter)… omg, let’s just say I cried every time a character died in Harry Potter cause there were a lot of them. I cried when Tina, Sookie Stackhouse’s cat, died (I was pregnant, okay I get a pass on that), Oh and I REALLY cried when her fairy godmother, Claudine, died. (Do not even get my started on the books vs True Blood, I’m not in the mood to get heated haha!) Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Unless you count how often I cry when people die on TV shows… does anyone watch Bones? Did anyone else cry like a baby when Nigel Murray died? Cause I did. BIG baby.

     Okay, so now it’s your turn… aaand go!
Category: 6 comments
Posted by Read Drink and Be Bloggy

     Today is Charles Dickens’ birthday, were he alive, so I thought I’d do a little blog. Well, truthfully it was brought to my attention by a friend and I thought she had a very good point! Charles Dickens was a staple in educational literature. I don’t mean to say I found his works particularly educational, but the people who pick what books kids should read in school sure thought so.

     I was trying to remember all of the titles of Dickens I’d read and even remember which books he wrote. I felt more than a little silly after I looked him up and found that he had penned more than a few of my favorites! Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol… I loved these books. Now, I remember the movie versions more than the actual written ones: which is a sad truth about growing up as well as a statement about what I do with a lot of my free time.

     Great Expectations is by far my favorite of these stories. It’s a story about regret, unrequited love, and debt. The debt is very interesting; it’s both financial as well as owing the people who do you favors, even if you didn’t really want to do the favors in the first place. Pip has a lot of debt. He owes everyone in his life something, but I feel sorry for him because a lot of the time he didn’t even know who he owed until the debt was being called in. Of course there was all of his other debt which he did know about, it’s the kind of debt that a poor kid who acquires a lot of money tends to have.

     Dickens wrote a lot about debt, now that I think about it. Isn’t that sort of what A Christmas Carol was about? The debts of men’s souls and the weight they carry. Luckily for Scrooge Dickens believed in second chances.

     I remember very little about Oliver Twist, unless you count it’s spin off Oliver and Company or the Wishbone version, but I remember having to read it in school and not understanding why Oliver couldn’t ever catch a break. I think it’s an important story for kids to read but it’s taught to such a young age that I don’t think the kids really get it, at least not the type of neighborhood where I grew up. Oliver Twist is a story about what it really means to be down and out, and since he’s a kid a lot of it is out of his control. It’s a lesson I think kids need to learn, that it could always be worse. I’m just not sure the message really reaches kids in the early years of middle school.

     So, have I enjoyed the Dickens I’ve read? Absolutely. Would I go out of my way to keep reading him? Probably not. There’s so many things going on in this world right now I like to keep my reading a little more upbeat and off the beaten track. I’m certainly glad that I’ve read him though.
Category: 1 comments

Let it snow... Let it snow...

Posted by Read Drink and Be Bloggy
 
     I should be reading, I should be cleaning, I should be playing with my son, but I'm blogging. There's a good foot plus of snow outside my window and the fireplace is on because I'm not paying for the electric bill and because my father turned it on. James is in his jumper beating the crud out of the little sun stuck inside a ball. He's doing this new head tilt thing whenever he looks at stuff that I think is pretty near the cutest thing ever, the new noises he's making are not so cute, somewhere between a squeal and squawk and a screech. I’m seriously considering raising it up because sometimes when he bounces I’m sure he’s about to break the springs, but he’s such a shortie that if I raise it up he will never be able to even get his toes on the ground.

     I realized today that I’ve so far only written about books. This must be rectified right now. As I’m writing a cup of my Starbucks Caramel coffee is cooling on my side table. After it’s cool and I’ve drank it all down I may actually go to  a Starbucks and get a chai tea latte (no water, extra pumps of syrup, countered with nonfat milk to give myself the illusion of health.) I’m also drinking a detox tea to assist in my weight loss and I’ve heard its good to help clear out the junk that builds up in your system. Whatever it does it tastes like what I would imagine hot dirt might taste like. I slug it down as fast as possible. Of course this detox might be going a little better if I didn’t follow it with a glass of my favorite wine: Yellow Tail pino nior. Yeah it’s a cheap wine but we can’t all be wino snobs. I just enjoy that it’s a red wine that doesn’t make my tongue feel three sizes too big and stuffed with cotton. Then as my LO has his final bottle I will be winding down with a giant cup of Sleepy Time Extra tea. It has valerian root in it so it actually helps you go to sleep unlike the old Sleepy Time which was just calming.

     Those are a few of my favorite beverages… I enjoy mixing up the Starbucks coffee brews with the vanilla on occasion and I will probably double my trips to Starbucks during their holidays to get my favorite seasonal drink: Gingerbread syrup in a white mocha or the Pumpkin Spice in my Chai tea. I’m pretty much a sweet addict can you tell? What are YOUR favorite drinks? Do you have a drinking routine like I do?  Keep reading… and let me know what you’re reading so I can go snag it on my Kindle. We’ll discuss last night’s realization about the problem with books that need a plug later today in another post!
Category: 3 comments

I bought it for the cover

Posted by Read Drink and Be Bloggy
    
Not what you expected? Well, I get that a lot... Keep reading and you'll get it from me often too, but it's not entirely different from what you think. See, I told you I was kinda of obsessed with my son, so I had to throw a picture of him on here. Anyway, we were at the grocery store and he was determined to get my grocery list. So I trotted on over to the book isle and grabbed the most obnoxious looking cover I could find. Gold and Shiny, yup, that certainly kept him and his gums happy for the duration of our shopping trip.

I wasn't about to be out booked my my 6 month old son I began browsing the shelves. I saw the very first book I ever bought solely because it had a Bad Ass cover, Darynda Jones' First Grave on the Right. Haven't heard of it? Shame on you... I hadn't either... but could you have resisted this cover?



    

I'm now totally obsessed with this author and series. I'm currently reading Third Grave Dead Ahead (review to come, I promise). I'm so into her right now I couldn't even wait until I finished the book I'm on to write about her. I wont totally go into it right now because I have big plans for my Third Grave review... but in the mean time I'd like to know YOUR "bought it for the cover" stories and how they turned out. I also was drawn to a book called Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep, well actually I was much more attracted to the second book's cover Kiss of Frost


   

Isn't it prettiful?! I have a rule with myself though... never start a series in the middle, always read the first book. I also always read the brief of the novel before I buy it, I was iffy on whether or not to start a new series before finishing one buuut there was that word in the description of Kiss of Frost... Reaper. I didn't even finish reading, I tossed the first book into my cart and finished shopping. I'm totally into Reapers now, thanks D, and not that they could hold a candle to my girl, Chuck, but I thought I'd give it a shot! So look for my review of both Third Grave and Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep coming up in future posts. For now let me know your "I bought it for the cover" stories!
Keep reading my friends!
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Jane Austen Book Club

Posted by Read Drink and Be Bloggy
So, hello avid readers. No not avid reader of mine (at least not yet) but avid readers of the written word. I hadn't planned to detour so early on from my blog description, but as my son slept in a Tylenol induced coma on my lap due to his painful 6mo shots, I found myself watching the Jane Austen Book Club. I was so struck by this movie, as movies and books often tend to do to me, that I decided this should be my first post.
First of all, have any of you readers seen this movie? Are any or many of you Jane Austen fans? I would love to say I am, I'm certainly a fan of the movies made about her writing, but have only made a teeny dent in the actual page. Epic fail, I apologize.
I really enjoyed this movie. The characters in it are all so simple yet so complex. In the end they all end up doing the right thing, which I really think is a trait that Jane Austen fancied in her characters, based on the movies anyway. Things seems so messy but really once the characters admit its their own mess things calm down.
I related most to Purdie, for many reasons: probably because she is young, but mostly because her life isn't what she must have imagined it to be. She and her husband have fallen out of love, out of passion, and she finds herself drawn to one of her students. There seems to be every reason for her to go for this guy: he's of legal age, and despite how inappropriate it would be for her to go for him she's drawn to his passion and magnetism. I feel so bad for her husband, Dean, but probably because I really love Marc Blucas. The scene at the end where she goes to him and begs him to read the book that so mirrors their relationship, a book about two people who have fallen so out of love that they hate each other but in the end find love again, it's so clear she wants him to get this part of her.
And then there's Sylvia, I just couldn't connect with her character, I really love Amy Brennamen though. She brings life to this character that, quite frankly I find really flat. I do love her ending, with her husband talking to Jocelyn about the power of the word, and writing her a letter to win her back.
I adore Jocelyn. Poor Jocelyn with her very Emma like attempts to bring two people together who are so obviously not into each other and not good for each other mean while ignoring the man, Grigg, who just loves her! Hugh Dancy is just so sweet and bumbling and loveable. Their back and forth bantering and her denying her feelings for him is a funny break in this serious movie.
Bernadette is the maternal figure here, she brings this whole little group together but doesn't seem to have much of a story of her own. I kind of wonder if the director didn't mean for her to actually be Jane Austen, a narrator of sorts.
Oddly I couldn't really relate at all to Allegra, although it's definitely the only role I've ever seen Maggie Grace in that I actually believe. Her portion of the story seems too small to have been a main character, and yet there's enough of it there to tease me with, I just didn't get enough development to really fall in love with her, which is sad, because I think I could have. Adorable, gutsy, lesbian that enjoys thrill seeking and adventure.
I think I'm going to have to read Jane Austen because I love every movie made based on her books, however loosely. Then I will, of course, blog about it. Next up on the menu, though, is Darynda Jone's Third Grave Dead Ahead. I think I may need to reread First and Second Grave and do all three though so this may take longer than I thought. In the mean time... I'm going to give YOU an assignment for my page. I want to hear a little about your favorite types of books and your favorite beverages that go along with them. Personally, I enjoy coffee with upbeat novels, but I wind down with a glass of wine every night and read a little before I crash out. I tell ya one thing... being a mom, has just one downfall... it's really cut into my reading. Everything else about being a new mother is magical. Expect to see some more off topic posts about my son, because I'm a little obsessed with him. For now, I hope to hear from YOU! Enjoy your drinks, and keep reading!

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